Craig Brothers: The Beginning.

This is an introduction I've had for a massive multi-verse crossover. Like a lot of writers, I enjoy thinking about what I would do to change or help some of the fantasy genres. A kind of what would you do scenario. The Craig Brothers are two completely fictional characters. Both men share a few of my personal attributes but they have a far darker outlook on life. All of the universes these men visit are from movies, books, and shows that I enjoy.

The Multi-verse (Not in order)= Forgotten Realms – Harry Potter – Dune – Star Fist – Armor – Halo (books) – Inheritance Cycle – Kingkiller Chronicles – Fallout 3 – Starwars – Startrek – Stargate SG1 – Terminator 4 – Babylon 5 – Starcraft 2 – Skyrim – XMEN – Lord of the Rings (movie) – Wing Commander – Ashes Series – Fallen Dragon – Guants Ghosts – Starfist – Falling Skies – Deathlands – The Walking Dead – Avengers – Dawn of the Dead – Transformers (movies) – Other universes will open up as I discover them.

I don't normally spell and grammar check my work. I just don't have the time to edit something that will not be published. Hopefully I will not make many mistakes anyway, but if you see a misspelled or incomplete word, just fill in the blanks yourself. Sorry for an inconvenience to you.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these worlds. I am not making any money through their use. I am tweaking their ideas only.

Chapter One: World Shifter

It was a tazer. That was the closest Lieutenant Nathan Craig could liken the feeling to. Ever muscle locked up the the worst cramp of his life. Electric fire blitzing through his veins as he struggled to hold down a scream of pain.

He lay on the muddy ground seizing in agony as the world spun around him, a whirlwind of unnatural blue light. Despite the pain, Nate shifted his eyes around him spotting twenty other figures in various states of crippling pain. Just like him. Nate's mind calculated the time left before the world shifter finished it's work.

Twenty-five seconds left.

Not enough.

Nate growled and clamped his jaw shut. He uses every ounce of strength left to roll over on his side, freeing up the Glock 21 in a holster at his hip. Nate focused on the butt of his sidearm and willed his hand to move towards it, fighting the pain inch by agonizing inch. The blue light danced around his prone form teasing him with it's beauty, spinning faster and faster as they shifted back into their own reality.

Fifteen seconds.

His fingers brushed against the tip of the butt. Nate used the friction to crawl another inch along the molded plastic. He dared not glance around for fear of losing his concentration in the light show.

Five seconds.

Finally, Nate's hand firmly clasped around the grip of his Glock. As the last few moments of the shift bled away, a boon of strength poured into his unclenched muscles. His thumb snapped open the retention strap and Nate drew the weapon rolling three feet to the right. He propped up his arms on the muddy ground and snapped off four quick shots. The weapon booming in his hands.

Four agents went down, blood stars fountaining on their combat vests. Nate shifted his aim and nailed two more of the troopers before he leaped to his feet and dashed forward several meters. Nate scooped up his REPR sniper rifle, and dived behind the bulk of an LAV. Assault rifle fire strafed his last prone position. Bullets thudding into the dirt, following a stiff line towards him. Soon the thuds escalated into pings as the rounds ricocheted off of his new cover.

The Bradley Fighting Vehicle bore the small arms fire stoically. The LAV would never move from that spot again, having been neatly sheared in two by the world shift.

Nate slapped mud off of the receiver of his rifle and flipped up the scope covers. He edged closer to the edge of his cover and peaked around the side, scoping out the agent's positions. A hail of gunfire made him dive back around the side.

"It shouldn't have to be like this LT." A voice called from beyond the LAV. Nate shook his head and muttered a curse under his breath. That had to be one of the DARPA agents calling out to him. Probably the same one that killed his spotter in the other world.

Nate shook his head and repressed those thoughts. He assessed his situation, flinching as another wave of gunfire hammered into his cover. He was pinned down, and the agents were probably flanking him on both sides. He needed a way to distract them to he could effectively counter attack. And idea popped into his head immediately.

Popping his REPR around the right side of the LAV, Nate unloaded half a dozen rounds blindly at the general direction of the bad guys. The return fire was withering in it's intensity. Nate repeated the action twice more before leaning back and changing magazines. He grabbed an M84 flash bang from his combat vest and yanked the charging ring, keeping his hand firmly clasped to the spool.

Rising to his haunches, Nat tossed the flash bang to the right side of the LAV. He scurried to the left side and opened his mouth while closing his eyes. A good two seconds later the grenade detonated.

FLASH! BANG!

The flash lit up the dark night burning through Nate's eyelids despite being closed. The concussion of the bang thudded through his chest and shook his bones to the core. The ringing that stabbed into his ears was painfully obvious.

Nate waited a beat before snatching up his REPR and spinning around the left side of the LAV. He smiled grimly as half a dozen agents stumbled around in his sights. Six quick shots popped their heads like overripe watermelons.

Nate was up and running, diving behind a earth berm near to the entrance of the Russian factory where this hell started. He poked his head around the berm and chuckled at the fool agents. After regaining their composure they resumed their suppressing fire on the LAV.

The flash bang had worked perfectly. Nate was betting these assholes were glued to the right side of the LAV waiting for him to pop back around for another few shots with his rifle. The grenade would have taken them completely unawares, eyes wide open for the shearing flash.

Nate levered his rifle onto the berm and unloaded another magazine on the agents. The heavy .308 round punching through the light segments of cover a few of the agents used to protect themselves. A withering hail of gunfire thudded into the berm blasting shoots of dirt high into the air. Nate jerked back from the berm, tucking his rifle in close to his body. But he wasn't fast enough.

Two round cut through the edge of the berm and struck him in his unarmored shoulder, ripping out bloody chunks of flesh. Nathan roared in pain.

The gunfire stopped immediately leaving a deafening silence behind, broken only by the occasional groans of the wounded and the thundering rainfall.

"You still alive, Craig?" A voice called out into the clearing. Nate grabbed a gauze strip from a pouch and slapped it over the wound. He glanced back over the berm. He could see several figures moving out into the open. One stood facing his side of the factory. A m249 machine-gun clutched in his hands, the muzzle pointing right at Nate's cover.

Immersed in a puddle of muddy water, half submerged and still blinking it's yellow flashing light, lay the device. The piece of shit that started this whole cluster fuck.

The world-shifter.

"It didn't have to end this way. You could've just gone along with it. Taken your cut and walked. You just had to make things difficult," The agent cried out. Nate remembered the bastard's name was Barker. Agent Ted Barker.

"Bates, When is the nuke due?" Barker loudly asked. Nate froze at the word.

Nuke?

"Fifty three minutes. We better be out of here in ten," Bates replied. Nate guessed the agent to be on the far right due to his voice.

"You hear that, Craig? Fifty minutes and everything within a three mile radius will be incinerated. You included."

Nate shook his head. He glanced around for a way out but found nothing within the vicinity. He sat crouched behind a three foot earth berm on the edge of the old Russian factory. Scratch that, a very new Russian weapons research laboratory. There were at least four surviving agents left in the courtyard, and more than likely they were moving to flank him on all sides.

"Bates, grab the module and evac!" Barker shouted.

"Fuck you, Barker!" Nates shouted. His arm throbbed in response, pain giving way to a disconcerting numbness.

"Don't hate me for you're own failings lieutenant. The truth is this mission was rigged from the start. You really think the United States Government would let a lowly Force Recon Marine live after this? It's national Security. Bates?"

Nate risked a peek over the berm. He saw one of the agents stoop to pick up the world-shifter. The blinking yellow light flashing menacingly on the front panel. A large red button showing off the activation switch.

The switch!

Nate unslung his REPR and checked the magazine. He shoved his entire head up above the berm before immediately dropping down. A firestorm of bullets ripped into the dirt. Geysers of dust and earth shot up into the air. At the lull, Nate popped up again, sighted down the Leopold scope and squeezed off a single round.

The 168gr. Match grade bullet traveled the hundred feet in a nanosecond before pinging off the activation switch of the world-shifter. A half count later and the device powered up. Yellow blinker replaced with a flashing red and a high pitched whine. All of the agents spun to look at the device right before it activated.

A flash of blue light filled the courtyard, searing into Nathan's eyes, blinding him to what happened next. As the blue light captured the four organic figures in it's chosen radius, Agent Ted Barker and his men disappeared from the muddy clearing.

When Nate finally rubbed the pain from his eyes he looked at the clearing and sighed in relief. He glanced at his watch and noted he had forty nine minutes before the arrival of the nuke. Plenty of time. Rising up to his feet, Nate hurriedly walked over to one of the three massive transport trucks parked in front of the laboratory. He stepped over the bodies of a dozen elite Spetznaz soldiers, the guardians of the convoy, before stopping behind the third truck.

From the depths of the flatbed, Nate yanked out a large silver Samsonite container, grunting under it's fifty pound weight. He dropped the suitcase to the muddy ground and unclasped the lid, A once over checked the contents to make sure everything was secure. What Nate held in his hands was a second device.

A whole different world shifter.

The Russians said it best. Why build one when you can get two at twice the price. Hell, Nate didn't even know if the device was purely human built or not. The futuristic outer casing and four star clamps looked rather alien to the marine's keen eyes. Nate didn't know much about how the device worked, but after having experienced it's affects first hand he knew the value of such an object.

Snapping the lid closed, Nate lifted it's weight and jogged over to one of the smaller vehicles he and his squad had arrived in. The buggy was a Light Strike Vehicle, LSV for short, a three seater with a mounted heavy machine gun or like weapon on the back. It had a firing ark of 180 degrees, and could handle anything from a .50 Browning M2 to a Mark 19 grenade launcher.

But Nate didn't care about the main gun. No he was more concerned with the all machine construction and lack of a computerized fuel injection engine. Both would be crucial when the nuke finally hit. He stowed the world-shifter in the second passenger seat and hopped in, jamming his thumb down on the ignition switch. The LSV fired up immediately and growled quietly as Nate glanced at his wristwatch.

Forty-five minutes to hell.

He stamped his foot down on the accelerator and the LSV shot off the mark, driving hard into the black depths of the roiling thunderstorm. Nate gunned the engine hard shooting the meter past its top speed. He chuckled to himself over the circumstances.

I've never outrun a nuke before!