WARNING: This may exceed the 'T' rating though I don't feel it meets the criteria of 'Mature.' There isn't an option for 'T+', unfortunately. If you really feel that this is to much for 'T' just let me know and I'll change it instead of reporting me. That'll save trouble for both me and the admins. Thank you.
Chapter 1: The Recipe for Chaos
Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., has kept the largest secret known to man under wraps for over a decade. Contained in the heart of SHIELD Headquarters, a mutant, code-named 'Rift', is locked away under heavy sedation. Rift's power? The name says it all; the ability to create a rift in the universe causing a spill between alternate realities.
Word of that a mutant was held hostage within S.H.I.E.L.D. courtiers has leaked the facility. After learning of this through unnamed sources, a mutant-activist group, G.R.A.T.I.S, organized a raid, risking their own lives to free Rift from captivity. Among the activist group are many mutants themselves, mostly b and c-listers.
"We have to find them! Shoot them dead if you have to, we can not allow Rift to wake up!" said Nick Fury to an official of a lower rank.
After breaching security and dodging bullets, three members of the group reached Rift's penitentiary and stared in horror.
"God forgive them." said Markus, a mutant with the ability of teleportation, as he stared at Rift's isolated containment.
"I think God left this place long before we arrived." replied Stara, whose mutant ability was to combust at will.
Stara gazed through the glass tube at the girl hooked into a heavy IV unit keeping her unconscious. The girl laid naked, strapped to a bed that was molded to fit her body. She had no hair whatsoever, surely because of the heavy medication surging through her veins. Rift seemed almost frozen, as if they were staring at a porcelain doll. It was sickening seeing a person drugged and bolted up for merely being a mutant, but Rift was a child, a little girl no older then seven years of age. This act of imprisonment was beyond their forgiveness.
"Markus, teleport into the tube and bring her back to us. We end this mutant oppression now!" barked Sanders, the leader of G.R.A.T.I.S. He has the mutant capability to morph into any object be it inanimate or otherwise.
Markus appeared inside the glass tube which encased the mutant prisoner. He unplugged the IVs that pumped periodical sedatives into Rift's bloodstream. He held the lifeless girl in his arms as he teleported out of the tube.
S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, lead by cigar smoking Nick Fury, burst through the doors surrounding Markus and Stara.
"Freeze! If as much as a bead of sweat moves from either of you two, you will be terminated without hesitation! You are in restricted area and therefore have no rights. Your outcome is under the complete discretion of the United States Government!" yelled a Nick.
"We mutants are not toys for your amusement! We demand freedom!" said Stara in response.
A bullet was fired into her left quad. She cried out in pain nursing her wound.
"Stara!"
Markus gripped her tightly with his free arm to keep her from falling. One of the IVs still hung from Rift's forearm and dangled at the sudden movements.
"You do not know what you are dealing with. Drop the child or all records of your existence will vanish indefinitely!" yelled Nick Fury with severity in his tone.
Nick gave Markus less then a second before a simple nod signaled all surrounding agents to fire at will. Markus, Stara, and Rift disappeared from sight and teleported outside the building. As they did so, the IV which hung from Rift's arm was shaken loose and dropped to the ground, remaining inside Rift's containment compound where the S.H.I.E.L.D. were being dismissed to track the mutants. Only Fury and one other less decorated agent still remained.
"Two of mutants escaped a male and female. The female is wounded in her left quadriceps, goes by the name 'Stara.' The male is a teleporter so they might be difficult to trace. They have Rift." said Fury, talking stoically into a mic.
After he confirmed their status, Nick rubbed his temple hoping to soothe his pounding head.
"Permission to speak, sir!" requested a lower ranked official.
"Speak."
"There were six IVs attached to the girl." said the agent.
"Correct; state your concern."
"All six IVs still remain inside of Rift's containment tube still attached to the equipment."
The agent turned from the tube waiting on conformation to act while the one-eyed Fury stared intently at the IV tube lying on the ground before him. Both agents already had their gun in hand. Ash fell from the head of his cigar as Nick Fury spoke.
"Shoot him." he said casually.
The IV tube morphed back into Sanders who sprang forward strait into the other agent, knocking his gun free, and immediately began running for his life. Fury was left with no alternative. Just before Sanders laid hands on the door to freedom, he watched his own blood graffiti the wall to his fore. His name would be erased from all public knowledge. His existence was no more.
"What about Sanders?" asked Stara frantically.
"He'll be fine, he's a trained solider. Let's go!" they ran through the streets still carrying the child.
Markus felt the child stir. He looked down and smiled seeing her budge ever-so-slightly. Just as he reached to stroke the girl's forehead, the child's eyes flung open as she went into a sudden state of hysterics, releasing ear-piercing screams. At that very moment, a tear in the universal fabric had unwoven. The trio instantly vanished. Over the course of days, individuals who bore any inhuman power or abilities vanished as well, leaving the world with a state of absence of Super-heroes and villains alike.
Stara lifted her aching head. She found herself lying on the curb of a large highway . She recognized it immediately to be Times Square, NY. This was peculiar however as not a soul inhabited the area. No lights, no cars, no humans. Just her. There was not a single civilian in sight! Echoes began to cry throughout the ghost town of New York City. Slowly, new faces began to emerge as if from nowhere before her very eyes. Most of them seemed just as confused as she was, others didn't even seem to notice. She was disturbed by the sudden arrival of such unfamiliar figures. Stara, bleeding from her leg, hobbled in an alley way where she saw two awkward yet pleasant seeming individuals.
One of them, a man in purple attire, skipped towards her humming to himself a silly tune. His hair was green and wild and he had a pale completion. Albino perhaps? The odd fellow didn't seem to mind her presence and was smiled like a kid at Christmas. He continued skipping around merrily. Occasionally he would turn and look at her while talking to himself.
Stara smiled at the thought of such a person, "At least the locals seem nice. Harmless enough."
The other man, a hatter, who wore a large green hat as an advertisement, slowly turned his head towards her from a distance.
"They say the Cheshire Cat is vile. He's a use you and abuse you and he'll kill you with a smile." said the short, hunched man.
Stara backed away from the hatter cautiously, he was obviously senile. Her attention turned to the parting clouds above her as two large translucent images stared down upon Earth. It was the Watcher, overseer and recorder of the Marvel universe, next to a white-skinned man in a green hooded cloak.
"A message to all, I am the Spectre." said the white man with a ghostly voice as his big-headed counter-part simply stared blankly upon the earth below him.
The Spectre continued, "A mutant has created a rip in reality; a suction attracted to supernatural and abundant energy to include all with inhuman powers or acute skills. As a result, you all have been summoned here, a sanction between the two opposing Earths. You will remain in this universe until our conflict has resolved. Though the mutant could revert this process, she has disappeared through another universal hole. If she cannot be retrieved, then only one other alternative remains; return to your world through the extinction of the other. A war between realities will decide the fate of your world. Our hands may not interfere. You have been advised."
The Watcher and the Spectre both disappeared.
Duty boiled in the blood of the heroes and anger through the blood of villains. Many will die to uphold their reality; others will fight amongst their own reality out of sheer vengeance. The odds are equally measured; only a hair's margin can determine the outcome of this war between realities, but to what measures would the heroes and villains go?
"NO!" screamed Stara, gripping her own hair tightly between her fingers. "I am good! Everything was good! I freed her! I freed you, bitch! I freed you!!" In a fit of panic she ripped from her scalp hair by the handful.
"I did what was right!" she fell to the ground sobbing heavily. "GOD DAMN IT! Everything was good!" she said on her knees, cursing the darkened clouds above her head.
Suddenly, a familiar tune penetrated her hysteria. Stara became almost entranced by the sound as it edged nearer. She was stimulated as if an infant reacting to a musical crib accessory. She remembered the tune, it was the silly tune she heard earlier. The green-haired jester in the purple suit stood over her still humming. As she lifted her head up with tears still rolling down, he aimed a large revolver at her temple. The last of her tears slid over the curves of her cheeks. His pleasant smile had turned more aggressive, Grinchy, as it began to stretch grotesquely across his entire face. It reminded her of the cat from a story she heard long ago as a child. The cat with the wide grin, The Cheshire Cat. Then she remembered what the Hatter had told her earlier. The pale jester was the cat, the killer. Stara giggled at the realization.
"Funny, isn't it, how the thing that began all life is the very same thing to end it." said the Joker smiling insanely.
Stara stared at the man. She sniffled, "What is that?"
"A Bang!" said the merry man, planting a bullet in her skull. "That joke always knocks-em dead! HeeHeeHeeee!!" His laughter howled through the baron streets. The Hatter laughed with him in a low raspy voice.
"Let's go, old friend, the party's just getting started! HAHAHA!" laughed the Joker.
The duo slipped through the shadows of the alleyway avoiding the big streets. Stara's body lay limply on the blood-spattered pavement. As the Joker's laughter echoed throughout the alley way her arm began to twitch until, at last, her pulse faded completely.
"Wow, talk about a trip down memory lane…" said Spiderman as he gazed upon his friend's classic yellow costume, "Red tights in the wash or something'?"
"I know you. They call you the Spider-Man." said Daredevil standing like a statue.
Spidey cocked his head in confusion. "Yes, they do call me the Spider-Man… among other things. Sure you're feeling ok, Matt?"
Daredevil leapt onto Spiderman, kneeing him in the stomach and pinning him to the roof top.
"I'll give you one chance to come clean! Who are you and how do you know that name!" demanded the yellow-suited devil.
"Matt, Matt it's me, Peter! Peter Parker! You know me; we've had each other's back on several occasions so what gives?" said Spiderman forcing Daredevil off of him.
"I have never worked with you, Spiderman." insisted DD, "This is the first time I have ever seen you in person!"
Before Spiderman could debunk the situation, the two heroes were met with a large explosion. Spiderman and DD swung to the ground as falling debris showered all around them. As they peered upward, a large muscular man flew in their direction. He wore blue tights with a red cape and had a golden necklace reading 'Bizarro #1.'
"Now that's some serious bling." said Spiderman to the pasty-skinned evil-doer.
Bizarro flew in low and grinned deviously at the two revealing his stained hygiene-deprived teeth. Spiderman jumped on his back.
"Whoa big fella, you might want to invest in some toothpaste… or get a grill to go along with your necklace there." joshed the arachnid.
Bizarro's reached behind him grabbing Spidey by the neck and flinging him like a gnat through the glass window of a bakery clear across the street. Parker tried shaking the dizziness out of his head and looked up through the broken window panel. Pain surged through his body as he webbed the ceiling pulling himself to his feet. Spiderman watched his friend, Daredevil attempt to counter the flying maniac.
"Get the hell out of my kitchen!" yelled DD.
Daredevil punched Bizarro hard in the jaw. Nothing. He punched him again and again. Bizarro was not phased in the least. Finally DD withdrew his billy-club and prepared for a back-swing. Bizarro focused his eyes and from them shot a blue beam. Daredevil became an instant Ice-cube.
"NO!" yelled Spiderman.
Just then, he watched his frozen partner shatter into shards of red and yellow as Bizarro punched through him like a hammer on glass. The muscular monstrosity looked over the cold jagged pieces.
"YoU No haVe BizaRros StreNgth! YoU sMall likE dog So Die liKe dog! " he vanished from sight with super-speed.
Spiderman stood there unable to move as reality seeped in. Tears dampened Parker's cloth mask as he stared at the icy chucks that once made up his long time friend. He and Daredevil were child's play to this monstrosity. Spidey had seriously underestimated the situation at hand. He had to get out of there and fast! Heavy drops of rain began to plummet from the dense clouds above. The city erupted with intense explosions, battle cries, and mortal screams. Many, like Daredevil, have already met their end but Spiderman couldn't help but wonder… what was with the yellow costume and How could Matt Murdok have forgotten about Peter Parker just like that?
As he stared over the remnants of his fallen friend, Peter Parker remembered Uncle Ben's infamous quote, "With great power comes great responsibility."
He knew what was in order, even if it meant death. He was no longer playing in the minor leagues. It was time for Spiderman to step up.
NOTES This is my second Fanfic. I'm a sucker for crossovers, what can I say. Anyway, I've read plenty of Marvel VS DC fics but generally they follow the text book "fight first, have a common enemy, team up" story board. I decided it was time to put the heroes and villains (Since they usually get underplayed) in a situation where they HAVE to kill each other off. Also, I intend on using mainstream and some more obscure characters throughout the duration of the fic. It's a fight to the death, at least for the better half of this fanfic so sit back and enjoy the blood bath. Oh, and sorry if you're a DD fan. He lived a good life. Well sort of.