Turnabout Crossover
Chapter 2: Along Came a Spider
Satisfying himself with the breathtakingly spectacular view of the New York City skyline, Spider-Man zipped through the air, swinging beside buildings and jumping over billboards, as he made his way to downtown Manhattan. Large, plump cumulus clouds started to form up in the sky, signifying the coming of rain. It was the middle of December, and uncharacteristically snow had yet to fall during that time, although the fact that this wasn't Earth as they knew it might have had a hand in the change in weather.
Being a native New Yorker, Spidey was quite amazed by how the city was pretty much an exact copy of the one he knew back home, and that there wasn't a building out of place in the urban jungle that was the NYC. As he swung through the cloudy New York skies, he spotted a construction site where a high-rise apartment was being built. Seizing the moment to review his task, he landed on the left side of the building, where the wall had been partially finished. Crawling up towards one of the top floors, he found himself in an empty room where not a soul was in sight.
"I better wait here," he spoke aloud. "Man, I should have told those guys to take a cab. They're gonna take forever to get here."
Jeez. They really know how to keep a guy waiting.
The last time they had taken a cab was an experience they rather would not discuss with him, Spider-Man remembered. He didn't know why. But why they would rather take Deadpool's moped over the alternative was something he didn't get either, especially after that one time:
"Nice scooter, freak!" shouted some random passerby eating hotdogs by the sidewalk, as Deadpool slipped by on his ride, on his way to a chimicherrychanga sale at Taco Bell.
"It's a motorbike! It's 100% manly!" shouted Deadpool back.
At that moment, the wallcrawler's phone rang, and he quickly snatched the device from his belt and answered it.
"Hello, your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man here," he answered.
"Spider-Man, this is Zero speaking, over," spoke the person from the other line.
"Oh, hey! I was starting to wonder when you'd call," spoke Spider-Man in an upbeat tone. "So what's the situation? Where's our guy?"
"Unfortunately, we lost him. He managed to slip by me and X as his speed was much greater than ours, as averse I am to admitting," spoke Zero. His voice audibly showed disappointment. "We were able to follow him closely until he entered a narrow alley. As we moved in inside it, he was gone."
"Where did you last see him?"
"I'm tracking your location at the moment," he responded, as a few taps and clicks could be heard from his end. "We're about six blocks west from your current location, and if the direction he was heading in has not changed, he is most likely in your immediate vicinity."
"Acknowledged," answered Spider-Man. "I'll be on the alert."
He then walked towards the edge of the platform, and looked over to the side.
"I'm at a construction site in front of the D.I.Y. shop Chun and Jeannie went to last week. The top floor is a good vantage point to keep a lookout from; I can see about a fifteen block radius from my current position. How about we regroup here?"
"Affirmative," spoke the person on the other line. "We'll be there in approximately three minutes. Wait for—"
Suddenly, an intense pain came knocking onto the back of Spider-Man's head.
Spider-sense tingling, he thought, but from where?
He could sense the feeling of a metal blade disturbing the air behind him. In the split-second that followed, Spider-Man narrowly jumped out of the way, as a sword came down, slicing his phone in half. The discarded remnants of his mobile fell on the floor; bits and pieces scattered in different directions.
"I was using that," said Spider-Man, with eyes half-closed. He looked around him as he crouched closer to the floor, anticipating his opponent's next move. "Just in case you don't know, slicing phones in half is a pretty rude gesture here in the Big Apple. And so is sneaking up on people, but I'll let that one slide, since I do it all the time."
"I heard you speaking with the people who were after me," spoke a voice. "Honestly, I believe this is no way to treat a newcomer, but I guess all humans are the same, wherever they're from."
And I honestly doubt X and Zero are what you'd call human. Apparently our friend here can't tell the difference.
"You attacked us first," cried Spider-Man, looking left and right. Sensing movement coming from several directions, he could tell right away that his opponent was fast. Really fast. "We still don't know if you're friend or foe, but if you come with me, maybe we can sort this issue out over a cup of coffee, or would you prefer tea? Although I might settle for a frappe instead, myself. Not much of a tea and crumpets kinda guy. Deal?"
"Quite brave of you to make small talk in the face of a threat. Or perhaps foolish? I could never tell the difference with you humans."
"That wasn't small talk. I'm giving you a chance to resolve this without fighting, because I wouldn't want to waste the next two minutes of my time kicking your ass."
"Big words," said the voice. "A pity you wouldn't be able to follow-up on that."
"Wanna bet?" asked Spider-Man, tracking his opponent's movements. "Come out so I can stop tracking you down by how your breath stinks."
"It seems you are as foolhardy and flippant as my brother," came the reply. "Since you'll be losing to me, I guess you'll be able to share that quality with him as well."
"Your name is Vergil, isn't it? What's your connection with Dante? He says you're brothers, but from the way he said your name, you two didn't seem to be too close."
"Since you know of my brother," replied the voice, "then it would seem that he has disappeared into this strange world as well?"
The shadow of a large crane was perched on top of the building, obstructing the light coming from the sun. It covered his opponent in a blanket of darkness. But hidden as he was, he wasn't safe from detection. Spider-Man's spider-sense warned him of movement pinpointed as coming from his far left.
You're fast. I guess I'll just have to be faster.
The attacker lunged forward from the side, stabbing the air with his sword as Spider-Man crossed cleanly to his right. His assailant continued relentlessly, stabbing at him with his sword left and right, while Spider-Man continued to dodge unceasingly in both directions.
"Do you need help with your aim? 'Cause I know a guy who can fire arrows really well," said the webslinger nonchalantly, as he jumped further back to avoid a crosscut from his assailant. "I mean, if you slashed at me with the Buster Sword you still couldn't hope to hit me."
His opponent then sliced vertically straight downwards, producing a dark purple sphere of sword slashes, which the wallcrawler only narrowly avoided. Seeing an opening in his opponent's offensive as he raises his sword for another attack, Spider-Man then lunged forward with a kick, which his opponent casually avoids by dodging his head to the right.
Following it up with an uppercut, his opponent then rolled smoothly to the right, then continued to lunge forward towards Spider-Man with a horizontal slash. The wall-crawler did a front flip over his opponent as his attacker dashed just a few inches under him, then landed safely on all fours, sliding backwards towards the edge of the building.
"Dude, I think we need to devise a turn-based system of attack," started Spider-Man, as he managed to cling to the flooring right before he slipped over one of the unfinished sides of the building. "Because you're turning out to be more stab-happy than this one guy I know, and he's got three knives on each hand."
Somewhere in Tokyo, a short, fairly muscular man accidentally sneezes into his can of beer.
"Are you okay, Logan?" spoke his companion in Japanese, another fairly brawny individual who was wearing a ripped and old-looking gi, along with a dark red headband tied around his forehead. "Are you catching a cold? We could always turn the heater on, if the temperature is too much."
The hairy man shrugged.
"It's nothing, kid, probably just a fluke," he replied in the language, as he downed the can of beer on the table. "My metabolism is stronger than a normal human's, I told you that already. There's no way I'm getting a cold, bub. And besides, this is our last day of tracking, so don't get all soft on me. We'll be leaving for New York in a few hours." As he explained, he turned towards the kitchen door to his right, and growled in his natural English, "Laura, aren't those snacks ready yet?"
Back in New York, Spider-Man was continuously being slashed at left and right by an opponent whose speed was in such excess that he could barely even see him.
Dammit. I can't fight back if he's going to keep this up. I need to blindside him somehow if I'm going to beat him.
As his opponent lunged forward once more, his blade in front of him, Spider-Man charged forward at the same time, seemingly on his way to taking the weapon head on. An assured grin appeared on his opponent's face.
This little trick is gonna wipe that smug smile off of your face.
With the tip of the blade only a mere inch from the wallcrawler's head, Spider-Man was able to roll his body to the side like a blur with the exceptional agility that only a person with his advanced reflexes would be able to pull off. His opponent's sword hovered slightly above his left shoulder, completely missing him by mere millimeters.
"How did you—?"whispered his opponent, in the split-second that followed shortly afterward. In the moment it took for him to utter those words, the webslinger's fist was already within his defenses, mere inches below his adversary's chin.
If you liked that little maneuver then you're gonna love this.
His punch connects to the underside of his opponent's chin, hitting his jaw with the force of a ten-wheeler truck, sending his opponent staggering backwards. Before he could do a follow-up however, his opponent was able to catch himself at the last second, narrowly avoiding a wild haymaker from the arachnid. The man jumped backwards and backed into a dark side of the room, holding his jaw with his right hand.
Jeez. It seems this guy can take a beating. That uppercut didn't even faze him, even when I aimed it at such a vulnerable spot. I guess I shouldn't expect less from someone of Dante's level.
"That was sneaky, insect," complimented his opponent. "I'm starting to get mildly amused right now."
"Hey! Are you gonna hide every time I get the upper hand? Huh, Vergil?" taunted the wallcrawler, as he resumed his primal stance.
Spider-Man watched as the man slowly stepped into the light, holding his sword inside his scabbard, which the arachnid never saw him sheathe.
Yeesh. Did he even have it out? he thought to himself.
The man wore a long, blue leather coat over a black doublet, black pants, and brown leather boots. His hair was white, and was slicked backwards. His eyes looked amused, but were cold and uncaring, and he looked calm and collected, instead of fierce and menacing.
He looks like Dante… I mean, more than how brothers would normally resemble each other. So they're twins? thought Spider-Man.
"Insect... you surprise me with your speed," spoke Vergil, as he slowly walked forward. "No one has ever escaped my Judgment Cut in quick succession."
"I'm an arachnid, technically speaking," said Spider-Man, keeping close to the ground. "Subphylum Chelicerata, phylum Anthropoda, you know? Insects are a different class altogether. But don't worry, you get points for trying. The teacher doesn't forget the kids who try."
Damn. I should have been a kindergarten teacher instead. High school kids are such a pain.
As they lunged towards each other once more, Spider-Man sensed a disturbance in the surroundings, and quickly drew back. The white-haired man drew closer, unsheathing his sword as he dashed towards the retreating arachnid. Then all of a sudden, out of relatively nowhere, Deadpool teleported between the two combatants, right in the middle of Vergil's attack. The results were gory, to say the least. What else would you expect?
"BAMF!" shouted the merc as he materialized out of thin air. "Hey, what I miss—aaaghh!"
The white-haired man continued to lunge forward, and at one slash of his sword, he sliced Deadpool's left arm clean off. By the look of mild surprise on his face, Vergil didn't seem to anticipate Deadpool's coming. The three of them stared at Deadpool's severed arm as it laid on the floor for several seconds, twitching, as Deadpool's left shoulder bled like a fountain. Not that fountains bleed, but nevermind.
Thank God for a healing factor, thought Spider-Man, as he noticed the crimson comedian's underreaction to what most normal humans, and some alien lifeforms, would consider a major injury.
But doesn't that hurt like hell?
"Okay... awkwaaaarrd," was all that came out of Deadpool's mouth as he stared at his severed arm, its fingers twitching violently on the floor. "You know," he explained to the two people around him, "when the sudden overload to all my senses stops and my ability to feel pain comes back, I'll be screaming like a giiiiiii—aaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
With annoyance evident on his face, the white-haired man dashed forward and kicked Deadpool off the edge of the building as he was in the process of picking up his severed limb. The mercenary continued to scream as he fell from a height of thirty-seven stories, his voice a piercing reminder to the eardrum that even nigh-invulnerable mutates know that pain equals bad.
Actually, I'm not sure if he's screaming because he's feeling the pain of having his arm sliced off, or because of the fact that falling from this height would hurt even more.
"Curses! Foiled agaaaiiin!" continued to shout the red-masked mercenary as he neared the bottom.
"Never a dull moment with Deadpool around," remarked Spider-Man as he watched him fall off the edge. He averted his eyes as the mercenary neared the bottom. The sight would be less than pretty, and that would be understating it.
"Now," said the white-haired man, as he drew his sword, "where were we, arachnid?" He pointed his sword in the wallcrawler's general direction, urging him to continue their battle.
"We were in the middle of a Biology discussion, I think," quipped Spider-Man, as he took the first move and quickly dashed towards his opponent.
The wallcrawler delivered a sweep and knocked the white-haired man to the ground, all the while ducking down to avoid the blue coated man swinging his scabbard sideways. Following it up quickly with an axe kick, Spider-Man proceeded to send his foot straight down on his adversary's cranium. Unfortunately for him, his opponent rolled sideways at the last minute, and was able to leap to his feet.
You're mine! thought the arachnid, as he dashed towards his opponent once more. He clenched his fist as he proceeded to throw a straight punch at his opponent's face.
Seeing this, Vergil countered with a punch of his own, and threw a body shot aimed at his opponent's chest. Spider-Man hit him squarely in the jaw, while the white-haired man landed one on him squarely in the stomach. The two of them stood there unflinchingly, glaring at each other, before leaping backwards.
Spider-Man clutched at his gut. "Ugh. That was strong one," he remarked.
"You aren't so bad yourself," replied the white-haired man, wiping the small trickle of blood from his mouth. "Ready to give up, insect?"
"Uh, arachnid," corrected Spider-Man once more. "And no. Never."
"Hmph. Figures," spoke Vergil, grinning, but with a look of utmost seriousness in his eyes. "Now I'm motivated."
"Same here," said Spider-Man, returning to his primal stance. "Seeing what you're capable of means I don't have to hold back as much."
The dining hall, as Phoenix found out, was huge. Three Victorian-looking crystal chandeliers hung up on the ceiling above the table, giving a sense of formality and elegance to an already luxurious-looking place. The table that they were sitting at, which according to Jean is made of fine oak bonded with a strong metal alloy, looked as if it could easily seat at least 30 people, 15 on either side. At one end of the table sat Phoenix and Maya, and sat opposed to them on the other side were Chun-Li and Jean. Between them, a large bowl that was half full of beef stew, another bowl filled with salad, and a pitcher of iced tea, made for an excellent brunch.
"Wow," exclaimed Maya as she downed her third bowl in a row. The way she ate, like a happy seal at a fish buffet (for there was really no other way of describing it), made Phoenix conscious of their companions. Maya wasn't one for proper table etiquette, but it seemed her vigor in eating managed to put a smile on Jean's face.
"Miss Grey, you're cooking is simply superb!" she mumbled with her mouth full, but her words were clear and understandable, nonetheless. "I give you and your cooking a perfect 10! No, wait… an 11!"
"I'm glad you liked it," said Jean, smiling at the compliment as she brought a glass of iced tea to her lips.
"I don't know about you," added Phoenix, "but personally, this is the best meal I've had in a while."
Although the fact that I've been eating nothing but fast food burgers and fries, and noodle house noodles might have added to that assessment. Not that I'm complaining. I mean, I personally know someone who has it a whole lot worse than I do.
"It's really amazing," continued Phoenix. "What is it, anyway? Some kind of well-kept family recipe, perhaps?"
"No, not really," explained Jean. "Actually, I just happened to be flipping through some cook books in the library when came across this recipe. It was from some really old-looking British cook book, if I remember correctly."
"Wow, didn't know they made beef stew."
They continued to stay silent for a while after that, as Phoenix tried to comprehend the new level of weirdness he'll be living in for the time being. Chun-Li had explained to him everything. Or at least, everything she claims she knows about the situation, and he was having a really hard time digesting all of it.
It's hard being an attorney whose thoughts are firmly grounded on reality. When someone hits you with the idea that you're in some alternate universe, you become so lost that you wouldn't know how to react.
That's how Phoenix felt at the moment. He felt like the whole world suddenly dropped him off in Crazyville and left him there while it proceeded on its way to a city that made sense.
"So, do you think you're up to speed on what's happening, Mr. Wright? " said Chun-Li after a while of silence. She was shuffling her fork back and forth over a piece of broccoli in her salad bowl that she simply refused to eat. Perhaps because salads don't usually contain broccoli. It was something she had to tell Jean later.
"I understand how hard it would be for you to try to take all of this in," she continued, "but what I've told you is the truth. I wish someone more qualified to explain this to you was available, but we're a little short on people right now, so I'm all you've got."
So far, thought Phoenix, let me see if I'm able to process all of this. A big, purple, cosmic entity called Galactus is on its way to destroy Earth, which isn't Earth as I know it, but is actually an amalgamation of several Earths across several alternate universes and dimensions.
The universe which this Earth thrives in is itself a result of this fusion of dimensions and universes, making this universe a "merged universe" of sorts, containing properties of every universe in existence. And because of some rift in space-time, the specific circumstances surrounding which are being researched as we speak, Maya and I were sent here to this amalgamation of universes, not by accident, mind you, but for a purpose.
We were chosen or something, to be part of a team that would turn all of reality back to normal.
"Yeah," said Phoenix, "I think I am."
"Are you sure?" asked Chun-Li. "Because you don't look like you do."
"Well, yeah," agreed Phoenix. "I suppose I don't. But you really can't blame me, can you? I mean, to start with, how would you people even know all of this? All this… this world merger issue that you're trying to make me believe. Do you know what it sounds like? It sounds like a bad comic book plot. How can entire worlds and entire universes merge aspects of themselves together and create some… some sort of fusion of reality?"
"Simple," answered Chun-Li as she crossed her arms over her chest. "It's because this has happened before. This is the third time, actually. The third cycle."
"Cycle?" asked Phoenix, perplexed. "Are you trying to say this thing happens in some sort of pattern? That it repeats?"
"That's what we assume," answered Chun-Li. "The thing is, Mr. Wright, we weren't able to fully unlock the secrets of the world merger the first two times it happened because we were too busy trying defeat the threats we were facing at the time. That, coupled with the fact that we didn't have the resources and the right people to even begin research at the time, made it impossible for us to understand what had happened. We were like how you are now, in a way. Only a little less panicky."
"And you're saying now you do have these resources and people?" asked Phoenix. "Then where are these people? Maybe they can better explain the whole situation to me than you can."
Chun-Li cleared her throat.
"Well," started Chun-Li, and she started to count off on her fingers, "Dr. Strange has been staying inside his Sanctum Sanctorum for over three months now, trying to commune with the higher beings about more specific details on the world merger. Mr. Stark has been researching about all the differences and similarities between the known universes and this world merger to figure out if there's a pattern to the events changed, and whether there is a hidden meaning to them. Thor has been gone for seven months trying to see if there's anything he can find out about it in all of the Nine Realms. And Nova has been gone for four and a half months ever since he decided to infiltrate Galactus' ship to search its databases, and maybe procure the Ultimate Nullifier, just in case we would need to drive Galactus back if he ever decides on taking his meal."
Did she just make some of that up?
Finishing her first bowl, Jean decided to cut in on the argument before it got hostile.
"Please understand, Mr. Wright," spoke Jean, "that we're trying to do the best we can in trying to deal with the situation. I know what you're feeling right now. You're feeling confused, and angry, and frustrated, and that's okay."
Jean then took a deep breath, and her expression became serious for a moment.
"I know this all seems nonsensical to you, but if you take the time to understand everything that's been explained to you thus far, all of it will be crystal clear. There are a lot of things at stake here. All you can do for now is calm down, relax and trust us."
Phoenix looked dumbfounded for a moment, before letting out a huge sigh and slumping in his chair.
"Look, I'm… I'm sorry."
Phoenix looked at the two women in front of him with his big, blue, sad, puppy dog eyes and apologized to them repeatedly. "It's just that… it's just that I've been under a lot of stress lately and… this whole ordeal… it doesn't make sense and it doesn't feel right. It makes me uncomfortable just thinking about it."
"It's okay, Mr. Wright," sighed Chun-Li, before grinning happily. "I'm sorry, too, for acting like that. I felt the same way you did when this first happened. You'll come to understand everything, I promise."
"Thanks. But… there's something else…"
"Hmm? What is it?"
"The part where you said me and Maya were chosen for this," said Phoenix. "That has me worried. I'm just a defense attorney, and Maya is just my spirit channeling secretary. We don't know anything about fighting cosmic-level threats or saving the Earth. There has to be a mistake."
"There are no mistakes, Mr. Wright," spoke Jean.
"Yep," seconded Chun-Li. "I mean, when we first saw you, and when we found Maya a few hours earlier when you both turned up through the gateway, we weren't sure what to make of you. You didn't seem like you knew how to fight, you didn't look like you had any powers, and you didn't have some sort of weapon or mecha with you. But the fact that you're not of this world and that you turned up here just like everyone else proves that there is no mistaking that you're one of us."
Wright's face fell flat at the explanation. There was a part that he didn't seem to comprehend more than others.
"Uh, how exactly did we turn up here?"
Spider-Man and the white-haired assailant clashed once more. Blow by blow, they exchanged increasingly more violent punches and kicks as their battle waged on. As the arachnid threw another punch, Vergil was able to counter with one of his own, and they both hit each other squarely on their stomachs, sending both careening in opposite directions.
Vergil sheathed his sword as he slid over to the edge of the room.
"Hmph. I actually felt that," remarked the white-haired man.
Meanwhile, the arachnid was able to latch onto the floor on the other side of the room, preventing himself from crashing into a concrete wall.
"There's more where that came from, grandpa," came the reply.
"Grandpa?" asked an astonished Vergil. "…Does my hair color really inspire the image of a man possessing overwhelming age?"
Before they were able to continue their skirmish however, a voice quite familiar to the both of them was heard coming from outside the building. Vergil quickly moved over to the shadows with his sword in hand when he heard it, while Spider-Man moved closer to the edge of the room and looked over the side.
Jeez. Took them long enough to get here, thought the arachnid.
"Hey, webhead!" shouted Dante as he ran up the finished side of the building, carrying the merc with the mouth by the collar of his outfit. Deadpool himself was blissfully unaware of his surroundings, as he was busy reattaching his severed limb. As he drew closer, the demon hunter then yelled out, "Catch!"
Dante then threw Deadpool up several feet in the air into the room that Spider-Man and Vergil were in. The masked mercenary landed squarely on his feet, seemingly still oblivious to what was happening around him, as he was occupied with reattaching his arm. Dante himself jumped upwards and landed smoothly on the floorboards, with the sword latched onto his back hitting the floor with the sound of tempered, demonic steel.
"A little to the left," whispered Deadpool to himself, while adjusting the attachment of his arm and shoulder socket, "no wait, I should hear a pop right about now, no, that's not right... what the hell? It can't be backwards... wait, which way should my thumb be facing?"
Meanwhile, Dante and Vergil caught each other's glare almost at once, and for a moment the world seemed to revolve around them as their gazes were menacingly fixed on one another. After several moments had passed, it was Dante who started to grin mockingly, an example which was followed by his brother.
"So it really was you," he said happily, raising his hands in front of him. "What a touching reunion. Right, brother?"
"Sorry I'm late for the party," replied the other, in an equally sarcastic state, albeit more serious in tone and composure compared to his twin.
"Don't worry about it. Had I known you were coming, I would have made preparations for the bash," reassured Dante, as he paced the floor.
"What the hell is this?" remarked Deadpool. "Shakespeare in the Park?"
"We are in New York," added Spider-Man, standing beside him.
"Yeah, well," continued Deadpool, "Central Park's a few ways back. These two better hurry up if they're trying to get into the opening act. Say, you ever read 1984?"
"George Orwell?" asked the arachnid. "Yeah. Scared the crap out of me. Why?"
"I was thinking of writing a fanfic about it, y'know," answered the merc. "One where Winston and Julia turn out to have not actually been broken by the Party and decide to just screw with it all and kick some Inner Party ass and lead a revolution. It's gonna be awesome, with guns and rockets and dinosaurs. And it's gonna have a proper happy ending."
Spider-Man was exasperated at the idea. "You do realize that that kinda defeats the whole point of the story, right?"
"So what? It's my story and it's gonna have a happy ending. With explosions and stuff blowing up."
As the two continued to argue, the sound of one clearing his throat suddenly reverberated throughout the room.
"Are you two quite finished?" asked Vergil.
The two masked men simply nodded.
"So," said Vergil, looking around as if he was completely ignoring what had happened, "this is the world you've been hiding in?"
"I heard they're doing Titus Andronicus tonight at the park," continued Deadpool. "Although I would have personally preferred A Midsummer Night's Dream, since I feel like watching a good comedy at the moment, but the damn bastards at the production said they won't be having it 'til next week."
"Seriously, I never realized you were this cultured," exclaimed Spider-Man, in a tone of voice that could insufficiently be described as the kind kids have when their parents tell them that Santa Claus and the tooth fairy aren't real. In Spider-Man's case though, the reaction stopped at the stage of denial and disbelief and stayed there.
"I wasn't hiding," replied Dante, completely ignoring his companions' side comments. "There's a war right now, brother. Something bigger than you and me is happening at the moment, and as much as I'm itching to finish what we've started, it looks like you're gonna have to wait in line."
"What are you talking about?"
"We're in the middle of a world merger," intruded Spider-Man on the conversation. He figured that if someone was going to explain this whole convoluted mess of events, the nearest science geek was the only one who can make it the least bit understandable. "An unknown event caused several universes and dimensions to combine into this unholy mixture of realities, creating the existential plane we're, well …existing on right now. And whoever or whatever caused that event also caused a rift in space-time which is what sent you to this place."
"Is that so?" asked the blue-coated man. "Then you're implying this whole ordeal is an accident?"
"Not exactly," answered Spider-Man. "I don't trust you, so I'm not going into the trouble of explaining the specifics. All you need to know is that there are no accidents. You're here for a reason, and that's something I'm dead set on finding out."
Vergil started to pace the floor, as the three heroes kept their eyes trained on him, analyzing his every move. The man seemed troubled, like he was thinking deeply about the situation.
Then he spoke aloud.
"You're saying that some sort of war is happening," responded Vergil in a half-hearted manner, a short while later. "And if you're speaking the truth, I presume that you're wondering whether I'll be taking part in this war, and on which side I'll be on. The truth is, I know nothing of what you're saying, nor do I care." He sounded whimsical for a moment, as there was something on his mind. Then only after another short moment had passed did a smile escape from his lips, and he continued, "My only concern is that you spoke of a whoever or a whatever that caused these events to unfold, and is presumably what caused my coming to this realm."
Spider-Man's eyes widened in disbelief. "What are you trying to say?"
"You're implying that stronger forces are at work," spoke the blue-coated man further. "Forces that are capable of merging whole universes together at a whim. To be able to harness even a fraction of that power…"
"A lot of crazies here, today," whispered Deadpool to himself, as he update his Facebook status on his laptop. "Oh, wow, Morrigan update her profile picture… hubba, hubba. I can't believe these pictures don't get flagged!"
"Wait," cried Spider-Man, unable to believe what he was hearing. "You're not seriously thinking—"
"—of harnessing this power?" asked Vergil. "Insect, as my brother can attest, I believe that might controls everything. All I seek is power, and if an entity with such an obscene amount of power exists, I shall defeat it and claim its power for my own."
"Wait! Are you even listening to me?" shouted the wallcrawler. "Hello?"
"Farewell, insect," said Vergil. "The next time we cross paths, I will not be so merciful as to let you live. Same goes to you, Dante."
In the blink of an eye, he crossed the whole length of the room in a single dash, completely bypassing Spider-Man and Deadpool. Reappearing at the end of an unfinished side of the room that overlooked the sidewalk below, he ran one hand through his hair, before letting himself fall over the edge. By the time Spider-Man and Deadpool got to the spot where he was one second later, Vergil had already disappeared.
"Crazies. C-R-A-Z-I-E-S everywhere," intoned Deadpool.
"You're one to talk," remarked Spider-Man, sensing the hard irony in Deadpool's words. Turning away from the edge, he pulled an extra phone from one of Deadpool's many pockets and pouches and started punching numbers.
"What? I'm crazy awesome," came the rebuttal from Deadpool. "That guy was crazy crazy. With a side order of crazy old. I mean, seriously, what's with the hair?"
Meanwhile, Dante was completely motionless as he stood in the middle of the room. Something was seriously troubling him.
"You okay, Dante?" asked Spider-Man, as he held the phone next to his ear.
"Yeah, don't worry about me," spoke the demon hunter. He then looked towards Spider-Man, and noticing the phone in his hand, asked, "Who're you calling by the way?"
"I'm calling Zero to tell him that we just encountered your brother," said Spider-Man. "If we act now, we can scan the area before the trail he left behind disapppears and track him down."
Dante seemed to hesitate, but his mouth started to move on its own as he mumbled something incoherently. It was too soft a whisper to even be remotely audible.
"What was that?" asked Spider-Man.
Dante repeated himself, a little louder this time.
"He's dead."
"What?"
Dante's voice started to trail off. "Vergil. He's… he's dead..."
A resounding "What?" seemed to be the most logical response to an illogical statement. There were so few ways to make three words have as little sense as possible, but to Spider-Man's dismay, Dante was able to pull it off spectacularly. "What are you saying? We just saw him, didn't we? I even fought him."
"And they call me a lunatic," whispered Deadpool to himself, as he checked his Twitter page. "Ooh, Morrigan just tweeted that she's going to take a bath in an hour… uh, hey guys, is there any chance we can get back by 11? I've got some, uh, research to do, apparently."
"I know what I saw," cried Dante, trying exceptionally hard to explain himself. "But Vergil… he's… the last time I saw him was… Nelo Angelo…"
Spider-Man's whole expression changed as he tried to comprehend what his teammate was telling him, but to no avail. This was a whole new level of weirdness. Rifts in space-time, alternate universes, cosmic beings… those he could believe. But people coming back from the dead?
Well, for starters, there's Jean, thought the wallcrawler. Then there's Colossus. I'm pretty sure Professor Xavier has died at least once. And Magneto has died more than once. Same goes to Logan. Then there's Jean again. Is this a mutant thing? No, wait, Cap died during Civil War. Bucky died, too, some time ago. Doom pretty much dies all the time, but it always turns out to be a Doombot so I guess he doesn't count. Same goes to Deadpool, since you never really know if he's dead. And I know there was a time when Hawkeye died. And Wasp, too. Johnny seemed to have died, but it turned out he was just trapped in the Negative Zone and somehow gained the ability to command the Annihilation Wave. And let's not forget Osborn coming back after getting impaled by his glider. And of course, there's me. Twice. Then Jean, again.
"Could you… could you try making sense?" asked the arachnid, after a while.
"That's the problem," said Dante. "I'm trying to, but with the way he spoke… the way he acted... tch, I'm not sure what to think of anymore. If I could only tell you everything… I'm… I'm not even sure if that was really him."
"So, this is what you guys mostly do on your days off?" asked Phoenix, as he sat on the sofa with Chun-Li, while they watched television. The Interpol agent has devoted the rest of her day to welcoming Phoenix to the new world he'll be living in, and took the time to explain everything she's authorized to tell him about how this whole ordeal works, at least until Tony Stark, a.k.a. The Invincible Iron Man, takes over.
"Nah. Mostly, me and the guys just play video games or watch television until morning," replied Chun-Li. "That is to say, I don't usually get days off. The most vacation time I get is on weeknights, and I spend most of those nights hanging out with the guys. Work at Interpol has me busy a few days a week, and the rest of those days I spend on various tasks Mr. Stark gives me and my team. Like right now, I've been personally assigned to look after you and Maya until Mr. Stark gets back."
"Wow. That sounds tough," remarked Phoenix. "I usually only get worked up when I work on a case, and those only come every few months or so. I'm guessing this 'Mr. Stark' can tell me more about what I need to know."
"Yep. He makes it his personal obligations to brief crossovers, or should that be crossover-ers?" continued Chun-Li, although she was inclined to pause for a moment as she searched for the right term to use. "Uh, anyway, he makes it a big deal to be the one who personally briefs the people who cross over, since he thinks all information should come directly from him to ensure that guys like you understand the situation flawlessly."
"Is that so?" questioned Phoenix. "Then why aren't I with him right now, being briefed?"
"Mr. Stark is a busy man, Mr. Wright," replied Chun-Li. "This whole building is his company, and aside from the trouble of managing it and all, he still needs to find the time to manage us on missions and operations. Sure, Cap acts as leader, but since he prefers going into action himself most of the time, Mr. Stark gets stuck managing thirty people as mission control. A boring job, to be honest."
This Mr. Stark… it seems that Miss Chun-Li looks up to him. Heh. From what I can pick up, he's a genius who is the CEO of his own company, which effectively makes him a billionaire. He also seems to be a philanthropist of sorts, and by this woman's own admission, he's also a compulsive playboy and a charismatic person overall. Apparently, that wasn't enough, so he decided to add "superhero" to that list. Honestly, there are too many reasons to like the guy just from hearing her talk about him.
"So you're all divided into teams here?" asked Phoenix after a while.
"Yeah. We interact better that way, and are easier to manage," came the answer. "I met Tronnie during the second cycle, but we've only recently been teammates. It doesn't actually help that she wasn't exactly on our side when this whole ordeal started to begin with. But I know Tronnie's a good girl deep down. I've never once thought of her as having sided with the enemy."
Behind them, Maya sat on the chair of a green, robot-like vehicle that was spherical in shape. It sported a cannon as one of its arms, and a claw was attached to the other. A girl a few inches shorter than Maya stood beside it, pointing out the mecha's interface settings and controls, instructing her on how to use it.
"This lever controls movement speed, this one puts Gustaff in forward and reverse, and the wheel lets him turn while in 'Vehicle Mode'. This switch lets him change into 'Mecha Mode' to unlock separate features, but I'll tell you about those some other time," she explained as simply as possible, capping off the lecture with "Any questions?"
"Ooh, what does this button do?" asked Maya curiously. She immediately pressed down on a shiny, red button which caught her attention, without waiting for an answer. The button set off Gustaff's flamethrower, in its warm, blazing splendor. Luckily for both of them, Tron was able to turn it off in the last minute, keeping the other two people in the room from knowing the accidental attempt arson that was narrowly avoided just then.
"Let's not do that again, shall we?" remarked Tron Bonne, and Maya simply clapped her hands together and apologized.
Meanwhile, Phoenix continued to question Chun-Li on the world merger, extracting every bit of useful information he could from the Interpol agent. Chun-Li, no stranger to this kind of behavior herself, answered the questions as simple and as easy to understand as she could.
"Let's see," muttered Chun-Li to herself. "How do I explain it in a manner that's easy to understand?"
Realizing the futility of that option, as she was no quantum physics major, and that she herself doesn't really fully understand the principles behind the world merger, she opted for the best possible solution: to explain it in her own way, adding a bit of scientific jargon here and there to spice up the conversation.
It wasn't a perfect plan, but it would suffice to answer Wright's questions for now until someone like Mr. Stark or Mr. Banner could tag in for her. And besides, it wasn't like Phoenix would be able to nitpick some of the more blatantly straw grasping aspects of her explanation.
"Remember what I said about the rift in space-time? Well, those rifts open holes in reality that somehow find their way into different universes and the like, and it's those holes that turn into passageways through which we reach this merged universe."
"But you said that there were no mistakes, no accidents," spoke Phoenix. "How can you be so sure? I mean, that those passageways don't just randomly suck people in. It's not impossible, isn't it?"
"Firstly, I'm glad to hear that you're somehow already able to accept the fact that you're in an alternate universe, not in your own," remarked the Interpol agent. "Secondly, to answer your question, well… I've been through this ordeal three times already. And not just me either: Peter, Mr. Stark, Captain America, Ryu; uh, we've been through something like this before with a lot of others. Together. Which is why we're trying to find out more about the ordeal now that we're on the third cycle. I mean, surely you really don't think what happened to us are accidents and coincidences. Right, Mr. Wright?"
Tch. She's got me there. If she's telling the truth, then I agree that something like this happening to a lot of people repeatedly is the last thing you'd call an accident. Still, it's pretty early for her to assume that I'm already accepting all of this at face value. I still need to keep my guard up, after all. Until I meet Mr. Stark, and get a good, solid understanding of everything, I'm keeping my head up and on the alert, in case this is all just one, big lie.
"Dr. Strange has a theory, but until he comes back from the Sanctum Sanctorum, we won't be sure if it's true," added Chun-Li a while later.
"What is the theory about?" asked Phoenix.
"Well, ever heard of Götterdämmerung?"
"Uh, gesundheit?"
Chun-Li stared at him, a bit confused. "No, I mean the last part of Der Ring de Nibelungen."
"Uh, I don't understand."
"'The Ring of Nibelungen', Richard Wagner's epic?"
"Nope."
"Also known as the Ring Cycle? It's pretty famous."
"Nope. Never heard of it."
"It was parodied in a Bugs Bunny short," cried Chun-Li, obviously grasping at straws at the moment with how she's going to explain the whole thing. She was quite surprised at how this part of the conversation would be her 'grasping-at-straws moment'. "The one where Bugs Bunny rides down on a plump horse dressed as a valkyrie, and when Elmer Fudd found out, he went all 'Kill the wabbit! Kill the wabbit!' on him? Don't tell me you don't know that one."
"Oh," spoke Phoenix, his eyebrows crossed. "I won't tell you then."
"Ugh," sighed Chun-Li. "Uh, anyway, let's just say that Dr. Strange thinks that this whole ordeal is cyclical in manner, and that it has something to do with the fate of the universe, leaving it at that." Chun-Li then proceeded to pick up the remote control stashed on top the coffee table in front of them, and turned on the flat-screen television set mounted up high on the wall. "I'm going to have to sit you through a Looney Tunes marathon one of these days, Mr. Wright."
I should get out more. These references she keeps on making don't really—wait. Wait a minute.
"What did you say?" asked Phoenix in surprise.
"Looney Tunes," came the reply. "What, you guys don't have Looney Tunes in your world? What kind of sick, dark, twisted dimension do you come from? Geez. No wonder you're a lawyer."
"No! What I meant was… wait, what?"
Chun-Li, in realization of what came out of her mouth, smiled sheepishly and meekly apologized. "Sorry. I… well, you can't blame me. Remember the three guys from earlier? You start hanging out with them long enough, and their personalities start to rub off on you. Anyway, what were we talking about?"
"What you said earlier. A specific part of it, actually," responded Phoenix, with the seriousness in his voice all but overtaking every other emotion. "This whole ordeal… you said that this has something to do with… the fate of theuniverse?"
As Chun-Li was channel surfing, she suddenly came across a news channel where a blurry video was being shown. The footage showed a dark, decrepit scenery devoid of light for a few seconds, and then footsteps could be heard in the background a short while afterwards. The film turns to static at one point, but then all of a sudden it shows a large, hulking monstrosity in front of the camera.
The being's face was disfigured and full of stitches, one of which trails over one of its eyes. It wore a long, black trench coat, and seemed to have been holding a large, weapon in one hand, which sort of resembled an RPG launcher. It was then shown slowly walking towards the camera, raising its hand and afterwards shooting out some sort of whip-like appendage towards it, before the feed ends in static. The scene then switched to the news anchor sitting at his desk, holding a stack of paper.
"There have been reports of an unknown creature being sighted at the warehouse clusters found near the Hudson River. The video presented was footage by an unknown submitter, and according to the letter sent along with the video copy, it was spotted by the video taker last night at about 10:00 p.m. within the complex itself. Citizens are advised to stay away from the area while authorities are on their way to investigate.
"The police have informed us that they have no idea what the creature is, although they are quick to tell the public that this might probably be just an elaborate prank. The warehouses by the Hudson have been closed off for years and are generally devoid of people, but to reassure the public that no such creature exists, the New York Police Department are willing to hold an investigation of the vicinity this afternoon. That is all. We now return you to your regularly scheduled program."
That was odd. I wonder what the hell that thing was, thought Phoenix, but before he let his mind wonder off, he shook his head and reminded himself of what was more important at the moment.
"Anyway, Miss Chun-Li, about my question," spoke Phoenix after a short pause.
"Do you want to go out for some ice cream, Mr. Wright?" she suddenly asked, with the question seemingly coming out of nowhere. There was a sudden change in her voice that caught Phoenix off-guard. Before he knew it, he was already following her outside the door.
"But Miss Chun-Li," continued Phoenix as he followed her lead, "about my question…"
"I'll tell you over ice cream, Mr. Wright," she reassured him. "And don't worry, I'm buying."
Strange as it was, he couldn't help but keep all other questions that he had to himself. There was something bothering him with the way she suddenly changed expressions and tone, going from upbeat to serious in mere seconds. Could it have been because of that video?
One question at a time, Phoenix, he told himself. One question at a time. Still, something isn't right. I feel like I missed something.
Looking back at the room they left, to his surprise he found it completely deserted. Not a soul in sight.
"That's weird," mumbled Phoenix to himself. "Where did Maya go?"
End of Chapter 2
