With A Snap
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 54: Magic Time
EARTH M-199999
AVENGER COMPOUND
UPSTATE NEW YORK, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The flying Lemur Momo scurried about; he seemed to be very good at avoiding danger, so no one minded his presence.
A robot monkey and the robot platypus did notice his presence, though. The lemur poked at the automatons trying to understand what they were.
Darkhelm changed shaped into a winded-up lemur spooking her a bit before turning back into a platypus but with a hard hat this time. Today the bots would be working on repairing the damage that the Hulk had caused.
"So, maybe a bay window?" CPU suggested as they stood in front of the giant hole in the wall.
"Krrrrrl," The platypus responded.
Both robots turned into dust clouds before reforming into several copies; they all scattered around looking for materials to start repairs.
Momo scurried back and poked the robot monkey again.
"Sigh,"
Nearby at the Hub controls, Steve and Tony looked over the data with Alexis.
The Technomage in the blue coat just told them, "Okay, I've started to send Scout around. He's putting extra focus on people who seem to have already located this world. If they have questions, he can answer them and see if they would be interested in working with us. If they want to cause a ruckus, then we can deal with them."
Steve raised an eyebrow, "Deal with them?"
"Divert them; it's harmless. Otherwise, he's just sending messages to see who might help them. Scout will if they want to talk or whatever. Maybe we can help them; maybe they can help us. I got the first shift; Jack's going to take the next one and so on. We can have a team ready to go in a few minutes if needed."
"Sounds good," Steve turned to Tony, "Tony, I'm thinking of heading off to talk to the man you told me about. The man you meet with Stephen Strange."
"Wong?" Tony remarked.
"Yeah, with Alexis gone we didn't have anyone with magic expertise. We have a few more magic users now, but I'd like to have someone who knows how it works from our universe on stand by here. If anyone decides to go back home, then we have someone here to help."
"Captain?" Tony looked over with a faked shocked expression, "I wouldn't have thought you would be so open to the idea of magic."
"Well, the last few years have been eventful. Plus, there were always rumors of some of the things that the Fuhrer and Schmidt were up to. The stories about a Baron that they-"
"Okay, no time for old war stories." Tony interrupted. "You want to have more people with different expertise on the team. Fine, good idea, have redundancies if someone is busy. I'll give you there address."
"You're not coming along?"
"Nope, busy," Tony smiled, "FRIDAY mind showing off our project."
The control panel projected a cybernetic arm and eye implant.
"The girl from Touma's world had a cybernetic arm, it was badly damaged, but from what I saw, their tech is decades ahead of anything I have. Nebula is going to help me work it out, and get this Mugino a brand new arm. If she wants to stay good, if not, we send her back home with a brand new arm. I already got a deal with Rand Medical researching into this tech; with this, we can skip years."
Tony did get a look at Nebula's implants, but they were made for another species, there complications on replicating that for humans. But here was a fully working cybernetic that were already made for humans.
"Is it the right time to work on something like this?" Steve asked him.
"I'm all for saving the whole of existence, but why not help people who need a hand here too-" he paused, "That was not intended." He caught himself, " What I mean is that there are thousands, maybe millions of people who could use this technology. And how great would it be that when we bring everyone back, we bring them back to a better world?"
Steven didn't argue it; he knew soldiers who lost body parts, and he knew what they would give for a chance to get them back. That could do a lot of good.
That was something he did admire about Tony; he was trying to help.
EARTH BT-12705-2
TENNYSON RESIDENCE
BELLWOOD, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The world was a mess.
That was sort of always true, but things have just gotten much worse.
Rojo sighed as she set plates on the table. They were living in Gwen's home, still seemed weird to her. Gwen had no reason to give them a place to stay; they could have just locked them up or kicked them out to find their place in all the chaos.
Rojo didn't get it, but at least try to help where she could. Still, her mind wandered, she used to be part of a gang, she wondered if her girls were still around. They had a falling out a while back, and even right now, it would be near impossible to find them.
The nearby TV filled the room with noise as another news report blared with the loudmouth Will Harangue.
The man tossed his jacket on the back of his chair and looked through some sheets of paper. He'd been on live TV almost none stop since this all started, and he looked it.
"UN reports continue to come in. At this point, it is safe to say that half of the population worldwide has vanished." He adjusted his glasses, "And still no word from the world's supposed Hero Ben Tennyson. In our greatest time of need, he is nowhere to be found-" He paused for a second, "I'm told we have a call. Good morning, caller. You're on live-"
"I can't believe you're doing this right now!" A young voice blared.
The picture on the screen glitch for a second as the screen was filled with a silver static. Rojo noticed it happened recently, maybe something wrong with the cable or something. She didn't put too much mind to it; there were things far more important to worry about.
"Jimmy, is this you again?"
"Yes, it is, Ben is a hero! And if he's not out there doing anything is because- it's because he was in the unlucky half."
Rojo turned the channel to some sort of cartoon about a red dingo. That kid had kept calling whenever Harangue ended up bad talking Ben, Rojo was tired of it. Plus, it would probably upset Gwen.
"Hey," Frightwig called out from the kitchen, "Do you mind calling the others? I got breakfast ready."
Rojo made her way towards Gwen's room, "Hey Red! Wakey-wakey!"
Rojo realized that she must have stayed up working on spells in a vain effort to fix everything. She pushed open the door and soon found Gwen fast asleep in her bed and curled up next to her was Charmcaster. They were tangled together, and their clothes and hair were disheveled with spells books scattered around them.
There wasn't much to laugh about, but Rojo did get a chuckle from finding Charmcaster drooling onto Gwen's hair.
Rojo had found them like that a few times already,
"Wake up!"
"Ah!" The girls jolted up, knocking into each other heads as they did.
"Gah! Not again," Charmcaster rubbed her head, "why does this keep happening?"
"You drooled on me again." Gwen pulled on her hair. "We do; we keep falling asleep together."
"Because you both stay up," Rojo told them, "you both have been working on your magic stuff into late of the night until you crash." The biker shrugged, "Get cleaned; we have breakfast ready."
After stopping to fix her hair, Gwen went down for breakfast. Frightwig was a reasonably good cook; all the extra appendages seemed to help for multitasking.
Gwen saw a plate of food waiting for her and felt lucky the world was crumbling around her, but she still had a few things. She could keep going; she reached for the chair when a bright blue blur rushed in.
"Helen?" Gwen asked, surprised.
Helen was a half-human half XLR8 hybrid plumber. "Gwen! We- I can't explain it. We need you to see this!"
She grabbed Gwen and pulled away at super speeds.
The others just stared, Charmcaster just shrugged, "Okay, I'm taking her bacon."
"I get her hash brown," Rojo added.
Frightwig just sighed, " I guess I'm taking the eggs and toast."
There was a slight clink as a silver sliver tapped against the window, not that any of them noticed.
EARTH M-199999
AVENGER COMPOUND
UPSTATE NEW YORK, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
They had plenty of rooms, and there was always room for more so they let them bunk there. Steve still felt strange about the whole situation. It looked like everyone was fairly busy that day. Martha, the Doctor, and Jenny were busy, tend to Ava and Bruce. Scott was working with Rocket, Jack, and Mickey, going over the rest of the alien technology they brought back from the garden. Thor wasn't in the best state to help people. Kakine was keeping an eye on Sogiita; he was afraid he'd wake up and keep trying to fight. Kinuhata was waiting for Mugino to wake up, she was sure she'd try to kill someone. The two magicians were resting and meditating. Shutaura was just working on repairing the Black Crow Mech.
Scarlett was still sleeping. Alexis told him that she often slept late after she used her powers too much, though Steve felt that Alexis might have been covering for her. Steve did decide to check on the guest to make sure they were adjusting.
Steve was pretty familiar with finding himself in a new world.
They seemed to be doing pretty well all things said. Touma was from a similar world, so he had to do less adjusting.
Touma took it to himself to make everyone some breakfast since he was used to feeding a big eater; this was still easier than his usual breakfast order.
They were in the sitting area while they ate and watched TV, FRIDAY was helping them get acclimated to the new world.
"Hey," Steve greeted them, "I just wanted to check on you. How are you all doing?"
Touma greeted him, "Morning, I'm doing good."
A magical god had once tortured Touma by forcing him to live through countless lives that all ended with his usually gruesome death, so just a parallel universe, that didn't phase him. Yeah, that kid had issues he should talk about.
Team Avatar might have had a weird life in general, so that helped them start to get used to the world.
They were watching the TV marveling at the wonders of the world. FRIDAY streaming videos of the world, vast civilizations, and massive towers of steel and glass. They had gone to the moon and traveled into the deepest part of the oceans. It was almost like something out of stories, but here it was every day.
Thought Aang felt a little uneasy about how separated from nature people in this world were. And it felt a bit odd that there weren't any spirits.
"Uh, we're doing okay," Suki told him, she smiled though a bit sadly as she thought how Sokka would love this place. He loved seeing a forklift; he'd go crazy seeing flying machines and an artificial lady without a body that spoke to them.
"Good," Steve told them. "If you need anything, FRIDAY can help, and there will be someone around."
"You going somewhere?" Touma asked.
"Yeah, I'm going into the city to see someone that might be able to help."
"As in New York City?" Touma asked him.
"Yeah,"
"It's that City?" Aang pointed to the screen, which was showing a movie taking place in New York.
"Yeah," Steve confirmed.
"Can we come along too?" Katara asked, "I've never seen a city like that. The biggest city on our world doesn't look anything like it-just wow!"
Steve smiled, New York was something special, and they were just kids they would be curious. "I don't know; I'm not sure we'd all fit in the car."
FRIDAY's voice rang out, "I think we have something that might help." The TV screen changed, showing video feed from the garage.
"That could work."
EARTH BT-12705-2
PLUMBER'S BASE
BELLWOOD, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A few short moments later, Gwen found herself deep in the Plumber base, "Well, at least that dried out my hair."
"Gwen." Grandpa Max greeted her.
Gwen looked around and didn't see many plumbers. She did see a few familiar faces, Alan another plumber kid along with Cooper.
"Grandpa?" Gwen questioned, "What happened?"
Max told her, "We think we have a lead, someone contacted us and is claiming they know what happened."
Max motioned to the main computer; it was large enough for all of them to see it. The screen was blank except for a blinking line.
Is that the one you wanted here?
"Yes," Max replied.
Good, you must be Gwen.
"Hi," Gwen replied to words that quickly appeared on the screen.
Hello, I'm called Scout.
"So, you know something about this whole-"
We're calling it the Dusting. Yeah, we're not great with names. I blame my creator.
Gwen studied the words; something felt off about them besides the odd tone there was something she couldn't place a finger on.
Max spoke up, "You said you knew about the situation."
Scout explained the situation with Thanos and the stones.
And that sums it right up. One insane man with a strong will got the power to make his dream a reality. To make it true in every reality, making it happened every timeline, parallel, every dimension including yours.
The group was silent, not sure how to respond.
I'm an AI searching the multiverse for allies, on behalf of a group that is trying the reverse the damage done. We feel that marshaling our forces would yield the highest chance of success.
Cooper spoke up, "How do we know you are telling the truth?"
Skepticism is wise. You don't know us, and I am telling you a rather tall tale if you'd allow me to upload some files to your computers.
Cooper was hesitant but was comfortable enough at the virus protection. "Go ahead."
Gwen felt a tingle of energy through the air coming from the computer.
Several files popped onto the computer and opened up. There seemed to be plans and schematics for devices and equipment, some sort of spellcraft, and data that Gwen was having a hard time understanding.
All right, that is a crash course quantum physics and the stuff behind our ability to create portals. Check the science, and it should prove what I'm saying. I've included things that would help should you decide to make your own portal device should you feel more comfortable in controlling your own mode of transport.
Max nodded, "Can we have some time to look this over?"
Of course, I will try to contact you later. From what I've gathered, you have enough skills that, with the information I've left, you should be able to find a way to contact us. We can discuss this further if you want, and we can even send a representative to speak to you in person should that make things easier.
"You're are being awfully considerate," Max noted,
My creator made me a tad more diplomatic than himself. I really have to step up at times like these.
Alan asked, "What if we refuse to join your alliance?"
You can do that, that is your choice. If you don't trust us, or you aren't willing to help, we will just continue looking for others. There are no hard feelings. There are countless Universes, and I can only spread myself so much. I'll take my leave unless any of you have any questions.
Gwen took a stab at something, "Yeah, I have one. I've had this strange feeling since I got here, are you magic?"
Very perceptive, I am a bit of magic. My creator is what some call a technomage. He likes to mix magic and science; it's part of the reason I can have my presence searching through multiple worlds.
Gwen closed her eyes and stretched out mana and felt for something. Pass the computer screens; she did find a presence, a small little spark of energy. It reminded her of the stories of will O'wisps.
If that is all, I will leave you to it. I hope to speak with you later. Bye!
The words all vanished quickly.
Max took a command, "Cooper, scan the computer for any virus or anything. Triple check it, and then looked over what they sent us."
Cooper confirmed something, "I already took a glimpse; it almost looked like plans for a Jumpgate, like the one at Los Soledad but more intense."
"Well, scan the files first and then take a good look. Then see if you can get Azmuth to look it over. If it looks too good, it probably is. I want everything checked and double-checked." Max turned to Gwen, "I think I saw some magic symbols, do you think you can look them over?"
"Sure," Gwen sighed, "I'll do what I can. There is some magic at play. It's something I have never seen before."
"Are you sleeping well?" Max asked her, worry peppered his voice.
"I'm fine; I'm just doing-I'm sleeping."
EARTH M-199999
AVENGER COMPOUND
UPSTATE NEW YORK, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Thor sat by himself as he drank a bottle of beer.
"Hey there, big fellow," Jack greeted him, offering him another bottle, "mind if I sit here?"
Thor took the bottle, "Sit if you like."
Jack sat beside him; he noticed how Thor was eyeing him. "You got a question?"
"I saw that red spike go through your heart. You should be dead."
"Yup. I was."
"That's what I'm trying to understand. I've seen Asgardian dragged back from the brink, surviving things that most would never hope to, but you outdid them. That should have killed anyone."
"It's not because of me, I'm nothing special," Jack took a swig of his drink, "Back when I was traveling with Doctor, and we ran into an old enemy, The Daleks."
"You've mentioned them before, the casing we found, the dead creature inside of it."
"Yeah," Jack said it a forced grin, "it doesn't sound like you guys have them in this Universe. Good for you. The Daleks are creatures made to hate, to hate everything that isn't Daleks. They raged war in our universe to try and kill everything. In the end, I bought the Doctor and our friend Rose time. The Doctor sent her home, and I died to give them a chance to stop the Daleks."
"About that-?"
"She came back, the Tardis, the Doctor's time machine is powerful and Rose pretty much broke it open to try and get back to us. She absorbed all its power and made her into a god of time, The Bad Wolf. With a wave of her hand, she wiped away all the Daleks, and with the last act, she brought me back. She didn't do a great job at it," He chuckled or tried to, "She brought me back forever. I've been stabbed, tortured, starved, and pretty much everything you could imagine. My brother Gray buried me alive for 2 thousand years."
Thor was reminded of Loki.
"I've watched friends and lovers die, and even outlived grandchildren." Jack left out that he was the reason Steven had to die. Jack shook his head, "Sorry to make things so … you know. The world is sad enough right now."
"My people are gone." Thor spoke up, "My father died, and it freed my sister, one that I never knew. She conquered my people and killed many, including my best friends. To stop her, we- I had to destroy Asgard. We fled with the survivor, where Thanos met us, and he killed half my people, including my best friend, before killing my brother before me." Thor stared forwards, "I had to chance to kill Thanos before he did it. I had a shot and planted my ax right in his chest. He even mocked me as he snapped his finger and broke the universe. If I had just aimed a little higher-"
"You took the shot," Jack said, " you sound like you got closer than anyone else. Trust me; I've traveled through time enough to know that living in the past won't help. Even if you somehow manage to change things you still remember. Those feelings don't go away."
"Then how do you live with them."
"I don't have a choice," Jacks scoffed at the idea, "I just carry on, I try not to forget anyone I lose. I try to be better; the next chance comes around. Turn that regret and pain into something useful, something that might save someone else."
Both men had lost more than most would ever lose.
But this moment helped to speak even for a few short moments with someone who understood their pain.
EARTH BT-12705-2
PLUMBER'S BASE
BELLWOOD, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Azmuth talked through Max over the long-distance com device,
The small gray alien huffed, " Alternate dimensions, the science seems sound enough. … Well, I say science, most of this seems to be half-formed ideas held together with string. I don't know if this was a test to see if we could fill the holes, or the sender is just that thoughtless."
Max asked, "So, what do you think of their claims?"
Older Plumber looked out of a window to the floor below as Cooper worked with the other plumbers to build a Jumpgate like device.
Azmuth sighed, "Stones? I can't say for certain if such a thing is true. But the more I looked into it, the walls between dimensions have started to weaken, even the Null Void is easier to breach into. The only reason I didn't notice as I was preoccupied trying to figure out why people started to dissolve and all the Chaos on Galvan Mark Two."
"So, do you think they can be trusted?"
"I don't know; there are plenty of people who would use this situation for their advantage. The only thing I have to say is to trust your instincts, Max. I'll be in touch when I can."
"Thanks, Azmuth."
The communication was cut off.
Max didn't think much of it, it was a long-distance call, and Azmuth was busy and wasn't exactly the most polite being in the universe, he wouldn't be surprised if he hung up without saying a proper goodbye.
Max got up and walked over to where the others were working. Cooper used his powers to move and connect the equipment, Helen speeding around to help put in cables and Alan using his fire powers to weld pieces together.
Gwen was looking at a print out of the magic stuff that was uploaded.
Gwen noticed reported what she found, "Okay, so this is crazy magic. This is beyond unorthodox; someone was making a whole new magic system. This seems to be made in mind to work with technology. But it's not that different from teleportation spells. Whoever put this in left it in case we couldn't go the high tech route. To patch holes maybe or-?"
"That's great, Gwen," Max paused, "But there was something else I wanted to talk to you about."
"What about?"
"You haven't talked about it; we lost your mother, Ben, Kevin, and more likely than not your grandmother."
"What is there to talk about?" Gwen didn't make eye contact, " Half the universe vanished and if the digital will o'wips is telling the truth an alien with magic stones in another universe did it."
"Gwen."
"We can't do anything about that. But we can work on what's in front of us."
"Gwen-"
The building shook, and alarms blared.
"Something is happening!" Alan yelled as screens around them flashed of events unfolding around Bellwood.
The screens showed people running around as a massive dome formed over the city.
Floating in the air was a woman with black skin with a light blur circuit line pattern over her body. Her blue face had white pupil-less eyes and four long spokes at the side of her head.
"Where are you, Ben?"
The footage was cut.
Cooper came in, "That dome is blocking out all outside signals, and it's messing with everything internal."
"Elena… she's looking for Ben…"
Cooper mused out loud, "Yeah, she was taken over by nanochips. That might be a problem."
"More than normal, the last time we saw her, they made her go insane."
"Yeah, that's what I mean. We are still trying to figure out what happened with the dusting. Do those individual chips that make her count as a separate being, did half her chips blink out? How were hive-mind affected?"
Helen asked, "What does it matter?"
"Because if half her numbers vanished, then it would cause errors in the way the whole function. Plus, we are getting reports that when everything happened, a lot of tech sensitive got scrambled. If any of those things happened…"
"Elena could be even more unstable." Gwen realized.
An unstable nano-swarm was holding the city hostage looking for someone that was gone.
EARTH SU-521
CRYSTAL GEM TEMPLE
BEACH CITY, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Bismuth looked on from the Temple. It was more than a little strange to see Rose back, even without their history. Rose was on the beach sitting in the Van, looking at a picture of Greg and Steven. It must have been so strange for her, she knew she would never meet Steven, but she would give him a life. Now, somehow she was back, and Steven was gone, and so was Greg. Even from a distance, Bismuth could sense an emptiness in her, a sort of loss. It was like being a ghost, but you were the only one alive.
Bismuth didn't know how to help her; she didn't think they could help her. Connie was trying, but she went into town to check on people. She got the news that both her parents had vanished.
Bismuth didn't know what to do; Sapphire kept crying over Ruby. Amethyst was doing her best to keep everyone together, but a lot of gems were freaking out. Lars and his crew were holding up okay, but they were missing people, and few of them losing their fusion partners wasn't helping.
In the house, Peridot was busy trying to get the Wailing Stone to work, trying to contact the Diamonds on Homeworld.
Times like this made Bismuth wish they'd fixed the galaxy warp pad. As things were, it would be easier and faster to get the Wailing Stone to work. Peridot already grabbed some stuff from Lars' ship to try and fix things, but it was slow going. Too bad Lars' Crew broke the communication system when escaping from Emerald.
They wondered if this was because of the Diamonds, but it didn't seem right. Why fix the gems if they were going just to wipe away half of them. Why wipe out the humans? If they had something that could do this, why didn't they use it earlier? Some of the gems had visions that even said that White Diamond was gone, and if it was right, then Bismuth couldn't believe the other Diamonds would have done it. Was there someone else who could do this? Why didn't any of them know about it? Just the more she thought about it, the less that it made sense.
"Come on! Work!" Peridot was smacking the wailing stone, "I know you're an outdated tech, but this should still boost your power."
Bismuth left her to it, at least she had something to keep her mind off it.
Peridot slammed her fist, "Lapis got it to work, then-then-" Peridot stared forwards, then she noticed the screen on her tablet went blank except for a blinking light turning into words.
Hello
"Hello?"
I think I can help you.
EARTH CCS-41
THE SHOP
TOKYO, JAPAN
"Come on!" A small yellow plush like a cat going by Kero pulled at Sakura's shoulder
He should have noticed; he was the guardian of the cards, he should have at least been guarding the master.
Sakura was having a hard time; the kid, her best friend, Yue, and the little Bunny, and her big brother had all vanished. Kero still didn't understand any of that, but he had other issues right now.
Sakura went for a walk to pick up groceries; Kero fell asleep in her bag. When he woke up, they were getting off a train somewhere in Tokyo.
Kero didn't think much of it, maybe the kid was having an airhead moment, with everything happening he could understand. But then he sensed it.
They were there!
Sakura was standing in front of an old looking building; it seemed out of place in this modern city. That was weird enough, but he was sensing powerful magic from it. Clow had lots of secrets even from him, maybe especially from him, but he did tell him about this place once.
"Come on! Stop!" Kero urged her, but she seemed to be in a trance.
The front gate opened before her, and soon they reached the door.
As they passed, the threshold Sakura seemed to snap out of it, "Hello?"
"I'll be with you in a minute!"
"We should leave!" Kero urged her.
Sakura looked around and saw the shop was filled with all sorts of odd items, most looked old and out of place, but he felt all kinds of magic in there. It looked like a mess like it had been in the middle of an Earthquake, and everything was out place.
"Hello, how-" he paused.
Kero expected the infamous Dimensional Witch, not some teen boy in glasses.
Watanuki just stared at the young Sakura Kinomoto like he was staring at a ghost.
"…no."
"What?" Sakura asked.
He blinked and shook his head, "Ah, no, sorry, you aren't- I mean- you just look like someone I used to know."
He took a deep breath and picked up an old smoking pipe.
"You shouldn't be smoking," Sakura warned him, "it's bad for your health."
He put it down, "Right you are," he sighed, "I guess it was inevitable that this would happen." He walked away from her, "It must be destiny, you wouldn't have found this shop if fate didn't want to. Even with that, dusting weakening the wards."
"What is this place?"
"This shop is a place that only those with a wish can find. Do you have a wish?"
"I want to get my family and friends back." Sakura didn't hesitate to answer.
He paused, "Is that your wish? Do you have the determination to go to any length to get them back?"
"Yes! I'll do anything! Can you bring them back?"
Watanuki turned to her and, with a sincerely sad smile, told her, "I can't do that, this shop, I don't think anyone in any world has that power."
"What happened?"
"I don't know."
"Hoe? Then why-"
Watanuki started to fumbled through lockers, boxes, and drawers. "It's impossible what you wish for is impossible. But I've seen a lot of impossible wishes happen. I still have my own too. Don't lose that hope; I don't think Syaoran would."
Sakura froze at hearing that name, "How?"
He pulled out a tube and opened it up, out slid out a sphere with three triangles formed by three dots each.
Kero grabbed Sakura, "I know how this place works! You can't get anything without paying for something of equal value. If you want to get them back, it will cost you more than any of them would ever ask you to pay!" Kero had no idea what that sphere was, but there was some power behind it.
"He's correct." Watanuki
Sakura pulled out her purse; she saw some money and a picture of her family and friends on her last birthday. "I don't have much."
Watanuki reached over and plucked the picture away.
"Hey! Give that back!" Sakura ordered before the sphere was tossed at her. Sakura tried to grab it, fumbling a bit as she did but finally caught it.
"We're done."
"How does one picture pay for that?" Kero yelled.
"It doesn't," Watanuki told him flatly, "That was paid for a very long time ago by a man in a mask. I don't know who he was, just that he went by the name Infinity and helped set up this shop. He paid for the shop to make sure she got that on the right day. That picture just paid for the reading; as I said, I can't grant your wish. I think that is supposed to give you a chance Though I'm not sure how it works or what it does. That will be for you to find out. All I've done is to give you hope."
Sakura looked at the sphere, "Thank you."
"Watanuki," He told her, "Now Sakura, go home." He pushed out of the door with Kero, "Trust me; everything will be alright."
Sakura looked at the sphere as the door closed. Watanuki walked to the back of the shop, and place the picture next to a pink staff.
"Hm, they do look alike."
EARTH SE-51204
DEATH ROOM
DEATH CITY, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Maka stood by her mother as they stood before Kid and Liz. The last few days had been something akin to a living nightmare, and they had to strive on. Kami's arrival was a bit of a small blessing.
Liz looked on; she had always imagined that Maka's mom would sort of look like a bigger Maka. In some sense, Kami did; they both had green eyes and blonde hair, but Kami wasn't nearly as petite, and she was certainly more mature. Liz knew she had a kid early, but she still looked like she was in her twenties, must have been her active lifestyle.
"I'm sorry for father's passing," Kami told Kid.
Kid worked up a polite smile, "Thank you; it just feels a little strange to heard that right now."
"I understand," Kami agreed, "with some many missing…"
Kami had come to talk to see how she could help, and they needed all the help they could.
The doors the Death Room burst open, and Sid Barrett, meister, and zombie rushed in. "We got a situation."
Kami blinked, "Sid?"
"Kami? Your back?"
"You're a zombie,"
"Yeah, some things happened since you were gone."
"Stein?"
"Yeah,"
"Okay, let me ask, did he have permission or?"
Sid knew that stuff between Stein and Kami was likely never going to be great. She had stopped some of his experiments, and he knew Kami wasn't a person to trust easily, especially now.
"That's a story," Sid told her, "anyway, your actually the perfect person for this. The storage area below the school, well, there have been some strange lights coming from there, especially yours."
0000
Maka and Kami walked down to the underground area to check it out. Kami knew she'd be gone for a while, so she placed her things in storage. But had been a long time, she was sure she turned everything off and if she hadn't the battery would have died by now. The thing was that people were complaining, students, and staff when they were coming down there saw that light and were feeling very uncomfortable. Eruka had come there looking for something and started crying.
"How's Marie?" Kami asked Maka.
"Oh, uh, it hit her pretty bad. She lost both Stein and their baby Shelly."
Kami was silent for a moment, "Later, do you want to come to visit her with me?"
"Yeah, I think I'd like that."
Maka knew that before she was partnered with her father, her mother's weapon had been Marie. They had stayed friends over the year, thought Kami could never understand Marie's feelings for Stein.
They reached the fenced-off space, and Kami took out the key for the lock.
Inside through all the boxes and furniture, they could see a technicolored light beaming through.
"What's that?" Maka held her head; it didn't hurt, but looking at that light made her feel odd.
Judging from her mom's reaction, she was getting the same feeling. Kami entered the cage and moved stuff around.
"What is it?" Maka asked.
"I don't know," Kami pushed away a few things and found a box and pushed the half-open box.
"Huh? The puzzle box?" Kami pulled out a small metal orb with the design of three triangles, each made of three dots.
EARTH BC-216
MAGIC KNIGHT HEADQUARTERS
ROYAL CAPITAL, CLOVER KINGDOM
The Clover Kingdom was screwed.
Still, they were doing a bit better than the other kingdoms.
When the Dusting happened, the Heart Kingdom's defenses vanished, and no one knew what happened to their princess. Some thought she was hiding while it fell apart.
The Diamond Kingdom was in the middle of the civil war; the top brass that survived went into hiding, and a lot of the lower class they had treated like dirt decide to take over. Sure there were those loyal to the King, but they could only do so much.
The Spade Kingdom was tearing itself apart, one shift in power, and everyone was trying to take over. Still, some loyal troops had managed to keep things together and were still invading. They were focusing on the Heart Kingdom since they had never made much in pass there. Plus, that was always filled with resources they didn't have back home.
It had been a rough time for the Clover Kingdom, the attack from the elves left them weak but on alert. They had people on patrol across the border when it happened, so as crazy as things got, they had something ready.
Also, the King was gone, no one said it, but they all knew if he survived, he would have tried to control things and royally screwed up. The royal families, or what remained, were doing a fair enough job to keep things in order. Many of the royals ran off and hid, but luckily those left the ones that wanted to help or at least knew that if they didn't think would get worse for them too.
Yami, the leader of the Black Bulls, looked at the Knight Captains, some had vanished. They all supposed to be there to try and work together.
Yami noticed they had gotten somewhat lucky, the leaders of the knights had remained. But even by the looks of them, they were shaken in some way.
Nozel Silvia remained as stoic as possible, but he kept glancing at him, Yami assumed he wanted to know about his sister Yami did mean to inform him Noelle was fine, but it didn't seem like the right time.
Jack was twitching, more than usual, like was waiting for a fight.
Dorothy wasn't smiling, and more for the fact she was wide awake, Yami didn't even remember the last she was awake like this.
Kaiser was fiddling with his mustache, but he seemed off, the rumor was that his wife had vanished in the dusting.
Sol was there in place of Charlotte; Sol wasn't exactly great with her captain missing. Sol was holding herself together if just wanting to do Charlotte proud.
Fuegoleon was among the missing, but Mereoleona was there, his big sister with the Salamander sitting on her shoulder. She had been filled in captain when he was in a coma, and then this happened. She slipped back in place. She made sure her remaining team did more than makeup for the loss in numbers. Even Yami could feel the rage coming off her.
Then there was Yuno, the new captain for the Golden Dawn, after William vanished. He, as second in command, took his place. On his shoulder sat Sylph, the wind spirit she glanced over to the fire spirit.
The doors opened, and the blue-haired Marx walked in.
"Hello, I'm sorry to confirm it, but The Wizard King is amongst the missing. The Royal Families agree that for the time being, we have to prevent that news from coming out. The other Kingdoms are wary of the Wizard King's power. For now we-"
"Shut up!" Yami yelled out.
The other captains glanced at him, he was known to be rude, but this seemed a bit much for him.
"Someone's here; I'm feeling some weird Ki."
The other captains were suspicious, the Wind Spirit Sylph spoke up, "He's right something is here."
Yuno agreed, "The mana is shifting in here, can't you sense it?"
The captain looked around the Salamander began to growl.
Before they could reach all their grimoires jolted into the air, pages flipped, and the magic began to pour out.
Marx felt a surge of something going through his grimoires; suddenly, his magic began to activate. He tried to fight it, but it happened to quickly a screen of foggy light formed before them and words began to appear.
Sorry about that, I was having trouble finding a proper method to communicate.
I think we can help each other.
Let's talk.
EARTH M-199999
AVENGER COMPOUND
UPSTATE NEW YORK, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Scarlett had joined Alexis; he was typing away at a computer, making notes on things he had seen. Scarlett sat beside him, drinking coffee. Curiously she decided to type away at a computer; there was something she'd been wondering about for a while. Something like this was something he'd have issues with.
Alexis looked over to a shared screen, "Huh, it looks like Scout is making good time. His report is coming along that he's got some interesting parties."
"Good," Scarlett only half paid attention; she had the feeling that she had forgotten something.
0000
In one of the upper floors, Kanzaki and Itsuwa sat together as they meditated. Kanzaki felt it once they got there, magic and power they held seemed off. It was adjusting to the world they were in. There were new rules, and they were changing, but it was likely it would always be off until they returned home.
For now, they mediated in hopes of getting ready faster.
Kanzaki glanced through the window to the city where she was sure she felt something…her powers came from the divine. If she was right, she felt a tinge of something more infernal.
0000
In the Lab, Scott, Rocket, and Mickey were talking and working on the alien tech. Some looked like it could be useful if it weren't going to take someone over.
Mickey was telling them a story, "And I'm like, oh, no, no, it's got nothing to do with me. And then it roars, and we are running. Oh my God, we are running! And Brakovitch falls, so I turn to him, and I say-"
"I knew we should've turned left! " Rocket finished with a laugh.
"That's my line!" Mickey laughed.
Scott was starting to buckle over in laughter.
"Okay, my turn to tell a story," Scott started, "So, for this, you gotta now that I drove my boss' car into his pool."
Rocket looked around Mickey, nor Scott ever gave him a strange look, even on other planets, he got weird looks. It was rare for him, even across the Galaxy with weird alien beings he would get looks from everybody, everyone except the Guardians. They were gone now, but for a small moment, it felt like Rocket was with them.
Both Mickey and Scott knew that feeling, to be the outcast, the one left behind, to feel small and screw up.
0000
CPU and Darkhelm were still busy repairing things, and their copies were also trying to help rebuild the Black Crow Unit Mech.
Shutaura had bored a pair of work overalls as she tried to repair it. The Hulk Smashed it up pretty good.
Darkhelm was projecting a hologram of the parts and a rough schematics of the machine.
CPU told her, "This is going to be a bit harder than I initially thought."
The esper only noted, " I thought you were some sort of repair bots."
"It is one of our duties, but we had a better idea of the things we repaired. We don't have any data on your vehicle, we got a partial scan when you came in, but it's not enough. And I think that was rather impressive considering everything that was happening. Normally we could fill in the gaps, but the inner systems seem to be very complicated and technology we are not familiar with. If we make a mistake, there is no telling what could go wrong."
"Then we better not make a mistake," The Doctor walked over with Jenny by her side.
"We do have some experience with technology like this," Jenny commented.
"Plus, Martha wanted us out of the sickbay," The Doctor added, "she thought we were stressing out Ava." The Doctor crossed her arms, "Let's get to work."
Shutaura sighed, "I'll take what help I can get."
One of the panels fell off the mech slamming into one of the severed legs.
"We'll start with by reattaching those." CPU told them.
EARTH BT-12705-2
TENNYSON RESIDENTS
BELLWOOD, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The town had gone into lockdown, which it did reasonably quick considering the dome closing the city. In front of the Tennyson household, at the moment Elena as the nanochip Queen was tearing apart the house. Her Nanochips were going through every room looking for Ben.
They were not finding anyone there. Both of Ben's parents had been dusted too, so there was no one left.
"Ben, where are you?" Elena strolled through the house. She stopped at a family portrait of Ben and his family. The fingers on her hand merged and extending, forming a blade, with one quick slice the cut the picture in half.
She walked outside, "I should check with Gwen. I'm she will know where you are."
As she finished talking, the swarm of nanochips tore through the walls, and after a few short moments, the house collapsed in on itself.
EARTH M-199999
NEW YORK SANCTUM
NEW YORK CITY, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
It was a smoother ride than Steve had expected since the dusting most people had bunkered down at home. The streets had been strangely silent; there a few people moving about, but Steve had never seen it like this.
He took another look at the GPS before parking before an old looking building. This was the address Tony had to give him.
They had been driving a blue shuttle van; it turned out Tony got it for when they had a guest come over to the Compound. The van had enough room to hold everyone comfortably.
As everyone disembarked, they took a good look around. Katara and Suki looked interested in all the things that they had seen.
Suki had gone without her armor or makeup.
Aang had felt a bit detached from the world; the builds looked impressive, but he was raised to be one with nature and the world, and this felt the opposite though around this manor like building it felt different.
Steve pulled out his Shield; he didn't want to believe he'd need it, but he was a wanted criminal, and it might become useful. He strapped it onto his back as he went towards the house.
Pass the front gate, the trip to the front door was a short one.
Steve was about to knock when he heard someone talking.
"Wow, that is a lot of blood. You are really bleeding."
Steven looked through the window at the door, it was hard to see through it, but he did make out the outline of someone on the floor and someone standing above them with a sword drawn.
Steve reacted by bursting through the doors.
He found Wong on the floor, bleeding from a wound at his side. Standing above him was a man dressed in a red and black suit, with a mask with eyes much like Spider-man's mask. The man had a belt with several pouches and guns hanging off the straps and a two-sword one on his back and the other in his hand.
"You could have knocked," He told the group, "Wait, your Captain America!" He said in a gleeful tone, "I'm a big fan!" He reached to shake his hand, but realizing he had a sword in his hand paused to quickly tossed it aside.
The man reached to shake his hand again but paused to salute him suddenly. "Is this right? I'm not sure what I'm doing. Sorry, I'm just a bit giddy, it's you! Captain Freaking America!" He paused, "Censoring me already? I can't even blame Disney for this. Okay, whatever."
The Captain had pulled out his shield and got in front of everyone else; they all got ready to fight this guy, including Suki pulling out her fans.
"Wait, what is the Avatar doing here?" He asked them, "I mean the good Avatar; I never saw the appeal for those big blue kitty aliens."
"You know me?" Aang questioned, confused.
"I could have said you were a shorter ancient one, but the head arrows are a giveaway." His eyes went wide, "Oh! Sorry, I'm rude, I haven't introduced myself, I'm Wade, my friends call me Deadpool."
"Get away from him," Steven told him.
Wade blinked, and then realize at the bleeding body, "Oh! I forgot about him. OH! Do you think I did this? I mean, I was standing over him with a sword," he took a step back, "I see how you could make that mistake. And, look, I came with my friend, and we just found him like this. And you don't believe me, but listen to this-" Without another word, he ran down the hallway as fast as he could.
Katara moved to Wong and checked on him, "Okay, he's still alive. I think I can heal him, but I need time." She waters bent some water from her pouch and began to use it to try and heal Wong.
The water began to glow over the wound.
Steve started to run down the hall after Deadpool, "Stay with him!" Steve yelled back.
Halfway down the hall, he noticed Suki and Touma chasing after him.
He slowed down, "I told you to stay back," Touma held out his hand, " my hand cancels out the supernatural, I've seen it cancel out healing spells it probably could cancel what she's doing too. It's better if I'm not around to risk it."
Steven had to agree with that.
Suki just raced ahead of Touma, "He said he had a friend, you can't let someone get the drop on you. Besides, Katara is fine; she's got Aang with her. They'll be fine."
0000
Katara paused as the wound closed up; she pulled back the water.
"I think it worked," Katara told Aang, " he's breathing hard, but he needs rest."
Then Aang noticed something, he caught a glint of the sword, and it was clean. "He didn't use this sword to hurt him. "
Before they could say anything else, the doors closed behind them, and the windows all shimmered. The lights began to blink on and off as the world around them seemed to shudder.
Aang tried to open the doors, but they refused to budge.
0000
They caught up to Deadpool quickly as he stopped at the end of a hall that opened to a large room. He looked up in awe. "Okay, that looks cool. I can't believe they keep pushing back her movie!"
"You're not getting away," Steve told him.
"I told you I didn't do it!" Wade argued, "The Bald kid has already figured it out in the other scene."
"What?" Suki asked.
Touma felt a familiar tinge of magic.
Above them, they looked as magic clashed and twisted the world. A circle swirl of orange fire-like light clashed with a bright blue circle.
Two types of portal clashed and finally exploded. Someone crashed into the ground; it was a teenaged girl with blonde hair wearing torn-up jeans and a blacktop. One of her arms was covered with strange armor, and she held a long glowing sword. She tried to get up but was having trouble doing so.
At the other end of the room, a dark-skinned man crash, but he managed to get on his feet. He wore green monks like robes, and on his hand was a sling ring. The ring shot out a few sparks of ember like energy.
The girl glared at him with vile hatred.
He, in turn, pulled out a pole weapon, "You won't get away, as I said too many sorcerers. I tend to fix that."
With a cold and calculated look in his eyes, he prepared to kill the girl before him.
Author's Notes: So rolling along slowly. Last week wasn't a good week for me and I'm honestly not doing great, so no rush me.
So, new old worlds. Someone asked me to tell what the worlds are so yeah doing that. BT-12705-2 is Ben 10, well, my version I explained that in back in chapter 11.
SU-521 is the version of Steven Universe, this one went off from the end of the OG series before future. That was in chapter 12.
CSS-41 is the world of Cardcaptor Sakura, with a special guest showing of a certain shop with dimensional magic.
SE-51204 is the world of Soul Eater.
BC-216 is the world of Black Clover.
Guess who showed up at the end, like Im asking you guess to guess to see who could get it.
Answer and Questions time!
Danielhakim054: The soldiers took him away to a hospital to deal with his hand. It was said in the chapter.
Guest: Well, at least one guy seems to know about the movies and his name is Wade.
largomolo: Yeah, pretty much.
acosta perez jose ramiro:Yeah, yeah, pretty much.
Darthwolf: yeah not doing arrowverse. I pretty much only watch the cross over. If I watch the other episode I tend to complain and just be unhappy. I don't know them nearly well enough to write them. Well, the ranger do have a dimension jumper. You are really giving the clock tower way too much credit on how much they are willing to work with people or get their acts in order.
Anyway, leave reviews and questions.