A/N Hey, I want to greatly apologize for not updating in so long since I had a massive writer's block that would not go away, and the reason why is that my character's first name is the same as Matthew Murdock, and having two Matts around would confuse people so I went through the previous chapters and changed Matt's name to James, something that should fix it and I hope you're alright with the changes so let's begin.
Tagoma Island, Pacific Rim, 2008.
I gagged in pain as I crashed through a brick wall of the research station and groaned while I struggled to stand up, glaring at the nearly nude man with a helmet and cape as he held a talking human head. It had started as a normal day a week after Seismic's attack and I didn't have any school since it was a weekend, but dad and I were approached by Invincible during our nightly patrol and he told us that a research station in Takoga Island was under attack and he needed our assistance.
We had agreed and met up with a couple of other heroes, then we eventually arrived at the location and found ourselves fighting for our lives against a man wearing a helmet, cape, and looked like he had robotics grafted under his flesh with bolts sticking out. I didn't know how he kept withstanding our attacks, but it was like he was immortal and it was pissing me off since he just wouldn't go down.
Currently, dad was holding a woman in his arms and running to avoid a laser blast while I stumbled out of the hole I crashed into.
"Move, move, move!" Dad chanted in alarm and got hit in the back that threw him to the ground, the woman flying into the air as dad hit the ground with the back of his armor having a large smoking hole in it.
"Wolfman, fuck! Jesus, what the hell is this asshole made of?!" I exclaimed in frustration as the woman backflipped in mid-air and landed gracefully onto the ground.
"Give me the device and I'll let you live the rest of your life in this world," the man suggested as he pointed at the clawed glove on the woman's left hand.
"Go to hell, you bastard!" the woman growled just as the area near her glowed and three people appeared, one of them the middle-aged man I saw a week ago during Seismic's attack but the green long-sleeved shirt he was wearing had a singed hole in the front as he looked stunned to see the woman.
"What the hell?! Susan?!" the man exclaimed in shock and the woman looked back after she stood up.
"You!" the woman shouted.
"What the fuck is going on here, Brit? Your ex-wife is dead!" a woman standing next to Brit pointed out in disbelief.
"A touching reunion but I don't want the device, I only want to destroy it," the man declared just as he fired a laser and it destroyed the metal glove Susan was wearing while she screamed in pain, the force of the blast sending her to the ground.
"Shit!" I yelped in horror as Brit and another woman with glasses rushed over to Susan, then they checked on her while I stared at the man that was kicking our asses.
"Congratulations on your defeat, Susan," the man taunted calmly as he rose into the air and hovered as Brit shot a glare at him.
"Who the fuck are you?!" Brit demanded in outrage but the man was ignoring him as the woman in the yellow jumpsuit and orange vest lifted a giant part of the debris.
"Eat this, prick, because I want a rematch!" the woman growled as she threw the large debris at the man and he raised his hand.
"Granted," the man said as he blasted apart the debris and sent the woman crashing into a metal construction beam, causing it to dent under the force and I gritted my teeth since the situation was going from bad to worse.
"Fuck, what the hell does it take to stop this asshole?!" I exclaimed in disbelief and the man's right shoulder opened up to show what appeared to be a small missile launcher.
"You will not use this device to return to our world, trapping you on this planet for good," the man stated just before he fired a few missiles and my eyes widened in horror when I saw that they were heading to the large machine that looked like it was something from Stargate.
"Holy shit, take cover!" I shouted in alarm just as the missiles caused a massive explosion that threw everyone, except my father and the heroes that got knocked out, to the ground.
"Let's make things interesting," the man said as he fired the ground below him with a laser, and lava shot out as it covered the man and I shielded my eyes with an arm while it felt like my head was pounding.
"What the hell?!" Brit yelled in shock as the lava was forced apart and I could see that a translucent shield was surrounding the man as he held his hand up.
"That pulse should jumpstart the volcano below and if you all can escape, then enjoy your defeat," the man said while I was dumbfounded that this man decided to kill us by blowing up the island.
"I'm not going to let you leave with Donald, asshole!" Brit declared with a scowl and the man started to disappear, his body pixelating like an 8-bit video game character.
"You will do nothing because you are useless so this world will become a tomb for all of you," the man stated coldly until he was gone, leaving us to deal with an area of the island that was exploding.
"Brit, we need to get everyone and get the fuck out of here before this place blows up and takes us with it!" I called out urgently while I rushed over to my dad to check on him and Brit nodded as he looked around and saw the older woman that came with him to the island.
"Ms. Popper, get us the hell out of here! Ms. Popper?!" Brit cried out in alarm as Ms. Popper groaned while clutching her bloody head and weakly crawled over to him.
I felt complete panic and thought about mom, Chloe, my friends, and Jess as I pictured them being at mine and dad's funerals while they were crying, then I frantically grabbed my dad just as the entire place exploded and let out a scream of terror before everything went white.
The next thing I knew, I was groaning while I was laying on a floor and lifted my head to see the others were looking worse for wear but we were now in what appeared to be a mall with people walking around and not paying any attention to us with blank expressions and what appeared to be some kind of antenna coming out of the back of their necks.
"Christ...where the fuck are we?" I groaned as I stood up and clutched my head, feeling blood that was wet and dry at the same time while the dizziness told me that I had gotten a concussion from the fight.
As I stood up and swayed while clutching my head, I saw Ms. Popper and Susan looking horrified at where we were and something told me that they know this place in a bad way as I stumbled over to dad and helped him up as he looked concerned at the state of me.
"Lycan, your head is split open so are you okay?" Dad inquired and I nodded as I patted his shoulder reassuringly.
"I'll be fine once I heal up but the biggest question is where we are and how we got here," I pointed out and we focused our attention on Ms. Popper as Brit and Susan walked over to her.
"You brought us back to our world, all of us," Susan said as Brit held her upright while Ms. Popper was clutching her bloody head.
"I've gotten stronger recently," Ms. Popper groaned slightly and Susan frowned at her.
"Funny, you never mentioned that," Susan pointed out before Ms. Popper narrowed her eyes.
"I wasn't giving you another hook into me," Ms. Popper retorted, then I walked over and cleared my throat to get everyone's attention.
"Listen, I don't know what the hell just happened or what's going on between you two, but we need to get home because I have a big feeling that the welcome wagon will be here soon," I stated and Brit nodded in agreement.
"He's right, I need to go back now since my son is missing so you need to take me back immediately because I can't be here," Brit pitched in, and I felt sympathy when I heard that his son was missing so I couldn't imagine what he was going through right now.
"Okay, I just need to rest first before I can send us back since I'm battered up real good," Ms. Popper stated and the woman in yellow walked over to us while we regrouped.
"What about Donald?" the woman inquired before Brit looked at her.
"If the Emperor wanted Donald dead, he would've crushed his skull while he had an audience, now stay here and get things started because I'll be right back but right now, I can't leave my son," Brit said just as Invincible cleared his throat.
"Hey, I don't mean to interrupt, but we should continue this conversation when we head underground because we have an incoming mindscrew," Invincible alerted just as he pointed up and the rest of us looked to see a tiny insect-like robot with the familiar antenna as it beeped and swooped down at us.
"I got it," Techjacket said as he blasted it with a shoulder cannon, then the destroyed mini robot fell to the ground and I knelt down to examine it.
"Crap, it might've alerted a swarm and we can't outrun them, not all of us so can you take us underground?" Susan asked Ms. Popper, who nodded.
"I'm beat all to hell, but I can try," Ms. Popper said just as I stood up and looked at the two women who seem to know more about this place than the rest of us.
"Excuse me, but I'm lost here so could you tell us what these things are that you're talking about and why we need to run?" I suggested and Susan turned her attention to me.
"Mindscrews, otherwise known as mind control units so what they do is inject themselves into your neck and transmit pacification broadcasts into your brain, something the emperor uses to keep us safe and us in line," Susan explained just as a swarm of mindscrews showed up and I swore under my breath.
"Oh crap, it did alert a swarm," Brit muttered just as the woman in yellow took out what appeared to be a taser.
"Don't worry, I brought the mother of all bug zappers," the woman reassured as I tensed up.
"Britney, don't risk it and get over here because we need to get to safety!" Brit called out, but Britney aimed the taser at the swarm of mindscrews.
"Don't sweat it, Becky's got me covered," Britney assured and tried to use the taser, only nothing happened and her eyes widened in alarm before she was forced to run to us while swearing loudly until one of the mindscrews shot into the back of her neck and she tumbled into Brit's arms.
"Britney!" Brit cried in horror as I shot Ms. Popper a look of panic while the swarm got closer.
"Hey, get us the fuck out of here!" I shouted urgently and before I knew it, we all suddenly found ourselves in a dark location and we were surrounded by ruins that used to be a city while the dirty inhabitants turned their attention to us before they started looking suspicious and wary.
"Welcome to the underground," Susan told us as Ms. Popper fainted and my dad caught her before she fell while Brit held Britney in his arms.
"You need to help her," Brit pleaded and Susan nodded.
"Come with me, there's a hospital not far from here and I'll take you there," Susan said before she gestured for us to follow her and we went down a street to where the hospital was supposedly at.
Later on, we arrived at the hospital and were checked out by the robotic nurses before a couple of us were stitched up and my dad had his burns tended to, but Britney was still being examined by Techjacket while I was with Brit and Susan as we watched the procedure in a viewing room.
"Are they going to be okay?" Brit questioned in concern and Susan grimaced while I looked at her stump that used have her left arm, making me feel a little guilty that I couldn't prevent her from losing her arm.
"Ms. Popper is still unconscious and as for your sister...we can only keep the mindscrew from transmitting since it's too dangerous to remove it," Susan said and I could hear the slight regret in her voice, something that Brit appeared to have noticed.
"Are you doing okay?" Brit asked before Susan sighed and looked at her stump.
"Don't worry, I'm tougher than you and I'll regrow the arm later but I just want to say...I'm sorry," Susan muttered until I put a hand on her shoulder and she looked at me.
"Hey, I know what you're feeling right now so don't do that to yourself because it doesn't help anyone...something Wolfman and I know all too well," I stated with a pained expression, then Susan sent me a look of puzzlement.
"How so?" Susan inquired curiously and I avoided eye-contact with her as I removed my hand from her shoulder.
"We've...been going through some personal issues and there are regrets we're trying to come to terms with, so believe me when I say that blaming yourself isn't a good thing," I replied as I recalled what the beast inside me did to Jess and how it and my dad's beast was also responsible for the murder of two people so far.
"He's right, there's nothing I can do about my son until Ms. Popper wakes up so there's no need to apologize right now since I need to focus on what's going on more than anything," Brit told her just as Techjacket left the ER and sighed.
"Dammit, this is all my fault," Techjacket muttered as the faceplate opened up to show a kid a year younger than me.
"Zack, don't," Susan cut in as Techjacket gritted his teeth.
"I disabled the tracker, but the mindscrew is still receiving pacification broadcasts while removing it will kill her so it's my fault that this happened," Techjacket said guiltily and Brit held up a hand.
"Listen, Lycan over here told Susan that blaming yourself wouldn't help anyone, and he has a point so don't do that to yourself because I want to find out what the hell is going on," Brit insisted, then Techjacket sighed and rubbed his eyes gently to try and ease the enormous amount of stress he was no doubt feeling right now.
"Alright, let me explain but I have to warn you...it's not pretty," Techjacket warned before he started explaining what this place was and what was going on.
I was rendered silent when he explained that the malicious alien race that developed the suit he was bonded with had invaded this version of earth and every hero on the planet fought hard while there were mass casualties on both sides and we managed to beat them back, then the Geldarians got desperate and launched their equivalent of a WMD by the name of Omegajacket before it unleashed plasma waves and destroyed the united states as well as every other continent around the world, killing a few billion people in just one attack.
This world's Brit was evacuating his wife when DC was destroyed and he witnessed everyone, even his wife, get killed in the horrific bombardment before what's left of the resistance and humanity, in general, made one last offensive in Europe where they managed to damage the Omegajacket by cracking its outer shell until Donald Furguson sacrificed himself by merging with it and the loss of this world's Donald caused the Brit in this world to snap and go completely insane as he had assimilated with the empty shell of his dead friend and became the emperor we encountered earlier.
"He left the planet and exterminated the Geldarian race before coming back and rebuilt the shattered planet under his rule, his protection," Techjacket finished, and I was horrified that all of that happened in this reality where nearly all life on this planet was wiped out and this world's Brit rules everything in a dictatorship.
"Wait a damn minute, I'm the emperor on this version of our earth?" Brit questioned in disbelief and Techjacket nodded.
"Yes," Techjacket confirmed while I started rubbing my eyes and tried to process what I had learned.
"Jesus Christ...this is just so fucked up," I muttered in shock as Susan cleared her throat.
"Look, he's wrong about one thing because I don't think Donald's dead, just dormant in the Omegajacket since the emperor took my arm and a geldarian interface so we think your Donald is similar enough to access the merged Omegajacket and reawaken our Donald," Susan chimed in and Brit frowned uncertainly.
"I don't know, what if the Omegajacket absorbs this world's Donald again instead of waking him up?" Brit wondered uneasily, and I didn't blame him since there was a good chance that everything could go wrong and we all wind up dead with everyone we know back home never finding out what happened to us.
"I'm not going to lie, it's a big risk but we need your help since you're him in a sense and should be able to just walk into the emperor's palace so, if we can retrieve Donald, we could have a chance for your sister and the rest of us," Susan told Brit and he sighed.
"It's just...my sister, my son, Donald, I always feel like I'm betraying someone because no matter what choice I make, somebody suffers so let's go after Donald for now," Brit admitted hesitantly and I rubbed the back of my head.
"Well, if we're doing this, then we need to do it fast since there's no telling when the emperor will find out that we're still alive," I pointed out before Susan nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, so the rest of you gather the others since I know the tunnels under the palace but we need a diversion so that Brit can get in without any issues," Susan said as Techjacket stepped forward.
"I propose that we take out a pacification broadcast station since we've hit them in the past, and it would knock the mindscrews out of the air while drawing attention," Techjacket offered just as Britney entered the room.
"Sounds like fun, so sign me up," Britney said with a grin and I frowned since I wasn't sure about this.
"I don't know if that's a good idea since the emperor could easily have you attack us by broadcasting though that transmitter that's permanently attached to you, and you shouldn't even be thinking about breaking things right now," I stated in concern as Brit chuckled.
"Well, Britney is built for smashing things so we'll just keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't try and attack us," Brit assured as Susan looked at each and every one of us.
"Then it's settled, we move quickly while the emperor still assumes that we're dead since the element of surprise is one of the few advantages we have, now be ready to move out within the hour," Susan instructed just before we went our separate ways and I went to notify my dad of our next move.
After the others had been notified of the plan, we separated into two groups with me, Invincible, Britney, Techjacket, and my father being the diversion while Brit and Susan infiltrated the emperor's palace while we attacked one of the pacification stations and destroyed most of the building before finding ourselves ambushed by security and defended ourselves, though I noticed that it was easier than I thought as I decapitated a cyborg with a swipe and sent another one to the ground with a hip toss until I crushed its head with a curb stomp.
"Something's wrong because this is far too easy and you'd think we had gotten their attention by now," Dad commented as he ripped off half of a cyborg's head while Techjacket was struggling with another one.
"If I had to make a guess, the bigger threats are on their way so we should keep a lookout," I responded while Britney struck a cyborg, sending its head flying off its shoulders as Invincible ripped out a bunch of wires from a cyborg's chest.
"Just keep pushing and tear it all-" Invincible shouted and was cut off when he was shot in the back by an energy blast, making me look to see a man and a woman while they had an ugly scarred monster with a collar and chain.
"Suck it, dickheads, because Hex Splode, Atom Shiva, and Monsterous Girl are on the job!" Hex announced confidently as he flipped us off and we finished off the rest of the cyborgs before turning our attention to the newest threats.
"Save a punching bag for me, hon," Atom said while I glared up at them.
"Damn it, I just had to fucking call it," I grumbled with a peeved look as we tensed up.
"Careful, we're engaging the emperor's elite so be on high alert and watch yourselves," Techjacket told us as Invincible huffed.
"The asshole who stole my girlfriend is mine so leave him to me," Invincible said darkly.
"Well, violence never solves anything but I don't think that matters right now," Britney remarked as my dad sent her an unamused look.
"Save the jokes for later because we need to focus on taking those bastards down," Dad lectured before Atom released Monsterous Girl with the order to attack, and the giant creature charged at us with a large club as it roared.
"The rest of you handle Hex and Atom while Wolfman and I take on this big ugly son of a bitch!" I shouted as dad and I lunged at Monsterous Girl with snarls and collided, then it turned into a nasty fight where Britney had to lend us assistance but we managed to take down the giant behemoth with dad perched on top of the unconscious monster while Britney and I were standing next to it, just as Hex and Atom were rendered out cold and I let out a sigh of relief.
"And that makes three, though the pacified sister did decide to help out," Dad said as he sent a pointed look at Britney, who held up her hands defensively.
"Hey, at least I did help out since there are times where being a pacifist doesn't work," Britney retorted just as I saw the emperor arrive and hover above us.
"This is why you never let children do an adult's job," the emperor stated just as Invincible and Techjacket flew up to attack him, only Techjacket was blasted away and Invincible was grabbed by the neck as I swore under my breath just before the emperor looked at Britney.
"Dear sister, is that a mindscrew you're wearing? Wonderful," the emperor said before the visor on his helmet glowed, then Britney suddenly struck my dad in the back of the head with a flying kick and sent him to the ground before I found myself forced to dodge and block any attacks that were heading my way.
"Shit, I can't stop myself!" Britney exclaimed in a panic before she suddenly kicked me in the groin, then I choked as pain flared up and was smashed into the ground until Britney kept hitting me in the face with my head started to get bloody and broken as Invincible rushed over and grabbed Britney to pry her off me.
"Techjacket, she's killing him so I need your help right now and I can't stop her without hurting her!" Invincible grunted loudly as he struggled to prevent Britney from beating me to death.
"Sorry, but whatever the emperor hit me with, I...I can't move," Techjacket groaned while he was laying on the ground nearby and not moving.
"Crap, sorry about this," Invincible told Britney as he sent her spinning into the air with a nasty left hook before she collided face-first into the ground.
Suddenly, Invincible was kicked in the gut as he flew over and Britney grabbed Techjacket to use as a weapon while she swung the armored kid like a sledgehammer and smashed Invincible into the ground with the pavement breaking, then my dad shoulder-tackled Britney to the ground and grabbed the mindscrew that was in her neck before ripping it out and causing her to scream in agony until she passed out while I was barely able to stand up and stumbled over to the others.
"Is she..." Invincible trailed off hesitantly while carrying Techjacket and dad looked at him as he picked up Britney.
"We have to get underground and hopefully our distraction was enough for things to go well," Dad said and looked at me before asking, "You look like hell, Lycan, so are you doing okay?"
"Yeah, though I'm going to have a nasty headache for a few days once I heal up," I admitted with a slur in my voice as my head was covered in blood and my face was broken with a bent snout and a few missing teeth, just as we quickly left the area and headed for the underground.
After that, we had healed up enough to where Ms. Popper was better and we transported home before going our separate ways with me and my dad heading back to our hideout and reuniting with mom, Chloe, and Jess as the two of us shifted back in our human forms but I was troubled by what I had experienced in that terrible alternate reality and how that world's version of myself was possibly dead, as well as everyone else I knew while Jess seemed to notice that something was bothering me.
"You look bothered by something so what is it?" Jess inquired as I stared out the window and sighed before I headed over to my bed and sat down with Jess doing the same thing.
"Sorry, it's just that my father and I were in an alternate reality while we were gone but...I've discovered that the version of earth we were on had been destroyed by an alien invasion and it became a dark future where someone ruled through a dictatorship, but that's not what's disturbing me.
What's disturbing me is that everyone I know, quite possibly myself, is dead and the thought of something similar happening on this version of earth terrifies me...I can't ever go through something like that because losing you, dad, mom, Chloe, and our friends would be too much for me to handle," I admitted before Jess placed her hand on my own.
"Hey, nothing will ever happen to us so you can't worry so much about something like that," Jess reassured and I nodded with a soft smile.
"Yeah, you're right so you should head on home and I'll see you tomorrow," I said just before we kissed and Jess stood up until she left my room, then I slipped out of my casual clothes and got into bed before I closed my eyes and fell asleep.
A/N Finally done with this chapter so, if you all have read the comic, then you know that things are going to completely fall apart for Gary and James so tell me what you think about this chapter and stay tuned.