With A Snap
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 67: Shocking Results
TØNSBERG
Mugino was getting exhausted; it was rare for her. Not just being a level five esper, but her ability let her blast through anything. This guy was taking a lot more than a single shot. Sure, she'd met a random mook with a higher threshold for pain; they couldn't take the hint and lose an arm instead of a life.
Vandal Savage wasn't a normal mook, he was an immortal, and he was healing. She'd shot him through the heart four times already. By the time Mugino figured going for a headshot, he got used to her moves. Now he was dodging them and throwing knives at her. She managed to take out most of his attacks, but he'd already landed a blow on her arm. She was going to blame it on Stark's shoddy work. At least it took a few blows; she wasn't sure how many more could it take.
Savage was almost fully healed, and he was speeding up.
If he got close, she might have to fight him a hand to hand, and she wasn't all that certain with that skill with one arm failing.
Mugino let energy pool in her palm and let him rush her. If she could act fast enough, she might land one good blow and give her a chance to overtake him.
"Venom!"
A girl in a bee-themed outfit rushed out nowhere holding a glowing spinning top-like weapon. Savage was so focused on Mugino he didn't see her in time, and she stung him with the weapon. His body went rigid, and he fell to the ground frozen.
"You're welcome," The Queen Bee smiled.
Mugino scowled. "I had it handled,"
Mugino hated snobby girls like her, they thought they were perfect, and the world owed them.
The esper considered showing her the error of her ways when a blast of green light tossed them both back.
Kim was fighting the Atomic Skull; the battle suit had a shield that was protecting her.
"Really? Is that the best you got?" Kim was usually not one to taunt someone like this, but as long as he was angry and focused on her, then he wasn't thinking of fighting someone without a shield.
"You want to see what I got!" He screamed as green flames erupted from him at Kim.
The Atomic Skull's bright green flames engulfed Kim's vision.
Kim pressed her hands against the shield, which had started to shake. The blue lines on the battle suit begun to turn green. Wade's upgrades to the suit could also absorb energies to help power itself; it was mostly something if she had to fight Shego again.
The Atomic Skull sighed, running low on power, and to his dismay, the shield stood.
It popped, and Kim smiled, "Want it back?'
The palm of the suit started to glow and, with a blast of green light, fired it right back him launching far into one of the damaged buildings.
BlockBuster was striking down Kinuhata with all she got, but her Offensive Armor was holding intact. It was her power, one forged to stand up to tank fire. However, she would hate to admit how much that nitrogen shield was starting to strain.
BlockBuster was upset that he was fighting a small girl and he hadn't won.
"You know," Kinuhata said, "you know, in those monster fights, I never liked it when it just ended up with two people hitting each other."
BlockBuster grabbed her by the neck and lifted her; he felt a barrier around it keeping him from crushing her neck. His head hurt, and his vision was getting blurry; she was making him so angry.
"But that's why it helps that I'm super smart," She smiled. "feeling sleepy?"
His grip was getting weaker.
It wasn't that much of a trick; her armor wouldn't hold up? So she just controlled some of the nitrogen to slip into his lungs, starving him of air. He let her go as he lacked oxygen, and soon enough, he collapsed to the ground.
"Good job me."
He'd be out for a while lacking so much air.
Elsewhere Sogiita's fight was going sideways, someone else had joined the fight. A crocodile man had come to help the shark man, and together they managed to get the fight into the water. Sogiita was confident in his skills, but he wasn't stupid enough to think he would be a better swimmer than these two. Also, he wasn't a great swimmer.
Killer Croc punched Sogiita deeper into the water; he held him down as the teenager struggled. He was strong, and King Shark had to help him hold tend down.
King Shark was the first to notice something, "I smell blood."
Killer Croc smirked, he was about to joke when a red spear shot out of the water, piercing King Shark.
Sogiita took his chance to blast back Killer Croc.
From out of the water rose Zed with a spear ready. After he took care of Black Manta, he saw the fight with the esper.
Zed only said, "Don't move or it will get worse,"
King Sharks' blood began to turn into threads and wrap around him.
"Amazing Punch!" Sogiita slammed his fist against the croc man hurling him out of the water and knocking him out.
"Thanks," Sogiita smiled at Zed.
"No problem."
EARTH TDF-20
CHICAGO, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
HARRY DRESDEN'S APARTMENT
Harry Dresden was a wizard, the only one in the phone book. He was a private eye that sometimes consulted with the Chicago PD. Also, Last Halloween, he became a warden for the White Council, basically Wizard police. Considering his history with the council, that was a surprise. And by history, he meant that they saw him as a threat best put down, which said a lot about their recruitment issues. The White Council had been fighting a war against the Red Court Vampires. If their numbers weren't low because of it and the Threat the Klemmers posed, he wouldn't even be considered. Honestly, he was surprised he hadn't been fired right after.
But, now that half the population of all of existence just vanished, no one could be picky.
Harry's head still hurt just remembering it; he was enjoying a nice cup of coffee and was about to enjoy the rare peace to do some reading when it felt a metaphysical sledgehammer hit his head. Harry thought he was pretty durable, but that knocked him out, laid him out on the floor.
"My host! You need to get up! Something's happened,"
Lash's voice begged him. Lash was the shadow of one of the fallen that happened roust inside his head. The fact that she sounded panicked, well, it takes a hell of a lot to scare anything tied with the Fallen.
Harry managed to get up just in time to see Mouse and Mister, his pet dog and cat turn to dust.
They weren't the only ones; the streets outside were already in chaos when he got up.
His brother Thomas vanished too, along with his friend Murphy. Over the next few days, news filtered in that half of his contact list disappearing. Harry hated to say it, but the city would be burning, and there would be widespread rioting and looting if it weren't for Gentlemen John Marcone.
He was the city's crime lord and even knew about the more magical elements of the city. He managed to stay calm and had his guys-or what was left of them-break up anything before it got started.
But this was bad, everyone, werewolves, fairies, humans, wizards, dogs, lions, tigers, bears-oh my-was hit.
It was terrible when every magical thing, every monster, and even the vampires that had been wagging war against the wizards pulled back to hide.
Harry was looking at a glowing skull; he called him Bob. Bob was a spirit of intellect that was bound to the skull and helped Harry figure out stuff.
"It's impossible." Bob spat out.
"Normally, I'd agree with you but look outside."
"Harry, I don't know what to tell you. I don't know any spells or rituals to cause this. Sure, you want to disintegrate someone. We can do that. But on this scale, it's biblical! I don't think the Big Guy Up Stairs would want this. Why half? Why not everyone? Why not start over? Why not just the guilty and wicked? Even before the plague, there was a warning. There was nothing."
"I'm not willing to buy that God suddenly decided to turn half of the universe into dust. It's not really on brand."
"Right, salt would be more in line with tradition. I'm not willing to rule out the angels, especially after what we saw."
"Fine, but anything mortal that could do this."
"No, the sheer power that someone would need, if anything had that kinda power we'd notice. Everyone would have noticed. The gods in the old days couldn't pull something on this scale."
Fed up, Harry stood up, "Maybe we should try summoning a demon again."
"That didn't work last time."
Harry had summoned demons for information before, not something he liked doing, but times were desperate. He did the needed rituals, and nothing happened. Harry kept trying, trying different demons, and it looked like no one was answering. He had never heard of a demon refusing. That was their thing to show up and make a deal for information, hoping to screw someone over. Looking at it, it looked like the demons had locked up their front door and weren't taking callers. What the Hell could scare demons like that?
Lash had been quiet; usually, that would have been great not to have her trying to tempt him to the dark side, but she was at a loss as much as they were.
Speaking of the Devil, she projected an image of herself near him, her blonde hair shuffling as she inched closer to him.
"It's not him. If they had decided to act on the world again, I'd have sensed it. This was something old and powerful. And not something I know about."
"I need a beer." Harry went to the kitchen, the fallen angel vanished, and he was left alone with his thoughts.
Before he could get his drink, someone materialized in his kitchen, Leanansidhe, or as he called her Lea. The redhead standing there was his godmother, "Hello, Godson."
She smiled, but Harry could tell she was frazzled; her clothes and hair weren't in their usually glamorous state.
Last he had heard was that Queen Mab had her tied up, but she seemed to be freed with everything happing.
"How's the NeverNever, godmother?"
She looked at him as if deciding to answer the question.
"Not well, not well," she sighs, tittering around, "Mab is holding things together, but with the news of the Mothers vanishing …"
Mother Summer and Mother Winter were some of the most powerful beings in the universe, and they both turned to dust like nothing. He never thought he'd say it but thank God Mab survived, the fact that so many people outright feared her kept the NeverNever from falling into chaos."
Lea continued, "Mab is leading the armies to the Outer Gates."
Harry shuddered. The Outer Gates were located at the edge of the Faerie, and right beyond that lay the Outside. It was against the laws of magic to go there because there were things so horrible beyond it that they could doom us all if they ever found a way into the universe.
"The Outsiders have been riled up since it happened. We fear that they might be planning something."
"Well, shit," Harry let out, "why are you here then? Shouldn't it be all hands on deck?"
She chuckled, a tired one, but she chuckled, "Nothing is imminent, plus I still have my duties to you. I'm here to reinforce your wards."
"Thanks," he wasn't used to her being this kind.
"Oh, thought you might regale me with a story," She smiled, "I did answer your questions; maybe you could repay me in kind."
"Of course," Harry snorted, she would want to know about it, "yeah, okay, what kind of host would I be if I didn't."
She smiled, "Yes, I heard you had an interesting experience recently? What was that about?"
"You want to know about the incident?"
"I think it would be more than fair for all the extra care of putting into protecting you and keeping you apprised of the state of the wider universe."
Harry knew she'd try something; she would try to get something from even the most minor thing.
"A couple of days ago, I was by the lake trying to perform a ritual to find out anything about what happened. When the sky opened up with a flash of light, a Mary Poppins-looking lady and some guy in a blue coat ran out. They were running like they escaped from Hell. For all I know they did, something followed them. It looked like an angel, like an old Biblical angel, an orb of light, bright shining wings all around them. They ran past me. Bob yelled a few things at them. They noticed it, but they kept running. Then all three vanished in a flash of light. I don't think it was an angel, not a real one, didn't have that divine feel," Lash confirmed that to him.
Lea just looked at him, "I see, that is very strange."
VORMIR
Lex had a giant robot; he had brought it from his universe. Batman and Superman of his world had damaged it. With the help of the other Lex's, they were able to repair and improve it. This was a weapon of last resort, of course, he had no desire to crush his allies, but he was detecting explosions going.
The only reason he wasn't there to start was that he detected something nearby. It was a broken and battered spaceship.
There hadn't been much, but they had found a robot of some sort. Further probing, they found it was an advanced cyborg. Lex wasn't going to let it go to waste, took on board, and left Mercy to start doing the preliminary tests.
Lex prepared for the battle in the cockpit; he turned the video screen on to the room below.
"Mercy, any results on the test,"
"Not yet,"
"Very well, we're entering into battle. Make sure that nothing is damaged."
Luthor cut off communications to focus on the battle.
Standing over the cyborg, she smiled to herself.
0000
The robot showing up had moved everyone away.
The Black Widow was still fighting Mercy, though the impact of the robot did push them away from each other.
The only good thing about it was that Natasha saw Merlyn preparing another shot on Hawkeye.
Shutaura in her Black Crow Unit rushed towards the robot, it was much larger than her mech, but she still had the best chance of doing some damage on that thing.
Deadpool recovered from another wound, "I would love to finish this battle but-giant robot fight."
As her mech rushed past, Deadpool hopped on.
Shutaurathrough the window as he hung on, "What?"
"I'm sorry, I should have stuck out my thumb."
Her mech had already started to climb up the machine.
0000
Bunnyx was stuck in the Burrow with a villain named Warp.
"All this power," Warp marveled, his gold suit hummed to life as it began to suck up the power.
All the screens were flickering, each showing different glimpses of different moments in time.
This was her power, and it was being taken from her. It wasn't great that she was the least experienced member of the team. She was barely given powers; the only reason she got them because Marinette knew her future self would get miraculous.
She didn't know what she was doing; she just was trying to follow everyone's lead and figure it out. Now, she was on her own.
She had often wondered why she'd be picked to be a hero. She saw her future-self; she was great; she was the one they brought in when everything else had failed.
Alix could only hope that whatever her future version had to make her that good was something she had already.
Her mind was distracted for a moment when she saw the battle on Vormir, well, the future of it. She saw the Lex Robot recovering from damage and aiming its weapons at the heroes below and fire.
She couldn't wait anymore; she had to regain control of the Burrow to stop this.
Bunnyx rushed up, brandishing her parasol. The attack connected, but it didn't work. The second she connected, a shield formed around Warp.
He only smiled at her, "Did you think you could beat me?"
The shield erupted, sending her back.
He stopped collecting power and focused on her.
"How would you like a trip to see the dinosaurs? Or the Black Plague? The Ice Age?"
He fired a blast at her; she quickly dodged it before firing again and again. Her roller blades were keeping her ahead of the blasts for now.
Each blast opened up a small portal for a second.
"I've drawn in enough of the power of this place to send you whenever I wish. You might as well save me the trouble and pick a destination. It need not be cruel. How about the Renaissance?"
In his own way, Warp was trying to be merciful to let her live out her life in the past.
Bunnyx tripped and fell, Warp aimed and fired.
She opened up her parasol, holding off the blast, but Warp poured on the power.
EARTH SG-02
COLORADO SPRINGS, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
STARGATE COMMAND/CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN
Sam Carter was in the lab; the orb they found was odd. Morgan had confirmed that orb was the source of the Ancient's technology dealing with parallel universes, including the Quantum Mirror. They had no idea where the orb came from, and they just found it in a cave. They could only guess that it had come in from another universe. They never found out for sure.
They found precious little to work with. It took her a few days to open it, and once she did, the inner works were amazing. The orb worked on a quantum state; there were no crystals or circuitry; everything was on program molecules, whole software that would take up hundreds of supercomputers, and equipment the size of cities, all that could fit in her palm.
The molecules shifted and moved along the inner working of the orb to serve the purpose they needed at the moment. Sam couldn't figure out how to read it. They had figured out how to activate it enough to project some sort of map of the universe, possibly more than one universe.
Morgan La Fey was helpful, but she didn't either because the Ancient didn't know everything about it. The planet she took them to had a lab where they studied it. They had a large platform device there that they attempted as a crude prototype for the quantum mirror.
Someone had beaten them to it and fried the system beyond repair using it. From what they could tell, someone had used it recently.
They had theories that maybe, ancient in physical form like Morgan went to the machine in hopes of finding out what caused the dusting. After all, whatever caused untold turmoil on their planes, this wasn't something the ancient could just ignore.
General O'Neill walked into the lab, "The Daedalus is here,"
Sam sighed and stretched out as she turned her focus away from the orb. She wasn't all that surprised that it took it so long. It was nearly at Atlantis when the dusting happened, and they lost half their crew. Last she heard, they made it to Atlantis and helped settle things there. Some of the Atlantis crew had come along with them. Rodney McKay was with them, hoping that his genius would solve this.
Rodney was the one that to use the word genius.
Jack told her, "They want to beam us aboard. They have something to show us."
"Sure, let-"
Before she could even finish talking, they were both consumed with light and teleported onto the Daedalus bridge.
Colonel Caldwell greeted them when they arrived, "Welcome to the Daedalus. General O'Neill. Colonel Carter."
"Sam!" Rodney rushed onto the bridge.
"Hello Rodney," Sam said with a bit of weariness.
"We got your message about parallel universe elements," Rodney motioned towards the window before them, the ship motioning into position.
Jack's eyes widened, "Is that the Daedalus?"
"It is," Rodney confirmed.
"I thought we were on the Daedalus,"
"We are," Caldwell confirmed.
"That is Alternate Daedalus." Sam assumed,
Mackay grinned, "Correct," Noticing the confusion in Jack's face, "Years ago this Daedalus appeared over Atlantis, we took a puddle jumper to it when no one responded to it. It turns out that it wasn't the Daedalus we knew, but one with a drive meant to travel between alternate universes."
"Which just so happened to be built by an alternate Rodney Mackay."
MacKay smiled, "Who else?"
"And it didn't work properly, and it kept jumping universes. Your team wasn't even the first team to go on board of it and get trapped."
Rodney paled, "Right, well, we manage to reverse it and get back to our Atlantis, and the ship carried along on its way."
"Isn't that special?" Jack huffed, cutting Rodney off, "Why is it here?"
Rodney held up a finger as if asking for a moment to explain, "I don't know, we were on our way here when we picked up on an energy signal. I thought it might have been one of those other Asgard, but no, it was the Alternate Daedalus. It broke down, but it was there."
"What?" Jack asked, "It went all around the multiverse and ended up back to this universe?"
"No, no, I imagine the engine probably died soon after it left this universe, and when this 'Dusting' phenomena and the barriers between realities cracked, the engine got a jump and shifted back towards us before it died again. We did some basic repairs and towed it back here." Rodney stared at them as if expecting some reaction, "Look! If these phenomena didn't cause the barriers to crack, what if it didn't just happen to this reality? What if this all was caused by something in another reality."
Sam paused; the kind of power to affect a whole universe was monstrous, to a terrifying level. Still, for more than once, it wasn't something she wanted to think about.
Sam did realize something, "If we repair the ship and get it to work properly, we might be able to find the source of all of this."
Mackay nodded, "Exactly, I've toyed with the idea of fixing the engine since the first time I saw it. We still have to fix the energy source and find some way to find the source, and to find a way, so we don't just travel randomly."
Sam smiled, "I think I might have something to fix the last issue here."
EARTH MHA-714-2
MUSUTAFU, JAPAN
U. A. HIGH SCHOOL
Shigaraki looked at the device, dusting off his hands.
Mr. Compress whistled, "I will admit this device is mighty impressive; how do you intend to transport it?"
Kurogiri explained, "I will transport it. You are here to help me ensure it is done safely. We don't have much time; at any moment, someone could come in. We have to disconnect everything."
Toga returned from changing back into her school uniform-like clothes. "Maybe you shouldn't have dusted her." Shigaraki waved her off, "She could have tried to sabotage us or tried to get a hero's attention. Too much risk. There are plenty of people who can figure out how this all works for us."
"I could just compress it down for us," Mr. Compress suggested. "Take everything as is."
"Better not, might rip something off." Shigaraki told him, "This is a prototype at best; just unplugging it might fry something. Less damage, the better. Just shut down everything and unplug it after."
Kurogiri turned to the teen girl, "Toga, grab any notes, plans, or laptops or tablets. Everything that might help explain and maintain this machine will be invaluable."
The other gathered what tools they found and started to remove bolts and unscrew power plugs.
Toga started to gatherer papers and things when she noticed an open laptop.
She saw an icon that looked like the portal device, deciding to check it out that it was the documents on the device.
The device hummed to life, and suddenly a swirling portal of light formed in its archway.
"Aaaah!" Kurogiri collapsed to the ground in pain.
His body started to shiver violently and shake, the fog around him twisting and turning.
Mr. Compress realized what was happening, "The portal? It's affecting him; his powers must react poorly around it."
"Turn it off!" Shigaraki ordered.
"I'm working on it!" Toga tried to turn it off.
Toga was trying to figure out how to control it when something popped on the screen.
We are no open to receiving guests at the moment. We are in the middle of a situation; we will contact you as soon as possible. So if you-
Toga started at the message for a second before it blinked away.
0000
Ochaco received a message over the comms, "Uraraka," Aizawa's voice rang out, "can you and Yaoyorozu go to talk to Hatsume. It looks like she turned on the device, go tell her to turn it off. She's not responding, and it looks like she turned off her comms device. The politicians get nervous when that thing is on."
Ochaco nodded," Sure, we're not too far from there."
"Good, and after that, feel free to take your break."
"Roger,"
"I hope you don't mind if I come along," Momo requested, "I haven't had a chance to see the device."
"Sure," Ochaco didn't mind much. Hatsume was responding better to her, so they might get her to turn off her baby.
TØNSBERG
Mickey and Rippy Roo were working on the machine but found little for them to work on. The machine was covered in a dark metal that had no problem deflecting physical and energy-based attacks.
Carol and Fox Tail were fighting the masked weirdo with a glowing ax. They were trying to fight him off while they finished off the machine.
No one ever wanted to get hit by an ax, but this glowing ax seemed somewhat worse.
Carol dodge one of the ax's slice to see it cut a bolder in half.
"That's some ax," Carol remarked; she'd seen axes before but not one slice so cleanly.
Persuader smirked under his metal mask, "The atomic ax can cut objects on a molecular level."
"I want that ax," Foxtail remarked.
Persuader just said, "Come and get it."
They went to fight him, but that wasn't an easy thing to do, the ax was large and powerful, but Persuader was so used to the ax's weight and swung it around easily. Both women were pretty agile, but they couldn't get close to it without getting slice up.
Mickey and Rippy found themselves with their own a man in bulky green, and purple armor walked towards them.
He pointed his armor canon at them, "What do you think you're doing?"
"Ba ba ba?"
Mickey was still confused about how everyone seemed to understand her. This bald man didn't seem to be phased because he was talking to a kangaroo.
"I need you to step away from it."
Mickey grit his teeth, "I'm guessing you built it."
"Step away from the machine," Luthor warned.
"What if we say no?" Mickey asked.
Lex just opened fire; Mickey threw himself to the ground, grabbed his gun, and fired back. Mickey managed to get a good hit in, Luthor's suit managed to tank the blast, but it did stun him.
Rippy searched through her pouch and pulled out something, and hurled it towards Luthor.
Mickey jumped behind the machine for cover.
Luthor muttered, "What-"
He realized Rippy hurled a grenade at him just before it exploded.
Mickey prepared to fire again,
"Ba ba ba."
Mickey blinked as he started to fire, "Okay, if you say so."
Rippy started to search for something in her poach as thunder roared above them.
Thor versus Black Adam struggled the lightning charged around them.
Black Adam held some respect for this man; he couldn't remember the last time someone fought against him this long.
"Tell me your name," Adam requested, "so I may carve it on to your grave."
"Well, that's a rather bit dark," Thor added.
Black Adam was trying to be respectful, and he wanted the name to remember the warrior who kept up with him. The wizard's children had some fight in them but not like this man, and he had not once hesitated to try for a killing blow. His strength and lightning were his and his alone.
"If you must know, my name is Thor Odinson,"
"A god," Black Adam had heard that name before. "then I hope you die with honor, I will remember your fight for many years after your death,"
Thor gritted his teeth, "No," he said, "I will not die here, not today. My people, my family, those I've sworn to protect, depend on me! I will not fail them again!"
Thor's eyes glowed bright, and energy poured off them.
Black Adam's respect for him continued. He felt a kinship with the man, and he too had failed to save his people. The sole reason he was there was to make sure his people had a chance.
He could not fault him, and he would give him a quick death.
Black Adam's eyes glowed gold.
"Shazam!"
EARTH HL-01
UPPER MICHIGAN, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
APERTURE SCIENCE, INC HEADQUARTERS
Cave Johnson the founder and the brilliant mind behind the greatest scientific facility in the United States and probably the whole multiverse.
Well, a Cave Johnson, PRIME Cave Johnson-he loved that he got to rub in into that Dark Cave's handsome face.
Well, the prime of their central finite curve, or whatever Greg said. Cave was sure Greg made-up words to make him sound smarter. It's like he thought he was getting paid by the word. Greg was no Dickens; when he writes the greatest Christmas story to spite a guy who said he couldn't, then Cave would consider paying him by the word.
It's not that he didn't have the money to do it either, since they found the money universe. Those gold teeth he bought were a mistake, they made everything taste like pennies.
He sat down on his desk; there was work to do. Something strange had happened a while ago. Half of the population of the world had vanished and turned into dust.
Hell, that was weird.
Poor Caroline was among those missing. It nearly broke his heart, but she would want him to continue. The Government of the world had hired Aperture Science to discover what caused it and how to undo it.
His first guess: Black Mesa, but that turned out a no-go. They were on their last leg after Aperture revealed their work with anomalous materials would cause a resonance cascade; they weren't getting much work.
Black Mesa's best bet to keep the doors open now was something they called a hoverboard. It didn't hover. It was a board with two big rolling wheels. Who'd be stupid enough to buy that?
Cave should just buy them out; his work with portals and parallel worlds led him to other Caves, one who'd bought Black Mesa and shut down the whole mess before it got out of hand. Being the humanitarians that they were, the other Caves alerted any they could so they too could shut down Black Mesa once and for all, those no good idea stealing thieves. They did find a few that they were too late to help, but what are you going to do.
But, onto business. Cave sat on his computer with the special equipment Greg had set up. To solve this problem, he had to brainstorm with the only minds equal to his own, more of him and others. They did discover every alternative, and every single dimension went through the same thing at the very same time.
Weird.
It looked like half the worlds had lost their Cave Johnsons. Shame was a great loss for any world to bear.
Still, Aperture lived on to solve this puzzle. Cave looked at his list to remind himself of who else would be on this call.
"Let's see."
There was Dark Cave, that son of a dark version of his beloved mother.
There was Chief Cave Johnson with his Robot-A-Cop program.
Cave Johnson from Aperture Rituals, man, wasn't be relieved to find out this whole mess wasn't because he forgot to do the ritual to forestall the end of days.
Chariots Cave Johnson, still didn't understand why he kept saying Chariots.
Warden Cave Johnson of Terra Three Space Penal Colony, he could take being shiv'ed.
Mantis-Man Cave Johnson, he was hard to understand; those mandibles just garbled up every word.
Michigan Slim Cave Johnson the Hobo King of the Aperture Hollow Science Jungle.
Pure Intellect Cave Johnson, he was a Cave who died, and they inputted his mind into a football stadium-sized supercomputer. He'd gone little nuts. Also, he seemed really bored. He was so glad they canceled that program; what was that called again? Uh, whatever, who cares? The name was too long anyway. Anyway, they were calling him CaveDOS.
Cave Johnson from Aperture Paranormal was still pretty upset about the demon who lived inside his mouth turning into dust.
Cave Johnson, CEO of Blappeture Mesa. He was the Cave that gave him the heads up about Black Mesa.
Cavina Johnson, beautiful as she was a woman.
Overseer Cave Johnson, who was an entire planet, he was something.
Some other people behind their Aperture; with their Caves gone, it left some Apertures with Greg to run them, those poor universes.
Some of the Apertures were run by their own Carolines; Cave always knew she could step up and take charge. He never doubted her.
One Aperture was run by a woman called Chell. She was determined, Cave liked that about her. He saw a lot of himself in that woman. Not much a talker, though.
Machines and others were running some; Bendy ran one and another by a core going by Wheatley. He had such an odd accent.
Then there was one that stood out; an empty lab ran by a machine going by the name GLaDOS. Smart as a whip, quick on the uptake, and so polite, she always referred to the Caves as Sir, Greg barely did that. Plus, she had such a pleasant voice. It reminded him of someone.
Cave shrugged; it was time to get to work.
He turned on the mike, "This is Cave Johnson, PRIME Cave Johnson."
EARTH SKLGRL-12
NEW MERIDIAN, CANOPY KINGDOM
LITTLE INNSMOUTH
It felt like a cosmic joke, but he was sure that the Trinity wasn't behind this.
It had taken every candidate for the next Skullgirl, a couple of immortals, scientific experiments, soldiers, at least one zombie, a time traveler, a superhero, and a few schmucks who were fighting well above their weight class just to take them down.
The entire world had been through for a loop. Half the population was gone. Not just in their neck of the woods, either. Both the Chess Kingdom and the Gigan Nation were hit just as bad.
It didn't hit just humans, but Dagonians, Ferals, Gigans, cyborgs, parasites, and animals too.
And there were always people out to take advantage of the chaos.
Some Medici punks were trying to muscle in Little Innsmouth.
Big Band was a cop or had been before he got killed and brought back as a large cyborg styled after a saxophone. Big Band had always meant to ask Doc Avian about that, but now with the Doc being dust, he wasn't going to get a chance.
The infamous Black Dahlia led these punks; some people said Lorenzo Medici was gone, and she was taking over.
She was missing an arm, but she replaced it with a prosthetic with a Tommy gun and was more than happy to fire. If her face wasn't always covered with that veil, he might call her a looker. Big Bang planned on a surprise attack, but he was pinned down in an alley.
"It's Show Time!"
Peacock jumped out of a building and attacked. Peacock was a teenaged girl, petite and probably out of her mind. She had a dark dress on with a big red bow and a top hat. She looked more like an old-school cartoon than a little girl. Her eyes were just black empty holes, and her arms stretched thin and long. As her arms stretched out to reveal feather-like red eyes were sticking out, and they fired lasers at the gang.
Peacock grinned with her sharp steel teeth. She started to summon her gang, synthetic parasites that looked straight out of a cartoon, to fight by her side as she pulled out random weapons. She didn't hesitate to go for the killing blow against the Medici.
Then the sound of a saw was heard, jumping out a boarded window came out Painwheel. You'd be forgiven for mistaking this teen for a slasher film killer. She wore ragged clothes, a mask, and an extra arm sticking out her back held out a shuriken that she spun faster than any saw you could buy at a store. She roared as she cut through the gang.
Big Band huffed before rushing into battle.
He hated having to bring those girls into this fight. No one was saying they weren't good at it, but it was the principle of it. Plus, they'd been through enough. Peacock had her best friend killed by the Medici, who later tortured her and tore her apart. The only reason she was alive was that the Doc saved her. She had a hate on for the Medici, and honestly, Big Band couldn't blame her.
Painwheel had been a normal kid until Brain Drain, and Valentine experimented on her and turned her into a monster in an attempt to kill the Skull Girl. He and the rest of lab 8 had been trying to help the girls, but the Dusting wasn't helping things.
Well, at least Brain Drain and Valentine both were dust in the wind now. Thank Heavens for small miracles.
"Beep. Boop. Meow."
Big Band had called in for backup and was a little surprised to see who was showing up.
Robo-Fortune, a robot cat girl, was based on Nadia Fortune and was created by Brain Drain. That guy… Big Band couldn't even figure out what went in his head. He would say he brainless, but he could see it.
The robot opened fire on the gangsters. Fortune had been the protector of this neighborhood and immortal thanks to the Life Gem, not that it helped her when the dusting happened. Still, it was oddly comforting knowing that her robot double was helping save the neighborhood.
A girl in green followed close by, swinging her sword. Annie looked young but easiest, the oldest among them. She was straight-up ancient and immortal and happy to help. Following behind her was Beowulf, a washed-up wrestling star wearing an old pelt but a hero at heart.
Big Band couldn't say this wasn't the weirdest group to find himself fighting with, but if the world was about to break, he was happy to fight with them.
They'd keep the peace in this crazy world as long as they could.
VORMIR
The Black Widow started to fight Tigress, they were fighting, and they found themselves evenly matched. They both even saw each other with their batons.
Things got worse, Mercy rejoined the fight, and the two weapons started to overwhelm her.
As they fought, Deadpool held onto the Black Crow Mech, "Okay, I'm just going get off here. I'll fight from the inside."
Shutaura just rolled her eyes. As the Luthor bot reached for the mech only for it to release a massive charge of electricity, it forced the robot's arm to freeze up.
Deadpool twitched, not bothering to say much about the electricity that hit him.
"Whatever," Shutaura shook her head.
As the arm returned to life and reached for the mech, a disc shot out on a strong. Shutaura's eyes flashed with light, and her esper power activated, forcing the disc to explode. The fingers of the robot's hand blasted apart.
Deadpool used his sword to help him scale the robot until he reached a hatch, which he then prided open.
Deadpool whistled to himself as he slid into it.
Luthor did see Deadpool enter it; he now scolded himself for not making the door harder to enter. After all, he didn't expect anyone to climb a giant robot and try to break in.
"Mercy! We have an intruder prepare to take them out!"
Over the cyborg, 'Mercy' growled, "Understood," her eyes glowing.
Outside Deathstroke was not willing to let Deadpool go; he wanted him dead. "Throw me on there!" He ordered a nearby Clayface.
Clayface didn't bother to question him and flung the mercenary onto the robot. Deathstroke quickly climbed up and into the open hatch.
The Luthor bot fired a laser at the Black Crow; the blue lines along the mech's body glowed bright blue as its shielding held against the blast. Shutaura felt the mech shake at the attack; she needed to find a way to attack the robot without it collapsing on the others. The moment the attack passed, she turned it invisible.
She had no doubts that the robot could scan for her, but it would at least distract him.
Psylocke had been fighting off some low-level villains, she was psychic and a skilled fighter and most people weren't all that troubling. She fought off the Fiddler, who oddly enough provided that most challenge, but their mind wasn't that strong. Getting close to her, she managed to knock her easily. Seeing Natasha was being flanked, she joined her in the fight. Both women were back to back as they fought the others. Psylocke's psionic blade shone in the dark world along with the Black Widow stingers.
Nearby, Heat Wave turned his gun at the women, and he didn't like this. The rogue had rules about killing; they didn't kill unless they had to, especially not on women or children. These were trying times, he got some solace that these women weren't defenseless civilians, but he knew he'd have to take a drink after this.
He readied his flame thrower to fry them, but before he could and arrows struck the device, and it exploded.
He was hurled to the side and knocked out, he started to burn, but an arrow shot out nearby, exploding with foam.
Hawkeye's head was still hurting, but he regained enough focus to notice and pull off another arrow.
Little did the archer realize that a nearby stone shifted, forming into Clayface and moving to strike him from behind.
EARTH HB-F-2003
LONDON, ENGLAND
MUSEUM OF LONDON
"I hate Nazis," Hellboy sighed; he must have knocked out or killed dozen Nazi spell casters. "I thought we were done with the last of you guys at the end of the war."
He punched one into the walls.
He held his gun, the Good Samaritan, ready, reloading its bullets.
Members of the Thule Society had risen and were attacking worldwide. They were trying to find every magic items they could and use them along with this Dust Bowl to tip things on their side.
Hellboy hated to admit it, but it might work. People were scared senseless, and anyone promising salvation if they followed them would be popular. They had no clue what happened; they just seemed to be trying to take advantage of the situation and seem as powerful as possible.
BRPD only got here in time because they picked up on strange energy readings. They had no idea what they were looking for; Hellboy ordered if they'd discovered Excalibur, that would be interesting to find.
Ready, he rushed into the main room; he saw some sort of sorcerer with arcane sigils and stars around them as they stood above a relic.
"Hey, idiot!"
The magic-user turned and got shot in the chest, falling back.
"I can't believe he actually turned. That wasn't even a good line,"
Hellboy shot again; he didn't need him rising again. It happened a few times today. He was exhausted, but every Bureau agent felt the same; the whole "Dust Bowl" had freaked out the supernatural. Fairies were running amok, ghosts were wailing, and the world was a mess.
Then he spotted something, the relic, an orb with a strange triangle made of circles glowing, and it looked like stars and galaxies were being projected around it.
He picked it up, realizing that it was something they might need to study.
EARTH BTVS-1997
SUNNYDALE, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
FORMER SITE OF SUNNYDALE'S HELLMOUTH
In a flash of magic, Buffy Summers and Willow Rosenberg appeared and looked around confused.
Willow closed her eyes and sensed the area. Meanwhile, Buffy looked at the massive hole that was once her hometown.
Willow felt the magic that lingered, and the power came from the Seed of Wonder; she felt impressions of Buffy, Angels, Twilight, and the Master from his time as the Guardian of the Seed. Willow cringed at the memory of the Vampire. The fact that someone so evil was now forever tied with the forces of magic disgusted her.
"Any luck?" Buffy asked.
Willow shook her head, "No, the same results at the Well, nothing. The magic is reacting to something powerful, but it's not the result of any magic."
Buffy sighed, "Yeah, I'm sure the Magic Council is going to double-check."
Willow studied the area, "This area does feel weird."
The red-haired witch stretched out her hand, and she pulled at something. She had traveled dimensions before, and she knew how difficult it was to break the barriers even in a place like a Hellmouth.
She reached, and the air rippled, and out came a small orb that slipped through the cracks of reality through a weak spot that remained after the Hellmouth closed.
Buffy picked it up and looked at it, confused.
TØNSBERG
Black Adam screamed the name of the wizard and called down the lightning striking down the god. Black Adam struck him with his fist and repeatedly hit him as they both fell to the ground. They collided with the ground with enough force that it left a crater.
The ground shook and the Storm Breaker laid at the side; Black Adam stood triumphant. With Thor on his back, Black Adam pressed his foot to the god's neck.
Black Adam sought to end this now; he focused on Thor's head. "Shazam!"
The lightning struck him.
"Shazam!"
Again, he felt the prosthetic eye start to shut down to save itself.
"Shazam!"
Thor felt the liquids in his head start to boil.
"SHAZAM!" Black Adam sought to end it right there.
Thor's eye glowed bright blue, and he saw the lightning rushing towards him and reached out to catch it.
Thor was the god of thunder and controlled lightning, this was magical, but its power wasn't truly Black Adam's. The god took it and forced it onto Black Adam.
There was a massive discharge of energy, and lightning crackled around the ground.
As the electricity came crackling by, both Carol and Foxtail saw it coming, and they acted quickly. They had just been jumping around avoiding his ax; maybe it was the mask or because he was focused on his attacks, but he didn't see the lightning coming.
Carol used the chance to land a kick to his head, and his weight shifted as his ax fell to the ground as the energy rushed over and shocked him. It probably didn't help that Persuader was wearing a lot of metal, but he was shocked, collapsing to the ground.
Carol blink realizing she wasn't touching the ground. Then she realized she was floating in the air. Foxtail flew above the ground holding Carol, her namesake tails were spinning wildly, keeping them aloft.
"Huh?" Carol smirked, "I honestly forgot you could do that."
Near the machine they had used for cover as Luthor continued to fire on them. They still hadn't found a way to damage the machine, but at least for now, it was protecting them. Rippy Roo pulled out a small sharped metal rod from her pouch. Her eyes twitched as she sensed the wave of electricity rushing towards them.
"Ba baba!" She gave Mickey the rod.
They climbed onto the machine in a hurry. As Luthor prepared to fire again, Mickey hurled the rod at him. Suddenly finding a rod sticking out of his armor did distract this Luthor but didn't harm him. That is until the energy struck. Usually, his suit could protect him from that. The rod drew in the electricity, frying the suit and shocking Luthor.
The other two were safe from the effects of the blast because the machine repelled the blast.
Rippy had planned on using the rod and trying to get Thor to zap away. Rippy had hoped to channel one of the bolts Thor was shooting overhead, but this worked too.
Sometimes you just got lucky.
As for everyone else, they mostly managed to avoid the blast. Sogiita took a hard hit since he was still wet, but he shook it off. Chloe got knocked out of her Queen Bee form, but that would have happened soon enough.
Thor picked up his hammer and stood over a frail old man in a crater.
When Thor turned the lightning back on him, it didn't just turn him back to his non-powered self but also years the magic had been holding back. He was once known as Teth-Adam in ancient history, and he managed to hold off the years because he was Black Adam.
Teth-Adam was breathing hard; the lightning must have hurt him after he had reverted. His lips moved, trying to say something, but his mind was foggy, and he couldn't make out the word in this state.
Thor held the ax; if he could regain that power and the fight would begin again. He had no qualms about killing an opponent if he had to, but seeing left so weak and broken was different.
This would have to end one way or another.
Beep.
In a small flash of light, a device materialized, and a message appeared.
Thor quickly read it, "Well, that would work,"
The battle was done.
They gathered everyone up to send them into the cube, but that still left the machine humming.
Mickey couldn't help but ask, "Is that going to work?"
Foxtail brandished the Persuader's ax, "He said it could cut down to an atom."
She brought it down on the machine and split it in half. When something can split something by atoms, it doesn't matter how defensive it is.
After the villains were gathered up and sent into the cube, they got the message they needed in Wakanda and prepared to head out.
EARTH DS-16
NAMELESS FOREST
JAPAN
They didn't know which one it was they had gotten lost after the train in a forest. They were on a train when it happened, and the engineer vanished, and the train came to a stop. People were injured but more simply disappeared.
No one came for them, so people eventually decided to walk for it. They tried a nearby village, but the people were scared.
Worse yet, it looked like demons were attacking wildly. They only heard whispers after that person vanishing, and demons attack publicly.
They could only hope the Demon Slayer Corp was busy trying to stop this, but they had no idea; their messenger bird had vanished with Zenitsu.
They could only assume that members of the Demon Slayers had vanished too. They didn't know if the demons were really behind this, they fought some in a village, and they seemed terrified.
Something seemed so wrong with the world. They were in the wilds, unsure of where to go, and oddly enough, the forest seemed safer than villages.
A young man with a boar's head mask rested on his head, he was shirtless, and he sat down on a small clearing.
He was usually loud, but he was quiet as he stared at the stars.
Next to him sat down Tanjiro Kamado, a birthmark sat on the top of his head. He was usually so positive and determined, but that did take a hit. He saw so much danger and suffering.
Tanjiro sat down and settled his pack back.
The door to the wooden pack back opened, and out popped out Nezuko Kamado. Nezuko had been turned into a demon, and that should drive her to kill, but her humanity fought back. There was a bamboo tube in her mouth to keep from ever even attempting to bite someone. Though Tanjiro certain his sister would never actually hurt any human.
Silently she sat down next to him and looked up at the stars.
EARTH BE-09
TRUE CROSS ACADEMY
TOKYO, JAPAN
The door to the Cram school opened up, and someone kicked it open. A woman with red hair and yellow highlights kept in a ponytail. She was a voluptuous woman; she wore a red bikini top and a black jacket, and black jeans. Markings in red were on her chest and abdomen. Her full lips curled into a frown.
She tossed into the room, two young exorcists. First, she threw in a girl in a yellow sweater and pink skirt; she had blonde hair in a bob. That was Shiemi Moriyama, plopped onto the ground, her familiar a small green man clung to her, she called him Nee.
The next one was Rin Okumura, a dark-haired young man in a school uniform wearing a black and with school uniform. His messy black hair almost covered his eyes.
Shura Kirigakure just sighed, "Okay, take a break. I gotta check with the top brass. They'll probably send us on another missing right away, so just take the time while you can."
A long thin tail with a bit of fluff popped out from under Rin's coat.
Shiemi sighed, "Do you think they'll send us on another mission?"
Rin sighed, "Probably."
It was an unpleasant truth, but the effects of The Day of Ashes lingered. When half of all people on the planet vanished into ash, things went crazy. Half demons vanished too, but the half that remained were now more active.
And it didn't help that half the exorcists were gone.
Even half their classmates were gone, Rin lost his familiar Kuro and his twin brother he was trying to struggle on.
They had been fighting demons almost none stop since it all happened.
There didn't look like there was any end in sight, and they still had no idea what caused happened to cause the Day of Ashes.
VORMIR
On a distant planet, a battle for the sake of the universe was being fought.
"Oh, cool robot," Deadpool pointed to the cyborg.
He stared down at a dark-haired woman.
"Look, not to tell you how do your job or anything-I mean-I'm as much a fan of robots as the next guy but aren't you in the middle of a big plan. Wipe us out? Ring any bells? Do you guys have time for distractions?"
She smiled as her hands began to glow, "You talk too much."
"People keep telling me that,"
"Be quiet."
Before Deadpool could utter another word, his mouth sealed itself shut. He was desperately trying to speak, to make a joke about Fox, but couldn't.
Before he could do anything else, he found a sword shoved through his heart.
Deathstroke huffed, happy to have him shut up.
"Good work," Mercy told him.
Taking out his sword, he turned it to her, "You're not Mercy; she's on the ground fighting,"
She rolled her eyes, "I suppose the illusion isn't needed anymore. The bald man is under my spell; he can play war all he likes."
The illusion vanished, and Mercy was replaced with a pink slime creature.
"The Dire Wraith will have the final word." She waved her hand, and Deathstroke was hurled to the wall.
Like many others, she sensed the power of the stones unleashed on Earth. She was on her way there when the cyborg stopped her, a member of enemies of her people. It managed to do enough damage to her ship to strand her, so when Luthor showed up, it was a chance she couldn't resist.
The Dire Wraith was a powerful magic user; when Luthor arrived and scanned the spaceship, his curiosity got the better of him. He came, and she quickly cast a spell on him, twisted his perceptions to see his loyal assistant in her place. She could change her shape but needed the person she would copy; this illusion was a poor imitation.
It couldn't have gone much better; they knew about the power and started collecting it. And the man, Luthor, was driven by ego and greed; he was easy to manipulate. She'd go to Earth, and she'd take power for her people. They even managed to disable a Space Knight. With more of her people, she could learn the secrets of her enemy.
She was playing it well; the problem was that she turned her back on her enemy.
A blast of energy tore through her body, she hit the floor, and behind her rose the space knight.
The cyborg's eyes glowed brightly as he readied to fire another eye beam, "Terminator will not be used for the Dire Wraith."
"Ah!" Deadpool gasped as his mouth regrew now that the dire wraith was distracted. "First, Fox tried it, and people hated it. Second, I liked the Lisa Edelstein version of you a lot better! Third, Two terminators in a room and no Schwarzenegger!"
Deathstroke took out his gun," I'm going to kill everyone in this room."
0000
Hawkeye prepared another arrow, not knowing that someone was sneaking up behind him. His ears were ringing, so his usual methods of noticing things behind him were out.
Clayface moved to strike him, but Clint had some help; Kim rushed him and pushed him out of the way.
"Kid?" Clint blinked, just having missed a giant clay fist. "Aren't you supposed-"
Kim shrugged, "Yeah, ran out of juice; Xuppu needs to recover before I can turn into King Monkey again."
"Good to know!" Clint fired another bow as Clayface turned to them.
As the arrow struck him, the Clay figure was suddenly shot through with a taser charge. Clayface found it hard to hold it together and collapsed to the ground.
Kim helped Clint get up," Not so fast!"
Clayface lumbered over them, "Yeah, I've grown resistant to shocks."
As he prepared to attack them, glowing gold energy rushed through him, and his body began to twist and contort. He shouted as he desperately tried to hold his form before finally melting into a puddle on the ground.
Floating, there was Xuppu, a small monkey-like creature having a plantain for a snack. Xuppu smiled, "I might need a break to let you transform again, but I can still use the power but not as focused. It can be very drastic when disrupting people's powers."
Clint and Kim both looked at the puddle on the floor that seemed to be trying to be screaming.
Clint was rather happy not to have powers.
0000
The Black Crow turned visible as it jumped onto the robot's head; it sent a charge of electricity through the cockpit.
Luthor struggled at the controls; as blackness consumed his vision, he armed the last weapons to fire.
0000
The Dire Wraith began to cast spells around the room to fight off everyone around her.
"Cram that Voodoo that you do!" Deadpool charged at her only to be shot back with a blast.
The Space Knight fire a beam at her to dodge it. Deathstroke deflected it with his sword striking Deadpool.
"Why?"
Deathstroke fired his gun at the space knight, it caused several minor dents in its body, but it didn't pierce. A few of the bullets hit the dire wraith but didn't do nearly as much damage as he had hoped.
As the robot began to shake, the space knight called out, "This machine is preparing to attack."
The dire wraith looked at Deadpool, "You could still save them if you try to sabotage the weapons."
"No luck hocus pocus," Deadpool pulled out a grenade, "Me and my masked brother from another company can survive this, can you?"
As a bubble of energy formed around his hand, she glared at him. She waved her hand, pinning the other to the walls, "I've had enough. Luthor will kill you, friends, and I will go with him to Earth. I will take the power they have collected, and that power will be used to destroy all those that oppose the dire wraith."
"No, it won't," Terminator spoke. The dire wraith kept him from using his eye blast, but there was something else he could do.
His body began to glow as energy started to build up and explode.
0000
The Lex bot turned its weapons to the heroes below.
"He wouldn't." Tigress spat out.
"He would," Mercy sighed.
As they prepared for the end, there was an explosion in the middle of the torso of the robot, it paused the attack, but it started up again, buying them time.
Distracted, Psylocke shoved her psionic blade into Tigress, knocking out and letting her drop. Nat used the opening to use the stingers on Mercy and grab her. "Everyone move now!" She motioned to Tigress. "Grab her."
Psylocke sighed but picked up her opponent and moved towards the towers.
It wouldn't be much, but it might provide some cover.
The Lex Robot recovering from taking some damage and aim its weapons at the heroes below and fired.
0000
Bunnyx breath out, "Okay, that should be enough time."
Warp found himself falling as Bunnyx opened the portal, and he fell right in the pathway of the Lex Bot's attack. Warp reacted by firing back; as the two attacks collided, there was a massive explosion.
The ground shook as the robot fell off the cliff.
Warp crashed on the ground; he had barely managed to get a shield up at the last second, though he was severely burned.
"Did it work?" Bunnyx jumped out of the portal, using her parasol to descend slowly.
Nat gave a half nod, "Yeah, sort of."
0000
The Dire Wraith crawled in the destroyed room, "This is not the end. The dire wraith will-"
"Shut up!" Deadpool jammed his sword into her chest, killing her, "I know that rich coming from me but-"
Wade looked around, seeing a knocked-out Deathstroke pinned to the wall by some shrapnel and Terminator blown apart.
Wade ran to what was left of his head. "Whoa! Arnold! Hang on! I mean, wow! You blew up good." He picked up the head, unsure which liquids were organic and what wasn't.
"Look, hang on, we got some people good with tech, and Stark has been working on cybernetics. We can put you back together. Just-"
"No," The head's eyes glowed softly, "I will not survive long enough. I die with the knowledge that I stopped the Dire Wraith from reaching your world."
"I mean, I think you'd rather live-"
"I fight to stop the threat of the Dire Wraith. They attacked my homeworld, and now it… What do you fight for?"
"Vanessa, my girl, she was caught in the snap, and we're trying to get here and everyone else back."
"Good, fight on."
Deadpool placed the head gently on the ground.
He heard knocked as Shutaura checked, "Anyone there?"
"Yeah, it's over." Deadpool sighed, "well, this sucks,"
EARTH MM-02
FAMOUS FASHION DESIGN STUDIO
LOS ANGELES, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The Middleman arrived at Roxy's design studio; he left the other back at the base to keep working. They had been trying to figure out what was the cause behind this whole mess.
"MM," Greeted the familiar voice of Roxy Wasserman.
The stylish blonde wore a fashionable pink dress, and even the stress of the last few days had not shown on her.
Roxy was a succubus who ran a halfway home for recovering succubi and incubus by getting them off their wicked ways and getting jobs in the fashions in the fashion industry.
The Middleman had checked in on her, she was fine, but half her girls had turned to dust.
"It's good to see you, Roxy,"
The blonde woman sighed, "And it would be so much better to see you if you didn't wear that tacky jacket."
She motioned to his Eisenhower Jacket.
The Middleman took no offense to it, just taking a moment to straighten it.
"It's the end of all things, and you are going to wear that."
"Excuse me? The End of All Things? Why do you say that?"
Roxy walked him over to her office and motioned to an orb sitting on her desk. The little circles on the ball seemed to beep.
"That," Roxy started to explain, "years ago, when I was looking for funding to open my little slice of rehabilitation, a man appeared to me. He called himself Infinity and wore the tasteless mask I've ever seen. Had an infinity symbol on it, well, I'll give it to him he knew how to brand."
"And how does this connect to the end of all things?"
"Patience, now I had been in the depths of Hell long enough not to trust some just handing me the thing I need. He said I would not owe him anything, just to keep this orb and find a hero." She pointed at him.
"Me?"
"I don't keep many heroes on my contacts list,"
"Now, Infinity warned me that when this tasteless paperweight would come to life at the time of the Great Disaster. That I would have to find a hero and warn them, that those hunting for demons would come, led by the Who Laughs at Gods. He and his troop would have answers for the hero."
The Middleman stare as he pondered the words and the weight they held.
Roxy played with the ball, "Honestly, I had forgotten the whole thing until I heard this thing beeping deep in an old box."
SADALA DB-1984-6
SADALA CAPITAL CITY
CAULIFLA'S GANGS HIDEOUT
Kefla sat in her chair, bored; it hadn't been a great couple of weeks.
First off, half of the multiverse just vanished, including those two tiny gods. No one knew what was happening. As she shifted in the chair, feeling the potara earrings.
Kefla was the fusion of Kale and Califia, and she was the new God of Destruction. Neither Kale of Califla ever considered becoming the god. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing, Vados needed a god to connect to, or she'd be gone.
It was a rush job, but she didn't have time after Champa was gone, so she offered the job to the strongest people around her at the time. It was a lot to consider; it came with a huge power boost. You'd never get sick and immortality. But that was also an issue, and neither girl wanted to watch everyone they knew get old and croak, especially each other.
They formed a quick solution; the Kai offered up the earrings. They were more powerful and more confident together in that fused form. And honestly, together, they didn't feel alone. So, they agreed and became the God of Destruction, sparring Vados.
And that was it.
There was nothing to do!
Half the universe was gone. There wasn't much to destroy.
Most people were freaking out over everything. Those causing trouble were being dealt with by the other Saiyans. She showed up once, showing off her power and people decided to settle.
Vados had said something like, "Well, now that there is a god of destruction that can actually do something, people will be, of course, be wary."
She was glad the universe wasn't tearing itself apart, but she was doing nothing.
"Any news?" Kefla asked.
"Not yet," Vados told her the fortieth time.
Vados was doing something with her staff, scanning the universe looking for something, one end to another not finding a thing.
She'd been doing that for the better part of a week. Kefla wasn't imagining anything was going to change soon.
In an infinity spectrum of realities, ever-growing, shifting, and various laws, not all would be able to find the energy signature that had caused this damage, being too far away from it as it faded.
Still, like all the angels, she worked on it. Something was unsettling about this. Something was wrong in a way she couldn't understand.
EARTH SDS-12
KINGDOM OF LIONES, BRITANNIA
TEMPORARY MAGIC RESEARCH SHED
The crystal balls The Morning Star Aldan was the sacred treasure of the sin of Gluttony floated in the middle of the tower.
The crystal ball flashes images from around the world, the same chaos that had happened there. Anything living, even those believed to be immortal, vanished, turning into ashes.
From out of the shadows floated out a young-looking beautiful woman wearing a revealing purple long coat with a fur collar. Also, she wore purple shorts and thigh-high boots. A smile curled on her crimson-colored lips. Her shoulder-length black hair swayed around her.
Merlin smiled to herself before she pulled a book off her shelf and flipped the pages open.
She opened to a page showing an illustration of an entity holding an orbit wearing a mask with an infinity symbol.
"I've seen that orb before."
VORMIR
The Black Crow helped get Deadpool and a tied-up Luthor and Deathstroke, not that either was conscious.
By the time they got up, they had gathered everyone else, and they got the message about sending them to cube.
Clint was working with the machine, "Anyone knows how to turn this off?"
Deadpool just got off the mech and jumped onto the machine and activating the TDS.
The machine vanished in a flash of light. After a moment, he returned.
"We don't have to make it hard," Deadpool told them.
"Where'd you take it?" Clint asked.
"I left it in the talking plants world," Deadpool said, holding a shovel and walking off.
Soon enough, they sent off the villains into the hypercube.
Deadpool didn't help much with this; he took out the remains of the Terminator and buried them.
"It's no tub of molten steel, but I hope this lets you have some peace. Hasta La Vista." Wade gave the mound a thumbs up.
As he started to talk away, he paused as he found another mound of fresh dirt; sitting on it was a small, well-balanced dagger.
His TDS bleeped, Nat's voice rang out, "Wade, we are needed at Wakanda. Are you coming?"
"I'll be there,"
Author's Notes: Hiya. Been busy at work at things, I want to say I got stuff done, but life is never that kind. Still, I was inspired for this chapter so I ended up writing more with this story. More on that later. To make up for the delay, I touched on some stuff I'll do later and glimpses into other words that were suggested earlier that I didn't do because I didn't know. You guys would be surprised by how many of these recommended series I ended up seeing randomly. Anyway, leave a review telling me what you guys think. We are getting close to 450 reviews and the people check out the With
a Snap Tv Trope, always more to add and the character page is coming along.
The next part is the battle at Wakanda. So review telling me what you guys think and what you like and such.
Q&A:
kingmanaena: Thanks great to hear.
acosta perez jose ramiro: Thanks man
Guest:
1) Yeah, like, that what Venomous does. If he thought sticking with Luthor could get his people back he'd to it. But his best shot is to stick with the heroes. It's not good odds, just a bit better.
2) I'm glad you likes those part. Yeah, it's probably going to happen, no one can be expected to know every series and you can't talk about every character in it. Though I am glad you found some stuff to like anyway.
3) Well each world is different and I'm trying to do my best to keep it in character and rules and capablities of that world. So far I think I'm doing an okay job. Plus, I don't care if a series is less known or anything. I do which ones I think will be interesting. Something I liked with the old Justice Society was they had a team that had people who were just good at punching and a guy who could move stars. It didn't matter how powerful or well known, they were all equal in the idea to bring justice. Samething here, just trying to get their people back. Some worlds will have an easier time but it doesn't mean they can't do something.
4) I found out about the rumor a little after I posted it. I'm sad now. I think it would have been cool to see it on the MCU. It just goes to show you double check everything. But maybe this rumor will spur someone on to push something with Big Hero 6 in the MCU.
Okay, the Rom comment. That inspired the thing with the space knight before. Like if you said it earlier I would have had Rom show up on Xandar. Still I had some fun with the fire wraith and the terminator space knight. The issues with the MCU is Rom is owned by Hasbro, Marvel created the story and everything but Hasbro gave them the names and everything in a license deal. I'd love to see that story but it would be a huge job to make it happen. I know James Gunn wanted him in the Guardian movie but that issue came up. But who knows, I wouldn't have expected a Shang Chi move but here one comes.
5)Thanks for understanding me taking more time. I gotta do some of my own stuff too. Plus, we could always use more help on the TV tropes page, the guy who started it asked me some stuff to help,I help where I can.