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Ultimate Aeon
Chapter 24: The Dark Dimension
They expected it to be nauseating, jarring, or for their bodies to be ripped apart and put back together. The reality of the transportation was quite different from what they imagined, or saw from TV shows. Tony was the first to emerge, touching his chest and checking he was all there. Steve came next and scanned his surroundings. The next misconception they had was that the dark dimension would be some fiery landscape, a hell, or a place of utter darkness. But the dark dimension was paradoxically quite light, shades of purple and blue filled the air, Tony was amazed by the structures in the sky, blobs that looked like atoms, clouds of sparking energy. Steve felt the ground with his hand, it was rock but it felt like water. He slid the visor back on his helmet, heavy air but breathable, moisture was in the air yet his skin felt hot. Finally Sven came out of the portal, took a sniff of the air and looked between the two men.
"Did one of you guys fart?" he asked.
"There is a bit of a smell, although I'd describe it more like a spa in Cephalonia," Tony said.
"Normandy's beaches, the salt air and the smell of the bodies," Steve muttered.
"Well thanks for ruining my initial feeling," Tony said.
"Maybe it's different for everyone, maybe that's the point of this dimension, it's chaotic," Aeon looked at the path ahead, seeing more of the Mindless Ones coming towards the portal.
Steve raised his arm, an energy shield immediately appearing over it. Tony readied his repulsors and Sven tapped his feet against the ground. The trio rushed forward, rocket boots carrying Tony whilst Steve ran. Sven however partially fused with the air, or what accounted for air in the Dark dimension. Purple markings spread across his armour, and his mind was invaded with the image of a fiery face looking at him. Recovering his bearings, he jumped forward, cutting through a Mindless One with his foot. Steve cut through another and threw the energy shield, the latest in Stark Tech, he could throw it as if it was his old shield.
"Throw it?"
Steve looked at Sven in confusion. He was wearing a type of grey uniform, a S.H.I.E.L.D. designed suit that included a mask to cover his face. Red lenses covered his eyes and his gloves fully covered his hands, not being fingerless like what Janet or Pietro wore. They were in the training area being offered to the Ultimates, it was a few weeks after the Hulk incident, Cap was famous and beloved by America and the Ultimates were officially bigger than the X-men.
"You really think that throw…"
As the words left Steve's mouth, the shield left Sven's arm. It bounced off of the wall, ricocheted and slicing through a punch bag. Then it returned to Sven's hand, the energy sparking through him as the sand flowed onto the ground.
"Impressive," Steve muttered.
"Actually I was aiming to break the chain," Sven said.
"But throwing a shield, I can't think of a more foolish thing to do," Steve said.
"The shield can be more than just a bludgeoning weapon Steve, this isn't what you used in the war," Sven said tapping the surface of the shield. "Vibranium and adamantium cross, it absorbs energy, kinetic force, vibrations, the light feel of it makes it ideal for throwing and ricocheting," Sven explained.
"It flies fast but delivers a hard punch, I get it," Steve smiled as he took the shield from Sven's hand.
He tested the weight on his arm, before throwing the disc.
The energy disc flew like a buzz saw, cutting through several of the mindless ones. Steve's gloves had controls implanted in them, the wrist of the glove acting as the attach point of the energy shield. He directed the shield on its path of destruction before he ran into the mix, attaching the shield back to his arm and blocking an opponent's punch. Iron man flew overhead, firing his repulsors again and punching out a final Mindless One.
"We can't fight like this forever, we need to either stop the advance of the Mindless Ones now, or try and find Strange, I don't have an unlimited budget here you know," Tony explained.
"You're not broke are you Tony?" Sven asked.
"You realise being broke doesn't mean the same for him as it does the rest of us right," Steve commented.
"Thanks for that Steve," Tony huffed.
He flew over the brawlers, who threw themselves at more of the Mindless Ones. In the end, the creatures just seemed to walk around them, not quite living up to their name. Tony summarised it was a bit of both adaptation (adopting a tactic for survival) and objectivity (tactically prioritising their target; invasion). So he adopted the same approach, ignoring the Mindless Ones and flying ahead. He widened his scans, shifting through the spectrums of vision and releasing radar pulses. Multi-Tasking was a must for him, running his company. True he had a board of directors, but he always had to be mindful of those he left in charge of his company. He ran background checks on employees whilst composing upgrades for his armour, researched non profit organisations to invest in and at the same time implemented sustainable profiting schemes. So in this case he watched the ground and scanned ahead, reading the shifts in heat and the increase of the Mindless One numbers. Then he noticed the change of the Mindless One formations, the ratio of groups they were walking in. Steve's method of reading the place was more simplistic, he heard gunshots.
Two Lee-Enfield repeating rifles, modified with a greater kick, both being fired in quick succession, so longer magazine. Then a Sterling Sub machine gun, again modified for greater shredding damage and a longer magazine. Cap and Aeon punched their way through and looked to a pillar that the Mindless Ones were piling up on. On that pile two individuals were firing at the Mindless Ones trying to attack them. One was a red haired woman, her outfit consisting of a brown tank top worn underneath a grey coat, black leather boots worn with brown trousers and a choker with a red stone on it. She fired her modified rifles at point blank range at the monsters, and employed enhanced strength with her kicks.
Behind her, firing a modified machinegun and cutting the Mindless ones with a knife was a man in a blue suit and mask. There were pads of armour woven into the suit, and his mask was part cloth at the neck and helmet over his face. His harness had the subtle shape of the British Union Jack; he wore brown gloves and boots and had utility pockets on his belt and a holster with a revolver in it. He fired a few bursts of the machine gun before looking to the American heroes.
"Oi, help us out here," he said.
Cap threw his shield, directing it around the pillar and knocking a few of the Monsters off. Aeon then rushed forward and delivering kicks and punches to the others. Iron man fired a few repulsors blasts before offering the two gun wielders his hands. They jumped and grabbed a hold of him, the woman shooting a few more of the Mindless Ones for good measure. As soon as they landed, the masked man ejected the magazine from his gun and reloaded.
"Not to look some American gift horses in the mouth, but what are you lot doing here?" he asked.
"This portal appeared in the Swamp in New Orleans, the Mindless Ones came out of it and we've been trying to help Dr Strange…"
"That wanker on the TV?" the red haired woman asked.
"Watch your language," Steve said.
"No, the original, Strange Senior, anyway here we are, nice to finally meet you guys," Sven said.
"Do you know these people Aeon?" Steve asked.
"Sorry miss, not you, but I know Union Jack here, member of the United Kingdom's premiere super hero team the Union," excitement rolled off of Aeon's words as he tightened his fists and hopped eagerly.
Union Jack pumped his chest a bit proudly, whilst the woman rolled her eyes.
"Britain has a super hero team? I thought that was Captain Britain and the European Initiatie…oh wait, technically they aren't part of the EU anymore," Tony said.
"Oh a Brexit joke, haven't heard a million of those," again the woman rolled her eyes.
"And you are ma'am?"
"Elsa Bloodstone, I don't usually walk with you super hero types, although walk ahead and I might not complain," she said.
Steve and Sven both blinked in confusion.
"I understood that reference," Tony chuckled.
In the world outside, the heroes of the Earth continued to hold the line against the Mindless Ones. Strange Junior groggily got off of the floor, rubbing his sore head and looking ahead. Black Knight clumsily cut a Mindless One apart, and Wolverine slashed through another. Sue and Jean both maintained layers of barriers, and Wasp grew to giant-size, her helmet folding over to reveal the cowl she wore underneath. She crouched and made herself a wall, dragging her arms to force back those Mindless Ones that didn't climb over her. Several were on her back, tugging at her hair, but Cyclops accurately fired off a flurry of shots to knock them off.
"My father, where…where is my father?" Stephen asked.
A Mindless One ran towards him and Stephen raised his hand, chanting the spell for an energy blast. He would have been too late, if Quicksilver didn't run around the Mindless One, delivering vibration empower pokes to the Mindless One's knees and heels, slowing it down enough for Stephen to blast its head off. Quicksilver continued to support some of the ignorant heroes, taking apart a Mindless One behind Hawkeye and another about to attack Rogue.
"From readings I've taken I can tell the portal is expanding, the rate is indeterminate but if the fight carries on like this then there's a chance that whatever dragged Strange through the portal could fit through it," Reed said.
"Then we clobber it back through, Cap and Aeon are in there," the Thing said.
"And Tony," Hawkeye said. "Don't forget we need his money!"
"Aye, it would be most unfortunate, and awkward for us to continue living in his house with him trapped in another dimension," Thor said.
He smashed a few Mindless Ones and then chained lightning through several more. Chunks of hail crashed down on some of the ones in front of him, causing Thor to grin. He looked up at Storm, who released miniaturised funnels of wind, knocking a few of the Mindless Ones towards Thor. He eagerly swung his hammer like a bat.
"These creatures are contained, no lives are yet being threatened, isn't this fun?" he asked.
"Hey Ben, I'm on Sixteen," Johnny said.
"Amateur, I went past thirty ages ago," Ben said.
"Our stamina isn't unlimited, the threat is literally growing," Reed said.
"He's right guys, sorry but we really can't keep this up forever," Sue added.
"My nose is a little itchy, any minute now and I'll bleed like Eleven," Jean muttered.
"Babe, we all know Eleven can't hold a candle to you, but the point still stands people we need the others back here and the portal closed as soon as possible," Cyclops explained.
"I am the Sorcerer Supreme, I will close the portal," Stephen said.
"You're kind of missing your cloak," Spider-man said.
Blue lights glowed underneath Stephen's feet as he hovered off of the floor.
"I don't need the cloak of levitation to fly," he said.
"Wait, not without the others getting through," Wanda flew in front of Stephen, her red hex energy surging around her.
"You're a novice in comparison to me Maximoff," Stephen said.
"Guys enough posturing, we need to agree on a plan," Spider-man swung and landed between the two.
"The more time we waste, the more Mindless Ones will come into this world, and the greater the chances of Dormammu entering our reality," Stephen said.
"I know you aren't friendly with Aeon Strange, I know there are some people here who aren't, but please we need to give them more time, we wouldn't know about the incoming threat if not for him," Peter explained.
"I am not going to let Aeon be left there," Wanda said.
"Our chances of survival, the world's chances of survival stands much better if we all survive and work together," Peter said.
He knew this, believed this, because of his dreams.
"Oh my god, have I been hit?"
"Take it easy Spider-man, it's a clean shot, you're going to be fine."
"When you grow up, you're going to be the best of us."
"I couldn't save him, but I saved you!"
He didn't understand it, but he had the feeling that once, in another world, he died and it was because the heroes couldn't work together. So he couldn't abide the heroes fighting one another, especially in the middle of a crisis like this one.
"Well said Spider-man," twin voices spoke above the heroes.
Peter and Wanda looked up and saw two robots floating over the group, one suspended by rockets in the boots, and the second floating under its own power. Both had similar bodies, but very different heads and alloy colours. The one with rockets on its feet had red slits for eyes and antenna on the sides of its head, its armour was primarily silver. Then there was the second, its armour consisted of red and green colours, save for the gold across its hands and shoulders. It had a red humanoid neck and chin, but its upper head was green with a yellow jewel glowing on its forehead.
"Hank gave them makeovers, not sure about Vision," Wasp muttered.
"Doctor Pym is unfortunately still under house arrest," Vision II said.
"Fortunately he has sent us to provide assistance," Ultron said.
"Then here's the assist, give Strange and me a path to the portal in the swamps," Wanda said, charging her hands with hex energy.
"It will be our pleasure Ms Maximoff," Ultron said.
Wanda flew forward first, tearing a pile of Mindless One's apart. Spider-man jumped between them, not holding back his punches and kicks. The two androids flew above him, Ultron firing blasts from his eyes and Vision beams from the crystal on his forehead. Ultron used a form of artificial telekinesis, drawing some of the Mindless Ones towards him and punching them. Vision however was able to alter his very density, smashing through them and then phasing through others to break them from the inside. Strange formed two disc shaped runes with his hands and threw them like Cap's shield, cutting through a few of the Mindless ones.
Strange opened his eyes, feeling bandages wrapped tightly across his body. Anymore pressure and his bones would break, his skin would twist to match the direction of the bandages, but his throat was fine and his internal organs would be kept intact just enough to feel every bit of pain. The aim of the bindings wasn't just to trap him, and it wasn't at all to suffocate him, but to make his death as agonising as possible if he tried to break free. His mouth was still exposed, meaning he could use a vocal incantation. The one imprisoning him however probably wouldn't let that happen. Dr Strange looked up and felt the cosmic flames that were Dormammu's face, the lord of the dark dimension was a giant adorned in a red armoured collar and purple clothes.
"Dr Stephen Strange Senior, Sorcerer Supreme, or perhaps its Ex-Sorcerer supreme," Dormammu laughed.
"I may not hold the title, but I am still one of the most powerful sorcerers in this reality," Strange retorted.
"When your competition is a mutant and your son, that doesn't actually say a lot," Dormammu huffed.
"Whether I am sorcerer supreme or not, this world is under my protection, I will not let you destroy it," Strange said.
"Bold words Stephen, can I call you Stephen?" Dormammu asked.
He sat on the patch of ground floating through the Dark Dimension, casting a massive shadow over the sorcerer. His pose and demeanour was relaxed and he fiddled with the ground with his finger.
"Doctor will do," Strange said.
"Oh come on now, we can at least be civil, believe it or not Stephen I'm not actually aiming to destroy your world, I can't say the same for the others though," Dormammu chuckled.
"What do you mean?" Strange asked.
"You haven't been travelling through dimensions for a while Strange, people are getting nervous, and when we're nervous well you'd better be worried," Dormammu explained.
Strange smirked and then chuckled, causing Dormammu to frown.
"You're frightened, something is out there that's worse than you, you're actually capable of feeling fear," Strange said.
Dormammu suddenly stood, the flames of his head grew brighter and the bandages around Strange tightened. The doctor felt his hip pop, his shoulders dislocate and his ribs push into his lungs. Sweat ran down his face, but that evaporated when Dormammu looked down on him, the flames scolding Strange's skin.
"DO NOT DARE MISTAKE CAUTION FOR FEAR MORTAL! LIMBO! MEPHISTO'S REALM AND THE OTHER CIRCLES OF HELL WERE SHAPED BY MORTAL IMAGININGS! MY DARK DIMENSION HOWEVER IS MY CREATION AND THE RESULT OF MY WILL!" Dormammu roared.
Despite the immense pain he was in, Strange still kept his smirk.
"Okay, caution, so what is powerful enough to make Dormammu cautious?" he asked.
"Something attacked Nifleheim, Hela's dimension and the darkest part of Valhalla," Dormammu began, taking a seat again.
"The Asgardian afterlife, but the Asgardians themselves have been reincarnated on Earth," Strange said.
"Indeed, but their target wasn't the souls of those lost by Ragnarok, rather it was the territory itself and what bringing down Hela actually means," Dormammu explained.
"So Hela was deposed as a show of strength to the rest of the hell like dimensions," Strange summarised.
"Exactly, now Hela isn't a pushover, I mean, she's no me but she certainly isn't weak. With her dimension taken, it's only a matter of time before the rest of our worlds get hit, so you see we actually want to be in a different place," Dormammu said.
"And you decided that Earth was the safest place?" Strange asked.
"Don't be so sceptical, believe it or not you're actually pretty tame in comparison, I mean come on multiple universes came to your aid and prevented a collision with another Earth. Your reality was warped, and then turned back to normal, or at least a new kind of normal for this world," Dormammu explained.
"Conquest has always been on your mind Dormammu, don't try to convince me that you're only doing this to keep yourself safe," Dr Strange looked up at Dormammu defiantly.
"Well Earth is naturally the better choice, why do you think so many alien and dimensional cultures try to take it over, they like giving it a bad name but Earth is actually a great place, the food, the entertainment, I mean YouTube comments alone are more entertaining than anything you can find in the Dark dimension, do you have any idea how boring it actually is in this place? But that's neither here nor there, Earth will be my haven and my prize, and it's going to take a lot more than you to stop me from having it," Dormammu tightened his fist again.
Strange felt his wrists and Achilles tendons snap, foam rose from his mouth as he yelled in agony.
"Oh no," in the distance, Aeon heard the former sorcerer supreme cry out.
He drove his knee through a Mindless One's face and felt his stomach groan.
"I don't know how long I can maintain my armour," Sven said.
"Then add your powers to ours, fusion," Iron man said.
"A few seconds will be all we need," Cap nodded his head.
Blue and purple electricity sparked around Aeon's body as he began to fly. Red and gold lights began to surround Iron man and fittingly white, red and blue energy surged around Steve. Both flew alongside Aeon, whose armour began to crack. When the armour shattered, both Steve and Tony were enveloped in a light. They became orbs of energy that reformed with Aeon's armour, joining with it, creating new armour. The tech of Iron man and Cap's star spangled shield fused with Aeon's armour. When the light passed, Aeon's armour had red gloves and boots, with kite shields on all four appendages. Each of these shields had arc reactors put into them. As well as his white and grey armour, Aeon also had plates of red and gold armour. His helmet had Iron man's eye lenses and his fins had been reshaped into eagle like wings.
"Cool," Union Jack muttered.
The British adventurers continued to fight through the Mindless Ones, whilst Aeon ignited rocket boosters on his back and his feet and hands. He flew across the Dark Dimension, avoiding the pull of demonic tentacles, the gravity of black suns and the jaws of gigantic living planets. The armoured fusion built up speed, ignoring the purple energy that sparked around him. Inside the helmet, Sven was provided trajectory data by Tony's computer mind, and Steve's tactics and spatial skills provided him with even more guidance. Dormammu drew blood from Dr Strange's mouth.
"Why fight?" Dr Strange was able to spit. "When we can bargain," he smirked as he looked up at Dormammu.
The lord of the dark dimension hesitated, and suddenly Aeon collided with his cheek. He'd built up speed and curled at the last moment, using that speed and the vibranium in his shields to become a projectile that could topple gods. Dormammu fell off of the planetoid and seemed to be lost within the darkness. The bandages finally released Strange and he fell into Aeon's arms. He flew back to where Union Jack and Elsa waited.
"All right, let's get out of here," Aeon said.
"YOU LITTLE SHITS!"
The heroes looked behind them, the void of the Dark dimension suddenly became erratic, forming the outline of a face.
"Whatever threatened Hela's world threatens the Dark dimension too, I'm not just some fancy lord here heroes, I AM THE DARK DIMENSION!" Dormammu yelled, releasing a shockwave that nearly threw the heroes off balance.
"Dormammu," a voice called out.
Aeon felt his vision blur slightly, something was wrong with his powers in the Dark Dimension. He looked up as Wanda suddenly landed in front of them, her eyes and hands glowing red as she faced Dormammu.
"I've come to bargain," she said.
Dormammu narrowed his eyes, before roaring at Wanda. Shards of purple diamonds appeared around Wanda and shot towards her. Aeon stretched his hands out, but he was too late, the shards pierced through Wanda's chest and back and her eyes froze in horror.
"WANDA!" Aeon yelled.
Next Chapter 25: Chaos magic
Ultimate Counter Earth
X-Protectors
Magneto felt his asteroid, his Utopia ascend to the heavens. He felt it travel through reality, surviving the waves of the incursion and the melding of worlds. Through that he had experienced multiple paths his life could have taken. The path of a founder of the X-men, the path of the founder of the X-men, the path of a man who tried to destroy the world and died on his knees and the path of a man who simply dedicated himself to peace. There was even a world stuck in the past where he was a simple man, yet led the charge against mutant kind. This was the world that made him laugh, for despite that difference in his genetics, he was still just the same man.
No one else seemed to have experienced this phenomenon, Magneto had a theory that perhaps it was because of his experiments with Xavier. When he removed his helmet, he could hear the whispers of those around him. Only they weren't speaking, he was hearing the voices in their heads. Perhaps it was a cruel punishment that at the end of the world he finally understood people's points of view beside his own. Yet it still couldn't stop him from preventing the chaos that formed when the survivors of Earth landed on their new home. It was an Earth type atmosphere, almost identical to size as what they had left. But the difference was that there was one city, one grand city that took up most of the West coast of the planet. Asteroid M landed roughly a week away from it.
"Are you all right father?" Lorna asked.
He smiled at her; she was too good for him. Cyclops coordinated the surviving mutants and the humans, he was a leader of men as Magneto hoped he would become.
"There is a fleet coming towards us," said Toad.
This Earth possessed advanced technology, ships that wouldn't poison the atmosphere. Four purple horse like robots covered the platform that belonged to a man in silver and purple armour. He was using telekinesis to levitate his platform, showing immense power. Erik flew out with some of the other mutants and humans. The armoured riders that guarded the armoured figure removed their helmets, revealing hybrids. A rat woman, a ram man, a lioness and a tiger man, all of the soldiers were humanoid versions of animals.
"Might be time for us to be vegetarians," he heard Toad mutter.
"Blob will be disappointed," Lady Avalanche said.
It was time for a change, he removed his helmet and floated out, smiling at Lorna over his shoulder. He had been given this power to understand for a reason, and he had been given this chance for a reason. On one world he reminded a genocidal maniac with delusions of grandeur. He flew out to meet this High Evolutionary.
"My name is Erik Lensherr, I am a mu…" homo-superior, the next step in evolution.
But that wasn't true, whether his people really were evolved it wasn't true.
"I am human, I have power, but I am human, I am human with the same claws as any other and we have lost our home. This is your home, we don't want to take it from you, we just want to be allowed to make a new start," Erik explained.
The High Evolutionary looked at Erik's outstretched hand for a moment.
"My name is Herbert Wyndham and I know of the desire for a fresh start, do not ever make me regret my kindness," he took Erik's hand and shook it.
It wasn't a perfect world, in the East the survivors of the old Earth built from the remains of Asteroid M their own colony. Baseline humans had become dependent on mutants, and the old hatreds faded away for reliance, and eventual respect. Some humans moved to Wundagore, where the Bestials resided, but they were not welcome. It was Erik's will and the High Evolutionary's indifference that kept them from going to war. Sir Ram was a sadist and wanted to experiment on mutants, as time passed, he became the suspect in the disappearance of some mutants. Lady Ursala was fierce and ruthless, she loved to fight and respected the strength of the mutants and even some humans. Lady Vermin was flirtatious and deceptive, Erik did not trust her. Sir Tyger, the leader of the knights of Wundagore, was perhaps the most honourable, and oddly the kindest being on Counter-Earth.
"You've done it father," Lorna whispered to him one day.
He sat on a chair, smiling at the sun set.
"Is it enough?" he asked.
"A new home is a start," she said.
But it would not be without an obstacle, not from their new home, but from the stars. For Counter Earth was a part of a galactic community. Every insectoid based Bestial was going manic, beginning riots throughout Wundagore. Satellites had picked up objects in orbit, scouting parties of a coming invasion. Psychics whom touched the minds of the incoming insectoid invaders said only the same thing regarding the invader's goals: Annihilation!
"This is our world now too," Erik said.
He put over his head a helmet, red and purple like another old world. But there would be no dramatic cloak, just a red jacket with purple highlights. The deep chair he sat in floated under his power, and when the portal opened he flew into Wundagore, but not alone. Whilst he controlled traffic, moving the flying cars out of the combat zone, keeping things civil, red and yellow blasts flew into the alien insects.
"Keep the people back Alex," Scott said.
"You don't have to tell me that," his brother retorted.
No codenames, just their names, no masks even. That didn't mean there wasn't some kind of symbolism, Scott still wore the ruby quartz visor, and wore a blue and black suit with yellow trim and a yellow X on his right shoulder. Alex wore a simple black suit with a glowing circle on his chest that matched his powers. Both brothers fired their energy blasts at the forces of Annihilation, but some ships slipped through Magneto's grasp. Fortunately Lorna was able to pick up the slack. She took on a yellow jacket with a red X on the shoulder.
"Get ready for impact Lauren," she said.
A blonde haired girl walked amongst the Bestials, knowing they hated her. She wore a black top with a yellow X over it. Raising her hands, the air around her hardened into a type of barrier and the Annihilation drones bounced off of it. There was the whip of a tongue, and Toad jumped over the girl, his costume just a simple grey jacket, slacks and fingerless gloves.
"They're all yours Fred," Toad said.
The insect drones were punched aside, or stomped on the ground and Frederick Dukes revealed what this new world had done for him. He kept his chest uncovered proudly, though he still had a wide girth, he wore the stretch marks on the rest of his body like badges of honour. He was still very much a heavy weighted man, nothing would change that. But he had more muscle on his arms and legs than before, and he was almost happy to use them to protect others for a change.
"This is our home," Erik said, raising his hands and unleashing magnetic blasts that ripped the approaching metal ships apart.
"And we are its protectors," he proclaimed proudly as his new team, fought to protect a world that hated and feared them.
Aeon in the Multiverse
Ultimates of Amerika
Sven controlled his breathing, making sure to not let too much of his blood flow out of his wound. That was one issue out of the way; his armour would self repair after a few hours, that was another issue out of the way. Now the final issue, wherever he had ended up he was falling. The air rushed through him and he could at least identify that he was in a hot region of the world. South Africa maybe, or the Middle-East, either was possible considering the heat in the air and intense spiritual emotions he sensed. His armour glowed, the markings surging across it as he partially fused with the air and the very soul of the region he had teleported into. The battle in the Crystal palace, the revelation of the Exiles, it was all second for now until he was sure he had survived the sting of Rhongomyniad. King Arthur survived long enough to slay Mordred, but Sven was neither men. Both darkness and light flowed through him; he concentrated, manifesting his beast form. A partial transformation was enough; his face took on the draconic beak and white scaled helm, a gold wing burst out of his right shoulder. When he impacted with the ground, he was clutching his side with one hand whilst his broken arm had clicked back into place. This was because it had turned into an enlarged clawed hand. He took a deep breath, just one deep breath and then returned to normal, his body returning to the normal shape of a man.
"Damn," he muttered.
His armour shattered, leaving just his hard suit. The sun was blazing over his head and he sighed, it would be a long walk back to civilisation. He began a walk across the desert, keeping his hand firmly on the wound that Onyx's lance had given him. The blood wasn't flowing out of that region, that was good at least.
'Survive, just focus on survival,' he thought to himself.
He was at least heading towards people. By partly fusing with the wind he could sense that he was on the track to a camp. Each step he took began to feel heavier and heavier, if he didn't get any kind of disinfectant soon then he'd begin to get delirious. That was if dehydration didn't kick in first, he'd already lost track of time. He hoped the people surrounding him were mirages, because they didn't exactly look friendly. Then again, anyone in a head scarf would look unfriendly to someone who hadn't grown up in the region. He hoped this was a part of the Middle-East that didn't yearn to kill any American they crossed. Then again, he wasn't exactly a friendly looking person himself.
'Bleeding white guy in dark combat gear, not exactly an upstanding look,' he thought.
They had guns on their persons, local militia, hopefully the kind that didn't want to kill minorities in the Middle-East.
"As-salaam alaykum," Sven said.
'Please say 'wa alaykum as-salaam,' please say it,' he hoped as his breathing became more ragged.
They whispered amongst themselves, their hands still on their weapons. Of course they were surrounding him, and Sven knew he wouldn't have a chance. Without his wounds he could hold his own at best in unarmed combat, but he was no Black Panther of Captain America. They began to shout at him in Arabic (he knew some words, but couldn't fluently speak it) and aim their weapons at him.
"Damn it," he snarled, eyes glowing red briefly.
Before he could even launch some kind of defence however, flames crashed into the region, burning the Militiamen to bones. Sven widened his eyes, before everything went black.
He awoke with a start, gritting his teeth together, nearly yelling. His shirt was off, and his wounds had been bandaged. Sitting up, he could see that he was in a facility of some kind, metallic floors, a comfortable gurney and good lighting. He touched the gurney, using his abilities to run a fusion pulse through the building. It was a building in New York, a full staff of workers, though some were afraid to be here. He could also sense, recognition, and excitement. Like liquid his armour covered his body, just as the wall behind him caved in.
"Ho, at last our quarry is awake," a dark haired woman said.
She wore a gold armoured bustier, her thighs were exposed but her feet were covered by Grecian boots. Over her fingerless gloves were a pair of gold gauntlets, that materialised a pair of gold swords. Her hair had been styled into dreadlocks, and her forehead was partly covered by a gold bandanna. She swung the swords into Sven's gauntlets, and from the attack alone he could feel that she was more than just a tall and muscular woman. The strength she had behind her was akin to Thor's, and she demonstrated as such when she grabbed Aeon by his neck and threw him to the side.
"Enough Warrior Princess," a voice spoke, its tone friendly.
Aeon first thought it was the white incarnation of Vision phasing through the wall and grabbing him. But the antenna on the sides of his head was too similar to the kind Ultron possessed.
"My husband is right Zarda, we don't want to undo all of my work healing our guest," spoke another.
She floated into the room, hex magic flowing through her hands. The woman looked like Wanda, and had her hair, but her clothes were green, more akin to what Lorna Dane would wear.
"He looks like Aeon, Green Sorceress, he may meet Ultron's seal of approval," a brown haired man came around the corner.
He ground his teeth together as his eyes turned blue and his cranium expanded. Then his muscles began to expand, shredding his shirt as he grew.
"The Analytical Hulk however has vastly superior standards," he said.
"That's enough Ultimates," a final voice was enough to make the Ultron/Vision hybrid let go of Sven.
He could finally see why they had stopped. The Ultimates must have been counterparts of the Avengers, because a leader of the Avengers was who Sven saw. This Steve Rogers had a full beard and wore a padded, militaristic version of his star spangled suit. But where he differed was the fact that instead of a shield, he used a red and blue sword with a white star as its hilt. Behind him was a version of Iron man, though his armour had the gold areas replaced for purple and the red areas replaced with grey. Then there was a heavily armoured 'Ant-woman'.
"Take it easy son, Fire-Ant's patrol recovered you, Lady Ultron's magic did the rest," Steve said.
"Cap," Sven muttered.
The Ultimates exchanged puzzled looks with one another.
"Do you not recognise your King? Are you some kind of variance of the TVA?" Iron man asked.
"Wait, your 'King America'?" Sven asked
"Strange, even the most basic of Time Variants knows that there has been a King in Amerika since we freed ourselves of the Pendragon Empire, you certainly look like Sir Reilly, but you do not appear to have based your powers on magic as he does. It appears that my initial theory is correct your majesty, we are not dealing with a time displaced variant of our…comrade," Sven noticed the smirk across Banner's face as he looked at Steve.
Subtly goes out of the window when you're the biggest person in the room. King Steve however simply smiled as he stepped down to meet Sven and clap his shoulder.
"You know not of our history because you are not of our world, still, it is good to see a Sven Reilly," Steve said.
"I am from a different Earth, but I might not be the only one coming here, my arrival was a complete accident, look do you have anywhere to sit where we could discuss this?" Aeon asked.
"Of course, follow us," Steve said.
The Ultimates and their guest walked down the corridor that their king had walked down. On their right were large windows that overlooked a city. Aeon recognised the positioning; they were in a modern high rise building, perhaps Stark tower or Avengers (Ultimates) tower. The buildings were modern; another thing Sven recognised was the New York streets. Only instead of cars people were using carriages drawn by winged horses and even flying broomsticks.
"You have technology in this world right?" Sven asked, gesturing to Ultron and Iron man.
"Of course, my Vibranium armour is one of many things confiscated from the rebel nation of Wakanda," Tony said.
"I still remember the sweet death scream of their king when his majesty drove Liberator through his chest," Ultron said.
Another red flag for Sven, he backed away slightly from Ultron, but still walked.
"King Killgrave was going to launch a war of petty vengeance against us, punishing us for crimes committed two hundred years ago," Steve huffed.
Another red flag, the Steve Sven knew, and had seen often in other realities would never have dismissed that racial crimes were still being committed today, nor would he have made light of past crimes either. Unless this world was that much better than others, still Sven was sceptical. He was amazed however when they came to a circular chamber with a round table. On the walls were murals showing great battles and victories, the discovery of a sword and amulet in Britain before the Nazi's bombed it with a nuke, that sword would be forged into the weapon that Steve was using now.
Then the murals showed variants of the Invaders being led by Steve and Warrior Woman, the man holding Hitler's head to celebrating allied soldiers. Steve and Zarda seemed to ascend somewhere, before emerging in the modern day with the Ultimates, Fire-Ant, 'Vibranium Man', Hulk and a version of Giant-man who was a Cyclops. Over the years the Ultimates fought the likes of the Morgana Le Fey, Galactus alongside his freed herald the Gold Surfer, a sorcerer Magneto and his mythical creature based Brotherhood. The murals showed the wedding of Steve and Zarda on some kind of isle of warrior women, the expansion of the team with Wanda, her brother (though he had blonde hair and used red and yellow colours on his costume) and a Hawkeye who used crossbows.
"Our greatest battles and victories, the Phalanx collective, the Destroyers, Thanos and his infinity cube and even our unfortunate Civil War to regulate the nobility," Steve explained, taking his seat at the table.
"All forgiven of course," Tony chuckled.
Sven looked at the table and saw the American eagle on it, it had stars representing not fifty United States, but 'uplifted' provinces and they had spelt America with a K.
"We will do everything within our power, both with technology and through Xavier's magic council to send you back to your Earth, but I hope you realise at the moment we can't afford to simply do things out of the kindness of our heart, especially considering we don't know if you really possess the same morals our Sven Reilly did," Steve explained.
"That would depend on what his morals were," Sven said.
"My sword Liberator is based upon the sword of might, its shards used by Erskine and Horton to create me, the king that Amerika needed to fight against the Axis. Our Sven however had not only the moral fortitude to be chosen by the spirit of heroism, but also to bend the amulet of right to his will," Steve explained, pointing his sword at the ceiling.
That's when Sven saw the final mural, King Amerika standing with that world's Aeon. Only his armour had the colour motive of Captain Britain and the nation's flag over his helmet.
"And we need that moral fortitude to save our world from the Masters of Evil," King Amerika said.
On the streets of New York, or rather the city of Arc York, battle had taken place on some of the streets. Hawkeye loaded his crossbow, narrowing his eyes as he ran out of cover. Blasts of ice flew into his path, forcing him to jump and use his acrobatics. The sorceress Blizzard created several ice shards to intercept Hawkeye's bolts. One of the bolts however struck her shoulder, and she was pulled back by Porcupine. Another moment passed and both were picked up by their teleporter Spot.
"Damn you, ambushing me like this, you can't hide forever Parker, nothing hides from me," Hawkeye said.
Suddenly, black tendrils wrapped around Hawkeye's neck, flinging him away from his crossbow. He was pulled into the grasp of a man in a black suit. A red spider symbol was on his chest, and the white lenses on the mask narrowed at Hawkeye.
"Spider-man," Barton snarled.
"You crossed over into our territory Hawkeye, we told King Rogers what would happen if he sent one of his pawns after us," Spider-man explained.
"I'll never surrender," Hawkeye spat.
"Surrender isn't necessary," the mouth area of Spider-man's mask suddenly split, revealing a set of razor teeth and an elongated tongue.
Hawkeye growled as Spider-man dragged the tongue across his face. Then he creamed as Spider-man opened his maw.
Next Spider-man The Master of Evil
A Pretty long chapter I know, but I hope everyone enjoyed it, and the side stories. Next time Aeon's journey in the Multiverse continues, the battle with Dormammu is resolved, and we're introduced to the Ultimate Sentry family.
Amerika: An Earth where America became a Monarchy, and magic still flows through the world. Britain was wiped out in World War 2, and recently the Ultimates fought with the symbiotes.