Chapter 11.
Hey everyone. Back with another chapter.
This chapter will be centred around the challenge.
We are nearing the end of Arc 1. After this chapter there will be 3 more chapters. The next chapter will be training with Ra's and Nyssa. The chapter after that will cover Team Arrow bringing allies together for the battle. And the final chapter of Arc 1 will cover Ra's Al Ghul's defeat.
Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, followed and favirouted this fic so far.
Disclaimer: I don't own Avengers, Arrow or any characters and elements pertaining to the mentioned franchises. I only own Jason Stark and any other OC's and worlds you see in this story.
On with the show.
Jason's POV.
I woke up peacefully from my night's sleep.
I was surprised I had managed to sleep so well with all these crazy things happening all around me.
But maybe my chat with Cassilda had something to do with it.
Somehow being around her, made me feel relaxed even though I really shouldn't be.
Boy but I had a huge crush on her.
As I lay there thinking about Cassilda, I heard two female voices outside my door, talking and laughing about something.
I realised that Nyssa and Cassilda had come to fetch me for my test.
I jumped out of bed just as there was a loud knock at the door.
"Jason are you decent?" I heard Nyssa ask.
"Uh yeah sure" I said as the door to my room opened and Nyssa and Cassilda walked in laughing about something.
"Morning Jason. I hope you slept well" Cassilda said with that beautiful smile.
Nyssa simply smirked at me as if there was an inside joke I wasn't aware of.
"Uh…yeah…not…bad" I said trying hard not to seem overly excited to see her.
"So ladies, what's for breakfast. Cant expect a man to do his test on an empty stomach can you?" I said with a smirk.
Nyssa rolled her eyes and said, "Jason, forget about your stomach. We need to go."
"Fine" I sighed.
"But you owe me a big farmhouse breakfast when this is over" I said to both of them.
Cassilda smiled and took my hand, and said, "Come Jason. It's at the gateway. I'll ride with you" she said sweetly.
Nyssa rolled her eyes again. She seemed to be doing that a lot.
"Let me just grab my coat" I said before dashing quickly and grabbing a cloak that was made out of bear fur or something.
I followed Nyssa and Cassilda out of the tower to where 3 horses were standing, all tacked up and ready to go.
We got on our horses and we rode out of the town at canter speed.
We found ourselves on a large plain that had massive skeletons everywhere.
"What the hell happened here?" I asked.
"This is the Battleground. As its name suggests, it serves as an ancient battleground between a race called the Shoggoths and Cassilda's ancestors" Nyssa explained.
"Why does everything have to be so danm weird?" I muttered.
"What is a Shoggoth?" I asked.
"A race of shapeshifiting creatures created by the Elder Things as a slave race. They rebelled eventually and dwell in the deep places of the world" Nyssa said.
We continued riding for about another hour or so until we arrived at the gateway where I first came to this new world.
Here I got my first look at the gateway.
It was built out of stone and was about 15 feet tall.
There were intricate runes all over the gateway.
We got off our horses and Cassilda and Nyssa walked over to the gateway. While I held the horses.
They began moving the runes into specific places.
"What are you guys doing?" I asked them.
"Matching the runes into there places. To access a specific dimension, you have to match the correct runes. Otherwise the gateway doesn't activate" Cassilda explained.
"What! There's more then one?" I asked.
"Oh there are many more. We are sending you to the Nightmare World" Nyssa said casually like being sent to a Nightmare World was normal.
"Oh you've got to be shitting me" I muttered.
Soon the gateway had blared to life in a roaring swirl of colours.
"We are ready" Cassilda said as she and Nyssa walked back to me.
"What's the plan?" I asked them.
"Simple. You will enter the Nightmare World and face your greatest fears. When you are done, you will be let out. Just pray you don't encounter any creatures that dwell there" Nyssa warned.
"What kind of creatures?" I asked in fear.
"All sorts of scary beings that will tear you apart literally the moment they see you" Nyssa said.
I gulped.
"Okay then…let's do it" I said nervously.
"Don't worry. You'll be fine" Nyssa assured me.
Ha! Easy for her to say. She wasn't the one doing the test.
I stepped up towards the gateway and was about to enter when Cassilda's voice called me back.
"Jason" she called.
I turned back to face her.
She came running up to me.
"Don't die" she said.
"I have no intention of dying today" I replied, smiling at her.
"I hope not. I really want to see you. I'll be waiting for you when you get back" she said before leaning over and kissing me on the cheek.
Well as far as motivation to get this over and done with, this was high on my list.
I could definitely get used to Cassilda's kisses.
I walked through the gateway.
I turned around and briefly caught a glimpse of Nyssa and Cassilda looking at me with determination before the gateway shimmered and vanished.
"So here are then. Now what?" I muttered.
I stood in a dark foggy forest.
What is it with weird dimensions and forests?
Soon I felt delirious.
I collapsed to the ground and passed out.
When I woke up, I was in a dark room.
"What in the…" I muttered.
The walls suddenly came alive as thousands of spiders, big and small came at me.
I screamed in terror as they crawled all over me.
"Oh god. Not this crap again. It has to be spiders? What kind of sick joke is this? Because whoever did this has poor taste" I thought to myself.
I tried to grab them, but they were intangible like ghosts and were crawling through my clothes and onto my skin.
I kept screaming until my throat was raw.
But no matter what I did, the spiders would not stop coming.
Oh boy.
If this was the test, then it sucked.
I couldn't break free no matter what I did.
I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to do at the moment.
Think Jason. Think.
I knew it would be my fears, due to the fact that A: I was terrified of spiders. And B: Nyssa said I would have to conquer my fears.
Unfortunately, I didn't know how I was supposed to do that.
I realised these spiders responded to fear, and if I stopped being scared, they would leave me alone.
I hope.
Well it was worth a shot anyway.
Although how to do that was another question.
I sat down and tried to quiet my mind down thanks to an old mediation technique that an old monk and martial artist named Shang Chi taught me. I focused my mind somewhere else. I remember Shang Chi telling me to find a happy place and put your mind there. So I started thinking about Cassilda.
After a while, I realised that I wasn't feeling the spiders crawling all over me anymore.
Wearily, I opened my eyes and looked around.
Somehow they had all disappeared as if into thin air.
"I did it! I did it!" I yelled.
I hoped that this was the end of it.
While I was celebrating my victory, a fire materialized in front of me.
It was tiny so I wasn't worried at first.
Then it grew in size until it covered the entire room.
Then it moved towards me.
"Ah crap. Fire. Really? I hate fire" I said.
"Maybe if I stare defiantly at it, it will go away" I thought to myself.
So I did just that.
But the fire just kept coming at me.
Soon it was right in front of me to the pint where I could feel the heat.
"What am I supposed to do now?" I thought to myself.
I realised that maybe I was supposed to face the fire.
So I closed my eyes and waited for the inevitable.
Soon the flames started to engulf me.
I could feel my skin start to burn and blister.
"Don't panic!" I frantically said to myself.
I started breathing into the count of 3 and breathing out for the count of 3.
And old military technique that I read in a book that Navy Seals use to slow down there heartbeat.
I focused on my breathing as my skin burned.
I gritted my teeth and tried not to scream as my clothes started melting to my skin.
Just as I thought I was about to die, the flames disappeared.
I sighed in relief.
"Okay. This has to be it. What else can they do to me?" I thought.
While I was sitting there, hoping to see what was going to happen next, I saw my dad, Pepper, Happy, Rhodey, my step sister and step brother, and the Avengers appear in front of me.
"Dad, guys. What are you doing here?" I asked in confusion.
"Jason help us" Pepper yelled.
"What's wrong? What's happening?" I asked in a worried voice.
Suddenly a large android appeared and snapped her neck right in front of my eyes.
"Nooo! Pepper!" I screamed.
"Don't look away Jason. Your dad's next" Ultron said in a sadistic voice.
"Don't touch my dad or anyone, or I'll fucking kill you!" I yelled enraged.
"Save us Jason. It's all up to you Jason. You can't let us die!" Happy yelled.
Those words tore through my heart.
It was probably the worst of my fears: Not being able to save the people I love the most. How would I be able to get through this one…
I began breathing heavily, trying to not panic.
Panicking would get me nowhere even though it was a very panicky situation.
Ultron turned his hand into a cannon, moved to my dad and blasted his head off.
"Nooo!" I screamed, tears streaming down my face.
I couldn't watch this anymore.
"Choose Jason. Who should die next?" Ultron said with a malicious smirk.
"No one you idiot!" I yelled.
Ultron moved and broke Happy's back before blasting my step brother in the back of the head.
Now that was 4 of my loved ones dead.
I had no idea what I was supposed to do.
Kill Ultron?
No that wasn't an option.
Run away?
What would be the point of this test?
Steve and Thor were both killed making me scream in anguish even more.
I suddenly had a profound realisation.
I cant save everyone, no matter how hard I try.
Maybe that way I could move on.
"As much as I would love to save you guys, I can't. That doesn't mean I don't love you all any less, it's that it's not up to me to save everybody. I love you all so much" I said to my loved ones.
They all beamed at me while Ultron growled.
Suddenly they all vanished.
I just waited for the next test.
But it never came.
The dark room vanished and I found myself back in the foggy forest.
"Oh thank god" I said aloud.
But my victory was short lived.
A large hairy beast was in the distance and came running at me.
"Oh screw this" I said and ran at the gateway.
The gateway opened and I saw Nyssa and Cassilda there.
There eyes widened in horror as they saw the creature barrelling at me.
"Run Jason!" Nyssa shouted as she fired an arrow at the creature.
It hit it dead on and it roared.
I jumped through the gateway and landed on the other side and rolled.
Cassilda unleashed a telekinetic blast at the beast and sealed the gateway.
"Jason, are you all right?" Nyssa asked as she moved to my side.
"I'm fine" I said groaning.
"Can you walk?" she asked me.
I nodded.
"Good. Let's head back" she said, helping me to my feet.
Cassilda walked up to me and hugged me tightly.
"Thank god you passed your test Jason. I was worried about you. I'm glad your safe" she said.
I smiled and returned the hug.
Nyssa just rolled her eyes once more.
What was her problem?
"I'm glad I made it too" I said to Cassilda.
"But that isn't something I want to do again" I said.
"Enough you lovebirds. Let's go" Nyssa snapped as we separated from the hug.
Cassilda and I just smiled at each other.
I was too tired to care about what Nyssa said.
We walked back to our horses and climbed on.
We rode across the plains and back to the city.
When we got back to the Dunlossburg, I stopped Nyssa.
"Hey Nyssa, does this mean we are going back tomorrow?" I asked her hoping she wouldn't disappoint.
"Actually no. We will train tomorrow. Then when Ra's Al Ghul deems you ready, we shall return" Nyssa said and I felt overjoyed.
I know I should want to go back, but I was happy to be staying with Cassilda a little longer.
"What kind of training? Why are we training?" I asked her.
"Hand to hand and swordsmanship training. Because you must be skilled if you are to be a Horseman" Nyssa explained.
"Well, I don't care, as long as we get to stay here a little bit longer" I said looking knowingly at Cassilda.
"It's going to be a long day tomorrow and it's already long. Get some rest. I'll send someone up to give you some food. Be ready at 5:00 AM sharp" Nyssa said before walking away.
I turned to go to my room but Cassilda was still standing there.
In a moment of madness, I turned around and grabbed her waist and kissed her.
Somewhere at the back of my mind, I was expecting her to slap me.
Instead she put her arms around my neck and kissed me right back.
And in that moment everything disappeared.
No more tests, no more bad guys, no more Earths being destroyed.
Just me and Cassilda and the taste of her sweet lips on mine.
And Chapter 11 is done. I hope you guys enjoyed it.
For those of you who don't know, Shang Chi is a Marvel character and a master of Kung Fu. He is set to make his MCU debut in the 2021 film Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
I am unsure if Shang Chi will appear in this story, but there is a possibility of him appearing at some point.
I initially considered using Loki for the fear, but he will play a critical role in the future of this trilogy. So I used Ultron instead.
Next chapter will be training.
Until next time, review, follow, faviroute, stay tuned and tell me what you thought of this chapter.
Arrowverse Fan 217 Out.