A/N: As always, if you recognize it, I don't own it.

Bleeding Multiverse

Chapter I: Secret Origins

In 2009, two years after the terrible civil war over the Superhuman Registration Act, Susan Richards told her husband that she was again pregnant. Reed was overjoyed at first … until he thought of how dangerous his first two children could be. So, in order to prevent such a thing from happening again, he decided to play God and make certain he knew how powerful his child would be, and what powers it would have. In order to do so, first he created an artificial womb that would allow him to manipulate the child's DNA without harming Susan or the baby. Second, he quietly and subtly knocked Susan unconscious, so he could transfer the fetus from Susan to the artificial womb. He did this by placing a simple sleeping drug inside her dinner one night and then while she slept completed the transfer.

Now the real work could begin. Reed started analyzing the DNA and running simulations about his new child, a boy. The results from the simulation started coming in, and it was worse than he had feared: his new son could be just as dangerous as Franklin. He was going to be strong, extremely strong. By the time he was five, he'd be the equal of Ben Grimm, at ten, he'd be the equal of Hulk when he returned to Earth for revenge on the Illuminati, and by the time he was twenty, he might even be stronger than Thanos himself! Even worse than that was that the computer couldn't calculate a potential upper limit for his power, and that didn't even cover the potential devastation of the energy beams that he would be able to generate. That, combined with his other children, it revealed a dangerous pattern: Franklin could manipulate and control reality, Valeria could manipulate time, and now this son would have power beyond belief or control. Were his children destined to have powers that mirrored the Soul Gems? No, he wouldn't allow that! His first action was to remove the genes that gave him his power, second was to replace those genes with something not as volatile as what came naturally. So, he went over his genetic laboratory and picked out what he believed would be best for his son. First, he pulled a few from Johnny, then a few from Tony that he believed were responsible for his genius, then a few from Susan and the last few from Charles Xavier and Logan. A few computer simulations later, and Reed was convinced he had succeeded with the manipulation: his son would be brilliant and powerful, but nowhere near as much of a threat as he should have been, or his siblings could be. On January 17, 2010, Anthony Peter Richards was born, exactly three years after the end of the Civil War.

At ten years old, Tony Richards had a good life. His uncle Johnny and honorary uncle Peter made his life fun and normal despite being famous superheroes. Among other things they introduced him to his first passion: comic books, especially those by DC. He read all that he could, and thanks to his uncles, he had access to a large amount of them. Today, Johnny and Tony were going to one of their favorite comic stores simply as uncle and nephew … when their walk was interrupted by a fight between Hydra and AIM. In an effort to save civilians, Johnny told Tony to hide before flying off to get between the two groups and the rest of New York.

Tony did as he was asked, only for a couple of AIM goons to recognize him and quickly take him as a hostage. "Hey, Torch! We have your nephew, so leave, or he dies!"

Naturally Johnny did as he was told, as Tony apparently had no powers. Unfortunately, just as Johnny landed, the Grim Reaper landed behind him, and before anyone could do anything, the Reaper beheaded Johnny. Tony screamed in shock at the loss of his uncle, and with his scream, he burst into blue flames, instantly incinerating the two AIM agents holding him. While some would have gone after the Reaper, Tony just raced to his uncle, crying and holding his body. He was still like that when the police and SHIELD arrived to clean up.

Life in the Baxter Building had taken a dark turn since Johnny's death. Tony had never really enjoyed his life in the Baxter Building, but now his own mother blamed him for her brother's death. Even worse was the fact that his father was now pushing him harder to learn martial arts and other styles of combat, even though he never paid attention to him outside of training. All this negativity made him delve deeper into comics, not as a source of entertainment anymore, but as a way to escape his normal life. On top of that, Dr Strange had revealed that Tony had the potential to wield magic, as the Sorcerer Supreme had felt his despair and grief in the astral plane, and so every weekend, Tony would be transported to Kamar Taj in order to be trained by Wong and other sorcerers. Even worse was the fact that a few days after he returned, he always ended up sick for a day.

Two years passed in this manner, and Tony continued withdrawing from his family, diving deeper into DC and developing new powers. First, he gained the ability to fly without being engulfed in flames (something his best friend, Ben Parker was very jealous of.) Then he started creating force fields (which made his mother even more upset with him,) and finally telepathy and enhanced agility enough to keep up with Ben, who had inherited agility equal to his own father. Then when he was thirteen, he was hit by another tragedy. Scorpion, Green Goblin, Doc Oc, Jack O'Lantern, Mysterio and Chameleon (under Norman's command) had joined together into a new Sinister Six and killed the entire Parker family by destroying their home. With their deaths, Tony finally had a reason to become a hero, and taking one of the latest nanotech suits that his father and namesake (Tony Stark) had invented, he tracked down the members of the Sinister Six, though Harry had already captured his father. On seeing that, Tony finally allowed himself to break down and cried into Harry's shoulder.

Six months passed, and Tony's depression only grew worse with the loss of the only people to really treat him as family. He delved even deeper into comics, but even that wasn't enough to raise his spirits any more, especially when he learned the secret of his birth through old records in the Baxter Building. One day as he walked by the ruins of the Parker home again, he was stopped by an old man with a mustache, wearing a suit and sunglasses. "Here, take this," the man said, handing Tony a small yellow gem. "I'm sure someone like you can take care of this better than me, especially since Thanos is on his quest again." Tony just stared at the old man, utterly confused, especially by the reference of Thanos on a quest of all things. Then the old man turned back around. "Oh, and here's a little advice, one man can make a difference, but maybe you need to make your difference somewhere else. Excelsior!" And with that, he walked off, vanishing into mist that hadn't been there a minute earlier.

Tony was utterly confused, but sensing the power in the gem, he decided to cast a quick diagnostic spell, and was shocked to discover that the old man had given him the Reality Gem! With this, he could shape reality however he wanted! He could make his parents love him, he could even bring back Uncle Johnny and the Parkers! Then he thought about it. His uncle Peter had once been offered a similar chance to rewrite reality from Mephisto and had turned it down. Besides, now that he knew what he had, and knowing that Thanos was active again, he knew it would never be safe. Unless …

"Hmm, your proposal sounds interesting, and possible, but I don't know if anyone, even I have the power to accomplish what you ask," Dr Strange stated. "Travelling between dimensions is difficult enough, but to travel to such a radically different dimension? That would require power beyond even myself and the Ancient One combined.

"Power like this?" I asked, revealing the gem.

Strange stared at it in shock. "Yes, that should do it, but I would suggest a test before doing what you wish."

I thought about that for a minute before realizing where I needed to go. "Gotham, Earth-0, about April 2009, that's my test location."

"Why there?"

"They have something I'm going to need, and that is the one time that I know I can get ahold of it." Dr Strange clearly didn't understand, but promised he would try, and that I was to return in a month for my first attempt at dimension crossing.

The month passed rather quickly, as I focused on reviewing everything I had about the universe I intended to go to, and Gotham about the time I intended to visit. When I reunited with Dr Strange, I was certain that I was prepared for whatever I might find, so when he created the bridge, I stepped through. The first thing I saw when I walked through was the bronze statue of Superman, commemorating his death, and I knew I was in the right universe. Knowing that, I ran for a store and bought a map, so I would know how to get to Gotham. Once I arrived at Gotham, I knew where I had to go, and I flew for the Cave, hoping that one person wouldn't be there when I arrived.

Before I entered, I quickly engaged my stealth systems, just so I could have a look around before I talked to whoever was inside. I couldn't help but geek out over every little thing in the Cave from the dinosaur to the giant penny to Deathstroke's sword. When I went by the cases holding the suits, I paused at Jasons' and made him a silent promise. Then I moved towards the computer section, and I smiled as the only people there were Dick and Tim. "I come in peace," I stated, disengaging the stealth systems and raising my hands in surrender.

"Who the hell are you?!" Dick demanded, pulling out a few batarangs to threaten me with. That was when I realized that he was in the Batsuit, which meant that I was definitely in the right time.

"Listen, I'm willing to talk, all I want is one thing, and I'm pretty sure you have it," I answered.

"What do you want?" Tim demanded.

"The Radion bullet," I said simply. "I believe there is a threat from Darkseid against a world I'm about to visit, and I do not want to go without the one weapon that is known to be a threat to New Gods."

"And why the hell should we trust you?" Dick demanded. "You haven't even said how you got past our security!"

"Haly's Circus," was my answer. Both of them paled at that, silently demanding an explanation. "It's where the two of you first met, twice. The first time, as an acrobat and a fan, the second when Dick was Nightwing and Tim wanted you to go back to working with Bruce after Jason's death at the hands of the Joker. But instead, it led to Tim becoming Robin, something I'm sure you're still at least somewhat torn about, if only because of the pain that you have suffered as a result." Tim paled at that, while Dick only grew angry. I quickly raised my hands in surrender. "I didn't intend to hurt you, Tim. I came to give you hope in exchange for some hope of my own. Please, I have nothing to gain by telling the world who you are, and Gotham would lose much."

Both of them looked at me skeptically, and I suddenly realized that I KNEW exactly when I was. "Listen, the two of you were in a bit of a fight, right? And Dick, you were about to tell Tim that he wasn't going to be Robin, right? And you're doing it because Robin is Batman's protégé, and you consider Tim to be your equal."

Dick stared at me and demanded "How did you know that?!"

"Get the Radion bullet, and I'll explain to Tim. Oh, and keep the al Ghul out of here."

Tim looked at me, the pain in his eyes clear. "Was he really going to fire me? Who would become Robin then? Batman, even Dick as Batman, needs a Robin."

"Yeah, he was going to force you out, but I really do think he had the best intentions. As for your replacement, who do you think it was going to be? The only person that could be trusted, and truly needs a mentor, a teacher."

"DAMIAN?! He's replacing me with Damian of all people?! God, I almost feel like I should quit!"

"No! Remember, I came to offer you hope, Tim! You're right, Bruce is alive, but he's on his way back, and I can help you save him!" With that, I explained what Darkseid had done to Bruce, turning him into a living bomb of Omega Energy, and how to save him by temporarily killing him … and how to prove that he was right. Then I revealed my other piece of hope. "Connor's going to come back."

"Don't! Don't give me false hope. I tried bringing him back by cloning him, only to learn I'd create a monster!"

"Check his grave then, if you don't believe me! He's been put inside the Regeneration Matrix, but because of how badly hurt he was, and the fact that he's part human, it will take him a thousand years to recover. Fortunately, the Legion of Superheroes will send him back after Connor helps them defeat Superboy Prime. They're also going to revive Bart and send him back as well. I swear on my uncles' grave that I'm telling you the truth!"

Tim just walked away further into the cave and I paled, worried that I may have made things worse … until he came back with the bat-marked box that I knew Bruce had left hidden. "I believe you. Do you need anything else besides the bullet?"

I smiled. "No, but I'll give you a few warnings for upcoming events." With that, I filled him in on his and Dicks' future cases, and warned him about the upcoming Blackest Night, and how the Lantern Corps would need to unite in order to survive … and how the Black Lanterns would use personal connections to attack everyone, especially heroes. Once that finished (and Dick finally returned,) I was about to go when I remembered something else. "Before I go, I do have a quick question: why didn't you carry any kryptonite when you learned about Connor's origin? Didn't you consider the possibility of mind control?"

Tim stared at me in shock, as if he never considered the possibility. "I didn't actually, because Cadmus said that they didn't have the time to program Kon with any control phrases. Besides, he was my best friend, I KNEW I could trust him with my life and had multiple times." Then he whispered, "I loved him."

I smiled and told him "Then tell him when he comes back. There's a possibility that you will be pleasantly surprised." And with that, I left and returned to the portal. Once on the other side, Dr Strange closed the portal, though he admitted it was with some difficulty.

One month later, and Dr Strange once again opened a portal to a different reality for Tony Summers, and this one was to DC's Earth-16 home of the show Young Justice. He had chosen that universe because it was the first DC universe to feature Superboy as one of the main characters, and there was a chance (however small) that he wasn't Superman and Luthors' son. On top of that, he saw that Superboy was quite lonely, and hoped that he could become his friend, possibly even providing the push that Superman needed to take responsibility for the young hero. Dr Strange tried one last time to talk Tony out of leaving, but after two hours of arguing saw that his student truly believed he had no chance at happiness in his future if he stayed, and so he opened the portal one last time. Tony stepped through, never to be seen in that reality again. However, when Strange attempted to close the portal, nothing happened. "Well, that's going to be trouble," he stated flatly.