DC/Marvel: Access Denied
Chapter 9
By Christopher W. Blaine
e-mail: darth_yoshi@yahoo.com
DISCLAIMER: The characters and situations contained in this story are ©2003 by either DC Comics Inc. or Marvel Entertainment Group and are used without permission for fan-related, non-profit entertainment purposes only. This original work of fiction is ©2003 by Christopher W. Blaine and may not be reproduced in part or as a whole without the express permission of the author.
Earth-CA …Kid Flash felt all of the guilt and pain from his life all at one time.
Images of his original world popped into his mind and the miserable childhood he had experienced. His early years without his mother because she died giving birth to him. His father's death when he was a small boy and then his being passed around from foster home to foster home until the day Barry Allen had taken him in. Barry, secretly the Flash, saw something in young Roy Harper that the others didn't.
From the very beginning, Uncle Barry, as Roy took to calling him, treated him more like a son than anyone else had since his father had been alive. Barry had even "introduced" Roy to the Flash, the boy's hero. It had been at that meeting that Roy had been exposed to the chemicals that had given Barry his powers and thus was born Kid Flash.
Together they had fought crime on Roy's world until the day Barry had simply disappeared. Roy was never able to find out what happened to his mentor and now he felt such great despair over that. It would be impossible to find out now because the Time-Guardian, in an effort to destroy Kid Flash, had wiped out that entire timeline, killing everyone including Roy's first love, Kory Anders.
The deaths of billions weighed heavily upon him as Despayre threw the young hero down and faced off against the three remaining ones. "Come feel my embrace and see of your soul if free from guilt," the demon called out.
Aquagirl and Aqualad held back, not sure of how to approach. It wasn't fear that held either one of them back but simply practicality. Kid Flash, despite his being curled in a fetal position and crying like a baby, was out of immediate danger. "Why don't we talk this over, pal?" Aqualad asked.
Aquagirl nodded her ascent to his position. She had no doubt that fighting a demon was beyond the capabilities of two Atlanteans. Shamrock on the other hand had no such qualms and she launched herself at the creature, yelling out a curse that would make a sailor blush.
Despayre was unimpressed and his arm shot out. A cold hand grasped Shamrock by the shoulder and squeezed. His latent abilities channeled evil energy from his black soul into the mortal form of Shamrock. She shimmered and cried out, her voice suddenly changing as her form switched from human to alien.
"What the hell is that?" Aquagirl asked. "It looks like a sea hag!"
Aqualad's eyes were wide. "I never suspected! A Skrull!"
The alien warrior screamed again as thoughts from her own life, secret failings and unachieved goals suddenly became larger than life in her mind's eye. Her form kept shifting from that of Shamrock to that of a Skrull soldier. Despayre laughed aloud. "Ah, non human emotions, how sweet. A delectable treat!"
Aqualad couldn't hold back anymore. "We have to take him down, now. He feeds off our own despair. Spider-Man fought him once, I read about it in the Titan's database. He can be beaten!"
His enthusiasm was so familiar and Aquagirl was ashamed that a part of her missed that. In the few seconds it took for her to join in the run towards Despayre, a whole lifetime of adventures with her own Aqualad passed through her mind. She had truly been in love and Garth had been her soul mate. As much as she loved Roy, and she knew that she did, there was nothing that could ever replace the feelings she had felt for the boy she had thought she would spend the rest of her life with.
Had her reality not been destroyed, wiped away, then maybe that would have happened. It had, though, and as much as this Aqualad looked and acted like the one she knew, he was not him. Had there been no Roy, it was quite possible that the two of them could start a relationship.
At that moment, the two heroes landed good hard punches against Despayre, who tossed away Shamrock with a casual toss. Aqualad was slightly stronger than Aquagirl and the demon saw him as the most immediate threat. The Atlantean was quick and dodged the attempt to grab him by his curly dark hair and kicked out. Despayre took a hit in the knees and folded and Aquagirl seized the opportunity to deliver a two handed clubbing to the back of the demon's head.
Enraged, Despayre snarled. "Sea monkeys! I am assaulted by evolutionary mistakes!" Another kick was intercepted and Aqualad went down screaming, calling out Aquagirl's name before he started sobbing. Aquagirl jumped back. "Does the little fishy fear facing her own soul?' the demon asked, holding out his hand. "Take it, girl! If you prove worthy, I will let you live."
"No, Aquagirl!" Aqualad said between tears. The events of the past few weeks were pressing down on him and he was unable to do anything else.
Aquagirl's inner voice told her to get away or to fight and not accept the challenge, but there was another part of her that wondered if she had conquered the fears that had followed her since she had returned to life. Quickly, she reached out and took the demon's hand.
Despayre closed his eyes and smiled. "Yes, there is much strength in you. You are a warrior born, not yet to your full potential. You handle your guilt well."
She felt the coldness welling up in the pit of her stomach. Images flashed in her mind then disappeared, like fireflies in the woods. Once or twice, something tried to get to her, but she had spent months building psychic defenses. Her own telepathic abilities didn't hurt either and she started to squeeze Despayre's hand.
The heroes appeared out of the Boom Tube from Apokolips and stepped into hell.
Captain America surveyed the scene while Spider-Man and Hawkman moved to higher ground to get the lay of the land. "You're world ain't much better than Apokolips," Hawkman told the wall-crawler as they reached the top of an abandoned apartment building. "In fact, it looks like…"
"I don't want to hear it," Spider-Man said as he climbed onto the roof. Behind his mask, he was fighting to hold back the tears. They were standing on what had been his home and seeing it now, he realized that all of his friends, his life in fact, were now nothing but memories. His life was essentially over and all that was left was to assign blame.
Hawkman shrugged and pulled a candy bar out of his belt and starting chomping on it as he looked out on the burning city. He never had liked New York to begin with, but now he was utterly convinced that he could never live in such a place. The entire horizon was nothing but smoke clouds and burnt out buildings.
"I wonder if time passes differently here?" he asked out loud.
Spider-Man used the question to break his mood. "It's possible, but I don't think there is too much of a difference. We left here about three weeks ago. It's like pictures of Germany from World War 2."
"Or my dorm room when I was in the academy," Hawkman joked, not really caring if it bothered Spider-Man. "Do you see anything because Wonder Woman is waving at us to come down."
Spider-Man regarded the scene of utter destruction and nodded his head. There was nothing out of the ordinary.
It all looked like hell.
Captain America was on edge. "I never imagined the devastation would be this complete. This entire world had been reduced to nothing more than rock and ash."
Super-Woman found the comment queer but didn't say anything. She had noted that Batgirl did not seem too trusting of her team leader of late, almost as if she was detecting the same oddness about him. The Star-Spangled Avenger seemed to associate solely with the Human Torch, Shamrock and Dr. Banner.
She also picked up that he seemed to be somewhat…unpatriotic in his speeches. He never seemed to speak of the greatness of the United States or how much he loved his country, but she had to admit she knew very little about the man to begin with. Supposedly he was a soldier from World War Two, a conflict Super-Woman really had not researched. It was part of the history of her new homeworld (even though it never really happened) and that was all that really concerned her.
She used her telescopic vision to scan the immediate tri-state area. "There are several pockets of people scattered for several hundred square miles. All civilian law enforcement and military forces appear to have been decimated. I can also see several costumed corpses rotting throughout the city. Some of them I recognize, others I don't."
"What about Gotham City?" Batgirl asked. Super-Woman saw that she and the Flying Fox were holding hands. She decided now was not the time to give her standard lecture on distractions. It had been distractions that had eventually led her to a life of crime, as she was more concerned about the present than what the consequences of her actions would be.
Super-Woman turned in the direction that the city would normally lay. Her heart nearly stopped. She then increased the range of her vision and began to look at other major cities. Metropolis. Central City. Keystone City. Chicago. Coast City. Los Angeles. Miami. Houston. She even went so far as to look at a Hulkbuster base that Dr. banner had mentioned. "Someone has used weapons of mass destruction on nearly every single important metropolitan area. Washington D.C. is in a state of siege. The local forces are being overrun by men and women clad in blood red robes that simply hurl themselves into harassing fire."
She fought the urge to fly off. Wonder Woman cracked her knuckles and Super-Woman wished she still had some of her telepathic equipment. What had Darkseid said to her? "Do you see Holocaust anywhere?" Dr. Banner asked as he popped another pill. Nightwing had designed an agent that would hopefully keep the scientist from changing into the Hulk. Banner was afraid that the rage and horror he was currently feeling would override any chance he had of controlling the beast within him. He was hoping that his mind would be of more use than his brawn.
"There are several structure throughout the city lined with lead," she said.
"Yes," Batgirl explained. "I know my Batman maintained many secret hideouts that were made up so to prevent Superman from looking in. Major villains did the same thing."
"Too much racket for my super-hearing as well," Super-Woman said with resignation.
"Can you tell how the Florida team is doing? They were supposed to link up with any survivors," Captain America asked.
The Maiden of Might turned towards the south and scanned with her telescopic vision. Even at super-speed it took her a few moments to settle in on the scene. A large pale white creature had apparently taken down the other team and it looked like Aquagirl was preparing to surrender. She didn't even explain but instead took to the air and poured on the kinetic energy as she flew to her friend's rescue. "Somebody's in trouble," Hawkman murmured. "She only does that when she's pissed or horny and around me, women are usually both."
"How does Dawnstar put up with you, pig?" Wonder Woman said with a rough voice.
"'Cause I'm hung like a…"
"Stop it!" Spider-Man yelled, putting his hands to the side of his head. "Damn you! Don't you see what's around us? Death!" He grabbed his mask and tore it off, revealing the youthful features of Peter Parker. "You're making jokes and we're standing on the grave of civilization! It's fine and dandy for you Wardens because you have a home to return to, but the rest of us have to stay here."
Captain America stepped forward and Spider-Man stepped back. His face showing fear. "My spider-sense is going off, like some sort of fog has been lifted off of me…"
Wonder Woman sensed it as well, her limited telepathic abilities zeroing in on Captain America. None of them could know that the forces of Holocaust, while attacking the last remaining United States military troops, had destroyed a small, abandoned building in order to get a wall to fall on an M-1 Abrams tank. Inside that building had been the telepathic dampener installed by Darkseid's forces two years before, meant to mask the presence of Skrulls from telepaths and magicians.
"Bastard!" Spider-Man scream, throwing a right cross at Captain America.
The Avenger had his shield up. "What the hell is your problem?"
"Skrull coward!" Wonder Woman yelled, launching herself at Captain America.
"A Skrull?" Dr. Banner said, the realization slamming him so hard it seemed physical. If the Skrulls were here, then maybe they were the ones who had brought Holocaust as part of their invasion plans. All of the carnage around Banner took its toll and his rage went straight at the drugs in his system and utterly destroyed them.
Batgirl saw the color of Banner's skin start to change from flesh to green and she pulled the Flying Fox to the side. "We have to get out of here!"
The Flying Fox watched as Captain America took a kidney punch from Wonder Woman and fell and he wanted to go help the man. Then he started to change in skin color as well and he had the feeling that being a puny mortal, he was simply outclassed. By the time Batgirl had pulled him into an abandoned building, Dr. Banner's change was complete and the rampaging Hulk stood in the spot where they had landed.
"Crap!" Hawkman called out as the Hulk took a swipe at him with a palm that seemed the size of Nebraska. The monster was quick and angry and Hawkman just managed to avoid him. The Winged Wonder tripped and fell over some pipe and rolled down an embankment.
The Hulk, satisfied that the large chicken was now out of his way, turned to the fight between the Skrull Captain America, Wonder Woman and Spider-Man. "Hulk smash green man! Hulk smash flying girl! Hulk smash bug man!"
The green goliath brought both hands up to make a giant single fist and then came down hard onto the ground. There was a sound like creation being torn open and building shook with the force of the blow. The three combatants were scatted and the Hulk roared so loud that it seemed that even the Almighty would have to raise His voice to be heard.
"Hulk smash all puny humans!"