Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or DC
As well as remembering the fallen this day, the world and in particularly the DC fan community received sad news with the passing of Legendary Batman voice actor Kevin Conroy.
This was the voice I heard when I first watched a superhero cartoon, he's the voice I hear whenever I pick up a Batman comic.
Rest in peace Kevin, you legend.
Universal Collision: Secret Crisis
Chapter 5: Paragons and Avengers
Jack was at his best when he gave in to the rush of the race. He could be running, driving, swimming, even doing something like shuffling a deck of doing push ups, it never mattered unless he had someone to do it against. His life felt complete when he put himself into the race, he didn't slow down for relationships and he hated jobs that required him to be still. The man's education had been a struggle because of this. Jack felt his car shake, not just from the roaring engine inside it, but from other vehicles around it. He smiled beneath his helmet and watched the lights carefully, red, still red, he tapped his finger against the steering wheel impatiently, ignoring the cheers of the people watching. The race was all that mattered.
Finally, the light turned green and Jack drove, leaving dust behind him as he rocketed forward. His opponents drove close beside him, the best of the best in the world of Nascar. Turning the sharp corners, feeling some of the other cars brush against his, Jack maintained his focus, the wheel never slipping, his concentration never breaking even when one man crashed behind him. He looked ahead at the cars, at anyone he had to get past. One driver was doing a move Jack often used, keeping Jack behind him, matching his speed, not worrying about overtaking anyone just keeping Jack behind him. But the car's speed decreased, and Jack easily overtook it.
As he did however, he noticed there wasn't anyone in the car.
Cheers turned to screams and cars began crashing into the walls and one another. There was a helicopter covering the event, and it had briefly lost control, just barely managing to steady itself. Jack brought his car to a halt and looked towards the stands. A family of watchers was torn apart when the father watched his son dissolve into dust.
That was seven years ago, the heroes of the world brought people back and since then Jack had felt shame. There was nothing he could have done to help those losing their loved ones, and there was nothing he could have done to get their loved ones back.
"Try to keep an open mind when interviewing this man," Dean said to Betty.
"I'm not going to hang my mouth open if he goes on about the Multiverse and other outlandish geek culture and conspiracy theories, I dated a nerd after all," Betty explained.
"And you never fell asleep when he was talking?" Dean asked.
"No…once," Betty corrected herself.
Dean laughed, a sound that seemed so slow to Jack. He heard over the roar of the car engine, an explosion at the observatory, they were away from the city, in a small town with a police force more used to handgun violence and knife crime. Rubble was thrown upwards as a hole formed on the grey concrete building, one of the windows shattered, someone crashed through it. Dust was blown out of the building's main entrance, a man ran through it, heavy set, dark haired, his glasses and beard dishevelled as he ran for his dear life.
"That's LaFroyge," he heard Dean say.
A second person came out of the building, this one crashing through the concrete completely. He was tall, bulky with green scaled skin and clawed hands, his feet were huge stomping hooves with bladed nails on the front of it. Most shockingly the man despite having scales, also had elephant like ears and a trunk for a nose. This Man-Elephant picked up a nearby car and aimed it at the fleeing LaFroyge.
"Get out of the car," Jack said.
"What…" Betty screamed as her belt unclipped and she was pushed out of the car with Dean.
Static shocks spread across the car as Jack drove past LaFroyge. Yellow lines spread across his skin before he began to vibrate. His car broke apart, the red and yellow parts rotating around the driver as he began falling into a running stance. The parts of the car reformed themselves, linking together around Jack, taking on new forms, creating an armour around Jack. Doors became winged appendages and a tail running down his back, wheels came to his hips and arms and a helmet formed around his head. First came the face plate, yellow lenses glowed on the red plate and the helmet, based on a dragon's head slammed over the rest of his head.
The transformation took 0.8 seconds, fitting considering Jack often used the name Warp.
The bulky armoured Spirit Knight of Wind and Motion ran straight for the Man-Elephant. He understood how much a car could cost, so when Man-Elephant threw the car, Jack caught it. His own afterimage softly placed the car on the ground as Jack ran around to drive his fist in the Man-Elephant's cheek. Then he brought his fist up to the man's chin, then his kidneys before he finally delivered a half inch punch to the Man-Elephant's chest. Five seconds to strike at his opponent and deliver a series of blows that threw Man-Elephant against one of the walls of the observatory.
"Another one, my god, more are appearing every day," Carlton LaFroyge trembled, watching the battle before the fear took him again.
He turned to flee, only to meet Dean who was supporting Betty.
"Wait, we have something to ask you," he said.
LaFroyge instead screamed and ran around Dean.
"SON OF A…are you okay?" Dean asked Betty, who nodded. "Okay, GET BACK HERE!" Dean yelled, running after LaFroyge.
Man-Elephant snarled as he got up off the floor, looking towards the armoured opponent. As soon as he got a look at the dragon armour of the speedster though, he was punched again across the cheek.
'Don't stop,' Jack thought, feeling his heart pounding in his chest.
His feet impacted with the ground, sending ripples up his body. He was not just attacking his opponent but assessing the damage to the facility. Portions of the ceiling were unstable, so he ran to the upper floors, the chase had begun at the maintenance area, people were injured. As he punched Man-Elephant, he also evacuated injured, carefully carrying them in contrast to his punching at his enemy.
'Don't stop,' he thought, feeling his knees ache.
LaFroyge looked over his shoulder, terrified when he saw Dean running after him. A red and gold blur passed through them both, Dean had caught up with LaFroyge, but they were both also far away from the battle. Betty tried to take a picture, but in an instant found she had to zoom her camera on the fight.
'Don't stop running until you've saved them all,' he thought, pulling one person after another out of range of the fight.
He felt his heels beginning to ache, even the pads of his feet began to bruise. His fist slammed into Man-Elephant's face, making the man recoil back and fall to the ground. Jack finally stopped, his legs shaking, inside the armour he was sweating, his mouth was dry, and he blinked, fighting to keep his eyes from closing. Vents on his tail armour hissed and released air. But his heart was still beating too quickly.
"Did that do it?" Betty asked.
She gasped when she saw Man-Elephant get back up.
"Stay down, you've got some questions to answer," Dean said to Carlton.
He looked over his shoulder, expecting Jack to be finished. In a way he was, but when Dean saw that Man-Elephant was still standing he focused entirely on Jack.
"Oh god, no," he whispered.
"What, why god no?" Carlton asked.
Saying he had super speed was an overstatement for Jack. Yes he was capable of incredible feats of speed and reaction, but he was not limitless in the speed he could go up to. The greatest of his weaknesses was his body's potential to overheat, for his bones to vibrate so much that they could break. Jack panted within the armour, which was both his protection and his cooling system. Man-Elephant let out a roar before punching Jack in the chin, throwing him into the air.
'That hurt,' Jack thought lazily as he struck the ground, bouncing across it.
Now he had a headache, which he hated, they always affected his concentration. He couldn't enjoy the race if he couldn't focus on each detail. It hurt to hear the pounding of Man-Elephant's hooves, stampeding across the grass. The wail coming from Man-Elephant's trunk was even worse, echoing in Jack's ears like a ring. He was hit again in the stomach, then the kidney, followed by his cheek twice with such an impact that Jack was flung to the side. The trauma to his skull and neck meant that for a few seconds Jack was knocked unconscious.
It was seconds Man-Elephant focused on Dean and LaFroyge.
Miles away, Westview finally began to stop shaking. Aeon loosened his fists and relaxed his other muscles, letting the moment of fusion pass. Only to save people, he had to sacrifice his armour for a little bit, just to preserve the lives of two people.
An assassin who broke time.
A cop who begged someone to kill his mother.
Even from just that surface analysis, Sven Reilly knew that they were worth saving, because life was worth saving.
His armour shattered as the light shined brightly. He fell to his knees, thankful for the black and red suit he wore underneath the armour. He slipped his hood over his head and looked to the shining white light. Three had turned into two, the two left remaining as one, not forced together through the method that was used to murder them, but united by Aeon's power. The White Flash looked at the bangs of blonde hair sticking out of his half cowl, Barry Allen would never have imagined himself with blonde hair. It looked good on him, Sara's preference shined through. They looked at their gold gloved hands, at the gold bolt on their chest.
"There's no chaos, no pain, no force, just us," Barry and Sara spoke with one united voice and equal wonder as they looked towards Superman. "Kal-El, no not our Kal-El, your face is different, good different I'd say," White Flash said and Superman coughed to clear his throat.
"You've got me at a disadvantage, I know a Flash on my world but you're not like him either, suffice to say this is the Multiverse then," he stated.
"Not a hex, but the energy was more like a hex," Monica said.
"Maybe it's better if we all talk about this once we get to the hospital, then I can deactivate the fusion," Aeon said.
"We'll be injured if we return to normal?" White Flash asked.
"Your chances of survival will be better if you get proper treatment, the fusion itself won't last forever, eventually you'll be ripped apart whether you want it or not," Aeon explained.
"Then we'll use Flash time," White Flash declared.
He touched Monica and Superman's shoulders, then Aeon's chest. Sparks of electricity passed through them, and they watched as the world around them slowed to a crawl, evident in Kamala's slow look of amazement.
"One part of us is Sara Lance, captain of the Waver Rider, a ship and its crew that protects the flow of time in our dimension. We were recently ambushed by a man claiming to be a conqueror, after he confessed to killing a speedster in our past, he hit us with something that caused our speed to go haywire, turning us into a bomb, abandoning our ship was the only way to save it," White Flash explained, lowering his head as he spoke.
"I take it that that wasn't enough," Monica said.
"It wasn't, our ship was still blown up from the inside, most likely by this 'Conqueror'."
"At least you tried," Superman said.
"Whatever he did to you was supposed to kill you, wasn't it? So, what happened instead?" Aeon asked.
"Both of our memories were altered, severely, we don't even have a reference point to remember them," White Canary said.
"Then we need to find a telepath that could help you to remember," Superman said.
"Telepath? I'm sorry, I don't know how mind reading works in your world but there aren't such things in our universe," Monica said.
"Actually Agents Fitz and Simmons weren't exactly accurate when they said that, telepathy does exist, even in our universe," Aeon explained.
"You know Fitzsimmons, who are you exactly?" Monica asked.
"There's a reason he's wearing a mask, our priority should be getting these two treated," Superman said.
White Flash was about to speak when another portal opened in front of them. Superman levitated off of the ground, a frown crossing his face.
"What do you see?" Monica asked.
Her answer came in the form of armoured figures stepping out of the portal. They were people in black and yellow armour, holding advanced weaponry, futuristic rifles and pistols. Soon after the armoured troopers were people in baggy yellow suits, all of them with helmets that resembled beekeeper masks. Some of them carried rifles; others had computer pads and staffs with rings attached to them.
"Bad guys?" Superman asked.
"People of Earth 199999, better known as Earth 616," a voice suddenly echoed out of the portal.
Two men and a woman walked through, one of the men with his hands behind his back; he was the one who spoke. He was wearing a patchwork outfit of grey and blacks, but the lines that separated the black and grey patches glowed white, many of them joining with the omega symbol glowing on the man's chest. The man also wore a high collared black cloak and as well as a tight cowl, his face was covered by a gold mask that made the White Flash widen his eyes in recognition. The man walking next to him was muscular, wearing minimal body armour on the short sleeved red suit he wore. He carried a kite shield with American styled stripes running down it towards a single white star, similar to the star over the eye of his cowl/helmet. On the masked man's other side was a woman in a black suit with yellow gauntlets, a green visor covering her eyes.
"You may call me Psycho Pirate, I am here on behalf of the joint A.I.M and H.I.V.E. alliance, my companions here are Protocide and Miss Joro Spider, as my name suggests I have come to steal something, but do not be afraid, in fact, smile one and all, for you are to be the only witnesses on your Earth of the new Crisis," as Psycho-Pirate spoke, the liquid metal of his mask formed an eerie and sadistic smile.
Then the Hive and Aim troopers struck with their enhanced allies. Blades slid out of Joro Spider's gauntlets as she ran at Kamala. The girl formed her hard light fists and used them as shields when Joro struck. Aeon ducked and rolled, dodging blasts fired by the Hive troopers. Several blasts hit Superman, making him flinch slightly. He used his heat vision, melting the barrels of some of the weapons. Then he clapped his hands together, releasing a shockwave that threw several of the soldiers back. Monica flew between the Aim and Hive soldiers, shooting them with energy blasts. She took a blast and yelled out, feeling only a temporary pain as her energy form flickered. Protocide swung his shield at her, but she flew back and dodged his strike, hitting his shield with a blast. He twisted and deflected the blast, throwing it into Superman's side.
White Flash stayed still as the AIM soldiers aimed at him. They pulled their triggers, sending a flurry of shots towards him. But when the White Flash opened his eyes, everything moved at a crawl. He tilted his head to the side, avoiding one blast before he moved towards the AIM soldiers. Using two of his fingers, he pushed into pressure points on their bodies. Then for others he pulled their weapons upwards, tapping them on the heads with the barrels, when he finally stopped moving he swung his arm in a punch, time returned to normal and the soldiers he had hit fell or broke down into spasms, the force of his punch threw another soldier back without even connecting.
Suddenly, Protocide's shield slammed into White Flash's shoulder, slicing it open. The shield returned to Protocide's arm as he grappled with Aeon. Aeon felt his bones groan and click inside his body as he tried to keep his arms even with the super soldier's. But his muscles and bones were weak, in comparison to someone empowered by the super soldier serum. A normal man was what Sven Reilly was if he didn't have Fusion. Dragging his feet back, Aeon pushed against Protocide but the man was already swinging his shield. Aeon grabbed the edge of the shield, feeling it cut through his gloves and dig into his fingers.
"Impressive," Protocide said, slamming his head into Aeon's.
The young man's ears rang and his eyes rolled back. He stepped back, bracing himself for another hit when Protocide's shield was deflected. Ms Marvel had extended one of her hand constructs, using the other one to knock Jojo Spider back. Electrical bolts slammed into her back, fire from the taser guns of the AIM soldiers. Hive troopers fired their cannons, hitting Superman and driving him back with two beams of energy.
"Get away from her," Monica said, shooting one of the AIM soldiers electrocuting Kamala.
Her attempts to aid her ally endangered her though as Psycho-Pirate walked up behind her.
"You're afraid Monica Rambeau, afraid that you'll never live up to your mother, afraid that you'll get your team killed," he said.
The face of his mask took on a fittingly fearful look as Monica looked at it. She felt her heart rate rise, she wasn't even thinking of everything that could go wrong when she suddenly began doing just that.
"They'll never know what you gave up, part of you felt ashamed of yourself that day Monica, a former slave defending her master," the guilty look on Psycho-Pirate's mask briefly took on a sadistic smirk.
"FLASH WAIT!" Superman yelled.
But he was too late; the White Flash vibrated his arm through Psycho-Pirate's chest. It didn't have the affect he hoped. Psycho-Pirate's agony suddenly became Monica's. She screamed, flying back, becoming a chaotic spark of energy, releasing bolts across the grass and road. She was about to collide with one of the houses, when Kamala caught her. This distraction however made Kamala vulnerable to a charge from Protocide. The impact threw her against the wall of one of the houses, slamming hip first against it.
"That hurt Flash, that must be the assassin inside you, HA!" Psycho-Pirate's head suddenly twisted around, looking into White Flash's shocked eyes. "You're a killer too Flash, how many people died who didn't have to, if you were only fast enough, your mother, you fathers, they would be ashamed!" the mask shifted again and again.
Pain, fright, anger, guilt, it all filled Flash's head in seconds, and even his fast-processing speed was slow and agonising to him.
"I am a herald of Crisis Flash, not just yours, but all that came before you, and all that will come after you," Psycho-Pirate said.
Earth 0
Barry Allen flinched, running his hands through his brown hair.
"Are you all right Flashie?" she asked.
He looked towards Frost and smiled uneasily; she had the face of one of his best friends. But when Frost smiled, it was one that told him 'Yeah, I've won, I can read you'. Frost was weaker and stronger in many of the ways her sister Caitlin was both weak and strong. In a sense she was Caitlin's reverse, crueller, and everything Barry needed sometimes. Since becoming Hell Frost, the dark-haired woman gained even more of a fire, a fire to pursue her passions and fight mercilessly for them if she had to. She had begun to never say no to helping Barry, and as she used one of her gloved hands to caress Barry's shoulder, he remembered that it had been a year since Iris, since what had happened with Thawne and the forces, since Caitlin and Death Storm. He realised there would come a time soon when he couldn't say no to her either, and it frightened him, because of who she wanted him to be.
"He's feeling it, the echo of the other Flash," the Constantines, as the Paragons had begun to call them said.
Using one of his spells, John manifested ghostly afterimages of his two counterparts Johanna Constantine and 'American Constantine'. They spoke as one, their voices mixed in with one another.
"What are we dealing with, an alternate version, or the future?" Supergirl asked.
With her hands on her hips, she tried to look commanding, as confident as her cousin, though Clark seemed out of place. He was supposed to be retired, raising his son, but he answered the call when Kara made it clear this was an emergency. Alexander Winters kept his gaze away from Kara, similarly to Clark, though he was less polite about it.
"You're still judging her for revealing her identity, aren't you?" Lena asked him.
"It was her decision, that's what everyone likes to say, except it isn't, our lives aren't just our lives," Alexander said. "I would have thought what's happening with the Flash is proof of that. Still, it would be a lot easier if we had someone who can Vibe into these other worlds," he added.
Cisco Ramone winced; even though the others glared at Alexander, it didn't make him feel any better. The armoured hero always liked to remind Cisco of the 'weakness' in giving up his abilities. Clad in his 'cyber-Vibe' gear, Cisco had brought with him from A.R.G.U.S. larger versions of his dimensional extrapolator.
"We got the materials you needed Cisco, what's the plan?" Black Lightning asked.
"With the data Alexander gave me, I think we can use the locations of these Multiversal murders to create a map, as well as build a profile of our killer Kang and predict where he might go next," Cisco said.
Alexander took the pad from Cisco's hand and typed in the data he had gathered.
"My other self believe it or not, was much more judgemental, but he knew that Kang was just the start, there is something else moving across different universes, consuming them," he explained.
"So you intend to turn my machine into more than just a device to predict where Kang might go, you want to turn it into a machine to predict the course of these Crisis events. I still find it difficult to accept that there is some kind of new Crisis, we imprisoned the Anti-Monitor, Oliver was able to restore the Multiverse," Cisco explained.
"Maybe if you had your Vibing abilities you'd be able to prove me wrong," Alexander retorted.
"All right that's enough you two, its worse than the kids I teach, Queen already confirmed that there is another Crisis coming."
Earth 2049
"Changes are coming, an unrest stirs in our reality, cosmic forces are aligning…this trial only pales next to what will be expected of them," Oliver Queen, the Spectre removed his hood as he addressed the Justice League of that future.
It was a league that consisted of Barry Allen, Wally West and Jay Garrick as Flashes, the White Canary, Atom, Black Lightning and Supergirl. They had recently overcome the rampage of a crazed Metahuman known as Magog.
"They must be ready for what's coming," Oliver said.
Earth 31
Oliver in truth though wasn't just talking to the league of that potential future, but other potential futures, and other worlds. As he spoke to that League, he also spoke to the Legion representative in the 30th Century. Mon-El, Imra Ardeen and Toyman looked at the legendary hero in shock as he gave them the warning of things to come.
Earth 1942
His address even went to those yet to learn of the true wonders of the world. The Justice Society of America at first regarded him as an intruder. But Amaya Jiwe, bearer of the Anansi Totem and future Legend calmed her team mates, the 'Totem' or perhaps her very soul told her to trust and heed the words Oliver spoke. So Obsidian, Commander Steel, Stargirl, Dr Mid-nite and Rex Tyler AKA Hourman listened.
Earth 508
Though on this Earth Oliver was surrounded by Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg, Flash and Green Lantern, he addressed instead Krypto the Super dog.
"They all must be ready, all moments will come under threat," Oliver said as he stroked Krypto's head.
Earth J005 WH3
"The moment is coming, the moment in which all Multiverses, all pasts, presents and futures will soon collide, but not before a great darkness wades through countless worlds beyond measure, it may even be your world that falls to this darkness," Oliver explained.
His audience sitting at their round table each showed shock at the imminent threat, but hope for the future. Even if the Flash, Cyborg, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Batman were destined to fade, they would continue to fight.
Flashpoint
An older Batman stood with his arms crossed, in front of the glass cell of his wife. Their Blonde-haired Robin looked cautiously at Spectre, ready with a Kryptonite gun that would be useless against Oliver.
"What I can tell you is that the blue skies that appeared in your worlds were a prelude, and perhaps even the cause of what is coming, joining the greatest threats of two Multiverses together."
Earth 8
"There will be no negotiating with it," Oliver used the harsh tone he had often used with criminals, or berating his teammates.
It was a tone he used especially with the Retaliators, American Crusader, Red Dragon, Behemoth, Wunda Jin, Purple Rain, Lady Bug and Machinehead. Despite declaring themselves heroes of their world, they left other worlds to die, even made deals with villains to keep their own universe safe.
Earth X
The Freedom Fighters turned an old hall that belonged to the Reich into their headquarters. Citizen Cold, the Ray, Phantom Lady, Red Tornado, Black Condor and Doll Man were still fighting a war against the Nazis. The presence of the Spectre was enough for them to know that that threat paled in comparison to what he was warning them of.
"At best you could predict its course, but even then it might change, adapt, even divine beings are vulnerable to it, but there may be hope yet," Oliver said.
Earth BZ
On a world where the Earth, and any ball shaped object was instead square, a very odd League was being addressed by the Spectre. Alice Kane the Batwoman, Barry Allen the yellow clad Reverse-Flash, John Henry-Steel, whom bore the name Iron in his armoured form and Caitlin Burns and Cisco Ramone, whom formed together Firestorm.
"Ereht si gniht taht tsum dnouf," Oliver spoke to them in the reversed dialogue of their universe.
Earth D
President and Superman Calvin Ellis stood with his fellow heroes in the Justice Alliance. His wife Unatti the Wonder Woman stood at his side, whilst Jorge the Green Lantern and Terrance Wayne the Batman floated over the Spectre, Batman bound to his flight platform the 'Whirly-Bat'.
"There may be a chance to save our worlds, all worlds, find the new Paragons spread out across existing Multiverses, and the marks of Destiny bound to new worlds," Oliver said.
Earth 12
Hal Jordan had a strange feeling as he looked at Oliver Queen, or rather the Spectre. He could see himself in the hood, himself bound by angelic power and not the duty of the Green Lantern corps. Looking at the glowing ring on his finger, his gaze passed briefly to the Guardians of Oa, particularly Ganthet whom led the meeting.
"We bear no knowledge of such things," he said.
"The Marks of Destiny are a new concept, bound as I said to worlds that only now have begun to exist," Oliver elaborated for all the universes he was going to. "They are worlds that were born through the unity of one Multiverse and another."
Earth 0
"This is why we must put together teams that can find both the Paragons and the Marks," Oliver said to the Paragons of his present world.
"Another bloody fetch quest, what is it with these big events and finding things?" John asked.
"I could give Felicity a call," Cisco said.
"I can try and search her mind for any renewed knowledge the Book of Oa might have given her, it is at least a start," J'onn said.
"Dreamer and Brainy can help out, Guardian can watch over National city and the streets," Supergirl stated.
"I suppose I should give Ralph a call…he does still exist after all," Flash muttered. "I can also contact the Forces and see what effect if any this darkness is having on them."
"I'll get in touch with the other Legends," Sara said.
"All right, we have a plan so let's get started," Black Lightning said.
Earth 616
None of it was supposed to be part of the plan.
'Just watch,' she had been told.
Westview was not her idea of a vacation, especially considering the people were scared of strangers. But Valentina had told her to keep an eye on things in Westview, when the monster appeared, she then told her to secure Agatha Harkness for retrieval, but still not to get involved.
Yelena Belova did not consider herself a hero, but it still irked her to just watch as Monica Rambeau and her team were knocked down. Part of her, a very faint voice in her head told her to fight, to help. She almost did when she saw the yellow clothed soldiers take aim at the girl in red and blue. Then suddenly, the man in red and blue swooped in, taking a shot meant for the girl. He pushed against the beams the soldiers fired at him, walking towards them. This prompted the troopers to fire their cannons at him, sparks of energy streaked across the grass, even slicing through buildings. People were hiding afraid, and Yelena watched.
'She would be ashamed,' she thought.
Then she reminded herself she wasn't a hero.
The real heroes arrived to save the day just as she had begun to feel nervous.
Captain America's shield knocked Psycho-Pirate off of White Flash, bullets and blasts flew into the ground, knocking the AIM and HIVE troopers away from Superman and Ms Marvel.
"I brought help with me," Carol Danvers said.
She landed by Monica, shooting back an AIM trooper that tried to clamp a collar over her. Monica and Carol brought their hands together, releasing a photon blast into some of the soldiers as a sling ring portal appeared. Dr Strange and Wong flew out of the portal, followed by She-Hulk in her purple and white outfit, dressed in his red and black uniform came Shang-Chi, throwing a few of the soldiers back with his arm rings, he then began using martial arts kicks as the rings returned to his arms. The wizards had also bought with them Yelena's favourite new Avenger, Kate Bishop. She knocked back a few trick arrows, binding some Hive troopers with nets and hitting Jojo Spider with a taser arrow.
"Payback time," Ms Marvel said, before she punched Jojo Spider. "Hey, Ms Marvel, big fan, love it when you saved that dog," she said to Kate.
"Thanks, you've been pretty cool too, I love it when damage control gets made a fool out of," Kate said.
A metal fist slammed into Protocide's shield, the super soldier locked eyes with Bucky Barnes, both glaring at one another.
"Is that you McIntyre?" Bucky demanded.
"Well it certainly isn't Rogers, how is he by the way?" Protocide asked, pushing Bucky back.
Sam threw his shield and Protocide quickly turned, throwing his shield too. One by one, the Avengers widened their eyes, as Protocide's sliced clean through Cap's shield. Sam came close to landing he was so in shock, seeing the gift his friend gave him break so easily.
"Impossible," Rhodey muttered.
Even Protocide seemed shocked by the fact his shield had broken his nemesis's. He quickly got back into the fight though, blocking another punch from Bucky and avoiding She-Hulk's swipe.
"What does this mean?" Kamala asked, looking at the remains of Cap's shield.
"Intriguing," Psycho Pirate whispered his hand on his chin. "Could it be that…" the face on his mask became a smile as he laughed. "Oh that is good, so good, they really have outdone themselves, oh what a twist!"
"What are you talking about?" Aeon asked, suddenly grabbing Psycho-Pirate in a headlock.
"Sneaky of you, this appears to be getting messy; our original objective may be compromised, oh well. This is Hayden to base, we've lost the advantage, send it through!"
"Copy that," Sven heard the voice coming through Psycho-Pirate's earpiece. "Commence retreat, Activating Adaptoid!"
Portals suddenly began to open and the Hive and AIM soldiers began a retreat. White Flash was about to move after them when he gripped his heart. Red markings began to glow across his skin.
"What's happening?" he asked.
"The Fusion, you can't hold it for much longer, you need to get to a hospital as…" Sven grunted as Psycho-Pirate slammed the back of his head into his.
"Ta Ta heroes," Psycho-Pirate said, skipping to one of the portals.
"I don't think so," Kate said, firing an arrow just as Psycho-Pirate jumped through the portal.
There was a sound of metal bouncing off of metal and the Avengers and Superman looked towards the portal as another object came out.
It looked like a human, but it was chalk white and had no discernible facial features. That was until it looked at War Machine and a pair of red eyes scanned the armour. Suddenly, weapons slid out of the android's back and arms, aiming at the Avengers.
New Earth
The Flash was still uneasy, his dreams hadn't gotten any easier. Even as he ran through the streets of Metropolis, hoping to find Superman, he couldn't distract himself from the thought recurring in his head.
'I'm going to die, the Flash is going to die,' he kept on thinking.
These thoughts resonated and echoed in Calvin Swanwick's head. The former general and politician walked through the streets of Metropolis, wanting to reassure Barry Allen that everything would be all right. Only he couldn't say that with absolute certainty, Barry was too far away after all. But people were going on with their daily lives, ignorant, though perhaps not necessarily in a bad way. He envied them for not knowing what was coming, about not being worried about what they could lose. There was a bliss in ignorance, in not knowing that under your feet, imbedded within the core of the planet was a mad man's answer to life and free will, not knowing that one day, perhaps soon, perhaps years from now that mad man would arrive with his armada to decimate your world. If not Darkseid, then any other alien invader, the Zods and Starros of the galaxy, if the Lex Luthor's and Intergang's of the world didn't destroy it first.
Calvin had lived many lives, general, politician, scientist; he had even been a detective at one point. Nowadays he was just living his life, he stopped off at his apartment, made himself a cup of coffee, stroke his cat and picked out an Oreo biscuit to dip into his mug. As he did this he watched the latest report from the Daily Planet, murders occurring in Central City, in Gotham, Keystone and Coast, then the blue sky event.
"Now we go to reports by S.T.A.R. labs of an incoming meteor shower apparently from the same galaxy as Krypton…"
The voice on the TV became a blur for Calvin as he began to feel something in the air. It was a smell he was familiar with from tours in the army, the cat was hissing, something was clearly wrong.
"Double Stuff," he whispered, stroking the cat's neck.
There was a puff from a device implanted in the floor below, a shockwave that threw Calvin and the cat upwards, before fire consumed the apartment.
Calvin Swanwick's apartment complex in the suicide slums was the centre of an explosion that set several buildings on fire. Despite his habit of using fire puns, and his new name, James Taylor 'JT' Nelson walked away from his work. He used the phone his employer gave him to get in contact, a threat in this universe was disposed of.
"I want my ride out of this universe, these 'metahumans' seem far too much like Inhumans," he said.
"Of course Mr Nelson," on the other side of the phone, Kang sat in a chair, surveying a list of those whom could stand against him.
He could cross one name off of the list, now it was on to the next variant
"Don't make me regret hiring you for this job Nelson," Kang said.
"Trust me Mr Richards, once the authorities put out the fires they'll think it was a gas leak from the poor old lady on the third floor," Hellfire said.
James blinked in confusion as Kang cut the line. In truth Kang despised working with men like that. But sometimes leaders needed thugs to do things for them.
Calvin Swanwick was dead, he died in the explosion. But the green figure that rose from the rubble was not concerned about Calvin Swanwick. He was concerned about the woman living underneath Calvin, Isobel who just turned eighty, who celebrated her great grandson's first birthday. She was planning to give her wedding ring to her grandson to propose to his girlfriend. His concern was for Dan Jurgens, a student living on the same floor, he was a good kid who never partied and studied hard. Then there was Double Down, Double Down who always brushed against his master's legs when he entered, who always purred when he was stroked and always knew when his master needed cheering up.
Red eyes glowed in fury, Calvin Swanwick was dead, there was only J'onn J'onzz.
JT Nelson could elude the authorities, but he and his employers would not escape the Martian Manhunter!
Next Chapter 6: Super-Adaptoid
I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, all the familiar Earths of DC introduced will play roles, some small, some grand.
A concept I liked from Snyder's planned Justice League sequels was the concept of Calvin Swanwick being Martian Manhunter, I would have liked to have seen more of Harry Lennix's take on the character though David Harewood has done great too.
Could probably tell I'm shipping Frost and Flash, but there's more to the story which has yet to be revealed in full.