Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or DC
Universal Collisions: Secret Crisis
Chapter 7: Investigation
Gotham
The signal was ablaze in the dark skies, another body had been found. Weaving through the Gotham traffic, his cloak flapping behind him, Batman rode and wondered if he would find another mystery or a piece of the puzzle. Parking the cycle in one of the alleyways, he put it on its remote loop and fired his grappling hook, propelling himself to the rooftops. It was where the body was found after all, Jim gave him the coordinates, and when he arrived Martinez let him through. Bruce remembered the days that the beat officer was the only one to push him away from a crime scene. He had been offered the detective badge, but wanted to stay in a uniformed role, a good man. Cameras flashed, taking photos of scorch and scratch marks across the rooftop.
Powers Inc was a local small-time company, dealing mostly in cosmetics. Security had reported a type of battle taking place on one of the rooftops, a great boom like the day the city was flooded. He was being interviewed by the detectives in charge, one by the name of Corrigan and another transferred from Metropolis, Montoya. Batman caught out of the corner of his eye the glare on Montoya's face as he crouched over the body. His eye lenses recorded every inch of the scene, anything the CSI might have missed, anything he might miss. Scratch mark on the ventilation, a scorch on the ledge, then there was that general heat. Reaching into his belt, he pulled out a Geiger counter, following a hunch.
"Benign, but something radioactive was here," he said, as both a note for the CSI and reassurance to them.
Then there was the body, Bruce heard people on his way in talk about 'costume parties'. The armour the man on the floor wore was more advanced than what Batman had designed, he would have called it more militaristic if it wasn't for the red padding on it, and the very unsubtle '0-8' insignia on the chest plate.
'Victim possibly early to late forties, Caucasian, ginger haired, green eyes, multiple lacerations to arms and legs, disabling him, cause of death was a blade through the heart,' Bruce noted the wounds and the surrounding area.
There were bullet holes, so he had been shooting at something. His weapon was gone though; marks on the wall perhaps indicated that he had avoided some slashes. Bruce narrowed his eyes at a piece of a vine picked up by one of the lab techs. Claw marks reminded him of Selina's nails, but much, much sharper, not made long to break skin but shred it. The blade too was heavily customised, for cutting concrete, not a show blade but a real killing weapon. Then there were the scorch marks, twin patterns, oval shaped and hot enough to scorch the plates of the man's armour, a type of carbon fibre.
"Any idea on the victim?" he asked.
"A pass for a company called Hammer Industries, but not the victim, ID belongs to a guy called Doug Johnson," one of the officers said.
The brief show of the ID card was enough for Bruce's recording devices.
"More radiation on the Geiger counter," Batman said.
"Whoever was using the gun knew that he needed to pick up his brass, at least one of the people here were professionals," Corrigan said.
"We'll get started on identifying the bo…" Montoya paused as she turned to where the Batman should have been.
Bruce lowered himself down from the roof, approaching where the bike would come around. He held the ID he had snagged from one of the CSI's. The Geiger counter indicated a strong pulse over the ID, which even felt warm in Bruce's hand. He put both in one of his utility pockets, just as the bike began to approach him. His hair rose from static shocks, he stopped and looked over his shoulder, pieces of trash and newspaper were suddenly beginning to rise from the floor. Puddles on the tarmac began to ripple repeatedly. His eyes widened slightly as electricity began to crackle in a spiral pattern through the alley. Suddenly, Bruce felt something slam into his back.
"I'm sorry," he heard someone say, hands grabbing the bulk of his cloak and arm.
First it sounded like a man, but he heard the echo of a woman's voice too. He lashed out with his elbow, slamming it into his attacker's jaw. It was a blow strong enough to knock the man back. He was in a White and gold suit of some kind, but as soon as he was thrown off of Batman, the man split. Two people appeared like ghosts in front of Bruce, one a man in a red suit with a gold lightning bolt on the chest, and the other a blonde-haired woman in a white outfit. They quickly joined back into one, the man in the white and gold suit, slamming their hands into Bruce's chest.
Electricity ran through Bruce's veins, but it was a far greater shock than the one he felt the day the city was flooded. His heart didn't stop, it just kept pounding, so hard that Bruce thought he could hear it, hear multiple heart beats. Gotham changed around him, becoming like light, clean streets in the day, then back to darkness with gothic spires and architecture around him, to a city of vibrant neon lights, then to a dark city with blimps floating over it, before becoming a grounded grey modern city.
The sparks crackled around him, and he looked at his hands, his gauntlets and gloves turning to simplistic blue cloth, then black rubber, then a darker blue cloth before becoming more refined black armoured plates. Voices echoed in his head.
"You ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"
"This is why Superman works alone!"
"But I don't have to save you either!"
Bruce yelled, his eyes glowing white as he tried to fight these visions. Was it all just in his head? Had he really lost his mind?
"Are you sure this is the one we need?" Sara asked Barry.
"In my defence I just picked a random one, but I've got faith Sara, faith that the others can show him the way if he gets lost," Barry Allen said.
Bruce couldn't hear them; he was too focused on the visions flashing in his mind.
"Do you want to be Robin again?"
"Yes it's my rules, my rules to keep us alive, and if you want to stay in this house and on this team you will abide by them!"
He roared, his form becoming like the very bat that inspired him, screeching, wings spread before he became an old man broken and alone.
"Stupid kid, you don't know what you want, none of you did!"
"Like a wise man once said, battle not with monsters, lest you become a monster. I've lost track of how many people I've killed."
"No, no, that's not who Batman is," Bruce seethed.
"You start with a code, you hang onto it with every self-righteous breath, but then you take one life, then another, and another, and another!"
"You know it's funny, you talk about people who died in my arms, because when I held Harley Quinn as she was bleeding and dying, she begged me with her last breath, that when I killed you, and make no mistake I will fucking kill you, that I do it slow, I'm going to honour that promise!"
"No killing, I don't kill!"
"Come on, concentrate, find their voices, not the bad moments, but the good moments, focus on the good that Batman does Bruce," Barry said.
Bruce looked around; everything had gone quiet as he saw other Batmen around him. Then he began to hear voices again, as he rejected all the others, he came to hear voices that truly resonated with him.
"I won't live a lie, no matter how pretty you make it!"
"Vengeance isn't true power, anyone can take a life. Giving life is true power…"
"This city just showed you, that it's ready to believe in good!"
"You see I'm both Bruce Wayne and Batman, not because I have to be, now because I choose to be!"
"I am not a failure, I am vengeance, I am the knight, I AM BATMAN!"
He gripped the Kryptonite spear, knowing exactly what he had to do. The young man who was originally holding the spear looked at him, and Bruce nodded. Together they charged, together they pierced the Adaptoid's core and destroyed the android.
With that battle over came the clean-up, the people who needed saving and medical attention. Batman helped the blonde-haired man onto a stretcher, keeping the other medics from looking underneath his mask, masks mattered, even if these people seemed to have a very lax view of it, calling one another by their real names. He looked to the Superman though, the only one who seemed to understand though. Despite how weakened he seemed; the dark-haired man still shot him with a smile.
"The spear," Superman said to the man in the red suit.
That man had been reduced to a skeletal form, too weak to even stand.
"Just one last burst of speed, its back to when it needs to be," the Flash said.
"Thank you," Superman whispered.
Batman eyes crackled white, and he looked up, seeing a face, hearing a voice he shouldn't have recognised, but did, in fact it made him feel more than he had felt in a long time.
"It's not Batman that makes you worthwhile, it's the other way around, never tell yourself anything different!"
"Thank you," Bruce whispered. "I won't forget!"
"He has second degree burns across his arm and six lacerations," Dr Strange listed the injuries of the one who had helped Batman stop the Adaptoid.
"He also has a broken rib," Superman added.
"How could you possibly know that?" one of the paramedics asked.
"Trust me, he's not wrong," Barry said weakly.
"Your bones, all of them are broken in your legs, and both your hearts are…" Superman closed his eyes and shook his head.
Barry let out a sigh and looked over at Sara, who smiled weakly back. In a Flash they were back in Sara's quarters on the Wave Rider, lying in bed together in their civilian clothes.
"That was fun and wild, Oliver wasn't wrong about having your speed," she said.
"It wasn't just your thoughts and focus that I experienced Sara, for a brief moment, I felt like I was one with the Multiverse itself, it must be because of us being Paragons, maybe the combination of love and destiny or perhaps the dimension that that fusion hero is able to access, or…"
Sara placed her finger on Barry's mouth, silencing him and shuffling closer.
"I saw a bit of it too Barry, and I've got to say, you're processing it a lot differently than I am, I know it seems arrogant, but for a moment I thought we were special. The Paragons of the Multiverse, but it turns out we weren't even the first, we're just a repeat of the same thing, a time loop," Sara explained.
"But in the infinite Multiverse, in the Infinite Crises, we managed to make something amazing, didn't we?" Barry asked.
"It was more than amazing," she said.
Sparks crackled between them as their lips met.
In an alternate past Barry Allen had lost his mother, Sara Lance had lost her innocence on an island called Lian Yu. They would each become something else in the years that followed. The Canary and the Flash would meet, and both would save the other in more ways than one. Together they would find understanding, creating new pasts, new presents and new futures, altering the very course of destiny before finding love in the midst of a Crisis.
They died in stretchers on another Earth.
But on their Earth, split from Earth Prime, a blonde-haired girl ran around in her garden. When she tripped, her aunt Laurel helped her up and smiled as she began to run again. The Black Canary who Sara and Barry defied time to save. Her husband walked to her side, wrapping an arm around her hip.
"Take it easy Cynthia," Oliver Queen said to his ward.
Cynthia Lance-Allen, who in another future would become a costumed vigilante, they were treated to that final image of their daughter in a black wig and a blood red eye mask, a red jacket over her black top and her gloved hands holding a pair of red sticks.
Their hands went limp, smiles on their faces.
The paramedics shook their heads and Sam Wilson lowered his head in guilt. He looked at what was left of his shield, not even Cap's shield and then at those who survived the battle. Wong opened a portal to their temporary base and the Avengers and their guests, along with Monica's S.W.O.R.D. agents entered and were welcomed by Pepper Potts.
"What happened?" she asked.
"Too much, we made some new friends," Sam gestured to Superman and Batman.
The former smiled and nodded at Pepper, whilst the latter's face remained impassive.
"Please tell me Tony made a meeting room of some kind," Rhodey said, removing his helmet.
"Meeting room, armour lab (naturally) and the medical bay is down that corridor, two doors on the left," Pepper gestured for Monica and her crew.
"This looks twice fancier than anything my mom lived in," Kate said.
"Yeah, where are we exactly?" Shang-Chi asked.
"Downtown New York actually, Tony made a few modifications to a house he bought in case the upstate headquarters didn't work out, our interns though call it Avengers mansion," Pepper explained.
Sven's chest rose softly as the S.W.O.R.D paramedics carried him into their medical lab. Two individuals were already there, and as Sven opened his eyes, his hand snapped over one that tried to reach for his mask.
"Don't even think about it, please," he said to the brown-haired teen above him.
"Oh man, how can you still move your arms?" the boy asked.
"Calm down Harley," a brown-haired girl said.
She walked over to the table Sven had been set on, looking over his arms and costume.
"One is a cybernetic arm, this is a form of nano-tech, is it treating your wounds too?" she asked.
"No," Sven groaned as he sat up.
"Hey, take it easy, you need to rest," Monica walked over to him, pushing on his shoulders.
"Sorry director Rambeau, but I can't," Sven said.
He looked over his arms as the red markings glowed across them.
"The Flash and Sara, they're dead aren't they?" he asked.
"They were declared dead on the scene I'm afraid," Monica said.
"Damn it, I couldn't save them," he tightened his hands into fists despite the pain.
'I wasn't good enough,' he thought at first before looking at his surroundings.
It was a sudden transformation from the fine carpet and wallpaper of a civilian manor to the chrome walls of the lab. Eight gurneys/tables were set to the walls, projectors for holograms had been set onto the ceiling and there was even a Stark tech fabricator at the top of the room, which had a semi-circle shape to it. As well as Harley Keener, a prominent young Stark tech employee, Sven also recognised from his uncle's reports on the Wakanda and Talakan incident Riri Williams, the teenage girl was helping Rhodes out of his armour. There was an Asian boy doing some sort of scan on She-Hulk, to her confusion considering he was the youngest there. Then there was Cassie Lang, who was still looking over his arms.
"How are they not infected right now?" she asked.
"I'm using the molecules in the air to heal it," Sven said.
"Like a type of skin grafting right?"
"More like asking tiny little life forms very nicely if they can…you know what it doesn't matter, the others are they okay?" he asked.
"Well other than my hair I'm fine," Jennifer said.
"Definitely fine," the kid said.
"Cho," Cassie chided him.
"Cho, as in Doctor Helen Cho?" Sven asked.
"My mom, Amadeus Cho, smartest person in the world at your service," Cho said, causing Riri to scoff and Amadeus to shoot her a glare back.
"We saved your life, there's no price to be paid, but a little trust will go a long way," Monica said.
"Actually, considering that the Sokovia accords are appealed, this young man is actually entitled to keep his identity anonymous," Jennifer said.
"Way to channel your inner lawyer Walters," Riri muttered.
"Aeon will do for now," Sven climbed off of the table and took a few steps forward with shaking legs.
"What were you doing in Westview Aeon?" Rhodey asked, walking over in his cybernetic harness.
"A missing person's case, looks like I found a lot more than that too, Agatha Harkness was there before she was taken out of the fight early…"
"Sorry son, but we couldn't find her, she most likely ran when she had the chance," Rhodes said.
"Another mistake on my part, I appreciate the help, but I need to get back to trying to find three missing people. Or at the least try and find Wanda Maximoff," Sven said.
The room fell silent, and Sven looked around, seeing that the men and women there had a mixture of fear and disgust at the mention of the Scarlet Witch. It wasn't for her however, some like Riri Williams and Monica were glaring at him.
"That's not a name people like to hear," Rhodes said.
"She's dead," Monica said.
"Did you see her body?" Sven asked and Rhodey pointed his thumb at him.
"He's got a point there," he said.
"Her body, like Miss Danvers," Kamala hugged her arms as she spoke.
"Yeah, that's something we need answers for," Monica said.
On the floor above them, a dining room with a long table had been set. No one sat at the head of it, though Sam was sat closest to it, the shards of his shield set in front of him. Bucky sat between Shang-Chi and Kate and across from them was Dr Strange and Wong. Batman and Superman stood away from the table, but still paid attention to the meeting. Blue holograms also displayed Shuri the princess of Wakanda, Bruce Banner the Hulk and Peter Quill of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Star Lord put his hand to his chin and looked at the Avengers with an uneasy expression.
"Danvers changed, from what you've described I'd say the corpse you saw was a Skrull," he said.
"Alien shape shifters, and all this time Danvers was one of them, have we even met the real Carol Danvers?" Bucky asked.
"Didn't any of you detect it?" Kate asked.
"We didn't know to look, she came exactly when we needed her," Strange said.
"What about the other people here who came exactly when we needed them?" Shang-Chi asked, pointing very unsubtly at Batman and Superman.
"They're from the Multiverse, that we can confirm, as to their species we cover the mystical aspects of the world," Wong explained.
"We're sorry for any stir we caused, but people needed help and we answered the call, the Flash was probably the only one who could have gotten us home," Superman explained, lowering his head as he thought of Lois and his mother.
Batman however noticed the look Wong and Strange showed one another. He knew that they knew that the Flash was not their only hope. Even though the Multiversal knowledge of the other Batmen had faded, he still had his experience in reading criminals, board members and being trained in reading body language by a former SAS member. He only thought of Alfred for a moment before he analysed the other members. The holographic technology was something that could leave even Fox's inventions in the dust, he could see clearly the faces of Banner, Shuri and Quill. Shuri, distracted yet professionally focused, intellectual, and loud about it. Banner, the more silent intellectual, not smiling, but still hiding something, and it was something big considering he was a big green guy. Then there was Quill, another person hiding something, it was like looking in a mirror to Bruce.
"So who are these people?" Shuri asked.
"I'm Superman, though you can call me Kal-El," Superman said.
"Superman definitely works, what about you?" Kate asked Bruce.
"Batman will do," he said.
"Cool, so what's the story, bitten by a radioactive bat?"
Bruce's face remained still, not giving anything away, but not stopping Kate's enthusiasm.
"Superstrength? Echo location? Are you a vampire?" she asked excitedly.
"Wait a second, you aren't just a guy in a bat costume are you?" Banner asked.
"Hey, just a girl with bow and arrows, just a guy with space gadgets, just a guy with rings and just a guy in a bird costume," Kate pointed around the room at all the involved parties.
"Flight harness actually," Sam grumbled.
"I'm not sure how things work here, but we conceal our identities to keep out families safe," Superman said.
"Secret identities, what the hell are those?" Rhodes asked as he came into the room with Monica and Aeon.
He took a seat next to the head of the table, across from Sam whilst Monica sat at the end of the table, closer to Superman and Batman.
"Is he in any shape to be here right now?" Kate asked.
"Should he be here?" Shuri added.
"Aeon risked his life to stop that thing and save lives, so yes he should be here," Sam said.
"Especially with what he's found out, but that's for another time, how far are we on this Skrull body?" Monica asked.
"The CIA took the body before we could do anything, I can get in touch with Sharon and exchange information, what about this?" Sam asked, holding up a piece of his shield.
"Riri sent me the scans Sam, I can confirm that this is a poor substitute for vibranium," Shuri said.
"Could the government have given Walker the wrong shield?" Bucky asked.
"I mean he was basically a glorified poster boy so…" Kate's voice drifted slightly with her implication.
"No they fully intended for him to be Captain America," Monica said.
"But Steve gave Sam the shield, I saw Steve give it to him myself," Bucky said.
"Unless he's a…" Shang-Chi stopped himself.
"No, go on, say it!" Bucky shot back, glaring at Shang.
"There's a chance that everyone in this room has been replaced by shape shifters!"
The heroes of Earth 616 stared at the Batman, Superman rubbing his forehead in aggravation.
'Blunt, ignorant to how people feel, somewhat correct, definitely Bruce,' he inwardly chuckled.
"Everyone sitting here could have been replaced at some point, including whoever gave you that shield," Batman said to Sam.
Sam and Bucky widened their eyes, both paling as they thought of the elderly Steve. The former Falcon placed the shield shard back on the table and raised his head defiantly.
"Then we need to find answers," he seethed.
"But who could…wait, old man Rogers is still alive isn't he?" Kate asked.
"We know where to find him yeah, but what about the issue of the Skrulls and this Multiversal threat?" Bucky asked.
"Can't believe we're saying that now," Rhodes muttered.
"Is it really that bad though?" Shuri asked.
"It is," Batman said.
Again all eyes turned to him, most in suspicion.
"When the Flash came to me, he passed on knowledge of murders that have been occurring across the Multiverse, my own Earth was being used as a dumping ground for some of these bodies, or perhaps it was even where the victims had been chased to," Batman explained.
"Murders across the Multiverse, could the people of A.I.M. and H.I.V.E have anything to do with it?" Sam asked.
"We can't discount that, the Flash told us before he died that someone claiming to be a 'Conqueror' had confessed to killing a speedster, right before he tried to kill him and his girlfriend," Monica explained.
"The Flash and the White Canary were just two of many victims," Batman said.
"What can you tell us?" Superman asked.
"The bodies that appeared in my world were mostly variants of a villain on my world called the Joker, with the exception of a teenage girl called Cassie Cane and a woman known as Harley Quinn."
"The Joker's partner, sorry ex-partner on my world," Superman said.
"The White Flash discovered the body of a speedster called Max Mercury, he was an expert on speedsters, not the fastest but certainly the most experienced. Then there was a man called Tony Stark," Batman stated and the Avengers all stiffened.
Sam looked over his shoulder, seeing Pepper standing at the doorway. Her eyes were wide in shock and her hands trembled. If Batman knew she was watching, he made no sign of caring or stopping.
"An inventor on his world, then there was Terry Sloan, known as Mr 8 on his world," he said.
"We have a Terry Sloane on our world, he was a retired vigilante, but he passed away from natural causes," Superman said.
"Two brilliant scientists and an expert on the speed force, what could connect them?" Monica asked.
Suddenly, the room was illuminated by a bright light. It was a mixture of thunder and eldritch energy, but also an entirely new gold light that no one amongst the Avengers recognised.
"You can add another victim to your list Batman," a man said as he walked out of the portal.
"Is that you in a Crusader's outfit Sam?" Bucky asked.
"If it is I make it look good," Sam huffed.
One by one they walked out, Red Dragon, Purple Rain, Behemoth (to Banner's shock), Wundajin, Machinehead, Lady Bug and American Crusader.
"We have a body to add to your pattern Batman, Avengers, we are the Retaliators, and one of our greatest villains has just been murdered!" American Crusader said.
Yelena Belova focused more on her coffee and her photos than her boss.
"That's a wizard, I would have preferred you to bag us an alien, or a knight, or whatever else turned up at Westview, but still you did a good job," Valentina said.
Yelena wasn't going to bother with the rest of the woman's ridiculously long name. She knew everything about Valentina was a façade, a delicate one waiting to be cast aside for her true purpose. A woman doesn't arrest her ex-husband and not get bothered by it, even if the Wakandans did rescue Everett. Yelena instead focused on the man who had been snooping around the WandaVision household.
"He's cute, like his father was," Valentina said.
"You know this man?" Yelena asked.
"Sven Reilly, son of Slade Reilly an old agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. the man was tragically murdered, his career was ruined after he of all things proposed that S.H.I.E.L.D. had been infiltrated by a certain organisation," Valentina explained and Yelena huffed.
She found it typical of the American defence agencies, not that Russia was any better. In fact, every national defence and espionage agency with the exception of Wakanda (for some reason) was incompetent at the most inconvenient times. After processing her photos, Yelena followed her hunch on Sven and began doing a little digging. He had no social media profile, but she was able to access some school records. Even as a kid he had a very boring photo face, same haircut and almost empty grey eyes.
'Average grades, bordering on terrible, but by no means stupid it seems, brilliant test scores for army basic, but had his request for officer's training pulled, did two tours of duty from the age of nineteen and a further year of service in the military police before becoming a drifter,' she put each piece of evidence together, or rather each lack of evidence.
The pattern of this lack of evidence told her that Sven Reilly was a man good at covering his tracks, but he also had help. There were certain things governments should know but didn't in the case of Sven Reilly. They knew the most obvious of things, his school records, how many times he had been in detention (sometimes for tardiness but one particular case when he had snapped at a bully), some injuries, one of which was a severed arm during the Project Insight incident and the occasional visit to a therapist. Her focus came on the photos again, Sven Reilly's disappearance, and the knight Aeon's appearance.
'Interesting Sven Reilly, but something tells me this is one mystery dear Valentina is better off not knowing about,' Yelena thought.
Which left an altogether different mystery in the form of 'Carol Danvers's' corpse. It gave Yelena doubts about her real employer.
Valentina clearly lied to her about Clint Barton killing her sister. It would have been pretty stupid of her to trust her from them on. Fortunately, the woman seemed so full of herself that she didn't question Yelena coming back, accepting her 'I wasn't entirely inaccurate about him being responsible' line. So, Yelena got a new boss and got a new job spying on Valentina. It didn't take long for her to meet John Walker, and to find out that Antonia had been recruited by Val. She walked to the gym where Antonia was training, working on her Captain America shield throw, then her Black Panther agility. Despite being freed of her father's control, Antonia was still under someone's thumb, only the chains Val made were ones of debt, the false promise of making a difference and bettering oneself.
Only Yelena wasn't sure now if she could trust anyone.
Dean shoved LaFroyge out of the Man-Elephant's path. The bulky man let an impact crater between the two men and snorted, looking at LaFroyge in anger. Quick thinking from Betty allowed Dean to run around and pick LaFroyge off of the floor. She used the flash of her camera to blind Man-Elephant for a moment. Dean ducked and barely avoided the wild swings of his arms.
"Can we outrun him?" Betty asked.
"Nope, bigger doesn't always mean slower, Rhino's and elephants have powerful leg muscles, slow acceleration but an astonishing top speed," LaFroyge explained as he ran.
"Plus the taller you are the longer your strides," Dean said.
Man-Elephant began to do just that, bounding towards the three of them. It wouldn't have taken long for him to catch up, to crush them, or eat them, or whatever he intended to do to them. Jack woke up just as Man-Elephant was about to reach them. He still would have been too late though, too late to stop a chalk white fist from coming up out of the ground, like ghost. Then just as the fist reached Man-Elephant's chin, it became solid, imbedding in the man's skin for a moment before he was knocked back, dazed as if he had ran headfirst into a brick wall. A cloak flapped behind the back of the man who had appeared.
Jack chose man to describe him, though he knew others would have used thing, robot, and android. Synthezoid was the more scientifically accurate description.
"Carlton LaFroyge, we have questions to ask you," Vision said.
Man-Elephant recovered from his dazed state, just in time for the white Vision to hit him with a beam from his forehead. Vision drew closer, stopped firing his beam, and then drove his hand through Man-Elephant's chest. The man screamed before he fell to the ground with a thud.
"Is he…"
"Merely incapacitated," Vision said, interrupting Betty.
"I thought you were going to rip his heart out Mortal Kombat style," Dean said.
"A true to life Fatality would traumatise everyone here, and I need LaFroyge to be calm as I ask him questions," Vision explained, turning towards LaFroyge.
Jack suddenly appeared behind Vision, gripping his shoulder.
"We have questions too," he said.
"Wait, you said…we? What do you mean by that?" Dean asked.
Vision turned his head, pointing towards a limo that pulled up, flashing its lights.
"Damage control is on its way to contain him; you'll need to deactivate your armour… Transformer!" Vision said dryly.
"It's Rodimus Prime thank you very much," Jack huffed.
"We've got the exclusive here," Dean said.
"Perhaps our questions will be answered, if you would please," Vision gestured to the car.
"What if you're just trying to find out what I know and then kill me?" Carlton asked.
"We just saved you from Dumbo there, doesn't that earn us a little trust?" Dean asked.
"You will be safer with us than damage control or the CIA LaFroyge," Vision said.
"What exactly have I gotten myself into," Cartol brought his hands to his head as he began walking to the car.
"I'll drive behind you guys and catch up later," Jack said as he ran off.
"Please, let us come along, even if it means we don't publish our story, we're involved now," Dean said.
"Are you sure about this Dean?" Betty asked.
"I am, but if you don't want to come with me Betty then you've got at least one part of a story here," Dean said, gesturing to Man-Elephant.
"There's more to it though, and I want to know too," she said.
Vision's cloak faded as he walked to the car, his white form replaced by that of a blonde-haired man in boring clothes. He opened the door for LaFroyge, Dean and Betty, who climbed inside. Upon doing so, the three of them widened their eyes at the man sitting in front of them.
"Hello Mr LaFroyge, Dean Cormick I believe," he said.
"You know who I am?" Dean asked.
"You wrote an article exposing police corruption in the Bronx, and it was you who covered the Killmonger incident when I revealed the events to the public, you had some very judgemental remarks about the man's character!"
"Sorry your majesty, but he could have made as many statements about tribal traditions as he likes, a guy who marks his kills is just a serial killer over here," Dean said.
T'Challa smiled slightly as Vision sat next to him and the car began to drive.
"So what is this? Vibranium? Is there a remote link for the driver?" Dean asked.
"We're going a little low tech for this mission, I am not acting with the weight of the Wakandan people behind me, this is one man helping another on a…what did you call it Vision?" T'Challa asked.
"I only said it once, a Quest," Vision said and Betty stifled a laugh.
"People had a lot of questions when you ceded the throne to Queen Ramonda, my condolences by the way," Dean said.
"Perhaps I will answer those questions another time, right now however I believe it is Mr LaFroyge who you must interview," T'Challa said.
Dean looked to LaFroyge, who was looking out of the window nervously.
"You made statements in blogs about the Blue-sky event, and that guy just tried to kill you, any idea why?" Dean asked.
"Maybe he was just another crazy enhanced," Carlton suggested.
"Try harder to convince us," Dead said.
Carlton sighed, wiping his glasses and the sweat from his hair.
"When the blue crack in the sky appeared, people reported that there was another Earth in that crack, I looked at it through a telescope and then I later hacked a Nasa satellite and the tear revealed a lot more than just another Earth," LaFroyge explained.
He removed his phone, opening the drawing app he had on it. He drew a small tear shape; through that he drew a circle with a few patches to represent another Earth. Then he drew an outline around the tear.
"It was more than a window to see another world, it was an actual gateway, and I have proof that someone was using it to send objects to that other world. I took recordings, the government is concealing the fact that someone is using a Quantum tunnel to access the point in time that the tear opened in order to send exploration teams to this other world."
"Quantum, you mean like the Ant-man thing, how the Avengers went back in time to save the world?" Betty asked.
"We all told Lang not to write that book," T'Challa shook his head.
"But there's more than that," Carlton said.
"More than our government using time travel to explore other worlds, what more could there be?" Betty asked.
"You noticed the outline of the tear, there is a portal within the portal, something trying to break through," T'Challa said.
"Yes your majesty, but more, more than that, I saw on the other Earth," Carlton paused.
He drew an outline around the circle he had drawn.
"That Earth was itself becoming a portal, or more like an interdimensional prison for something. So, if that Earth could become a portal, then ours could too. We know that our Earth was the soil for a Celestial to grow on…"
"What?" Betty looked at him in shock.
"But what if more than just a Celestial Life seed had been placed on our Earth?" Vision asked.
Betty yelped slightly when dramatic tunes emanated from T'Challa's pocket. He removed a phone from his pocket.
"Like I said, we are going low tech for this mission," he said. "What is it Okoye?" he asked.
They couldn't hear the chatter on the other line, but T'Challa's shocked reaction showed that the situation must have been dire.
"Very well, observe for now, but if lives are at stake…don't freeze!" T'Challa smirked.
"What was that?" Dean asked.
"Another tear in reality has appeared!" Vision said.
Next Chapter 8: Hereditary sins
I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. It included a last little tribute for Conroy which I couldn't cram into last chapter.
I made plans to include T'Challa before I saw Wakanda Forever. Having seen it, I will admit it is one of the better Phase 4 projects, Talakan/Atlantis feels like its own place though not so far out there with their technology as Wakanda is. I felt Namor deserved more to be an Avengers level debut, but they did as good as they could here. I can nit pick the way they had T'Challa die and Shuri's guilt (give him another heart shaped herb? He already has the enhancements from the original heart shaped herb, what are you going to double dose him?) but Letitia Wright and Angela Bassett's performances were great and the tributes within the film to T'Challa and in turn Chadwick Boseman were touching.
Now everyone is going to have an opinion on the should they have recasted T'Challa thing. As people who didn't know Chadwick Boseman we can all say that the characters journey shouldn't have ended as it did. I can't pick a guy who could have done it like Chadwick did, and I also believe that a way you honour someone is carrying on the story. But I can say that because I didn't know the man.
That being said T'Challa's appearance in this fic is based on what I have heard of the original script of Wakanda Forever with some tweaks. In this universe he has stepped down from being king and somewhat distanced himself from the Wakandan politics in order to (spoiler for Wakanda Forever) get to know his son. Also somewhat mirroring the times in the comics T'Challa has downsized his tech and taken on more humble civilian identities. Shuri is the Black Panther, but so is T'Challa in that he goes beyond Wakanda to protect the world and Wakandan interests.
Next time we catch up with Wanda and the paragons, and the Martian hunts.