And so it begins. Technically speaking, this is going to be split into two chapters, the second of which will take place in Shadow of Order, but this will have the primary plot focus and the end result will change the multiverse at large. With that said, let's not waste any more time and dive right in.
Disclaimer: I do not own Halo or any other franchise that appears in this chapter.
It started with the laughter. The combined voice of countless souls laughing in unison to one rasping baritone voice. Its source was nowhere, yet it could be heard everywhere, by everyone. The very stars felt malevolent, even in realms that didn't have stars, as if reality itself had turned against all life.
That was when all hell broke loose.
...
Skyland
It was finally over. They had defeated the Sphere, freeing the shattered Earth from their tyranny. Oslo had been imprisoned, and without the aid of that witch Cyclonis, he would stay that way. Things were at long last looking up for the Pirates. Then they heard the laughter.
"Oh what now?" Mahad asked with resigned fear in his tone.
The answer came seconds later as thousands upon thousands of pods started raining down into the atmosphere, dispersing millions of Flood spores and other forms throughout Skyland.
"Do not be afraid. I bring unity. I bring peace."
"Get everyone to the shelters!" Cortes shouted, even as he fired his energy rifle at an approaching Pure form. "Now!"
Flood forms broke through the tavern window, only to be met by weapons fire from Wayan and Dahlia as they covered everyone going out the back door. Elsewhere, Mahad's boomerang managed to knock several combat forms over the edge, only for it to get embedded in a large tank form.
More Flood forms rushed the young man, until Lena landed and unleashed her power, sending them flying while simultaneously pulling Mahad's boomerang out and dropping it in front of him.
"What would I do without you, sis?" Mahad asked breathlessly, but suddenly both were drawn to a bright flash of light near the lighthouse.
"Mom!"
Mila was unleashing energy blast after energy blast as she helped the Vector flee from his lab. She was forced to create a spherical energy field around them both to protect from the barbs of the flying Flood forms. Through the hazy field, she saw her children approaching.
"Stay back!" The older Seijin shouted as she let her power loose, sending more forms flying.
Just as it seemed that they had a clear path, a massive tentacle emerged from the side of the cliff, wrapping itself around the block's upper region and cutting the Farrell family off from each other.
"From life's cruel embrace, I offer release."
Hundreds of infection forms poured out of the tentacle as the Gravemind's voice all but embedded itself into everyone's mind. Mila once again pushed the Flood back as best as she could, but was quickly being overwhelmed.
A horrified and agonized scream from the Vector embedded itself in her mind as she turned to see the old man had become twisted into a monster. And this distraction cost her dearly as more of the Parasite dog piled her. The sky darkened as the Flood were upon her.
Atmos
"Why did it have to be these things again?!" Finn shouted as a pack of Flood forms, both flyers and riding their own vehicles hounded after him, crystal weapons firing at him. "I could use a little help here!"
Junko flew through the formation behind Finn, destroying a number of forms and drawing the attention of the rest. With his attention now clear, Finn took aim at the forms now gathered on top of a nearby cargo ship, blasting them off with pinpoint accuracy.
"Resistance is hopeless, I will not be stopped,"
Yet despite this, several more forms took their place, eventually breaching through the ship's hull and taking it over. It didn't have a chance to get any further before Aerrow flew past, his swords glowing as they cut through the engines, sending it on a one-way trip to the Wastelands.
"They just keep coming!" Piper said, flying next to him, watching as pods continuously poured from the sky. "What do we do?"
Aerrow was silent for a moment as the Condor flew past, more Flood forms attempting to force their way in. Fortunately, Stork's external defenses were able to knock them off, but the helmsman had to pull back as projectiles flew from the insect like launcher now entrenched on Atmosia.
One of the Rex Guardians wasn't so lucky as a similar projectile struck him head on, releasing a cloud of Flood spores that almost instantly mutated him, forcing his Squadron to put him out of his misery, which was becoming an all too common occurence already.
It wasn't supposed to be like this. With Cyclonis finally captured and her imprisonment after standing trial, Atmos was enjoying peace that it hadn't had in a long, long time. Today, many of the Sky Knights across Atmos along with a number of defenders from the Far Side had gathered in a celebration regarding the peace they had all managed to achieve.
However, the party had been interrupted when the Storm Hawks got a transmission from the Republic, warning that the Flood had grown exponentially and that an attack may be imminent. That had spoiled the celebrations, but a lot of them had gotten to their skimmers just as the warning came true.
The laughter had preceded the rain of Flood forms all across the planet, as more than a few landed on Atmosia itself, quickly overwhelming what defenses it had. All while the Gravemind's speech echoed and continued to echo all over the planet.
"All will join the fold, whether willfully or not."
"We fight!" Aerrow finally said. "We keep fighting until we win," his voice lowered as he turned back to the devastation at hand. "and if we can't, we'll give these things a battle to remember." Radarr chirped in approval.
His voice held steady but even Aerrow knew in his heart that this was a losing battle. The Republic hadn't shown up yet, which clearly meant that they wouldn't be coming. And without their help, the Sky Knight knew that Atmos would fall within the day.
Bending Earth
Republic City was burning. The rain of the Flood Parasite had touched down all over the globe, seeping into every aspect of the planet as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, the airbenders were helping where they could, but the attack had spread far too quickly and far too wide to be contained.
Tamara had warned them of the Flood's return, but even she hadn't known what the sheer magnitude of the attack was going to be like. And it was clear that neither the Republic nor the Separatists were going to be able to help them this time.
"The Flood has risen again, our chorus fills the night,"
Jinora and several other airbenders flew over Republic City, avoiding the attacks of the Flood as best as they could. Not everyone was successful, as more than a few airbenders had been knocked out of the sky.
On the streets below, bursts of fire, water and pieces of Earth and metal were hurled around by the Parasite and the Benders who fought them, the former combining their strengths to overwhelm the defenders.
Fortunately, it seemed that Dark Samus wouldn't be showing up in person. Unfortunately, that did little to safeguard the Spirits. Infected Spirit Vines dragged many of the actual spirits away, many of them screaming in terror as they were dragged into pits. They didn't come back out.
Suddenly, one of the buildings nearby abruptly lost its foundations, collapsing right in the path of the airbenders. Most managed to get out of the direct path, but Tamara was hit by a piece of debris and fell to the ground.
"Tamara!"
There wasn't any time to go back for her, as the shockwave from the collapse was still too close and scattered the airbenders across the cityscape. Ikki and Jinora landed relatively close by, and saw Meelo launching himself towards a gathering of Flood forms on one of the rooftops.
"Meelo, wait!" Ikki shouted, but their younger sibling wouldn't listen.
"Taste my fury!" The young airbender unleashed a massive gust of wind that sent several Flood forms flying, but the rest quickly recovered and dog-piled him, causing to him yell in defiance.
It didn't take long for Jinora and Ikki to fly over to the rooftop and combined their strength to blast the Flood forms away from their little brother, who was just kneeling there as they approached.
"Meelo?"
What looked back at them wasn't Meelo.
...
Elsewhere in the city, the police were doing their best to evacuate the city, but it was becoming clear that there was nowhere else to go. The Flood were dropping in everywhere, and they had already lost contact with the President, as well as Varrick industries.
Lin, Mako and Bolin had attempted to contact Tenzin and Korra, but they had no luck with that either, and ultimately were stuck downtown as more and more Flood dispersal pods rained down from the sky.
"There's no end to these things!" Mako unleashed a burst of fire, incinerating several combat forms. Another charged at him from behind only to be intercepted by a wave of lava.
"Um, I know I'm not supposed to be the dour one," Bolin directed more lava towards several approaching tank forms and a small Abomination, burning them as well. "but do we even know if Korra's alive?"
"She has to be." Lin created a small wall to block a combat form, then sent it flying into the nearest building, crushing it. "We can't stop these things without her." She was forced to summon another barrier as a blast of fire washed over it.
"Can we even stop them at all?" Mako vocalized the question that was on all their minds, even as he vaporized an infected water bender's attack.
"Just keep- hurk!" Suddenly, a trio of yellow spikes struck the police chief, with two in her breast plate and one in her neck. She fell to one knee before collapsing.
"LIN!"
Swiftly, Mako unleashed a bolt of lighting at the Pure Ranged form who had shot at the Chief while Bolin created a circle of lava around them before adding an additional barrier of stone to keep the same from happening again.
"Chief, talk to me!" Mako ran over to her position, just as she began to stir.
The chief recovered and stood up. Except it was no longer Lin Beifong.
...
Korra was constantly moving, hurling attack after attack, element after element against the constant horde of Flood forms that pursued her. More and more, she was pushed to using the Avatar State to stay alive as the Gravemind was relentless in hunting her down.
Like right now; as she created a sphere of water, air, earth and fire to keep Infection forms and other Flood forms from overwhelming her, before unleashing a massive storm from the elements to drive them back.
With a brief moment of respite, Korra took the time to head to a Future Industries warehouse near the edge of the city. It was where Asami had been before the Flood had attacked, and since the Avatar couldn't get into contact with her via radio, she needed to do this the old fashioned way.
But once she arrived, she found a large Flood form gestating from the ruins of the warehouse. Spores were being ejected into the atmosphere, and Korra was forced to air bend them away as despair crept in.
"Like water we ebb and flow, with no end in sight!"
She could only hope Asami made it out before this... thing had started forming. She registered the sound of more approaching Flood forms as despair gave into rage. The Avatar State was activated instinctively as she unleashed a massive wave of flame at the charging Pure forms, before summoning a storm of earth that intercepted projectile fire from the Ranged forms.
That was when she saw the massive form raising its tentacles, creating massive pillars of diseased water out in the ocean. She narrowly avoided one as it splashed toward her, bending it away from her.
"Korra!" The Avatar looked up and felt relief course through her.
With a combination of earth and airbending, she launched herself onto the flying motorcycle based off the skimmer design in Atmos, bringing a swarm of stone to deflect the Flood's own attacks before landing right beside Asami.
"We need to go." Korra said, as Asami gunned the engines. "Have you heard from the others?" The CEO shook her head.
"So far, I've just found you." The skimmer weaved as it avoided more Flood attacks. Meanwhile, Korra airbended any spores away while also blasting flying forms with fire. "We were preparing to coordinate an evacuation with the Republic, but we lost contact with them."
"I'm guessing they're having the same problems..." Korra's eyes widened at the sight of a growing mound of Flood biomass in the center of the city, with spores and Pure forms being generated from this monster. "... how are we supposed to beat this?!"
Remnant
Despite the damage they had sustained, teams RWBY, JNR and their allies had managed to make it to Atlas, though they had been shot down on the way. Fortunately, they had been rescued and Qrow had managed to get into contact with Ironwood.
They were on the way to meet with him when the attack started, as thousands of alien pods crashed onto Remnant's surface, releasing infectious spores and monsters in their wake.
Atlas' military was quick to engage this unexpected threat, but there were far too many, and more than few pods landed right on top of Knight formations. Ruby charged into the fray, slicing down these creatures with relative ease, before being forced to retreat by a larger tentacled abomination landing right in front of her.
Weiss summoned her Knight and the Queen Lancer to attack the larger tentacled form, while Yang and Blake attacked it's legs, the former with her Gauntlets, and the latter with Gambol Shroud, eventually bringing it to the ground, where Nora unleashed a massive blow from her hammer that tore its body apart.
Their victory was short-lived.
"Our numbers are infinite, we grow as I speak,"
More and more Flood forms were attacking, as the bombardment of Flood pods continued while Atlas' forces were struggling and failing to contain it. And to make matters worse, the Grimm were directly aiding the Flood in their efforts.
The surge of negative emotions from the unexpected attack drew the Grimm in, launching a two front strike with the Flood. Several Atlesian battleships had already been compromised by the Parasite, and were turning against their fellows.
In the distance, multiple tentacles wrapped around the CCT tower, and a signal was sent from within. Suddenly, all of the Atlesian military forces once more turned against the people they were supposed to protect.
"It's like Beacon all over again." Jaune whispered in fear and anger.
"No." Ren shook his head. "This is worse."
"How are we supposed to stop this?" Oscar asked, his voice quaking in terror.
Ozpin, for once, didn't have an answer.
...
The other three kingdoms weren't doing much better. In Vale, Team CFVY were aiding the Beacon Faculty as the Grimm kept flowing in from the frozen dragon on top of Beacon, while the horrific abominations kept pouring in from the sky.
"We are the young and the old, the strong and the weak."
Coco's minigun blared as she gunned down Flood forms, popping the little infectors by the hundreds, but their numbers only kept growing. Soon, forms made from the people they were supposed to protect were attacking them as well, and Fox was buried under an avalanche of the damn things. Velvet only had time to shout his name before she too was being swarmed.
Back in Mistral, many of the Faunus warriors from Menagerie were still present when the Parasite attacked, and found themselves caught in the crossfire as the Mistral police attempted to keep the peace.
But with the Grimm pressing on their borders, and the Flood dropping from orbit, things were not looking good for Remnant.
Earth-16
The Justice League had had their hands full. The Republic had managed to begin evacuation procedures, utilizing unique 'portal nukes' as the rank and file like to call them. Upon activation, they released a massive sphere of light, surrounding a target before seemingly imploding into nothingness.
When first shown this, there had been initial panic, especially from the League, but the Republic had quickly explained and shown what really happened; the devices created large scale teleportation portals, which transported their targets (often cities) to a preset safe location, usually a Forerunner Dyson Sphere under Republic control.
It was admittedly a faster method of evacuating cities, and the superpower's advanced tech was quick to accommodate for any potential inconveniences, but against the Flood, they were only used for cities that were currently clean of infection.
So when the Parasite attacked in the middle of said evacuation, things quickly went bad, forcing the members of the League, the Team, and even operatives of the Light to start fighting against this threat.
"All life will soon fall, all will join the fold,"
Unfortunately, the Parasite had decided to go for overwhelming force, and soon the heroes and villains were hard pressed to simply stay alive. Gotham City had yet to be evacuated, and within, the Bat-family were still fighting to protect the city they called home.
Robin used his grapple line, narrowly avoiding the horde of Flood forms that were bearing down on him. Kicking away one that tried to leap after him, he simultaneously hurled an explosive batarang into the crowd below.
Meanwhile, Nightwing and Batgirl were caught in a fight near the harbor, as Flood forms began pouring into the water, while other combat forms charged them. Martial arts from unenhanced humans were unsurprisingly ineffective, so the two super heroes were primarily using explosives, with a practically bottomless supply thanks to Republic tech.
Furthermore, they weren't alone. Aquaman and Aqualand were also present, Atlantis having been one of the cities that had already been evacuated. The latter unleashed a wave of electrified water, popping dozens of infection forms at the same time.
All the superheroes had been gifted with personal shields from the Republic, keeping Flood spores out and keeping their attacks from penetrating skin, but it wasn't enough, and the heroes at the docks were cut off from retreat.
Suddenly, a barrage of missiles struck the ground around them as the Batwing flew overhead, clearing a path for them to escape. Batman's rescue effort was short-lived, as a Flood dispersal pod crashed into the plane, sending it spiraling into the ocean.
"BATMAN!"
Aquaman wasted no time in diving in after him, prompting a brief shout of "My king, wait!" from Aqualad. But before they could do anything else, they were spirited away in a streak of speed by Impulse.
...
Meanwhile, the Flash was running all over the globe, saving whoever he could and avoiding the Flood as much as possible. It seemed that even the Flood had difficulty taking on Speedsters, but the constant exertion was wearing Barry down, and with every rescue, he felt himself getting slower and slower.
Superman was having better luck doing the same, his strength and powers enabling to endure every attack the Flood was throwing at him. Carving through a mound of Flood biomass with his heat vision, the Kryptonian then caught a tentacle that tried to crush him.
In Paris, Wonder Woman was carving her way through more Flood forms, as Captain Atom provided overwatch and unleashed energy blasts at the flying monsters that targeted him.
Martian Manhunter flew over the skyline of London, hurling pieces of debris at Flood and using density shifting to avoid being hit by their retaliation. Icon, Rocket and Captain Marvel were also present, the former unleashing pulse blasts while Rocket blocked a barrage of barbs from flying pure forms, and Captain Marvel hit them with a massive sign as a club.
In Washington, Hawkman, Hawkwoman and Red Tornado were doing what they could to evacuate the populace, with Tornado unleashing multiple windstorms in an effort to keep the Parasite at bay. It wasn't enough, as an energy blast knocked him out of the air, which Hawkwoman was quick to retaliate against the firer.
In Dakota, Black Lightning, Static, and Plastic Man held off an army of Flood from overrunning one of the few evac shelters present, while Atom and Bumblebee provided further protection as best as they could, guarding the Republic operated portals that would carry them out.
In Star City, Green Arrow, Red Arrow, and Arsenal launched explosive arrows into a horde of combat and infection forms, which Black Canary was quick to finish off with her Canary Cry. Any stragglers that remained were picked off by Cheshire. But before they could relax, the massive figure of an Infected Brick leapt towards them, creating a shockwave that scattered them to the ground.
Near one of the STAR Labs facilities, Guardian, Superboy, Miss Martian and the Supercycle were doing smashing through a wave of Flood, but were all but stymied by the infected forms of the Terror Twins as they attacked. The two had been fused into one body, and struck with a viciousness and speed that only their combined forms could create, hurling Superboy through part of the building so hard that the section outright collapsed.
In Palo Alto, Kid Flash, Artemis and Zatanna fought their way through the Parasite on the ground, while Wonder Girl and Blue Beetle covered them from the air. Lagoon Boy and Beast Boy meanwhile guided who they could to safety, a number that was quickly dwindling.
...
It wasn't only the heroes fighting for their lives.
The Flood had sent a substantial amount of Flood forms to the Belle Reve Prison, as well as Arkham Asylum, with the helpless and imprisoned dwellings of so many supervillains being an impossible target to resist.
Once the Parasite overpowered the guards in each facility, they were quick to spread Flood spores through the ventilation system. In moments, they had managed to infect an army of supervillains without firing a shot, before opening all the prison doors and unleashing them all over the globe.
Bialyian soldiers were overwhelmed by the Parasite despite the advantages of Separatist and Apokoliptian tech, with many turning against their master. Mammoth, Shimmer and Devastation held them off as best as they could, but the the combined firepower and esoteric attacks quickly overwhelmed them, leaving Psimon and Queen Bee with an army of their former allies bearing down on him.
On Infinity Island, the Flood tore their way through the ranks of the League of Shadows, even with the upgraded Separatist blades and Apokoliptian weapons. For every combat or Pure form they cut down, five more took its place, and the rolling tide of Infection forms quickly ensured that those weapons would soon turn against them.
For a brief moment, it appeared that the arrival of Clayface might turn the tide, but it became clear that even he wasn't enough, leaving Hook, Black Spider and Professor Ojo to fight the tide alone, protecting Ra's al Ghul and his daughter Talia from the Abominations that tore through the Island.
In the Light's Mongolian HQ, Black Manta, Lex Luthor and the Brain were commanding the defense as the Flood accurately targeted the facility, which didn't say anything good about what was happening with their allies.
Deathstroke and the Arkham Knight protected them from the occasional straggler, as the combined firepower of Black Manta's lasers and missiles, the Brain's built in weapons, and Monsieur Mallah's upgraded minigun tore through the horde.
"Near or far, all realms will come to our hold."
And yet with slow inevitability, they were becoming overwhelmed again. The Light's usual fall back locations had all been compromised, and to make things worse, Klarion had been unable to help, as he and Doctor Fate were apparently fighting the Flood in another plane of reality.
As for Vandal Savage, he was on the Warworld in orbit, but he had his own problems to deal with.
...
To its credit, the Warworld was doing all it could to protect this universe's Sol System. The mobile doomsday device had been given upgrades by the Separatists, and it was more than willing to unleash that firepower against the Flood ships that were attacking.
The space around the massive planetoid had become a massive display of color and destruction, as Savage guided the Warworld into attack, deploying so many missiles and lasers at everything around it.
Separatist-based drones and fighters gave their support, intercepting their Flood based counterparts as well as the drop pods that attempted to breach the shields. And despite such a valiant effort, it still wasn't enough.
The Parasite was just far too numerous and to further complicate matters, Earth wasn't the only planet under attack: Mars had also been targeted by the Flood. The native Martians fought back admirably, and in some ways were even holding out better than Earth, but they were still falling, especially when the Flood began using their weakness to fire against them.
In addition, all of Earth's Green Lanterns had been off planet when the Flood attack started, and judging by their continued absence, it seemed unlikely that they would be able to help Earth at this point.
And just when Vandal Savage thought that things couldn't get any worse, he was quickly proven wrong by the appearance of massive silvery tendrils in the stars, which caused the command center to slowly darken. Savage could only watch in resigned fear as his death approached.
The Warworld shattered under the combined weight of the Star Roads, which swatted larger debris away from Earth. And as if to add insult to injury, several of those Star Roads split into smaller tendrils that approached the planet, serving to feed the Gravemind's hunger.
Earth-199999
The evacuation had proceeded fairly smoothly, all things considered. Naturally, when the UN had learned of everything that was happening, they were rather skeptical. But General Talbot and SHIELD had managed to smooth things out, and the objections of Secretary Ross were overruled.
They had managed to evacuate a majority of their world's cities, including New York, London, and Hong Kong, with the Mystics of Kamar-Taj having determined that the Sanctum connections would remain intact. Other cities that had been evacuated included New Orleans, as well as the civilian populace of Wakanda's capital.
But then the laughter had started, just preceding the wave of Flood that rained down from the sky. And with Republic and Separatist forces being overwhelmed elsewhere, it left the rest of the heroes only one choice, as most of them gathered in the center of Paris.
"We fight." Captain America had stated, as a horde of Flood forms approached them.
Without hesitation, Bucky, Sam and Rhodey immediately opened fire, shortly before the other armed Avengers and Guardians did the same, with Rocket laughing all the while.
"I think this would be a good time to reintroduce them to the other guy." Coulson stated, as Robbie nodded.
"Wait, what is your power exactly?" Tony asked, his expression curious. Robbie's expression softened slightly.
"I made a deal with the devil."
Abruptly, Robbie's skin bubbled and boiled away, his flesh disintegrating until all that remained was a cracked skull wreathed in flames. The more Earthbound Avengers and even the Guardians couldn't help but stare for a moment, while Strange and SHIELD barely glanced back.
"You get used to it." Coulson said.
The Ghost Rider made his presence felt by swinging his chain, unleashing a massive blast of Hellfire, which almost instantly turned a hundred Flood forms to ash. Not to be outdone, Thor leapt into the air and slammed Stormbreaker onto the ground, creating a large crater and frying hundreds of other Flood forms.
"All life is in my hand,"
Naturally, this only drew the Gravemind's attention, as massive force of Flood dispersal pods went straight for them. "We've got incoming!" Iron Man shouted, his boosters igniting and sending him into evasive measures.
The Guardians (who were currently wearing jetpacks themselves), War Machine, and Falcon made similar movements, while Strange used his Sling Ring to move the groundbound Avengers and SHIELD agents elsewhere.
He summoned up a shield to protect against the barrage of projectiles sent his way, before unleashing a lightning blast of his own, which targeted and fried the Ranged forms shooting at him.
In response to that, Quill rapidly fired his Quad blasters, tearing a large juggernaut's tentacles off. A laughing Drax immediately continued firing, and soon tore it apart. His victory was short-lived, as flying creatures started swarming him, causing him to swat them away angrily.
Thor launched himself into the air, swinging Stormbreaker around as arcs of lightning lashed out, frying even more flyers. And with the support of the Guardians and Iron Man, the air was briefly clear of the Parasite.
"That wasn't so bad." Tony commented. As if to answer, there came a roar from the sky, as multiple familiar shapes appeared. "Oh you've gotta be kidding me!"
Half a dozen of infected Chitauri Leviathans were bearing down on them, dripping infection and Pure forms like putrid sweat. Energy bolts began bombarding them, as infected Chitauri forms landed on the ground.
Nebula and Gamora pulled out their swords and began cutting them down, while Groot impaled several other combat forms. Rocket's fired hadn't let up, while War Machine was quick to fire more missiles and heavy machine gun rounds, which tore through the infected ranks.
Elsewhere, Wanda hurled several cars into a horde of Flood, crushing many of them like bugs. Vision was unleashing the power of his knockoff Stone beam into an attacking Abomination, before shifting his density to avoid the retaliatory strikes.
Captain America hurled his original shield at the larger abomination's legs, while Falcon let loose with a pair of micro missiles against its head. Meanwhile, Bucky was still gunning combat forms down, but was briefly halted when a rolling form unfurled and wrapped its tentacles around his arm.
Fortunately, Black Panther leapt forward and severed the tentacles, before leaping into a horde of infection forms and letting the kinetic shockwave loose, popping them all.
Some distance away, Hawkeye fired off an explosive arrow into a cluster of flying seeder forms, while Natasha gunned down several others, using the upgraded weapons the Republic had supplied.
But just as it appeared that a number of forms would overwhelm the two agents, they abruptly crumbled into ash. From her starting point, Yo-yo couldn't help but feel some satisfaction as she readied more splinter bombs.
Meanwhile, Daisy and Lincoln were using their powers in combination, with the vibration waves tearing through and scattering larger hordes, popping a number of infection forms, while Lincoln fried the stragglers.
For the original Avengers, the closest comparison to what they were fighting was an organic version of Ultron. And yet it was a disturbing combination given the bulk of the forces attacking at this moment were the former armies of Thanos. For the rest, well, it was just unpleasant in general.
Giant-Man kicked an Abomination form away. A tendril reached to pull him down, but it was severed by Wasp, who shrunk down to avoid the flailing limb's retaliation. She took further evasive action as even the floating Flood spores began pouring after her, unleashing bolts from her blasters.
Spider-Man punched a Ranged form off a building, while one of his mechanical legs impaled another. "Man you guys are ugly." Spider-Man said before his mask irises widened. "Uh oh!"
Peter leapt away from the next building just as a large tentacle smashed through the windows and walls, aiming to splatter him against the pavement. It missed, and an energy blast cut it in half.
The Hulkbuster smashed through the building and landed on the source, tearing through it with a ferocity born of the Hulk. Combined that with Banner's own scientific mind, and the Flood forms were torn to shreds.
They all fought admirably, but it was soon becoming clear that their efforts weren't so much as making a dent. In spite of SHIELD's efforts to protect civilians, the Flood were far more numerous, and were more than willing to go for the helpless targets at the same time. And this just increased the numbers raised against the heroes.
"The prudent, the foolish."
"Does this thing ever shut up?!"
Tony fired off a barrage of micro missiles, cutting down one Leviathan before he was swarmed by more Infected flyers and chariots. Strange himself was soon being boxed in, and even the Guardians were suffering their own problems, as a couple of smaller abomination forms dragged Drax away.
"Drax, no!" Mantis shouted as their screaming comrade was taken, to the terror of the Guardians.
A large number of Flood forms had already surrounded Captain America, and though the latter was putting up a non-stop fight and had support, the Flood soon collapsed a building on top of his head.
"Steve!" Bucky shouted, before he recovered enough to tear apart the Flood forms that threatened him.
Unfortunately for them all, battle fatigue was setting in, and fewer and fewer people were around to be evacuated. The only two who weren't getting tired was Thor and the Ghost Rider, and unfortunately for them, the Gravemind wasn't willing to let them continue unmolested.
Several Star Roads appeared over the planet, with one approaching the city in question, manipulating the gravity and drawing the God and Demon into its clutches. Asgardian lightning and Hellfire had little effect against the extradimensional thought matter, and it took all their strength to keep themselves from being crushed.
Clint was eventually targeted and swarmed by the Parasite, and an explosion was last seen at his position. The Hulkbuster was overwhelmed, but there was a brief moment of hope when the Hulk's roar echoed out and the green giant started smashing the Parasite.
That hope spluttered when a shift in gravity drew the Hulk into a massive tentacle, which came down upon him so that nothing could be seen. Things were only getting worse after that.
Of course, that wasn't all. The Flood had spread across the planet, leaving only a few holdouts, and some locations were irreparably lost. Hawaii for instance, had been destroyed completely, and as for the Avengers and other heroes, they knew they were facing a last stand.
And if that was the case, they would all go down fighting.
Elsewhere
The Gravemind had attacked practically everywhere in the multiverse at once, but it hadn't forgotten just who had beaten it so thoroughly the first time, and retaliated accordingly against the Republic and Separatists.
All across their territory, massive Flood creatures emerged, alongside countless Star Roads and other Precursor artifacts. Unlike most of the multiverse, the two superpowers had been prepared for just such an eventuality: their fleets were battle ready, their populace had been evacuated to safer locations, and their weapons had been tailor made with fighting the Parasite in mind.
"All who dwell in the land,"
It wasn't enough. Though both the Republic and Separatists gave good accounts for themselves, even managing to destroy a significant amount of Precursor structures, the attack was relentless, and the Parasite merciless.
And it wasn't like the Flood onslaught was blind; their first action had been to locate and annihilate the main method the two superpowers had often used to locate the Parasite. The network of Flood detection satellites scattered throughout the multiverse was being dismantled, blinding the factions to the Parasite's movements.
...
All over Separatist territory, their worlds were under attack. Helghan was already on the verge of falling, with the Helghast efforts still remaining ineffective against this onslaught.
Other factory worlds that created and maintained the primarily mechanized forces used by the Separatists were also being overrun, either being completely destroyed or repurposed to create deadly killing machines for the Parasite. Weyland-Yutani facilities were overrun, their xenomorphs and combat androids proving ineffective against the Flood.
On the Space Pirate Homeworld, the Parasite battered down the defense systems, consuming their way through everything in sight. The cybernetically enhanced Ridley attempted to stem the tide, firing off beams of plasma that carved through infected Space Pirates.
That was when Dark Samus appeared, hitting the Space Dragon with charged Phazon shot. Ridley collapsed from the Phazon blast, allowing more Flood forms to swarm over him. His enraged and terrified shrieks gave way to the Flood's familiar howling.
Samus herself had also been in the vicinity, and was soon under attack by her two greatest enemies, who were more than willing to gang up on her. Energy blasts and missiles were exchanged, and very quickly, Samus found her energy reserves starting to get alarmingly low.
Even the Separatist capital world was being overrun, with the Parasite already inside the main palace and headquarters. Kai Leng's body twisted, as the Flood turned him into yet another combat form. The Meta wasted no time in putting him down.
Meanwhile, Carolina was running through the halls of the palace, blasting through any Flood forms in her path. The two-ex Freelancers made their best efforts to defend against this onslaught, but it wasn't enough, and soon the Flood had taken control of the primary defenses.
The orbital cannons opened fire on General Grievous' command ship in orbit, causing a chain reaction of explosions to rock through the ship. The Flood took advantage of the openings, spreading through the ship and onto the bridge, drowning the cyborg in a sea of bodies despite his best efforts to fight back.
...
It wasn't much better for the Republic. Many military facilities had been targeted, the Flood primarily aiming to cripple them. The Ark was surrounded by a Flood armada backed by Star Roads, shattering the surrounding Halos that protected it in spite of their efforts to halt it.
Xenomorph Prime proved to be a snack for the Flood, barely considered worth the time to infect. Yautja Prime, on the other hand, was a higher priority target. The Predators broke out their best military gear, unleashing the upgraded weapons against the Flood horde. And once again, it proved to be severely ineffective.
Even Spherus Magna was no longer safe, as the Flood broke through the defenses, and at long last laid siege to the coveted Republic capital world, dropping and riding ships and stations down to the planet's surface.
For the natives of Spherus Magna, the Flood had a considerably more difficult time infecting them, even more so for the inhabitants of the Matoran Universe. Their physiology made them much more difficult for the Flood to infect.
Unfortunately, difficult didn't mean impossible, as quite a few Rahi and other beasts found out the hard way. The creations of the Great Beings desperately struggled to survive against this rampant Parasite, as even the Republic forces were struggling in orbit.
Tahu unleashed a blast of fire, burning through the Flood that attempted to swarm him. He briefly teleported out of the way of the paralyzing Rhotuka spinners launched by the infected Visorak.
They were caught up in air current launched by Lewa before being incinerated by a Toa of Plasma. The roar of Miserix echoed as blasts of Shadow, heat vision, and laser vision carved through another group.
Helryx and Gali created a massive tidal wave that halted a horde of the Parasite in their tracks and washed them away, while Onua and Pohatu combined their powers to create a barrier from the approaching drop pods. And Kopaka ensured they landed on icicle spikes.
Yet even the combined power wasn't enough, and many villages and dwellings had already been destroyed. Even Mata Nui's aid wasn't enough to turn the tide against the ever increasing onslaught.
"Their days are numbered"
Even the Forerunner built Dyson spheres (along with their own) were providing no defense against this onslaught. The Parasite had no difficulty locating them, and Star Roads effortlessly tore through their armored shells.
Cities that had already been evacuated still found themselves threatened by the Parasite, with the superpowers failing to stop them. A fresh wave of terror and fear gripped the populations as their doom inevitably came towards them.
While all this was happening, the Republic Supreme Commander and Separatist Ruler had been fighting off the Gravemind's body, each displaying their powers in ways that they rarely had cause to display.
"Until the last sunrise,"
Unlike last time, the Gravemind had no intention of being as sadistic as before and was no longer content with a slow but inevitable tide as the Flood consumed everything. This time, the Parasite unleashed the full power of their heart.
The first thing it attempted was to will all life to become Flood. Fortunately, the two other gods were able to use their own powers to cancel out that bit of reality warping. So the Gravemind chose the old fashioned method of just teleporting Flood forms almost everywhere in the multiverse at once.
And while it was doing this, the Parasite was also engaged in direct conflict with the Republic and Separatist leaders, unleashing power after power against the duo, while being attacked in turn.
It had no intention of allowing a repeat of last time, continually hurling them away from its body, and attacking with the drained power of nascent universes. Regardless, it was beginning to look like a hopeless struggle and they all knew it.
"Until the war is over,"
Unlike last time, the Republic Supreme Commander and Separatist Ruler didn't have access to any of the amplifier artifacts the Ancients had crafted, meaning their combined strength wouldn't be enough to stop the Galactimind body, even if they were to wipe out the rest of the Flood in the multiverse.
And yet, there was still hope. Because in the intervening years between the Great Flood war and current events, they had managed to find a possible solution to such a problem. The two of them had come across a dimension that the two had called 'the Void,' which almost seemed like it was a Precursor prison dimension.
Getting in had been rather difficult, and getting out had required all of their strength. Which meant that the Gravemind could also break free itself. However, if they were to add their own power to the dimensional walls, they could feasibly imprison it indefinitely.
The two of them knew it was a one way trip: they would have to go into the Void as well to keep the prison impenetrable, trapping themselves in with it. And after a brief mental conversation, they both agreed that it was an acceptable trade.
Of course, they still had to deal with the current issue, and even if they trapped the Galactimind, it would still leave all the Flood it had let loose on the multiverse free. They had to deal with that, and quickly.
Unfortunately, the Gravemind had no intent of letting that happen, and the Supreme Commander and Ruler were tossed away by its power before being caught by its own dimensional cages.
"Until reality dies!"
"Don't expect us to go quietly you overgrown fungus!" The Separatist leader shouted as the region lit up with interdimensional ruptures.
Billions of Republic and Separatist ships appeared, unleashing all their weapons simultaneously. Their fleets could utilize their full power against their enemy: The power to shatter worlds, tear stars asunder, and wipe out life was unleashed upon the Gravemind. Neural radiation weapons based off the Halos even shattered multiple Star Roads.
They might as well have been gnats trying to challenge a hurricane for all the good they did. Any damage they inflicted was extremely minor and regenerated almost immediately, and the retaliation was devastating.
Ships were crushed or shut down, some were destroyed by hurled celestial bodies, while still others were thrown into universes where the native laws of physics didn't allow for their existence.
Yet, in spite of the minimal damage, their sacrifice was just what their leaders needed. The Gravemind's attention was diverted just enough to allow the two gods to escape from the crushing grip it had placed them in.
With their momentary respite from its attack, the two gathered as much energy as they could contain, using a similar technique to what they had done during their previous fight in the Great Flood War.
With this combined energy, they sent their awareness through the multiverse, targeting every single Flood form and Precursor structure that existed within reality. Then they unleashed it all.
Like last time, the energy wave propagated throughout the multiverse, disintegrating every Flood form and Precursor structure it came into contact with. Unlike last time, the energy wasn't solely limited to the Flood, and multiple unintended consequences abounded.
Thousands of planets were either shattered or wiped clean by the energy, while other worlds and realms suffered from more esoteric effects caused by the three beings. Of course, a number of these effects wouldn't be discovered yet, but for the moment, the major damage was all that could be noted.
Still, for many, it ignited hope.
...
On world after world, every single Flood form and Precursor artifact turned to ash or shattered into dust. Relief flowed through them at the sight, as the seemingly hopeless situation moments ago had been reversed.
For some, like Thor, Ghost Rider, Superman and Wonder Woman, they felt relief at the fact that they hadn't been crushed by the Star Roads, only for them to quickly realize what damage had still been wrought.
Elsewhere, Samus was relieved that her infected arch-nemesis had been annihilated, while her doppelganger had seemingly been destroyed. And with no Phazon particles in the air, it seemed that this destruction might actually be permanent.
For Remnant, it wasn't just the Flood that had been destroyed by the unexpected energy wave: all across Remnant, more than half the Grimm were obliterated, halting their efforts in their tracks.
Similar scenes were happening all over the multiverse, as the unexpected joy of survival was also fighting and in some locations, was eclipsed by the despair of knowing what had been lost.
Unbeknownst to those individuals, their seeming victory had not been guaranteed...
...
"That's not going to keep it down for long." The Separatist Ruler noted.
The resultant energy wave at such a close proximity had failed to destroy the Galactimind, though it had managed to reduce it to a third of its former mass. Of course, that state wouldn't last, given the regeneration already in rapid progress.
"It doesn't need to." The Republic Supreme Commander said. "It just needs to be distracted long enough for this to work."
Having already sent a message to their fleets with the order to pull back (as well as sending their last orders for the remains of the superpowers), the two gods were creating the gateway energy needed to trap the Gravemind and themselves in the Void.
"I guess we had a good run."
"I suppose we did." The Ruler chuckled. "It'll be up to the survivors to pick up the pieces."
"They'll live." His counterpart nodded, the energy reaching an apex. "We'll ensure that happens."
The two of them finally had enough energy gathered as the Galactimind had regenerated itself, with the Gravemind's angry roar echoing through space itself, its attention currently focused on the two of them.
"Did you think me defeated?!"
"Not really." The Supreme Commander replied. "We just needed to do this!"
The energy gathered by the two gods unleashed itself, creating a massive sphere around the billion-lightyear Flood form and themselves. With a flash of light, the sphere condensed into nothingness.
The surviving ships immediately scanned the region, but all they found was a trace of a dimensional rift, it's ending location somewhere no one could find. After a brief cycle of communication between the two superpowers and after going over their last orders, a course of action had been decided.
"Send a message out. Find out who remains." Thrawn said.
And that's the end of this chapter. Man, it was a long one, and it's definitely going to change the setting for sure. Now, I was considering adding the aftermath of these events to this chapter, but given the length already, it'll end up being in a separate one.
For the record, if you're wondering what happened to the other settings like Star Wars, Halo, Mass Effect and the rest, well, their conflicts with the Flood will be shown in Shadow of Order.
With all that said, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and reviews are always welcome.