Secret Crisis:Battleworld Chapter 2
The next day Eddie heads to work for the Bugle, getting a cup of coffee at the shop MJ works at as he also runs into Ned as well.
"Hi Eddie. Same as usual?" Asked MJ.
"You know me, ain't nothing changed but the weather y'know?"
"Ned" he nodds after taking a seat.
Ned simply nods back.
"So uh, how have you been?" he asked awkwardly trying to make conversation.
"I'm fine." he replied.
"Yeah."
"I've seen reports online about a abandoned space ship somewhere outside of the city just by the dome. Like it occasionally has something pop out of it and comes back inside of it." Explained Ned.
"Any photos? Boss has been on everyone's ass about it for The Bugle lately. Was supposed to hear from an unknown source on it" said Eddie
"Wait. You're the person I was supposed to meet with today?" Asked Ned.
"The hell are you talking abo...Ned? You're the source?" Asked Eddie.
Ned pulled out his laptop, pulling up the photos in question.
"Wait a minute." said Eddie getting a closer look.
"What is it?" Asked MJ handing Eddie his coffee.
"That's the Waverider." Explained Eddie.
"But I thought the Legends disbanded?" Asked Ned.
"They did. The real question was where has Sara been all this time? I think we finally got our first real lead thanks to you Ned" said Eddie.
"All in a day's work for being the guy in the chair" said Ned.
"This is good. We find the Waverider, we find Sara and we figure out how we can finally beat Kang and hopefully bring our Peter back." said Eddie.
Then a portal opens as Barry, Peter-3, Loki, Sylvie, Constantine and Mobius arrive through.
"Alright mate, get your coffee so we can go" said Constantine.
"Barry?"
"Eddie?"
"Uhhhh? What's going on?" Asked MJ.
"We're getting the band back together. Whoever we can to slowly take back Battleworld piece by piece. And more importantly find Sara." Explained Barry.
"Well lucky for you guys Ned just so happen to zero in on a lead" said Eddie.
Ned shows the group the Waverider on his laptop.
"So that's where she's been" Barry said to himself.
"You in Brock?" Asked Peter-3.
Eddie looks at Ned and MJ.
"Yeah. I'm in."
"We're in. All of us" said MJ.
"You guys will need a guy in the chair." adds Ned.
"Speaking of which, you think you can zero in on where exactly the Waverider is Ned?" Asked Eddie.
"Actually I think I know someone who might." said Barry.
The Rogers Estate, North New York Dome
"This is the place? Some random Farmhouse?" Asked Eddie.
"It's not just a Farmhouse if one of the residents is a former spy who can crack into the network to find things we're not supposed to" Explained Barry.
"Let's hope they're available" said Eddie.
"The rest of you wait out here while Eddie and I are inside. We shouldn't be long" said Barry.
He knocks on the door.
Natasha Romanoff, the former Black Widow and Russian Spy answered.
"Hi Natasha." said Barry.
She instantly goes to close the door as Bardy stops her.
"What the hell do you want Allen?" she asked.
"We need your help. We think we have a lead on where Sara is and we need you to see if you can zero in on the location of the Waverider." Explained Barry.
"Fine. But after this I'm done" said Natasha.
"Yeah. You got kids and all." said Eddie.
Inside the Farmhouse Natasha and Ned sit at the kitchen table, with the two going to work on hacking into any known security cameras that could be used to help pinpoint.
"Sara clearly did not want to be found" said Natasha trying to find an access point.
Natasha then finally gets something as she was able to pinpoint where the Waverider now sits.
"Gotcha!" said Natasha.
"We got something!" shouts Ned as Barry and Eddie rush over.
"That's where she is. Just about right up against the dome wall." Explained Natasha.
"Good. Now we can go find her. Thanks Natasha." said Barry.
"Wait. We need to take extreme caution with this. Sara has been isolated for years now and who knows what her mental state has been. I'm coming too." she explained.
"Great. Let's go." said Eddie.
Then a loud boom as bright rainbow lights rained down form the heavens as Thor Odinson arrived leaving the scorching mark of the Bifrost on the property.
"Thor?" Asked Natasha stepping outside.
"Natasha. Friend Parker the third, Brother." said Thor.
"It's been a while mate. Sorry about the arm" said Constantine.
"Aye. My arm" said Thor reminded of his new arm forged from Uru metal in the style of The Destroyer armor.
"I assume Sif brought you here?" Asked Sylvie.
"She did. Sif had been watching you all and got wind of this plan and where Sara Lance has been hiding." Explained Thor.
"An all too familiar feeling Brother?" Asked Loki.
"I know her pain. If there's anyone who can understand her, it is I." he explained.
"Us" adds Natasha.
"Alright. We'll take the Bifrost to where Sara is at to recruit her to our cause" said Thor with a smile.
"SIF!"
The Bifrost rains down as the team is take to the abandoned Waverider.
"Jesus." said Eddie.
"It has been worse for wears as you say" said Thor.
"Let's just find her and see if she's even home. Or even okay" said Barry.
"Thor?"
He looks over at Natasha.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" she asked.
"If she's gone through anything like we both have, yes." he said.
"Be prepared for the worst" she adds.
Peter-3 knocks open as a side panel falls through letting out a dust cloud.
"Uhhhhhh? Pizza delivery?" joked Peter-3.
He shrugs to the group as they entered.
They all walk through the abandoned and neglected halls of the Waverider as it collected dust and faded tech.
"Helloooooo!" shouts Peter-3
"SHHHH QUIET!" Natasha said in a loud hush.
They then came across the main cockpit.
"Haven't been in here in a while" said Barry.
"Clearly neither has Sara." adds Peter-3
All they saw was scattered beer cans, bottles, and food containers.
"Oh Sara..." said Loki
"Now if I were an isolated hermit with a big spaceship to myself, where would I hide?" Asked Mobius
"My bedroom" adds Thor.
The team then headed to the hall of where everyone's private quarters used to be. Dark hallways.
"Anyone got a light?" Asked Eddie.
Constantine conjured a fireball to light the way.
"It shouldn't be that much farther." Explained John.
"I take it you lived here?" Asked Natasha.
"I did. And trust me, it was rough for all of us that day we lost" he explained.
Eddie then heard the sounds of a TV blaring in the distance. He had everyone stay quiet by raising his finger to shush everyone. Taking baby steps, Constantine lead the team to where Sara's room was.
They come across the door with John slowly opening it.
"Hello? Sara? You in here love?" Asked Constantine.
"That the electrician? The lights have been flickering on and off for weeks. *hiccup* About time you showed up. *belch* Now I can finally call someone to clean up this damn ship.
Sara was in her closet getting something to wear to look..."presentable".
"This was what Thor and I was afraid of" said Natasha.
They looked at the mountains of trash and empty beer cans and bottles everywhere over at Sara's bed. From snack wrappers to pizza and takeout boxes, it was a mess.
Sara puts on a pair of grey sweatpants and a black tank top that is a tad bit small. For as they soon saw and realized, ironically time has not been so kind to Sara Lance as she's been spending her time alone wallowing on self pittyamd and drowning it all in alcohol and food. Which obviously had taken its toll on Sara's physique. She then goes for a beer bottle and cracks it open taking a sip before she sees who it was.
Sara lets out a surprise gasp.
"It's so good to see you guys again" said Sara with a rather large belly exposed with said tank top barely covering it up.
She goes to hug everyone still shocked to see Sara gained a large amount of weight as they all tried so hard not to draw attention or even dare bring it up.
"It's good to see you too" Barry hugged back.
"How have you been?" Asked Natasha doing the same.
"It has been a very long time friend Sara" said Thor.
"Yeah. Too long" said Eddie.
"You still look as lovely as ever" said Loki trying ever so carefully to choose his words wisely. Even as the God of Mischief, since he's the master at the art of thr silver tounge.
"Did you do something differently with your hair?" Asked Sylvie referring to Sara's Shaggy and barely brushed hair.
"Oh this? Pssh. Just au natural" said Sara fixing her hair.
"You're looking..."
Ned was trying to be very careful as everyone else was looking at him
"Healthy"
"Oh yeah. Been doing some serious weight training for a while. But I dropped that" said Sara.
"How long were you training for?" Asked Peter-3
"A day" said Sara nodding.
"So umm... I think I can probably fix the light issue so I'll probably just get to that" said Loki awkwardly trying to leave.
"I'll join you" said Mobius as then Sylvie and Ned took their leave.
"I'll be right outside too." said John.
"So? You guys want a drink? Something to eat? I was thinking about ordering in but now that you're all here, why not have some dinner and catch up?" Asked Sara.
"Sure. We'd all like that." said Eddie.
"Good. Good" said Sara smiling while also trying to fight the urge to cry.
"I'm actually gonna do a quick cleaning sweep of the ship so we can eat." said Barry zooming off.
"MJ!!!" Shouts Sara giving her a hug.
"It's been so long since...since..."
Sara couldn't bare to finish her thought. But the others knew deep down what she meant.
"Could you guys give me a second? Just need to clean myself up for my guests and make a change of clothes cause if you clearly already could tell, I gained a bit of weight if you know what I mean" said Sara trying to laugh it off.
She goes to the bathroom and shuts the door behind her as the faint sound of sobbing was heard. Muffled too.
"Oh man. Who has the heart to tell her about the plan?" Asked Peter-3.
The sliding door of the bathroom opened up.
"Okay. So? Who's hungry? Cause I am! I mean...obviously?" Said Sara with a laugh while patting her belly.
"Let's all just pitch in and stay for dinner at least. Give her that much at least." whispered Natasha to the others.
"I've been in her shoes and frankly she could use our company. I know I did when Banner and Rocket found me" said Thor.
After Barry and the others cleaned and fixed up the Waverider, Sara now in the same sweatpants, sweater, crocs and her hair in a bun, ordered a big meal of Chinese takeout as the dinner area on the ship was used.
"So? How did you guys find me?" Asked Sara having some fried rice.
"Ummm. We just happened to find the ship lying around so, we just decided to pay you a visit" said Ned nervously laughing.
"Yeah I've been meaning to tell you all where I was but, you know me, silly ol Sara forgot" she chuckles.
"So, you've been just here? All alone?" Asked MJ.
"Pretty much. Just me, myself and I, and my friends beer and pizza to keep me company" said Sara raising her bottle of beer.
"Sara. We've come here for your help." said Barry.
"With what?" asked Sara shoveling in an egg roll.
"Battleworld. Kang. It's all going down."
Sara stopped eating as her smiled turned to cold death stare. She then without warning threw a Dagger at Barry as Peter-3 caught it.
"Don't. Say. That. Name!" she said.
"Thanks" said Barry.
"Sara. We're also gonna get our friends and Eddie's Symbiote so we can Best Kang and bring back Peter. We can bring him back!" said Loki.
Sara then had her eyes misty and red with anger filled tears forming.
"Oh God" said Natasha.
"Get out. ALL OF YOU GET OUT NOW!!!" shouts Sara.
"Sara please!" shouts Natasha.
"DON'T...Don't say another word." said Sara.
"Sara we know you've been the one taking Peter Parker's loss the Hardest. Trust me when I say I've been in your shoes. It's not your fault" said Thor.
"Sara, you're not the only one who turned to food after a funk of depression. I've been there. All you need is a second chance to.."
"To do what? WHAT NATASHA? Let him die again. Die in MJ's arms? I've been at his grave every day since he died. Trying to drown out my guilt. Bury it. But he wasn't the only one that I failed. Nate. Mick. Ava..." said Sara finally breaking down.
"We...she left me. We grew apart after we lost. After Nate and Mick died. After everyone left me. So I chose to rot alone in this fuckin rust bucket. Rotting in peace. No one bothered to find me because I didn't want to be found. Now you want my help? Thinking everything can be just forgotten about? Like nothing happened so we can fix this? There's nothing to fix. Now get out of here!" demanded Sara.
"Okay." nods Peter-3
Barry then zoomed everyone out and away from the Waverider.
Sara chugged the last of her beer and chucked the bottle across the room shattering into pieces.
Later on that night, Sara lays in bed with the light of the television being the only thing illuminating the room wearing nothing but the black tank top from early and her underwear with a bowl of popcorn and beer cans next to her and a hand on her belly as she snacked in self pity.
"Sara?" Asked a familiar voice.
She closed her eyes as she said,
"Not again"
She turned to see in her mind, the ghost of Peter-1.
"How much longer are you gonna lounge around getting fat like this? We've been over this, it's not your fault" said Peter.
"I agree with the kid. You've managed to drink more beer than I do in a day. And that's saying a lot Boss" adds the Ghost of Mick.
"You gotta rebound from this Cap" said the ghost of Nate.
"Leave me ALONE!!!" shouts Sara throwing an empty beer can at the three.
"Probably the one thing I'm still getting used to with being dead on, is not having to worry about things hitting me. Especially when my spider sense doesn't tingle anymore." said Peter.
"Well good for you so why spend your time haunting me? Shouldn't you be spending time with your uncle and aunt? HMMM?!" asked Sara waddling over for another beer.
"Because we're not trying to haunt you. We just can't bear to see you like this. All alone." said Nate.
"Look Boss, you can't beat yourself up for things out of your control" said Mick.
"Out of my control? I'm the captain! EVERYTHING is in my control! I could've kept you all alive. Cletus killed you all right on front of me and I couldn't stop him." said Sara.
"C'mon Sara. If there's a chance to make things right you gotta take it. This time you'll be able to control it. Maybe you can find your peace and we can stop haunting you after all these years." said Peter.
"I just wanna eat and drink in peace. Can I at least have that?" she pleads with tears in her eyes.
The three them faded away leaving Sara alone once again.
Author's Note: Here's a two chapter tease for now as I go on a little break for a while so I don't burn myself out creatively. Welcome to Battleworld.