THE FUTURE:

Clint walked through the portal and saw the wasteland that the world has turned into. There was nothing but death and destruction everywhere. Either destroyed buildings, overgrown plant life, or dead bodies and-or skeletons.

"My God," Clint whispered in shock. "What happened here?"

He kept walking and as he did, he appears to have stepped on a trap because a bell rang, and he was met with a group of men walking and aiming their weapons toward Clint. Their weapons consisted of spheres, worn-down guns, and axes, making them look like they were coming from a Mad Max convention.

"Are you a fighter, or are you food?" Their leader asked Clint.

Clint looked around, almost as if he didn't think he was asking him this but someone else. But after seeing he was indeed talking to Clint; he had no idea what to say after hearing that.

"I'm just passing through," Clint told them casually.

"It is food." He reported to his men and Clint was shocked to see these humans have resorted to catabolism. Working fast, he reached into his back and grabbed an arrow to shoot, only for a gun to shoot and destroy his bow.

"Aw, shit," Clint whispered as he was getting ready to fight them when a portal opened, followed by a repulsers blast that sends a few of them flying.

Clint then looked and saw a bigger portal opening, followed by Ironheart, Hourman, and Dr. Strange exiting and ready for a fight.

"Ha! Joey! Riri! Rick!" Clint cheered at the (strangely) familiar faces. "Boy, are you guys screwed."

Before the monarchs could even understand what happened, Joey used the bands and yanked several of them in the air as Riri blasted several missiles and created a smoke cloud.

"Yeah, Ironheart!" Clint cheered when he suddenly saw through the smoke that Rick picked up one of the men as he screamed in fear and Rick BIT his face off. "Uh...what are you...what?"

Joey and Riri also joined in and took down the rest of the monarchs by eating them. The only thing left filling the air was their screams of horror and chewing on flesh.

"Guys, this seems like overkill," Clint stated to them in disgust, wondering what's changed over the years. And wondering why they haven't changed.

Riri then raised her face from the mist and Clint was shocked to see her skin is pale...and has a whole chunk of it missing, including an eye!

"Holy God!" Clint cried as he saw that the same was visible for Joey and Rick.

Joey's face had his entire left cheek missing, his suit torn and his left arm showing the bone.

As for Rick, he almost looked the same, just without the pale skin and the fact his entire right leg is just a bone. Riri raised her blaster to Clint when the Cloak of Levitation came in and wrapped around her blaster.

When the blast went off, the glove was redirected to the sky. Then the Cloak tossed Riri at Rick, giving them an extra moment to escape.

Clint couldn't imagine the kids as zombies and less to the fact he didn't want to hurt them and took off running.

But that's when Joey used his portals to end up ahead of Clint and was on his way through when the Cloak stopped him halfway through.

Clint stumbles backward and is barely missed by Joey when the cloak spins him around and stops Joey by allowing the portal to cut him in half.

Signing in relief, Clint thought the nightmare was over when Rick came over and was ready to bite. Clint sadly let out a giant shriek at the sight when someone grew and shot Rick in the face.

The figure was revealed to be a familiar figure who wasn't a zombie and was years older than her mainstream counterpart. Nadia Van Dyne panted in exhaustion before turning to see Clint Barton was indeed here.

Mike was right.

"Go. You'll be safe with them!" Nadia demanded Clint.

A truck drove up and was revealed to have someone behind the wheel. It was a women archer in the back, and a few other familiar faces in the back.

"What the hell is going on?" Clint asked her in shock, having never met the daughter of Hank Pym yet. "Who are you, people?"

"All that's left of the good in humanity," Nadia informed him.

That's when someone swings in and picked up Clint as he cried in terror for a second time.

"Hey, it's okay. You can relax." The woman told him, revealing to him that she was wearing a Spider-Man-styled Symbiote suit. "I'm just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Girl."

"Oh, really? Then what the hell happened to the neighborhood?!" Clint asks her.

Want to know what happened?

Let's start from the beginning...


17 YEARS AGO: 3 years after "The End": 4 years from present day: TIMELINE 1:

Peter started to place magnets on a board to spell out: So YOu wANna SuRVivE tHe End of THE World

Peter then cuts the footage to the skies and showed that there were cracks in the air, similar to the ones that Kate, Courtney, Cassandra, and Peter noticed when the time portal was activated. The skies almost looked like they were separated by the cracks and all of the skies were different. Either in different colors or different states of life. Some of them have snow, rain, and hail, it's like everything was happening at once and not at all.

"Welcome to the Big Apple!" Peter said as he kept the camera facing the skies, as he was standing on top of an apartment building. Which was right now doubling as their base of operations. "Home of the Mets, the Chrysler Building, formerly the home of the OG Avengers." He then turned the camera to face him with a smile. "And now...it's the dead zone for zombies, motorcycle gangs, Ultron, and the most dangerous of them all, Kang the Conqueror!" He then became a little sad at the reminder of everything that had happened. "We've survived here for three years, and we've learned a lot about all the dangers that there are out there. And now we're going to teach you how to survive this Apocalyptic wasteland."


Peter stood a distance away from Kate Bishop, who had ditched her stylized suit for a leather jacket and dirty white shirt, and a pair of black jeans. Her hair has started to slowly turn white at the front, mostly due to the stress of the job they were in.

Kate then raised a sign saying, How to survive zombies: wear armor or long sleeves

"For zombies, you need to wear long sleeves or any type of protective armor," Peter explained the sign.

"Why am I doing this again?" Kate asked him, a little annoyed.

"Because it's the safety of the world at stake here." Peter reminded her and looked over to the doorway. "And, action zombie!"

The door was then kicked open, revealing Mike Dougan as he came marching out. "Here comes the zombie!" He then gets into character, acting like a typical zombie you'd see in the movies. "Rah!"

Kate just stood there and sighed when Mike walked over with his arms reaching out. He took large steps toward Kate, followed by him grabbing and biting her sleeve. Getting an extremely annoyed reaction from Kate, he then squeezed a small ketchup packet in his hand, getting it in her eye.

"When it comes to zombies, the virus they have is passed on through saliva after breaking the skin. Means the more clothes you're wearing, the harder it'll be." Peter explained as Kate wiped the ketchup, giving the stink eye to Mike. "Armor is recommended as it's harder to bite through. Even the saliva is enough to pass the virus through anyone, as long as it breaks the skin."


Suddenly, Peter and Mike were in a shower with someone currently using it. Placing the camera down, Peter held out another sign he created.

Surviving Mutant Trackers: Don't smell nice

"Second step to surviving the apocalypse, don't wash," Peter said as he showed several photos of the mutant trackers they've called: Hounds. "These Hounds are literal mutants with the power to track other mutants using pheromones that we give off. Created by Kang the Conqueror. They have been brainwashed, scarred, and commissioned to track down and capture anyone with powers."

"Which means things are harder on us." Mike came into the screen. "You know, everyone on the team has powers one way or another."

"Meaning the fewer pheromones that you give off, the better off everyone is," Peter stated as he pulled back the curtain in the shower. "And you're never more vulnerable than in your birthday suit."

Amadeus Cho was currently taking a shower when he was interrupted by the video. Acting quickly when Mike went in for a sneak attack, Cho morphed into his hulking form, getting much better control of it over time, and grabbed Mike by the neck.

"Gha!" Mike cried in terror as he pointed to Peter. "He made me do it!"

"Cho, we've talked about this," Peter told him. "You can't take showers."

"Come on, Pete!" Cho complained. "It's been three years since I've showered."

"It's been three years since any of us have showered!" Riri cried out as she was fixing her arc reactor for her gauntlets.

Over the three years, Riri has lost a ton of her suit, to the point the only components left of the suit was just the inner shell of it all. She had only the boots, the gauntlets, and a new makeshift helmet made out of a football helmet that she found. The front was removed, and she replaced it with a visor. The arc reactor was also only being held up by rope and a few metal components she has strapped to her chest.

"Moving on," Peter commented, seeing that he's gotten off the main topic of the video. "Just use the body spray, as that throws off the Hounds." Then he realized that Mike was still being held up by the neck. "You gonna put him down?"

Cho sighed and knew that he needed to do both and put Mike down and took the spray. Getting out of the shower, they were met with the unwanted sight of his behind, causing them to all jump at the camera to stop it from recording.


Finally, Mike was holding a toy gun with a plunger bullet inside it. He was hiding behind some seats in a subway when Nadia came walking down the way. Just then, Peter held another sign up to the camera.

Ultron Sentries: Aim for the head

"Ultron sentries are the oddest. They seem to be their own territory, but they also have this relationship with Kang." Peter informed the camera while Nadia looked confused.

"What are you doing?" Nadia asked.

Just then, Mike came out with a shout, causing Nadia to jump in fright and raise a stinger to him. Luckily, she didn't shoot him, whilst Mike shot the toy at her head, causing it to stick.

"Remember to aim for the head. It's the only way to kill a sentry." Peter explained this all.

"Will you two stop?" Yolanda asked of them.

"What? I'm trying to make a video to show off our findings." Peter explained to her why he was doing this.

"Yeah, well, it's a little sad," Nadia commented as she pulled the toy off her head.

"Come on. We just got a message off the screens." Yolanda explains why she's here and led them through their base.

Their base as of currently was a giant entangled webbing of train cars. It was made out of a special webbing Peter made so it wouldn't dissolve. Keeping them out of the way of the millions of zombies, and away from any super-powered zombies.


"We just picked this up over the wire," Beth said as she showed them the results. "Another survivor camp out there claimed they made progress on a way to fix everything."

"Fix everything? What did they find? A magic genie?" Mike asks. "Wait, did they find the Thunderbolt?"

"At this point, I'd believe or take everything," Rick stated. "Where is it?"

"Seems to be somewhere in...New Jersey!" Beth informed them all.

"That's the location of an old S.H.I.E.L.D. base." Kate commented. "It's possible that if the right people find it, they could create a cure."

"Then we should head out as soon as we can." Yolanda declared.

"She's right." Peter agreed, the team electing him the leader of them all. Well, part leader. He and the other smartest members of the team all share the time as leaders. "We leave at sundown and head for Grand Central."


As sundown came, the whole team was left to sneak their way through the zombie-infested streets of New York. Luckily, they have seen the timeframe that the zombies are most active and least active. The best time to sneak around appears to be at dusk as they take time to adjust to the darkness of the night.

Peter ran ahead, flipping and leaping off of the rooftops to see no zombies surrounding Grand Central. "Okay, we're clear."

The others then came out of hiding and started to stand down. Hoping that everything stays the same for the night, they sneaked their way into the station to see nothing is working.

"Okay, so what's the plan?" Rick asked them.

"Me, Nadia, and Peter will go and try to hotwire one of the trains," Riri told them the plan. "The rest of you will need to keep an eye out for any zombies or anything else."

"Sounds like a plan," Cho said, punching his fist into his palm.

"Splitting up?" Peter asked Riri. "You sure that's a bright idea?"

"It's the best we've got. We can't let those creatures get too close to the train if we hope to escape." Riri replied, thinking it was the most calculable move. "We get the job done, we all get out of here together."

"Very comforting," Nadia commented and shrunk down to fly off.

When they made it down to the station with a deadline towards Jersey, the four of them started to try and start the train. The only problem is that after three years without use, the train has become rusted with no power.

"We need a jumpstart if we wanna get this train mobile," Riri informed them as he got the train ready to move.

"So, how do we get her moving?" Nadia asked.

"We would need a giant slingshot or something," Riri said with a shrug.

Peter then popped into the controls with his head hanging. "I've got an idea. Put on the brakes."

The three didn't question it as they did what he asked. Peter then shot two strands of webbing out to the car and started to pull it back.


Down the station, Mike and Kate were looking around for any dangers. Mike was equipped with a small device attached to his hand that Riri made for him. It was just a mini gauntlet on his hands.

As Mike started to look around for anything dangerous, a herd of birds came flying past and spooked the kid. Acting on instinct, he started to use his repulsors to blast the birds.

"Blam! Blam! Blam!" Mike called out as he tried to blast them. But he ended up missing all of them as they escaped without a scratch. "Oh, they're just birds."

"Were you saying blam?" Kate asked him, no idea how to take that.

"No." Mike lied.

But just then, an arrow came flying and impaled Mike in his shoulder. Crying in pain from the attack, Mike looked at the arrow and let out a shriek of fear. He was then pulled into the shadows as he tried to free himself.

"Mike!" Kate cried as Mike was dragged along, she tried to shoot the line. "Mike!"

But every time that she shot an arrow, the line managed to hold up. The rope was outlined with some magnetic field that shot all the arrows away. Mike tried to shoot back at his attacker, but it was too late. He was pulled into the darkness and all went quiet.

"Man down!" Kate called out into the comms. "We lost Mike."


Back at the train, Peter heard the news and was saddened. When "The Event" happened, it took a lot of their friends and families.

Due to this, Courtney asked Peter if anything happened to her, and to look after Mike for her. But seems he failed to do that. Just like he failed to protect everyone else.

"No. Not Mike..." Peter said in sadness.


"I think it was-" Kate was reporting when a second arrow came in and stabbed her. She was sent flying into the nearest wall and impaled into it. Looking up at who attacked her, a zombified Clint Barton came slipping out of the shadows.

His entire left side of his head was corroded and worn away, leaving a visible skull. His arms were ripped and showing bone, but nothing else was much different. Aside from the pale skin and yellow eyes, along with his torn outfit and dirty bow.

"It's Hawkeye." Kate finally confirms.


Back in the main entrance with Beth, Rick, and Yolanda, they heard the call as the windows smashed, revealing a zombified version of Teresa flying in. Her entire hair had been covered in her blood, as well as half of her own body.

Half of her right cheek was currently gone with her left eye missing. Her left leg was missing with her right leg showing off the bone with no clothing. Not to mention how her glasses were missing lenses as well as her whole left arm being torn off.

"Teresa!" They all called in terror.


Back with Kate, she managed to dodge Clint's last arrow that he had. Luckily, she was able to pull the arrow out of her shoulder and got an idea.

Pulling one of the explosive arrows out of the quiver, she stabbed it into the wall and watched as the light started to flash. Getting up and running for her life, the bomb goes off and takes the entire tunnel with it.

"Sorry, Clint," Kate whispered to her mentor and friend as she ran for the train.


Back at the entrance, Teresa, not having her guns or weapons, came in to try and pick up Beth like...well, a falcon would.

But Yolanda came in and leaped on her back, trying to slice through the titanium wings. But when that didn't work, she did all she could and grabbed Teresa by the head.

Taking control of her control, she aimed Teresa in the direction of Rick, waiting for the last second before leaping off and allowing her to be punched by Hourman.

It pains them all that they have to constantly keep doing this to all of their friends. But they have no other choice. It's a kill-or-be-killed world out there now.

They're doing all they can to save it, but they know that they will never be able to save everyone.


Back on the train, Peter was pulling the train back as far as he could make it go. As he was doing so, a herd of zombies came down the tunnel to his head.

"Uh, guys?" Peter called in terror, trying not to lose his grip. "Help!"

Nadia then came flying in and shrinks down to blast the zombie herd before they got too close. "Guys, the last stop to Jersy is leaving!"

"We're on our way!" Kate called back.

Back in the controls, a zombie of Cassandra comes in. Her rope wrapped around Riri's repulser and stopped her from using it. But before things could get worse, Cho came in and backhanded Cassandra in his hulk form.

"Are there any more zombie versions of our friends that wanna make an appearance?" Cho asked the open air as he attacked the rest of the zombie herd.

Something else that they learned over the years was Cho's skin was too tough for them to break through. This gave them the advantage to fight back and use Cho to take care of any herd. The only problem was that, as they also learned years ago, they only have one chance. The Hulking form of Cho leaves him weak and tired after every transformation.

Nadia came in and blasted several of the zombies, turning to her normal size to get more of them. "Come on!"

Everyone else started to make their way into the cars whilst Peter held the rope. Nadia looked away for a moment, but that was all a zombie needed to go in for a bite. Nadia cried and blasted the zombie, thinking she survived.

When the time was right, they released the breaks and slingshot out the station. With the loss of weight, Peter tripped but landed on his feet to jump on the train as it sped past. Breaking the glass on the front in the process of doing so.

"We did it!" Nadia was happy to see. "Our next stop, saving the world."


Beth stood outside of the train car and watched as they were leaving the city of New York, where they'd been setting up base after everything fell.

"Hey, Beth." A voice called, and Beth turned to see Rick in his Hourman gear, but it looked completely destroyed and ripped. "No wandering off, we gotta stick together."

"Okay," Beth promised and Rick nodded before walking to the other car.

Beth then walked away and was on her way to the other car when she heard something on top of the train car. She froze in fear and looked back to the opening, getting ready for whatever was coming when the roof exploded and caused her to let out an ear-piercing scream.

Rick turned back to where Beth was and heard her cry of terror. "Beth? Beth!"

Rick quickly raced back through the car and stopped at was he was seeing and saw Beth on the ground, with someone biting her stomach.

But Rick recognized the figure easily.

"I think you've had enough there, Courtney." Rick snarled at the girl who was once his friend.

Courtney slowly raised back to her feet, revealing her torn Stargirl outfit. Her mask is ripped and torn from overuse, and she walks into the light to reveal her bones that are shown. Her entire face is rotted away, it shows all of her skull bone, her eyes are now honey yellow, an entire chunk of her head is missing, and all of her once curly blonde hair is filled with blood, half of it being hers, and the other being other than people's.

Courtney then looked toward Rick and let out a snarl at her old friend. She then raised the Cosmic Staff, which was giving off a sickly green glow, and blasted at Rick who quickly flipped the hourglass over before picking up the chairs of the room and shielding himself.

Beth then got back up from the ground and went to bite Rick, but he just grabbed the now zombified friend and tossed her to the back of the train, his focus being more on his friend. Courtney raised the Cosmic Staff, which still works for her, and blasted at Rick, who shielded himself using the seats.

Peter raced into the car when his senses went off and saw the two fighting in the car. "Rick!" he cried when Beth went to bite him, and Peter punched Beth before shooting webs as a slingshot to kick Beth out of the car window.

Courtney took the distraction as her chance to go in for a bite, but Rick used that as her chance to punch Courtney, as the bite wouldn't affect him without saliva.

Rick then sent a giant swing to send Courtney flying and even shattered her entire face. He then sent the rest of her body toppling out of the car. The Cosmic Staff, however, was able to be free of her grasp and stay with them.

"Sorry, Courtney. But the JSA died off years ago." Rick apologized to the back of the car as the others joined them.

"What happened?" Yolanda asked.

"We just lost Beth," Peter said in sorrow.

First, they lost Mike, now they lost Beth. This war has taken too many of their friends and families from this battle. But they held onto hope, knowing that there was a chance at a way to get everyone else back.

And just to add insult to injury, Riri noticed something on Nadia. "Uh...Nadia? You're in trouble."

"What?" Nadia asked before looking and saw that on her arm, there was a bite. "Oh god..."


As the train kept going, Nadia started to slowly begin to transform. Since it was a small bit, the transformation was a slower infection. They've seen a lot of different people react to different types of bites. One zombie, it'd take up to a whole day to start transforming. Two zombies, it would happen within the hour.

Nadia was lying back on one of the seats while Cho, their resident doctor, looked over her. "Heart rate is elevating. Temperature isn't going in the right direction."

"Well...you guys know what to do," Nadia said with tears in her eyes. "Do it. Get it over with."

"No." Kate denied her statement. She already lost too many friends; she wasn't gonna lose another. "Not when we're so close to a cure."

"Can we really take that risk?" Nadia asked them.

"Yes," Peter stated. "And it's not a risk. It's hope. And we need to stick together. We aren't in the Walking Dead. We don't kill off our friends when the going gets tough."

"Pete...how do you do it?" Nadia asks him. "Stay so...positive? Especially after everything."

Peter shrugged, not exactly sure himself. "Practice, I guess. My mom, dad, uncle Ben and Johnny, Courtney, and Clint. Now Mike..." he sighed as he thought back to all of his friends. "I've lost a lot. But my mom used to always say...when the lights dim to darkness, that's when we shine the brightest."

Nadia and the others were moved by the words, seeing that was an as good example of Peter's faith. But as they talked, they felt the train starting to slow down and became worried.

Riri came in with bad news for all of them. "Sorry to say, guys, bad news. The train ran out of fuel."

"How far are we from the location?" Kate asks.

Riri pulled up the location on the computer from the gauntlet and saw they were close. "On the bright side, it's actually about a mile from here."

"And the not-so-bright side?" Nadia asked her, feeling something was coming up.

"We're gonna have to walk through...that," Riri said, gesturing outside.

When they looked out of the train, they saw that there was a giant herd of zombies. There was almost no way to see where the end of the herd was.

"Oh well," Kate said, dropping her bow, seeing there's no way out. She then walked away from them and sat next to Nadia. "We tried."

"If I go Hulk, I might be able to get some of us out before they find us." Cho offered.

"No. That's too risky." Peter denied.

"There's no way we can go through them all," Riri said, seeing the charger on her suit is dying. "It's impossible."

"But you can make it over them," Nadia said, getting up and coming up with an idea. "We know that there's no way that I survive this. If I'm gonna go out, then I might as well go out protecting the people I care about." She then looked at Peter. "Too many people have died. If one more needs to go, so everyone else can live...so be it."

The team saw that there was no talking her out of this, so they were gonna make it worthwhile. The moment everyone got together, Nadia messed with the Pym particle so that instead of shrinking, she enlarged.

Busting through the train, she started to literally carry the entire team, including the Cosmic Staff, in her palms as zombies started to climb up her. As she carried them, they reached their location in a quicker time than they imagined.

Letting everyone go inside the gate, they climbed out of Nadia's palm as the zombies got her. "Peter..." she called out to him. "Remember me...shining at my brightest."

With that, she fell backward and fall unconscious due to the bite and zombies. The sun started to set, leaving the team to mourn the loss of another member of their family.

But Kate then noticed something strange. "Hey, guys? How come they aren't climbing the fence?"

That broke all of them out of their sorrow to notice there were a dozen zombies at the fence. There were even a few Ultron sentries around the fence, all of them not moving. There was even a giant hole in the fence, which none of them were entering through.

"They don't need to scale anything," Peter commented.

"Something is definitely wrong here," Yolanda said, drawing her suit claws out, ready to attack.

"Well, I'm ready for anything," Cho promised.

But just then, a hand came up and touches his shoulder. That caused their strongest member to cry out like a child, turning to see that it was Simon Baz, the Green Lantern, in his uniform.

"Oh, Simon! It's so good to see you!" Kate cried as she walked over and hugged the man. "You've no idea how good it is to see a familiar face and isn't one of those half-eaten faces."

"One of the benefits of having the power of hope on your finger at all times," Simon said, showing off the Green Lantern ring. "I'm not on the menu."

"That's right," Peter said as he looked at the ring. "That's how you've managed to fight back against the herds of enemies."

"What?" Riri asked, not following how that worked.


Simon brought the into his base. Technically it was a S.H.I.E.L.D. base, but since they weren't using it anymore, he's using it.

"The Ring is the source of...well, me," Simon explains to them how his powers work. "It emits a sub-frequency that is not to their liking. It's like an energy field that stops the zombies, and a forcefield to stop the robots."

"Does that mean that the infection is some kind of encephalopathy?" Peter asked him.

Kate had no idea what that meant and raised a finger to ask what he meant. But Cho beat them to it. "Brain disease."

"I thought of it myself," Simon admitted. "The zombie virus somehow originated out of our world, but the Lantern ring is universal power. So, I started to experiment to see if I could maybe target an exposure to reverse the infection."

"Were you successful?" Cho asks.

"Ta-da!" A familiar voice called out to them. "See for yourself!"'

"Who said that?" Rick asks.

"Oh, right. Simon, can you turn me around?" The voice asked, getting the Lantern to turn the chair. On the chair was a small canister that held the head of Scott Lang inside. "Hey!"

"Scott!?" Kate asked in shock.

"What?" Yolanda asked.

"Lang?" Rick asked him.

"Oh...my...god." Peter didn't even know what to think about this.

"I know what you're thinking. I've lost weight." Scott commented. "Thanks for noticing. But don't worry, I'm not gonna let it go to my head."

They all looked annoyed by the jokes, even though they were used to them and kinda missed them. But that doesn't mean that they want to hear the same bad dad jokes again.

"Sorry, you know how I process traumatic events with bad jokes," Scott said, eyeing Peter. "Something I got an abundance of living with Peter Barton as a best friend."

"Even my jokes are better than that," Peter stated.

"Debatable," Rick replied.

"Well, it drives Hope crazy," Scott said, but then thinking about her got him teary-eyed. "Well...drove Hope crazy. Oh, Hope."

"Hey," Yolanda said as she walked over and knocked on the glass. "There, there. Don't cry. You'll just fog up your jar."

"Sorry, I know," Scott said, wishing he could wipe the tears away. "It's just...what I wouldn't give to get chewed out by that girl one last time." Then he realizes what he said and grew a smile. "Gah! I did it again! Zombie pun!"

Simon sighed, getting used to all of this guy's jokes. "Back to the topic at hand, I cured him."

"Which means the Lantern ring can cure others!" Peter said in joy. "Why didn't you call out to the other Lanterns?"

"I did. But the big guys said that it was a lost cost." Simon explains why it's only him. "They said the cure was too theoretical to risk the safety of the universe to save one world. And with one ring, we don't have the power to send the ring power worldwide."

"They do in Wakanda," Yolanda informed him. "Shuri got into contact and told us that thanks to their forcefields, Wakanda is the last sanctuary on earth."

"I'll start looking to see if I can find us a transport." Rick offered as he started to walk off. "Maybe there's some sort of truck I can try and get running."

"Be careful, Rick," Simon warned him. "You might find something...you wish you hadn't."


Rick barely took what he said into account as he started to look around the base. To his surprise, there were a lot of rooms that were filled with blood.

This place was supposed to be abandoned for years, so it's a little odd that there was blood. If that wasn't weird enough, he noticed that it was fresh blood.

Recent.

Then there was a giant pile of clothing in the middle of the room. Then he saw a glowing light down the hall and decided to check it out.


Peter was sitting in one of the chairs, just wanting to be alone for a moment. As they finally had a moment, Peter through the back to what Nadia said and was sorry. But it seems he wasn't gonna be alone for long when Yolanda walked over and sat down in front of him.

"You okay?" Yolanda asks him.

"No," Peter admitted as he wiped some tears away. "How many more friends do we have to lose until we save everyone?"

"I know it's hard to keep watching this, but you have to pull through," Yolanda said, placing a hand on his knee. "Come on, where is that hopeful Spider-Man?"

"He died with Courtney and Mike. And Teresa, Clint, Lila, Lucky, just recently Nadia." Peter replied as he looked out at the base. "Do you ever wonder what life would have been like if we did one thing differently?"

Yolanda nodded, thinking back to her mistakes. "I always wondered what life would've been like if I hadn't sent those photos to Henry."

"Yeah, that would be a big one." Peter agreed with her on that. "When those photos showed up during your speech, I was..." He tried to come up with the right words for it. "...mortified."

"Where do you get these words?" Yolanda had to ask. "Did you read a dictionary in grade school?"

"I was beaten over the head with a dictionary," Peter admitted with a laugh. "What I wouldn't give to go back. Maybe warn me about that spider. Give me and Cindy a normal life."

"While you're at it, tell me to stay away from Henry?" Yolanda asked of him.

The two got a good laugh out of that and sighed. "Maybe even warn Courtney about that staff."

"Or even better, warn the original heroes," Yolanda replied. "Maybe they would've been able to protect the world."

"Well, out of everything, I have to say that you're an amazing Wildcat." Peter complimented her.

Yolanda smiled and leaned to peck his cheek. "Thanks."

With that, she got up to check out this place while Peter was left in a confused state. Rubbing the part of the cheek she kissed, he wondered if Yolanda liked him. Maybe it was just the circumstances as he was one of the only few men left on earth.

Well, most of the people he's asked out did say they'd only do it if he was the last man on earth.

While they were talking, Riri was looking over Simon's data that he found out. But in the process, she came across something she might not have supposed to.

"Uh, according to these files, we're not the only ones who responded to Simon's message," Riri informs Peter, who was the nearest one around.

"More survivors?" Peter asked in happiness. But then he became worried, looking around and noticing there were no other people. "But then...where is everyone?"

Simon noticed it too late as he saw that his secret was on the verge of being discovered.


Back with Rick, he was looking around at all of the blood, following the light to where it led to. There, he finds a giant pile of clothes in the middle of the room, thinking they might be Simon's. But that was debunked when he remembered Simon wore that suit. Then he began to wonder where all the people went to.

Then the glowing light came back, appearing behind her. Acting on his instincts, Rick turned and punched whatever it was. But to his surprise, what he hit was nothing but glass.

But inside that glass, was none other than an old friend. "God...Jessica?"

Inside of the power-dampening cage was a zombified Jessica Cruz, who was still wearing her Green Lantern ring. Her entire suit was also altered instead of a bright green and clean suit, it was completely dirty and torn.

Her hair has also grown, from when before it was down to her shoulders, now it was down to her waist. Her suit was now a blood-filled suit with tears and scars all over it.

Looking over at the clothes, Rick started to put the pieces together of what happened. Fearing for the lives of his friends, he ran off to find and warn them and what he found. But he missed that his punch has left a big enough dent in the dampening that Jessica was able to escape.


"I'm truly sorry, guys," Simon informed his friends, using the ring to fly. "I wish you haven't found us."

Everyone was worried about what he meant by that. Working on their instincts, they aimed their weapons and got on alert for anything.

"Simon, what the hell is this place?" Riri asked, aiming her gauntlet up to the Space Cop.

"A trap!" Rick cried, running in and seeing they already learned the truth. "He's been luring people here to feed his zombie Lantern girlfriend."

"Like in that Disney movie?" Scott asked him. "Man, that was a weird film."

"Jessica?" Peter asked in shock. "You've been keeping her here?"

"Yes." Simon finally confesses. "I had placed her in that cell, as the ring couldn't leave her. Once the ring chose her, there was no removing it. And since she is technically alive, it won't leave her."

"Well, in Simon's defense..." Scott tried to come up with one, then realized there isn't one. "Never mind, I've got nothing."

"Wait, so you cured Chatty the Living Head, but not Jessica?" Peter asked, unsure he understands his reasoning.

"Her will is too strong. She has managed to counteract the treatment with her ring." Simon explains why he never cured her. "The only thing I could do was contain her. And her hunger."

"Why haven't you eliminated her?" Yolanda asks, not believing she asked that.

"I... couldn't," Simon admitted, lowering himself down to the ground.

"You lured innocent people here to their deaths, all in the name of love?" Kate asked her friend in shock.

Scott then scoffed after he heard that. "Love. Sucks."

"I know why you are angered by it, but I kept hoping that I could cure her," Simon tells her, defending his actions.

"You can't seriously be defending yourself!" Riri cried, aiming her repulser at him. "We're not going to be your girlfriend's midnight snack!"

Peter then felt his senses going into high alert, alerting him something was coming. "Guys?"

Seems Simon also picked up on what was happening, looking to see his ring alerting him. "You have awakened her." The entire crew then looked over in the direction Peter and Simon were looking. "She hasn't eaten in days."

Rick was the closest one when the doors blew off their hinges, revealing the one-eyed, walking skeleton that was their friend Jessica.

"Oh, fuuuuuuuuuuUUUUU-" Rick cried when a giant hand came in and grabbed Rick, dragging him towards her.

"Whoa, Rick, watch out! She's a man-eater!" Scott cried out. "There it is. I'm doing it again!"

Jessica then flew out and looked like she was starving. Kate immediately fired one of her arrows, which instantly backfired as Jessica grabbed it with a glowing blur and toss it back.

The Cosmic Staff then sent a beam of light at the Lantern, who only shielded herself from the beams and smacked the Staff.

When the Staff went flying at Scott on the chair, he was sent skidding and falling down the stairs.

"Oh, no, no, no! Someone, please catch me!" Scott cried in fear.

Just then, the Staff flew over and grabbed him, carrying him off the tip.

"Thanks." Scott thanked his rescuer. "You are an awesome staff!"

Peter then shot out webs when Jessica shut down her forcefield, wrapping her up in webbing so they had a second. Riri then took a moment to try and take her down, using her repulsers, but all it did was anger her.

"Simon, you need to help us! We need to get out of here!" Kate cried to him, wanting to save her friends.

Simon looked over to Jessica, watching as she tore her way out of the webs, and saw that he can't let this happen. These people were his friends, he couldn't let Jessica eat them like everyone else.

"You're right. We need to go." Simon said, using his ring to create a train, ramming it into the ceiling.

The Cosmic Staff blasted a part of the ceiling, giving them the cover to escape. The others started to climb their way out as Scott and the Staff flew right over them.

"To infinity, and beyond!" Scott cried jokingly.

As they all made their way out of the building, Yolanda had just made it when she was suddenly grabbed by the ring. Crying in fear, she tried to grab onto something to save herself.

"Yolanda!" Peter cried, shooting a web at her. He managed to grab her and started pulling. She held on, seeing Peter was trying to rescue her. "Hang on! I got ya!"

Yolanda tried to help, get herself away from Jessica but knew she was too strong. This was going to end in either one of them dying or both of them. She needed to make a choice. Her friend, or her own life.

"Peter! Run!" Yolanda cried out, knowing that if he stays there, he was going to be in danger.

"No! I won't lose you, too!" Peter declared, trying to save her.

Yolanda sighed, knowing he was going to say that. "I know. So, I won't give you a choice."

Drawing out her claws, she sliced through the webbing. The weight loss caused Peter to fall on his back as Yolanda cried in fear, being dragged into the facility.

"Yolanda!" Peter cried in pain.

The Cosmic Staff then worked fast, working with Simon, the two of them lasered around the building, dropping all of it on top of Jessica. The few that were left shielded their eyes from the dust and debris, wondering what to do next.

"We have to move fast," Simon told them, gesturing to the hanger that was nearby. "There's a Quadjet in the hanger."

"You're not coming?" Kate asked, unsure she understands him.

"I know I'm our only hope," Simon admitted, looking down at the ring, as well as the bite that was there. Due to the power of the ring, he was able to fight the infection even to himself. But if he removed it, it would take him over. "But I can't leave her."

They then watched as Simon took off the ring, prying it off of his hand. When he got it off, he immediately fell onto the ground. The disease already spreading through him, turning him into a zombie.

The ring then starts to take off, only to be stopped by Peter. He shot a web and used his enhanced strength to pull it over and Chi held onto it. Using his Hulk form, the team started to run for it, seeing that the zombies and robots were coming in.

"Okay, things just keep getting worse." Riri scoffed, blasting at the zombies and robots. "We gotta go!"

But then they watched the rubble from the building start to rise, revealing Jessica to have protected herself. Using a forcefield in the ring, she was able to survive and was angered by what they did. Kate then drew another one of her arrows, aiming it at the zombie.

"Kate!" Cho called, seeing what she was going to do.

Kate turned back to her friends, knowing she needed to give them enough time. "Run."

Seeing he was holding the ring; he ran off to get their last hope to safety. Following in his footsteps, the others ran off, trying to escape before the zombies reach them. Kate shot several arrows, only for Jessica to catch all of them and send them flying back at her.

Kate dodged one of them but missed when another arrow came flying in and stabbed her in the stomach.

Followed by a few of them coming into her shoulder and leg, causing her to drop to the ground. Seeing that she was taken care of, she turned her attention to the others who just reached the hangar.


Riri got the doors to the hanger open when Cho spotted Jessica flying at them.

Working fast, Cho clenched up his fist and waited for the right moment, punching Jessica the second she got too close. That led to her being slammed into the zombie herd, still approaching them.

Inside the jet, Riri was trying to get the jet online so they could fly it. This jet was an ancient version of a Quinjet, coming from the 80s. So, getting it functional was a hard thing, due to it being sitting here for decades.

"You think you can fly this thing?" Peter asked as he and Scott, plus the Cosmic Staff, came flying in with Cho right behind him.

"If I can get her running. She needs a jumpstart." Riri said, trying to get her started. Then an idea came to mind as she looked down at the arc reactor. "I might be able to attach the reactor, but it'll burn energy from the suit."

"How long do you need?" Peter asked.

"Five minutes tops." Riri guessed, looking at the hardware.

"Uh, sorry to say, we don't have five minutes!" Scott cried, getting them to look out to the doors, and saw the swarm approaching. "Immediate danger on our six!"

"That's our twelve, Scott." Peter couldn't stop himself from correcting his friend. "But he's right. We don't have five minutes."

Cho then had an idea. It was an awful idea, but if things work the way they hope, it would have been worth it. "I can buy you guys some time if I-"

"No!" Peter immediately denied that statement before he could finish it. "We are not gonna leave you behind, Cho. I..." He then remembered the talk he and Yolanda had. "I can't take losing another friend today."

Cho then held out the ring for Peter to take, since he was the only other one to hold the ring from flying away. "So... avenge us."

Peter looked at Cho and down at the ring. He knew he was going to do what needed to be done and sighed. Reaching out, he took the ring and held it in his palm. "Alright. Make it count."

"That's my line for you," Cho remarked as he ran out of the jet.

"Come on," Riri muttered, trying to get the jet online.

Cho then walked outside and saw the swarm coming at him. Cracking his knuckles, he got ready to take them on. "Okay, come on, zombies! Fresh meat right here!"

Cho then ran off, getting the zombies to change direction and go after him. Pushing off a few zombies, he wanted to get as many as he could near him before transforming into his Hulk form.

Busting out of the hears, he started to kick, punch, and slap any zombie that came close enough to him. "Come on, you freaks! Who's brave enough to take on the Brawn!?"

Just then, Jessica pushes aside a ton of them and finds Brawn, ready to go. Cho picked up the pace, running at the Green Lantern as Jessica charged at him.

Back in the jet, Riri managed to set up the arc reactor and got them the power they needed to escape. Taking off, burning the thrusters, burning several zombies in the process, they took off.

As they took off, they flew past Cho and Jessica, as they saw Cho trying to smash through a forcefield she created. And they kept going, flying far past all the zombies and gaining altitude.

"We did it!" Scott cheered in victory. "We survived!"

"No!" Peter cried in panic. "Don't ever say that! Am I the only one who's ever seen a horror movie?!"

Just as Scott said that, as Peter predicted, something terrible happened. The giant zombified version of Nadia suddenly came climbing off the ground and saw the jet passing.

"Nadia?!" Scott cried in terror, surprised to see Hope's sister has been taken.

Riri tried to change their direction in time, but it ended in Nadia grabbing the back of the jet. "No, no, nonononononononono!" She started to panic, draining a boost out of the reactor. "Hold on!"

The boost left them blasting off into the air, leaving Scott to look out the window as Nadia's form started to shrink.

Peter walked over and comforted his friend the best he could. I mean, he's a head in a jar. Hard to comfort.

"Sorry." Peter decided to say. "She gave her life to save us."

Scott had to slightly smile at that. "That's how her sister went. And her dad. Must be a blood thing."

Peter couldn't help but smile at his friend's attempt to make light of the situation. But they lost too many friends in one day.

At the beginning of this, there were nine of them. Now there were only three of them. Two and one third.


Later on, they got the ship on autopilot and were making their way to Wakanda. It was just becoming dawn when they started to wake back up and saw how close they got to Wakanda.

"ETA to destination is 2 hours," Riri informed them, seeing how far it was left.

Scott then jumped for joy. At least shook his head around, being confined to the jar. "Well, put another 'W' on the board for the Avengers!" He then saw that both Riri and Peter weren't interested in jumping for joy after everything. "Go ahead, high-five. It's okay, I won't feel left out."

Riri looked over to Scott in annoyance and over to Peter. "You okay?"

"Not really." Peter sighed as he looked down at the ring. "Five years ago, we were just a bunch of kids in high school, whose favorite pastime was being heroes. Now we're the only ones left."

"Yeah, time certainly changed everything," Riri confirmed, looking out at the distant sky. "But as long as we remember them, and honor their sacrifices, this would all be worth it."

"Yeah!" Scott confirmed, agreeing with Riri. "And think of it this way, after everything that this apocalypse has done, there's nothing left for them to throw at us."

Riri and Peter looked at one another in fear, both of them knowing he just tempted the cosmos to throw something at them. Seems even Scott himself noticed what he said and gasped.

"Oh, god, I did it again, didn't I?" Scott asked them.

Then there was an alert on the computers, getting them worried about what was about to happen. They saw a shadow come across their window, giving them a moment of terror.

"That's just another plane, right?" Peter asked Riri, praying that it was something normal.

"Not exactly." Riri was sorry to say.

Just then, the roof started to rip open, unveiling that it was a swarm of Ultron bots that chased them. Working fast, the Cosmic Staff blasted the robot, only for several more to come in and dive into the engines.

"Oh, god, we're going down." Riri cried in terror.

"What do we do?" Peter asked.

"Brace for impact!" Riri told him, disconnecting the reactor to power her suit.

The Ultron's then blasted down at them, causing the three to react. Peter shot a web to blind it as Riri blasted him away. But then a third one came through the ground and grabbed the Staff with a magnetic attachment.

"No! Help me!" Scott cried when the Ultron took off with the Staff, dropping Scott.

"Scott!" Peter cried.

Working fast, he shot a web and grabbed ahold of his friend, and yanked him back into the jet to hold. But their victory was short-lived when all of the robots broke their wings and sent them plummeting to the earth.


The plane crashed into the earth. Nothing but fire and broken pieces everywhere. Sadly, during the plummet, Peter let the ring slip out and it made its way back to Oa. Peter also managed to be the only one to wake back up due to his powers healing him from the crash.

But then when he woke up, he was left with the horrific sight of seeing Scott's jar cracked and his head being left behind. Looking around, he saw that Riri was also...impaled by the sharp edges of the ship.

Panting in fear, he started to crawl away from the dead bodies of his friends. But that turned out to be a mistake when he ended up running into another robot. Ultron turned to Peter and scanned him.

"Human," Ultron confirmed, aiming a repulser.

Having enough of this, Peter decided to just let it happen. Closing his eyes, he allowed events to occur. He has had enough and lost too many of his friends. This is where it ends, then he could say he did all he could. There was nothing left he could do.

But then, he heard what sounded like something impaling metal. When he looked up and saw a blade impaled into Ultron's heart. Shocked by this, he watched the robot fall and reveal a familiar face.

"Cindy Burman," Peter said in shock.

"Miss me, Barton?" Cindy B. asked him as she held a hand for him to take. Peter wasn't sure if he should trust her, and she recognized this. "Come on, if I wanted you dead, I'd let the robot take the credit."

Peter saw she was right and decided to take it. Being pulled off the floor and seeing his mask was now gone. "Thanks. But why did you help me?"

"Who can say? Saw the plane crash, came expecting to find supplies, but then I found you." Cindy B. admitted, gesturing to the destruction. "You could have killed that robot without help. Did you want it to kill you?"

Peter didn't want to admit it to her but sighed as he couldn't hide it. "Maybe. Yes! Okay? I... I'm sick of this." He gestured to the destruction. "We were this close to saving the world! But we lost!"

"Well, if that's how you feel, then I guess I don't need to tell you about what I found." Cindy B. shrugged, not having time to deal with Peter. "Because I found a way to fix everything."

Peter suddenly became curious about that, looking over at her. "How?"

Cindy B. smiled and saw that she got him hooked. And don't worry, she stopped stabbing people in the back when the world ended. "What do you know about the Cosmic Cube?"

"I don't know, what is there to know?" Peter asked, unsure if he knows it or not.

"Let's just say that it has the power to bring us back in time." Cindy B. says as she strolled over to Peter. "Back to before the event."