Misfitverse: The Korvac Saga
Disclaimer: "You bet! I'd get lost in this joint!" - Nikki, Avengers (Vol. 1) #168
Chapter 3: Welcome to the Future!
Central Park, the 31st Century
FWASH!
Amara Aquilla, Haroun al-Rashid, Ray Crisp, Marie-Ange Colbert, Roberto da Costa, Jennifer Stavros, Doug Ramsey, and Danielle Moonstar flashed into existence once again. They group of young mutants landed in the middle of the legendary New York landmark. They landed on the bright green grass with a Thud!
"Ohhhhh..." Danielle moaned, holding her head. "Who knew resurrection could be so screwy?"
"I guess that is why it is not done often." Haroun grunted. "Allow me." He helped up the girls.
"Thanks." Dani waved.
"Yeah, yeah." Jennifer grunted, lightly pushing Haroun off when she could finish getting up herself.
"Merci." Marie nodded in thanks.
"Huh. A Hellion with manners." Amara noted.
"I believe it is safe to say that I can no longer be considered a Hellion." Haroun responded.
"Tell that to the costumes, Robocop." Jennifer pointed out. "We're in our uniforms."
"At least you guys have them." Roberto looked down at his clothes. "We're still in our civvies."
"They were what we wore when we..." Marie looked down at the ground. "...passed on."
"We must've been given perfect duplicates of our old bodies." Doug deduced. The young blond mutant translator then looked around. "Look at that." He pointed up at the sky. The other kids looked up.
"Wow..." They gasped in awe. The sky was bright and blue. The sun was shining, only a few small clouds in the sky. And the air was dotted with many futuristic flying vehicles, of different sizes, shapes, and colors. They looked like cars and trucks, only more aerodynamic, and lacking wheels.
"Incredible..." Haroun's jaw went agape.
"Whoa..." Ray blinked. "Just like The Jetsons, man." He then grinned at Roberto. "I don't see no post-apocalyptic wasteland."
"Oh, shut up." Roberto grumbled.
"This is the future?" Amara blinked at the skyline. "The city looks so...beautiful. So...bright."
"Yeah, it reminds me of Atlantic City." Jennifer whistled. "Only without all the neon."
"Atlantic City?" Doug blinked. "I thought you were from Vegas." The blonde Hellion looked at Doug with a grin.
"I can't imagine why."
"Alright, alright. I see you guys are enjoying the sightseeing." Ronnie Rocker chuckled as he appeared.
"Hey, I thought you said you couldn't come with us." Jennifer blinked.
"I couldn't. I still have stuff to take care of back home." Ronnie explained. "I just forgot to tell you something."
"What?" Dani blinked.
"Not to worry." Ronnie grinned. "There's someone to keep an eye on you kids here." Ronnie's grin turned into a smirk. "I think you'll be very pleasantly surprised."
"Who?" Doug wondered.
"You'll see." Ronnie grinned. "Okay, I want to warn you. You kids are now in the 31st Century."
"We...kinda noticed." Ray waved up at the sky.
"Well, I just want to warn you: A lot of things are going to be very different here. But I think you'll be surprised that some stuff hasn't changed from the 21st Century." Ronnie told the kids. "Anyway, I have to go. Again, I wish you kids luck. And the guy who is sent to keep an eye on you is on his way. See you on the Astral Plane!" Ronnie disappeared, jauntily saluting at the kids.
"Well, there he goes." Dani blinked. She looked around at her teammates. "Now what?"
"Maybe we should wait." Marie suggested. "He did say someone was coming shortly."
"Uh, you guys..." Doug looked around. "I think we got company." Surely enough, the park was not deserted. People who were there slowly approached the young group of mutants.
"I hope to God they are friendly." Roberto winced.
"Sunspot, I think we're on Earth, so I don't think we need to worry about it." Ray rolled his eyes. The mutants watched carefully as the people who noticed them starting whispering amongst themselves.
"Who are those kids?"
"Anybody recognize them?"
"They could be Legionnaires."
"I dunno. They don't look like any Legionnaires I've ever seen."
"Maybe they're members of the Avengers."
"Avengers?" Danielle whispered. "The Avengers? There are still Avengers here?"
"But that's impossible!" Amara whispered. "The Avengers are from our time! How can there be Avengers in the far future?"
"Perhaps they are legacies or descendants." Haroun suggested.
"Hey, we died and came back." Jennifer reminded with a shrug. "Anything's possible."
"Hey, look at that." Doug noticed something about the crowd. "Look at all these people..." The young mutants noticed that the people that were staring at them were different. Most of them were normal Earth natives, but they saw various other people there. Some with various colored skins, and Doug could've sworn that he saw some had pointed ears. (1)
"Yeah..." Ray mumbled in amazement. "None of them seem hostile towards each other."
"Maybe they're from Haven." One man suggested.
"Haven? The Mutant Homeworld?" A blue-skinned lady blinked. The New Mutants and Hellions blinked.
"Mutant...homeworld?!" Dani blinked.
"Interesting..." Haroun placed his hand on his chin in thought. "Evidently at some point in the thousand years between our deaths and collective rebirth, mutants left Earth somehow."
"Wouldn't surprise me if we were forced off." Jennifer scowled.
"Did you hear that?" A woman in a bob haircut and pointed ears noticed. "They said they were mutants."
"Well, would you look at that?" A man chuckled. "Most of them live on Haven."
"I've seen their Queen on the holovision. She's got a real anger problem." One man winced. (2)
"Can you blame her?" An older man shook his head. "Mutants had been persecuted for a long time, especially during the 21st Century. They haven't forgotten it, and they made sure their descendants haven't forgotten it."
"Uhm...Excuse me?" Danielle waved her hand. "Uh, hi. We're from-!" Suddenly, a rumbling was heard. The crowd turned around, and they panicked.
"PUNISHERS!" A woman screamed. "RUN!" The crowd scattered.
"Wait! Stop! We need some help!" Dani exclaimed.
"Uh, Dani..." Ray pointed ahead.
"Oh, boy..." Doug winced.
"I do not like the sound of that." Marie put her hand to her mouth. A large tank-like vehicle rumbled into the park, amidst the fleeing crowd. It was a powerful black monster of metal, with four treads, two on each side. The top of the vehicle and the sides were decorated with futuristic weaponry, and there were missile pods mounted on the sides of the turrets and the vehicle's sides. The front of the vehicle bore an icon of a white painted skull. "Oh dear..."
"And I thought the original Punisher was insane." Roberto winced.
"We're dead. Again." Doug groaned.
"No we are not." Amara snarled, powering up. "If these...Punishers...wish a fight...they shall get one." However, the Roma Novan princess didn't notice that Jennifer had a reaction to her fiery form.
"Huh huh huh huh huh..." The blonde luck-manipulator's face paled, and she started hyper-ventilating. She gulped as panic overcame her mind. Sweat beaded on her forehead and she felt the urge to run. She had to get out of there. "No..." She whimpered. "Not again..."
"...Jennifer?" Marie blinked. "Are you alright?"
"No..." Jennifer whimpered as she saw Amara's fiery form. "Not again...please not again..."
"Oh my God..." Doug's eyes widened. "Amara! Power down!"
"What?" Amara turned her head, and she noticed Jennifer's panicked reaction. "What's with her?"
"Get away from me! GET AWAY!" Jennifer shrieked, trying to run.
"Jennifer, calm yourself!" Haroun and Marie tried to hold their teammate.
"Fitzroy incinerated her." Dani remembered.
"Oh my God..." Doug realized. "She remembers her death."
"We all do, man." Ray blinked.
"No, Ray! Don't you get it?!" Doug snapped. "Roulette died by fire! The trauma must've made her pyrophobic!" (3)
"Get her away from me!" Jennifer screamed, tears running down her eyes. "Please! Not again! I don't want to get burned again!"
"Amara, power down!" Dani ordered. Amara sighed and followed Danielle's order.
"What was that all about?" Haroun wondered. Marie held a crying Jennifer.
"Must be a side effect of our resurrections." Doug deduced. "Deathly fear of what killed us."
"How come Ronnie didn't tell us about this?!" Ray growled.
"Maybe he didn't know about that!" Roberto snapped back.
"Ronnie never was returned to life, so he probably had no idea." Doug realized.
"Indeed." Haroun nodded in agreement. "This could present a problem."
"Speaking of problems..." Roberto pointed out. A group of men and women emerged from the tank-like vehicle, all clad in black bodysuits with the white skull chest emblem, white boots and gloves, and toting automatic weapons. The group were varied in ages and races. To the kids' shock, one of the automatic weapons toters appeared to be a freckled ten-year-old girl with red hair in ponytails!
"Well, well, well." The leader, a tall black bald man, smirked at the kids. "We got some kids loitering on the grass."
"We don't want any trouble..." Dani tried to explain. "We just got here, and we need some-!"
"Save it, lawbreaker!" A skinny redhaired man pointed his gun at the kids.
"Yeah!" An Asian woman pointed her gun. "Every day, we Punishers have to make sure you people stay true to the law!" The New Mutants and the Hellions raised their hands. The woman smirked. "The only way to make sure people learn to stay within the law...is to remove the lawbreakers."
"Put those guns down!" A golden laser beam lanced from the sky and hit the Punishers' tank, destroying it in an explosion. Marie immediately covered Jennifer's eyes, knowing the sight of the flames would cause her to freak out again.
"What was that?!" Ray yelled. A figure streaked down from the sky, clad in a red uniform with blue briefs, boots, gloves, and blue around the chest and shoulders. His face and head were concealed by a blue hood and cape that had a starfield underside. The costume had a chest emblem of a yellow eight-pointed star with long cardinal points. Around his wrists were golden bands with seven gems each on them. "Whoa!"
"Who is that?" Danielle blinked.
"Vigilante!" The bald black Punisher yelled. "Take him down!" The Punishers fired at the red-and-blue costumed man. However, the man's golden wristbands started to glow. Golden energy erupted from the bands and formed a solid wall in front of the hero, stopping the bullets. With a wave of his hands, the caped man caused the wall to fall to the ground, and slam into the Punishers, knocking them down. He then landed in front of the kids. He picked up a rock and pointed it at the lead Punisher, who was getting to his feet.
A rumbling noise could be heard from the man's hand, and it started to shake. The hero opened his hand, and the rock shot off like a rocket. The rock hit the Punisher, knocking him out.
"The Science Police can clean up now." The blue-caped-and-hooded man nodded.
"Who are you?" Dani blinked. The man turned around and pulled back his hood.
"Ronnie told me you guys were coming, but I already knew." The man explained as he pulled back his hood, revealing a blue-masked face. His mouth and chin were exposed, but they were covered by a blond beard. His hair was blond and longish.
"That voice..." Dani's eyes widened.
"Huh?" Ray blinked. The man removed his mask, revealing his full face.
"I have waited a thousand years for your return."
Dani, Ray, Roberto, Doug, and Amara couldn't believe it. He looked like he was in the prime of his adult years, but they knew it was him.
They were looking at Sam Guthrie. Cannonball.
Hey now, there's a shocker for you! What insanity will happen next? How is Sam still alive in the far future? Who are the Science Police? What is Sam going to do with our heroes? Find out in the next chapter! Suggestions needed badly!
(1) – Vulcans. NebulaBelt's Misfitverse has elements of the Star Trek universe in it.
(2) – Haven is from the Guardians of the Galaxy comic. In this story, it serves as the home of many of the mutants, originally from Earth. Their ruler is Queen Rancor, a female descendant of Wolverine.
(3) – Pyrophobia is the fear of fire.