A/N: Hey guys, I wrote this when I finished reading the Earth 2149: Marvel Zombieverse comics. Consider this a shout-out to all Marvel Fans as well as DC. Now, I know what you're thinking: "This should be in the Marvel Zombies section of FanFiction". But I figured, since Eddie/Phobia is based around the Batman Universe, I should put him where he belongs. This one-shot is a "What-if" scenario, I was wondering what Eddie would've done if he'd been in part of the Earth 2149 Contagion. Therefore, this event hasn't really happened. Well, before I write more, read on.
WARNING: I don't know, but this may contain spoilers. But maybe not. I don't really know.
- The Rooftops of New York -
Phobia looked back and forth as he leapt from roof to roof, praying that none of the super-powered flesh-eaters would attack him by surprise. Ever since the virus broke out, him, Clea and Raven had been hiding out in Daredevil's lock-up. Every now and again, he'd go out looking for supplies, resources and, on some occasions, Daredevil himself. They hadn't heard from him ever since the first zombie sighting and they were fearing the worst. As for now, the one thing Phobia focused on was protecting his friends. As he reached another roof, he quickly ducked behind an air conditioning unit as a Zombified Spiderman swung by, possibly on another hunt for food. Once the coast was clear, he continued onto the next roof, the same roof as the lock-up. But, as he made his way over to the door, he dropped the paper bag he was carrying in shock, letting it's contents spill over the concrete roof. The door to the lock-up was open, he'd made sure it was locked when he'd left and he told the girls to stay put whilst he was gone.
"Clea? Charlotte? You guys?" he called out, getting no response. Instead, a familiar figure emerged from the shadows, his crimson body armour now torn and ripped, his visible skin old and decaying, plus a enormous hole going straight through his chest, revealing remnants of his once functional internal organs. Phobia gagged at the sight of this, is the figure wasn't wearing the costume, he wouldn't have recognised him.
"D-Daredevil?" he stammered, getting a slow nod from the armoured zombie standing in front of him. Phobia leaned to try and see what had happened inside the lock-up. But it was too light outside for him to see inside.
"What have you done, Matt?" he asked, watching intently as Daredevil slowly trudged towards him, dragging his feet as he did so.
"I-I'm sorry, Eddie. I just...I just...I was so...hungry" he wheezed, slowly gritting his teeth to reveal stains of blood and chunks of raw flesh. Phobia covered his mouth in disgust, on the verge of vomiting. Yet somehow, he was able to keep it down.
"How...how did you get that hole?" he asked, his hand shaking as he pointed to the supposedly fatal injury.
"A little parting gift from Magneto, it's just a scratch. Eddie...I need...I need..." Daredevil responded, trailing off near the end of the last sentence. At this point, Daredevil was just a few steps away from Phobia.
"Need what, Matt? I'll get you anything you want" Phobia offered, thinking that he was getting through to his infected ally. However, as Daredevil's pace picked up, Phobia knew something wasn't right.
"I...need...FOOD!" Daredevil finished and retrieved his pickaxe from its holster. Letting out a demonic scream, he dove towards Phobia. He responded by retrieving his Scythe from his belt and raised it to parry the blow. The two of them started what looked like an advanced fencing session, only more deadly. Daredevil took a swing for Phobia's face, but he leaned back to dodge it. Then Daredevil tried a sweep kick, but Phobia leapt to dodge that as well. Getting impatient, Daredevil took yet another swing at his face, but this time, Phobia slid between his legs and kicked the backs of his knees, sending him to the floor. Picking himself up off of the ground, Daredevil turned to face Phobia, wiping a trickle of blood away from his mouth. As for Phobia, he was breathing heavily, preparing his scythe for further combat.
"Matt, please. You need to stop this," he explained, fearing Daredevil's next move.
"Or what?" he replied, picking his pickaxe up from where he'd dropped it.
"I...I'll have to stop you" Phobia replied, his heart now beating faster. Ignoring his answer, Daredevil started taking multiple swings at Phobia, not caring where it would hit him. But, on one swing, his pickaxe hit Phobia's mask, smashing on of the visors and tearing it clean off. They both watched as it fell over the edge onto the street below. Forgetting that he was still fighting, Eddie fell back onto the ground as Daredevil kicked him straight in the chest, sending his scythe sliding across the roof. Then, before he could get up, Daredevil jumped and landed on top of him, but as he swung the pickaxe at his face, Eddie grabbed it with both arms, holding it inches away from his face. Without his gas-mask, Eddie could perfectly smell the rotting flesh on Daredevil's breath as he knelt on his chest.
"I'm sorry, Eddie. But...I need to eat" he said, licking his lips ravenously as his prey refused to give up. Narrowing his eyes at Daredevil, Eddie realised his had to accept the fact that his friend was gone. And he had to be stopped before he hurt anybody else.
"Then chow down on this" he replied, thrusting the pickaxe forward with a sudden burst of strength. There was a splatter of blood as the pickaxe entered Daredevil's head, causing him to go limp. Slowly pushing Daredevil's body off, Eddie regained his footing and glanced down at his friend's corpse. Not longer able to hold it down, Eddie doubled over and vomited, letting out distressed sobs during pauses. Getting back up and wiping his mouth, Eddie headed through the open door of the lock-up, fearing the worst. As he entered the kitchen area, there were obvious signs of a struggle. The small table had been flipped over, drawers had been pulled open and their contents had been spilled over the floor, but the one thing that scared Eddie was the massive blood smear on the floor, with a slightly smaller trail leading into the living area. Tiptoeing towards the room, he peeked his head round the corner, coming face to face with a horrible sight. Lying on the floor, surrounded by a pool of blood, was the corpse of a teenage girl, her dark purple hair now tinted crimson with hardened blood and her eyes closed. Clea. His girlfriend. Dead. But that wasn't the only traumatising thing happening just then. Tucking in to her corpse, was another zombie, easily recognisable due to her matted, bright orange hair and her costume as black as night. Stepping forward into the room, he placed his foot down a little too hard, attracting the attention of the Zombified Raven. She quickly turned her head, revealing her changed face. Her eyes now pure white, empty, dead. And her mouth covered with a fresh coating of blood. Standing up, the light seeping in through the cracks in the boarded up windows illuminated her tears as they streaked down her cheeks. Eddie didn't notice, he was too transfixed by his girlfriend's corpse. Looking back up at his sibling's face, he let out a noise. Raven couldn't tell if it was a laugh or a sob, being truthful, Eddie couldn't tell either.
"Charlotte, what have you done?" he asked, his voice creaking slightly. Raven raised her hands to her eyes and dropped to her knees before letting off the water-works. Keeping his distance, Eddie knelt down and placed his hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her. Moving her hands away, Raven revealed her eyes once more, now all red and puffy.
"I'm so sorry, Eddie. We heard a knock at the door, we heard Daredevil's voice so we let him in. I didn't know...I-I didn't know...he bit me. The next thing I know, I-I've pinned Clea to the ground...and...and..." she trailed off, losing her words in her sobs. Looking back up at Eddie, she wiped her nose on her sleeve, leaving trace amounts of both snot and blood. Seeing this she embraced her sibling, scared for her life, knowing that it would never be the same again.
"Eddie...I don't want to be like them...I don't want to..." she sobbed, her voice becoming breathless. Eddie reached up with his thumb and wiped away her tears, hating every second of seeing her like this.
"Don't worry, Charlotte. Everything will be okay" he tried comforting, only for her to reach up and remove his hand. Standing back up, Raven headed back into the kitchen area, not saying a word. Curious, Eddie followed behind her, nervous about her next action. She headed over to the side-counter and pulled out the one remaining drawer and reached inside, revealing a Beretta Pistol. Eddie gasped as she turned towards him, her eyes now emotionless.
"What are you doing?" he asked, his voice sounding horrified.
"You're wrong, Eddie. Everything won't be okay, it'll just get worse. And I don't think I can handle that" Raven replied, raising the barrel of the gun to her right-side temple. Eddie's mouth flopped open at this and he started slowly moving towards her.
"Charlotte, please. There could be a vaccine being worked on this very moment. You could be cured" he reasoned, getting a silent sob in response.
"So what? Even if I do get cured, what will I have to go back to? New York's destroyed, Jessica's dead and...and...I just killed your girlfriend. I-I can't that guilt hanging over my head for the rest of my life" Charlotte finished and closed her eyes, preparing to pull the trigger. Acting on impulse, Eddie ran forward and pulled the barrel away from her head, seconds before the bullet fired out of the end, smashing the burnt out light-bulb above their heads. Charlotte kept pulling the trigger, trying to aim it back at her head, but to no avail as Eddie kept the barrel pointed upwards in-between them, letting each bullet hit the ceiling. Until finally, the multiple bangs ceased, replaced with loud clicks, symbolising the lack of ammunition. Throwing the gun across the room, Charlotte let out an irritated growl, her eyes narrowed and her teeth gritted.
"Why couldn't let me do that? It was my choice," she asked angrily, making Eddie back away nervously.
"I-I couldn't let you do it. It wasn't right" he tried to explain, moving away quicker and quicker as she started hobbling towards him, her breathing getting heavier and heavier.
"But...I wanted to do it. I didn't want to hurt anybody else. And now...I..." she trailed off once more, confusing Eddie.
"You...what?" he asked, fearing her response. But, before she answered, his blood ran cold as he saw her normal, clear tears turn a deep crimson.
"I...I...I'M HUNGRY!" she screamed, lunging at Eddie in rage, sending them both flying out of the door and out onto the roof. Eddie grabbed her throat and held her away as her teeth started clamping down repeatedly. Pushing hard against her, he rolled her over so they changed positions. But it didn't matter how much he held her back, she grabbed his arm from her throat, rolled up his sleeve and sunk her teeth into his bare flesh. Eddie screamed out in pain as her red, dripping teeth shredded through his arteries, sending the virus into his bloodstream. With his free arm, he punched her straight in the face, causing her to cease her biting. Looking down at his wound, he saw that her teeth marks had a very dark, blue outline and that they'd cut right down through his skin, causing it to bleed excessively. Looking back over to Raven, he saw that she'd picked up his previously discarded scythe, her bloodied hands staining the handle. Looking around for some sort of weapon, he noticed that, slightly to his left against the wall behind him was a power box reading 'High Voltage'. Moving to his left, so he was standing right in front of the power box, he called out to his sibling.
"Charlotte, you have to stop," he begged, hoping that he'd get through to her.
"I need to eat!" she replied, running straight towards him, the scythe held above her head in a striking position. Taking his chance, Eddie quickly dodged to her left, causing Raven to shove the metal blade straight through the power box's casing. Eddie watched in horror as sparks flew out of the box and Raven shook violently as over 1000 Volts of electricity penetrated her Central Nervous System, evaporated her blood and charred her flesh. Soon enough, there was a huge flash and Raven flew backwards across the roof, landing beside Daredevil's corpse. Eddie slowly picked himself up, clutching at his arm as a pain shot through it. He looked over at Raven's corpse in disgust, her hair had been frazzled, her skin had melted away, revealing portions of her darkened skeletal structure and her costume had multiple burn marks. Letting the tears seep out of his eyes, he dropped to the ground and it all out.
"WHYYYYYYYYYYYYY?" he screamed, reaching up to wipe away his tears. But, as he brought his hand away, he gasped in shock as he saw the now crimson tears staining his fingertips. Looking back at the corpses of his friends and allies, he knew what had to be done.
- Later -
Eddie groaned in disgust as he carried Clea out of the lock-up and over to the pile where he'd "dumped" Raven and Daredevil. Placing Clea on top, he reached up and brushed a stray purple hair behind her ear, caressing her cheek affectionately.
"I love you. And if you were still alive, I know you wouldn't want to hurt anybody" he explained pointlessly, knowing that she wouldn't respond no matter what he said. Giving her a final kiss goodbye, he pulled himself away and retrieved the tank of gasoline he'd left beside the pile. Lifting it up, he began throwing gasoline over the heap of corpses, knowing that he had to do this. Once the tank was completely empty, he threw it to his side and reached into his pocket, revealing a cigarette lighter. Flipping the lid on the first time, he saw the flame erupt from the end, illuminating his face in light. Taking one last look at the pile, he threw the lighter onto it, causing the gasoline to ignite, creating a burning pyre. He watched with sadness as a column of smoke continued into the sky, forcing him to turn away in grief. Slowly but surely, he headed over to the edge of the roof, glancing down at the abandoned and ransacked street below. Taking in a final breath of fresh air, he leaned forward allowing gravity to go about it's business.
CRACK!
So now, as the virus continued to ravage the population, there was one street which had a difference. This street contained a body, the body of a young hero. His head split open, allowing his brains to spill over the pavement as the world forgot about him, about everything he'd ever done. The only thing helping people recognise the body laying a few feet away from him. A scuffed, black gas-mask. With a single, smashed visor. The mask of a hero. The mask of a Phobia.
A/N; I know it sucks. Anyway, RnR. Laters.