Disclaimer: After a long delay chock full of Writer's Block (gotta love to absolutely HATE Writer's Block) I have the latest chapter ready to be scoped out.
As usual, I don't own the rights to Marvel or DC Comics or the characters of either side.
Chapter XVIII
Central City was the hometown of Barry Allen, and it was where he first became the Fastest Man Alive. Since the incident that gave him his power, the Flash had been the protector Central City from some of the most dangerous criminals known. That all changed for the better when the Flash joined the Justice League. Now instead of protecting Central City, he was helping defend the world. That wasn't a bad resume whenever Barry stopped to think about it.
S.T.A.R. Labs was where it all started for Barry Allen. The particle explosion that gave him his powers happened there. For nine months after the incident, Barry was in a coma before he eventually awoke with super speed and an inherit desire to protect the city he called home. It helped to have some friends along the way, and Barry had arrived at S.T.A.R Labs right at that moment to seek one of them. Subtlety wasn't in the cards when Barry ran in the lab where his best friend Cisco Ramon was working. His entrance startled his young colleague to the point of almost screaming like a girl. Almost.
"Hey Cisco." Barry greeted Cisco as if nothing happened.
Cisco had his arms up in surprise like he was being held at gunpoint. "Wow Barry, I know you've been super busy hanging out with your super powered besties, whom I've yet to actually meet in person by the way, and you hardly have time for us anymore. But a simple knock on the door wouldn't kill you."
"Sorry. Bad habit!" Barry claimed.
"Hey, it's not nearly as bad as, say I don't know, altering the timeline. That's kind of a doozy right there." Cisco mocked.
"I deserved that." Barry admitted just as Caitlin Snow walked into the room.
"Barry, what are you doing here?" Caitlin asked.
"Hey, Caitlin. I just need to borrow Cisco for something really important." Barry said.
"If by 'important' you mean 'hopping to an alternate Earth with homicidal versions of us' then sure, why not?" Cisco joked and he instantly felt Caitlin glaring at him… coldly.
"Cisco, don't make me go Killer Frost on you." Caitlin claimed.
"Okay, I deserved that." Cisco admitted.
"Cisco, you've always been saying that you want to meet the Justice League, right?" Barry asked.
Cisco, and Caitlin, both looked flabbergasted at Barry and Cisco replied, "Yeah!"
Barry smiled and asked, "Well, do you want to meet them?"
Barry, Cisco and Caitlin arrived outside S.T.A.R Labs waiting for something to happen. Cisco had questions that he wanted to have a chance to ask and have answered. Suddenly, a portal opened right in front of the trio and startled Cisco and Caitlin. Superman appeared first from the portal while Batman appeared after him and Wonder Woman followed. Aquaman appeared after Wonder Woman and he was followed by Cyborg. The portal closed behind Cyborg, and Cisco's face spoke volumes of astonishment.
Raven suddenly appeared as if she rose from the dead and scared the daylights out of Caitlin as she was the nearest. It got even stranger from there. A green orb was descending from the sky flanked by three humanoid objects. A forth object was within the orb, and it was big. Immediately, Cisco knew it was Green Lantern controlling the orb, but the other three were new. But Caitlin did recognize the new arrival after watching them on the news feeds. Barry immediately regrouped with the Justice League while Green Lantern released the giant green beast from the orb.
"Cisco Ramon and Caitlin Snow, meet the Justice League." Barry said with a smile.
Cisco's mouth was agape and he said to Caitlin, "Caitlin, can you pinch me?"
"I was hoping you'd pinch me." Caitlin replied back.
"And this trio are our friends from another universe. They're called the Avengers." Barry added for Iron Man, Captain Marvel and the Hulk.
Iron Man approached the flabbergasted duo while Captain Marvel tried to calm the Hulk down. "Well Flash, this is a nice little set up you've got here. It's not nearly as nice as Avenger's Tower. And… you are?" he asked Caitlin.
The wide-eyed and befuddled Caitlin replied, "I'm Caitlin Snow. I specially in bioengineering here at S.T.A.R. Labs."
Raising his face plate, Iron Man took Caitlin hand and said, "Name's Tony Stark, genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist…"
Cisco popped right in between Tony and Caitlin and held his hand out. "Hi, I'm Cisco."
Tony took Cisco's hand, being careful not to break any bones. "Cisco, I'm Tony. Barry over here says you can help us out."
"Yeah, I probably could. But before I do that, I have to ask. Is that an armored, electromagnetic power suit made up of a gold titanium alloy?" Cisco asked.
Tony smirked at Cisco and replied, "Why yes, it is. In fact, I've got whole legion of armored suit back where I'm from."
"Whoa, like an Iron Legion?" Cisco asked with wide-eyed astonishment.
"Funny, that's actually what I call them." Tony said.
"I want one." Cisco blurted.
Tony smiled and thought to himself, I like this kid.
Caitlin chuckled slightly before she took noticed the Hulk standing by. "What is that thing?"
"This guy is the Hulk. You don't have to worry about him because he actually pretty gentle… as long you don't make him mad." Carol said.
The Hulk lowered his face so he could Caitlin line of sight. "You remind Hulk of… Betty."
Caitlin glanced and Carol and Carol whispered, "His girlfriend."
Barry walked up to Cisco and threw his arm over his friend's shoulder. "Cisco, about that thing we needed help with…"
"Wha? Oh right, the thing!" Cisco, but he suddenly drew the Hulk's attention.
"The Thing? Ben Grimm is here?" he snarled, and Carol floated up to calm him down.
"Whoa, not that. Not that Thing, Hulk." she said.
Barry, Cisco and Caitlin all looked wide-eyed at the green behemoth before Barry said, "Uh, Cisco."
"Right. Everybody please… step into my office." Cisco said with vigor… and eye rolls from Barry and Caitlin.
Clint struggled against the door to his cell, trying numerous methods of getting free from his confines. Each time failed and he grew desperate enough to literally ram his shoulder into the door. It only served to hurt him. He winced at every physical attempt and often wondered if he'd broken something. Clint had to stop his efforts to make sure that his bones and muscles were still intact. Then he went right back to his escape attempts.
In another cell, Natasha was seated on the floor with her back to wall. She'd been listening to Clint's attempts for a while ever since Darkseid had them imprisoned. She winced every time she her Clint slam himself into the door in his vein attempts at breaking out. Natasha was sure she that one of the attempts was followed by an audible 'ouch' from Clint. She heard more of the same struggling against a sealed door on the opposite side of her cell, and she knew it was Steve trying to find his own way out.
Clint hit the door again and blurted an obscenity that Steve clearly heard. "Shit!"
"Language, Clint." Steve said in protest, before he wondered why he even reprimanded his fellow Avenger.
"You know, my choice of language is hardly an issue here, Cap," "Clint replied and tried to ram the door again only to hurt himself. "Ouch!"
"You might as well give it up, Clint. I don't think we're getting out of here anytime soon." Natasha said.
"Don't tell me you're giving up now, Nat." Clint replied.
"I'm not. I'm just being realistic because I've already tried picking the locks. They're as alien to me as Tony is arrogant." Natasha claimed.
In his cell, Clint sat down on the floor and bumped the back of his head against the wall. "I still can't believe Thor turned on us like that."
"He didn't turn on us, Clint. Darkseid corrupted him while he was he was here, just like Superman said would happen. I have to believe that there's a part of Thor that still fighting the influence." Steve proclaimed.
"You think so?" Clint asked.
"I've seen the same thing with Bucky after what HYDRA did to him." Steve stated.
"With all due respect, Steve, we're not dealing with HYDRA." Natasha claimed.
"I know that, Nat. But I never gave up on Bucky, so I'm not giving up on Thor." Steve said.
Clint had to change the subject when he said, "I still can't believe what happened to Vision. Darkseid flat out vaporized him right in front of us."
"Vision's not dead." Steve said.
"Steve, we saw her get blasted to bits." Clint pointed out.
"Or maybe we saw what he wanted us to see and what he wanted Darkseid and Doom to see." Natasha replied.
"What do you mean, Nat?"
"Vision's intangibility. You know he can phase through solid matter and for all we know, he's still somewhere in the citadel right now." Natasha explained.
Clint sighed, "I hope you're right because if you're not, if Darkseid doesn't kill us then Wanda definitely will."
Elsewhere in the citadel, the Parademons placed the confiscated weapons of their three prisons and placed them in a vault. Two Parademons stood guard over the vault, unflinching in their otherwise mindless dedication to the will of Darkseid. It was thus completely unbeknownst to them that they weren't the only ones in the area. In a far corner that was out of visual range of either Parademon, Vision phased his head out of the wall to get a better view of his surroundings. He could easily see the two Parademons on guard from his vantage point and surmised that the vault held Captain America's shield, Hawkeye's bow and Black Widow's stingers.
Vision's intangibility would've made it easy to slip into the vault undetected, but he still had his limits. The weapons of his allies weren't intangible, and that meant he couldn't phase them through the walls as easily as the young mutant Katherine "Kitty" Pryde of the X-Men. Vision had no other alternatives but to wait for the right opportunity to free Captain America and the others… and hope that Iron Man and the remaining Avengers would arrive.
What have I done? Thor thought to himself.
It was the worst experience he could imagine. Darkseid indoctrinated him into doing his bidding and it wasn't by his own choice. On the surface, Thor appeared as a willing slave standing at side of the throne on which Darkseid rested. Subconsciously, it was a whole other story. Thor was a prisoner in his own mind, beating against an invisible glass wall. His subconscious was forced to watch his as that fool Kalibak approached Darkseid. Thor looked down the steps and saw Doctor Doom standing at the foot of the step, arms crossed and leering at Kalibak. Kalibak returned the glare along with a snarl before he addressed his master.
"The weapons of our latest intruders have been locked away, father." Kalibak reported.
"And what of the intruders themselves?" Darkseid asked.
"Imprisoned and awaiting judgment."
"By judgment, you mean indoctrination." Doctor Doom pointed out.
"I don't care what you'd call it." Kalibak snarled.
"Only because you don't even know the first syllable." Doom calmly implied.
Kalibak snarled and moved toward Doom before Darkseid bellowed, "Stand down, Kalibak."
Doom watched Kalibak slink back before he addressed Darkseid himself. "Darkseid, I would strongly suggest that you increase patrols of the citadel."
"For what reason?" Darkseid inquired.
"The android; it still functions and may very well be roaming the citadel as we speak." Doctor Doom explained.
"Impossible. Lord Darkseid exterminated him before our very eyes." Kalibak denied.
"The Vision has the ability to make his physical form intangible, allow him to phase through solid matter easily or to harder than diamond. His supposed extermination would've been a mere illusion to allow him to escape capture. He could be in this room now as we speak." Doctor Doom explained.
"Lies." Kalibak accused Doom.
"I've battled the Avengers more times than I'd care to count. And, I do not lie." Doom snarled.
"I say otherwise." Kalibak snapped back.
"Enough, Kalibak," Darkseid shouted and scared Kalibak to death. Doom didn't flinch. As Darkseid walked down the steps, Kalibak stepped back nervously. "Victor Von Doom's counsel, arrogant as it may be, has thus far proven valuable. We shall defer to his advisory; increase patrols of the citadel and find the Vision."
Kalibak could see Darkseid's eyes glowing red and fire jumping from them. Doom could easily see the fear in the brute's eyes. "We will double the patrols and find this Vision."
"See that you find him and eradicate him, Kalibak. If you fail me, I shall personally eradicate you." Darkseid demanded.
While Thor appeared to remain stoic and uncaring, his subconscious laughed as Kalibak scurried away from Darkseid like an ant. Then Doctor Doom approached him with the clear intent of studying the effects of the brainwashing that turned Thor into Darkseid's puppet. From Doom's point of view, this brainwashing was no different from what he'd seen in his universe. He found the concept of brainwashing appalling and lacking in his own somewhat twisted sense of honor. Despite the overwhelming enmity he felt for the Avengers, he always presented the utmost respect for them. Thor didn't deserve to be a puppet.
"Is something troubling you, Doom?" Darkseid asked.
Doom turned to face Darkseid directly and replied, "I wholly resent mind-control, Darkseid. It places my enemies at a disadvantage and I've always preferred to finish them when they were at their absolute best."
"So you disapprove of my methods."
"I disapprove of the need to use such nefarious means. I've seen similar means used by the hapless fool Purple Man, and I've even witnessed Thor's own adopted brother Loki use manipulation and illusions to get his way. Such methods lack honor." Doctor Doom claimed.
"Perhaps, but this is not your universe, Doom. Here, my will is law, so you would do well to remember that lest I choose to manipulate you as well." Darkseid threatened.
"You threats are nothing to me, Darkseid. I cannot be manipulated as more powerful men have tried. And, while you may claim to be a god, you are not my god." Doom retorted without backing down.
Darkseid narrowed his eyes as Doctor Doom stormed off. Unbeknownst to all within the throne room, Vision had been watching the entire exchange from above and behind one of the pillars. It seemed clear that Darkseid and Doctor Doom were very far from the same page, but Vision was more concerned about Thor. Despite lacking a full range of emotions, Vision felt sorry for his fellow Avenger being used now as a tool. But at that juncture, Vision could do nothing but hide away and wait for Iron Man and the others to arrive.
Cisco stared at the damaged Mother Box with Barry and Caitlin shadowing him on other side. "So this little black box-looking thing opens portals to another planet ruled over by a huge, butt-ugly, rock-faced mega overlord with a penchant for shooting lasers out of his eyes."
Barry shrugged and replied, "Yeah pretty much."
"He's called Darkseid. He actually has invaded Earth before, which ironically brought the Justice League together." Superman stated.
Captain Marvel added, "And now, he's got five of our friends. One of them might be brainwashed and we're not sure about the others."
Caitlin addressed Captain Marvel, stating to her, "So you and Mr. Stark…"
"Please, Caitlin. Call me Tony." Stark insisted.
Rolling her eyes, Caitlin continued, "Anyway, you, Tony and the Hulk all came from an alternate universe using this Mother Box."
"Not this one particularly." Carol stated.
"We and the rest of the Avengers… that's what we call ourselves… were trying to reclaim a similar device from Victor Von Doom. One thing led to another and now here, trying to rescue our friends." Tony explained.
"Do you have any idea how a Mother Box even ended up in your universe?" Caitlin asked.
"Wild guess; it might've be activated on its own. It was actually retrieved by a colleague of ours before Doom got his hands on it." Tony implied.
"The Mother Boxes aren't known to be able to open portals to other universes. Darkseid may have had his scientists making modifications and one of them may have activated on its own." Batman claimed.
"Yeah, like the breaches I can normally open." Cisco added.
"There's a theoretical similarity between the functions of the Mother Boxes and Cisco's meta-human abilities." Batman said to Tony.
"Cisco, I know that's has got to be fascinating and all, but we really need to know if you can figure out how to repair the Mother Box." Barry said.
Cisco gave Barry a telling look before he picked up the damage device. "Well, I'm not entire I can fix it. I mean, this tech is way beyond my ability to fix."
"So you can't fix it?" Carol asked.
"I didn't say I wasn't willing to try. I'm just saying that this is alien tech that's beyond me." Cisco stated.
"What if you had some help?" Tony asked.
Cisco's eyes lit up like Christmas and replied, "I think that'd be awesome."
"You go ahead, Tony. Batman and I will gather the rest of the group to discuss a plan of attack." Superman stated.
A few minutes later in the speed training room which Barry regularly used, the Justice League along with the Hulk were gathered. Of the group of semi-mismatched heroes, Wonder Woman waited at the entrance for Batman and Superman to arrive. The pair eventually arrived with Captain Marvel shadowing them and Wonder Woman quickly joining in their approach to the training room. Captain Marvel approached the Hulk to make certain he was acclimating with certain League members. She caught a brief glimpse of Hal on the other side. He looked back and she, as if she was blushing, looked away for a moment. When she returned the gaze, she couldn't keep a smile from appearing. She was also slightly started by Barry sudden arrival.
"So what is the situation, Superman?" Aquaman asked.
"Tony and Cisco are working to repair the Mother Box and once it's ready, we'll be headed in Apokolips." Superman said.
Wonder Woman said, "Darkseid will most likely be expecting us, won't he?"
"Yes. A full frontal assault won't be enough, though. We'll need to separate into two teams; one for a frontal assault on Darkseid's armies and the other to infiltrate the citadel itself." Batman explained.
"Divide and conquer? I like it." Captain Marvel exclaimed.
"Superman will lead the assault team consisting of Wonder Woman, Flash and Aquaman. I'll lead the infiltration team consisting of Green Lantern, Cyborg and Raven. Iron Man will also accompany us." Batman said.
"Superman's going to need heavier hitters than just Flash, Aquaman and Wonder Woman." Captain Marvel claimed.
"I agree with you, Carol. So if it's all the same to you, I'd like you and Hulk to join my team." Superman stated.
Carol considered the option before she shrugged and replied, "Works for me."
"What about him?" Barry asked regarding the Hulk.
"Hulk doesn't care who leads, long as Hulk gets to smash something."
"I'm sure you'll get plenty of chances, as long as it's not me." Superman said. The Hulk smirked in response.
"I guess that sounds like a plan, assuming the supermodel can follow through on her end." Carol said with vague mockery toward Wonder Woman.
"Oh, I can definitely handle what we're all walking into. I'm not sure about little Ms. Marvel here." Wonder Woman replied with equal mockery.
"Sorry, but I think you're confusing me with my young friend Kamala Khan. Get your facts straight, you star-spangled bimbo." Carol snapped.
"Alright, that's it…" Wonder Woman snapped and pushed toward Carol before Superman stepped between them.
"This isn't the time, Diana. If we're going to survive on Apokolips long enough to rescue Captain Rogers and his group, then we need to put our egos aside and get it done." He told Wonder Woman.
Wonder Woman looked at Superman and Carol before she told Superman, "You're right, Clark. The mission has to come first," Wonder Woman backed away from Superman and Captain Marvel, but she silently muttered, "Arrogant bitch."
Carol conversely muttered, "Skimpy Amazon."
Superman labored a minor sigh of relief that was mixed with some frustration before he addressed the rest of the group. "The truth of the matter is, our egos and pride got us in this situation. Now we all have a chance to make it right, but we need to work together to make it happen. So everyone get ready, because we're going to Apokolips and we're taking the fight to Darkseid."
The Hulk pounded his fists together and cracked a smile while he and Carol exchanged glances. Carol said to Superman, "Well, as far inspiring speeches go, that's not… terrible. Although, Steve usually used a certain rallying cry to get the Avengers ready for battle."
"I guess I'll have to work on one. But in the meantime, let's hope Iron Man and Cisco can get that Mother Box working." Superman said.
"Trust me, Boy Scout. If anyone can get an alien teleportation device working in record time, it's Tony Stark."
Author's Note: Well, I finally managed to get this chapter done, although I'm not particularly pleased with how it came out. If it moves the story along though…
So here, Cisco and Caitlin make a small appearance (post Flashpoint) and up until just now, neither of them has met the Justice League. Sorry if I didn't do much for either of them. They are cameos after all.
As I'm sure a lot of you have speculated, Vision is not dead but in hiding within the citadel waiting for the right time to act. And, Thor is not completely brainwashed as he's basically a prisoner in his own mind.
Since I know somebody's going to ask why Cisco doesn't just vibe the heroes to Apokolips, I just felt that would be too easy and I'd rather have Cisco and Tony work together to get the Mother Box fixed.
So yeah, give me a shout out and I'll try to get the next chapter up sooner rather than later. Peace out.