Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.
Let's get to it.
Also, real quick. This is who is on Earth-X right now: Barry, Wanda, Pietro, Steve, Sam, Clint, Oliver, Natasha, Jax, Stein, Nate, Bruce, and Alex.
willdawg992003: You'll get the answer to that when our heroes get to the resistance base.
Guest: Yes, at some point, there will be a story of Pietro going to Earth-38. Hopefully at some point in Phase 2.
Chapter 10- Old Face, New Face
"So, this crap hole's Earth-X?" Bruce says as he looks at the surroundings.
"Wells was right," Oliver says.
"He usually is," Barry says.
"It's hard to believe a place like this actually exists on any Earth," Alex comments.
"I wished I shared your sentiment, but in all my travels, to distant times, one thing which sadly remains constant is men's ability to feel hatred for other men," Stein says.
Sam watches as ranks of prisoners march past the fence. He notices something pinned on the chest of each prisoner's outfit.
"Stars and triangles?" he asks.
"Badges used to identify purported crimes these people have committed to land in here," Stein says.
Jax notices a well-built, bearded man standing just a few feet away. "What's the silver star for? What did you do?"
The man turns to look at them. "I refused to let my country's memory die," the man says, in a tone that makes it clear he is still refusing to do so. A couple members of the team glance around at each other, not sure what the man means.
Finally, Nate says, "We gotta get out of these cuffs. Martin, Jax, transmute us out.
"With pleasure," Stein says. He and Jax clasp hands, but to their surprise, they don't merge. They try again, but with the same results.
"I can't vibrate through them either," Barry says.
"Nor can I," Pietro says.
"Power-dampening collars. Of course," Steve says.
"Wait. Why are all of us wearing them? Not all of us have powers," Sam asks.
"Doesn't matter. There's too many guards here anyways," Nate says.
"They're gonna kill my sister," Alex says with worry.
"Alex, we will not let that happen. We are going to get back to Earth-1 and save Kara," Steve says, trying to calm Alex down.
"How are we gonna get back? We don't even know how we got here," Jax points out.
"No, we don't. We'll figure it out. Then, we're gonna find a way to get out of this place, and we're gonna get back to the people we love," Oliver declares.
"I hope everyone else is okay," Barry mutters.
(STAR Labs)
Cisco slowly begins to feel his consciousness returning to him. As he tries to gather the energy to open his eyes, he realizes two things. One is that his face is smushed up against glass. The second is that he can hear something bouncing very loudly almost right next to him.
"Oh," Cisco groans.
"Rip Van Ramon awakens," Harry says as Cisco manages to open his eyes.
Cisco pulls his face back from the glass, glancing around, and saying, "This doesn't look like a wedding."
"You missed quite a bit, Cisco," Caitlin says as she slumps against the wall of her cell.
"All you need to know is that you are locked in one of your fabulous anti-meta-human cells with the rest of us, and we can't escape," Harry says, bouncing a ball that he had on him against the wall of the cell.
"Of course we can't. That's what I designed them for, genius," Cisco says.
"Good command of the obvious," Harry says before bouncing the ball again.
"Boys," Caitlin says chastisingly as Harry bounces the ball again.
"Is that a ball?" Cisco asks in exasperation.
"Why? Is it bothering you?" Harry asks, continuing to bounce it.
"Yes," Cisco says. Harry responds by bouncing it again.
"Hey!" Cisco shouts, kicking against the wall of his cell that borders Harry's. Harry just smirks as he keeps bouncing the ball.
"Are they gonna do that the whole time we're in here?" Thea asks from her cell.
"Probably," Caitlin responds.
"Ow. It hurts! Cut it out!" Cisco demands.
"Cut what out?" Harry asks innocently.
(Medbay)
On a bed in the medbay, Kara slowly regains consciousness. As she opens her eyes and looks around, she can see the rooms is full of red light, and that she is in restraints.
Before she can do anything, Blitzkrieg walks in. "STAR Labs. This place looks just like the laboratory I run back on Earth-X. Oh, the terrors I have concocted in that place would boggle your mind," he says.
"Where are my friends?" Kara demands.
"Oh, they're on Earth-X. I wouldn't worry too much about them, though, 'cause they're not gonna be alive much longer," Blitzkrieg says with an evil smirk.
Kara struggles against her restraints, but finds she can't do anything. At that moment, the door opens and Overgirl walks in, chuckling and saying, "Oh, honey. It's because of the red sunlight. And trust me, it'll make you weaker than you can possibly imagine."
Kara glares up at Overgirl, who just smirks down at her. Then, Overgirl closes her eyes and stumbles, dazed all of a sudden. Blitzkrieg takes a step forward, as if to help steady her, but Overgirl steadies herself and just holds up a hand to Blitzkrieg, signaling he's not needed.
"You did all this just…just to get me? DO you know how many innocent people you killed?" Kara demands.
"Their lives to save mine? Well, they should feel honored," Overgirl says in a tone of extreme arrogance and self-righteousness. She walks over to a table to sit down and says, "It's a strange sensation, isn't it? Feeling vulnerable."
"And it's gonna get worse. Because this red sunlight is softening you up until, pretty soon, I'm gonna crack you open like a walnut. Then I'm gonna take your healthy heart and I'm gonna put it in her," Blitzkrieg says. He then looks at Overgirl and says, "Which means we should probably get you going."
"Good. That'll give me time to talk to…myself," Overgirl says with a smirk.
Meanwhile, in the ventilation ducts overhead, Laura has been watching the whole thing. Turning around to Rhodey and Loki, she says, "Did you hear that? Everyone else is on Earth-X and they're gonna take Kara's heart."
"We need to move quickly if we're going to stop them," Loki says.
"Anyone got any ideas?" Rhodey asks.
"I don't know. But, there's only the three of us. How can we stand up against the Nazi doppelgangers of some of the most dangerous heroes we all know?" Laura asks.
"Maybe we don't have to. What if we can get that Cisco guy?" Rhodey says.
Laura perks up. "Yes. We can get down to the pipeline and get Cisco. He could turn off all the power to the building and maybe breach us over to Earth-99 to get help," she says.
"Do you know how to get to this pipeline from here?" Loki asks.
"I think so. And, if we get spotted, well, you can take care of that, Loki," Laura says before turning and heading down one of the ducts, Rhodey and Loki following close behind.
(Earth-X)
"Move!"
The call is heard through the whole pen, as are the alarms that begin sounding. All of the prisoners, except the team, begin heading back towards the edges of the pen as HYDRA guards start walking in.
"I don't like the looks of this," Stein says.
Barry looks around, sees the bearded man they questioned earlier, and asks, "What's going on?"
"It's roundup time," the man says in a rather bored tone.
"Roundup for what?" Pietro asks.
The guards walk up right in front of them, guns at the ready. Then, the gate opens again, and a man walks in. "So, these are…the heroes," he says slowly.
Both Oliver and Laurel's eyes widen a bit, recognizing that voice. Soon enough, the man comes into view, revealing the face of Quentin Lance.
Lance's eyes rest on Laurel, and his eyes harden. He steps up in front of her, and says, "I once had a daughter, who looked just like you. She and her sister both brought shame to me and to HYDRA." He pauses, then says loudly, "And I expunged those filth from my family line forever."
Lance turns and stomps away a few feet, then turns around. "Bring them all!" he orders the guards. A moment later, he points to the bearded man and adds, "And him!"
The guards, guns aimed, usher them out of the pen and across a field next to the prison camp.
"Not to be an alarmist, but if we don't have an escape plan, I suggest we get one immediately," Stein says.
Taking the hint, Oliver, Alex, Bruce, and Steve all try to free themselves from their cuffs. As the cuffs start to slip, they all whip around-
Only for Lance to press a button on a small device in his hand. Instantly, the collars on their necks release electricity, shocking everyone and forcing them to their knees, crying out in pain.
"Up!" Lance orders. The team glares at Lance before slowly getting to their feet and continuing their walk.
Soon, they reach a trench dug into the ground. From behind them, Lance says, "Turn around."
The team turns to face Lance, who walks up to Oliver, while also looking at Steve and Clint, who are standing on opposite sides of Oliver.
"I know you are not…them," Lance says, with everyone knowing he's talking about Dark Arrow, Militant, and Bowman, "But I cannot stomach the sight, regardless." He then stuffs a bag over Oliver's head, as two guards do the same to Steve and Clint.
Lance walks away from them. As he does, he shouts, "Ready!"
The HYDRA guards step forward, their guns at the ready.
Alex takes a deep breath, and says, "I'm sorry, Kara."
Barry and Wanda look at each other, some tears in their eyes, and Barry says, "I love you." Wanda just nods, and they give each other a quick kiss, feeling certain it will be their last.
"Aim!" Lance orders, and the HYDRA guards raise their rifles.
As they do, Bucky and Laurel turn to each other. "Laurel, I love you with everything I have," Bucky says.
"I know," Laurel says, and for the first time ever, Bucky sees a tear in her eye. He leans in and kisses her, then turns back to face his fate.
Lance opens his mouth to order them to fire, but, before he can get the word out, what look likes lines of white webbing shoot out of nowhere and trip the guards or rip the guns out of their hands.
Everyone turns towards their right, and sees a figure in a dark suit with white eye covers standing behind a trunk, his hands outstretched.
"Sorry to crash the party," he says in a distinctly young voice.
"Spider Man?" Barry, Wanda, Sam, Bucky, Bruce, and Natasha all say in shock.
Oliver, Steve, and Clint all rip their hoods off. Then, the bearded man says impatiently, "About time, kid!"
"Kill them all!" Lance orders.
The guards start firing, but the team acts quickly. Some leap forward to knock down the closest guards, while others leap straight into the trench.
The new Spider Man starts shooting webs at every HYDRA agent in sight. The confusion allows the rest of the team to make it to the trench. Spider Man reaches down, grabs some keys off one of the downed HYDRA agents, then runs over to the trench.
Diving into the trench, he pulls off his mask, revealing the face of Peter Parker, but with a maturity and seriousness that the Peter Parker of Earth-99 doesn't. "Hey, everybody. I'm Peter Parker," he says.
"Hey, you're cutting it close," the bearded man says.
"Chill out, dude. I got here in time, that's all that matters," Parker says.
"So, you're this Earth's Spider Man?" Barry asks.
"Yeah," Parker says before looking over Barry's suit and saying, "Wow, nice digs, dude. Think you can make me a suit that cool?"
"Focus, Parker," the bearded man says.
"Right. Time to show them your stuff," Parker says as he unlocks the collar around the bearded man's neck.
"Get ready for a show, you guys," the bearded man says, breaking his handcuffs off as if they're made of matchsticks.
Before anyone can ask what he means, the man flies forward, smashing through the ridge overlooking the ditch without ever being fazed. He flies right for the HYDRA guards, smashing through their ranks and killing several from the brute force of the impact. Several guards fire on him, but he conjures a shield around him. The man then flies up and releases powerful energy beams from his hands, causing explosions that knock Lance and the other HYDRA guards.
The man flies down and lands beside them. "Come on. We need to get going," he says.
"To where?" Steve asks.
"Back to our base," the man says.
"Your base?" Sam asks.
"And who are you?" Alex asks.
"I had the same question for all of you. You're clearly not from around here," the man says.
"Might want to tell us on the way," Parker says.
Gunfire spurs everyone into action. They hurry to climb out of the ditch, and follow Parker and the bearded man.
As they run, Steve comes up beside the bearded man and asks, "So, who exactly are you?"
"The name is Brian Braddock. But you can call me Captain Britain," is his response.
And, that's it for this chapter.
So, yes. The character I was introducing in this story is Captain Britain. For those of you who don't know who he is, he is from Marvel, and is kind of the guardian of Britain like Captain America is the guardian of America. However, his powers come magic, and are actually pretty cool. He's also the twin brother of Psylocke. Obviously, that's not the case in the MACU, but it doesn't make Captain Britain any less cool.
So, obviously, I replaced The Ray and Leo Snart with Captain Britain and Earth-X Spider Man, hereby to be known as Spider Man-X (whenever he speaks, I will use Parker instead of Peter to designate him). The main reason is because I felt The Ray was really only meant for this crossover, and I intend to use Captain Britain in a number of stories. At the same time, I felt Leo was just another way to return Snart to the Arrowverse, and since Snart is back in the MACU, I thought I'd change it up. Originally, I thought of doing Earth-X Natasha, but I decided on a different storyline for her, so I decided to go with Spider Man-X. But, if you do have a better name, feel free to suggest it.
So, next chapter will be up soon. In that one, you'll finally get the rest of the backstory on HYDRA, find out who the leader of the resistance is in this, and also see an Earth-X version of another MCU character. Until that chapter is up, please leave a review, and stay tuned!