Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter. Hope you like this one.
Also, I've made my decision. Captain Britain will be portrayed by Henry Cavill. Also, his uniform will be comic book accurate.
So, in case everybody didn't know, the final two parts of Crisis on Infinite Earths have finally come out. I honestly liked them, although I thought they could've been better. Hopefully, my version of Crisis will be good.
Let's get to it.
Chapter 12- War on Two Fronts
"Now, you referenced 150 guards. I assume most of them are around the perimeter?" Oliver asks, gesturing to a diagram of the facility.
"Right," Parker says.
"Alright. We fight throw them outside, we access the main corridor. What is security like inside the hangar?" Oliver asks.
"I'll do some recon," Barry says. He races off, then returns two seconds later.
"So, the entire facility has metahuman dampeners," Barry says.
"Well, that's bad. We can't take the facility if you guys don't have your powers," Natasha says.
"Well, the intelligence SHIELD has shows a control room off the main hangar. That must be where the dampener is located," Bruce says.
"Well, it's not like we can take the main control room without powers either. It's not like we blend in here," Laurel says.
Steve starts to smile. "I think I know how to get in," he says.
A short time later, Coulson pulls Brian and Parker aside. "I'm allowing this mission against my better judgment. You guys have one hour," he tells them.
"Thank you, sir," Brian says.
"You better be able to do this, because I am not giving you more time. If you don't make it through that gateway in time, I will blow that place to kingdom come," Coulson says.
"Understood, sir," Brian says.
(Earth-1, STAR Labs)
Overgirl is not strapped to a table beside Kara. Dark Arrow is standing over Overgirl, while Blitzkrieg is preparing for the surgery.
"Red light saturation is complete," Blitzkrieg says, sticking a needle into Kara's arm to prove his point.
Dark Arrow looks down at Overgirl. "And you will wake up stronger than you've ever been," he says.
"I love you," Overgirl says to her husband.
Dark Arrow leans down, plants a kiss on her forehead, and says, "I love you." He then places a mask over her face, which begins the process of sedating Overgirl.
"Unfortunately, Miss Danvers, we need you awake for this procedure," Blitzkrieg says, opening up her jumpsuit a bit and reaching for his tools.
"My-my cousin…he'll find you. And so will the rest of the Avengers," Kara says defiantly.
Blitzkrieg chuckles. "Your cousin. Your cousin is fast, but not as fast as me. And the remaining Avengers pose no threat. We have a team of our own," he says. He then activates the saw in his hand.
At the same time, in the Time Vault, Rhodey is watching the feed from the medbay thanks to Gideon. "Guys! They're about to cut into Kara! I'm gonna have the power off in a moment. Get ready!" he says over the earpiece he's wearing.
Sure enough, a moment later, the power in the entire building shuts off. In a flash, Blitzkrieg and Dark Arrow are in the cortex.
"Just have backup power, but it's not enough," Blitzkrieg says.
"Well, everyone in the building has been accounted for. Where could people be hiding?" Dark Arrow demands.
"If there is someplace, I'll find it," Blitzkrieg says before speeding off to begin searching STAR Labs.
As he races off, in the medbay, a panel in the ceiling opens, and Loki and Laura jump down from the ceiling, Loki killing the two guards with two daggers to their necks.
"Hey, Kara," Laura says as she hurries up to Kara's bed.
"Quick. You have to get me to the sun. It'll restore my powers," Kara says weakly.
Laura and Loki unstrap Kara, and get her to her feet. The two then throw Kara's arms around their shoulders and start helping her to the elevator.
"I've got her. Open the door," Loki says to Laura. Laura hurries forward and presses the buttons.
The door then opens, and all three stare into the elevator, and Metallo. A moment later, Metallo fires a beam from his chest, knocking Kara flying.
In an instant, Loki, sizing up the situation, turns and runs, disappearing down a side hallway. "Loki!" Laura calls after him, but the God of Mischief is already gone. Laura grits her teeth, furious at Loki for abandoning her.
Metallo steps out of the elevator, turns to Laura, and says, "I don't think HYDRA is done with you yet."
(Earth-X)
At the main control center near the gateway building, a vehicle approaches the main gate.
"Your papers, Sturmmann," a guard demands.
"We don't have papers. This is a special visit," Bruce says, disguised as a HYDRA agent.
"Your papers. Now," the guard says, raising his rifle.
"Suit yourself. But, I think you better talk to the boss," Bruce says, gesturing to the back.
The guard looks at the back window as it rolls down, revealing Steve, dressed in the uniform of a HYDRA official. Steve turns to the guard, wearing the coldest look he can muster, and says in an iron tone, "As you were."
The guard is appalled at his behavior. "Mein gott. My apologies, sir!" he says before calling to the guards, "Let them through!"
Bruce smirks a bit as he starts to pull forward. The guard perform a HYDRA salute and says, "Thank you, Lord Militant!"
Bruce drives into the facility and parks. Steve gets out and walks towards the main control room.
As he enters, every person in the control room snaps to attention and salutes Steve. "Hail, Lord Militant!" they cry in unison. Though disgusted, Steve keeps calm and returns the salute. He then lowers his arms, and so do the HYDRA agents.
As Steve walks slowly further into the room, Lance hurries over to him. "Lord Militant. We were-we were not expecting you," he says.
"Nor was I anticipating being back so soon. However, when I heard what had happened, I felt I could leave the task on Earth-1 to the others long enough to return and deal with this. Thanks to your incompetence, the Earth-1 doppelgangers, MY DOPPELGANER…escaped his execution," Steve says coldly.
"Yes, he did," Lance says, remaining calm.
"And?" Steve demands.
"We are exhausting every possible means to locate them," Lance responds.
"Do better," Steve says coldly.
Lance looks at him for a moment, then asks, "Would you like us to delay deployment until we do so?"
"Deployment?" Steve asks, trying to sound unsure as to what specifically he is referring to.
"She is inbound and ready," Lance says.
Steve turns sharply towards a display screen, where the gateway is shown. Lance then pushes a button, and the Waverider appears. Or, not the Waverider. It is darker, and painted in HYDRA colors, with HYDRA markings.
"The Wellenreiter is fully operational and at the ready, Lord Militant," Lance says. He then glances over at Steve and asks, "Shall we send her through?"
Knowing they have to keep up the façade, and feeling confident they can deal with the Wellenreiter, Steve responds calmly, "As scheduled."
Lance nods slightly, then orders, "Begin!"
At the site, the gateway fires up, shooting a beam of energy to form a massive breach overhead, which the Wellenreiter flies right through.
"The Wellenreiter is on its way. Hail HYDRA!" Lance calls.
"Hail HYDRA! Hail HYDRA! Hail HYDRA!" the men in the control room cry.
"Hail HYDRA!" Steve adds.
(Cortex, Earth-1)
Laura glares at Blitzkrieg as he taps on a tablet.
"Report," Dark Arrow demands.
"Good news. The Wellenreiter's made the transition to this Earth," Blitzkrieg says.
"Kara is all that matters," Dark Arrow says firmly.
"That red sunlight we're flooding her with, that's burning off. So pretty soon, her cells will be so desaturated, we cannot perform the surgery," Blitzkrieg says.
"Fix it," Dark Arrow demands.
"I can't. At least not easily. It's gonna take me time to break through the encryption that's keeping the power off," Blitzkrieg says.
"Maybe this man can help, sir!" Blitzkrieg and Dark Arrow turn to see a HYDRA agent make his way into the room, holding Rhodey by his collar.
"Where did you find him?" Blitzkrieg demands.
"In a secret room, sir. It was pure luck. I happened to touch a section of wall that caused the room to open, and I found him inside. I believe he is the one who encrypted it," the agent says.
The agent shoves Rhodey further into the room, then moves to stand by the agents holding Laura hostage.
(Earth-X)
Steve continues to watch the screen for a few moments, then turns towards Lance, while looking around the facility.
"Is there anything else I can help you with, Lord Militant?" Lance asks.
"No. That will be all. Now that I have dealt with the pressing issues, I must return to Earth-1," he says.
"Very well," Lance says. He starts to turn away, then stops and says, "Before I go, I have something for you, Lord Militant. A gift to celebrate your visit."
Steve inclines his head slightly. Lance then turns around and says, "Guards!"
Several guards make their way into the room, struggling with a black man, who is trying to break free. Steve can hear him say, "Take these binders off, you SOBs, and we'll see who's the toughest."
The men shove the man to the ground. He looks up, and Steve has to try hard to keep his eyes widening a bit as he looks into the bruised and bloody face of Nick Fury.
"I know that you wished to make his eventual execution a grander affair, Lord Militant. However, this traitor has been proving quite difficult lately. I know how much you have looked forward to this day, and I thought we could celebrate your visit by finally ridding ourselves of the great Nick Fury," Lance says, handing a pistol to Steve, who takes it calmly.
Steve steps forward. Fury looks up at him with hate and says, "I'm going to kill you with my bare hands, you SOB." Lance scoffs at this.
Steve stands there, then raises the pistol and aims it at Fury's face. He holds it there for a moment, then whips around, aims it at Lance's face, then pulls the trigger. But, nothing happens.
Lance chuckles, then says, "Did you really think I would hand you a loaded weapon before VERIFYING WHO YOU ARE?!"
Steve reacts instantly, throwing the gun into Lance's face, then attacking the nearby agents. At the same time, Fury leaps to his feet and, despite having his hands bound, attacks the agents closest to him.
It doesn't take them very long to knock out all the HYDRA agents. When they're done, Steve and Fury turn to each other.
"What the **** is going on here?" Fury demands.
"Short version, I'm the doppelganger of Militant from another Earth. I'm trying to go back to my Earth," Steve says.
He then grabs an assault rifle, walks over and hands it to Fury after removing his bonds. "Get out of here. Head for the SHIELD base," he says.
Fury looks at Steve once, then nods before hurrying out of the room.
Steve then walks over to a control panel and turns off the power dampener. "Clear," he calls over comms.
A moment later, Barry and Pietro race in. "How did it-?" Barry starts to ask, before seeing the bodies lying on the ground.
"We have a problem. The gateway control's been damaged," Steve says.
"We can't turn it on?" Pietro asks.
"We can't here, but there should be a manual lever at the platform itself," Steve says.
"All right. We're gonna have to fight our way through," Barry says.
Meanwhile, outside the facility, Brian is watching the facility when his comm comes to life. "Braddock. Some of our agents went rogue and sent the weapon ahead without my authorization," Coulson says.
"Call it back, Director!" Brian responds.
"Too late. It's been programmed. There's no changing course now. There's nothing I can do," Coulson says before hanging up.
Brian curses, then gets on comms to the rest of the team. "Guys, we have a problem. Some SHIELD agents decided they didn't want to wait. They've sent a weapon to destroy the facility," he says.
"A weapon? You mean a missile?" Clint asks.
"Not exactly," Brian says.
At the same time, miles away, a red robot with a tornado swirling around its lower body is flying in the direction of the facility.
(Earth-1, the cortex)
"Colonel Rhodes. You will turn the power back on. Now," Dark Arrow says firmly.
"Like h***," Rhodes says.
Blitzkrieg speeds forward, grabbing Rhodey and pinning him against the wall.
"Rhodey!" Laura cries. As she glances at the guard who brought Rhodey in, she sees him making eyes gestures at her, as only his eyes are visible. After a moment, she realizes that the guard is Loki in disguise. Praying that Loki has a plan, she doesn't say anything more.
"You've nearly escaped death once already, Colonel. Now," Blitzkrieg says as he begins to vibrate his hand and lower it to Rhodey's chest, "I'm afraid you're not gonna escape this one if you don't turn the power back on!"
"Stop!' Everyone glances over and sees Kara stumbling into the cortex.
"You came for me! So don't hurt anyone else!" she declares. She then looks at Rhodey and says, "Just give them the code, Rhodey."
Rhodey looks at her, then sneaks a quick side glance at Loki, who makes a small eye gesture, signaling Rhodey to just do it. Sighing, Rhodey gives Blitzkrieg the code.
Blitzkrieg lets Rhodey go and picks up his tablet, typing in the code. A moment later, all the power comes back on.
"Let's go," Loki, in his disguise, says, and he and the others two guards move Laura and Rhodey out of the room.
(Earth-X)
"In ten minutes, Red Tornado's gonna bring down the entire facility, and I don't think there's anything we can do to stop it," Parker says.
"Then we have to reopen the gateway before that happens," Steve says. He then says, "Barry, Pietro, Brian, you three and Ultron-"
"Yeah. Stop a flying robot somehow," Barry says.
"Good. The rest of us will open the breach," Steve says.
"That's your whole plan?" Parker asks.
"Pretty much," Steve says.
"Wow, you're crazy. But I like it. Let's do it," Parker says.
"Ready for Tornado Watch," Brian says.
"Let's do it," Barry says before he and Pietro race out of the facility, Brian flying along behind them. As they race away from the facility, Ultron flies away from where the rest of the team has been waiting and joins them.
"You know, I think it'd be more fun if we all put on our costumes," Peter says. He then opens a bag he brought, revealing Steve's Captain America suit and Bruce's Batman suit.
(Few minutes later, the gateway)
HYDRA agents are racing around, trying to prepare for the expected assault. Lance is in the middle of them, ordering, "No one gets to the gateway! No one!"
HYDRA agents approach the front entrance, guns at the ready. Then, the doors begin to glow red before they fling themselves off their hinges. A moment later, Wanda walks in, throwing energy blasts as Firestorm flies in above her, throwing fireballs.
The rest of the team then rushes in. Oliver and Clint begin firing arrows. Laurel releases her scream on anything she can. Nate steels up and rushes forward to attack HYDRA agents, followed by Bruce and Steve. Natasha, Sam and Alex fire stolen pistols into the ranks of the HYDRA officers. And Parker shoots webs into the midst of them, restraining them.
HYDRA's front ranks shatter under the assault by the team. Then, more HYDRA agents rush forward to reinforce them, and the team scatters.
Lance grabs a gun for himself, walking towards the team in an effort to join the fight. But, out of nowhere, Natasha lunges around a crate and kicks him to the ground. She aims her pistol at his forehead, says, "Goodbye, SOB," and pulls the trigger.
(Route to the gateway)
Barry and Pietro to continue to race over the ground, with Brian and Ultron flying along behind them.
Finally, up ahead, they see Red Tornado approaching them. "Here we go!" Brian says.
Brian stops in mid air and fires a beam of energy at Red Tornado, who easily dodges it. Brian fires several more, but Red Tornado dodges them all. He then fires an air burst at the four, forcing them to scatter.
Ultron reaches and uses an anti-gravity device in one of his hands, yanking Red Tornado towards him. He then fires concussion beam at Red Tornado, but the beams don't even faze him.
Red Tornado flies after Brian, but Pietro races up behind the robot and tackles him to the ground. However, Red Tornado doesn't stay down, and takes off again, Pietro still holding onto him.
(The facility)
More HYDRA agents race into the facility. Firestorm and Bruce take cover behind some equipment.
"Okay, we're HYDRA free. Let's go," Bruce says.
Suddenly, Firestorm, relaying what Stein is saying in his head, says, "Wait. That there is an automated power cell. We need to activate it before using the control console." Then, as Jax, he says, "I can hotwire it."
Firestorm listens to Stein, then says, "You want to split up? Are you sure?"
Firestorm listens to Stein again, then nods and gets ready to run.
"I'll cover you. Go!" Bruce says before rushing the closest HYDRA agents. Firestorm takes off running, splitting into Jax and Stein along the way.
Jax races towards the power cell. Ripping off the cover, he starts working with the wires. It doesn't take him long to hotwire the power cell.
"Grey, we got power," Jax calls out.
Then, several HYDRFA agents drive up on a vehicle, with one firing a machine gun in Jax' direction. However, Clint appears out of nowhere and fires arrows at the vehicle, killing all the agents on it.
(Elsewhere)
Pietro starts vibrating his hand, ready to try and use it to rip Red Tornado's insides apart. However, Red Tornado shakes Pietro off. Brian flies down to catch him and easily does so.
Ultron tries to use his anti-grav weapons again before firing another concussive beam at Red Tornado. It only makes Red Tornado fly back a little bit. The robot easily recovers and resumes its course for the hangar, with Ultron and Barry in hot pursuit.
(The facility)
Oliver fires an arrow, killing yet another HYDRA agent. Beside him, Natasha fires her pistols, taking down several more.
"You know, I thought going to Barry and Wanda's wedding would be a lot more romantic," Natasha says conversationally.
"I know," Oliver replies equally as calmly.
More HYDRA agents flood into the facility, firing assault rifles and machine guns. The team takes shelter behind whatever they can, with Wanda erecting an energy shield around them.
The only ones not protected are Jax and Stein. Jax takes cover behind some equipment while shouting, "I'm pinned down!"
Stein, seeing this, while also seeing that the lever to activate the gateway is only a short distance away, decides to act. He runs out from his cover, running straight for the lever. However, about halfway there, there's a gunshot, and Stein freezes. A moment later, he collapses, revealing the HYDRA agent behind him.
Bucky is the first to spot it. Growling in anger, he immediately puts a bullet through the agent's head.
Jax notices it a second later, screaming, "Grey! No!"
Seeing Stein down, Wanda glares at the HYDRA agents, deciding she's had enough. "Take cover!" she shouts before using her powers to fly right out into the open. Before the HYDRA agents can take aim, she unleashes her powers in one massive concussive wave, disintegrating the rest of the HYDRA agents.
(Route to the facility)
Ultron continues to fire concussion beams at Red Tornado, but the robot shrugs them off. "For goodness sake! Ultron cries as he fires another beam at the robot, but it again fails.
Brian and Pietro catch up to Ultron and Barry. "If we don't stop him, he'll blow up our only way home and everyone else," Pietro says.
"We gotta take him out now," Barry says.
"I have an idea. Barry, Pietro, throw lightning bolts into the sky at the same time," Brian says.
Barry and Pietro race ahead, then start running in circles. Brian looks at Ultron and says, "Ultron, fire the biggest beam you can at those lightning bolts!"
"Got it," Ultron responds.
"Now!" Brian shouts.
Barry and Pietro stop and throw lightning bolts skyward. Brian unleashes a powerful energy beam, as Ultron fires a concussive beam from both hands. The four attack meet in one spot, creating a massive web of energy. Red Tornado flies right through it, and gets knocked off course. His parts begin to short circuit, and he crashes to the ground before exploding.
Inside the facility, Steve hurries over to Stein, where Jax is already trying to rouse him. "Barry, hurry up. Stein has been injured," Steve calls over comms.
"Okay, we're on our way," Barry says, and he and the other three hurry off.
"He's alive, but his condition is critical," Sam says.
"Gideon will fix him up," Nate says.
"It's too dangerous to move him," Alex protests.
"Not if he's Firestorm," Nate says, nodding to Jax. Jax nods back and clasps hands with Stein, merging into Firestorm.
"Alright, let's go home," Clint says as he pulls the lever, opening the gateway.
The team moves towards the gateway. Parker says, "Well, time to go put an end to this."
"You're a lot different from the Spider Man we know," Steve remarks before walking through the gateway. The rest of the team follows him, with Barry, Pietro, Brian, and Ultron bringing up the rear.
And, I'll end there.
I hope you guys liked this chapter. And I hope you liked who I chose as the person Lance tested Steve with. From the beginning, I couldn't think of a good person to fit the role, until I decided on SHIELD's backstory, and then I thought of Fury. Now, this may not necessarily be the last we'll have seen of Fury-X.
So, yes, Stein has been shot. But, I promise he will not die. If only because Gideon has fixed worse than that before.
Next chapter will be up soon. Until then, leave a review, and stay tuned!