Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or DC
Universal Collisions: Secret Crisis
Chapter 11: Avenging Justice
Earth 1956
Meanwhile on a very old world, heroes who were all super friends to one another, faced a darkness unlike anything they had ever seen before. Despite the weather very often being bright and cheery, the skies had grown dark; a tear had appeared and from that tear emerged the darkness that enshrouded the great growth. Tentacles began to spill out onto the sky, eating the animated clouds and moving towards the ground below. As always, the heroes responded.
"Inuk Chuk," declared Apache chief.
The native American hero grew to his giant size and acted as transport for civilians. A role similar to what Toshio Eto filled, creating funnels of wind that enabled him to float civilians from danger.
"How do you stop darkness Green Lantern?" The Flash asked, running alongside the flying Green Lantern.
"By turning on the light Flash," Green Lantern said.
He fired a blast from his ring, that seemed to make the darkness waver, only for a moment though. Suddenly, a tentacle shot out of the darkness. It pierced through Hal Jordan's shield and impaled him in the stomach. Superman, the Wonder Twins and Black Vulcan had been the closest to it, seeing the Green Lantern of Earth fall. But to add to a horror their world was so unused too, the tentacle began acting as a pump, drawing something out of Hal Jordan's body, something that caused his body to wither. He did not die however; the ring remained on his finger. The maw of the darkness opened, revealing rows and rows of teeth inside the creature's throat.
Black Vulcan and Superman unleashed respective lightning and electricity on the growth as it ate their drained friend. More of its tendrils expanded, consuming buildings and those still inside. The Wonder Twins had already transformed into their respective animal and water forms, bumping their fists together with the declaration 'Powers activate', Zan used his water form to move people through the streets, whilst as a Dolphin Jayna acted as a support for children. They were able to make out the sight of Superman firing his heat vision into the creature's more. But that wasn't enough to stop the Growth; it expanded, growing an appendage that crashed into Superman, seemingly crushing him.
"We need to get away, we need to…" Black Vulcan could only scream as tendrils wrapped around his arms.
They began to fuse with his costume and skin, stretching his skin back as they began to alter his costume. The same thing was being done to Zan by a tendril that hit the water, turning it grey and forcing Zan back to a humanoid form.
"ZAN!" Jayna screamed.
She had to watch her brother and friend both transform. Their bellies turned into snapping jaws, water gushing out of Zan's whilst Black Vulcan's turned into an electric battery. But something else happened to them too, their very identities began to change as their Cancer-verse mutations began to disappear. Zan's skin turned white, his hair growing to shoulder length, his costume also changed into a black suit with purple body armour, he became the Ultiman Downpour, his teeth growing into fangs whilst his eyes glowed purple.
Black Vulcan's cowl and head expanded, gradually being replaced by a helmet with glowing shades. His fabric suit shifted into blue and yellow armour. The lightning he wielded turned purple and he opened his mouth, his jaw expanding to reveal sharp electrified tips instead of teeth. Electrical processors burst out of his back, matching his new name of Juice.
Meanwhile, back at the hall of justice.
"Great octopi of death Batman, it's some kind of crisis out there, we've lost contact with Aquaman and Wonder Woman," the boy wonder Robin said.
"Flash is running as fast as he can, but I don't think even the fastest man alive can outrun this," Wendy said.
Her brother Marvin ran into the room, sweat running down his head.
"We've got a huge problem guys," he said.
"What is it Marvin?" Batman asked.
"Wonder Dog, he…isn't exactly himself," Marvin said.
He turned to the doorway as a grey paw slammed into the ground. The green cloaked dog had an expanded body and a jaw like a bull dog, only tusks were sticking out of its mouth now.
"Wonder Dog, boy, it's me Wendy, please…"
The dark haired girl couldn't finish her sentence, as the dog suddenly snapped its jaws over her. Ripping her body apart, it left her legs alone to Marvin and Robin's horror. Batman threw several electrical batarangs at the monster and grabbed Marvin, swinging over the dog with his grappling hook.
"All heroes, it's time we enacted the Crisis protocols, Flash, Firestorm, you all know what to do," Batman explained.
Robin threw several smoke bombs at the mutated dog, providing himself with cover before following his mentor.
"Golly Batman, you always have a plan, so how do we intend to save the world?" the boy wonder asked.
"Unfortunately Robin, there is no way to save the world," Batman said and the two boys looked at him in shock.
"What are you talking about Batman, the Justice League, the Super friends always win," Marvin said.
"Not today, all there is left to do is save as many people as we can, to evacuate people to another Earth, the one we have chosen is Earth 59, home to the Wonder Woman Tara Terruna. Flash do you read, are you prepared?" Batman asked.
"I am Batman, it has been an honour," Flash said.
It was a move that required him to sacrifice, to put everything he was on the line. The Flash was carrying out his last run across the world, seeing the consumption of land marks as he vibrated, intending to become a portal into the Omni-verse.
But just as he was about to reach that sacrificial speed, a wind funnel struck the ground, lifting the Flash upwards. Toshio looked down at the broken speedster, only he wasn't Toshio anymore. He was Wind Dragon, his red and white armoured suit and shorter hair reflecting this change, his skin had turned grey and his eyes now glowed purple, signifying he had been taken. Batman, Robin and Marvin looked up in horror as their view of the sun was blocked out. Apache Chief revealed he too had been taken, becoming instead Long Shadow, the man abandoned his head band for a sleeveless costume and he gave off purple energy with his growth.
Behind him was a more horrific sight, the Growth stretched out from Earth, splitting to consume other planets. But the biggest part of it grew and grew until its maw became like a tornado, a tornado of darkness and flesh that gradually and as it had other Earth's, swallowed the sun. The light of the Earth went out just as Long Shadow brought his foot down on the last remaining Super Friends.
Earth 0
Sara wiped her eyes as she leant against what had once been Gideon's interface console. Gideon was now a living, breathing woman, even in a relationship with a Legend and crew member. The console Sara stood at provided holographic views of the Multiversal map, provided by Joan Garrick, and a feed direct to S.T.A.R labs, the watch tower in National City and an A.R.G.U.S. facility. A.R.G.U.S director Lyla Diggle was at the facility with John 'Spartan' Diggle, Roy Harper and Thea Queen-Harper and Felicity Smoak. J'onn was at his watch tower with M'gann, Dreamer and Alex Danvers and S.T.A.R labs had the full team Flash roster, as well as their new visitors.
"The Fantastic Four huh, that's…actually really awesome branding," Cisco said.
"And you have yours truly to thank for that," Johnny Storm pointed his thumb at himself smugly.
"Enough, we just lost another Earth," J'onn said.
"I'm sorry, that's what we're here for too, to help through this crisis," Reed Richards said.
"We'll take any help we can get," Barry said.
"Good, because as we've been combing the Multiverse we've lost Earths 59, Earth 16…"
"Oh no, not that Earth with, what were they Young Justice?" Cisco asked.
"No Cisco, that Earth where the heroes were celebrities, 'the Just' they called themselves, and before I add Earth 96 to that list I don't mean the Earth of Ray's doppelganger, but damn I would have preferred the Super Hero Girls stayed safe," Sara explained.
"We really need to consider revising our understanding and categorising of the Multiverse, or Omniverse, as the other Barry Allen called it," Chester muttered.
Noticing the intrigued expression on Reed's face, Barry elaborated.
"We were briefly visited one time by a Barry Allen Flash who existed on his Earth 0. He provided some notes and amongst them were names of different Earths, designations," he explained.
"But understandably the Multiverse is so vast that it would be common to find Earths identical to one another that even have the same designation," Reed said.
"Exactly, what do you understand about this Crisis?" Barry asked.
"We were tracking the path of the event before the Watcher contacted us about the marks. Earths 8311, 61112, 1081, 2108 and 9021, as well as a large number of not yet catalogued Earths," Reed stated.
"The same with us mostly, but we've been held back by the fact that our own villains have been carrying out Multiversal Incursions," Diggle said.
The fact that every one of her friends looked shocked didn't surprise Lyla. She leant forward in her chair and saw that they all looked at her expecting an answer to the question she suspected they all had. Fortunately her husband was there to provide the answer, with no hesitation and no judgement towards her.
"We were tracking several known criminals not limited to Joe Wilson and Latavious Johnson, some of them went off the grid but reappeared in a New Orleans swamp along with a structure of some kind," he explained.
Lyla nodded to one of her staff, who emailed one of the satellite photos to S.T.A.R. labs, from there Chester then downloaded it to the others. They each looked at the image of the figures gathering in New Orleans, even coming to blows. Then they saw the Legion of Doom's head quarters, as engineers Cisco and Chester were in awe but they also shared everyone else's shock, especially when the next slide showed it fading out of existence.
"They've cracked Multiversal travel, they cracked it," Cisco remarked in bitter self-pity.
"So did Reed, and a few other scientists in the Multiverse, so not that great an achievement in comparison," Ben said.
Sue cast a look at the Thing, one that told him it wasn't the time for his bluntness.
"Winters and Lena were able to latch onto the same wavelength that the Legion's headquarters moved through, or at least that's the non-scientific explanation for it," Lyla explained.
"What I don't get is why attack us? Surely they know that the Multiverse is dying right?" Allegra asked.
"When people like them are faced with the chance to attain ultimate power, they'll risk even the end of the world to obtain it," Reed said.
"The voice of experience?" Frost asked.
"Yes," Sue said and the cryomancer felt even colder because of the blonde woman's stare.
"So many Earths have already fallen, more are disappearing as we speak, so what hope do we have?" Barry asked.
"We're still around, so we still have hope," Reed said. "One thing I've learned is that the Multiverse is filled with heroes, and the one thing they should all have in common is that they don't give up!"
Earth 616
LA was where She-Hulk had been operating for the past few weeks since her debut. Taking to heart a lesson taught to her by a friend (with benefits she might sometimes add), Jennifer Walters helped people with the law when society failed them, and She-Hulk helped people when the law failed them. A new vigilante though operated on the streets over the course of She-Hulk's Avengers tenure. People called him Hulk JR, Hulkling, Gladiator Hulk or just 'a fucking Hulk with a big-ass sword'. Morris and Elaine Walters however simply knew him as a member of the family. Elaine was still in a daze, but Morris was used to troubling and dangerous situations.
Now, he was a simple man, but he was by no means stupid. A veteran beat cop, Morris had been through life and death scenarios, and he had faced volatile people in the past. When the memories came back he retreated to his office and retrieved his old service pistol. Slipping it into the back of his jeans, he walked back into the living room.
"Skaar," he called out.
"Is there something the matter uncle?" he heard the hulk ask from the other room.
"Nothing, just wondering what you want for dinner?" he asked.
As he spoke though he used sign language with his wife. He made the symbol of a card and Elaine, herself no fool, knew what he meant. There were benefits to having a family member as an Avenger, even a newly recruited one.
Though Pepper Potts couldn't quite understand why, she, Sam, Rhodey and Strange remembered something, something so important that they knew they needed to make contingencies. It was as if they had abandoned one of their own, it wasn't just what happened to Wanda that inspired them to get organised, or even what happened with Clint and Kate over Christmas. To be an Avenger had to mean that they were part of a family, as Natasha Romanoff liked to think of it as.
Being family meant being there for one another.
Just as Elaine pushed the panic button, they heard something drag against the ground.
He emerged from the kitchen, dragging a Sakaarian sword against the floor. Behind his back they laughed at him, for his shaved haircut mostly. Elaine even once called Skaar cute, but when he walked towards them he looked anything but cute.
"What's wrong uncle? You said nothing was wrong, yet I can hear the panic bell going off, you see my ears are large they can pick up sounds yours cant, like the beat of your heart, suddenly panicking. Why are you panicking uncle, auntie, are you afraid, what do you have to be afraid of?" he ranted, towering over Morris.
"Nothing really my boy, so what would you like for dinner? Anything you want, in fact we go could go out now and get it if you want," Morris explained.
"It must be sad mustn't it, to have lost it all, the memory of a happier Bruce, a Bruce who hadn't suffered at the hands of his own father. Oh Elaine, now you have to have the memory of how much of a monster your brother was," Skaar explained.
"A happier Bruce? You think the Banners were the only ones who carried emotional scars, my girl is my bright spark, but you see she's always been like me, we fake it to make it, never let them see how much it bothers you, that's always been my philosophy. A happier Bruce," Morris scoffed. "I know when someone's faking it, even if he was playing Bruce, he still couldn't hide that deep down inside, he was still carrying a monster with him."
"Yet you did nothing, just like you both did nothing before," Skaar said.
"You'd better watch your fucking mouth boy," Morris said.
"There it is, it seems a short fuse isn't limited to the Banners!"
The Skrull grinned, the signature ridges of his species appearing on his chin as he reached for Morris. His hand was larger than Morris's head; he had the size and strength to obliterate the man. But still Morris wasn't afraid; he just stood glaring at the creature that deceived his family. Then he smiled as a hissing sound was heard to their right. Skaar paused just in time for two fists to collide with his face. Jennifer was home, and she had brought new friends.
"Good to see you again Wong," Elaine said.
The sorcerer Supreme raised his hands, summoning his runes and then releasing a blast that knocked back Skrull. Every mirror and window in the Walters house hold seemed to shatter, the very ground beneath Skaar became a rotating puzzle box, pushing Skaar through a wall and onto the streets outside. The grass beneath him rose like upside down rain, drawing his attention to the sky, clouds folded inwards, and the edges of the world were revealed.
Trapped within the mirror realm, Skaar was left at the mercy of a very angry She-Hulk, and a very eager to fight Amazon.
"Who the hell are you?" Skaar demanded, looking towards Diana.
She removed her sword and shield from her back, flipping her hair back as she confidently walked towards him.
"Someone who is a big fan of truth," she said.
Skaar was about to run at her when he heard She-Hulk yell. Roaring like a behemoth, Jennifer jumped in front of Skaar and delivered another punch to his chin. The blow shattered the space around them, and again segments of the mirror realm broke when Jennifer punched Skaar's cheek, then his gut, and then his face again. He swung his sword, but she ducked and weaved around him, punching his side and then his mouth. Jennifer did more than just seek legal advice and date Matthew Murdock; the boxer's son had given her some tips outside of her She-Hulk form. Combining those tips with her gamma and anger enhanced strength, made her an ideal opponent against a Hulk.
Then came the next best part, natural synthesis, like Aeon and his fusions, certain team members could work together even if it was their first time meeting. When Jennifer held onto Skaar's arm to keep him from slashing, Diana dived and slammed her shield into his face. Diana slashed Skaar's knee and hit his chin with her shield. She ducked to avoid one of his slashes, making him recoil with a slash to the chest. He stumbled back and Diana crouched, putting her shield onto her back. It provided Jennifer with a platform to jump off of. Skaar snarled at the heroes, only for a sword to strike his shoulder. The sword was attached to a glowing orange rope.
Wong held onto his weapon, manipulating the mirror dimension to take the mirror houses to the skies. Up there, Jennifer ran and jumped between the buildings, building up her speed. Simultaneously, Diana wrapped her lasso of truth around Skaar's neck. Together, the princess of the amazons and the sorcerer supreme brought the Skrull to his knees. Then from the sky came She-Hulk, and a with a great roar she slammed her balled fists into the back of his head, crashing him face first to the ground and creating a crack that spread through the mirror dimension.
Strange didn't stop with saving She-Hulk's parents though. He opened a portal to the Stark labs in Malibu, where some supplies would be picked up by the Avengers support group. Spider-man and Cyborg though were leading this group, Riri Williams and Harley Keener were both smart in their own right, but it wasn't intelligence that enabled them to access the lab. It was a personal connection to Tony. Spider-man inputted the password for Tony's armoury.
"How did you do that?" Harley asked.
"That wasn't a hack it was just Stark's password," Riri said.
"Jocasta, engage Young Avenger protocols, code phrase: 'Iron Lad-father's leave, no need to cry about it'," Spider-man said.
"Affirmative, nanites engaged, armour lab activating," the AI's voice echoed through the speakers built into the wall.
It was a place that was supposed to look like Tony's old armour lab, back during the days he operated without Obadiah Stane's knowledge to build his first armours. Replicas of the first three Marks were put on the far wall and Spider-man looked at them, a fond expression on his face. Holographic terminals appeared at Harley's side and Riri herself took to a terminal, coming face to face with the holographic form of Jocasta. The woman appeared to have silver hair and was dressed in a silver suit.
"Should we be at all worried that Tony designed another AI, and doubly worried that it's a sexy woman?" Riri asked.
"No," both boys said.
"And thank you for the compliment Riri Williams, whose your friend?" Jocasta asked, eying Cyborg.
"Okay, if we're going to take these guys on we need sonic weaponry, high tensile cables for capture and tasers with an output of 200 milliamps," Spider-man explained.
"200 milliamps could seriously hurt someone," Harley said.
"That's the general idea, it's the limit of voltage that could injure a person but not typically kill them, you'll need to account for possible enhanced strength too," Cyborg explained.
He didn't need a holographic terminal. Within seconds he was within a digital space, watching Tony Stark himself work on armours. Victor Stone appeared as he last was, a young football champ fresh from his victory, his hands in his jersey pockets as he watched the late billionaire, inventor and armoured Avenger work. Jocasta appeared next to him, a fond smile crossing her face.
"He was in a sense my father, not the greatest of men, but he did his best," she said.
"Sometimes that's all people can do, their best," Victor said.
"I am trained in psychology, I could see in both your digital expression and voice regret," she said.
"I'm still mourning someone, he did his best too and I didn't acknowledge that, I take it Tony Stark wasn't a perfect man by any means either, but still he saved the world," Victor explained and smiled slightly.
It was a sentiment that Jocasta shared, looking at the digital representation of her creator.
"Micro-gyros for a speed enhancement, titanium plates reinforced with a magnetic weave for protection from magnets, can also generate an energy shield, additional back mounted articulated arms made from a mono-atomic iron alloy crystal and ventilated concussive technology," the avatar explained.
"I may have some ideas on that front too, it might be a little obvious, but have you ever considered using your holographic emitters for more than just buttons?" Victor asked.
The Tony Stark hologram looked at Cyborg for a moment before going 'Huh, I did not'.
Strange's third portal was for the Pym laboratories. Hank Pym raised his eyebrows in surprise as Atom, Supergirl, Shang-Chi Black Lightning, and Monica walked through with Cassie and Kate. He shook his head as Cassie eyed one of the vials of Pym particles.
"Fascinating, you use a chemical formula for your growth and shrinking, I never thought of that, what about the effects on the mind?" Ryan asked.
"That's what the helmet is for," Janet Pym said, walking into the room.
"Your dad will kill us if we let you stay involved with this," Hank said.
"You two certainly can't get involved; this is what I've been studying for I…"
"Am still someone else's little girl, we're here for the Pym particles to save someone's life Doctor Pyms, right now a girl has been kidnapped and we don't know how far these villains are willing to go to ," Shang-Chi explained.
"As a father myself I wouldn't want my girls to be in this mess either, but I know she'll go behind her dad's back," Black Lightning said.
"So you intend to use the quantum realm to try and find America, well there is a danger in that, the Avengers had no choice before but there was always a chance that they could unleash havoc on our world," Janet explained.
"Then help us, help us navigate it," Supergirl said.
"We don't have time to wait around for my dad so…" a portal suddenly opened as Cassie finished talking.
"What's this I hear about you wanting to suit up Peanut?" Scott Lang asked.
He was in his pyjamas to Cassie's embarrassment.
Finally Strange's fourth portal opened on the outskirts of Wundagore with Superman slamming between Magnus and the heroes of 838. He had landed with such force that the ground shook, making some of the people stumble. Magneto and Magnus both put their hands to their heads, their ears ringing from the pop of Superman breaking the sound barrier. Scarlet Spider's senses warned him, warned him that the very possibility of fighting Superman was a danger in itself. The Inhuman Karnak was in shock, though Superman was at half strength, every bit of Karnak's abilities told him that there was no weakness to be perceived from the Kryptonian. Even Sabretooth, a ruthless killer, with his animal instinct told him to run and run as fast as he could.
"That's enough," Superman said, crossing his arms over his chest.
"I'm assuming you all heard what the watcher said, about the marks of destiny, well right now one of them, America Chavez has been taken by a group of villains. Your Illuminati made the mistake of not heeding my warnings, instead of helping her, they judged her value, well I'm here to get help to get her back," Strange explained.
"Stephen!"
Strange, Magnus and Superman turned and saw Wanda walking out of the house. She was hugging her arms as she went, and Stephen's eyes widened when he saw the bandages around her wrists.
"Please," she said with tears in her eyes. "Let me help!"
Sven Reilly grew up watching heroes, his father and uncle, the heroes he read of in comics and those who helped in the community. The young man wanted to be a hero; he wanted to be better than he was.
"So you need a way to track America, would have been great if we had someone who could Vibe," Alex Winters said.
When he looked at Alex Winters, he couldn't help but see a bully.
A stark contrast to the Alex Winters of Superman's universe. Bruce Banner's cry of pain preceded a fight with the Justice League reserves. That's what Alex focused on, the cry of pain, the agonising grief that Alex tried to overcome himself but failed to, and lost his ability to walk because of it. The implant he designed and his family produced would fail one day like any aid would as someone got older. The diamond Hulk knocked Steel back and grabbed Plastic Man, trying to rip him apart. O'Brian was sturdy, perhaps even immortal, but even he could feel pain as Hulk pulled at his skin. It was made worse by the fact that Zatanna was hitting the Hulk with blasts of fire.
Both Alex Winters and Sven Reilly were in a sense counterparts to one another. They wanted to save people, that was their way of being good enough. Both in their own eyes and to the world they needed to save people, their own feelings being the secondary motivation. But just like many others whom had opinions on heroes, they thought that maybe that is what a hero should be, someone who saves someone.
"All right we've got ourselves a Nexus being with us, she's no Dream but she's got the experience with the Dark Hold, let's see if we can gather the energy we need without ripping the world apart," Constantine explained.
On Earth 616, Alex Winters used his armour in a very different manner than what his Earth 1 counterpart did. The material came out of his wrists as nanites and began to construct an improved version of the Avenger's quantum tunnel. John Constantine and Lena were already running arcane energies through it, energies drawn from the unseen channel of magic in the world. The place the Avengers had chosen to drawn on this energy was the place where it was at its most present, Stone Henge. The Alex Winters of Earth 0 created constructs of grey and yellow over the stones, and the Flash ran around the Quantum platform, providing it with a link to the Multiverse.
'I want to save others,' both thought.
Both Alex Winters of Earth 1 and Sven Reilly thought this. The former as he grabbed hold of the Hulk and flew him into the air, and the latter as he used bandages to patch his torn sleeves. He looked at the Quantum GPS he wrapped around his wrist, and thought it again.
'I want to save others,' they thought.
Aeon stepped onto the centre of the platform and extended his hand.
'I want to save her,' he thought.
'I want to save him,' Alex thought as he carried Hulk.
Aeon's markings glowed as the Quantum tunnel was turned on. The silhouette of his armour appeared over him as he looked up. Electrical sparks came out of his eyes as the machines whirled around him. Lena, Strange, Wanda and the Constantines looked at the effects of their magic in wonder, the energy Aeon generated began to change their spells, shaping them. Though he wasn't a magician himself, his powers were still very much determined by his will power, just like the intentions behind the words and hand movements of the wizards and witches determined the effects of their spells. Even the Flash's speed force was influenced by the will, Barry saw his lightning flicker between blue and gold and for a moment he thought he saw others running with him.
"Can't say I like this version of our dad," Bart said, running with his sister XS.
"Biologically speaking he isn't our father, not being a doppelganger," Nora Allen said.
"We call them variants," Nora and Bart looked to their sides and saw another Impulse and XS.
Only Impulse was a Caucasian boy with brown hair, and XS most definitely wasn't an unmasked Nora with shorter sleeves. Their variants disappeared just as quickly as they appeared, so too did Nora and Bart, leaving the Barry Allen of Earth One alone, with himself. He saw to both his right and left who he was, the unemployed dumpster diver who made his costume from scavenged alloys and went on to reverse time to save the world, and who he could be.
Who he could be was a curious question to Barry. The counterpart he saw to his right seemed very different to Barry, a different costume, perhaps even a different face. Was he to die and be replaced as the Flash? Was time to change so much that his face would be different, or was he looking at a completely new Flash for a completely new world? These questions did not burn at his mind for long. Whatever Flash he was or could be, was not who he was in the moment, so he closed his eyes, raised his arms and ran with the speedforce, letting it join with the power of Aeon's spirit.
He became a torrent of energy, a tornado of force and magic and the very portal through which the heroes would take to save one life.
That was Alex's objective too, saving the life of Bruce Banner. One life mattered just as much as thousands, which was how many people would suffer if Alex let the Hulk reach the city. He added more rocket thrusters to his armour, controlling the grapple with the Hulk with just his propulsion. The Hulk punched at his strengthened armour, tearing chunks off of it, ripping some of the thrusters off of the back. Alex held on though, shifting his flight course into a dive bomb into one of the mountainous areas. They slammed into the ground, the Hulk immediately bursting out of the rubble and throwing a punch at Alex. Paladin shaped one of his arms into a cuff like pincer, latching it onto the Hulk's wrist.
"His anatomy is still human, but he's generating high levels of gamma radiation," Rikai stated.
"I know, hence the lead restraints," Alex said.
He trapped Hulk's other hand, then shaped his chest plate into a sonic cannon. Hulk's hair and skin was blown back by the high frequency sonic boom Paladin generated. The armoured hero continued, hitting the Hulk again and again, trying to render him unconscious. But driven by pain and rage, the Hulk ripped the armour off of Alex's arms, exposing them. Paladin backed away, dodging Hulk's swipe. He wrapped his arms around Bruce's neck and shoulder, trying to get him into a lock. But the diamonds on Bruce's back dragged across Alex's side, drawing blood.
'Don't give up,' he thought.
Heroes saved people, that was the fundamental ideal that led Sven Reilly and others to take up masks. Within moments of arriving back at the Legion of Doom's headquarters, America felt hope as she saw the whirlwind appear inside the Legion's base. Vandal Savage widened his eyes in shock whilst the other members surrounded him.
Poison Ivy narrowed her eyes curiously as two Batmen came out of the portal first. They were quickly joined by Cap, Rhodey, Shang-Chi, Bucky and Kate, with Superman, Aquaman, Batwoman, Supergirl, Black Lightning, Hawkgirl and Hawkman.
"Get away from her," Superman said.
"I've been looking forward to using these," Vandal said, brandishing his Kryptonite knives.
"You wish to add to your list of the dead fools," Sinestro said.
He was about to fly at the League and Avengers, when a boom tube opened. Cyborg flew out, and to the Legion's shock he was in thicker armour. He fired his sonic cannon, knocking Sinestro into the wall.
"Now this I could get used to," Victor said, admiring the Arc reactor on his chest.
His charges quickly came out of the portal, Spider-man in his iron spider armour, Harley in a slim silver and red armour, and Riri in feminine red, gold and black armour.
"Avengers, Ass…"
"Kick!" Kate said, firing an arrow before Sam could finish his sentence.
The arrow released a smoke on the Legion of Doom. Sam shot an annoyed look at Kate as she and Shang-Chi jumped into the fray. Lala tried to loud one of the guns Savage had given him, but he was quickly hit with a lightning bolt.
"This is way too big for you Lala," Jefferson said.
"Ditto you," Lala seethed.
"YOU!" Black Manta yelled, firing his eye beams at Arthur.
Aquaman deflected the blast with his trident and clashed weapons with his rival. Black Manta slid a blade out of his wrist, attempting to stab the king of Atlantis. But Arthur jumped back, leaving Black Manta open to a blast from Shang-Chi's rings. Riri and Harley surrounded the pirate, dodging his blasts by respective flight and running (speed enhanced through the gyros courtesy of the Tony Stark AI). Harley fired a concussive blast into Manta's back, and Riri followed up with a punch.
"Kryptonian I see, yet weaker than the ones in my world," Sinestro said as he fired blasts at Kara.
She took some of those blasts, but only to defend the Batmen and Kane. Kara flew at Sinestro, unleashed blue lines of heat vision he blocked with a bubble shield. She punched the bubble, knocking him through Legion headquarters. Cheetah ran at Peter, prompting Spider-man to jump onto the ceiling. She jumped and jumped, trying to reach him.
"This is actually pretty comfortable up here," he said.
He taunted Minerva with a laser pointer, trying to get a catlike reaction from her. She simply snarled before a boxing glove slammed into her cheek.
"Kate, the boxing glove arrow isn't going to work,' well wait until you see me now Clint," Hawkeye said.
She walked forward, only to breath in green particles. Her pupils diluted and her gaze was drawn towards Poison Ivy. The mistress of the green smirked as she swayed her hips, walking towards Kate.
"So young, so impressionable, hopeful, but it's all an act isn't it?" she asked.
"I…I," Kate trembled.
Poison Ivy caressed Kate's cheeks gently, slowly pulling her in.
"Don't worry girl, you don't have to fight me, in fact you won't be fighting anymore," Ivy whispered.
The red haired villain's attention though was distracted when someone tapped her shoulder. She turned, meeting America's fist.
"Maldita Sea, I wouldn't mind the red haired seductress if it wasn't so date rapey, come on princess, despertar," Chavez said, clicking her fingers in front of Kate's eyes.
She was suddenly grabbed by Savage, who wrapped one arm around her neck and began dragging her back.
"Stop, all of you STOP RIGHT NOW!" he yelled.
"My pleasure," Grodd said.
He rubbed the top of Turtle's head, spreading the effects of the still force.
A space between worlds
Being a hero also meant enduring. That was what the Watcher had learned through observing many different realities, even when hope was futile, even when they were destined to fail; heroes still wade through hardships and pain.
The Watcher looked at where Steve Rogers was a year after he had disappeared; the super soldier was suspended by his arms against a wall. His prison was dank and ill lit, hardly the technological wonder one would expect from aliens. Part of Steve wondered if these people were funded in some way (if such a concept existed for aliens, which space thing was it that did away with monetary profit Star Wars?) or if they were renegades to their government (again if such a thing existed for them, maybe they were lucky and didn't have to worry about accords or secretaries). He heard the door click open and the patter of footsteps, the scientist, and the heavier steps, the warrior…no, soldier, Steve recognised a subtle march. The scientist looked up at him with his hands behind his back, tilting his head when Steve began to chuckle.
"Little green men," he muttered.
"Our deception was a failure, at least that one was, my superiors think there's nothing more we can gleam from you. We already have your DNA to sim, but I believe there are some key facts in your memory for us to extract, unless you're willing, well Captain is there anything you'd like to tell us?" the scientist revealed one of his hands, covered by a claw like glove much like one of those horror films Sam had him watch.
"There is," Steve said, his eyes narrowing with determination. "Name: Steven Rogers, rank: Captain, serial number: 54985870 and that's all you're ever going to get from me."
The scientist sneered before he began to move towards Steve, electricity sparking between his claws.
Next Chapter 12: Resolution
Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, the battle between good and evil concludes next time, at least for this arc.
Trivia and truth: Steve's scene in this was inspired word for word by the brilliant Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes series, the episode being Prisoner of War, of which I count as one of the top Captain America moments in media.
Sad Trivia truths: the DC Dark Crisis: Big Bang One-shot introduced some names for some Earths in the DC Omni-verse, counting some Earths that have sadly fallen victim to the Crisis.
Earth 1956: The Earth where the Super-Friends and connected series took place.
Earth 59: One of the first parallel Earths introduced, and sadly where any survivors of Earth 1956 went to.
Earth 96: Sara's reference was pretty much the summary of this Earth, we won't be seeing the DC Super Hero girls.
Earth 16: Not the Earth where Young Justice (TV Series) takes place, so chill, but the Earth showcased in the Multiversity event.
Unfortunately the Marvel side of things haven't escaped things either, and these are real Earths as identified by the Marvel Database Wikia:
Earth 9021: Introduced in the What If Comics series, What if the Scarlet Witch said 'No more powers', all special abilities were erased with the exception that perhaps Peter Parker's daughter developed super powers, until the darkness consumed their peaceful world.
Earth 2108: Okay this was just a no brainer for me I admit, introduced in What If Civil War, this Earth saw Tony Stark die from Extremis leaving Steve as the only spokesperson for super heroes. All of the super heroes unite with him come the registration act, with the government forces being led by Henry Gyrich, long story short and typical of What if, every super hero unceremoniously dies, followed by everyone else during this crisis.
Earth 61112: An Earth where Ultron won, spreading his drones throughout the entire world and pushing the heroes and humans underground, the subject of the Age of Ultron comic series. Originally existing as part of Earth 616's future, it was turned into an alternate Earth through time travel shenanigans.
Earth 1081: A significant Earth I'm afraid, the Earth of the Exiles's Morph. The Exiles being a team of reality hoppers charged with 'restoring' the rightful course of different realities. But in both my Redeemer and Universal Collisions, their mission is very different. Sadly in this new canon Morph will never be able to return home.