With A Snap
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 74: Its Starts with An Earthquake
EARTH M-199999
NEW YORK CITY, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
AVENGER'S COMPOUND
Alexis sighed, "The Templin Institute is an organization of high regards among the Terran Empire."
Sam Carter asked, "Terran Empire?"
"Okay, stepping back a bit, this universe is ahead of ours by centuries. I'm not going into their whole history. Their Earth had some issues with aliens and was invaded. They eventually fought them off, and with the technology they recovered from the aliens, they used to take leaps tech-wise. Eventually, colonizing other worlds and even getting into wars with other civilizations. They at times had a feeling of imperialism."
"Okay," Tony remarked, "but the Institute, what's its deal?"
"I'm not sure; I don't know how it got founded. I don't know how they got the technology to jump universes. I know the Terran Empire did find these gates out in space left behind by some alien species. They were used so ships could cross interstellar distances in a blink. Maybe they found that tech could let them travel universes too. Maybe they found some other tech out there. Maybe they just stumbled upon it while developing something else. That happens."
"So, what do they want?" Sam asked.
Alexis shrugged, "The empire supported and started up the Institute; officially, they were to explore universes and learn. There is no strong evidence, but some say they pillage, exploit, intrude, and abduct. Like I've said, they were out there colonizing and in wars. Finding worlds with weapons or people with powers that they could easily exploit could be very tempting. Maybe it's not even the whole Institute; maybe they are just out there for knowledge but a dark side that wants power by any means. Not that I'm in a position to find out."
Sam asked him, "You're their enemy, right? The Man in 4039, what's that about?"
"They go into worlds, and they find things out, things they want to investigate more. In my world, there is plenty of magic, high-tech, and alien stuff. My job is to help the masquerade. The various powers in the world have kept all that stuff hidden from the mundane world so they can live without the fear of things in the dark. Part of that has me collect weapons, relics, and things that shouldn't be out with people or parties with politics on their minds. And since we deal with many threats, my friends and I got on their radar."
Scarlett, who'd stayed quiet, chuckled, "Yeah, since people keep trying to break in, we've gotten good at spotting people spying on us. We spotted and flushed them out. We talked things out, we were happy to trade some information, but things went sour."
"One of their agents tried to steal a weapon, and when we caught them, tried to use it on us. The results sucked, but we made it out. As they tried to escape, I managed to get the weapon back, but they set it off just as they headed back to their universe. The energies released mixed with their portal, and well, they didn't gel well. From what I found out, those who went through it arrived on the other merged in a howling mess of flesh."
Scarlett sighed, "They were radioing in about us, namely Alexis, who they had dubbed the Man in 4039."
"Their designation for our universe,"
"The Institute took that as a message, and they have never returned to our universe."
"If they ever find me anywhere where I'm less powerful, like outside my own universe, they'd kill me in revenge. Though I think they justify it as saying I'm far too dangerous to let live."
There was a tone in his voice, something Tony didn't think he'd heard before. Something he couldn't exactly describe. Maybe it was hurt, fear, or something else. Tony didn't fault him, and he wouldn't be happy with an extra-universal organization putting a kill order on him either.
Sam ran her hand through her short blonde hair, trying to take everything in, "Okay, so what's the plan?"
Alexis gave a small smile, "Okay, we walk in and just access their computers."
"That's it?" Sam was trying not to yell.
"Scarlett and I know how the Institute works, so we're going to tell them what they want to hear." He held up a flash drive, "We give them information on The Snap. Thanos, the Stones, the data we have gathered about the breaks in the walls of reality. I'm guessing they have some idea about it, but since we haven't spotted them here, I'm guessing they couldn't track it in time. Probably issues caused throughout the empire distracting them."
"And are we going to ignore the whole kill you on sight thing?" Tony had to bring up.
"I got a disguise, and I know how to hide in front of people looking for me."
Scarlett smiled, shrugging, "Trained by tricksters and raised by demons. We know how to fool people."
Alexis continued, "We will offer them the information and talk things over in turn for letting you guys research the orb."
"You're sure that's going to work." Tony doubted.
"Looking through their files is worth very little; gaining information on our current crisis is worth a lot. Plus, I doubt they will let you access anything classified, but it should be enough to find out about Infinity."
Tony sighed, "And why do we have to do this scheme? Why can't we just send Scout?"
Alexis explained, "About a couple of centuries ago, the Terran Empire was fighting a war when an AI they used turned on them and nearly wiped them out. They have some top-notch anti-AI software, and they'll spot Scout and likely come here full force and be in no mood to trade. They'll probably consider you guys targets too."
"Right," Tony let out.
Sam added, "And why do we have to bring her along?" She pointed to Sakura; she was sitting quietly, not understanding everything they said.
Scarlett told them, "The best way to hide a lie is to tell the truth."
Alexis motioned to the orb Sakura had brought, "I already scanned the orb; it's the same universe frequency as Sakura, or close enough anyway. The Institute will likely scan it. So just tell them the truth. Tony, you used an orb to try and find help after Thanos snapped half the universe. Sam found her own and managed to travel here, but left hers behind. Sakura managed to use hers to travel here and brought it along. And then travel to the Institute because of me. You're just leaving out my real name."
They thought up a lot, but it came down to the fact that those two knew the Institute better, and odds were that without them playing them, they might try to take advantage of them. There was no telling what that could mean. Maybe they'd try to help, or they could try and take their tech and deal with Thanos alone. In the end, they weren't sure they could trust them. Frankly, if they found out they had worked with Alexis, they might turn on them. They would have to go in.
EARTH BB-08
13TH HIERARCHICAL CITY OF KAGUTSUCHI
HANGING GARDENS
A massive crash created a large crater in the once lovely grass. In the crater was a young-looking woman. She looked no more than twelve years old. She wore a once pristine black gown and jacket. Her long gold pigtails were about to come undone. Her usually expressionless face showed irritation and anger.
Rachel Alucard was one of the most powerful individuals in this world. And she was getting beaten easily. Some strange alien creature had appeared along with men in strange white armor with horrid shoulder pads. They came to take Takemikazuchi from orbit, to spirit it away. Rachel couldn't let that stand, certainly not in the state of the world. She had fought that creature with all she had but found herself outmatched quickly.
Rachel blinked up from her crater to find Toakaka standing over her. She wore a beige hoodie with cat ears. Her hood covered her face leaving a pair of red eyes and a toothy grin visible. Her tails wafted behind her, and two long braided pigtails hung to her feet. "Rabbit lady? Rabbit lady, you okay?"
Rachel groaned, "Not exactly."
There was applause, and as they looked up, they saw the white and purple alien. "Well, that was a nice little warm-up." Frieza teased, "It is always important to stretch your muscles before you do any sort of heavy labor. So for that kindness, I will give you a quick death. You have five minutes; make them count."
Frieza quickly flew up into the sky, and Rachel could sense power growing in the sky. Moments later, a flash of light fell from the sky. The world shook at the attack, and the city started to collapse. Rachel's eyes went wide, how many were dead from that initial blast alone, and she felt the wave started to grow. She knew in her very core that the world would soon be gone.
"Come on Rabbit Lady!" Takaka picked her up from the crater, and she was trying to carry her to safety.
Rachel smiled softly, Toakaka was foolish, but her heart was in a good place. She could teleport, but at this point, she had no idea where she could go. The ground started to tremble as the ground broke, and the shock wave moved ever closer. Maybe she could try something to at least save Toakaka. The world was consumed in light, and the world was gone.
EARTH M-199999
NEW YORK CITY, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
AVENGER'S COMPOUND
Tony, Sam, and Sakura waited next to the HUB. Sam kept her zat by her; she preferred it over standard military weapons. Tony was in his casual clothes with the Iron Man armor in the containment unit. Sakura tucked her staff necklace under her shirt. Kero nestled himself into Sakura's bag, refusing to let her go without him.
After a few minutes, Scarlett walked over with a man in a blue coat, wearing a blue dress shirt and a loose tie he was fumbling with. He also wore a day of the dead skull mask decorated with painted diamonds and blue wave-like markings.
Sakura looked at him curiously, confused as she looked harder.
Tony just looked at Scarlett, "Who's this guy? I thought I read every file of everyone who showed."
"It's me, Alexis,"
Sam looked on, "No, you don't look anything like him."
"Hey, look! What's that." He pointed behind them.
They turned around, and he pushed up the mask.
As they looked back, Alexis in the same position waved at them.
"Oh, there you are. What took you so long?" Tony asked.
Alexis grinned before sliding on the mask. "Hey,"
The two scientists were confused as an odd realization was slowly donning on them, their minds stitching things together.
Alexis explained, "It's my mask, it's got a long story that's far too complicated to tell, and frankly, I don't know all of it. My mask has the ability to make me unrecognizable as the person wearing the mask when I wear it. Their minds cannot make any connection to realize I'm behind the mask. They assume it's a different person. It works great on machines and makes it so they can't detect I'm me. Unless someone sees me put on or take off the mask. Please don't feel bad about it. The smarter you are, the more effective it is. Smart people tend to make connections, and since they can't make the right connections, they start forming the ones they can believe. Psychics can still see through it if they try to read my mind, but as you know, visiting my mind can be very dangerous."
Tony shook his head, not wanting to think about it.
Alexis paused and looked at Sakura, "You started to peek behind it. Neat." He smiled proudly, "You have to have a lot of magic to even push past it a little bit. Even most gods can't see past it."
Sakura blushed at the compliment. She did think he seemed familiar but couldn't come up with who.
"And you?" Sam asked Scarlett.
Scarlett waved her hand in the air, flames licking her fingers, and runes formed in the air as she cast an illusion.
Scarlett vanished, and she was suddenly replaced by a tall and large woman in black with pale skin and long black hair.
"Maul, his bodyguard," Scarlett said in a deep, grunting voice.
Alexis whispered into his hands as they suddenly filled with blue energy that he swallowed. He took Scarlett's hand and kissed it, letting the touch glow lightly. Flickers of the blue light wafting out and around all of them before vanishing.
"And that should mess with their scanners a little bit. They can usually detect magic, but they don't seem to have a full grasp on it, so it should work."
Sam had questions, she didn't believe it was magic, but it did remind her a bit of the ancient's ability.
CPU and Darkhelm sat at the controls. "I wish you weren't going." CPU told Alexis.
Darkhelm just stuck out a metal tongue, "Pfft."
I'm with them. This is very dangerous, and we won't be able to track you much less help or send help.
"I'll be fine," Alexis assured them.
CPU shook his head, "We lost Beatrice too. We lost a lot of friends. I don't think we could take it if we lost you too.
Either one of you."
Scarlett hugged both bots and tapped the screen with Scout. "I'll make sure he comes back."
Alexis mimicked the action, "Yeah, same, what she said."
Tony didn't exactly know what to think about that. They certainly got along better than he did with Ultron.
Alexis slid on the mask.
CPU explained, "For an extra measure of security, we will send you through multiple random universes one after the other. It should be safe enough, it might feel a little strange, but you should be safe. it's just to make sure the Institute can't track us down to try and get the information without you."
EARTH CP-77
NIGHT CITY, NEW UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
ROOF OF ARASAKA CORPORATION BUILDING
They flashed in on top of a tall building at night. The city below them was night but lit up so brightly. There were countless flashes of neon colors.
In the distance, they could hear the sounds of sirens and motorcycles rushing down the streets.
With another flash, they vanished.
EARTH RNMA-12
QINGHAI PROVINCE, CHINA
JUSENKYO SPRINGS
They materialized just outside of the springs, lucky that they didn't land in them. They didn't seem strange, and the sight was very peaceful. However, the magic users felt something weird about those springs.
Quickly they were teleported away.
EARTH DT-1987
ST CANARD, USA
DARKWING DUCK HIDEOUT
The group teleported into a secret base at the top of a suspension bridge. Tony glanced around, seeing a lot of strange devices and tech. They didn't have too much time to explore as they moved on.
As the light faded away, a door opened up. A tall white feather duck woman in a red dress and black hair walked in.
Close behind her was a shorter mallard in a purple outfit with a wide hat and mask. "Morgana, is everything alright?"
"Ah, nothing, it's nothing Dark." She sighed, "I thought I sensed something."
She took his hand as they walked away to keep the city together after losing their friends and family.
EXANDRIA DND-CR-02
NICODRANAS, MENAGERIE COAST
OUTSIDE MOTHER'S LIGHTHOUSE
Outside an elegant lighthouse devoted to a goddess, the group found themselves. Staring out to the Ocean and a blue tiefling petting a crimson weasel harder than she should. A strange shining sword sat on her hip.
"Come on! Come on! Send it again! Come on, Kingsley! Anyone, please answer!" She continued to mutter to herself.
The group vanished before she could even perceive them.
EARTH TNB-11
STERNBILD CITY, STERNBILD
JUSTICE TOWER
This time the group materialized in front of a tall building. They were starting to feel some discomfort from the constant jumps. Alexis was doing better from previous experience.
They were pulled out of their thoughts as a fight broke out.
A man with a strange mask and a cape, bright blue flames wrapped around him as he fought others.
One of them was a young woman in a scantily blue outfit. As she ran forwards, ice seemed to form before her.
A man quickly followed her in a green metal suit styled after an ox and a young girl in a yellow outfit whose staff was shooting out sparks.
Flying from the sky was a man in armor and a great coat controlling winds to try and capture the masked man.
Tony was interested in their suits, but they vanished quickly.
EARTH DC-63038-00
STRATA
CAPITAL CITY
"Okay, let me see if I got this. A long time ago, a giant alien astronaut crashed into this Earth. It got buried and everything. In all that time, you and your people were evolving in the remains and forming your hidden civilization."
"Basically," Atlee confirmed.
Gwen was surprised by all of this, and the Omnitrix had scanned several different species' DNA. Gwen had gone with a small Illumi-mites. They were little firefly creatures, except their entire bodies glowed, and their wings glimmered. They were much bigger than fireflies, faster, quicker, and smarter. Gwen glowed purple and was enjoying the feeling of wings buzzing quickly.
Atlee was flying on a stone as they made their way toward the center building.
"I'm sure Aurla can help."
They made their way to the building with crowds waiting around it, hoping that the Council of Elders would bring some news of this crisis.
They snuck in through a window, and after a few moments, Atlee found this Aurla.
Aural was a tall blue woman with green tendril-like hair. Her black eyes had light red pupils, and she had a long snake-like body with two arms. Her face didn't have a lot of detail, two black eyes and a slit of a mouth, but Gwen could see a keen mind through those eyes.
"Atlee?"
"Hey Aurla, we need some help."
Gwen transformed back, to Aurla's surprise. Atlee explained the situation as the head of the Scientific Department; she had access to the orb they had and went to get it so they could check it out.
Meanwhile, Gwen toyed around with the other new forms she got from Strata.
She turned into the same species as Aurla, a Le-Ria; they looked very similar though Gwen's skin was a shade of purple. Gwen then transformed into a short lizard-like species, then a variety of bug-like beings about the size of people, a ladybug, a mantis, and a six-legged spider. Then Gwen turned into a short tiki-like alien, big head with a wooden mask.
"Lavarian," Atlee informed her, "be careful with that form, if you use their powers, you can control lava. That can be troublesome if you're not careful."
"Noted," Gwen transformed into a large gray-purple woman, black eyes and smooth skin that reminded her of a river stone.
Atlee looked on, shocked.
"Is something wrong?"
"Ah, Terran- you're a Terran now. Uh, it's just- sorry, you kinda look like my mom."
"Your mom?"
Atlee looked back to the watch. Gwen decided to flip to the next alien. "Huh?" Atlee responded to the new silhouette. "It kinda looks like the Astronaut God."
She motioned to an emblem on the wall. It was of a bulky figure that matched the one on the Omnitrix.
Gwen wondered, "Is there anything left of them? Anything, like DNA?"
"Blood, their blood is made of a metal called Quixium. Sometimes we run into a wellspring of it. But there are scattered traces all-around. Many of the people here have it in their blood. It lets us control the ground."
Gwen changed back into a human. If the Omnitrix had scanned a sample beside the potential religious crisis that might happen, she might turn into a giant, destroying this underground city.
Luckily Aurla returned, "I found it. We never had much success in figuring out its secrets. Magic is a rare talent for our people, and those with it were never able to discern anything from it."
"Well, it can't hurt to try," Gwen smiled, taking it out of its case. She closed her eyes and let her mana search it, to search for anything to trace or anything. The orb was held in storage for years, so it didn't have any mana in it. Though she felt a tug of some sort of energy and she reached for it when-
"Ah!"
"Hello, Gwendolyn."
Gwen found herself in an endless white void; all her senses were telling her something was very wrong. Everything felt off there. She found herself standing before a man in armor and a mask with the infinity seal on it.
"What happened?"
"Gwen, I need you to calm down. I can't help you. This is a message left for you. Only your powers will unlock this specific orb. The real me isn't here. You have questions, take this orb and put it with the one Sakura brought. When the uninvited guests arrive, grab their orb and put it together with the other ones. Have John and Tony study them, and they will start to find the answers to their questions. Tick tock, Tennyson. Time is running out. Oh! And as an aside, you have to stop running away from Hope."
"Wait! Wh-"
"Gwen!" Atlee yelled.
"Are you alright?" Aural asked, "Your eyes glowed purple, and you screamed."
"I'm fine," Gwen shook her head, "I think we have to borrow this. It's some sort of clue."
EARTH TI-01
CLASSIFIED
TEMPLIN INSTITUTE
They materialized again, and they stopped. The sun was high in the sky, and there was a pleasant breeze. There was a massive futuristic city in the distance and lush trees all around it. Tony blinked, he was a futurist, and this seemed almost like the ideal dream. Carter had seen some worlds where civilizations had made near utopias, and this seemed to fit right with them. They had flying vehicles, and despite being so advanced and spacious, these cities seemed to be perfectly balanced with the natural world.
Sakura spotted a building complex much closer; it was massive and futuristic. Maybe it was because her father was a university professor, but she felt that this complex was similar.
Alexis realized more up close they were on a large metal platform. More to the point, he raised his hands, and Scarlett followed his lead.
Men in silver full-face gas masks and dark blue uniforms, and matching helmets surrounded them. They all pointed futuristic weapons at the group, while drone-like machines flew into the air and aimed their guns at them. They were all marked with a symbol in a diamond shape.
The others quickly raised their hands.
Alexis forced a smile under the mask. "Hello, take us to your leader."
A large disc hovered over them and displayed a hologram of a man in a blue uniform. The man merely looked at them, "I'm Doctor Julian. What do you want?"
"Hello," Alexis spoke with a passable English accent that reminded Stark of a Sherlock Holmes movie he saw. It was a good movie. It was just odd seeing such an eccentric take on the character.
"I come with information to barter," Alexis, with a slight sleight of hand-pulled out the flash drive. "I know what caused the Dusting Phenomena. And, I have information about the damage done to the barriers of realities. Ah-ha, don't try and tell me you haven't noticed. Or try to tell me you already know its source. You wouldn't be here if you did."
The man crossed his arms, his expression giving nothing away, "Very well, what do you wish in return for this information?"
"My comrades here wish to search your database. They seek knowledge on many things but most concerning an orb and its creation."
Alexis motioned to Sakura, who fumbled to pull out an orb from her bag.
None of the Templin reacted to the orb, and Sam didn't know if that was a good or bad sign.
Files projected next to the hologram, files on them. "I see Tony Stark, Samantha Carter, and Princess Tsubasa of Clow."
"Princess?" Sakura let out, confused.
"Oh, sorry, a Cardcaptor variant. Right, Sakura Kinomoto." The man quickly shifted a few files. He turned to Alexis and Scarlett, "You have me at a disadvantage. I don't have a record for either of you."
Alexis shrugged, "My good man, I value my secrecy. If you need a name, you may call me Curio, and you can call my bodyguard Maul."
Scarlett just huffed.
"How about you let me, friends, begin to search while we look over the data? I'm sure there will be many questions you want me to ask."
Dr. Julian motioned to the side, and a drop-ship landed before them.
"Very well, your associates will be taken to our archives, and we will discuss the data."
THE GEM HOMEWORLD SU-521
DIAMOND PALACE
DOCKS
Yellow Diamond and Blue Diamond were trying to hold off the invading forces. Their grief and confusion over the recent events and the loss of half their forces hadn't helped build up their defenses. It also didn't help that they weren't used to invaders coming to their world. There was very little for anyone to try and take from Homeworld. The Gems had drained all the resources of the planet centuries ago. It was even cracked in half, so it wasn't exactly prime real estate.
Machines were falling over the world, Era 1 Peridots and their attack drones had been the best help against them, but that was a limited success. Rubies, Quartz, and the soldier fought, but they were losing. These robots seemed to be designed to combat the gems; they used a mix of electric and sonic weaponry that disrupted gems, making them poof.
As proud as the gems were losing this battle, they started to prepare to perform a mass exodus. Gems were taking what ships they could to flee Homeworld.
Blue and Yellow were fighting off the robots to buy time for others. That's when the robots walked out their leader, Vilgax.
Vilgax was a world conqueror, but this world wasn't one he'd choose. There was nothing to gain, well, nothing but one resource. If it weren't for Thanos, he wouldn't be here, but for now, he would do as he was told until this plan was finished. When he had a chance to defeat Thanos, he'd take the gauntlet.
Yellow saw her opportunity; the giant gem looked at the army of simple robots. If she took out their leader, they could overpower them easily.
Yellow fired a blast of electricity from her hand, aiming straight for the alien. Vilgax didn't try to avoid it, and he held out his gauntlet that absorbed the blast. Vilgax quickly used the energy to fire it back at Yellow.
Blue's eyes went wide as she saw Yellow poof, the large yellow diamond clattering to the ground. One of Vilgax's robots rushed in to grab the fallen diamond.
"No!" Blue Diamond refused to lose another diamond.
Blue waved her hand in the air, and orbs of blue energy formed, and with another wave of her hand, they blasted outwards. The robots were torn apart by the blast, and she was able to get the fallen diamond. Homeworld's drone rushed in to protect Blue and hold off the robots.
Blue Diamond cradled the yellow diamond as she rushed into the last spaceship, she'd have to abandon Homeworld.
Vilgax looked up at the escaping craft crushing one of the drones beneath his feet.
The vile octopod-like alien leaned down and picked up a small peridot gem that had been overlooked during the battles. He handed it to the robots; with the world theirs, they would collect the gems. The gems themselves were the last resources of any worth in this world. Vilgax was from a planet like many that held no monetary value for gems, but rocks could still have their uses.
EARTH M-199999
NEW YORK CITY, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
AVENGER'S COMPOUND
"So, you're the only one to show up?" Wade was not all that happy with the results.
A few moments ago, he sent out a message throughout the compound asking if anyone was up for helping him with his project.
Touma Kamijou was the only one to show up to the conference room, and the boy was usually happy to help anyone who asked.
"It might be about how you sent the message. You said you were looking for recruits. But isn't Captain Rogers in charge of that?"
"Yeah, but he asked me to help look for recruits on this planet."
Wade tapped on the keyboard, downcast.
Touma tried to cheer him up, "I mean, a lot of people are busy. People are working on projects or training. "
"Still, I worked hard on this," Wade answered, downtrodden.
The screen in the room flickered to life, showing details, images, and readings from all around the world.
Touma paused, reading some of the stories.
News reports that a woman with a sword was fighting rioting crowds in Paris.
Small but intense power signatures located in Houston, Texas, the computer marking it as possibly tied to something organic but unable to discern it properly.
They had discovered unnatural disasters in Egypt and a report of someone fighting what people were calling the undead there.
Wade had some reports of sporting events with strange people.
And missing reports dated after the snap.
Report of strange animal attacks in South Korea and a blurry image of a young woman with fox ears and a glowing foxtail. Reports described her as a monster attacking people after the snap happened, reports people hearing sounds of fighting in areas where she was spotted.
"Is that a kitsune?"
"The Japanese fox girl, right?" Deadpool motioned to him. "I figured you'd be good to go on that. You disable magic stuff. If someone is fighting a weird fox demon, I think they might be a great help, and having you help them goes a long way to earn their trust."
"I could see that,"
"Yeah, but I'm not sure about sending you off by yourself. You're a teenager in a different universe and sending you to a different country, and I'm not that irresponsible."
Someone then stuck their head into the conference room.
"Kamijou?" Honey Lemon asked; right behind her was her friend Tomago.
Tamago added, "We wanted to see what-"
"Perfect!" Wade yelled, "You two can go with him to Korea."
"What?" Honey asked.
"Three teens, two of which are spies, should be able to handle this."
"What about Korea?" Tamago asked, confused.
"Someone is fighting a kitsune in South Korea, and we think this person might be able to help us in our fight with Thanos."
The girls thought any extra help would be helpful, though Missy and the others still hadn't gotten all the data from Luthor's ship. They knew he'd recruited survivors from those who attacked him. So, not only was the alien with godlike powers a threat on his own, he might have a new army. Anyone who could fight off a kitsune is potentially helpful.
Plus, they had an interest in Touma and would like the chance to spend some more time with him.
Wade told them, "I'm heading to Houston. We can't figure out what this weird energy reading is, but I'm going to find out. Maybe it's a person; maybe it's a weapon or something. Either way, it might be useful."
0000
Missy was playing with the Black Mercy she had put into a pot. The flower moved to her touch, happy to be doted on.
"Okay, okay," Missy clapped her hands.
She had recruited Hiro, Jenny, Dendy, and Peridot.
"Okay, we have a project. It's a rather simple one but should be good for team building or whatever."
Jenny was a bit confused but was happy to help, "What is the project?"
"Dr. Greyman is asking for help building leg braces. He's been using his chair for so long that it looks like his legs have atrophied. Stark has given us plans he made for a pair, but we will not adjust the plans for a different species."
Hiro nodded, "I suppose that shouldn't be too hard to adjust and build."
"We should be able to knock it out in the afternoon," Missy confirmed. "Afterwards, we are to work on the computer system to try and get it working a bit better. See if we can get them to go through the data we got off that ship."
"Sounds good," Dendy agreed, "but shouldn't Greyman be here."
Missy sighed, "He's running late. His chair slowed down, so we might also need to give that bit more power."
EARTH S-BT-1117
SHERMAN, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
G3 BASE
Things had gone from bad to worse. Octus had got a signal and was trying to follow it, hoping that it would lead to some answers to what happened. They had been studying a rift when a signal echoed through it from somewhere very far. Octus and Luna decided to contact G3 to try to get some support in this project. They, too, had found the messed-up signal and were trying to figure it out. Octus had partial plans for the Rift Gate generator that brought them to Earth in the first place. They hoped to make a workable rift machine to see where the signal would go.
That's when things got bad. Giant Leviathans showed up in the sky, they thought it was an attack from the Mutraddi, but they didn't come out of the rift.
The Mutraddi didn't have ships, and a massive one appeared with them. A message was sent out to G3.
"I am Anubis," A man with a black cloak spoke from their screens, his eyes flickered gold, and he smiled a confident and wicked grin. "You have developed a unique form of wormhole technology. We will take it, we will take your resources, and anything and all we see of value. You will kneel before me, and I shall let you live."
Solomon just replied, "I'm sorry, these are new pants. I don't want to get them dirty. I won't kneel for you. None of us will."
Anubis was irritated, muttering, "In every universe," He let his anger simmer, "If you choose to fight, you will die."
"Funny, I was about to say the same thing to you."
"Very well, you made your choice."
This Earth was used to getting hit by giant alien monsters from other worlds, so they were somewhat prepared. G3 had been working on developing a way to fight them, as had the regular military though they had more questionable results.
Their primary weapon had been Titan, but they couldn't form it with Lance gone along with his suit. Ilana was doing her best to fight with her suit backed up by fighter pilots. They had some success. The outer shell of the Leviathan was stronger than just about anything they were used to, but their insides were nice and squishy. A few missiles made it through and could land lethal blows. Ilana could fly into them with her Corus armor and use her lasers to do some damage and blow them up from the inside using her suit's shield to protect her.
The alien soldiers that dropped from the ship did make things much harder. The battle in the air took resources away, and now the G3 soldiers fought the aliens on the surface of their flying base.
Still, not everything was lost. Solomon wasn't a fool. He sent his best men to invade the ship, hoping to take this Anubis to force his troops to surrender. And that's what they did.
Anubis' control room exploded as men in masks and red jumpsuits jumped in with weapons drawn.
Anubis looked at them more annoyed than anything. "Feel free to shoot. I've got spares of this body prepared."
They fired, and they struck him, but he barely reacted. The symbiote that Davros cloned for him was doing an excellent job of maintaining the clone's body.
Anubis chuckled; he raised his hands and lightning erupted outwards, striking the men. One last man survived the blast but was lifted into the air. "You've damaged this body, and it should be allowed to recover."
0000
Solomon watched from the control room as planes exploded outside, and his men fought with alien monsters. One of the Chitauri broke through the window, trying to attack him. Solomon quickly charged at him and gave it a swift kick in the head. Solomon tore the alien's weapons away from them and fired it straight into their chest.
Solomon spent the briefest of moments studying the device before he readied it as more Chitauri broke in.
He fires, tearing apart the enemies with a repeated blast, but he paused as he sees one of his men. It took him a moment to realize it was one of the men he sent to get Anubis.
"Are-"He didn't finish his sentence as he was hurled across the room. The rest of his men in the room moved to defend him when lightning ripped out, killing them.
They removed the mask, revealing a rapidly decaying face; Anubis grinned. The extra use of his powers was causing this body to deteriorate faster, but there was something to say about getting his hands dirty.
He raised his borrowed hands, and lightning ripped out towards Solomon.
Solomon dodged the first barrage of attacks as equipment in the control room was fried. One of the windows shattered as Ilana broke in and created a shield to block the following attacks.
Ilana grabbed Solomon and rushed down the hall.
Anubis scowled but paused as he saw one of the Leviathan's fly nearby.
Solomon ordered Ilana, "We have to get to Octus."
"What?" Ilana questioned him.
"This Anubis, he's attacking the world Rift Gate. What will he do with it? Once he has it, what will he do to the Earth? He doesn't seem like a guy that will just move on."
Ilana activated the boosters to full power and flew down the halls.
They quickly flew down into the basement lab where Octus had been working.
Solomon told him, "We have to disconnect everything. Destroy it if we must."
"Destroy it?" Octus asked,
Ilana powered down the suit, letting it vanish, "They want the rift gate,"
"I almost have it working,"
"Almost?" Ilana asked.
She looked at a wall where rods pulsed with energy, firing together in spots, forming an unstable portal.
"I'm trying to detect the signal I picked up on, but it started to degrade."
"We can't worry about that now!" Solomon insisted, "we can't let Anubis get his hands on it."
Before they could do anything, the room shook. No, it was far more than that.
The ceiling was torn from the ship as one of the Leviathans tore through. "There you are," It spoke in a grumbled, almost metallic voice.
Anubis took over this creature, it was larger than he was used to, but its brain wasn't all that complicated. In fact , modifications made by Thanos only made this creature easier to control. There was something primal about controlling such a massive creature, and Anubis was enjoying it.
Chitauri jumped off him and surrounded the group.
Solomon moved his sleeve to reveal his watch, pressing down on a button, "Solomon. Code: Alpha Omega. Destruction. Confirm."
He set off the self-destruct for the base. Solomon didn't like the idea of going down with the ship, but if he could use his last breath to keep this monster from making millions suffer even a little, he'd do it. Solomon hoped that his surviving men could escape in time, and maybe they could take Anubis down with them as the alarms blare. He regretted this would take Ilana and Octus with him, but there was no escape at this point.
Octus didn't seem to agree; he did something to control before expanding his gel-like body over Ilana and Solomon and rushing into the portal. Moments later, the ship exploded.
0000
As a being of energy, Anubis couldn't be destroyed with even an explosion of a hundred times more potent. Though this wasn't a total loss, one of the Chitauri could access the computer data and transmit it before the ship exploded. They had found parts of the Rift Gate design and included in hidden files about other technology G3 lead scientists had been working on.
Anubis re-entered his body, now repaired thanks to the symbiote. The technology was a nice boon. Though his old habits would have him take over the world, he decided on just burning it to the ground. With what was happening soon, they had no time for a proper invasion.
They found other things, other G3 bases and military bases where they had collected alien technologies and remains of giant monsters. Anubis smiled to himself, those could be very helpful.
EARTH M-199999
NEW YORK CITY, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
AVENGER'S COMPOUND
The Hub came to life as a portal activated while Leo and Jaime were playing cards. They barely noticed since they were both using their powers to try and cheat at the game. Leo's eyes could easily see through other people's eyes and see-through objects, so spotting which card was an easy trick. Jaime was bonded with a super-advanced alien bug who could scan just about anything, so figuring out which card Leo had was easy. Neither had realized they were both cheating or why they were losing.
A robot quickly greeted them.
Jenny was right beside Clint, Nat, and Wakeman. Misty was followed along with Sheldon and the armor he was controlling with his watch. He was trying to be subtle.
"Ah, you okay there?" Leo asked curiously
"Yeah, yeah, sure," Sheldon muttered out.
Misty covered, "Yeah, he's worried," she tapped on the side of the Silver Shell, "He's got this new job taking care of this guy. He's not sure you got the tools for it."
Jenny looked confused, "Really? When did this happen? I thought Sheldon was supposed to be mom's assistant or something-?"
Wakeman waved off her concerns, "Well, he's a capable young man, and we all have to help each other out."
"Yeah," Natasha interrupted, "let me show you a lab you can set up. Clint, why don't you show them around?"
Clint got it and distracted them while Sheldon controlled the suit away. He showed the others where they could get set up.
EARTH T-A-2007
DETROIT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
SUMDAC TOWER
Sari was fighting her evil twin from another universe over the city as it burned. That wasn't a sentence she ever thought she would ever say.
They were both flying through the air, her ax against her chainsaw. The Autobots were doing their best to help those in the city and fight off the evil Autobots from her evil universe. It didn't help that The Evil Team Brought a small army of drones blasting everything.
"What are you doing here?" Good Sari asked,
"What a sister can't visit?"
"We aren't sisters! You're just a cosmic mistake!"
"Sari!" Isaac Sumdac's voice rang out.
Both girls turned to see the man standing atop the tower, panicking for his daughter's safety.
Evil Sari's eyes went wide, "Dad?"
She pushed the other Sari away and readied her saw.
Good Sari knew that her evil double didn't have a good relationship with her evil father, and she didn't want to find out how she might take it out on her dad.
Good Sari charged at her and grabbed her, spinning in the air. "Get away from my dad!"
Sari threw her away and blasted her with everything she had from her hand blasts.
Good Sari was about to finish it when someone blasted her.
"And you didn't want to watch your back."
Good Sari was stunned to see Slipstream, a female clone of Starscream.
Evil Sari decided to explain, "Yeah, we scanned the city looking for any interesting tech. We found one lone Decepticon clone. We happened to be a bit short-handed, so I offered her a job since your Decepticons are wimps like mine." Evil Sari gave a half-shrug, "Plus, I like her voice."
"Should we finish her?" Slipstream offered her.
"I wanted to drag this out," Evil Sari told her, "but we don't have all the time in the world. So-shoot!"
Both of them bombarded the Good Sari with laser-blasting her into a building.
Evil Sari smiled under her mask, and the goodie-good Sari crashed into an office of the Blackrock Enterprise building.
The pair didn't stop firing, bringing down the top floors on top of Sari.
Slipstream smiled to her new boss, "You seem pretty happy. Do you still want to go with your alternate father?"
Sari thought for a moment, "No, time is running out. He'll be dead sooner or later. If he loves his Sari so much, let him mourn her. Grab the tech from around the city, and we have to go. Thanos is waiting."
They left the robots to finish taking what they wanted from the building, letting it crumble onto itself.
EARTH DP-4304
AMITY PARK, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
FENTON WORKS
The Doctor was standing next to an X-Ray machine, one made by the Fentons that showed in real time her insides. Maddie looked on, amazed at the Doctor's two beating hearts.
"Yeah, they're pretty good. I do a lot of running, which helps keep them in good working order. I get plenty of iron. Try not getting shot, do not want to end up waking up in a Morgue again."
"Okay," Sam started, "we are going back to that cause I want to know the story behind that, but-"
"You're an alien?" Danny asked.
"Like a real alien?" Danni added, "Like, from space?"
"Well, from a planet in space. But that's not saying much, and Earth is in space."
"Never mind that," Maddie waved her hand, "what is it that you came here for?"
"Yes, Scout, thought you'd make great additions to our growing group of friends to fight Thanos?"
"Thanos?" Danny asked.
"Alien, big purple, very skewed ideas. Thinks the ends justify the means." The Doctor studied a random nearby device, "got his hand on some shiny space stones that let him rewrite reality, and decided the best thing to do is to erase half of all living things."
"The Reality Gauntlet," Danny mumbled.
"Infinity, actually," The Doctor corrected. "Anyway, I need your help with something else. I mean, yes, help defeat him and bring everyone back. But more short term, I need to get your help to help a new friend."
Before they could dig deeper into that discussion, there was a terrible rumbling and shaking; equipment all over the lab rang out. There were noises of cars crashing and people screaming.
The Doctor did what she always did, ran towards it without hesitation.
Danny and Dani quickly floated up towards the ceiling. Maddie and Sam only paused to gather weapons and tools before following along.
As they left, green cracks formed around the lab, spreading out like spider webs.
When they reached outside, they were greeted with a green light. The sky above them had a green crack that seemed to stretch out in the sky that had spread into the ground and formed over buildings. All of them pulsed with green light.
Danny and Dani's breath puff of cold blue mist as ghosts started to pour out of the cracks.
EARTH TI-01
CLASSIFIED
TEMPLIN INSTITUTE
The masked army men led Tony, Sam, and Sakura with Kero hidden in her bag. They showed them to a large room with shelves filled with books and rows of futuristic-looking screens. Some of the men did something to the computers.
One of the soldiers turned to them, "These systems are open to restricted access. You are free to use them to search for anything."
"Okay, thanks," Tony replied. The men moved back to the door, watching them.
Sam made sure to keep herself between the men and Sakura. They didn't make any moves towards them, but it was clear they weren't trusting them. Sam made a note of any potential exits and where her weapon was. It was a marvel they hadn't tried to take it.
"Are you okay with it?" Sam asked Sakura as she sat down at the computer.
Sakura gave a confident nod, "Yeah, this doesn't look too different from the computers back home. My dad is a professor, and he showed me how he did research. I didn't get it, but it didn't seem all that different-looking things up online."
Sam shrugged; she wasn't all that wrong, it had been years since she had to do pure academic research, but from what she remembered, it had been made easier. Sam could tell these computers were relatively simple despite how advanced they had become.
Sakura decided to type her name into the system, curious about what the man had said about a princess. The Institute had been tracking a version of her, and they were confused. This other version of Sakura was a princess and was close to her Syaoran. Their lives were complicated, forced to travel from universe to universe, bend time, and something about clones. It was so complicated that the Institute had a group working on figuring out what was happening. Sakura noted that the shop she had visited had manifested to them several times, but the boy she met there wasn't there, instead it was a beautiful dark-haired woman. Sakura was confused and a little scared by all of it, but she did find some hope that in every reality, it seemed that she and Syaoran found each other. She hoped that this meant there would be a chance to reunite.
Sam was worried that the Institute knew about her. She was shocked and horrified that the Institute not only knew her but had files on everyone in SG-1 and had detailed reports on the Stargate Program, their enemies, their allies, and their weapons. Sam made a mental note to ask Alexis how they found out the Institute was spying on them. They would need to beef up their security.
Tony looked over the Templin files; they had several departments. The Anomalous Department for unexplained incidents. The Bestiary department to study creatures from other worlds. The Armory studied tech from different worlds. The Atlas Department investigated locations of other worlds. The Dossier Department studied people of interest in other worlds. Tony quickly searched his file and the files of his alternate selves. They all had that Stark genius despite many looking a bit different but still had his charm. Despite his usual ego, Tony had little interest in seeing how every version of himself seemed to repeat the same mistakes—making bigger and bigger weapons, not caring how they were used—ignoring the people that cared for him.
Though that gave him an idea, he decided to search for others while searching for the Infinity and the orb. He gently tapped the device on his chest to let the armor grow over his hand. He interfaced with the computer system and had the suit search for everyone they'd recruited. With a particular focus on Alexis, Tony knew he was holding back and wasn't sure he could be trusted; his clear signs of instability only furthered that paranoia.
Tony looked up Infinity, and found himself starting to respect the guy, even an organization that was spread across the multiverse was having a hard time tracking him. They had found legends and stories about him and even located locations of other orbs but found very little. They weren't sure if he was alive or a figure or a title.
They had studied the orb and found that it was a sort of AI that interfaced with other technology and other people, it was connected to the other orbs, and they all uniformly evolved together. It could take lifetimes to start to understand anything about the orb properly.
Then he got a hit on Alexis. He and his friends formed a group called the Irregulars, so that told Tony Alexis probably named them. So far, the Institute backed what he had said; they were a group that collected the unusual and kept it hidden to let the world keep thinking that monsters and aliens weren't real.
Then Tony noticed some of the other names they had, Scarlett already had the name Daemon, but she also had the name of Living Hell Fire and The Beast of the Armageddon. Alexis had plenty of colorful nicknames like the Destroyer of Worlds, the Final Seal, and Harbinger of the End. Even the Beatrice they talked about was called the Angel of Death and the Horseman of the Apocalypse, the Pale Rider.
Tony hoped that these were just colorful, but then he found a picture of a young woman with long brown hair happily combing a horse's mane. The horse had a sickly white coat and long wild black mane, and most notably two balls of fire for eyes and a pair of large bat-like wings.
The Templin Institute blamed them for their people's death but understood it was an unfortunate accident. They wanted him dead. But the Institute wanted them dead because of the potential risk they posed. They did their research. Yes, their group, when motivated, could use their resources to do some severe damage with some prep work or just being all out reckless. They could even be threats to other worlds in other universes. They even justified it with Alexis that after going through some trauma from something that the Institute refused to name - that killing him would be doing him mercy.
They found prophecies and stated that Alexis would one day go insane, fall, and destroy everything he could. Before getting himself killed in a way that would release a terrible evil that would set off the end of days. Scarlett, in her grief, would go mad and her flames would consume and turn her into a beast that would march onto the Earth and burn all it touched. Beatrice, heartbroken, would lose her humanity, and her horse would take her for one final ride. Three other un-located riders with her would usher the end of their world.
Tony would love to think it was a dark joke, but they had the horse who admitted it was to carry out this task and chose Beatrice as its master. No one could be dumb enough to ignore that.
Even without the end of day's stuff, they were enough of a threat that several people on their own Homeworld sought to kill them before they had a chance to go bad. They even stated how often they'd lie and cheat to get what they wanted. Even Tony saw it himself how easy it was for them to trick the very people looking for them. They were often in the middle of disasters and were the cause of a few. To some in their world, they were walking calamities. They would steal weapons and powers to hide them away, not trusting anyone other than themselves with those powers.
It made Tony doubt if they could trust them, especially seeing how they were having trouble coping with the loss of Beatrice.
Tony looked, hoping to find something to let him trust them.
0000
Alexis and Scarlett sat at a table as two guards stood by the door. The flash drive was being scanned and compared to what they had. The data was being displayed before them in a hologram in the middle of the room. Dr. Julian poured himself a drink.
"Well, at least it wasn't-"He shook his head, "Well, some of us were guessing it might have been a man we know as the Curator of Secrets. That this was his stupid little game, destroy half of us and leave the other half to grieve."
"Sounds like a pretentious dick," Scarlett told them.
"I heard a bit about him. Someone should put him down like a rabid dog," Alexis added.
Dr. Julian drank up, "We've debated that." He sighed, "So, someone got the infinity stones. We've run into another version of those, but they have never shown such power. And they ended up in the hands of the Mad Titan. Someone intelligent, determined, and self-righteous enough to believe they are the hero."
The Earth shook violently. Every alarm on the planet went off. It was enough that they fell out of their chairs, Alexis even hitting the table as he fell.
Julian pulled himself up," Computer: Status! We predicted no Earthquakes."
"That's not an Earthquake," Alexis said as he got up, "I live in California. I know Earthquakes, and that wasn't it. That was more like a space quake."
Alexis rubbed his head, and Julian and the guard stared dumbfounded, the fall shifted the mask on his face, and his rubbing pushed it off.
It took him a second to realize that.
The guards turned their weapons on them.
"What's that?" Scarlett dropped her illusion and pointed outside as red light filled the room.
The sky turned blood red, and from a distance, they could hear rumbling, explosions, and screams.
The end of days has come to this world. Hey, everyone, this is EndlessPossibilities57, one of the new betas for 'WIth A Snap.' I'd like to give special thanks to ADdude, for giving me the chance to help with this story. I've been enjoying this fic and have had a lot of fun with it so far, so I'm really excited to be a part of it. Going forward, I hope you'll all continue to follow and be a part of this tale as ADdude continues to update and expand this fascinating, ever-evolving world. And with that little note, I will see you all next time. -EndlessPossibiliites57.
Author's Notes: So first off, thanks for Endless and RichardK0 for bating this chapter.
A lot of people seemed to be worried about me. Not sure why. Sometimes I don't have time to write or feel inspired also still looking for work so I'm going to interviews and stuff. Like I had to delete a bunch of anon reviews of people asking where I am. If you really want to know if I'm alive DM me otherwise wait. Because there is no other way for me to answer until I update.
I'm not sure what else to say note-wise. Atlee is the third Terra which I liked. They had their world that didn't get explored because of reboots.
The Templin Institute is from some youtube videos I liked and would recommend watching. Just search Templin and you'll find their videos. Their event horizon video inspired a lot of what is happening here.
Anyway, leave reviews telling me what you think or if you got any questions.
Q&A:
Bloody Guy: A character list is available on the fics page on Tv trope.
Guest: Thanks. I'm a bumbed about the 6000 but I'm taking more time and working on it so hopefully it will be even better.
Luiz42000: Yeah he's powerful but no Thanos already said he won't returned even dusted allias. His old friend you will have to wait for.
Justinixcol:I'm glad this story helped you. Also, try making an account those reviews go through a lot easier.
Twisted PXI: About people not knowing the other character s through fiction, its an issue. Both Marvel and DC comics make references to each other but then how is that possible since they know each other as comics. If I were to explain that it would take people out of the story.
I do plan to explain why there are multiple Thors. Its not important I'm just going to pepper in the explanation. Some people have asked about Universe 01 and there will be an explanation about that.
Yeah, I try to keep in mind that every story, every character, is someone's favorite. If I'm not going to put a fiction into this main story, I'm going to try and touch upon them. Plus, sometimes I need a little break from the main story and doing a little check up on another world helps me out.
Yeah, I figured that with so many different worlds not everyone would call the snap the same thing.
trickster3696: No, look Hazbin had one pilot episode, there isn't enough for me to work with. And Helluva is not a series I really enjoy. I'm not a fan of shows where characters are jerks just because they can be. I have the same issue with Konosuba. Plus, Hell has been stated of being locked down in every universe. Its likely that they'd be trapped in hell. Plus, Charlie? Not sure she'd have enough influence to make her dad do anything, or would be able to get oout of hell even with the Imp's book after a lock down. Plus, would she even know?
Guess 21: I'm working on the SCP stuff, I had an idea but decided I didn't like it. It felt out of character so gonna work on it a bit more.
hello: Just camoes. They won't show up. Remember these events. This canonly happens late April 2018, thats before any of the girls ended up in other worlds.
Guess 21: The Gem homeworld yes, if thats what you meant. That was a lucky guess. I don't explain why here.
Prince Johnathan of Jupiter: Soon.