With A Snap

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 78: Uninvited Guests

In a few weeks, all of reality would end. There would be no place in existence to hide. Going to other time periods was out of the question as the future was already gone, and the past would eventually join it.

So, yeah, things looked bad.

A quiet silence fell over the entire building as they were all faced with the prospect of non-existence.

Steve spoke out, "What do we have to do first?"

Yeah, it didn't change anything for them.

Many were on the prospect that their lives were already over without those that had been dusted. Several of them had already lost their worlds. Those in better states were already determined to do everything possible to get the stones to undo everything.

This just gave them a deadline to do it.

None of them had ever hoped for this to take years or anything.

It did give them a kick in the pants to get to work.

Bruce sighed, taking another glimpse at the calculation. "We still have a lot of problems. Most of which can be solved by getting the stones."

"Then the first issue at hand," Thor began, "is finding the stones."

Tony raised a hand. "Yeah, more issues when we do that. How do we get the stones off of Thanos? How do we use the stones without them frying us? And, how do we get through his army?" Tony motioned to the screens showing all the new enemies they should expect. " Look, we're tough and we got ourselves a nice little army going but we're outnumbered about a thousand to one. If I low ball it, I know we've fought off armies with smaller numbers but…"

The Doctor let out a long breath. "Yeah, knowing Davros, he brought every Dalek in existence with him for this attack."

Missy added, "And that's all of Skaro, well, half I suppose. Minus any Thanos managed to pop. Still not great odds."

Adora shook her head, "And, the Horde is going to help him. Most of them just are a part of the Horde because they don't know anything else. I grew up with them, I didn't even consider us the bad guys until I saw what we were doing. Loonie left us a message that helped get us here. I don't know if we-" Adora stopped herself, "I'd hoped they'd help us but I think they'd be too scared to try."

"Great," Tony huffed, "child soldiers. I'd say that it was beneath Thanos but-" He glanced at Nebula. He knew firsthand from his time with Nebula playing paper football that Thanos wouldn't care.

Rhodes spoke up next, "Even if we don't worry about them, there's that white and purple guy, he's leading his own army. They don't seem like pushovers, they got the hired mercs look to them. Kinda like the Chitauri, which we'd have to deal with."

"And the Sakaarans," Rocket jolted up, "chitauri are easy enough to beat if you take out their control ship, but Sakaarans are not as easy. And those Leviathans aren't going to make it easy to get to the ship."

Alexis sighed, "I doubt I can do anything about the robots, anything with a good AI isn't easy to hack and shut down. Plus from what I've seen from the Autobots, these evil doubles won't be easy to take out either and they'd make great elite troopers."

Jenny Wakeman had to agree, "If Vexus is with them she's going to help make sure any robots are up to snuff. Hacking them with her around isn't going to be possible."

Sam added, "And with what we know about Anubis he's going to make them more dangerous."

Rita almost growled, "If Zedd is with them, he's going to make sure to have a couple of tricks ready in case anything happens. It could be anything from adding magic to their troops or having some serious traps ready for us."

"So, we have all those issues," Tony affirmed, "and how many solutions do we have? I mean, we haven't even talked about how we intend to fight Thanos himself. He kicked our collective butts with an incomplete gauntlet. How are we going to beat him with a whole set? Does anyone have anything? Like, anything at all?"

"I think I have an idea on how to use the gauntlet without dying," Venomous said, "So, I might have managed to steal some of the stone's powers that Luthor managed to siphon."

"What?" Carol yelled at her ex.

"Yeah, we know," Tony said,

"Hard to miss," Missy added.

"You had cosmic energy pouring out of your lab, did you really think that was a secret?"

Venomous chuckled. "And, I do have good intentions," He glanced back at Carol, "I transferred the energy into glorbs. I've been trying to stabilize them. If I can manage to do that, I might be able to boost someone."

"And who were you thinking?" Carols asked.

Venomous held out his hands, "I can't use them, even at a percentage they are still likely to burn anyone to crisps. I mean, most anyone, a few here have a shot of surviving. If I can boost one of their powers with them, they might be able to wield the gauntlet safely." He clicked his tongue, "If I drain some of the power it could stabilize them, might even use that extracted power for weapons, tools, or maybe something else to help."

"That's a start," Steve smiled at the prospect.

The Doctor tapped her head rapidly, "Not sure if we can track the stones. Luthor had a beat on them and the best they could do is determine they were in this universe."

Missy explained. "Since they were put together the average Hume Level of this Universe has been ten."

"Hume?" Steve asked.

"Reality measurements, base reality is one." The Doctor tried to explain, "I've met reality warpers who could twist the laws of physics, that raised the level to two."

Missy added. "Base reality level went back to 1 when Thanos left, I confirmed that levels dropped at the same time when Thanos was seen in Entrapta's world."

The Doctor smiled. "If the sea level has risen, and we need to find a specific fish, then we just need to find a new way to find a fish."

Kakine buzzed nearby before turning human again, "That is easier said than done. I might be out of my depth, but personal realities are tied with Hume levels. In Academy City espers we're taught that focus on our personal realities and bring that reality onto the world, believing it so, altered reality. Even the test for Level Fives never reached two. It was thought only a Level Six could reach that level. Could it be possible to find the highest point of Hume levels, and that would reveal where Thanos is?"

The Doctor smiled, "That's very good, but no. Thanos is hiding part of the reason the levels are so high in the first place, isn't just all the power in a dormant state, we believe its part of the way he's hiding. Raising the background energies of the entire universe to hide. It might be possible if we got close we might pick up something we miss. Something he didn't think of hiding."

Tony smirked, "Okay, how about this? You guys are from a city of psychics, what if we got a bunch of mind readers looking for Thanos?"

Nebula shook her head, "Father's will is strong, many psychics have tried to fight him off."

"No, but how about just to find him. Or someone near him, just to find a location."

Mugino shook her head, "Can't do, our strongest telepath was a level five and she's dust," While they didn't have accounted for everyone, the level fives were confirmed. "And even level fours won't be enough, heck I doubt a level five telepath would be enough."

Tony clapped his hands, "We already got a couple of telepaths here, and we got a multiverse to look for some heavy hitters. I'm sure we can find a way to give them a good boost to find a single mind."

"That might be doable." The Doctor confirmed.

"I'll let Scout look for some psychics," Alexis nodded.

Gwen raised a hand, "The stones one of them has mind powers, could we use the psychics to develop a way to stop people from getting in our heads."

"Psychic blocks are a thing," The Martian Manhunter confirmed, "we might be able to develop something."

Kara suggested something, "Can we do that for every stone? Every one of his powers?"

"Some would be easier than others, "Alexis brought out details about people's powers and abilities, "Maybe, we'd have to get creative with some of the physical ones like power. Space might be an issue. Reality would take some working around since it might also affect some of our powers. Time is manageable, the soul is going to take some work. "

Bruce smiled, "I think that's a solid maybe, that's better than a no."

"We'd just have to do several impossible things," Tony snarked.

Looking over their files on her TDS Alya smiled, "According to everyone's history, most of us do impossible things regularly."

The superhero fan had actually made a good point, which made this whole thing seem a bit more possible.

It wasn't going to be easy, but they had started to develop an idea.

People went to continue their training and preparations, or try to find some way to defeat Thanos or find him. Some people decided to try and reach out and check on their worlds.

TITAN M-199999

A portal opened up and Nebula and Rocket stepped out along with Kim in her suit ready for stealth. They stepped onto a dead world where a flourishing civilization lay destroyed and gravity itself had gone wrong.

Rocket pulled out a device, "Yeah, I'm not picking up on anything."

"Are you sure?" Kim asked.

They had come to check the location and her suit being able to go invisible and project a shield was seen as very useful. If they got spotted they could at least hold back the attacks to escape. Or help sneak in to gather information.

"I was sure," Nebula said, "father would return her in some twisted sense of ending it where it began."

"I'm on the third sweep," Rocket sighed, "I'm not picking up on any tech, on any life signs, or energy patterns."

They opened up a portal and headed back to Earth.

The problem was they didn't account for one more thing.

Thanos and his army were there, their base had been shifted out of sync with the rest of the universe by a few seconds. It was something Davros had made to hide the Dalek's base when he made them a powerful bomb. He adjusted it, they could have as much time as they needed to get ready in their pocket dimension and the universe would never find them unless they knew what to look for. Even then it would take a great deal of luck and skill as the world's strange gravitational field did an excellent job hiding the strange energy patterns.

The heroes would never realize that they were two seconds from finding Thanos.

OTHERWORLD M-MULTIVERSE

Saturnyne was a tall woman with long blonde hair dressed in white, she was a beauty but there was something cold in her eyes.

A portal formed nearby and a man in a plain suit stepped out, he had balding hair and a mustache. "Saturnyne, a pleasure to see you."

"Mobius," she greeted him. "We now merely wait for the Time Broker."

"Wait no more,"

In a flash of light, a short bald man with mutton chops, wearing a pair of black trousers, a purple vest, and a red tie greeted them. "Hello."

His eyes were black, and the other knew he was only an illusion. The Time Broker was really a large bug alien, he and his species had ended up in charge of the Crystal Palace, a Nexus of realities.

Each party represented had a share in protecting the multiverse.

Mobius cleared his throat, "I suppose I should start, I've confirmed it's coming from universe 199999."

"Oh no," The Time Broker lamented.

Mobius shook his head, "That universe has always been out of reach for us, but we did manage to find out that Thanos did what he usually does. For reasons, we don't understand how it somehow hit every reality. And I mean every reality, "

Saturnyne bemoaned, "Can we enter the universe now?"

Mobius shook his head, "It's gotten harder to enter that universe for us,"

"It's Kang, isn't it?" the Time Broker asked.

"I think it's He Who Remains," Mobius corrected, "after consolidating his Universes variant and branches into one, he has been tweaking it from the end of time. He set barriers around his universe, to keep people like us out. The future is gone, and in all likelihood so is he and the barriers have shattered. It makes travel into that universe a little hectic without proper stabilizing factors, its touch and go. From what we can gather He Who Remains even took steps-" He paused as he gathered his words, "With his control over things, he created a narrative on a grand scale down the workings of the universe. Even making sure variants of us would pop up in the universe, but keeping them weak and under his control."

Saturnyne rubbed her temples, "Meaning they will likely be useless to help, and He Who Remains would have likely used their existence to reinforce his barriers to keep us out."

The Time Broker hummed, "So, we must leave it to the heroes of that universe, and those who find their way there to deal with it."

"Yeah, not a great prospect," Mobius confirmed, "timelines are splitting apart, disintegrating, branching out into new ones and some of them others blink out."

Saturnyne sighed, "This can't go on, how long do we have?"

Mobius replied, "Weeks, if we're lucky."

This conversation was had across all of existence as powers found themselves powerless.

EARTH M-199999

NEW YORK CITY, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

AVENGER'S COMPOUND

Yami had a rather brutal training style but he was also one of the few people with magic and sword skills.

"Not bad, kid," Yami said as he slid to the ground in the yard.

Kagami in her Ryuko form rushed at him with her sword ready to strike him down. Some people watching had actually worried the young superhero would hurt him as she didn't seem to be pulling back. Their sword clashed and Yami pushed her back, Yami's magic to reinforce his own body.

As Kagami was forced back she activated her power "Wind Dragon!"

In a flash of light she became wind, she quickly circled around him forming a massive dust storm.

As soon as she was sure his vision was clouded she transformed back and moved to attack him but only for him to tear through the dust cloud. Yami moved to strike her hard enough to drop into the ground with a pained groan.

"Neat trick," Yami told her, "the wind trick would work on most people."

Kagami struggled to breathe much less form words, "How?"

"Oh, yeah, I guess you don't have that technique where you're from. It's called Ki, I learned how to sense it. I use it to track people even when I can't see them. You've got some real weird Ki right now, being mixed with that little dragon spirit."

"Kwami."

"Sure, whatever."

Kagami got up and asked, "Can you show me how to do that?"

"Yeah, sure."

"I will do my best to be a dutiful student,"

"Yeah, I already said I'd teach you."

0000

At a safe distance, Connie had watched the sparring session. She was having her doubts, besides the whole thing was about to come to an end in literal weeks. She didn't know where she stood in all this, she could fight but they were about to fight an alien god with the largest army ever. Everyone else here seemed to have superpowers, or magic, or crazy tech, or just be insanely smart, so where was a girl like her supposed to stand.

"What am I supposed to do?" Connie muttered out loud.

"Yeah, this is pretty crazy," Adora walked up next to her. "I think we should just let them spar if it works for them unless they start hurting each other."

"No," Connie couldn't stop herself, "like, what am I supposed to do in the fight that's coming up. I'm just a normal girl with a sword."

Adora snorted, not in a mocking way just because she thought she heard something fun, "We are going against a guy who moved a castle with his fingers. Being super strong or not isn't going to make a big difference. We all just gotta do what we can. We're going to have to fight off a whole army of monsters just to get to the big guy. Everyone willing to fight is going to be needed."

Connie chuckled at that, maybe she wouldn't be the one to win the day but if she could help others do it maybe it was worth it.

"So," Adora smiled, "want to spar? Not like them, but like normal people."

"Yeah," Connie readied her sword.

0000

The Doctor was busy hooking up the machine they had Ghost tied into.

Maddie Fenton was helping the Doctor set everything up.

The Doctor was pulling up the energy signatures of Danny, Dani, Wulf that they had gotten earlier. She then pulled up the files on anyone else they had with phasing abilities including the Martian Man Hunter and files from Sam Carter for a device Arthur's Mantle along with a few other devices Carter's team had encountered. They even got some scans of some of the aliens that Gwen had gained.

Maddie Fenton saw Ava in the chamber shifting wildly, "Are you sure this will work?"

"Fairly sure," The Doctor offered up an optimistic smile, "I mean, I'm pretty sure. I've toyed with phasing technology before but never had to program a person's biology to match the same energy patterns to allow some to regain their stability."

Maddie had to admit, "Yeah, that is tall order."

Maddie did somewhat more experience as much of their ghost tech had to find ways to hold onto intangible beings. They began the process with Maddie adjusting the energy they were channeling to better interact with Ava.

The Doctor started the machine and the small space that contained Ava was filled with waves of energy.

Maddie could only hold her breath and hope for the best, they were doing science that totally new and unexplored there was nothing certain here. The machine shook and there was a fear that it would explode. The Doctor didn't hesitate and she looked on managing the controls, Maddie looked on gaining some confidence to see her there. Ava screamed as the energy flowed through her.

As the machine winded down Ava collapsed to the ground, the doctor didn't hesitate a second to rush into the machine to see her.

"Did it work?" Ava whispered, forcing herself to stay awake.

"I think so," The Doctor grinned, "you seem pretty solid, your quantum structure has stopped phasing irregularly. You might still be able to phase, but you should be able to control it."

Maddie smiled, "Yes, it worked."

Ava's eyes closed as she finally passed out.

0000

Alexis was by the computer tower that held Scout's programs and gave him the order to try and find telepaths.

Tony watched from a short distance.

"Done and done, it will be a while before Scout goes through all the universes he reasonably can. True telepathy can be a little hard to come by and well its hard to find. Scout has some talent in finding the patterns of the kaleidoscope."

"Kaleidoscope?"

"It's the pattern and how they get reflected and-" Alexis scratched his head, "It's not easy to explain,"

"Try me,"

"Think of it like a kaleidoscope, you see an image and it's reflective, distorted, copied, and flipped around. Imagine that's the multiverse, all those colors, and everything, if you focus you will notice reflections of each other at different ends of the kaleidoscope. In this end, the Avengers are the team of heroes, in another end the Justice League. The same basic idea is handled differently but in the same pattern. The pattern is less different in the fragment right next to it, and some are too far away to reflect the same image. Maybe heroes stay in the shadows, maybe they're not beacons of hope but of fear. Maybe there are no heroes, maybe just survival. Maybe things are normal, no magic or anything else. Just tweaked reflections of something."

"What is that something?"

Alexis shrugged, "The source of everything? Truth? Plato's theory of forms thing, uh, the ideal? God? Maybe the prime Universe."

"Prime? What's that?"

'"Nothing. Everything. Earth-One, not sure it exists. The first universe, the one where all others sprang from. Before you ask, I don't know anything about it, I've never heard of anyone who actually visited it. Even with the orb, it doesn't lock onto it. Maybe it's too far away to be reached by anyone on our end of reality or maybe it's so old that it already met its heat death. Maybe it's gone from a billion problems the other universes avoided. Doesn't matter, none of it does, it's just theories none of us can prove. And certainly won't help us here."

"How do you know all this?"

"Some variants of me do like exploring the multiverse, I only gather knowledge on it as an academic curiosity. There are people who travel and freely share it or trade knowledge for more knowledge. The Wandmens are particularly good people for info, well, birds actually. I subscribe to their newspaper, it's got a great article on dishes."

Tony took a minute to let that all sink in.

"Anyway back to work, I wanted to ask Dr. K some questions. So we'll talk later."

Tony watched him leave before he turned to look at the tower buzzing.

0000

Steve and Rocket were reporting the update to some of their allies using Scout to connect to them via screens.

Shuri looked pale as she looked over the data for the fifth time, before letting loose a curse.

Wong was a tad more stoic about it, the sorcerers were more used to the concept of the world vanishing. Still, this wasn't great.

"Oh! Holy hell!" Kraglin let out.

Carol Danvers was taking it a bit better but not much, "Crap."

"What are we going to do?" Shuri explained.

Steve remarked, "Tony thinks he's got a way to track Thanos, but he's got an army. Even with all the people we have we won't be enough."

"Yeah, I get that." Carol looked over the information.

Carol was still unsure how dangerous these Daleks were, but she seemed to be wary of them. Their numbers were apparently still in the billions even when halved, and that could be even without counting the other forces.

Wong finally said, "I will make sure that all of the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj are ready to fight when the time comes."

Shuri sighed, "I will have Wakandan forces ready,"

"If it's a scrap," Kraglin started, "I'll ask Yondu's old friends, if I can get them on our side we can have just about every Ravager left to help out."

Carol nodded, "I'm still on Xandar, I'm sure I can get what's left of the Nova Corp to help. Maybe the Skrulls can help, I've got a few favors to call in, they might be able to help."

Rocket nodded, "Good, but keep it quiet. We can't risk Thanos getting a heads up. And probably shouldn't let the universe know it's going to come to an end soon."

"Yeah," Carol has to admit there was already a lot of panic, and adding to it could make civilizations fall in a night.

"Thank you," Steve replied, "I'll keep you informed as we know more."

The meeting ended with everyone going to work. Shuri wondered if she should tell her people what might happen.

0000

Atsuhiro Sako better known as Mister Compress was not in his usual clothes. He was carrying some food and medicine. Things were a lot more complicated than they would have thought. Though none of them were experts on multiverse travel, so that made more issues.

After they escaped the compound, they had made their way into the city, and as luck would have it they found a used clothing store to hide in. They'd thought they would have to leave but no one arrived, either the owner was unfortunate enough to get erased or just didn't have the heart to come into work. It worked for them. Compress just borrowed some clothes and borrowed some money from the till.

They didn't know what to do, they managed to access the computer in the office and learned about this world. There were heroes but there were dozens instead of the thousands in their world. They could potentially do something in this world, not that they had much of a choice since they had no idea on how to get back. They certainly weren't to ask the heroes of this world to help, at best they'd be returned but in handcuffs.

Shigaraki waiting for Compress right outside the room that Toga was using.

"You brought more pain killers, right?"

"Yes, though I'm not sure how many more she can take,"

They pushed the door open, the room was pitch black and they weren't sure if Toga was sleeping.

"I brought some food," Compress held out some fast food bags.

Toga was having some strange food cravings. She was hidden under a blanket, and from time to time they could hear her cry or outright scream.

Her quirk should not have lasted this long, she should have reverted back to normal by now but her body was twisting and contorting taking on traits of that guy along with strange animals. She looked like she had doubled in size now. From under the blanket, she grabbed the food and devoured it quickly.

"I think I need water."

"We can get you some water." Shigaraki told her.

"I need lots of water."

0000

Clint was called into Alexis' lab and he was a little surprised by the reason, "You made me some arrows?"

"Yeah, I needed something simple to work on while I try to clear my head. Arrows are easy enough, as long as you figure the math to make them aerodynamic. I'm not great at math but Stark had some stuff for that."

Alexis handed him his quiver, "I've modified it to have new arrows, you have your typical shot arrows but some fun things."

"Trick arrows?"

"Something like that, I do have another idea for arrows but-" He waved him off, "let me get my head on straight before I sit down and figure out real-time conversion of energy into matter."

"Okay, so what do you have?"

"Taser arrows hit a target and it will hit them with enough electricity to knock them down. Electrified net and bolo arrows, less charge but good to catch people. Gas arrows hit someone in the face and they get knocked out. Exploding arrows heads: in ouch, goddammit, and Nuclear."

"Nuclear?!"

"Not actually nuclear, I'm not stupid, it like saying nuclear chili. Some acid arrows to try to melt stuff. EMP arrow that will shut down 100 feet of electronics, be careful where you aim them. Punching Glove Arrow."

"Punching glove arrow?"

"Yeah, you shot it and it turns into a boxing glove halfway through the air."

"Why would I want that?"

"In case you want to punch someone from a distance,"

Clint thought about that, " Okay, I could see that."

"Frost Arrow based on my gun will flash freeze anything and the area around it. Not powerful enough to free things through but or actually stop time but I'm sure you can find some use for them. "

"Okay, that's not bad," Clint admitted, "I was kinda expecting something special when you said you made me some arrows. A freezing arrow is nice, but you figured out the portal and-"

"Black Hole arrow."

"What?"

"Only one so use it carefully, I don't have enough to make another one from scratch. You fire it and when the arrowhead breaks it causes a small black hole. It will only last for a few seconds but whatever you hit it is gone. Is that more like it?"

Hawkeye stared at the quiver, "I mean-that- yeah."

"I'm glad I've met expectations,"

0000

In another part of the compound, Deadpool was with Illyana, "Please!"

"Wade," The surly blonde glared at him.

"Look, I got a beat on someone I think might help. A vigilante in France, they got a sword and I think its magic too."

"Why aren't you going to recruit them?"

"I'm going to hunt someone else down. It's a little tricky and needs the eye of someone that knows to track people. Might take me more than a day."

"And why not your other recruits?"

"Someone got shot in the head,"

Illyana raised an eyebrow.

"Come on, get into a sword fight."

Illyana sighed, "Fine, I'll go."

0000

Gwen was walking down halls, her mind was filled with thoughts that she was trying to sort out through all the information. One of the things in foremost her mind was the orb she and Terra had collected and the message that had come with it. She wanted to tell Tony about it but wasn't sure what it meant.

Her train of thoughts was derailed when she caught a glimpse of silver hair passed down a connecting hall. It was Charmcaster walking down with Venomous towards a destination. Gwen pulled back and moved away before she could be spotted.

Infinity's words about not running away from Hope rang in her head.

"Gwen?"

While she did avoid the villains there was someone whose eyes were far better.

Gwen found herself face to face with Kara, the stunning Power Girl. "The girl who turned into a Kryptonian."

"Ah, yeah,"

Kara was wearing an outfit she had borrowed, it consisted of some jeans, a top, and a blue jacket.

Gwen had a thought come to her, "Yeah, you said something. When I transformed you said I was blessed by Rao. What does that mean?"

"Back home, before-well, Krypton was around a red giant, Rao. We worshipped the sun as our God. Red hair isn't exactly common with Kryptonians. So, when one is born with red hair we used to say they were blessed by Rao, that they would bring good luck and that they would be symbols of hope. It's been a long time since I saw one." She smiled at Gwen, "It's part of the reason I wanted to stay here. I think it's a sign that we have a chance."

"Hope."

"Yeah, we all need a little hope."

Gwen did find herself smiling at that.

"Are you up for a sparring session?" Kara asked, "I haven't had a chance to go against other Kryptonians except my cousin."

0000

Alexis finally got some time to talk to Doctor K.

"Okay, Doctor K, I've had some questions to ask you. I'm trying to come up with some method of defense." He turned on the TDS showing footage of the Power Rangers in the battles, "The others have told me you're an expert of the technology behind the Power Rangers."

"Not all of them, but I did found my own team of rangers and develop their technology,"

"Great, if you can make it so spandex survive monster attacks-"

"That is not spandex! The material is a self-assembling nano-fiber with an intercellular shape memory alloy."

"Oh, that makes more sense, and also makes it less impressive. Nanofiber can be very sturdy, but you've done something to it. "

"Yes, I empowered the Rangers by accessing the Bio-Field."

"Bio-field? You mean a morphic field?"

"The other rangers refer to it as the Morphic Grid. It's a multiversal energy grid, it extends throughout every universe including this one. I checked once I arrived."

"It's a grid?"

"Yes, there seems to be a pattern."

"Heh ha ha ha!"

"What?"

"It's not a field, it's a grid, structure does affect metaphysical forces! It explains so much! I've been trying to figure out how to control my forms better for years but I was thinking of the entirely wrong! Ha! The universe still has surprises for me!" He laughed, an honest laugh in what seemed an eternity.

Doctor K wasn't sure how she was supposed to take that.

"Okay, so, anyway, I've had some ideas and well I've always lacked in the bio department and if we had your knowledge of the grid I think we might get it started. It's going to be a massive task, it's going to take a lot of help and resources, and if we get the plans and blueprints and everything ready it would be easier. We are going to need some more help but I think I know just the people."

"What do you have in mind?"

With a manic grin Alexis said, "Let's be mad scientists!"

NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

The girl known as Black Alice was in the New Public Library, like so many places it had become understaffed and few people were coming. It was closed so it gave her all the privacy she wanted, and thanks to the sling ring she stole she could enter it with no problem.

She had decided to take residence there while she looked for answers. The Library at Kamar-Taj didn't help as much as she had hoped. There were some books there that might have had some answers but they were watched, and the sorcerers were on guard. She knew she wouldn't be able to win the fight, so she looked through other books until she left.

She was hoping to search the world for clues. While this world did have heroes and villains there seemed to be far fewer. She left to get food and other supplies and was returning to her makeshift base. The spiraling fiery portal formed and Lori walked out to try to make her plans.

"Welcome home"

Lori looked on to a woman with a pleasant smile and short black hair.

Several men jumped out from behind bookcases and other hiding spots with their guns ready. Lori was about to jump back into the portal when the woman waved her hand and it vanished.

"Miss Lori Zechlin, it would be very rude just to leave,"

"How do you know my name? No one in-"

"No one in this universe? Miss Zechlin, I have what some call the sight. It has been greatly heightened since the Dusting." She held out her hands and magical energies swirled around them. "I was able to use other gifts to help understand certain things. I should warn you don't try to steal my powers or-" she motioned to the guns pointing at her.

Lori didn't really want to copy her powers, just looking at her magic it felt sickening. She could try to steal her power but she felt it wouldn't work out for her. She could try to steal someone else's power but she wasn't sure she wouldn't be shot for trying.

"I have a proposition for you, we've been tracking you for the last few days. And one of the more scientific members has also discovered how the walls of our universe have been weakened. We've also started to track some people like you."

"People like me?"

"Visitors, you see, we have some people here that would likely get in the way of some of our future plans. If you help us, we'll be happy to help you."

Lori looked around unsure if she could trust her but she was sure that if she refused it wouldn't turn out for her. "Fine, Miss-"

"Elisa Sinclair," She smiled, that polite smile.

PARIS, FRANCE

Paris, like every major city on the planet, was having a hard time keeping things under control. Half the police force was gone and everyone was in a panic. There was widespread looting.

Several thieves were availing themselves of an electronic store, through the broken glass windows they climbed out carrying some new TVs.

"I would suggest that you put everything you took back,"

The two thieves looked up to find someone in a nearby building looking down at them. They saw a woman in a red hooded robe brandishing a red sword. They stared at the woman for a second before they did exactly what she told them.

The woman was known as Guillotine, she was a vigilante that was known to use that sword to bleed those who fought her.

Any would-be looters quickly decided to go home.

Guillotine quickly made her way into another roof jumping from roof to roof. She couldn't stay in any one spot for too long, while the police had their hands busy they still had an order to arrest her on sight.

"You should have let me bleed them,"

Her sword, La Fleur du Mal, was in fact a cursed sword that was tied to her family. The sword was alive, and it drank blood from people. When she was a young girl she stumbled into a hidden room where her ancestor had hidden the sword and to her look, she cut her finger on its blade binding herself to it and awakening it. The sword boosted her physical abilities in turn for her to give it blood for its endless thirst. Some of her ancestors had done terrible things to give blood, others became warriors and fought the good fight to find reasons to fight. Jeannine Sauvage decided to fight crime to gather blood. She constantly kept the sword in check, letting it cut criminals, letting it cut deeper the worse the criminal. She only let it kill the worst of the worst, mostly serial killers and such. She took no real joy in the act but it kept the curse at bay and the city safe. It had made her some enemies, especially the police officers, including her fiancé.

Jeannine paused as she knew he hated her alter ego, and he was among those dusted. She paused, removing the hood revealing her shoulder-length hair, and the pieces of amour she had on the cloak. The black mask she wore covered up most of her face but let her red hair out. She had considered letting the mask cover her hair but that felt uncomfortable and no one really got a good look at it with the hood.

"They weren't worth it," Jeannine told them.

"They were a meal."

"Nice sword." A new voice broke out.

Behind them a circular white ring formed, beyond it was seen a hellish red world and a blond young woman stepped out.

Magik smiled that unsettling grin of hers, "I have a sword too."

Eldritch armor formed over her arm and her sword manifested in her hand. "Why don't we test them out?"

EARTH SE-51204

DEATH ROOM

DEATH CITY, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Maka didn't know if Haruna and Black Star would have gotten along or tried to kill each other.

Haruna had an ego that rivaled Black Star's which was saying something.

So they figured things out pretty quickly, that what happened to one world happened to both and they didn't know what caused it. They also figured out travel to alternate worlds, sort of. Haruna didn't like to admit it, but somewhere in her calculations there had been a massive error and if the orb hadn't detected them and redirected them- well, it wouldn't have been pleasant. But now they were stuck in another world.

Haruna was having some difficulty getting used to their technology to try and rebuild the gate she used to get them there. Haruna was trying to work with Eruka to form a proper spell to arithmetic magic to try to bend space-time, Haruna could follow but the calculations were complicated and they were having issues.

"Wrong! Wrong!" Haruna yelled as Eruka continued to write the calculations on a spell circle on the floor.

"I'm not even done! I'm going to look it over! I've never had to do calculations for multiple universes! Other dimensions sure, but I had help and I wasn't leaving the universe! Ribbit!" The witch argued back.

"Now, now," Tsubaki tried to stop the fighting, "we are trying to work together, fighting isn't going to solve anything,"

They had agreed to try and help them get home, the vampires were a lot easier to deal with than Haruna.

Seraphim tried to keep Haruna calm, "What is the problem?"

Haruna huffed, "Power! That ball thing, it can do most of the spatial calculation, and can do most of what we need done!"

"And the problem?" Tsubaki questioned earnestly.

"That magical circle is limited, the calculations don't work for jumping into other universes."

Eruka croaked, "Ribbit! I don't even know the math to jumping universes! I'd have to create a whole new type of math! The problem is even if that ball makes up for my calculations! We don't have enough power! We need something capable of opening a path already, and a powerful one! "

Sarasvati, the leader of the vampires, had been looking on, "And that is all you need?"

The Frog witch sighed, "If it's strong enough, I can hook it up to my ritual and the ball will finish the job."

Haruna pulled up her pink chainsaw and started to rev it up, "Mystletainn can do it!"

Eruka sighed and walked away as Haruna began to try, she'd tried this before. While the chainsaw had magic that could let Haruna return to Villers, it relied on pre-made paths. It could provide a bit of boost but wouldn't work.

Liz had been watching with the others and turned to Kid, "Can't you do something with that? You're a full reaper, mirrors are your doors or something?"

Kid shook his head, "No, I can connect to mirrors, use them as links to other places but only if I'm connected to them"

"Right, the number thing" Liz slumped her head.

Marie looked on, they had pretty much-settled everything so they would be needed very little so they could focus on this. Marie hoped they could together find the source for all this chaos and maybe find those they lost.

"Hey, Mama?" Maka turned to her mother.

Kami was deep in talks with Nene, they were getting along very well. They were sort of kindred spirits, both women who'd fought the monster and alike and reached the top of their fields and then sort of retired, trying to find new purpose away from the fighting.

Maka did find some hope in that these two could find friendship in these trying times. "Mama? Are you sure you don't know anything about the orb?"

Kami blinked, "Nope, got it in a bizarre way from a guy with a weird mask. I thought it was some sort of giveaway. Was very nice, something like a gift. I thought it was just a puzzle box I couldn't figure out. I tossed it in storage and forgot about it."

Maka shrugged, "I guess it was worth asking." Another thought struck her, "You've seen a lot of strange things traveling. Anything like they are describing? Anything that can make the path to other places."

Maybe Kami hadn't been paying attention, maybe it took her daughter to say it but something came to her mind, "…Actually I have."

The group turned to her.

"What?" Kid asked.

Kami flinched, "I know a guy but… one we have to hope he survived the dusting and, well, you guys won't like it."

Haruna was thrown back as her latest attempt failed.

"Do it!" Marie demanded.

Kami just sighed and motioned to the other to move back, which they promptly did.

Kami raised her right hand into the air and yelled, "HEY OLD MAN! GET OVER HERE! I NEED YOU!"

The air in the Death Room took a sharp turn, every grew quiet as nothing happened.

"He could be dust or he needs a minute" Kami explained, "So just-"

A sound like thunder erupted in the room and the air split apart in a blinding golden light. They instantly felt a presence and power that came with it.

Kid was the first to realize who was behind this light, "…No."

The other worlders weren't in the loop, they knew Kid was the grim reaper of this world and they saw him almost scared and moving back. What could scare the grim reaper?

Slowly something descends from the light and gently rests itself into Kami's hand. Golden angelic wings formed behind Kami.

Nene marveled and whispered, "Beautiful."

A beautiful elegant sword rested in hand, one of pure majesty that refused to be anything less than perfect. One whose legacy was known in even their world.

"I have been called forth-"

"Shut up!" Kami yelled as she swung the sword wildly.

The sword transformed into a short penguin-like white creature with a top hat.

Those from the other world looked on less impressed.

Excalibur fixed his little top hat and Kid cringed and was being consoled by Liz.

"Nimue" Excalibur glared, "I take it you've called me for a purpose other than swinging me around."

"Nimue?" Maka asked, "Why does Excalibur call you the name of the Lady of the Lake?"

Kami shrugged, "It's a nickname Arthur gave me, he threw in the title."

"As in King Arthur?"

"Yeah, that's a complicated story, I ended up in Camelot trying not to cause a paradox. It was like something out of a Mark Twain story."

"A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court?"

Kami smiled and winked at her daughter, "Right, Excalibur actually gave the story to Twain who changed up a lot."

"He also left off your relationships with Kay and Morgan." Excalibur wagged his cane at them.

Maka was still confused about all this.

Marie put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "I wouldn't try to keep track. They've had a weird relationship since school. Your mom is one of the few people that actually seem to get along with Excalibur."

"Yeah, we're friends, I met him when I was in my teens right after Stein failed to work with him. He'd known me from when I was older. I didn't know that at the time, but we got along and I actually enjoyed some of his stories. He offered to be my weapon but I already had one and well, I mostly wanted to see what freaked Stein out so much. Though getting to show off I got along with Excalibur was a nice little in your face."

Haruna looked at Excalibur, "This is supposed to be the legendary sword? A penguin?"

Excalibur smacked her hand away with his cane, "Fool! I am no penguin! Your mind couldn't begin to grasp what I truly am."

Haruna jumped at him for the sword to jump out of the way and leaping onto Kami's shoulder.

"Wrath always endures," Kami whispers.

Maka glimpses their souls, her soul perception winced as she looked at Excalibur, his soul was grand and bright golden with angelic wings on it. Her mother's familiar soul glowed with a certain courage she'd come to be familiar with and Maka could sense a faint but strong resonance between them.

Kami gently patted his side, "We need you, old friend."

"Well, everyone needs Excalibur in their lives, but for what specific reason have you called me."

"We need you to help us breach the wall of our reality into another universe."

"…You do give me an interesting task, one worthy of me, I'll give you that."

"It's why you put up with me." Kami grinned.

They prepared to get everything ready, Excalibur transformed into a sword and Haruna fiddled with the orb, putting it in the center. Haruna prepared her chainsaw, readying it to give the circle all the power she could muster to make sure everything was enough.

Kami prepared the sword, Eruka telling her, "Okay, cut open the rift in the center of the array. The setup should take care of the rest."

Maka watched as Kami raised the sword in a practiced way, and Haruna turned her chainsaw channeling pink magic into the setup.

Seraphim was standing next to Haruna, "We can finally get back home,"

"Home?" Haruna questioned, "we aren't going home?"

As the rift formed, and the magical array glowed, the orb connected it trying to direct it properly, with the saw boosting it all it looked like it was working. Gold and pink light filled the room.

The issue was that Haruna went overboard and giving it the extra power destabilized the whole thing. The room was engulfed by a terrible light as the floor felt like it had caved in on itself.

EARTH HB-F-2003

BPRD HEADQUARTER CLASSIFIED

CLASSIFIED

Hellboy watched as the scientist looked over the orb he brought over. Dr. Kate Corrigan was taking a keen interest in it.

She walked over to Hellboy, "So, you have no idea what that thing is?"

"I don't know, the Nazis thought it was magic. I've never seen anything like it."

Kate shrugged, "I don't know if its magic or not. It's beeping sometimes, projecting star charts, translating Mesopotamian texts, and the best we can figure it's could be some psychic component."

"So you guys don't know what it is?"

"Yeah, nothing, one of the researchers thinks they saw something like it in some old text. They're digging it up, maybe it will give us a clue."

Hellboy stared at it.

"You sure you don't have a clue?"

"Not sure, but looking at it, I get the feeling that it's waiting for something."

"Waiting for what?"

"I wish I knew."

The orb beeped to itself.

EARTH BTVS-1997

MAGIC COUNCIL HEADQUARTERS

SAN FRANCISCO, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Willow Rosenberg had brought the orb to the council, she had sensed something strange about it. They had all sensed something about it, Dawn almost having a twitching fit when she got close to it.

As they tried to study it, to wonder what secret it might have and if it would have some answers.

"Maybe we should go back to Sunnydale." Willow suggested, "Maybe it's connected-"

The orb began to beep.

EARTH DLSK-7416

SAIKI HOUSEHOLD

HIDARI WAKIBARA, JAPAN

Kusaku and Saiki Kusuo worked together to build Kusuke's device. Saiki uses his psychic powers to move the heavy metals around to construct it.

Kusaku paused as he saw a computer blink for a moment, one he was sure had been off.

EARTH BE-09

TRUE CROSS ACADEMY

TOKYO, JAPAN

"SHUT UP!" Shura broke down the door to one of the base's storage rooms.

She found an orb beeping loudly.

"What the hell?" She picked it up, "Is this one of Mephisto's toys?"

EARTH MPSY-100

SPIRITS AND SUCH CONSULTATION OFFICE

SEASONING CITY, JAPAN

Reigen had disconnected the phone, too many people had tried to call in hoping he'd have some answers. But he doubted that someone like Mob with his powers would be able to answer anything.

Serizawa was off to get some supplies, they were expected the psychics to come in later. They had been trying to help where they could but everyone except Mob's brother seemed to value Reigen and his advice. Not that he had any guidance to offer, this whole thing was crazy.

As he entered his office, he found Tome asleep in a chair. Her family had all been turned to dust so he was doing his best to take of her.

His thoughts were stopped when he spotted the static on a nearby TV, he went over and turned it off.

EARTH PSG-14

DATEN CITY CHURCH

DATEN CITY, ANIMERICU

A red-haired boy was digging through the garage hoping to find more material to fix the windows that those strangers crashed through. He still didn't have a clue what that was about.

As he searched he found something was making a loud noise.

The geek boy found a beeping orb in a box of Garterbelt's old stuff.

EARTH PKM-22796

MAIN STREET

CELESTE CITY, JOHTO REGION

A young trainer walked down the city streets, half his pokemon and his friends had become dust and like so many others he found himself lost. Night had already settled onto the city and as he looked up to the stars he saw a pokemon he'd never seen before with a blue aura around it.

He pulled out his Pokédex to try and find out what it was but the Pokédex only said: Pokemon unknown.

The trainer lost sight of the pokemon quickly not realizing the screen on the Pokédex turned to static.

EARTH DS-16

OLD HOUSE IN THE FOREST

SOMEWHERE IN JAPAN

The group of demon slayers had found themselves lost in the forest but had the fortune of finding an old forgotten home.

As Inosuke and Tanjiro started to look for a place to rest, Nezuko stepped out of her box and looked around.

Inosuke noted, "Anyone else hear something?"

Deep under the floorboards of the old house lay an orb beeping, something sifted from the ground reaching for it.

EARTH M-199999

NEW YORK CITY, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

AVENGER'S COMPOUND

There is beauty in the universe, it can be hard to find sometimes.

"Stars?" Adora looked up at the night sky, she had never seen the stars.

As she outside she Glimmer and Entrapta looked up to the sky filled with stars.

Tony walked over having overheard them, "Yeah, part of the reason we decided to set up the base here. More room, less light pollution and we can actually see the stars here."

"It's- just-" Glimmer tried to explain, "We never actually saw them where we are from. Stars as just stuff of stories,"

"Your universe doesn't have stars?" Tony was shocked by them.

Entrapta explained, "No, yes, well, we used to have stars according to some legends then they vanished. But my recent research has explained that our world was moved into another dimension, and yeah, that one doesn't have stars."

Tony was having a hard time imagining living his whole life without stars, just fairy tales about it.

They didn't even see it yesterday as they were just settled in.

Tony took a moment and just looked up at the stars, he didn't know how long it had been since he just stopped to see the stars.

It scared Tony to consider that in a few weeks those stars would vanish.

0000

Gwen drifted off to sleep as she was supposed to be on watch duty. The other person was off getting snacks in the meantime. The watch on her wrist blinked as a tall bald figure appeared into the room, not that she noticed. The Watcher looked upon those getting ready for a war, one he wasn't sure who would win. He was just out of sync with the universe, though he wasn't sure it was enough. There were many in this building with keen senses that might be able to sense him. The Time Ladies, the curator, some of the mages, the Alpha Predator, the formerly ascended being, the energy being might sense them if she was awake. Normally Uatu would hide farther away but that dimension had become less stable.

He took a moment as he sensed the orb within the machine beeping, sensing something, he even detected the other orbs in a lab doing much the same unnoticed.

"Do you think they will win?"

A tall dark-skinned man with mutton chops, he wore futuristic armor and a flowing cape.

"You've noticed, you could tell them where Thanos is hidden,"

"I have made a vow of non-interference,"

"Even when Thanos moved to decimate reality you didn't act, did you know how far his reach would spread?"

The Watcher didn't speak right away, "No,"

"Would you have acted if you did?"

The Watcher only replied with a question, "Monitor, why have you not informed them?"

"Stark,"

"One of their greatest assets and greatest threats,"

"His arrogance, if he knew where he was, he'd drive the others to attack before it's too late. They'd be slaughtered,"

"And that is why my people do not act, we've made mistakes, and others have paid for that price,"

The Monitor took a beat, "You may have reason to stay your hand. But as the end comes can any of us truly afford to stay hidden."

"I believe we must," A new voice emerged from a chair, Metron watched the others. "Possible futures are vanishing, there is but one path that leads to victory. We hold a little part in it. If existence is to continue we must Welcome the Age of Heroes."

"Poyo?"

"The Alpha Predator," Metron moved back.

The three found staring down at Kirby looking up at them. "Po?"

"Kirby?" Gwen woke from her slumber. "Is-"

As she blinked the sleepiness away, she swore she saw three figures where Kirby was looking, but they were gone as she blinked.

"Po?" Kirby looked back to see nothing before moving towards Gwen, he was holding a cup of coffee for her.

"Ah, thanks, I needed it. I thought I saw-never mind."

Gwen gladly took the drink as she tried to wake herself up.

Gwen! We got an issue! Someone's coming in and I can't stop them! Something is coming through the orb! Get ready for some uninvited guests.

Gwen, taking heed of the warning, turned on the shield around the HUB. Kirby moved closer to the barrier examining it. A blast of pink energy erupted from one of the gates with a thunderous roar. Whatever blasted out striking the shield before shattering it and rushing through, rushing right at Kirby.

It then stopped.

Haruna had shot out of the portal ready to attack whatever was where she was certain the dusting had come from. She was a little confused because all of the magic she charged into her saw had just stopped. She blinked as she saw Kirby with his little hands grab the chainsaw holding it.

"Po?"

Before what she was seeing could sink in, a whip of purple energy smacked the self-proclaimed genius away.

The instant she saw the attack going towards Kirby Gwen reacted to try and save it, from her viewpoint she attacked at the last second.

Haruna blinked as she saw Gwen's energy form a bubble around her. "Hm, heh, above average."

Haruna for her many faults, was truly a genius, just glancing at the bubble around her she saw its faults. Haruna spent a second studying the barrier and found a fault and just poked at it, the energies were a little uneven in that one spot and just a bit of pressure caused it to destabilize and burst.

Haruna took a step forwards with a grin, Gwen was first surprised but then just angry.

There was another burst of energy as the other tumbled out of the gate, "You did it again," Seraphim growled, she should have expected that Haruna would have rushed into the fight that was the same she did to get them in the other world.

Haruna rushing through purposely with the saw just got there a bit earlier.

"Now who are you?"

In several flashes of light, the other found a blond girl in a pink outfit floating above them, well, several versions of the same girl. Lia Nelson, The Flash, had gotten the alert of the uninvited guests. She'd come to make sure they didn't cause any trouble.

There is one major issue with that, trying to intimidate someone to show them that starting a fight is a bad idea isn't a terrible idea, subtle intimidation doesn't actually work on experienced fighters.

"Only one of them is real," Kami motioned to the real Lia, her soul perception revealing only one of the girls actually had a soul.

"Oh? That makes it easy then," Nene smirked, her hand began to glow with a faint almost transparent wisp of energy and she briskly touched the copies who all vanished at once.

Lia was actually surprised, no one had ever managed to do that to her copies, they were hard light constructs.

Sarasvati and Seraphim jolted to the hair, their bat-like wings unfolding from behind their back and their eyes glowing.

Lia responded, "Oh, vampires,"

Gwen didn't like their odds, she hoped that more help was coming their way.

Reacting to the tension in the room, Tsubaki turned into a chainsaw scythe and moved into Maka's hand. Marie turned into her hammer and flew into Kami's free hand, she felt an odd twinge feeling Kami's connection with Excalibur. Liz reacted by moving into Kid's hand, Kid flinched as his body reacted to the phantom sensation of what would have been Patty jumping into his free hand. Kid tried to ignore his usual obsessions and force his hands together on his weapons to try to be symmetrical and a proper fighter.

As a fight was about to break out, Booster Gold walked in carrying some snacks with Skeet right behind him.

Skeets reacted, "I told you we shouldn't have left to get snacks."

Booster quickly raised his gauntlet to join in a fight that was about to start. "Okay, what's going on?"

We have uninvited guests I know nothing about, and the girl nearly sliced Kirby.

"Uninvited guests?" Gwen murmured.

Kami raised her hands, "Hi, yeah I think there has been a misunderstanding. Can we talk? I think our pink chainsaw-wielding friend here had made a mistake… again."

"I don't make mistakes!" Haruna yelled out in defense.

"Why do you have a soul in a computer?" Maka motioned to where Scout was housed.

From a far distance three figures watched as pieces fell into play, a grand design made by another. The future wasn't certain, possibilities were fading away to be left by one known path.

Author's Notes:

So yeah the thing I set up with Venomous is coming up again. Can you blame Carol for thinking he'd be after power? Its kinda habit with him.

Okay, so Mobius, Saturnyne, and Time Broker serve as people who watch over the marvel universe in the comics. I don't know if the other two will show up in MCU but with the multiverse being a thing in the movies it might, anyway Owen Wilson has played a fine Mobius just less power.

I had plans for the arrows before the Hawkeye series and wrote it before the show came out but the holidays are a mess for me.

I have added Guillotine, she was introduced in a marvel game and then into comics. I like her and think more should be done with her.

Also if anyone is good with SCP stuff let me know, I could use a beta for my article. As I've said my grammar lacks works and could use some help on some stuff. DM me if you are up to help.

Anyway, let's start this year. And hope it's better than the last and thanks to my betas and make sure to leave a review. Ask questions and let get going.

Q&A:

Bloodguy: Yeah. I've said before I don't know a lot about the Boys but people kept asking so he showed up. Because well I hate him and honestly a crisis would probably make him wet himself.

Raxius: Same as above.

Saramus92: In the back healing, trust me. They will show up with a bang.