Chronicles of Earth X
Prologue
Earth X, a planet that was synonymous with fear and repulsion, for in this version of humanity's home world, one of the despotic regimes was never defeated and conquered the entire planet. With help from heroes from another dimension, the Nazi forces occupying America was ousted by the Resistance, its commanding officers- Overgirl and Dark Arrow taken out, but rest of the world remained oppressed and the fight for liberation continued in different parts of the world.
In other realities, Paris was revered as the perfect honeymoon destination, the city of love but in this reality, it reeked of despair.
The broken Eiffel Tower could be seen in the distance, as lines of slave workers extended for miles. Bound by shackles and heads bowed, they marched into shadowy caves, afraid to look up let alone speak to each other under the predatory gaze of the guards monitoring them from the command outposts.
The guards watched a slave collapse near the entrance. She was a young woman of Chinese descent with a scar across her eye, with a buzzcut, wearing simple prison uniform with several coloured triangles pinned to her shirt. The only things that had any semblance of colour on her were the rusty earrings she wore, which somehow despite the various scratches and dents on its ruby encrusted surface retained their ageless beauty.
Her name was Marinette Dupain Cheng, the daughter of two political prisoners. She was born in captivity and lived her entire life in the prison mines, seen her parents get dragged off to gas chambers for trying to organise a rebellion but not before they taught her never to give up hope. She continued what her parents had started in secrecy and learnt more than she expected when a year ago, in the middle of the night, she was awakened by a sound which drew her outside of the cramped living quarters where she encountered a woman in a strange blue rabbit themed costume, who was blinking in and out of existence.
In the darkness of the night, the woman thrusted a small jewellery box to her and told her to fix the world, seconds before she vanished completely.
Not knowing what to do, she had opened the box, found the earrings and when she put them on, Tikki had appeared and explained everything to her.
Their reality was a sham, a world that never was, that never should have been, but brought into existence by rewriting the timeline with a magical wish granted by an all-powerful god.
It had taken her time to come to terms with this insane revelation and search for the other lost jewels still in Paris, eventually entrusting them to her most trusted allies, all the while, keeping up pretences that she was still a powerless slave, not a woman wielding the power of a Creation Goddess.
"Get up, slave!" A guard walked up to her, kicking her in the abdomen, making her double down in pain clutching her gut. She looked up to him defiantly, angering him more. The guard armed his metal rod, which cackled with electricity and swung it at her.
Before the rod could hit her, she swiftly grabbed the guard's wrist, shot to her feet, and twisted the guard's arms, flipping him to the ground and kicking the rod away from his hands.
A squadron of guards left the Command tower in droves, charging at her.
Few other slaves broke out from the ranks and joined her side. One was a handsome man of Moroccan descent, who like her had a piece of colourful jewellery that stood out from his garish uniform – a green wristband and another, an attractive woman with a yellow bee themed comb resting securely on her flaming red hair, who walked with a limp. They had purple triangle badges. They were Nino Lahiffe and Alya Cesaire, wielders of the turtle and bee Miraculouses.
Joining him were Juleka Couffaine, a beautiful woman with long dark hair, who looked at the soldiers with hatred in her eyes and a jewelled gauntlet adorning her arms, and her brother Luka, a handsome man, who like Nino, he had a bracelet which appeared to be of sea green in colour. They had red triangular badges pinned to their shirts, symbolising them as political prisoners. Their mother Anarka was a secret member of the Underground Resistance against the Third Reich before she had been killed and the twins had been captured.
The last to join them were two men, who held hands defiantly, whilst looking the guards in the eyes. The red headed man, Nathaniel had a yellow star badge in addition to the pink triangle, which his partner, Marc a beautiful man with ravenous locks shared. They wore a red thumb ring and a pair of white hairclips respectively. They were the wielders of the rooster and goat Miraculouses.
"Do you all really wish to die today?" One of the soldiers said as they raised their guns.
"Not today." Marinette said boldly, stepping up front. "Today, we free Paris from your clutches."
Laughter spread through the army.
Marinette looked at her allies. They had been planning this day for a long time, slowly gathering the lost Miraculouses before the Reich could. All this was a distraction so that one of their trusted operatives could recover the ring of the Black Cat from the Louvre, while the guards were distracted by their stunt here.
According to Tikki, if she wielded the ring in addition to her earrings, she could ask a wish from a cosmic deity… a wish that if fulfilled could fix their world, erase the atrocities and genocides orchestrated by the Nazi Regime for decades, and create a new world to replace the hellhole their home had become… a better world.
"Ready guys?" She asked.
The others nodded.
"Tikki, Spots on!"
"Wayzz, Shell on!"
"Pollen, Buzz on!"
"Roarr, Stripes on!"
"Sass, Scales slither!"
"Orikko, Wake Up!"
"Ziggy, Bleat it!"
Marinette cringed at yelling the silly phrases, though she did admit the transformation made one heck of a spectacle, and the baffled and oddly fearful looks on the faces of the guards made it all worthwhile.
The soldiers quickly recovered from their momentary stupor and opened fire.
"Shelter!" Nino shouted, and a green shield made of hexagonal patterns manifested in front of them, protecting them from the barrage of bullets.
"My turn…" Juleka said, leaping upwards and unleashing a sonic roar that left the soldiers rattled. Some were tossed backwards and others dropped their guns in shock.
Nino released the shield and Alya charged at the soldiers, stunning them with her stinger.
Marinette was close behind, lashing out with her yo-yo, flinging like a whip, and whacking the soldiers with it and knocking their weapons out of their grasp. From the corner of her eyes, she saw one attempting to fire at Luka, only for her to jump in front of him, rotating her yo-yo so fast that it acted like a shield, deflecting the bullets. Marc and Nathaniel quickly took out the operatives with well-deserved punches and kicks.
It wasn't a hard battle to win especially with the powers at their disposal.
The Nazis were rounded up and tied, while the prisoners freed and relocated to safe houses.
"That will get their attention." Luka said to her with certainty in his eyes.
"What went wrong?" She asked.
He looked at her quizzically.
"How can you tell?"
"I can always tell when you are hiding something." She said softly.
Luka's face reddened and Marinette looked away. In a world where they had to fight everyday to survive, love was the farthest thing from their minds but they couldn't hide what they felt for each other. It was an unspoken agreement between them to not act on it. There was too much at stake for any distraction, but it was far from their liability… It was what motivated them both to fight for a better world. A world where they had the same rights as others, where they could live and love freely.
"The plan worked. They are coming." He said gravely.
"Then why did you come back?" She pressed.
He met her eyes but didn't speak. That was all she needed.
"We lost someone." She surmised. He nodded.
"Who?" She asked.
"I can't tell you. All of us are moving chess pieces. I know a version of the game. If I tell you any more…"
"I might take different actions and wipe the slate clean, effectively mooting the Second Chance." She sighed before recomposing herself on hearing the faint roar of the army tanks.
"Yes." He said simply. "Rest assured, I won't let anyone die this time."
"I know you won't." Marinette reassured him, as the team gathered behind her, ready for the next fight.
In a hidden temple within the Himalayas, a man sat on a throne, his eyes lost in thought. He appeared to be in his early fifties with his grey hair yet the toned muscles of his bare chest and arms that were scarcely covered by his green cloak revealed an impressive physique that would make any body builder envious.
He looked up sensing footsteps. His daughters Nyssa and Talia entered, followed by some of their most trusted followers.
For too long, he had been forced to allow the incessant injustice that had torn their world asunder, all thanks to the betrayal of one man, who had single handedly destroyed many invaluable resources and the global network of assassins his predecessors had amassed over centuries.
Damien Darkh had been dealt with, but they had been forced to the shadows, more so than before, with most of their operatives dead.
While the Nazis took over the world, they had to focus on keeping themselves safe and slowly rebuild before they were ready to strike.
The Nazis didn't hesitate to kill off any who opposed them… Bodies of millions lay discarded and forgotten. An endless graveyard filled with corpses of those with endless grievances against the genocidal maniacs. All those souls waiting for a second chance.
Something he was all too glad to grant with his Lazarus Pit.
It took them years to set up agents and spies once again, who could transport the bodies to Nanda Parbat without detection.
After that, it was not difficult to convince a few mages to assist them in the restoration of the souls while the waters of the Lazarus breathed new life into their bodies.
They had an army of those, all too dedicated to bring down the Nazis.
A few years dedicated to their training and slowly, the League started to regain their former power.
"We are ready." Nyssa said.
Ra'as al Ghul noticed the blond woman in red suit standing closely behind her – a promising warrior who had caught her daughter's eyes and won her heart. Once he might have had reservations against this, but recent decades had forced him to take a good look at the League's 'traditions' and modify them. They were not scalpels of order, not butchers of war.
Besides, Ta'ir as-Safir had proved herself to be worthy of her daughter's hand, not just by her determination and strength, but also by the nature of the boons the Living Waters had gifted her after resurrecting her. Her chosen name might be that of the canary but her scream was that of a banshee.
He turned to look at his eldest.
Before he could enact his plans to topple the regime, warriors from other worlds had taken out the leaders of the American Faction and inciting a global resistance, that dissuaded him from showing his hand.
However, the recent Dusting that had spread through the world had set back the rebellion. The Dusting had claimed him and his daughters. Thankfully, they had returned before the warriors could go off on their own. Yet things had changed too much again and he had to adapt his plans once more.
Decades of plans in the making were altered thrice in a single year.
He needed to establish dominion before something else happened.
"Let's begin." He said coldly, his lips twisting into a cold smile.
The world was burning but he would assure that the new world borne from the ashes of this heinous regime will have an everlasting peace.
First of all, this story is part of the Infinity Crisis series and as always, thanks to Michael Weyer for allowing me to tell stories in this multiverse.
I got the idea for this story after reading a "Crisis on Earth X" fanfic. Earth X is the darkest universe in existence for humanity and I wanted to show other heroes rising to take back the planet from the Nazis.
Also, the Miraculouses exist in this universe too and a wish was the reason for creating Earth X in the first place.
And yes, Sara Lance of Earth X is back. Her red suit is a reference to "Canary Cry Freedom", another story by Michael Weyer, where Laurel Lance of Earth X was the heroic Crimson Canary. In this universe, Sara takes the mantle while her sister, like in canon, is the villainous Siren-X.
The Ray and the other heroes would appear soon after we conclude the Miraculous arc next chapter.