Chapter 7: eh

Ed looked at Chris as they picked up the bales of hay. "So, do you guys normally do this where you're from?" He chucked it past him in the wagon and proceeded to grab another bale. Today was a scorcher in the expansive vegetable field east of the village and Chris was lucky to have packed a kit. He wiped some sweat off his forehead and looked around the farm, seeing all kinds of people slowly damaging their spines and backs picking up grains and various vegetables and fruits. Chris was used to smelling manure when passing through Long Island but this was something much stronger. Still, he's been through a lot worse.

"No," panted Chris. "No, we have other people we pay to do it. This isn't our thing. Well, most of us at least."

"Let me guess." a ragged voice clamored back. "You guys got slaves! You could call them 'undocumented workers', if you want to be polite."

Chris and Edward looked towards the voice to see an old man in tattered clothes working alongside two boys wearing the same rags. They both shared the same bronze skin tone that glistened ever so gloriously in the sun. The old man raised a fist at them and yelled back, "When I came here, I didn't ask to be put back in fucking chains! If I wanted to, I'd ask Steve McQueen!"

"Granddad, he's dead." one of the boys spoke up. He had cornrows and a permanent scowl that is a surprisingly shared trait between the three of them. However, his was more mischievous and troubling while the other boy's scowl was more cynical and plotting. The other boy replied back to his brother saying, "I'm surprised you know the difference, Riley."

"Well, there ain't shit to do here anyways." Riley snapped back. "Unlike your uppity ass, Huey, I wanna do some hood shit and there are no avenues for a young black man like myself to engage in such acts!"

"Yeah, that's because we're in an off-shoot version of Asia and Europe, Riley. Hood shit is different compared to what these people deal with on a daily basis. It is not our fault you couldn't pick up the skills of the trade."

Riley scoffed. "Fuck off with that shit, that ain't my arc!"

"Anyways," Edward cut in. "You were saying, Chris?"

"Oh! I was just gonna agree with him. We did have slaves, but they're actually paid slaves. Paid better than what they used to pay."

"Lucky bastards…." grumbled the elder.

"However, conditions were still fucked. Most were being discriminated against but by the time we left, things were starting to get better. For the most part."

"...ok." Edward said slowly. Chucking another bale, he then proceeded with, "where I'm from, there weren't many slaves. Civil war, yeah, but not because of….well….shit, I actually forgot. I might have to ask Roy about that again."

Chris looked out at the sprawling field of various vegetation and noticed that the workers were only bringing in hay, carrots and apples in wheelbarrows. As one after the other started loading the wagons, he turned to Edward and said, "isn't that fuel for them?" as he jabbed a thumb towards the centaurs that drove the wagons.

"Nah, they drink just like us. Most of the time, energy drinks and yerba mate…..who the fuck even makes that around here? Anyway, they're one of our main export lines as they go to one of our military installations and feed the war horses. They require about 780,000 calories a day to be ready and able to battle."

Jesus fucking Christ, is it that serious? This power scaling shit is just arbitrary as fuck.

"If you don't mind me asking, they're not comically muscular and gigantic, right?"

Edward busted out laughing. "Nah, man, we're talking regular horses cursed with incredible speed. They just eat a shitton because of their metabolism."

"Fast bodies, faster depletion. Sort of like how cars work."

"Er, yeah. Yeah, kind of." Ed continued.

Chris grabbed another bale to throw onto the wagon. "Hey, how did this universe come about? I don't think I've had any backstory to it."

Ed hated this topic but it was necessary exposition. "Well, you see-"

Oh hi.

Well.

Here we are. The part of the fanfic that breaks the fourth wall. They used to do that back in the days of yore right? When Gaia Online and MapleStory reigned supreme? Remember Adventure Quest and shit? God, those were awesome. Used to play them back in the day during middle school and shit.

Oh right, speaking of which…

Well, what can I say? I always wanted to create something that not only meant something to somebody but to make something that I know I could be proud of. I started this at around 15, thinking I knew how to write (come later to find out, if Alex Kaztenburg was there, he'd actually call me a genius and I wouldn't be here. I'd be shittng on Transformers some more with my shit character building.). I wanted to continue it but, unfortunately, life happened. Group homes, drugs, moving out, big revelations and more came into my life and went as if it never brung up to me in the first place. I came back to this thinking the site was going to die and it hasn't. Because of that, this story has kept it's original chapters to show how far I've become in terms of making a coherent and decent paragraph. At the time, I was homeless and using methamphetamine as a way to cope with sleeping outside and that spilled into my writing: all the sex, drug references and self-deprecating digs at the story were all simultaneous cries for help and a mirror to what I dealt with the past 10 or so years. A jumbled, needlessly erotic mess of characters that I might never use or their arc will be anti-climatic as all fuck, locations that might never be used properly or character developments that will never bear fruit for the simple fact that most of these characters' stories (and the entertainment industry) have changed DRASTICALLY from the last two decades I've been on this blue ball of gas.

In regards to the sexual nature of most of the characters, they are staying the same as well to showcase how raw and disgusting that side of me was back then (trust me, there will be a throughline with that one). That was…..something I still look back with disappointment and disdain. I'm doing better now but it was a part of my life I wish never happened.

So, with that, I want to continue this story and see it through to the end. I want to touch on what's happening with the world of entertainment and beyond. I want to feel like I have done something in the world. I want to inspire someone to run with this idea and expand upon it to the best of their abilities. This was supposed to be a silly, cringe-filled mess of a fanfic where Naruto and Hinata teamed up with the Griffin family and fight evil but it became so much more….so, so much more…

"-a strange burst of colorful energy burst out of a certain blank space," explained Edward. "And it created, well, this. In a land of deities and daemons, we still have no real idea how we were all truly created. Some have tried, searching through various universes and dimensions to find meaning to it all but in all honesty, I think that's a fool's errand." He looked down at his metallic arm and continued, this time, with an air of somberness to it, "Whatever is out there that made us, I sure do wanna have a chat with that sick motherfucker."

"Hey, I couldn't help but notice but what happened to your arm?"

Ed looked back behind him to see that Huey was looking at his arm. He smiled and said, "Nothing, really. Lost it during a….a small experiment."

"I'm guessing it cost you. Guessing that experiment wasn't something you were supposed to do…."

Ed's eyes narrowed when Huey dropped that. The fuck, kid? "Yeah….something to that effect."

Chris, being the oblivious one, decided it was best to steer clear of the conversation and wander off to grab some water. As he was filling up his bottle, he saw a shadow flickering amongst the corn stalks and shot his head up to see a girl with glasses and a pink tracksuit crawling on the ground, military style. Her brunette mussed-up hair was picking up a lot of dirt due to her careless attitude to her situation and, if it wasn't for Chris' good left ear, she wouldn't have been spotted and had to stop dead in her tracks.

"...you don't see me." she said.

"Well, no shit, but I can definitely hear you." Chris shot back.

"Damn, nice one. Hey, Fatstien-"

"fuck you, too."

"-you mind keeping it low for me and give me a sitrep? Gotta get to the village for a meeting of sorts."

"Well, stand up and walk. I'm sure no one will mess with you."

"Clearly, I'm not welcome hence the crawling."

"If you know you're not welcome, why crawl to a place with no planning ahead? No surveillance of any sort? You ever played Metal Gear Solid?"

"Gee, sorry, Hideo. Got a spare PS4 to remind me?"

Chris scoffed. "Keep calling me names and I'll give you the 3DS version of Snake Eater. Wanna keep talking that shit?"

"Oh, fuckin' grow up!" the girl hissed. Wait, did she just….chuckle? "Dude, just help me out here! Plus, that's Hitman. Snake rarely plans well for that shit."

"True, true. Well, the short kid with the metal arm is here. His brother is back in the village, but he brought the Freeman family with them."

"FUCK."

Chris raised a brow. "How bad we talkin?"

"The afro kid got eyes and ears like a hawk and his brother is a strong beast. Untamed and wild but fucking STRONG. The geezer is the sniper of the group basically. That belt of his….." She shuddered. "Okay, just point me to an exit and I'll figure it out from there."

Chris thought for a moment and pointed towards the sakura tree. "That's where I entered from."

The girl cursed. "Guess I really gotta Hitman it. Thanks."

"Hey, uh…..what's your name?"

The girl looked up at Chris. She took in his sweet demeanor and gave him a small smile. "I'm Mari Illustrious Makinami. Nice to meet ya!"

"Chris Griffin." He stuck his hand out. "Nice to meet ya!"

"Yeah, I just said that."

"Oh."

Mari shook her head. Dude's the "smooth brained, golden heart" type. Seems nice. Reminds me of Emo Boy back there. Hopefully my man hasn't sent a watch party. Speaking of whi-

"Hey, so where's Rei?"

That name brought Mari's attention back in center. "Fucking Christ, how do you know?" She almost gave away their position with that yell. "I thought the Kages only knew about that!"

"What are you talking about? You guys were just released on Amazon not too long ago."

"A….Ama…."

"Wait, how do you know Metal Gear Solid and not know about your guys' story being sold out for us to watch?"

"I…Shinji told us there was no way you'd know…."

Chris looked at her and, for the first time, gave her a serious look. Normally, these would've bene for comedic effect or for a cutaway. Chris had never felt this sincerity before. "...Mari, you have about 10 seconds to explain what you know before I snitch."

"That'll take a while-"

"8-"

"Dude, alright, Jesus." Mari looked around a bit before saying, "It's all being sold to other buyers. Our stories, legends. Everything is a market here."

"For what?"

"Can't say for now. Besides, you've been kneeling down for too long. He'll be coming soon to check on you. I apologize in advance for this. The pronoun game, I mean."

"Dude, he literally is a kid. Huey isn't that sile-"

Just then, he felt a small tap on his shoulder. Wincing, he turned around to see the boy with the afro and the menacing grimace staring at him in the eye. "I'm assuming you got imaginary friends in those fields."

"Nah, I just talk to myself when I'm bored." Chris replied back. "Sometimes, I make up scenarios in my head and I laugh at them."

Huey looked around the stalks. "Hmm. That's fine. Was the work overstimulating you?"

Huey, are you fu….well, to be fair…. "Yeah, a little bit. But I'm alright, nothing I can't handle. I'll be out there in a bit."

The boy nodded as Chris got up to walk away but before he could get away scott free, Huey asked, "So, uh…who's Rei?"

Back in the village…

"I don't. Want to fucking. Be here."

"Dude, language."

A young black man bounced a ball on the wall of a cramped apartment, eating a sandwich while doing so and spilling a bit of mustard of his spotty T-shirt He looked back at who called him out and muffled back out, "Pfat waffnt ee. Itf a pfig!" He pointed to a pig-like being bearing a red-and-blue suit, etched out to resemble a spider lounging on top of a bookcase (almost all four of the people in the living room wore the same suit in various colors and styles).

"Okay, and?" replied the pig in a sardonic tone. "Oh, let me just clean up my act really quick to fit your tone, Mr. B. Parker. I'll be the goody goody two piggy you so want! This little piggy went to the market, this little piggy stayed home, this little piggy went to go FUCK HIMSELF WITH A CACTUS FROM DEATH VALLEY!" The pig looked at the kid. "Miles, you're gonna let him censor me?!"

Miles, too busy with the ball and the sandwich, shrugged and said, this time, with no food, "Nothing I can really do at this point. I'm in the same boat as you. Gwen, got any inputs?"

The blonde woman in question, leaned against the wall as she struggled to catch a signal on her phone. "Well, cell signal isn't a thing in this dimension. Either we go analog or we adapt."

Peter B. Parker, another spider-suited man with a showing sign of years on his face, groaned. "Oh my God, I hate analog. I vote adapt."

Miles raised his hand, sandwich in the other. "I second that. Plus, they all look like their doing cooler stuff than what we're doing."

Gwen had no choice but to agree with Miles on this one. Might be useful to pick up some skills from the locals plus it'll give them more leverage if they need it when it comes to information and places to look for in order to get into the Hokage's palace. "We're gonna have to be quick." she said to Peter B. "Shinji's team is dealing with a straggler but he's taking care of that. Swear to God, if it's Asuka…."

"Money's on the skinny Velma."

"Sexist, much?"

"Less quips, more work." Gwen shot Peter a quick humorous smirk. "The last thing I want her to screw us up for messing this. I don't think you guys know what our mission contractors are capable of, especially Sable. That woman is whole bag of nutball crazy and her having those two with her is just an extra helping of it."

"I liked Amanda."

"Of course you did, Miles."

"What? She reminds me of my mooooohhhhhhh THAT'S what Sigmund meant!" Miles beamed a smile that turned into a weird mix of disgust and regret. He made a sound and shuddered. "He's one nasty mother-"

"Shut yo mouth!" the Spider-Pig exclaimed in a sassy tone. Miles and the pig shared a laugh for a bit. After they settled, Spider-Pig said, "No, but Sigmund Freud was a nasty fuckign weirdo."

That one got Peter's attention. "Dude!" If it's one thing that Peter had a problem with, it's cursing. He wasn't raised to even say "crap" so it shocked him when that left his mouth a few years earlier (followed with a deep soap rinse for the mouth. Good ol Catholic upbringing. Is Peter Catholic? I don't even know anymore, I'm just going off what I currently know.)

Spider-Pig jumped off the bookcase and looked at Peter. "Oh, come off it! You can let a few of 'em out here! This isn't our world anymore!"

"You ever heard of 'sticking to your morals'?"

"Thought you said 'less quips'?"

Peter sighed. He was so, so tired. All he wanted to do was sleep and let someone else take care of this problem. But as soon as random rifts started appearing left and right from Manhattan and stealing people and items, he couldn't help but do something about it especially since Miguel nor anyone from higher up was able to do anything about it. He even had to ask Miguel and Jess to look "more outward" for help which led them to a universe very very similar to theirs (if albeit a tad more darker) which housed a team similar to the Avengers that led them to a man that was a gruffer and sadder version of Tony that led them to a room that held these boxes called Boom Tubes. One of them was a portal to this universe and…well… "If we don't find the Supplier of Stories, we're done for. This person could be the one responsible snatching up parts of our dimensions and they could be out there right now continuing to swallow up more of it. We need to think."

"Being ourselves isn't a good idea." replied Miles. "Everyone knows who we are so any kind of freeform sneak shit is out the plan."

"Really, Miles?" Peter replied with exasperation. Wait a second- "Miles, they know who I am…"

Miles shot him a look. "And NOW they know me, thanks to that big ass movie we're in!"

Gwen looked at Spider-Pig begrudgingly. "You might just be our only hope for this one, pal."

Spider-Pig rolled his eyes in annoyance. "If it's one thing, I know when to accept when someone's right. So, what's the plan, sarges?"

Gwen knelt down and handed him a small video recorder. "Get inside the Hokage's Palace when the Interdiminsional Festival is going on and the fireworks are going off. Especially during that time. That way, Miles and Crew C can cause a distraction."

"What happened to Crew D?" asked Miles.

"Van Helsing and his crew died as a distraction to get in, remember?" replied Gwen. "Anyways, they were just throwaway characters. You know, him, Itachi, Kisame and the like."

"ITACHI was a throwaway?" Miles yelped.

"Van Helsing was supposed to be but….he's a fucking idiot and got all four of them burned."

"Fo….DEIDARA!" Miles busted out laughing on the floor. "Bruh, oh my fucking God, he actually went to help them? I told him, 'I don't know, foo, Van looks a little shaky'. Motherfucker deadass said, 'Nah, I got this!' You ever wondered what he could've done with those hands? Like-"

"Miles."

He cleared his throat. "Sorry."

Gwen continued with the plan. "Get as much information as you can from the sales logs and transfer papers. If you can, try and get something about the Story Buyers, too. It might be a crapshoot but it's worth a try."

Spider-Pig gave Gwen the strictest salute he could muster. "Don't you worry, ma'am! I'll be sure to complete this mission with tact and precision."

The other Spider-People chuckled. "Well" said Gwen with a smile. "I'll leave it all up to you!"

Somewhere in the Grener District of Dim. 43-G….

The doors swung open as the three women walked through, bursting with dominance down the hallway. Their stride matched as they walked and holding folders, wondering how the old geezers are going to handle this one. A dissenter right now is not what The Tall Order had in mind especially since they have that whole mess with the other high-selling dimension currently engaging in an IP war which is costing them billions in Dimension Revenue. The portly black woman snarled the words, "Looks like we have more than a bunch of whiny brats throwing tantrums. That mouse is nothing but a nuisance….if I was there, shit get done immediately."

The silver-haired woman nodded in agreement. "Their powers, while useful, are time-wasters. Train them and maybe we can use them to our advantage. Makima, you think you can whip them in shape?"

The pink-haired woman looked at the other two and then, almost innocently, started to play with her single braided ponytail. "I think I could manage." she replied almost in a hushed voice. "I don't mind another pet to train for a while. The others need friends to scurry around with."

A scrawny intern scrambled behind them with papers flying about. "I-i-i have the battle reports, Amanda. Do yo-"

"How many dead." replied the portly black woman coldly.

"About 6,000. They are going completely insane."

"And how many are infected?" asked the silver-haired woman.

The intern gulped which caused Makima to smile at him. "I'm guessing, all?"

He nodded. "All 8 billion people in that dimension are infected by Velma's Format and it's looking to spread out into it's galaxies."

The silver-haired woman chuckled as they stopped at a set of double doors. She turned to look at Amanda and said in confidence, "Who's buying beer tonight?"

"Oh, shut it, Silvija."

They went through the double doors to be greeted to an abyss, almost swallowing them in. A line of lights slowly flickered down to a table that sat a sulking figure, back facing them. The women and the intern walked into the darkness and the door closed behind them. When they reached up to the heaving mass of skin, Amanda was the first to speak. "We've brought a, uh…..a thing for it."

Something resembling a head slowly rose up at that statement. "...it?"

The intern gulped while Amanda spoke. "Considering what you did to it, it no longer has any soul to be given it's rightful gender. Now do the deed."

The figure's rapsy voice was barely registering within the room so it was hard to make out what he was going on about. Something about, "making them wait for a while." It slowly creeped out a long, gangly finger and pointed to three chairs sitting neatly in a row beside the table and the women walked over there. The intern followed but noticed a sad look from Makima, smile still intact but almost out of force. He stood next to her as they all sat down on the chairs. Since they were closer to the figure, the intern could finally make out what was gasping out those words: a man-or what remained of him, mostly-was able to be heard fully and see that he was wearing visors that belonged to one of the first Interdimensional Explorer Units, jagged and flashy. His body was hunched over almost completely, causing his head to be lower to his chest. "I thank you once again for taking on this burden. It can do a number to one's head if they don't have their heads on straight."

Amanda scoffed. "Spare the menial banter. You know we don't want to talk to you." She almost jumped from Silver Sable's smack on her lap. The last thing Amanda wanted was to be treated like a child however, she was quick to pick up that if any woman like Silivja-hell, anyone-were to silence her. It's for a reason. Amanda looked back at the old man and apologized.

"No need. You are correct, I shouldn't have made you wait."

Almost instantly, five beams of light casted down on five tall wooden podiums each. All of them held seats for various beings of certain dimensions. Two of them were taken by the warmongers, Thanos and Darkseid, both staring at the three women with intensity (Amanda staring back with both curiosity and dominance) while the one next to them-the center-was taken up by Lex Luthor who was also looking down at the women. The fourth person was a newcomer, Jobu Tupaki, wearing one of her outlandish outfits: a flamingo hat coupled with a golf polo and basketball shorts while filing her nails. The fifth seat and last seat held David Zaslav, which surprised the women.

"Wait," said Makima. "Davey?"

"Davey?" Amanda yelped, almost dropping her professional demeanor.

Makima turned back to Amanda. "How else was I gonna get the Shark Fiend?"

"SHARK FIE-"

Silver Sable cut both of them off with a question to the old, decrepit man. "Why are you here?"

He replied back in his signature businessmen-like cadence, "Simple. Uh, that gentleman over there, Lex, said I was a good candidate for the Tall Order."

Sable nodded and turned to the man sitting at the table. "So, where shall we begin?"

He took a breath, mucus and phlegm being forcibly coagulated from it. "Intern…fill in Mr Zaslav. He needs to be debriefed."

The intern stood in front of the old men, folder in hand that read "Exposition". He opened it, scanned the words slowly and thoroughly before being distracted by who stood before him. Nothing about this was…..real. He wasn't at home, tending to his virtual pets and eating leftovers from the hangout with friends before. He wasn't at work, cursing at himself for getting something that was beneath him and pays averagely. No. He was snatched from his world to tend to the LARGEST beings in all of fiction. The possibilities of reality shattered as soon as he even set foot through those doors but how he managed to hold his composure beforehand was anyone's guess. Was it sheer will? Luck? An actual invisible force telling him that one small misstep could end him at a moments notice? Maybe it was all the above. He damn well knew he couldn't escape so playing along was the best course of action. Knowing these people and their past actions, however, it would be appropriate to at least fidget a bit.

He began to speak:

"Okay, Dave, I'm going to be frank. I'm sure you have more of an idea of how I got here than I do myself but…..I'll try and sum up what I just read. Well, back then, in what I just found out is Earth-06289-W, classified as "Westend Earth", Stories were not only just verbal passages of mythical heroes and legends and morals. They also contained a raw power that only our dimension can hold. We weren't aware of it's hold now but it was able to get us through the darkest of times back then from Pompeii to the African race powering through almost a few centuries of torture so when the time the invention of the camera was coming to fruition back in 1894, all those Stories were already at their rawest because of books and spoken word so they started to filter onto the screen. Walt Disney and the ilk started the animation movement out of political rebellion during the 1910s, when the Great American Famine started. Then in 1969, the Apollo 11 mission was underway and with it came two astronauts: Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. They set foot on the moon and once they cut the feed to give them time to explore the spacecraft that landed there, they found a chassis of what is now known to be a warring alien lifeform capable of shifting into whatever it's able to copy and transform to, a.k.a., a Transformer. Following that discovery, Armstrong and Aldrin had found a device capable of interdimensional teleportation. They brought it back to the planet to study it and figure out its capabilities in order to combat the Soviets during the height of the Cold War. What they found out was that it not only brought them a way to combat the Soviets, it brought a way for them to combat everything. Disease? History! Science, philosophy, every idea man has ever had about the universe up for grabs. To continue Kevin Flynn's quote, "Bio-digital jazz, man!" However, we didn't have a clue that other entities had plans for us, as not only Japan, France, China and Russia began to set out to search for these devices to gain political and military leverage, others such as Thanos, Lex Luthor, Kaiba and Pegasus LLC., and many other interdimensional power companies started rolling in and backing the US with a lot of money. However, with our inhumanely high scores of famine raging our country and keeping most of the Midwest and Pacific Northwest a complete dead-end for crops for more than 5 decades since the 1910s, we had to accept their cooperation by capturing and selling IPs, or Intellectual Peoples or Properties, as Stories, in order to thrive as a country and to provide the energy we needed to continue on living. After the discovery of the Earth-616's oil and certain minerals in 1995, we siphoned it and harnessed new forms of Stories under the guidance of Dr. Stone and his team down in San Diego, California. We were actually beating China this time and winning the culture war. That was until Dim. 920-P grabbed an IP near the Southeast Dimension Hemisphere and brought it back to its homeland, which is a violation to the agreement and our dimension's security, considering who they grabbed. Which brings us to a few key events: Micheal M. Mouse has successfully infected 8 billion people in Earth-0232 using a variant Velma and Dim. 667-A pinged a few days ago and that is of special importance since that one is also harboring the fugitives that attacked our base last year so we should get word on that. We managed to get the respective crews running around and checking that out soon."

"Speaking of," Lex spoke, his eyes almost transfixed towards Makima's direction. "how are the lap dogs? I trust they're behaving well considering your handiwork."

Makima kept her smile intact as those words escaped his mouth. Fucking disgusting… "The Special Divisions Unit is currently on Dim. 920-P scanning for travel logs and documents as we speak. Sable ordered her group to infiltrate the Hokage's palace while Amanda's group went to the Sand Village for the same mission. I apologize for keeping this debriefing….well, brief."

"It's alright, Makima." The bald man's lips crept into a very unwelcoming smile. "I don't mind."

Jobu gave Lex a look. "Dude, stop being a fucking creep."

Lex shrugged. "Eh, you call it 'creepy'. They call it 'smooth'."

"I don't even wanna know which dimension they think that in."

Thanos sighed in deep annoyance. "In other words, Zaslav, we've heard about your lack of expertise on general financial spending and we were wondering if you could help cripple them down economically before we decide to send our troops there again. The last battle took out most of our best because of our enemies' abundant resources. We can't deserve to lose anymore."

To the intern's astonishment, David took this seriously and actually understood the assignment. "Just show me what needs fixin' and I'll see what I can do. Bring some good ol' boys up there and rattle things up."

"Excellent." bemused Thanos. "Now, I don't say this often, but that does put a smile on my face. Now that that's done, we need to figure out how to cripple their military as well. They have the Jinchuriki at their disposal and the 9 other incredibly powerful beings located around the realm so it will be a tough battle."

"For you." chuckled Darkseid. "I think you've forgotten that I am an actual god. Those puny ants aren't the warriors they think they are."

"You have an elderly court jester as a bodyguard and you got your kneecaps shattered by Battle Beast." retorted Lex. "Fucking Battle Beast, I mean, like….I don't wanna hear ANYTHING coming out of your mouth. Thanos, don't even think about replying."

"And let you run amuck like you didn't get almost killed by another bald man. I thought you guys had a pact?"

"FUCK YOU, ASPHALT CHIN!"

Just then three thunderous booms rang around the ether, almost deafening everyone within earshot. Amanda put down her revolver on the table and look back at the beings on their glorified highchairs. "Now that I have your undivided attention, we need to discuss the matter at hand: reigning back our control over these beings. They are starting to rebel and fight back against us, causing our Stories to lose power and fail. We can't use the Star Wars Stories anymore because they fucked and sucked them so dry, we had to rearrange their corpses into something that can be sellable. We cannot have another Public Domain."

"And what do you suggest we do, Ms. Waller?"

She smirked a little bit, causing Makima to frown a little. Now I see what Denji and the others see, Makima thought to herself.

"We use the same tactics against them."

Lex leaned forward from his chair. "Keep going…"

"Intern, screen."

The intern bowed and pulled a small remote-like device from his pocket, pressed a button, and a holographic screen blipped out of thin air showing static. It switched to a color video with very mediocre visual quality of a steel chair and a white room. Nothing else but that for the next 16 seconds. Just then, a door opens and a man's voice, slightly Southern and very snake-like, is heard in the video. "...ot gonna take long, I promise you."

On the screen, a small blonde boy, no older than 10, walked into the room with hands in his orange jacket pockets. He turns around to talk to the man out of frame. "Oi, what gives, mate?" he croaked in an Australian accent. "I thought you adults were gonna take me to get some candy."

"Kid, we're going to give you candy. You just gotta do this little test first."

The kid groaned. "Fine, I'm only trusting you because the KND said so. Wait, how are you connected with them?"

"I'm friends with Numbah 362's parents. Lovely people, they are. Now, Wally, this test is an endurance test; just to see how long you can withstand certain actions and procedures. Just sit on that chair and we'll begin shortly."

Wally sat on the chair and you can hear a door close. For about 2 minutes, nothing happens. Then, the door opens again. Wally gets up and is relieved but is soon angered. "Teenagers! Oi, it's a setup! Nothing my trusty T.R.A.P. can't fi-"

Just then, Wally gets struck with a 2x4 straight in his ribcage, making him double over. The boy trembles as he attempts to get up, clutching to whatever he could hold onto. Another young man grabs Wally by the hair and proceeds to punch him full force in the face 3 times and throws him across the room. "Get the fuck up, little bitch." he snarls. "Tired of you motherfuckers throwing paper clips and ketchup bombs. Throw some fucking hands."

Two more young men come in the room, more voices piling in.

"Letemgetupletemgetupletemgetup"

"Oi cunt, get the fuck up, ya fookin fruit!"

As soon as Wally got up, he was met with another strike to the face, followed by someone roaring, "PUSSY BOY!" All four men ganged up and immediately jumped Wally, stomping and punching and spitting out slurs and obscenities until one of them said, "Ah, let's fuck this cunt, get the chair, get the fucking chair." One of them grabbed the steel chair and raised it high to strike the child but surprisingly, Wally managed to jump out of the way and land a blow to one of their kneecaps and shatter it to pieces. The young man roared in pain before being silenced by the same 2x4 Wally was hit with, pieces of teeth being chipped off and flown across the small room. One of the young men cursed as he was grabbing something from his waist but was thwarted by the young boy who lunged at him before he could retrieve what was in his pants. Two loud shots popped out and the young man slumped to the ground, convulsing and mumbling as the pool of blood began to increase and spread around the room. Wally, gun in hand, looked completely different than when he came in: blonde hair all in disarray, blood splats juxtaposing with the bright, cheery orange color of his jacket, his demeanor drastically switched and hardened completely. He wasn't an innocent child anymore. This was the look of a survivor now.

The child looked at the remaining attackers and yelled out curses he never knew would escape his mouth. "Come 'round, yee? I'll beat the breaks off ya, you pieces of shit. The fuck did ya cunt mum raise, a limp dick bastard that can't move their feet? Well, come round then!"

One of them lunged at him with a punch that was telegraphed so clearly, a blind man would have to be dumb enough to not dodge it. Wally made a quick juke and swung the 2x4 across the young man's neck and crushed his windpipe, killing him instantly. The young boy walked slowly to the last person, who was trembling with fear at this point. "Please….please…." the young man cried.

"Nah, fuck that." Wally grabbed him and threw him on the ground, his cries getting louder and more frantic. The boy proceeded to beat the young man within an inch of his life by stomping on his legs and using the plank to hit him on his sides. The cries were the worst part of the video: the young man pleaded for his mother, choking on his spit and almost vomited at one point. Blood was spilling out of his mouth more and more until at one point, Wally stopped. The young man, shaking and wet with piss and blood, slowly backed away with his able hand outstretched. Kneeling down, he begged for his life with a very plump lip: "p-p-puhlese….i'm sorry…..it huuurttts…..it hurts so much…"

The young boy calmly put down the plank and set the young man down on the floor, sitting on top of his chest. His eyes stared at the young man for a minute, mumbling to himself with blood dripping off of his face. Wally leaned in closer with his hands on the teenager's mouth and started to stretch it. The young man started to plead slowly, "No…noooo….." and then, the young man's pleading turned into wild crescendo of screams and gurgles as Wally stretched further and further until you hear skin tearing and blood started to squirt all over. The young man flailed for two seconds until Wally forceful pulled part's of the boy's face off with his bare hands and punching his throat several times. The boy roared at the corpse for 30 seconds until the video stopped at an image of what was once a carefree little boy.

The beings looked back at Amanda, shocking even the Mad Titan Thanos and David Zaslav. Makima and Silvija looked at her with an almost disgusted look on their face as she spoke with a straight face, "That isn't just a new way to fight back. It's mental evolution. We conducted tests with Donald Peirce and his leftover crew to build a more stable and efficient soldier. We've been giving allusions to survival tactics and real world violence to these fragile dimensions but what if we ACTUALLY packaged it and sold it? What if we can finally get enough people and beings to not only fight with us but completely keep that control intact? Remind people that we all bleed the same and we will show you how?" She looked at Darkseid. "You wanted an army? This is how you get it. Not your parademons. Not your stupid Granny Goodness. Not just them. You need to be more than fierce. You need to crush your opposition."

Jobu blinked. "Including children?"

Amanda took a deep breath. "I had this very conversation with a former colleague of mine. I told him the same thing that I will paraphrase to you, child: I will do whatever it takes to protect the safety and well-being of my dimension." She darted her eyes at Makima, who was smiling out of spite and a bit of fear. "Some of us just need to accept that fact and stop putting up a front."

The man on the table shot a small smirk at Amanda. "You remind me of back then."

"Gendo, now is not the time."

Thanos raised his finger at the women. "There have been word of a dissenter by the name of Mari Illustrious Makinami. I should see to it, if I were you…"

A dissenter?, thought Makima. Oh dear…. "Unfortunately, due to her A.T. Field, my powers aren't able to penetrate her. Guess I'll have Denji or Aki deal with it personally."

"A wise decision. This meeting has concluded."

A long dong was heard, signifying the end of the meeting and having the three women stand up and leave with the intern following behind them. Makima stopped him and said, "Oh, sweetie, stay. You're getting paid right now from them so wait here for the check."

The intern sighed with relief but before he could give his thanks, the doors closed in front of him. He slowly turned around to see all the men stare at him with a sad smile.

Jobu was the first to speak. "Thank you, bud!" Her overcast light shut off afterwards.

David was second. "Thank you for your service". Lights shut.

The intern darted his eyes to Darkseid. "I thank you." Lights gone.

Thanos nodded before his light went out and Lex gave the intern a small salute before his turned off as well, leaving him with Gendo staring at him with his hands crossed on the table.

"You will be a part of something bigger really soon…."

After his lights went out, the intern was enveloped in pitch darkness. His shallow breath echoed throughout the abyss. "H…Hello?"

"F….Fa…"

A faint red glow emanated from the side of him and it gave him a glimpse of what made that noise. The taste of rust and blood filled the air as the looming shadow of a spiked tendril clicked on slowly as the intern tip-toe'd to approach it. He jumped a bit when the tendril smoothly transformed into five, creating a hand that snatched him and yanked him close. All that filled the air now was the nasty workings of crunching and gnawing for a few minutes and then, a low groan:

"Faaaaaathhhhhheeeerrrrrrrrr…."

That felt good. This one was a year in the making. Welp. Next chapter coming soon!