Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or DC
The battle for the Multiverse reaching its second phase,
The Redeemer
Chapter 27: Clouds of darkness
Earth 610-A month after Ultimatum
Enid enjoyed playing with her little brother. Since Reed had left it was the only real comfort in their lives. Their father Gary had been laid off of work, which meant job hunting.
"Jesus Mary, does this place have to be such a pig sty?" the man asked.
"They're just playing Gary leave them alone," she said.
"Enid, have you done your homework?"
"Yes dad," Enid said, looking up at her father.
"Then go and do something useful for a change, find Reed," Gary said.
"What am I psychic? I don't where Reed is."
"THEN GO AND FIND HIM!" the man yelled.
When her little brother started crying, their father didn't even stop to take a second glance. Enid stroked her brother's hair, sighing over what her life had become. Ever since Reed had come back, their father's rotten mood seemed to have gotten worse. The man was a physical worker, he had spent his life doing manual labour and never relying on his mind. Thus he couldn't appreciate the academic, even when Reed started showing signs of his brilliant intellect.
'Hell, Dad didn't appreciate Reed when he proved just how fantastic he was, saved the world more times than we can count, still treats him like dirt,' Enid thought.
"There you are Reed, where the hell do you think you've been?" Gary asked as his oldest walked into the house.
Reed ignored his father and started walking up the stairs.
"DON'T YOU WALK AWAY FROM ME BOY! GET BACK HERE AND TELL YOUR MOTHER AND I WHERE YOU HAVE BEEN!"
But Reed still ignored the man. At the time Enid thought her father was too frustrated to go after him, but she later realised he had been scared. Reed had saved the world, beaten down people who were ten times worse than his father. Gary never raised his hand to Reed after that, because he was afraid of him. With him around, Enid was always sure she and her brother would never find out if they would become targets of their father's wrath. Then one day, Reed stopped being her hero.
The city-Present time
"You're father's name was Gary Richards right?" Enid asked the Maker.
"Yes," the Maker, an alternate version of Enid's own brother spoke with very little emotion.
"He was a labourer, never believed in science right?"
"Yes."
"He hit you right?"
That question made the Maker twitch nervously. His passive demeanour had shifted for just a few seconds. The people of the city saw what Enid often saw, the scared and lonely little boy abused by his father.
"You're just like my brother, your reality is a copy of mine," Enid said.
The Maker's stoic attitude returned as he stepped off of his platform.
"My Earth's earlier history was, there was a huge divergence in our Earths around about the time Peter Parker was believed to have died," he explained.
"Yeah, that's when our worlds started to differ, so you killed your family," Enid said coldly.
"Yes," the copy of her brother matched her with a cold response.
"I never quite got the chance to ask, but why? Why did you do it?" Enid asked.
"I needed to cover my tracks, to form a smokescreen under which I could carry out my plans," he stated, as if simple.
"Don't give me that BULLSHIT!" Enid suddenly snapped.
Her tone of voice made the children of tomorrow stepped forward, as if coming to their creator's defence. But even they paused as Enid began to glow with cosmic energy.
"If you were really as smart as you say, then you could've gone off of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s radar a thousand better ways, they haven't been the best when it comes to spy work (despite them supposedly being experts), Magneto and Doom got away with a lot of things right under their radar. So tell me, why, why, why did you kill mom and our little brother, why kill them too and not just our father?"
The glow faded, and Enid looked up at her brother with Fury in her eyes. Reed smirked, as if she had thrown a tantrum.
"It's simple," he started, walking closer and closer towards Enid. "Mum knew, she knew all along, she knew what father was like. She knew that he'd hit me, she knew it was only a matter of time before he'd hit you and our little brother too, that made her guilty of supporting child abuse. The rest of you, well, you never mattered that much!"
"What did you say?" Enid asked.
"Do I need to repeat myself? You never mattered that much to me, you were both acceptable losses when compared to the perfect system I could create, the city," Reed spread his arms out, as if at a theatre.
The white faced, red eyed machine that was the core of the city, came down from the ceiling, looking at Enid and its maker.
"The city of tomorrow, the children of tomorrow, the goal was to spread this to our entire world, to wipe away everything that was unwanted. But our world, like yours thoroughly rejected the idea, and so the fighting started, we fought, and fought, and fought, until eventually our world was destroyed. Our world changed, its reality and timelines shifted so severely, that it was almost as if an entirely new reality had been created. I was imprisoned in this new reality, along with anyone who had the intellect or power to restore what once was. Except I have no desire to restore what once was, I want to create something completely new, something capable of surviving any incursion," he explained.
"What's an incursion?" Enid asked.
"You mean A.R.M.O.R. never informed your super human community?" Reed asked, then began to laugh. "Of course they didn't, why tell you the end of the universe is incoming? I think it's better if I show you," a dark looked crossed Reed's face, before it was obscured by his helmet.
He pushed a button at a nearby console, and the background of the city faded, replaced by a starry black sky. Reed smirked as Enid looked at her surroundings in wonder. Their location shifted, right between the two Earths heading towards one another. Enid looked at the effect in horror, which soon shifted to curiosity as two screens appeared either side of her. Both acted like magnifying glasses, zooming in on both Earths. On the Earth on her left, she saw that the sky had turned blue.
"I don't recognise that city," Enid said.
"It's one of numerous unfamiliar cities that exist in worlds that contain no version of any hero on our Earth. Your temporary ally Sieg was sent to one of those Earths, after Thanos's recent invasion, look at it Enid, an Earth that is only just beginning to grasp the theories of the multiverse, and the existence of super humans," the Maker explained.
Enid looked upon the Earth, the city she didn't know. On that Earth, she saw a man in a red suit running across the city. He moved fast, like the lightning bolt on his chest. The young man ran so fast into the machines invading his Earth, that they fell apart. He moved from one end of the city to another, rescuing people from falling debris left by the machine's arrival, even moving them out of combat zones. The speedster moved into a battle between the machines and two men, barely missing the flames and ice blasts that came out of the two men's guns. He grabbed civilians caught in the middle, and even shattered a robot that tried sneaking up on the man with the ice ray.
"A young universe with no way to stop the other Earth from colliding with it," the Maker veined sadness as he looked into the glass, showing the opposite Earth. "An Earth cleared out by Sidera Maris and the Mapmakers, there's no help coming from this Earth."
He and Enid both widened their eyes, seeing the horrors on that Earth. But instead of the swarm of Sidera Maris and Mapmakers that they expected, they saw a massacre of the machines. People, with abilities and costumes Enid had never seen before, we ripping the Sidera Maris apart.
"A version of Namor," Reed said, looking at the blue skinned female impaling the machines with a trident.
"I think they have a version of Spectrum too," Enid looked at the man in the multicoloured costume, he was firing various beams that tore through the Sidera Maris.
Like on the Earth they just saw, a speedster was breaking apart the Mapmakers. His back and shoulders were covered in blue flames, and his white skin seemed to be his costume. The speedster removed the core from one of the Mapmakers and dropped it at the foot of a cloaked man. He was dressed in an armoured uniform, with various pouches for weapons, and a 'W' symbol on his chest. A red haired woman landed on the ground, dropping two Sidera Maris drones. She threw a chain from her wrist, wrapping it across a Mapmaker's head. With a single tug, she tore the machine's head off.
"What power, these men and women, they shouldn't stand a chance against the Mapmakers, this isn't right," Reed stomped his foot against the ground.
"It's tough, not knowing things isn't it, being as stupid as the rest of us," Enid said, smirking as Reed looked to her in anger.
"You don't get it do you? The Mapmakers, the Sidera Maris, the black priests, there are thousands of creatures in the Multiverse, all of which have universe ending powers," Reed explained.
"So do we," Enid retorted. "You've forgotten Reed, that most of us hold back, there are people like Hyperion, Thor, Storm, even Polaris could tear the world apart if they got in the mood. Sue could've ripped you to shreds, all she had to do was grow a barrier inside of you and let it expand."
"My body would expand with it," Reed smirked.
"Everything has its limit," Enid returned the gesture, and her smile deepened as Reed gulped.
He focused again on the Earth with the mysterious beings. Once he realised there were seven of them, his interest peaked. He looked at the black clad man flying across the planet, his furry cloak flapping in the wind, his red eyes flaring underneath his knight's helm. Beams flew out of his eyes, curving around his team mates and disintegrating a map maker. A green skinned, creature was the only word Enid could use to describe what was tearing a Sidera maris apart, from the inside.
"These creatures, they've been bought together, as some kind of emulation of the founding members of one Earth's greatest team of heroes. Some of them even are versions of those heroes," Reed said.
Once the Sidera Maris had been finished off, the seven gathered at a machine. The cloaked member of their group, the only one who hadn't done any fighting, pushed several buttons at the console there. Reed looked at the calculations and the diagrams, seeing and acknowledging that the device was a type of drill, one designed to burn a hole directly into the planet's core.
"Anti matter bombs, what a primitive technique," Reed shook his head in dismay.
"What do you mean?" Enid asked.
"I mean that there are better ways to destroy a planet," Reed put a hand to his chin and continued to observe.
He watched, like a scientist, intrigued by every little action the seven took. They gathered, and Spectrum enveloped them in a barrier. Flying out of the planet's orbit, they moved into the other Earth's orbit. The young speedster, and the two gunmen he saved looked up at the Earth, and like Enid reacted with horror. Enid stepped back, watching as the empty Earth was blown into atoms. There wasn't even a piece of debris left, and no shock on Reed's face. It was all the evidence Enid needed, to confirm that he was as unforgivable as her real brother.
"I thought initially these were natural events, that the Multiverse was breaking down, but it seems this is a deliberate plan, or perhaps someone else is combating the Incursions. Whatever the case Enid, your Earth has the potential to be a survivor, to be part of what forms a new world. I've found a way to salvage what is left of the Multiverse..."
"Boring conversation," Enid interrupted Reed, releasing a blast of energy.
The blast struck Reed in the back, the holographic display of the Incursion faded, and Enid proceeded to fire blast after blast. One knocked the Maker off of his pedestal, reducing him to a puddle on the floor. The children flocked to their creator's side, but were caught in the explosions generated by Enid's blasts. She didn't let up, firing energy blast after energy blast. The explosions caused a lot of damage, but she knew they weren't enough to destroy the city. Stretching through the corridors, Enid made her way past several labs, all of which bred the Maker's children. She came to a halt, looking upon a sight that made her skin crawl.
"You didn't," Enid snarled.
A lab labelled 'black legion' contained a selection of artificial beings. Their appearances and outfits were enough, for Enid to identify them as fused clones of dead heroes. She gasped as one by one their containment pods opened. They stepped out slowly, the steam rising from their white and black suits. A clone who was clearly a mixture of Captain America and Daredevil, didn't bear the signature garb of the American hero, he did wear a cowl with horns on them, armoured padding on his shoulders and knees. Reed's symbol was on his chest, and one the round shield he carried. Next to him, stood a green haired woman with diamond skin and glowing hands, clearly a hybrid of Lorna Dane, Emma Frost and Dazzler. The third cloned hybrid was also a woman, identical to the original Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff. But the woman wore a white outfit with a black lightning bolt on her chest, as well as glowing red eyes, indicating a mix of Quicksilver and Cyclops's DNA. The fifth clone had Nightcrawler's body shape, and something resembling Sunspot's solar form, and a pair of psionic rapiers. The last clone wore the same black and white suit the others wore, except his face was covered by a dome shaped helmet, the angelic wings on his back were made of metal and metal claws extended from his wrists.
"This is definitely a 'take on super heroes' group," she muttered, running down another corridor.
"Indeed," a voice spoke ahead of her.
She charged her hands with cosmic energy, but lowered them as she saw someone who clearly wasn't a child of tomorrow.
"Quickly, we haven't much time," the boy, whom she could only describe as an Iron Lad extended his hand.
She took his hand, and was soon enveloped by a bright white light.
Quantum Realm
Winter Soldier had read a lot of comics in his time. But those were mere fictions of Earth Prime, the sparks of creativity that writers had. These stories in a way, made Earth Prime the one Earth in the Multiverse that experienced every event on other Earths. Only they were characters on a page, even the Ultra comic (or some character Noah had vague knowledge of) was a make believe. But within the confines of the prison, the prison he was supposed to guard, the Winter Soldier was experiencing the tragedy of being a hero.
"Come and join us Prodigy," the vampiric Slingers hissed as they jumped at Prodigy.
He had picked good intentioned men and women, most fighters, but against the embodiment of fear they could only cope with so much. The Hulk, Parallax, perhaps even Darkseid, paled in comparison to a vampire Batman. Phage and Riot jumped at the Nightmare Batman, grappling with him. The dark knight's fighting skills were forgotten, as he slipped into full feral mode. He and the symbiote brothers bashed into the walls, biting and clawing at one another. Winter Soldier fired another blast from the hulk buster laser, hitting Starman in the back. Jetstream swerved in midair, firing a barrage of energy blasts that hit the vampiric Slingers.
"Oh man, oh man, what are we going to do?" Prodigy asked.
Winter Soldier helped his hysterical team mate off of the floor. The top half of Prodigy's helmet had already been exposed, so Noah could see the fear in his blue eyes. He turned to the vampires as they emerged from the shadows. Throwing his incendiaries, Winter Soldier created a line between him and the monsters. He wondered how much of their actions could be blamed on the virus? Ray Conner had tried to become the new Daredevil, only to get bitten by a vampire. An issue of a young hero, and for the next few issues he's one of the bad guys, with no exploration of the corrupting effects of the thirst.
'I suppose the thirst does always win,' Winter Soldier thought sadly.
He raised the hulk buster laser, considering ending the suffering of his team mates. They had been through many adventures in different realities, and he would not have wished the curse of vampirism on them for any longer. Nightmare Batman however swooped towards Noah, dragging his claws through his back.
"SOLDIER!" Prodigy yelled.
Crimson Dawn kicked Black Cat across the head and broke off into a run towards the Nightmare Batman. Riot wrapped his tentacles around Batman, and then threw him into the wall.
"Everyone, don't crowd together, we need to get them away from the cells," Winter Soldier said.
Blood dripped from the wound, and the pupils of the vampires dilated. They were suddenly hit by multiple repulsor blasts. Jetstream hovered in front of them, firing blasts that pushed them back. Iron Knight threw sonic grenades at Spider-man, who swung across the room. He looked behind him, seeing Catwoman and Black Cat attempting to reach the prisons. Firing his glider's tow cable, he wrapped it around both women and lifted them into the air.
"I don't think so ladies," he said.
Starman suddenly dashed past him, firing an energy blast at Winter Soldier. He back flipped, and then jumped over the energy blast. Winter Soldier folded his laser out of his arm, and fired a blast into Starman's chest. The blue skinned alien let out a yell before firing another blast. Winter Soldier returned his arm to its solid form and used it as a makeshift shield, deflecting the blast back into Starman's head. It didn't kill him, it just further angered him, and distracted him. Iron Knight slammed into Starman's back and jumped off of his glider. It rammed Nightmare Batman, smashing him against the wall.
"One thing I won't regret, is freeing you of your curse Bruce Wayne," Winter Soldier said.
Magicka fired a hex bolt, Jetstream released a barrage of missiles, and Iron Knight fired two blasts from his hands. Crimson Dawn kicked the hulk buster laser into her hands and pulled the trigger, just as Winter Soldier fired his cybernetic laser. The blasts slammed into Iron Knight's glider, blowing it and Nightmare Batman apart. It also however triggered a hull breach, the vampiric slingers widened their eyes as they were sucked into the void.
"I'm so sorry," their leader said.
Winter Soldier hung his head low, then turned to the other intruders.
"Get off of my ship," he snarled, fury in his eyes.
Spider-man stepped forward, the outlines of a grin spread across his mask. Multiple portals appeared around him. Ronan, Breakdance, Ray and Reaper emerged from the portals, the latter grinning as he brandished his scythe.
"You had trouble with these fools?" Ronan asked.
"Oh it's just a matter of time before we release or new friends," Spider-man retorted.
"Indeed, now that we're here, its guaranteed," Reaper said.
Winter Soldier grit his teeth together as he got off the floor. He activated his arm laser again and turned to his team mates.
"Spread out, pick a cell, blow them up if you have to, we can't let them release the prisoners," he said.
The Agents of L.O.S.S. nodded their heads and though outnumbered, rushed into battle again.
Loom world
Blood spread across the floor, and the heroes of the web stood in shock. None but Onyx were shocked, for it had been his plan all along. Karn looked at the older Peter Parker, the blades had pierced straight through his heart. He immediately grabbed the young man's body, keeping it off of the floor. The last of the Inheritors, looked at the face of a man he had killed many times. This time, seeing the face filled him with sorrow. Gwen was frozen in place, her eyes a mirror of tears and shock. Standing in front of her, was the younger Peter Parker, the blades hadn't touched his heart, but they were fatal wounds.
"Couldn't let you die again," Peter said weakly.
"PETER!" Gwen screamed.
She caught him as he fell, rubbing his hair and holding him tight. The other warriors of the web looked at the scene, and then at Onyx. Jumping over the blades, they ran towards him in fury. Onyx made a squeezing motion with his hand, and again the heroes felt agony. Gwen's physical pain however was nothing compared to the pain of the young Peter's imminent death. Memories of her own Peter's death, and of a Peter who had become the Hobgoblin, flashed before her eyes.
"Not again," she whispered.
"It seems whether it's you or him who die, destiny refuses to let you be together," Onyx said.
"YOU MONSTER!" Karn yelled.
He had crossed the other Peter's arms together and picked up his energy spear. Karn held the weapon high as he ran towards Onyx. But the master of evil grabbed the shaft of the spear and drove his knee into Karn's chest. He grabbed Karn by his neck, and then lifted him up high.
"I am beyond a monstrosity, but the judgement is rich coming from you Karn," the armoured man huffed, preparing to stab Karn with a blade on his wrist.
Suddenly, a type of blade burst through Onyx's chest. He looked at the spiked object in shock. It was a stinger.
"The Inheritors were animals, you're looking at the monster," a gruff voice said behind Onyx.
A second stinger pierced through Onyx's chest, forcing him to let Karn go. He stepped forward, gripping both wounds as dark energy poured out of them. The web warriors looked towards the new arrival, the small spark of hope had been reignited.
"Kaine," Gwen said.
Kaine, the redeemed clone of Peter Parker stood in his costumes original black and red stealth form. He retracted his stingers and walked to Gwen's side.
"Wow, I didn't know the Tron look would suit me," Peter grinned.
"It doesn't suit you, it suits me," Kaine said.
He concentrated, changing the suit back into his version of the Scarlet Spider outfit.
"Now that looks kind of scary, not very friendly neighbourhood."
"Shut up and save your strength idiot," Kaine growled.
"Someone's grumpy, I don't want to talk to you anymore," Peter said as he looked up at Gwen.
Gwen lowered her head, parting her lips to give him just one last thing.
"HA!"
Both versions of Spider-man, suddenly disappeared.
"NO!" Gwen yelled.
"Where did you take them?" Kaine demanded, turning to Onyx in rage.
Onyx stood, his wounds regenerating.
"You didn't think it would be that easy did you?" he asked.
"WHERE DID YOU TAKE THEM!"
"Both back to their own worlds, the older one a few blocks from where Mary Jane lives, and the younger one, the gutter where he belongs."
Gwen put on her mask and stood up. The sudden aggressive stances the web warriors took, made Lizard and Rhino both come to their master's side. He raised his hand and clicked his fingers together. Web markings glowed across his armour, and a web of worlds appeared above him.
They saw the worlds of the two Spider-men, the older one was alone, and the younger one had been found by someone not even Onyx expected.
"Flash Thompson, interesting," Onyx hummed.
He showed them more Earths, the year of 2099, an Earth where Thor was fighting the Revengers, Kaine and Anya's Earth, and Earth's with heroes and cities none of the spider's were familiar with.
"Before I could only send my forces to a few Earths at a time, I had to be selective, covert, but now, having assimilated the web, I can not only send my forces to multiple worlds at once, I can summon my champions to destroy those worlds completely," Onyx raised his arms, and carried out his ultimate plan.
Earth 16
"Recognised, 27-Booster Gold, 29-Fire, 30-Ice," the automated voice that regulated the Justice League's Zeta Beam technology, had been announcing members throughout the day.
The Hall of Justice had never been so full. Since the destruction of the Watchtower, and the abduction of the team, the league had been combing the planet for any trace of their protégés. New members of the league flew into ranks, assembling in front of the trinity. Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, they were considered leaders of the league, even more so than the other founders. The team had almost recruited every super hero on the planet, and they were ready for a crisis that eclipsed what the Reach had thrown at them.
"Where's Nightwing?" Rocket asked Zatanna.
The lady magician shook her head, Nightwing had been missing for several days. If Batman knew where his former partner was, he offered no indication to the rest of the league. Superman cleared his throat, and the murmurs of the assembled heroes ceased. He directed their gazes to the main screen of the computer. It showed various locations across the planet, Paris, Moscow, Metropolis, even the Earth's poles. Those were just the locations of major interest, an anomaly was occurring across the planet. One only had to walk outside to see the black clouds in the sky. They weren't the clouds of a storm, but something else entirely, the clouds were like oil, black but glistening.
"Approximately two hours ago, these clouds appeared in the sky, satellites haven't been able to get a reading off of them, and aircraft have been completely consumed by them," Batman explained.
"I have consulted with the gods of Olympus, even their higher plane of existence has begun to see these black clouds. Something has happened that we never thought would, the gods have grown sick," Wonder Woman said, the calm voice she usually used had something few of the league heard in her, fear.
The league members stepped back as Dr Fate stepped forward. He was gripped his head and moaning in agony. Though only the voice of Nabu was heard, not Zatanna's father Giovanni.
"The web has been violated, darkness had begun to seep through, the agents of evil will rain down upon many worlds," Nabu chanted.
"Well that is disconcerting," Booster Gold muttered.
"Is this a prophecy we're hearing?" Godiva asked.
"I'm not feeling so good myself," Captain Marvel said.
"What's the plan?" Green Arrow asked.
"Maybe we should evacuate major cities," Flash suggested.
"NO!" Fate yelled.
The Ankh symbol flashed on Fate's helm. He fell to his knees and groaned, but not in the voice of Nabu, but of the man beneath the helm, Giovanni Zatara. The helmet of fate clattered to the floor, and Zatanna ran to her father's side.
"Dad?" she whispered, her voice filled with hope.
"Zatanna," Giovanni said, his voice was hoarse, weak, as if he hadn't spoken in years.
"What's happening old friend?" Batman asked.
Zatanna cast a look at the dark knight, for breaking the family reunion. He however saw the separation of Fate from Zatara as what it was, a dark prelude to what was to come. Giovanni stood up, the robes and armour of Dr Fate, shifted into his old performance clothes.
"Something is coming, something that will push us to our absolute limits, forces of Apocalypse," Giovanni said.
"Darkseid's forces?" Superman asked.
"No, he didn't say Apokolips, he said the traditional version of the word," Wonder Woman said.
"Yes, and he will bring with him his forces," Zatara rubbed his head weakly.
"Um guys, the big scary clouds are starting to spout something," Adam Strange said.
The black clouds across the planet began to expand, releasing ships of a design the League had never seen before. Some were like Pyramids, others matched the designs of the Celestials. These ships soon began to launch warriors in battle suits. Their faces were exposed, showing their painted blue lips and the patterns they drew from their mouths to their ears, as well as their grey skin. These soldiers, of different races, both human and alien were the soldiers of the Clan Akkaba, worshippers of Apocalypse. In Metropolis, his horsemen of Famine filled the hearts of citizens with hunger, draining them of energy and turning them into desperate and aggressive scavengers. Lois Lane looked out of the window of the Daily Planet, seeing the Horsemen of Famine. They included Storm, a sixteen year old girl with a white Mohawk, wearing a black and silver costume that left her arms exposed, a black cape stretched behind her, connecting to the silver bands on his wrists. The second Famine was a version Rogue, her skin had turned grey, eyes white and she wore a black and silver outfit with a green cloak. Next to her floated a version of Sunfire, a man of fired confined within a skeleton like suit, with a skull mask covering his flaming face. The fourth and final Horseman of Famine, was a version of Wither, wearing Akkaba armour and riding on a mechanical horse.
"Food and other organic material has begun to crumble in Metropolis," Batman reported.
"My city," Superman muttered, looking at the carnage in shock.
"Famine is not all Apocalypse brings, war as well," Giovanni said.
"Looks like the city of love has become the city of war," Green Arrow sighed.
In Paris, four more horsemen watched the occupants of the city fight. These Horsemen were Emma Frost, clad in a black version of her White Queen outfit. Danielle Moonstar sat on a winged black horse, and wore Akkaba armour, with a Valkyrie head dress. Both women used their telepathic abilities to coax the population into a rage. Stood behind the two women was a personification of rage. The Hulk was bald, grey skinned, and painted Apocalypse's symbols across his body, including the blue stripe around his mouth and ears. Another Horsewoman emerged from the skies, riding a mechanical horse. As War, x-23's eyes had turned white and she wore a suit of silver and red Akkaba armour, that turned her claws into energy blades.
"Pestilence!"
Disease had spread across Europe, ambulances drove as fast as they could out of Moscow. There, an Akkaba fortress had been built. On that fortress stood those whom spread the diseases, the Horsemen of pestilence. Beast sat atop his mechanical horse, wearing a gas mask with red eyes, a black outfit and a red scarf. Polaris was beside him, wearing her spiked Pestilence armour. Crawling across the Kremlin was a version of Venom, but also wearing pieces of the Scorpion suit. The final version of Pestilence walked through the streets, Elixir, except his skin was stuck in its oily black form.
"And Death!"
On the clan Akkaba capital ship, Apocalypse stood watching the invasion. He was clad in his traditional blue armour, and grinned as he turned to his greatest Horsemen. The Horsemen of death were Archangel, Wolverine, Phoenix and Sentry, all of them in armour similar to Apocalypse's. Their intention was nothing less than the death of Earth 16.
Earth 610
Phil Coulson, and David O'Kirk stood in the hospital room of David's best friend. Jason Long, until recently he had been the head of A.R.M.O.R. The man would make a full recovery, but for the duration of the crisis, he would remain in medical care. David ran a hand across his head as he stepped away from the monitoring devices.
"The entire team?" he asked Coulson, referring to the Young Avengers.
"They were all apparently dragged through a portal, Thor and the old members of the Squadron are working on a means to pursue them, along with some of the brains in the Future Foundation," Coulson explained.
"I thought we got over all of this, that boy Sieg said this world would no longer be invaded by forces from the Multiverse," David said.
"Well unfortunately, our boy Sieg was misinformed," a voice said from the doorway.
David and Phil looked to the doorway, and saw Nick Fury.
"Before the attack, Jason was my Intel man in a war my Secret Warriors have been fighting for months, what he didn't know was that it had been going on before the invasion by the Imperfects. It was happening right under people's noses and no one ever..."
"Yeah could we skip to the part where your useful, and we'll just agree you're the coolest man with all the answers Fury," David interrupted the former general.
Fury huffed and was about to speak. But he stopped as another man entered the room. Aeron Thorton, the new Captain America.
"You son of a bitch," he muttered, glaring at Fury.
Before any of them men could speak, Aeron pinned Fury against the wall.
"I told you this would happen, I TOLD YOU THIS WOULD HAPPEN!" he yelled.
"Calm down captain," Coulson said.
"What's going on?" David asked.
"Were you going to tell them Fury? Or were you going to keep what you did to me and Rogers a secret too?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Fury said.
"I REMEMBER!" Aeron yelled.
He shoved Fury to the floor, glaring at the man as David and Coulson helped him up. Nick adjusted the collar of his coat, and fixed the position of his eye patch.
"I potentially knew that Thanos's invasion might happen," he said.
David and Coulson looked at the man in shock.
"A few months before the invasion, Fury approached me about a Hydra base, during that mission, we killed Madame Hydra, except a few months later, our Madame Hydra pops up again. We went on another mission, and during that mission Fury and Castle murdered a version of She-Hulk," Aeron explained.
"She was possessed by something called the Hydra, if she had lived she would have spread it like an epidemic," Fury said.
"Except it wasn't the first time you did something like that, not the first time you took private missions. Before the Liberators incident, Rogers got recruited into an earlier version of Fury's secret warriors. They fought against corrupted versions of the X-men, their minds were only being controlled by an evil version of Xavier, and Fury and Romanoff just executed them."
"Mind control isn't permanent in a hundred percent of cases, there may have been a way to break them out of it," David said.
"And I'm guessing when Rogers threatened to take what you had done public, you had someone erase his memories, it all falls into place," Coulson muttered.
"What do you mean?" David asked.
"When I took over S.H.I.E.L.D. I had a system bought in place to scan potentially compromised agents."
"It was about a week ago that my monthly scanning session happened, the telepathic scan was clear as always, but Agent Kale found out I was under the effects of a spell that repressed memories. Strange senior confirmed it was something a student of the ancient one would have used," Aeron said.
"Mordo flunked but he's still pretty good," Fury said.
"Shut up, how prepared could we have been if you had just told everyone what was going on?" David asked.
"We have no way of knowing whether any preparations we made would have caused 'them' to simply delay their plans until their forces were stronger," Fury explained.
"LOOK AT HIM!" Cap yelled, pointing at Jason.
"We lost A.R.M.O.R and any means we have of monitoring other worlds, as well as any means of tracking the young Avengers down, they could be dead for all we know," Coulson explained.
"Because you thought it was a bad idea to share," David said coldly.
The atmosphere suddenly shifted, when Coulson's communicator beeped. He put the phone to his ear, connecting to the head of S.W.O.R.D. Abigail Brand.
"Look outside, now," she said.
Coulson opened the window, and widened his eyes at what he saw. The sky was filled with black clouds. These clouds were darkening every corner of the globe, from S.W.O.R.D's orbiting base, it was as if the entire planet had been turned into an onyx stone. A ship suddenly emerged from the clouds, and began to orbit New York. Aeron removed his jacket and put on his cowl.
"What is it?" he asked Fury.
"No idea, I've never seen anything like it," Fury said.
Their soldiers instincts took over, focusing on the fight ahead. But the glare in their eyes was enough for David to know, there would be words with Fury later.
"I might know," Jason said weakly, climbing out of his bed.
"What are you doing?" David asked, rushing to Jason's side and trying to push him back onto the bed.
"Just tell me what the ship looks like," Jason said, gritting his teeth through the pain.
"It is approximately half the size of the main island of New York, there appears to be a symbol on the front of it, three circles joined together in an upside down triangle..."
"I looks like a giant metal skull with tentacles," Nick said, interrupting Coulson.
"Great," Jason shook his head and fell back onto his bed.
"What are we dealing with Director Long?" Cap asked.
"Something that doesn't exist in any variation of our Earth, Brainiac!"
Planet of the Bravest
Jason Todd struggled to get off the floor. He felt as if he had gone a few rounds with a crowbar. His mentor and Red Hood were still fighting. There was a crack in the man's helmet, and Bruce's own cowl was slightly torn. It as the villain however who seemed the worse for wear, gripping what must have been a bruised arm. What disturbed Jason slightly was the way the man held himself, stubbornly refusing to back down despite the severity of his beating. It was identical to him.
"You can't be," Batman muttered.
"Spoilers Bruce," Red Hood huffed.
They were about to attack one another again, when the skies suddenly darkened. Alex landed on the ground beside Stargirl and Cyclone, all threw young heroes looked up in awe. The black clouds that had filled the skies stretched out beyond their sight, like a desert of ink. Red Hood looked at the spectacle, the lenses of his helmet wide in horror.
"He actually did it," he muttered.
"Come on Red, it's time to go," Blackfire said.
Red Hood lowered his head, his body language betrayed his feelings of regret.
"I'm sorry," he said, looking towards Robin. "Sorry for what's about to happen to your world," he turned away, but looked over his shoulder. "Maybe you will beat back the darkness...if you do, remember what I said!"
"WAIT!" Jason yelled.
One by one, the other world invaders disappeared. The focus of the heroes changed to the skies, as multiple ships began to emerge. On the capital ship, the leader of the invaders sat on a throne. The leaders of his invasion force bowed to him, both dressed in high tech armour with glowing reactors on their chests. The one kneeling on the right was of small stature and had right skin, a veil covered the part of his face that was burnt. The warrior on the left was bigger, in terms of both height and muscle mass, a huge sword was strapped to his back, and the locks of hair partly covered his pale green skin.
"Rise my sons," their king said.
They stood and looked at their father. A man who was a giant compared both his sons. His green skin and mass was familiar on other worlds. He was bald though and had only a grey beard. Like his sons he wore technologically advanced armour.
"Our forces are ready Maestro," his wife emerged from behind him, a grey skinned woman clad in silver armour.
"Yes," the Maestro's green eyes let out a soft glow as he looked at his target. "The time has come to smash this world," the breaker of worlds grinned and commanded his forces to attack.
Marvel Universe
Darkness had spread across all of the nine realms. In Valhalla, Hela and the Valkyrie stopped fighting the zombies of heroes, and looked up at the sky. The blizzards in Jotunheim stopped, Laufey and his fellow frost giants looked up into the darkness and saw what Asgard saw. Those of Asgard, and even their guests looked up at the darkness that had replaced the starry skies.
"This should not concern you, quickly we must move," Baldur said, pushing Cap and Tony onwards.
Heimdall dropped his sword, leaning against a nearby pillar. His once gold eyes had suddenly turned black.
"The God of War is coming," he said.
DCAU
Past and future had been dominated by black clouds. An elderly Bruce Wayne saw the black clouds in the sky, and like his two best friends, remembered a time before. A time when the Justice League included every super hero on the planet, and had just beaten back an invasion by Darkseid. Only his memories were incomplete, he had no idea what happened in the past that saved them from what was called 'the Onyx Crisis'. On the Justice League watch tower, Terry McGinnis turned to his team mates. Aquagirl had just told them of the severity of the situation.
Earth 2
One crisis gave way to another, Earths where new heroes began to emerge, also faced the Onyx Crisis. These new icons, Green Lantern, Flash and Hawkgirl stood alongside the world army. They had survived the onslaught of the Superman clone, only to face yet another threat. This threat however, had no intention of conquering or even replacing this Earth as Darkseid had, but of consuming it.
Earth 616
The Illuminati gathered in the Necropolis, bought together by the devices that warmed them of Incursions. But the six men knew it was no Incursion, unless the incursion points had stretched to the entire world. Tony put his helmet on the table and activated a holographic display. It showed Parademons flying out of the dark clouds, and with them came creatures none of them had seen before.
"Is that Thanos?" Reed asked.
"Maybe Thanos with a different sense of style, and grey skin," Tony said.
"Well Strange, what can you tell us?" Beast asked.
"A few hours ago, Dr Voodoo told me that the web has been broken, I fear it is much worse than that," Strange said.
"This is definitely worse than we're thinking," Tony said.
"What makes you say that?" Namor asked.
"Oh just a hunch," the founding Avenger looking to his right.
Standing there was Uatu the Watcher. He focused particularly on Tony.
"With the worlds now joined again, it is time for all of you to remember," Uatu said.
Sewers of New York
Spider-man and his allies were thoroughly unaware of what was going on above them. As were their pursuers, but certain members of that group began to remember a time from before, a time that the universe itself had erased from their minds. Their recollection of that time, made Spider-man aware of their presence.
"GAAGH!"
"Quiet Colossus," Cyclops barked.
"You felt it too though right Scott, your remember the Titans right?"
"This isn't the time for that Kitty."
"Yeah...you just gave yourselves away," Spider-man said, leading his group to their pursuers.
There stood Cyclops, Shadowcat, Colossus and Emma Frost, just a few of the members of the astonishing X-men. Cyclops looked Spider-man in the eyes, both men glaring at one another.
"I told you how important survivors of M-Day are Parker, I told you that the X-men could protect your daughter much better than you can," Cyclops said.
"There's an entire cemetery of X-men students that proves that statement wrong," Peter retorted.
Cyclops's visor flashed as he took an aggressive step forward. Prowler brandished his claws, and Sarah prepared her energy shield. Emma Frost and Colossus both changed their skin. They were about to charge forward, when the ceiling suddenly caved in.
Year 2099
"You've got to be shocking kidding me," Miguel O'Hara said as he looked up at the sky.
Just after meeting the supposed Avengers of his era, he was thrown into another crisis. The black skies were just the beginning, like in the past, Parademons flew towards the streets below. Another figure soon landed in the city, right underneath the Avengers. A woman walked out of the crater, her skin grey, eyes glowing red and brandishing a pair of swords. Her hair was black, half of it shaved to reveal her scalp. Much of the outfit she wore was covered by a cloak, with the omega symbol on it.
"I am Grail, daughter of Darkseid, and your world, past and future, belongs to us," she declared.
"Shocking great," Miguel muttered.
Earth 0
It was supposed to be a short walk outside, a brief tour of the grounds before they tried to lock him away again. Cade sensed the guards on the rooftops, sensed Wallers intent to not give him what he wanted. When the sky turned black, they stopped walking and looked up. It was a sight that could be seen from anywhere on a great number of Earths. People connected to great dimensional or magical forces, felt the great danger coming. Madame Xanadu's tarot cards showed planets of pure darkness, Swamp Thing and Etrigan screamed in their respective dimensions, and Billy Batson had been turned into Shazam without even saying the word. But people across the world didn't need to be connected to the Green, or some other magical force, to know that the end times were upon them.
"Damn," Cade said calmly.
He ripped apart his cuffs, crumbling them to pieces as energy wrapped around his body. The energy formed a suit, black and padded with armour. Red padding appeared over his knees, red fabric on his hands and on the soles of his feet. A sharp, edged helmet formed around his face and his eyes began to glow red, red lines glowed across the surface of the suit. Deathblade, the former Redeemer turned to his caretakers.
"I wasn't expecting it to happen this early," he said.
Next Chapter 28: Destruction
Two Spider-men dead (kind of like their franchises) and Onyx reveals the full brunt of his forces, or has he? The X-men remember an adventure that didn't happen, and have come to take May Parker away. Next time the casualties continue.