Disclaimer: I don't own DC or Marvel
The Redeemer
Chapter 36: House of M part 1
Zack looked up at the man in front of him. Despite how long he had been staying with Sven, he had never actually gone to Utopia, never gone to see how the second part of his bloodline lived. He had gone to visit his grandmother, aunt and cousins, and Sven had even taken him to the grave of his father, Zack's grandfather. Both of Zack's great grandparents were still alive, both men living at an assisted living home and driving the staff crazy with their antics. Despite knowing most of Sven's family, and even considering friends like James and Lazlo to be uncles, Zack had never truly met his mother's father. He looked at the man and saw someone very different from the tabloid photos. There was a warmth in this man's eyes he had not seen in the photos.
"Hello grandson, don't tell me you are speechless," Erik said, smirking at Zack's wide eyes.
Zack pulled off his mask, cautiously stepping towards the man.
"Ah I see, my equivalent on your world is very different from me isn't he, I admit in my younger days I was like him, as ruthless as he was, as angry as he was, but that is not who I am now, come with me and see grandson," Erik explained, offering Zack his hand.
"Where are we, this isn't home," Zack said.
"I understand you are nervous my boy, there is no need to fear, let me show you the home your mother helped to create!"
Seeing no other alternative, Zack took the man's hand. Erik held his hand gently, using his power of magnetism to levitate them both. They flew through the city, and down below Zack saw obvious mutants looking up at the sky and marvelling at the sight of their ruler. Erik waved down at them, a 'royal wave', the kind that Zack had seen from videos of England's royal family. Above them, Zack saw a few Sentinels. But their armour design seemed more ceremonial, and the colour of it was red and gold. Circling a building, Zack raised his hand defensively as a hologram appeared.
"Presenting a new chapter in the life of Spider-man, embarking on a European tour, Peter Parker is drafted by the mysterious Quentin Beck, AKA Mysterio, into a battle with elemental forces."
Mysterio: We could have used someone like you on my world.
Spider-man: The Multiverse is real?
The Spider-man at least looked like the one from Zack's world, although his costume had minor variations. Then the hologram shifted into an advertisement from a clothes line, the company name being Dyne-Styles.
"This is incredible," Zack whispered.
"Indeed, the perfect world created by your mother Zack," Erik said.
"No, no that's not true!" Zack snarled.
He yanked his hand away from Erik's grip and began to fall. Red markings appeared over Zack's skin as Erik flew down to catch him. He reared his fist back, but stopped, seeing the worry on Erik's face. Suddenly, Zack felt something impact with his back. He saw black gloves were wrapped around his shoulders and under his knees, then he looked into the blue eyes of a familiar face. Though, the hair was longer, and she wore a domino mask. She was also wearing a very different costume.
"Miss Danvers?" Zack blinked in confusion as she flew alongside Erik.
"Listen to your grandfather Zack, there are things you need to be told," Captain Marvel said.
They flew towards what Zack realised would have been Avengers tower. But instead of the familiar A, there was an X on it.
"The Xavier tower," Erik stated. "Built in honour of my good friend Charles, this is where we train the new generation of red guards, New Mutants and Hellions, until they are ready to become protectors of this world."
Zack saw two youths flying around the tower. Even though they were dressed in white and black uniforms, Zack recognised them as Julian Keller and Sophia Montega.
"You have class in four minutes children, get back to it," Erik said.
"Yes lord Magnus," they both said, increasing the speed of their flight.
At the top of the tower, where the Quinn jet usually took off from, a hatch opened and the trio flew through. Within the hanger, Zack saw 'House of M' variants of the Quinn jet, a Black Bird and many other familiar faces. He saw Logan, standing alongside Mystique. Both were dressed in white and black uniforms and were overseeing a group of students also in the same uniforms. They watched a short haired X-23 flipping Anole onto his back. Across from them, Moonstar was watching a few people shooting at targets. Zack saw students and overseers in white and yellow uniforms too, Karma was speaking with Elixir, Prodigy, Kid Omega and the Stepford Cuckoos.
"Welcome to X-Tower Zack, welcome home," Erik said.
The students and trainers stopped, turning to Zack and smiling at him.
"The prince has returned," he heard some of them say.
"Oh he's so cute!"
"Shorter than I thought he'd be!"
"See he has his mother's hair."
They began to crowd around him, their whispers and praise echoing in his ears. Zack shook his head, he didn't understand what was going on. This wasn't right, none of this was the House of M he had been told of. When the room went silent, he realised he had screamed.
Jericho Drumm felt like the third wheel in the team up that was himself, Dr Voo Doo, and the Scarlet Witch and Aeon. He had his own reasons for joining them, he hadn't been completely forthright. But he knew why they were both on this mission, their priority was to save their son. Unfortunately they had not been transported to the precise location. What they floated amongst was a ruin, the ruin of a dead world all caused by three words. And Jericho saw the supreme guilt written across the beautiful features of Wanda Maximoff. Not just for the mutants she had erased from her world, but the histories she had altered, the lives she had built in this world and then just as quickly snuffed out. She ran her hands through the dust of what must have been the great palace her family had called home. Aeon stood a short distance, his eyes glowing as he looked at the sky. Jericho saw the guilt shift in Wanda's eyes, when she looked towards Aeon. Jericho understood that longing well, the feeling of unrequited love.
"I sense no dead here Wanda," Jericho said, touching Wanda's shoulder.
She didn't flinch from his touch, offering him a hesitant smile.
"Just the erased," she said, standing up and wiping her eyes.
"Wanda, whilst I wasn't there, from what I have heard you were not in the right state of mind, can any hero claim that their minds have been intact at some point?"
"Thank you Drumm, but I'm not so sure, none of the other heroes have caused this much damage," Wanda said.
"I didn't just add Dr to my name because it sounds cool you know," Jericho smirked.
So many people dismissed the fact Strange was a surgeon, similarly Jericho wasn't just an expert in the Voo Doo arts, but a doctor of psychology. He had a PHD, he understood the difference between what the mind saw and what was lingering. For every case of a lingering spirit or demon he responded to, there were just as many cases of them just being sad souls whose minds were damaged.
"Stark was an alcoholic, Banner has his other self, Pym's own work drove him to strike his wife, and if the X-men are still criticising you then...well, they're just too easy," Drumm grinned and smiled as Wanda laughed.
"That's an issue for the future, I need to find him," Wanda said and Jericho nodded his head.
"The Loa can offer only this insight, when you restored our world, you reduced everything on this Earth to ashes. The planet itself exists in a state between life and death, yet no spirits remain," he explained.
"That's a pretty accurate description, I can't sense anything, it's as if the spirit realm is cut off from here," Aeon said, finally joining them.
"My interaction with spirits works very differently than yours Aeon, A.I.M has failed to transport us to the appropriate place," Jericho stated.
"And we can't port around aimlessly," Wanda said.
"Exactly, and there's only so much I can do to track our son through the Multiverse."
"Why? You knew that Cade Hunter was alive, it wasn't just your faith in the man, you knew without a shred of doubt that he was alive, you also knew that Sieg is alive despite everything Layla Miller and what even some of the X-men still believe. You can sense people across dimensions, why can't you track our son?" Wanda asked.
"I still have a lot of power left Wanda, but it is slowly fading, like a fire dying out...what I have left are the last embers, because I passed the brunt of the fire onto someone else," Aeon explained.
"Just as the sorcerer supreme passes on their mantel, so too will you, but there is still hope for Zack," Drumm said and Aeon nodded.
"Do you have a plan Doctor?" he asked.
"Fuse with myself and Wanda, our own mystical abilities amplified with your powers, then working in conjunction with your connection to Zack and the spirit realm will enable us to better track him," Drumm explained.
Aeon considered the plan for a moment, before the markings on his armour began to glow. When he took Wanda's hand, they glowed the same scarlet as her costume. Drumm saw the longing in Wanda's eyes and felt the envy well up again. But remaining focused on his task, he took Aeon's hand, the purple of his cloak glowing on other markings on Aeon's armour. Both sorcerers turned into light and passed into Aeon. Their souls mingled with his own, Voodoo symbols and arcane glyphs glowed on his armour before the suit flashed.
A black suit formed around him, followed by pads of scarlet armour, Aeon's helmet shaped itself like Wanda's traditional crown. Drumm's V and circle symbol glowed constantly on his forehead, whilst the white bone symbols also glowed on his suit. A staff materialised in his hand, it was wood, but the bottom tip was black and metallic, whilst the top of the staff was a red ring. Two skulls hung off of the staff, then a purple cloak wrapped itself around Aeon's neck.
"Loa I beseech you," Aeon's voice was a mix of his own, Drumm's and Wanda's.
When he tapped his staff against the ground, it burnt a rune into the dirt. Smoke circled around the armoured hero.
"Spirits of the dead, and spirits of concepts, through the unseen links of the Multiverse, rings of destiny and the storm of chaos, read our souls, heed our commands. The unshakable love of a mother, the protective will of a father, let it cut through the nothingness, and deliver this caster to the blood of Reilly and Maximoff."
He tapped his staff against the ground again and again, forming a complex network of runes that illuminated the entire planet. With both hands he gripped the staff before raising it above his head.
"Take us to the progeny of Aeon and the Scarlet Witch! NOW!"
Zack groaned, his eyes fluttering as they adjusted to the light. He looked at his surroundings, rubbing his eyebrows and slowly climbing off of the gurney he was on.
"One moment please," the man in front of him said.
Zack recognised the voice, though there was no blue fur of enhanced muscle span from this Hank McCoy. He was still a very powerful built man, but he wore instead of a x-men uniform a lab coat. The man looked over his broad shoulders and smiled at Zack.
"Just finished analysing a spot of blood, you'll be pleased to know you are definitely the biological son of Wanda Maximoff and Sven Reilly," McCoy explained. "Although I have no doubt my counterpart will have already confirmed it," he added, jumping over Zack and onto another work station.
Zack heard the man typing and clicking with his mouse. When he got off of the gurney completely, he spotted his tunic folded up on a stool, as well as his mask and cape.
"Pretty good work on your uniform, Sven's friend Tito right? Or does he call him James? A shame really, it's a sign that they aren't getting along anymore."
"Whose Tito?" Zack asked.
"You mean you don't know, James Crowner's nickname was Tito when he was younger, he was your father's partner and tech provider, at least that's what we gleamed from other universes," Hank explained.
"You've been looking at other universes?"
"All in an effort to find you my nephew," a voice spoke from the doorway.
Zack looked to the door and saw, dressed in a type of military uniform, a man who was dead in his world. Pietro Maximoff held a smirk identical to the kind that was in photos Wanda often showed Zack.
"You look more like your father than I care for, but I trust McCoy's expertise, you are undoubtedly Wanda's son, and that is all I care for," Pietro said.
There was no warmth in his voice, just the opposite of what Zack had seen from Erik earlier.
"My mother, and father, where are they in this world?" Zack asked.
Zack suddenly found himself in a garden, he felt a rush through his hair and he was dazed for a moment. Pietro stood behind him, supporting him by his shoulder.
"Take a moment, going this fast can be a shock to your system," he said.
Zack looked up and widened his eyes. He saw a statue of his mother and father. Sven was in a red guard uniform, and was holding hands with Wanda in her classic uniform.
"What happened?"
"People began to remember what their lives were like before House of M occurred, or at least another version of their lives. McCoy had a long and complicated explanation behind how it all worked. I prefer the simple explanation, Wanda made a new world, it had its own history and everyone in that world truly experienced their lives, and when everyone who remembered the world that came before attacked us, Wanda, out of grief and insanity erased our world. But then a miracle happened, and we owe it to your father," Pietro explained.
"This world survived, but, what happened to them?" Zack asked.
Suddenly, an alarm began to blare and Quicksilver immediately moved Zack to a command centre. After recovering from the super speed travel, Zack shook his head and looked at the monitors. Ships had begun to appear in the sky. A Black bird was launched from the Xavier tower hanger and Zack turned to the nearest command operative.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"The black order has returned," she said.
"Black order, you mean Thanos?"
"No, Thanos was killed years ago by Lord Magneto, after that the only one who could take over the black order did so," the command operative explained.
"Who?" Zack asked.
"Thanos's favourite child of course!"
Drumm and Wanda rubbed their heads. They were in a daze, magical energy crackling around them. And to their shock, they were still very much themselves, not connected to one another or Aeon. Aeon himself was nowhere in sight, the two sorcerers quickly used their magic to hind themselves from the people in the park they walked into. Within moments they walked away and shifted their costumes into more civilian friendly clothes.
"What's happened?" Wanda demanded.
"We should be close, if your son really is in this universe," Drumm said.
"But what about Aeon?"
"Well, that part at least we have covered," Drumm muttered.
He pointed up in the sky, at a man in grey and red armour. In terms of the shape it was the same As Sven's save for the red parts. There was also gold light running across the shoulders, gathering at a strange U-symbol on the chest. He was jumping between buildings, red energy surging around him.
"He's heading towards Avengers mansion, at least there's an Avengers mansion in this universe," Wanda said.
"Then let's go there and see what we can find," Drumm said.
They walked through the streets, noting that save for no damage to buildings, it was exactly like New York. There was no different in the people either, so, no Skrull immigration, no rise in the mutant population. Then they looked upon Avengers mansion, or at least the mansion that Stark turned into the long time home of the Avengers. Looking at the grounds however, both Wanda and Drumm were filled with a sense of dread. Ultron drones were keeping the grounds, sweeping the floor, tending to the gardens and cleaning a statue. It was the Avengers founding father's statue. But there were things very different from the one in Drumm and Wanda's universe.
At the front of it was Captain America, but he wasn't wearing the swashbuckler boots and gloves. He wore a military boots and fingerless glove combination. His cowl also wasn't a mask, but a type of helmet. Next to him was Iron man, but not in his mark three armour, instead, his armour was thicker with bulking legs and armguards. Only his helmet vaguely resembled the armour that Wanda and Drumm knew, and even that the shape was bigger. The Hulk next to Iron man didn't look at all like Frankenstein (considering the Hulk Wanda knew at one point did look like Frankenstein) then there was Thor. He wasn't wearing the odd cloth and armour mix, he didn't even have a cloak. Instead, this Thor wore finger less gloves, trousers and combat boots and a harness of some kind that had the six asgardian buckles on them. His hammer too was bigger than Mjolnir, having a longer handle, a more hammer like shape, though there was an axe type blade on the back of it. Finally there was the duo of Giant-man and Wasp. Whatever Hank was wearing was some kind of suit with no ant motif to it at all, he also wore goggles over his cowl. On his finger was Wasp, though she Wanda did not recognise. For one thing, this Wasp was a short haired Asian woman, her costume was a sleeveless body suit, with fingerless gloves and stripes on the chest.
"Well, vaguely familiar, maybe Ultron never went off the deep end in this universe," Drumm suggested.
"Only one way to find out," Wanda said, beginning to walk towards the gate.
"Are you sure about this?"
"Don't worry," Wanda smiled at her shoulder, seeing the concern on Drumm's face. "If there's one villain I've always been able to handle, its Ultron."
Having said that, Wanda still raised her hands cautiously as she walked through the gate. She looked at the statue again, fascinated by the subtle differences in at least the Avenger's costume appearances. Before she could wonder what kind of people they were, one of the Ultron drones turned to her. It ran a red light over her, its 'mouth' taking on a green colour.
"Welcome back Miss Lensherr, are you welcoming a visitor?" it asked her, motioning to Drumm behind her.
"Lensherr huh, something must be wrong with this world then," he muttered.
"He's with me Ultron, are the other Avengers here?" she asked.
"Excuse me Miss Lensherr, whom are you referring to?" Ultron asked.
"Well this is Avenger's mansion."
"You are mistake Miss, this is Ultimates mansion, did you receive a head injury during your recent battle with the Wrecking crowd?"
'Crowd, Ultimates,' Drumm mouthed.
"You also appear to be considerably older than when we last met, have you been on a temporal related mission?"
"No, listen where are the other Ultimates?" Wanda asked, the team name felt weird when she spoke it.
"Right behind you intruder!"
Drumm suddenly pushed Wanda forward, both barely dodging a white and red discuss. They turned, seeing the Captain America of this world exactly as he was in the statue. Wanda noticed something about this man, the aggression in his stance and face. Her Steve was a fighter too, but tempered by patience and even an artist's flair. This Steve Rogers, and she knew it was Steve by his voice, was all aggression as he ran at them, grabbing the returning shield and swinging it. A lethal strike, again something different from her Steve. Destroying the illusion on their clothes, Drumm and Wanda summoned torrents of repelling magic.
"Listen Captain," Drumm started.
"Captain? I've long moved on from that, read the news recently? It's colonel now!"
"Well that's puts him up on Cap I suppose," Wanda said, repelling 'Colonel' America's shield.
She hit him with a low level blast, knocking him back. Drumm then summoned dead spirits from the ground, taking the form of spectral skeletons, they grabbed the Colonel's legs. Webs suddenly wrapped around Drumm's arms, trapping his staff. Wanda turned to the statue, seeing a Spider-woman. She had brown hair poking out of her cowl, had a white spider symbol on her chest (much like the symbiote Spider-man symbol) white finger tips and her suit was a dark red colour. Organic webbing shot from her finger tips, but Drumm burnt away the webbing with green flames. He then manipulated the nearby plants, making them wrap around the Spider-woman as she jumped.
"I want you off of this garden," Rogers snapped at Wanda, swinging his shield for her throat.
To his surprise however, she ducked, caught his arm and kicked at his leg. Then, using his momentum against him, she flipped him over her shoulder.
"That's a little something the Steve Rogers I knew taught me," she retorted.
"Wait, the Steve Rogers you knew, Spider-woman stand down," Rogers called out.
Spider-woman immediately stopped and Wanda then noticed the Wasp flying around her. The stripes on her black suit were yellow, she added a cowl to her costume and she had grown her hair longer.
"Another visitor from an Alternate reality, or are we looking at future Wanda, look good for forty!" Wasp grinned.
"I am not forty," Wanda snarled.
"Easy girl," Drumm rubbed her shoulder.
Once they were inside Ultimates mansion, they were introduced to the rest of the 'Ultimates'. Wanda was immediately put off by the Tony Stark of this world. He had in his hand a glass of scotch, she was used to a former alcoholic whom prided himself in not even looking at a bottle. There was a Hawkeye, or what seemed to be a Hawkeye. He wore a full face mask with red lenses and a red bullseye symbol on the forehead. The man didn't have a bow and arrow though, instead two guns that looked vaguely like crossbows. There was a Black Panther, though he was leaning against the wall, silent. Valkyrie was practically clinging to their Thor, not wearing her usual armour but a head band, gloves and cloth outfit. It heartened her to see Quicksilver, even a younger version of her brother. His costume though was a simple short sleeved suit with finger less gloves and a blue line running across the chest.
Then there was her counterpart, younger as she expected. She wore her red crown, and a red and black suit, it lacked sleeves and exposed her midriff, the chest area had black over what would have been her cleavage, black arrows running down her belly to the black and red trousers and boots she wore. Around her hips was a red skirt with black lining, a red and black collar was around her neck, and her hands were covered by red and black opera gloves. Her hand, Wanda noticed was locked affectionately with Aeon's, his helmet open to reveal a younger, blonde haired Sven Reilly. For a moment, she saw herself in her classic costume, holding Sven's hand, so deeply in love.
"Wow, that's rough," Tony muttered.
'Well, he at least doesn't sound like a drunk,' Wanda thought.
"Well suffice to say your spell went wrong Lady Lensherr," Thor said.
"I go by Maximoff in our universe," Wanda said.
"Our mother's name," the younger, dubbed 'Ultimate' Wanda confirmed.
"A Wundagore gypsy!"
"Yeah, then she met dad and everything changed."
"Wait, wait, I get that you're looking for your son Miss Maximoff, but he's not at Ultimates mansion. Hell, Wanda and I don't even have kids," Sven said.
"Actually Sven," Ultimate Wanda shuffled her feet nervously.
"What is it Wanda?" Pietro asked.
"Well, you see, I was going to tell Sven tonight and everyone later on but...I'm pregnant," she put her hand to her belly as she spoke.
Sven looked at her in shock, before he smiled and hugged her.
"Um, congratulations," Valkyrie said.
Pietro though stepped back in shock, before sneering in anger. He disappeared, as if he hadn't even run off.
"Is everything okay with Pietro?" Wanda asked.
"Pietro has had it rough since Sven and Wanda became official, I mean they were together for a long time," Jan stated.
"My brother was protective too."
"It's more than protective," Hawkeye huffed.
"What do you mean?" Drumm asked.
"He loves his Wanda, as in really, really loves his Wanda, and for a time she loved him," Hawkeye looked at Ultimate Wanda, who lowered her head slightly.
Wanda and Drumm stared at the Ultimates, the VooDoo sorcerer clutched his mouth and reached.
"Sorry Wanda," he said.
"No Jericho, it's all right," she muttered. "I just threw up a little in my mouth too!"
As for Aeon, he had landed in another universe entirely. Standing up and checking his surroundings, he saw that he was in some kind of space station.
"Wanda, Dr VooDoo," he called out.
He took a few steps forward, before sensing someone nearby. Someone with quite a strong spiritual presence, perhaps they too drew from the spirit realm like he did. Sven turned his head and looked across the mess hall of this satellite head quarters. Standing with a teddy bear in her hands was a dark haired girl. Looking at her reminded Sven a lot of his sister when she was younger, if you put a photo by her side, they'd be nearly identical.
"Hello, look before you..."
"UNCLE J'ONN!" she screamed.
"Okay, didn't want that to happen," Aeon braced himself, sensing incoming danger.
But it moved so fast he couldn't react, hitting him like lightning. He rolled across the ground, recovering in a crouch. Moving like a blur was a speedster, dressed in a red suit with silver bands and a silver lightning bolt across his shoulder. White lenses were over his eyes, and he quickly punched Aeon a few times. Sven raised his arms, anticipating a few punches, before he pushed his head into the next one. He felt the speedster's wrist break, but knew the man would heal fast.
"Uncle Flash," the girl cried out in concern.
"Sorry about that, but I really don't want to..."
Again Aeon was interrupted, trapped within some kind of green bubble. He looked up at a black haired man floating in front of him. This man was wearing a green and black suit with white gloves, he also had a green, square shaped mask on and was wearing a ring that created the field he used.
"You've picked the wrong house to fly into pal," the man said.
"Keep him contained Green lantern," a green skinned man suddenly flew in.
He was wearing a black suit with a red X on his chest. Aeon released the energy through his armour, bursting the bubble and meeting the green man's fist with his own. The shockwave knocked the two protectors back, and Aeon turned to the girl. Only she wasn't there. A blue fist collided with his face, cracking his helmet and throwing him back.
"Strange, you don't appear to be in your corrupt form, but you don't have the full power of a spirit knight," the voice above him held the same echo his did.
Aeon stood, and looked upon his attacker. He wore armour identical to his, except it was primarily blue and grey.
"Who the..."
"Eon, remember it, and stay away from my daughter," the spirit knight said.
"POTS!" a voice cried out.
Sven widened his eyes, suddenly finding himself unable to move. He looked towards 'Eon' and saw behind him the source of his paralysis. She had one hand raised, the other was holding the girl to her shoulder. Clearly the girl's mother, she was dark haired, beautiful and had the strength of a mother in her determined eyes. She wore white gloves, a black jacket with a white shirt and tie underneath it. A black skirt covered fish net stocking clad legs, and a pair of thigh high boots clacked against the ground. She also wore a magicians hat on her head.
"Good job Zatanna," Eon said.
"I've got him Svein, no one tries to hurt our daughter!"
"Wait a sec," Sven tilted his head. "Eon, Svein, a girl, a woman with magic powers...oh come on, the spell had one job."
He sighed, sliding his helmet apart.
"I'm Sven Reilly, also known as Aeon, and I'm pretty sure my search for my son has just gotten more complicated than its needed to be."
House Of M
Wolverine and his Red guards were fighting across the city, engaging Chitauri in battle. Zack saw through the monitor Rogue engaging Black Swan, Nightcrawler teleporting out of Proxima Midnight's range and Magik clashing her sword with Corvus Glaive's lance. And in the air, Zack saw Magneto leading House of M versions of Iron man, Spider-man, Captain Marvel and the She-Hulk was jumping up towards the enemy ships. For all intents and purposes, Zack was looking at the Avengers of this world. Suddenly, the building shook.
"WE'VE GOT A BREACH!" one of the command staff screamed.
The wall was blown open, Chitauri emerging, shooting at the guards. Zack took to cover, looking through the whole and seeing the behemoth, axe wielding Black Dwarf. Next to him, a sword on her shoulder, clad in a blue and gold outfit similar to Thanos's was his daughter.
"So the Thanos's successor leads the charge," Zack said.
"In this universe, I am not the favourite child of Thanos," Gamora said, pointing her sword at him.
Zack charged himself with energy, using his mother's blasts to launch himself forward. Then with his father's strength he punched Black Dwarf. He felt the bones in his hand scream, clearly he wasn't ready for a close quarters fight. Instead he dodged, jumping and sliding through the Dwarf's swings, using his size against him. Gamora though didn't have that disadvantage. She kicked Zack in the chest and sent him flying into the wall.
"When we met your mother gave me this, homo-sapien my ass," she snarled, rubbing a burn mark on her right eye. "Now I'm looking forward to taking something from her," she said, running and jumping towards Zack.
She raised her blade over her head and Zack closed his eyes, bracing himself for the end. But then he heard a great clang, and opened his eyes. Standing in front of him, clad in his black and red armour was the man the Avenger's of Zack's world had been looking for. His spiritual energy told Zack that this was the man who started the Hunt those months back. He had his scythe locked with Gamora's sword, his exposed eye glowing red and glaring at her.
"Don't you dare touch him!"
Cade Hunter, AKA Deathblade the Redeemer, protecting his rival's son.
Next Chapter 37: House of M Part 2
Really liked this part, the idea of a hero's enemy protecting their child. Though enemy is a very loose term for Cade and Sven.
The Ultimates of this chapter were indeed a version of 1610-a version in my own Ultimate Marvel stories that will be established in later stories.
Eon-I created Eon as the 'DC copy' of Aeon, pairing him with Zatanna (whose been compared to Scarlet Witch, and even merged with her).