Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel, DC or Power Rangers
The Redeemer
Chapter 42: Go, go mighty heroes
Wanda looked across the field of victory, the great battle that had been fought between the Ultimates and the invaders. She looked towards her counterpart in the Ultimates, embracing her Sven Reilly.
"You wish you were her in some ways don't you?" Voodoo asked, walking up behind her.
"Not for the reason you might think, whatever love I have for Sven is an old love. We both love our boy, and that's something we'll always have in common," she explained.
"Sven has a son?"
The two Uncanny Avengers looked towards Sieg, the boy was supporting his sword on his back and looked at them in shock.
"Oh dear," Voodoo muttered.
She walked over to the boy, gently gripping his shoulder.
"A lot will happen in the future Sieg, but that doesn't change the fact that you're his son too in every way that counts," she said.
"Are you kidding? I'm glad, he was able to be happy with someone, in a sense I'll get a little brother right?" Sieg asked.
"Yes Sieg, you'll get a little brother," Wanda smiled.
The Ultimates gathered around the Avenger's and Aeon's apprentice.
"We know you didn't intend on ending up on this world, but thank you for fighting for it," Thor said.
"But there are still many worlds to fight for throughout this growing Multiverse," Loki said.
"And we need to get Sieg back to his proper place in time, so that we don't cause a paradox," Wanda added.
"Hasn't his presence already caused a paradox? Sorry but I'm in the 'wibbly wobbly timey wimey' camp of time travel," Tony said.
"Did you seriously use Doctor Who to explain time travel?" Voodoo asked.
"Wanda," the Ultimate's Wanda said, catching her doppelganger's attention. "You want to find your son, so maybe that's what you need to focus on, the world where your youngest boy is. I don't know what your feelings on your powers are, but when things have been desperate, I have had to rewrite reality," she explained.
"But at what cost?" 616 Wanda asked, looking at her counterpart with a judgmental expression.
Jericho spotted the same look in the Colonel and Wasp's eyes.
"It's cost more than I can count, but the consequences of…"
"Right now that doesn't matter does it, you need to save your kids," Aeon said.
"I can't believe I'm hearing that, you're okay with it?" Sieg asked. "The Aeon I know, he would never compromise, but he wouldn't go so far as to play god," the boy elaborated.
"Pulling at the strings always comes with a price, but to the fabric of reality and the fabric of the person's sanity. Everything that's happening here is because a version of Aeon, the worst part of himself got darker and darker because he couldn't stop manipulating reality again and again. Each time he breached into other worlds, he was weakening the walls between them," Voodoo explained.
"The theory is sound," Loki said.
"Aye, but what more can you do when your loved ones are at stake?" Thor asked.
"I used to compromise all the time; this isn't the first moment that a world like yours has visited ours. I've sometimes been called a worse version of Steve Rogers, I acknowledge, I'm not as compassionate as I should be," the colonel said, easing his grip on his shield slightly.
Even the Ultimates looked at Colonel America in shock.
"Don't damage your soul trying to do this, sacrificing yourself will only work, will only matter if those that you have saved outweighs those you'll endanger," he said.
"No," 616 Wanda said.
She looked at the Colonel with a determination in her eyes he hadn't seen from his Wanda. It was the determination she didn't see in him, but saw nearly every day in her version of Steve Rogers.
Earth 616
Everyone saw Captain America as the man who was supposed to inspire everyone. But Michael Van Patrick wasn't Steve Rogers. He looked at the shield Bucky Barnes had given him and put his head to it, sighing in frustration. S.H.I.E.L.D had set up a temporary camp with military style barracks for refugees and anyone willing to come forward to fight for the Multiverse. So far only a few of the heroes left on Earth had come forward, hardly an army, and hardly because of any effort Michael might have been able to put in. He heard footsteps behind him and turned, quickly standing when he saw that it was the original (the real) Captain America.
"At ease son, sit down, you need to catch up on some rest," Steve was holding two bottles of water, both refilled.
He sat on the bed across from Michael; there was no one else in the room, just the super soldier and the man whose grandfather had created him.
"I didn't want to be Captain America you know, Mr Barnes put it on me because he felt something different was needed, that there needed to be someone to lead the next generation. But it isn't me," Michael explained, closing his eyes to try and fight back tears.
"You know I'm not as confident as I appear, I never quite felt comfortable in this time or my old one," Steve said.
"Man out of time and all that," Michael chuckled.
"I'm loyal to nothing except the dream, I've actually said that once. But deep down inside I know the truth, one I do my best to hide with inspiration and noise. That a dream isn't real, when we wake up it goes away and we're left with this yearning feeling inside, like something was taken from us. There's the American dream and the lie, the dream is what isn't real, the image of a perfect white picket fence and neighbourhood that too many times has become nationalism, jingoism, that dreams not real because it doesn't get along with reality, with other cultures, immigrants, the poor, things and people that will too easily be seen as different or un-American. That white picket fence becomes a gate to keep others out. You're Erskine's grandson, there's German blood in your family, just like there's Irish in mine.
"Even today people are promised a shared dream, the American lie, their told that they can start a new life here and too often the government, or other people turn their backs on them. Instead of the American dream, they get the raw deal. But then there's another dream, its one my parents had, its one I think your grandfather had too. Do you know what it is?" Steve asked.
Michael had to drink; listening to Steve talk so honestly about 'Americana' had left him feeling that there was nothing he could say. But people had to have voices, even if they weren't always heard.
"It's the one that people work for, that they toil and fight for, the dream they might never achieve but they keep going for themselves, for their family. But a lot of people don't see it that way, I can't change that," Michael said.
"Neither can I, believe it or not, the thing about symbols is that they change. A reporter once told me that America was Nascar rallies and MySpace," Steve chuckled.
"Oh I know that bi…unpleasant woman, can you believe after she released her biography Sally Floyd actually became more hated than JK Rowling?" Michael corrected himself and asked with a half amused smile.
"Don't digress, the point I'm making is that America means a lot of things to a lot of people, there needs to be mutual respect and understanding, otherwise we get caught in the same battles and the same debates again and again with no one backing down. There are fights out there worth fighting, worth enduring every bit of ignorance and hatred that is thrown at you and one of those things is the belief I have is that everyone can be the ideal of Captain America that goes beyond nationalism or war time propaganda. Bucky Barnes, Sam Wilson, Isaiah Bradley, Jeffrey Mace, John Walker, Joe Gomez, David Rickford, Arielle Agbayani, Nichelle Wright, Aaron Fisher, Roscoe Simons, you and your grandfather…"
The last name made Michael widen his eyes and really try to fight the urge to cry. He felt Steve's hand on his shoulder and lowered his head, ashamed of what he was really thinking, even as Steve told him about all these men and women.
"When your grandfather chose me, he believed that the serum, the world needed more than just the perfect soldier, it needed a good man, which is what you are Michael," Steve said.
"Thank you Cap, but there's more, this shield," he rubbed the surface of the weapon and sighed with a shake of his head. "It's been passed down before, people throw it and it comes back, but no matter who holds it and for how long it always comes back to you," he offered Steve the shield and he didn't take it.
Then he threw it, not hard, not with the intent to harm, but to simply pass it to the man who once held it. Steve caught it with both hands and looked at Michael as the young man stood up.
"All of those people are good and worthy of the name, but the truth is that there's only one Captain America, and that's you Steve," this time the tears were gone and though it had not been the outcome Steve wanted, he could see in Michael Van Patrick's eyes the determination he wanted to awaken within him.
"Let's just agree to disagree," Steve said, offering Michael his hand.
They shook hands without hesitation or animosity. Michael left the barracks intending to help with the refugees, when he found people waiting for him. He stopped; looking at the Patriots Eli Bradley and Rayshaun Lucas, the red head beside them was holding a case and wearing a uniform reminiscent of the old Bucky costume.
"Rikki," he spoke the name of the other version of Bucky, from a world where heroes had been reborn.
Rikki Barnes smiled at MVP and offered him the case she held.
"We figured you'd doubt yourself, so here it is MVP, a new way to make a difference," she said.
When Steve left the barracks he was surprised by who he found waiting for him. Michael stood with Rikki in a new suit, a blue one with whit studs reminiscent of the Nomad suit, white boots and a pair of white gauntlets. Just like Rikki though he had put a white star on his chest, signifying they were not people without countries.
"Ready to get to work Cap?" he asked.
"Avengers assemble," Steve said.
Across the world Avengers were preparing and recruiting. Tony Stark though had locked himself in his lab, stripped away all of his luxuries, gone shirtless and went back to the basics of his armour. Blasting away his favourite son 'I am Iron man' (not Black Sabbath, and yeah he was still a little narcissistic) and slamming his hammer down again and again.
"Boss, you have visitors," his AI Friday said.
"Little busy here Friday, and restart the loop," he said.
"There's only so many times I can restart a 46 second song."
"Then find someone on YouTube whose uploaded an hour version."
"Boss you've not exactly given yourself the best tech to work with."
"You know me, I do my best work in a cave with a box of scraps," Tony said.
"Trust me boss, you're going to want to use the scraps you're being offered at the door!"
Tony shook his head, disengaged his robotic hammer and walked to the door of his lab with a hawaiin shirt he quickly put on. He opened the hatch and found no one there.
"Down here you shite."
He looked down and to his surprise saw three dwarves.
"King Eitri at your service, a mutual friend of ours said you were the greatest smith in the nine realms, I've come to respectfully prove it wrong," the head dwarf said.
"Well, come in and let's get to work," Tony grinned.
He would have to thank Thor later; the god of thunder was undergoing his own trials. In the once mighty halls of Asgard, now ruins, Thor let his thunder rage. He took blows from the Hulk and the Thing, training with them. But it wasn't enough for them to push one another's bodies into shape. As Hulk thought, he was simultaneously undergoing a psychological trial. Bruce Banner had been pushed deep into his psyche, to awaken something stronger than Hulk the Avenger, more savage than the Grey Hulk and more frightening than even the world breaker. Thor was prepping his body and his lightning for an even greater trial, the sacrifice he would have to make at Yggdrasil.
Earth N52
Deathblade and Aeon pushed against Cthulhu's humanoid form, driving him away from Gotham's streets. They swooped through the financial district, shattering windows with the speed they moved at. Cthulhu turned his swords into whips of flesh, catching Sven's arms. But this was what Sven wanted, to give Cade and opening to slash Cthulhu across the chest. Sven then fired a blast from his eyes, hitting the open wound. Deathblade added to the attack, creating a blast like an anime he had watched about Shinigami's. It was enough to slice the tentacles bind Sven apart. His wings wrapped around him and formed the energy form of a dragon. A worm like Asian dragon that wrapped around Cthulhu and carried him upwards.
"Keep going, make him change to his final form," Deathblade said.
Wonder Woman and Superman flew into the fight, the former wrapping her lasso around Cthulhu as Aeon flew back. She span, building up her momentum and hammer throwing Cthulhu up into the sky. The dragon Aeon had created shrank and flew into his cupped hands whilst Kal-El charged his eyes with his heat vision. Cyborg expanded his cannon and Green Lantern created a version of the Oan central power battery.
"Is that a Kamehame…"
"Concentrate Hal," Victor said.
"Now you sound like Batman!"
The dark knight crawled out of his ruined armour. He looked up at the great battle above his city, appreciating the effort to keep it safe. But he wasn't about to let them be the only ones to protect it. He pushed a few buttons on the computer hidden in his glove, coordinates for the bat wing.
"HIT HIM WITH EVERYTHING! HA!" Aeon yelled, throwing his hands forward.
"Knew it was a Kamehameha!" Jordan said before firing a green blast from his lantern construct.
"BOOYAH!" Cyborg yelled, firing his cannon.
Superman unleashed his heat vision; Deathblade raised his scythe high, letting the energy crackle through it. He then threw the energy, joining it with the energy attacks so that it consume Cthulhu and send him into space.
"Is that enough?" Diana asked.
"I'm afraid not, but it is weakening him, Cthulhu exists in only one dimension, yet he's capable of projecting bodies to other worlds," Cade stated.
"And he's projecting copies across multiple worlds, which means he's getting weaker in everyone of them," Aeon said.
Despite this, he seemed at his strongest in the astral plane that his consciousness resided in. Though he had shrunk significantly, he still provided a challenge, even for the Scarlet Witch, Khonshu's avatar and the Sorcerer Supreme and even a Superman who drew upon the Multiverse to fight him. Sam Wilson flew into Virgil, getting him away from the tentacles of the old god whilst Xavier moved Zack back. Superman slammed his fists into Cthulhu, leaving dents in his form. The Moon Knights used a version of Khonshu's staff and pushed the old god into the blasts Wanda and Stephen threw.
"Even with all this power, he still far surpasses us, I would hate to think what would happen if he wasn't invading multiple worlds," Charles said.
"Maybe it's like a Jenga tower," Quill said, firing his blasters.
"What do you mean?" Sam asked sceptically.
"He's not being idiotic, he actually has a good point," Grant pulled back, his mask folding back to reveal his face, eyes still glowing white with Khonshu's power.
"The more pieces a Jenga tower has and the higher it goes, the greater its chances of toppling, maybe he can't actually handle his full power," he elaborated.
"Like anyone throwing a punch, no matter how strong you are your body starts to break down," Sam said.
"Even the mind too," Charles added.
He conjured his shield and psionic sword, moving to cut through the swath of tentacles with Strange and Marc, giving Superman and Wanda the opening to him Cthulhu with blasts.
"ENOUGH!" Cthulhu yelled.
He grabbed the heroes with his tentacles, bringing them together with one smash. Xavier's armour shattered and he flew back.
"PROFESSOR!" Virgil yelled.
On Earth 616, Xavier fell off of his wheelchair. Blood ran down his nose, Amelia was immediately at his side, just like in days past. She had been on evacuation duties with S.W.O.R.D. her black suit with yellow and white highlights showcased her permanent shift away from the acolytes of Magneto.
"Charles," she whispered, wiping away the blood on his nose.
She always came back to him, no matter how much she didn't want to. Her old feelings were still there, even if she knew his heart belonged to Lilandra.
"You need to stop," she said.
"No, they need me," Charles said.
They felt the city of New York shake with each impact Cthulhu had with the tiger and dragon zords. Tommy Oliver was on the streets, half buried by rubble, the visor of his helmet half cracked. Across from him, still inside the downed X-Mecha was the X-men. But not just the team that Cyclops had put together, something unmoving had brought them together, something that appeared briefly as a man of pink energy. Wolverine snarled, linking with the X-Mecha to get it to stand. Even with reserve power, he was willing to fight the monster. The Dragon zord tried to drive its tail into Cthulhu's head, only for the old god to grab the tail and throw it towards the Tiger Zord. Shifting to warrior mode, the Tiger caught the dragon, protecting the buildings around it. Buildings that still had people inside them.
"Human lives," Cortez spat.
"Human lives," Magneto whispered, floating over the city.
"Human lives," Cyclops said.
"Human lives, I don't pretend to be an expert on what you guys are, but where I'm from being human means more than just being from Earth," Tommy said.
The dragon and tiger Zords stood together, serving as a wall to block the Cthulhu, keeping it from any more destruction.
"What would we be, without those whom came before us?" Xavier asked.
"We would be alive," Cortez said bitterly.
"There's a reason you came to this world Cortez, just like there is a reason I'm still alive, just like there's a reason Sieg found us that day," Jean said.
Magneto raised his hands, and both the tiger and dragon zords began to glow.
"Human lives like the mothers of my children, human lives like my grandchildren," Magneto said.
He thought of Billy and Tommy, of Luna and Zack, and in a way he did think of Sieg and Virgil, those whom Zack thought of as his brothers. Tommy could feel something changing within his zords, the mechanisms inside them shifted for completely new designs. But they still needed his connection to the morphing grid. He rose from the rubble and drew out both his dagger and Saba.
"I won't fear anymore, the darkness or the despair, I know who I am, what I am…have any of you figured out what you are yet?" he demanded.
Cortez spread his power through the X-Mech and Charles used his psychic powers again. The great cry came out again as the Professor pushed his telepathic abilities.
"Fine, I'll be better than all of humanity, and they will recognise mutants as the inheritors of the world, so prove to everyone what you are X-MEN!" Cortez yelled.
"TO ME MY X-MEN!"
The telepathic cry echoed throughout the planet and the astral plane. Tommy threw his weapons into the air, both turning into energy whilst his suit glowed.
"WHITE DRAGON!" he yelled.
His suit was replaced by a silver suit with gold chest armour; the familiar helmet was replaced by a dragon inspired helmet with a clear visor over his face. The tiger and dragon zords flew into the air as the X-Mecha fired an X shaped blast from its chest, knocking Cthulhu back. Both Zords floated side by side, surging with white and green energy. The dragon zord broke apart, its jaw pushing up into its head and arms folding into its split chest armour. Its tail came off of the main body, joining with the new armour the dragon zord created. These new pieces of armour combined with the tiger zords arms, legs and finally the head of the dragon zord became a helmet for the tiger.
"WHITE TIGER DRAGON ZORD BATTLE READY!" Tommy yelled.
The ranger flew the silhouetted forms of the X-men, the psionic energy collected from so many heroes. This energy moved through the astral plane as well, flying at the Cthulhu's astral form.
"My parents were human, we all come from humanity, its what we are too," Cyclops said.
"That future you showed us Virgil, that isn't who I am going to BE!" Beast snarled.
"We'll still be amazingly friendly heroes," Iceman said.
"Uncanny!" Jubilee said.
"Astonishing!" added Kitty.
"Extraordinary!" Nightcrawler said.
"Ugh, we get it loves, we are the best," Emma said.
The silhouettes of the X-men bombarded both aspects of Cthulhu, making its form flicker.
"THEY'RE DOING IT! THEY'RE GIVING US AN OPENING!" Virgil yelled.
"Then don't waste it," Strange formed a huge rune with his hands.
"No more Cthulhu!" Wanda whispered.
She brought her hands together, creating a red haze that grew, surrounding the Cthulhu alongside Strange's magic. Superman floated up to Cthulhu, each star on his body exploding, building up the power of the super nova within him.
"This isn't a power I have, then again most of my counterparts can't reverse time or erase memories either," Clark said.
"You saying you erase memories bro?" Quill asked.
"I mean both those things seem kind of like violations don't they?" Grant asked.
House of M
Magneto used magnetic blasts against the invaders; his red guard had thrown themselves into battle. But the Homo-sapien streets had a gigantic protector in the form of the Moon Knight. Glowing with celestial, magic, chaos and shifting his arm with Groot's powers, the Moon Knight drove his arm, now a stake through the Cthulhu's heart.
Earth 31
"FULL SPEED AHEAD!" Captain Leatherwing yelled.
His crew were loyal as always, ready to give their lives not for the loot this time, but to save their world from the monster of the seas Cthulhu. The sails of their ship unravelled, the winds driving them forward, they used the mast of their ship as a spear. Wayne smiled as he pulled off his mask, his ship crumbling to pieces around him. But he had done it, he had pierced Cthulhu's heart and slain him in this world.
'The seas are safe now in your hands Grayson,' he thought, and like any good captain he went down with the ship.
Earth 28
"Go to full power Keelex, release all my solar particles," Kal-El the mech pilot said.
His giant robot moved through space, whilst the Batman and Wonder Woman mechs held the Cthulhu. Finally they were able to beat it with a massive blast of heat vision from the Kryptonian robot's eyes.
Earth 118
"MOVE GARFIELD!" Batman yelled.
The son of the Wayne kingdom rode atop the green dragon, moving towards the Cthulhu. Garfield dodged the flurry of tentacles the old god generated. Then he released a breath of fire on the monster's chest. But it wasn't enough.
"I won't fear who I am anymore," Bruce said.
With glowing red eyes, the bastard son of Jor-El unleashed his heat vision with the dragon fire, burning the Cthulhu's chest. Then he thrust his sword forward, finally piercing the Cthulhu's heart.
Astral Plane
"I AM GROOT!"
The tree man appeared in front of Zack and Virgil, covering them with a cocoon as Superman unleashed his super nova. All of the projections of the heroes returned to the conscious world, as the representation of Cthulhu was burned away. He roared with equal anger and pain as Superman's nova brought light to the Astral plane. His aspects melted in each world, finally weakening him.
Earth 616
Scott Summers walked amongst the ruins, ruins that were quickly being turned into a city again, courtesy of Magneto's powers. He smiled as he felt Jean fly behind him.
"You saw it too didn't you?" she asked.
"A future where mutants had a home, a nation, safety," Scott said as if satisfied at first. "But along the way, we lost ourselves to a similar ignorance," he explained.
Jean smiled, resting her head on her husband's arm. She looked up as Angel and Beast came down from the sky.
"I saw it, I saw what I could have become," Hank said.
"I mean there's only room for one dark X-men founder around here," Warren said and Jean teasingly punched his arm.
"Virgil, I never took into account just how much he believed in us, how much Sieg believed in us. With M-Day and Hope, I was so caught up in trying to preserve mutant kind that I forgot where we came from in the first place, and what we started out as," Scott explained.
"I mean we've all forgotten from time to time," Warren said.
"No more, no more forgetting who the X-men are," Scott said.
On the other side of the city, Logan rubbed his sore arms. He pulled his mask off and looked at his knuckles.
"Is there something wrong Logan-san?" Shiro asked.
"My body is a lot more frail than it should be, yeah my healing factor is better. I fell back on my fighting skills the last time I lost my adamantium, and when I got it back I fell right back into being a bullet sponge all because every hit I take is one another doesn't have to," Logan explained.
"It has always been how you've fought, what makes you think about it now?"
"I need to regain those skills, the skills I have but don't rely on as much. But I need something else too, if I'm truly going to be the best and what I do, then I need to get the adamantium back," Wolverine snarled.
In another part of the city, a couple were trapped underneath rubble. Eventually a hand reached out for them. Cortez was confused, was this why he came back? He helped the couple out of the rubble, surprised that they were thanking him. The former acolyte remembered the vision of Krakoa, the mutant nation and his lessons of humility.
"We have it in ourselves to achieve it Fabian," Magneto said.
The master of magnetism came down from the sky and pulled his helmet off. There was no hatred of smug sense of superiority in his eyes anymore, just as there were none of these things in Cortez's.
"Can we ever be forgiven, can we even forgive humanity?" he asked.
"I don't want to be forgiven, nor will I ever forgive what humans have done to my people. I want to atone, I want others to atone Fabian, what do you want?" Magneto asked.
"What I've always wanted is a world where mutant kind can be safe," the former acolyte said.
Magneto offered the man his hand, and after a moment of hesitation his old acolyte took it.
Tommy Oliver had been helping people, smiling to himself when they asked where the giant robots had gone. He looked at his morpher and imagined the other people he wanted with him.
'Those truly were the best days,' he thought.
He looked towards the X-men, all of them helping people, Elixir to heal, Wallflower to calm, Nightcrawler to pray and Iceman to laugh. Other heroes joined them, like Spider-man and Firestar, and Squirrel girl and Ms Marvel, heroes old and new. Tommy turned, looking over his shoulder at the good work they were doing.
"May the power protect you all," he said before he walked away.
The hero seemed to disappear, a pillar of white light rose where he once stood. Some could have sworn that they heard the dragon and tiger roar together again.
Dr Strange looked out at the city from his sanctum. He had heard from his academy in New Orleans that the students were safe, safe and putting what they had been taught to use. Rogers was sending out the call, not just to Avengers, but anyone out there willing to fight. The dimensional barriers had grown significantly weaker, incursions were occurring, darkness was taking other worlds, and many others had become war zones for the forces Onyx had gathered. It was all a distraction however as the barriers around worlds of great pantheons grew weaker.
'People think you want to be a conqueror Onyx, but I know exactly what you want to do, this goes far beyond your usual method of suffer mongering,' Stephen thought.
He had dressed in his black suit with gloves that had white palms, and his white symbol on his chest. The sorcerer stiffened when someone clipped his blue cloak of levitation onto his shoulders. He looked to his wife Clea and tried to put on a smile, it wouldn't have done any good however as she knew exactly how severe things were. Even Dormammu was frightened in the dark dimension.
"We are ready," she said.
Dr Strange nodded as an Ankh symbol appeared in the room. The sorcerer supremes had arrived, Wong of a world where he was the teacher and not Stephen, Dormagus of Earth 982, the Atlantean Supreme of Earth 10222, Bruce Banner of Earth 11638, Wanda Strange (much to Clea's chagrin), the Iron man of Earth 9810, Norn of the Great Society and Moonglow of Earth 712. On the other side of the Multiverse, Kent Nelson had united those whom wore the helmet of Fate. Khalid Ben-Hassin of Earth 2, the floating helmet and cloak known as Nabu from Earth 22, Khalid Nassour of Earth 16, the six armed alien Dr Fate of the Legion of Super heroes, and finally Jared Stevens went by the name Fate but his magic was limited to the cloak of destiny wrapped around his arm, the ankh tattoo around his eye and his magically imbued darts.
"Let's go and save the Multiverse," Strange said.
Earth N52
They looked up at the sky; waiting for what they thought would be an inevitable. Cade and Sven could sense Cthulhu across so many universes dying, or at least his aspects. Heroism and courage was winning out over despair, it was a victory. But it still left them with Cthulhu's main body. After what felt like an hour, the clouds finally cleared and Cthulhu's final form was revealed. His wings were made from black tendrils, matching the body of dark energy that floated over the heroes. Cthulhu's green eyes glowed and he looked down at Sven and Cade. A green line appeared on his face, curving into a smile.
"I can sense him, not just here," Cade said.
"Oh no," Sven gasped. "There's still another aspect alive!"
Astral plane
Groot's astral form faded away. Virgil opened his eyes and saw that the other hero's forms had disappeared. He looked to Zack, who smiled at him.
"We did it didn't we?" he asked.
"Thanks Zack, thank you for pulling me out of that nightmare, but I'm still trapped in time," he said.
"We'll get out, both of us, me from the House of M and you from this prison of time, and the apprentices of Aeon will join him to save the world," Zack explained eagerly.
Suddenly, a black coil wrapped around Zack's neck, pulling him away from Virgil. The young man reached out, only for a coil to snap around his upper body. He looked towards Cthulhu's final form, the shadow being had the same glowing green eyes and smile as what his main body had on another Earth.
"You lose, foolish little boys," Cthulhu said before he broke off into a laugh that echoed through the astral plane.
Next Chapter 43: Unexpected saviours
Jason David Frank's last project was the batinthesun produced Legend of the White Dragon-Which is what I based his final form on. The combined white tiger dragon zord has actually appeared in Power Ranger comics. Part of Steve Rogers's speech was based on his opening scene in the United States of Cap series, which is where some of the other Captain Americas have featured in.
I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, next time truly is the end of Cthulhu as the chapter name suggests he has surprising challengers.