Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or DC, or any other Cameo franchises
The Redeemer
Chapter 43: Unexpected saviours
Cade remember years ago when he was younger, when Sven's first sidekick, his half brother Jason was Kid-Aeon. It was the weird, 'Extreme' days of the 90s, the armour Cade used was practically a porcupine and Jason had a mo-hawk and Sven used blades shoulder pads and a 'Shredder' helmet. The costumes may have evolved, but the fights were still the same, including a big team up between four major villains that required all of their allies to team up. One of those villains was Mister Ultimatum, a gangster, turned businessman, turned would be world conqueror, the balding man in his green business suit and pink tie wanted to brainwash the world through a psionic entity.
This led him to an alliance with Godu, the alien scientist who created deities to deceive undeveloped species and just because he found religious people hilariously gullible (he once disguised himself as an angel to control a Christian cult). Godu was created from spirits of curiosity, but he bore the form of a purple costumed man in a white coat and a red visor. Though Godu had once been in competition with Muramasa, this didn't stop him from teaming up with the embodiment of chaos. Matching the 90s vibe, Muramasa at the time used rock star make up and spiked biker pads.
Then there was the entity Ultimatum tried to use, Cthulhu.
A primordial psionic entity, it had not been the first time he, Cade and Sven fought separately. But it had been the first instance in which Sven and Cade had to team up. They had at that time brought together a multitude of allies, the Daniel Ketch Ghost Rider, Darkhawk, Sleepwalker, Kyle when he went by Red Eagle, Brute and James back when he'd first gained a position in Crowner corp. Due to the effects of Ultimatum's technology, the dimensional barrier had been ripped through that time. It wasn't the first case of them discovering the Multiverse, but it was the weirdest.
"Watch out Spawn," Jason called out as Muramasa impaled the man in the red cloak.
Al Simmons, general of Hell's army snarled as the chaos personification's sword pierced through his black and white suit. The hellspawn's eyes glowed green as the chains on his chest whirled around to grab Muramasa.
"Nice try, I like a little bondage," Muramasa giggled.
"I fucking hate clowns," Spawn snarled.
"Watch your language," Sven said, punching one of Ultimatum's security agents.
He whirled around and grabbed an arrow. It wasn't Hawkeye though, but an archer in red clothes by the name of Shaft. He and his group Youngblood had come through the dimensional portal after Godu had sent some of his deceived aliens into their world. Aeon and Brute jumped alongside the young-blood member Badrock (who Brute understandably mistook for the Thing) and punched the primordial entity through the walls of Ultimatum's facility.
"No killing Shaft," Sven said to the archer.
"But copious amounts of property damage is all right," he huffed.
Red Eagle created two energy pillars to hit at Ultimatum, who was using battle armour. The billionaire fired into the young blood member Diehard, hitting the cyborg's shield. Ketch attempted to wrap his chains around Godu but was thrown into the young blooder Vogue. Cthulhu smashed through the wall, holding Badrock by his head and dragging Brute by his leg. He threw Jack and Badrock aside and slammed his fists into Prime's. The member of Ultraforce was, at that point in time from another universe and was far from home too. He had teamed up with a similarly powered individual called Mighty Man. They were deadlocked with the primordial villain, whilst Sleepwalker and Darkhawk were able to knock Muramasa into a group of his henchmen.
"So many characters together, it's a tribute to the 90s," Godu said, firing energy blasts from his hand at the gold and blue armoured man above him.
He was X-O Manowar, an armoured man from the 5th century BC, he was the kind of primitive Godu would have manipulated. The god copying scientist went into a beam deadlock with him, unaware of Spawn appearing behind him with his cape flowing. Spawn's eyes glowed as he wrapped his cloak tightly around Godu, nearly crushing the man before he threw him into the air. This gave Deathblade and X-O an opening to bury him into the lower floors of Ultimatum's office with an energy blast. Cade flew up to the portal device Godu had designed, urging James to come up.
"What are you thinking?" the tech genius asked.
"We can't beat Cthulhu straight up, so we'll banish him to another dimension," Cade said.
Aeon crashed through the wall, punching Cthulhu in the back of the head, making him let Prime and Mighty Man go. X-O flew to aid Aeon, both hitting the deity with energy blasts. Shaft fired an explosive arrow and Ketch threw hell fire at him. The attacks threw him back just as James and Spawn reached the device.
"I would need to send him to a place where there are no people," James said.
"I know just the place," Spawn said.
Beams collided with Cthulhu, every hero pushing themselves to push him into the portal that James was able to create. Spawn eventually joined with Ghost Rider, Darkhawk and Young Blood in fusing with Aeon. It was a form best described as sharp and 'extreme' (a lot of bladed padding as was common in the 90s). The dimensional barriers were reformed and the world's order was restored. As for Cthulhu, he was driven across dimensions to the place where hell blazed and prepared for a great war with the heavens. The devil that turned Al Simmons into a Hellspawn, Malebolgia, the green eyed, white haired creature stood in the flames, lanky limbs and jaw of razor sharp teeth intimidating in comparison to the small puddle of tentacles slithering across hell. Hell was a place where the deserving souls resided, and Cthulhu could only claim power from the despair of those undeserving.
There Cthulhu remained, through New Avengers, Infinite Crisis, Civil Wars and Multiversal Rebirths. Even when Malebolgia was defeated and Spawn became the new ruler of hell, Cthulhu remained in his prison. But then, darkness swept over hell, and from a dark portal Onyx emerged, looking down at the creature.
"You have been exiled here, once the god of an entire universe, now you're just an afterthought to those whom claim ruler ship of evil," Onyx said.
"What are you doing here?"
Onyx looked over his shoulder, seeing the red cloak and chains of Spawn. Al Simmon's glowing green eyes glared in fury at the lord of all evil, whose dark eyes glared back. Like a child watching a great event, Cthulhu's eyes beamed at the clash of the king of hell and the lord of evil. All of hell shook, every demon in it hid and even the angels themselves trembled in fear when Onyx walked out of the fight. Shattered chains and pieces of the black suit had spread across the floor. The armour across Onyx's right arm had completely shattered, his arm was half burnt and he was holding Spawn by his cloak, dragging the man across the floor, his mask torn to reveal Simmons's burnt face and pained expression.
"Now where were we?" Onyx shrugged, dropping Spawn and regarding Cthulhu again.
The little octopus raised his tentacles, squealing in glee, his voice high pitched and excited.
"Magnificent, magnificent, magnificent, magnificent, MAGNIFICENT!" he screamed, eyes bulging and going blood shot with tears.
But Onyx stood over the creature, unimpressed by the shower of affection. Another dark portal opened beside Onyx and Hela emerged, her hair down and a glint in her eyes as she looked over hell.
"A bit too 'Dante's inferno' for me, but I can make it work, oh yes I can," she smirked.
Then she looked down at Cthulhu and huffed.
"I thought it would be bigger," she said.
"That's what she said," Cthulhu retorted.
"A pathetic waste, to take you to a place of utter sorrow and hatred, yet to never be able to feed on it. You Cthulhu were once one of Aeon's deadliest enemies, and you shall be again, the entire Multiverse will know the name Cthulhu as more than just the insanity of Lovecraft," Onyx explained as he took Cthulhu by his head.
Dark energy flowed into Cthulhu, whose eyes let out a great mist that spread across hell.
"Despair, such despair, I see," Cthulhu's voice changed, becoming more mature and beginning to emit a beastly echo. "You despaired for being separated from Sven Reilly, you despaired for being abandoned, for Sven losing his family and claiming a new one in its place," the primordial being's voice shook.
Onyx created another portal and cast Cthulhu into it. In that realm, Cthulhu began to grow, hearing and tasting screams of anguish and psychological pain.
"You are a being of thought Cthulhu, now linger where all thoughts go, the astral plane," Onyx stated, closing the portal on Cthulhu.
Hela suddenly pushed Onyx onto a rock, pushing her nails into the marks on his armour. Her eyes glowed red with hellfire before she ripped off Onyx's chest plate.
"What are you doing?" Onyx asked, lacking any emotion in his voice as Hela rubbed his chest.
"You've defeated a king of hell, made the heavens quiver, I want to desecrate hell another way," she grinned as she caressed his helmet.
He lifted her off by her throat, in spite of the fact she was taller than him. Hela pouted, running a finger across his back as he took hold of Spawn's cloak.
"We can't afford mistakes with this one, work now, play later," he said.
Hela nodded her head in disappointment. She blew a kiss to Onyx as he walked through a dark portal, carrying Spawn with him. Hela slicked her hair upwards, creating her signature head dress. She kept her arms raised, hellfire burning underneath her before every flame in hell turned green and the very ground beneath her became the same material as her armour. The goddess of death was absorbing hell, just as she absorbed the power of other Asgards, adding the power to her own. Yet still it paled in comparison to the power that her love was going to claim.
It was hard for Hela to tell if years or moments had passed, for Onyx had found a way to traverse reality and time. Odinsdottir relished in the battles that Onyx led her into, in the rulers of hells they brought down. Hela consumed the hellfire of a Johnny Blaze Ghost Rider before taking his realm for her own. She took off the arm of Angela, a would be ruler of Hela's own kingdom in her world, and Hela delighted in torturing her in front of her lover Sera. They took a dark skinned Amanda Sefton off of her throne in Limbo, an Illyana Rasputin who used Limbo as her 'safe space', Azazel, Madelyne Pryor, the Dark Magik of Earth 161, the Belasco/Kurt Wagner of Earth 9997, even Knull the king in black. Hela looked at her lover in awe as he held All-Black the necrosword over his head.
Years of battles, of events, and circles of hell were claimed. Even the variants of Lucifer Morningstar's realm fell before the all consuming and all encompassing evil that Onyx was able to gather. Whatever armies he lost to these campaigns he could recreate in the Multiverse. He sat on a throne with three of the Lucifer variants around him, the dark haired British man with his wife the miracle, the blonde haired woman in black, and the white suited Lucifer Rofocale. More worlds, more realms and more wars until eventually the flames of hell became like the throes of passion for Hela.
She rolled beside her lover in their bed of bones, panting in a way no other lover could make her pant.
"Soon, we're getting closer to the end of everything aren't we?" she asked.
He reached up at the ceiling to this version of the underworld. Earth 12, where the gates of Tartarus where protected by the Amazons. Only in the future the Amazons had left. That wasn't to say that the former Paradise island wasn't closely monitored by Amanda Waller of Cadmus. Her agent looked out at the old home of the amazons, piloting her invisible jet. She wore a black suit with silver wrist bands, silver armour on her right shoulder and the outline of star patterns over her thighs. The woman pulled off her hood to reveal elegant black hair and blue eyes.
"Troia here, you were right Waller, it looks like something is going down in hell, should I get the rest of the Squad together?" she asked.
"They're already on the way Donna," the aged Waller smiled warmly, leaning on her cane for support.
She cut the communication line, looking to her future version of the Suicide Squad. Her enforcer the blue Flash/Commander Cold, the Neo-Gotham criminals William 'Willie' Watt, Walter Shreeve AKA Shriek and Shaka Okoro the Stalker, and legacies of the old Squad members Owen Mercer AKA Captain Boomerang, wearing a light weight model of his father's diving suit (minus the signature helmet) and his short hair half dreaded and half shaved was Jackson Hyde a former Aqualad and new Manta, and the latest person to use the Peacekeeper name.
"I mean I feel good, we've got Boba Fett on our side," Mercer said.
Waller sighed, the new Peacekeeper did dress remarkably like a Star Wars Mandalorian, she would have preferred the original Peacekeeper, maybe somewhere in the Multiverse.
"Our objective is to rendezvous with Agent Troia and determine what is happening in hell," Waller said.
Similarly, in a new 52 Universe, Amanda Waller stood in front of her Task Force X. Deadshot, El Diablo, King Shark, Black Spider, Yo-Yo and Voltaic.
"Bit of a sausage party here Waller, not unless you've got to bring in Quinn, if so I don't mind a guys night out," Deadshot said.
"Quinn is occupied, there's some kind of activity on Mount Etna in Sicily, you're going there to investigate," Waller commanded, with none of the warmth her older self from across the Multiverse had gained.
Having never developed a trust with the super hero community, she focused on both small things that could become more and bigger scenarios. Like what the Justice League was responding to alongside their allies in Gotham. She watched Deathblade and the new arrival Aeon, and felt something within herself when she saw them work together to deal a critical blow to Cthulhu.
'Hope,' but then she scoffed.
Her hand shook and she briefly touched her chest.
"Is everything all right Miss Waller?" her assistant Bonnie asked.
A nice lady, a foodie like Waller and probably the only person she enjoyed spending time with. But a naïve woman who still had to be shown 'the Wall' that was Amanda's professional personality.
"We have an apocalyptic event in America's worst city, a secretary of defence in Washington is pushing for a nuclear reaction, luckily they've got their hands full with an incursion from frost giants, nothing the Justice League of America can't handle. People are too lost in the hope to look," she zoomed in on the images of Deathblade, Aeon and Carol Danvers.
"You don't trust them?" Bonnie asked.
"I don't trust anyone," Waller retorted.
She noticed one of the office workers had his hand to his ear, receiving a communication from elsewhere. Waller waited and let the man come to her.
"Miss Waller, our agents in Arkham have stopped reporting, they were monitoring the Isley woman," he said.
"She's awol?" she asked.
"We have been able to intercept police reports, apparently pheromones have been calming the populace in the wake of the psionic attack," he explained and Waller shook her head.
"Pamela Isley," she muttered.
Gotham City
"This isn't right, I thought we were winning, I even heard 'You say Run' in the background," Sven grimaced as Cthulhu held him by his neck.
"So not the time to catch up on anime Aeon," Cade remarked, gritting his teeth together.
He tried to get out of Cthulhu's grip. But in his final form, the primordial god moved faster, hit harder and struck at their very souls with his punches. His fists moved and with seconds layers of energy tentacles burst out of his skin, wrapping around his fist and forming layers of armour that shattered as Cthulhu punched Aeon, Deathblade, and so many other heroes. Superman's blows matched his for a while, but Cthulhu was able to stab his tentacles through the Kryptonian's ears. He would regenerate under the yellow sun, but had still been dealt a crippling psionic blow that forced his lover Wonder Woman to fly him to safety. Almost dancing through the sky, Cthulhu kicked Aeon in the cut, and then backhanded Cade when he tried to attack from behind. Cade caught Cthulhu's neck with a chain and gave Aeon an opening to charge his optic blast. Cthulhu though wrapped his tentacles around Sven's head, diverting his blast into Cade.
"Oh sorry, friendly fire," Aeon remarked before Cthulhu threw a mass of tentacles on top of him.
The tentacles carried Aeon to a building below, trapping him in rubble. He quickly some of the tentacles, keeping them away from people who hadn't been able to get to safety. Suddenly, Carol burst through the wall, firing photon blasts at the tentacles.
"Get them to safety," he said and their eyes briefly met before she grabbed people and flew them away.
Deathblade and Cthulhu continued the fight, Cthulhu having created a halberd from his tentacles and energy. Cade wielded his scythes and chains, clashing with the Cthulhu in close quarters weapons combat again and again. The sky was ringing with the sound of their weapons slamming together. Cthulhu let out a sadistic laugh as he hit Cade with an energy blast. The blast turned into a pillar of tentacles that brought Cade down towards the ground, burying him.
On the streets, a woman in a green coat bent down and touched the roots of the trees revealed by the battle. She took a deep breath, eyes glowing green as she reached through those roots 'seeing' in a sense through their eyes. The tree roots had caught Cade in a sense, cushioning him as Cthulhu's tentacles tried to bury him further. His eyes glared defiantly, pushing against the tentacles with his blade. A smile slowly spread across the woman's lips as she pulled off her hood, revealing her red hair.
Astral plane
Cthulhu continued strangling Zack, and crushing Virgil with his tentacles. He gleefully smiled, slamming Zack's head into Virgil's and pulling the boys away from one another. Virgil fought against the tentacles, ignoring the images appearing through the astral plane. One moment they were in the purple space, then they were in the remains of the Xavier Institute, the bodies of students around them. Zack regained some air, feeling Cthulhu's grip loosen, perhaps only so that Zack could see his mother collapsed on the ground, crying before she whispered three words.
"No more mutants!"
Suddenly, Cthulhu screamed, swinging his tentacles away from Virgil. Anti-matter erased the tentacles that had wrapped around the young man, who pulled the Anti-Matter back into his wrists.
"I've always been ashamed of my power, how could I not be, I'll never use it to destroy in the way you do, that doesn't mean I won't use it in defence," Virgil's eyes glowed, the Anti-matter glowing around him like flames as he prepared to strike.
Virgil however stopped when Cthulhu dangled Zack in front of him.
"Do you really have the guts to do it?" he demanded.
Virgil grit his teeth together, his moment of pause left him vulnerable as Cthulhu used Zack as a weapon this time. He swung Zack around, using his feet to kick Virgil across the face. Aeon's apprentice swung his head to the side, shifted his hips just as Cthulhu used Zack's legs again for another puppet kick. On the third time however, Virgil tipped his body back and grabbed a hold of the tentacles around Zack. He was lifted off of the floor along with Zack, but it was all part of Virgil's plan.
"If you concentrate, channel your Anti-matter through your hands, you can aim it, even use your hands to form shapes with the Anti-Matter, same principle you picked up at Xavier's but refined, go on give it a try," he remembered Sven teaching him.
He put out his index and middle finger, creating a thin blade of Anti-matter. The blade passed over Cthulhu's tentacles, partially breaking the portion that had trapped him and Zack. It was in this moment that Zack recalled his own lesson.
"How you channel your energy is just as important as generating it, you can make a cloud of hex all day but if it isn't focused all you're doing is making a trap. Try a hammer, or a blade, or just a little tip of hex, but make sure you do the calculations too, you've got to know the chances of something breaking to actually break it," Sven explained to him.
Freeing one of his hands, Zack flicked his fingers, firing a hex bullet that broke the tentacles. Then he grabbed the tentacles around him, spreading his hex energy through them.
"Your power isn't quite full matter of reality manipulation, but you can create and influence a temporary construct, but you'll need to focus on an application too. You can't just make something harder without thinking of the how or why," his father told him.
'How, channel through the spirit realm, mix my mother's mutant magic with my father's link to spirits,' Zack summarised.
His left eye glowed blue, reflecting the spirits, the deep roots of a tree for defence, his own Jewish and Romani heritage. For a moment he thought he could see his ancestors enduring what life had thrown at them, always surviving and pushing themselves to thrive. Then in his right eye, he ran the equations through his head, turning the dreams he had pulled from his mind and the spirit realm, into a chaotic reality. He made the cut apart tentacles around him harder, using them as a shield, holding them and battering the other tentacles Cthulhu used back.
'Why, to use its elasticity and gained durability for simultaneous defence and attack, by turning the tentacles into a whip!'
His left eye reflected one of the first films he saw with Sven, Indiana Jones. The tentacles made a whipping sound as they struck Cthulhu's face, knocking him back.
'Impossible, that little boy isn't event half the strength of a Scarlet Witch, and yet…' he seethed, going off point as he opened his mouth.
"FUTILITY!" he screamed.
His yell became a wave that threw Zack and Virgil upwards, like a tornado blowing both boys back. He formed bladed tips on his tentacles and flew at them. Virgil used his cape to glide, using his body to shield Zack. The boy gasped in shock as Cthulhu dragged his blades across Virgil's back. Energy and Anti-Matter leaked out of the wound, forcing Cthulhu to fly back.
"Damn boy, using your powers like that, it doesn't mean I can't rip you apart from here," Cthulhu seethed.
Cthulhu formed more and more tentacles on his back, creating row and rows of spear like appendages that piled on top of one another. Before long, he was standing with thousands of tentacles floating above him, all ready to skewer the apprentices of Aeon.
"This ends here, as I said, fall into despair you insignificant dullards," Cthulhu said.
"I think that will be quite enough!"
Cthulhu looked around, cautiously just like his would be victims were. He was just as confused as them, hearing the voice in their heads and through the astral plane itself. The space in front of Cthulhu changed, turning darker as a face appeared, a face with red eyes and razor sharp teeth. His form was bulky and monstrous, for a moment he appeared as an overweight man with round sunglasses and a fez. Then he became his monstrous blue skinned form, teeth set in a grin as he looked down at Cthulhu.
"Amahl Farouk," Virgil identified the being by his human name.
"Shadow King," Zack chose to use his more infamous name.
"Human," Cthulhu seethed.
"Am I human or mutant, or am I the first darkness born of the first nightmare? It is a conundrum isn't it Cthulhu, creation of a mentally ill writer, did a primordial god implant the idea in his head, or were you born of his idea?" Shadow King asked, laughing as Cthulhu snarled.
Tendrils of psionic energy lashed out at each other. Both beings created barrages of attacks that slammed into one another. The illusion of brawn was created when Shadow King added armour to his body, drew a glowing black psychic blade and hacked into Cthulhu's shoulder.
"What are you waiting for boys, finish him," Shadow King said.
"Why?" Zack muttered, almost frozen in place until Virgil tugged on his cape.
"Isn't it obvious, he doesn't want to team up with Onyx," he said.
"It is better to rule than serve, you'll find I'm not the only one willing to go against him for his own ambitions," Shadow King said.
Virgil and Zack flew over Shadow King, the former gathering spirit energy into his hand and Zack releasing a hex bolt from his hand. The hex bolt slammed into Cthulhu's face, shifting his energy form back into a solid Octopus head. It was a soft target for Virgil to punch, knocking the giant creature back.
"And for my next trick," Shadow King grinned.
He put his hands to his head, firing a psionic bolt that hit Cthulhu. The energy swept over his body, sounds filled the astral plane, confetti popping sounds, laughter and nursery rhymes. None of it was eerie at least to Virgil and Zack's ears. Whatever was happening filled Cthulhu with horror and he screamed.
That scream echoed on Earth N52, Cthulhu was shaking in fear, gripping his head for a moment.
'My consciousness in the Astral plane, what just happened?' he wondered.
He had shifted his consciousness across realities, now that they were being eliminated; he was running out of power. The being looked down at the streets and saw that the pillar of tentacles he had created was shaking. Cthulhu narrowed his eyes, seeing that his tentacles were expanding, as if something was pushing against them. Suddenly the tentacles burst and were thrown open. Something was rising from the ground, growing rapidly and expanding to a size beyond the tentacles Cthulhu had created. He looked at the growth and saw that it was a tree. There was a bud at the tree, one that opened to reveal a woman in a black suit with patches of green leaves on it. Her red hair flapped with the wind and she glared at Cthulhu.
"You spread your tendrils like the cities you destroy, you Cthulhu are an enemy of the green," Poison Ivy said.
She opened the palm of her hand, the tree she rode on splitting. A branch within the middle of the split swung over like a catapult and it had launched something. Cthulhu widened his eyes as the red and black object broke the sound barrier. He raised his halberd, only for an energy blade to snap through his staff. Deathblade slammed into Cthulhu, the energy blade on his arm sliding through Cthulhu's chest as his mask shattered. Cthulhu looked down at the blade, realising it was the god killer blade that Cade had used to kill Mikaboshi, Hercules and Korvac. He needed to return, return to the astral plane immediately.
Only something worse was waiting for him in the astral plane. His spiritual or psionic form, all of his power converged into the realm that Onyx 'gifted' him with. Cthulhu's physical bodies were destroyed, just as the Shadow King; true ruler of the Astral plane trapped him within a terrifying psychic prison.
Zack and Virgil panted, looking up at Shadow King, who was holding the small sphere he had imprisoned Cthulhu in.
"What did you do?" Zack asked.
"Cthulhu draws his power from despair, now he's in a place where no despair will reach him," Shadow King said.
"What happens now?" Virgil asked, shifting in front of Virgil.
"You are free to go of course, unless you don't want to stop Onyx," Shadow King said.
Neither of the two heroes spoke, instead they turned away from the Shadow King, hex energy surrounding Zack whilst something else wrapped around Virgil like a bubble.
"What's going to happen now?" the younger sidekick asked.
"We go back to where we were, or what we were subjected to," Virgil said.
"Subjected to?" Zack blinked in confusion, flinching when Shadow King suddenly laughed.
"He means you both have your trials to overcome, Virgil has been trapped in a chronal prison, his Anti-Matter body subjected to trials of time, and it will be interesting to see if it breaks you boy," Shadow King explained.
Virgil shook his head at the villain whilst Zack stuck his tongue out. The older sidekick gripped Zack's shoulder.
"I'll find you, before or after I've free the others I don't know, but I will find you Zack," he assured him.
"We'll find one another, our whole family can't stay apart forever," Zack said.
"We aren't…" Virgil shook his head and took his hand off of Zack's shoulder. "We'll see each other again, and finish this, so stay safe in the meantime," Virgil said.
"Stay heroic," Zack retorted.
They bumped their fists together, before the energies that brought them into the astral plane took them out of it.
Earths were recovering from the attack of Cthulhu, on 616; the gathered heroes planned their next move alongside the Justice League of Earth 12 and any refugees of Onyx's Multiversal war. Thunderbolts, Avengers, X-men came together with New Warriors and Inhumans. And at Avengers Academy, Hank continued his work alongside Amazo to recover the lost heroes of Earth 616.
On Earth 1610, the two Wanda's, Drumm and Loki renewed their efforts to track down Zack. Sieg joined them in their circle, intent on not only getting back to his time, but to do something to help his future family. 'Son of Aeon' he heard in their chant, he understood why he was brought to them. But there was another way of seeing son, beyond adopted and biological, this Sieg knew. Successor was a type of son, perhaps he was that successor, Sieg thought. But as the Universal forces collided, he realised that history had been predetermined. Destiny was in play, but he questioned whether that destiny would be fulfilled through the death of his mentor or not.
For on Earth N52, Sven looked at his hands, and saw the glowing blue markings across his skin fading slightly. The power still remained inside him though, enabling him to put himself between Carol and the tree shrinking back into the ground. She narrowed her eyes at him, glaring, photonic energy sparking in her hand. He could see this Carol Danvers's differences from his, the tiredness in her eyes, the impatience and anger, and the hurt he saw in the mirror every day.
"Cade needs to recover," he told her, shocking her out of the silence. "Because like it or not, we're going to need him to take down Onyx," he said as the Justice League members gathered around him.
"I saw him fall unconscious before the fight ended, that woman, the Arkham inmate Isley, she was taking him somewhere," Superman said.
"Somewhere he can heal and prepare for the fight of his life, Cade has a lot to answer for on my Earth, not every future is set Carol," Sven assured the heroes and the variant of the woman he loved.
Having fallen unconscious, Cade was dragged deep underground by Poison Ivy, deep into a world beneath Gotham. In that place, she smiled as Cade's armour shattered.
"You have helped the Red and the Green Cade, and you have helped me, it's time we returned the favour," she said.
Vines gently placed Cade onto a green pad, one that enveloped him and became a bulb. Glowing pulses ran up the tree Ivy had created in the underground, passing into the green bulb. It became a glowing red bulb, barely concealing inside the silhouette of Cade's body floating inside it. Ivy sat herself on a bed of leaves and waited for her ally to recover.
Virgil though felt his Anti-Matter form waver, passing between the moment that Iron Lad and Val-Zod had trapped him in, and the possibilities of Earth 616. He felt the red and grey armour of Aeon envelop him, looked to the black void he was floating in. But he wasn't alone, Spider-man, Captain America, other Spider-men? He recognised Spider-Gwen (for lack of a better word) and Miles but, a black and white one, a Spider-Pig (must resist the Simpson's movie reference, he thought) a robot, a holographic one, what was he seeing? Was he seeing the future, a past he had forgotten, or a parallel present?
Whatever the case he thought to himself 'no, no, I am not the new Aeon, I am just a student, not his successor.' He denied that destiny as he was thrown into another time and place. The chronal bubble disappeared; the Aeon suit disappeared, replaced by the home made 'Kid-Aeon' costume that Virgil took from Sven. Green grass, it was a countryside of some kind by a main road. He looked around, and instantly his eyes were drawn to something in the distance. It was a glowing red dome, flickering like a TV's static, big enough to conceal a town.
'Never turn your back to someone in need,' he remembered a lesson from his teacher.
From Aeon, 'the man I will not become,' he told himself.
As for Cthulhu, he experienced an ending. Tied to a tree in a beautiful field, he had to watch the heroes of many universes eat at a barbecue, all smiling, all laughing. It was made worse when 'Chibi' versions of the X-men and Justice League began dancing around him, humming out of synch the tunes of 'X-men: TAS' and 'Justice League Unlimited'.
Cthulhu screamed as Shadow King laughed in the background.
Next Chapter 44: Denying reality
Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter
This one included a little peak at my Virgil centric fic and part of my Universal Collision's series, this spinoff titled 'Reborn'.