Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or DC, Image, IDW, all other characters appearing belong to their own creators.
Spoilers for the original Invincible comics
The Redeemer
Chapter 44: Denying Reality
Sven took some time to explore the new world he had been thrown into. Not so much enjoy it as learn about it and rest. He walked through the streets of Metropolis, took the ferry to Gotham, finding both places to have some of the aspects of New York but with their own spins on it. Gotham had a fittingly gothic layout to some of its architecture, and there were a lot of blimps too. Metropolis had a more elaborate rail system, and it being the 'brighter' of the neighbour cities was due to its architecture, more windows for light to reflect off of. It was on his way to the bus station in Gotham that he encountered a slight hiccup, a mere distraction for him but not one he welcomed.
"Empty the contents of your wallet and remove your phone and watch," Sven blinked in confusion, at first defensive when he saw what kind of weapon was being pointed at him.
It was a gun of sorts, a pressurised hose linked to a tank on the robber's back. He was dressed in a blue suit with literal underpants worn over his trousers; a C was scribbled onto his chest with a red bolt on the upper left and a yellow bolt on the lower right. The lanky man wore a pair of shades and a green sock over his head.
"Do it peasant, the condiment king commands you," he said.
Sven was about to retort when a shadow passed over them. At first the Condiment King raised his weapons, fear in his eyes at the possibility of facing Gotham's vigilante. Only it wasn't Batman's cloak, but a glider of some kind shaped like a kite. Sven's eyes grew wide like saucers when he saw the man in the green suit land with a stumble across the floor. He wore a crash helmet with a yellow visor over his eyes, yellow gloves, and boots and had both a yellow kite on his chest and helmet.
"Kite-man, hell yeah," he said, holding a bag as he threatened the people trying to get to the train station.
There was a moment of silence between the two villains and the people they intended to rob, before Sven doubled over, clutching his chest. He rolled his head back laughing, running a hand through his hair as he did. Both super villains were angered by his reaction. Condiment King was about to fire his ketchup and mustard guns when energy crackled through the air. Sven dived at Condiment King, knocking him out of the way of a lightning bolt that blew part of the wall off behind them. Kite-Man yelped before he broke off into a run down the street. Sven raised his head, looking to what had discharged the lightning. It had come from the lightning bolt of a golden staff, held by a muscular man in a simple toga, wearing also a leaf crown.
"Kneel before Zeus mortals, and then MFFFFH!" his cry was muffled when mustard was shot into his face.
The man gagged, vomiting from the mustard stench going up his nose.
"And I thought you were the joke," Sven said to Condiment King, who nodded, flicking the excess mustard off of his gun.
He was about to backhand the man when something flew through the hoses connected to his guns. Sven focused on the ground more than the pathetic slosh coming out of Condiment King's sauce guns. It was a blade shaped like a bat; a second projectile flew into Condiment King's head, knocking him out. Sven looked up to the fire escape on the building the projectile had come from. He spotted Batman standing there, nodding to him before using his grapple gun to reach the roof. Sven could hear the police sirens in the distance, they would pick up Condiment King and the Zeus wannabe, and it was only a matter of time before they found Kite-man too. Batman had left a very clear message, the same most people who fancied themselves in charge of the super hero teams gave, 'we need to talk' he said without words. As Sven climbed up to the roof to meet him, he put on a grey mask with red lenses on it, the lenses shifting to match his hardened expression.
"You have my attention," Sven said. "I can't say the same for your villains," he added, tilting his head slightly to point at them.
"Kite-man, hell yeah," the said villain cried out as he flew past.
"One moment," Batman said.
He fired his grappling hook, chasing after his foe. Sven put his hands on his pockets, admiring the blimps in the sky (and wondering what exactly they were doing there, something worth finding out on his trip perhaps, apparently Metropolis and Gotham were at war over who had the best pizza too so he wanted to…) before Batman returned, dropping an unconscious Kite-man at the door to the stairwell.
"So a jailbreak right?" Sven asked.
"It's more than that, no one's read about it in the papers and no one's reported on it because Arkham and other prison facilities haven't been broken into, no attacks launched against them, no big plans by the Joker or Riddler, or any of the traditional people breaking out," Batman explained.
"So how are so many prisoners on the street?"
"They're disappearing from their cells, even their stored equipment is lost with them, all we found was this," Batman reached into his belt and took out a black card.
It was simplistic, having no markings on it. Sven turned it over several times, waving it around slightly as he analysed it. Blue markings spread across his armour and onto the card. Something flashed before his eyes, his other self Onyx, holding the glowing cards and giving them to villains like Maxie Zeus and Kite-man.
"Get out of jail free cards, creates a backdoor for them to escape their cells," Sven said.
"We all figured as much, prisoners were checked but the card just seemed to appear, Green Arrow and Steve Trevor recovered cards like this on villains too, but nothing is coming up on any analysis equipment, no kind of radiation and even magicians like Zatanna are having trouble finding anything," Batman explained.
"Because the cards don't have anything to work with, it's only when the prisoners want the cards that they become active, and the power source, its life energy," Sven said, noting how the lenses of Batman's mask tilted up in surprise.
"But the villains are still relatively healthy," he said.
"The energy drain is benign, just a small amount, how many cards have you recovered?" Sven asked.
"We've logged 52 cards on our Earth from super criminals, to petty thieves, socialites, even online bloggers or average citizens reported getting a card through their post one day," Batman said.
"This would explain why Onyx is so powerful, traditionally he has my powers just without the restraint, but if he draws on the energy of others he could increase his power. Combine that with a Multiversal network…"
"And we'd have no idea just how much energy he's drained from people across the Multiverse," Batman finished for Sven.
Onyx held the card in his hand, the object glowing and turning into black smoke that seeped into his pores. He looked out across the Wasteland, the great plane where people in search of hope would turn to anything to save them. Most of the heroes of the world were dead after all, the X-men killed by their own schism, Captain America gouged by the Red Skull, the Hulk driven insane and raising an inbred family, the Avengers wiped out by the Thunderbolts, even Spider-man's legacy was ruined, his granddaughter now a crime boss. Onyx looked down at the hundreds of people gathered by his acolytes, gathered with the promise of a new tomorrow, of a better existence.
They wanted to deny their reality and embrace a new one.
"Its okay son, just hold the card and we'll be on our way to the new world," a mother told her child.
"Please, help us make the world better," a man said, holding the card close to his chest.
The cards glowed, creating pillars of light. Onyx raised his arms, drinking in the screams as much as he did the energy. Babies were crying as their mothers slumped to the floor, children too young to hold the cards watched as their parents were turned into lifeless husks. Couples too were only given one card between them, and whichever one the card drained was random. Lovers were split apart as much as families, and individuals were put out of the misery the Wasteland had put them through.
"For indeed, the only thing left for those whom can suffer no more, is to die," Onyx said.
He looked down from the mountain he was observing from and caught sight of the group spying. The Old man Logan and his charge, the child of Bruce Banner, the blinded Hawkeye, Cable and Hope Summers. In a flash of darkness Onyx appeared in front of Hope, the others around her reacting in shock and defensively as he brought his face close to hers.
"And there is still so much more suffering left for you to bring!" he said.
He disappeared, leaving Hope Summers confused about her future.
Zack slowly opened his eyes, looking at the driver's seat of a car he was currently sitting in. The one driving was Marc, or Steven, probably mark judging from the way he briefly looked through the rear view mirror at him. Clark looked over his shoulder and smiled in that kind manner Zack had come to know.
"They're gone, the Kryptonians left just as quickly as they arrived," he said.
"That's good, where are we going?" Zack asked.
"Same place you told us to go kid, Westchester, 1407 Graymalkin Lane, Salem Centre, you kept saying that over and over until you woke up," Marc stated.
"The Xavier institute," Zack said.
"Institute?" the word triggered a frown across Marc's face.
"Thing is I looked at the papers and those 'internet' devices, very reliable things those, there is no Xavier institute, there never has been in this world," Clark said.
"But every feeling that I have is telling me to go there, in fact, it's telling me that the very answers to what is going on here lies in that building, I need to know what's happened to this world beyond the incursions by other dimensions," Zack explained.
"I understand son, we'll find the answers," Clark said.
"I don't get it, the glasses and suit, how do people not know, how did I not know, I know the spy tricks all right," Marc stated.
"It's less me pretending and more belief you know, as Superman I wear no mask, I've done interviews, my past to a degree is an open book so the thought of Superman having an everyday job, of being an ordinary man isn't even a possibility they might consider," Clark explained.
"Like they're denying reality," Zack said, looking out of the window.
He could see in the distance, more tears appearing in the sky, little blips that must have been the House of Magnus's red guards battling armoured Avengers. All of them were just lambs to slaughter as a great magnetic wave crushed them all. He looked away from that version of his grandfather and at the road ahead.
It didn't take long for Marc to get them to where the Xavier Institute shouldn't have been. Zack got out of the car first, in a panic when he saw the gate to the institute, half crumbled to pieces. The sign was still there for all to see 'Xavier's school for gifted youngsters' but with most of Xavier's name and half of gifted wiped away with youngsters. Clark told him to wait but he didn't stop, he walked up the ruined pathway to the ruined mansion. Sven had tried to teach him about investigation, but it was never the kind of thing Zack paid attention to. Marc and Clark though recognised the signs of battle and destruction, weapons and powers were used to raze the land, to turn it into a shell of what it was. There was even the atmosphere, how no one approached the place.
The door was open and when Zack walked in he saw the shredded carpet and ruined stairway to the upper floors, the carpet itself was worn in a way that signified that once people walked the corridors. He could also feel it in his soul, his connection to the spirit world enabling him to hear an echo of the joys and tragedies that filled the mansion. Marc tensed slightly as red lines glowed across the boy's body. He put that energy to his hand and raised them, casting a hex bolt that spread and created a small ghostly hologram. It was painful to Clark's eyes, apparently his cousin had encountered a witch herself in the past, but it was something they seldom spoke of. Magic was a weakness he was in no rush to test his limits on. He listened out instead for anything else, they were being followed, armed men and women who were all eager for the boy to discover the truth himself. As a journalist Clark too wanted answers, but he wasn't going to pick a fight to do it. He also wanted to be there for the child, so alone as he was once.
"I spent so long wanting to know my grandfather, but my dad didn't want that much for me, he wanted me to know Xavier better, he said the professor was the better man," Zack explained, voice filled with melancholy.
"It's only natural that you would want to know where you came from, if I ever had a chance to know of the history of my family I would take it," Clark stated.
Marc looked away from them both, his family, his people had a deep past, and his father taught him respect for it but in light of all he had been through it didn't matter to him as much as it should have (which he was ashamed of). His father was a rabbi yet let his mother beat him, he threw his Kippah to the ground when his mother died, rather than go to her Shiva. After his brother he didn't want to go to anyone's Shiva again.
"What more is there?" Marc asked.
"There's a subbasement below," Zack said.
"Lead in the walls then, I can't see it," Clark muttered.
"If this universe is anything like mine there will be an entrance in the library," Zack led the two men into the study area.
"Xavier's a jerk!"
"'Yap' is a technical term, I assure you."
"Every so often liebchen, since I look like a demon…I have this terrible urge to play the part."
"There were a lot of memories here weren't there?" Clark asked.
"More than there should be for a world where the X-men supposedly didn't exist," Zack said.
He looked up at one of the bookcases, a great many were charred and broken. Clark however took note of the one (too tall for Zack to reach) that was dusty but left untouched. It was a book about Dr King, and on Zack's approval, Marc pulled the book back to discover it was actually a lever. The book case slid back, dust escaping the hinges of the hidden door to reveal a ladder going down a vent.
"Is that Aluminium, or carbon fibre?" Marc asked.
"Anything that isn't technically metal," Zack went down first, climbing with the two men following.
They opened a hatch and stepped into a building underneath the mansion, dusty, metallic blue corridors that were futuristic compared to what was above.
"Welcome to the headquarters of the X-men," Zack said, marvelling himself at the subbasement of the mutant hero's.
"A facility like this underneath a school," Marc shook his head.
"I concur, I know you have a lot of respect for this Xavier and the X-men, but he seems more like a recruiter of child soldiers," Clark said and Zack lowered his head slightly as he walked.
"I suppose they kind of were fighting a war, my grandpa always thought so at least, he believed without a shred of doubt that people would take their intolerance and hatred to the extreme, because for him it had already happened to him and everyone he loved when he just a boy," Zack explained.
"He was a holocaust survivor," Marc said, surprised.
"I can understand how he would feel that way then, but there is good in people, there was good in people even during that time, hope still burns bright even through the most atrocious of times," Clark explained.
"It isn't a comfort for those who aren't saved or even for those who survive, anyway where are we going?" Marc asked.
"Xavier would use a machine to amplify his powers, they called it Cerebro, or Cerebra, depends sometimes," Zack led them down a long silver and blue corridor; they came to a stop near a door with an X on it and a dusty scanner at its centre. "I can feel it, there's something behind this door," Zack said.
He extended his hand, red vapour coming out of it. His eyes let out a blue glow as markings like cracks appeared across his skin. Zack made wire like shapes with the vapour and began slipping them into the hinges of the door. Energy ran up the wires, crackling with electricity and for a split second Zack's skin turned black and white like an old TV, flickering in different resolutions and colour grades. Then his eyes rolled into the back of his head.
Virgil's journey into the unknown had come with its challenges, forcing him to put into practice the techniques Sven taught him. He taught him about infiltration, about making yourself look like a background character in everyone else's story. The story seemed to concern an agency response to an energy dome erected over a small town. Through the unstable molecules of his uniform, Virgil was able to mimic the blue jackets the S.W.O.R.D agents wore and slipped into the background of their work. The situation seemed to be at the point where everyone was busy and wouldn't notice one person who didn't belong.
"Eerie," a woman in glasses, who Virgil recognised as Darcy Lewis, a physics professor who on 616 did some work with S.H.I.E.L.D.
She was looking at an old fashioned TV monitor, one of several televisions that had been gathered like a museum timeline of the technology. Virgil watched with her the exchange between a blonde man and a fellow office worker. Only it was one being comforted and reassured by the other.
'Vision,' Virgil thought.
"Monica she blasted you halfway across New Jersey," he heard being spoken in the background.
Virgil turned his head to the exchange.
"And I survived because she chose to protect me," said Monica Rambeau.
'Oh the second captain Marvel, maybe she has information,' Virgil thought.
"She's holding thousands of people hostage," the lead agent said.
"And it could have been thousands more if she hadn't put up her own quarantine," Monica said.
"What the fuck!"
All eyes turned to Virgil; he gulped, inwardly chiding himself for the outburst. His attention was drawn to the screen again when he saw someone on the program. He widened his eyes and gasped.
"Hey, he's new," Darcy said.
It was Zack, appearing at Wanda and Vision's front door.
"Mom," he said, his body flickering between his costume and 90s clothing.
"Who are you?" the lead agent of S.W.O.R.D asked.
Virgil let some of the anti-matter out, erasing a spot on the tent roof. He transformed into his costume to the shock of everyone present, his mask sliding over his face.
"I'm from another world and if there are people in pain underneath that dome, then I need more information so I can act," Virgil said.
He looked at his arm, the markings appearing across his skin again, Aeon's power echoed through him.
Earth N52
Sven looked at his hand, seeing the small glow of his power. Some superheroes had successors to their legacy. For a moment Sven wondered what his role in Virgil's legacy would be, then he fully processed that his powers were telling him that the boys were in danger. He looked into the grand hole that Poison Ivy had burrowed under the Earth, knowing that his rival was safe and wondering for a moment…
"Whether you should try to do something, or just have faith in them," a voice spoke from above him.
Aeon slid his mask off as he looked towards Carol, another Carol, or his Carol. Both were difficult to tell, she had changed her outfit to something a bit more familiar. She had Mar-Vell's colour scheme on her slim suit and a bigger starburst pattern on the chest. When she got closer was when Aeon could tell, her spirit was older and far more troubled than the Carol Danvers he knew.
"That's what you're thinking, about Virgil and Zack and the trouble that they're in," she said.
"Your Sven was like me then," he said.
"You, I'm from your future…"
"A variant future, there's like how many, a hundred different future versions of our world, we only ever hear about the ones that suck," Sven rolled his eyes and Carol smiled.
"That is true, my future is pretty rotten, if somehow this whole crisis undoes that timeline then I would consider it worth it," she said.
"Why are you here? You're not considering going after Cade are you?" Sven asked.
"No, I'm actually looking for you, and the boys too," Carol said.
"What do you mean?"
"My younger self Sven, whilst Wanda is searching through magic, I'm using my Ultimates to search for the missing kids, including yours," she explained.
"That's great, hopefully you'll find them," Sven said.
"Sven wait," Carol touched his shoulder, almost leaning against him, her eyes vulnerable for a moment. "It's personal for me, it's not just out of duty, it is because I love those boys too."
"Time echoes, you're getting memories of what Carol is doing," Sven said.
"It can work both ways, I believe there was a Batman somewhere out there who used spaghetti for the explanation, two timelines can be created from one," Carol said.
"Mess with time enough and you get a hot mess," Sven shrugged, though he didn't mean to brush off Carol's hand.
"Zack may not be my child but he is yours and I love him like my own because he is a part of you, and though you and Virgil pretend otherwise you have been the father figure he's needed," Carol explained.
"Are things so bleak across the Multiverse that we're looking to the past to make our peace, if so I would have sought out my wife and son a long time ago, but I don't because I love you, or at least the you that awaits me in my time," Sven explained.
There was a passion in his voice that took her back, back to a day she missed and yearned. Carol Danvers of a dark future smiled and sighed in relief.
"That's all I need," she said.
"I want to hold you and kiss you, but it would seem…"
"Too much like cheating," they said together.
"The future, with the X-men, Hope, Sieg, does any of it get better?" Sven asked.
"Well there's the thing, so many futures," Carol smiled cheekily.
"That's all I need then," he laughed.
They looked up as a shadow was cast over Gotham city.
"It doesn't rain but it does pour right?" Sven asked, his helmet folded over his face as Carol's body glowed.
"Damn right," she slammed her fists together, taking Aeon by his shoulders and flying up.
Up to meet the skull ship of Brainiac.
Earth 1 with lots of 9s (possibly, it has a hex dome in it at least)
Billy groaned as he woke up in the morning, another bright day in Westview. Climbing off of the bed, he looked to you the audience and addressed them directly.
"It's our first Halloween in Westview and already mom is freaking out, I could have sworn she spent the whole night crying, only dad hasn't been there for her," Billy explained.
"Last one down stairs doesn't get bacon," Tommy said, darting downstairs.
"He's happy he's got an older brother, an actual older brother," Billy said.
There was a scene shift and the camera shifted to the downstairs view of the sofa, where a brown haired boy in a baggy grey shirt and red shorts lay face down, snoring into the pillow he was hugging.
"Zack, our brother from mom's previous marriage, dad has been quiet but he at least hasn't been unkind to him," Billy said.
The camera panned back to Billy's face.
"He seemed really sad when he came by, like there was something coming, something going wrong in Westview, but that's not true right? Westview is a peaceful place, there couldn't possibly be anything dangerous going on here…"
"Breakfast is served," Wanda said in the background.
The camera panned to Zack, who shot up and did a flip off of the sofa.
"All right, I'm starved," he said.
No one but the Watcher (probably) and those beyond the watcher (you guys) was watching Virgil outside of the dome. There were the agents of course, but they had learnt to stay away from him very quickly. Darcy, Monica and Cho seemed to be the only people with any original thoughts in their heads. Cho had brought him coffee (which he politely refused) Darcy tried to strike up conversation (he felt a bit bad about brushing her off) but it was Monica who took a seat beside him as he combed over the footage of the WandaVision season so far.
"Stop it!"
"Stop it!"
"Stop it!"
"Stop it!"
He rewound and watched breakfast with the boss, bringing his masked face closer to the screen just so he could capture certain details in the micro expressions of the characters.
"No!"
"No!"
"There it is," he said.
"What do you mean?" Monica asked.
He pointed at the screen, the moment she shifted the scene when an agency infiltrator came up through the sewers, his hazmat suit changed into a beekeeper costume by the hex's power.
"The moment she realised she could control this reality, the moment she realised that someone was going to threaten it," Virgil said.
"What are you thinking?" she asked.
"Can't I, can't I, can't I, the words just go over my head again and again and again and I can't get them out of my head and replace them with sympathy for her, I understand that she had to kill Vision, I get that she lost years of her life, the love of her life and I still don't have sympathy for her, I know I'm supposed to but I can't," Virgil explained, dragging his fingers over his eyes with a tired sigh.
"Part of me is angry with her, but I lost my mom recently, I was robbed of time too so I understand what it is to grieve for someone the whole world has moved on from," Monica said.
"Guess it's a good thing she's only holding a thousand people hostage then," Virgil retorted, grimacing as Monica blinked with a hurt expression on her face. "I'm, I'm sorry, that was unfair, you're a good person Monica, you see the best in her despite what she's done."
"Unconsciously," she said.
"Evidence to the contrary, she's denying reality, creating in more ways than one a reality where she doesn't have to face her grief, where the problems of the day can be solved in a thirty minute window," Virgil explained.
"Wouldn't anyone want that?" Monica asked.
"This is not acceptable, regardless of the grief, regardless of our anger," Virgil said.
"What do you mean?"
"It doesn't matter, I have all I need to know," Virgil said.
He stood and walked out of the tent, looking up at the dome that had trapped his friend. Virgil was about to walk into it when his body flickered.
"No," he cried out, looking at his hand in shock. "Not now, please not now!"
Time was pulling him away yet again, his memories became distorted and he let out a blood curdling scream.
"Zack, remember Zack, have to save," he yelled as his body folded inwards, and blinked out of existence.
At that moment, Monica and Cho came out of the tent, having heard Virgil's screams and looking at where he was in concern. Then their eyes were drawn to something above the dome. Darcy and several other agents came out and looked up in terror as something began to orbit the hex. It was a great ship shaped like a skull with tendrils sticking out of its sides and back. On the forehead of the skull was a trio of circles, set into an upside down triangle shape. A beam of light hit the hexagonal dome and blanketed it; the two energy collisions created surges of electricity that fried the equipment in the tents.
"Okay, if it wasn't a good situation to call them before, maybe now is a good time to actually call the Avengers," Darcy said.
To the shock of every agent watching, Westview was ripped out of existence and the ship began to fly upwards. Something strange was happening to the ship, an affect similar to the hex spread across it, turning into different variations of the Skull ship design. Inside the ship stood Brainiac, looking at the interior of his ship and the way that the small town he had collected affected it. Even his own body was being affected, one moment he was in his natural green skinned form with his white and black bodysuit. Then the hex energy would flicker across him, turning him into a more blue skinned being in a purple and silver bodysuit.
"Fascinating," he said, watching his skin turn green and silver armour appear around his body.
"I told you the hex would be a most impressive find," a voice spoke from the shadows as Brainiac studied his new metallic tendrils.
Brainiac narrowed his eyes in disappointment, both as his body changed into a bald, green skinned man in a simple purple and white shirt and his partner walked out of the shadows. His metal feet slammed into the ground, energy pouring out of his mouth and eyes. Ultron looked at himself in the reflection of a wall for a moment, scoffing when his form changed and his usual head actually developed some kind of 'face'. Thankfully he turned into the cloaked form he used when he operated in space.
"In any reality Wanda Maximoff is capable of manipulating it, making it whatever she wishes," Ultron stated.
"Then Onyx was right, this Earth does have something to offer, unfortunately it has nothing else to offer either," Brainiac said.
"Let me just study the history that Onyx has given us," binary code swept across Ultron's eyes.
His body changed into the form of the Ultron native to this Earth.
"It has some bright spots but ultimately the future doesn't look good for this place," he then turned into a form he despised when he saw it in the reflection.
It was a Yellowjacket costume and the body of his creator Hank Pym.
"Do with it as you would all the others," he said.
"I do not need your flawed data to determine the obvious outcome for this Earth," Brainiac raised his hand, summoning his consoles as he began to access the forces necessary to destroy the planet.
Only to Ultron's shock, Brainiac changed yet again, this time his form grew. He knocked down some of the bottled cities he had collected, shattering the glass containers and eliminating alien societies like the Badoon and Thanagarians. Though the Earth was temporarily saved, other worlds were effectively wiped out. Brainiac had grown, his skin gone and replaced by a blue and purple suit that was familiar to Ultron and most from his variant realities. Instead of a face on the massive purple helmet, there was a metallic white skull on it.
"Galactiac will feed!" the new being declared.
She had bought flowers from a store in Gotham, they had been on sale, the owner wanted to clear his stock considering part of it had been destroyed. Rather than pull up the whole green house, he wanted to start a new, plant fresh seeds and make something great again. Gotham's botanical garden was suffering, debris had crushed some areas and workers had left town, leaving the garden short staffed. She considered applying for a job under a pseudonym, Rose Thurman was probably too obvious. In the end she made her way home, taking the sewers, dropping off a fresh chicken for Croc and following the roots of the great tree back to the source, her home and lab.
Ivy recalled that the underground city belonged to someone called the Sewer King. He fancied himself an Oliver twist inspired villain, taking in orphans boys to have them steal for him. Batman though brought him in, leaving the kingdom free for a new king, or rather a queen. Ivy though did not choose a throne; even the great rose she had mutated would not be sat on, but cultivated for poison against the invaders. She also set up her lab for her experiments that would benefit the environment after the war.
Pulling her hair out of its net, she changed into her one piece, leggings and gloves and walked over to the pod suspended over the air. It pulsed with the energy that flowed through the body of the person inside it; in a sense Cade was a battery for the organic machinery that would accelerate his healing. A lifetime of injuries, gone, yet the trauma and pain within his mind still remained. In order to treat his mind, Ivy knew she needed expertise for that. Quinn/Chase was being monitored too closely by Waller and the Batman. So she had her pets steal some outside help.
"Unhand me this instant, this is unacceptable you green mutant freaks," a voice carried down the corridor.
"Interesting, you have avoided the water, could you be vulnerable to the chemicals no doubt contained within it, or are you suffering from a phobia?"
The other voice was the first to arrive, dropped by the Venus flytrap raptor that Ivy had created. He was dressed in a green shirt with cuffs made of straw; the cloth bag over his head fittingly resembled his name Scarecrow.
"Dr Jonathan Crane, former teacher of Chase Meridian, I want your help," Ivy said.
"That would depend on what it could do for my research Miss Isley," Crane looked over his shoulder, as the bear whose fur was made of leaves walked in.
It dropped a short man in a black suit onto the floor; the man's eyes were wide and expressed the emotions that befitted his name of Doctor Psycho.
"Why the hell have I been brought here?" he demanded.
"I need both of you to assist me in an experiment," Ivy said.
She clicked her fingers; the pod above her began to sink to the floor.
"Gentlemen your patient," she said as the pod half opened, revealing Cade in his armour, his eyes glowing green as he snarled at them.
Onyx looked at the Necrosword in his hand, the creation of Knull, the first symbiote. Standing on the gap, he looked through more realities, disinterested, searching for anyone that would fascinate him.
'But they won't, no matter how much I try,' he resigned himself to that fate.
But perhaps if he was to achieve his ultimate goal, the great clash of absolute evil with absolute good. The portal opened behind him and he looked toward Amora. The Enchantress stood with her army, her brutish Aeon Executioners of Aeon-keeps. Those Sven Reilly's she had seduced, forcibly mutated or blackmailed into accepting the dark apple she had a hand in creating. Still Onyx stood indifferent to it all.
"You rejected me, denied me the right to be a queen, your queen, now you suffer the consequence Onyx," she stated.
"Thank you," he said.
Amora stopped, her rant cut short, he once confident pose reduced when she felt the utter confidence and calm her former master had.
"You helped me to create the dark apples, to create what you used to turn others, into a part of me," Onyx said, his eyes glowing as he began to approach the arm of his corrupted counterparts.
He dropped the Necrosword, he would not need it for this fight. Just when he was about to reach Amora however, a gold portal appeared and whisked him away. He landed, surprised (yet still indifferent) when he found himself on a ruined Earth. He could feel that the air was toxic and broken. Onyx looked up in the sky and saw numerous figures hovering over him. They were all dark haired individuals, many wearing yellow and blue suits, the older man leading them was beside a young woman with blue lenses on her mask whilst the man himself wore a grey and red suit with a cloak that had fur trim on the shoulders. These flying people were not alone, they were surrounded by others of equal if not greater power.
"Mark Grayson," Onyx identified the man, removing his helmet so they could see the emotionless human man beneath.
On one Earth there was a group of warriors, Viltrumites they were called, Supermen without the Kryptonite, the vision and solar based abilities and none of the culture of Krypton, but every bit the arrogance. Over the course of a thousand years, a human and Viltrumite hybrid rose from the ranks of a superhero, to become emperor of the resurgent Viltrum empire. An empire he would use to bring peace to the universe.
"The Quintessence came to our world, they might not be able to interfere in your war but we can, all of us can," the man formerly known as Invincible said.
Onyx analysed his opponents, an army of Viltrumite soldiers numbering in the thousands, the white haired Captain Marvel/Shazam and an Analogue of him named Mighty Man, the Superman analogues Mr Majestic, the High, Hyperius (of Earth 8, not to be confused with Hyperion) Utopian, even Supreme and that man child Homelander. Then came the Lanterns, Red Son Green Lanterns, green lanterns with suits that looked a bit too much like muscle fibres and Green Lantern mechs. An army of some of the most powerful beings in the Multiverse brought together just to fight him.
His eyes narrowed, looking past orbit at the figures standing on a rock in space, air contained within a field around them. Onyx huffed when he saw them. A Watcher who had brought together Guardians of the Multiverse, the super soldier Captain Peggy Carter, the Star Lord T'Challa, Prince Thor, Gamora and the embodiment of the space gem Kahhori. But they were not alone, a great ship led a fleet of Kree, Skrull, Shiar, Thanagarian and rebel alliance ships.
The flag ship was the gold Ultimate Thule, home to Justice Incarnate.
Onyx's put back on his helmet, his eyes glowing in determination. Maybe he would finally feel something.
Next Chapter 45: Denying evil
Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter.
Virgil was kind of a general audience reaction to Monica's statement in WandaVision, I get she was going for the whole sympathise (or at least understand) with the villain (Wanda was undoubtedly the villain, no matter what 'Agatha all along' lies to you about) with his analysis of the WandaVision footage very much being a takeaway from Wanda's behaviour in the show. 'Can't I' is not the kind of words someone who has no idea what she's doing would use, even if they did make it out that she didn't know a few episodes later.
I'm not usually a fan of deconstructing heroes, but to keep it all fair even Virgil's going to be going through it, Cade through it, Sven, heroes and villains. All for the purpose of development into their best, or most inevitable selves.