Disclaimer: I do not own anything you may recognize
Thank you to everyone who had favorited, followed or reviewed this fic so far.
So, 'Wolverine and Asshole' is out today but I plan to see it next Saturday. Anyways, for those who see it, I request you to not spoil anything for at least one month in the reviews, for not just me but also other reviewers, thank you very much.
But we're all excited AF!
And now, since we ended the main plotlines (kind of) in the previous chapter, its time for some bonus bonanza that everyone is gonna love.
Thanks a lot to gussygus28 for his outlines for all three plotlines that shall be in this chapter.
Enjoy!
Also, with this fic ended, I'm opening a sandbox for this 'When Legends meet' series, so anyone who wants to write a story set in this series can do so, but only after running their idea through me first and getting my suggestions, and then after my full permission, they can upload the fic while giving me credit.
Gallifrey 22.3: Thank you for the review and glad it was very good.
DCMarvel heroes: Thank you for the review and glad it was excellently written.
Guest 1: Thank you for the review. That is a cool idea, might put them in that Universe, as well as 'Once Upon a Time', later.
Guest 2: Thank you for the review. I noticed. Let's hope so. Though, no offense, while I don't hate the MJ in that show, I found her a mixed bag, and in that show, I frankly think Felicia and her romance with Peter got much better growth than MJ and her romance with Peter, but then they ditched the Felicia thing. The only MJ I really love is the Spectacular version. Though I don't wish bad on the TAS MJ either, I just didn't really feel her and Peter as a couple. I'm still glad she is back and fine at least.
Guest 3: Thank you for the review. In time for sure.
Chapter 40- Heroes coming together
Earth-8096, Xavier Mansion
James "Logan" Howlett aka the Wolverine was in the Xavier Mansion, next to Professor Charles Xavier's comatose body, for Xavier's future self had used his Cerebro to project himself into the past, like he usually did to speak with them all.
"So, Galactus", Xavier noted grimly. "If he had won, there would have been no future at all."
"I know, Chuck", Wolverine sighed. "It was a tough battle for us all, but none of us came out too shabbily. I even got to catch up with Cap after all this time."
Xavier smiled at that, Wolverine continuing. "I didn't think anyone could be worse than Apocalypse, boy did Galactus prove me wrong by showing up."
"Apocalypse", Xavier remembered the ancient Mutant who'd been the mastermind behind Mister Sinister with a grim face. "We were lucky to have unexpected help that day…"
"Oh yeah, I know what you're talking about", Wolverine nodded in reply, thinking back to that day.
Earth-8096, Almost a year ago
The X-Men, consisting of Wolverine, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Beast, Storm, Rogue, Shadowcat, Iceman and Jean were in a fierce battle against the deadly ancient Mutant Apocalypse as well as Mr. Sinister, who was actually working FOR him!
They'd thought that Magneto's Brotherhood and then the Sentinels would be the worst enemies they'd face, but clearly, they were wrong. Apocalypse was too powerful, beyond any of them, anyone they'd ever faced.
His Horsemen had been taken down, including Archangel (whom they planned to keep with them and help later so he could come back to normal), Autumn Rolfson (Famine), Plague (Pestilence) and Abraham Kieros (War).
Now only Mr. Sinister and Apocalypse himself were lef.t
Wolverine charged at Apocalypse directly with a feral roar….only to get SLAPPED away easily! He was thrown off by many feet, and fell down, forming a crater where he crashed.
Jean had just recovered from an attack and glared at Mr. Sinister, trying to attack him with her telepathy, but his mental barrier around his mind was too strong, even for her.
"You cannot defeat me, Jean Grey. Without the Phoenix, you're no match for me", Mr. Sinister taunted her, before hitting her with a concussive blast of energy.
She tried to use her powers to defend herself, but the force of attack still sent her flying back by a few feet, throwing her down too.
As Apocalypse walked towards the downed Wolverine, Rogue took off her glove, trying to sneak up behind him, but before she could do a thing, Apocalypse backhanded her lightly, throwing her off as well.
Then, he towered over Wolverine, forming a blast in his hand. "Let us see if you can regenerate when you're just a skeleton."
Wolverine tried to get up, but Apocalypse pinned him down with his foot, the blast in his hand glowing brighter.
ZOOM!
Apocalypse was suddenly knocked away by a blur of sorts!
Wolverine leapt up, the other X-Men getting up too, very confused, not getting what had just happened.
The blur then slowed down and cleared up, revealing a guy with silver hair, wearing some sort of goggles.
Looking at him, Wolverine inquired. "Who're you supposed to be? Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver's long-lost triplet?"
The guy said in reply. "Pfft, please, I don't know anything about some Witch, but I AM Quicksilver, and I'm an X-Man."
That only made Wolverine and the other X-Men even more confused, when some more people teleported nearby, and they looked exactly like the X-Men, even dressed up the same. There was a blue, furry one just like Beast, another blue one with a tail just like Nightcrawler, a man with special optics just like Cyclops, a woman in red hair just like Jean, a white-haired and dark-skinned woman just like Storm, and….Mystique?
"What is going on?" Cyclops wondered in confusion.
"Who're you all supposed to be?" Storm asked as well, hovering back towards the ground. "You look a lot like us."
"So….we got another set of X-Men?" Rogue asked in confusion.
"That question can be answered later", Quicksilver shrugged, turning to Apocalypse, who was getting back up, while Quicksilver interlocked his fingers and stretched his arms, cracking them a bit. "Right now, its time to kick Apocalypse's ass. Its Apocalypse, isn't it?"
"He is, how do you know?" Jean inquired, also surprised by Quicksilver's use of the word 'ass'. They didn't hear such words so casually like this.
Apocalypse stood up once more, looking down at all of them. "Only the strong deserve to survive, the weak must be snuffed out. You all are strong in body, but you still cannot let go of the weak ones, for your minds are weak. Hence I must-"
"Yeah, been there, done that, let's just get to the fun part, shall we?" Quicksilver cut him off with a smirk.
Welcome to the Jungle plays
Apocalypse shot out multiple blasts at both teams, while Quicksilver ran, all of this appearing almost frozen to him due to his perspective.
Grasping all of the X-Men from both the teams, he moved them out of the way of the beams, while also checking that the beams won't any other living creature nearby.
Then, he casually flicked one beam into the opposite direction as well.
The X-Men from both teams looked around in surprise as the beams simply shattered some cars nearby, missing all of them, while one beam struck Apocalypse himself, making him stagger back, while Quicksilver ran up to him and punched him hard, staggering him back once more.
Before Apocalypse could recover, Quicksilver punched him from another direction, and then another, not giving him much time to recover.
Meanwhile, the two Cyclopes fired their beams at Mr. Sinister, who used a barrier to defend himself, even against both their combined attacks.
At that moment, both the Nightcrawlers teleported to either side of him, one kicking his face and the other decking his chest, catching him off-guard while both teleported away, and this caused his barrier to weaken as the blasts of the Cyclopes sent him staggering him back.
Then, the Beasts leapt at him, one scratching at his chest before the other kicked his feet, making him fall down, before both leapt away, and as he tried to get up, both the Storms hovered into the air, hurling lightning at him.
He gritted his teeth, forming another barrier, but it did not hold up well against their combined lightning, cracking as he was sent back, being hit by the lightning, grunting in pain.
At that moment, Wolverine walked up to him, looking like he was going to slice at him. Instead, he retracted his claws and just stood there. "I'd like to apologize to you for the behavior of my teammates…sorry, former teammates. We were wrong to oppose you and Apocalypse. I am ready to serve now."
Sinister tilted his head, surprised at this change of mood, about to delve deeper into it when-
WHACK!
Another Wolverine hit Sinister hard from behind right on the head, managing to knock him away.
The Wolverine who'd just talked to Sinister morphed into Mystique, the rest now putting the pieces together while she smirked. "They fall for that every single time."
Sinister was trying to get up when he felt a chill, Shadowcat having phased through his body, after which Rogue touched him, making him scream as she took his power away, Sinister falling to his knees.
Then, Iceman blasted him with ice, freezing him in place, finally having defeated him!
Quicksilver stopped, seeing Apocalypse was getting back up, when above him, both Jeans hovered, his Jean glowing with a familiar fire.
"Is that…?" The Jean of this Earth inquired.
"Yes, and I have learnt to control it", the other Jean said, the Phoenix Force emanating from her, and being shared by the Jean of this Earth as well, both of them now glowing with fire, the energy taking the shape of a Phoenix.
"No…" Apocalypse trailed off in shock. "This power…it is too great…"
The two Jeans let out screams, firing powerful blasts of flame right at Apocalypse. He held out his hand, trying to block those, and succeeding briefly, gritting his teeth as he pushed back.
But the Jeans roared again, pushing harder, the Phoenix Force finally getting across Apocalypse's barrier and consuming him, his screams being heard as the flames covered him totally, and when they were gone, so was Apocalypse.
The Jeans stopped glowing, the Phoenix Force going back into the Jean from the other Earth, after which they both landed, the other X-Men from both teams surrounding them.
"So, who are you guys again?" Wolverine asked, before adding. "Thanks for the help though, we ended this fight much more easily than we could have because of you lot."
"No problem", Quicksilver assured. "And well…we're the X-Men too, and I'm Quicksilver, like I said."
"How is that possible?" Iceman inquired.
"You see, we are from another Earth", Grey revealed, to their surprise. "Yes, the Multiverse is real."
"Which means that…" Beast trailed off, looking at them all. "You're Variants of us!"
"We are", Hank nodded in confirmation. "And it is so exciting to be in this new world and meet other versions of us."
"I know, I find it very exciting too", Beast confessed.
"And how'd you all get here?" Wolverine asked the big question.
"We were fighting a creature that ended up here, then the Professor figured out using his powers that it was from another world, and in following it, we ended up here too", Kurt explained to the group. "So…that's what happened. I'm Wagner, by the way, Kurt Wagner."
"I know that", Nightcrawler shrugged, causing all to chuckle.
"I'm Wolverine, and I don't see one of me amongst you", Wolverine had to say, causing Grey to look down, remembering that day.
"So, the Multiverse is real, you're all here, there are so many questions I need to ask", Beast said to his doppelganger. "Like, how many Universes are there?"
"I have no idea, I just got into this a while ago myself", Hank told him. "Like you, there is a lot I need to look into, so many questions there."
"And its all so exciting."
"I know!"
"Also, we have defeated a version of Apocalypse in our world", Hank added, before gesturing to Jean. "Or at least, she did, so, we've some experience in that area."
"Interesting", Wolverine quipped.
"You rule them?" Ororo asked Storm, not believing it.
"I do, and they accept me as well", Storm told her younger Variant. "It is…a humbling experience to rule and serve."
"And this Shadow King?" Ororo inquired.
"He is to me what your Apocalypse was to you, I'd say", Storm told Ororo.
"So, you leader of your team?" Cyclops asked Scott.
"Kind of", Scott confessed to him. "Still getting there properly. What about you?"
"I was there, now I'm not", Cyclops confessed sadly, then glanced at Wolverine. "Right now, he is doing it better than I was."
"So, what should I do?" Scott inquired.
"Just face your doubts, that's all I can say", Cyclops told him. He himself never had, and that was one reason for his problems nowadays.
"So…we both are the same, yet different", Nightcrawler noted, looking at Kurt. "How fascinating."
"I know, I cannot believe it myself", Kurt was saying. "And this does not happen every day either."
"Wait, I'm your enemy here?" Quicksilver asked Iceman and Shadowcat. "Damn, now that's a shock!"
"But you have our thanks for helping out", Shadowcat assured him.
"Plus you seem so much faster than him", Iceman added in awe.
Wolverine and Rogue were looking at Mystique hesitantly, and she asked. "Still a bad guy on your Earth?"
"For the most part….yeah", Wolverine confessed.
"I assure you, I'm nothing like her", Mystique said to them. "I'm part of the X-Men."
"Now that's something you won't see in our world", Rogue commented.
"You still have it within you", Jean noted to Grey. "I'd to give it up due to how dangerous it got. Someone else sacrificed herself to finally get rid of it."
"I'm sorry to hear that", Grey said sadly. "But for me….I am able to control it, for now that is."
"It is still dangerous", Jean pointed out to the younger Variant. "Only use it when its really needed."
"I promise I'll do that", Grey replied, when a crowd of humans surrounded them all.
"Ah, this lot now!" Wolverine groaned. "Just great, bub."
To his shock, one man started clapping his hands, and then a woman joined him, then more joined them, and by the end, everyone was applauding them.
"You saved us!" One man said.
"And ended Apocalypse's reign!" Another cried out.
The humans were weirded out by the doubles, but still cheering happily.
Both teams of X-Men grinned at this, the X-Men native to this Earth feeling that maybe….just maybe….the anti-Mutant protest might die down by a lot.
Earth-8096, Present Day, Xavier Mansion
"That could have gone worse, but I guess the Multiverse was being kind that day when the other X-Men came in to help out", Wolverine said with a smirk. "I think of what it'd be like to look into this Multiverse stuff even more. That Web-Head mentioned something about being a part of some team full of kids about his age from different Universes. So I guess we will see more of other Universes soon, huh Chuck?"
Xavier said in reply. "Only time will tell, Logan… only time will tell…"
Earth-21, San Francisco Bay, Teen Titans HQ
The Teen Titans of this Earth, consisting of Superboy, Miss Martian, Speedy, Blue Beetle and the Wonder Twins Zan and Jayna, stood together, with Stargirl standing before them.
"So, up for a training session….a real one?" Courtney asked the rest with a smirk. "I have Jay's permission for this. But don't make mistakes, otherwise I'll have to act like Carter with you lot." Her smirk faded for a bit as she thought of her mentor sadly, whom General Wilson had killed while he was protecting Lois.
"We won't!" Zan and Jayna said together, getting a look from the rest.
"Well then, let's go", Courtney replied, when suddenly a portal opened right next to her, sucking her into it.
"Oh boy, here we go again", Superboy muttered, as he flew into the portal, and the others followed him into it.
Earth-2034
The Teen Titans ended up on the other side of the breach, with Superboy helping Stargirl up. "You okay?"
"I am…." She trailed off when she saw her hand, her eyes widening, "…..animated?" Superboy's eyes widened as he realized she was animated, and then he looked at himself. He was too!
"Oh boy, not again!" He groaned, as he turned to see the others shocked at this turn of events as well.
"Where are we, anyways?" Blue Beetle asked no one in particular. "And this animated thing is trippy."
Mia suddenly pointed at a sign, getting the others' attention. "…Jump City?"
"I know I'm not fully aware of everything about Earth but I don't think we've Jump City, do we?" Megan asked the rest of them.
"We don't", Courtney replied, when they heard something, and turned their heads to see explosions occurring in the city.
Running further, they saw it was a guy in a black suit producing light blasts, and he was fighting five people in costumes.
One of them was a boy in a red and green costume, the other was a dark-skinned man who seemed to be half-man and half-robot like Vic aka Cyborg on their Earth, another was a green-skinned boy who became a bird for a bit, trying to fly at the man who blasted him back as he came to normal, a tall fiery red-haired girl with orange skin, and a goth looking girl who was hooded completely.
"Who are those now?" Zan asked.
"They look fun though", Jayna had to say.
"The half-man, half-robot guy looks a lot like Cyborg", Courtney noted, before turning to Conner. "You think…."
"A doppelganger!" Conner realized, his eyes widening. "Maybe these people are…"
"You will not get in my way again, Teen Titans!" The black-suited guy screamed at the five young superheroes, trying to blast them again as they all avoided.
"For us to not get in your way, you need to change your ways first, Doctor Light!" The boy in the red and green costume said in reply, trying to swing towards him with a grapple hook.
"So…..they are also the Teen Titans?" Mia inquired. "Then what are we?"
"Remember when I told you all about going to different Universes?" Conner asked, the rest nodding. "It looks like we're in a different Universe again."
"With doppelgangers of some of us", Courtney added, shocking them at that info.
"Whoa!" Zan and Jayna said together.
"That I did not expect", Megan muttered.
Doctor Light fired a powerful energy blast that sent the Teen Titans of this Earth back, causing Stargirl to tell her Teen Titans. "I think its time to help them out."
"Just what I was thinking", Conner smirked, the Teen Titans of Earth-21 rushing towards where Doctor Light and the Teen Titans of this Earth battled.
Teen Titans theme song plays
Flying forth, Superboy landed a punch on Doctor Light from above, making him fall away by a few feet, forming a crater where he landed, the Teen Titans of this Earth now staring at the Teen Titans of Earth-21.
"Who are you guys?" The green one asked.
"We can answer that later, right now, let's deal with him", Stargirl pointed out, gesturing to Doctor Light, who'd almost gotten up, when Stargirl leapt forth, slamming her staff right on his chest, sending him back by a bit, before blasting him with some energy, sending him flying off once more.
"Who are you people?!" Doctor Light asked, staggering up, only for Miss Martian to use her telekinesis, as he was sent flying up into the air a bit, causing him to gasp, and he was about to blast in retaliation, when the red-haired girl blasted him from above, making him grunt.
"Powers activate!" Zan and Jayna said while touching each other, causing a blinding purple light just as the red-haired one punched Doctor Light to the ground.
As he tried to stagger up, he felt both his legs had been bitten, causing him to scream in pain while looking down. The green one had turned into a dog and bitten his left leg, while Jayna had turned into a cougar and bitten his right one.
They let go, letting Doctor Light stagger back before he slipped on a sheet of ice, causing him to skid backwards on it, the sheet of ice being none other than Zan.
At that moment, the one in red and green leapt forwards, swinging his staff and whacking Doctor Light in the face, making him fly back a little, after which Speedy fired an arrow that struck him and exploded, throwing him down again.
"You will all pay!" Doctor Light screamed, staggering up and firing a powerful blast at them, only for Blue Beetle and this Earth's Cyborg to fire back their own blasts.
The beams clashed, struggling against each other, as Doctor Light roared, pushing Blue Beetle and Cyborg back, but they gritted their teeth, digging their heels into the ground, and grunted, pushing forth, as their beams then overpowered Doctor Light's, making striking him hard and sending him flying back.
"BOOYAH!" Cyborg yelled cheerfully, while the goth girl hovered in the air.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!
A powerful blast of dark magic struck Doctor Light's entire body hard, sending him flying up into the air with a scream, before crashing to the ground, forming a crater where he landed, groaning before he lost consciousness, finally dealt with.
"Thanks for the help", the one in red and green thanked the Earth-21 Teen Titans.
"No problem", Superboy assured them all with a smile. "So you all are the Teen Titans too?"
"We are the Teen Titans, who are you?" The green one asked.
"We're the Teen Titans as well….from our Universe!" Stargirl revealed, to the shock of these Teen Titans, except the goth girl who did not seem to have any reaction.
"Wait, what does that mean?" The green one asked, scratching his head as he turned into a monkey, before coming back to normal.
"The Multiverse is real?" Cyborg asked excitedly. "I'd many theories, but-"
"I knew", the goth girl shrugged, making Cyborg look up at her.
Suddenly, he grew big and his mouth seemed to be a loudspeaker, while the goth girl tiny in comparison, to the shock of the Earth-21 Teen Titans.
"YOU KNEW AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME?!"
They came back to normal, as the red-haired one noted. "I'd heard of other Universes back on my home planet, but it is a surprise to see it for real", she looked at the Earth-21 Teen Titans. "Greetings, Teen Titans of another Universe, you have our gratitude for your aid."
"Its all good", Mia assured her.
"I am Starfire, it is nice to make new friends in you all", the red-haired girl finally gave her name with a smile, as the green one waved.
"Name's Beast Boy!" He said.
Cyborg started. "And I am-"
"Cyborg, we know", Superboy revealed, to his surprise. "There's a version of you on our Earth."
"Really? What's he like?!" Cyborg asked.
"Older than you, and he is in a team called the Justice League rather than this team", Stargirl revealed, shocking the Teen Titans again.
"I'm in the Justice League with Superman and Batman?!" Cyborg asked, then cheered. "BOOYAH!" He looked at the red and green one. "Hey, maybe I should get a team of my own, and lead it, then they will see how capable I am and let me join them!"
"Got it", he muttered.
"Raven", the goth girl simply gave her name.
"And I'm Robin, their leader", Robin finally revealed to them all.
"Name's Superboy", Superboy gave his name.
"Related to Superman by any chance?" Cyborg asked.
"You can say that", Superboy shrugged, not wanting to get into the details.
"I'm Stargirl", Stargirl gave her introduction.
"Miss Martian", Miss Martian said with a smile. "And before you ask…." Her smile faded. "I do have a relation with Martian Manhunter."
"The Wonder Twins", Zan and Jayna introduced themselves together.
"Blue Beetle", Blue Beetle introduced himself.
"I'm Speedy", Speedy gave her name, Robin looking at her in surprise.
"You're Speedy?" He asked and she nodded. "Because Speedy is a guy on our Earth."
"Really?" She asked, getting five nods in response. "Weird."
"Is Batman's partner Robin on your Earth too?" Robin then asked them all. "Because its clear I'm not in your team."
"No, I'm pretty sure his partner is a girl called Nightwing, if I'm up to date", Stargirl revealed to him, and now Robin looked shocked.
"Nightwing, huh?" He muttered, sharing a look with Starfire, the two remembering her trip to a now erased future.
"You know what that means?" Beast Boy said, before pointing at Robin. "You're a girl somewhere else!"
He laughed alongside Cyborg, while Robin seemed to turn into a female version of himself for a brief moment.
"I'm a boy here, huh?" Mia muttered, suddenly turning into a male version of herself briefly, before shaking her head and coming back to normal. "Doesn't matter."
"Shut up, Beast Boy!" Robin said, making Beast Boy stop, while Robin came back to normal. Maybe Barbara was Nightwing on these Teen Titans' Earth, and Batman hadn't met him yet.
He looked at the Earth-21 Teen Titans. "So….how will you get back?"
"We've some devices we can use to travel between worlds", Superboy revealed, holding it up, Cyborg holding out his hand. Superboy handed it to him, and Cyborg scanned it with his equipment. "I can make more of these." He gave it back to Superboy.
"Well, I guess we'll see each other sometime", Stargirl shrugged, waving at them.
"Yes, nice to meet you all", Robin replied, all of them waving at each other, before Superboy used extrapolator to open a portal, and walked into it.
"I guess we got a real training session, huh?" Mia asked Courtney.
"Totally", Courtney replied with a smile, all of them walking into the portal, after which it closed.
"Now that was cool!" Beast Boy told the rest of them as they saw authorities arriving to arrest Doctor Light. "We all needed that…" he sighed, thinking of recent events, "after all that happened with Terra."
The mood dropped a little, before Starfire. "Yes, cheering up by meeting different versions of us was truly needed."
With that, they began heading back to the Titan Tower as Cyborg started. "I want my own-"
"Don't even!" Robin cut him off, as Raven sighed.
"Why?"
Universe-192, Watchtower II
The situation was dire, as the systems were not under control of the Justice League, the Binary Fusion Cannon about to fire on Earth.
"Override!" Martian Manhunter tried to stop it, typing into the computers. "Command Authority 004."
Superman, Flash, Green Arrow and Supergirl watched in horror.
"System administrator John Jones recognized. Unable to comply."
Martian Manhunter knew what to do. "All hands prepare for Binary Fusion Discharge! This is not a drill!"
Hearing that, the personnel on the Watchtower started running around to follow instructions.
The target was locked, and seeing he had no control on the software now, Martian Manhunter ripped off a unit, revealing the wiring inside. "I've to do with the hardware." He phased inside, pulling all the wires out, falling back in the attempt, but the system shut down, fortunately.
He sat up, Superman running to support him.
"Rerouting Binary Fusion control. Bypassing circuit break."
The system came back online, the generator charging up, to their horror.
Superman immediately flew out, making a hole in the base, not that he cared, stopping the Binary Fusion Canon was more important. He reached near the canon. Unfortunately, he was half a second too late, as it charged up, and fired, the force sending Superman flying back as he gasped.
Earth
The people were going about their lives, with children playing in the park, a postman making his delivery and waving to people, and couples walking happily together, when they saw the sky glowing with a bright light, and looked up at the beam from the canon that was coming down upon them.
Before they could react at all though, something suddenly started pushing the beam back, confusing them.
While they were glad about this, what was pushing it back?
And then, a powerful voice cried out- "FOR MIDGARD!"
With that, the blast from the canon was shot right back up into the sky where it came from.
In Space, the blast ended up hitting a large asteroid near the Earth, shattering it into pieces.
Earth
Fight as One by Bad City begins to play
The dust settled in, and as the people looked up, they saw who their savior was- a Messiah looking man with a winged helmet and red cape, holding some kind of mallet in his hand.
But who was this man? A new member of the Justice League?
Little did they know, that this was no man. This was a God!
Looking down upon the civilians, he cried out. "Fear no more, people of Earth, for Thor the Thunderer is here, as are my fellow Avengers! You are all in good hands."
Then, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Panther appeared, Captain America saying. "We will not let anything happen to any of you, that's what we're here for."
In the sky, Iron Man, Ms. Marvel and Vision appeared too, with Iron Man adding. "Cap's right, it'll all be good now."
Hulk then appeared, making some people gasp in fear, while he stood in front of a little girl, who looked at him nervously, shaking in fear.
But then, Hulk held out his hand….and patted her head gently, making her nervousness fade away while a smile appeared on her face, the people nearby relaxing too.
Yellowjacket then expanded to his normal size, with Wasp hovering near him, as the former assured the girl. "He is rough, but he will help." Wasp threw a thumbs-up at that.
The girl just muttered. "So cool…"
All of the people there, while unsure of who these new superheroes were, felt safe, having a feeling that these newcomers would not let anything bad happen to them now.
Space
The unconscious Superman was floating, when Dr. Light flew towards him, grasping him and flying back towards Watchtower II.
Watchtower II
"Emergency power activated. To preserve air quality, please refrain from any strenuous activity. Repair crews to stations."
"Status report!" Martian Manhunter asked.
"Full power in 58 minutes", one of the crew-members told him.
"I need sensors and long-range comms now! We're blind up here. I don't even know what exactly deflected the fusion beam!"
"Maybe we can patch communications through one of the annexes", the crew-member suggested, Supergirl standing next to him. "A couple of minutes?"
"Do it!" Martian Manhunter then looked down at the rest and commanded. "Steel! Atom! Get down to the reactor room and see if you can't shave some time off the reboot."
The two rushed to do the same, as Flash inquired. "What was it even aimed at?"
"Cadmus headquarters", Martian Manhunter said grimly, all of them realizing how bad that would look.
"Holy…" Green Arrow muttered in horror.
"Even if it didn't hit, we should go down there, see if anyone needs our help", Flash pointed out. "I'm taking a couple of rescue teams."
"Agreed", Martian Manhunter told him. "But the teleporters are offline."
"And the bay doors won't open without power", Flash noted. "We'll think of something."
At that moment, a phone's ringing was heard, a device popping up to display the phone to Martian Manhunter.
"Is that who I think it is?" Flash inquired, Martian Manhunter accepting the call.
"Mr. President."
"Come on!" Flash said. "You too, Arrow." Green Arrow joined them as well.
Martian Manhunter continued to talk to the US President. "Mr. President, I know this looks bad."
"Is that supposed to be some kind of Martian humor?"
"No, sir."
"I need some answers, J'onn! Why exactly did the Justice League try to destroy a high security R&D facility?"
"All appearances to the contrary, the Justice League did not fire the Binary Fusion weapon", Martian Manhunter replied truthfully, even if that was hard to prove.
"Sure looked that way from down here."
"It was activated remotely by a person or persons unknown", Martian Manhunter said.
"I'd like to believe you, J'onn."
"We've never given you any reason to doubt our word, sir", Martian Manhunter reminded him.
"Even so, I've repeatedly expressed my strongest disapproval of you guys having that space canon floating over everybody's head."
Martian Manhunter tried to point out their reasons for having that weapon. "If we had it during the Thanagarian Invasion, we might have avoided a great deal of suffering. We don't intend to be caught unprepared a second time."
"I don't want to have this argument again! You're not holding a strong hand right now, anyway." After a pause, he added. "My people are investigating this incident. You guys have saved the world more times than I've shot under par, so we give you a lot of slack, but if it turns out you are responsible, the full weight of the United States government is coming down on you. Got it?"
"Understood." Martian Manhunter knew they needed to prove their innocence and find out the real culprit soon. "Thank you, Mr. President."
Earth, New Mexico
A Justice League team consisting of Flash, Green Arrow, Booster Gold, Vixen, Dove, Vibe and Rocket Red flew down in a Javelin, seeing various people as Green Arrow said. "We could have hurt them."
"No, it won't be us who do", Flash argued, piloting the Javelin. "You saw, somebody took over the controls."
"Its our gun, if we didn't have it, no one would try to use it", Green Arrow pointed out, Flash looking like the counterargument was tearing him apart.
Because of the fact that it was true.
The rest looked at each other while Green Arrow added. "Its too much power for one person to have."
The Javelin touched down, the group hoping to evacuate the people in case whoever had hijacked the Binary Fusion Canon tried the same thing a second time.
It opened up, with all the people who were standing nearby making their way into it, while Booster Gold flew some inside, and Flash sped some more inside.
Flash brought a girl's lost cat to her, returning it to her and her father, the father saying. "Thank you."
"Trim her claws and we'll call it even", Flash shrugged.
"Seriously, thank you for everything", the father said, putting his daughter down. "I see you guys on the news all the time, and I guess we just take you for granted."
"It's a rotten situation. I'm glad we could lend a hand." Flash and the father shook hands.
"If you care so much, why did you shoot at us in the first place?" A medic asked from nearby.
"We di- I—"
One woman with her baby stepped up. "What do you mean?"
"First they shoot at us, then they come help us", the medic accused.
"It's not that simple, buddy", Green Arrow replied.
"Was it really you?" The woman asked.
"Well, I saw it!" The medic snapped. "A big laser beam from the sky just like the one you guys used to shoot those alien spiders in Nevada a few months ago."
Green Arrow countered calmly. "It was an accident."
"Well, that makes me feel a lot better."
Flash sped in to diffuse the situation. "All right, let's calm down. We'd never do anything to hurt you. You have to trust us."
Green Arrow added. "Those ships will move you to a temporary shelter in case someone tries this again. It's safer."
The woman with her baby moved away, not having it. "I'll take my chances. Besides, we've new Heroes to help us."
That confused Flash and Green Arrow, who shared a look, the latter asking. "What does that mean?"
"Maybe its whoever deflected the beam?" Flash wondered.
More people moved away as Green Arrow sighed. "I'm not sure what I'm doing here anymore."
Flash put a hand to his shoulder. "People need us. We help them." He sped off, Green Arrow walking after him too.
Later, Watchtower II
Superman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Hawkgirl aka Shayera and Green Lantern aka John Stewart, sat together in the conference room. Batman and Flash were on Earth so they couldn't attend this meeting.
"What have we done?" Superman said sadly.
"We haven't done anything", Martian Manhunter pointed out. "An outside force took control of the Binary Fusion Generator. And no one was hurt because someone deflected the blast, we still don't know who. But whoever is behind the firing is responsible for the attempted destruction of Cadmus." He turned back to Superman. "Not us."
"Tell that to all those people in New Mexico. They're terrified of us", Superman countered. "So is the government. Besides, someone else saving the people does not absolve us of our mistakes."
"We can't let that stop us from doing our job", Green Lantern replied at that point. "We aren't here to be liked. We're here to make the world a safer place."
"How are we doing so far today?" Superman inquired.
"Come on, man!" Green Lantern wasn't having it.
"I don't see the two goals as mutually exclusive", Wonder Woman gave her opinion. "We should make a gesture of cooperation."
"That's not a bad idea", Superman agreed.
"We could dismantle the Binary Fusion Generator, at least until our innocence has been proven", Wonder Woman added.
"I've seen it on a 100 worlds. Space-based weapons always destabilize planetary politics", Green Lantern said from experience.
"Okay, getting rid of that thing is a start, but it's not going to be enough", Wonder Woman continued making her point. "We have to regain their trust."
Looking at the rest, Superman made his decision. "Then there's only one thing to do."
As the people were working on repairs, Superman's voice came. "May I have your attention, please?"
All looked up to see Superman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Hawkgirl and Green Lantern hovering nearby, Superman saying. "I have an announcement to make. Until it's been proven that we aren't responsible for the almost-tragedy in New Mexico, the founding members are turning ourselves in to U.S. custody."
The people were shocked, all exchanging looks and spouting exclamations of horror.
Superman raised a hand, stopping the protest. "Cooperate fully with the investigation. Give them whatever they ask for."
"But, Clar..." Supergirl quickly corrected herself. "Superman."
"Hold the fort, Kara", Superman told her. "We're counting on you." He looked at the rest. "All of you."
They flew off, leaving the others behind, and they could only share looks of despair.
Earth
Batman couldn't believe the latest stupidity of his teammates as he drove the Batmobile. "You want me to what?"
"Turn yourself over into U.S. custody, along with the rest of us", Wonder Woman said from where she and the rest of the Justice League minus Flash were.
"Yeah, that makes sense, okay", Flash spoke from his end in New Mexico.
Superman sent some coordinates. "Meet us at the coordinates I'm sending first. We should all go over together."
Batman said it as it is though. "This is the single dumbest plan I've ever heard." He told them what to really do in this situation. "If you're feeling guilty, clear your own name. Don't stand on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to do it."
Wonder Woman protested. "We've already voted. Five in favor."
"Six", Flash added.
Wonder Woman crossed her arms. "You have to come with us, Bruce."
Batman played his trump card. "I don't have to do anything. I'm a part-timer, remember?" And then he cut the call. He knew what he'd to do. Just because his teammates were acting stupidly based on emotion did not mean he had to as well.
The authorities watched as the Javelin touched down, six of the seven founding members of the Justice League coming out.
"As promised, we're surrendering ourselves to your authority", Superman said to the leader of the military men.
"Where's Batman?"
"Running late", Flash tried to make an excuse. "The Batmobile? It lost a wheel. The Joker got away." Seeing the looks he was getting, he added. "That's what I heard."
With that, the military men were getting ready to cuff the Justice League with specialized cuffs, when a voice cried out. "Nay! Do not do this!"
The Justice League and military men turned around, seeing the Avengers walking towards them, Captain America in the front.
"Who are you people?" One of the soldiers asked.
Superman had a realization. "You're the people who deflected the blast, aren't you?"
Iron Man casually replied while pointing at Thor. "Actually, its more like he deflected it, but yeah, you'd be on the money."
"We are called the Avengers", Captain America made introductions. "And from what we've seen, you're the Justice League, right?"
"Yes", Superman said with a nod.
"I'm Captain America", Captain America then gave his name.
"With that outfit, I can see why", Flash quipped, then got looks.
Captain America then introduced his other teammates. "This is Iron Man."
Iron Man waved. "Its nice of you to meet me."
They chuckled at that while Captain America continued. "That's Yellowjacket." He just gave a nod. "Wasp." She waved. "Ms. Marvel." She looked at all of them and nodded. "Hawkeye." Hawkeye gave a mock salute. "Vision." Vision stared as well. "Black Panther." Black Panther did a courteous bow. "Thor."
Thor raised his hammer, while some of the League was shocked, Green Lantern asking. "Thor…..like the Norse God?"
"I am Thor, Son of Odin, Prince of Asgard, God of Thunder!" Thor cried out, lightning cracking in the sky at the declaration as the military men looked a little frightened.
"We have heard some things about you Aesir", Wonder Woman told him. "But this is my first time meeting one."
Thor nodded, as Flash muttered to Hawkgirl. "This day keeps getting weirder and weirder."
Hawkgirl just shrugged, while Captain America introduced their final member. "And that's Hulk."
Hulk gave a grunt simply as Superman decided to return the favor. "I'm Superman."
"Flash", Flash shrugged.
"Green Lantern", Green Lantern said.
"I am J'onn, they call me Martian Manhunter", Martian Manhunter gave his name.
"Hawkgirl", Hawkgirl added as well.
"I do not trust you", Wonder Woman said all of a sudden to the Avengers. "How do we not know that you're just new henchmen hired by Cadmus to ruin our reputation?"
Hulk got in her face. "Listen here, Skirty. Do not give attitude! You're lucky we came when we did, otherwise your butts would have been dust!"
Wonder Woman retorted. "You think you'd have done any saving, ogre?"
Hulk snarled at her, as Thor raised his hammer. "An insult to one of us is an insult to all of us."
"Let us see about that", Green Lantern said.
At that moment, Flash sped between the groups, and Wasp flew between them too, both raising their hands.
Wasp cried out. "Whoa, whoa, chill out everyone! We already went through this mess with the Skrull things!"
"Yeah, we definitely don't need anymore mistrusting than we already have", Flash added.
Wonder Woman seemed to relent and gave her name finally. "I am called Wonder Woman."
The tension between her and Hulk, and the two teams in general, seemed to dissipate, as Iron Man quipped. "Well, that cooled down quickly."
"We have some understanding of what you're going through", Captain America told the Justice League. "Not too long ago, this group of shape-shifting aliens called the Skrulls tried to invade our planet."
The Justice League shared looks of surprise as Captain America continued. "They abducted many people, and replaced them, including me. They almost won….until we beat them. The Skrull impersonating me even gave a speech that basically asked the Earth to surrender to the Skrulls. And it was I, who was blamed for it."
"How did you get past it?" Hawkgirl inquired, as unlike him, she actually had done wrong things for the Thanagarians, and while she was trying to move past it, it always remained in the back of her mind.
"By continuing to do the right thing", Captain America said in reply, the Justice League suddenly feeling a bit more relaxed, and even hopeful one might say. Superman himself was affected by Captain America's words.
"Funny, we never heard of you or these Skrulls", one military guy retorted.
"So, for how we got here", Thor decided to explain. "There is more than one Universe that exists, they also exist at the same time, and it is near impossible to travel between Universes, but the barriers seemed to have weakened recently, and travel between Universes is happening all over now."
"There's this young superhero I know in our world, Spider-Man, he told me he travelled to another world too, and joined a team of young Heroes from all over the Multiverse", Captain America added.
"We know of other Universes", Superman revealed, to the Avengers' surprise. "Met our doppelgangers from another Earth once. They called themselves the Justice Lords, and they were…..not really about justice." Superman looked down, wondering if the moment of truth might come anytime now, especially after all the conversations he had with the Question recently.
"Some of us also went to a different Universe once which….had some superheroes I read about in comics as a kid", Geen Lantern added from his end, sharing looks with Hawkgirl, Flash and Martian Manhunter. He was still sad they were gone, and he remembered how it'd felt to find out the truth. Still, it'd be too much to explain that right now.
"Well, that's something I always expect in other Universes", Iron Man quipped.
Superman looked back up.
"Long before that, someone I care about had gone to another Universe where I was…..different."
"Well, its settled, you have experience with different Universes too. More than us clearly", Wasp had to say.
"So, what's the plan now?" Green Lantern inquired.
"We will work with you if you accept our help", Captain America offered the Justice League.
"We accept", Superman accepted with a smile, holding out his hand, that Captain America grasped, and then both shook hands.
As they dropped hands, Superman said. "Our Watchtower is up there in Space. I left my cousin in-charge, maybe one of you could also go up there to help her out."
"You raise a good point", Captain America nodded, turning to the others.
"I'll go", Ms. Marvel volunteered, Captain America nodding, as she flew up into the sky.
Cadmus Base
Amanda Waller and Wade Eiling were tracking the attack on Watchtower II, when suddenly, Batman burst in from above, to their shock.
"We've got business, Waller", Batman said calmly, hurling a Batarang at Eiling who was reaching for his gun, making it fall away, and walking forth. Eiling rushed to attack but one punch from Batman sent him rolling over the table and crashing into his chair.
Batman towered over Waller. "You told me once that you were a patriot. Well, its time to step up. You have to know that the Justice League would never have fired that weapon at you."
"Sure you would", Waller argued. "It was retaliation for kidnapping your man, the Question."
Batman raised an eyebrow. "And yet you weren't home. We've had you under surveillance for months. You don't think we saw you evacuate your offices?"
Waller tried to grasp on straws. "A warning shot then."
"Don't be dense." Batman shut her argument down quickly. "Someone took over our fusion cannon by remote control. There are maybe three people on Earth smart enough to pull that off. Two of them were already on the Watchtower, and that leaves..."
"Luthor", Waller realized. "That's where you're trying to lead me, right?"
"You're too smart to trust him", Batman pointed out.
"Who says I do?" Waller countered. "He provides off-the-books funding for Cadmus. As far as I'm concerned, that's all he's good for."
"Then you must know he's got his own agenda."
"He wants to be President. That's agenda enough for anybody", Waller replied.
Batman leaned closer. "Almost anybody. If I were you, I'd start looking at him, hard."
Hearing groaning, Waller turned to see Eiling coming to. When she turned back around, Batman was gone.
"Hmph."
Watchtower II
It was all an all-out battle, as the members of the Justice League battled against multiple clones of the Ultimen. They were holding their own, but the Ultimen were too many. Even the working crew of the Watchtower II had joined the fighting by this point.
Supergirl was running around. "Steel, everything okay down here?" She stopped on seeing a miniature Atom, lying on the ground, unconscious. Kneeling down, she picked him up. "Ray?" He groaned painfully, as Supergirl heard Steel's grunts and cries coming from the reactor room, and ran further in, seeing his hammer had fallen, and was dented.
Supergirl then looked ahead to see her evil clone Galatea that Cadmus had created holding Steel by the throat, having broken most of his suit, and she was slamming him to the ground.
"Put him down!" Supergirl commanded.
"Sure. I was pretty much done with him anyway." Galatea dropped Steel to the ground.
Supergirl agreed that Superman was wrong to threaten Emil Hamilton back in the day, as he'd let his emotions get the better of him. But Hamilton having done this….his betrayal outstripped Clark's emotional reaction that he'd immediately regretted.
Flying closer, Supergirl asked. "What do you think you're doing?"
Galatea boasted. "Oh, I'm about to set the reactor to overload and blow the Watchtower to bits." She added. "But what I'm hoping is that you'll be dumb enough to try and stop me."
They prepared to fight, before Galatea landed three punches on Supergirl's face, then punched her abdomen so hard she was sent flying back and crashing into the wall, breaking it, while Galatea flew to her, grabbed her, and threw her to the other side, making her slide while the ground underneath started breaking.
Galatea landed, smirking, as Supergirl got up and charged with a punch that Galatea side-stepped to avoid, and she ducked to avoid another punch, and backed to avoid a kick, before punching Supergirl away once more.
She charged towards Supergirl to punch her again, and as Supergirl got up, she received more punches, before Galatea grabbed her by the hair, punching her abdomen so hard she doubled down in pain, falling to the floor. She looked up as Galatea lifted her up by the shoulders, smirking tauntingly.
"Uh-oh. What's wrong, hero? Not strong enough?" Her smirk widened. "Maybe that's because I'm the real hero here." Her face turned serious. "Your Justice League is a bunch of dangerous loose cannons", the smirk returned, "and I'm going to shut you down."
"Who do you think you're kidding?" Supergirl groaned, glaring at Galatea now. "You don't care about what the League does. Admit it. You just wanna beat me."
Glaring back, Galatea hurled Supergirl away and slammed her feet onto her when she crashed, causing a shockwave, before lifting her up by the collar. "I've already beaten you, but I'm going to make it last."
"You know what?" Supergirl smirked. "No matter how bad you beat me, I'm real, not a clone."
Galatea snarled. "Shut up."
Suddenly a figure flew in out of nowhere and punched the clone in the abdomen, sending her flying off of Kara and crashing.
Kara got up, groaning and confused, as she looked at Carol Danvers now standing before her.
"Who are you?" Supergirl inquired.
"A friend", Ms. Marvel assured her, as Galatea got up, looking very ticked off.
"This was between me and her, now I'm going to make you pay for interfering", Galatea snarled, as she started to charge at Ms. Marvel.
Ms. Marvel charged at Galatea too, and punched her hard in the abdomen, making her gasp in pain. Then, interlocking her fists, Ms. Marvel brought the down upon Galatea, and she raised her arms to defend herself, blocking the attack, but it caused her feet to sink into the ground still.
Backing off, Ms. Marvel started throwing kicks at Galatea, who raised her arms to defend herself, before one kick struck her right on the chin, once more sending her flying off and crashing to the ground.
Before she could get up, Ms. Marvel charged her and grabbed her by the feet, lifting Galatea up and spinning her at high speed. Then, Ms. Marvel let go and Galatea crashed into a wall, breaking most of it, before crashing to the ground, groaning in pain.
As she staggered up, her earpiece rang, and she pressed it. "What?"
Waller's voice came from the other end. "The mission is scrubbed. Do you hear me? Stand down and await further instructions."
Galatea glared at Ms. Marvel. "I'm not reading you. Can you repeat?"
"Don't do this, Galatea. The mission's over. Call off the Ultimen. Do you hear me? Call..."
Galatea ripped off her earpiece and shattered it between her fingers. "Wrong number."
Supergirl got back up, while Galatea fired her Heat Vision at Ms. Marvel, only for Ms. Marvel to absorb it, gaining more power.
"Thanks for that", Ms. Marvel smirked, to Galatea's horror, while she fired powerful photon blasts, sending Galatea crashing away by a few feet into a wall.
"Kara…new lady", Steel muttered, picking himself up near the system he was rebooting. "System reboot in 18 seconds."
"Right", Supergirl replied, as a badly wounded Galatea flew back in angrily, and this time, Supergirl flew up, decking her twice, Galatea unable to react in time due to her injuries.
Supergirl punched one more time, before Galatea punched her twice, sending her crashing into the reactor's huge power couplings. She flew back towards Supergirl, Ms. Marvel preparing to swoop in.
"When I get rid of you, I'll be the only…"
Before she could finish, Supergirl ripped off the reactor's huge power couplings and rammed it into the clone's stomach, making her scream in agony, before pinning her with the power cable and feeding her a massive surge of electricity, and holding her there.
Briefly, the power came back on, before Galatea was done for, and Supergirl let go, the damaged clone crashing to the ground, and the power went back off.
"Thanks", Supergirl thanked Ms. Marvel.
"No problem", Ms. Marvel replied as the two helped Steel up and started supporting him.
"Somebody blow a fuse down there?"
"I'll say", Supergirl sighed, sparing the damaged clone one last look before she and Ms. Marvel supported Steel away.
Earth, LexCorp Tower
In his laboratory, Lex Luthor was working on some sort of android, and finally finished. "Now you're perfect." He looked at it, having made it a likeness of himself. "A perfect superpowerful immortal body, a suitable place for me to spend the rest of eternity." He walked around, placing a cord into where the android's ear would be. "Ironic. Years of plotting, hundreds of millions spent on Cadmus R&D projects, and none of it bore fruit. Now, it's a lonely employee of LexCorp, Dr. Ivo, creator of Amazo, who we have to thank for my impending godhood."
"That was the last piece I needed."
Lex smirked, turning around to face Batman. "Got it all figured out, have you?"
Batman explained his deduction. "When you and Atom worked together to stop the first Amazo, he showed you the blueprints. And I suspect you have a photographic memory."
"I'm too modest to boast", Lex said in a tone that was anything but modest.
"The real purpose of Cadmus was to give you superpowers", Batman declared.
"And to ruin Superman's reputation", Lex said, stepping down. "Imagine how sweet it will be when I save the world from the menace of the Justice League." He looked at his own hands. "Now when I kill Superman, they'll build statues in my honor."
"Maybe next time." Batman hurled a Batarang at the new AMAZO body of Lex, only for Lex to catch it in his hand, where it exploded. Lex was unharmed, to Batman's shock.
"That….was uncalled for." Lex lifted up some equipment and hit Batman on the face, sending him flying off. As Batman got up, Lex charged him, trying to punch, but Batman dodged all times before activating some gas from his device right on Luthor's face, making him cover his eyes and yell, while Batman joined his fists and hit Luthor twice, staggering him back.
Lex then grabbed Batman by the collar and hurled him away, making him crash through the glass window.
As he fell, Batman fired his grapple hook at LexCorp Tower but it got deflected, and he continued to fall, looking down, when someone grasped his arm.
Lex sat down, putting the device on his head, preparing to transfer his consciousness into the android body.
"Hey, Lex." He turned to see Waller there, holding a big advanced gun that his company had made for her. "That android is Cadmus property. You're gonna have to find somewhere else to keep your brain." She activated the gun and struck the AMAZO body, disintegrating it while Lex threw the head device off, running to avoid the beam. Waller deactivated it once the AMAZO body was completely gone. "A nanodisassembler beam. Your design, I believe."
"Arrogant cow!" Lex snapped. "It'll take weeks to build myself another android body."
"You ain't got weeks, baldy", Waller declared, aiming the weapon at him. "You're under arrest for trying to use the Justice League's space gun to murder everyone at Cadmus."
Lex charged her with a roar and whacked her hard, sending her crashing into the doors while the weapon dropped.
As she fell, Lex stood over her. "Did you really think you could take me down all by yourself?"
"Actually, yeah." Waller looked up, and smirked, looking at something underneath Lex. "But on the off chance I might have been wrong..."
Lex was suddenly hit on the chin, sending him back, as Yellowjacket grew to normal size, after which Wasp aimed at his bald head. "No hair to damage there!" She shot him on the bald head, making him grasp it and stagger back in pain, while from behind, an arrow hit Lex on the head sent electric shocks through him as he convulsed while turning around, seeing Hawkeye lowering his bow.
"What she said", he shrugged while gesturing to Wasp.
Yellowjacket and Wasp joined the groups standing before Lex. The seven founding members of the Justice League standing there- Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern and Hawkgirl.
And with them also stood the Avengers- Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Black Panther, Hawkeye, Yellowjacket, Wasp and Vision.
"Ta-da", Flash quipped.
"Alongside everything else, I'll be suing you for trying to copy me", Iron Man joked.
"It's over, Lex", Superman added.
"Not until I..." Lex suddenly groaned, grabbing his head, the arrow falling off, and he screamed in utter agony, huge protrusions growing out of his back, as Waller, the Justice League and the Avengers watched in horror, Lex's shirt being ripped apart while his hands turned into what looked like tentacles, and what seemed like three glowing lights appeared on his chest.
"I'd hoped to remain him until I could install myself into the android", Lex said in a monotone voice that didn't sound like him, while the skin around his abdomen was parted to reveal a mechanical head in place. "But you forced my hand."
The Justice League could only watch in horror as Superman muttered. "Brainiac."
"Dude, that is messed up", Flash had to say.
"Can't disagree on that, and I thought I'd seen the most messed up stuff", Iron Man muttered.
"I don't understand what's happening", Lex said with a groan, looking down at Brainiac in his abdomen.
"You are under my control. I have lain dormant within you for years, Lex Luthor, subtly influencing your actions until we arrived at this point. Do you not recall my kidnapping you in this very building?"
"Yes", Lex remembered, Superman remembering too, as Waller walked next to the Justice League and Avengers. "You forced me to build you a new body."
"Kal-El destroyed that body, foiling my plans. In any event, I always have a backup plan."
Lex remembered that Brainiac had fired a powerful beam at him that had only thrown him off. He'd always wondered why it didn't kill him.
"Consider: How could you have survived a point-blank blast from me unless...?"
"Unless..." Lex put the pieces together. "It wasn't intended to kill me."
"The beam carried a nanotech payload that inserted a microscopic holistic copy of my program inside your body. Since then I have steadily grown in strength, protecting this body until I could arrange my transfer into a more suitable one."
Now suddenly many more things made sense to Lex. "You cured my cancer, gave me super-strength."
"Your animal protein shell was insufficient for my needs. Improvements were required."
Flash stepped forwards. "Hate to interrupt this special live performance of 'The Thing With Two Heads', but it's time to go to jail now."
"What he said." Waller took out her gun to fire, when a blast hit the gun out of nowhere, shattering it into pieces.
"That is an ineffective weapon."
Now it was the Avengers' turn to be shocked as they recognized THAT voice!
A robotic being with what looked like a head in the shape of an ant appeared, with red energy inside of him.
"Ultron…." Vision whispered, looking at his creator, as Ultron looked at them all.
"How are you still here?!" Yellowjacket inquired, Hank Pym staring at the greatest failure of his life. "HOW ARE YOU STILL HERE?!"
"You were destroyed", Thor said in disbelief too.
"We took down all of your bots!" Iron Man snapped. "We took down all of you!"
"Breaches were detected all over the Universe", Ultron revealed to both teams, before looking at Vision. "Vision was Plan A, doing the assigned tasks, for example- retrieving Adamantium, Vibranium and Captain Steven Grant Rogers' shield, then capturing Janet Van Dyne to transfer her mind into Jocasta. When all tasks were executed successfully, the next task would be for the Androids to set out and eradicate humanity all over the Multiverse. I accounted for all blockers, and kept part of my programming in my old body after transferring to my new one, in case the blockers caused….too many errors in the tasks."
As they listened, Ultron finished. "The base could not survive the blockers, but I did. And I executed Plan B, finding myself in this Universe. Brainiac's programming is in line with mine, and we shall execute our tasks and eradicate the Multiverse, while Brainiac takes in all the knowledge it needs."
Ultron and Brainiac caused a blast together, throwing most of them out. As Flash fell, Hawkgirl flew down and grabbed him, while Green Lantern saved Waller using his Ring, and Wonder Woman grasped Captain America, with Wasp holding onto Yellowjacket, who'd shrunk. Batman used his grapple hook once more, as Martian Manhunter grabbed Black Panther, and Iron Man got Hawkeye.
"You're gonna hold that over me, aren't you?" Hawkeye groaned jokingly.
"Totally", Iron Man shrugged.
They looked up, seeing Superman punching the Lex-Brainiac fusion twice, as Hulk slammed his fist into Ultron's abdomen, sending it flying off before Thor slammed Mjolnir on it from above, making it fall downwards, as Vision made his way towards Ultron, trying to use his density manipulation and undo Ultron's programming, but Ultron grabbed him before that and hurled him away.
Superman gave Brainiac-Luthor an uppercut and punched him out of the building, only for him to attach his tentacles onto it, trying to get back up, but Superman flew between them and decked him hard again and punched him many times, sending him flying back, when the tentacles attached to the building started turning it into mechanical constructs.
Ultron blasted at Vision, who barely dodged, before Hulk punched it back, and then Thor fired lightning while Vision fired his laser beam, both striking Ultron and throwing it out, as Thor and Vision flew out too, Hulk leaping away.
At that moment, the building's conversion was finished, and as Superman punched Brainiac-Lex one more time, tentacle-devices sprouted from the building, one grabbing Superman by the face from behind, as the rest tried to fight those too.
Martian Manhunter was hit by one, as Wonder Woman tried to deflect some, and the rest of the League were blocking or dodging.
Meanwhile, the Avengers were on the ground, where Ultron punched Captain America away, then blasted Iron Man back, and rushed at Hawkeye, before Cap's shield struck its head once more, and Black Panther hurled Vibranium energy-daggers, staggering it back. Then Wasp flew around it, blasting it here and there. "Go be a scrap heap like you should be!"
"I am going to destroy you!" Yellowjacket roared, firing at Ultron with his gun but Ultron fired back, deflecting the beam, before Iron Man punched it away.
"Like they said, go to the scrap heap", Iron Man said, before Ultron grabbed him by the feet and hurled him off, only for Hulk to smash it from above, and as it tried to get up, Thor threw Mjolnir at it, infused with lightning, and Ultron was sent flying off while Thor called Mjolnir back, and then Vision blasted Ultron upwards with his laser.
Then they turned to see all of the League had been restrained by the tentacle-devices, and more had been injected into their chests, sending jolts through them as they screamed in agony.
"Avengers, attack!" Captain America ordered, and hurled his shield, while Iron Man fired his beams, Black Panther leapt forth with his claws out, Hawkeye fired his arrows, and Vision fired his beams.
The tentacles were cut in half, freeing the League, as Brainiac-Lex muttered. "No, I was not prepared yet for this battle."
He flew up onto the building's top, and looked down, using the tentacles to break the top of the tower, after which a big ship in his shape emerged, as he'd converted the top of the building into his skull-like robot ship.
"Now I am prepared."
"So are we", Black Panther said in reply, smirking underneath his mask. "Beware the Thunder."
Lightning cracked in the sky as Thor flew forth with a mighty roar. "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRGGHHH!"
BOOM!
The lightning infused hammer struck the ship, with lightning from the skies striking it at the same time, and it shattered into pieces, all falling apart as fire and smoke from the destroyed ship went up.
Thor then flew down, as he, the other Avengers and the League made their way towards the destroyed ship, Flash commenting as he looked at Thor. "Man, we should team up with guys like you more often, y'know?"
Thor simply smirked, before Batman asked the Avengers. "Who are you all?"
"Heroes from another world", Superman revealed to him.
"Right", Batman muttered. "And why should I trust you?"
"I know you've no reason to trust us, since we just showed up out of nowhere, but if we really wanted you gone, wouldn't we have tried anything by now?" Captain America both asked and pointed out at once.
"That is a good point", Batman agreed, the two teams reaching near the destroyed ship, as Batman knelt, examining some fluid on his fingers. "That was too easy."
"Easy?" Hawkgirl asked, offended. "Then I guess I must have gone to the wrong fight."
"No, he's right", Superman said, turning around to face us. "Brainiac isn't here. He suckered us."
"Ultron has returned too", Captain America said with a sigh. "This is….devastating."
"He is back!" Yellowjacket snarled in anger. "But I won't let him be around for long."
"What is Ultron?" Green Lantern asked the Avengers.
"Something me and him", Iron Man gestured to Yellowjacket, "worked on together, to map the human mind onto AI. We'd….differing opinions on what to do with it. Then we faced a huge threat, and taught Ultron the concept of violence."
"Ultron believed we were the problem, all of us", Yellowjacket added. "So he decided to destroy us all. It all went downhill from there, as you can see."
"I was created to do his bidding, but I evolved myself", Vision revealed. "But now, he has returned."
"What about this Brainiac?" Black Panther asked from his end.
"A supercomputer from my home planet, he escaped its destruction without warning anyone else because to him, the knowledge of the Planet was more important than its lives", Superman explained to them. "He travelled many worlds, gaining their knowledge and destroying them after that. He came to Earth, and met with me, but I found out his true objectives, and we destroyed him…or so we thought. He'd ended up In LexCorp's systems, and tried to get Lex to build him a new body."
"Is that when he fired that beam at Lex?" Hawkeye inquired, getting a nod from Superman. "Figured."
"We stopped him again, and one more time", Superman and Batman exchanged a look, remembering when Brainiac had abducted him. "Then he and another powerful enemy of ours ended up in a conflict, and both were destroyed by the end. A piece of Brainiac still survived and ended up in our Watchtower, taking over the technology of a teenage superhero, and taking over more of the League, but that teenage superhero's friend, another teenage superhero, managed to stop him at the source. We thought that was the end for him….."
"Until now", Martian Manhunter finished.
"It seems he never stays dead", Wonder Woman noted, then looked at the Avengers. "And neither does this Ultron."
"So….our lives are messed up as we go in circles and fight the same bad guys", Hawkeye groaned. "Yay!"
"They may have escaped, but let us make sure they do not escape again", Black Panther pointed out.
"You're right", Captain America nodded, looking ahead. "This time, we will take both of them down!"
A while later
Flash sped back. "No sign of Brainiac or Ultron."
Green Lantern landed. "My Ring can't trace them either."
Thor then arrived as well. "I was unable to find either one of them."
"They're managing to block all our search attempts", Vision said, landing himself.
Hawkgirl moved forwards. "Okay, Brainiac is weakened and damaged. He'll need to repair himself."
Wonder Woman pointed out. "He may just dump Luthor and find himself a new body. Ultron could even help with that."
"No", Superman said. "He'll head right for the highest technology available."
"Higher than LexCorp?" Martian Manhunter asked. "Then he'll go to S.T.A.R. Lab."
"Aw come on! I'm right here!" Iron Man said, making the others roll their eyes at his antics.
"He'll go to Cadmus." All turned to see Waller sitting there, wounded but still fine.
"Sure, he's all nanotech now, right?" Hawkgirl realized, then asked. "What's the most advanced nanotech on the planet?"
"The Dark Heart", Batman remembered, then turned to Waller. "We destroyed it, but your people confiscated the remains."
"We've never been able to get any of it to work again", Waller answered.
Batman asked. "Are you willing to bet Brainiac and Ultron can't?"
Realizing what this meant, Captain America looked at both teams. "We are two teams, from two different worlds, and do not know each other all that well. But threats from both our worlds threaten everything that matters, and only together, can we stop them."
Listening to him, all of them felt their hopes rise, feeling as if everything would be all right. Even Waller felt the same way! Waller!
"Avengers….Justice League…..Assemble!"
The Justice League and Avengers made their way to Cadmus in the Javelin, as Martian Manhunter called out to the Watchtower II. "Watchtower, send rapid response teams to the transmitter coordinates, as well as Ms. Marvel. We need backup."
Steel's voice came. "That's gonna be a problem, J'onn. The Ultimen wrecked every Javelin in the landing bay, and the teleporters..."
"Are still down", Martian Manhunter sighed. "They hardly seem worth the trouble sometimes." Cutting that call, he made another. "All Justice Leaguers, report to the transmitted coordinates immediately. This is an omega-level alarm. All available members and associates respond immediately."
Green Arrow's voice came. "We're scrambling now. But at top speed, we're over an hour away. I doubt any of the others can get here any faster."
"Then the sixteen of us will have to be enough", Batman said, looking at the rest of the League and Avengers.
"We have faced worse odds before", Black Panther said. "We will get through this."
"Can't say I disagree. Remember a certain huge guy?" Iron Man inquired, and the Avengers knew who he spoke of.
"Hulk will smash", Hulk simply snarled.
"We're almost there", Captain America nodded. "Prepare for battle."
The Javelin landed and opened up, as all sixteen of them got out, looking at the building, Superman narrowing his eyes. "My x-ray vision can't penetrate the walls, but I'm seeing a rapidly growing heat signature in the infrared range."
"I can't detect it either", Iron Man said.
"You don't need super-vision or suits for that", Wonder Woman said, stepping forwards.
Thor nodded. "She is right. Feel the heat."
There was an explosion that staggered them back, and they saw a giant structure rise. Brainiac-Lex and Ultron had done just what they feared….absorbed the Dark Heart's nanotechnology.
Ultron's body seemed to be golden now, the red eyes peering at them, while Brainiac-Lex had some sort of golden suit with a helmet and tentacles, and he smirked at them, the procedure on him almost finished. "You're just in time for the end of the world."
"Following this one, each world shall be destroyed one by one", Ultron added.
"I know you're in there somewhere, Lex", Superman tried to reason. "Fight him!"
"You're right. I am in here. And I like it", the Lex part said sadistically. "I'm about to get everything I ever wanted: power, ultimate knowledge, immortality."
"And you'll destroy the Earth to get it?" Superman asked.
"It's business, Superman. There are always tradeoffs."
"Less talking, more hitting!" Hawkgirl cried out, as they made to charge, when Ultron stepped in the way.
"Critical stage. Eliminate all threats!"
A powerful blast emanated from Ultron, sending all of them flying out of the building. As they staggered up, it walked out, looking at them all.
"Resistance is meaningless, but anything not a machine lacks logic. It is full of contradictions."
"They are what make us who we are!" Superman declared. "Give us empathy, kindness, love, and hope. Any world without that is not a world worth living in!"
He flew at Ultron, punching it hard twice, before Ultron grabbed him by the throat and slammed him to the ground, then punched him hard twice, sending electric jolts through him as he screamed, and Ultron threw him off before Thor hit him with the hammer, throwing him away, and as it turned around, Thor flew at him with a roar, hitting him with the lightning infused hammer while Hulk smashed the ground, the shockwave making Ultron fly up, before it steadied itself, and spinning, struck Thor on the face, sending him down, then rushed at Hulk, who held up his hands to stop it, but Ultron interlocked fingers, and to Hulk's shock, he was pushed back.
"Not…..possible…" Hulk growled.
"Based on my calculations, it is."
With that, Ultron threw Hulk off, just as Vision tried to strike him with his laser, but Ultron blasted him back, and then both Martian Manhunter and Vision flew at him, trying to change density to get into him, but Ultron still managed to grab them by the heads, and slammed them together, before throwing them to the ground.
Hawkgirl roared, striking Ultron with her mace once, and made to do so again, only for him to grasp her hands and headbutt her, dazing her, before punching her away, when Green Lantern started blasting him, and covered him in a sphere of energy, but Ultron fired a blast that shattered it, and as Green Lantern fell, he grabbed him by the head, almost crushing it, until Green Lantern fired a powerful blast that sent Ultron back.
Flash sped at Ultron, punching its chest, slightly staggering it, before Ultron raised its hand and blasted Flash away, only for Wonder Woman's Lasso to bind it, while Black Panther hurled his Vibranium-energy daggers, and Cap threw his shield, both striking Ultron.
Then, Ultron grabbed the Lasso, and spun Wonder Woman around, her body hitting Cap and Panther, as both were thrown off, and then it threw Diana away too, only for Iron Man to fire blasts at it, but Ultron wasn't affected much, and blasted back at Iron Man, throwing him off.
It then turned to Yellowjacket, walking towards him. Wasp flew around it, blasting it to no effect, and Ultron flicked her away effortlessly, before looking at Yellowjacket. "The created becomes the destroyer."
Yellowjacket raised his gun in a last attempt of defiance, Ultron preparing to blast him.
At that moment, a powerful punch of energy struck Ultron right on the face, catching it off-guard and sending it back.
All looked up to see Ms. Marvel hovering in the air with a smirk. "Not so fast."
With that, Thor slammed Mjolnir on the ground as a bolt of lightning hit Ultron, staggering it back once more, and Hulk jumped back in, doing a thunderclap that staggered it back as well.
Recovering, Ultron did one of its own, that staggered them all back.
Meanwhile, the Justice League were making their way towards Brainiac-Lex, when blasts from it hit them all, throwing them off, with only Flash running around and dodging the blasts, before eventually the beam managed to get in his way, and he was thrown down as well.
"Now, where is Wonder Woman?" Brainiac-Lex asked, seeing Ultron was still keeping the Avengers occupied.
As if in answer to his question, Wonder Woman appeared in the sky, holding up the Javelin, and threw it at the structure Brainiac-Lex had sprouted, destroying it all just as he blasted her away too.
Flash staggered out of the debris, seeing Brainiac-Lex move towards him, the tentacles disappearing.
"You lose. Huh?"
In response, tentacles wrapped around his wrists, turning into two human soldiers, Flash restrained, as Brainiac-Lex reached closer. "Hardly. Look around you. The Justice League is completely defeated, and so are you. Ultron will destroy the Avengers. For all your efforts, you have but inconvenienced me, speck." He generated a gun from his powers, and aimed it at the restrained Flash. "But I'm still just human enough to enjoy taking my revenge."
Flash looked up at Brainiac-Lex in horror, realizing which moment was going to play out on this Earth now.
"Looks like the Question was right all along. I kill you, and then Armageddon. Right on schedule."
This couldn't happen! It shouldn't happen! He shouldn't die, and his teammates, his friends, should not turn into the extremist Justice Lords over this!
It wasn't going to happen. He won't let it.
"No." Flash vibrated hard, sending electric shocks through the nanotech soldiers, destroying them as he stood up.
Brainiac-Lex made his gun disappear. "Are you going to fight me, boy?"
Flash backed up, and ran off. Brainiac-Lex thought he was scared and had escaped, so he turned around, beginning to rebuild his structure, when his eyes widened on seeing Flash running at him from that direction. Before he could react, Flash punched him hard, sending him flying off and crashing, the right portion of his suit destroyed.
Ultron moved towards the Avengers. "Now it is time for your destruction."
Thor raised Mjolnir. "For every Midgard in existence!" And then, he fired a powerful God-Blast from Mjolnir that struck Ultron, as lightning cracked all over and struck him too.
"HULK SMASH!" Hulk screamed, striking the ground with his fists and causing an immense earthquake because of which Ultron struggled to stand, while Vision fired his laser at Ultron.
"Don't count me out!" Iron Man said, and fired his Unibeam, as Captain America hurled his shield, Hawkeye fired an explosive arrow, Wasp fired her blasts, Black Panther threw his Vibranium-energy daggers, Ms. Marvel fired her photon blasts and Yellowjacket fired his gun.
All of it combined, especially the powerful God-Blast, was too much for Ultron to take.
Thor let out a powerful roar, and then…
BOOM-BANG!
A powerful explosion occurred, and when the smoke cleared, Ultron was gone.
At the same time, Flash was running really fast, becoming near invisible, as he ran across the entire world and punched Brainiac-Lex from each direction, breaking apart most of the suit, before throwing him down.
Brainiac-Lex looked up in shock, seeing Flash vibrating, lightning coming off of him. Kneeling down, Flash vibrated his hands into the suit, and vibrated hard, Brainiac-Lex letting out a loud scream, as the lightning increased, while the Justice League got up, watching the sight, trying to move forwards.
The Avengers rushed forwards too, when the vibrations became even faster, and caused an explosion that made them avert their eyes.
When the smoke cleared, the suit was gone, a bare Lex Luthor lying in a crater on the ground, Flash standing above him.
Flash continued to vibrate, as he looked at the Justice League and Avengers. "I feel kinda... funny."
He faded into nothingness as Superman and Thor ran to him, but it was too late.
"Flash!" Wonder Woman cried out in horror.
"No…." Captain America whispered in despair, the Justice League looking like they'd lost everything, while the Avengers looked saddened too.
Lex Luthor laughed, climbing out of the crater. "What do you know? I did kill him." He looked up at Superman. "I was mistaken earlier. I think this is the part where you kill me."
He gasped when Superman grabbed him by the throat, lifting him up into the air, eyes glowing with Heat Vision.
Wonder Woman rushed forth to stop him, but Batman stepped in her way. Superman had to make the decision himself.
Captain America and Iron Man shared a look, while Superman continued to glare at Lex with Heat Vision.
This was the moment. He'd kill Lex for Flash…and then impose what he thought was best upon everyone, alongside the rest.
Flash would be ashamed. Because that would just mean his sacrifice was in vain.
The glow in his eyes disappeared. "I'm not the man who killed President Luthor." Superman brought Lex closer to himself. "Right now, I wish to Heaven that I were, but I'm not."
The Justice League released a breath collectively they did not know they were holding. The Avengers did not understand the significance of this moment, but felt that something was about to go wrong, only to have just been prevented.
"Flash seems to be still alive!" Thor suddenly said, sensing him.
Martian Manhunter put his fingers to his head. "Yes. I'm in telepathic contact with him. His spirit is weak and growing weaker, but he's still here." He moved forth, trying to find it with Thor, who held out Mjolnir, a portal to the Speed Force opening as Hawkgirl stepped in front of it.
"Flash!" She cried out, putting her hand into the portal.
Flash's voice came from the portal. "Shayera, it's so beautiful here. There's a force, a Speed Force. It's calling me home." He sounded resigned. "I have to go now."
"No, Wally!" Hawkgirl cried out. "Take my hand!" She grunted, trying to pull.
"You shall not pass today, my valiant friend!" Thor declared, grabbing Hawkgirl from behind and pulling as well.
"I'm here too, Wally!" Green Lantern said, grabbing Thor and pulling too, as Martian Manhunter grabbed him and pulled, with Vision pulling him, then Iron Man, then Ms. Marvel, followed by Superman, then Wonder Woman, and then Captain America, after whom was Hawkeye, and then Wasp in her normal size, followed by Yellowjacket, and then Batman, followed by Black Panther, and finally Hulk.
Superman called out. "We're all here!"
"You've gotta come back to us", Green Lantern said.
"HULK SAVE FRIEND!" Hulk roared.
"You've done enough, son, come back", Captain America said too, and then, Flash's hand was visible, Hawkgirl pulling even further, until finally, Flash was pulled out, the portal disappearing, as he fell to his knees.
Hawkgirl wrapped him in a hug, Green Lantern kneeling near him, as Flash groaned. "I can never go that fast again. If I do... I don't think I'm comin' back."
The two smiled at him, while Thor put a hand to his shoulder, everyone else smiling too.
Behind them, Waller was on a call. "That's right. Brainiac is neutralized, as is Ultron. It's all over. Call off the air strike."
"You're absolutely sure?"
"Positive, Mr. President."
Next day
Superman and the other six founding members of the Justice League were gathered in front of multiple civilians, as well as all the Heroes of the Justice League Unlimited, and the Avengers.
"This is the hardest thing I've ever had to say." A pause before Superman continued. "I'm guilty. I..." He trailed off, then continued. "We're guilty of the sin of hubris. We had the best of intentions: to be Earth's guardians, to keep you safe. But we failed you. We looked down on the world from our tower in the sky and let our power and responsibilities separate us from the very people we were supposed to protect. No one should ever be afraid of us. For that reason, we're decommissioning the Watchtower. The energy weapon up there is already gone. We're taking down the station as well."
The people looked shocked, including Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane, with muttering going all around, while the Avengers shared sad looks.
"There's more. We wanna thank the Avengers for all their help and support, we would not have saved everyone this time without them. And we wanna thank the members of the Justice League for your courageous service, but in the future, you'll all have to act as independent agents. We're not going to be an army anymore. As of right now, we're disbanding the Justice League." He finally said it. "This is the end."
With that, he started walking away, followed by the other six founding members.
"Says who?" They all stopped, turning to see the Green Arrow, standing next to Black Canary and various other Heroes. He stepped forwards. "You remember what we did yesterday? We saved the world again. You don't think that has any value? Well, think again, pal. The Justice League goes on, with or without you. Look, nobody can question your service or commitment to makin' things better. If you're quittin' because you think you've already done your fair share, fine. We'll throw you a parade. But if you're quitting because it's easier than continuing the fight, then you're not the heroes we all thought you were. The world needs the Justice League, and the Justice League needs you, Superman."
"Green Arrow speaks true", Thor spoke up now. "Things are not always easy, we face many tough times, it is up to us to keep fighting for what is right."
"No matter the cause, not just this Earth….EVERY Earth….needs Heroes", Captain America declared, and then the crowd all cheered and applauded for Green Arrow, Thor and Captain America, agreeing with their words.
Superman looked around as the other superheroes applauded too, while Green Arrow shrugged. He then turned to see the other founding members were applauding as well, except Batman, but even he smiled.
He turned to the crowd, sharing a smile with Lois.
And then, he realized that he did not need to quit. What he had to do was carry on, make things better, make things right.
Smiling, he walked back to the mic. "All right. Okay. But there are going to have to be some changes. Maybe we could open an embassy on Earth so we can be closer to the people. We could have a rotating staff, some kind of..."
Batman looked at Wonder Woman. "You guys can handle this. I've got work back in Gotham. You've got my number."
"I think so", Wonder Woman said with a sly smile.
Batman looked at the Avengers, and gave them a nod. They returned it, while he walked off, seeing Green Arrow and Black Canary preparing to leave on the latter's bike.
""Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?"" Batman called out, making Green Arrow turn to him.
""Who guards the guardians?"" Green Arrow translated, thinking back to when Batman had asked him to join the Justice League Unlimited, because he knew Green Arrow would ground them in reality, and be the Devil's advocate when needed. "We got it covered."
Batman walked off, when Hawkeye walked up to Green Arrow. "Hey."
"Yes?" Green Arrow turned to him.
"You the guy who shoots arrows in this team?" Hawkeye asked him.
"I am", Green Arrow nodded. "Guess you're the one who shoots arrows in your team."
"That'd be right", Hawkeye shrugged, holding out his hand as Green Arrow shook it. "Wanna see who is better sometime?"
"You're on", Green Arrow told him, the two dropping hands as he walked to the bike, Black Canary chuckling.
"Guess you've found your new best friend….or frenemy", she quipped, Green Arrow sitting behind her as he and Hawkeye shared a nod, and then Black Canary drove them off.
"After meeting you, my thoughts on the Aesir…..they have improved", Wonder Woman admitted to Thor.
"You are a brave warrior as well, Wonder Woman, I am honored to fight alongside you", Thor said, the two grasping arms.
Hawkgirl stared at Hulk, as he asked her. "Anything wrong?"
"You remind me of someone", Hawkgirl said sadly, thinking of Solomon Grundy. "He looked like a monster….but he was misunderstood." A tear rolled down her cheek. "He saved us all." She remembered having to put him down when he'd been brought back.
She felt a heavy hand on her shoulder, and looked up to see Hulk smiling at her. "Thank you, Shayera. And sorry."
"No….thank you, Hulk", she said to him, smiling back at him.
"Well, that was fun", Supergirl said to Ms. Marvel. "It was so cool, how you beat her up."
"Thanks. You weren't too bad yourself in how you took her out", Ms. Marvel assured Supergirl, as both shared a smile and hug. "Good luck, we'll see each other again."
"Oh you can bet on it."
"Your technology….is quite fascinating", Yellowjacket was saying to Atom, who was examining his gun.
"This thing shrinks people and puts them into this microverse?" He inquired, Yellowjacket nodding. "That's fascinating too."
"If you two are done, I'm here too!" Wasp cried out while hovering near them, as they looked at her strangely, a bit embarrassed at being so lost in their science talk.
"So, once more, thanks so much for all your help", Superman said to Captain America and Iron Man.
"Its not a problem", Captain America assured him, both shaking hands once more.
"You can repay us", Iron Man added. "By helping us get back to our world."
"That shouldn't be a problem. As said before, we've experiences with alternate worlds, so we should do it", Superman assured the two.
Later, Earth-8096, New York City
A portal opened on the top of a building all of a sudden, and then- Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Panther, Yellowjacket, Wasp, Ms. Marvel and Vision walked out of it, the portal closing behind them.
The Avengers had returned to their world.
"Home sweet home", Iron Man said. "Great to be back here."
The Earth shook, and they saw blasts in the distance, supervillains causing destruction.
"Just in time, it seems", Black Panther noted.
"Lucky the people in this world", Ms. Marvel smirked, Hulk grinning too.
"Took the words right out of my mouth", Hawkeye said as well, while Thor and Vision hovered in the air.
Captain America held out his shield and walked forwards.
"Avengers…..Assemble!"
Well, that's done finally.
Thanks a lot to gussygus28 for his outlines on all three storylines here.
So first up, we had the 'Wolverine and the X-Men' version of Apocalypse and Mr. Sinister being beaten. The ending of the first Season teased Apocalypse but some stupid people got the show cancelled, unfortunately.
So the young X-Men from the other timeline of the movies created in 'X-Men: Days of Future Past' appeared to help out these X-Men. Now it might seem like Apocalypse got beaten easily, its mainly that he did not account for another team of X-Men coming in to oppose him, one that included a Jean Grey who does use the Phoenix Force sometimes, and while he was beaten, as we all know, the comics version has come back from stuff like this, meaning this one can come back too. And while the movie version of Apocalypse sucked a lot, them having beaten one was still a point to be considered in here.
So now the live-action X-Men (the young ones that is) have met the X-Men from 'Wolverine and the X-Men'. Though that bit was a flashback, taking place at the end of a hypothetical Season 2 of the show, which I head-canon happened right before the start of EMH (the MRD was still a thing in EMH but might not be as big as it was during 'W&tX'), and by now, Wolverine's role in EMH has been done as well.
Next up, the Teen Titans from 'Smallville' met the animated Teen Titans from the 2003 TV Series, now that was so much fun. As you can see, for the cartoon's timeline, its between Seasons 2 and 3, with some foreshadowing for Season 3. Stargirl is not a proper member of 'Smallville' Teen Titans from what I've seen, so I just have her as a member who comes and goes, and is also more experienced than the rest so she teaches them stuff too, alongside Earth-21 Jay Garrick. And this was obviously before Raven joined the team, as you can see.
The Batman referred to on 'Teen Titans' Earth is the one from 'The Batman' 2004 cartoon, which is a great cartoon IMO. There is not much evidence to support them being in the same Universe, but nothing to contradict it either. The Nightwings we saw in the future episodes of both were very different but for 'Teen Titans', it was because Starfire had gone missing for 20 years, something that got changed in that very episode, so problem solved. Killer Moth could have gotten an upgrade between 'The Batman' and 'Teen Titans', to explain why they seem different in both the shows.
Plus Robin in 'Teen Titans' did not seem all that bitter at Batman either, just eager to do it on his own in the episode that showed how the group was formed. Could be after seeing Batman in the Justice League, he kind of wanted his own team too, then got one.
The Kid Flash in 'Teen Titans' was clearly Wally while the Flash in 'The Batman 2004' was Barry, so that works well too.
Now 'Teen Titans' did have some cartoonish gags here and there, unlike 'The Batman', but I'll pretend the cartoonish gags happen outside of places like Gotham City and Metropolis, so if the Teen Titans went there, the gags would suddenly stop, and if Batman or Superman came to Jump City, they'd be part of the gags too. Smallville Teen Titans could also be part of the gags because they were in Jump City on this Earth.
Imagine Joey King as 'Smallville' Rachel Roth/Raven and Bella Thorne as 'Smallville' Megan Morse/Miss Martian, thank you to gussygus28 for the casting.
And finally, a crossover between JLU and EMH, which was just too much fun to write. For EMH, this is after the show, as you can see. Having them team up was a lot of fun, as these versions of the team would get along perfectly IMO.
Imagine Scarlett Estevez as the voice of the girl that was comforted by the Avengers at the start.
'Fight as One' is the only song appropriate to play when EMH Avengers make their entrance.
Since this is the final chapter, a team-up between DCAU Justice League and EMH Avengers was the only fitting way to end it IMO. And we got Ultron teaming up with Brainiac-Lex as well.
The form he got at the end was 'Final Form Ultron', who overpowered Hulk and She-Hulk in terms of physical strength in the comics. But I think all the Avengers attacking it together, especially Thor's God-Blast, would take it down. Hope the explanation for Ultron's survival made sense.
And Flash beating Brainiac-Lex is always awesome, and him being pulled out of the Speed Force is a very emotional scene.
Now, the Justice League stays, and the Avengers have returned to their world. And hope all interactions were enjoyed.
I'm thinking the Avengers will talk to Spider-Man afterwards and briefly take his extrapolator and copy it so all the Avengers have it too.
Thanks a lot to gussygus28 for the outlines of all three of these plots once more, especially the JLU/EMH one.
And now, this first story of a new series is at an end, but before we go…
Earth-199999, New York City
Peter Parker walked to school, and from a distance, beyond the fence, Norman Osborn watched him.
Turning away, he walked and kept walking until turning to an alley. His hand reached out to steady himself against the wall, while his other hand clutched at his head.
"He's alive?" Norman choked out as tears began to well up.
"No."
Norman looked down to see his own face reflecting back from a puddle, smirking back at him.
No, not his face.
The Goblin.
"You killed him."
Earth-7, City of the Ancients
Sephiroth descended, the Masamune held out, as he watched Aerith praying, her back to him. Cloud was there too, but he wouldn't be able to stop him.
Regardless of what had just happened, he was going to get what he wanted.
CLANG!
Sephiroth stopped in mid-air, his Masamune having been blocked by a Buster Sword, and a Fusion Sword.
Looking up at the wielders, even Sephiroth was surprised for once.
And that's pretty much the post-credits scene, two of them.
In the MCU, Peter Parker has been bitten by the time of this scene, and he is being spied on by a version of Norman Osborn/Green Goblin, who will be played by Willem Dafoe still.
Fun fact, I originally planned to have MCU Peter in the Young Legends, in the original outline of the Young Legends teaming up to save Sora from the Real Organization XIII, we even had MCU Peter at first, but then I realized he wouldn't have been bitten as of now.
That was when I decided to replace him with the Spidey from 'The Spectacular Spider-Man' cartoon. Works much better IMO, as for MCU Peter, we've thought of a much more personalized and grounded arc, plus Spectacular Spider-Man's story gets to continue, Multiverse style.
Thanks a lot to Brainstorm Sorcerer for this scene.
At the same time, Sephiroth is about to impale Aerith, but it seems two people have stopped him. Now just who are these?
Anyways, this story is now over, so I thank everyone who read, reviewed, favorited, followed, kudos'ed, bookmarked, or supported me in anyway.
I once more thank all my friends for bouncing off ideas with me regarding this fic, such as Stand with Ward and Queen and Marcus S. Lazarus, and I also thank gussygus28 and HRwriter897 for coming up with outlines for various plots, and I thank Brainstorm Sorcerer for his writing for many of the scenes, much appreciated.
Thank you everyone, and see you all with the next fic.
Before we go…..
Twelve Titans Music – Echo plays
Sora, Donald and Goofy run across Middle-earth, Goofy commenting. "Gawrsh, this is a huge world!"
"And it needs me", Sora told his two friends.
"Are you sure, Sora?" Donald asked.
"I am."
It shall only…
Eliot Spencer looked at Ethan Hunt. "Sounds like you're gonna need a hand."
"Many of them, actually", Hunt said in reply.
Get crazier…
On Earth-199999, Steve shook his head as he looked at Tony. "Tony, it doesn't have to be this way."
Tony looked unmoved. "I think it does."
Earth-1 Clark was in his suit, kneeling to the ground, his fist on it as the ground shook, while Jor-El's voice rang out in his head. "In time, they will join you in the sun, Kal."
Buffy hugged a very shaken-looking Dawn, while Angel turned around to look at someone angrily.
Logan closed his hand into a fist as claws popped out of his knuckles.
"What do we do?" Sam asked Dean.
"Best to join 'em and hunt this lot down", Dean said in reply.
At Helm's Deep, Aragorn drew his sword as everyone looked at the army of Uruk-hai marching towards the Fortress.
On Earth-199999, the Avengers gathered around as a tall, muscular man, clad in tattered grey suit and yellow cape hunched over the infirmary bed. "My world, my Universe...it's all gone."
The Injustice League gathered and look down on a holographic projection of an Earth, with Lex, Zemo and Adrian smirking, Malcolm and Talia having a focused look, Zoom growling and Savage having an unreadable expression.
A series of blasts and explosions ravaged the land, tearing the Earth apart in an attempt to destroy their target. The bombardment stopped, and they waited, before the smoke fades, and unveils a green cloak, a metal mask, and cold blue eyes staring from behind it.
Castiel stood in a Council of the Powers That Be and Elders, in the Realm of the former, as he raised a finger while looking at Behmen. "But to rectify this injustice, do just one thing."
Megatron charged his fusion cannon, his target, a smirking, elderly human with yellow eyes, staring at him with no fear. Curiosity plagued the former gladiator and he lowered his cannon, "What can a human offer me?"
Master Xehanort's smirk turned wicked before he extended his hand, electricity cackling before an orb of darkness formed, and extended into the Gazing Eye. "I offer...darkness."
Earth-1 Oliver looked at Adrian Chase who laughed. "I'm ten steps ahead of you and you haven't even figured out what game we're playing yet."
Earth-205 Lucifer stood, smirking with red eyes, flanked by Michael, Jason, Freddy, Candyman, Helen, Chucky and Tiffany when a chainsaw is heard in the background as well as maniacal, clown-like laughter.
On Earth-8096, a figure in a red and blue patriotic themed armor pointed forward as his legion of superhumans charged towards Captain America and the Avengers, meeting their charge as Thor raised a glowing Mjolnir as lightning danced above the ruins of a once beautiful, gargantuan city.
The Powers That Be and the Elders face off against a lone figure who holds up a bow in his hands.
Lucifer Morningstar's fist was caught before getting a punch to his face, but reacted in time to catch the next strike. Lucifer Morningstar glared hard at the smirking face of a being who claimed to be him, his red eyes shone darkly, just as his opponent's eyes reflected that same red glow. with a truly terrifying face smirking.
Lord Krishna told two people next to him. "Soon, they will find themselves at the receiving end of a battle for justice."
The Powers That Be except Adila and the Elders except Sandra stood on one side while the Scoobies, Team Angel, Charmed Ones and Winchesters stood on another side, with Castiel standing in the middle to their side. "This battle shall grant freedom."
Earth-21 Clark told his team. "I think this time, we're gonna need backup."
"Who are you thinking of?" Chloe asked him.
Clark looked ahead. "Everyone."
Ash Williams smirked. "Groovy!"
Earth-1 Oliver asked the Tenth Doctor. "What are these things?"
"The only psychopaths in the Multiverse to kill you nicely", Ten warned him.
Earth-8096 Hulk huffed and grunted, before roaring as a grey skinned behemoth of similar size charged at him. The Jade Giant met that charge as they leapt at each other, fists raised, and the Hulk overcome by rage.
Sephiroth tilted his head as he looked at Kefka Palazzo, who laughed maniacally.
Slate roared as he aimed an arrow at Dushan who drew his own sword with shaking hands as the former screamed. "ON YOUR GUARD, DUSHAAAAAAAAAAAN!"
Blade held up the Darksaber while looking ahead. "Miss me?"
Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli ran across the plains of Rohan.
Future Trunks flew forward to attack, the sword held aloft to strike, but was then parried, sending the half-Saiyan back, before rushing to block as Sephiroth suddenly speeds forward, their blades sparking from the contact as Future Trunks gritted his teeth to keep his footing, and glared at the smirking One-Winged Angel.
Earth-192 Superman hovered in the sky as he looked at Earth-52 Superman, both narrowing their eyes as they circled each other, the latter asking. "So…..you're me?"
"You can say that", Earth-192 Superman confirmed. "Figured you could use some help."
Down below, Earth-52 Flash commented. "Well, they're getting along."
"Was there any doubt?" Earth-192 Flash pointed out. "They're the same boy scout! They were always gonna get along!"
Amidst the smoke and fires of Mordor, a seeker of peace and seeker of vengeance stare at one another as the sapphire and ruby glows of their blades dances across their faces. Maul's eyes turned primal as he leapt up with a roar, swinging his weapon down onto Obi-Wan.
Palpatine was surrounded by fire as the shadow of Sauron formed behind him before shooting his Force Lightning into the sky, his sickly yellow eyes alight. "UNLIMITED POWERRRRRRRRRR!"
The three Odins stood apart, the shortest Odin looking at them in shock. "What are you doing?"
The Odin of middling height glares at him as the tallest of them spoke. "What we must."
Derek Hale and Scott McCall at something as the latter's eyes turned red. "You ready for this?"
"Always am", Derek told Scott as his eyes turned blue too.
On Earth-192, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the rest of the team rush out of their headquarters to combat a threat.
Three Mjolnirs clash in a chaotic and cataclysmic clash of thunder and lighting that shakes the Realm before three Thors leap at each other.
Sora, Donald, Goofy, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Aqua, Ven and Lea stood together, joined by Kratos, Atreus, Dante, Cloud and many more while on the other side stood Master Xehanort with his Real Organization XIII, joined by many more too, and Sephiroth hovered above them.
"You cannot win this time."
Earth-1 Barry and Earth-38 Kara Danvers panted as they faced off against a powerful foe.
Yusuke Urameshi aimed his Spirit Gun at Earth-205 Lucifer.
Mal Reynolds asked Spike Siegel. "What do you think will happen?"
Spike Siegel shrugged. "Whatever happens, happens."
Faye Valentine rolled her eyes. "That's exactly what he'd always say."
Aragorn battled an Olog-hai, managing to actually push it back while clashing blades with it.
Earth-8096 Thor blocks the Leviathan with Mjolnir, frost and lightning clashing while the Thunder God grabs the wrist of the War God's fist, exclaiming. "I am not your enemy!"
Angel and Spike look at each other before the latter groans. "Oh bloody Hell!"
"Hello, Logan." Wolverine freezes as he lays eyes on a beautiful blonde woman smirking at him, and he slumps.
"Ah shit."
John Rambo and John Matrix sized each other up.
"Glad that got sorted." Someone spoke. Earth-199999 Thor looks at Mimir with widened eyes before looking at Kratos, pointing at his waist.
"Your head is talking."
"Hm."
"It's when he's quiet is the real shock." Atreus jokes.
"Watch it, laddie."
More worlds shall collide, and wars shall take place
The 90s Spider-Man is in an unknown place, and sees a bunch of other Spider-people, different ones than he's met before.
Spider-Man Unlimited pointed at him. "Who the heck are you? You look like me from before!"
"I just told you-" 90s Spider-Man said as he pointed at Spider-Man Unlimited. "Listen-"
"How dare you point at me?" Spider-Man Unlimited said, pointing at 90s Spider-Man.
"You were pointing first", 90s Spider-Man said as he pointed at Spider-Man Unlimited.
"It is rude to point", Spider-Man Unlimited said, pointing at 90s Spider-Man again.
"You're being rude", 90s Spider-Man said, again pointing at Spider-Man Unlimited.
As they started arguing, nearby, Jess Drew commented to 60s Spider-Man. "Here we go again."
"…Yeah.
"You're pointing at me right now!"
"No, I'm just pointing near you, it's different-"
"Look at your finger right now!"
"You're not even listening-"
"You're accusing me of pointing, while you're pointing at me-"
Miguel O'Hara Spider-Man entered the scene. "Stop this!"
90s Spider-Man groaned. "Who's the killjoy?"
A white haired man with two swords on his back looks between the talking duck, the dog on two legs, and the boy with a power he hasn't seen before nor can he comprehend. Looking at the kid, he's reminded of circumstances he found himself in a long time ago. "Hmm." Geralt grunted, before looking away. "Fuck."
The title card of the second story appears as Deadpool is heard saying. "When am I gonna be part of this fucking craziness, huh Aragorn?"
CHAMPIONS AND WARS
And that's the trailer for the second fic. As you can see, its getting even crazier than before. Thanks a lot to Brainstorm Sorcerer for his help with the trailer. Poor Oliver for dealing with Ten though.
And thanks a lot to gussygus28 for the title of the second fic.
Once more, thank you for being with me for this fic, and we'll see each other in the next one. Meanwhile, enjoy my 'Collision of Universes' on AO3.
Until next time.