Godolkin University,
The sound of the partygoers managed to pierce his bedroom walls. A couple slept beside one another. The young woman clung to the man, her hands at the side of his head and neck. They were both naked under the covers. He stirred from the noise, getting out of bed, and waking up his partner. He shuddered as the cold air touched his naked body. The young man looked out the window. The party was still happening as much as he wanted to peek his head out of the window and order them to shut up. He had the prestige to do so. He knew it was pointless. After all, considering the past few days, he couldn't blame anyone. Then, something caught his eye. He saw someone sitting on the rooftop edge of the dorm across from his. He looked to be scouting the area with a pair of binoculars. At first, he thought it was Black Noir. However, the man's costume looked to be primarily red.
"Luke, come back to bed." Cate groggily told him, tapping where he slept.
"Sorry, Cate." Luke told her before looking back. The figure was gone. It was probably his imagination.
Luke stared at the ceiling, still trying to comprehend the past few days since he saw that announcement. The entire world was flung upside down and into madness.
He tried to fall asleep again, but soon remembered something. He was strapped to something as he saw Professor Brink and Dean Shetty before him. A scientist hooked a tube to him, he winced as he could feel it pierce his skin, and connected to the tube was his younger brother, Sam struggling. His younger brother had been dead for the past two years. Luke's breathing intensified until Cate placed a hand on his cheek, and he fell asleep.
A man walked into a coffee shop. He wore a baseball cap and sunglasses, all a dark navy blue. He waited in line like everyone else bought his coffee cup.
"No milk?" The clerk asked.
"I'm trying to take it easy on the dairy."
"Alright. John with an h or no h?"
"Whatever floats your boat, chief"
"Don't I know you from somewhere?"
"I don't think so."
Soon enough, his name was called, and he grabbed his cup. Upon leaving the coffee shop, he took one sip and immediately burned his tongue and throat. That was a surprise, he knew it was hot, but his instinct was simply not there. Up in the sky, he saw a couple of supes flying and raised his cup to them, forcing himself not to display the anger on his face. He blew the coffee before carefully taking another sip. John checked his phone while he walked. There was a date with Maeve on his schedule and a class with Professor Xavier.
He realized he was late for class and walked faster to the nearest alley. He looked around, moved his arms as if swimming, and jumped. Nothing. He tried again and again, with no luck. He finally gave up and left the alley. John grabbed his phone and made a call.
"Hey, Becca, I need you to reschedule my class." John said.
"You still have that interview today about your secret mission."
"Shit, I forgot. I'm not gonna make it, ok? So just get Seth and Evan to come up with something."
"Mrs. Stillwell is not gonna be happy."
"What a pity." John hung up on her. He immediately regretted it and called her back. "I'm sorry for that. It wasn't polite."
"It's fine."
"No, it's not. I'm trying not to be as much of a prick these days. It's just- -"
John saw a car about to hit two young women on the other side of the block. In less than a second, he charged against the car and hit it with his hands, throwing it off the road. All eyes were on him. The girl took a good look at his face.
"It's Homelander…" She whispers. "It's Homelander!" She shouted.
"Homelander's back!"
"Look, it's him!"
A crowd gathered around, fans, photos, and people telling us how amazing he was. But now his super-hearing was back, and he heard a sound, the driver's heartbeat going down. He walked towards the car he pushed and saw the driver's bloody face as his heart finally stopped.
New York 7622,
The Red Skull entered the room where the wealthy elite of Earth 7622 sat at a table.
"Gentlemen, welcome. I already know who all of you are." Red Skull greeted. "I am the Red Skull, and my organization has the solution to all your problems."
"What exactly is our problem?" One of the men asked.
"Stark's group never extended an invitation to any of you. Instead, they opted for teachers, doctors, and plenty more under your radar. Your offer was likely not satisfying; you'd be able to live, but you'd lose a significant portion. The official reason given to you was that all of your assets coming over would inflate the economy, but the truth is, they're more than willing to let you die." Red Skull told them.
The men all started to murmur in anger.
"Of course, even if you did manage to gain a fortune. You would face difficulties." Red Skull said, looking at the man who had talked with him.
"Stark Industries makes anything your company has made look like a children's toy." He told him before turning to the others.
"That and the so-called heroes of my world are much more willing to look into any back-door dealings you would all be so inclined to do." Red Skull said.
One of the men stood up. He had dark brown hair and wore a blue suit. He looked to be in his mid-to-late 30s.
"Why should we be willing to trust you? Your outfit is a giveaway to most people, but I still hear traces of your original accent." The man said.
Red Skull smirked.
"Ah, Robert Vernon or Tek Knight, I believe, ja?" Red Skull asked.
"The same." Robert said.
"I am delighted to see you accepted the invitation. You and your company would be a great asset to our cause. The fact none of you fled upon seeing me says more than enough. Come now, there are no cameras around. No one will know your hearts' innermost desires." Red Skull told him and the others.
The others looked hesitant to agree, but only for a moment.
"I come to you not as a savior but as a liberator. I will save your world and change it for the better. No longer will you have to endure the Marxist masses criticizing your every move." Red Skull said.
"Save the Boogeyman talk to the commonwealth. Why are you willing to destroy your world?" Robert asked.
Red Skull's face became bitter.
"I feel as though my world is a lost cause. Mutants and Inhumans polluting my world. Not to mention the alien hordes wanting to conquer it. Your world, however, has none of them. Not to mention, your "supes" are compatible with my goals." Red Skull admitted. "Do we have a deal?" He asked.
"Deal." The men unanimously agreed.
Payback Mansion, Earth 7622
Annie walked around the surprisingly empty manor looking for the Avengers, but no one was found. She shouted as she entered the kitchen and found Elijah Bradley eating cereal.
"Good morning." He said as he kept eating cereal.
"Where the hell is everyone?" Annie asked.
"Spider-Man and Daredevil are back in our New York stopping the looters; Iron Fist went with Luke to check on his family; Kate, Hawkeye, Colossus, and Nightcrawler are rescuing people victims of floods and Earthquakes; Falcon, Wolverine, and the Thing are going after supervillains who escaped during the chaos."
"So who's left?"
"Me, Captain, Bucky, Human Torch, Gwen, and technically Deadpool."
"That's it?"
"That's it."
"What the hell is wrong with them? Can't they see what is happening here?"
Elijah stopped eating his cereal upon hearing that.
"You think it's not happening back home, too? After the Gems went berserk. You celebrities can't really see out of your boxes."
"Us celebrities?" Annie asked, clearly offended.
"You heard me. We have so many problems, alien invasions, actual supervillains, some social inequality bullshit we fought for centuries, but we're here fighting for you."
"Why bother then?"
"Because it's the right thing to do."
Elijah grabbed his bowl and left. Just as he turned his back to her, Annie felt guilty and spoke to him.
"Patriot, I'm sorry. Can you gather who's left? I want to find Hughie and the others; maybe they can help."
"Sure."
Xavier Mansion, Earth 616
Marie turned in her sleep before slowly lifting her eyes. She looked at the room; its floors and walls were white. She heard someone quietly singing a song to himself. The scientist looked back at Marie. He looked to resemble a human-ape male fusion with blue fur.
"Oh, excellent, you're awake." The scientist remarked as he looked back. "Dr. Hank McCoy, or as I am more colloquially known, Beast. It is a pleasure to see you." Beast introduced himself as he offered a hand.
"Marie." She said, shaking his hand. "Where am I?"
"You are presently at X-Mansion. The rest of your fellow communards are here as well." Beast told her.
A thought just occurred to Marie.
"I'm still on your Earth." Marie asked.
"Yes." Beast simply replied.
"So I've been relocated?" Marie asked.
"Yes, albeit under less desirable circumstances." Beast said.
A sense of panic came to Marie.
"Who's in charge here?" Marie asked.
"That would be Cyclops. I infer you've already met." Beast told her.
"I need to speak with him." Marie told him.
Beast's expression grew more sheepish.
"I fear that he is otherwise busy at the moment, for a new crisis has garnered our attention." Beast told her.
"You mean besides the fact that my Earth is going to get destroyed." Marie angrily told him.
Beast let out a sigh and explained the situation.
"The Incursion is no longer our primary threat. However, with your Earth being pulled into our universe and being in close proximity to our Earth." Beast told her.
"I get it. I read a book about something similar back in 8th grade. Only it was the moon moving closer." Marie told him.
"Oh, I see. Do you, by any chance, happen to recall the title of that book? If there's a variant on our world it would make for a good curriculum for the students." Beast told her.
"Curriculum? This is a boarding school?" Marie asked, surprised that a school had its own team already.
"Yes, the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning. I suppose I can show you around." Beast told her.
Earth 7622
"OH YEAH!" Chase Stein shouted from the tank.
He drove the Hydra tank at full speed, crushing every single car on its path while the rest of the Runaways flew above him. Molly and Klara, being the exceptions, sat on top of the tank. Ryan nearly lost balance now and then while flying.
"You gotta trust your body." Karolina told him. "Your body's doing it, when you move your arm you don't focus on your mind. See flight as part of you."
"I think I'm getting it." He said. "Your parents taught you?"
"They hid my powers from me with a special bracelet. I only found out about them when it broke and had to learn on my own."
"My dad tried to teach me… He pushed off the roof."
"Your dad's a real asshole." Chase said.
"Can you actually hear us from the tank?" Karolina asked.
"Hell yeah, got all our earpieces on. These Hydra stuff are child's play compared to my parents' old paraphernalia, got it working in a minute. Do you believe what the guy said? Red Skull would actually destroy his own world."
"He's crazy enough." Nico said.
"So we're stopping him, right?" Molly said. "We can't just go home now."
"We're not just going home. We'll make sure Iron Man and the others know about this so they can stop him."
A figure in black on a motorcycle came towards the Runaways. He rode by the tank and gestured for Chase to pull over the car. Upon seeing his metallic hand, Chase did just that.
Delaware, Earth 7622
Butcher and the others were discussing their plans at an abandoned rest stop. Then, all of a sudden, Terror barked at Butcher.
"Cool it, boy." Butcher told the dog.
However, Terror ignored Butcher's order, and the bulldog continued to bark.
"You want me to shut that damn mutt up." Soldier Boy threatened, his patience nearing his limits.
Butcher glared at him in response, only for Terror to run into the woods.
"God-fuckin'-dammit." Butcher grumbled. "Stay 'ere." He ordered as he went after his dog.
Once in the woods, Butcher let out a yell.
"Oi, Terror! Where are you, lad?"
He followed the sound of Terror's barking and saw the dog sitting before it. A figure Butcher once knew: Joe Kessler.
"What the fuck are you doin' 'ere?" Butcher asked the figure.
"You're in the midst of fucking up our deal, Butcher." Kessler told him.
"Homelander's making a muck of everything while I was alive. You said save the world, 'e's been our greatest threat since day one." Butcher defended.
"Homelander's been compromised. He's no longer a threat. Charles Xavier has him under his control." Kessler told him.
"So?" Butcher questioned. "Am I supposed to feel better about that? Tell you what, I'll feel better about that when 'e 'as that cunt starts screaming and then stops screaming." Butcher told him.
"Even if you do go after him, your powers will do fuck all against him. Homelander's no longer in the driver's seat. Remember, your powers only work on the guilty. Just a way to prevent you from going after every Tom and Nancy with super powers."
"So what now? You made me a fuckin' spirit of vengeance, and I can't get the cunt who murdered countless people, me included, and raped my wife?" Butcher angrily asked.
"You'll get your chance."
"You say that looking like that. Joe Kessler never got his chance."
"Because you left him for dead in the middle of Afghanistan."
Butcher winced.
"I had no choice." Butcher told him.
"Hey, you chose this form. I just appear as your mind wants me to appear. I could be a red skeleton engulfed in blue flames wearing a cape and giant shoulder pads, but that doesn't really fit your style. For a man who calls himself a monster, you do a lot of fuckin' self-justifications."
"I go after the bigger monsters."
"You also make people into monsters, so take Hughie back there, who, not long ago, developed an affinity for human brains."
"Hughie made 'is fuckin' choice to join me." Butcher defended himself.
"Unlike Lenny."
Butcher took a swing at the spirit, but it phased through him.
"Remember you work for me now, Billy boy." Zarathos told him.
Earth 7622
"I was about to throw a grenade at your tank." Bucky told the Runaways. They were now all on ground having a conversation. "But I recognized you and realized what happened."
"You know who we are?" Molly excitedly asked.
"Well, I recognized her." Bucky said pointing at Nico, to Molly's disappointment. "You were on the A-Force for a while. But I'm sure you're just as swell." Bucky hunched down and said it to Molly with a smile.
"Haha… 'Swell.'"
"We took it from these Hydra jerks when we were at the CIA place." Chase said. "They were turning the place upside down."
"That's not good."
"What are they doing here?" Nico asked.
"I don't know, kid. It's news for all of us."
"Maybe they're with the other villains who attacked this Earth." Karolina suggested.
"Not possible. Not even the end of the world would get Magneto to work with Hydra. They have their own agenda. Whatever they're planning, we have to stop."
"We can help!" Molly excitedly said.
"Not gonna lie, kid, we need help, and we're lacking personnel."
"I'm in." Chase said.
"Me too." Karolina added.
"We all can help." Nico said. "We just need to drop Molly and Klara home."
"What?" Molly and Klara spoke in unison.
"This is dangerous."
"I don't know about that." Bucky argued. "They both have powers don't they? Why not? I was in the trenches when I was 14."
"And that didn't work out well for you." Nico said, pointing at Bucky's metal arm with her own prosthetic arm. "Or me. They're going home."
"There's also Ryan," Karolina said, showing Bucky Mallory's CIA card.
"Do you have a phone?"
United States Air Space, Earth 7622
The hangar door of their transport, Mallory Grace stepped outside, and despite her feelings of frustration and anxiety. Mallory stood in awe of what she heard was called the Helicarrier. She stood miles above the ground with clouds up close to her. She was standing ontop of a flying air carrier.
"Jesus…" Was all she could let out.
Mallory still could not believe her eyes as they made their way inside. Countless agents were going about their work as though this was all natural.
Mallory sat in the Helicarrier's waiting room alongside her fellow CIA agents. Despite her feelings of anxiousness and dread regarding Ryan, a part of her was in awe about the air fortress she found herself in. She was snapped out of her thoughts when the door opened. They all got out of their seats and went over to the command deck. Standing up front and center was her contact when all of this started, an old man who walked and moved like a young man, he was a caucasian man with graying brown hair combed back, he wore an eyepatch on his left eye. Standing next to him was a red-haired woman wearing an all-black bodysuit with a red hourglass on her yellow belt that matched the gauntlets on her wrists.
"Gentlemen and ladies, on behalf of Earth 616's Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, that is, S.H.I.E.L.D. I'm glad that you've made it." Fury announced. "My name is Nick Fury. I am the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D." Nick introduced himself.
"To my right is one of our top field agents, the Black Widow." Nick added.
Black Widow simply nodded in return.
"Now then, as you all know. Four hours ago, at 1100 hours, the European Union and Russian Federation declared war upon each other. Moscow launched a ballistic strike at Brussels that was intercepted. In response, the EU responded with a strategic strike on Russias' key oil pipelines across the nation. As you are all fully aware, the EU lacks the means to retaliate in such a way. As to how they achieved this, you can thank Von Doom for that. S.H.I.E.L.D. has evidence of him moving Latverian hardware to 7622 Brussels." Fury told them.
"Why would he do this? Didn't that maniac state he was going to destroy our planet?" The CIA director asked.
"To keep you all distracted." Fury told them.
"We should have been informed about this." The Director argued.
Fury's look of professionality dropped as he glared at the Director. Mallory had known him for years, and somehow Fury managed to break his composure with it.
"I did try to keep you informed about all of this. In fact, I met with your fucking President and his staff before the Cabal's attack. I told them all about what to expect and do you want to know what he did? He ignored me! Probably because he didn't think a Balkan dictator named Victor Von Doom would be a threat to the US. Well, guess what? Now, your GDP is five times worse than the Great Depression, and your military capabilities are nearly non-existent! How did your cocksucker President respond afterwards? He tried to hang himself with his tie in a closet in the Oval Office!" Fury told him.
The Director looked startled.
"We have no idea what you are referring to. The President is–" The Director said.
"Recovering at the Mayo Clinic. You might want to keep an eye on the Vice President. My people tell me he's considering shooting himself. While you're at it, you should keep an eye on the Speaker of the House before he tries to make bread-free toast in his bathtub." Fury told him.
The CIA agents were silent upon hearing that.
"I want you all to understand something: our worlds' supervillains are not like your so-called "Superheroes". They are far stronger and smarter. You all saw what they did. They have no intention of starring in movies or TV shows. If they want to kill someone, they'll try and kill them regardless. They're also not a bunch of sex-addicted junkies. We've already started to profile most of them in case they end up in our world. At best, most of them will end up as C-tier street-level supervillains. The kind of guys Spider-Man treats as his punching bags, both physically and verbally. At worst, they'll just die trying to get in the way." Fury told them.
"We–We understand." The Director said.
"Right, S.H.I.E.L.D. will do anything to maintain peace for the time being. We've already brought orders to Montana, Kansas, Nebraska, and countless other flyover states. You are all dismissed for the time being, except for Deputy Director Mallory." Fury said.
The other CIA directors left, leaving Mallory with Fury and Black Widow.
"Where's Ryan?" She asked him.
Fury sighed as he turned it over to Natasha, who handed over a dossier to Mallory.
"Ryan has managed to integrate himself with the Runaways. They're the children of supervillains from our world." Natasha told her.
Mallory blanched at this.
"You mean Ryan joined a gang?" Mallory asked.
"No, they're not what we would call a criminal gang. Just a band of children trying to find their place in the world." Natasha told her.
"The kid has finally found himself some friends at least." Fury told her.
Mallory glared at Fury.
"Do you think this is a goddamn joke?!" She asked.
"No, I don't." Nick told her grimly.
"You told me you would keep us safe!" Mallory yelled.
"Yeah, I did, and then your entire world went straight to hell!" Fury argued.
"Do you know what Ryan means to me and our world?" Mallory questioned.
"Yeah, we know all about his Dad, but he's not our primary concern. I can name at least twenty people from our world who could swat him like a fuckin' fly. Not to mention, we're stretched pretty thin here now." Fury sternly told her. "I get the fact you care about the kid, but right now, we have a lot of shit on our plate."
Mallory sighed.
"You're right, I'm sorry– It's just that–" Mallory apologized.
"Don't. I understand, Natasha. I need you to start a task force and get the kid." Nick told the Black Widow.
Just then, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent burst through the command center.
"Director, we just received a report! Sir, it's HYDRA; they're on Earth 7622!" the agent yelled.
Mallory turned to face Fury, who looked both worried and annoyed.
"Fuckin' hell!" Nick muttered.
Delaware, Earth 7622
Hughie drove the RV with the rest of the team in it. Sister Sage carefully welded pieces of the Iron Man suit into the teleportation device. It was now smaller, and she held it with an attached grip like a pistol. Soldier Boy looked at her working with a gaze of contempt.
"Still on that?" He dismissively asked. "Ghost Butcher can ride us right to Earth 616."
"As eager as you are to have Butcher riding you, I have other plans." Sage told him. "We live in an infinite multiverse with infinite Earths, and you wanna go to that one?"
"She's right." Punisher defended. "And having an easy way out is a guarantee I can never afford. This time can be different."
"The new adventures of the Payback are getting better and better."
That sentence caught the attention of both Butcher and Soldier Boy.
"What did you just say?" Soldier Boy asked. "You think this is the Payback now?"
"Just from a mediatic point of view. In comic books, superhero teams often go through extreme reformulations and leave only one frontman from the original cast, if that, in this case, you. We are still thematically attached to the original with all of you in search of literal Payback, and now with him being written back into action, we establish this as the All-New All-Different Payback ongoing series."
"Funny." Punisher said. "The Avengers had a thousand different teams; you can go out for a drink and probably wake up with a hangover with an Avengers badge. And there was my team, the Thunderbolts. We had jack shit to do with Zemo and the original assholes. She picked up the dynamic pretty quick."
"Your world working on comic book logic is another reason not to go there."
"Are you on jungle fever?" Soldier Boy asked Punisher. "You gonna agree with everything she says?"
"I think it's cool." Hughie chimed in, looking at them in the rearview mirror. "I mean, better than just 'The Guys'."
"The Boys." Butcher corrected.
"Yeah, is it that bad of a title?"
Butcher laughed, a diminishing laughter as if pointing out the ridiculousness of the statement. He slowly turned to Hughie, and everyone saw Butcher's grim disappear from his face.
"We are not the Payback."
Butcher told them and sat back on the couch while having a drink and massaging Terror's back. The Payback followed the rest of their trip in silence.
Hello readers! We would like to let you know that we will be working on chapter 2 of "Real Justice Is…" Not long ago, we figured we could post a chapter for that story after every five for "Avenging." I just wanted to give you a heads-up, and thank you for all the support.