Earth 7622
"Hello, listener, speaking here from the end of the world."
The voice echoed through the perpetually turned-on radio on an abandoned car in front of a residential home. On the driver's seat, the body of a man whose coke was all over his face explained precisely how he died.
"This is the last working radio station left, providing you with kind words before the end. And to my wife's ex-husband, who sent us a postcard from Earth 616, fuck you, we did screw on your birthday. Now with you, Billy Idol, Dancing with Myself."
As the music started playing, a cheerful Kimiko ran to the car and pulled out the corpse to turn up the song's volume.
She began dancing with herself on the top of the car. She jumped off it and hurt her ankle on the way down, feeling the pain on her now perfectly normal body, she smiled through the ache and kept dancing all over the street. One of the houses was set on fire and others empty after being looted. Spray painted on gigantic letters on the middle of the pavement, Kimiko danced on the words: 'THE END OF ALL'
And Billy Idol was still singing while chaos reigned all over the globe. Kimiko danced with all energy hearing those words: 'If I had the chance, I'd ask the world to dance, if I had a chance I'd ask the world to dance!'
Meanwhile, the world was still spinning, and Earth 7622 and Earth 616 were spinning right in front of each other just like Kimiko spun, right about to collide.
Queens, Earth 616
As the sun set, Peter swung over the rooftops of his neighborhood. He had just come from a rescue of a burning building during a riot. He climbed in through the bedroom window. He got out of his costume and saw the bags under his eyes as he looked into the mirror. He slapped himself to stay awake, wanting to be up as long as his body could manage. The door opened, and he saw a smiling Mary Jane waiting for him.
"You're back." She remarked, walking over to him.
"Yeah, I am." He said before pulling her into a deep kiss.
Once they had broken the kiss, MJ noticed Peter's face and placed her hands around his cheeks.
"You look exhausted." She told him, sounding concerned.
"I feel that way too. We've gone through a lot lately." Peter said. He then told his wife before telling her about his adventures on Earth-7622 and his return home.
"Never a dull moment with you." MJ said.
"Yeah, what about you and Mayday?" Peter asked.
"We've been doing alright." MJ told him.
Peter had a skeptical look as he walked out the doorway.
"I told her about everything." MJ told him.
It did not matter as Peter looked down at their living room. Little May Parker was currently hugging Gog like he were one of her stuffed animals, until Mayday looked up from her play area and saw her father at the top of the stairs. The toddler's mood perked up heavily.
"Daddy!" May happily exclaimed as she got up and started toddling towards her father. She released Gog, who quickly slinked away from the eager three-year-old.
Peter picked up his daughter and held her up in the air. May quickly hugged her father, who returned the hug in kind.
"Missed you, Daddy!" May told him.
"Yeah, I missed you too, kiddo." Peter simply replied.
Xavier Mansion, Earth 616
Marie was taking a tour when she stopped at a photo of Charles Xavier and some of his students. Despite their different costumes and the fact that they appeared to be teenagers in this, she recognized three of her rescuers: Cyclops, Angel, and Iceman. Although she was unfamiliar with the other two students, one was a boy with large hands and feet. He had a similar gait to Beast, which caused her to think this was Beast before he was younger. The other was a girl with red hair.
"I recognize the bald guy in the wheelchair. I saw him on TV." Marie told him.
"That would be Charles Xavier and the original X-Men, myself included." Beast told her.
Marie looked back at the portrait and then back at Hank.
"Puberty." She thought to herself.
"This is his house?" Marie asked.
"It used to be. Charles is no longer our leader. Cyclops is. Charles presently lives in Muir Island, based off of Scotland. However, he'll more often than not assist us. Especially when it comes to mutant-human relations and mutant rights." Beast told her.
"Mutant rights? What do you mean?" Marie asked, sounding confused. "I mean, look at this place."
Beast let out a sigh.
"I fear our kind, and yours are of two worlds in many ways." Beast told her.
Before he could elaborate, Beasts' ears perked up, and they heard a set of footsteps coming towards them. Wolverine walked towards them.
"Logan, you're back." Hank remarked.
Marie noted Beasts' expression got more stern.
"Hank, I'm figuring it the others left." Logan assumed.
"They did. Are Pitor and Kurt with you as well?" Hank questioned.
"No, flood rescues with the Hawkeyes." Logan told him before shifting his focus onto Marie. His expression gave off the impression that he recognized her.
"You were one of the orphans Sinister abducted." Logan said.
"Yeah." Marie remarked, confused. "How did…"
"Wolverine was the one who investigated your orphanage after the Marauders attacked. He let us know about what happened." Beast told her.
"Oh, thank you!" Marie told him.
"You're welcome." Logan simply replied. "I saw that place didn't look good even before Creed and his pals tore it up. Guessing you're more used to the world than Tinkerbell." He simply told her before walking away.
"Tinkerbell?"
Marie was simply confused by his statement.
"So besides you, Hank, who else is here?" Logan asked.
"Storm flew over from Wakanda." Beast told her.
Logan's perpetual frown turned more sympathetic.
"Can't imagine she's had much free time." Logan said.
"She hasn't." Beast sternly told him.
Logan let out a sigh.
"Where the hell is Thor when you need him." Logan muttered before walking away.
Payback Mansion,
"Here we are." Bucky announced as they stopped at the mansion.
The Runaways looked at the mansion's overgrown grounds.
"It's kind of better than I thought it would be." Molly said.
"A mansion, we're finally moving up in the world." Chase remarked.
Patriot stepped out of the door, looking on, completely surprised. He went up to Winter Soldier.
"The Runaways? Why did you bring them here?" Patriot asked.
"I ran into them running away from some HYDRA agents, and they want to help us." Bucky told him.
"HYDRA is here?" Eli asked, eyes wide open.
"Yeah, and they're planning something big. Where's Steve?" James asked.
Eli pointed to the house and soon saw Steve standing by the door.
"I'm here." Steve said as he stepped out of the house.
Ryan looked at the Runaways and noticed their collective reverence towards Steve. The Runaways looked like recruits rather than escapees.
"What was this about HYDRA?" Cap asked.
The Runaways couldn't hide their excitement.
"I'm talking to Captain America." Klara remarked, giddy with excitement, almost hopping off the ground.
"Shut up! Keep cool." Chase told her.
"He's Captain America, how can we keep cool?!" Molly questioned.
This confirmed to Ryan that he was looking at a big deal.
"It's the Red Skull… sir." Molly told him, awkwardly saluting when addressing him as sir.
That name got Captain America's full, undivided attention.
"What's he planning?" Steve asked.
"He's going to destroy our Earth and then take over this one." Chase told him.
Steve clenched his fists.
"We've got work to do." Captain America told him.
New York, Earth 7622
Sage drove the Payback's RV towing Butcher's car. Hughie played checkers against the symbiote. He made a move, and a strand of black mass grew out of his arm, making its own move. Once again, the symbiote won.
"Come on, now I know you're listening to my thoughts. That's cheating!" Hughie said.
Suddenly, Sage stopped the RV.
"What's the matter, love?" Butcher asked.
"Look up there."
The rest of the Payback glanced at the same direction as Sage, and they all but Hughie understood what she meant.
"What is it?" Hughie asked.
"See those light spots near the bridge?" Soldier Boy asked.
"That's the sun reflecting the scopes." The Punisher explained. "Snipers."
Without warning or request, Sage immediately turned the RV around, which quickly proved to be useless as all the tires popped like balloons. A dozen men in green uniforms pointing large guns with a red-hot light at the end surrounded the RV. One of them spoke loudly as he approached the entrance door.
"The territory you're entering has now been claimed by Hydra. Identify yourselves or- -"
The door blasted, hitting the Hydra agent like he was a bug, reducing burned and shredded meat on. Silence took over as Butcher stepped out of the RV, carrying his crowbar incandescent from the heat in his fiery bony hand, with Hughie and Soldier Boy right beside him. Butcher grinned as he spoke.
"Not very polite ain't he? Didn't finish his senten- -"
"Fire!" Another Hydra agent shouted.
They shot the trio and RV with everything. That same moment, Butcher's entire body turned to a flaming skeleton, his skull presenting a crack right above his right eye and Hughie jumped out the way of the shot as the symbiote took over the form of the black Spider-Man. Ghost Butcher opened his mouth and shot at the Hydra Agents like a flamethrower killing them all.
A military vehicle started shooting at them with heavier artillery, actually pushing them to the ground, except for Hughie, whose spider-sense warned him of the danger. He dodged and shot a web to their gun, ripping it off the vehicle and swung it back through the windshield, impaling the driver.
Soldier Boy touched the blood running down his cheek, anger took him over as he watched the military vehicle trying to drive off while the previous was still attached to the seat with the weapon's barrel.
"You're not going anywhere." He said.
He raced towards the moving vehicle and pushed it away, sending it bouncing out with the men inside. The surviving Hydra agent inside the car grabbed the radio.
"We need reinforcements!" He begged. "Air support, land support, we need everyone here!"
"What the hell are you talking about? You said it was just a regular RV approaching."
"They have a fucking Ghost Rid- -" Before they could finish it, Butcher torched the vehicle entirely.
As the snipers shot them, Soldier Boy waved the bullets out like they were annoying flies. Coming out of the RV, he saw something he wasn't expecting.
"What the fuck is that?"
Sages' arms were covered by what once was Iron Man's suit, now rebuilt from scrap but with the two propellers still visible on her palm. She had her white-lensed glasses on, technology attached to them with some kind of screen before her eyes. She casually walked towards them, as the sniper shot and a force field protected her.
"What? You thought I was going to waste that tech?"
Butcher looked at the RV, holes all over it from the shots.
"Is Castle dead?" He asked.
"No, he said he would take care of the snipers."
"Uh, guys, I think there's more than just snipers." Hughie said and pointed to fight jets.
Not just fight jets, tanks and more tanks, an army of Hydra agents marching towards them carrying the biggest guns they had ever seen, grenade-launchers, bazookas, too many of them to count. Hughie walked straight towards them.
"Where y'going, lad?"
"Come on. Let's give them a fucking spanking." Hughie said.
"Hughie, knock it on the head, will you…?"
"Brings me some memories." Soldier Boy said as he joined Hughie.
"Based on what the Punisher said about Ghost Rider's powers, our chances are pretty good." Sage told Butcher.
He looked to the other side, where he saw Kessler smiling.
"She's not wrong."
Butcher grinned. Terror ran to him and manifested his flaming skull as the Payback marched to the battle.
They were received by lasers and cannon blasts. Hughie dodged them all, pulled two Hydra men with his webs, using them to hit five more and when a tank was about to blast Soldier Boy, Hughie swung the men in front of the blast to shield him. Sage forced her way into the enemy front and hit a few of them with non-lethal blasts on the back. Just as she expected, they started shooting and she used her gauntlets to eject herself out of the way just as the Hydra agents shot, about a dozen killed by friendly fire.
Meanwhile, on top of the bridges, the Hydra snipers had their visual.
"You got them?" He heard his colleague asking on his earpiece.
"Yeah, I got- -" Two hands grabbed his head, one movement and his neck was broken.
Punisher pushed his body to the river and took his rifle. His first shot was the sniper on the other side of the bridge.
Soldier Boy wrestled with half a dozen Hydra soldiers pushed them against one of their tanks squashing them like bloody bugs. He grabbed one of their laser rifles and started blasting enemies around until the rifle went cold and presented a 'CHARGING' warning, Soldier Boy simply threw it on another Hydra agent and impaled his head. Butcher grabbed the gun and lifted the man's body along with it, once it presented 'CHARGED', he pulled the trigger and hellfire out of his boney hand engulfed the rifle and exploded it with a fiery blast. Some Hydra soldiers were in flames and ran away in pain, these same men were caught by Terror who jumped and mauled them.
Hughie was attacked by a Hydra tank, he dodged the blast and grabbed the cannon, pulling it violently with all of his strength, turning the whole tank sideways as it crushed more Hydra men. While Hughie caught his breath, his spider sense warned him of the danger, he remembered what Ock said about Spider-Man having a better reaction time.
"Shit." He said.
But before the Hydra agent shot him with the rocket launcher, a bullet went through the barrel, and he exploded. Hughie looked up and saw Castle with the rifle.
"Thanks!" Hughie shouted.
The tanks driver tried to leave through the hatch but when his body was half way out, Soldier Boy closed it cutting his body in half. As he was being attacked from the back, Soldier Boy ripped out the hatch-door and used to bash the enemies. The door worked as shied from the blasts and was so heavy it easily crushed their bodies.
"Holy shit!" Soldier Boy said, marveling at his new toy. It was heavy and he could hold it by the lock like a shield. Just a shame it was round.
Butcher and Terror shredded the Hydra soldier as easily as if they were. With hit on the head with his crowbar and their skull became a smokey mess of burning meat. Sage saw the hellfire around them and got an idea, the screen on her glasses analyzed the bridge and it found something flammable, a gas truck. She quickly ejected herself towards the truck, blasting everyone on her way dead and once there, stabbed the ignition with a chip she collected from the Iron Man. She controlled it from afar and drove it to Butcher. The second it hit Butcher, boom, he and Terror walked out the fire like it was nothing, but whatever was left of Hydra was gone.
Hiding, behind a car, the wounded survivors spoke on the radio.
"We need help!" He begged.
"You're dead already, we're sending air support to bomb the whole bridge."
"At least I'll get to watch these fuckers di- -"
A sniper bullet went through his skull, and then through the skulls of everyone left. Punisher searched the area through his scope, no one left.
Even so, Hughie's spider sense went off, something was coming. Fighter jets coming with bombs. Butcher whistled to his car and it broke from the toll and drove right to him. He entered it and Terror jumped in with him. It was like fireworks, the flaming car crashing against the fighter jets and flying through the explosion to hit another and another.
Butcher found Punisher on the top of the bridge and opened the passenger door for him.
"You climbed the whole way up here to get these cunts?" Butcher asked.
"Only way up."
"No powers no nothing, good one, mate."
As he said that, Butcher took a glance at his face on the rearview mirror, just a flaming cracked skull. His face changed back to nothing in disgust with what he saw. He drove down to reunite with the Payback and Hughie's symbiote revealed his smiling face as he proceeded to speak in pure joy.
"That was…! Fucking…!" He struggled to find the right word until he looked at Butcher. "Diabolical!"
Hughie didn't even notice Butcher was more concerned than amused by his remark.
"Go Payback." Sage excitedly said teasing Soldier Boy.
"Before celebrating, we have to sort something out." Punisher said.
"He's right." Kessler appeared to Butcher and agreed.
The Punisher and Zarathos both said at the same time pointing at the bodies.
"What are these asshole doing here?"
Godolkin University,
At a secret outpost near the campus, two guards were chatting with one another.
"So we just go along with this and can get a fresh start on your world, right?" One asked.
"Essentially that." The other stated.
"Good, I was worried that my time here would not make that possible. I mean I've seen a lot of death." The native guard mentioned.
"Yeah, me too, I've worked under A.I.M. for years experiments always have a chance to go wrong." The 616 guard told him.
"Yeah, the faculty is still anxious, though especially since you know who broke out during the black out." The 7622 guard mentioned.
"Yeah, so are they going to bring him in or kill him? I heard a lot of debate about that." The 616 guard told him.
"Don't know, but I'm hoping they do. He killed my buddy, punched him in the face, and caved his fucking skull in." The 7622 guard bitterly remarked.
"Sorry to hear about that." The 616 guard told him.
"Yeah, honestly, supes were a mistake. I used to idolize them as a kid, but now as an adult… God what a bunch of fucking time bombs." The 7622 guard said.
"You know I had a brother-in-law who was in the Friends of Humanity. I think he even campaigned with Graydon Creed back…" The 616 guard was cut off by the sound of loud slurping behind them.
They turned around and saw Deadpool drinking a mug that said, "I love you." On the bottom was a depiction of Wade doing the crotch chop.
"What the…" the 7622 guard said.
The 616 guard prepared to draw his weapon.
"No, don't mind me. You've all put down your asshole victim credentials." Wade told them.
The 7622 guard looked at the 616 guard.
"Who the fuck is this?" The 7622 guard asked.
Wade pulled out his pistols, twirling them in his fingers.
"I am known as Shalashaska!" Deadpool said, pulling out his pistols. He began to twirl them.
He juggled the guns, gaining their attention until he fired one of them, killing the 616 guard.
"Whatever the fuck that means! Kojima won't return my emails." Deadpool told the other one.
"Holy fuck… You killed him." The guard told him, horrified.
"Yeah, no shit, I shot him in the head. That usually kills just about anyone." Deadpool told him.
The guard pulled out his baton.
"The others…" The guard pointed out.
"How do you think I got here to begin with?" Deadpool told him.
"Are you sure you want to do that? Do you know how many nameless henchmen I've killed since the '92? I mean, the text hasn't even given you a name. You're practically dead already." Deadpool told him.
"Fuck you!" The guard yelled.
He lunged at Deadpool, who simply dodged. He tried to jab the merc, who simply broke his arm in return. The guard screamed in pain, dropping it.
"See, like I told you." Deadpool told him.
"What do you want?" The guard asked.
"The woods. What happens there and who was that escape you mentioned?" Deadpool asked. "I'm getting some Third Reich vibes from it all. So don't you tell me that you're "following orders" I'm not Nick Lowe levels of stupid." Wade told him.
"The rock…"
Wade punched him in the jaw.
"No, not the rock star, now tell me!" Wade demanded, he made his voice more gravelly during his threat.
The guard refused to talk, but Deadpool looked somewhere else.
"Look at him." Wade remarked. "He thinks he's relevant to the plot." Wade told the audience.
Wade grabbed his hands. He started to break his fingers, individually.
"STOP! I'LL TELL YOU HOW TO GET IN!" The guard cried out after Wade broke three of his fingers.
John had his entire costume on as he fought a Sentinel, one of the mutant hunter giant robots. He held its hand and pushed it away from him as it blasted the 5th Avenue. The Sentinel's eye camera analyzed Homelander, producing a chilling electronic baritone.
"TARGET IDENTIFIED: NON-MUTANT, ENHANCED HUMAN."
He lasered the eyes and flew to the back, hiding it behind the head and taking the Sentinel's head off. John panted as the Sentinel and the 5th Avenue disappeared in a hologram. He was in the Danger Room and Professor Xavier rode in to see him.
"How do you feel, John?"
"Not well enough. I should've been able to beat this simulation without breaking a sweat. My powers are still not completely back yet."
"Enough of these simulations, now something else. We are still yet to talk about the driver."
"What about him? He died of a heart attack."
"No, he had a minor heart attack. That's what made him lose control of the car. But he could've been saved. He died when you hit his car to save those women."
"And I fucking saved them, that's for sure."
"You took the easier route. Sometimes, when you do that, things go wrong."
Something flash in his eye, a memory, a daydream, he didn't know. He pictured himself stopping a terrorist hijacking a commercial flight. He needs to kill him, so he lasers him, he also lasers the control and the plane crashes.
"I-I didn't have my powers for a while, they just came back and I was a bit rusty that's all."
"Maybe for your powers to fully come back you should be able to use them more responsibly. The driver, his name was John Patel. John, same as you."
"Same as me?" Homelander asked, pointing to the absurdity of the remark.
"Same as you." The Professor repeated and pointed to his nose.
John touched his nose and realized he was bleeding. Just as the Professor rode out of the Danger Room, Homelander reached his phone inside his boot.
"Becca, it's me. I need to get some info on John Patel, that was the driver who had the heart attack." He considered for a moment. "Also, back in 2000 me and Noir had this hostage situation in this factory, can you get me names and info of everyone involved? There was also this car chase… You know what? You better sit down and grab a pen."