A/N: And here's another chapter, which will begin to connect the horror parts of this story to the larger narrative! Enjoy!
Earth-1
Spider-Man swung from building to building, holding onto Amy with one arm, as he soared through the air.
"WHOA!" Bendix laughed, feeling the wind breeze through her hair. "This is fun!"
Peter fired a web at the Empire State Building, swinging them over to a rooftop that overlooked the former Avengers Tower, bringing them to a stop.
"So, what'd you think?" Parker asked.
"Damn! I don't think I've had that much fine in a while!" Amy grinned. "Thanks Pete!"
Spider-Man chuckled behind his mask, before he suddenly felt his spider-sense go off.
"What the…"
Peter looked behind him, seeing a hexagonal shaped portal open up.
"Huh… that doesn't look like the usual portals Doctor Strange makes…"
Spider-Man brought up his fists, preparing for a fight, when a figure in a blue suit with red lines jumped out, towering over both teens. The man's face was covered in a mask that looked similar, yet different to what Peter wore, with red fins on his gauntlets, and a symbol on his chest that looked like both a spider and a skull at the same time.
"Are you the Peter Parker of this Earth?" the man asked.
"Uh… yes?" Spider-Man mumbled.
"You need to come with me. Now." the man demanded. "The fate of your universe, and countless others, hang in the balance."
"Whoa, hang on." Peter backed up, as Amy put a hand on her pistol. "Why should I go with you? I don't even know you, and you just appeared out of some weird portal like Doctor Strange! I mean… you're not like Doctor Strange, are you?"
As if to answer that question, another figured jumped out of the portal, whom Spider-Man and Amy recognized instantly from the black and white suit with the hood.
"Ghost Spider?" Bendix raised an eyebrow.
The vigilante lowered her hood and mask, revealing a head of blonde hair with piercing green eyes.
"Good to see you again Peter. Amy." the woman explained. Behind his mask, Peter frowned, remembering her face from a video he watched last year.
Don't lose hope.
"Gwen?" Parker blurted out. "Your Peter-3's Gwen?"
Gwen slowly nodded, and that's when Peter noticed the red around her eyes. Like she had been crying.
"Gwen… what happened?"
"We'll explain everything, but you need to come with us." the man in the blue suit declared. "We don't have much time."
Peter looked back at Amy, who shrugged.
"Go get 'em, Tiger."
Parker smiled, before walking towards Gwen and her companion, and the three of them were enveloped by the portal, leaving Amy alone on the roof.
"Damn." Bendix muttered, looking at the street below. "Should've asked for a ride down."
Instead of falling, like so many times before, Frank found that he, America, and Strange were walking through the portals now. The only real problem was that they kept opening.
The first world they went through had some type of mansion in the distance, with the grounds in front of it containing the letter K cut into the grass, but with a circle around it, and laying on its side.
The second portal took them to the streets of New York, except all the buildings looked decrepit and falling apart. Castle looked around, seeing civilians sluggishly moving, their eyes glazed over, blood dribbling from orifices, flesh rotting away. They looked like-
"Zombies." Frank realized. "America-"
Another portal already opened, and the three quickly jumped through, not even looking back. Once they stepped out, Frank surveyed their surroundings, finding them in the middle of another street at night time. The Punisher blinked in curiosity, seeing that they were in front of a rather tall building. A high rise, if he remembered correctly.
"Where are we now?" Strange asked, looking over to Chavez.
"I… I don't know." the girl confessed. "I'm sorry. When I saw Chthon… massacring the TVA, then the zombies in the last universe, I just… I should've focused harder once it was all over."
Frank slowly nodded, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, I get it." he murmured. "You're a kid, you got scared again. But we can't make mistakes, remember that? We make mistakes, and people die."
"I… I know." America lowered her head. The Punisher looked down, trying to choose his next words carefully, when he suddenly heard a car horn right in front of them. He snapped his head up and looked to the right, just in time to see a yellow Oldsmobile Delta barrel towards them, stopping just in time.
"What the hell…" Frank growled, putting a hand on his gun. The door suddenly opened up, and a boy with blonde hair stuck his head out.
"Hey, sorry!" the kid stammered. Frank raised an eyebrow, realizing this kid looked younger than America by about a year. "I didn't see you there!"
"Danny, let's just get back home!" another voice, probably the boy's sister, called out from inside the car. "Sorry you guys!"
The boy, Danny, got back in the car, and the vehicle swerved around the trio, driving into the high rise building's parking garage.
"Well, that's a warm welcome." Stephen scoffed.
At the same time that Doctor Strange, Frank Castle, and America jumped out of the portal, Wanda's consciousness silently followed via mystical energy, sensing another of her variants was close.
Go in, Wanda…
Reaching out, Wanda followed the car that almost hit Frank into the parking garage, watching the boy… Danny, was it? Watched him fiddle with the entrance key, eventually opening the gate after pressing the button twice. She drifted up the stairs, foregoing the elevator, passing through walls and doorways, until she saw a woman with short black hair sitting in a bathroom, listening to a voice recording.
"Hey Bethie-Boo. Me and Jay… you know what, nevermind-"
"I get it. I wouldn't want to hear my voice either."
Wanda turned around, seeing another woman, slightly older, with hair dyed crimson.
Her…
"What's going on with you, Beth?" the woman asked, sitting down at the edge of the tub beside the one with black hair.
"I… I screwed up again Ellie. Like I always do." Beth confessed. "And I need you to help me figure it out… again."
"Well, what happened?" Ellie asked. "You're my sister. You can always tell me."
Beth pursed her lips, about to say something, when she suddenly heard the entire room shake. Despite being nearly invisible, Wanda noticed too.
What's happening? The witch asked. Chthon, what's going on?
Mmm… my children. The demon chuckled. They're here… I can sense them…
Outside the high rise, the trio felt the very Earth shake, with Frank looking at the garage.
"Come on." he urged America and Strange. "Those kids are inside."
Castle rushed towards the parking garage, Stephen and America following, as they made it to the gate.
"Dammit!" Frank shouted, seeing the locked gate. Just beyond them were the kids, Danny, and what Castle assumed were his two sisters. "Strange, can you-"
"Already working on it!" Stephen yelled, rotating his hand. After several seconds of sparks, a portal spiraled into existence, and Frank quickly jumped through to the other side, running forward and placing his body over the kids.
"Stay down." the Punisher ordered, hearing lights shatter, metal groan, and walls of cement begin to crumble. As he put his arms around the two girls, holding them and the boy close to his chest, he looked up, seeing a crack form in the ground, splitting the pavement… and coming right toward them.
"Ah hell…"
Inside the bathroom, Ellie grabbed Beth and forced them both to crouch to the ground, as she looked up frantically. Her eyes caught sight of something in the mirror, and when she turned to get a better look, she saw this… woman in a red dress, staring right at her. Ellie opened her mouth, possibly in shock, possibly to say something, but the odd reflection pulled itself out of the mirror and rushed her, making the older woman fall to the ground in fright.
"Oh god!" Beth cried out, seeing her sister fall to the ground and shake. "Ellie? El?"
As the crack in the ground got closer, Frank suddenly felt himself falling, and he looked down, seeing that Strange opened up a portal beneath them- and they just fell through. Luckily, the fall wasn't that high, and they all landed safely, albeit flat on their backs. Just in the nick of time too, as the rumbling suddenly stopped.
"Holy shit. That was intense." Danny murmured, as Frank let go of them. "Uh, thanks, mister…"
"My name's Frank." Castle told the boy.
"Uh, thanks Frank." Danny nodded, flicking his eyes toward the ground. "Um… I'm Danny. These are my sisters, Bridget and Kassie."
Danny timidly pointed to his sisters, first the one with short black hair, then the youngest, who had long blonde strands.
"And I… um…"
"Hey." Frank looked the boy in the eye. "You good?"
"He's trying to say he's sorry for almost running you over." Bridget called out. "Right Danny?"
"Uh… right." the boy nodded.
"Don't worry about it." Frank muttered. "You wouldn't be the first."
"That's cool!"
Frank looked at the source of the noise, seeing the little girl, Kassie, was pointing at him.
"What?"
"Your shirt! I like the skull!" Kassie said excitedly.
"That right?" Frank raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, Kassie always liked weird stuff like that." Bridget explained, while the girl looked down at the ground.
"Oh no!" Kassie cried, looking down at a pizza box. Frank followed her gaze, seeing an entire pizza pie was lying face down on the grimy pavement. Next to it were spilled styrofoam cups of soda, the contents of bright green liquid mingling with the food.
"The pizza's ruined!"
"It's okay." Danny said reassuringly. "It's just pizza."
"Castle!"
Frank looked back up, seeing Strange and America walking towards them.
"Friends of yours?" Bridget asked.
"Yeah." Frank murmured, walking over to the sorcerer and the girl. "You two alright?"
"We're fine." Stephen folded his arms. "But that earthquake… it wasn't natural. I'm sensing something demonic is here."
"So Wanda and Chthon are here too?" Frank grit his teeth.
"No… something worse." Strange narrowed his eyes. "This presence… it's similar to the one I felt when we initially encountered Mia."
Castle took a step back, widening his eyes slightly.
"Hey Bridget, look!" Danny's voice suddenly echoed. The trio, as well as the sisters, followed his voice, seeing him crouched over an area that the crack ended.
"There's a hole!"
"Careful Dan, there could be aftershocks!" Bridget shouted, sticking close to Kassie.
"Cool! It's an old bank vault!" Danny grinned, starting to climb down.
"Danny, don't!" Bridget warned, but the boy didn't listen, and he vanished down the hole.
"Shit!"
The older sister stared at where her brother was in mortification, before turning towards Frank.
"I know we don't know you guys well… and Dan almost ran you over… but could you please go get him?"
Frank was about to agree, when America piped up.
"I'll go!" she volunteered. "I'm probably small enough to fit through there!"
"Be careful kid." Castle warned. The girl nodded, as she walked over to the hole, slowly climbing in after Danny.
"Ellie! Ellie, come on!"
Beth shook her sister, seeing her unresponsive for several seconds. Just as she was about to stop, Ellie's eyes snapped open, and she looked up.
"Beth?"
"Ellie." Beth smiled. "Are you okay?"
"Uh…" Ellie frowned. "Y-yes. I'm fine. Just had a scare."
Beth raised an eyebrow, almost not believing, but helped her up.
"Come on, we need to find your kids."
Ellie blinked, looking around for something that would give her a clue to what she meant. Luckily, there was a picture on the floor, fallen from the sink, that depicted herself and three children. A boy and two girls.
"Uh, right. Right."
"El?"
Ellie looked back at Beth, seeing her sister look at her in scrutiny.
"Are you sure you're okay?" the younger sister asked. "Did you hit your head too hard?"
"I…" Ellie looked around, before burying her head in Beth's shoulder.
"Yes." she said in a muffled voice. "I forgot their names. I forgot my own name!"
Beth hugged her sister tight, patting her back.
"Hey, hey." she said soothingly. "It's okay. It's not like you forgot everything. Your kids are Danny, Bridget, and Kassie. And you're my older sister, Ellie Hack. Remember?"
Ellie pulled away, smiling sadly.
"Thanks, Bethie-Boo."
Beth grinned, punching her in the shoulder.
"Well, you seemed to have remembered my nickname. Come on now."
America climbed down the hole and followed after Danny, who seemed to be looking into some old corridors.
"Hey, Danny." America murmured, trying to emulate Frank's cadence. "Come on, let's go."
"Not yet, okay?" Danny called back, opening up rusted bank drawers to find nothing. He suddenly spied a sack laid on top of a desk, and upon opening them, found dusty vinyl records.
"Cool." he grinned, placing them in his backpack.
"You done?" Chavez asked, looking around. She couldn't put her finger on it, but the dark, claustrophobic room… coupled with the fact that Strange just said he felt a presence similar to when they all met Mia on her Earth…
Something suddenly bumped into her shoulder, and America cried out, looking at the assailant… only to find a wooden crucifix and statue of Jesus Christ leaning toward her.
"Shit!" she screamed, backing away, stopping right next to Danny. "Dan, let's go!"
"Hang on!" Danny protested, actually moving toward the statue. "What if there's something back there?"
He made his way to the statue, seeing just beyond it was a smaller room, littered with hundreds of pentecostal coins and cross necklaces that hung from the ceiling. In the middle of the chamber was what looked like a stone coffin, with a small fist sized hole in the center. It must've been busted during the earthquake.
With his curiosity piqued, Danny crept towards the stone slab, thrusting his hand in, and felt an object wrapped in cloth. Upon pulling it out and resting it on the broken rock, he examined the… thing, seeing it crawl and writhe.
Was it alive?
"Danny?"
Dan looked back, seeing America in the doorway.
"Just a sec." Danny told her, turning back to the rectangular cloth and pulling at the material. The thing exploded, and what looked like dozens of beetles and flies flew around, making Danny shout in fear, batting at the insects. The angry bugs flew around, escaping the boy, but also flew past America, who shrieked in surprise.
"Dammit, Dan!" Chavez growled. "That's it, let's go!"
"Alright, alright!" Danny shouted, looking back at the object. Now that the cloth was gone, he could see that the thing in front of him was a book, of sorts. However, it was unlike any book he ever saw, on account that it was made of dark brown leather, with teeth binding it in place, like a locking mechanism. Hell, there was a design that looked like veins were spiderwebbing from the teeth and across the cover.
"Cool." Danny whispered, quickly grabbing the book and stuffing it in his backpack.
"Alright, I'm ready to go!" the boy called out, running back to the vault's entrance… where the hole and America were.
"About time!" Chavez grumbled, looking up to see Frank looking down at them. He reached down, and she had to jump up to grab his hand.
"Had fun down there?" Castle asked dryly, pulling the girl up.
"Something like that." America muttered, as he reached down and pulled Danny out.
Ellie paced around the apartment's hallway, watching Beth trying to call her cell phone.
"Anything?"
"No, the network is fucked." her sister shook her head, putting her phone away. "I'm sure their fine, El."
Ellie shook her head, continuing to pace around, as a door opened down the hall, and a younger man walked out, having short hair and wearing a gray tank top.
"Hey, is everyone okay?" the man asked, walking towards the two women. "Ellie, I heard you guys talking, everyone alright?"
Ellie opened her mouth to speak, at a loss for words. In truth, Wanda wasn't sure why she was keeping up this act about being concerned for this woman's kids. Maybe just to fool her 'sister'. Or maybe because she was putting herself in the mother's shoes, literally.
"Uh, sorry, my sister has a bit of memory loss from the earthquake that just happened." Beth informed the man.
"Oh, sorry." he apologized, looking between the two. "I'm Gabe, your neighbor. Is everything okay, Ellie?"
"I, um…" Ellie murmured. "My kids are missing, and we can't reach them. Can we borrow your phone?"
"I'll do you one better and drive you." Gabe told her. "Lemme get my keys."
"Thank you." Ellie smiled, just as another door opened behind her.
"Who are you?"
Ellie turned around, seeing an older, more round-shaped man step out of his apartment, looking at Ellie.
"I'm… I'm Beth. Ellie's sister."
"Oh, yeah." the older man chuckled. "You're the groupie."
Beth gave Ellie the side-eye, while Wanda frowned in confusion.
"I'm sorry Beth." Ellie mumbled. "I don't remember telling Mister…"
"Fonda." the old man furrowed his brow. "What, you got amnesia? I've lived across from you and your kids for years."
"Uh, something like that." Ellie stammered, just as she heard Gabe's voice.
"Got my keys. Let's roll." Gabe called out, walking briskly toward the sisters. Just as he reached them, they all heard an elevator dinged, and Ellie and Beth looked at the end of the hall, seeing a set of doors open up.
"Is that them?" Ellie asked hopefully, as a group of six individuals stepped out.
"Yeah, El." Beth grinned. "It's them… with some strangers."
Danny lead everyone out of the elevator, seeing Beth, Ellie, and two of their neighbors, Gabe and Mr. Fonda, out in the hall.
"Nice meeting you." Fonda muttered to Beth, before heading back into his apartment.
"Oh my god, you're okay!" Ellie cried out, rushing over and hugging her son and daughters. "But never take an elevator after an earthquake. Never!"
"Um… Bridgit dropped the pizza." Kassie murmured.
"Oh, baby…" Ellie said. "I love you guys so much more than pizza."
The mother looked up while embracing her children, seeing Frank, Strange, and America step out of the elevator.
"Who are you people?"
"Mom, they saved us." Danny told her. "They found us in the parking garage, and made sure we didn't get hurt."
Frank cleared his throat, stepping forward.
"Frank Castle, Ma'am."
The woman nodded, reaching out a hand.
"Ellie Hack."
The two shook, but as Frank looked in her eyes, she noticed a spark of recognition. It almost seemed like… she knew him…
Castle slowly pulled away, clearing his throat.
"Doctor Strange." Stephen reached out and shook her hand as well, before pointing to America.
"This is our young friend, America Chavez."
"Charmed." the woman smiled, although Frank could see it wasn't a friendly one.
Shit.
The woman continued embracing her kids, while Frank nudged his head toward the sorcerer.
"Hey, Strange…" he whispered. "It's Wanda."
Stephen immediately looked up, noticing the mother was smiling at them. But both Frank and Strange saw her eyes had no joy in them. Only annoyance and frustration.
"Thank you for saving my children." Ellie said sweetly. "Perhaps you all can stay for the night? To ensure your own safety?"
Frank took a step forward, about to fire back a retort, when Strange put a hand on his shoulder.
Not here. Not now.
"We'd be honored, but not for too long." the sorcerer told her.
"Oh that's okay." Ellie shrugged, as she led her kids back into her apartment. Beth followed close behind, looking at Frank strangely. Odd, he felt a weird… connection to her…
"Castle."
Frank looked back at Strange, seeing him put a protective arm in front of Chavez.
"We can't let her get America."
"I know." Frank muttered, looking back at the apartment to see Beth walking through.
"But we gotta play along for now. Make sure she doesn't hurt her variant's family."
Somewhat reluctantly, Frank and Stephen walked into the apartment, America following closely behind, going through a small hallway. Directly in front of them was what looked like the living room with a television,while past that were three bedrooms. Just to the left was a small kitchen, with an even smaller stove.
"Ooh, Frank, I want you to meet my friend!" Kassie squealed, running into the bedroom on the left. A few seconds later, she came back, holding up a broken stick with a baby head attached to the top.
"This is Staffanie!" she smiled, her eyes full of joy.
"Staffanie?" Frank repeated, eyeing the… toy? "What happened to her?"
"Oh, Bridget broke her, but that makes her look scarier!" Kassie grinned.
"I didn't break her." Bridget frowned. "You're the one who chased me around with it!"
"Why do you want it to look scary?" America asked.
"Because Danny said that the bank vault you guys found down there was haunted!" the girl explained. "So if any ghosts try to come get me, Staffanie will scare them instead!"
Danny rolled his eyes, before going to his room. Bridget narrowed her eyes, noticing he was almost guarding his backpack, and quietly followed after him.
"Auntie Beth also gave me this!" Kassie continued, holding up her arm and letting a silver charm bracelet dangle from her wrist. "She said it's for badass rock chicks!"
Frank smiled at the girl's enthusiasm, feeling a similar pull he felt when Amy was by his side. It was like… this girl also reminded him of his own daughter Lisa.
"Hey El, will you need help packing?" Beth asked her sister. "Before you have to move out?"
Ellie blinked for a moment, like she was in a trance, before shaking her head.
"N-no. I'll be fine." she murmured, moving towards the closet.
"But Mom! It's almost time for my bath!" Kassie called out.
"Hey, I can help you with that." Beth told her niece. "Come on, go get ready."
Kassie gave her aunt an uneasy look, but slowly made her way back to her room, shutting it behind her.
"So… do you watch the news?" Beth asked, turning on the television.
"Sometimes." Frank grunted, while America stared at Danny's bedroom.
"Okay I'm ready!" Kassie suddenly shouted, opening the door to reveal herself wearing a swimsuit, floaties on her arms, and goggles.
"Let's go Kass!" Beth exclaimed, leading the girl into the bathroom. "We're going on a deep sea adventure!"
Frank let out a small smile, as the two of them shut the door, with the sound of a bathtub running water following them.
"Castle…" Strange raised an eyebrow.
"Sorry." Frank mumbled. "She reminds me of Lisa, you know?"
"Aw." America smirked. "Is the big bad Punisher growing a heart?"
The smile quickly vanished, replaced by Castle's stern stare.
"Don't bet on it, kid."
Chavez softly laughed, before Frank turned his attention back to the television, hearing the news anchor talk.
"A magnitude of a 5.5 earthquake struck downtown Los Angeles an hour ago…"
"Los Angeles?" Frank murmured, tearing his eyes from the television and looking back to America. "How'd you think of Los Angeles?"
America widened her eyes, opening her mouth in shock.
"I… I'm not sure." Chavez confessed, looking at her hands. "I thought I was taking us to a universe similar to the last one."
Frank frowned, remembering the last universe they were in before this was infested with zombies. If her portals worked by going off of similarities…
"Maybe you guessed wrong." Stephen folded his arms. "Or maybe we need to be here for a reason."
"What, you're thinking it's fate?" Castle snorted.
"Stranger things have happened, Mister Castle." the sorcerer told him, as Ellie/Wanda walked through the apartment, mechanically picking pairs of clothes from the closet.
"I'll keep an eye on her." Frank whispered, walking towards the mother. America gave a weary look, before turning towards Danny's bedroom.
"Where are you going?" Strange asked.
"I, uh…" America bit her tongue. "Something doesn't feel right, ever since he found that bank vault."
Stephen pursed his lips, seeing the girl's growing concern, and he slowly nodded.
"Let me know if it's something bad. My hair's been standing up ever since the quake."
"Got it."
America turned on her heel and walked towards the bedroom, opening up the set of double doors to see Danny and Bridget crowded around the table, surrounded by speakers and a record player with sound equipment.
"You think it's worth something? Mom could use the money." Danny asked.
"I don't think she'll want cash from something you stole." the sister told him.
"It's not stealing. The vault was abandoned, probably for over a hundred years!" the boy protested.
"Yeah, and weird shit like this gets locked away for a reason." Bridgit retorted.
"What weird shit?" Chavez asked, making her presence known. The siblings whirled around, seeing their new friend staring at them in curiosity.
"Well, I…" Danny stammered.
"Danny stole a creepy book from the vault." Bridget announced.
"Dammit, Bridge!"
"Book?"
America looked closer, seeing on the table was a leatherbound book with teeth for a clasp. Her eyes widened, as she remembered the Necronomicon Ex Mortis book that Strange found in Mia's world. She could even feel an evil presence radiating from the book. A presence similar to the very demon that hunted her, Chthon.
Were they related somehow?
"Dan, leave it."
Chavez blinked, realizing that Danny had grabbed the book, and was now trying to pry open the clasp. After a few seconds of straining, one of the teeth poked his finger, and he cried out in pain, dropping the book to the floor.
"Fuck!" he yelled, as a few drops of blood landed on the cover.
"Danny, are you-"
"Just a scratch." the boy told his sister. "I'm fine."
America's eyes shifted to the book, seeing the drops of blood seemingly dissolve into the book, and the teeth opened up.
"Holy shit." she gasped, gaining the siblings' attention.
"Whoa." the brother murmured, taking the book and opening it up to reveal several grotesque illustrations. A woman's limbs being bent in odd positions. A demonic creature beheading several children. Worm like drawings bursting from someone's mouth. A naked person being torn apart by a dozen hands. And they were all inked in a deep red color. Almost like… blood…
America began to feel queasy, and would have thrown up, if Bridgit didn't suddenly slam the book shut.
"I don't like this Dan." she told him. "You need to put it back, right fucking now."
"But… Mom's not letting any of us leave." Danny weakly protested. "She even insisted America and her friends stay here until we knew it was safe!"
Chavez grimaced, knowing the real reason why she suggested that. But what could she tell them? Would they even believe her?
"Fine. Then first thing tomorrow." Bridget ordered, before leaving. Danny looked at his sister in disdain, while America looked at the tome in mortification.
"Danny, you have to get rid of that."
"Not you too." Dan groaned.
"Listen, Strange and I have seen a book just like that, and it's evil." Chavez shuddered. "Trust me, that thing is evil too. You have to put it back, or bury it."
"But… it's mine."
"No, it belongs in that vault." America told him, turning to leave. "Promise that you'll take that back."
"Okay… okay." Danny murmured. America nodded in appreciation, before leaving the bedroom to join Strange.
Frank watched Ellie slowly pile clothes and other junk in a box from another room, when he suddenly heard Kassie and Beth speaking in the bathroom. Well, the latter more made grunting noises, while the kid spoke to her.
"It's okay. I don't like it when my tummy hurts either."
Castle slowly exhaled, having a hunch that the groaning wasn't just from a stomach ache. A few moments later, Frank heard the bathroom door slowly shut, and he looked over his shoulder, seeing Beth step out, clutching her abdomen.
"Hey." he murmured, walking over and placing a hand on her shoulder. "You good?"
"Yeah." Beth flashed a weak smile. "Just a stomach ache."
Frank shook his head, sighing.
"How far along are you?"
Beth's eyes widened, looking away.
"That obvious?"
"I was married." Castle told her. "Had two kids. My wife had the same symptoms."
Beth weakly laughed, but refused to look at Frank.
"A few weeks… I think." Beth bit her lip. "I don't know who the father is. I must've gotten knocked up on the road."
Beth closed her eyes, placing a hand to her forehead.
"I came here because I didn't know what to do, and I find out my sister needs to move out. God, I fucked up."
"No." Frank mumbled, stepping in front of her. "I knocked up my high school sweetheart. She expected me not to stay with her, told me as much. I ended up asking her to marry me right after."
Beth opened her eyes, seeing Frank look back to her.
"Maybe you don't know who he is, that doesn't mean you'll have to be alone. You got your sister, your family. So hold onto them."
Beth smiled, grabbing his hand and squeezing it tightly.
"I should get back in there." Beth murmured.
"Yeah."
Castle swallowed, looking back up to see Ellie quietly leave the apartment and go down the hall.
Speaking of…
"I'll be right back." he murmured, letting go of Beth and briskly walking out the door, following Ellie down the hall. The mother stopped at the stairwell exit, groaning, and instead walked towards the elevator.
"Thought you said never take the elevator after a quake." Frank called out.
Wanda sighed, pressing the button to go to ground floor.
"Fuck it." she muttered, turning around to see Frank enter the metal box. "I know what you're going to do Frank."
"That right?" Castle raised an eyebrow.
"You're going to try to convince me to let America go." she told him, as the elevator doors shut, and they began to go down. "Don't waste your breath."
America rejoined Strange back in the apartment's living room, crossing her arms.
"What happened?" Stephen asked.
"He's got this book locked shut with teeth." she told him. "It came from the bank vault underground, and when Danny cut himself, the blood somehow unlocked it."
Stephen's eyes widened, as he looked down at the Necronomicon still fastened to his belt. Or more importantly, the space where it was supposed to be.
He lost it? But how? And who…
Strange grit his teeth, realizing what had happened. Or rather, who could have taken it right under his nose.
Constantine…
Shaking his head, Strange looked back at America, deciding the Necronomicon of this universe was a priority.
"Why didn't you mention that sooner?" the sorcerer asked, rushing towards the boy's bedroom. He placed his hands on the door handles, just in time to hear an old record play.
"I, Father Marcus Liverton, will read aloud the first of the resurrection passages. KANDA…"
Stephen threw the doors open, startling Danny.
"What the hell are you doing?" Strange demanded. "Shut that off, now!"
In a panic, the boy began to rapidly hit the off switch on his record player, but nothing happened.
"ESTRADA… KANDA…"
"Wanda, you gotta let America go." Frank told her. "What if it was your kids someone was after?"
"I…" Wanda stopped, even as the elevator doors opened.
"You'd do anything to protect them, right?" Castle told her. Maximoff's eyes hardened, and she stepped forward.
"Yes I would. And I am."
"KUSHNA… INDOCTNA…"
Danny began to frantically try to pull the vinyl off the player, only for him to get a small electric shock.
"I'll handle this." Stephen announced, twisting his hand and creating an orange circle in his palm. That same circle laced around the record for a few moments, before suddenly shaking uncontrollably, and exploding in a shockwave that threw the sorcerer back out of the bedroom.
"Strange!" America yelled, running over to her friend.
"STEREBUSE… KANDA…"
Wanda continued walking out towards the garage, while Frank followed behind her.
"Wanda, don't do this." Castle begged. "You can't justify killing the kid just to see your own."
"Sure I can." Wanda said flippantly. "Stop trying to 'save' me, Frank. I don't want it."
"KANDA…"
Before Wanda could take another step, she felt a strong gust of wind push her, and before she knew it, she was flung back into the elevator.
"Wanda!" Castle yelled in alarm, as the doors shut, and the elevator was pulled upwards.
"What the fuck?"
The Punisher looked over at the stairs, and quickly making a decision, ran full speed, making it to the steps and began to bound up two at a time.
He wasn't sure what was going on, but he had to save Wanda- and the variant she was currently possessing.
Wanda screamed in terror, as the elevator shot up all the way to the top floor, before violently slamming her body against the box's metal ceiling. Maximoff groaned, slowly pulling herself up, and looked out of the elevator window, unfortunately seeing no one out in the hallway.
"Hey!" she began to scream, reaching out and banging her hand against the glass. "Somebody, help!"
Wanda continued to frantically beat at the glass, but unbeknownst to her, the elevator was soundproof. Even if someone was outside, they couldn't hear her scream.
The mother panted, looking around, until she spied the keys on the floor. They must have fallen out when the elevator was slammed up. She quickly grabbed the trinket, jabbing them into the gap between the elevator doors in an attempt to pry them open, when an invisible force suddenly pushed her away.
"What-"
That same force pushed her face to the side, letting out an inhuman snarl that she just barely heard. Wanda gasped, looking around to find the assailant. If only she had her powers…
"Chthon." she whispered. "Chthon, help me."
If the demon heard her, it didn't say anything. Not even as she felt the hair in front of her right ear raise up-
Wanda screeched in pain, as an earring was ripped right off the lobe, and she fell to her knees. The voices began to get loud, almost cackling with glee, making her cover her ears.
"Shut up… shut up…"
The demonic cackling continued, upping in pitch, until Wanda yelled up at the ceiling.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"
All sound ceased, causing Wanda to frown. Was it… was it over?
She suddenly heard the demonic snarling behind her, and she slowly turned around, expecting to see… something. What she didn't expect was an invisible punch to the face that cocked her head to the side, forcing blood to pour from her mouth.
"Fuck…" Wanda strained to say, feeling her lungs on fire. "Chthon, please…"
A cord from the elevator's ceiling suddenly slithered down, wrapping around Maximoff's neck and hoisting her up in the air. She gagged from the sudden pressure, desperately swinging her feet towards the side of the wall, as her arm reached for another exposed cable.
Almost… almost…
The cable suddenly wrapped around her outstretched arm in a vice like grip, ripping through her flesh and drawing blood. Another cable from the opposite side grabbed her free arm and twisted, while a third ensnared her leg.
"Wanda!"
The mother heard a muffled voice speak her name, and she looked up, seeing Frank just outside the elevator, trying to punch the glass.
"Frank…" Wanda whispered, before the cables suddenly pulled, bending her limbs at odd angles with sickening snaps. Castle backed up in shock, as the cable around her neck proceeded to turn ninety degrees, breaking with an audible crack.
"Wanda… I'm sorry." Frank whispered. He stared at the new corpse for a moment, before remembering what Strange said. How he felt a presence not dissimilar to the one that had possessed Mia Allen…
Oh, hell.
Castle took off, running back towards the apartment. If Doctor Strange was right, then they were all in very real danger.
"Strange? Strange? Stephen?"
Doctor Strange opened his eyes, seeing America look down at him in concern.
"Are you alright?" she asked, helping him up.
"How long was I out?" Stephen asked groggily.
"Only about a minute." Chavez reassured him. "Are you okay?"
Strange slowly nodded, but strained his eyes.
"I could see myself falling. Again and again." he murmured. "Just like the last time. Were those…"
"Variants?" America frowned. "Probably."
Strange shook his head, blinking away the grogginess… and saw Danny in his room, looking down at the record player. The vinyl suddenly stopped.
"You have no idea what you've just done." Stephen warned. A second later, the lights flickered out, and everyone was covered in darkness.
"It's okay, it's just a blackout." Beth could be heard telling Kassie in the bathroom.
"Strange?" America asked.
"I'm here."
An orange light suddenly illuminated the room, and America turned around, seeing Stephen had conjured a magical sigil.
"Cool…" Danny gasped. "Are you… are you a magician?"
"Not the time." Doctor Strange told him, before snapping his fingers. In an instant, a dozen candles lit up around the apartment, just as Beth and Kassie walked out, taking a moment to marvel at the magic Stephen was demonstrating.
"Where's Bridget?"
"I'm here."
Bridget walked into the living room, folding her arms. "Looks like we're the only ones that were knocked out."
"Really?" Beth raised her eyebrows. "That's odd."
America gulped, looking up at Stephen, who wore a similar expression.
"Has Mom come back?" Danny asked.
"No." Bridget shook her head.
"Neither has Frank." America realized. The moment she said that, she heard footsteps, and she looked at the doorway, seeing the Punisher barrelling towards them.
"Kid, you good?" Frank asked, looking down at her. Once Chavez nodded, he turned towards Strange. "And you?"
"I'm fine." Doctor Strange told him.
"Good. We gotta go now." Frank told them, looking at the Hack family. "We gotta take them too."
"What?" Beth asked. "But where's Ellie?"
"She's not coming." Frank murmured, pulling out his pistols and checking his ammo.
"Wait!"
Bixler grabbed his arm, making him look at her.
"Where's my sister? Why isn't she coming?" Beth asked frantically. "What did you do to her?"
Frank opened his mouth to speak, but the words died on his lips. What could he say? That he just watched an elevator come to life and kill her sister, who herself was possessed by a powerful witch from his universe? Or that she could be possessed by a demon from another different universe?
"Mom?" Bridget suddenly gasped.
Everyone looked back at the doorway, seeing a frail silhouette standing in front of them. Its limbs appeared crooked, and the hair was all messy, but unfortunately, Frank knew who- or what- it was.
"No." he breathed out. The body turned to the side, walking almost like a rigid puppet towards the kitchen, and stopping at the stove. Frank, Strange, America, and Beth watched Ellie/Wanda, as she turned on the burner and slammed a frying pan down. Slowly, almost mechanically, she pulled a container of eggs towards her and picked the brown shells up, smashing them into the pan one… by… one.
"What… what's up, sis?" Beth asked, inching forward. She was only stopped, when she felt a hand grab her shoulder. She turned around, seeing Frank give her a grim look.
"That's not Beth."
A sinister chuckle could be heard, and the two looked back towards Ellie, who stared straight ahead.
"I had the most beautiful dream." she murmured, while using a spatula to scrape eggs. "We were together, sitting in a tall forest. The wind was clean, and the birds were singing the sweetest mel… melo… me… melodies…?
"It was the perfect day, and all I could think of was how much I wanted to cut you all open and climb inside of you so we could stay one happy family." she giggled, while Frank looked over his shoulder, seeing the children huddled in fear. The mother continued giggling, turning towards them all, shaking uncontrollably, as she dropped the pan on the floor. That seemed to snap her out of… whatever trance like state she was in, and she looked at them all in fear.
No, not at all of them.
Beth and Frank.
"Frank… it's inside me…" the woman gasped, making Beth gasp.
Ellie arched her back, before falling to her knees and crawling forward.
"Beth… don't let it take my babies!"
Ellie lurched forward, while her eyes darted from left to right.
"Back away!" Strange commanded, placing an arm across Frank and pushing everyone back. Ellie strained to look back up, but when she did, she stared at Castle with pleading eyes.
"It's clawing into me… Frank… RUN!"
The woman lurched again, and she began to violently vomit all over the floor, coughing and gagging, until she finally collapsed on top of the bile.
"Oh my god, Ellie!" Beth shouted, running forward and grabbing her sister's body. "Help me!"
"It's not her!" Frank shouted, staying rooted to the spot. "Your sister's gone-"
"I'm not arguing about this!" Beth pleaded, while Danny leapt up and grabbed his mother's other arm.
"Hey, wait, wait!" Frank yelled, pushing Danny away and grabbing the arm instead. "I'll help you."
"Castle…" Strange warned. "You know that's not her."
Frank nodded, looking up at the sorcerer.
"Yeah… but we gotta keep the kids safe, right?" the Punisher reminded him. "You keep them safe."
Frank turned back towards Beth, seeing the fear in her eyes.
"C'mon."
The two of them began dragging Ellie out of the apartment and towards the hallway, stopping halfway when Frank saw the elevator.
"Not there." Frank told Beth. "That's what happened to her."
"Stairs then." Beth decided, dragging the body towards the stairwell exit. Once they got close, Frank opened the door, looking down.
"Fuck."
Beth followed his gaze, seeing the stairs… or lack thereof.
"They're gone." she whispered, turning back to Ellie to see foam coming out of her mouth.
"No." she murmured. "Ellie? Ellie!"
Ellie!
Ellie looked around, finding herself in a dark void. In front of her was a woman wearing dark red robes, a matching crown atop her head, and had orange-brown hair.
"You." Ellie gasped. "Why are you doing this?"
The woman widened her eyes, seeming to step back.
"I'm sorry." she murmured. "I never meant for this to happen."
Several hands suddenly burst out of the darkness, grabbing Ellie and began to pull her down.
"No!" the other woman screamed, reaching down and grabbing her hand. "Ellie, just hold on!"
A pair of decrepit white hands suddenly placed themselves on the woman's shoulders, pulling back.
"No!" the woman yelled again, as her grip slackened on Ellie's hand. "Chthon, please! Let me save her!"
No, Wanda. A voice suddenly cut through the void. This one belongs to my children…
Ellie screamed in despair, as the demonic cackling from the elevator was heard, and she was swallowed up by the darkness.
"I don't understand." Beth murmured, staring at her sister's body. After all the exits were cut off, she had her and Frank move Ellie back into the apartment and rested her on the bed. Frank wasn't too happy, but it took some convincing, as well as Fonda and Gabe to come out into the hallway and help her anyway.
"One minute she was fine, and the next she was talking crazy."
"This isn't good." Frank murmured, pacing around the room, while Strange stood in front of the two apartment neighbors. "Any minute, she's gonna wake up."
"She's dead." Beth groaned, glaring at him.
"You don't know what you're dealing with." Stephen warned her.
"And you do?" Beth shouted, standing up. "You think because you know magic tricks means that my sister got possessed by something?"
"She still is." Strange crossed his arms. "I've seen this before-"
"Bullshit." Beth growled. "Either shut the fuck up about this, or get out. Both of you."
Frank stared down Bixler, sighing in frustration. Of course, he understood where she was coming from. God knows, his own emotions took over him sometimes, made it impossible to think rationally.
"Okay. Alright." Castle nodded, beginning to slip out. But not before looking at Strange.
"You stay in here, Strange."
Stephen nodded, as Gabe and Fonda joined hands with Beth to pray over the body, while Frank walked into the living room, hearing crying.
"I want… I want to see Daddy."
Castle looked across the room, towards Kassie's bed, to see her crying in Bridget's arms.
"He'll be home soon." Bridget promised. "Once we get the phones up and running-"
"You don't know that!" Kassie suddenly shouted, looking at Bridget with angry tears streaming down her face. "You said Mommy would be okay!"
"I…" the older sister's voice trailed off. "I thought she would be."
Frank slowly walked over, approaching the girls, causing Kassie to look up at him.
"What… what happened to Mommy?" Kassie sniffed. "Did the ghost really get her?"
Castle felt a stab of pity in his heart, as he sat down on the bed next to the two girls.
"No." he murmured, staring into the floor. "It was something worse. Something… evil."
Bridget felt her stomach churn, as she looked over to Danny's bedroom.
"It had something to do with the book Dan found, right?"
Frank numbly nodded, barely registering what the girl said and refusing to look at her. Instead, he looked up at Fonda and Gabe, who were leaving the bedroom.
"C'mon, we gotta find a way out." Fonda told the younger man. "I don't like being trapped, and we need to call emergency services."
"There's one way now, but it's condemned." Gabe reminded him.
"It'll have to do." Fonda muttered, as the two left the apartment.
"Frank."
The Punisher looked back up, seeing America approaching him.
"This is like what happened with Mia, isn't it?"
"Yeah." he mumbled. "Yeah, it has to be."
Back in the bedroom, Gabe and Fonda had left to find another exit, while Strange and Beth remained with Ellie's body.
"I don't know what to do, El." Bixler whispered. "You've always seemed to have the answers… and now you're gone. I'm too scared to even face your kids right now. No matter how busy you were, you always found time for me. For everyone. I just… I wish that we would've had more time to patch things up."
As she finished speaking, a single, lone fly suddenly buzzed around the room, eventually landing on Ellie's open eyeball. Beth was about to shoo it away, when she suddenly felt her phone ringing.
"What?" she murmured, pulling the device out of her pocket. The network was down, how was she receiving a call now?
Beth took a look at her phone, and when she saw the caller ID, she nearly dropped it, her eyes wide as dinner plates.
Ellie.
Did someone grab her phone? How was she calling?
Bixler shook her head, as she quickly answered, pressing the call button.
"He… hello?"
"Beth?" Ellie's voice rang out, startling the young woman. Strange lifted his head, hearing the dead mother's voice.
"Hey Bethy-boo, it's me. Just calling to say hi…"
The voice on the phone suddenly began to sound scared, more choppy.
"Beth, you have to help me! You have to! I'm burning… I'm burning alive-"
The screen suddenly cracked, and Beth dropped the phone in horror. At the same time, the Ellie's eyes blinked and looked at her sister, smiling sinisterly.
"Beth, move away!" Strange commanded, grabbing her arm and pulling her off the bed.
"What are you talking about-"
Beth suddenly turned around, seeing Ellie sit up and glare at her.
Wait…
Bixler followed her eyes, seeing they were pointed to the side of her.
No. She wasn't glaring at her. She was glaring at Doctor Strange.
"El… what's going on-"
The corpse suddenly lunged forward, wrapping her hands around Stephen's throat. The sorcerer gasped, feeling his lungs burn, as Beth tried wresting her sister's hands off.
"Ellie, stop! He was trying to help you-"
The dead body lashed out, backhanding Bixler and sending her flying across the room. Fortunately, that gave Strange enough time to knee her in the gut, followed by the cloak detaching and wrapping around her eyes, blinding her momentarily.
Outside, Frank heard the commotion, as Bridget whipped her head towards the door.
"What's happening?" the girl asked, bolting forward.
"Hey!" Frank shouted, standing up. "Kid, come back here!"
"I got her!" America exclaimed, running after Bridget.
"Stay here." Frank told Kassie, running after Chavez.
In the bedroom, Strange conjured shields, just as Ellie ripped the cloak away from her face.
"You…" she growled, extending her fingers as if they were claws.
"Mom?"
Strange looked behind him, seeing Bridget standing in the doorway. "You're… alive?"
Stephen widened his eyes, realizing Ellie had taken advantage of the distraction, right as he felt her fingernails stab through his shoulder.
"El, stop!" Beth yelled, slowly getting up, as America appeared in the doorway and pulled Bridget away. The two girls made their way back into the living room, right into Castle.
"Frank, Ellie's body came alive, and she's attacking Strange!" Chavez shouted.
"I got him!" Frank told her, rushing towards the bedroom, when he had an idea. "Get the bathtub ready!"
America opened her mouth to speak, but realizing how dire the situation was, she made her way to the bathroom.
Frank stopped his way into the room, barely noticing that Beth was trying to stand up, and focused on the fact that Ellie was trying to put Strange in a headlock, with the cloak attempting to pull her off.
"HEY!"
Ellie looked at Castle with a maniacal grin, just as his fist collided with her face, and he followed by grabbing her by the shoulders and ripping her off Stephen, slamming her into the wall.
"Strange, you good?"
"I've had worse." Stephen grit his teeth, taking a look at his shoulder to see multiple scratch marks under the torn tunic. Unfortunately, Ellie had quickly recovered, charging towards the Punisher. Just before she got close, Strange slammed his palm into her chest, making her stop in surprise.
"What was that supposed to do?" she asked, a sinister smirk forming. Strange looked at the deadite in horror, realizing that he wasn't able to separate the spirit from the body, like so many times before.
Shit.
Ellie began to let out a demonic cackle, shoving Strange into the bed, as Frank punched her in the face. The deadite barely registered the hit, as she grabbed Castle and smashed him through the wall, until they were out in the living room.
"Did you think you and Strange stood a chance?" Ellie asked, pausing to sniff Castle's blood. Hear his heartbeat. "Did you think we'd be easy like that whore you left with Constantine?"
"Mom?"
Ellie grinned, twisting her neck a hundred and eighty degrees, causing bones to crack, as she saw Danny, now outside his room.
"Mommy's with the maggots now. And she's being raped in hell!"
Frank brought his arm down on the deadite's, relinquishing her hold over him, before he shoved her body through the bathroom, right as America stood up.
"Is the tub ready?"
The girl nodded, and Frank kicked the deadite in, before holding her under the water.
"What are you doing?!" Beth's voice screeched. "She needs help!"
"She just tried to kill me and Strange!" Frank yelled back, not daring to take his eyes off of Ellie. Even now, with his hands around her throat, she thrashed around, causing great amounts of water to splash outside.
"My sister is severely sick!" Bixler cried out. "She needs a hospital-"
Ellie suddenly erupted from the bathtub, forcing Frank to let go of her, as her hands grabbed the shower bar. Her feet pressed themselves against the shower frame, and she looked at Castle with hatred, as Beth and Stephen entered the bathroom behind him.
"El?"
The deadite let out a horrific screech, causing the adults to cover their ears, as glass shattered. Cracks formed against the foundation of the entire room. A mirror broke, creating a spiderweb of lines across its surface. The very floor rattled, as the banshee scream continued until, suddenly…
Ellie closed her mouth, collapsing back into the tub. Frank slowly backed up, right into Strange, who had the cloak come back to his shoulders.
"Is she…" Beth gulped. "Is she dead?"
She got her answer, when a decaying hand suddenly reached up, grasping the edge of the tub. Another joined it, pulling up the face of the possessed Ellie, who snarled at Frank.
"Is that the best you can do?"
The deadite began to crawl forward, and Frank turned around, pushing Strange and Beth out.
"Come on, go, go!"
The three adults made it out into the living room, forming a makeshift barricade in front of the kids, as the deadite staggered out, ripping off a piece of the broken mirror. The walking corpse grinned at Beth, charging straight towards her younger sister, when Frank pushed her out of the way. Unfortunately, that seemed to be what Ellie was banking on, as she slashed at Castle instead, impaling the glass through his arm.
"Mom! Stop!" Bridget yelled, as Ellie forced Frank back into the wall next to the door. Beth ran to stop her sister, but the deadite pulled the mirror out of Frank's arm and slashed at her now, stabbing through her open hand.
"Stop it!" Bridget screamed. That made the creature pause, and she slowly pulled the glass out of Beth's hand.
"Bridge… get away from her…" Bixler murmured, while Castle grabbed a roll of tape and crudely bandaged his arm.
"Bridget?" Ellie gasped, sounding normal. "What… what's happening to me, sweetie?"
"I don't know, Mom." Bridget confessed. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Frank roll the tape over to Beth, who quietly began to tape her hand.
"I do." Ellie smirked, turning towards her children. "I'm free now. I'm free from all you titty sucking parasites."
The creature lunged forward, grabbing Strange and throwing him across the room, before tackling Bridget to the floor and grabbing a nearby tattoo needle. The deadite plunged the sharp end into her temple, grinning evilly as she pulled it out to reveal the needle was covered in her own blood, and forced the makeshift weapon towards Bridget's face. Just as the tip was centimeters away from the girl's eye, Ellie suddenly heard footsteps, and looking up, reached out and caught a fist that belonged to America, the force of which was supposed to create a portal that would have sent the monster to god knows where. Instead, the deadite dug its nails into Chavez's flesh, crunching the girl's bones and causing her to scream out in pain, while Bridget jerked her face to the side, causing the needle to just graze her cheek.
"Aw, poor Bridge." Ellie said mockingly, before single-handedly throwing America against the wall.
"Let me kiss it better."
The monster opened her mouth, and a slimy, black tongue slithered out, dripping a thick saliva. Bridget squirmed underneath the thing that looked like her mother, as the tongue got ever closer to her face.
Just before the vile tentacle made contact, Danny grabbed a chair and swung at the creature's back, splintering the furniture into pieces and causing the monster to stumble forward, into the darkened hallway, and let go of his sister.
"You okay?" the boy asked, helping both America and Bridget up. The two girls nodded, before a soft cackling could be heard, coming from the darkness that swallowed the deadite up.
"So… who's next?" Ellie asked, her hand extending from the dark and pointing from the Frank to Strange.
"The so called 'Punisher'… or the sorcerer with cheap parlor tricks?"
No one moved a muscle, as the deadite slowly emerged. Frank heard a distant creak, almost like a door opening. Was someone trying to get in?
"How about a game?" the demonic silhouette cackled, pointing across the room.
"Eenie…"
The finger pointed at Danny.
"Meenie…"
Bridget.
"Miney!"
The arm suddenly jabbed towards Beth, making her gasp in surprise.
"…you."
Ellie settled on Kassie, who began shivering in pure terror. Strange clasped his hands together, pulling them apart as his shields conjured.
"Ellie?"
Everyone looked over at the doorway, seeing Gabe, the neighbor, had come back. He must've heard the commotion. Most likely, he could only see Ellie's form at the end of the apartment's small entryway.
Before anyone could say anything, Ellie snarled and charged at Gabe, forcing him back out into the apartment's hallway, and simultaneously revealing that two young boys were right beside him.
"Fuck." Frank murmured, making his way towards the door, while Gabe thrashed around with Ellie. He was only stopped when America tugged on his arm, making him look back at her.
"Frank, don't! She'll kill you!"
"She's going to kill those kids!" Castle shot back.
"I… I don't want you to go…" Chavez stammered. Seeing this, Strange looked out towards the doorway, just as Ellie forced Gabe against a wall and hunched down, biting into his face.
"I'll go." Stephen volunteered, creating magical constructs around his hands. "Lock the door when I leave."
Before anyone could argue, Strange ran out of the apartment, as Ellie bit out Gabe's eye, leaving a gory cavity. She grinned maniacally, landing on the floor, and spat out the orb, watching it fly directly into the older kids' mouth, where he collapsed to the floor, choking and convulsing. The deadite cackled with glee, before she was struck in the face, and she looked to her right, finding Strange glaring down at her.
"That's enough. Relinquish your hold over this woman."
"Why? I'm having too much fun!" Ellie laughed, leaping towards Stephen. The sorcerer only had a few seconds to dodge out of the way, and the monster barrelled towards the apartment again, only for Beth to quickly slam the door shut in her face.
"Help me block the door!" Bixler could be heard saying from the other side. Inside the apartment, Frank rushed towards a large desk, moving it in front of the door, followed by lifting a heavy box on top of it.
Ellie chuckled, turning back to Strange.
"Just you and me-"
Boom!
The deadite's body flew across the the end of the hallway, making Stephen look in surprise in the other direction. On the other end, Mister Fonda was holding a smoking shotgun, with the other boy cowering behind him.
"What are you doing?" Strange asked. "Get out of here!"
The older man looked at him in shock, before aiming his gun again. It took a split second for the sorcerer to realize the barrels were pointing past him.
"Shit-"
Stephen felt himself get shoved to the side, as Ellie pounced towards Fonda, pinning him to the floor and impaling her arm through his stomach, before violently ripping him in half from the lower waist. She screamed with glee, while the boy shouted in horror, throwing his hands in front of his face. As if to shield himself.
"Come here!"
The deadite leapt at the boy, grabbing his arms and pulled, hard. After a few seconds, the appendages were ripped away, and with a thundering kick, the boy's head smashed into the wall, splattering blood and brains right next to the door.
"Now… where were we, after being so rudely interrupted?"
Strange's eyes widened, as he lifted his hand to create a portal. The area was too enclosed, he couldn't cast a spell from a distance. He had to get out of here. Unfortunately, Ellie charged him, grabbing his hand and biting down, sinking her teeth into his knuckles. The sorcerer screamed, as his cloak suddenly detached, blindfolding the deadite and dragging her away. With the monster distracted, Stephen slowly- and painfully- lifted his other arm, rotating it towards the floor and creating a portal directly beneath him. In an instant, he felt himself fall through, while his cloak unwrapped itself from Ellie and flew back towards him.
"Come back! You still haven't played with me!"
Ellie seemingly flew through the air, barrelling towards the portal. Just as Strange landed back in the apartment's living room, the portal began to close, right as the deadite's hand tried to snatch him back.
The portal cut off the appendage at the wrist, making Kassie gasp in fear. The sorcerer began breathing heavily, looking down at his hand to see a dark, black fluid begin to ooze from the bite marks. Bite marks that began to enlarge, albeit slowly.
"No…"
Beth and Frank walked over to Strange, seeing the horrifying wound.
"That what I think it is?" Castle squinted at the bite marks. He didn't know what exactly how those "deadites" operated like Constantine mentioned, but if they were like zombies…
Stephen nodded, knowing what he was getting at.
"Mia… must've cut her own hand off… try and stop it."
Frank nodded, as he slowly pulled out his ka-bar.
"Okay. Okay."
"Wait!" America shouted, putting herself in front of Strange and holding up a hand. "If Mia tried cutting off her hand to stop being possessed, then it didn't work, because she turned into a deadite anyway!"
Frank stopped, holding the knife in the air.
"Good point. That's a good point." he murmured, lowering his arm. Beth looked between the three visitors, just barely hearing a hollow thud against the door.
"Little pigs, little pigs… let me in…"
"What… what do we do?" Bridgit asked.
America looked down at Strange, seeing his hand already beginning to look more decrepit and decayed.
"I'll take him to another world. One where we're safe." she murmured. "Maybe we can find a way to fix him before he goes bad."
Frank looked at the girl, numbly bobbing his head.
"Okay. You still got your piece, right?"
America nodded, parting her jacket to show the pistol Frank gave her.
"Right. You keep that, in case it's too late for him."
"What about you?" Chavez asked.
"I still got mine, and the ka-bar." he reminded her. "You find a world that can help him, got it? One where you'll be safe."
"And the kids?" America asked, looking over at Beth and the kids.
"We can't leave!" Bridgit shouted, having heard the conversation. "We have to help Mom!"
"What if Daddy comes back?" Kassie suddenly added. Frank looked at Beth, who's facial expression seemed to convey the same reaction.
"Right." he mumbled. "I'll stay with them. But you gotta get him out of here now, okay?"
America gulped, looking up at Frank. Before she knew it, she lunged forward, wrapping him in a hug.
"Hey, hey. You'll see me again." Castle told her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "You gotta trust me on that. But you gotta go, okay?"
"Okay." Chavez mumbled into his chest, pulling back. "I'll come back when Strange is better."
"Yeah."
America turned towards Doctor Strange, slowly helping him to his feet, as she holstered her gun and reached out, concentrating. Eventually, a star portal opened in the living room, revealing a black void, and she and Stephen jumped in, before it closed.
"Whoa…" Danny murmured. "She can do that?"
Frank ignored the comment, as he and Beth heard the thudding get louder outside.
"Bethy-Boo… it's okay… you can let me in now…"
Beth's ears perked up, as she looked to the door, taking a step.
"Ellie… is it really you?"
"Yes Beth… please… I don't know what came over me…" the voice crooned. "But I'm all better now… let me see my children…"
"No."
The thudding stopped, as Frank stepped in front of Beth, taking up all her vision.
"Whatever you do, don't let her back in. She's not your sister anymore, alright?"
Beth opened her mouth to argue, but the Punisher glowered at her. Reluctantly, she took a step back, turning back towards the kids. Frank's eyes trailed towards them too, and he sighed. Dammit, why did they insist on staying?
Castle snapped out of his thoughts, when he heard a banging on the door again, causing him to go over and look into the peephole. At first, he saw nothing but a bloodied hallway, until Gabe suddenly popped up in front of the glass, his one eye widened in terror.
"Let me in! Please let me in-"
Ellie walked up behind him, grabbing his neck and tearing out his throat, splattering blood across the peephole.
"Care to join in, Frank?" the deadite chuckled darkly, pressing her face to the door, her eye filling up the peephole.
"Shit." Frank muttered, backing away. He wasn't going to lie, he could feel an unsettling chill go up in spine. The last time he fought a deadite was when Mia was possessed, and he had America and Strange to back him up, and that wasn't long before Constantine exorcized her. Here though, it was just him against a monster that seemed stronger, all the while protecting a family to boot.
While Frank was focused on the peephole, Beth ran towards the living room window, opening it to find the rain pouring down hard, with no one outside. No one to call for help. They were trapped, with a monster that looked like her sister lurking in the hall.
With an audible gulp, Castle turned back around, squaring his shoulders. He had to be the soldier, the Punisher now, or else they might not survive the night.
"Dan… doesn't Mom look like one of those pictures in the books?"
Frank raised an eyebrow, looking over at Bridgit, who had walked up behind a distraught Danny.
"Answer me!" Bridgit yelled, causing her brother to finally turn around. "You never should have stolen that fucking thing!"
"It's not… it's not my fault-"
"Bullshit!" the sister screamed. "This is your fault!"
Bridgit grabbed her brother and began to hit him, as Kassie ran towards her siblings, trying to separate them.
"Stop it!" the youngest child yelled, while Beth and Frank rushed over to the two siblings and pulled them apart.
"Hey, hey!" Beth shouted. "You don't turn on each other, ever. Alright?"
Bridgit clenched her fists in rage, but reluctantly nodded, and stormed off all the same, while Frank looked at Danny.
"What book was she talking about?" Castle asked. The brother gulped, looking between him and his aunt.
"I… I need to show you guys something."
Danny led Frank and Beth into his room, leaving Bridgit and Kassie in the living room for the time being. Castle took one step inside, and upon seeing a different, yet familiar book with a leathery appearance- though he instantly knew it was human skin- and a row of teeth as the clasp, he scowled.
"You found this in the vault, right?"
Danny didn't answer, looking at his shoes.
"Did you, Danny?" Beth all but ordered.
"Yeah."
"God dammit." Frank clenched his fists, while Beth opened up the book and began turning the pages. "Your sister and America told you to get out of there, they told you!"
"I'm sorry!" Danny shouted. Beth was half listening, turning pages, seeing images more gruesome than the last. "I didn't know what would happen when I played the vinyl!"
"Vinyl?" Beth frowned, looking up. "What vinyl?"
Danny shuddered, looking at a record player next to the book. He took the records out of bag, holding one up for the adults to see.
"There were these records, and the second one had this creepy priest saying these words… it was like a dark prayer." the boy explained. "I tried to shut it off when he spoke the words, even tried pulling the record off, but it…"
Dan squeezed his eyes, burying his face in his hands.
"Bridgit's right. This is all my fault."
Frank folded his arms, looking toward the window. On the one hand, he really wanted to give the kid a piece of his mind, but… that would probably make things worse.
What was that saying? About how curiosity kills the cat?
A/N: So, this chapter was split into two parts, mostly because when I finished the Evil Dead Rise adaptation, it came out to 80 fucking pages, and that's without adding in the parts of Spider-Man and the Spider-Verse, as well as the side plot that America and the possessed Strange will be up to in the next chapter. But, they will reunite by the end of the mini arc, and everyone will come out as better characters for it.
Oh, I'll probably explain it eventually, but Gwen doesn't actually have spider powers. Everything she does comes from technology in her suit that she and Peter made.
Also, I'm taking some liberties with the Evil Dead characters, especially Beth and Kassie, and even Mia. That's right, Mia will return at some point in this fic, since after all, I said this is a celebration of not only Marvel, but also Sam Raimi.
That's all for now, and the next half of Rise will be out soon!