Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or DC
The Redeemer
Chapter 50: Breakthrough
The dimensions of hell had gotten darker.
"Lucifer," Chloe Decker rubbed her husband's face as the lord of hell fell to his knees.
His angelic wings slithered out of his back, each feather rotting whilst Lucifer coughed.
On Earth 1610, Cap looked at his surroundings; the rock like surface of Helheim began to break down. Even the Limbo of Earth 10005, a dimension of hell as chaotic as that Earth's timeline experienced something akin to an Earthquake. Logan sniffed at the air, gritting his teeth together in disgust.
"Smells like a mix of a dying forest and a corpse," he said as Kurt and Piotr's symbiotes quivered.
"Da, something with our hive mind, this isn't the only place that it's happening," Colossus said.
"I can see through Ghost-Spider's suit, she and some team of 'Gwenvengers' managed to beat Nekra on one version of hell, but the dimension is still breaking down," Nightcrawler explained.
"Kind of like the popularity of the 'Gwen Variant' concept, I'd say Multiverse in general but Reckless still has his hands in that plot device," Deadpool stated.
"My special place," Illyana trembled, taking a handful of sand from the ground and watching the particles die.
On Earth 12, the Justice League and Avengers gathered around Hades as he convulsed in pain.
"I don't understand we stopped them didn't we?" Tony asked, his mask sliding back with panic across his face.
"Foolish mortals, every plane of hell has been linked, if even one falls…" Hades turned into his monstrous form, screeching in agony.
"A domino effect," Terry muttered.
"HA! So he does take after the father," Hades grinned as Terry glared at him.
Earth N52
Hela leant her head back, gasping in shock as she felt the power of hells flow through her body. The horns of her crown began to glow with fire and she admired the flaming tips of the new Necroswords she summoned. She stepped on the bodies of those Waller had sent to stop her. Their only weapons, guns…enhanced guns but still guns.
"It has begun, like a god he grants gifts to his followers, power, the power of hell in the hands of those who deserve it," Hela laughed.
The gap between worlds
"YES! YES I FEEL IT! THE POWER GRANTED TO ME BY ONYX! THE POWER OF HELL!" the Green Goblin of a very 'animated' universe liked to laugh.
His Sinister 666 were around him, variants of every villain Spider-man had fought watched as the only Green Goblin variant amongst them transformed. Norman Osborn's latex like costume changed, the green of his skin turned red, the purple garbs darkened into black robes and fire gushed out of his mouth and eyes. The fire in his eyes turned red and took shape into a pumpkin like form that replaced his head. Even his already technologically enhanced glider seemed to come alive, the wings moving, the head chomping, spewing forth hellfire.
"By the grace of Onyx, NOW I AM THE HELL GOBLIN!" he declared.
The desert beyond space and time
Sieg felt Ulti-boy's eyes on him, the one who the Timebreaker claimed was also an apprentice of Aeon. There was a statement in the older boy's body language, a desire to say more, even though he hadn't really spoken since they began their trek across the desert. Every so often the two boys and their bug like guide would see something that defied their expectations. They saw the assemblage of exiles, like a look replaying itself, they would see Blink falling from the sky, discovering Nocturne in her pyjamas, then Morph, Magnus, Mimic and Thunderbird. Without the Timebreaker even needing to explain it, both boys understood that the desert, the moments they were passing by were the beginnings of a loop.
"A domino effect, identical versions of the Exiles continually being brought together," Virgil said.
"A lot of different Earths are identical right down to the smallest detail," Sieg added.
Their agreement ended with another long silence and a trek that took them up a long hill. And at the end of that hill, instead of finding another meeting of the Exiles, they found the very place that apparently housed them. The crystal palace stood in its glory, as if it was a beacon of hope across the Multiverse. But without the Timebreaker needing to explain anything to them, the apprentices of Aeon knew the truth. They could see the feel the deception, weaving a myriad of colours across the fortress of glass, not crystal, glass, convincing everyone that came to it of the importance of a great mission. But there was no great mission, this Virgil could sense, only horror awaited inside that fortress. And Sieg didn't hesitate to take the first steps, following behind the Timebreaker.
'He's the one,' Virgil thought. 'Or at least he would be if Sven needed someone to inherit his mantel,' he followed behind his brother.
The Timebreaker had an entrance for them to take, one that apparently wouldn't trigger the fortress defences.
'Apparently,' Virgil scoffed as he and Sieg fought through crystallised constructs.
Sieg smashed his sword through some of the robots, whilst Virgil punched, enhancing his fists and feet with anti-matter in much the same way Sven would with his own energy. The Timebreaker retreated every time a fight started, cowering in a corner whilst the heroes fought. Sieg leant on his sword at one point sweating, giving Virgil a thumbs up. It was Virgil who went further, looking through the crystal walls. The fortress was a magnificent illusion, consoles to monitor realities, beds and baths for the comfort of souls ripped from their homes. Virgil however began to smash through those illusions, crashing his fist through the walls. The anti-matter energy enveloped his arm for a moment until only one wall remained, and Virgil was left without gloves on his suit and part of his sleeve missing. Sieg and the Timebreaker caught up and saw what had made Virgil snarl in anger.
The first Exile they saw was a member of the X-men who had been missing for some time, Sage.
She had supposedly become further linked with the fortress; her own computer like mind had even become linked to other versions of herself. Virgil was no expert on her powers, he suspected no one truly was. She certainly wasn't one of the X-men he heard the most about, but even so he wouldn't leave her to be trapped in a wall, in a display of every member of the Exiles and Weapon X.
"A Chibi version of Wolverine, a Captain Britain Peggy Carter, who's that old chick, Ms Marvel? But Danvers is…"
"I nearly forgot, Danvers is still Ms Marvel in your time," Virgil muttered and Sieg widened his eyes in wonder.
"Someone else becomes Ms Marvel? I was going to chalk it up to the Multiverse. This is amazing," Sieg said.
"We'll start with Sage and then work our way through all of them," Virgil said, touching the surface of the wall.
Markings glowed across his body, connecting him to the crystal palace. Suddenly, Sieg placed his hand over Virgil's, the markings on his sword began to glow across his body too. The whole palace began to shine for a moment; the Timebreaker brought his hands to his face in shock and awe.
"She was right, they could do it," he muttered.
Virgil narrowed his eyes, looking over his shoulder at the Timebreaker. The crystal around Sage shattered, freeing her, the X-woman gasped for air as she fell to her knees. Sieg quickly supported her shoulder, looking up at the ceiling as it shook.
"BETSY!" Sage yelled.
"Last I checked she made it back, what's wrong?" Sieg asked.
"She made it to the X-men, her memory, it must have been erased," Sage said.
"Send a few people back to their home worlds and no one get's suspicious of the Exiles that seem to be fixing a never ending problem with the Multiverse," Virgil stated.
"You, you're Virgil, that student with the Anti-Matter abilities," Sage said. "You look older…"
"Some time has passed since you disappeared, the X-men were assured that nothing was wrong, but what's the truth Sage?" Virgil asked.
"The Timebreakers," Sage seethed, looking past the two boys and seeing their guide.
"Finally, finally we can all be free," the Timebreaker said.
"Free, what are you talking about?" Sieg asked.
"The desert at the end of time, it has another name boys," Sage said, her feet shaking as Sieg helped her up.
The young heroes looked up as the crystal fortress began to shake.
'Let's hope you're having a better time of it Zack,' Virgil thought.
House of…
Clark Kent had seen a great many tragedies over the years. He had fought Brainiac, Metallo, the clone that Lex created after Nuclear Man had been a sad and abused creature and the only thing he had encountered that came close to the tragedy of what he was seeing had been Apokolips and the rule of Darkseid. Likewise Marc had seen horrors and even committed a few himself, as a mercenary and as the fist of Khonshu. The House of M had been built upon a lie, would always be built upon someone else's fantasy. Zack fell to his knees, weeping in frustration. Clark looked at the purple tendrils that ran across the room, saw them leading to several individuals, all of them bound and with the same pulsing and writhing purple flowers on them.
The group included Charles Xavier, lacking of course his wheelchair and dressed in a suit Zack recognised from the X-men's archives. When Xavier had been given a temporarily healed body by the Shiar, he had adopted a simple yellow suit with blue gloves, but the black X on his chest was completely covered by the purple plant. Beside him was Cyclops, though he wasn't in an X-men uniform, instead he was wearing a navy blue suit with a cloak, yellow gloves with red bands and yellow shoulder pads. There were heroes and villains in the 'garden', Firestar but her suit colours had been changed to the X-men blue and yellow, likewise Justice was in an X-men version of his modern uniform. Warren in his Avenging Angel costume, Havok in his first containment suit, Jean in a blue and yellow version of her Phoenix costume, Deadpool in a yellow and blue version of his suit, Iceman in his Champions costume, Juggernaut, Sauron, Robert Kelly, Nightthrasher in his 'TV show' costume, Nova in his brown costume, Mastermind and Namor in his 'X-men' suit.
His eyes narrowed in fury however as he looked at the woman in the centre of the garden. The Scarlet Witch, dressed in the costume she wore before she 'Disassembled' the Avengers.
"What have they done to them?" Zack asked as he stood up.
He looked over his shoulder, glaring furiously at the figures that came out of the portal behind them. The Red Guard Magik had made the portal, and Logan had put together a squad of Mystique, Rogue, Nightcrawler, Scion, Wind Dancer, Surge and Toad, with Polaris joining them in a green version of her father's suit. Zack though ignored them all and focused completely on Magneto, standing at the front, removing his helmet with a disappointed expression.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" Zack yelled.
"What we had to, please Zack listen to me," Magneto said.
"WHY SHOULD I LISTEN TO ANYTHING YOU HAVE TO SAY! XAVIER! THE X-MEN! YOUR OWN DAUGHTER ARE, ARE…" Zack struggled to speak and not just because he didn't know what had been done to them.
His eyes glowed red in fury, hex energy crackled out of his finger tips.
"That plant is the Black Mercy; it traps victims in a dream world," Clark said.
"Yes, please rest assured they were not from any world where the mercy drains the life from its victims, it keeps them alive," Magneto said.
"Hang on," Stephen chimed, taking over as Moon Knight's alter. "You've basically trapped all these people in a dream world as some kind of…well I know the plants name is mercy but it looks anything but merciful, I would have called it more purple mercy though," he murmured.
"It's a violation," Clark said.
"It was the best thing we could do for them," Magneto said.
"Best thing?" Zack gasped in shock, shaking his head and fists in denial.
"You don't understand," Magneto lowered his head, closing his eyes in shame.
"Then explain it to me, explain how this could be justified," Zack demanded.
"The X-men in this world are not heroes," Magneto said and Zack looked at him.
"Well of course you'd think you're the hero," the boy huffed dismissively.
Clark looked at Magneto's heart with his X-ray vision. He could see that the man truly believed what he was saying, and Magneto's heart remained truthful as he spoke.
"What I told you is true about your mother and father fighting for this place, your father did indeed sacrifice his life to save it from an Incursion. Our world was very much like the original House of M, not a by product though of Wanda's reality warping powers. When the Incursion happened though, that world was dominated by a group of X-men who would not have hesitated to destroy our world; despite this your father gave his life to merge our worlds together. But as a consequence our history and our people had changed. Charles was no longer my friend who was killed by the Winter Soldier, but a man who founded the X-men not to serve mankind of even rule over it, he doesn't even go by the name Xavier, but Nova," Magneto explained.
"Oh god, as in Cassandra Nova, the professor was the psychotic one on that Earth," Zack said.
"Exactly, we defeated them many times, and ultimately we used the black mercy to imprison them," Magneto said
"But there aren't just villains here are there?" Clark asked.
"It's bad enough you did this to the bad guys but heroes too," Zack remarked.
"Dissidents, rebels, one might even go so far as to call them terrorists," Magneto said.
"Are they though? One man's terrorist and all that but are there any baby killers here besides the obvious ones, this is all kinds of messed up you know," Stephen said.
"And what about your daughter, what about her?" Clark asked.
"Yeah, what possible reason could you have to do this to your own daughter?" Zack demanded.
"She asked me to," Magneto said.
Zack froze, feeling as if any words he wanted to say became bile in his throat. Then Clark said the words that made Zack scream.
"He's telling the truth!"
Earth N52
Aeon could sense that his son was in anguish; his sons all struggled with their own obstacles.
'Virgil doesn't want a father,' he reminded himself.
'Still, I did consider Heinrich a friend despite the many faults he had, like Cade in a way,' he remembered fondly.
He looked to the side, seeing figures coming up to match his airspace. Hal Jordan had gone back to his Green Lantern uniform, Wonder Woman traded her fully body suit for her silver and red armour with the blue armoured skirt, Cyborg flew alongside them with Shazam and Firestorm.
"Got your powers back?" Aeon asked Superman as the man of steel flew up.
He was in simple jeans, but a T-shirt that had the colour of his bright blue suit and a cape.
"For now, Batman wants his jet back," Superman smiled.
"He can send me the bill," Aeon said, crouching on the jet, maintaining his control over it through fusion.
"Is he a billionaire on his Earth?" Green Lantern asked.
Aeon pushed the jet into a dive, down towards the Greek islands that the JLA had used to enter hell.
"He's not actually going to do what I think he's going to do is he?" Shazam asked and Cyborg shrugged.
Tartarus
The power of hell flowed through not just Hela, but her dead army too. Her wolf Fenris spewed hellfire from its mouth, hitting the shield that Baz constructed. Katana's sword glowed, its heat increasing with every undead soldier she cut down. Catwoman cracked her whip and lashed with lethal precision, splitting heads and hitting the heels of her attackers. She slashed one across the face with her claws, fire covered her hand and she yelled, feeling her skin burn. Steve grabbed her, shooting the Asgardian dead and going to the cover of a set of rocks.
"This is definitely not what I stowed away for," Selina said.
"It isn't exactly a holiday for me either," Steve retorted.
A blast of light consumed the warriors that came towards them. Dr Light fired multiple blasts alongside Stargirl, who was dragging the beam she fired from her staff like the blade of a shovel, cutting through some of the undead. Hawkman landed in the centre of them, his wrist claw and axe sweeping through them, the Nth metal ignored the increased heat of the foes.
"Heel boy," Baz formed a muzzle on Fenris's jaw, giving J'onn an opening to punch the creature away.
But the Martian was sweating, eyes darting to every flame he saw and fighting his species' weakness with every fibre of his being. Deathblade swung his scythes, spinning them through the air like buzz saws attached to his chains. He cut through a row of the dead and looked to their general. Hela stood in her fully glory, the green of her suit replaced with blazing orange.
"She got an upgrade," Green Arrow muttered.
"You got a reverse candy trick arrow?" Cade asked.
"I've got some surprises in here, nothing to de-evolve this wild one," Oliver said.
"Maybe you should have stayed in the city rich kid," Hawkman said before he swooped downwards, cutting a few soldiers apart.
Green Arrow knocked back his bow, firing one arrow that split into multiple projectiles, hitting the heads of the warriors about to grab Hawkman.
"An archer? I've always been more for up close fighting, but I wouldn't mind testing myself," Hela said as she formed a bow.
Cade looked towards Hela, seeing her prepare one of her arrows. He threw one of his scythes, only for Fenris to suddenly knock into him. Green Arrow used an acid arrow to melt one of the zombies, followed by an electric arrow. He saw Hela in the distance, unsteadily aiming her bow. Despite the chaos around them, Oliver Queen knew that the goddess of death was aiming at him. He drew a bow from his quiver, one he had made specifically for fighting opponents with enhanced strength. Knocking back the arrow, Oliver took a deep breath as he aimed.
"Hela, you have…you know what, the old 'failed this' speech doesn't work, and we're already in hell!" Oliver grinned before he released the arrow.
Rockets attached to the arrow ignited, just as Hela released her black and orange arrow. The tip of the arrow burned, flying past Oliver's faster than a bullet. Oliver moved at the last moment, the shockwave of the flying object throwing him off of the hill. His bow fell to the floor, and despite getting snapped by one of the demonic warriors, Oliver focused on the arrow he had fired. The tip of the arrow burst, revealing its hidden trick.
"You've got to be joking, a boxing glo…" Hela didn't finish as the boxing glove arrow slammed hard into her face.
She was thrown off the high hill, rolling to the dirt. She had realised too late that there was some kind of enchantment behind the arrow. It was half right; Oliver pooled Queen Consolidated resources into making arrows capable of fighting gods, in a world where the Justice League fought each other plenty of times he believed in being prepared. Rockets to enhance the speed the arrow flew at, trace particles of Nth metal within the boxing glove, which itself had received a blessing of sorts from one John Constantine. Not only did the arrow strike Hela, humiliating her, but it had the desired effect of separating her from her source of power. Her crown had clattered to the ground, just out of her reach. Green Arrow smiled at his work, until he turned and saw that Hela hadn't missed. Hela herself began crawling towards her crown, hoping to get to it until she heard the ceiling crack above her. The bat wing, enhanced by Aeon's powers, smashed through the ceiling, Green Lantern provided the drill to cut through the Earth, bypassing the river Styx and allowing the League to enter hell.
Aeon jumped off of the batwing just as it slammed into Hela, the explosion blazed through hell as the League entered the fray. Hal fired a battery of weapons he conjured, Firestorm fired an energy blast through the crowd, Superman shook the ground with his landing and Shazam chained lightning through some of the zombies. Diana landed, beheading a few zombies with her sword before she looked towards Steve.
"Oh god," Superman whispered.
Stargirl gasped, seeing the team leader on his knees. Selina was supporting him despite her burnt hand. Blood flowed out of his mouth and dripped onto the floor from a hole in his side. Diana froze, looking at her former lover in horror.
"Steve," she whispered.
Hela crawled out of the bat wing's wreckage, shaking her dizzy head. She got up off of the floor, looking across the plains for her crown. The goddess of death moved forward, only for a lasso to wrap around her arms and waist. Suddenly, she was pulled off of the floor, the members of the Justice League had seen Diana angry before. She had always been the one to rush into a fight, unlike other versions; she revelled in her training as a warrior rather than as an emissary of peace on her fellow Amazon's behalf. Superman remembered the true rage she had shown when she believed David Graves had killed Steve. Even then though she had still held the belief that maybe, just maybe her former lover would still be alive. Clark though could hear heart beats; he heard nothing from Steve Trevor. Catwoman tenderly laid Steve's head back, shaking her head at Courtney as she looked at the dead man. Diana screamed, slamming her fist into Hela's face. She let go of her lasso as she struck Hela, letting the Asgardian fly into the ground. Leaving multiple sonic booms behind her, Diana crossed the distance between herself and Hela, grabbing the side of Hela's head and dragging her across the dirt. Hela was able to swing her leg around, kicking the side of Diana's face and knocking them both away from one another. Diana quickly got off of the floor, throwing her shield and striking Hela's neck. Diana rushed forward, drawing her sword and swinging it at Hela's wrist.
The goddess of death's hand fell to the floor and she looked at her stump in horror. Diana punched her in the face again. Stabbing her sword through Hela's hand, Diana punched Hela as hard as she could, making the ground shake, knocking several teeth out of Hela's mouth. Diana threw one punch after another, the sound of bone breaking echoed and the heroes watched, some in sympathy and others in disgust, with themselves for their conflicted feelings as they watched Diana beat the woman who killed a man she loved.
"Diana stop it," Clark said, grabbing her wrist.
She snarled, looking down at Hela's bloodied face.
"That's enough Diana, we won."
"Holy shit!" Selina cried out.
The thief backed away from Steve and the other heroes widened their eyes. Diana shoved Clark away and looked towards Steve. Despite having a hole in his chest, he was sitting up, snarling in frustration.
"How the hell is this possible?" Vibe asked.
"Hell is how it's possible," Deathblade said.
"Oh yeah, we're in Tartarus," Aeon said.
"Wait, does that mean this is where we go when we die?" Stargirl asked.
"I mean it is at least one version of the afterlife," Cyborg said.
"Damn it, I can't feel, can't feel anything," Steve said as he stood up.
"Trevor isn't Greek, unless he's so in love with Diana…I mean Greek culture that he's classed as a believer," Selina said.
Diana ran to Steve, enveloping him in her arms. He wrapped his arms around her, closing his eyes and resting his head on her shoulder. Despite the intimacy of their embrace, Clark smiled happily for Steve and Diana. Hela coughed out blood as she crawled across the floor, reaching for her crown. A whip suddenly snapped over one of the horns, pulling it to Selina.
"Oooh, shiny," she remarked.
"So much for the power of hell," Hawkman said, bringing his axe to Hela's chin.
Tartarus shook, a haunting scream echoed through the air. Demons trembled and began to burrow underneath the ground, frantically digging to escape.
"What's happening?" Shazam asked.
"The same thing that's happening everywhere," Deathblade said.
House of Mystery
"I feel it, I feel hell itself, freezing over," the blue garbed Stranger leant against the table John Constantine had put his drinks on, knocking some of them aside.
"Hell isn't even bloody anymore, even the demons are frightened now," the sorcerer said.
The House of Mystery often travelled through multiple plains of existence. With the fall of hell however, it crashed through the half of Justice on Earth. Batwing, Kevin Kho/OMAC and Blue Beetle landed as Frankenstein carried Constantine through the wreckage.
Further away, in the bat cave, Bruce Wayne looked up from the work he was doing on his latest project. Harley Quinn was lying on the arm rests of the chair, sitting up when alarms blared on the bat computer.
"Honey, please tell me this is a virus alert and not…"
"Dimensional tears, I had Wayne Tech satellites and spectrometers tuned to a specific quantum frequency, programmed to alert me if that frequency ever changed," Bruce explained.
"Oh I really wish it was just a virus, you're telling me all the hidden dimensions are now crashing into ours?" Harley asked.
She was smarter than she often acted, and accurate, creatures of the Micro-verse crashed through buildings, demons of hell dimensions ran in a panic through the streets of Metropolis. Ghosts terrified the already traumatised staff of Arkham Asylum. An escape had been orchestrated, the rat king's pets feasted, Firefly laughed as he set fire to the medical ward, Baby Doll beat the staff for not letting her play and Scarface gunned down any guards running out of danger. League of Shadow ninjas executed some of the other guards, whilst their new leader walked the ruined remains of Arkham. Bane looked at the black card Onyx had given him and huffed.
"You wanted an army, well here it is, a whole army of entropy, now Onyx where is my…" Bane stopped as the card in his hand turned into a red gem.
He eyed the treasure curiously, contemplating throwing it away for a moment before words entered his mind. Words he spoke with sparks of energy crackling around him.
"Whosever possesses the sacred gem, shall prepare himself to receive the powers of the crimson bands of Cyttorak, read these words and go from this place as a human Juggernaut!"
The red bands appeared on his arms and knuckles as his muscles expanded. Armour replaced his vest and the venom container on his back, becoming a sterner and more complicated mechanism with tubes running to his arms. Bane's eyes glowed both green and red like the energy rippling through his veins. The dome shaped helmet appeared over his head, with the skull like pattern of his old mask forming a face plate.
"Now I WILL BREAK WORLDS!" Bane roared.
A.R.G.U.S
"What exactly is Onyx hoping to achieve with all of this, if we've lost then what does that mean?" Amanda asked.
"That is the Question isn't it?"
The office staff nearly jumped out of their seats at the appearance of yellow smoke. A man in a blue coat and fedora walked out of the smoke, showing no fear as one of Waller's operatives Harcourt pointed her gun at his faceless head.
"Question, we've seen you before, tell us what this is," Amanda demanded, lowering Harcourt's hand.
"By breaching the dimensions of hell, Onyx will break through a dimensional barrier known as the Source Wall, through to sixth dimensional space, the dominion of one known as Perpetua. From her dimension, he will be able to use the power he has absorbed from hell to breach through to an ever higher dimension," Question explained.
"Like climbing stairs," Amanda said.
Tartarus-Earth 12
"The Source Wall is a pretty big deal, most people think whatever is beyond that is the end of the line, you're really saying there's something beyond Perpetua?" Terry asked.
"There's always a bigger fish," Tony said.
"Wise words, the path Onyx intends to slingshot himself towards is the true end of the line, biggest fish there is," Hades stated.
Limbo
"Odin, Zeus, Crishna, they all exist in one form or another, sometimes there are multiple versions in one dimension, there are many ideas of it, many manifestations, but there does exist a power that trumps all of them," Magik explained.
"Mein Gott, you don't mean…Gott?" Nightcrawler asked.
Lucifer's hell
"Not daddy dearest, we're kind of a pantomime you see, our Earth is just one of a few where the biblical stories have manifested into everyday life, including God. What Onyx seeks out is something that exists across every dimension, sometimes as a mere idea, other times as an entity. My brother is a god in this dimension, but there is the true manifestation of the idea of god above him," Lucifer explained as Chloe nursed him.
The fallen angel's skin had gone pale, and the feathers of his wings began to die as every angelic member of his family fell to the ground in the cities they occupied. Even Amandiel fell from his throne, clutching a heart that felt like it was experiencing an attack. Cap and his Avengers looked up at the cracking walls of hell.
"He's targeting the One Above All," the super soldier said.
Earth 616
"Holy Moses Stretcho, you telling me this guy's aiming to skip ahead to the final boss?" Ben asked Reed.
The Fantastic Four's leader read the same results as New 52 Bruce Wayne's did. Cracks appeared across the world, prompting groups like S.P.E.A.R, MI:13, the Winter Guard and Alpha Flight to deploy as disaster relief. But it wasn't confined to Earth too. Star Lord and Rocket looked out of the side of their ship as they saw a tear appear across space itself. On Chandrilla, Gladiator put a fallen building back into place whilst the rest of the Imperial Guard fought a rampaging Doomsday. Richard Rider was flying across space when he saw red and silver armoured robots flying out of a tear.
Battleworld
"Our Multiverse calls it 'the Presence', but yeah it is basically the intelligence…or I suppose you could say the entity that created all life, god if you will, or whatever comic book creator it chooses to appear as," even the likes of Mxyzptlk trembled in fear, standing in a form the JLU's Superman was familiar with.
Suddenly, the imp turned into a blue elf like creature with anime eyes.
"And if Onyx succeeds in absorbing it's power, he'll get the ultimate upgrade," he said.
Perpetua's world
Doom invoked every spell he knew, creating a blast that would have levelled the Baxter building itself. That though was no match for Perpetua, the personification of doom, huffed as she moved her hand towards Latveria's ruler. She grabbed him, crushing him as easily as humans crushed ants. A second blast though struck her cheek and she turned, unharmed but angered by Doom's reappearance.
"The ant resurrects?" she wondered.
"Doom anticipates, for he controls more than just magic, but time as well," a clock chimed and another Doom blasted Perpetua again, just as she crushed the previous version of him.
"Bad enough you breach the domain of gods, you dare to breach time as well," she seethed.
"Doom need breach anything, for here time is everything, past, present and future exists all at once," Doom struck with electric bolts from another dimension, then covered himself in hellfire as Perpetua grabbed him.
"No mortal could bear the weight of all time at once," she said.
"Doom is no ordinary mortal," he retorted, hitting Perpetua's eye with a projection of Thor's hammer.
"You fool, you fool, if you truly perceive all of time, then you are blind," Perpetua said.
"It is you who are blind," multiple versions of Doom spoke at once.
They moved like a flock of birds, hitting Perpetua with bolds of energy. She swatted at them, not seeing the great green portal that opened behind her. Machines were pulled into her dimension, linked by city sized wires. Doom accessed more than just other dimensions, he had his time platform, which gave him time to prepare. Upon realising the existence of a creature like Perpetua, he did what he did when he discovered the power cosmic. Perpetua blasted the projections of Doom, just as gigantic paddles slammed into the side of her head. Finally, Perpetua screamed, the entity's power pulled through the harness Doom had put on himself. The power surged through his body, causing cracks to form in his armour. He gripped his head and screamed, his mask shattering to pieces.
Onyx chuckled as he flew through the dimensional tears, Doom always reached high, even if he had figured out that he was the distraction it wouldn't have helped. Doom could have claimed the power all for himself and it still would have gone into Onyx's favour. Because the power of the one above all would still go to one whose life had been consumed by entropy and malice.
Entropy and malice like the kind that had consumed Cassandra Nova, ruler of the Void, because that is what the desert beyond space and time truly was. She walked with her hands in the pockets of her beige coat, merrily watching her band of mutants and denizens of rejected worlds break apart the inside of the crystal fortress. Sieg and Virgil looked at one another with shared regret, in trying to free the Exiles, they had given Nova a way in.
House of L
"Well I don't want this, IT ENDS NOW!" Zack screamed.
He brought his hands together, creating a sphere of hex bolts that struck every Black Mercy in the room.
"ZACK NO!" Magneto yelled.
A shockwave knocked Zack, Marc and Clark towards the walls of Cerebro. The Black Mercy plants wilted and died, falling to the floor as Wanda and Charles Nova woke up. Charles grinned maliciously as psionic energy swept over his body. It formed plates of bulky blue and yellow armour, complete with a cloak and a helmet that left a shadow over his face.
"Mom," Zack called out to the Scarlet Witch.
She though wept, her fingers trembling as they turned black. Her lips however turned up into a sinister grin. Wanda's skin turned pale white, her hair blood red, whilst her costume took on a darker shade of red.
"HOUSE OF M! STAND WITH ME!" Magneto yelled.
Wanda threw he hand forward, and Zack widened his eyes as the members of Magneto's red guards, himself included were ripped apart. Zack heard the haunting and sickening cries of those he had judged before having their bodies being cut into spaghetti like strips. Clark, who perceived time differently knew the true agony, knew that those Wanda 'erased' felt what she had done to them happen slowly.
"Lore, L-Lore," Zack trembled as 'Wanda' hovered towards him.
"Well done my child, my sweet little boy," the dark witch said.
"Keep away from him," Clark said.
"Y-yeah, you better keep away miss," Stephen trembled, yet raised his fists despite his fear.
"NO PLEASE DON'T I'LL DO WHATEVER YOU WANT!" Zack begged as Lore raised her hand.
She clicked her fingers, creating a portal and offering Zack her hand.
"Come with me my child," she said.
"Young man," Clark looked to Zack helplessly.
"You'll need time to figure out how to save the day," the boy said.
Stephen noticed that Charles Nova and his X-men went through a separate portal.
That portal led them to the crystal palace. Cassandra looked towards her brother and smiled maliciously.
"Finally, a version of you that stands and walks, I didn't realise you were an Exile," she said.
"I am an Amalgam of many things, the shadow king of Mutant X, the darkness within Xavier himself, the Xavier that was the first mission the Exiles ever embarked on, and the what if it had been me who tried to choke you…and succeeded," Charles suddenly grabbed Cassandra by her neck.
Sieg and Virgil widened their eyes, seeing the exchange happen from a security feed Sage managed to find.
"The Exiles, you need to free them quickly," she said.
But the two boys froze, watching Cassandra Nova frantically slap Charles's face, trying to put her hands through his brain. Her feet slid across the floor and she fell, hitting her head when she landed on her back with Charles kneeling over her. He savagely squeezed her throat, the woman kept trying to put her hand through his head.
"I'm not sure how the rules work in your world, but in many others mutant relatives cannot use their abilities on one another, but if you could read my mind you would know that I have the same contempt for all life that you do," Charles Nova explained.
Cassandra Nova wasn't gasping for air, she wasn't seeking air or even trying to defend herself. She smiled a bloody red smile, almost lovingly stroking her brother's hands. In her own way, she had finally gotten something she always wanted, a brother who understood her. Her smile remained when he heart stopped and Charles stood up. He raised his hand, psionic energy flowing from Cassandra's body and into him. His 'Mutant X' armour briefly reappeared and then took on a new form. Red and purple colours swept over the armour, the cloak disappeared and pink flames appeared on Charles's chest.
"Is that Onslaught?" Sieg asked.
Virgil couldn't say anything, the familiar symbol blazed on Onslaught's chest, the flames gave shape to the helmet that resembled Magneto's and the monster raised his bladed fingertips and demanded worship. Cassandra's void gang members knelt before Onslaught, whom burned with the power of the Phoenix.
Above all of that though, Onyx flew through a tunnel that was both literal and existential, his own highway through dimensions. He stopped though when he saw figures ahead of him. 616's Zeus and Odin, Earth 0's Hera, Highfather, Spectre, the Living Monolith and the Wizard, otherwise known as the Quintessence.
"We can watch no more," Odin said.
"You have finally crossed the line, now suffer the consequences," Zeus said.
"Prepare for judgement," the Monolith said.
Onyx got into a battle stance. His already mutated armour began to burn. Flames gushed out of his visor whilst hoof like shapes formed on his boots. Curved horns formed on his helmet, glowing with hellfire.
"Why do I think I claimed the powers of hell? NOW GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Onyx yelled.
Next Chapter 51: Quiet before the end
Next time, devastating revelations await Zack as the heroes prepare for a great battle for the Multiverse.