Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel, Invincible or the Boys
At the risk of losing some fans, and apologies to the offers that are genuine, but this chapter includes a skit based on a subject I am being continually spammed with in my Inbox.
Marvellous World
Under
InVasion
Chapter 5
Invincible wanted to laugh, standing amongst the supposed greatest heroes of this world. None of whom had within themselves even the capacity to protect their world from truly great threats. Groundhawk, an idiot who struggled just to drink a cup of coffee, fumbling with his hammer hands to pick the cup up just to have it go on his trouser legs. The Viltrumite understood the idea of the round table, a symbolic gesture as old as King Arthur, that every knight in Camelot had an equal voice. Homelander had his own personal chair though; it was a few inches taller than the others just so that his voice could be heard the most. But Homelander seemed to be in his own world at the moment, with Stormfront taking the meeting.
"All right, focus groups didn't react well to Oh Father," she began and Mark knew she was lying.
She despised anyone who didn't match her looks, European. He knew she didn't like him, not just for his apparent Asian, or 'oriental' as she once put it heritage. Apparently his mother had been one such person, but Mark never knew her. All he remembered of her was the fondness Nolan spoke of his pet when reminiscing with Mark, another sign of the weakness that had infected his father. Stormfront believed she knew what genetic perfection was, she sought the master race and believed she could find it through Homelander. Yet, they had fucked many times and had yet to bear a child. Invincible inwardly smirked; the Viltrumites too thought they were the strongest race in the galaxy.
'But they all died,' he thought.
"With Black Noir also still unaccounted for and Detroit Steel a failure, we've opened our ranks to Invincible here, Firecracker and…"
"Step aside pussies, I'm taking charge, if anyone has a problem with it step forward now," the worst of the bunch, in Invincible's opinion.
It wasn't even a matter of knowing, everything that Soldier Boy did was proof of his weakness. Mark despised him as much as he did Stormfront. Soldier Boy thought himself to be a military commander, yet he had never actually fought in a war, properly, on the boots, alongside troops. The man thought that his persona made him a man, when Mark knew that once Compound V was out of Soldier Boy's system he was weak and cowardly.
"Isn't Homelander supposed to be our leader?" Spider-man asked.
The boy, though to be fair all the humans were children compared to Mark, had been put into a new costume. It was advertised as the most 'superior' version of the Spider-man outfit yet. It had the same red top half as Parker's old suit, but the black spider on the chest joined with the rest of the black lower portion of the suit. His web shooters were built into the wrists of the suit, the lenses of his mask were black and he had red fingers on his gloves.
"Yeah he's our leader, our fearless leader but let me make one thing clear kid," Soldier Boy said as he walked over to Peter, putting his hand aggressively on the back of Peter's chair.
Mark resisted the urge to struggle, yes there was a strength difference between Spider-man and Soldier Boy, but there was a reason the Viltrumite felt that the term 'Man' was suited to Peter, whilst Soldier Boy would always be the boy.
"I'm the senior officer here, you are nothing more than a little private, so me, Firecracker, Stormfront, fuck even Hammer Hands there, when we give you an order you obey it, is that clear?" Soldier Boy asked.
"Sir, yes sir," Peter said, giving Soldier Boy a two fingered salute.
"You sassing me kid?" Soldier Boy asked.
"Of course not sir, I wouldn't dream of sassing you, you're the finest generation after all, providing the valuable service of taking the glory from the real heroes," Spider-man explained.
Mark didn't resist this time, he laughed, and Soldier Boy glared at him. Invincible floated a few inches off of the floor, keeping his arms crossed over his chest and challenging Soldier Boy with his smile.
"You little punk," Soldier Boy seethed.
"He's right!"
The six members looked towards Homelander. He finally looked up from the table, standing up with his hands behind his back, like a general standing at ease.
"We aren't real heroes; we're glorified experiments, advertisers for energy drinks and sex toys, actors. But now, now we have a chance to be real heroes, for the public to see us do something Vought never intended us to do and that's save the world," Homelander explained.
"What are you thinking babe, education reforms, fortifying our borders, finally taking the fight to mutant kind?" Stormfront asked.
"Nothing as trivial as that, Invincible here has it on good authority that we're going to be invaded by an extraterrestrial force, the Gree right?" Homelander asked.
"The Kree," Invincible corrected.
"They're coming here to attack us, what have we done to prepare?" Spider-man asked.
"Don't you think we oughta warn people?" Groundhawk asked.
"Unnecessary, we'll let them get just close enough, let them hit a few cities and then swoop in to save the day," Homelander said.
"Let them hit, Homelander that's…that's wrong, if there is a way for us to save the people in those cities we should do it," Spider-man said.
"I agree, you are grossly underestimating the destructive power of even one Kree ship," Invincible said.
"I'm in charge of this company, this team, this country, this wor…" Homelander caught himself, biting his lip as he looked between Invincible and Spider-man. "Look, it isn't as if warning people will help anyway, people will panic, besides think of this way, the Kree might kill thousands but at least some of those thousands might be the escaped villains," Homelander explained.
Spider-man looked at Homelander in horror; even Firecracker was looking at Homelander surprised. The man punched the table when Ashley came into the room, not even giving her a chance to speak.
"What do you want?" he demanded.
"Sir, I'm so sorry for interrupting but there's been a situation at Godolkin university," Ashley said, two strands of her own hair were in her hands.
"You've got to be FUCKING kidding me," Homelander snarled.
He rubbed the bridge of his nose, shaking his head in fury.
"Fine, Stormfront, Groundhawk with me, we'll go and back up the Godolkin Guardians, Soldier Boy you take charge here, be ready to hit the streets and those alien invaders when they arrive," Homelander explained.
"Leading super heroes into war, it was what I was made for," Soldier Boy said.
"Not on your own, we're calling up the Reserves too, Vikor, the Four Seasons, Tek-Knight and Laddie, One-Hit Wonder, Turquoise Cockroach and Shockwave. Spider-man I want you to work with Soldier Boy and Firecracker, no jokes, no sass, you follow their orders son," Homelander explained.
"Sure," Spider-man said.
'At least so long as those orders involve saving lives,' he thought.
"All right, we'll head out, the rest of you, brace yourselves," Homelander said, standing up and making his way past Ashley.
Vought Con
Jarvis rolled his eyes as the guards shoved him through the employee area, pushing him to walk to the alleyway where no one would be looking.
"I can only assume you're going to either beat the crap out of me or put a bullet in my head, or perhaps something more CIA like, drug overdose maybe," Jarvis suggested.
"We're just taking you outside for a little chat, we haven't even mentioned anything about killing you yet," 'Nick' or rather Samuel said.
"Look I understand you're probably under contract to act like this Mr Jackson, but even you have to see that what Vought is doing, or rather not doing is wrong," Jarvis explained.
"Mother fucker we've seen you going about, taking those photos, what even is this…," Samuel said, his voice drifting as he looked at the camera he had confiscated from Jarvis.
Jarvis sighed, shaking his head. The guards opened the backdoor for the convention centre, shoving Jarvis into the alleyway. There was someone there though, a hobo rustling through the trash bins. He had a heavy hood over his face and only briefly looked at what was happening.
"Thing," the camera Samuel had been holding accidentally flashed, and the man blinked in confusion.
"What, what am I doing in New York?" the man asked. "Why am I dressed like Shaft if he was a pirate?"
"What should we do?" one of the guards asked.
"We've got orders, no one interferes with Vought heroes," the other guard said.
Jarvis braced himself as the man reached for his gun. His trigger discipline was good, as he hadn't had his finger on it when an object slid through it, taking the gun out of the thug's hand. The guards and Samuel L Jackson looked at the arrow sticking to the brick wall behind them. Jarvis smiled, following the angle it had flown at and looking to the rooftop. He stood on top of the roof with his old fashioned looking wooden bow, quiver on his back and strapped over his jacket.
Clint Barton nodded his head to Jarvis, and the butler was about to take advantage of the temporary distraction to incapacitate the guards. But the homeless man pulled a dart gun out of his coat, shooting both guards. He lifted up his hood as the guards slumped to the ground, revealing his aged face, rough brown hair with white side burns and the patch over his eye.
"Now that is Nick Fury, big fan, even before Ultimate Marvel guaranteed me a job," Samuel L Jackson said.
"Likewise, Jarvis," Fury nodded to the former marine. "We hacked Vought satellites, managed to keep them off of you and Stark, even when Banner came into the country with Rogers," he explained.
"Appreciated, how did you boys avoid getting your minds wiped?" Jarvis asked.
"Psychic shielding at our headquarters, Barton woke up dazed in a prison, I woke up at a shelter for veterans. Who did you get from inside?" Fury asked.
"Squirrel Girl, Dunphy and Strongblood," Jarvis said.
"You're going to need a lot more than that, Vought's satellites are picking it up and keeping it secret, something's coming to Earth," Fury stated with a grave look in his eye.
"Mr Jackson, how would you like to save the world?" Jarvis asked, looking to their celebrity friend with a smile.
Downtown New York
Tony's knee shook as he waited for his coffee, and his friend. After much convincing, and swearing, Butcher had driven him to the coffee place. It was one Rhodes took Tony to often sober up in. Today though there was a very different intention behind the visit.
"Tony," James Rhodes came around the corner, in his civilian clothes as Tony expected he would be in.
"Rhodey," Tony said.
"A Mr Stank, Caramel latte, two sugars, cream and cinnamon for a Mr Stank," the Barista said.
"Yes, Mr Stank right here," Rhodey said as he sat across from Tony.
With the jokes aside, Rhodes looked at Tony with disappointment in his eyes.
"So what happened?" he asked.
"Got blackout drunk, you know, the usual," Tony said.
"We've kept an eye on you Tony, the president has been worried," Rhodey said.
"Is he, about me or what I know, because his whole attempts to bring the Seven back have been lacklustre, mediocre, hell just think of any kind of negative connotation and it can be applied to it. Is he serious about this plan to invade Latveria?" Tony asked.
"He'll do what he'll have to, I don't agree with it myself Tony but you know my job, he's the president and we need to support him and the law," Rhodey explained.
"A law that will eventually strip you of your rights and rank?" Tony asked.
"Despite the theories online Tony, President Homelander is not a bigot, A-Train, Black Noir, Sister Sage, he's long valued people of colour," Rhodey said.
Tony chuckled, hanging his head back slightly. He took a sip from his cup, slurping as he did, narrowing his eyes at Rhodey.
"How did we meet Rhodey?" Tony asked.
"What kind of question is that, I got assigned to your ass as military liaison to Stark Industries, and ever since then you have dragged me around with you on one escapade after another, including that first bender we went on in Tailand," Rhodey explained.
Tony reached into his pocket, taking out a vial he brought towards his coffee cup. Rhodes huffed, maybe it was another whiskey shot. Suddenly Tony threw his hand forward, along with the contents of the vial. The liquid cast itself over Rhodes's face, burning into his skin. People gasped, looking away in shock as Rhodes writhed on the ground and Tony casually sipped his coffee.
"Needs more whiskey," he muttered.
"What the fuck Stark," Butcher ran over to Tony, looking down and seeing not James Rhodes, but a white skinned man, his burning face struggling to reform itself.
"ACID! ON YOUR BEST FRIEND!" Shifter screamed.
"You obviously absorbed Rhodey's memories, but memories doesn't automatically transfer to mannerisms," Tony said as Shifter's skin changed hue, their gut grew larger and their arms misshapen with one being larger and the other feminine.
Butcher glared as long blonde hair and half of a familiar face swept across the shape shifter.
"How, HOW! I'VE FOOLED BOYFRIENDS BEFORE!" they yelled.
"Person of colour, Rhodey never would have spoken like that; he's more of a 'stop talking about it' kind of guy. He also wouldn't have hesitated to call me out on spiking my drink, he hasn't given up on me," Tony explained.
"Oh but he would really like to, he'd love to, you are a fucking exhausting friend to have Stark and RHODES IS TIRED OF AAAGH!" Shifter screamed as Tony poured another vial of acid over their face.
"Fucking diabolical Stark," Butcher grinned. "You knew the moment you heard that Rhodes supported Homelander's bonkers invasion plan didn't you?" he asked and Tony nodded.
"Give me that gun I gave you," Tony said.
Butcher reached into his coat pocket, giving Tony the gun. It looked more like a ray gun toy, hence Butcher's scepticism. Shifter got off of the floor as the other people around them began to flee. Shifter's muscles expanded, Starlight's face remaining on their head whilst their body grew into a grotesque fusion of morbid obesity and abused muscle. They yelled in multiple voices, lunging at Tony. Tony casually fired the weapon he had designed, an electric pulse came out of the gun, volts ran through Shifter's enlarged body until they slammed into the ground, turning into a faceless, sexless stick figure of skin.
"So that's what Shifter really looks like, and those things you made actually are…"
"Diabolical, perhaps even elementary old chum," Tony said in a British accent.
"Don't ever do that again, because that was bad," Butcher said.
Other side of the city
Logan hated Bruce's taste in cars, he was just fortunate that Banner hadn't hulked out, because the car they had commandeered was a mini. Just because he and Banner weren't the tallest of men, didn't mean they were robbed of space. Logan sniffed at the air, shaking his head in dismay.
"What have you been snacking on Banner?" he asked.
"I'm a walking reactor, I need to eat a lot," Bruce said.
"Does that a lot need to have so much spice in it?" Logan asked.
"Sorry my supplies don't involve substances that can get us drunk," Bruce kicked the can on the floor.
"Shut up, I think that's them…scratch that, definitely them," Logan half chuckled as he saw a van park up by one of the apartment buildings.
"Hank Pym a pest exterminator, someone has a weird sense of humour," Bruce shook his head, seeing the plastic ant on top of the truck and the 'Pym' company logo on the side of it.
Janet and Hank came out in green overalls, both moving to the back to heave out of the truck spraying equipment. They had received a call from Bruce about an ant and wasp problem in one of the apartments. The words were intended to trigger memories, but didn't seem to have any affect. Bruce climbed out, carrying the suitcase with what he and Tony had made. It wasn't to the standards of Pym's earlier designs, but they would do the job intended with the two shrinking heroes. Or former shrinking heroes, the couple seemed to be married in this universe, Janet affectionately kissed Hank on the cheek to cheer him up. But even Janet couldn't fight the bags under her eyes, and the resting disappointment on her face. Both were bored and wondering what else there was to life. Bruce intended to awaken that interest. That was until Logan sniffed at the air and snarled.
"What is it?" Bruce asked.
"GET DOWN!" Logan yelled, pushing on Bruce's head and forcing him to the ground.
A gunshot echoed between the apartment complexes, through the nearby park where kids and their parents stopped playing. Janet and Hank dropped the equipment they were carrying, looking up towards the roof.
"Shit, seriously, sensing an ambush at the last second, that's lazy writing Reckless," the shooter said.
"Shut up Screencap," one of the Vought supers said.
The shooter had a familiar looking mask with circles over the eyes. His costume though consisted of different panels over his red and white and black suit, like a comic book being drawn. Screencap knocked back the bolt on his rifle, whilst the other Vought Supes prepped themselves.
"I know, I know, Reckless's writing is apparently good enough to inspire so many artists to offer him the chance to make a comic book from his fanfics," Screencap said.
"I've been looking forward to this," one of the Supes said.
He was in a Mafia gangster costume, complete with fedora hat and white gloves. Fixit grinned as he jumped off of the roof of the building Screencap was shooting from. His muscles expanded, partly stretching his suit as his skin turned grey.
"TIME FOR FIXIT TO…"
SPLAT!
The Grey Hulk hadn't completed his transformation, and instead of roaring he was screaming in agony. His legs had broken on impact with the ground, but his weight had been devastating enough to shake the ground and the building next to him. Screencap's eyes grew wide in shock.
"Oh, who other than the writer could have seen that coming?" he asked.
"Seriously, what is wrong with this guy?" one of the Other Supes asked.
"Too much V, he's really dedicated to his gimmick," another of the Supes said.
"Come on American squad, let's go!"
Wings stretched apart as the leader of the Supes flew down. He was a dark skinned man with red, white and blue wings coming out of his back. In his debut issue he was referred to as 'The Eagle' and tipped as the sidekick to Soldier Boy. Now he was making his debut as leader of a new group of heroes, going by the name 'Captain Eagle'. Beside him was a woman in a sleeveless version of Homelander's suit, with a window on the chest to show off her cleavage. She however released a breath of fire from her mouth, nearly hitting Bruce before Logan shoved him aside.
"Oh come on," Wolverine snarled.
He popped his claws out, crossing them together to block a blast fired by another new Supe. He was the one who criticised Screencap's performance. A brown haired man who was firing beams of light from his eyes, he wore a white suit with a yellow star on his chest. The lights on the block flickered as the man fired another blast towards Bruce and Logan. Hank and Janet watched in shock as one of the street lights exploded, hitting a passerby with a shower of glass.
"Let me look," Janet immediately went to the man, whilst Hank looked towards who the Supes were fighting.
The New Starlight was advertised as the new and improved version, a member of the Vought Wrestling Federation, he promoted traditional Christian Values, wearing a purity ring on his finger as he went down to punch Logan. With a huff, the mutant popped out the claws of his right hand, meeting Starlight's fist head on. The man's purity ring was cut off by the collision along with most of his hand.
"JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!" the man screamed, holding his stump of an arm and crying.
"Oh shit, shit, we all knew this wasn't going to work out," Captain Eagle said, throwing his shield away and taking to the sky.
"Dean can't do it forever, he only does Supernatural after all," Screencap said.
"Want to get angry bub?" Logan asked Bruce.
"I mean, I'm a little stressed but, you seem to have it…" Bruce yelped as lasers struck Logan's face, burning it.
Homeland-Girl only had a fraction of Homelander's power. Of course, writers tried to portray her as being stronger than Homelander in an infamous episode of Homeland-girl. The President of course laughed as soon as he saw the line he was supposed to deliver.
'Yeah there is no way I was fighting at my best,' he said in reply to the convoluted mind control plotline and its resulting fight.
Homelander had her show cancelled and the writer's sent to Guantanamo for 'chaos inducing-woke ideology'. She still remained with the company, having to use the window on her costume and feature as a primarily supporting character. James Pistol though did get Homelander to compromise with a Homeland-girl movie to be released of course after his reboot.
"Here we go, the death scene, Logan or Bruce, of course it would be Hulk because no one gives a crap about him anymore, we're even giving his villains to Captain America now," Screencap said, targeting Bruce.
"Get back Banner," Logan snarled as his skin grew back.
BLAM!
Logan, Hank and Janet widened their eyes as blood spread across the floor. Bruce fell back, his left eye wide in shock whilst his right was caved in from the bullet round.
"And in classic comic book fashion we'll slide to a new scene, with a sick burn/skit Reckless has wanted to write for sometime," Screencap said.
Mr Stan smiled as he signed a photo, he loved Vought-Con, even if the industry had become slightly oversaturated. Still, more characters meant more stories, and more chances for profit.
"Well I think it's an easy answer to your question over who would win in a fight, Superman against Invincible, the one who would win is whoever the writer writes will win, any more bone headed questions?" Mr Stan asked.
The fan bowed his head as he left, thanking him. Mr Stan wiped his glasses, smiling at the next person to come up to his stall.
"Hi Mr Stan, I loved your story Wonderful World Under W, it really inspired me…" the fan stated.
"Well that's wonderful, what about it…"
"I think it could be enhanced with art, I'm a commission artist and I offered vibrant, affordable art, lets work together," the 'fan' said.
Mr Stan lowered his head slightly, looking down the line of people coming to meet him.
"Could everyone who is an artist raise their hand?" Mr Stan asked and all of the 'fan's raised their hands.
He sighed, this was happening a lot lately.
"Tell me what did you think of the moment Insect-Boy had a Foursome with Sparkler, Electricfront and Gwen-Variant?" he asked.
"I was…wait what…" the artist looked at him in confusion.
"You haven't actually read the story have you?" Stan asked.
"None of you guys have, have you, how many of you are robots?" the writer asked.
One of the artists raised their hand.
"Be honest," Stan said.
Six more raised their hands and Stan nodded, downtrodden, but not put down completely from telling as good a story as he could. Even if his mailbox was saturated by messages of offers to make comics out of his writing. Many, many, many, offers!
"Excuse me, excuse me, can I have everyone's Mother Fucking attention?"
People looked towards 'Nick Fury', Mr Jackson stood with his chest puffed out and was in full form. He loved this part, even if the writing had become something of a parody lately. But in a way, he was getting to be Nick Fury for real this time. He clapped his hands together, catching the attention of fans, cosplayers and even Vought supes on their break.
"You've all just entered a new universe, and I'm going to need some of you to come with me, to talk about the Avenger Initiative," he said.
Vought Supers and fans alike came with Mr Jackson behind the scenes, posing with him in front of a camera held by Jarvis. The former marine turned butler winked at the actor who bought up a peace sign.
And with a Flash, heroes awakened.
DeMarr Davis never would have signed up with Vought. His parents, despite their difficulties felt that the corporation were effectively 'owning' human beings, which felt far too much to them like slavery. Instead, Davis's parents were imprisoned by the president under his new social care rules, any parent who withheld a supe or mutant child from a government better equipped to care for them clearly didn't have their best interests at heart. That was the narrative DeMarr had to sell to people. As the new travel presenter of Vought, Davis had to show people the version of the world that Vought demanded. But as soon as the gamma camera flashed in his face, he remembered his friends from the Great Lakes Community, remembered trying to be a hero. When DeMarr walked out of the convention, he did so as Doorman, in his black costume with white gloves and a cape, his face was covered by a mask that had white diamonds over his eyes.
Kids loved dinosaurs, Humberto Lopez loved working with kids. But he had to sell Compound V as a product for the elite to buy. He did just that by denying where his powers came from. The magical rock that infused him with the ability to manifest the traits of the creatures long extinct fused to his chest. Vought called him a freak, promoted the idea that that was what the world would see him as, denying him relationships. And when he tried to reveal the abuse that children were suffering from in Vought's pre-school programs, the company buried him in an advertisement position for a kid's book. With the gamma flowing through his brain, coaxing his true memories out of him, Reptil felt the rage of the T-Rex. His brief military service was denied, he immediately took up the fatigues, boots and green and blue shirt that he remembered always wearing. It was better than the purple dinosaur costume Vought tried getting him to wear.
Joseph Green was never in the army, not by the standards of Soldier Boy. He wasn't a real soldier, a real man, he needed hazing, needed a beating to instil proper discipline and respect for the chain of command. Joseph knew what Stormfront was, but what was a black super hero to the golden girl of America? The gamma revealed it to Joseph, and for a moment he felt other memories as well. He saw a great battle in space between two alien warriors, one in purple armour with tentacles, and the other in mantis like green armour. The green alien's gauntlet would later be infused with Joseph's hand. But Joseph focused on the memories of his family, his wife and children, his brother's in the army rangers. Vought gave him a purple shirt and cowl, they wanted him to be their token super hero. But Joseph remembered, remembered the Gauntlet of war, the tours he had been through before alien tech clamped over his arm. He wore the fatigues and green shirt because he was a soldier, he didn't need a mask. And he would show Vought what real heroes were.
Griffin Gogol was just a comedian, because a joke was all he was. Homelander always saw fit to remind him of that by just setting something on fire. He deliberately put him on a team with Lamplighter, and he threatened Lamplighter to make Gogol afraid every time they went out at public events. Fire was what Griffin feared, but all fears could be fought, and that's what heroes did. Griffin Gogol walked out of the convention proud, even if people looked strangely at the mix of colours in his costume. The green helmet, the yellow spandex suit with a red harness and blue cape. He was Captain Ultra, yes he feared fire, but fear was what heroes fought.
You are inhuman, that was what Daisy was told everyday. Deny your ancestry, was another thing, reiterated by her agents again and again. She could pass as a full blooded American. Daisy was American, but she didn't want to deny the part of her family that came from Asia, nor the part of her family that came from the Inhuman city Attilan. And she would not deny her adopted father Phil Coulson, a man who even in Vought's new world was still a hero. He had simply replaced the agency badge Vought took from him with the notes of a teacher, a teacher who taught people the true history of the world. A history of heroes overcoming evil. As Daisy fastened the buckles of her blue and white uniform, as her gauntlets thrummed to life, she swore she would crush Vought in a Quake of its own making.
'You're too old to be a hero', leave the running to people who won't have a heart attack. Robert Frank hated Vought even in this new world. He wasn't a Vought supe, just a comic book artist trying to get his work seen by the world. But no, people loved 'gritty', they loved it when stories were subverted. Vought though wasn't even about subversion or grittiness, it certainly wasn't about inclusion anymore, which Robert supported. Great stories could be told with diverse casts, because the world itself was diverse, World War 2 proved it when Robert fought…yes, he fought alongside the best, Jim, Namor, Bucky, Steve…his Madeline. The gamma reenergised Frank's body far more than any cheque Vought could offer him for his company.
A couple embraced on the sidewalk. The woman stepped off of the pavement, close enough to see any car coming. The couple yelped as Frank suddenly appeared behind her.
"Excuse me miss," he said, before he ran off again.
Whizzer, they mocked him, but in his yellow suit and winged helmet, Frank would show the Vought Speeders what real speed was.
"Steve, we've got a team and much more," Jarvis said as he and Fury walked away from the Vought convention.
"Good to know Jarvis, I'll join up with you guys when I…"
Steve looked at his phone, the signal was suddenly cut. He and others in New York looked up at the sky, the sun was partially blocked by a great space craft.
Inside the space craft, Genis-Vehl of the Kree fleet got off of his command chair. As he did, quantum bands clamped over his wrists. His skin took on a dark green tone as white armour began to slide over his body, the almost Grecian styled helmet formed over his head whilst planetary symbols glowed on his chest.
"People of Earth…" he began.
Sven and Deadpool walked through crowds of people gathered around hardware stores.
"Like Independence day, people stay around and look up when they should be running for their lives," Wade said.
"They want to know what's going on," Sven said.
"The Supreme Intelligence of the Kree empire has observed a great threat to the galaxy on your planet, we the Kree Star Corps are not here as conquerors, and we are not alone," Genis explained.
Sven stopped, looking over his shoulder when they heard a second voice on the line.
"This is Roman Dey of the Nova Corps, we are an intergalactic police force, the Kree are not here to conquer the planet and we of the Principality of Xandar support the Prime ideal of freedom and autonomy for all sentient beings. Your own freedom is under threat by an item that has fundamentally altered reality. We are acting under the authority given to us under the Infinity Watch."
"I am Alus the Mentor of the Eternals of Olympia, the Infinity Watch grants us the authority to act under the best interests of the universe. To stop the continued butchering of reality, Earth must now be occupied until the reality manipulator is uncovered!"
Deadpool slowly stood from his crouched position, dramatically and annoyingly looking over Sven's shoulder.
"Well fuck, now we've introduced way more characters than the main Marvellous World series has introduced," he said.
"We need to find X-51, where are they taking him Wade?" Sven asked.
"To the most over used location in all of media, 'the Docks'," Wade said.
On the other side of the state, Mark and Eve looked through the window of a hardware store just as so many others had in shock. They walked away from the group of people, keeping their heads down as they spoke.
"We can't just stand back and watch," Eve said.
"No, but what they said 'reality manipulation' that would well be within our right to intervene in," Mark said.
They weren't just talking to one another. On one of the nearby rooftops, Robot stood with Monster Girl and Kate. Angstrom, Agent Spider and their seemingly blind team mate had already reached New York in a bus.
"You going to get some help?" the blind man asked.
"Just in case," Levy mused.
He looked up at the sky, narrowing his eyes when he saw the adult Invincible. Angstrom created his portal, whilst his team mate took off his shades and put on his blind fold.
Godolkin University
Marie shook her head as Maverick slapped the side of the TV.
"Why won't the channel change?" the invisible boy asked.
Marie looked over at Jordan, currently in their female form. They spent more time together like that, in the clubs on the rare occasions they went out, in each other's beds. Since becoming Guardians of Godolkin, both had been drawn to one another.
"Shouldn't we be going there?" she heard behind her one of her team mates.
Andre Anderson was the son of Polarity, a former member of the Seven. Taking up his father's mantle, Andre was often seen with the Golden Boy of Godolkin Luke Riordan.
"We have orders to stay here," Luke said.
Vought had been alerted of an attack on Godolkin university. At the time no one took it seriously. Godolkin himself looked at the video and saw a man in a white and red helmet, his face obscured by the shadow of his helmet.
"Evacuate Godolkin university, if you don't, every last person on the school grounds will die!"
It was a warning, one Magneto considered fair. Godolkin sent the warning to Vought. Then he put began to slam his head into his desk. When Godolkin's assistant walked in, he had shattered his nose and obscured his eyes from the swelling. But he still kept bashing his head against it, with his assistant just standing there and watching.
"Homo-sapien's," Mystique huffed, her eyes glowing yellow for a moment.
She walked around Godolkin's desk, taking the key from one of the drawers. Electrical items within the building began to flicker, metal objects were rotated and pulled it the same direction.
"Andre, are you okay?" Luke asked his friend.
"My head, like my brains getting shaken," Andre said.
Mystique smirked as she walked past the awestruck and shocked visitors. They pointed at the sky, seeing Magneto. He wore an armoured vest with his arms exposed, toned muscles remarkable for a man of his age. Metallic marbles and junk floating around him, some forming a halo just above his fluttering cloak. There was a majestic poise to how he floated, as if he was a holy figure. Yellow pulses ran out of his hands as he formed fists. Cars were suddenly lifted off of the floor, pipes in the walls of the University were ripped out. Campus security was running away from the scene when a portal opened.
Clad in a sleeveless coat, Gateway walked out of his portal, holding his shepherd's staff. Behind him jumped out Toad, Todd Tolansky slammed his feet into one guard's chest, sending the man flying across the lawn. He then slashed another guard's face with his tongue, making him scream and writhe on the floor. Others emerged from the portal, the ground shook with each step Lance Alvers took, befitting his name Avalanche. The sun reflected off of the glass visor/helmet he wore over his head. His gloved hands tightened as he sent tremors through the ground, towards the arena Godolkin used to test its students. Cracks formed throughout the arena, Lance's friend John Allerdyce stepped up beside him. The British-Australian mutant swept back his blonde hair, smiling as people ran away. No doubt they were afraid of the skull war paint on his face. His coat was a thick-fire proof material. He turned the tips of the pipes on his wrists, releasing a hissing sound.
Pyro breathed in the gas like a drug. He had a five hour high strapped to his back. Pushing the lighters on his gloves, he ignited a spark and created streams of fire. The fire was all he needed, the streams of fire turned into a flaming Rhino that stampeded across the campus grounds, leaving a trail of flame that burnt the grass and scorched the concrete. The Brotherhood were the distraction and a loud one at that. Mystique walked into the woods in her disguised form, Godolkin himself. Finding the lab wasn't difficult, nor was opening the door.
"Professor, we weren't expecting a visit, what's going on up there?" one of the guards asked.
"A demonstration by Homelander," Mystique said.
"You mean President Homelander?" the guard asked.
"Yes, yes of course, he requests an update on the prisoners," she said.
"That's new," the guard said, taking a card out of his pocket.
Mystique grabbed the man's shoulder, and then put her fingers to his neck. Within seconds as she turned into her natural form, she also sharpened the tips of her fingers to slash the man's throat. She took the card from him as he fell to the ground, gasping for air whilst blood flowed out of his neck. Mystique mouthed a silent prayer as she slid the card into the lock of one of the heavy carbon doors. The door opened and Mystique walked into a dark cell where a man was locked within a crucifix styled contraption. Raven grimaced in disdain, not from the smell of urine or faeces in the cell, but the sight of the man on the cross, his mouth muzzled but wild blonde hair resting across his broad shoulders and chest.
"Well, well, here for a conjugal visit?" the man asked.
"You wish Creed, where are they?" Mystique demanded.
"I can't smell your squeeze or the kid, but that doesn't mean Lensherr hasn't come here for nothing," the man known as Sabretooth chuckled.
Raven looked around for a release button of some kind. Her expanded ears picked up a sound down the corridor, guns loading.
"Excuse me," she said, going back into the corridor.
"Don't worry, I'll be right here, still," Victor muttered.
Homelander was moving across the states, waving to people to 'reassure' them.
"Aliens, it's bad enough we have genetic impurities on our own planet, but fucking aliens," Stormfront remarked.
"Oh yeah, totally," Homelander said, keeping his eyes on the flight path ahead.
"We should do away with all of them babe," Stormfront flew underneath Homelander, brushing his groin and letting a little electricity flow through him.
"Scorched Earth," John muttered.
"Careful John, you can't be missing that fucker Butcher more than the woman who fucks you," his inner self whispered in his ear.
Two Homelander's flew alongside the President, one looking at Stormfront with more lust than the President had whilst the other looked at the sky.
"We're in over our heads, forget Godolkin, you made the Seven of Godolkin to protect it, now is the time to be heroes," the softer Homelander said.
Homelander grit his teeth together, taking Stormfront aback as he stopped.
"What's wrong with you?" she asked.
"What?" he snapped, frowning at her.
"Baby, I love you, and I am worried about you," she said.
"Are you worried about me because you love me, truly love me, or is it all because of your little Master Race crap?" Homelander asked.
"Yeah, you tell her John boy," another aspect of his personality whispered.
"She loves you man!"
"She's a good fuck, be careful because you never get a lot of those."
"Enough," John snarled at his voices.
"You are talking to yourself, babe, I am right here and I want to make the world better with you, we are the future of this world, we are the ones who get to decide who is good and who is bad, what is right and wrong…"
"Because we have the power," Homelander said.
Stormfront looked at her lover in shock as his eyes glowed red. Suddenly, Homelander slammed his lips into hers. Shocked at first, she let electricity crackle around them both as she wrapped her arms around Homelander's neck.
"They've come to our world, to dictate the terms of a law we do not recognise, let's show them what we think of their 'Infinity Watch'," John said.
"Yes, first those fucking aliens, then all the other unworthy species," Stormfront said.
Abandoning the aid of Godolkin, Homelander and Stormfront went back the way they came.
Towards a city standing on a knife's edge, a threat had been made. But the truth, Vought's own Invincible knew, was that the alien forces would not attack. Not really, they were here for something, the same thing he sought.
'But no one else can have it,' Invincible thought.
He floated in the air, but with a puff sound, he was moving towards the Kree capital ship. The hole he smashed through it, created a vacuum pulling out crew members. He moved like a Viltrumite torpedo, smashing through the walls and slamming his hand into the Kree commander's throat. Invincible smashed through the other end of the ship, smirking as he held the Kree by the throat. His smirk though turned to surprise, as Genis gripped his wrist with equal strength.
"You didn't think it would be that easy did you?" Genis asked.
'Speaking, in space,' Invincible gasped, gasped air.
Genis floated back, his suit could create its own atmosphere. Suddenly, Genis slammed his fist into Invincible's cheek, pushing him back. The quantum bands glowed as Genis withdrew, following up by turning and using the momentum to punch Invincible again.
'Impossible, this Kree,' the Viltrumite mused.
It felt like a Viltrumite was hitting him. Recovering from the assault, Invincible moved towards Genis, only for a blue and gold blur to slam into him. Members of the Nova Corps flew around Invincible, striking him like human rockets. They were all bound in black armour, with shoulder pylons and gold helmets that reminded Mark of the Evangelion anime he watched when he was a mere human nerd. The Nova Corps members pushed him back, giving Genis an opening to alter the shape of his arm. His armour shifted, creating a cannon that pulsed with green energy. As Invincible took a punch from a Nova Corps member, Genis fired, and the Viltrumie widened his eyes as the beam hit him.
"Rules of engagement have been broken, Mentor, Roman, begin occupation of the human city of Neo York," Genis commanded.
Roman hated the Kree, they were aggressive in their expansion, making invaders out of the Skrull and only complaining when the likes of the Shiar beat them back. Nova Corpsmen were defenders, and Earth was in danger as it had been during the times a Kree of all people chose to protect it from the very man the Infinity Watch laws were created for.
"Move into the city, non lethal force," Roman commanded through the Nova World Mind.
People looked up at the sky, praying that everything would be all right. There were the sheep who believed that someone would save them, the fools who believed they had to fight. And those who understood the complication of the battle ahead.
"Sir, has this altered our arrangements?" Wesley asked Fisk.
Fisk looked up at the Nova Corpsmen flying into the Earth's atmosphere. Even his apartment wouldn't be protected if the invasion escalated. But still, the Kingpin of Crime was not afraid.
"The plan hasn't changed," he said.
At a building formerly known as Oscorp, Norman Osborn looked at his phone, he couldn't so much as talk to his son. Harry Osborn was at ESU, sitting with his friend Mary Jane.
"Come on Peter," their parents were the last people they thought of.
When Homelander arrived, Peter wasn't reassured. He couldn't stop his hands from shaking, he didn't even have a quip over how insecure Soldier Boy looked when his son arrived to lead the charge.
"They're coming here to take our planet, I say, we don't FUCKING LET THEM!" Homelander yelled.
They cheered, Firecracker loudest of all.
"Wait, they said they were looking for some…" Spider-man's voice was drowned out by the cheers and the cries for battle.
Stormfront and Homelander awaited the arrival of the Nova Corpsmen. They both smiled at one another, eyes glowing red and hands sparking respectively. Homelander fired his laser vision, unleashing a level of heat and force he had never pushed himself to unleash before. The first Nova Corpsmen to go past the clouds hadn't the time to react, to raise his defences. He screamed as Homelander's laser vision ripped through his side. His only desire was to save the Earth from whatever force had manipulated it. Stormfront created two whips of lightning, aiming all her hatred for the impure and what she deemed wasn't human at the figures coming out of the sky. One Corpsman had arm taken off by Stormfront's attack. Others looked at the hateful woman, arming their energy blasters.
"First blood has been spilled, the humans have taken a life," Mentor said.
The white haired man stood in the block shaped, Domo class ship. Dressed in a yellow suit and a green cloak, the man's eyes glowed yellow as he looked at the multitude of humanoid androids contained in racks. Their once indistinct golden bodies soon changed to human forms, a multitude of different people, races and creeds, costumes and even personalities.
"Eternals, enter the fray, it seems we must take a firm approach," Mentor said.
Blake had finished his shift and was walking home when he saw the light of the sun blocked by something in the sky. A few blocks away, Peter trembled underneath his mask. But his shock was only amplified when he looked at the other Vought heroes around him. Firecracker's hands were shaking, Vikor had dropped his own hammer in shock, Shockwave had disappeared so it was no mystery that he had run away. Peter saw Soldier Boy's shield shake and huffed, not caring that Soldier Boy glared at him over his shoulder.
"D-don't worry, God is with us," Firecracker said, her mouth trembling as she looked to the other Supes.
But it was all just manufactured bravado; Peter could tell that even Firecracker's devotion to the 'supe cause' and Homelander was wavering. The mass moving through the sky were Eternals, hundreds of artificial gods with abilities that made them far stronger than humans. They had all the power of compound V and none of the psychological issues or ego. But the Eternals were not attacking, they floated over the city, and just looked.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Soldier Boy demanded.
His hands were shaking, he was ready to fight to prove himself.
"They aren't here to invade us," Spider-man said.
"What the fuck are you talking about kid, they're aliens, anyone with projectile powers, fire at them right now," Soldier Boy commanded.
"Wait, they're basically soldiers right? So naturally they have rules of engagement which…"
"Which we can use, shoot first and ask questions later boys and girls," Soldier Boy said.
"Would you quit being so stupid they don't need to send forces down onto the planet, they could decimate us from orbit," Peter said.
"What did you say to me?" Soldier Boy turned glaring at Peter.
"They are here looking for something…"
"What did you call me?" Soldier Boy demanded, throwing his fist at Peter.
Spider-man though caught the fist, shocking the other supes around him.
"I called you an idiot, maybe that's why they call you Soldier Boy as a reference to your reading class," Spider-man said.
The Eternals looked down at the exchange, collectively tilting their heads in confusion. Soldier Boy swung his shield at Peter, who flipped back and jumped onto a nearby lamp post.
"Look I know you regularly inject yourself with testosterone just to keep yourself a little manlier, but you seriously cannot be this stupid, they took over our communication's network and made it pretty clear they were here for a specific reason. This isn't an invasion, it's a raid, as in like a cop drug raid," Spider-man explained.
"Homelander made it clear kid, you are to follow my orders," Soldier Boy said.
"I, don't, care, you are going to get someone hurt," Spider-man said.
"I don't care either," Soldier Boy said.
He grabbed hold of the lamp post, making it wobble a little as he began to rip it out of the concrete. Peter aimed his web shooters, but saw that he didn't need to do anything. The disc shaped projectile slammed into Soldier Boy's cheek. It could have taken his head off, but Cap had held back on his throw. He wanted to embarrass Soldier Boy not kill him. Peter looked towards his idol and saw the slightest smile on the man's face, Steve was one of the best men Peter knew. Steve had his human flaws, he enjoyed knocking a jerk of their high horse as much as the next person.
"Stand down," Steve said.
Didn't shout, didn't rage, didn't insult, he commanded. Looking at Soldier Boy's groaning form; the other supes then looked at Cap. Soldier Boy intimidated them, but when they saw Cap standing there, easily catching his shield with a face far more commanding than any threat Soldier Boy or Homelander could muster, they did what many did when faced with a commanding presence. They stopped, lowering their weapons and some even walking away.
"I'll go back to V-Flix, maybe they'll make another season of Anaconda kicks (spoilers they have, watch the third and final season of the Kung Fu Child continuation, right before the new movie)," Turquoise Cockroach walked away with Vikor and the other supes.
Firecracker though was still there, looking between the Eternals and Spider-man. She grit her teeth together, gripping her Patriot rifle tightly.
"Firecracker," Spider-man looked down at Misty, who shook her head.
"Traitor, you fucking race traitor," she said.
"WAIT!" Spider-man yelled.
"GO BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM ALIENS!" Firecracker yelled.
She fired her rifle, spraying one of the Eternals with bullets. The Ikaris class android looked down at the pellets that fell off of his armour. Firecracker stepped back in horror, she dropped her rifle as the Eternal's eyes began to glow.
"S-SAVE ME HOMELANDER!" she screamed.
Even in the rush of battle, Homelander heard her scream. He though huffed, punching a Nova Centurion back.
"Why the fuck would I do that? Your milk wasn't that good," he said.
Energy blasts flew into him left and right, messing up his hair and scorching his uniform. Homelander's eyes darted, trying to follow the flight paths of the Nova Corpsmen. He found just like Invincible that they were fast, moving as fast as A-Train and Red Rush. Invincible pushed against the energy beam Genis fired at him, then yelled as one of the Nova Corpsmen slammed into his back. Two more restrained him, trying to get him into a lock like common human cops would. Invincible and Homelander yelled as Firecracker screamed. The Ikaris fired his gold energy vision, sending twin beams flying towards her. Homelander fired his laser vision in a wide arc, cutting three Corpsmen in half. Invincible swung his arms, slicing open a Corpsman's chest, he then grabbed two and slammed them together, sending guts floating into space.
Firecracker felt someone tackle her, knocking her to the side whilst Cap threw his shield. The man who pushed Misty out of the way grabbed Cap's shield and deflected the Eternal's blow, sending it flying harmlessly past the Ikaris. Homelander's assault had been anything but harmless; the President looked towards Stormfront, seeing her cloak on fire, the leather of her costume melting to her back.
"Damn it John watch what you're doing," she said.
"We can still get this back we…" John paused, looking towards the ground.
He saw Firecracker and Soldier Boy on the ground, and the other supes walking away.
"What the…" Misty shook her head, dazed and confused.
She looked to the new arrival, who passed Cap's shield back to him. He was wearing a black hoodie, but it was clear he was black.
"Cage?" Steve asked.
"I'll accept that as a compliment Captain," the man lifted up his hood.
"T'Challa, but Wakanda was…"
"Wakanda lives on Captain, and our true history will return," T'Challa said.
"True history, what the fuck is he talking about?" Soldier Boy demanded.
"Lies, they're all lying, the world belongs MMMF!" Firecracker's eyes widened as webbing covered her mouth.
"I knew something was wrong, that something wasn't right, Cap, I remember you, remember fighting alongside you," Spider-man said.
"Kid you are a rookie and clearly there's something wrong with you," Soldier Boy said.
"You actually believe that don't you?" T'Challa asked.
"Shut up Dolomite, I'm the first super hero," Soldier Boy said.
"Jim Hammond," Cap retorted.
"Who the fuck? Wait, don't ignore me," Soldier Boy snarled as Cap looked up at the Eternals.
"Listen to me, we understand why you're here, we know that the world has been altered by someone. We intend to turn our world back into what it was, that's it," Steve explained.
On the Kree ships, the doorway to the bridge was suddenly surrounded by a black blanket. Doorman poked his head out, sighing in relief.
"Oh thank god, I thought there'd be some weird alien thing about Kree having no doors," he said.
Squirrel Girl, Captain Ultra, Quake and Demolition Man rushed through the portal. Jarvis though was the one leading the charge, firing a sonic blaster made from an old rifle casing and guitar parts. The electronic sound echoed through the bridge, knocking some of the Kree soldiers back before they could draw their blasters. Ultra and Demolition Man slammed threw some of the guards across the room. Quake's fist shook as she punched the captain to the ground.
"Okay Doorman, take us to the next one," Squirrel Girl said.
Doreen ran through the portal Doorman made, he altered the location, sending Squirrel Girl and Tippy Toe to another Kree ship. But he also made another stop, giving Doreen a few seconds of having to dodge the Kree blaster fire before an army of squirrels came through the portal.
"By Hala!" one of the Kree gasped.
Nick Fury came out of one portal with Hawkeye, American Eagle, Gauntlet and Reptil. Gauntlet created an energy hand he used to pug the corridor, stopping the Kree reinforcements from getting through. Reptil cut apart rifles with raptor claws on his wrists, then followed up with a swing from an Anklysauras tail. Hawkeye ducked underneath the bodies flying over him. He knocked back two arrows, firing them into guards and releasing miniaturised EMP's into their suits. A guard tried to attack Clint with an energy baton, which American Eagle grabbed. He smirked slightly before punching the guard into the wall.
"I really wouldn't," Fury said, levelling his blaster in the captain's face.
"My allies are already on your ships, employing non lethal measures, because like you we don't want to kill anyone nor do we need to. This world has been attacked, and we are going to protect it," Steve said.
Mentor narrowed his eyes as something appeared on the main screen. It was appearing across screens in the Vought building, even through the Nova Corps world mind. An avatar appeared showing a big headed Tony Stark with red glasses on.
"Greetings invaders, that goes for Vought too," Tony spoke into his microphone.
He and Butcher stood in the junkyard; Tony was using the communication dish he had built along with the arc reactor, generating enough power and coverage for his broadcast. Tony had also connected a laptop to the dish; one window displayed the alien codes of the Eternals, Kree and the corps, whilst the other was the hilariously bad firewalls of the Vought mainframe.
Though elsewhere, Wilson Fisk smiled, Stark would have had nothing if not for the Kingpin discovering the back door and sending it to Stark.
"My colleague is appealing to your better nature; I on the other hand am a facts kind of guy. For example, have a look at some of these facts, like the affects of the Vought drugs that they're releasing throughout the world. All of them, mind altering," Tony explained.
"What the fuck," Homelander remarked.
He looked around, seeing through the walls at what everyone was watching, the details that he told Howard Stark to omit from his report. Then he saw Howard standing in his office, raising a glass of scotch as if knowing he was watching. And just to annoy Homelander even more, Howard waved his finger and hit 'send' on his computer.
"Run it, run it through our Youtube page if you have to, we've got some old incriminating photos, run those, get the headlines out through the web, I want the first thing people see in their pop ups to be 'President lied, big surprise,'" even Jameson had regained his courage, talking like his old self again.
He looked down at the picture of his friends Robbie Robertson and Ben Urich.
"This is for you," he whispered.
"Oh wow, Jonah's coming through, child abuse scandals, excessive force, the works," Spider-man looked at his phone.
"MMMMFF MMMMMFFF!" Firecracker screamed frantically.
"Including a nasty little rant on set you've had about how gullible the world is, although Tek-Knight's explosion on the 'Eliminator' set is getting more views," Peter chuckled, showing off his phone.
"NO! NO! DON'T SHUT ME UP!"
Homelander let out heavy and deep breaths, looking across the city, the sky. Everything was falling apart, his plans, his design for the world was breaking down.
"No, no, FUCK NO!" he yelled.
"Baby what's going…"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP! NEED TO GET BACK! NEED TO CHANGE EVERYTHING!" he yelled.
The words echoed in Invincible's ears as he hit the atmosphere. Genis retreated, sighing in relief as Invincible flew away. He flew faster than Homelander, hitting the streets and making the ground shake. The heroes were knocked off balance, seeing several buildings crashing down onto the ground.
"Oh god," Steve whispered.
"God's got nothing do to with it faggot," Soldier Boy said, running towards Steve.
Captain America deflected Soldier Boy's fist, then followed up with a slash across the man's cheek. Soldier Boy snarled in fury, touching his cut cheek and rushing at Cap again. Spider-man though wrapped webbing around Soldier Boy, and T'Challa punched the man in the face for good measure.
"I would win! I WOULD WIN!" Soldier Boy yelled.
"And just in case," Spider-man added, webbing Firecracker's hands together.
She stomped her foot, screaming like a child throwing a tantrum.
"That street," Spider-man said.
"It's where Logan and Bruce were," Steve said grimly.
Tony and Billy walked away from the communication dish, their job done. The inventor threw away the sheet in the garage, revealing his junk yard armour. He repurposed pieces of an old furnace for the engine and worked several pieces of metal into his classic red and gold design.
"From a fucking junk pile," Butcher muttered.
"You should see what I can do with a box of scrap," Tony grinned.
Butcher blinked in surprise as Tony gestured to the armour.
"Shut the fuck up!" Billy gasped.
"What do you say Mr Butcher, if this is the end of the world, what's the one thing you'd love to do?" Tony asked.
Billy looked first at the armour, then over his shoulder. He saw his Boys standing, all of them with looks of approval and encouragement.
"Kick his ass butcher!" Hughie said.
Magneto's Brotherhood had Godolkin's supposed Guardians in hand. He had something else to focus on, Mystique was having her fun, looking for her wife and daughter. Magneto clicked his fingers, releasing Creed's locks and muzzle. Sabretooth grinned before roaring, jumping into the fight and ripping the guards apart. Erik however focused on other doors, ripping them off of their hinges.
"Professor is that you?" Scott Summers asked.
The young man was in his blue and yellow costume, strapped to a cross with his eyes sown shut.
"Savage bastards," Magneto snarled.
Beast was in a full on cage, Angel had his wings pinned to the wall, Iceman was in a furnace and Jean Grey was nowhere to be found. Magneto half expected the red haired girl to be in the last cell. He ripped the door off, flew inside and sighed in relief. Huddled in the corner, her hair dirty and partly covering her face, was Magneto's daughter.
"Wanda," he whispered.
She was wearing a straight jacket, with a muzzle on her mouth tight enough to keep her from speaking. Then there was the control collar, continually generating a sound that no doubt affected Wanda's equilibrium. Magneto removed his helmet, kneeling by her side and ripping the collar off. Wanda kicked out, shuffling back against the padded cell.
"It's me, it's your father, child please, Wanda," Erik whispered, gently taking hold of Wanda and brushing back her hair.
He removed her gag and Wanda's voice strained as she looked at Magneto with blood shot eyes.
"We have to get to New York," she whispered. "I know how Homelander has changed reality!"
Next Chapter 6: AVengers
Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter.
Next time it's a race to stop Homelander from changing reality again. Meanwhile Howard and Tony reunite, to help Ben uncover the true depravity of Homelander's design.