Chapter Text
June 23rd 1942
Steve Allen looked around at the people in the room with him. Except for two, a man and a woman respectively, they were all sitting in the chairs like him. Steve thought back to after the experiment with the serum and the lightning gave him his powers. As he had dashed across the laboratory faster than anyone could see while red, white and blue lightning danced across his body, he couldn't help but think that nothing could surprise him from then on. He had been so wrong. As it turns out the most surprising thing had been seeing a woman with giant bird wings on her back and a green man with orange eyes sitting on a chair in the corner.
It's not like he should have been surprised. After all they had told him three days ago that there had been other experiments to try and create a super-soldier. Eight in fact, though sadly the eighth one didn't make it according to the scientists he had overheard. Since then Steve had been anxious to meet the other seven who had survived and was actually excited how he could improve his own abilities by training alongside people like him. Of course now that he's here, he can clearly see that apparently they were all affected differently.
"You are correct." said the green man suddenly as he looked at Steve, and everyone turned to stare. "I'm sorry. Your thoughts are rather elite and I'm still learning to control my gift. Besides I figured someone should get us talking and it didn't appear anyone else was going to do it."
"Wait, can you read my mind?" Steve asked and he saw some of the others look at the man suspiciously.
"Not unless I really want to. But you were thinking about us a lot and loud thoughts are hard to block out. But please, let us start again." the man said with a polite smile before suddenly his left stretched across the room for Steve to shake. "My name is Hank Jones."
While still troubled by the fact that the man could read minds, the way his arm stretched just made Steve's face explode into a smile and laughter emerge from his throat. With the exception of the dark haired main standing at the corner, everyone at least smiled or chuckled. Once the twenty-one year old had his laughter under control, Steve took the man's hand and shook it respectfully.
"My name's Steve Allen. And to those who can't read minds, I can run faster than a bullet and I'm not even sure if that's my top speed." he said and once he let the hand go it snaked back to its owner while Steve looked to the black man observing them. "And you are?"
The man jumped a little, surprised to have been spoken to and looking nervous. However he quickly composed himself and looked at Steve firmly as spoke. "I'm Isaiah Stewart"
"No need to be nervous Isaiah." Steve tried to reassure him, having a good idea why the man was feeling that way. "We're all friends here."
"What can you do?" Hank asked, and Steve was glad to see that Isaiah seemed a little more relaxed, though not by a lot.
"I can create things from my imagination. So far it's just basic shapes, but the people in white coats think I could create a plane with all the right parts with practice and some blueprints." Isaiah explained, and Steve started to think that Isaiah might have got the best power so far.
"I'm Diana Stevens." said the black haired woman when Steve looked at her, while she gestured to the winged woman standing next to her. "This is my sister in law Shiera."
"Hello." Shiera said with a polite wave to everyone.
"Nice to meet your ladies. What can you two do?" Steve asked them.
"Well, I think you can guess what the wings are for." Shiera said as she gestured to her back. "But besides that I'm stronger than I was before and I can make objects heavier when I touch them, though they stay the same for me."
"I'm stronger than her and fast enough to catch bullets." Diana said quickly and proudly, and Steve wondered how she learned she could catch bullets. "I can also leap great distances and my skin can't be cut. Also when I touch someone or something someone else is touching, I can make them tell me the truth.
"Impressive." Hank said while Steve and Isaiah nodded in agreement.
"My name's Roger Curry." said the next person Steve looked at, a blond haired man who appeared withdrawn and standoffish to Steve despite how little he had said so far.
"Nice to meet you Roger." Steve responded in an attempt to be nice. "What did the experiment do to you?"
"I can breath underwater and swim as fast as a swordfish." he eventually explained. "I can control marine life and when I'm hydrated stronger and more durable than before."
"Well then I'm not going anywhere near a beach with you." Hank said, and everyone looked at him in confusion before he explained. "One wrong word and you can kill me with one of your shark friends."
That appeared to break the ice and Roger smiled a little while everyone except the last person in the room laughed a little. Once Steve was done he looked at the dark haired man expectantly as did everyone else, but he said nothing and refused to even look at them. After about a minute Shiera had apparently had enough as she spoke with a tone of annoyance.
"It's your turn you know." Shiera told him an the man sighed before responding.
"My name is Bruce Rogers. The experiment didn't do much for me except remove every unhealthy cell with good ones. That means I'm as healthy and as strong as someone who trains and works out their whole life and is at humanity's peak physical perfection." he answered. "I also don't need to sleep and my sense are somewhat heightened."
"Physical perfection?" Shiera asked with a snort, which made everyone but Bruce chuckle.
"It's what the doctors said." Bruce replied defensively and everyone laughed a little again. However the laughter stopped when the door opened and a general Steve recognized walked in. Everyone sitting immediately stood up while those standing stopped leaning against the walls.
"My name is general Ross Lane. And I would like to welcome the seven of you into the United States military." he told them swiftly and simply, and at that moment Steve realised something. No matter what happens next and no matter what he does, there will always be something in the world to surprise him.
September 7th 1942
Wally Barnes knows he has done many stupid things in his life. Yelling at a teacher when he was nine had been the biggest one until now. Here he was, fifteen years old and he had thought it would have been a good idea to stow himself away on a boat to Normandy so he can help fight in the war. And now he's going to die. Like many he hasn't believed the stories about the Axis League, the team of supposedly superhuman individuals with the powers of God. He's been in France for three days now, and the Axis Legion were currently killing all the Allied forces. And what was he doing? Hiding under a desk like the scared kid he was.
The seventeen year old froze when he heard a loud smash and steps suddenly enter the room he was being in. He held his breath and tried to stay as quiet as possible, praying to God to let him survive this in return for becoming a priest like his mother had wanted, when he looked up and saw a deathly pale face stare down at him.
"Hello there. How do you do? I'm Yorick." The man said, his face looking so pale and malnourished that Wally could see the outline of his skull. Suddenly the man vanished and before Wally could react a green light surrounded the desk and it lifted on the ground. Wally dashed out of his hiding place just in time to avoid being thrown with the desk out of the window. Wally looked around widely to see all the members of the Axis League, some German and others from other countries having joined simply because they were given God like powers.
There was Yorick, a serial killer who has plagued New Metram close for almost twenty years according to the newspapers. Nobody knows for certain why the aptly named Mad Skull joined the Axis Powers, but most agreed that he seemed to enjoy the senseless deaths. And somehow despite being the only one without powers or fancy gadgets, he keeps up with his teammates and in fact is the most favoured by the führer himself out of all of them. He wore a suit of the highest quality, with the trousers and jacket blood red, his best black while his shirt being green. Standing next to him was Rodent, a feral woman who had the appearance of a rat and the viciousness to match. She wore a purple swimsuit like outfit that left her legs and arms exposed. With his ice gun in his hand, Baron Zero stood in front of them wearing a blue body out with white gloves and boots while a purple mask his his features.
Wally was about to get off the floor and run, but saw the four other members of the vile team blocking his exit. Vandal Zola, a genius who according to the stories can't be killed, was observing him along with Baron Ocean, though he appeared to watch Wally with a hungry look that terrified Wally. Zola was dressed in a black military uniform that seemed out of place here while Baron Ocean was wearing a green body suit with one large purple tripe going down his chest. Meanwhile Burning Man created a ball of fire in his hand, a message Wally understood completely, while Doctor Sin's yellow ring glowed as yellow rope tied Wally's hands together. Doctor Sin was wearing a white lab coat over a black and yellow bodysuit of a similar design to Burning Man, except his was red and orange.
"So what do we have here?" Rodent asked. "You're a little short to be in the army don't you think?"
"Please. Please don't kill me." Wally begged, hating how pathetic he sound but not sure what he can do.
"Oh don't worry. We're not going to kill you." Yorick said and Wally had a brief flash of hope before it was crushed. "I'm going to kill you. Very slowly. Because the human candle over there keeps killing people too quickly and I can't enjoy myself."
"Oh shut up." Burning Man almost shouted in anger.
"If you have to do this, do it quickly." Doctor Sin said as he stopped using his powers on Wally and gesture to Yorick to have his twisted fun.
Before Yorick could take a step towards Wally however there was a flash of red, white and blue light that span around the room sending everyone flying back. Before Wally could process what had happened, he felt something grab him and wind blow into his face. The next thing he knew he was outside and someone was gently helping him stand on the damp grass.
"Are you alright? Can you tell me what your name is?" asked the Flag, as he checked Wally over. Wally stared at what the newspapers called the Fastest Soldier Alive, shock that he existed. When the army announced their creation to seven super soldiers which they grouped into a team called the Avenging Society, Wally had been those who hadn't believed it. But here he was, being saved by what he had beloved was a propaganda tool. Like in the pictures he had seen he was wearing a blue body suit with red gloves and boots along with a matching mask. Red and white stripes went around his abdomen and in the centre of his chest was a star with a lightning bolt. If Wally had seen someone dressed like this walking down the street, he would have laughed. But seeing the Flag wearing it, he couldn't help but think how cool it was.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you." Wally responded with a shaky voice. "I'm Wally Barnes."
"Is that everyone Flag?" asked a feminine voice from behind him, and Wally looked around and found his heart beating faster than when he was afraid of dying. Walking towards him was Columbia, the most beautiful woman Wally has ever seen. Like the Flag she was wearing a similar uniform, with the bottom half being bright blue with red boots while the top half was red with tiny white stars around the arms and a red mask to hide her identity. As she stood there majestically Wally saw that she had silver bracelets on her wrists with a single red star on each and was so safely tied to her belt.
"It better be, because we don't have anymore time." said a voice from behind Wally, and when the teen looked around he hated himself for not doing so sooner.
There stood the rest of the Avenging Society, in all their glory. Floating slightly above the ground at the back was Emerald Soldier, masked from head to toe by a black and green bodysuit with white gloves. Next to him was Miss Eagle, wearing an inverted version of Columbia's costume while carrying a spiked mace, and Sea Captain. The aquatic hero was wearing a suit that was orange on the top half with dark green stripes going down both arms leading to green gloves. The bottom half was completely green and he wore a black belt. The green skinned Spy Hunter was observing Wally while Colonel Bat looked for any threats armed with only a shield. Spy Hunter was the only one not to have a mask, and his suit was all red with one blue stripe wrapping around his torso from his left shoulder while a white stripe did the same from his right. He had white gloves and boots which completed his look. Colonel Bat contrasted his teammates by his black and grey colour scheme along with the bat theme, which apparently no one understood since the rest for the most part had a more patriotic colour scheme. With the exception of the black mask, gloves, boots and belt he had an all grey costume, while his shield had the same colours as multiple circles.
"If you want our autographs it will have to be later. I'm going to take you to the boats heading to safety." the Flag suddenly said with an amused tone and Wally nodded. "Ok. Are you ready?"
Wally nodded again and as the Flag grabbed him with both hands, Wally blinked. Within that second he felt a burst of wind and when he opens his eyes he found he was at the beach looking at boats. Wally turned around to say thank you, but found that the Flag had already left. Looking around for a few seconds, he smiled with a feeling of hope as he then raced towards the boats, content with the idea that with heroes like them protecting everyone things were going to be alright.
October 13th 1944
Shiera screamed with rage as she increased the weight of the mace in her hands and hit Doctor Sin with it. The metahuman barely had the time to construct a yellow shield to block the attack, but he was still sent flying into the building and crashing through the walls. As she flapped her wings to stay in the air, she flew forward to join Isaiah in the air.
"So, has anyone got any idea why the Axis Legion is here?" she asked telepathically, thanks to Hank using his powers to create a mental link for the team.
"Not a clue. What about you Steve?" Isaiah asked his best friend as he fired a blast of green energy at the enraged Sin as he exploded out of the rooftop of the building. The doctor was left studden, allowing Shiera to fly down and strike him again with her mace.
"Maybe this is their last suicide attempt. They know we've won, so they're going all out to try and kill us." Steve answered and Shiera saw him dodging blasts from the cold gun belonging to Baron Zero on the ground.
"That's not a good thing. If they're desperate enough to attack us in New Metram, they must have something planned." Bruce told them, and Shiera hated how likely that sounded.
As she continued to hit Doctor Sin, Shiera couldn't help but think about how crazy her life had become since her husband Carter had died in Pearl Harbor, which in a few months will have been three years ago. She had been distraught when she heard the news and them mourning his death had been the only time her and Diana had spent together without fighting. Both of them had been lost and angry, but not sure how to apply their anger. Then they were both approached by some government agents who explained they possessed a rare metagene and due to the fact they could only find five male metagene carriers, and scared by how the Axis had their own metahumans, they asked Diana and Shiera to undergo experiments to activate them. The two almost laughed at their faces, but Shiera and Diana eventually agreed to it since neither had any idea to move on after Carter's death. And now Shiera was this, a superhuman woman with wings on her back. Even though she had no interest in having a romantic relationship with anyone ever again, she had to admit she was annoyed that the choice was taken from her. No man would ever want to have her as their wife, and it's not like she could ever have a normal life.
Suddenly Sin created a shield which blocked her mace and as a yellow fist grew around his arm, he swung it into Shiera's stomach. The breath was knocked do it of her lungs as she was sent flying upwards and she struggled to regain control of her wings, but to her surprise shelley herself hit something soft and comfortable. As gravity began to make her fall she flapped her wings quickly to remain in the air and she looked as a green blanket disappeared from the sky and Isaiah started to fight Sin with swords, the two trying to cut each other into piece. At that moment, a stray thought in Shiera's head reminded her that there was one person she was interested in, but she quickly forced it out. With or without wings and superpowers, Isaiah and her could never happen and them being friends in public is still an impossibility as much as she hates to acknowledge the fact.
"Shiera, we need you. Their monsters are proving more difficult than expected." Hank told her as she was about to go and help Isaiah, and it was only when the man glanced at her and nodded that she flew off in Hank's and Roger's direction.
Out of all the members of the Axis League, Shiera had to say that she hated Vandal Zola the most. Possessing an intelligent mind ahead of his time, he could have been the greatest genius in history. Instead he decided he wanted to become a mad scientist, create monsters and do such vile things that Shiera still struggled to be live that anyone could be that inhuman. Yorick was perhaps more evil, but while he was cunning he didn't have the same brilliance.
Shiera was reminded of again of why she hated Zola when she saw the monstrosities marching their way through the street. They were the roughly three time the size of an average person with grey skin and spikes protruding from all over their bodies. They were also incredibly powerful and dangerous, able to tear walls apart like they were nothing. With a yell to draw their attention, she flew down and started striking them with her mace. They were all sent flying out, some having their necks snapped and their heads bending down to their shoulders.
"Thanks for the assist Shiera." Roger said as he battled two of the monsters, wearing them out through an excellent balance of agility and strength.
"So what do we do now?" Shiera asked them when suddenly something shot down from the sky into the crowd of monsters. Seconds later the monsters were sent flying outwards as Diana came charging through.
"I don't know but we better think of something fast." Diana told them, and Shiera only then noticed that Bruce and Steve had found themselves here also trying to fight the monsters.
She heard noises above them and while defending herself looked up to see Isaiah was still fighting Sin. Suddenly Sin fired a beam of yellow light that broke through Isaiah's green shields and sent her friend flying downwards, at which point Sin opened up his hand facing down at them. Yellow light spread out from this point until he became an incredibly large dome that trapped Shiera and the rest of her team with these monsters. But they didn't need Hank to connect them to figure out a plan. They already have a plan for when they are in a situation like this. Keep fighting to keep each other alive.
She didn't know how long they all fought together after that point. Zola must have purposely planned to have his monsters and the surviving members of the Axis Legion force them all together. She had felt like she was fighting the monsters for hours, but for all she knew it could barely have been one. But eventually the monsters were all beaten to the ground and she stood victorious with her friends. That is until she felt ice form around her legs, and she looked around to see that the same had been down to her team. She started hitting the ice with her mace but the fight with the monsters had worn her out and she was barley doing any damage.
"You know we had hoped my Doomsday creatures would kill you." Zola said as he stood there observing the team whole Baron Zero stopped firing his gun. Shiera glared at him and his teammates while her friends did the same, with Zola continuing to talk much to her annoyance. "Never mind, we have another plan don't we?"
"Oh yes we do!" Yorick laughed with joy as he practically started skipping after Zola pressed a button on a machine on his wrist. There was a flash of blue light and standing there was a large machine about the size of a car.
"What the hell is that Zola?" Bruce asked through gritted teeth while they all kept trying to escape. While she wasn't so sure about her team she could feel the ice breaking little by little.
"Come on Zola, you promised me I would get to do it!" Yorick started shouting in anger, acting like a child who wasn't getting his way.
"Give it to him already." Zero said with a ground of annoyance. "That way we can finally be rid of him."
"Oh very well." Zola said as he pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to Yorick, who took is happily and started to stroke it like it was a pet. Shiera saw that it was some kind of black box, with a single button on it.
"Be careful you idiot. Activate it after we go." Vermin snapped at Yorick and he took a few steps back while the Axis Legion stood a little closer together.
"Goodbye Avenging Society. It has been an honour." Zola said with a nod as he move to press the button on his wrist. It was at that moment that the ice finally broke around Shiera's feet as did everyone else's, and they all charged forward.
Looking back Shiera knew she could have died there like Hank, Roger and Bruce did. If she had gone to stop Yorick instead of the rest of the Axis League, she wouldn't have teleported with them along with Isaiah, Diana and Steve. She wouldn't have felt Hank, Roger and Bruce did from the bomb Yorick activated though the psychic link Hank created between all of them. She would have died there, along with the rest of New Metram. She would have avoided seeing the world go to hell as a nuclear war began, a war that changed everything. She wouldn't have had to see more pain and suffering than she can safely deal with. Sometimes, when it got really bad, she would look back and wish she had died with her fallen friends so she could have avoided everything.
February 29th 2007
Diana wandered through the ruins of a city she didn't recognise, though she had suspicions about it being Philadelphia, wearing comfortable and loose fitting clothes for ease of movement. She carried a back back, which was filled with the medicine and supplies she had acquired from the settlers who lived past the city. Due to her experience and power Diana often got the job of reaching out to the other communities and creating trades. There were others who did it, but she liked to think she was the best.
She sometimes wondered why she was cursed with this ability. The curse of immortality. While she was pretty sure she could still be killed, she hasn't aged a day since she got her powers all those decades ago. And because of her powers and youth she has been able to survive while Steve, Shiera and Isaiah did not. She had been heartbroken when Isaiah died, felt like she had lost the greatest friend she will ever have when Shiera died, and contemplated suicide when her husband Steve passed on. Even now she sometimes wondered why she doesn't kill herself so she can avoid living any longer.
"Diana!" a voice called out from above and Diana smiled as she remembered why she kept living while her niece Sarah landed in front of her. Her bright green armour and wings were a sight to behold, and the fifty-three year old woman made her helmet vanish.
"Hey Sarah. What are you doing out here?" Diana asked her as she gave Sarah a hug, which the younger woman returned before responding.
"I was just on my way back from talking to Jessica. Her and the rest of her team has finally cleared up all the radiation at the lake." she explained, and She looked around before speaking again. "Hey, would you like a lift to Genosha?"
"Yeah that would be good thanks." Diana answered as she watched as Sarah reached out with her hand to create a green circle from her to step on. Once she had done, sitting down to grip the edge, Sarah's helmet reappeared and she flapped her wings before flying into the air.
As Diana watched the ground below, she couldn't help but think about everything that had happened in the last six decades. After Yorick blew up New Metram the world slowly and surely fell apart due to Zola's discovery of atomic weapons, not to mention as governments invested everything in building the same sort of weapons as well as creating new metahumans through any means possible, and this all resulted in a temporary stalemate. Things reached their logical conclusion when the bombs started dropping in 1958. Luckily Diana and Steve had been a secure bunker with their son James along with Shiera, Isaiah and Sarah.
Getting married hadn't exactly been a planned decision, but instead a spur of a moment thing that became a shared wedding for the four of them. The world was falling apart, they were living in bunkers awaiting their deaths, they thought tomorrow wouldn't come. Why wouldn't they be honest about their feelings and enjoy the little time they had left? But tomorrow did come and none of them regretted their choices. And despite how hard the world had become Diana knew that none of them regretted bringing children into the world.
It eventually turned out that investing in metahumans had been a good thing because roughly two years later a few showed up in their bunker, one of their members being able to manipulate radiation to keep them safe. Diana missed Nathan, he was sometimes strict and had a tendency to transform into a giant monster, but he was a good guy. He was able to clear up the radiation in an area so people could rebuild and eventually create their new home.
She wasn't sure who decided to name it Genosha, but despite being referred to as a city it would be better to call it a fortress. There was gigantic gates that provided protecting from the few raiders that existed, which could only be opened from the inside, and a force field which stopped people with powers from flying over the gate. As she watched it come into view, she acknowledged how quickly they had recovered from the nuclear fallout. The radiation might have killed billions but for some it activated their metagenes and many were able to apply those powers the way Nathan did. By removing the damage done by the war and healing everything to the point you could survive in it or using their powers to make life a little easier. Until about twenty years ago, only a few metahumans could survive outside the safe zones Nathan had created. Now most of America is radiation free while other metahumans had done the same for their countries. While contact with countries overseas has been difficult and they aren't formerly working together, communication has slowly been improving. Diana leaped off the disk when they reached the gates of Genosha, and Sarah landed next to her.
"Zero, two, three, zero, five, four, six, one, one, two, one, zero, nine, nine, one, eight." Sarah yelled out to the guards watching them from the lookout. A second later the doors opened and the two women quickly walked through the opening, and looked as people dashed past to help contribute to their community.
“Mum! You're back." James shouted once he saw her, his wife Meloni with him. Diana smiled as he ran past people to hug beep, his father's speed meaning he was still in shape despite being fifty-six.
"It's good to see you James." she said as she gave her son, who looked old enough to be her father, a hug as Meloni caught up with them.
"You were gone longer than normal Diana. Did you get into any trouble?" Meloni asked her as they also had a quick hug.
At times like this Diana found coincidences to be very amusing, considering how Steve saved Meloni's father Wally all those years ago in 1942. And who was one of the first survivors they found with Nathan, having become a single father and a leader of survivors in a bunker? Wally himself, who quickly became a close friend of Steve's. And Diana would never have expected James and Meloni to fall for each other and get married. To be honest she had sometimes thought James would have favoured the company of men, not that she would have cared of course. In fact after the bombs most people stopped caring about skin colour, gender and the company you keep. As long as you did your part and worked without complaint, nobody really cares anymore.
“Just a few issues with some raiders. I took care of it." Diana explained with a smile. She didn't really feel like telling them how she ran into Leonard Zemo at the settlement. Turns out he survived as well and had been made immortal after being exposed to one of his chemicals back in 1950. Been using his genius and ice gun to provide quick and clean water for his community, which was honestly the only reason she hadn't killed him on sight.
"Well don't tell Rebecca. You know what she's like, she's this close to forming a team to patrol everything. Even said they could have team names and everything. So let's not give her an excuse." James said with a small laughter, and Diana nodded in agreement. At twenty-two years old and despite every warning Rebecca had that annoying quality of believing she was indestructible. A consequence of youth, something many of her friends like Jason Castle and Sharon West had.
"Well I better get this stuff to the supplies and tell the council what happened." Diana told them, referring to the elected group of officials who make decisions. "But I'll come round later and you can tell me what I missed these last few weeks.”
Diana smiled as James agreed and after saying thank you to Sarah, Diana watched as the three of them left to do their jobs. Once they had vanished into the crowd Diana began to head to the supply rooms, hoping that Rebecca had remembered to look after her plants while she was gone. Yes it might be upsetting and difficult to keep on living, but despite everything Diana had to say she felt it was easier with her family.