Chapter Text
Universal Collisions
Prologue: Business
None might describe him as a self made man, but he had to earn his money. Lex scoffed when people called him evil, they never knew his father. He was not a whining man-child, complaining there being no man in the sky to save him from daddy’s fist (god he hated that variant).
‘Besides, Luthor’s are more subtle,’ he thought.
It was a somewhat fond remembrance of Lionel Luthor, the man who made him who he was. Lex worked to excel himself in every field he pursued, attending the finest universities. Whilst Wayne was doing god knows what (at least what Lex thought before his cosmic awareness) with his youth, Lex studied under multiple teachers, never stopping until he was smarter than all of them and smart enough to get away with taking everything from them. A teacher with a theory on energy exchange in relation to alien materials, Lex proved the theory and took the credit. The college roommate trying to make a social network, Lex made one that brought in money and gave him sole access to user’s personal data, including the habits of some business and school rivals. Wannabe NASA scientists tracing meteorites only for Lex to get a mineral named after him, chemists seeking to make a cure for a disease, Lex created a cure and gained the monopoly on its distribution. Lex’s first pursuit had always been knowledge for the sake of the further accumulation of wealth and power.
He was a businessman; his control of crime within Metropolis had always been a business transaction until Superman made it personal. His assistant of Kang, the exiled Kang, was a business contract. Lex held the time and reality stones in his bare hand, smiling as he used both in combination to create another tick box of highly profitable ventures, land. With the infinity stones, he could plan out his business trips and meetings even under Kang’s nose.
“You all are considered the most deplorable and opportunistic creatures in your worlds, and of course the overlooked quality of being practical,” Lex stated to his associates.
They were attending his pitch meeting, taken from their homes and moments in time. Some included Wallers, Lords (both the man and noble titles), the heads of super spy organisations and evil geniuses.
“Something is happening to the Multiverse, I’ll spare you the theatrics, but suffice to say it will consume everything that gets in its way, some of your Earths have no means to fight it,” Lex explained, looking at a dark skinned businessman.
“We have our own superheroes on our world,” the man said.
“And against actual threats you and I both know they’re useless Mr Edgar,” Lex retorted.
“I have some heroes of my own too, we’ve already encountered some Multiversal threats,” a scarred man said.
“Mr Stedtman, whilst your world would be significantly more prepared than Edgar’s I’m afraid even your strongest Viltruwhatever could do little against it, I have seen it ladies, gentlemen and people who prefer alternative pronouns, I have seen what it is capable of. If you want to survive what is coming, then you will have to have a place to go, fortunately I have those places, no need to move to an Earth already occupied, when you can have an Earth all to yourself, complete with cities, flora and fauna, I’ll even throw in a cleaner atmosphere. Now, why you people you might ask? Well as I said you’re practical, and despicable, you’ll decide who gets to leave your worlds, criminals, undesirables in general,” Lex explained.
An Amanda Waller variant raised her hand; she was in medieval armour, complete with a sword at her waist.
“Ah Dame Waller of the knights of steel, whateth be your inquiry?” Lex asked, dramatically fluttering his hands whilst some of the visitors grinned.
“What is the price?” she asked.
“It’s a very simple price to pay mi’lady, and it won’t even require any of your to give up your ambitions, your money or anything people like you would particularly value,” Lex stated, grinning as his new ‘friends’ collectively considered what he was selling.
They all wore the looks he recognised, having seen it on the faces of every person he had ever convinced/threatened/duped into giving him something he wanted. They would all agree to his terms and conditions.
And give the approaching force everything it wanted.
Chapter 11: Masters of the Multiverse
Previously on Universal Collisions…
“You’ve done this before, for your own Earth?” Jon asked.
“We came close a few times to losing our Earth, with Strange and again when Miss Danvers and I had to protect our Earth we lost a friend to prevent an incursion, Nathaniel came to us with a solution when we faced an incursion for real,” Ms Marvel explained.
Miles and Terry softly landed behind the Red Hulk and were about to retreat further when they hit by an energy blast. Volts of electricity flowed through them, making them reappear. Terry fell harder than Miles, his suit’s software requiring a reboot, giving him flickering images of the shooter standing over them. He was in a blue jacket and had a black and gold robotic arm.
“Bucky Barnes,” Miles whispered.
“Crap,” ‘Bucky’ muttered.
“Cap would say language,” Miles commented before he fell unconscious.
Virgil noticed before that that he was being followed. They were good, and had probably been following him and Zack for much longer than they truly realised. He walked around the block, trying to give the turbo rush to a Hispanic homeless man. The man had dark rings under his eyes, he looked like he needed the rush but he promptly knocked the can aside.
“Suppressing us, controlling us, erasing us, don’t need power, need something to power,” he said.
He left his change in the man’s cup and moved on, making sure to not check over his shoulder for his tail. Two people, one Asian, one European, definitely a couple so there was no act there. The act was their interest in him, they stopped to admire something in the store, he was the talker, she wasn’t deaf which left some options, shyness, mute, or she was just hanging around a guy whose language she didn’t speak.
‘It happens,’ Virgil thought.
They didn’t follow him through an alleyway he cut through, and for a moment Virgil thought that a kid skateboarding behind him was one of theirs. The boy seemed absent minded, looking up at the sky but when Virgil looked back at him he could see an expression he recognised. It was the same expression that the homeless man had, emptiness.
“You think just because you do a dangerous job it makes you some kind of hero? Forget it, I’m the hero, I’m the interesting one, I’m the one people will watch and listen to and adore, or hate, and all you get is nothing, there is no point to you existing, no point to you being here, so go on, walk off the edge, walk off the edge, I insist Tom,” Homelander said.
Charles could feel the doubt, the frustration, and then nothing as Richards, no, little Kang activated whatever technology he used to block the truly suspicious psychics.
“All right girl’s…”
“No Emma,” Charles interrupted Frost and her students, removing his helmet.
The Avengers and League were scattered, a plan was to be enacted that would devastate the Multiverse. Charles Xavier had only one thing to say to that.
“To me my X-men!”
(X-men theme)
Polaris and Sunfire flew alongside the Thunderbird, the camera zoomed in on Havok’s eyes as the theme played.
Cosmic waves burst out of Alex’s chest before he shot a beam into the sky.
HAVOK!
Kitty came up through the ground, throwing her fist towards the screen.
SHADOWCAT
Illyanna stood with her back to the camera in a fiery landscape, putting her sword on her shoulder as she turned.
MAGIK
Shiro raised his hands, generating flames from his body.
SUNFIRE!
Green energy flashed around Lorna before she rushed towards the screen.
Shots of humans running, then the X-men running, then the MCU Young Avengers.
Professor X put a hand to his head, generating psychic waves. Iron lad’s brought up his hand, the repulsor glowing.
Both the X-men and Young Avengers ran towards one another, slamming together and bringing up a logo.
X-men
Mojo shook his head, sighing as Mojo Worlds writers shook in fear.
“As far as homages to the original X-men opening goes that…was…XCELLENT!”
“Really Mr Mojo, oh thanks!”
“Yes, I can see this X-men line up lasting, now go, go, start making some money…I mean great stories!”
Earth 616
Aeon looked at the Krakoan flower across his wrist, shaking his head as Wolverine and Colossus laughed at his expense. They walked through the Krakoan portal with Kang bound by Krakoan vines. The plants provided the two non-mutants with biometric access to the gates. Professor X was already waiting to greet them, with Strong Guy, Velocidad and Skin waiting.
“My jailers I assume,” Kang said, smirking as Domino poked his side with her rifle.
“We need your insight for the machine Mr Richards, that’s the only reason you’re walking on Krakoa now,” Charles said.
“I’ve already been to Krakoa Professor; I’ve walked on its ruined remains. By my recollection of history Essex must not be here no?” Kang asked.
“Sinister betrayed us to pursue his own agenda,” Xavier said and the conqueror smirked.
“Oh, a known super villain and megalomaniac betraying the people he is allied with…whoever saw that coming?”
“Kind of an earned burn there guys, but by that same principal we can’t trust you either,” Aeon said.
“Which is why we only require Kang’s knowledge,” Xavier said.
“I understand desperate times equal desperate measures, but ripping it out of his head, does Krakoa give an exception to brain death. Well do you?” Aeon tapped his foot against the dirt as he did.
“Please don’t do that Mr Aeon, he doesn’t like it,” Cyber said, walking up to the group with Forge.
“Breaking my mind will not be necessary; I will give you the knowledge necessary to build my ancestor’s machine, provided Krakoa is capable of providing the materials. Then again, you could just allow the Young Avengers to do what they need to do, what’s one more manipulation of time and reality to a world that’s already experienced it…X amount of times, should I ask Moira Professor?” Kang asked, again smirking when he noticed the faintest twitch of Charles’s mouth.
“Is this what you’re going to do all day, posture, please, I was told you could all help me,” Rebecca said.
“Yes of course, please excuse us, Doug, please take Rebecca to Dr Reyes,” Charles said, smiling softly to reassure the teacher.
It was a trick though that Rebecca had used on her own students. She already didn’t like the mutant.
‘That thought wasn’t mine, was it?’ she wondered.
There was a sudden poof of smoke behind Aeon, Nightcrawler landed beside the armoured man and patted his shoulder.
“Strange isn’t it mein freund, to go from fighting us in a court room to working with us to save the world no?” he asked.
“You’re a good man Wagner, but my son is not living on an island that once tried to kill the X-men. This is exactly why we don’t want the Young Avengers to succeed, I’d take a dead friend not wanting to kill us over an island paradise any day,” Sven explained.
“Says someone who already has paradise,” Logan huffed.
“Yes Logan I do, my mom, my sister, my nephews, my friends and my sons!” Aeon narrowed his eyes in fury looking at Wolverine, and the X-man knew he couldn’t growl or retort back at him.
“He is right Herr Logan, Moira was our friend and there is no telling how much the world could change if the Young Avengers are allowed to do it,” Kurt said.
“It feels weird hearing Young Avengers get said like that…”
Strong Guy flexed his muscles and Domino pointed her gun up. Four non-mutants floated over Krakoa, the spell that had been used to cloak them faded, revealing first the out of breath caster. Wiccan panted slightly, smiling as Hulkling rubbed his back. Aeon’s eyes wavered, signifying a smile whilst Logan shook his head.
“I mean, I only consider two parts of them Young Avengers, they’re missing the actual founding members after all,” Teddy said.
The emperor of the Kree/Skrull alliance and the son of the Scarlet Witch were not alone. Both purple clad, one with her silver and yellow ant helmet, Cassie Lang, AKA Stinger and the second Hawkeye, Kate Bishop.
“Billy and Teddy told us about the situation, about Zack and Anti-Aeon, and our good names being taken in vane,” Stinger said.
“Plus Eli’s disappeared, so we’d like to probe little Kang’s mind…that might have come out wrong,” Kate muttered.
“I think it was just the right amount of dirty,” Speed said.
Velocidad blinked in confusion, looking at the silver haired, green and silver clad young man behind him.
“Faster than you bro, it’s confirmed,” Tommy grinned.
He was going to run behind Aeon when the man turned, grabbing Tommy’s shoulder as he came around.
“Thank you, all of you, I know you want to help save Patriot, Anti-Aeon and Ulti-boy, but we’ll need some of you to help the X-men construct the machine. Speed, Stinger and Emperor Hulkling,” Aeon explained.
“Yes, Micromax is on another mission so we could use a giant, Speed is a no brainer and Emperor Hulkling can stretch to some smaller places whilst Miss Lang shrinks,” Forge explained.
“Seriously you guys don’t have to call me emperor,” Teddy said.
“Excelsior!” Aeon snapped his fingers together.
“A little early to be using that damned catch phrase isn’t it bub?” Logan asked.
“He means Emperor Hulkling’s sword,” Kate said and Teddy chuckled, removing the blade from his back.
“Yes, yes, Excelsior is capable of absorbing energy, which makes it an ideal battery,” Forge said.
“Especially if I fuse with it,” Aeon added.
“All right, this is good, we’ve got a plan and we know how to…”
“You’re all going to die,” Kang laughed and the heroes glared at him.
“Read the room man,” Tommy groaned.
New York
“Ominous star shaped portal, even more ominous machines, I’d say that’s definitely what they’re going to use to totally not screw up our world,” Spider-man said.
He jumped off of his perch, landing beside a gargoyle and the Webless wonder Spider-boy.
“Miles is on their world?” Bailey Briggs asked.
“Yep, but our priority is wrecking those machines,” Peter said.
“And making sure I get back to my shelter and you your wife and kid,” Bailey said.
“No drama there, after all it’s a small team against all of us,” Spider-man grinned underneath his mask.
He looked down at the streets, where Mayor Luke Cage stood with his wife, Iron Fist, Daredevil, Power Man, White Tiger, Darkhawk, Echo, Tigra and Hunter’s Moon and the Winter Soldier and his new Thunderbolts. Ahead on one of the rooftops was Hawkeye with Avenger’s reserves, Black Knight, Hercules, Quicksilver, Nighthawk, Living Lightning, D-man, Mockingbird and former Avengers academy students.
“Wow, they have so many super heroes in this world, it’s almost overcrowded,” Kamala Khan looked out from Avengers tower at the heroic forces.
“Another thing to be fixed,” Riri Williams said.
“Hey, I don’t think it needs to be fixed necessarily,” Kate Bishop said.
“The oldies need to retire,” the armoured genius huffed.
“They have the luxury of coming back from the dead here,” Shuri said, frowning as she spoke.
“Still pissed we sent you’re ‘not brother’ and his friends away?” Skaar asked.
“Like you said, he wasn’t really my brother, we have the disadvantage of numbers,” Shuri turned to their leader as her panther mask appeared over her head.
The younger conqueror was out of his armour, working at a bench usually used by Banner when he was an Avenger. Papers were scattered across the desk, showing data and labels related to Gamma radiation and Pym particles. Nathaniel finished what he was working on, illuminating his face with a green glow, analysing the centipede shaped delivery system he had created.
“Don’t worry about our numbers, Cassie will be able to handle them, and of course America will help to turn the tide,” he stated, walking to the dark haired Lang girl.
“This will break past the limits on my suit?” she asked.
“You’ll be taller than your father or Foster ever where,” he said.
She attached the device to her wrist, her helmet snapped over her head and she looked at the centipede in wonder as she raised her thumb and…
“Hey, hey, not in here obviously,” Kate said whilst Kamala raised her hands in panic.
Nathaniel smiled, amused, walking out of the room and beginning to shake his head. Out of sight of his team mates, the young man’s smile shifted into an annoyed frown. He made his way through the corridors of the ship until he was sure he was in a place the other Young Avengers wouldn’t find him. He pushed a few buttons on his gauntlet, removing funnels on his back that shaped into projectors, creating the images of his four contacts.
Earth 92131
Cain Marko groaned, not because he was in any kind of pain. He was the Juggernaut after all, not completely invincible, but he came damn near close. Falling from a very high height didn’t bother him. It was where he landed that bothered him. He praised what little luck he had that he had only crushed a banker’s table on the way down. Sheepishly looking around the room, he saw the humans going about their business, ready to bank their cheques. Only a lot of the equipment the bankers were using was pretty old, the computers especially.
“Uh, hi, sorry about the hole in the ceiling,” he said.
The new X-man groaned as the civilians screamed.
On the border of Westchester was a familiar mansion, its front gate had been decorated with an equal amount of floral tributes and protest banners. Photos of Charles Xavier had both words of praise and curses. Four figures came up to the gate and looked down at the tributes. Bobby hugged his arms, feeling a cold he couldn’t suppress, Warren tightened his fists in rage and though Scott supported his wife he still looked at the flowers sceptically.
“Definitely not the future, he hasn’t used that chair since the 90’s,” Bobby said, indicated a photo that showed Charles in a yellow hover chair. “Man I miss that.”
“Everyone does,” Warren huffed.
“I mean different things happen in different worlds, so could he really be…”
“It doesn’t matter, we need to get their attention, Jean,” Scott turned to his wife.
She put her hand to her head, generating a small pink aura.
“There is, oh no,” she gasped.
Before either founding X-men could answer, some of the poles on the gate came alive like snakes. They stretched towards the founding X-men, some first wrapping around Warren’s wings whilst others wrapped over Scott’s hands. The metal curled around his fingers, keeping him from using even the hand signs he used to fire his visor. Jean and Scott were tied together whilst Iceman was tied to Warren’s back. Yellow energy rippled around the X-men and the metal that had trapped them, generated by the man who dramatically hovered down from the clouds. His cloak waved behind him, despite his age his defined muscular shoulders were exposed by the sleeveless purple suit he wore. Elbow length gloves covered his hands, his face held a reserved rage as the wind swept through his white hair, matching the white of the ‘M’ symbol on his chest.
“One would assume you were ‘fans’, but I know better, who are you and why have you come to my home?” Magneto demanded.
“Wait, your home?” Warren remarked.
“Oh wow, I forgot Mags wore a costume like that once,” Bobby asked, before a piece of metal covered his mouth.
“Magneto, listen, we aren’t here to fight,” Scott said.
“Just the opposite, we’ve come for the X-men’s help,” Jean added.
“Did Sinister clone more than just Jean Grey? Does he truly believe we’ll fall for the same trick twice?” Magneto demanded.
“Okay, looks like they’ve had their Madelyne Pryor phase, wonder how this one ended,” Warren muttered.
Bobby let out a muffled statement, his inner thoughts on that part of Jean and Scott’s lives made Jean shoot him an angry look.
“It wasn’t convoluted, it was tragic,” she said and Bobby gave her a look that matched his thoughts.
‘Oh please,’ he mentally remarked.
Their metal confines suddenly began to constrict around them, making each X-man tense as they felt the bars pinch through their suits. Bobby changed his skin to ice, shattering the metal over his mouth.
“All right, jokes aside if we’ve ended up in the world of the M-men, then we need their help,” he said, glaring at Magneto defiantly.
Erik raised his brow in surprise, yellow energy rings came out of his hands, pulsing through the metal and commanding it to slowly release the X-men.
“Very well, talk,” the master of magnetism commanded.
Earth 3000
Terry slowly opened his eyes, hearing the muffled voice of a teenager, exchanging verbal jabs with someone. His hearing came into focus before his vision did.
“Like I said, it’s just cosplay, but my own little spin on it,” Miles said.
Spider-man had already had his mask removed, revealing himself to Terry and their captors. One of whom was barely taller than Terry’s mother. She wore a pair of gloves and a white blouse with black suit trousers. The woman had dark hair with a white streak in it and an amused smile at Miles’s defiance.
“Honey we know what you are, bitten by a radioactive spider, does whatever a spider can, and a little more than ‘the’ Spider-man can,” the woman said.
She then turned to Terry with a playful look in her eyes.
“This hunk of skin tight future tech though, Batmen are definitely not a thing on our Earth, the suit’s not quite Nano-tech otherwise you would have been naked after we hit it with an EM-pulse,” she explained.
“Sorry to disappoint you,” Terry retorted.
“We were very disappointed, but you brightened our day when your mask electrocuted one of our Russian operatives, allow me to introduce myself, Valentina Allegra De Fontaine, friends call me Val, you will not call me Val,” she explained, shaking ‘hands’ with the air in front of Terry.
The door behind the woman opened, revealing a grey haired man in military gear.
“Indiana Jones?” Miles asked, wide eyed.
“That’s not Jones, it’s obviously Han Solo,” Terry retorted.
“You’re a lot more chatty than most Batmen,” the man huffed.
“You know Batmen?” Terry asked.
“There have been many incursions, all of them hidden from the public, not even we know the full amount,” Val said. “Boys, meet the former president, Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross.”
“As in ‘spent decades hunting the Hulk’ Ross? What were neither the Kingpin or Norman Osborn running for office?” Miles asked.
“HA! Oh they’re implying two known criminals would have been better, how right they are,” Val muttered, smirking despite Ross’s glare.
“Despite rumours Fisk never had an interest in politics, we didn’t have a Norman Osborn in our world, at least originally,” he stated.
“So this plan they have of merging worlds, it succeeded?” Terry asked.
“That depends on how you would define succeed,” Val said.
“Okay I’m getting uncomfortable,” Miles said.
“Likewise,” Terry added.
Miles had bio-electricity, he could pass the volts through his body and focus them on a particular point. Originally just a type of stunning ‘touch’, it had evolved to electrical generation. The orange energy passed into his cuffs, shorting them out. With the cuffs damaged enough, Miles freed his hands with pure spider-strength. Likewise Terry’s suit could generate electricity, he however chose a more subtle approach. The bat suit stored tools in more places than just the belt, so as the two heroes bantered with their captors, Terry picked his cuffs. Both landed smoothly in front of Val and Ross. Whilst Miles jumped onto the ceiling though, Terry crossed his arms, even as two more operatives came into the room.
“You let them out?” a blonde haired woman in a black outfit asked.
Bucky was behind her, rolling his eyes as Miles waved at him.
“It appears our heroes are more resourceful than we gave them credit for, to be expected from two people who infiltrated rather than attacked the tower,” Val stated.
“What did you mean when you said it depends on how we would define success?” Terry asked.
“You haven’t told them have you?” Bucky asked.
“We felt seeing would be better than explaining it, or perhaps some visual exposition would aid you,” Val said.
“Or I don’t know you could just tell us,” Miles shrugged.
“We can help with that,” a voice spoke from the doorway.
Miles and Terry looked up to see a dark haired young man with a red cape on his black suit. He was accompanied not just by a blonde woman in military gear, but the ghostly apparition of a white haired woman in blue clothes.
“Agatha Harkness but not really old, just white haired,” Miles said.
“I think he complemented you Harkness,” the dark haired boy said.
“Wizards,” Terry shook his head.
“Witches actually.”
“I’d say Warlock would be a more appropriate term,” Terry corrected the youth.
“I’d even say ‘Wiccan’,” Miles chuckled, knowing who the boy was.
“Wiccan, that doesn’t sound bad,” Billy Maximoff said.
“Concentrate Maximoff,” Ford…er Ross snarled.
“Go in Billy, exposition this thing now,” Agatha said.
“All right it all began when…” Billy brought his hands together, creating a series of ghostly images, one group being red and the other being blue.
Miles recognised Sam Wilson as Captain America with a short haired Bucky, Moon Knight, Shang-Chi, She-Hulk, War Machine, Captain Marvel, a seemingly smart looking Hulk, Dr Strange and Ant-man and the Wasp on the red side. Then on the blue side appeared Wolverine, Deadpool (who fittingly waved), Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, Rogue, Colossus, X-23, Beast and Gambit. Deadpool and Wolverine seemed to be the exception to the costume rule, because the rest of the X-men seemed to be in ugly looking leather suits or in Laura’s case civilian clothes.
“Stop me if you’ve heard it before, two worlds, both similar in a lot of ways but vastly different in others. In the world of the Avengers, every superhuman was some form of enhanced individual, a status through science for most. Then on the other Earth you had mutants, a concept that was extremely rare on the Avengers’s Earth, my Earth. But then an Incursion happened, there were plenty of theories about why it happened, most of them were from my side of the fence and blamed the other Earth from the number of times its history had been manipulated through time travel, to them having another Wolverine from another Earth.”
“Well I can already tell you the people from other Earths living on other Earths is not a reason an Incursion happens, I’m from something of an alternate Earth myself,” Miles said with a hint of pride. “Plus there’s Rachel Summers, we have Gwen-pool, Magdalene, my ex spends a lot of time on our Earth, we had an evil Reed Richards, an Old Man Logan…”
“I think they get the point,” Terry said.
“A group called the Illuminati thought they knew how Incursions happened, but a lot of the things they said turned out to be incorrect,” Billy said and Terry noticed the somewhat guilty expression he had, alongside the angry huff Agatha added.
Billy manipulated the images he conjured, showing the two Earths above the two groups. It had grown, with someone Miles felt might be Monica Rambeau with the X-men, and another dark skinned woman in some version of Danvers’s Binary costume.
“At first there were those amongst us that wanted to take the most drastic action,” Billy said.
Terry and Miles looked at Valentina in shock as she smiled, the images showed herself with a group of Thunderbolts. The blue side showed an older man in a coat and cape, the helmet he wore helped Miles to identify him as Magneto, alongside Polaris, the Stepford Cuckoos, someone who could be Juggernaut but he had a small helmet, Pyro, Toad and Sabretooth. Billy then showed a fight between multiple sides. The lady Taskmaster was firing arrows at Gambit, only for the Cajun X-man to bat them aside with his kinetically charged staff. Wolverine dragged his claws across Red Guardian’s shield with Deadpool pointing at them, as if understanding a reference. Miles widened his eyes as he saw Sentry, though this Bob Reynolds had darker hair and he was holding Rogue by her neck. US Agent was blocking Colossus’s punch, whilst Ghost ducked to avoid Magik’s sword. With a twist of his wrist Billy switched to the next scene, Magneto was crushing War Machine’s armour, despite his age he simultaneously redirected Cap’s shield, slicing the wings of a man in another wing suit. Danvers was shown hitting Juggernaut with a photon blast whilst Shang-Chi used ring projectiles on Toad, both combatants were shown as nimble and dodging one another’s attacks. Pyro had summoned a lion of fire that hit the mandala shield Strange conjured.
“Sadly, even some people who were supposed to protect Earth, thought that destroying one version of it was more preferable to trying to save both,” Billy said.
When he finished talking, he had created an image Miles recognised as a Nick Fury based on his original Earth 1610 version and a version of Cable shaking hands. Sentry was then shown holding some kind of device, being fought by Thor, Rogue, Danvers and the two Rambeaus. The heroes of two worlds worked together to prevent the destruction of both. When they cut to the next scene, it showed smart Hulk conversing with Beast over equations Terry knew Bruce would understand better than he did. More cooperation was shown with Strange and Wong speaking with Magik. Cyclops ultimately seemed to rally a few more X-men to the cause, Cannonball, Wolfsbane, Sunspot, Warpath and Blink joined him, Cap, a new Falcon, a dark skinned version of Wonder Man, Scarlet Scarab and Spider-man in stopping the different villains. Wonder man and Cannonball were shown knocking off Juggernaut’s helmet, Spider-man webbed up Toad, Scarab and Wolfsbane engaged Sabretooth and Warpath ripped off Pyro’s flamethrower whilst Cap kicked Magneto into one of Blink’s portals.
“Eventually, galactic allies came to help and even some of the villains were convinced to see reason,” Billy said.
He conveyed a type of reconciliation between Magneto and Xavier. Then the show moved onto Jean and Cyclops meeting and shaking hands with Peter Quill and the Guardians of the Galaxy. Other people appeared and Miles recognised Starfox more clearly than the Eternals Phastos, Sersi and Thena.
“The heroes began working on legitimate ways to save both worlds, but as is sadly common, no one could agree on the best solution, especially when it was discovered that simply destroying one Earth would doom the remaining universe. It came to the point when other forces from space became obstacles,” Billy explained, revealing images of the Kree armada and the Celestial Arishem.
“You’re wasting time, get to the part where you get involved,” Yelena said gruffly.
“This is all because of you isn’t it?” Terry asked Billy.
“How could you…”
“I recognise that you’re guilty about something and though I’m no expert, I’ve seen magic accomplish a great many things that seemed impossible, but always at a price,” Terry explained.
“You’re right,” Billy lowered his head.
“Don’t be too guilty kid, you accomplished what no one could without infinity stones or other objects of power, you stopped an Incursion,” Agatha said.
“You used reality bending powers didn’t you?” Miles asked.
“There was another group of heroes also looking into stopping the Incursions, Ms Marvel tried to bring us together but it was Kang, or I suppose Iron lad as you know him that managed to accomplish it,” Billy stated.
“We knew he was the grand over lord, and we knew there was a cost to him stopping the Incursions, but what did he do specifically?” Terry asked.
“Nathaniel found me when I was looking for my brother Tommy, Wanda was believed dead since she sacrificed herself to topple mount Wundagore and destroy the Darkhold. Before you say anything I know…the Darkhold still exists in many realities, evil in a sense has to exist, it always finds a way to survive,” Billy explained.
“Which was why Wanda was still alive, people think there’s good guys and bad guys, but the truth is there are bad guys and worse guys,” Valentina said.
“My daughter is a good person,” Ross said, frowning at her.
“Steve was good,” Bucky added.
“My sister too,” Yelena said.
“And Sam Wilson, Kate Bishop, Kamala Khan, Kamala Khan’s parents and brother, Monica Rambeau, Daredevil, both versions of Vision, Billy’s a good kid and…”
“Okay okay I get it, it was just a cool thing to say,” Valentina grumbled.
“You’d get along great with someone from my Earth, continue Billy,” Terry said.
“Nathaniel found us, the Young Avengers,” Billy said.
“Wasn’t the Bishop girl in her twenties?” Terry asked.
“Aren’t we all older than we look?” Yelena asked, Terry narrowed his eyes slightly when he noticed the woman wink at him.
“It was a branding thing, we got to work on saving the people that the Avengers forgot, reassuring everyone that everything would be okay. Nathaniel told us his story, said he didn’t want to be bound by the same villainess fate as his counterparts and I believed him,” Billy stated.
“Kid you used magic to see if he was telling the truth,” Agatha reassured him.
“He said he could help me find my mother and he did, we found Wanda,” Billy said.
He created the red image of the Scarlet Witch, sitting cross legged around Billy’s blue image. Magic swirled around them as the Earths above them continued to crash. Miles looked around the room, seeing the different heroes fighting one another. Sam blocked Cyclops’s optic blast with his shield, Shang-Chi crossed Wolverine’s arms together with his rings and Rogue had her gloves off, grabbing Danvers in a headlock with a hand on her cheek.
“Everything broke down into chaos, but Nathaniel had a plan, a plan he said would save our Earth. It was supposed to be our last resort, a way to save everyone. Our Earth’s were similar but different in only one regard…”
“Mutants, he would have merged the Earths together and the only thing that might have been different was the X-men existing in your world,” Terry explained.
“The plan succeeded, the Earths were merging together, but then, Nathaniel revealed his true intentions, and his partners,” Billy said.
Miles swallowed hard as he saw the glowing green image of a cloaked man, and the dark silhouette of another with a red diamond on his head. A tornado of energy surrounded Wanda and Billy, both clutching their heads in pain as Iron Lad flew over them, his chest glowing.
“He called it the Beyonder engine, it would absorb mine and my mother’s reality altering powers. We could feel not just our abilities, but our lives fading away. That was until the process was interrupted,” Billy said.
A fiery phoenix suddenly flew into Iron Lad and his partners. Wanda pushed Billy out of the vortex, which quickly consumed her.
“I’d lost my full power, and my mother…Wanda, she disappeared all over again,” Billy said.
“But then what happened to all the other heroes?” Miles asked.
“They got written out,” Agatha said.
“She isn’t just being facetious, Iron Lad ‘killed off’ the rest of the heroes, except for his Young Avengers, the idea behind them being that they were the next generation of heroes, taking over from a group of heroes whose stories had already been told,” Billy explained.
“He killed them all? But Kamala, Kate and Shuri they wouldn’t agree to that,” Miles said.
“Not if you rewrote reality to suit the narrative that you wanted there to be,” Terry pointed out. “Nathaniel though, Iron Lad, he’s put himself up as the hero, he could have just carried out his plan from the beginning but he wanted everyone to agree to it first. You said he wasn’t lying when you checked him with magic, you didn’t mess up the spell, he’s truly trying to be a hero. It isn’t just doing the right thing with him he actually wants to be recognised as a hero as the one who saved everyone. But he can’t do that in a world filled with super heroes,” Terry explained.
“He hasn’t killed the other heroes because heroes don’t kill,” Miles said, nodding his head in agreement with Terry’s theory.
Billy waved his hand, creating the image of Sentry’s tower on top of Stark tower.
“Kamala, Kate and the other Young Avengers don’t know the full extent of Nathaniel’s plans because he manipulates their minds, or in a sense the reality they perceive, so telepaths can’t detect the manipulation. His tower is more than just his base of operations and where he puts the Immortus engine, it’s where he keeps the heroes,” Billy explained.
“The sleeping beauties waiting to be awakened,” Agatha said, floating around Billy dramatically.
“He’s keep them in stasis,” Miles clicked his fingers together. “Franchises can’t just rely on new blood, he’s keeping them in stasis in case he needs them again,” he stated.
“Exposing them to extensive brainwashing, like the kind some of us have been exposed to,” Yelena said, hugging her arms uncomfortably whilst Bucky looked away.
“I didn’t become a Hulk by choice myself, it’s why we were able to fight the affects just enough to escape and make a resistance movement,” Ross said.
“So Iron Lad is playing at being hero that much is clear, but we’re in big trouble if my hunch about who his partners are is right,” Miles said.
Earth 616
“The Multiverse is imperfect, it’s far too big, take this Earth, so many heroes, even more than there were on my Earth. Their fight never ends, some heroes have even died and come back to life, death has lost its meaning on this Earth. How many times have heroes succumbed to their worst temptations, refusing to learn their lessons, they had two Civil Wars, from what I’ve heard Spider-man spent months having his body controlled by a supervillain, no one seemed to care enough to notice or at least get results. They have allowed criminals to be supposed heroes, only to go back to their ways, Magneto, Sandman, even Rogue and Gambit of the X-men have returned to the ranks of the Brotherhood. Lessons refuse to be learnt, mistakes continue to be made, and the heroes go on and on as if living in a loop. The rest of the Multiverse is no better, darkness prevailing over light, worlds that regard tragedy as nothing more than jokes. Multiversal forces of entropy that destroy all life, or turns the populace into monsters or worse, those who kneel to monsters and villains…”
“How ironic!”
Nathaniel glared, his speech interrupted by one of his partners. The hologram showed a dark haired man with chalk white skin, he was dressed in a black costume with a red diamond on his chest, the same red diamond that was glowing on his forehead. His cape was split into several ribbons on his back and shoulders, the man let out a laugh, his black lips and sharp teeth grinding into a sadistic smile.
“For you to talk about monsters and villains considering the company you keep,” the man grinned, looking to the other hologram beside him.
The second man wore a heavy green coat and cloak, a hood covered his head. The other two contacts were behind them, just as powerful and valuable to Nathaniel’s plans but also made Nathaniel just as disgusted with himself as he was with them.
“We don’t have time for your jokes Essex,” Iron lad said.
“No jokes Nathaniel and please, there’s no denying what I am any more than there is you denying what you are, I’ve always found it best to embrace what you are, in my case something Sinister,” the man in black grinned.
“Hurry Kang,” the man in green said.
“Hurry, what do you mean?” Nathaniel asked.
“Hurry and carry out your plan, conquer as you are meant to, make no mistake, if you do it will cost you and you will never get to be what you are Kang,” the man in green explained.
“Do not call me Kang,” Nathaniel seethed.
“Conquer these Earths, fail and you will come to understand Doom!”
Next Chapter 12: Heroes strike back