Chaos Wars

“Edwin… may we talk for a moment?”

Edwin glanced over at the Pharaoh before giving a nod, motioning for him to take a seat. He was holed up in one of the SHIELD mobile command center’s private rooms, though he had left the door open so that anyone could wander in. Gleipnir was lying across his lap and his morpher was on his belt, ready to be activated.

“Suppose I should be glad that I’m not going to end up with yet another weapon on this trip,” Edwin joked. “Tony isn’t going to let any of us raid her armory and I doubt that I’ll be able to steal Thor’s hammer off him. Or Cap’s shield.”

“I think your brother would accuse you of stealing from him,” the Pharaoh said with a teasing smirk.

“Heh,” Edwin muttered, a slight smile tugging on his lips.

“Edwin…” the Pharaoh said after a long moment, “we haven’t talked about where you were before we were pulled into this world.”

“Yeah… I figured you’d have noticed that I was avoiding that.”

“I know you have issues with the virtual world,” the Pharaoh commented, “but I can also tell that this is different. That what happened there… it wasn’t the same as the last time.”

The blond man was silent for a long moment, looking down at his hands as they ran along Gleipnir.

“Edwin,” the Pharaoh repeated. “What happened in there?”

“I almost got through to him,” Edwin whispered. “I almost had Noah convinced to stop this madness and work with us. I… I could tell he was so close to realizing that this is wrong and he needed to STOP. That a stolen life isn’t a real life. Not really. But in the end he still didn’t listen to me.”

“He did something else,” the Pharaoh pressed.

That caused Edwin to shudder. “He created a place in the Virtual World… a void basically. Just me, a pink sky, and concrete as far as the eye could see. Left me sealed in there and turned up the time dilation…” He shook his head as a thought suddenly struck him. “I think… right now… our friends are safe. Noah can’t be monitoring what you are doing or the KaibaCorp blimp staff or anyone else that wasn’t put in the Virtual World if he is living out years while for you it is seconds. He adjusted the Virtual World’s time rate so that it is going at the same as us. So Joey and Tristan and Tea and anyone else in there are living through the Virtual World in real time.”

“That is very good,” The Pharaoh said. “I had been worried about what they might be facing in the Virtual World.” He grew quiet. “I know that Yugi still has nightmares about Joey…”

“Yeah,” Edwin muttered. “Mai and I have watched each other die one too many times ourselves.” It was something they hadn’t really talked about, how Edwin had thought Mai had been killed facing off against the Five Headed Dragon. He had gone on his rage bender and woken up to her alive and it… well, it really hadn’t processed for him. Mostly because he’d felt like an idiot for forgetting that Mai and Joey and Mokuba had suffered the same fate in the anime and it had looked like deletion but in reality they’d just been shunted off someplace.

“Yes… but don’t think I haven’t noticed you avoiding the topic at hand,” the Pharaoh said and Edwin grimaced.

“I had been hoping you’d have forgotten about that.”

“Noah left you all alone in the Virtual World. I know that it was…” he trailed off and Edwin understood why: literally nothing he said would be able to properly convey how damaging it had been for him to be in the Virtual World. He hid the problems it had caused VERY well… very well. Almost even from himself. But there had been moments, when he was talking to someone at a store, and he had asked an odd question. Perhaps a bit too personal or a bit random… just to make sure they were real. That he hadn’t dreamed that he’s escaped the Virtual World and he was still there, having found a more modern version of it.

He had also tended to marvel at simple sensations. Mai had caught him standing by the heater just feeling the warmth radiating from it. After he’d gotten out of the hospital his friends had asked him what he had wanted to do and that’s how they’d all ended up at the typical Japanese hot springs (one that was for all ages and required bathsuits), all lounging in the water, Edwin smiling as he felt the sensation of water bubbling along his skin. He had… only once.. stared at a knife a bit too long before shaking himself out of those thoughts…

“Edwin… he was going to isolate you again, wasn’t he?”

“He had,” Edwin murmured. “I spent… it felt like months in that fucking dome. Months, Pharaoh. Just wandering it and trying to find someway out. Recalling all I could, every book I’d read and movie I’d seen… just trying to find something to keep my brain activate. I slept a lot, trying to maybe wait out til someone found me but…” He took a shuddering breath and there was a flash of light and Yugi was back in control, startling Edwin by giving him a hug.

“You don’t have to go back,” Yugi told him firmly. “You escaped.”

“I have to go back,” Edwin whispered. “The others…”

“They can… we can find a way to help them from the outside.”

“…yeah,” Edwin said.

He was lying.

He would return to the Virtual World. Even if it meant risking his sanity. Because that was the man that Edwin Chaos was. He saved people.

Even if it meant damning himself.

~MC~MC~MC~

“What do you think?” Kayos asked as he walked up to Goku, who was standing in the middle of the empty street. It had taken a lot of work on Fury’s party but he had been able to get the Mayor of New York to issue evacuation orders, starting with the streets around Stark Tower. The Chaoses had explained that Loki would be staging his attack there, setting up the device that would open the portal to the realm where his army was on top of the Stark Tower’s roof. Tony had managed to go there ato try and shut it down and in the end the Chaoses had allowed him; they knew that his Arc Reactor would protect him from Loki’s mind control and Pepper and Rhodey would be near by ready to assist if things got too dicey.

So New York was slowly being emptied.

Too slowly.

“We’re not going to be able to get the civilians out of here in time,” Goku said. “There are going to be a lot of people in danger.”

“Yeah. Makes me long for wastelands myself.” Kayos shook his head. “And you understand how this fight is going to go?”

“At first its going to be more about numbers than power,” Goku stated. “A lot of strong fighters but nothing I can’t handle. Its just that the number of them could overwhelm me.”

“Exactly,” Kayos stated. “For every one of us there will be 10 of them minimum. And more like 50.”

“That will let me practice my stamina and my restraint,” Goku said. “Krillin has been trying to teach me a bit about Selfless Style; not sure if I’m really good with it yet but it has been getting me to see how to use my attacks to their fullest without burning myself out!” He bounced a little in place, throwing a few shadow punches. “This will let me test it out even more.” He looked at the building and frowned. “I still don’t like fighting here.”

“I know and I am trying to think of a way to lure Loki and his forces away from the city but I don’t see it happening… at least not until they are all through the portal.”

“And if that happens then we are in trouble,” Goku said. He looked up at the sky. “And what Chase suggested?”

Kayos’ jaw worked at that. Spider-Chaos had come up with… well, frankly it was a fucking insane idea. One that had Kayos’ gut twisting in knots. If it worked then it would settle so many fucking problems for the world, ensuring that they didn’t merely save it for a day but perhaps a lifetime. But it was a massive gamble and it had him worried.

“I have no idea how this compares with Vegeta,” Kayos finally said. “I don’t even want to say it will be good practice for Frieza.”

“Yeah,” Goku agreed. “Though…”

“Yes yes, you want a good fight,” Kayos said with soft chuckle. “I think we’re going to be getting enough of those soon enough, Goku!”

His laughter tampered off.

“More than soon enough…”

~MC~MC~M C~

“Your Tyranitar is ready to go?” Slash asked, walking up to NONE who was standing in a back alley, tossing a pokeball back and forth. She didn’t know if he actually NEEDED a Pokeball for his sole Pokemon but he liked to carry it around. ‘Granted, nothing about NONE is usual… why should his Starter be any different?’

Technically the Tyranitar wasn’t his starter. His starter had been like Slash: a Pikachu. Ash’s Pikachu. He had loved him, as he had loved all his Pokemon. They had been the constant in his life, even beyond his traveling companions (and sometimes Slash wondered if losing Misty and especially Brock had started NONE down his isolationist road). Waking up to discover that the world had reset and his Pokemon were gone and that Pikachu didn’t remember him… and all of them were destined for another?

‘It wasn’t until he got to Unova that he began to finally find bones,’ she thought to herself, remember the day he had shown her what he had done upon waking up in the loop for his second go. His transformation into a legendary had become corrupted thanks to the emotional upheaval and… MissingNo had nuked the planet. All that had been left was him and he had lived hundreds of years all by himself, the fallout from his explosion further twisting his true form until it was as it was now: static and bones.

As such, because of his grief and his self loathing, he had forced himself away from the world. And thus it wasn’t until Slash had shown up in his life that NONE had gotten his first pokemon.

And it was completely by accident.

They had been in the middle of one of the movie events and Slash had been in a hurry. So she had taken the baby Lavitar that she had been told to watch over and thrown it right at NONE. Told him with her usual snark that “here’s a present!” .

NONE had thought she was literally giving him a present. His first present in millions of years.

So when he had revealed the fully evolved Tyranitar, so well cared for Brock had stated he could be put in as a stud, Slash had been shocked. Shocked… and horrified when NONE had happily gushed about how much the “present” had meant to him.

She had told her companions to NEVER tell him the truth, knowing that doing so would crush his heart and she couldn’t bring herself to ever do that.

“You know,” he said, trying to sound casual and failing, “I’m surprised you aren’t telling me to wait someplace safe.”

Slash shook her head though. “You and I are in this together, remember? We escape together or we are trapped together.” She shrugged. “I have a morpher, sure. And Ourobors.” She held up her hand, finger adorn by the ring of the godly weapon NONE had forged for her to rival Gleipnir’s Cord. “But otherwise I’m just as soft and squishy as you. So we fight together or we hold back together.”

“Wonderful, glad we agree.”

And then NONE walked over and picked her up.

“NONE!” she screeched as he flung her over his shoulder.

“I’ve never been to Cancun. Want to go to Cancun? I’m sure I can using a bit of magic to steal Tony’s credit card…” He happily began to walk away from where the rest of the Chaoses and their allies would be gathering to take on the threat of Loki.

“NONE, put me down!” Slash cried out, kicking her legs and beating upon his back with her fists.

“You said we fight together or we hold back together,” he said sweetly. “And I want you as far away from this fucking fight as possible.”

“I can’t!” she complained.

NONE let out a sigh at that. “I had a bad feeling you’d say that.” He set her down on her feet once more and brushed off her jacket, Slash unable to find it in herself to truly be mad at him.

“You aren’t scared for yourself?” she asked, looking up at him. “Because… you know that even if you do use your powers… they are so limited…”

He nodded, looking at his hand. While there was no outward change to him… nothing to show that he had been altered by coming to the world of the Avengers and finding his magic slowly drained away… she knew it was still happening. That he was living with only a fraction of his true might and that in a battle he’d wipe it down to nothing.

And neither of them knew what would happen to him if that happened.

“Of course I am,” NONE said with a soft sigh. “I can’t protect you like I should-“

“I meant you, silly.”

But NONE just stared at her. He didn’t even say anything. But the stare was enough. Made clear the truth.

He truly didn’t see why he should be scared of dying.

Slash hugged him suddenly and after a moment he slowly returned the embrace.

~MC~MC~MC~

“Do you think the others are handling the Spot okay?” Corrosion asked, glancing over at Chris. They had grabbed a bench near some bodega, catching a few minutes of rest before the insanity came crashing down on them. Considering they had been in the middle of helping Miles defend his Earth from the Spot when they’d been sucked into the current predicament it was little wonder the two of them were tired and looking for any chance to rest up before the big fight.

“Yeah. Miles has a good plan and I think its going to work real well.” He tapped his masked head and nodded after a moment. “And don’t worry… this world is moving a lot faster than ours. So we should be able to return very shortly after we got yanked away.”

“I hope Cassie or Nathaniel made sure not to let my Rockets know…” She trailed off.

“You’re kids are strong. And the others will protect them.” He let out a huff. “Besides, all of us are FAR too used to this kind of thing happening.”

“You more than the rest of us,” she said and Chris shrugged at that; after all, the Earth he now called home wasn’t the one he’d been born on. It was only because of his new home’s Paradoxical Nature that he had been able to not glitch out upon arriving there; the Temporal spider bite had further sealed the deal, allowing him to survive worlds where the timeline was constantly being rewritten as well as travel to other realities. “You sure about this play?”

“Its our best bet not only to deal with this invasion but ensure this planet has a chance to avoid a lot of terror for at least a decade,” Chris said.

“But this is-“

“He won’t be as strong. Not yet. And we have a good team… we can beat him.”

“Wish we could just snuff him out in his crib.” She held out her hand. “Yes yes, that creates time paradox phantoms.” Hitler, by this point, was an entire haunted house full of Paradox Phantoms thanks to so many going back in time to kill him at different points in his life, including simply getting his father to do his mother up the butt the night little Adolf should have been conceived.

“Yeah, somehow I think that would come back to bite us on the ass, even if we were able to figure out some way to do it in this world,” Chris said before glancing up; he saw a figure falling and knew it had to be Tony. “Alright, Loki is on the move.” He tapped his mask again. “Everyone in positions… looks like the invasion is about to begin.”

“Its sad that this isn’t even that shocking for us,” Corrosion stated as she stood up, cracking her back and rolling her neck to work out the kinks. Chris did a few squats before smacking his arms, looking over as the rest of the Chaoses and their allies showed up. “Alright, is everyone else set?”

“SHIELD is ready to go,” Edwin said. “Fury is in a glorious mood but they are ready to go.”

“You sure about taking lead on this?” Kayos asked. “Feels like one of us-“

“I’m the Avenger and I’m the one making the challenge,” Chris said, cutting his duplicate off. “I take lead.” The others nodded and with that they formed up in a rough circle just as Tony came flying towards them in the Iron Man suit.

“Portal is opening up… hope you know what you’re doing,” he said.

“I do,” he stated. “Remember, we keep it open long enough for the real prize to show up and then I give the command to shut it down. Hopefully this will get our target to actually come out fast, rather than-“

He didn’t get to finish as Loki chose that moment to fly down on his mechanical chariot, the staff powered by the mind stone still clutched in his hand. “Well… I see you’ve all managed to pull yourselves together to try and stop me,” he stated.

“What can we say, we like to be pains in the asses,” Edwin snarked.

Loki though focused on Chris. “You… are new.”

“And you are looking at a distorted mirror,” Chris stated. “I know another God of Lies… he was told what his destiny was and decided that rather than become what everyone thought he must be that he would forge his own path. He got a job… got famous… became a hero.”

“Oh, I am a hero,” Loki said. “I am going to turn Midgard into a true paradise. Lead these pathetic little mortals to a greatness they could never imagine.”

“Because all paradises begin with invasions,” Avo snapped.

Loki just shot him a cool look before letting out a dramatic sigh. “I suppose if you can’t be convinced to see reason there is no place for you in my new kingdom.” And with that he raised his hand and from the spots they’d been hiding from Captain America, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Thor, and the Hulk rushed out, moving to stand at the ready to attack the gathered Chaoses. It was utterly eerie in Chris’ opinion how they WEREN’T lifeless at all… they stood there with smiles or glowers, looking just like their normal selves save for the fact that their eyes were glowing blue.

It was… wrong… how the Mind Stone didn’t merely make someone do its holder’s bidding but made them believe it was the most natural thing in the world.

“Can it be a kingdom if the ‘king’ bows and scrapes to another?” Chris asked, stepping forward.

Loki’s smile fell at that. “I don’t-“

“Save it, I’m not interested in talking to the messenger boy anymore. I am going to address the true mastermind of all this.”

“You dare-“

Chris fired off a webline that smacked onto Loki’s mouth, sealing it up nice.

“THANOS!” he shouted, his suit having already hacked into every speaker in New York and amplifying his voice. “I have something you want, coward!” He focused and his suit shifted to allow a golden pendant with a green gem in the middle to appear hanging around his neck. “You know what this is, Titan! Come and claim it or I will use the Space Stone you’ve so graciously provided us to chuck it into a black hole so you’ll NEVER be able to complete the whole set!”

Loki’s eyes widened even as he tore the webbing from his lips. “An Infinity Stone…”

It wasn’t the one from this Earth. No… on Chris’ Earth he and the Avengers had managed to claim the Infinity Stones, each one wielding one. While normally an Infinity Stone should have been powerless on another Earth the one he held, his Time Stone, was connected directly to him. While no where near as powerful as it was on his Earth, where it could draw from the natural powers of his universe, he could still use it for minor time alterations.

‘And that should be enough to trick Thanos…’ Chris thought as Loki continued to stare openly at him in shock, the brainwashed Avengers still waiting for the order to attack. Above them the portal continued to spew out alien fighters and Chris kept his hands at his side, refusing to give the signal until the right moment.

“How did you…” Loki began but Chris scoffed, cutting him off.

“I’m not here to talk to the courier,” he mocked. “Thanos wants this? He needs to sign for it himself. And I am sure SOMEHOW that little staff of yours is letting someone up there-“ he jabbed his finger towards the portal, “-know what I have. So why don’t you be a good little boy and wait there for daddy to come home.”

He paused.

“Or I suppose we could have Thor deliver the message. After all… he isn’t the Spare.”

Loki grit his teeth at that, his aloof resolve dying quickly in the face of Chris’ mockery.

“I think you pissed him off,” Edwin whispered.

“Odd to see this from the outside,” Kayos admitted.

NONE huffed. “Not that impressive. Matching wits with Loki is like shooting some very stupid fish in a barrel. And I don’t mean the fish that believe Pro Wrestling is real. I mean the fish that think the Earth is flat and can’t guess which is their right fin even if you gave them 3 guesses.” He locked eyes with Loki. “You’re trying to figure it out right now, aren’t you?”

“You want in on this?” Edwin asked Slash.

“I’m only an honorary Chaos,” she retorted, slowly reaching behind her back. “I’ll leave the mocking the guy that throws around magic like old men throw out spittle to you idiots.”

Loki considered them all for a long moment before pointing his staff at Chris. “I want that one alive. The others? Kill them.”

“Well, that went about as well as I expected,” Slash said, yanking out her morpher, Edwin doing the same. “It’s morphin’ time!”

There was a flash of light behind Chris and when he glanced back the two of them were in their original ranger outfits. Edwin wore a regal looking red ranger outfit, with a kilt-like piece around his waist to make the top of his outfit look like a nobleman’s coat, a gold shoulder plate on his left shoulder, and a long red and gold cape handing down to the ground. He thrust out his right hand, a double bladed ranger staff appearing in it, while on his left his Duel Band turned into a silver shield, Chris swallowing as he saw the emblem he… all of them… had made for their family: the great oak underneath four stars.

Slash, meanwhile, was in a purple ranger outfit, the helmet resembling a Drapion with a few spiky nubs on the top, small blue crests above the “eyes”, the mask the maw of the Pokemon with white ‘pincers’ stylized on the bottom edges. Slash held out her hand, forming the Ouroboros Saber which crackled with Z-Crystal energy.

While most people in the world would have been startled by such a thing Chris made his home on an Earth where Cleopatra had opened up a strip club so he wasn’t really one for being startled by the unusual. And it was a nice-

“White Satin!” Avo roared, hands glowing as he held them above his head before slamming them down, causing his clothes to change into a white leather trench coat with a black T-shirt and jeans underneath. His glasses disappeared and in their place were a pair of black welding goggles with white lenses and upon his hands black fingerless gloves with white stitching appeared. He slowly rose into the air, a dark smirk playing on his lips as one hand burned with the fires of Good Magic, the other coated with Evil.

NONE threw back his head and roared, doubling in size as his limbs grew lankier, fingers extending into claws while upon his back a pair of bone wings burst out even as bony spikes emerged from his shoulders, his elbows, and finally around his head; the latter twisted into a bone crown that encircled his forehead. He shift and his jacket disappeared and suddenly there was no flesh or muscle on him, leaving him only a hideous mishmash of bones from different Pokemon, his skull distorting into that of a creature that was vaguely avian in nature. The Bane of Kanto had come to battle.

Chris pressed his lips together, realizing that everyone was deciding to do an epic powerup, before speaking. “Restraint Parameters… disengaged. The Wells Contingency now in effect.” With that every restraint on the nano-tech that made up his suit turned off, giving him full access to lethal assault. His webshooters became thicker as Telsa Current Alternators began to activate, his Time Barbs begging to be unleashed.

Corrosion let out a snarl as her symbiote switched to full merging, transforming from mere living armor into fully bonding with her, the face mask she always wore merging with her mouth into the familiar gaping maw. She rose up, becoming more muscular; not as bulky as most Venoms but rather the pinnacle of female might.

Goku narrowed his eyes and flared out his aura, throwing off his shirt and top as well as kicking off his boots; all of these struck the ground with such weight that they cracked the pavement. He slowly shifted into his favored starting position, eyeing up the brainwashed heroes.

The Pharaoh lifted his left arm, his Duel Band turning into a wrist mounted blade. The Eye of Horus appeared on his forehead as shimmering energy began to radiate around him, making his form darken for a moment against its brightness.

Tony moved to float next to Avo, weapons systems coming online, suit opening up to reveal every trick he had was at the ready to launch out.

“Widow, you take out the red guy,” Captain America stated, pointing at Edwin. “Thor, you’re on that mage. Hulk, the one in orange is yours. Hawkeye, you get up high… let’s force them to worry about the civilians.” He paused before lifting up his shield. “But first-“

He threw his shield at Chris… who easily leapt over it, landing right back where he was standing. He considered firing off a webline to try and catch the damn thing but knew it would be a moot point; Cap’s shield seemed to have a mind of its own, able to bounce about and be caught by its owner every single time.

‘Still annoying we don’t have a Cap,’ Chris thought to himself. Thanks to the paradoxes that kept shifting everything on his world, mostly because of, again, the killing Hitler thing, Captain American or any real variation of him never ended up appearing in his world. WWII was offlimits for most sane time travelers for a reason, with even Doctor Doom stating that only fools would meddle in that mess.

Captain America raised an eyebrow at that before he flung his shield again, this time clearly trying to get Chris on the bounce back. But his Spider Sense had everything moving in slow motion for him and Chris was able to easily leap over the shield, this time firing webbing at Captain America, attempting to lock up his arms. But Cap dodged that and within moments the two of them were leaping about, flinging shields and weblines in an attempt to hit the other. Their teams watched, not that Chris blamed them as he imagined that the display had to be rather impressive. Both where going beyond what a mere human could do and that had to have left both sets of Avengers, brainwashed and not, staring at just what they were able to pull off. Even Loki, from what Chris could see, seemed willing to just watch the showcase… most likely because he knew that every second the two wasted more of his alien army made it through the portal.

‘Of course I need news to reach Thanos,’ Chris thought to himself. ‘He’s on the other side of that Portal but that butt ugly minion played by the guy from Angel needs to get to him and tell him about the Time Stone.’

The plan was a risky one, considering that it meant drawing Thanos to New York. BUT… if they could do that Chris was sure that the team could kill him. This version of Thanos wouldn’t have the Power Stone yet, meaning that he would just be a big strong purple guy with an army. Just another Vegeta or Raditz. It wouldn’t be an easy fight but it would mean that there was no risk of the homicidal maniac ever harming another person again. Chris and the other Chaoses had discussed it and agreed that Entropy had commanded them to save this world… and they were just going to follow his orders to the letter.

‘This world won’t know the Snap,’ Chris thought as he dodged yet another shield strike. The others were clearly waiting for a moment to make their move, watching all that went on with critical eyes. Avo’s magic was just below the surface, as was Goku’s ki. NONE was constantly shifting, clearly ready to dive in front of Slash if the shield got too close to her. The Pharaoh wasn’t moving but his eyes darted about, following the path of the shield. Tony hung in the air and Chris didn’t doubt that he was constantly talking to Jarvis, Rhodey, and Pepper. Slash-

Chris frowned when his Spider Sense stopped tingling.

He turned and found that Cap’s shield was no longer bouncing about. Instead it had been caught, midair, by the Pharaoh, his puzzle glowing and his eyes blazing gold and black.

“Ah, I believe I understand how this works now. Thank you, Captain, for that demonstration… it was very helpful for gathering the information I needed.” And with that the Pharaoh whipped out his hand, flinging the shield to his right and causing it to strike two alien warriors that had been moving to support the brainwashed Avengers, sending them smashing to the ground before the shield bounced back into the Pharaoh’s hand. “Yes, I do believe I have.”

“That’s… new,” Chris muttered to Edwin.

“I’ve really fucked up the timeline,” the Yugioh Chaos admitted.

“You’re a fast one,” Cap said with a hint of approval before pulling out his gun and aiming it right at the Pharaoh. “Let’s see how fast.”

“I’d say its time for act one,” Corrosion hissed.

“Right,” Chris said even as he tensed. “Avengers? ASSEMBLE!”

And with that all hell broke loose. Kayos threw out his hands and fired a bolt of magic at Cap, forcing his shot to go wide. A pink cloud suddenly appeared around Avo only for him to transform into Peggy Carter, Steve’s eyes widened as the surprise allowed the mage to get in a cheap shot. Thor took a step forward but Slash threw out several Pokeballs, sending out her Raichu and Charizard who began to double team the god of thunder; he was rather surprised when the bolt of lightning he sent at the Raichu only caused the Pokémon to smirk before it lashed out with a charged Iron Tail, sending him flying. NONE let out a roar as he let his static fill the air as the brainwashed heroes moved to try and hurt Slash, causing Black Widow to fall to her knees and scream as she covered her ears; he hadn’t forgotten how she’d attacked his best friend once before. He rushed like demon, screeching as he lashed out at her with his claws.

“Enough of that,” Hawkeye said, firing an arrow at NONE but it just past through his skeleton form, causing the unnatural Chaos to slowly turn and stare at him before letting out a demonic chuckle that was distorted like a faulty film reel.

“Alright everyone, let’s bring in our plus ones!” Chris shouted as he launched himself at Loki, firing off weblines so he could get to the chariot that Loki was in. The God of Mischief moved to get out of the way but that only made Chris scoff. “Bitch, I fight multiple variants of the Green Goblin on a weekly basis. This Pinto is NOTHING compared to them.” He landed on the chariot only for Loki to swing the staff at him, clearly trying to get to his chest and take control of his mind. “Not going to work… I know how Tony avoided your mind control and my suit-“

A dagger suddenly appeared in Loki’s hand and Chris’ spider-sense screamed as he twisted away from the blade just in time.

“You are making the same mistake as my idiot brother,” Loki taunted as he began to swipe at Chris with one hand while manipulating the chariot’s controls with the other, causing it to rocket away from the rest of the Avengers and into the city proper. “You believe that because I have wisdom I am not a fighter. Well, I am going to show you how poor that line of thought is.”

“Bitch, I work at a fucking museum,” Chris snapped as he leapt over Loki and landed on the control panel. “I travel to the future every other day to see what new breakfast items are on the McDonalds menu. You know what that means?” He dodged another strike but this time lashed out and caught Loki’s arm, twisting it to force him to drop his dagger which clattered off the chariot and into the streets below. “When this is done I’ll travel a 1000 years into the future and dig up your bones for a new display!” With that he went on the attack, throwing out kicks and punches that forced Loki to defend himself. “Look at you, ya pathetic little brat! Daddy didn’t give you all the pats on the head… yeah, that fucking sucks! So you decided to kill millions because therapy never made it to Asgard!” He leapt over Loki’s head and landed on the edge of the chariot, locking his body in place just as Loki slammed on the brake, trying to send him crashing off the vehicle.

“You don’t know anything about me! About what I’ve suffered!”

“Mother fucker you ain’t special!” Chris roared. “There is an entire multiverse full of you!”

“Then maybe you should have challenged one of them instead of me!” Loki thundered as he charged up his staff and fired it right at Chris, the Spider too slow to get out of the way. He was sent flying off the chariot, just managing to tuck and roll as he landed on a roof. Loki drove his chariot back at him and smirked. “Thank you for the Time Stone, by the way… when I claim it I will be far more ready to deal with Thanos.”

“Seen that movie too,” Chris charged. “You die quickly.” He paused. “Actually no, I didn’t see that movie but I read the wiki page about it…”

Loki opened fire with the chariot’s blasters, Chris twisting and leaping about to avoid the blows.

“Oh, and by the way, and I was saving this for later but why not surprise you now, that call for the Avengers to assemble? That wasn’t just me and my friends. See Loki, the two of us have a lot in common. We’re silver tongued devils who love to fuck with people using our wits. We’re both people who would rather think a way out of a tricky situation then just begin pounding our foes with our fists. After all why give a shove when a tap on the shoulder will do?

“But there is a difference between us: where you have allowed yourself to become isolated because you believe your cunning little mind puts you above everyone else… I realized that I can be very stupid in many things. So its wise for me to have people that can help me with such things. In other words… I have a VERY special superpower.”

And then Chris tackled Loki, the Asgardian’s eyes going wide as he had never expected the hero to toss them both off the chariot. Chris though merely smirked as the two grappled in the air seconds before a large hand caught them, Loki grunting in pain before looking up at the massive form of Hank Pym, the Ant-Man.

“I am great at making friends…”

~MC~MC~MC~

The Pharaoh grunted as he threw the shield at Black Widow, nearly managing to hit her. It was only her ability to twist her body in ways that were almost inhumanly possible that allowed her to avoid the blow, though she also wasn’t able to stop the shield from returning to the young man’s hand.

“You can’t win, you know,” she told him as she lifted up her wrist and fired at him with her Widow Stingers. The Pharaoh just barely managed to get the stolen shield up to block the strikes, but doing that allowed the super spy to rush him, sweeping his legs out from under him and causing him to crash to the ground. “You should have stayed out of this fight,” she told him as she pulled out her gun and toggled off the safety. “It would have been far wiser for you to not meddle in things that were none of your concern.”

“And when you are freed from this I swear I will not hold it against you,” the Pharaoh declared, “just as I hope you will not hold this against me!” And with those words the puzzle lit up. “SHADOW GAME!”

Black Widow cried out as the dark magic suddenly blasted out of the puzzle, throwing her to the ground. She groaned as she got up only to pause when she saw that the city had disappeared and the two of them were now in a dark void. She twisted about, trying to figure out just what had happened and how they could have ended up there, but the Pharaoh merely continued to watch her, a dark smile on his lips, his form a silhouette in the darkness while his eyes… his two regular ones and the one that appeared on his forehead… flashed through a multitude of colors.

“It has been a long time since I have needed to do this,” he informed her. “Once this was my reaction to any threat, to force my foe into a Shadow Game. But my partner… he taught me a better way. A kinder way. One that gives people a chance to look beyond life and death and instead try to be better. To learn the lessons of strength and victory without losing everything. But in this case, where your first reaction is to kill? Well, that choice is rather simple for me: save those I care for over the peace of mind of those that wish to do such deeds. And thus this… a Shadow Game.”

“Is this illusion supposed to frighten me?” Black Widow said. “I am not scared of something that doesn’t exist. “

But the Pharaoh chuckled. “Oh, but illusions are real. Just as real as you and me… perhaps more real. If you fell here today how many people would care? How many people would mourn? But the correct illusion? One that brings joy and love and happiness to all those that witness it? If I were to end such an illusion right here the world would go into a deep mourning. There would be a great groundswell of despair and much would be done to undo what happened.” He merely continued to smile, his grin cold and cruel. “Does that not bother you in the slightest? That you could disappear tomorrow and be forgotten about in a week while one that never existed would be mourned for generations?”

“I only serve Loki,” the Black Widow said, aiming her gun at the Pharaoh. “What do I care what happens to me?”

And with that she fired… only for the bullets to never leave her gun.

“That… isn’t the game,” the Pharaoh told her. “No… we will be playing a different game. Each of us will be able to choose a champion. Brought forth from our minds to fight for us. The winner is the one whose champion remains standing.”

He chuckled.

“Choose well.”

Black Widow stared at him for a long moment.

And then she turned and ran.

‘I don’t she wants to play, Pharaoh,’ Yugi commented.

‘I noticed,’ the Pharaoh said, disappointed, even as he began to run after her, the Shadow Realm slowly falling away.

~MC~MC~M~

Edwin had expected to deal with many things in his life. Living on his own. Figuring out how to make a budget and save his money. Getting a job and keeping a job. The normal “adulting” things.

When he’d found himself sucked into Yu-Gi-Oh! he had discovered that while those worries did still exist they quickly found themselves solved. He lived first with his uncle and then was pretty much told that soon the condo would be his… and he had a very good feeling that Mai would be moving in soon. He didn’t need a budget anymore because he was worth several million dollars. He had a job for life and it mostly involved staying out of everyone’s way.

But new things had become the focuses of his life. Dealing with Marik. Dealing with Battle City. Dealing with his girlfriend having another personality and that personality wanted him to be made into an immortal.

Still, he was managing that. He had ideas on how to deal with both of the Ishtar siblings. He was in the Final Four of Battle City. He… had a risky idea on how to deal with Selene once and for all that didn’t involve banishing Mai because it would really put a crimp in their dating if he did that.

As things in his life tended to be though getting a handle on something resulted in other things becoming the new problem he needed to deal with.

Case in point… fighting Captain America.

Edwin had the powers of a Ranger. He had a godly weapon forged using his own blood. He had two lightsabers. He had the purified Millennium Key. Steve didn’t have his shield. And while he acted like himself there was still the fact that Steve wasn’t exactly Steve and thus wasn’t at 100%.

But… Captain America was still Captain America.

Even if he had a Green Lantern ring that powered one of Tony’s suits… he still would have been shitting a brick dealing with the man.

As it was Edwin was doing all he could to avoid getting caught by one of his punches. Gleipnir had been able to smack his gun away but Cap was making using of anything he could find in order to try and lash out at Edwin. And with the aliens flying overhead blasting anything they saw into bits of rumble there were plenty of hunks of concrete, brick, and road that he was able to pick up and hurl at Edwin.

That, in turn, was forcing Edwin to back away, leaving the safety of the others (not that they hadn’t been driven away from him themselves by their own fights), and leaving him-

Edwin paused and looked about.

“Clever boy,” Edwin muttered as he realized that Cap had driven him into a dead-end alleyway. One with no doors either that Edwin could disappear into. He moved to draw Gleipnir only for Cap to finally rush forward, punching his mask so hard Edwin was for sure that it was going to shatter. While it remained on his head it did cause him to fall backwards and the moment he got back up Steve drove his fist into Edwin’s jaw again, causing him to crash into a wall. The Star Spangled Hero loomed over him, eyes narrowed ever as Edwin get to his feet, Duel Band reforming into his shield.

Steve reached over and grabbed the Duel Band, trying to rip it off of Edwin’s arm. But when that failed he just kicked him hard in the leg, causing Edwin to go down to one knee, panting in pain before, once more, slowly rising to his feet.

“You just don’t know when to give up, do ya?” Steve taunted, eyes still glowing blue.

“I can do this all day,” Edwin replied, moving to punch Steve only for the hero to catch his blow and strike him again. Edwin went down and Steve moved in for the kill…

…only to be twisted around and yanked away by a metal hand.

“This feels familiar,” Edwin’s savior stated.

Steve’s eyes went wide, the blue in his irises flickering.

“…Bucky?” he whispered.

The man once known as the Winter Soldier smiled before he grabbed Cap’s head and slammed it into the wall, knocking him out cold.

“Cutting it close there,” Edwin muttered even as Bucky reached down and helped him to his feet.

“I live for the dramatic.” There was an explosion and he shook his head. “Go!” He marched towards Steve. “I’ll beat some sense into him.”