Someplace Else *Alternate "HF"*
By SlashR
Chapter One
Somewhere, someplace..One year ago
Ruins, a place where many lifes have been lost. Machines of warfare are scattered all over the place, craters blocking the view of the once so beautiful plains. Slabs of concrete thrown together as the last line of defense to stop water from flowing through it all.
A bright light.. Even in this scenery it seemed unnatural. Molecules binding to molecules. Until.. It seemed to be forming into bones, bones knitting onto other bones, creating what seemed to be a human. Then flesh started growing, and even cloths seemed to appear. A bright light shined once more, and then, the human dropped onto the ground. Still confused of what happened, he stumbled around, trying to navigate. He hit the debris of an old watchtower and let himself fall against it in exhaustion. His eyes were getting heavy.. not much strength left..
“Essex… you.. “
And then.. The human fell on the ground, unconcious.
One year later…London
“Heh, you’re something Longshot!”
“Stop calling me Longshot, you little shit. I’m commander, so start giving me the respect that comes with the title. Commander Koppers grabbed his futuristic looking gun and held it under the soldier’s chin. “Now, little shit, call me by my appropriate title or I’ll pull the trigger.”
“Y-yes commander Koppers.”
“Good boy.” Commander Koppers put his gun back in his holster and walked up to Shockwave.
“Still pissed that people call you that?”
“Yeah, I fucking don’t care what they call me, but when they start telling me that I’m lucky with the things I do, I get pissed off. Luck doesn’t let you live through these battles we go through, and franctly I don’t even think you know what I’m talking about.”
“What does that mean?”
“Well ‘Shockwave’, you’re a fucking mutant. You can whoopeedeedoo use your powers when you’re in deep shit. I have to get out by using my brains. See? That’s the big difference between mutants and humans, mutants get everything the easy way. It’s fucking repulsive.”
“My my, you do use a lot of nasty words, don’t you? Just get your ass to the meeting room. We have to discuss this situation. Red king Ryan seems to be expanding his teritory.”
North America.. Somewhere in Las Vegas.
“What are you still doing here Diablo? I thought you were going to patrol the area? I suggest you do so now..” The man named Red King Ryan sat in his chair and smiled. He loved the fact that he controlled everything and that everything is controlled by him. Yes, power is sweet.
Diablo glared at Ryan and snarled. “Very well my king.” He bowed and walked down the hall. “Just wait, you little shit.. I’ll get you.. I’ll get you when you least expect. Just cause my father tolerates you, doesn’t mean that I will..” A few guards walking by stopped to greet Diablo, the red bishop of the IHFC. Diablo leashed out with his hand and drew the life force out of the two men. “Filthy mortals..”
The balcony wasn’t far away, so Diablo decided to find some rest there. Soon, yes soon he’d get his chance to conquer this planet and show his father that he’s the true son of HellGoat, not just some weakling. Father must be pleased..
Diablo’s actions with the guards didn’t go unnoticed however as Maul was shadowing him. The red knight didn’t like Diablo, but neither did he like the red king. He saw a potential ally in Diablo, a very powerful ally. Maul smiled and slipped back in the shadows.
London
The meeting is over. Commander Koppers stormed out of the meetinghall. The mutants there pissed him off. All mutants pissed him off, they did ruin this planet after all. His homecountry, and a few other countries would still be there if it wasn’t for those mutants. Yes, those mutants should pay, all of them..
Commander Koppers walked to a few of his soldiers and looked at them. Pathetic cannonfodder. Nothing more, nothing less. Probably the only thing that stands between Ryan and this country, a bunch of losers. Ah well, within a week these losers would be hardened veterans, if they survive that is..
The security of this fort seemed to be extremely high, but still one figure was snooping around. Someone with evil intentions? Perhaps.. Everything is possible in this forsaken world. The figure carefully moved in the shadows, avoiding every source of light. The only clue of him being there, is a short blink in his eye…..
End Chapter 1.. (Yeah it’s confusing.. it’ll get worse!)
Credits to Harb and Havoc1. Together we created a universe, and I took the liberty of taking some bits out of it :-p
Chapter 2
Ryan looked at his kingdom and smiled. His pact with HellGoat turned out to be a great deal. A great powerup, in exchange for something worthless. Yes, not even Diablo dares to stand in his way now, although he might always turn out to be a traitor. His great loyalty to his father does make him unpredictable. Nevertheless, his kingdom was spread from Canada to the southern point of South America. And this, this was only the beginning. Ryan grinned and walked back into his fortress.
Maul, who was opserving Ryan from a distance, snarled. He was disliking the Red King more and more. After the powerup, Ryan seemed to have turned into a complete mad man. Maul jumped from ledge to ledge while staying invisible to the eye. In times like these it was handy to be a vampire. It was very unfortunate however, that his powers wouldn’t help him against the next person he was going to visit. Diablo…. Yes, Diablo was a wildcard in his plans, a lunatic with incredible powers. Diablo’s only worry is that his father might be displeased. Very touching and VERY stupid. Someone like that could be manipulated easily. Maul smiled and jumped in Diablo’s room.
“Gutentag herr Diablo.”
“What do you want?” Diablo looked at Maul with the rage in his eyes visable. “Don’t make me toast you just for being here.”
“Relax, I just want to discuss something with you, ja?” Maul jumped closer to Diablo and patted him on the back. “It is a plan, and you might be interested.”
“Very well.. Go on..”
London…
It was night. Around this time not many lights were burning. Letting the lights on at night wasn’t an option anyway after the great tenth attack of Ryan during the last winter. After that attack, there wasn’t much energy left to use. It was very understandable that at nights like these, people could get their way without being noticed. The mysterious figure softly crawled out of the corner. He was sitting there for over 5 hours now, waiting for things to calm down. He reached out for three knives from his belt and slowly stepped towards the door of the main entrance. Normally it was guarded by two soldiers, but luckelly the guards seemed to be on a break. Not very smart..
“Halt!”
A noice from behind..
“Who goes there?” Commander Koppers stepped out of the shadows. “I knew there was someone roaming around here.”
“Heh, you seem to know everything so I’ve heard.” The man stepped out of the shadows and revealed himself.
“You..You are..me?” Commander Koppers stumbled back. “What is this for trick? Has the red king lowered himself to such a level that he tries to confuse me and my men with clones?”
“I ain’t no clone, and I ain’t you..” The man drew his sword. “And I think you should sit down and listen, or I might have to force you to do so..”
Meanwhile somewhere in the USA…
This land was long abandoned. Many people died to protect this land, too bad it was in vain. After a huge battle, the Red King landed down with his Inner Circle and slaughtered the opposition in minutes. He called it “entertainment”, many however were not entertained. A portal opened and fresh air sucked out of it. Then…Then a man stepped through it.
“So this is it.. This is where the cosmic inbalance originates.”
The dark cloak softly moved with the wind, it was cold, yet the man did not feel the cold. He made a gesture with his hand and the cloak shrunk into his costume. “I smell death all around me.. and..why…why do I sense danger?” The man turned around, only to meet someone to welcome him.
“Diablo, what are you doing here?”
“Madrox? Jamie Madrox? I thought you were…”
“The Red King was right! You are a traitor! You must die for betraying the Red King!” Jamie Madrox jumped at Diablo, and Diablo kicked him away. On impact, Jamie Madrox consisted suddenly out of two people.
“That was stupid…” Diablo flew up in the air, and found out that his powers weren’t working exactly the way they should work. His wings retracted and he fell down with a loud bang. "My…powers? Damn… My connection to hell is very limited in this dimension.. Wonder why?” Diablo looked up and saw one Jamie Madrox run up to him, he quickly jumped away.
“No one betrayes my master and lives!”
“This is stupid! Jamie Madrox following the Red King like this? It’s..”
“SILENCE!” One of the Jamie Madrox’s blasted Diablo with ice, while the other one snapped his fingers, creating yet another Jamie Madrox. With every blast Diablo managed to hit, a Jamie Madrox appeared, and pretty soon Diablo was surrounded by a whole bunch. Every Jamie Madrox that appeared seemed to have a power of his one, this made it impossible for Diablo to concentrate himself on one thing, and with his powers working on a minimum, he was soon overrun by them.
“Red King, come in… “ One of the Jamie Madrox clones patted on his chest and activated a communicated. “This is the Red Pawn for the Red King, do you receive me?”
“Yes Madrox, what do you want?”
“You were right about Diablo, we’ve captured him. He was weaker than I thought though.. maybe..”
“Silence insect.. you are not here to think. Bring him to me and claim your reward.”
End Chapter 2
Chapter 3
The two men stood eye in eye. Both looked identical, still they were not the same person. Commander Koppers aimed the gun at the intruder. “I should listen to YOU? I fucking hell won’t, you’ll either come with me without resistance, or die!”
“Very well. If I explain things to you, will you consider coming with me?”
Commander Koppers raised an eyebrow. “Hmpf, very well.. Continue.. but don’t try any tricks.”
“Good, what I’m going to say now might sound strange but, I’m not from this world. They used to call me SlashR.. back when..”
“Stop that shit! You’re not from this world? Like hell you ain’t!” Commander Koppers aimed his gun at the man who called himself SlashR, and fired.
Somewhere around New York…
Three identical looking men were carrying another, pretty heavily looking wounded man. It was the man named Diablo, the god of hell and son of HellGoat. Normally a legion of superpowered beings wouldn’t be a problem, even Galactus was no match for him. For some reason though, his powers were almost of no use in this world. The bridge that connected the two dimensions only allowed a small part of power through. You could see it as a bucket full of water, normally power would flow through a giant hole in the bucket to Diablo. This time however, the hole wasn’t much bigger than a needle.
Diablo slowly opened his eyes. His head hurt. Pain wasn’t a thing he usually felt. The only being to really hurt him was HellGoat, and even that took some effort for HellGoat. This time however, mere mortals took him down in a fight. They should die for that. Diablo tried to move his arm slowly. It was tied to his other arm, wouldn’t be a problem normally, but now..
With the last of his powers, Diablo ripped the rope in two. He smiled. Now it was just a matter of time before he could use his hands to squeeze the life out of the foolish Madrox clones. As soon as his powers recharged a bit..
Back to London.
Bullets flew around everywhere. All of them missed their target. Before this day, Commander Koppers never missed a single bullet, yet now it seemed to be the reverse. Every bullet Commander Koppers fired, SlashR dodged with precision. Both men were lucky, eventhough Commander Koppers hated to admit it, so the luck cancelled eachother out. This was a battle of skill, a battle Commander Koppers wasn’t going to win.
SlashR jumped up in the air against a wall and bounced straight onto Commander Koppers’ back. Commander Koppers lost his stability for a minute and dropped his gun, SlashR smiled and kicked the gun away.
“Give it up, army boy.”
“AARGH.. You FILTHY mutant!” Commander Koppers ran up to SlashR to punch him in the stomach. SlashR however, steppd aside and tripped Commander Koppers. SlashR then drew his sword once again and held it against Commander Koppers’ throat.
“Are you going to listen now?”
“Y…yes…”
The USA, the Red King’s fortress
Maul and Diablo didn’t like eachother. They never did, and they’d probably never will. They did however, share a common feeling. Hatred for the Red King. Maul didn’t appreciate the fact that he was used as a slave while Diablo was jealous. Jealous? Yes jealous, nothing more and nothing less. HellGoat upgraded the Red King’s powers, he made the flesh element a very dangerous foe, perhaps a worthy succesor of HellGoat himself. This was not something Diablo liked.
“So herr Diablo, I will distract him, while you attack him from behind. Remember, you must use one very powerful blast, ja?”
Diablo looked away in disrespect. Maul was a filthy vampire. He should die after Ryan was disposed of. “Yes, I understand Red Knight.”
“Very well, I shall contact you when our plan start.” Then, with a flash of smoke, Maul was gone.
Diablo turned around and glared at the wall. Something was wrong, something was terribly wrong. He felt it, the connection to Hell was becoming weak. Why? Suddenly Diablo grabbed his stomach in pain. Pain, yes.. a very burning pain. Powers being drained away? Someone else is using hell to tap powers from? Everything began to get dark around Diablo, and Diablo fainted.
A few miles up north
One of the Jamie Madrox clones seemed to be a valuable transporter. The few clones and their prisoner seemed to travel miles in minutes.
This didn’t bother the captured Diablo however, he smiled.
With a lot of concentration, Diablo managed to direct this universe hell’s powers to himself, instead of the rightful owner. He felt his body grow stronger by the second, power surge through him, power to archieve his goal.
“Madrox… DIE!”
Diablo jumped up and pushed his hand straight into one of the Madrox clones. The clone gasped and fell on the ground, dead. Within a second, Diablo was behind one of the other clones. Speed was of an essence, they shouldn’t have the time to react, to make more clones. Diablo quickly froze the clone and proceeded to the next one. Within minutes Diablo took down all of them. The chance was quite big that Red King was alerted by his outbreak. Speed was of the essence. Diablo opened a portal and stepped through. It was time to complete his mission.
End chapter 3
Chapter 4
London
It was getting day already and the fight between the two similar looking men drew a crowd. Commander Koppers was still pinned to the ground by SlashR. Fortunatly his men were already on the scene, pointing guns at SlashR.
SlashR grabbed Commander Koppers and held one of his knives against his throat. “Call your men back or meet my knive.”
Commander Koppers narrowed his eyes. He was getting humiliated more and more in front of his men. If only.. “Men, you hurt him. Stand back.”
“But..sir?”
“Do it.”
“Good. Now we’re going to a place where it’s a bit more quiet.” SlashR grabbd Commander Koppers by the elbow and pushed him into one of the side streets while holding one of his knives ready to aim at the crowd. The crowd seemed to be full of smart people for once, and stayed back
“Now, are you going to listen or what?” SlashR pushed Commander Koppers against the wall.
“Y-yes.. I’ll listen”
“Good. Like I said before, I’m not from this world, or this dimension actually. I’m from an alternate dimension. A dimension in which the Red King never took control of the world.”
“Heh.. And you’re going to try to change this world? You’re going to dethrone Ryan?”
“No. I’m trying to get back home. I’ve been stranded here for over a year. At first I was waiting for my team members to come and save me. The Outer Circle is full with qualified people who could take me back, but they never even tried to contact me. Then I tried to get a way back home myself. Your world’s Gomurr told me about an ancient way of traversing dimensions by using your alternate reality duplicate. He, however, never told me how to finish the transfer. Ryan found him and killed him. He let me run for some reason.”
“He’s probably too arrogant to see any danger in you.”
SlashR quickly turned around. “You???!?”
“Long time no see SlashR. I’ve overheard your plans to switch dimensions. It’s not going to work.” Diablo stepped out of the portal.
“Why not?”
“”It’s very simple. I was the one to transport you here, do you really think something that stupid would be able to draw you back? Heh. Ignorant fool.”
SlashR pushed Commander Koppers away and jumped straight at his throat. “YOU FUCKING WHAT?? ALL THAT TIME I WAS THINKING ESSEX TRANSPORTED ME HERE!”
Diablo smiled. “Yes, you seem to be a simple person. Believing everything that’s being told to you.Anyway, let us go home now.”
“Believing everything that’s being told to me? What are you talking about?”
“For instance, did you seriously think you were part of a Weapon X program? Really, all of it was funny while it lasted, but you should realize that there’s nothing special about you. You’re just a mutant. A mutant like him.” Diablo pointed at commander Koppers and smiled.
“WHAT??” The two men screamed the same thing at the same time.
“That’s right, there never was a Weapon X program in europe. Sure, they tried to realize it, but the European Union cancelled the project before it even had a chance to start. Yes, I’ve triggered your powers, but they would have emerged anyway. It would just have taken some time. Heh.. Fool!”
“YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE! YOU USED ME ALL THAT TIME!” SlashR started hitting Diablo, with pretty much no effect. Diablo however, seemed amused.
“Maybe, or maybe you just believe anything that’s being thrown at you. Now come..” Diablo grabbed SlashR by the arm and opened a portal. They both stepped through it, leaving Commander Koppers alone, still in shock.
End Chapter 4
Epilogue
London..
Commander Koppers walked up to Shockwave. The last few hours have been murder. Was he a mutant? Or were it all lies? He had to have proof.. He went to one of the labs and had himself tested. The results were positive, he was a mutant. It was strange he never let himself test before that, he supposed he was sure he was a human, not a freak. Still.. ain’t he any different now? He stills feels human..
“Shockwave..”
“What do YOU want? Didn’t you cause enough trouble with us, mutants?”
“That’s what I want to talk about.. I…I’m a mutant..”
“So what? You’re expecting me to accept you all of a sudden? Like hell I ain’t!”
“But.. I’m one of you.,..”
“No.. You’re not. You’re an arrogant bastard. You’d have to proof yourself first before I’d even consider accepting you.”
“I…Okay..what do I have to do?”
“You’re serious, aren’t you? There’s a team of rogue mutants in New York, ironically lead by a mutant named Rogue. She, and a few other mutants lead the last bit of resistance there. Help them out..and I MIGHT think of seeing you as anything less than a bastard.”
“Fine… I’ll fucking help them out. It’s not like I have anything to lose anyway. My men probably won’t accept me anymore for being a mutant anyway.”
“That’s your problem..”
The USA, the Red King’s base.
Maul jumped out of the shadows and Diablo teleported in. The Red King was still there with his back turned to them, not expecting his red knight and red bishop to betray him.
“Now Diablo, attack the schweinhund!”
Diablo focused a blast and unleased it at the Red King. Ryan staggered, fell and… Stood up.
“What…? That’s impossible! He..”
“What’s this Diablo and Maul? Have you gone this low to betray me? Very well.. Prepare to die…”
Maul jumped next to Diablo while Diablo drew his sword. “Nein, we’re going to finish this once and for all bastard!”
The end