Incursion; a Marvel DC crossover

This picture was posted on Facebook as an exchange between friends.  I tried to find the artist but sadly, could not.  In the discussion of this eclectic group of heroes, Gareth stated, "Here is my money, someone go write this."

I  replied to myself, "Challenge Accepted."

Of course, I don't plan on taking his money. :)  I did this for fun in between my projects.  That's why it's just a short story.  Whoever comes across this, I hope you get some laughs out of it.

thanks
~Jay

Incursion Part 1

Incursion Part 1

Punisher War Journal Entry 2033

There have been many times I’ve been involved in fights that shouldn’t be mine. The Avengers, the Fantastic Four, hell even Spiderman and the Red Clown are usually the ones to handle strange alien invasions, civil wars and what have you. Me? I’m the one who takes out the child rapists, the mobsters and the thugs. None of that matters now. Not since the Rifts started to happen.

I don’t know how else to explain it. These weird dimensional gateways started to open up into world from another. A world not unsimilar to our own. A world of supermen, costumed vigilantes and alien beings. No one believes that these people caused it. Rumor on the news and other facets of people I’ve spoken with seem to suggest that our enemy is from their universe but also THEIR enemy. They say the enemy of my enemy is my friend. We’ll soon see. I don’t make it a habit to make friends with other costume heroes. A lot of them tolerate me because even though they don’t like my methods, they know I won’t stand by while innocents are being slaughtered. It’s why I didn’t let Spiderman get murdered in that sewer during the Super Civil War. It’s why I’ll give my life to save people who never should have been put in harms way.

I have illusions about where I am headed. I know God will never forgive me for what I’ve done. It doesn’t mean I’m going to sit idly by either.

Now we go to War.
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The gray primer coated van swerved in an out of traffic. Most of the cars were abandoned. Civilians swooped by the speeding vehicle; fleeing for some type of safety. The Punisher kept his eyes open to where the portal was leaking the strange flying demons. All of them looked like mutates apes but they had wings like beetles. What Punisher noticed first was their colors. Each flying demon wore green and yellow. It was a uniform which meant they were soldiers and every soldier took his orders from someone. Punisher knew war. He knew they had to have a leader and that was his target.

He slammed the brakes on his vehicle, coming to stop against an overturned bus. He quickly pulled out his MP5. The moment two demons showed up, he opened fire. Like any creature, they fell when a hail of bullets struck them in the face. Punisher gritted his teeth, as he pulled out the magazine and reloaded a new one. He quickly stumbled back to open up his war-van. Inside was a treasure trove of automatic weapons and armament of any kind. The vigilante wasn’t sure if he would make it out of this day alive. Therefore he loaded up with everything, and planned to take out as many demons as he could. Punisher loaded up the massive M60. He slapped the box of ammo into the feeder and got ready to return to the fight. The muscular man paused when something got his attention.

More gunfire.

Punisher stepped out from his van and noticed where it was coming from. He gasped in amazement when he saw the costumed shapes of Wolverine and Deadpool. The mutant grunted as he tried to run and hold the bulk of his guts in at the same time. Deadpool had also taken some cuts but he kept firing to cover him and his friend. The vigilante then jumped on a nearby Sedan and opened fire on the flying demons. The bullets struck them hard and even some began to destroy their flying apparatuses. One creature screamed as his backpack burst in a shatter of sparks. He then swooped hard to the left and destroyed the open window of a Starbucks. Then him and the entire building blew up. Deadpool gazed at the display of fire rushing out from the open windows. “Aw, man!” he yelped, “I really wanted a vanilla latte! It goes great with chaos and mayhem!”

“WOULD YOU SHUT THE HELL UP?” Wolverine screamed, “I need more time to heal.”

“You got the bad end of that deal, Logan. When they were giving out mutant powers, you shouldn’t have asked for healing factor. You should have asked for Respawn. I mean . .imagine the gold pieces you would collect.”

“How the hell did I get separated from the X-Force with you?” the wounded mutant rolled his eyes.

“LOGAN! WILSON!!” Punisher waved his hand to them.

“Huh? Who’s that?”

“Oh, sweet! It’s the Punisher!” Deadpool stood up, waving, “HEY, FRANK! HOW YA MOMMA AND DEM?”

“WOULD YOU GET HIM OVER HERE, YOU IDIOT!!!” the vigilante screamed as he fired off his weapon to continue to cover them.

Deadpool leaned down long enough for Wolverine to put his arm around his shoulders. The crazed mutant carried his wounded friend toward the gun wielding vigilante. Punisher gritted his teeth as he kept firing off the flying hordes of demons. Shell casings crashed off his pants onto the top of the vehicle. He knew he needed to keep firing long enough to get those two men under cover. Once they arrived, he checked his line of sight. The demons flew off in another direction. The tired vigilante knew he probably didn’t hold them off; they just flew off to find easier prey. Deadpool and Wolverine crashed into the back of his open van. The Punisher then jumped off the top of the car to join them. He quickly kneeled down next to the wounded mutant. He looked down to see Wolverine’s healing factor was forcing his lower intestines back into his body. “How much time you need, Logan?” he asked.

“Five minutes, tops.” He gritted his teeth as the marks on his face were already fading away.

“What happened to you guys?” the vigilante asked as he looked for another box of ammo for the M60, “Don’t you normally function as a group?”

“Yeah, was here with X Force.. . . .” Wolverine took a deep inhale as the skin around his stomach began to close up, “But we got overrun. Got cut off . . . from Psylocke and Fantomex . . .got . . .no idea where they are.”

“Hopefully the assault will break soon and we can go looking for them.”

“No time, Castle, “ Wolverine fought to stood up, “They can take care of themselves. We got to get moving.”

“Yeah, we sitting ducks down here . . . “ Deadpool shook his head, “Sitting mutants . . . . sitting gun toting psychos . . . . wait, what works in this regard?”

“Wilson, just shut it!” Wolverine grunted in frustration.

“No, hold up, Logan. I don’t want to call myself a Duck. Have you seen those Memes? I’ll never let the Internet live this down.”

“How do you put up with this guy?” Punisher asked his erstwhile friend.

“Some days you can drown him out.” Wolverine smirked, “Most days, however . . . . “

“WHOA!” Deadpool took off running, “MASKED BROTHER IN DANGER!”

“WADE!” Wolverine gasped.

The red clothed maniac fired his weapon up toward two flying demons as they were stalking after another masked vigilante. The two monsters buckled from their pursuit and swung out catching flack off the bullets. The masked man grunted as he slammed into a nearby alley wall. One of the demons struck him hard on the arm. The blood flowed so freely, it looked like his left hand had been dipped in blood. “Friendlies! Friendlies coming through!” Deadpool said with glee as he reached down to grab him.

“What the?” the masked man grunted.

“Hang tight, soldier. We never leave a masked man behind.”

“You . . . .wait, WHO ARE you??”

“Deadpool’s the name, and wasting any bad guy that moves is my game.”

“Where you from?” the vigilante then asked.

“THREE MILE ISLAND, GLAD YOU ASKED!” the superhero laughed as he got him to the van, “Land of Waste, home of the muties!”

“Huh?” the wounded man said, completely baffled.

“Ignore him.” Punisher quickly grabbed a bandage roll, “What’s your name?”

“Name’s Cole but everybody calls me Grifter.” He winced.

Wolverine flickered one eyebrow. “Never heard of you.” He admitted.

Grifter stared at the men as the one with the skull on his shirt bandaged his arm. He figured he would have known of the psycho Deadpool that saved him. Judging from the way the short hairy man carried him, he figured he would have known him too. Within a few more seconds, the weary warrior came to one conclusion. “You guys are from the other world, aren’t you?” he asked.

“Funny, that was about to be our question.” Wolverine commented.

“How did you wind up here?” Punisher finished the field dressing.

“Don’t know. I was enjoying my coffee and all hell broke loose,” He gritted his teeth to stand up, “Then all these Parademons came out of nowhere.”

“Parademons?” the vigilante blinked.

“Oh, these furry monsters are from your world?” Wolverine then stated.

“Not quite. They are from a planet called Apokolips. I guess . . . . .if you get technical . . . they are from our dimension.”

“Say . . .Grifter . . . you and your people wouldn’t happen to sell any trading cards to help me keep track of this stuff, would you?” Deadpool then asked.

Grifter said nothing. He just stared in mild shock at the superhero. Was he attempting to make jokes or was he literally this crazy? Wolverine just shook his head; breaking the silence with more immediate concerns. “Regardless of where they come from, we can’t stay here.” He told them.

“Agreed.” Punisher worked past them, “We’re too exposed. We need to get under cover or get to some vantage point where we can see them coming.”

“These things fly, Castle. We need to get under cover. Unless you got a ton of ammo in that van, being on a roof ain’t gonna do no good.” The Canadian said.

“Well, then it’s a good thing I DO have a ton of ammo in here.” The vigilante waved to the maniac superhero, “Deadpool, come here!”

The red and black hero stumbled back to the van. He then blinked when he got a good look at the arsenal the Punisher was carrying. The skull-clad soldiers pulled up a shotgun shell bandolier and slung it around his chest. He then picked up an M24 Shotgun and made sure it was loaded. “Deadpool, grab as many weapons as you can carry,” he told him.

“Grab . . .as . . .many . . .weapons . . .as I can carry?” he stammered.

“Yeah, there is no way I can drive the van through that wreckage.”

“Frank?”

“What?” he looked at him.

“I love you.” Deadpool said with strange sincerity.

The vigilante paused for a moment and then turned around, rolling his eyes. “Unbelievable.” He whispered at the insane man.

Punisher grabbed a Mac10 and slug it around his arm. Deadpool grabbed two Uzis and as much ammo as he could hold. He picked up a duffle bag to sling in an American M900 along with a CAR15. He then grabbed an AK47 and kissed it before grabbing a large amount of magazines. “I love these rifles.” He grinned under his mask.

“Terrific.” Punisher grunted as he walked past him, not knowing how Logan every put up with him.

Grifter appeared at the back of the van. He pointed at the ammunition. “May I?” he asked.

“Help yourself.” The vigilante jumped back onto the street.

“CONTACT!!” Wolverine then screamed.

The Punisher managed to walk two feet to his left just in time to see the mutant running. Wolverine saw two parademons running through the cars toward him. His claws burst from the back of his hands as he screamed and ran toward them. The mutant managed to eviscerate the first creature but then he saw someone seem like they literally appeared out of thin air. Wolverine glanced up as the second parademon as two long sai were stabbed into his shoulder blades. Within the blink of an eye, those same sharp weapons were stabbed back into the creature’s neck and pulled out abruptly. The beast slung down on the ground in a bloody thump. Wolverine smirked at the woman who helped him. It made sense that she seemed to appear out of nowhere. She was, after all, a ninja. “Natchios.” The mutant nodded.

“Logan.” She whispered as she stepped off the top of a vehicle.

The Punisher walked up behind the Canadian “Hello, Elektra.” He grinned.

“Hello, Frank.” She smiled with a slight gleam in her eye.

“Hello, Frank?” Deadpool walked up to them, “Since when are you two on a first name basis?”

“Oh, God,” the assassin grunted, “Why are you here?”

“I’m here . . . . . .wait . . . .are you asking me metaphorically or in the bible sense?” the insane man smiled.

“Elektra, how do you know . . . “ Punisher pointed at Deadpool but then snapped his fingers, “Right! That incident with the Red Hulk.”

“Wacky Fun.” Deadpool sighed.

“You people are odd.” Grifter commented, “And coming from my world, that’s saying a lot.”

“Who’s this blondie?” Elektra pointed with her sai.

“This is the Grifter. He’s from the other world.” The Punisher introduced him.

“Hey,” she nodded, “So where you guys headed?”

“Some place with cover. You’re welcome to join us.”

“Safety in numbers. Basic principle of survival.” She said as she started to walk alongside the mutant.

“How far are we walking?” Grifter then said.

“This sort of . . . . Armageddon brings out the suits in droves.” The Canadian mentioned, “We walk along this path long enough we’ll come across more of us.”

“Whoa . . . up ahead . . . .” Deadpool then pointed, “Shiny portal thingie!”

The group looked up the street and as their crazy friend stated, another rift from one side of the world had opened up. The portal looked like a clear watery reflection of the city. The surrounding features looked like simmering silvery bubbles. Wolverine walked closely. He glanced out toward it and then let his hand touch it. The portal shimmered exactly as if he touched a pond. “We going over?” Deadpool then asked.

“Yeah, reckon so.” His leader stated.

“Wait, why?” Punisher then blinked.

“Think about it, Castle,” Wolverine turned to face him, “Grifter confirmed these parademons are from their universe. If we have any chance of stopping the destruction of both worlds, then we go closer to the source.”

The vigilante took a deep breath. This wasn’t what he was supposed to be doing. The severe superhuman craziness he left to Wolverine and his ilk. However, it was too late; he had his weapons and he was committed. He nodded his head to the mutant. “Lead on, Logan.” He told him.

Wolverine turned and entered the portal. The street look almost the same but the asphalt was a little darker. One by one, the forced group of heroes followed him. Punisher felt strange. His heart raced a little but from his perspective, all he did was enter a new city. It was much larger and more lit, similar to Vegas. Grifter glanced around trying to figure out where they were. He noticed his new friend Deadpool was holding his breath. “We crossed over, dude.” He tapped his arm, “You can breathe now.”

Deadpool let out a massive exhale. He sighed and smiled. “Thanks.” He told him, “I wanted to make sure the air was breathable.”

Grifter twitched his head. They were all breathing fine. “Deadpool . . .exactly how crazy are you?” he asked.

“I had it once measured back in Canada.” He told him, showing the metaphor with his hands, “Crazy like a fox is down here . . . . .and I’m about 37 levels up here.”

“Yeah, lovely, Wilson, so shut up!” Wolverine kept trying to get a scent of any parademons in the region.

Punisher looked upwards on the street. Amid the same derelict car debris and destroyed buildings, the other world was facing the same Armageddon they were. The vigilante fears for the safety of the civilians. So far there were none in sight. Elektra took a step closer to him and then grabbed his arm in mild shock. “NO!” she gasped.

Punisher then saw what she was looking at. Over in a alleyway of the city, they saw dozens of bodies. Grifter jolted his head at the carnage. “DAMN!” he grunted as he began to jog over.

Wolverine finally caught the scent of the bodies after noticing it. He sighed; believing his old age made him slow at times. The group followed the masked hero over to the bodies. Elektra was a cold hearted assassin. She killed people for money and sometimes sport. Still, seeing a child clutching her mother while they were both executed was enough to make her teary eyed. Punisher took a deep breath and he looked at the sight of the father defending his family from some sort of laser fire. It reminded him too much of his own tragedy. It was on that day he vowed no family would suffer the way he did. Wolverine sighed and kneeled down. He gently felt a cop’s neck. “He’s ice cold.” He commented, “Gotta be three hours, maybe two since they were butchered.”

Grifter looked around. He then spotted Deadpool looking down at the old woman who was missing her legs. Even under his mask, they could tell he was upset. “Bogus,” he sniffed, “Not cool, man . . . .”

Everybody was a little amazed that the crazed man had enough sanity to be moved by a massacre of innocents. Wolverine sighed as he stood up. “Any idea where we are, Grifter?” he asked.

The masked man then looked at the cop he was checking for vitals. He then pulled him up and looked at the badge on his uniform. He shook his head.

“Looks like Gotham.” He commented.

Incursion Part 2

Incursion Part 2

Deadpool leisurely strode down the abandoned street. Like a bored child, he kicked an empty soda can further down the street. Then he noticed an issue of the Gotham City Press on a nearby bench. He picked it up and stared at the man on the front page news. “Joker . . .kills three in Arkham Escape.” He whispered, as he read the article.

“Yeah, that’s the Joker.” Grifter sighed, “He’s one of the main villains around here.”

“He’s got white face paint on.” The mercenary tapped the paper, “Is he a mime?”

Grifter sighed. “What does it matter?”


“It matters because he’s a villain and a mime.” Deadpool said in strange seriousness, “That’s TWO reasons why I should kill him right there.”

“Can’t. Batman doesn’t believe in death being the best solution.”

“Sounds like this Batman has never been at War before.” Punisher commented.

“Well . . . .” Grifter took another glance around the wrecked streets of Gotham, “He is now.”

Wolverine then tilted his head. He began to sniff heavily. Elektra was already familiar with his super senses. “Do you smell something, Logan?” she asked.

“Maybe. Follow me.” He then said as he darted down an alley.

The small group kept in close formation as they followed the mutant. He kept his head up as he ran and continue to track the smell. If he smelled it in the air, then the scent was airborne. Punisher kept his weapons ready as he had no idea what they were running into. Grifter stayed behind; covering the rear. Deadpool followed the group but all he could think about was how badly he wanted a taco. Wolverine darted past a destroyed dumpster and came into an an open area. He blinked with amazement as he detected the correct scene. “ROGUE!” he gasped.

The southern belle mutant was flying around a nearby firehouse; striking at parademons left and right. She screamed as one flew toward her and then her punch caused it to fly back; landing hard on a parked van. Punisher then blinked when he saw Spiderman. The webbing hero had three monsters in a web net and was spinning them around. He then threw them off. The creatures howled as they landed into nearby grassy park area. Wolverine knew his friend must have followed Spiderman through the portal. He then noticed two newcomers with them. A man with a dark cowl and cape was fending off the parademons best he could. The woman by his side was clad in leather and she was keeping the demon soldiers at pay with her whip. “Who are those people with your friends?” Elektra asked.

“That’s Batman and Catwoman.” Grifter made sure his pistols were loaded.

“Batman?” Deadpool raised one eyebrow, “Kinda bland name, ain’t it?”

“WHO GIVES A DAMN ABOUT HIS NAME?” Punisher then opened fire, “THEY NEED OUR HELP!!!”

Punisher immediately jumped on a nearby car top as he kept firing. The parademons screamed as the bullets struck various arms and legs of their party. The vigilante knew he had got the job done. He was drawing them away from Spiderman’s group. The moment they started to swoop down, everybody joined in the fray. Grifter stood his ground; firing his strangely shaped pistols. His deadly accuracy caused him to dive out of the way of plummeting parademons he had taken out with headshots. He grunted as their lifeless bodies destroyed the car he was using for cover.

Elektra jumped up, flipped and sliced open the nearest flying monster. One parademon managed to grab her but she quickly slammed both her sai into his eyes. The monster howled as he dropped her back to the ground. The female ninja rolled with the impact and landed on her feet. Wolverine yelled as he jumped onto the creature that was coming behind her. He screamed violently as he rammed his claws into the beast’s lungs. Deadpool was firing wildly with the Uzi. Punisher yelped as a windshield exploded near his feet. “DEADPOOL, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?” he screamed.

“I can’t control this thing!” he cocked the breech on the weapon, “How did Arnold hold it with one hand like that?”

Punisher was flabbergasted this man was that psycho. Grifter ran up beside him, continuing to fire his pistols. “USE BOTH HANDS, BRO!” he stated as he ran past him.

“What, really?” Deadpool then aimed the Uzi with both hands, “OH YEAH, WOW! THIS IS MUCH BETTER!!”

Deadpool fired the weapon and laughed as he took out three more parademons. Then his weapons fed off a massive series of clicks. “Hey!” he quickly unhinged the clip, “I’m out already??”

A parademon swooped down and slapped him hard in the head. Deadpool fell forward quickly; smashing into a car door. He tried to get up but the monster slammed into him again. The insane mercenary then pulled out his katanna and sliced the creature at the leg. He then twirled it and stabbed it hard in the gut. Deadpool huffed for a moment then stared at the Uzi in one hand and back to the sword in the other. He then threw the automatic weapon into a nearby paint truck. “Screw it.” He grunted, “I’ll just commence with the choppy-choppy.”

Batman held two batarangs; one in each hand. Every time a parademon came near him, he attacked their knees and nerve joints. Thanks to his time in the Justice League, he knew exactly where to hit them. He didn’t know who the new people were but he automatically didn’t like them. The use of guns was like nails on a chalkboard to him. Catwoman then came out of nowhere and slam both of her boots into a parademon that nearly had the caped crusader. “Batman, wake up!” she screamed.

He then threw a series of flash bombs; blinding a nearby horde. The creatures finally began to retreat. Most parademons fought because they were ordered to. They feared the wrath of their master more than most. The remaining knew they had to find more of their brethren to defeat the wild and dangerous earth men. Spiderman watched the creatures fly off. He took a massive breath and leaned on a nearby car for a moment. He coughed and then sat down. He could feel the sweat sticking his mask to his face. He couldn’t remember the last time he fought this long and this difficult. Wolverine looked at the young man and smirked. “Good job, wall crawler.” He commented.

“Thanks, can I have a Snapple?” he coughed.

“I hear ya, Spidey.” Deadpool sat down next to him, “I could really use a taco.”

“I was joking, Deadpool.” He grunted from exhaustion.

The psycho super hero looked at him genuinely confused. “Why would you . . . .or anybody for that matter JOKE about Snapple?” he asked.

“Great . . . . . being with you at the end of the world is going to make my jokes seemed pretty childish.”

“LOGAN!!” Rogue cried to her friend as she swooped down.

Wolverine opened his arms as she collapsed into them from the sky. Long had they practiced their affection without ever touching skin. The two parted from their reunion. Wolverine looked up at her and could tell she had been fighting awhile. Her perfume was mixed with massive amounts of sweat. Her hands were bloodied. Her soft southern face had bruises and caked blood around her right eyebrow. “What happened?” her friend finally whispered.

“A bunch of those things . . . . . took some civilians and some of the kids.” She coughed, “Me, Rachel, Bobby, Kitty . . . . we all swooped in after them but the fighting got two intense. Logan . . . . I got swarmed and trapped under rubble . . . .I lost our friends, Logan.”

“Shhhh, easy darlin,” he held her by her arms, “That wasn’t your fault.”

“If it was wasn’t for Spiderman, I wouldn’t have been able to crawl out.”

“You’re welcome!” the masked superhero said, still from his exhausted seating position.

“As we kept fighting, we stumbled onto these two defending this firehouse.”

“Wait, why?” Elektra then commented, “Why would they defend this place?”

“There are over 30 civilians in the basement.” Wolverine then stood down.

The ninja assassin was about to ask how he knew that but then she remembered his super-hearing. He could probably hear their heartbeats. The mutant then twitched his head toward their new companions. Grifter had called them Batman and Catwoman. Thanks to his hearing, he could tell the caped crusader wasn’t exactly happy with their arrival. “Would you stop it?” the leather glad woman pulled him close in a whisper.

“I don’t like guns.” Batman whispered to her.

“I know that but you can’t afford to be choosey right now.” Catwoman whispered back, “We barely held our own against those things. Like it or not, we NEED them.”

“I need the Justice League. I don’t need a group of armed thugs.”

“Then where are they?” Wolverine then turned to him and started to approach him, “Where is your Justice League? I’m guessing they are off fighting these parademons or whatever the hell are they in other parts of your world . . . .probably mine too, I’m guessing.”

Batman stared at him. He was a good twenty feet from him and they were whispering. Being around Superman taught the detective enough to recognize certain powers when they appeared. “Super hearing” Batman whispered, “Duly noted.”

“Look, Batman . . . .I don’t want to get off on the wrong foot with you. You don’t have to like us but we’re in the same boat . . . .and this is War. People are going to die, people HAVE died . . . .there is no way around that. We need to work together to save as many lives as possible.”

“Batman, trust them!” Spiderman stood up, “I know you don’t like their methods, neither do I. But I do know this . . . .these people will die before any innocents are murdered.”

Batman looked them over. He saw that Spiderman and Rogue didn’t kill any parademons. The others looked like a mixture of psychos, and assassins. However, Wolverine’s words rang through his head; this was war. If they didn’t fight as hard as they could, more people were going to die. The caped crusader had no choice but to trust them until his other friends showed up. “All right,” Batman sighed, “We’re going to go check on the civilians. I need all of you to watch our perimeter and I’ll come back up to discuss our plan of attack later.”

“Provided we survive it.” Deadpool sighed.

“You got it.” Wolverine then turned to the soldier vigilante, “Punisher, you got any explosives?”

“I got some grenades and this RPG.” He tapped the device in the massive satchel on his back.

“Then in that case, you want to take the roof? You’d probably be able to hit these things faster than we could on the ground.”

“Agreed. I’m on it.” He started to proceed to the stairway.

“I’ll keep him company.” Elektra said as she followed him.

“Yeah, I know what they are really going to do.” Deadpool started to make kissing noises.

Wolverine then promptly slapped him upside the head like an unruly child.

“OW!” the merc grunted, “You got an adamantium hand, remember?”

“Everybody head to that office in the front.” The mutant pointed, “Let’s gather our strength before the next onslaught happens.”

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The group of heroes huddled in the front office of the fire station. Wolverine was sitting at the main officer’s desk. He studied the desk; seeing that the poor police chief was a loving father of three. The mutant had no idea if the man was still alive. He could tell by the scent of his coffee it had been nearly 18 hours since he touched it. The loss of life was always hard to bear but Wolverine did his best to muster on. Rogue sat on a nearby plastic chair with her head propped up against the wall. She had her eyes closed; resting best as she could. Spiderman, Deadpool and Grifter were making use of the vending machine in the office. The wall crawler hung off the wall while he sipped on a Gatorade. Grifter propped his feet up on a chair with his mask tilted the side; allowing him to enjoy a cigarette. Deadpool kept looking out the main window. He had his mask tilted up above his nose; drinking a grape soda and eating a Snickers bar. He took one more bite of the candy and looked it as he chewed it. “Man, this is funny.” He commented.

“What is, Deadpool?” Spiderman asked, continuing to rehydrate.

“Their Snickers bar. It tastes JUST LIKE ours.”

“I guess some things are universal across Alternate Worlds.” The wall crawler slightly chuckled.

“Man, I can’t wait to have a taco now.” Deadpool commented.

“You still want a taco, bro?” Grifter chuckled.

“Nope. Don’t want a taco anymore, that’s childish . . . . .now, I NEED it.” He sipped his grape soda.

Wolverine rolled his eyes again. If Deadpool wasn’t so effect at being a killer or hero when he needed him to, he would have sent him packing long ago. Rogue still had her eyes closed but she slowly smiled. The mutant Canadian wondered if she was smiling over Deadpool being funny or the fact that he annoyed him. Spiderman then looked downward into the door. The ones called Batman and Catwoman then came into the office. “How is everybody?” Spiderman asked.

“Scared but so far, okay.” The caped crusader sighed, “How is everybody in here?”

“Recovering.” Wolverine commented.

“Starving.” Deadpool said as he finished his grape soda.

“Ignore Deadpool, Batman . . . .we do.” Said the wall crawler.

“Batman, what’s the plan?” the mutant then said, returning the conversation to helping the civilians.

“We found a sewer entrance down below.” The detective said.

“We figured we can start funneling them down there.” Catwoman said, “But we don’t know where it leads.”

“So, I’m activating this sonic device.” Batman pulled out a small yellow stick from his belt and twisted it, “Only my friend can hear it.”

“Really? I can’t hear it.” Wolverine then stated.

“Like I said, you have super hearing but his operates on a whole other frequency.”

“So getting your friend here will do . . . .what exactly?” Spiderman asked.

“He’s talking about Superman.” Grifter then pointed in, “He’ll be able to fly ahead, not to mention offer air support more effectively than any of us.”

“Rogue can fly.” The young hero pointed out.

“We need at least two flyers to pull this off. I don’t know Rogue’s capabilities. I know Superman can fly super-fast. He can scout ahead and be back in time to help us.”

“OH, uh . . . .I guess that’s . . . .probably why . . .they call him Superman.” Spiderman finished his sports drink.

“Is that him?” Wolverine tilted his head.

“Excuse me?” Batman blinked.

“OH, man!” Deadpool laughed as he stared out the window, “Man, this world is hilarious!”

“I’m hearing heavy foot-falls.” The mutant stood up.

“Hey, Grifter.” The crazed hero waved to him.

“Huh?” he turned, finally hearing the heavy stomping foot sounds.

“Check this out. There is some crazy giant Amish Gorilla dressed from Barbarella coming right at us!”

The group screamed as large green gloved hands smashed through the window and grabbed Deadpool. The large being pulled the mercenary out and slammed him hard into a nearby bus. Wolverine immediately jumped to his friend’s rescue. Rogue gasped at the sight of the strange looking man smashing the merc through various cars. Wolverine screamed as he managed to slice the man’s arm. He howled as he backhanded the mutant into a nearby vehicle. He then howled ever further when he shock of hitting his combatant’s adamantium skeleton. The giant being then pulled out a yellow club and pointed it at Wolverine. A burst of energy shot out and caused the car he was leaning on to explode. “LOGAN!!” Rogue screamed.

“That’s not a parademon!” Spiderman stated the obvious.

“No, that’s Kalibak. He’s Darkseid’s son!” Batman grunted, hoping Superman can get there soon.

“What can we do?” Catwoman cried.

“If we don’t get them away from him, he’ll rip them to shreds.”

Outside, Logan fought against the pain. He had third degree burns over 40 percent of his body, not to mention debris shrapnel embedded in his arms and legs. He didn’t know how much longer Deadpool could hold out from the behemoth. The merc grunted as Kalibak picked him up and then put him in a bear hug. The hero gagged from not only his wounds but the behemoth’s breath. Kalibak held him close enough to let his beard drape on his chest. “Oh, God, that’s disgusting.” Deadpool commented.

“Any last words before I break you, maggot?” the Apokolpitan grunted.

“Actually . . . can I say two words?”

“Huh?” Kalibak grunted.

“Butt cheeks.” Deadpool whispered.

“Wha?” the behemoth said, really confused.

“Okay, I got my last word ready.”

“What it is?”

“Ibuprofen.”

Kalibak screamed as massive explosion bounded his head. The shockwave threw him and Deadpool into a nearby convenience store. Wolverine raised an eyebrow over the carnage. He then looked up and saw the Punisher on the rooftop holding his empty RPG launcher. It wasn’t enough to kill Kalibak but definitely enough to put him down. Whether the vigilante actually knew that or not, didn’t matter.

Deadpool struggled to get up but his ears were still ringing from the explosion. He shook it off and saw Kalibak moaning. His head was buried in a vegetable stand he crushed. The merc then noticed his yellow club sitting on the sidewalk. He then quickly picked it up and began to bash Kalibak in the skull with it. “DIE! DIE!” he screamed as he kept hitting.

“DEADPOOL, STOP!” Batman and the others ran out to him.

“DIE, YOU HORRIBLE THING!!’ Deadpool kept hitting him.

“WILSON, KNOCK IT OFF!!” Wolverine yelled.

Deadpool huffed as he backed off. The club was a little heavier than he realized. As he rested on his knees, Kalibak then moaned again. The merc jumped up and hit him on the back of the head again. “DAMN IT, WADE!” the Canadian yelled.

“His beard moved! I swear!” Deadpool pointed.

“Calm down.” Batman said, “He’s practically invulnerable so all we can do is subdue him.”

“Then we’re lucky Punisher had that RPG.” Spiderman said.

“It’s both bad and good luck.” The detective turned around, “That explosion is bound to bring more parademons-“

Before Batman could finish his sentence, a sonic boom ripped through the air. He looked up to finally see his friend coming over the horizon. As Superman flew in, then Punisher looked at him. He was human and didn’t look anything like combatants. “I think he’s on our side.” Elektra commented.

“C’mon,” the vigilante collected his weaponry, “Let’s get down there.”

Superman landed near some derelict cars. He proceeded to walk over to his friend, surrounded by the group of strangers. Batman looked at him and saw the collection of smut on his costume; not to mention it being cut in several places. The man of steel glanced at his old friend and smirked as he walked up to him. “I knew you wouldn’t be killed.” He told him.

“I appreciate your faith.” The detective replied before glancing at Catwoman, “I had help.”

“Catwoman.” The kryptonian bowed.

“Superman.” She bowed back.

“I don’t recognize everybody here.” He looked to them, “I can only assume you are from the other world.”

“Yeah, but the fight belongs to all of us.” Wolverine answered.

“I met some of your comrades. Thor and Iron Man are with us.” Superman mentioned.

“Then we need to get these civilians out of here, form up and get on the offensive.” Batman said.

“What civilians?” he said before looking down at the ground, “Oh, I see them. Yes, we’ll get them cleared before we-GREAT SCOTT!”

The group then realized he was looking at the unconscious form of Kalibak. “KALIBAK?” he gasped, “Batman . . . .how did you put him down?”

The detective pinched the bridge of his nose. “They, uh . . . . fired an RPG at him.” He admitted.

Superman turned to look at the Punisher. The vigilante simply saluted him. The Kryptonian nodded and sighed. “Oh . . .well, I guess . . ..that would do it.” He admitted.

“Focus, Superman, where the other heroes?”

“Twenty five miles that way.” He pointed behind him, “We’ll get the civilians to safety then-“

Superman’s plan was interrupted by a thunderous boom. The others were startled by the explosions. Superman looked more cautious and Batman looked disappointed. “What the hell was that?” Wolverine asked.

“A gas explosion somewhere?” Punisher commented.

“Reverb is all wrong.” The detective sighed, “Someone just activated a Boom Tube.”

The group then heard the scrambling of a large group of people. When the saw the alleyway two blocks down from the fire station, they saw a horde of parademons. Superman felt his heart sinking when he saw their leader step out with them. The menacing lord of Apokolips walked out with his hands behind his back. He stopped in the middle of the street; his eyes glowing red. “That . . .my friends . . .is Darkseid.” Batman sighed.

“Great.” Wolverine said sarcastically as he popped his claws.

“Shame I don’t have another RPG.” Punisher said as he loaded up a shotgun with spent uranium rounds.

“Steady yourself, soldier.” The detective sighed, “You may not live through this next battle.”

The Punisher shrugged. “Today is as good a day to die as any.” He commented.

“FACE ME, KRYPTONIAN!!” Darkseid screamed.

“I’m here, Darkseid!” Superman as he walked out to the middle of the street, “But you won’t face just me. These are heroes from the other world you are trying to conquer. You and I have a long history but they might not let your parademons escape.”

“They’ll join you in oblivion when I burn your two worlds out of the universe.” He hissed.

“I reckon that’s the bad guy.” Rogue commented.

“This is it, guys.” Grifter sighed, “Remember the live the next few moments well.”

“So be it.” Elektra flipped her Sais into her hand.

Spiderman’s last thought was of the loved ones and friends he’d leave behind. Wolverine also thought about Jean and hoped he’d see her soon. Rogue thought of Gambit and how she wished she had more time with him. Catwoman slowly pushed her goggles down on her eyes. She wanted to run and she wanted Batman to come with her. However, she knew he’d never leave. If she had to die, she’d prefer to die by his side. Deadpool pulled out his sword then tilted his head. He had stopped thinking about his graving for tacos and a new thought popped into his head as he looked at the being called Darkseid.

“That was got to be the meanest California Raisin I’ve ever seen.” He whispered.


TO BE CONTINUED? 

Are you long Enough?

This was an actual question from a customer I had.  Once I contained my laughter, I knew this was a drawing meant for Applejack

Millenium Falcon Dress from Comic-Con 2012

I'd like to think that anybody could have seen this joke coming a mile away.  I just wanted to be the one to post it first :)

Applejack and crew of Firefly

My friends had put me in a Firefly mood lately

Applejack Strikes Again