Alex found himself in a world laid to waste, but in the distance there was an oasis of beauty, light, and life. He waded through the destruction. He couldn't even recognize where he was. At one point he thought he saw someone in the corner of his eye. But he had to have just been imagining things. That was until he saw them again. He followed them into the remains of a building. It was dark and he couldn't see them anymore. Suddenly two lights shone in the dark. "Hello, Alex. So nice of you to come to us so we can kill you without the Gibborim around."
The two figures revealed themselves in the lights. "Mr. and Mrs. Minoru!? Where's Nico!? What's going on here?"
"Don't play dumb, Alex. You may have been able to fool your friends, but not us. Playing dumb won't save you. Nico is dead because of you!"
No. This couldn't be real. Where was he? When was he? Where were all of his friends? Where was Nico?
The Minorus took the opportunity presented by Alex's weird act of confusion to attack him with their staffs, but before they could they were stabbed in their backs by an older Alex. "Thank you for bringing these two out of hiding for me, me."
Alex was starting to get it. This was supposed to be some kind of future where he went through with his plan to betray his friends for Nico and their parents. This wasn't real. This was some kind of nightmare. "I was starting to get worried this was all real and I lost my friends. Some villain just has me trapped in some nightmare. Sucks for that genius. I've accepted my past and my friends have too. There's no chance I'd ever betray them again."
"Oh, this isn't a simple nightmare. I'm connected to the multiverse. This is a certain reality where you did succeed in betraying your friends. In this timeline Nico refused to join you so the Gibborim killed her in front of you. Roasted her alive and turned the world into this. Her parents refused to live with the Gibborim and your family after that. They built a rebellion of two, but as you see it amounts to nothing. You decided to learn magic to either kill the Gibborim or bring Nico back. But you were never quite strong enough for either. But to fill you in on a little secret... I can leave you here. Inhabit your body and trap you in this reality of despair and hopelessness. Unable to see your precious Nico ever again."
Could he really do that? Alex found himself terrified at the thought. This world may not have been real, but this threat very well could be.
"Your fear... it's delicious." Nightmare Alex said licking his lips.
Nico found herself in a battle damaged New York. What was going on? Where was Alex? Where was everyone? Her questions were answered once she looked around to see all of their friends on the ground dead, but still she couldn't see Alex.
"You're next, girl." A dark voice behind her said.
Nico turned around to see Alex? No. This wasn't Alex. He had a goat horn sticking out of the right side of his forehead. "Who the hell are you?"
"The Gibborim. You thought you won. We've been reborn in this boy. Biding our time. Preparing for the perfect moment to strike."
"Get the Hell out of Alex!" Her Staff of One was already in her hand. "Exorcise!" She yelled sending a blast towards Alex. It seemingly worked, expelling the Gibborim influence from Alex. His horn broke off and he fell to the ground. Nico ran up to him and tried a healing spell, but nothing was working.
"I think... I think this is it, Nico. I'm sorry for always hurting you and our friends. I really did it this time. Take care of our baby girl for me."
"No, no. You're going to be okay. You're going to take care of her with me. I can't do this without you. I can't do this alone." She started to cry desperately as Alex faded in her arms.
"You won't be alone. I'll always be here." Alex said approaching her from behind. "This is a nightmare created by some kind of cosmic being. We gotta get out of here and find our friends."
Kate woke up to find herself in Avengers Tower, but the lights were eerily dim. She was suddenly hit by an arrow that exploded into a giant net that sent her flying into the wall. She was trapped and couldn't move. She knew who and what this was. Her theory was confirmed once Clint Barton, the Hawkeye, stepped out of the shadows.
"I've had dreams about this, but your face was a bit more friendly. Actually, a lot more friendly. Okay, I'll admit it. It was a wet dream and you were seducing me!" She closed her eyes and blushed in embarrassment. She couldn't believe she said that out loud and to her hero at that. Wait a second. That was it. This wasn't a dream. "This is a nightmare. Literally. I'm asleep."
After immediately coming to that realization a knife slipped out of her sleeve and into her hand. She used it to cut herself free before launching the knife at the Hawkeye impersonator. He disappeared in a puff of smoke, but left his bow and quiver of arrows behind. "Sweet. Kind of like video game drops." She picked them up and headed out of the door to find her friends.
Ty found himself alone and back in New Orleans. He stood in front of his brother's grave. He still couldn't believe he was gone, but he couldn't understand why he was here. Did he teleport here? The last thing he remembered was that he, Tandy, and the rest of the Young Avengers were getting ready to head to a Halloween party at night. But here it was daytime and he wasn't wearing his costume. Even with the time difference this didn't make sense.
He wasn't actually here, was he? He and Tandy dealt with plenty of nightmares before and after gaining their powers, but nothing quite on this scale before. He sensed out for Tandy and teleported to her. They were on a rainy bridge. It was the night her dad and his brother died. She was watching the final moments on the road before she and her dad crashed into the water.
Ty stepped in front of her to cover her. She didn't need to see this. "Don't worry, Tandy. I'm here and your dad is always with you, too. Let's go find our friends." "Thank you, Ty." Tandy said crying into his chest. He sensed for Caty having locked onto her and her brother's signatures before. He found her next to Karolina. He teleported them over to the couple.
"So that confirms we're not the only ones trapped in this nightmare dimension."
Daxam,
Crimson Flame,
Bacon,
Eviledd1984,
Apoalo,
Sadu,
PuffPeace,
Dragonfly 9,
AtomicNut,
Little Bird
