"...okay, so what am I looking at here, exactly?"
After everything had stopped glowing, I found myself standing in what I at first thought was some sort of white void, only to notice once my brain caught up with me that it was actually a spherical room mostly made out of white metal. Various computer equipment and cables line the walls and hang from the ceilings, all of it colored white just as the metal walls, with the exception of a large, purple throne standing in the middle of the room. Currently occupied by my unwanted guide to the future. The whole thing briefly reminds me of the inside of the alien ship from the Tintin book Flight 174 To Sidney, except the features are actually visible once you focus.
In front of me is a giant, panoramic window taking up about a fourth of the visible walls, and the view outside is hard to mistake for anything else.
It's New York City. But not the New York I've spent the past six months living in. There are even more lights and buildings there now, revealing a skyline I remember all too well. That's the New York I know from my own time, or close to it anyway.
I'm forced to do a double-take as something very unexpected catches my eye.
The Twin Towers. Or one of them, anyway. They'd been gone for so long in my own time I'd almost forgotten what they looked like, and they hadn't been built in the 60's. One is still gone, but the other World Trade Center is still standing there. Did they manage to stop one of the planes here? Or maybe there was just the one plane?
"It's the city you've been so insistent on protecting, aberration! 60 years into the future! January 10th, 2020 to be exact! Scarred by the events you have made come to pass!" Kang seems to have taken my momentary surprise for shock and immediately resumes his conqueror schtick "This is what your thoughtless actions have wrought, the punishment for your attempt to change the past!"
I take my sunglasses off, trying to make out the details of the city outside, but other than the Tower, I can't really see anything different. I never visited the New York of my own time, all I know of it is what I've seen in movies and on the news, but this doesn't really...look all that different, at least not from up here. Hell, if anything, the photos I've seen of the city during it's lowest point in the 70's looked like Mad Max compared to this.
Wait, was MY timeline the bad one?! That doesn't....
Okay, I guess there's an argument to be made for that.
"The decay of New York is but a mere symptom of the havoc you caused by sparing the life of John F. Kennedy and interfering in the natural development of the Avengers!" Kang says as he presses a button on the console attached to his throne, and the window flashes, a video screen appearing at the top right corner "Thanks to your meddling, the progression of American society is thrown off balance, a social and political backlash against progress the country wasn't ready for!"
Three more screen appears in each corner of the window, each of them playing black and white video footage, most of which seems to be taken from news broadcasts. Riots, fights between protestors and police, burning buildings... frankly, it doesn't look that different from the footage I've seen from the 60's of my own world-
I freeze as something very familiar pops up on the screen.
On the screen in the top right corner, there's a video of Captain America at one of the riots.
And he's fighting AGAINST the police!
Okay, I wasn't expecting that part.
It's only now that I begin to notice that he's not the only one. There's a blurry shot of Iron Man zooming over a crowd of police officers holding water hoses, spraying some kind of foam over them. Another screen shows a pair of national guardsmen hanging from a lamppost suspended with some familiar spider webs. There's a clip of Giant-Man physically separating two groups of protestors with his massive hands as they're trying to get at eachother in front of what looks like a school. There's one of The Hulk smashing aside a barricade of police cars, allowing a troop of national guardsmen to get through. And there's-
Apparently that's me, helping some protesters tear down a statue of some guy on horseback by slicing off the statue's legs with a light blade. Wait, what?
"Chaos reigned, as Kennedy's political enemies rode the wave of resentment and anger into office, exploiting their supporters refusal to accept the changes brought to the country by the President, and it almost brought down the entire house of cards! Hundreds dead, all because you decided to meddle in history!"
"Okay, then what?"
Kang pauses "Excuse me?"
I turn away from the screens, giving him a flat look "I mean, is this the big, bad future you were hoping would scare me into aborting myself from time? All you've shown me so far is some old news footage."
"You do not care that your irresponsibility brought your nation to ruin?!"
"Brought to- Dude, you already know I've tried to change the past! Why do you think I did this, because I liked Kennedy's haircut? People don't go back in time to change it because things were going great in their own present! You're going to have to give me a hell of a better reason to change my mind than "if you don't let the assholes have their way, they're going to start breaking everything like spoiled kids!" Because I'm already used to that! So what happened, second civil war? World War 3? Because that's what it's going to take, buddy!"
"You ignorant-" Kang snarls, standing up from his throne "The destruction of the social order does not bother you? War in the streets?! A nation turned against itself!"
"Yeah, again, that's what was already going on, you purple asshole! Making it slightly worse and slightly faster isn't much of a deterrent to me, especially since you won't tell me what the actual consequences are. And I'm starting to think that might be the point! After all, YOUR empire is founded on a nearly devastated Earth in the far future, so why would you care if my actions destroy it a little sooner?"
"Because, you neanderthal" Kang says through gritted teeth as he stomps down the steps to the floor "Any major changes to the timeline will undo my glorious works in the future!"
I shrug "So? You're the one with the time machine, just start over again! Jump ahead a little bit further, where everyone is weaker! Unless, of course, the changes I'VE caused somehow makes it too difficult for you. I doubt it's anything utopian, but if the view out the window is any indication" I gesture towards the city outside "I may at least have managed to cause a net positive. Or maybe even something that means poor old Nathaniel Richards can't just steamroll whatever is left of humanity and pretend it makes him a great conqueror. Am I getting close?"
I flashstep to the side as an energy blast zaps into the spot I was standing in the moment before. "Apparently I am. So, whatever your plan was here, I'm not falling for it, you might as well take me back to the ceremony. We were kind of in the middle of something."
"Impudent-" Kang lifts his glowing gauntlet again "Very well, it's not my prefered method of dealing with you annoyances, it's far more effective to have you turn against yourselves and erase your own existance, but as it seems you intend to make this difficult, I seem to have no option but to get my own hands dirty, as much as I loathe to. No one crosses Kang The Conqueror!"
I begin to charge my powers, energy streaming into my arms as they begin to glow with sunlight. "Take your best shot, you self-absorbed lunatic! This isn't going to be as easy as you think!"
"Fool, I've tangled with foes beyond your comprehension, fought battles that have made the very foundations of the Earth itself shake-"
He cuts off as a massive rumble suddenly sounds throughout the ship, the walls and floor shaking with the force.
I look around, starting to feel a bit confused "Was... was that it just now? Because the fight hasn't started yet..."
"No! NO!!" Kang shrieks, as he rushes past me towards the computer beneath the window, and begins typing on the console, the video screens disappearing and bringing up another set of screens showing what appears to be other parts of the ship, showing empty corridors and rooms, with one exception. A large double door somewhere in the ship has been wrenched open, as if from a great impact from the outside. Around the opening, twisted piles of scrap metal and wires that might have been sentry guards lay broken. "They can't have found me! Not yet!"
Well, this is awkward... "So, are we not fighting now, or..?"
Kang ignores me, rushing back towards his throne, which swivels around to face the open doors at the back of the room. He presses a few buttons on his belt, and hatches open in the ceiling, unfolding a series of turrets aimed towards the door. Something flashes across the opening, and a purple wall of energy, I'm guessing a forcefield, blinks into existance. A few seconds later, a group of humanoid figures appear outside, though I can't make out who or what they are through the energy field. The largest one at the front raises an arm, and slams something against the field! There's a burst of light, and a loud crackle, static tearing through the machinery. A second blow follows, and the field begins to blink, before finally cutting out.
Two of the turrets explode as bolts of lightning shoot through them with the fields destruction. A very familiar red white and blue shield flies through the air and takes out another one, while a blast of energy destroys the fourth.
The people who step through the doorway are at once very familiar, and total strangers. Well, except one of them.
"Thor?!"
It's Thor alright, his armor looks slightly different, the design is sleeker, with the blue and yellow replaced with red and black, but there's no mistake. Apparently, he wasn't expecting to see me here either, judging by the surprise look on his face. "Friend Sunshine?! How is this possible?! You can't be-" He turns towards Kang with his face twisted into a scowl of rage, Mjolnir clutched in one hand " 'Tis be another cruel trick of yours, Kang?! Have thou already forgotten your previous defeats at our hands? It seems I shall have to further impress upon you what a poor idea it is to taunt the God of Thunder!"
"Easy, big guy" A woman steps out from behind him, putting a hand on his shoulder. She's dressed in a form-fitting costume with a very familiar red, white and blue motif, though this version seems to be missing the wings on the cowl. There's an opening at the back of the mask, letting out long, flowing blonde locks of hair. The shield on her right arm is really just a confirmation. "Time traveller, remember? I doubt Kang would go through all this trouble just to get his ass kicked over a hologram or a robot."
"Aye, you speak truth, Captain. But then, if it be not a trick, then it seems my lost comrade is indeed with us again..."
Lost? I don't like the sound of that.
It's only now that I start looking over the rest of the group who just burst in on my fight with Kang. Aside from Thor, and the very much new Captain America, there's four other people standing in the doorway. Two green-skinned individuals, one man and one woman, are standing near the back, both of them tall and very muscular, dressed in sleeveless bodysuits colored black and white. The woman reminds me a little of She-Hulk, albeit with shorther hair, and the man... not sure, I was never great at this, but they do seem to have somewhat similar facial features. Hulk twins? That's a new one.
Hanging upside down from the ceiling after crawling in through the top of the door is someone dressed in a Spider-Man costume, though I notice there's more dark in the costume than the regular one. Judging by the build, very similar to Peter's, it's another teenage boy, or early 20's at most. He's also wearing a jacket made from some black, shiny material, with metal shoulder pads and some sort of odd silver circles on the sleeves. His mask has an opening at the top of his head, showing a mess of short, curled hair, which strangely seems to be either white or an extremely pale blonde.
The fourth person however...
A tall, muscular man pushes himself past his teammates. His costume reminds me a bit of a Yellow Lantern, a black bodysuit with yellow stripes forming a grid across his chest and shoulders. A large, yellow symbol in the middle, presumably a stylized sun, is partially covered by a blue denim vest he's wearing on top. He's got long, red hair that's tied in a ponytail, hanging down his back. What catches my eye however, is the flag mask he's wearing over the lower half of his face.
It's a little worn and faded, but I'd still recognize it anywhere. Considering it's the same mask I'm wearing right now.
What I really wasn't expecting was his blue skin!
Apparently, he wasn't expecting me either, considering what his next word is.
"Dad?!"