REALITY CHECKS

By Wesley Overhults

Los Angeles, Earth-232

William Baker looked at the chaos created from the battle between his West Coast Avengers and the Wrecking Crew, sighing as he did so. In his younger and dumber days, Sandman had met the Wrecking Crew more than once. Those morons always did enjoying racking up the property damage.

“Good work, everyone,” said Sandman, looking at the rest of his team and receiving various signs of agreement. They took on some new recruits recently, especially during that whole fiasco with Doom and the Red Skull. Baker didn’t mind the extra help but they were just kids. He knew he’d have his work cut out for him in trying to lead them and train them.

“So,” inquired Hawkeye as she leaned against her bow and looked at her team leader, “who’s buying first round at the bar tonight?”

“You’re not old enough for that yet, Kate.” reminded Sandman. “I know you’re used to running with a fast crowd but Daddy’s money doesn’t work out here like it does in New York.”

“Touchy.” Hawkeye put an annoying degree of emphasis on the last syllable, her face sour. “C’mon, I doubt I’d be the first underage girl you’ve gotten drunk.”

“You’re really going to try my patience, aren’t you?” inquired Sandman but he noticed that Kate wasn’t listening to him. They were all looking at him as if he had just sprouted a third head, a feat not unheard of in the superhero community but definitely not the norm.

“You’re glowing,” said Hawkeye, the words barely escaping her lips.

William Baker, the former criminal and now the hero known as Sandman, looked down at his hands and realized she was right. He looked to his team again before they suddenly disappeared and he found himself somewhere else.

Manhattan, Earth-815

“We’re out of milk again.”

Harry Osborn felt the nanotechnology in his costume peel back the leering, garish face of the Goblin before the entire costume receded into a device on his wrist no larger than a watch. He was apprehensive at first when Liz Allan said she wanted to move in with him. That apprehension faded after the first week because, truthfully, Harry enjoyed living with his girlfriend. It made doing what he did a little more bearable.

“Not as of half a minute ago,” declared Harry, unbuckling the belt containing his weapons cache and moving to his closet to put it away. “I picked up some from the store before I came in.”

Liz grinned and nodded. She noticed him wince and she could tell his ribs were still giving him trouble. She and Mary Jane joked with each other that they should apply for medical school with all the experience they garnered tending to the wounds of their superhero significant others.

“I told you to take it slow tonight,” she warned him.

“The ribs will work themselves out,” he promised her in return.

As always, the first thing Harry saw when he opened the secret compartment in the closet was the vials of green liquid. He and Peter had managed to develop a safe version of his father’s famous Goblin formula but it was only temporary with its boons. He opened one of the vials and took a small dose, letting its regenerative properties go to work on his cracked ribs. Rhino and Vulture had been extremely vicious tonight. He knew he’d have to be more careful in the future.

“You know I don’t like you taking that,” reminded Liz.

Harry knew because they’d had this conversation too many times. Peter told him it was important to be honest with the people you loved. The fact that Liz hadn’t had him committed to the nuthouse and hadn’t run away screaming in terror made Harry love her even more. He made sure to restock the belt’s arsenal of weapons and its supply of Goblin formula, a routine he performed every night like clockwork. He wasn’t going to get caught unawares when he was out in the line of fire. Peter had also stressed to him the importance of being prepared.

“It’s just a phase,” assured Harry. “This too shall pass, Liz. Pete and I will work out the kinks in the formula, no sweat.”

In hindsight, Harry would consider himself lucky. Fate picked the oddest moments to intervene in a person’s life and had it crossed his path a minute or two later, he wouldn’t have had access to his weaponry. He didn’t feel any heat though his body did glow with energy. He didn’t hear Liz’s voice or even see the look of panic on her face. All he saw was light and all he heard was silence. One second he was there and the next he was gone.

Massachusetts Academy, Earth-167

Paige Elisabeth Guthrie had discovered a lot of things since the day she first stepped foot inside the Massachusetts Academy. She had discovered that being a mutant wasn’t exactly the easiest thing in the world. She had discovered that things were different in the city than they were back home in Cumberland. Emma Frost and the rest of her teachers were used to a higher standard of living than Paige ever would be. They also had the same exceptionally high standards concerning her performance. The Hellfire Club demanded no less than perfection from its protégés.

All these things paled in comparison to the biggest thing Husk had learned. Her roommate was a little strange. It wasn’t as if Paige was uncomfortable with sharing her personal space with another girl. Coming from a family of eight children, nine if you still counted her older brother Sam who died in a mine collapse with her father, Paige was accustomed to sharing space and she was accustomed to interacting with lots of children of varying ages. This didn’t discount the oddness of Paige’s roommate or her unusual practices.

“Readin’ those cards again?” inquired Husk after noticing Tarot sitting on her bed and dealing her tarot cards out onto the mattress.

“Oui,” responded Tarot before dealing another card from the top of the deck. “The cards comfort me and remind me of home.”

“No argument here,” said Husk, laying on her bed and stretching her tired muscles. Her combat simulation ran a little longer than normal today. The extra time left her so fatigued that she hadn’t even changed out of her training uniform yet to take a shower.

“Miss Frost was particularly difficult today?” asked Tarot, still keeping her attention on the cards.

“Ah don’t think she knows any other way ta be,” answered Husk before sitting up and looking at her roommate. “Ya got anythin’ in that magic deck o’ yours fer me, Marie?”

“The cards only show the future,” reminded Tarot. “If you like though, I will see what fate has in store for you.” Tarot shuffled up the cards again and pulled the first one from the stack, placing it face-up in front of her.

“The Empress,” read Paige. “What’s it mean?”

“Evolution,” answered Tarot before revealing the next card. “The Hanged Man. That one means change, sacrifice, and ultimately rebirth. There are many changes coming in your life, Paige. You may not like what you find out next.”

“Somethin’ tells me ya might be right,” realized Husk after noticing that her hands were glowing. “Get outta here, Marie! Go find Miss Frost or somethin’. Do it now!”

Tarot didn’t move from her seat on her bed. She simply watched as Husk vanished into thin air, now out of anyone’s reach. Tarot dealt the next card and noted that it was Death. She only prayed that such a fate wouldn’t befall her former roommate.

“Please be kind to her,” whispered Tarot, looking to her cards for some kind of guidance. “I have done as you asked and not interfered. Now please keep her safe.” The cards held no discernable answer.

The Sanctum Sanctorum, Earth-147

Dr. Stephen Strange rarely slept. Battling the magical forces of evil was a tiresome duty, one that consumed most of his life. Strange knew this when he took up the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme many years ago. The evil that dwelled in the dark never slept. If Strange had any hope of defeating that evil, he knew he couldn’t either. This, however, was a rare moment for him. It was a night of quiet solitude and Stephen Strange wished to spend it in silent slumber. As was the case with most of his life, this night took an unexpected turn for Dr. Strange.

“Master!” cried Wong. “Something has happened!” Strange’s stalwart companion banged on the door to his master’s bedchambers, the noise rousing Strange from sleep.

“One moment,” said Strange, getting out of bed and using a simple gesture and a fraction of his mystical power to clothe himself in his costume.

“Master, something has happened to your apprentice,” explained Wong once Strange opened the door. “She has disappeared!”

“I felt no influx of magical energy,” said Strange. With a mere thought, Dr. Strange projected his astral image into the bedroom of his young apprentice. Through the eyes of his astral self, Strange saw that the room was empty and that there was no sign that someone had forcibly entered the room.

Only a scant two years ago, Dr. Strange ran across a group of teenage heroes who were children of The Pride, the villainous crime syndicate that controlled Los Angeles. These runaways found themselves battling against the dread Dormammu and Strange had assisted them in defeating the dark god. One of them, Nico Minoru by name, chose to leave the group and become Strange’s new apprentice. A novice sorceress in her own right, Nico wanted to better understand her magical abilities and Strange saw great potential in her. As always though, life was never easy when dealing with magic.

“What do you see, sir?” asked Wong.

“She’s gone,” stated Strange. “Something has taken Nico and I fear it’s a power greater than any I wield. I will do what I can but I’m afraid it will not amount to anything.”

Hell’s Kitchen, Earth-107

The fight was over in record time. Daredevil smiled to himself as he looked around the bar and the group of thugs strewn about it in haphazard fashion. They belonged to Tony Fiorello’s crew though he was just a small shark swimming with the much larger school that was the Maggia. Word on the street was that the criminal organization had plans to retake New York. With the Kingpin down, someone was always looking to fill the hole. Fiorello and his boys picked the wrong neighborhood to deal in though. The crimson-clad vigilante couldn’t fault them. They were new in town so they didn’t know the score.

“Don’t bother getting up boys,” suggested Daredevil, crouching on the bar and surveying the group of semi-conscious thugs. “It’s just the night janitor come to clean out the Kitchen. Tell your boss that New York doesn’t need anyone from the Maggia walking its streets unless they’re sightseeing.”

His sordid business concluded for the moment, the guardian devil of Hell’s Kitchen flipped from the bar and through the broken window he had used earlier for his entrance. The grappling cable from his club uncoiled as the hook found purchase on the corner of a rooftop. He swung himself up into the skyline of New York City, retracting the cable in mid-air before firing it out again and gaining height. He had other matters to attend to, most notably a drug shipment scheduled to go out. The city wasn’t going to let him sleep soon, maybe ever. He didn’t mind it now just as he didn’t mind it when he had first put on a mask. Sleep was never his biggest priority in life.

“Right on time,” he said to himself as he touched down on a rooftop and watched a truck back into its designated spot on the loading dock of a warehouse. One of the thugs at the bar had been very forthcoming concerning the details of this operation. He would have to thank the man for his honesty.

Daredevil watched the thugs carry the boxes out of the warehouse and load them into the truck. He held his club with both hands and heard the small clicking noise as it broke apart to create two batons. The muscles in his legs tensed, waiting to uncoil while he planned his best course of attack. None of the thugs noticed his presence as he watched over them. None of them noticed the glowing light or the noise created when air rushed to fill previously occupied space. Daredevil simply vanished that night, a ghost lost within the concrete jungle that was New York City.

New York City, Earth-112

Katherine Bishop, “Kate” to most people and “Wasp” to her teammates, felt the heat in the air as the laser blasts crisscrossed the training room with alarming speed and frequency. She zipped in between them, the insect wings on her back keeping her aloft. She felt her hands hum with energy and discharged one of her bio-electric stings at the glowing target next to a wall-mounted turret. She hit the target with pinpoint accuracy and watched the laser cannon deactivate as per its programming. Stark’s money paid for the Young Avengers’ training room but even he put his foot down when they started going through a dozen lasers a week at the least.

“Watch your back, Kate,” warned Patriot as a laser blast seared towards her from behind. Wasp mentally ordered her body to shrink in size and watched the laser bolt pass harmlessly over her head. She zipped through more crossfire to incapacitate two more turrets.

“I’ve got the rest of them,” assured Wiccan before lightning crackled from his hands. The bolts branched out to strike all the targets in one shot.

Kate nodded before returning to her normal size. She stole a quick glance at Wiccan and could tell he was still nervous about something. They had been together for a few months now but lately things were off. Though she couldn’t be sure, Kate felt as if Billy was hiding something from her. Their date the previous night hadn’t fixed things like she thought it would’ve. Wasp shoved those thoughts aside for the moment but she mentally resolved to talk with him about it later. Right now, she could use a nice, hot shower.

“Think we should call it a day?” suggested Hulkling.

“Totally,” agreed Wasp. “Billy?”

“I could use a shower,” admitted Wiccan. “Are we through here, Eli?”

“We’re done,” confirmed Patriot. “Patrol’s tonight.”

“I had plans tonight,” said Wasp.

“Again?” asked Wiccan. “Kate, we’ve already skipped patrol a lot this week.”

“Fine, we’ll be superheroes tonight then,” conceded Wasp. “I’m calling first dibs on the shower.” Wasp flew into the air and moved towards the door.

“Kate!”

Wasp turned to see what Wiccan wanted but it was already too late. She hadn’t even noticed what was happening to her until she was powerless to prevent it. She managed to see Billy’s face one more time and she noticed how worried he was. He and the rest of her teammates were gone in an instant and Kate Bishop was somewhere else entirely.

The Middle of Nowhere, Earth-???

Sandman never liked teleportation. If he had to make a list of things he hated about life as a superhuman, teleportation would be in at least the top ten. The glow seemed to have faded for the moment but he found himself with very different, yet comfortable, surroundings. He looked out at the vast expanse of desert and felt his powers come alive. The sand underneath his feet wasn’t natural. Sure, it felt natural but he could tell the difference. There was an artificial quality to it that he didn’t feel with normal sand.

“Anybody out there?” he asked, looking around to see if he was alone. Though silence was his only answer, it didn’t last for long. He heard the thump as something fell from the air and he moved in its direction.

“Gross,” muttered a familiar voice. “If I didn’t need a shower before, I do now to get this crap out of my hair.”

“Kate?” inquired Sandman as he watched Kate Bishop pick herself up and dust herself off. “Where’re the others?”

“Marko?” she questioned in return. “Geez, that was fast. We put you away a couple of weeks ago. How’d you get out and then get me out here? Get some help from your lame-ass friends like ‘the Wizard’?”

It took only a moment for Sandman to notice that Kate wasn’t quite herself. The insect-like wings protruding from her back was a big tip that he was definitely not in Kansas anymore. He was about to say something else when someone in a red costume tumbled towards them. Daredevil turned his fall into a front handspring and came up into a crouch facing the other two heroes.

“Danger-sense should’ve kicked in,” he mumbled to himself before seeing he wasn’t alone. “We gonna start with the basic questions or should we skip to the advanced level? I have to warn you that I dropped out of college so expanding my mental horizons isn’t my strong suit.”

“Murdock doesn’t talk that much,” realized Sandman before his arm turned into a giant mace. “Who the hell are you?”

The weapon shot towards Daredevil but he was one step ahead of his attacker. He jumped over the stream of hardened sand with the mace on the end of it, using it to spring forward and plant both of his feet into Sandman’s chest. Realizing that he had essentially just kicked a brick wall, Daredevil flipped backwards off of Sandman’s chest and was about to jab him in the throat with one of his batons. An energy blast seared between them and stopped any further combat.

“Awesome, I have your attention,” said Kate while hovering in the air, her hand glowing with yellow energy. “I’m Wasp and a member of the Young Avengers. I’m thinking time travel and alternate realities are involved here. Anyone with me on that theory?”

“Sharp as ever,” said Sandman before turning his attention to Daredevil. “You don’t move like Murdock and you don’t talk like him either. That you under that mask, Parker?”

“I’d tell you but then I’d have to kill you,” answered Daredevil.

The conversation came to a halt as three other individuals came into view. One of them was easily recognizable as a Goblin though the two girls weren’t familiar to anyone. One of the girls had spiky, black hair and wore a black t-shirt with a skull on it with a matching pair of shorts. The other one, a blond, wore a sleeveless, magenta suit made out of spandex. All three of the new arrivals looked as bewildered as Sandman assumed he, Daredevil, and Wasp did.

“This is Sister Grimm,” explained Goblin while pointing to the dark-haired girl. “That’s Husk. I’m Goblin. Where the hell are we?”

“I was going to ask you the same question,” admitted Sandman.

“We were thinking time travel,” said Wasp.

“I was thinking magic,” suggested Sister Grimm. “I was hoping to get some actual sleep tonight. The weird crap always comes out at night.”

The six strangers felt a change in their surroundings and noticed a door suddenly appear out of thin air. All of them looked at it warily, turning to one another to offer up some kind of explanation.

“Magic?” inquired Sandman, speaking more to Sister Grimm than the others since she had mentioned it earlier.

She shook her head slightly, studying the door and trying to uncover its secrets without actually having to get near it. “Can’t feel it if it is.”

“Don’t look safe ta me,” commented Husk.

“I’m not catching any bad vibes,” spoke up Daredevil. “This place has already thrown off my danger-sense once though. Personally, I wouldn’t even touch that thing with a ten foot pole.”

“You don’t carry one of those around?” inquired Sister Grimm.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” retorted Daredevil, grinning at the sexual innuendo. “I say we leave it be and find some other way outta here.”

“Exactly what way do you see besides that thing?” asked Wasp, gesturing to the endless expanse of sand around them.

The door opened on its own, almost beckoning them to step through it. Sandman looked at the motley crew surrounding him and then stepped towards the door. Sensing no threat, he continued on his quest and walked through the door. He vanished once he was inside, lost in the depths of the open doorway that revealed nothing concerning what lay on the other side.

“Nice knowin’ him,” joked Daredevil. “I mean not super nice considering he tried to take my head off.”

“Ah still don’t trust it,” said Husk.

“Better we take a chance than waste time wandering around here,” countered Wasp before flying through the doorway. She felt herself slide through space and then found herself in what looked like a conference room. Kate saw Sandman standing in the room looking as confused as she did. It wasn’t long before the others followed them through the door.

“There are other doors,” realized Goblin. He moved towards one of them and opened it. The only thing he saw on the other side of it was the desert.

“Desert,” confirmed Sandman after opening another of the doors.

“Same,” agreed Goblin.

“Same,” echoed Sister Grimm.

“I feel like I’m in some crazy M.C. Escher drawing,” said Daredevil. “Either that or it’s a really bad episode of Scooby Doo. How exactly are we supposed to get out of here?”

“You don’t,” said a voice. Everyone saw a man in a business suit step through one of the open doors. He carried a briefcase with him as he strode to the conference table and took a seat at its head. “All of you take a seat. I have an offer for you that I think you’ll be interested in.”

“Who are you?” questioned Goblin.

“Timebroker,” answered the man before clicking open the briefcase but making sure no one but him could see inside it. “My origins are rather complicated so we’ll go with the short version. I’m a humble custodian of time and space. I make sure the space-time continuum and the billions of realities created by it all run smoothly like the great machine it is.”

“So what’re we doing here?” queried Sandman.

“Policing time and space is very tedious and time-consuming,” explained the Timebroker. “I’m not omnipotent enough to handle the work all by myself. I need some help. That’s where you six come in.”

“Ah’m a might confused,” said Husk.

“You six have become unhinged from time,” said the Timebroker before turning the open briefcase around so everyone else could see its contents.

All six members of the group each saw different things. Each of them saw their lives as they knew them. They saw their teammates, their families, everyone they were close to and everything they loved. After a few precious seconds, the Timebroker slammed the briefcase shut and put it away.

“I think I speak for everyone when I say this,” said Sandman as his fist turned into a hammer. “Give us what’s in there or we’ll take it.”

“That wouldn’t be bright on your part,” warned the Timebroker, “I can give you back your lives but you’re going to have to earn them.”

“How?” asked Wasp.

“I thought you’d never ask,” replied the Timebroker. “Miss Minoru, I think you’ll find that you’ve suddenly acquired some new jewelry. Please be kind enough to share it with the rest of the class.”

Sister Grimm looked down at her arm and noticed that something had appeared. It looked like a very ornate charm bracelet though all the charms on it were the same blue, perfectly round spheres. Nico ran her fingers along it to find a clasp so she could take it off but couldn’t find one. She tried getting her fingers underneath the band to help pull it off but it wouldn’t budge.

“Cute,” she commented. “I’m going to take a wild guess and say that my magic won’t work on this thing.”

“You’ve won the game,” replied the Timebroker. “That is a Tallus. It will help get you from one reality to the next and it will tell you what you need to do. In every reality, you will have a mission to accomplish. You can’t leave that reality until you fulfill that mission.”

“I can only cast a spell once,” reminded Sister Grimm.

“Your magic is the car, the Tallus is the driver, and you’re riding shotgun,” clarified the Timebroker. “That thing will let you circumvent your normal limitation but only in regards to teleporting from one reality to the next.”

“No offense but I think I’ll take a pass on all this,” decided Daredevil, casually getting up from his chair and heading for a door, “How many times do I have to click my heels to get home, oh great and powerful Oz? I’ve already got on my ruby slippers.”

“It’s no problem if you want to leave,” said the Timebroker, shrugging his shoulders with casual indifference. “Just don’t expect your reality to be the same when you get back.”

“Wait, what?” asked Daredevil.

“Oh, I didn’t mention that,” realized the Timebroker. “You can leave whenever you want but your realities are broken. Sandman, you never joined the Avengers. You’re now on death row awaiting execution for your part in finally murdering the Fantastic Four. Goblin, you and Peter never did work out that formula. It’s caused you to go insane and you’ve murdered your girlfriend. Sister Grimm’s soul was claimed by Dormammu as payment for a bargain her parents struck with him. Husk, you’re still a Hellion but I wouldn’t rejoice too much. I hear there’s a man called Trevor Fitzroy paying you a visit soon. He just loves murdering Hellions. Wasp got her powers from an overdose of MGH. Instead of scaring her straight, it just killed her.”

“And me?” inquired Daredevil.

“In your reality, you’ve developed a pretty personal rivalry with Lady Bullseye,” said the Timebroker. “Maybe you should ask your mentor about what happens to Daredevil’s loved ones when Bullseye is around. Oh wait; she just killed all your loved ones. Forget I even brought it up.”

“You son of a bitch!” snarled Daredevil before leaping towards the Timebroker with fury in his eyes and murder in his heart. The only thing that stopped the red-clad vigilante was a wall of hardened sand that shot from Sandman’s fist.

He didn’t like this game any more than Daredevil did, but William knew all of them would have to play it if they wanted to get back to their realities as they knew him. Considering that the Fantastic Four were the ones who convinced him to go straight, Sandman didn’t enjoy the thought of being on trial for their murder.

“You can’t play God with our lives,” stated Wasp with seething indignation clearly etched into her facial features.

“You should be grateful I’m giving you a fair chance,” retorted the Timebroker. “Just put some caulk in those reality cracks and when you’ve done enough, you will return to your own worlds and you’ll find them just as safe and sound as they were when you left them. I think I’ve made it perfectly clear what happens if you don’t take this deal.”

“You can’t seriously believe this,” said Daredevil as he saw Sandman thinking it over.

“Ah don’t wanna die,” spoke up Husk, “Mr. Timebroker, Ah’ll take that deal.”

“Dying would be better than having Dormammu own my soul,” admitted Sister Grimm. “Seriously, that guy is an asshole.”

“Package deal,” remarked the Timebroker, “All or none here.”

“Do you really want to test him?” inquired Sandman, looking to Daredevil because he knew everyone else had already made their decision. “If he’s powerful enough to bring us here and screw up our lives then I don’t wanna get on his bad side.”

“I’ll do it,” stated Daredevil reluctantly, “but it doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

“Converse among yourselves then,” suggested the Timebroker before walking through one of the doors. “You’ll have a few moments before being sent to your first cracked reality.” With that, he left the room.

“We need to get a few things straight,” decided Sandman. “If we’re going to work as a team then we have to trust each other. That means being honest with each other. My name’s William Baker. Most people just call me Will when they’re not calling me Sandman.”

“Harry Osborn,” introduced Goblin as his mask receded once more. “Goblin.”

“Paige Guthrie,” said Husk, “Miss Frost said mah mutant name was Husk.”

“Sister Grimm but really Nico Minoru works too,” joked Sister Grimm.

“Hi, my name is Kate Bishop and I’m also called Wasp,” said Wasp. “I thought I got enough of this when I was in rehab.”

Everyone looked at Daredevil. He looked back at them before rolling his eyes behind his mask and pulling back the cowl. All of them were nervous. They barely knew one another but they were in the same boat now. It made sense to stick together. He’d been a part of so many teams though and one way or another he had failed all of them. He wasn’t the most responsible person on the planet but now he had to be responsible because it wasn’t just his world on his shoulders. It was every world.

“Johnny Gallo,” said Daredevil. “Never did get around to putting a trademark on this logo but I bet you can guess who I am. Let’s get this over with. I’ve got a city back home that needs cleaning up.”

“Looks like you’re going to get your wish,” said Sister Grimm after putting the Tallus to her ear. “This thing just talked to me and it told me we’re leaving.”

The air came alive with energy as the six heroes from different worlds teleported out of the room. None of them realized that they were being watched. The Timebroker grinned as he watched them leave from an unseen vantage point.

“You could’ve eased them into it a little more,” pointed out a pudgy, bald man in a suit and a garish bowtie that made him look like a carnival barker. “When I first met my team, I told them I was a construct of their collective unconscious. That seemed to help.”

“You’re always coddling everyone,” retorted the Timebroker. “I don’t need you looking over my shoulder. You go play with your toys and I’ll play with mine. At the end of the day, we’ll see who’s better. It’s not like the fate of the world depends on them. Right?”

Next Issue: Six Ways to Die