Chapter Text
Vanitas sighed out in contentment as he flew through the realm between with his gauntlets and boots. Another Heartless eliminated in a different world, and more people were safe. Master Eraqus would be proud of his efforts against the forces of darkness. And, he managed to keep his other powers under wraps, just like he promised.
During the ride back through the lanes, Vanitas figured it would be nice to drop back home on Earth to see his family again. It had certainly been a while, and he was starting to miss his mom and cousins. He only hoped that the rules of time between worlds was still wonky enough to mean that it had only been a few weeks since his last visit, and not the months it had been for him.
Plotting the course for Earth in his head, Vanitas engaged the thrusters in his boots and gauntlets a bit more, speeding him through the space in front of him.
He arrived outside of a planet that looked like Earth a bit sooner than he expected, which felt a little strange. He knew the distance between his Earth and the Land of Departure in his head, and this wasn't part of the route on his mental map.
Giving in slightly, Vanitas gripped his head and got the usual brain freeze pain in his temple when he used his powers to sense what the world in front of him was like. It was definitely Earth, but a different one than he was used to. For one thing, the President was Bill Clinton and there were still Blockbusters around.
Vanitas winced. This Earth was still in the 90's. 1995, to be exact. They were still eight years away from Freddy vs. Jason, and the AVP films. The Resident Evil games didn't even exist yet at this point. But at least that also meant the movies didn't exist yet. That was one way this Earth was better than his own.
Vanitas was just about to start making his way back towards the Land of Departure, when he noticed something strange. What looked like a giant Skrull ship was exploding near the world, close to what looked like the West coast of America. He then noticed escape pods being launched, and remembered how Skrulls were refugees that were currently at war with the Kree. It wasn't his fight to get into, but he had to intervene when he saw a damaged escape pod start falling down towards the planet below him.
Wanting to make sure nothing messed with the World Order too much, Vanitas made his thrusters go faster and flew towards the burning pod as it entered the atmosphere of the Earth. As he got closer, he saw pieces of the pod actually break off and fly in many different directions, so he had to be pretty careful with his flying.
Vanitas got close enough to the pod to see through the flames and the burning windows to see a blonde woman in a green and black suit inside that he swore he could recognize. He was about to gesture to her that he could help when a particularly big piece of the ship broke off and hit him directly, sending him sprawling towards the ground with it.
Through his helmet, Vanitas was able to see the bottom of the pod broke apart, and the woman that was inside swung around on the bottom before she broke off. The two fell towards Los Angeles, with the woman crashing through the roof of a Blockbuster, and Vanitas landing hard on the parking lot road in front of it.
Luckily, Vanitas was used to getting hit with a lot of force in the torso at this point, and his armor protected his head, hands and feet. The armor disappeared in flashes of light, and he laid on the cracked ground, still in a bit of pain.
He was able to reach into his jacket pocket and pull out a healing Potion, which he gulped down to heal his wounds. However, the impact of hitting the ground still left him dazed, so he couldn't hear or see too well yet. He was able to see through blurry vision the woman leave the shop and walk over to a security guard's car and ask the freaked out man if he was "in charge of security for this district." Apparently, things worked on wherever she was from a lot differently than they did on Earth.
The woman looked towards Vanitas, and they shared a look of confusion aimed at each other before she started walking towards a Radio Shack. Vanitas then slipped out of consciousness.
Around morning, Vanitas had a vision of the Skrull leader, Talos, appear from the water at a nearby beach and take the forms of some of the people there. Talos instructed them to "find the girl. She knows more than she knows." Vanitas then gasped awake, sitting up in his spot on the road.
Lucky for him, he woke up just as police cars and slick looking black cars pulled up in the road in front of the ruined Blockbuster. Vanitas got up and moved out of their way as the cars stopped in front of the building, and men in suits got out. Naturally, he got weird glances due to his hair, but he brushed them off as he watched one African American man walk over to the blonde woman in the green and black suit.
And it was once Vanitas got a clearer sight of the suit that he recognized it. His eyes widened as he followed the man over to the phone booth the woman was in.
Oh, 90's, Vanitas thought at the sight of the phone booth.
The man knocked on the glass wall of the booth, getting the woman's attention. Vanitas was able to hear their conversation with his good ears as he got closer and closer.
"Excuse me, miss," the man announced once she turned to face him. "You know anything about a lady blowing a hole through the roof of that Blockbuster over there?"
He gestured to the building and the woman raised her eyebrows at it.
"Witness says she was dressed for laser tag," the man continued, looking down at her outfit.
"Oh," the woman said, looking to the side in thought before looking past him. "Yeah, I think she went that way."
"Uh, i'd like to ask you a few questions," the man stopped her from leaving as he reached into his inner jacket pocket. Another man in a suit went up to stand next to the officer behind the African American man, and Vanitas stopped behind them both, wanting to see how this would play out.
The African American man held up a badge in a leather wallet, showing it to her as he continued, "Maybe give you a 411 on the late-night drop box. Could I see some identification, please?"
"Vers," the woman answered. "Kree Starforce. We don't carry our identification on little cards."
"Vers," the man asked, stopping her from leaving once again. His tone of voice made it sound like he was willing to play along with what he thought was a joke for a little bit. "Starforce? How long you plan to be in town?"
"Oh, I'll be out of your hair as soon as I track down the Skrulls that are infiltrating your planet," Vers simply told him.
"Skrulls?" the man asked while laughing.
I know, dude, Vanitas thought, making sure he didn't project it into the man's head. Sounds more made up than Xandarian.
"Shapeshifters?" Vers asked, trying to see if he understood. "They can transform into any life form down to the DNA."
The man laughed and looked at his suited associate, who smiled at him before looking back at Vers.
"Oh, boy," Vers commented. "You guys don't have any clue, do you?"
She started to walk away again, but the man stopped her once again as he laughed, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on."
"How do we know you're not one of those shapeshifters?" he asked Vers.
"Congratulations, Agent Fury," Vers told him with a smile. "You have finally asked a relevant question."
"No!" Fury told her. "Congratulations, to you, Starforce lady. You're under arrest."
He gestured to the police officer, but Vanitas put up a hand to stop him.
"I'm afraid I can't allow you guys to do that," Vanitas announced.
"And who are you to decide any authority over us?" Fury asked, confused.
"Someone who understands exactly what Starforce lady is talking about," Vanitas announced.
"No, you're not," Vers denied.
"You're a Kree from the planet, Hala," Vanitas announced, and her eyes narrowed towards him immediately. "You've been at war with the Skrulls for more than a few years at this point, and have suffered great losses. If what I've heard is accurate, I'm guessing your commander is Yon-Rogg?"
"How do you know that?" Vers asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"You weren't the only one to crash land on this world last night," Vanitas told her. "I was just passing through when I saw the exploding Skrull ship."
"Hala?" Fury asked, confused. "Yon-Rogg? Is this some kind of practical joke?"
"Sometimes, I wish, dude," Vanitas admitted. "Then I wouldn't have to be away from home for such long periods of time. On the plus side, it gets me out of having to go to high school."
"You're not of this world, are you?" Vers asked, further confusing the gentlemen around them.
"No, I am not," Vanitas confirmed. He held out his hand. "Vanitas Jordan, youngest Keyblade Master in decades."
Usually, that introduction to other world travelers got impressed or awe-struck looks. Instead, Vers's eyes widened, and her expression became one of anger. Energy gathered in her hands that she shot right into Vanitas, knocking him back onto the road as the men watched in surprise.
"Uh, ow!" Vanitas exclaimed as he got back onto his feet. "I've never been to Hala, but if that's how they say 'Hello' there, I might re-think a trip."
"You're a wielder of the Keyblade," Vers announced as she walked away from the trio of shocked men and towards Vanitas. "Legend says the Keybearer brought wright and ruin."
"That's one legend," Vanitas remarked, mentally groaning at all the different lore about people with Keyblades. "The other says they saved the world. We just don't know which one..."
She cut him off by blasting him again, once again knocking him back across the parking lot. Once again, Vanitas got up onto his feet and looked at the angry woman in front of him.
"You know, lady," Vanitas announced, anger in his voice. "You're really starting to piss me off."
Vanitas then made fire appear in his right hand just as Vers shot another blast at him. He caught the energy in his fire encased hand and held it for a few seconds before throwing it to the side. The energy hit a nearby car, which caused the thankfully empty vehicle to explode.
"You wanna go there?" Vanitas asked. "Fine..." He summoned his Void Gear Keyblade. "We'll go there, bitch."
He stood in his battle stance as Vers stopped and clenched her fists, energy gathering around them.
Vanitas ran towards Vers as she fired more energy at him. He slashed downwards at the energy, making it disappear, before he slashed upwards, and energy shot out towards Vers. Vers then cartwheeled to the side to block the energy, before she blasted her own energy out of her hands at Vanitas. To block, Vanitas crouched down similarly like he was doing a limbo. He then stood up straight once again and fired out lightning from his Keyblade, which knocked the woman back into another car.
Vers quickly got up like nothing happened as the people inside the car got out and ran away quickly. She ran towards Vanitas and tried punching the ravenette in the face, so he ducked. Vanitas then kicked her in the stomach before slashing at her with his Keyblade, which pushed her back a bit, but not much. Vers then gathered energy out of her hands and started swinging her fists to punch at him, which he dodged by cartwheeling and backflipping.
Eventually, Vers managed to get a strike on Vanitas by knocking him strongly to the side, and he crashed into the car, crashing into it then onto the ground. Vanitas looked up and got back on his feet again. He dismissed his Keyblade, and leaned down for the car. Vanitas decided to say screw it and lifted the car up with his enhanced strength. He threw it right at Vers. She pointed her hands at the car, and energy shot out and blasted the vehicle, blowing it up in the air. The burning chassis landed right on the ground, still burning pretty high in the air.
Vanitas watched as Vers looked towards Fury and the other people next to the phone booth, but then quickly moved them to the side as a purple blast from on top of another building shot past them. Vanitas followed the line of the blast up onto that building to see one of the Kree disguised as a human he recognized from his vision. Vers's blast blew up some of the ceramic roof, and she ran right towards it.
"Hey!" Vanitas yelled.
He ran past the men in suits after Vers as she went after the Skrull.
"Rook!" he heard Fury yell. "Rook, let's roll!"
The two ran down the road for quite a while until Vers stopped in sight of one of the tram stations up in the air. She saw a staircase leading up to it, along with the surfer disguised Skrull running up them towards the bus.
"Hey!" Vanitas exclaimed.
Vers turned towards Vanitas and shot another blast at him, which pushed him back a bit, before he froze. Vers furrowed her eyebrows in confusion for a second before Vanitas appeared right behind her and slashed his Keyblade downwards, exclaiming, "Nope!"
Vers got hit with the Keyblade, but quickly turned towards Vanitas and side kicked him, against the fence they were next to. She then went through an attached gate and ran down the road, with Vanitas quickly following her. Vers then parkoured her way up along the walls, and Vanitas re-summoned his boots to follow her up into the air.
Vanitas dismissed the boots as he landed on the ground and followed Vers across the station. They jumped over the ticket collecting booths and went towards the train. Vanitas followed her up the stairs as they reached where the train was, and Vers bumped into an older woman with glasses. Vanitas was about to summon his Keyblade once again, but he followed her gaze to the train where they could see the surfer Skrull through the windows as the train went down the track.
Vers immediately bolted down the side of the walkway as the train started moving.
"Hey!" Vanitas exclaimed.
He ran after her as the end of the train ended up facing them. Vers leaped forwards and caught onto the back of the train, hanging on as it went down the track. Vanitas re-summoned his boots and flew up into the air. He went above the train and dismissed the boots. He landed in a roll on top of the train, and turned towards the back where Vers still was hanging on.
Vanitas gripped his head as he got a slight vision about the agent Fury they had encountered before. The man was pursuing them in a car, driving pretty crazily through traffic. Vanitas decided then and there that he was gonna like the man.
On the back of the train, Vers had punched out the window, and climbed in. She then went through the train car, surprised at her sudden appearance. Vanitas then swung in through the window after her and followed her across the car, also getting surprised looks from people.
"How ya doin'?" Vanitas asked, waving at the people looking at him and Vers in surprise. Vanitas quickly went up behind Vers. "Look..."
Their attentions were drawn to an older man reading through a packet of papers labelled "Mall rats." The man was muttering to himself, "'Trust me, true believer.' 'Trust me.'"
Vers moved aside the paper slightly, and the older man smiled at her and Vanitas. The two of them smiled back.
How ya doin', Stan Lee? Vanitas thought before they moved on.
The two of them went through the train car and moved on to the next one, where they still got curious looks from the bystanders.
"Well, I don't blame them with the hair and the clothes," Vanitas muttered. He looked at Vers. "Listen, like I was trying to say back there..."
She stopped in place and looked down at a seat they passed. The older woman that she had bumped into was sitting in it. Vanitas understood immediately, but looked up at Vers with an eyebrow raised. The woman smiled up at the angry looking Vers.
Oh, no, Vanitas thought. Tell me she's not gonna...
Vers cut off his thoughts by punching the woman in the face, causing everyone in the train car to exclaim in surprise. The woman Skrull then looked in anger at Vers, then jumped up in a spinning attack to kick Vers into a seat in front of her, causing more surprise from the residents of the car. Vanitas backed up and wished he had brought his phone as the Skrull and Vers ended up in combat that included pushing the woman's face against a metal pole and throwing her against the train roof.
Once the Skrull was on a floor, a man in a suit grabbed Vers by her shoulders and restrained her, thinking he was stopping a crazy woman from assaulting an old woman.
Hey, dumb-ass! Vanitas thought in the man's head, causing him to grow confused so Vers was able to knock him off.
"How often do you find crazily aerobic old ladies?" Vanitas asked while Vers chased after the Skrull.
The Skrull then spun on another pole and kicked Vers once again. The Skrull then stood on her feet and faced Vers, growling a bit. Vanitas watched as Vers grabbed the charging Skrull and threw her on the ground. Vers punched the Skrull in the face before people on the bus started grabbing her to try to stop her.
"I don't blame you guys," Vanitas commented as they restrained Vers, and the Skrull lady started moving down the line. "Hey!"
Vanitas started moving past the rows after the Skrull, and Vers followed him after picking up a pod she noticed the Skrull had dropped. They went into the second car and moved to the back door, both a little surprised they couldn't find the Skrull.
"Well," Vanitas said. "Now that that's out of the way..."
His attention was drawn to the door in front of them as the Skrull stood up, transforming into a simple looking man in glasses and a red sweater. This no doubt confused the man behind them who actually looked like that. The Skrull then jumped up the impasse between cars and opened the hatch.
"Ladies, first," Vanitas offered.
"Shut up," Vers told him, opening the door.
She climbed up onto the roof, and was immediately kicked across the top of the train by the Skrull. Vanitas followed her up onto the roof, seeing the Skrull running across the other car in front of them.
"Hey!" Vanitas called out, summoning his Keyblade. "Stop!"
He shot up magic, and Stopga appeared in the air above the train car, but missed the running Skrull.
Vers quickly recovered, and she followed Vanitas as he ran after the Skrull. Briefly, Vanitas saw that the car with that Fury guy in it was now under the train on the road below, following closely while still driving crazily. As they followed the Skrull, he made the mistake of grabbing one of the big metal pieces that attached to the cable above them, and he got thrown onto his back.
Vanitas reached the Skrull and dismissed his Keyblade, holding up his hands in an attempting to be peaceful manner.
"Listen, man," Vanitas said. "I just wanna tal..."
The Skrull kicked him right in the groin. Vanitas exclaimed in pain as he grabbed his groin and fell back onto his side.
"The one time I don't wear my cup," he muttered in pain.
Vers and the Skrull then swung their fists at each other, before the Skrull pushed Vers onto the ground they were standing on, before knocking her over the side. Ves grabbed on to part of the wall, and a piece broke off and fell onto Fury's car below them.
Vanitas slowly got over the pain while the Skrull went down towards the front of the ship as they started to pass under a bridge into a tunnel. Vers then launched herself up onto the roof with them and blasted energy towards the Skrull. The Skrull ducked as they started to go under the tunnel entrance, and the blast instead took out part of the ceramic forming the wall of the bridge. Vers then blasted a hole into the ground in front of her, and slid into the train car. As the wall got closer, Vanitas got up and leaped up as high as he could onto the bridge while the train passed underneath him.
Vanitas breathed in and out as he got another vision inside Fury's car. The voice of the guy Fury was with, Agent Coulson, suddenly called on his communicator, announcing he was still at the Blockbuster, not knowing where everybody went. That didn't make much sense since Coulson was sitting next to him. The two then started to fight, which ended up causing the car to drive even more crazily than before, before it crashed into a bus. The Skrull died and revealed its true form to Fury, who covered it with his jacket before going to work to hide the truth with the authorities, saying it was "official SHIELD business."
Vanitas gasped as the vision ended. What the hell was that all about?
The rational part of his mind was telling him to leave right now, and forget all this was happening. He had no problems with the Skrulls or the Kree, despite the war going on between them, and he was supposed to report in soon to his Master.
On the other hand, the curious part of his brain wanted to find out more about what was going on. That woman, Vers, was human, according to a quick scan of her he had done, but for some reason she had been infused with Kree blood, and trained on Hala as a warrior for the Starforce. If he was gonna figure out why they would do that, than he would need to stay with her to try to find out.
He sighed out slightly as he already knew which side of his brain he was gonna listen to.
"Well," Vanitas muttered. "Let's hope this is interesting..."