Quicksilver hummed, zipping behind the founter at Sugarcube Corner and grabbing a tray. "Here you go, gents." he said, placing it on the table while he sat down. The Spiders, Wolverine, Ant-Man and Quicksilver decided to take a stop for some treats as Pinkie had just suggested to them a while ago. Batman and Punisher were out patrolling in search for the Legion of Doom, the two of them separated for obvious reasons. The girls also sat in their own table, getting their own dessert from Pinkie and the mutant speedster.
"So, what have you two been up to all this time?" Peter asked, leaning on his chair.
Ant-Man shrugged, "Oh, the usual. Saving the world from nutcases and the like. The Avengers still call me out for missions, but with Cassie getting older, I have more and less time to do anything at the same time." he explained.
"You're a parent too, Lang?" Rainbow asked.
"Yeah. I'm glad that she still thinks I'm a cool dad, considering my... troubled past." Scott said.
"A troubled past?" Twilight repeated. "You? You're so friendly!"
"I'm not gonna get into it right now." simply said the bug themed hero. "I was given a second chance by my mentor and family and I'll leave it at that."
"That's good." said Sunset. "Well, you seem nice anyway. So, personally, I'm not too concerned."
"Just be careful that he doesn't play pranks on you guys." Peter added with a chuckle.
"Wait how? Rainbow and I are pranksters too!" Pinkie wondered.
"Eh. I can do it... But I'm not gonna. Right now." Ant-Man replied in a slow tone. "You should worry about Quicksilver, that guy can appear anywhere in an instant. But first, I gotta find a bathroom or something. I'll be back in a minute." he stood up and walked away.
Quicksilver smirked, "I don't mean to brag, but it's totally true."
"Oh sure..." Trixie rolled her eyes, "That's only because you stole Trixie's breakfast!" she reminded him.
"Why the hell am I even here?" Logan muttered to himself. "I should'a just left with Bruce and Frank."
"You're better off here, Logan." Ben said, grabbing another cupcake from the tray. "Those two are probably going on separate tangents about how they're the night and vengeance. Not exclusive to either one."
"Yeah, that sounds about right." Kaine mumbled. "I wish I went too, honestly."
"Aw, but then you'll miss all the fun, Kaine!" Pinkie reminded him, bringing some bread to the table.
A grunt escaped the first clone's lips, "Fun? Yeah, sure." he replied sarcastically.
"Are you sure this was a good idea, Peter?" Twilight whispered to the stallion.
"Yeah." Peter said to his wife, "We're just keeping ourselves busy while we wait for Frank and Bruce to come back. They shouldn't be much longer I think. Unless they found another way back to their Earths, which I wouldn't blame them."
"Not Castle at least. He's obsessed with finding that Bushwacker guy." Eddie added. "I wonder who he is."
"Yeah, I've never heard of him. Then again, I usually stay out of Frank's business as much as I possibly can." admitted Parker.
"I don't blame you. He doesn't seem to be the most. sociable of people." Trixie agreed.
"Heh. You have no idea." Logan commented. "Though, I'll admit. I've worked with Castle a few times before. Usually by accident. But I've had a few disagreements with 'em. Granted, I think he can tolerate me more than you."
"Don't even get me started on Daredevil."
Quicksilver raised an eye brow, "Wow. This is a long rant." he ran off and grabbed a bottle of water, chugging it down in a matter of seconds. With a sigh, he placed the plastic on the table and slouched in his spot next to Kaine.
"Look, even I have to admit. There are times when you have to get your hands, or hooves, a little dirty if it means getting the job done. Can we just drop the topic now?" Kaine chimed in, hoping to put a stop to the ongoing conversation.
The ponies silenced themselves at Kaine's request. But unknown the them, a familiar face hopped on top of a cupcake, one that was lifted by Rainbow Dash. With shock on his face, he hopped on the cyan mare's shoulder and before he landed on the ground, he pressed a button, revealing himself.
"SURPRISE!" shouted Ant-Man, scaring the group.
"Holy shock!" Miguel shouted. "What was that about!?" he grabbed his chest.
"Jeez, Scott!" gasped Peter. "First Pinkie, then you! One of these days I'm gonna die of a flipping heart attack!"
"Sorry." chuckled Scott sheepishly.
"Not bad, Scott." Rainbow complimented, "You should join Pinkie and I one of these days. It'd be awesome."
"Yeah, no offense, Dash, but nopony likes yer crazy method of prankin'." Applejack said.
"What--?"
"Thanks for the offer, but I'm not one of a prankster. I'm mostly a guy who breaks and into evil places and steals evil stuff." Ant-Man decided to quote his mentor, Hank Pym.
Without warning, Quicksilver appeared behind Rainbow and Pinkie, "You should watch out." he smirked, "None of you can compete with me." he boasted.
"What makes you so impressive... Besides the super speed of course." Sunset wondered.
The speedster ran out the door, grabbing his phone, which he accidentally left at the Treebrary. "That. And I once helped Logan break into a place, and stopped their security before they could even react."
"Maximoff's fast on his feet. Ya gotta give him credit on that." Wolverine agreed.
Quicksilver went back to his table, "Well, I wanna show that controlled speedster you mentioned what I can do. Now that will be fun."
"Controlled speedster?" Peter asked, "Are you talking about the Flash? Now I see why you wanted Quicksilver here."
"The Flash?" Fluttershy repeated. "Who is he?"
"Yeah... It kinda sounds weird in the wrong context." Ben joked.
"No kidding." Miguel mumbled.
Peter crossed his hooves, "The Flash, The Fastest Man Alive, The Scarlet Speedster. Seriously that's like two nicknames. I met when our worlds crossed. He seemed friendly, but now he's under Luthor's control as well? That's just peachy... Just where the heck is Superman at when you need him?"
"Not sure. Luthor hid him most likely." Logan replied.
"Well, let's hope we can handle this threat while he's not here." Twilight said. "The best thing we can do though is go to their Earth and look for him ourselves."
"Yeah! I think we can watch Equestria while you're gone." Rainbow boasted.
"I dunno. We should ask Batman about that." Peter answered.
"I miss having hands..." Ben grumbled.
Miguel nodded, "You and me both."
"Well then..." said Ant-Man, "I kinda wish I brought my daughter here, she'd love this place." he smiled softly at the idea. "Y'know, minus the whole supervillains part."
Quicksilver shrugged, "I hear you. I should just see if Batman found anything."
"Not yet, Maximoff." Sunset said, "Give him a few. He doesn't seem to be the type that likes to be interrupted."
Batman leaned on a tree, using his Detective Vision to scan the immediate area. 'Nothing too out of the ordinary around here... This forest would make a good hideout for the Legion of Doom to get away from prying eyes.'
The Dark Knight scowled, "I can't waste anymore time... I should head back for now and scout later." he told himself, "And see if Castle found them first..." he paused, thinking about what would happen if that happened. He only imagined it ending in bloodshed, from both sides of course.
As he turned around though, Batman felt something dig into his shoulder, causing him to cringe in pain. The masked vigilante turned his head and saw a sai stuck on his limb, right above the gauntlet, as if it was aimed with the utmost precision. 'This is new... A sai? Well, it could be the turtle, but I haven't seen him since he went back to his dimension and we parted on good terms anyhow...'
"Well well..."
Batman slowly turned around, and faced the culrpit. The pony in question had a goofy smile, and wore a black suit with a target symbol on his forehead. "I can't seem to miss no matter what world I'm in." he bragged to himself.
"Who. Are. You?" Batman growled.
The pony chuckled, "Sorry, I'm used to fightin' Daredevil. They call me Bullseye. Lex and Loki sent me and a few others here to end your involvement. Luthor's payin' me a lot to do this."
"Well, that was a mistake on your part." Batman threatened, yanking the sai off his shoulder, despite the massive amount of pain he had just brought himself, ignoring it to focus on the threat speaking to him currently. "You should leave while you're still capable of using your arms to throw."
"Oh? And is that supposed to scare me?" Bullseye asked in a sarcastic tone.
"Very much so." Batman warned. The Dark Knight avoided another sai thrown by Bullseye, the assassin grunting as he tried to aim his next shot carefully. He ran ahead and grabbed his weapons right before Batman could punch him. His sai were used to block the punch, where Batman's gauntets protected him from getting stabbed.
"You missed." Batman said with a smirk.
"I don't care. There are others on the way. You're outnumbered either way."
Bullseye gritted his teeth, hitting Batman's face with his elbow. The marksman assassin jabbed the vigilante with his other hoof, stunning the Dark Knight briefly.
Batman gave Bullseye a left hook to the cheek before flipping away from the assassin. 'I have to warn the others.' he thought, throwing a smoke pellet on the ground. Smoke covered the area, forcing Bullseye to cover his eyes.
By the time Bullseye opened them, he found that Batman was already gone. "Of course." he balanced a sai on a hoof, "It won't matter either way by the time the others arrive."
The Punisher found his way near Ponyville again, after having no luck on finding the Legion. "Better than sitting around doing nothing." he told himself. 'And this place is too cheery for its own good. Reminds me of the time I ended up in Riverdale.'
Frank turned around one last time, but instead of nothing he saw a strange pony. He looked ordinary enough, but he wore sunglasses, but what got his attention was the hoof, it looked like flesh, but metal seemed to be exposed. "You..."
"That's right, Frank. I had a hunch you'd follow me here."
Punisher growled, "What matter does this concern you, Bushwacker?"
Bushwacker chuckled, pointing his strange hoof at Castle, "Power, Castle. Lex promised that I get to kill you. Meaning that you won't be punishing for much longer."
"Well, luckily for me, I'm not gonna be playing any games this time." Punisher threatened.
Bushwacker frowned, "Let's end this."
"With pleasure."
Bombs began to pop out of Bushwacker's hoof, forcing Frank to jump away before they exploded. While he was in middair, Castle pulled out a sniper he brought with him and began to shoot at the gangster, Bushwacker tanking the bullets each time. Frank landed, seeing the cyborg laugh, "It'll take a lot more than that, Frank."
"I know." Punisher put away the pistols and grabbed a rifle aiming it at Bushwacker. Before he could shoot however, the cyborg started shooting him. The Punisher rolled on the floor, avoiding the bullets before they could hit him. Once he got back on his hooves, Castle took a shot, aimed right at Bushwacker's chest. The cyborg grunted, feeling the shot go through him, but he never faltered.
"Nice shot." Bushwacker complimented, feeling boastful. He continued his assault on Castle, but the Punisher had different plans. The cyborg ran ahead and punched Castle with hid gun hoof, forcing blood to pour out of Punisher's mouth.
"That hurt... But I'm still standing."
"I know. I just wanna make sure you pay for everytime you've gotten in my way." Bushwacker chuckled. "It seems very appropriate given your body count."
Punisher gritted his teeth, holding up his rifle again. "I'm not dying until scum like you are gone." he pulled the trigger, aiming the bullet right at Bushwacker's head, the bullet going right through him. The cyborg fell to the ground in a matter of seconds.
Castle walked up to the body, and grabbed a knife by the hilt in his mouth. He lowered his head, and ripped off the metal hoof. He lofted it and placed atop Bushwacker's body. "You'll be rebuilt... Just be glad I was going easy on you this time." he threatened, walking back into Ponyville.
'There are more coming... I can feel it.'
A familiar tingling sensation ran through the back of Peter's head. A sense of dread filling his mind as he got up. "Uh, guys...? My Spider-Sense is tingling..." he warned.
"Oh wonderful." Kaine groaned sarcastically.
Ant-Man leaned on his chair, "Just when I was getting comfortable too." he muttered.
Suddenly, an army of robots crashed through the roof, startling the heroes, who got up while the various ponies ran in a panic, hoping to escape. "More robots?" Rainbow shouted. "I thought we were done with these things!"
"Not yet, it seems." Ben replied, looking at the surprisingly small number.
Quicksilver stood up, "I'll be right back." he ran out the door. A second later he came back with a bag, filled with the Spiders costumes. "You might need these."
Eddie nodded, transforming into Anti-Venom, "Let me handle this!" he roared, grabbing a robot and tearing off its head with a tendril before it could attack.
"I'll take care of 'em," Logan shouted, revealing his claws, lunging at another drone, tearing into it with ease.
Twilight used a forcefield to cover herself and her friends as a sentry started to shoot at them. "C'mon girls. We have to get rid of them before more show up!"
"Aw yeah! Something finally happened!" Rainbow cheered as she and Pinkie hopped around the robots, hitting as many as they possibly could along the way.
The Spiders managed to put on their costumes and joined in the battle now. Scarlet Spider flipped in the air, webbing up some of the robots' weapons, allowing First Spider to slice through them with his stingers.
"This is too easy..." First Spider muttered. He noticed Ben reacting to something, kicking away an arrow before it could hit him.
"What the shock was that?" Miguel muttered.
"Of course... Lex sent 'em after us." Logan muttered, seeing a pony wearing a green hood standing at the door. "Ease up on these guys. They're unaware of what they're doin'."
"Green Arrow? That's odd." Peter admitted.
Ant-Man raised a brow, "Another guy who uses bow and arrows? How original."
"Maybe they ran out of gimmicks across worlds." Sunset suggested.
Then without warning, a yellow blur passed by, hitting Ant-Man, Trixie and Quicksilver. "Oh come on! Another fast pony!?"
"I see what you mean, Shimmer." Trixie responded.
Peter's eyes went wide when he figured out who it was. "Now I see why you wanted Quicksilver here... I'm surprised he brought the Flash here already!"
"Who are these guys?!" Pinkie shouted.
"Well, whoever they are, they're workin' fer Luthor!" Applejack responded.
"Not these two. They're heroes." Peter explained.
The Flash and Green Arrow looked at the heroes mindlessly. The Spiders and ponies glared at them, seeing the robots continue to march at their spot. Spider-Mane looked at his friends for a moment before speaking up once more, "We have to move the fight somewhere else for now. Last thing I need to do is pay for damages again."
"Got it." Sunset nodded.
And so the ponies and heroes began the first of what they assumed to be many battles until they find Lex. And without Batman, they have no true method of stopping the Justice League members. But Peter knew they could cover this small army.