Day 14: Early Evening, an alternate Earth, near a duplicate of Central City.

Brian Braddock: Aka Captain Britain, had been in touch with his sister Psylocke and was fully aware that there had been several cases of abductions of heroes and villains alike. Of course he was concerned, especially since his good friends Kurt Wagner and Kitty Pride were among the missing.

But his main concern was the protection of Great Britain and he shouldn't shirk that duty. He would do whatever he could but he couldn't let it interfere with his duties to the sovereignty, could he?

At any rate, he was highly concerned that with so many of the American heroes being absent, he would have to prepare for a wave of opportunistic American felons of the super powered ilk running rampant over Queen and Country. He was not about to allow that.

Unfortunately for him, he didn't have a choice. A private airplane; a small one equipped to carry four passengers seemed to have run out of petrol.

Observing this, he flew over and caught the plane just as it began it's nose dive.

Carefully righting the plane so as not to harm the passengers, he coasted the plane down to a safe landing.

Pleased with himself and what he'd done, he carelessly flew backwards to observe the plane as the occupants disembarked, back directly into a rift.

Dr. Curtis Conners looked up. Where was he? He didn't recognize anything around him. How did he get here? As if he didn't have enough stress in his life. This was bad, this was really bad. What was that strange city?

The stress triggered his transformation. He became the Lizard.

He hissed and spotted a pond nearby. Shedding his lab coat, the Lizard dove deep into the pond and discovering an underground stream that fed the pond and began following it.

Moments later, Captain Britain arrived with no idea that he had just missed an encounter with one of Spiderman's greatest, most tragic enemies.

Brian was shocked and appalled that he'd been taken like the other heroes. Britain needed him! He daren't let her down; and yet, he had no choice.

After a few moments, he was approached by an incredibly fast man dressed in red who introduced himself as the Flash. After a gentlemanly handshake Brian introduced himself.

"Yes, I guessed by your costume that you were unlikely to be a supervillain. It's a pleasure to meet you Captain Britain. Tell me, did you happen to see any supervillains from your world when you got here?'

"I confess, I have not. Should there have been?"

"It's been the usual pattern. When a hero shows up they're usually greeted by a supervillain. Though there have been exceptions. Well since you're not from my universe, let me take you to meet some others from your universe."

The two moved silently into the city at a normal pace for a few moments, then the Flash noted, " I've got to say; Captain Britain, you are a refreshing change from those that have been passing for heroes before you."

"Oh! How so?"

"Well, the first one was called the Punisher and he seemed to be gun happy maniac. I was glad to turn him over to Captain America ----"

"Oh! Captain America is here eh? That's reassuring news."

"Yes I fully agree. I've never met a nobler man. Anyway, next came a vicious woman called Callisto. She was nominally supposed to be a hero but cold bloodedly slaughtered the villain that arrived with her. Some nutcase calling himself the Scourge of the Underworld. I fail to see what differentiates him from the Punisher myself. She did do it after he attempted to kill her and instead shot down an innocent bystander."

"Yes, well she must have been under some duress. Still quite uncivilized."

"Right, anyway, next up was a lovely young woman called Hellcat and a villainess called the Crimson Cowl. Hellcat seemed okay I guess. Unfortunate choice for a superhero name though."

"Quite, were there any others?"

"Well, before you was a Canadian superheroine called Vindicator. nothing wrong with her, though there wasn't a sign of any supervillains with her, though I did sense a peculiar smell I smelled before when the Crimson Cowl teleported to escape me. It's possible she returned and took away the villain that arrived with Vindicator?

"Indubitably. Doubtless she absconded with the villain who I should have encountered as well, don't you think?"

"Maybe, but I don't smell that smell now. I did smell a lingering reptilian smell. Did you notice it?"

Brian thought back. "Now that you mention it. What could it mean?"

"I was hoping you'd know. Anyway, here's Ms. Marvel from your universe. I'm going to return to patrolling the city. We believe a villain from your universe is at large here and despite my speed, he's eluded me."

"Oh, who might that be?"

"He's called Mysterio."

"Would you like my help?"

"Oh no! I have Spiderman here to help. He's the most familiar with this villain. You should go with Ms. Marvel and get oriented and off to Britain asap."

"Very good then! Ta, old chap."

"Yeah, good to meet you."

The Lizard swam hard, as fast as he could. Anxious to avoid cold water, he soon found a tributary that took him to the Ohio River. He entered that and was on his way to the Mississippi.

Ms. Marvel took Captain Britain to meet Nick Fury, where he was given a full briefing of what was happening. Brian wanted to look in on the X-Men but he was overwhelmed with the urgency to return to Britain.

The Avengers provided a Quinjet piloted by Sersi to take him to London (if it was there) as soon as possible.

Ms. Marvel returned to Central City.

Nightcrawler and Shadowcat spotted Brian almost too late as he walked with the Flash in deep conversation. Because they didn't want to expose their presence to the Flash and anger him, they held back.

They each promised each other that they would seek Brian out later to renew their friendship.

Meanwhile, they returned to watching for new arrivals.

Although he was tired, Dmitri Pushkin donned his Rocket Red gear and used his JLA teleporter. He was greeted by the Atom, Wonder Woman and Big Barda.

By now, they had gotten a bit used to resurrected heroes but it still fillled them with wonder. After mutual briefings about their recent experiences it was agreed they should maintain contact as much as possible.

Dmitri returned to his home with a warning about Dmitri Bukharin, the Crimson Dynamo. He learned that the Marvel universe considered Bukharin to be a criminal and that he should be watched carefully. Dmitri sighed. Many of his fellow Rocket Reds were criminals also.

When he returned home he encountered another surprise. His family was there, behaving as if they had always been there.

Brian Braddock arrived in London via quinjet later that night. It was as he was warned. London existed but it was a ghost city. Zero population.
He had a big job protecting it.

Sersi agreed to stay on and help.

Shield Agents and HDC troops were scrambled to guard London. HDC troops were scrambled to Toronto as well. A request was made for Science Police to augment protection for both cities.

The Crimson Cowl made another bold grab for another member of the Masters Of Evil. This time she found Mac Gargan; the Scorpion, and brought him back with her.

He listened to her pitch and agreed to work with her. He was happy to be back in New York City.

The Serpent Society members weren't sure what their next move should be. Their numbers were such that they were better off referring to themselves as the Serpent Squad again.

They waited and watched the local news broadcasts. The city was being patrolled by lots of law enforcement not to mention Daredevil, Moon Knight and Spiderman. There was another super team unknown to them called the Teen Titans.

They thought it would best to lay low while Sidewinder reconnoitered discreetly.

The Hobgoblin reached Gotham City and encountered a Bat Sentry which challenged him. A short skirmish ended with a broken Bat Sentry and the Hobgoblin disappearing into the seedier sections of Batman's home town.

Black Adam inspected the African continent and soon discovered the presence of Gorilla City. He confronted Gorilla Grodd who was not in a good mood.

After a initially not so friendly discussion, Adam placated Grodd by suggesting he get Darkseid to loan him some parademons to guard his home until his gorilla warriors turned up.

At first Grodd didn't like the idea but warmed up to it when he realized there weren't any better alternatives available and he needed his autonomy. Grodd agreed and a shaky alliance between Grodd and Black Adam began.

Frank Castle became incensed when he learned that the vintage World War II weapons wielded by Rock and Easy Company would not work for him. There was no logical reason for it. When Little Sure Shot handed him his firearm it would absolutely not fire for him. The weapons worked perfectly for Little Sure Shot.

Captain America handed Castle a contemporary M-16 which worked perfectly for Castle. He then told Frank to give it to Little Sure Shot. Little Sure Shot could not fire it no matter how hard he tried. The mysterious entity that was bringing them to this world was enforcing a strange set of rules.

A seething Punisher was seriously aggravated that he'd been forced to participate in the bizarre world of superheroes.

Madame Hydra; also known as Viper, was getting realigned as the leader of Hydra. She quickly used her authority to quell the infighting going on with the Hydra and AIM agents over who was in charge. A few swift on the spot executions worked wonders.

She looked at what Hydra and AIM had accomplished. Hydra commanded a navy. Excellent. They had also managed to forge an alliance with several fire based monsters that lived in the volcanic regions of the Azores. This further pleased her. Fire Giants, Salamanders and Efreeti at her beck and call? Excellent.

Firelord returned to Xandar, John Stewart returned to check up on Galactus and then Oa; while Mar-Vell, Quasar, Adam Warlock and Moondragon returned to Earth. Mar-Vell sensed that Earth was vulnerable and needed some more powerful protection only they would be able to provide.

They had ways to call in reinforcements in the shape of the Green Lanterns, Firelord and even Samandahl Rey if they needed to.

The four found a place where they would be comfortable. They arrived with reassurances that; for now at least, the Kree, Skrulls and the Saurians would leave Earth alone.

The Lizard's swift swimming ability; coupled with a cooperative current, had brought him to the mouth where the Ohio River drained into the Mississippi. He'd only had one glitch. He'd been attacked by strange fishmen. They had men's bodies but the heads of fish. He successfully fought them off.

The Lizard began swimming South in the Mississippi.