Home at last

Duke who had run through all the zombie Avengers, turning their bodies into mush, appeared before Jean in a split second, as he smashed his fist, summoning all the momentum and energy he had gained from traversing the globe toward her.

Jean instantly summoned a shield made out of psionic energy in a last ditch attempt.

"Boom!" A massive shockwave erupted, as if multiple nukes had been dropped unto the city, followed by a great explosion which annihilated almost everything in its path.

Seeing the massive fiery explosion spreading towards her position, Hope instantly dived back into the lake and held her breath, as she narrowly dodged the huge shockwaves which seemed to wreak havoc in all directions.

A few minutes later, the dust died down, unveiling an utterly destroyed environment, unfit to be a habitat for survival. The once beautiful city, and home for thousands of people had become a barren land, utterly destroyed to its foundations.

"Uggh." A few moments later, a small grunt was heard, from within the debris, as a disheveled figure crawled out. His left arm was completely missing, and the half of his face was burnt severely.

"Duke!" Soon, a voice came running to him, as he raised his head and bloodied face and saw a young girl running towards him with fear and helpless eyes. "I....made her...pay." He struggled to utter even a few words, causing his mangled organs to churn causing him a lot of pain.

"Yes you did. He would be proud." The young girl cried as she knelt before the young man who was lying on his back while taking deep breaths to calm and relax himself. Afraid that the moment he closed his eyes to rest, he would never be able to open them again.

"Hahahahaha!!!" Suddenly, from the debris, a figure arose with a deranged laughter. The ragged figure was in a sorry state, with all of her red hair burnt off, both of her arms and one leg ripped off, and her face mushed beyond belief.

Her eyeballs glared at the disheveled young man who cut a sorry figure, as her face seemed to twist to a terrifying degree.

"Oh poor Duke. Even after all the trouble you put yourself through I still win. If I can't rule this universe, then this universe doesn't deserve to exist!!!!" She roared out, before her body exploded, causing a massive explosion akin to a flaming meteor falling into the surface of the earth with overwhelming speed.

A fiery wave of energy was born from the epicenter of the explosion which began to move at incredible speeds, rendering every atom it came into contact with into the embrace of chaos and annihilation.

"Shit!" Duke cursed out, as he staggered to his feet and succeeded after many tries. "Hope we gotta go now!" The fiery energy wave was drawing nearer and nearer as he tried to pull on the arm of the young girl whose eyes were butterfly lifeless and bitter at this point.

"There's no need." The young girl sighed, wiped her eyes and shrugged off his arm. "In your current state, you couldn't even save yourself, let alone me." She shook her head, flashed him a smile and began to walk towards the fiery energy wave.

"I can save you!" Duke roared out, with blood churning in his mouth, as his heart stirred at the lonely figure of the young girl who seemed to be walking into death's embrace. "Go back home Duke. This place was doomed in the first place, and don't worry about me. At least, at least I'll get to see my father again." The young girl flashed him a final smile, before she was swallowed by the energy wave, leaving only a single teardrop which fell to the ground; a testimony of her courage.

"Fuck!!!" Duke cursed out as his heart plunged into despair. "Heal dammit!!" He took multiple steps forward, as he siphoned off more and more energy from the inexhaustible storehouse which was the Speed Force.

The next moment, time seemed to slow down to a crawl, as the energy wave which was almost near his body slowed down considerably. His injuries started healing by itself, as his missing arm slowly began to grow from the stump.

"Arghh!" He roared out, as lightning burst out of his body, creating fiery sparks all over, before time returned to normal. The next moment, His eyes turned fierce, as he steeled his resolve. He slowly began to walk forward. Seeing the energy wave grow frantic as its speed increased, the slow walk turned into a brisk walk.

His arm began was fully recovered, along with his pulverized organs after siphoning a massive amount of energy from the Speed Force. Soon, the brisk walk turned into a jog, as tendrils of blue lightning began to materialize from his body. With the energy blast infinitesimally close, his energy level was immediately restored by the Speed Force, as the burnt scars on his face healed instantly.

The next second, the jog turned to a sprint as he blasted off at full speed, leaving multiple sonic booms in his wake. He seemed to have turned into a lightning bolt, as he accelerated, at his full speed, using every single joule of energy he siphoned off the Speed Force. The next moment, Spacetime seemed to warp indescribably, as a bluish wormhole materialized before him, which he entered the next moment, still going full speed.

The moment Duke was teleported off the planet, the fiery energy wave had its way, swallowing the entire earth, bathing the planet in a chaotic and fiery glow. The next second, the planet exploded into ashes, as the fiery energy began to spread from planets to stars, to galaxies and to the primal chaos of the universe.

.

.

"Boom!!" Within a small domain which resembled the core of the universe itself, filled with stars, worlds and unbelievably beautiful galaxies, a figure clad in lightning was blasting forward at speeds impossible for even Gods to move at.

His suit was ragged and torn apart, nose and mouth churning with blood, as his feet stepped on the emptiness of space. His eyes were fierce and determined, and multiple asteroids exploded due to the immense force he was traveling with.

Suddenly, a small wormhole materialized before him, as he entered with his eyes widened in shock. Unable to stop in time, he entered face first.

.

"Arghh!!" A small wormhole opened within a small dimension of primal chaos, as a figure appeared from within and fell to the rocky ground.

"Where am I?" He propped himself up with his arms, as he sat on his knees and looked around. "Speed Force dimension?" He mumbled to himself and examined the familiar domain he was in.

"Sigh. You're the worst avatar I've ever had." He suddenly heard a sigh, as he turned around to see a figure sitting on a throne made out of cosmic lightning energy.

The figure on the throne was the spitting image of himself, in a long black robe, with its legs crossed. "Ever since the beginning, I've had about five avatars and you're certainly the worst, among all five of them." The look alike chuckled, as Duke sighed and rubbed his head.

"However, none of my avatars have been able to defeat an avatar of my sister. You've piqued my interest to the maximum Duke, you should be proud." The Speed Force smiled, as Duke rolled his eyes.

"The Phoenix said you were weakest amongst all cosmic forces." Duke said with a questioning expression. "Hahaha! That small fluffy bird dares to be arrogant?" The Speed Force laughed as it slammed its palm onto the armrest of the throne. "The only reason why her avatars are so strong is because she lives in them directly, hence they have access to almost all her abilities, although, they can only manifest it to a certain scale. However, even with an infinitesimal amount of my power, you were able to defeat her prime avatar....now isn't that hilarious, and she dares to call me weak? The gall of this bird."

The Speed Force said as he wiped his tears with a smile. "So what now? Am I dead?" Duke took a deep breath and asked. "I'm afraid not. I brought you here because you've impressed me, and if I had left you, you would've run yourself to death, or to another unfamiliar universe." The Speed Force said.

"So how do I get back to my world?" Duke asked with a frown. "Every universe has a unique Speed Force frequency. You should be able to sense your universe's frequency." The Speed Force said.

"Why don't you just teleport me there?" Duke rolled his eyes and asked. "Tsk. Where's the fun in that? You should be grateful I saved your life." The Speed Force chuckled and reclined in his seat.

"Can you at least do something about my suit? I need to make an entrance, I can't go there looking like this." Duke stood up and stretched his back lazily.

"Fine. But you'll owe me now." The Speed Force chuckled and waved its hand. Instantly, a new suit formed around his body. The only difference between this one and the previous was that, the yellow streaks on the suit were glaring and more pronounced, and his red boots from before were covered with a gold durable metal. The lightning bolt symbol was also golden this time around, and it was pronounced.

"You know, rather than being the weakest force, I think you're the cheapest." Duke examined the new suit with a smile and said. "Touché." The Speed Force nodded before wave his hand dismissively.

Duke closed his eyes and began to circulate the Speed Force energy to extend and spread.

"1999..99? What the hell is that?" He opened his eyes and rubbed his head. "You know you have a poor sense of naming things, I mean who names a universe 199999?" Duke chuckled and pressed a button in his neck, as his cowl formed back. This cowl was different also, and had pronounced yellow streaks running through it.

"I do. Now get out and let me continue my sleep." The Speed Force spoke and rolled his eyes, as Duke nodded and saluted with a smile, before he got into a stance.

He then began to channel the Speed Force energy within his body, as they yellow streaks on the suit lit up, as his blue lightning gained a golden hue and began to streak across his body and surroundings.

"Boom!!" A cacophony of Sonic booms resounded, as he blasted off with full speed. A moment later, a small wormhole materialized, as he smirked and entered with a flip, leaving the Speed Force dimension.

"What an interesting fellow." The Speed Force smiled, as it watched Duke's disappearing figure.

.

....Earth 199999....Avengers Tower, New York...

"Stark this is a bad idea!! We don't want another ultron 2.0 situation on our hands!" Cap roared out, refusing Stark's attempt to download Jarvis into Ultron's vision.

"Alright Cap, tell me! How do you plan on fighting against Ultron and Saviturd when they show up huh? And how do you plan on fighting the 'mad titan' if he ever comes to earth? We need another powerhouse!" Stark roared back, as some of the other members nodded subtly.

"I don't know how. But we'll find a way!" Cap shook his head. It wasn't that he didn't want to agree, he just felt that it was too dangerous to do this at the moment. "You don't know how Cap? You think fancy martial arts and a shield is going to make a difference in the eyes of our opponents? Guess what Cap. We'll lose!!" Stark roared and pressed a button on the pod where the red skinned male peacefully lay.

"Then we'll do that together." Cap spoke, as he hurled his shield towards Stark, however, Stark reacted fast. He dodged the shield, as he touched a watch on his left fist. Instantly, the left arm of his suit formed on his hand, as he fired a blast which sent Cap flying.

"Stark! Cap is right. We don't even know if what Savitar says is the truth" Banner chipped in as he said with a frown. "You're wrong Banner! Savitar speaks no lie." Thor chipped in, as he grabbed his hammer.

"Stark this is dangerous!" Pietro spoke with his thick Sokovian accent, as he turned into a blurry figure and unplugged the energy supply to the pod at super speed. "Stay put speedy wanna be. I thought I was the most useless member of the team but thank you for taking my place. There's a man out there with powers just like you and you claim there's nothing you can do about it?! Fuck you!! The original speedy could run into a goddamn black hole to save our lives, and here you are trying to take his place!."

Clint grabbed his knocked an arrow unto his bow, as he spoke with a disgusted expression. "Put down the arrow old man. Or I can promise you, you won't see your death coming." Pietro furrowed his brows, and said with clenched fists.

"Boom!" Suddenly, everyone heard a loud and resounding boom, before they saw a bluish wormhole materialize right before their eyes. The next second, they saw a golden blue lightning bolt zoom out of the wormhole, before it began to streak across the entire room at speeds they weren't able to grasp.

"What is that?" Pietro who was a speedster squinted his eyes and sped up his perception, however the only thing even he could see was a figure clad in lightning, moving at speeds even he had not even dared of trying to move at. The members of the Avengers assembled, and readied themselves for battle against the intruder, however some of them, such as Stark and Banner who were skeptic looked at each other and frowned.

The next moment, the lightning bolt came to a stop, revealing a figure in sleek red and yellow suit who had his back facing them. The next moment, the figure pressed a button on his suit, as the cowl retracted, and his silver hair fell to his shoulders.

"This place is always so lively." He then turned around with a small smile, and chuckled as he looked at his former teammates with a smile.