Join our Discord! 

 

https://discord.gg/zcSZ98j6Jb

 

Thanks to everyone for reading! Please comment on any characters and universes you’d like to see in the future below the chapters. I can’t guarantee they’ll make it in, but I want to have some fun and fit in the audience's favourites if I can! Thanks again, and a huge thank you to my Patrons! I can’t make this content without support, and I’m super grateful for our supporters! This fanfiction is also available on my Patreon, I’ll always keep it free, so please visit! Our Patrons make this work possible, and if enough patrons want this novel to be a priority, it will be! Check out my new novel ‘Krypton Reborn: Dragon of the Sun,’ set in the Dragon Ball universe!

 

https://www.patreon.com/maizeblu

 

Now, on to the chapter!

---

*Note* Hello All! Sorry for the lack of response in the comments over the past few days! I'm taking a break from both daily writing and comments for about a week. Daily uploads here will be unaffected and we'll still see bonus chapters this weekend. I hope everyone is doing well, thank you all for reading!

---

“It’s been three days already,” Peggy placed a hand onto Steve’s shoulder, brow furrowed with concern. They both rested on small stools, positioned next to Bucky’s unconscious form. “You should go get some rest, I’ll stay with him while you’re gone.”

 

“No,” Steve shook his head, tired eyes focused on his friend's bony face. Bucky’s mutation had transformed his body beyond recognition, turned him into something more alien than human. “Dan-EL said he would wake up soon, and I need to be here when he does.”

 

Peggy sighed and rose to her feet. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and moved to the door of the containment chamber. Hand raised, she tapped on the transparent crystal, a signal for the Primes to open up.

 

“I’ll get us something to eat, we’ll have our breakfast and contact Dan-EL,” Peggy gave Steve another worried glance, halfway out the containment chamber door. “Maybe he can give us a more specific timeline for Bucky’s awakening.”

 

Steve nodded, his attention still on Bucky’s face as the chamber resealed to leave him alone. His friend had always been there for him, a stalwart ally since their childhood. Twice now, he let him face danger alone. A failure he refused to repeat.

 

“You’re looking serious…” voice distorted by his new body, Bucky’s tone was still music to Steve’s ears. The oversized mutant shifted atop the observation table, a move that twisted his restraints apart. “What happened…”

 

Bucky raised a hand in front of his eyes and frowned, as much as his new face would allow. A glance down at the rest of his body and the Winter Soldier struggled to his feet, the table crushed as his shoulders pressed to the ceiling.

 

“My body… Apocalypse!” Bucky cast his gaze around the room, eyes wide as he pushed against the constraint of the containment chamber walls. “What’s going on? Why do I look like a weatherbeaten mountainside?”

 

“Calm down, Bucky,” Steve reached up and put a hand on his friend’s armoured shoulder. “Everything is going to be fine… Apocalypse has been defeated and Dan-EL said he might have a solution to your changed body.”

 

“Might?” Bucky blinked, eyes tinged with a hint of red. He straightened his back, an effort that splintered the crystal ceiling. “I haven’t even seen my face yet and I already know I’m a monster!”

 

“Rest easy, Winter Soldier, your new body can have an effect on your emotions,” the damaged walls shattered, pulled back as Dan-EL floated into the remnants of the observation room. “You have my promise, we’ll find a solution together.”

 

---

 

 

“I wish you people would stop calling me the Chosen One,” Anakin glanced towards the source of the voice, hands still active as he cast more wards over his allies. The one who spoke from the monastery mountain was powerful, a strength that reminded him of Abeloth or May. “I’m not chosen for anything, I forge my own path!”

 

“Indeed?” the voice chuckled, a ripple of amusement that swept away the scattered clouds. “If that is true, it is thanks to the power of others and not your own, Anakin Skywalker.”

 

“We need to retreat,” Anissa slapped her face, still in a battle of wills with the owner of the voice. “I can barely think, his voice is so loud inside my mind…”

 

Goku remained silent, eyes closed. Face set in serious lines, his ki skyrocketed upwards, a golden glow that matched his hair. The Saiyan opened emerald eyes and faced the monastery in the distance, clear of any confusion.

 

“This one is also interesting…” the voice took form a few metres ahead, a grey skinned old man with a well maintained beard. He floated closer to Goku, hands raised toward the golden light of the Super Saiyan. “You're still far from the limits of your potential, a budding seed in the grip of spring.”

 

Goku flashed back, fists raised in a practised guard. He looked to Anakin, who’d raised his hands in a sign of peace. Even combined, they stood no chance against whatever this old man was. He radiated unfathomable power, as if the force had taken form and stood before them.

 

“You said that this place… Mortis, was a fulcrum of the Force?” Anakin motioned for Goku to tend to Anissa, while he dug deep and prepared a spell. “Why have you brought us here… what connection do you have to the Priestesses of the Wellspring?”

 

“You could say that I am an old companion of the Priestesses master, I am known as the Father,” the old man smiled, hands extended toward them in a welcoming greeting. “You have been brought before us so that I may offer you a gift, perhaps to your friends as well.”

 

The Father turned to Goku and Anissa. The Viltrumite had finally shaken off the old man’s influence, her eyes clear as she glared daggers at the bearded fellow. This only caused the man to laugh, a tone that soothed the mind and attempted to lower their guard.

 

“You have been chosen, Anakin Skywalker, selected by the Force itself to champion its cause,” the Father motioned to the monastery in the distance, eyes filled with countless stars. “Come forward and meet your destiny!”

 

---

 

 

“Your symbiote should still be inside you, suppressed by the nature of your biology,” Dan pulled his hand back from Bucky’s barrel sized chest and looked the big man in the eyes. “You need to focus on letting it free, if you want to look human again any time soon.”

 

The Doomsday mutation was too overbearing for Bucky’s young symbiote to overcome unaided. Once it was freed, it could rebond with its host and hopefully modify his appearance. If not, Dan would try and use magic to solve the issue.

 

Bucky frowned and closed his eyes, while Dan directed his thoughts towards the entombed symbiote. It took a moment, but the red-black creature shivered free of the oppressive energy within his body. Guided by the Winter Soldier’s will, it reached out and reconnected to the cells around it.

 

“Good, now picture your body as it was,” Dan raised an eyebrow at Bucky’s ‘venomized’ form, a horrific visage straight out of a nightmare. The Hulk-sized Carnage lookalike let out a deep breath, one that seemed to deflate his form. “That’s it! You’re almost there!”

 

Step by step, Bucky’s old face resurfaced from the new. In less than a minute, his symbiote had finished its work and reformed his body into a human form. It was only a surface level change, but it would let the Winter Soldier live as he had before.

 

“How do I look?” Bucky opened his eyes and took in his now familiar hands with relief. His gaze flicked from Dan’s satisfied smile, to Steve’s wide grin. “What?”

 

“You looked better before,” Steve slapped his friend on the shoulder and pulled an exaggerated face of disgust. “I’d forgotten just how ugly you actually were… I think all that bone really upped your looks by hiding away the real horror show.”

 

“You look fine,” Dan rolled his eyes and levitated into the air, thoughts already turned to the work that was still undone. He had to finish collecting the mutants in need, and Sinister had yet to be found. “Just remember, your emotions are far less stable now. It might be best if you practise some mental relaxation techniques, and travel with a partner until you're sure of your control.”

 

Dan vanished, in orbit before Bucky could respond. Most of the mutants he’d contacted were already in the Order’s hands. The stragglers were mostly those in secure positions, happy with their lives and in no real need of evacuation. They could wait with their friends and families, until their powers manifested naturally.

 

“I’ve got to pay Namor a visit,” Dan frowned as his perceptions passed over the city of Atlantis. The mutant king had abandoned Krypton in its time of need, turtles within his kingdom as the surface world burned. “He’ll have to wait, Sinister is more important…”

 

The structure of Nathaniel Essex’ dna was well known to him, memorised as he completed the Superman serums. All he had to do was scan the Earth for anything that matched its signature, a task that yielded surprising results.

 

Thousands of Sinsiters existed around the globe, secreted in countless lairs and hidden laboratories. One had even managed to squirrel himself inside a Celestial temple, busy reverse engineering their technology.

 

“He’s been busy since his escape, though I imagine the one hidden with Celestial tech is the original,” Dan shook his head and rallied the power of his realm. He would target them all at once, harvest their minds and vaporise their bodies in a single strike. “It’s time to finish cleaning house…”