Unexpected Visitors

Avengers Tower

Natasha Romanov grabbed the suitcase she had packed in preparation for her meeting with Graydon Creed and made her way to the Quinjet. Those incessant thoughts kept eating at her mind, though. Reality still seemed... off. Maybe this job will clear my head, Natasha thought to herself -- Avengers Tower had become a very distracting place lately. In the past few hours alone, Natasha had to turn down advances from Wanda, Tigra, Mockingbird & Wasp. It wasn't that she wasn't interested -- no, she was very, very interested -- but beyond her suspicions about her reality, she still had a job to do.

Miami, Florida

The Quinjet dropped Natasha off at a safehouse in Miami, an apartment in an abandoned building, not far from the Purifiers' Florida headquarters where Natasha was to meet with Creed. As she walked into the dingy apartment, Natasha was greeted by an imposing, and familiar figure.

"Natasha Romanov."

Instinctively, Natasha quickly drew her pistols and pointed them at the intruder. "Victor Von Doom... what the hell are you doing here?"

"Easy, Nat. He's on our side this time," Another familiar voice called out, one that caused Natasha's memories to come flooding back to her.

"Tony...?"

Natasha turned to see a number of recognizable faces. Iron Man. Captain America. Hulk. Thor. Ant-Man. Reed Richards. Doctor Strange. Nick Fury. And... Deadpool?

"Glad to see you remember me," said Tony. "We weren't sure if you'd fully assimilated to our new reality yet."

"So something has happened to reality..."

"...And it's still changing," Reed added. "Fewer and fewer people remember our old reality -- in time, you would have forgotten too."

"Do any of you know what's going on?" Natasha asked.

"Not entirely," Reed answered. "What we do know is that reality is being overwritten, and male metahumans are disappearing at an alarming rate."

"I see. Do you have any idea what's happening to them?"

"We do," Reed continued. "Victor and I have been researching the disappearances. At first we thought it might have been the result of the Infinity Gauntlet -- as it was when we fought Thanos -- but that's not the case. Strange confirmed that their 'life energy', for lack of a better term, was still present. That also ruled out our theory that the missing were exiled to another reality. After further research, we eventually found our answer."

"And that was...?" Natasha asked.

"We discovered that the male metahumans of our world were merging with their female counterparts. Their pasts, their histories... all merging together, forming an entirely new one."

Nick Fury interjected, handing Natasha a photo. "If your memories are intact, you'll recognize this superhero," he said.

"Spider-Man," Natasha answered.

"That's right. Spider-Man, also known as Peter Parker. And this is Jessica Drew, a female clone created from his DNA. At least, she was, in our old reality. In this one, Jessica Drew is the original; Spider-Man's history, his life, was merged with Jessica's, making her the original. In this world, Peter Parker never existed."

"That is... unbelievable..." Natasha said, her eyes wide in shock.

"There's more," Fury continued, handing a picture of Wolverine to Natasha. "I'm sure you remember Wolverine, or Logan. He was merged with Laura Kinney, also a clone created from his DNA. His daughter. Now, only his daughter remains. Like Spider-Man, Wolverine never existed in this reality."

"I see. I understand what's going on," Natasha said as her mind processed the information she had just been given. "So do any of you know what the cause is?"

"Oooh! Ooooh! I know! I KNOW! Pick me! Pick me!" Deadpool yelled, raising his hand.

"Oh god..." Natasha groaned. She knew Deadpool wouldn't shut up until he told her his 'theory', so she decided to humor him. "Fine, Wade. What do you think the cause of all this is?"

"Fan Fiction!" Wade said loudly. "We're all characters in a fanfic story! Isn't it obvious?!"

"Fan fiction..." Natasha grumbled. Deadpool had never been all there, but this may have been his dumbest comment yet.

"That's right! And trust me, I am not happy about it. Oh, yeah. I've read all the stuff I've done with Spider-Man! I mean, write me any way you want -- I don't judge -- but I am waaaaaay out of that dork's league. If you wanna pair me with another guy, it should totally be a dreamboat like Thor. But not 'me' me... this Wade's 100% into the ladies," Wade rambled. "Speaking of which, what are you doing after this, Nat?"

"Ignore that idiot," said Doom. "There are few artifacts powerful enough to alter reality in this way. I believe it is either the Reality Stone or the Cosmic Cube."

"And we're in agreement," Tony added. "We need to find out what's changing reality so we can reverse its effects. That's where you come in, Nat -- we'll need your help."

"I have my own mission," said Natasha. "Can't you do this on your own?"

Doom spoke up. "No. Revealing ourselves would be a major risk. Were any of us to encounter our female counterparts, we would likely end up being amalgamated with them."

"Do any of you know who your 'counterparts' are?" Natasha asked.

"All we can do is speculate," Reed answered. "In my case, it would likely be my w- my... former wife, Susan. From what I've gathered, she doesn't remember I exist..." Reed's voice carried a tone of sadness speaking about Sue. "In Tony's case, we believe it's either Riri Williams or Pepper Potts. For Bruce--"

"Hulk," Hulk grunted. "Banner is puny."

"My mistake," Reed continued. "Hulk's counterpart is likely either Betty Ross or his cousin, Jen Walters..." Reed paused again. Jen Walters, also known as She-Hulk, was also Ben Grimm's female counterpart. Most likely, Reed reasoned, because both had spent time as the muscle for the Fantastic Four, and Reed couldn't help but express some sorrow for his best friend. "I-I'm sorry. Ben was assimilated some time ago with She-Hulk."

"I see. I'm sorry, Reed." Natasha consoled Reed.

"Thank you. I... I'm OK, really. Let's just focus on what needs to be done," Reed continued.

"Thor's counterpart is probably Jane Foster, and Cap's is probably Sharon Carter. Again, we're not completely sure the aforementioned women are our counterparts. These are all educated guesses," Reed concluded.

"I see. So you really do need my help," said Natasha. "But I still have my own mission..."

"...Yes, involving HYDRA and the Purifiers," Fury said. Natasha smirked. Even without SHIELD's resources, you could never underestimate Nick Fury's info gathering skills. "We believe that HYDRA may be able to mask themselves from assimiliation, as their male leaders should have merged with Madame Hydra by now. During your mission, we'd like you to try and find out what allows them to do so."

"Understood. I'll see what I can dig up."

"One last thing!" Wade interrupted. "Under no circumstances should you fuck any woman you see, no matter how hot it may be."

Tony brought his palm to his face in frustration "Damn it, Wade..."

"Rude as that was, he's not wrong," Strange spoke up. "Sleeping with any woman would more or less overwrite any memories you might have of our former reality."

This was going to be difficult, Natasha thought to herself. She'd become increasingly attracted to the women around her, and those urges were only getting stronger...