All rights to The Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow belongs to Marvel Animations. The OC's in this character belong to me. I'd like to give thanks to my editor HistoryNerd1995!
I hope this new story of mine is good! I've always loved this movie and thought that since so few people actually create a story for this movie I would make one myself!
Rate and Review!
"Tony!" Pym yelled happily as he waved his hand in the air. He flitted off towards Azari, ready to play a short game of tag.
"Tony, where are we going?" James asked walking alongside said adult.
"You'll see," Tony answered, making James fume as he let out a sigh and looked straight ahead.
"Patience is a virtue," Torunn told James with a smirk of proudness.
"Shut up," James complained crossing his arms and walking faster towards Azari.
"He has a temper," Francis chuckled, watching James act like a child.
"He'll grow up soon," Tony chuckled with them as he looked at his watch that was telling him where to go and the coordinates for their endpoint.
Tony had received some startling information from Vision earlier in the week. The Avengers were all still alive, and they were the ones who supposedly sent the message. He suspected it of being a trap, especially since it had been years since they were presumed dead. Why hadn't they contacted them sooner and helped with Ultron when all was going wrong? But there was still a chance that it was true, and he wanted it to be. He hoped the children didn't have to live any more of their lives without their parents.
The teens were all finding something to keep them entertained as they walked down the short path leading to their destination. They had driven most of the way, but the need to walk the rest of the way had arisen due to something shorting the machinery and making it collapse when they were almost there.
"Tony! What is that?" Azari asked him pointing ahead.
Farther down the path was a wall made out of rock, blocking them from entering the village from any way but the front entrance.
"It's our destination." Tony said with hard eyes. He was ready for an attack just in case, and had made sure that the kids brought their weapons along too.
They cautiously entered the building and watched as the people in the streets kept their eyes on them even as they were shopping and doing work. Of course they would be wary of people who were carrying weapons on them.
"Excuse me, do you know where I can find a Ms. Crystal Marshall?" Tony asked a bystander politely.
She looked him up and down, eyeing the children and the weapons they carried. She sighed jutting her chin in a direction behind her. "She's the house at the top of the hill, just before the woods." She told him. Groaning she shook her head and said, "Always bringing people with weapons here."
"What did she mean by that?" Azari asked Tony, watching her as she went.
"Is she some criminal that we're taking care of?" Pym asked excitedly. He buzzed around their heads in anticipation, wanting a new mission to work on.
"She's not a criminal," A man said. They turned and stared at the man with dark maroon hair and yellow cat eyes. He was smiling at them in a friendly enough way. "I'll show you the way. The villagers just like to gossip and come to their own conclusions."
"You are?" James asked eyeing the man up and down warily.
"Boris," The man said, sticking his hand out for them to shake. "I'm an old friend of Crystal's. I owe her a lot."
"How do we know we can we trust you?" James asked him, irritated.
Hawkeye smacked him on the back of the head, nodding an apology to Boris. "Just let him take us. He said she's not a criminal."
"Shut up! You're just excited because it's a girl!" James yelled at Hawkeye, making the archer blush and hit him over the head again.
"He's telling the truth!" Azari laughed, walking next to Boris.
"Hawkeye just wants a girlfriend!" Pym teased, laughing as he dodged the attacks made at him.
"Boys," Torunn sighed, shaking her head.
Boris led them to a big house, almost like a mansion that was on the outskirts of the town, just before the woods. Just as the woman had said.
"Oi! Crystal! Where are you?" Boris yelled looking around for said girl. "You have some guests!"
"Crystal isn't here right no…" a feminine voice trailed off.
They turned and froze staring wide eyed as black pixie hair and fair skin watched them with brown eyes. Janet Van Dyne stood there staring at all of them in shock.
"You came," She whispered. She placed a hand over her mouth as she took a step forward, then another, before she took off running and hugged Pym closely to her. "Thank god you're okay!"
"Janet, what are you yelling for?" Henry Pym asked with a chuckle.
Steve Rogers, T'Challa, Ororo Munroe, Natasha Romanova, Clint Barton and Bobbi Morse walked behind them as they stood and stared at their children in joy and amazement. Children and parents raced towards each other in shouts of joy as they quickly tightened their hold around each other.
"How are you alive?" James asked looking at his parents.
"Why are you here?" Pym asked looking around them.
"Why didn't you contact us?" Francis asked hurt.
"That is a difficult thing to explain." Thor said, shooting down to Earth in lightning with his wife Sif.
Torunn smiled happily as she dashed and hugged her parents, hanging onto her mother's clothing as they all looked at Thor.
"First let's call Crystal." Clint said with a small smile. "Crystal!"
"Coming!" A voice shouted from the woods.
A body tumbled into Francis and made them crash to the floor in a big heap. Francis sat up on his elbows as he looked down. A girl with long golden blonde hair just past her shoulder blades, petite figure, long legs, but large chest, sat up and looked up at him with shining light blue eyes. She squeaked as she pushed backwards and landed on her butt before standing up quickly and grabbing Clint's arm. Her light blue summer dress covered in dirt at the bottom.
"That's Crystal?" Pym asked walking over to her and looking all around her for any clue of evil or threat. "She doesn't look bad at all!"
The Avengers looked at Boris in confusion as he sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "The villagers were saying things again."
"Those stupid villagers." Steve sighed shaking his head.
"But you haven't answered any of our questions," Azari said looking at all of them in wonder.
"How are you alive?" Francis asked, dusting himself off as he stood up.
Crystal padded forward quietly then she grabbed his hand and tugged him along as she stepped backwards and looked at him expectantly. "We'll answer them inside." She told them gently, surprising him with how sweet her voice sounded.
They followed her inside and they sat down in a large living room. Crystal walked into the kitchen and brought out some drinks and snacks, setting them down in front of the others, trying to keep herself from fidgeting.
"Crystal, sit down." Natasha said gently patting the seat next to her.
Crystal looked at James and shook her head, opting for a place next to Tony so she wasn't in the way of the children and their parents.
"Where do we begin?" Steve grumbled, rubbing his neck.
"How about when they thought we were dead?" T'Challa offered up.
"We all thought we were over." Bobbi said sighing as she linked her fingers with Clint. "When Ultron blasted us, and we went flying. We all thought it was over."
"Crystal was a young girl then, just a year or two younger than you Francis." Clint said smiling at his son. "She had wandered over to us, and she started shouting. When Boris came up, we thought it was over and that she was with Ultron."
"But she ended up taking us to her village and to her house." Janet said quickly, not wanting the kids to misunderstand.
"She had nursed us back to health and made sure we healed back to normal, and wouldn't let us get up until we were fully back to health." Henry said smiling at Crystal with thanks.
Crystal began to fidget as they kept glancing at her in wonder. She finally scooted over a bit, trying to distance herself from Tony, even if it was just a bit.
"But if you were alive all this time, why didn't you contact us?" James asked with brows furrowed.
They looked at each other and at the ground in guilt, wondering how they were going to explain this.
"When we woke up," Ororo began looking at them. "We had no recollection of our past or what had happened."
"We only knew what Crystal had told us," T'Challa explained. "And what we learned from daily life here with our powers."
"Later, we started to regain our memories, but it was so little at a time that we didn't remember any of you 'till just recently." Janet said desperately.
"Something about Crystal growing up around us made us all feel nostalgic, and with her being around it unlocked our memories that had been behind a wall." Henry explained in simple terms.
"The second we remembered, we sent a message to Vision, to give to Tony in return, telling him that we were alive and well." Natasha said happily.
"So we have Crystal to thank for all of this." Tony said, nodding his head and looking at her.
Crystal flushed in embarrassment ducking her head to try to get away from the stares.
"What I'm curious about," Tony said, looking at them once again, "Is how did she stumble upon you? Who are you exactly, to live here without parents and know how to take care of people that are injured?"
Crystal froze as she sat there looking at the ground from everyone's wondering looks. She stood up and looked helplessly at Clint, hoping he would help get her out of this.
"She's the daughter of Amora and Nightmare." Thor told them plainly.
"What?!" Pym shouted looking at her with wide eyes.
"She's the…!" James said standing up.
"It can't be!" Tony said utterly shocked by the new information.
Crystal took a step back as they all stared at her, her mind whizzing around, trying to find a way out.
"Crystal!" Clint said standing. "It's okay! They won't hurt you!" He looked at the children and Tony and made his voice stern. "She is NOT a threat to us! She is working against her parents! She won't hurt anybody!"
Crystal balled her hands into fists as she took another step back looking defensively at all of them, ready for any attack to come. Francis stood up and placed his hand under her elbow, and catching her fist as she flung it at his face.
"Whoa! Calm down! It's all fine Angel!" Francis said twisting her around so her arms and his arms were locked around her.
Crystal struggled to get out of his hold, but stopped as he didn't budge, leaving her more exhausted than before.
"Better?" He asked her next to her ear.
She flushed, nodding her head. He let her go and had her sit next to him, making sure she didn't run any time soon. He put his arm behind her, watching her as she twiddled her thumbs around and tried to avoid eye contact with the room.
"Does that mean that you can come home with us?" Pym asked excitedly.
"Well," Janet said looking over at Crystal, "I don't want to just leave Crystal here alone."
"I'll be fine!" Crystal said looking up suddenly.
"How about it? Are we taking Crystal with us?" Clint offered up with a smirk.
Tony watched her with a wondering gaze, before looking at the others and seeing the protectiveness they had towards her. He knew that what they were saying had to be true. "Well, as long as she behaves. Besides, I can always use her as my guinea pig if she misbehaves."
Crystal couldn't help it as she burst out laughing looking at him trying to joke around. "I don't think I'd be a good guinea pig."
"Yeah, guinea pigs brains are bigger than hers." Steve joked looking at her with a chuckle.
"Hey!" Crystal said smiling at them. She looked at all of them and felt happy as no one disagreed with her staying. "As long as it's alright with everyone."
"Yay! We have another kid!" Pym shouted happily.
"My name is Azari!" The dark seventeen year old said holding his hand out to her. "I thought we should at least introduce ourselves."
"My name's Pym!" The young fifteen year old said with a smile.
She took Azari's hand and ruffled Pym's hair as she smiled and nodded to them.
"James," The red headed seventeen year old said with a nod.
"My name is Torunn." The blonde seventeen year old said with a friendly smile.
"Name's Hawkeye," The fair haired eighteen year old said with a small smirk.
Crystal looked at him then at his father, quirking her eyebrow in a silent question. Clint gently rapped his knuckles on Francis's head, making him rub the spot and look at his father.
"His name is Francis." He said shaking his head.
Pym started laughing as Crystal smiled. "He doesn't let anyone call him that!" Pym laughed, shrinking and flying away from Francis.
"Francis! Leave him be!" Crystal laughed.
He stopped, hearing her say his name didn't irritate him as it did when others do. He rubbed his neck as pink flushed across his cheeks lightly.
"Ooooo! Francis has a crush on Crystal!" Pym teased hanging on his back.
"Not arguing with her as she calls him 'Francis'." Azari cooed, batting his eyes.
"Oh, shut up!" He yelled out waving his head in the air, as if shooing a fly away.
Pym and Azari laughed as James and Torunn smiled and held back their laughs. Francis ran around, trying to catch one of the two. Crystal reached out and grabbed his arm, stopping him just as he was about to catch Pym. He looked at her as she laughed and his ears darkened.
An explosion erupted outside, making Crystal whip her head around and run to the window. Her eyes widened before she ran out the door quickly and towards the village. The others didn't even ask as they followed after her and stopped as they looked at a man holding a gun to a child.
"Where's the money?" A man yelled waving the gun around the child.
"There is no money!" His mother cried helplessly as tears rushed down her cheeks.
The heroes began to look around, trying to figure out what to do before the child was hurt. Crystal rushed forward, ignoring the shouts of disapproval around her. She grabbed the man's arm and flung it away from the child as she dove for the child at the same time the man brought the gun around and shot once again.
The bullet grazed the outside of her dress, putting a hole in her clothing, but missing her skin, as she hit the ground with the child in her arms. She stood up and jumped towards the others, setting the child down in front of Francis, but behind her. Three other men came up with guns as they aimed their weapons at their group, ready to fire. She reached behind Francis quickly and grabed his bow and arrows, pulling him to her side in the process so she could reach his arrows more efficiently.
She notched four arrows back and let them go. Each one landed in one of the guns, exploding them in the men's hands and making them shout out in pain. Clint, Natasha, Steve, and T'Challa rush forward, grabbing the men and slamming them to the floor with their arms twisted behind their backs. Crystal breathed out slowly bringing her attention back to reality, and to the kid's crying and hanging onto her dress. She reached down and picked the child up into her arms, holding him close and cooing to him, trying to calm him down.
"It's okay," She whispered to him, "They're gone now. You're alright."
The mother rushed over and took the boy, repeating her thanks frantically as she looked over her soon quickly.
"She's a super hero already," Azari said with a smile.
She smiled at him shyly as she let out a small laugh and looked at the child thankfully. They spent the rest of the time gathering their things and preparing for the walk back to the large vehicle that was ready to take them back to their new headquarters, which looked more like an institute than anything. When they arrived Francis had to drag Crystal in or she would have stood there with her jaw agape and her eyes staring up at the institute.
"Tony!" Nick Fury yelled as he stormed out of one of the doors. "Where the hell did you…."
Nick's jaw dropped as he stared at the group standing there with stupid smiles on their faces, and Crystal still in the back with Francis dragging her, and her jaw open as she stared at the ceiling and around the room like an art major would stare at DaVinci.
"How the hell?" Nick asked walking forward and clapping his hand with Steve's, going down the line to look at everyone. "How the hell are all of you alive?" He stopped as he stared at Crystal, until she stopped and looked at him back, staring into his eyes…..err, eye….and she stiffened. "You!"
"You!" She yelled at the same time jumping back and pointing her finger at him.
He rushed after her, trying to grab her arm, but she ran out of his reach in time and towards the doors. He pressed a button on the wall shutting the door in front of her and blocking any escape she had. She saw two French doors on the side wall, and she rushed out. They led to a beautiful deck overlooking a lake with a water fall, and a lush forest surrounding it, ready for training of any kind.
Nick dove and grabbed her leg before she could run anymore, ignoring her as she kicked out at him and yelled at him to let her go.
"Hey! Nick! What are you doing?!" Clint yelled, grabbing the back of Nick's jacket and hauling him off the floor.
Francis grabbed Crystal and put her behind him as she glared at Fury in irritation. She stuck her tongue out at the man, making him growl and glare at her hard.
"You should be locked up!" He yelled at her.
"Why?" Janet asked him.
"Do you know who her parents are?" Fury yelled at them angrily.
"That shouldn't determine whether she gets locked up!" Natasha yelled at him.
Fury glared at all of them, before grumbling and letting out a sigh as he relaxed his stance seeing none of them were going to let him near the girl. "Fine, but the second she messes up, she gets locked up!"
"What has your panties in a bunch?" She asks him with a pout.
He reddened in anger as he pointed a finger at her warningly. She smiled cheekily, still hiding behind Francis as she hung onto his arm. Fury turned his attention to the young archer and smiled cunningly. "YOU'RE in charge of watching over her."
"I'm not a child!" She yelled at him.
"You are a child. And you need someone watching you as long as I'm here." Fury argued with her, staring her down, daring her to argue with him again.
She huffed turned her back to him, leaning her back against Francis's, trying to ignore Fury as much as she could.
"This is going to be interesting." Clint said shaking his head.
"Just think," Bobbi said excitedly. "Our son has a girl now! They can get married in the future! And I can have grandbabies!"
Crystal fell backwards as she lost her footing and Francis blushed profusely as he glared at his parents staring at him in their own world.
Everyone began laughing as they watched the two become more embarrassed with every teasing word they were dealt.
Though they were all calm and pleased now, they could never have guessed the hardships to come. Crystal had to watch her back from now on, especially for the people that were planning to use her for their own malicious gain.