Hello, and welcome to the sequel of United World. This story should span at least two arcs like United World did as the heroes get to know each other and stop the invasion of the second players. Hopefully the pace will start picking up a bit more, although this first chapter is slightly dull as a summary of the events of the past couple weeks. I still do not own Hetalia or any part of the Marvel Universe, but I hope you'll enjoy it all the same. Feel free to leave a review and tell me what you think!

Chapter 1

The Monster from Another World

Arthur Kirkland reflected on the past three months with a sense of fulfillment as he whittled away at a cup of English Breakfast tea. He had been the first to wake up, savoring the quiet view of the rising sun on Chiara's patio. The sleeping group of coworkers were still exhausted from yesterday and only Arthur had recovered from his injuries.

Of course, you may ask, injuries from what?

To the public, Arthur was better known as Spectrum, the leader of the superhero team United World, who had been working with the Avengers. Together they were working to stop a criminal organization from a parallel universe.

United World had once been the oblivious pawns of their second players' schemes, fighting against super villains who stood in their way. Once the second players began their invasion, UW had split, shattered by the supposed death of Chun-Yan. Three months ago, Director Nicholas Fury of SHIELD had brought the retired heroes back into the fray.

From there, United World had met with the Avengers, reluctantly joining the combined team for the purpose of revenging their fallen comrade. When the forces of Black Skull began to attack three major cities, the two teams had intermingled, forming three teams in order to aid the ongoing disasters. Arthur's team had handled their situation with minimal effort, yet, it was also discovered at that point that Chun-Yan had not died, but that her body was being used as a host to her second player.

The situation had escalated when the third group had encountered Antonio Carriedo and Francis Bonnefoy, the two agents accompanying United World in their efforts to prevent evil from spreading world wide. The resulting skirmish had brought out the only second player on UW's side, Zamora, who explained the plans of the second players.

That night, the Avengers had met with the Puppet Master, Arthur's second player, who seized control over the group and captured the still MIA Director Fury. The next morning, Chiara and Liv, otherwise known as Rome and the Mage, were ambushed by the Avengers, using Liv's mythical friend to summon the aid of the rest of the team. Once United World had fended off the Avengers and returned them to their formal selves, another shocking development took place.

Chun-Yan was able to momentarily break away from Black Skull's control, freeing Francis and Toni. Although the undercover agent duo was freed, there was still no way to escape Black Skull's mind control. While the heroes tried to crack the code, they received a visit from Chiara's sister, the famous movie star Feliciana Varges. The siblings attended a dinner with their grandfather, one of the biggest mafia bosses still alive whose only intent is to get Chiara to take over the mafia. The Avengers and United World followed along, and were able to prompt the Italian to breaking away from her grandfather's control. At least as far as they know.

Meanwhile, Madeline and Natasha, aka Bolt and the Black Widow, devised a plan to put an end to Black Skull's influence on Toni and Francis just in time for Christmas. After reclaiming the mind of their friends, Liv was attacked by Black Skull's henchmen on the way home from school, attempting to kidnap her and the rest of the Nordic five to experiment on their powers. Luckily, yours truly and Ivan, or Blizzard King arrived in the nick of time to save the group of teens.

Together, the heroes decided they would need another member of their team with a crucial array of powers if they wanted to stop the second players. Thor and Liv went off to Asgard, where the younger mortal was able to win Loki's loyalty and convince him to join the team. Once Christmas had passed by, United World hosted a press conference, to reveal their presence after a video of them fighting the Avengers appeared. With their newly gained popularity, the heroes headed forwards and encountered the Crime Lord, Ivan's second player.

The two teams split into partners in order to search the city for Fury's location and hopefully rescue the missing SHIELD director when Ivan and Gwen were separated. The latter was kidnapped by the Crime Lord and forced to believe her friends had abandoned her. While Zamora attempted to save her first player from the hands of Nikoli, it was only Arthur's arrival that saved Gwen and vanquished the villain.

Or so UW had thought.

Tony Stark, or Iron Man, gained the temporary ability to see magical creatures after ridiculing Arthur's tendency to talk to his friends. The joyful mood of the two teams had been decimated when Nightshade, the Crime Lord's right hand man, had locked UW into their darkest memories. After reliving their darkest times repetitively, the Avengers had come to the rescue, helping their fellow heroes move on.

However, during this time, the Crime Lord and Nightshade had moved the heroes into a warehouse in order to take them back to the second dimension as trophies before destroying the rest of the second players. By using stealth and strategy, Madeline, Francis, Toni and Clint were able to free their teammates.

"Beautiful sunrise," a voice remarked, snapping the immortal hero from his reminiscing. Gwen sat down on the bench beside Arthur, holding a glass. "Beer? This early, love?" he inquired, frowning in disapproval. "You have tea, and the others have coffee to help them wake up. I have beer," the albino beauty responded with a cheeky grin, "So what are you doing up so early? Not even the Captain is awake yet."

"Thinking about the past three months and our next move. Despite how long we've been fighting them, I still can't predict their next move. I'm worried that they'll catch us off guard."

"So, what are the results of your planning then, fearless leader?"

"I will have to check in with the team first, but I think we should go after Chun-Yan next. Then look for the machine Nikoli had so we can bring the fight to them. Our powers could cause so much damage to this world. If we go to their dimension, we can try to gain allies and help people."

"I'm up for whatever you think is best, Arthur. Your leadership has never led us astray before."

Except, it had.

But for right now, Arthur wanted to forget about all the damage he'd done by not listening to the others. He didn't want to think about the criminals from another world invading, or the injuries of his teammates, or what those monsters would do if they ever got their hands on one of the heroes.

This world too was filled with monsters, and it seemed that Arthur was just like the rest of the world.

But at least he wasn't alone.