Chapter 1 – Trouble

London, England

"Avengers… ASSEMBLE."

Those famous words. The battle cry of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, shouted in the heat of battle by their leader – Captain America. As he shouts those words it's as if the entire world stops talking, all sounds stop… and then, almost immediately, they come to him. The Avengers, stopping whatever they're doing to meet the Captain. Soaring through the skies and crashing onto the ground below, it's the Invincible Iron Man. Swinging the mighty Mjolnir, the Mighty Thor. Sprinting at full speed, almost out of breath, Hawkeye and the Black Widow. A blur passes them, stopping at the rest of the team… Quicksilver, carrying his sister The Scarlet Witch.

"All here, Cap." Black Widow says, a hint of worry in her voice. She's obviously exasperated from fighting, they all are. Hawkeye puts his hand on her shoulder, almost as if he's reassuring her. Captain America stands tall in front of the other heroes, looking ahead. He turns around to face them.

"We've got about 5 minutes until the Super Skrull gets back here, great job with that Thor" he says with such assurance. Thor nods in response. "That means we have to figure out our battle-plan quickly."

"I can go over there and blast him with a T.A.N.K. missile." Iron Man suggests.

"A blast from Mjolnir at full strength shall surely vanquish our foe for good!" Thor boasts.

"We want to take him out, not kill him." Black Widow scolds the others.

"Natasha's right. We have to question him, find out why he's attacking us." Hawkeye says.

"I agree… so we have to be careful. Hawkeye, I want you on top of that roof over there" Cap points towards the building on his left. "You have your trick arrows, you can do some serious damage."

"He can fly, Cap." Hawkeye retorts with worry.

"Don't worry, Tony and Thor will attack him from the air, keep him at a certain level." He turns to Thor and Iron Man. "You two understand?"

"Aye." Thor responds. He walks up to Hawkeye and grabs him by the waist. "Need help getting up there Barton?" Hawkeye nods and Thor flies up to the roof, dropping Hawkeye and taking position. Iron Man takes off, thrusters burning underneath him. Cap spots the Super Skrull up ahead, slowly walking to their location.

"What about us, Captain?" Scarlet Witch asks enthusiastically, her brother Quicksilver by her side.

"I want you two to buy us some time – Wanda, blast him with all you've got. Hex bolts, magic. Everything, you got that?" Scarlet Witch nods. "Pietro, you've got the speed… knock him on his ass."

"Understood." Quicksilver responds before grabbing Scarlet Witch and speeding off towards the Super Skrull. Black Widow walks up to Captain America.

"Looks like it's just us now, Rogers." Widow says flirtatiously "We gonna have some fun with this guy?" Cap smiles slyly.

"Actually Romanoff… we are."

"Woah there Cap, I was just kidding."

"No, not like that. We're gonna attack him from behind in the Quinjet."

"You could've worded that better." Widow responds, laughing slightly. The two of them run into the Quinjet – The Avengers' transport. The engine starts up and they take off, flying around the city.

Meanwhile, Quicksilver CRASHES into the Super-Skrull, who shifts his skin into a rock-like substance seconds before. The force of the crash knocks Quicksilver down, breaking his ribs while the Super-Skrull is unharmed. He stops in front of the injured hero.

"Interesting… super-speed but no slowing down of perceptions." The Skrull scoffs, mocking Quicksilver. "You forgot that I have all the powers of the Fantastic Four, hitting me with your pathetic human strength won't do a thing." He laughs. Pietro groans, his chest in pain. He struggles to get to his feet before the Super-Skrull knocks him aside into a building, crashing through a glass window.

"PIETRO!" Scarlet Witch screams in panic. She lunges towards her brother, attempting to help but the Super Skrull grabs her by the throat and holds her up. She grabs his hand in an attempt to get him to let go.

"Your human tendency for affection will be your downfall, sorceress." The Skrull attempts to crush her throat, but suddenly a large blast of red energy exits her hands, blasting the Skrull in the face. He screams in pain and is knocked back, letting her go. Wanda lands on her feet and charges up another attack.

"You hurting my brother will be YOUR'S." She shouts before casting another blast of mystical energy towards the creature. Before it hits, a forcefield covers the Skrull, who continues heading towards her. Wanda panics and uses her power to lift herself into the air, surrounded by an aura of energy she blasts the Skrull with a continuous stream, breaking his forcefield. Angered, he engulfs himself in flames and flies towards her, shooting balls of flames towards her. The two engage in an air battle, which Thor and Iron Man notice.

"Okay, plan's already going wrong. Figures." Tony snarks. "JARVIS, get Cap on the line."

"Of course sir." The robotic JARVIS AI responds, fulfilling the request.

"We must go and help our allies! COME WITH ME, FRIEND STARK." Almost immediately, Thor bolts towards Wanda and the Skrull.

"Thor wai- never mind." Thrusters at full power, Iron Man follows.

Scarlet Witch and the Super-Skrull are flying around each other, sending blasts of fire and mystical energy at each other when suddenly – THUNDER. The clouds go dark and a bolt of lightning STRIKES the Super-Skrull, knocking him to the ground.

"Thor… the god of Thunder himself…" The Super-Skrull remarks, in pain. Smoke is leaving his body as he gets out of the rubble. Thor and Wanda land in front of him.

"Know this, creature! You can surrender now or suffer the same fate as a rogue Bilgesnipe!" Thor warns him, swinging his hammer around which creates sparks of electricity. The Skrull smirks and turns entirely to stone, much like The Thing. He stretches his arms and shapes them into large fists, engulfed in flames.

"So be it." He attacks them both.

"Smart, Thor." Wanda mocks. They both resume attacking him while Iron Man lands in front of Pietro, who is unconscious.

"Goddamn, kid…" Tony says with concern "Cap, you there?"

"Tony, what is it?" Cap responds.

In the Quinjet, Captain America and Black Widow sit in the cockpit, hovering above the Super-Skrull. Cap activates the jet's minigun and begins firing on the Super-Skrull.

"Quicksilver's unconscious…" Tony picks up Pietro. "I'm gonna take him back to the base for medical attention."

"Negative, we can't leave while the Skrull's here." Natasha responds.

"He's going to bleed out!" Tony shouts.

"Okay, go back to New York. We can handle this." Cap tells Tony, who takes off into the sky. Natasha smacks Cap on the shoulder.

"What are you thinking!? We need all the firepower we can get."

"We can't let him die and it's not as if normal humans can operate on mutants, the biology is different."

"We don't ditch in the middle of a battle!" Natasha shouts.

"I'm not going to let an ally die just because we need to take down an enemy. Thor and Wanda are doing fine holding him for now." Cap responds. Natasha leave the cockpit. "Where are you going?" He turns to see her.

"I'm going to help them." Natasha grabs two blue batons and a power pack, which she attaches to her back, powering the batons which start to glow. She opens the Quinjet doors, air rushing in and blowing her hair back. "Besides, you know how to use a gun." She jumps out of the jet and lands on the roof of a building, making her way down. Cap lands the jet on the building and exits, following Natasha.

Wanda and Thor's attacks are futile, nothing is harming the Super-Skrull. Thor throws his hammer at him, smashing him into a building. Finally, some progress is made. Meanwhile, on the roof of the building opposite, Hawkeye draws his bow.

"You guys better tell me there's a weak-spot I can hit, because I'm bored out my mind up here." He remarks playfully. Thor pushes towards the Super Skrull, who is embedded in the wall, and lifts his hammer towards his throat.

"You shall not move from there." Thor commands, while Wanda conjures a mysterious energy, blacker than the night skies.

"Thor, move!" Her voice echoes, before the energy slowly leaves her body… its movements snakelike. The black energy surrounds the Super-Skrull before entering his body, making his body twitch in pain while he screams.

"Scarlet Witch, what are you DOING?" Cap shouts from behind her, but there is no response. Black Widow stands beside him.

"Ending this." Wanda smirks, chuckling as the Skrull screams. Thor is motionless with shock, his eyes wide. He cannot believe what he's seeing… dropping the hammer, which cracks the pavement. The black energy continues to pain the Super-Skrull, causing him to lose his rocky armour. Blood starts pouring from his nose.

"Thor… what's happening?" Natasha asks, her voice cracks as she panics.

"Her eyes, they're blacker than the heart of Surtur… she's smiling… I haven't seen magic like this since…"

"Magic?" Cap cuts in, confused. The Super-Skrulls eyes roll into the back of his head and his eyelids shut, the screaming stops but Wanda doesn't. Suddenly, an arrow strikes her neck she falls to the ground, silently. Shocked, everybody turns around. Hawkeye waves at them. Natasha activates her communicator.

"Clint, why did you do that?"

"She was freaking me out!" He shouts from the rooftop. Cap picks up Wanda and turns to Thor.

"Take him to the mansion, lock him up in the vibranium cell." Cap commands, Thor obliges and lifts the Super-Skrull out of the wall, proceeding to fly back to base. Cap, Hawkeye and Black Widow return to the Quinjet, with Wanda unconscious in the back.

Avengers Mansion – New York City, USA – 4 hours later

Avengers Mansion – formerly the home of Howard and Maria Stark, the current base of The Avengers is located in Fifth Avenue, Manhattan. On the roof of the mansion is a landing space for the Quinjet, which slowly lands on there. The doors open and Hawkeye & Black Widow run out, opening the roof doors. Captain America carries Scarlet Witch out of the jet and into the building, the other two right behind him. Meanwhile, in the medical wing, Tony Stark and Dr. Helen Cho are working on helping fix Quicksilver's injuries with her Tissue Cradle.

"Thanks again for helping, Helen." Tony says "I appreciate you coming all the way out here."

"Well, I didn't have much choice. You landed in my house." Helen responds, chuckling slightly.

"Oh… yeah. I will pay for that, honestly!"

"I have no doubt you will, Mr Stark." Helen smiles at Tony before turning to her Cradle's control panel. She deactivates the timer. "There, completely healed. "

Quicksilver exits the cradle, groggy and trying to find his footing.

"Ughh… thank you Dr Cho." Pietro is grateful "Although, my ass still hurts. I think I sat in some glass."

"Too much information, Mr Maximoff…" Helen responds dryly. Pietro smirks and exits the room. "Okay, I have a graduation to get to."

"Never would've guessed you had a kid, Doctor… especially not one in High School." Tony says, attempting to flirt.

"College, and he's 7." She puts on her jacket and leaves the room. Tony is speechless, until Cap bursts through the door with Wanda in his arms. He lays her down on an operating chair and grabs an IV.

"Um… what the hell happened after I left?" Tony asks, confused.

"Clint hit Wanda with an ICER." Cap responds non-chalantly.

"Why?"

"Long story, can you alert me when she wakes up?" Before Tony can answer, Cap rushes out of the room. Tony has no idea what's going on right now, and proceeds to watch over both of the Maximoffs.

Meanwhile, in the Avengers council room, Thor, Widow and Hawkeye are talking.

"…so basically, the entire planet cracked in half when father banished him." Thor finishes his story, Widow and Hawkeye are fascinated by his tale. Cap enters the room.

"Thor, did you take care of the Skrull?" He asks.

"Yes Captain, the vibranium is holding him well. He tried to escape, but that metal is quite extraordinary."

"I know." Cap responds, placing his trademark shield on the table. "So… do you know what went down with Scarlet Witch?" Thor's expression turns from one of joy to one of concern.

"No… not exactly."

"What do you mean not exactly?" Widow asks.

"Well, there are rumours and tales from Asgard… of sorcerers going mad due to their power… and the tales go thusly…" Thor begins to recount an ancient Asgardian folk tale.

"THERE ONCE WAS A GREAT SORCERER NAMED SEITHR, THOUGHT TO BE THE FIRST TO USE MAGIC FOR NON-COMBAT MEANS. HE WAS A HEALER, COMMUNICATOR, FIXER OF ALL ILLS AND BAD THINGS. THE TOWNS PEOPLE LOVED HIM DEARLY. ONE DAY, A DARK ENERGY STARTED TO PIERCE THOSE WHO LIVED IN THE TOWN, CAUSING IMMENSE PAIN AND DEATH. THE KING ASKED THE SORCERER TO MAKE IT STOP, BUT WAS SHOCKED TO FIND THAT THE SORCERER WAS THE CAUSE. HIS EYES DARKER THAN SURTUR'S SOUL, A WICKED SMIRK UPON HIS FACE. THE SORCERER HAD GONE MAD."

"That's all I remember." Thor remarks.

"That's all well and good, but Wanda isn't a sorcerer she's a mutant. She shoots energy not magic." Hawkeye scoffs.

"Consider this, Barton. How do you know that her power doesn't tap into the mystical realms of magical energies?" Thor responds defensively "You mortals couldn't tell the shape of your Earth until a few hundred years ago!"

"Thor, drop it." Captain America commands, making Thor retreat back into his seat. Barton teases him by sticking his tongue out, prompting Natasha to slap his head. "Well, that certainly does describe what happened to Wanda… but even if she does tap into magical energies, she's no sorcerer. She doesn't even know any spells."

"If the tale is true, it's possible that the sorcerer was possessed in some way via those magical gateways. We've had experience with possession." Natasha suggests, to which Thor nods in approval.

"Whatever, sounds dumb. She just went too far." Clint says, sceptic of the unknown.

The Avengers, exhausted from their activities, decide to call it a night. Tony continues to watch over Scarlet Witch, who hasn't woken up yet.

- END OF CHAPTER 1 -