How's everyone doing? Welcome to my second fic set in Red Witch's Misfitverse. This is a sequel to my previous story, Bolt from the Darkness, so if you want to see the events preceding this story, go check that out.
This story is set during the nine months between two of Red Witch's stories, namely Days of Our Mutant Lives and The Final Chapter. Oh, and a little warning: you actually might not be seeing much of the X-Men or Misfits in this, but some of them will show up. That I garuntee.
DISCLAIMER: I own Derrick Bolris. This Misfitverse belongs to Red Witch, the characters of G.I. Joe belong to Hasbro, and everything else belongs to Marvel.
Chapter 1: Just Saw the News Today
Los Angeles, California. Formerly controlled by a group of villains calling themselves "the Pride", their fall caused a massive power vacuum to appear. New York's colossal cast of supervillains attempted to fill this vacuum, but found their attempts repulsed by a group of young teenagers.
The Runaways, better known to some as "the Pride's kids".
In truth, however, the latter title was no longer accurate. Recently, Count Dracula enlisted the Runaways' help in clearing his name after he had been falsely accused of being responsible for vampire-related attacks. While there, however, they met an electrokinetic mutant filled with anger and depression over humanity's racism and the recruitment attempts of the mutant teams known as the X-Men and Misfits.
Derrick Bolris stared at the television in the Runaways' lair beneath the La Brea Tar Pits Museum. Brown eyes stared through blonde bangs that contrasted brown hair, a dark leather jacket and sand-colored pants keeping him partially warm. Next to him was a young girl with longer brown hair and a childish pink hat on her head.
"Finally," Derrick sighed. "The X-Men disbanded. Now they won't be trying to drag anyone into their stupid team."
"Yeah!" cheered eleven-year-old Molly Hayes. "Wolverine is stinky and smelly and—"
"Don't tell me you're going into that rant again, Mol," blonde-haired Chase Stein sighed. "Not that it's not true."
"What could have made them disband?" asked a girl with a wild black ponytail, Nico Minoru.
"No clue," Derrick shook his head.
"Even if we did know, why would we care?" asked purple-haired Gertrude 'Gert' Yorkes, stroking her nose ring-wearing dinosaur Old Lace. "New York isn't exactly our business. Besides, just because we got a free ride back to LA from the X-Men doesn't make them our friends."
"Yeah, I guess so," said a blonde girl named Karolina Dean.
"And we've got enough problems already," Nico said, "what with all those New Yorkers jumping coasts."
"Tell me about it," Chase groaned. "The Wrecking Crew last week, that Flag-Smasher nut the week before that, Batroc the Loser the week before that...seriously, come on! Don't we get a break?!"
"In local news," a reporter on television began, "New York supervillain Doctor Octopus has been spotted in Los Angeles."
"Chase…" Derrick glared. "Never. Ever. Ask. That. Question."
****
"Ugh," groaned the hooded Cobra Commander, slamming his forehead against the wall. "Why did Black Tarantula suggest we hire Deadpool of all people?!"
As if to illustrate, a man in a red-and-black jumpsuit appeared out of nowhere in a flash of red light.
"Hiya, CC!" greeted Deadpool. "Since Destro's still recovering from the flying wedgie I gave him last week, I wanted to see if you were available!"
"I'm overjoyed," groaned Cobra Commander. "But, I do have a job for you, Deadpool."
"Yay!" Deadpool cried happily. "Do I get my pet baby T-rex yet?"
"Uh, no," Cobra Commander replied. "With the disbandment of the X-Men, there are opportunities to create mutant super-soldiers everywhere, though those blasted Misfits will still oppose Cobra. That is where you come in."
"Ooh, party time?" Deadpool asked.
"Yes, Deadpool," Cobra Commander said. "If what our sources say is true, and that the leader of the Misfits really has departed for an extended time in Japan, it will definitely be 'party time'."
"CONFETTI FOR EVERYONE!" screamed Deadpool, throwing his guns into the air while carelessly letting bullets launch from them and shoot everything in range.
****
Avengers HQ, New York City.
Here, the most highly-respected superhero team lived until trouble arose. Whether it was in their local New York or in another country altogether, the Avengers would be there. Founded by the World War II super-soldier Captain America and Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D, the team took various members under their wing.
At the moment, Captain America himself stood atop the building, overlooking the city. Behind him came a man in red-and-gold armor and a green-skinned woman with dark green hair.
"Hey, Cap," greeted Tony Stark, known publicly by both his own name and the name of Iron Man, "we need to show Jen here around. What are you doing, anyway?"
"Just thinking," Captain America responded. He looked to the green-skinned woman. "You must be Jennifer Walters."
"That's me," nodded Jennifer. "As an Avenger, I'll be known as She-Hulk."
"She-Hulk?" Captain America asked, receiving a nod from the Emerald Giantess. "How did that happen?"
"She needed blood from her cousin," Iron Man explained, "who just so happens to be Bruce Banner, a.k.a the Hulk. And since the Hulk's blood is gamma-irradiated…"
"She has the Hulk's strength, but none of his anger," Captain America nodded.
"Actually, I'm not as strong as my cousin," She-Hulk corrected.
"Either way, you'll no doubt be an invaluable asset to the team," Captain America said. "Despite Warbird's enhanced strength, another heavy-hitter should make fights a lot easier."
Lightning suddenly burst from the roof, just behind the three Avengers.
"Damn it, Thor!" a woman swore. "Watch what you're aiming at!"
"Thor must have gotten drunk again," Iron Man guessed.
"Tony, you and Thor have got to be the worst drunkards I've ever seen," She-Hulk shook her head.
"What makes you say that?" Iron Man asked.
"Two words, Tony," She-Hulk smirked. "Entertainment Nightly. And, of course, who could forget the Technarchy invasion?"
"Yes, that was when we first teamed up with the X-Men and the Misfits," Captain America nodded, "along with Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four."
"Are you guys going to offer Spider-Man the chance to be an Avenger?" She-Hulk asked. "He would be such a great addition to the team, no matter what Janet thinks."
"I don't know, Jen," Iron Man answered. "He's always been a bit of a loner."
"Besides," Captain America interjected, "we have our own problems."
"Like what?" She-Hulk asked.
"Have you ever heard of 'the Pride'?" Captain America asked.
"Wait, is this about those kids from LA?" She-Hulk asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Exactly," Captain America nodded. "Those kids shouldn't be risking their lives like that. They shouldn't be taking the law into their hands."
"Correct me if I'm wrong, Steve," a man dressed in purple interrupted as he came onto the rooftop, "but aren't the X-Men and Misfits around the same age as the Pride's kids? You don't seem to have a problem when they fight supervillains."
"That's not the point, Hawkeye," Captain America shook his head. "We need to get to Los Angeles and convince those kids to give up crime-fighting. But, until some sort of trouble comes up in LA, we have other priorities."
Another bolt of lightning burst through the ceiling, nearly electrocuting Hawkeye.
"And one of those is getting Thor sober," Iron Man pointed out.