DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the properties you will see here. All rights go to their respective owners.
The New Frontier
Part 1
"I still don't think this is a good idea, KP," Ron addressed his girlfriend. "What if they're all no shows?"
While Kim's lover/sidekick had a good point, she didn't want to say anything that would increase her anxiety anymore than it already was. After getting her assignment from Dr. Director, she was admittedly skeptical from the start. While Kim liked the idea of being a part of a team that could defend the earth, she knew that forming said team was easier said than done. While heroes that the Director had first picked to help form this team were all astonishing in their owns rights, they weren't exactly part of a group to begin with, and some of them preferred it that way.
"They'll show up, Ron," she assured both her boyfriend and herself. "Trust me, this will work."
"But Kim, these guys are all solo acts with big egos," Ron pointed out. "It's like that band, The Eagles, all over again. Only this time they have superpowers."
"Ron, this is not like The Eagles," Kim denied before muttering under her breath. "At least I hope not..."
"And another thing," Ron furthered. "Why did we invite them all to your house?"
Even though Dr. Director was the one who gave Kim this mission, the teen superhero carried out her assignment as she saw fit. The original meeting place that the head of the GJN intended to be was one of their bases, but Kim refused to hold the meeting there, stating that it might scare off the heroes. So, it was decided by Kim that the place they would meet would be her very own home. So, the director's agents reached out to the first few heroes who would meet Kim's home in Middleton.
"I wanted them to feel safe here," Kim said. "They wouldn't come anywhere near somewhere like a military base. These guys aren't like the Autobots or the Joes. Most of them are teens like us."
"Okay, yeah, but what about the super-fight?" her sidekick/lover mentioned.
"Yeah, fight!" Rufus squeaked out.
"What fight?" Kim question.
"Come on, KP, haven't you read a comic before?" Ron chastised before explaining. "It's super-hero 101: Whenever two or more guys in tights and spandex are together, nine times out of ten it turns into one big brawl between everybody, and I don't think your house has hero insurance."
"Ron, there is not going to be a fight," Kim stated adamantly.
"Well, that depends on who you invited," came a sudden voice.
The two teens looked up to see the source of the voice was from none other than Danny Phantom. The half-host hailed from the town of Amity Park, a hot spot for spectral activity for years. Danny was the second of the metahumans to appear shortly after creation of the Powerpuff Girls, and his reputation as a hero skyrocketed quickly. Granted, there was a period in the early days of his career were he was thought to be a menace to society, but that changed when he stopped a massive ecto-meteor from destroying the planet. Since then, he was treated like the hero he was always known to be around the world. Danny floated downward and landed in front of of the two other teens, who were still amazed that the ghostly protector had actually arrived.
"It's nice to meet you both in person," Danny greeted with a held out his hand. "Uh, do I call you Ms. Possible and Mr. Stoppable or something?"
"Kim's fine by me," the fellow teen hero replied, returning the handshake. "And it's nice to meet you as well."
"I'd like to be called Mr. Stoppable," Ron commented before getting a look from his girlfriend.
Just then, the sound of what could only be described as a jet engine roared over the the young agent's house. Everyone looked up to see a large, hot pink jet fly over house.
"Who the hell is that?" Danny asked, clearly dumbstruck by the sight.
"That would be another one of our guests for tonight," Kim mentioned.
The jet flew downward toward the house before suddenly changing into a pink car which parked itself in front of Kim's home, allowing it's driver to dramatically jump out of the vehicle for all to see. This was Shezow. The heroine of the city of Megadale, Australia. Shezow had apparently been around since the dawn of man, but it was always passed down from one generation to the next. The latest Shezow was younger then her previous incarnations, and was believed to be dead for a short time until resurfacing again, only now she was a tad more...bull-headed in her world saving duties.
What no one knew was that this incarnation of the heroine was not a girl at all, but the nephew of the previous Shezow who had in fact died. Since his aunt's death, the boy, known as Guy Hampton, was trying to keep up appearances that Shezow was alive and well with the help of his twin sister Kelley and best friend Maz.
"Look's like I made it," the pink-clad heroine declared in voice that almost sounded male. "One question: Is there gonna be food? Because I'm starving!"
Before Kim could answer her, another figure came down from the sky. This newcomer was indeed a hero, but she was by no means human like the rest. This was XJ-9, or as she preferred to be called, Jenny. She was the protector of the town of Termerton, but her exploits were global as well. From stopping an alien invasion to throwing a giant killer robot into the sun, Jenny was a true hero and a real force to be reckoned with.
"Sorry I'm late," she apologized. "I was busy saving some scientists from an avalanche in the Himalayas. Had to fight a yeti too."
"Smoke Bomb!" a voice suddenly cried out.
Everyone turned to see a cloud of orange smoke appear before them. Once the smoke cleared, it revealed the Ninja of Norrisville. Similar to Shezow, the history of the Ninja was long, though it it only went back to about eight hundred years. But unlike the pin-clad heroine, the Ninja was believed to be immortal. The protector of Norrisville had always been on the GJN's radar, but he had always stayed in the shadows. However, the Ninja had recently been making himself more open,
thus giving the agency a chance to try and bring him in for this team.
The ninja was not immortal, though. It is a title passed down through the ages. This latest bearer of the mask was a high school freshman by the name of Randy Cunningham. The Ninja attempted to strike a pose to impress the other heroes, but it was only moments later that he was breathing heavily.
"So...many...smoke bombs!" he gasped before addressing everyone. "Uh...hi."
"So, is this everyone?" Danny asked.
"Not yet," Kim corrected. "There's still one more-"
Before Kim could finish her sentence, a winged, red-scaled reptile descended from the sky and landed beside the rest of the group. However, rather than be welcomed by the others, the heroes instantly drew their weapons and prepared to strike down the dragon.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy everybody!" Kim said to the others as she and Ron put themselves the two parties. "He's with us."
"You invited a lizard to this thing?" the Ninja asked.
"Yo, I ain't no lizard, fool!" the reptile suddenly stated. "I'm the American Dragon!"
The American Dragon was the protector of the magical creatures that resided in New York City, but what the GJN didn't know was that the dragon was in fact a half-human teen known as Jake Long. Jake's grandfather had insisted that he stay in the shadows in order to better protect the magical realm, but the GJN had finally managed to track him down and talk him into being a part of this meeting. However, he wasn't given a transport to Middleton and instead had to fly here by himself,
leaving him exhausted.
"Hey, can we can we go inside?" the dragon inquired. "That flight took a lot out of me."
"Of course," Kim replied before turning to everyone else. "Okay, guys, let's go inside. I hope you guys like Bueno Nacho, because I ordered the party-sized dinner for us."
"Eh, it's no PJ McFlubusters, but it'll do," the Ninja shrugged.
The group of heroes went inside. Even though Kim had told her family who was coming to visit tonight, it still surprised them to see a ghost, a robot, a ninja and a literal dragon all sitting at the dinner table eating tacos together. Jim and Tim bugged the super powered visitors for a while until their mother told them to leave Kim and her associates alone. The dinner was a success. The heroes are laughed, joked and told stories of their past exploits to one another like regular people. And, much to Ron's surprise, not even a single punch was thrown that night. It wasn't until an hour into the dinner that Kim brought up the reason for this gathering of heroes.
"I guess now is a good time as any to get down to business," she began. "First off I want to thank you all for coming. It's a good sign for things to come."
"Easy there, Kim, we haven't signed off anything yet," Danny reminded.
"Yeah, what's this all about anyway?" the Ninja added.
"I'm sure you guys are aware that you aren't the only superheroes out there these days," Kim said. "The world is filling up with more and more metahumans every day. Some good, some bad. Which is why the GJN has asked me to help form a team to better protect the planet."
"Yeah, I'm gonna have to stop you right there," the protector of Norrisville suddenly spoke up. "I think I speak for everyone when I say that none of us like the idea of being controlled by anyone, let alone the GJN."
"Yeah, government agencies and me don't mix," Danny agreed.
"Ditto," Jenny furthered.
The heroes had a point. Danny had been hounded by the agency known as the Guys in White while Jenny was plagued by the now defunct Skyway Patrol, who were dismantled after letting one to many alien invasions happen on their watch, the Triceratons' siege of Manhattan being the final straw. Kim also had to understand that none of these heroes had someone governing how they should be a hero. She had to clear the air here and now in order to keep the peace.
"It's not like that," Kim assured. "The Global Justice Network isn't going to have anyone give up their secret identities or tell them how they should do their jobs. They only want to organize us into a team to better protect the planet."
"As long as they can still call the shots, right?" Danny assumed. "What if they tell us to carry out a mission that we don't want to do, or keep us from going somewhere that we need to be?"
"It won't come to that," Kim explained. "Because we'll be in charge of the team."
Everyone was taken aback by that statement. The fact that the GJN was giving this much power to the heroes was astonishing to them. However, they were still a tad unconvinced.
"The six of us will be the heads of this team," Kim added further. "We'll call the shots and all we'll need to do in turn is stay in close touch with Global Justice on every mission so they can assist us."
"Don't you mean seven?" the Dragon mention, pointing to Ron as he did.
"Nah, it's cool," Ron answered. "I'm kinda the wrong guy to give any sort of authority to. Perfect example: I was a manager at Bueno Nacho and went power mad. Nearly fired KP to."
"As I was saying," his lover cut in cut in. "The GJN don't want to control us, they want to help us be more effective. The world is full of dangers that not one of us can stand alone against. We need to stand as a united force against any future threat."
"And what happens if Dr. Director doesn't like how we're doing things?" Danny questioned.
"And what happens if we say no?" the Dragon added on.
"I promise you that nothing bad is going to happen," Kim swore. "And to answer your question, you'll be left alone the moment you walk out of that door. No spying, no threats, no nothing. And when you feel ready, you can come back and join the team at any time."
The other heroes looked at one another, as if they were silently wondering if this was all on the up and up. Granted, none of them liked the idea of answering to the GJN, but Kim did have a point. The world was slowly filling up with new threats everyday, and if they wanted to stop them, then they'd have to do so together.
"I'm in," Danny stated.
"Me too," Jenny added.
"Same," Randy said.
"Count me in," Shezow mentioned.
"Likewise," the Dragon answered.
"Great!" Kim said, happy that the mission was a success. "I want to show you all something I've been saving."
She then pulled up her wrist communicator.
"Go ahead, Wade,"
Kim's tech, Wade, then pulled up a small little antenna from the wrist-communicator. It then suddenly flash a light that instantly changed the dining room into a the inside of a space station.
"What the juice?!" the Ninja exclaimed in shock. "Did we just teleport?!"
"No, this is a holo-projection of our new base," the young agent corrected. "Welcome to Skyward Tower."
The newly formed team were in total disbelief. None of them could ever imagine that they would be able to have a space station of their own before, and while it was clear from some of the damage the interior had that there had to be some repairs done, it was nothing that they couldn't fix.
"This used to be a space station that belonged to Skyway Patrol," Kim continued. "But, during the Lowardian invasion, it was heavily damaged and had to be abandoned. Since then, the GJN took possession of the station and have been fixing it up. I know it's not pretty to look at now, but I'm told that it'll be ready for us to move into in about a month. Wheeljack and Breaker have been heading the repairs, so I'm sure it'll done sooner than that."
"Wait, did you say Wheeljack and Breaker?" the Ninja asked. "As in the Autobot and G.I. Joe Wheeljack and Breaker?"
"Yeah, they signed on to be apart of this team along with the rest of the Autobots and G.I. Joe" Kim answered. "Along with the Earth Corps."
"You mean I'm going to be on a team with Optimus Prime?!" Jenny squealed in shock. "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!"
"Holy crap, I'm going to be working with Gung-Ho!" the Ninja cheered.
"I thought you'd be more of a Snake Eyes fan," Shezow stated.
"No, what makes you say that?" the hero of Norrisville denied, making the heroine roll her eyes at that.
"Before you guys start celebrating, there's something you all have to do," Kim cut in as she switched off the holo-projection. "There's several more people that the GJN want to be a part of this team. I need you all to find them and try to convince them to join up with us."
She then took out some files and passed them around to everyone.
"We need to get as many people as we can to sign on with us," she furthered. "The more word spread about this team the better."
"Quick question: what are we calling this team anyway?" the Dragon inquired.
"I'm...not sure" the redhead admitted. "I'm not good with names."
"Eh, don't worry about it right now," Shezow mentioned. "The way I see it, we've got from now until infinity to think of something."
And like that, a name for the team came to Danny.
"Guys..." he began. "I think I got the perfect name for us..."
And like that, the Infinity League was born.