AN: Okay so there really isn't much for me to say other than this will be more of a laid back chapter. Basically part of how Ulrich and Aelita are dealing with the adjustment and their new lives, and by the end it will throw something else into play that they'll have to deal with, so sorry if there isn't as much action as you would probably want there to be. Also, I want to point out that I made Ulrich and Aelita 18 years old because otherwise they would've been the youngest heroes in this continuity, even younger than Spider-Man, but I also still wanted them to be the youngest members of the Avengers, when the team forms, and I wanted them to have not been full on adults since it would make more sense for them to not have changed personality wise if they were at the age where they were just finishing high school. One final thing, in case it wasn't obvious, in this story, the events of Code Lyoko Evolution never happened for Ulrich and Aelita, in case that wasn't made clear in the last chapter. Now with that little piece said...

I do not own anything from either the Code Lyoko or MARVEL franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.


Chapter 1: Adjustment

A few weeks had passed since the last Lyoko Warriors had arrived in their new world and met Agent Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D., Janet Van Dyne, who turned out to be a superhero codenamed Wasp, and Hank Pym, who was also a superhero known as Ant-Man. Ulrich could not stop himself from laughing when he first heard Hank's superhero name, but aside from that, the two were actually getting along really well with their new friends. They had tried to insist on getting their own apartment in New York, but Janet was insistent on them staying at her penthouse with her and she did not take no for an answer. After they had finished moving in with the insect themed hero, Ulrich and Aelita got a better understanding of their host and her boyfriend, or rather the man she wanted to be her boyfriend.

Janet had first gained her size altering powers after she was exposed to a type of particle that was known as Pym Particles, and as such was able to alter her size and mass at will. When she is in her smaller size, Janet was able to grow a pair of wings that allowed her to fly while also being able to retain her full strength from her normal size even while she is small. In addition to this, Janet also possessed the ability to create Bio-Electrical energy blasts that she had called her Stingers from her hands using her body's natural bio-energy. While all of these powers of hers were impressive, along with the fact that it was believed she could use her size altering powers to grow bigger as well, it was her personality that really got Ulrich and Aelita's attention.

Janet was a very cheery and excitable person, and seemed really enthusiastic about anything that caught her interests. While she sometimes appeared shallow and self-absorbed, Ulrich and Aelita could tell that underneath that Janet genuinely cared about others and was willing to go out of her way to help people in need, especially if the way she comforted Aelita after they first met was anything to go by alone. Even though she was older than them by a few years, Janet definitely seemed very childish at times, but she was also very opinionated and clearly was not afraid to speak her mind and stand up for what she believes in. All in all, Janet was definitely someone that the two enjoyed being around, especially Aelita since she had found a new female best friend in Janet. Of course the fact that Janet seemed to be a very skilled and famous fashion designer was also pretty cool, a fact that even Ulrich had to admit, but the boy was not as eager about what having a fashion designer as their friend would mean as Aelita was.

Hank Pym on the other hand was probably the more strange of the two, to put it mildly. While he was not opposed to fighting criminals, Hank was far more of a pacifist in his views, believing that problems should be resolved through logical thinking and talking things out, with violence only being a last resort. Ulrich had tried to argue with the size altering hero on this by saying that while he thought that was a good belief, there were better times to deal with talking things out with bad guys than in the middle of the crime or battlefield when people could get hurt, but Hank was a bit too stubborn to listen to reason on some things. As far as powers went, Hank's were more based on the technology in his suit. After discovering the Pym Particles and their size altering capabilities, Hank had designed the Ant-Man suit with a pair of controls that he could use to regulate how the particles would alter his size. He still retained his full human strength at his smaller size like Janet, but when he used it to increase his mass and size he also gained some extra muscle along with superhuman strength as well.

One of things about Hank's suit that really intrigued Aelita though, was his Ant-Man helmet, which allowed him to communicate with insects. Hank had explained that the helmet sent out certain sound frequencies that were on the same range as an insect's hearing, thus enabling him to communicate with and even control insects, right to the point that he could summon them from anywhere. The main reason it fascinated Aelita so much was because of the small amount of a scientist in her, and Hank was pleasantly surprised to find that Aelita held such an interest in science of any kind at all. Ulrich simply thought that it was cool how Hank's suit could help him change his sizes and that was that for the young man. At the moment though, neither one of them were finding themselves enjoying their time with Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne at the moment. Although that was more due to the former than the latter.

"This is sad Hank," Janet said as she and the two Lyoko Warriors looked around at all the bugs in Hank's lab at one of the universities in New York City. "I'm the one who makes all this possible you know. This…this…"

"Science," Hank filled in excitedly.

"Right," Janet conceded, smirking internally at Ulrich and Aelita's amused expressions. "All the business arrangements, the grants; I manage your entire life so you can do this. And it's so boring! So boring!"

"Jan, I'm mapping insect genomes! What could be better," Hank asked the size changing woman excitedly.

"Do you really want an honest answer to that Hank, or do you want us to lie through our teeth," Ulrich asked with a chuckle. Aelita tried to throw him a look for that comment, but it was a little hard to do when she was giggling at it and Hank's annoyed expression in response all the same.

"Trust me Jan, when it comes to men of science and their work, they think that there's nothing better in the world after they get going," Aelita reassured her friend with a chuckle, absentmindedly thinking of when Jeremy was working on something for their old battles on Lyoko back in the day.

"Yeah, and it's not like you do everything alone anymore with us around," Ulrich reminded Janet as he shuffled through the mail that consisted of the business arrangements and grants that Janet had previously mentioned. His statement was actually quite true since a short while after they had started living with the two size altering heroes, Ulrich and Aelita had started helping Janet out with, as she put it, managing Hank's life so he could do his research, and Ulrich had actually surprised both Aelita and himself with how good he was with it. When Janet had asked him how he was able to do it so well, Ulrich shrugged it off saying that he figured it was just something that he got from his father. At one point though, Ulrich paused in his shuffling as he noticed one letter in particular that did not seem to be a grant or business arrangement. "What's this thing here," Ulrich asked as he held it out.

Hank looked at the letter and instantly scowled as he snatched it away saying, "Food for the ants."

"Hank," Janet snapped as she snatched the letter from him to see it herself. She then smiled as she gave Ulrich a proper answer saying, "It's an invite to a fireman's ball at Stark Tower. One of a few charity functions that is hosted by Tony Stark. He sends us invites to them every year."

"You say charity function, I say a small chance for Stark to stoke his ego," Hank grumbled.

Ulrich threw a small look at Hank before saying, "I'm guessing that Hank and this Tony Stark guy don't get along well."

"You could say that," Janet replied. "Hank's not that big a fan of Tony since Stark Industries was originally the biggest name in weapons development and at some point or another Tony had tried to turn one of Hank's creations into a weapon. That was before he had a small trip overseas that left him with the arc reactor in his chest that now keeps Tony alive and allowed him to become Iron Man, because almost immediately after he got home, Tony made it clear that his company was no longer going to be doing anything in the area of weapons development and so far he's done just that. Sure there are some people who still use his technology to build weapons, but Tony's made sure to fix that problem by destroying those weapons or just getting his tech back as Iron Man."

"So I guess it's safe to say your pretty open minded in your opinion of him, huh Jan," Aelita asked.

"You got that right Aelita," Janet replied happily. A second after she said that, Janet's face seemed to light up and she proclaimed, "You know what, we're going to go to this party."

"What? Why would we even consider doing this at all? It's not like Tony's…" Hank started to argue.

"We are going for Ulrich and Aelita's sake. This could be a big help for them in dealing with their recent loss, and besides, it's not like it's everyday that they get a chance to meet Tony Stark," Janet told Hank.

Hank was about to argue, but he then glanced in Ulrich and Aelita's direction as the two had moved closer together to whisper about something that seemed to involve the invitation that Stark had sent. Hank may not have spent as much time with the two as Janet had, but he did want to do anything he could to help them adjust to their new surroundings and move on with their lives after what had happened to them. As much as he hated to admit it, Hank knew Janet had a point in saying that going to Stark's party would be a big help in moving forward, so he gave a tired sigh in defeat and told Janet, "Alright. We're going to Stark's party."

Janet was instantly giddy with joy at this as she raced over to Aelita and grabbed the pink haired girl's hand as she said, "Come on! We've got to get you guys something to wear for this, and maybe something for me and Hank as well."

"Uh…I don't think that's necessary Jan," Ulrich tried to argue, but he was immediately shot down by Aelita, much to his surprise.

"Ulrich, we're going to need to do this either way. In case you've forgotten, we don't have anything to wear for a formal occasion," the pink haired girl had told him in a tone that left no room for argument.

"Exactly, so be a good brother and come with the three of us to the mall," Janet said as she pulled Hank away from his microscope and headed for the door.

"Wait, what? But Jan, I've just replicated an ant chromosome! It's amazing, and I have to stay and see how it develops," Hank tried to argue.

"Yeah that's…awesome Hank, but this takes precedence at the moment," Janet argued, and in the end, both men were dragged out of the lab and off to the mall.


"I have said it before, and I'll say it again. Aelita, you are the only girl I know who can work the color pink so well," Janet told Aelita as said pinkette looked over her appearance in a full size mirror. At the moment, Aelita was trying on a few dresses, all of which were varying shades of pink. Janet had actually taken both former Lyoko Warriors shopping for some additional clothes a few weeks back, and the minute Aelita deviated too far from having anything remotely resembling the color, Janet and Ulrich both had to cringe at the sight. The furthest they had gotten was when Aelita had tried on a black, short sleeved top with a dark pink skirt and similarly colored, knee high socks, and when Janet had asked why it seemed like no other colors worked that well for Aelita without some form of pink in their mix, Aelita had just shrugged and stated that the color just suited her so well as she brushed her now shoulder length pink hair.

Ulrich had been a little easier to shop for as he just elected to go with a few other versions of his black shirt, green army jacket, and dark blue jeans, saying that he did not want to try and change something that had already worked so well for so long. Of course he did mix it up a little when it came to picking out clothes that he would wear while working out, but that was as far as the former Lyoko samurai was willing to go. At the moment, Ulrich was just wishing that the two would hurry up and finish browsing through all these dresses, especially since they had not even started looking for something for Janet. "How girls can do this for so long is beyond me," Ulrich moaned.

"Tell me about it, and I'm afraid that even science has yet to have found an explanation for it," Hank groaned in agreement with Ulrich. While Ulrich was not much in the way of science, Hank did find that he enjoyed spending time with the young man since it gave him a chance to talk to another guy who was not wearing a S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform, or worked for some big company. In essence, it allowed Hank a moment to just be one of the guys, something that he found quite enjoyable much to his surprise. "Did you ever have to do this with your girlfriend though," Hank asked. He then realized that he probably should not have asked something that was likely a very sensitive question to Ulrich and quickly tried to apologize.

"It's okay Hank, really. Talking about that stuff actually helps to deal with it. Just try to avoid doing so around Aelita. She's still having a hard time talking about it even with me," Ulrich reassured the insect enthusiastic scientist. He then adopted a nostalgic expression as he recalled all the memories of his friends, "To answer your question though, no, Yumi wasn't the type of girl to normally be into that type of thing. Most of, if not all of her outfits were completely colored black, and she was not as interested in her appearance as most girls were. She always preferred to stand out in her own way through her natural looks and such than to try and change in any way that was out of character for her. She wasn't willing to change who she was for anyone, and to be honest, that kind of independent view on things was one of things I loved the most about her."

Hank smiled at this moment Ulrich had taken to recount his memories of those he had lost, when a thought suddenly occurred to him that had been bothering him for some time. "Say Ulrich, I was just wondering, considering how diverse a group you and your friends were, I can't help but ask how you guys all met up and became such close friends? I understand if you don't want to talk about it, but I just wanted to ask simply because I'm curious."

Ulrich just waved off Hank's concern as he started to recount the story of how he, Aelita, and their friends all met each other, or at least a version of the story that kept the fact that they were from a whole other universe a secret, since they still had not told Hank, Janet, or really anyone about that yet. "Well I guess you could say it was thanks in large part to Aelita. We had this small pen pal program start up one day at school and that led our friend Jeremy to meet Aelita, who was still in an orphanage that had pretty poor level of quality, after he found out that they could video chat with each other. At that time, I only knew Jeremy as the really smart kid who didn't have any friends at all, but after hearing about how he was so determined to help Aelita out with the situation she was in, despite the fact they had never met in person, I couldn't help but admire the guy a bit and feel a need to help him out."

"I had already met Odd before that because he had just transferred to the academy and was made my new roommate and that was how he met the two of them. When I first met him though, Odd seemed like some weird, attention seeking class clown that wanted to latch onto me more than he did move in with me, but after a while he started to grow on me, right to the point where you could say that by the end of the day, I couldn't really live without him around. It was actually Odd who came up with the idea of nicknaming Jeremy, Einstein, and we've always called him that ever since. Though he was a bit of a class clown and a jokester with a bad sense of humor most of the time, Odd was definitely a reliable guy, especially when it came to his dog."

"You mean the same dog that sometimes causes problems with my experiments," Hank asked with a pointed look.

"Well hey, I never said that Odd did the best job of training him," Ulrich admitted. "You could always count on Odd both for a laugh and when it came to having your back, especially when it came to dealing with Sissi."

"You mean the principle's daughter that you mentioned that had a crush on you," Hank asked.

"Yep."

"You know I can't help but wonder why you wouldn't find having the daughter of your school's principle practically flipped head over heels for you beneficial," Hank observed with a small smile.

"Are you kidding me? Guy's may have been flipped over her, but it was so much so that most of the time they couldn't tell that she was totally brain dead and a leech as well," Ulrich moaned in remembrance of Sissi and having to endure sitting in class with her.

"In that case, I can see why there is so little appeal," Hank admitted.

Ulrich smiled a bit as he commented, "You know, that's a lot like what Odd said the minute I explained that to him after he first met Sissi. Anyways, Yumi met the group through me as well, and it was mostly because we were in the same martial arts club. She was also new at the academy and one of the few students who wasn't a boarder, so naturally she had a tough time making friends until she met the rest of us. I guess you could say that she and Aelita kind of became like the sister that each of them never had for each other."

"Didn't you say that Yumi also had a little brother as well," Hank then remembered.

"Yeah, Hiroki. The little tyke used to always tease both me and Yumi about our relationship, especially before we officially became a couple, but he always meant well, even when it didn't seem like it. Yumi used to tell me that Hiroki even looked up to me as a big brother kind of figure, but I didn't really see it until he started attending school with us like his sister did," Ulrich explained, smiling fondly as he remembered some of those times with the younger Ishiyama sibling. "He actually asked me for advice on how to approach girls when he got his first crush, and when he got in trouble with Yumi, I couldn't help but feel bad for him and want to help him out if I could."

"Sounds like he was just as much of a little brother to you as you were an older brother to him," Hank observed.

"Yeah. I was an only child growing up, and my dad was always really strict about how well I did in school, right to the point where it usually seemed like the only way I could make my dad proud of me was when I played soccer," Ulrich explained. "I know that he really was proud of me no matter what, but I guess that I couldn't help but wish that I had a sibling of my own to help me deal with it."

Hank nodded in consent of that, as he could understand how having a brother or sister could help make things a bit easier for someone. "What about that other boy in your group? Willis something?"

"William Dunbar," Ulrich corrected. "He was the last member of the group to join in with us. We met him through Yumi and to be honest, he and I didn't always get along that well since he was just as flipped over Yumi as I was. At times he seemed kind of full of himself and like a bit of a showoff, but William proved that he was someone we could always count on when it mattered most in the end and that pretty much cemented his inclusion into our little gang of friends."

"Hey boys, if you two are done gossiping, how about giving us both your professional opinion on the lovely ladies standing before you right now," Janet then interrupted. Ulrich and Hank both looked towards the girls to see that Janet and Aelita were both now trying on dresses that went down to the lower half of their legs and were in there respective favorite colors, Janet's being yellow and Aelita's pink, and they both had to admit that the two girls looked good enough to be fashion models.

"Honestly, you guys look great. Seriously Aelita, I can already tell that I'll be beating back guys who try to flirt with you if you go in that," Ulrich admitted.

"Thanks Ulrich," Aelita giggled with a small blush, thinking that Ulrich was over exaggerating a little bit. Aelita then glanced at Hank's stunned expression and had to giggle a little more as she said, "Hey Jan, I think you broke him."

Aelita probably was not too far off in her observation as Hank's mind had effectively shut down the minute he saw Janet in the dress she was wearing, and when one added in the white gloves she wore along with the dress, she seemed like an angel in Hank's eyes. Janet waved a hand in front of Hank's face as she called out to him to try and snap him out of his daze, but after numerous unsuccessful attempts, she just took his speechlessness to mean that she had picked a winner. Seeing this, Janet turned to change back into her normal clothes along with Aelita so that they could pay for the dresses and said, "Okay, all we have to do now is pick out something nice for the boys to wear. Shouldn't be too hard in either of their cases since they seem so fixated on just one look."

Aelita just laughed at that while Ulrich scowled a bit feeling as though he and Hank were just insulted somehow. The two men then just exchanged a look as they both simply said one word. "Women."


Night time came quick enough and it was soon plenty obvious just how big an event a party at Stark Tower was to Ulrich and Aelita. The two of them had arrived just a short while ago with Hank and Janet, and all four of them were decked out in the dresses that the girls had bought that same day and in the suits that Ulrich and Hank had been forced into. Hank had elected to wear a white dress shirt with a black tie with his suit while Ulrich had gone with a dark red one with a black tie as well. A minute after they had all reached the door, they were greeted by a woman in a smart business suit with long red hair that was tied back in a ponytail. The minute the woman saw them she instantly smiled and said, "Jan, Hank, glad you both could make it."

"Hey Pepper, it's so good to see you," Janet exclaimed happily.

"Miss Potts, it's been a while," Hank added cheerfully.

Pepper then noticed Ulrich and Aelita and asked, "And who're your two friends here?"

Janet instantly brought Aelita and Ulrich forward as she introduced them saying, "This is Ulrich Stern and his sister Aelita. Ulrich, Aelita, this is Virginia Potts, Tony Stark's personal assistant."

"And at times, the unofficial CEO of Stark Industries since Mister Stark is out playing hero instead of doing real work so often. Please, call me Pepper," Pepper added in as she held out a hand to the two.

"It's nice to meet you Pepper," Aelita said shyly as she accepted the handshake.

"First time at one of these types of things," Pepper asked as she shook hands with Ulrich next.

"Is it that obvious," Ulrich asked.

"It depends on the person really. How do you know Jan and Hank though?"

Ulrich noticed Aelita seemed to get a sad look on her face and gave Hank and Janet a small glance to ask them to cover for them while he tried to comfort his adopted sister a bit. Janet saw it and quickly moved over to Pepper to say, "They're the only ones to have survived a plane crash near one of the places Hank was recently doing research at, and we offered to let them stay with us as they built their lives back up. They're all either of them have left."

"Oh I am so sorry to hear that you two," Pepper immediately apologized.

"It's okay. We're doing our best to move on," Aelita waved off with a small smile of reassurance.

"Well, you've definitely made a good decision in helping with that healing process if you decided to come out on the town for this. Enjoy your evening," Pepper then told them as she ushered them all inside.

"So is your boss actually going to show up for this, or is he too busy with one of his pet projects," Hank then asked, only to get an elbow in the side from Janet for asking so rudely.

"Mister Stark said he would be here, but he is running fashionably late, as usual," Pepper replied with an exasperated sigh. Hank only nodded in reply to this for a moment before he moved to join the rest of his group in the party.

As soon as they were all inside, Ulrich and Aelita had to take a moment to stare in awe at just how extravagant the whole thing seemed to be. Up until now, the most formal event that either of them had ever been to was their school prom, but that paled in comparison to this. There were many people here dressed in their best suits and dresses, among which were business men, scientists, a few high profile reporters, and even the brave men and women of the emergency response groups who risked their lives every day in attendance. There was an actual orchestra playing music and even a bar for people to get drinks at. It was such a shock to them that they barely even registered another person approach them until the person asked, "A lot to take in isn't it?"

They both turned to see that Janet and Hank had gone to mingle with others for a little while and that they were now in the company of a dark skinned man in a military uniform. "Uh yeah kind of. We came with Doctor Pym and Miss Van Dyne actually," Ulrich stuttered.

The black man simply raised a hand as he smiled to say that he did not need to explain himself as he then held out his hand for a handshake and introduced himself. "Colonel James Rhodes of the US Armed Forces. I met Tony and Pepper a while back when I was serving as the official liaison between Stark Industries and the military and we've all been good friends ever since."

Ulrich quickly accepted the handshake and said in reply, "I'm Ulrich Stern and this is my sister Aelita. Nice to meet you Colonel."

"Please, call me Rhodey." The colonel then looked at Aelita closely before raising an eyebrow and asking, "Is she really your sister though? You don't really look that much alike."

"I…I'm adopted," Aelita stuttered.

Ulrich simply put a hand on Aelita's shoulder before seeing Janet waving to them. Ulrich simply told Aelita to go and see what Janet wanted and the pink haired girl went off to speak to her friend as Ulrich turned back to Rhodey and said, "Sorry about that. She's really shy a lot of times around some people, and the topic of her birth family and our family and friends in general is something of a hard topic for her since our parents and friends all died in a plane crash a few weeks back."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Rhodey replied. "You certainly seem like a good brother, and a strong young man to be able to handle all that and look out for your sister so well. You ever think of enlisting?"

"No not really. To be honest, most of my dreams involved starting up a small martial arts dojo so I could teach what I know to kids who need a way to deal with some tough problems," Ulrich replied.

"That's pretty noble of you, kid, and if it's any consolation, I understand quite well what you and your sister are going through right now. I actually lost my parents in a plane crash as well," a new voice suddenly cut in. Rhodey and Ulrich both turned to see a man in a dark red dress shirt, black pants, and suit with black hair and a small goatee had joined into their conversation, and Ulrich knew at once from the pictures he had seen of the man, that this was probably Tony Stark himself.

"Tony, where have you been? You should've been here hours ago," Rhodey sighed as he confirmed Ulrich's suspicions.

"Small problem that required Iron Man's attention Rhodey, and besides, at least I'm fashionably late, as you would know if you had been paying attention." Tony then turned to face Ulrich as he held out a hand in greeting as he said, "Sorry about cutting in like that, but I couldn't help myself. Tony Stark."

"Ulrich Stern," Ulrich replied as he accepted the handshake.

"Oh so you're one of Hank and Jan's new friends huh? Pepper mentioned you to me as I was coming in. Say, I don't suppose you know who the cute girl over there with Jan is do you? The one with pink hair," Tony asked Ulrich.

Ulrich did not need to look to know who Tony was talking about and instantly went into what he and Aelita had dubbed his protective big brother mode as he replied in a warning tone, "That's Aelita, my sister."

Tony instantly raised his hands in surrender as he stated, "Sorry. Didn't know that. Anyhow, if you two will excuse me, I've got to mingle and greet my guests."

With that, Tony was off into the crowd with Rhodey following a minute later, leaving Ulrich to move off to the side towards the bar. The minute he had situated himself in a comfortable position on the side, he found himself thinking about all that had happened to him and Aelita since they had arrived in this world. It was hard to believe how many people there were in this world with incredible powers, both good and bad, and he could easily see what the Beyonder had meant when he said that he was giving Ulrich and Aelita powers for their protection, but other than that, it was amazing how many heroes there were out there to inspire people.

Among them being the World War II hero, Captain America, and the New York local hero, Spider-Man. Ulrich was not sure what to make of the latter given what the news paper known as the Daily Bugle often wrote about him, but in the case of Captain America, Ulrich found the super soldier to be a big reason why so many super powered people were inspired to become heroes, and in effect caused him to wonder again if he and Aelita could really take on the role of heroes again one day themselves. In Spider-Man's case, as he had mentioned before, it was hard to be certain given what was said about him in the Bugle, but Ulrich had actually gotten the opportunity to speak with some of the people the arachnid themed hero had helped and found that despite what was said about him, Spidey seemed like he wanted to do nothing more than what he believed was right, and Ulrich had to respect that about the web head.

Ulrich was suddenly stirred out of his thoughts by a familiar voice which said, "Quite the party wouldn't you say Mister Stern?"

Ulrich turned to see the familiar smiling face of the same man who had introduced him and Aelita to Hank and Janet that fateful day that they had arrived in this dimension. "Agent Coulson, it's been a while. How've you been," Ulrich greeted happily with a quick handshake.

"I've been well, or at least as well as one can be in my line of work," Coulson replied. "Dealing with all the things you'd expect working for S.H.I.E.L.D. and then some, but I definitely can't complain."

"So what are you doing here then," Ulrich had to ask as he accepted a glass of water that he had asked for earlier.

"A small job for Director Fury. He's been trying to get in touch with Stark to speak with him about a matter involving security at the Vault."

"What's the Vault," Ulrich asked in confusion.

"It's a supervillian prison, Mister Stern, but I'm afraid that's really all I can tell you about it. Everything else is classified," Coulson automatically replied.

"Yeah I understand that. So what's it like working for S.H.I.E.L.D. anyway," Ulrich asked. He had heard a little about the world peace keeping organization both from Coulson when they first met and Pym, but he wanted to hear a little more if he could.

"Well I can't tell you much, but what I can tell you is that there's no other job like it in the world. I've seen my fair share of strange and unexplained things in my time working with S.H.I.E.L.D., and even after all the bad things that's happened to me in this job, I can still say with the utmost confidence that I wouldn't trade it for any other job in the world," Coulson responded proudly.

"You know in a way, it all kind of makes you seem like your just as big a hero as Spider-Man, Captain America, or any of the other heroes in the news judging by all of that," Ulrich told Coulson with a small chuckle.

"I suppose that's one way of looking at it, but I wouldn't go so far as to compare me to Captain America. There's really no one like him, in this or any lifetime," Coulson stated, and Ulrich could swear he heard a bit of hero worship enter his voice when he talked about the super soldier. "Why you ask by the way?"

"Oh my old Phys Ed. Teacher actually served in the secret service back in the day," Ulrich replied.

"Really," Coulson exclaimed.

"Yeah, but like with many of his old jobs, he'd rather not talk about it," Ulrich then added, quoting said gym teacher's catchphrase.

Coulson was about to ask Ulrich a bit more about this gym teacher of his when suddenly an explosion shook the whole room. A minute later, another explosion erupted in the room itself and a group of men in yellow hazmat suits rushed into the room, shouting about grabbing some of Stark's technology and then getting out fast. Ulrich immediately raced over to Aelita to make sure she was safe while he heard policemen and Coulson calling out into radios or phones about the attack and requesting backup.

"Ulrich, what's going on," Aelita asked fearfully as the sounds of laser fire from the hazmat wearing attackers' guns erupted into the room.

"Don't know, but we've gotta get out of here," Ulrich stated, his instincts and reflexive reactions from his time as a Lyoko Warrior instantly taking over.

"Wait! Where're Hank and Jan," Aelita then asked.

Ulrich looked around for a minute, not seeing either of the two size changers anywhere until he suddenly realized they were both in one of the attackers' line of fire. Just before the man in the hazmat suit could fire though, he was hit by a blue beam of energy from the other side of the room. Instantly, everyone looked to see who had fired the blast at the attacker, and then erupted into cheers at the sight of a man in a red and gold suit with one arm raised in an attack position, who could only be Tony Stark suited up as his armored alter ego, Iron Man.

"You know, for guys who call themselves the Advanced Idea Mechanics, attacking my party, which is being held in my building, while I'm at said party is a really stupid idea," Iron Man told the hazmat wearing intruders mockingly, which instantly led to all of them firing on him as he took to the air to evade their shots and return fire.

Ulrich could only smile at the sight of Iron Man swooping in to save the day like this when he suddenly realized that Aelita was no longer next to him. Ulrich then began to spin from left to right as he tried to find his friend, but was not able to find so much as one sign of her. Really, one would think that it would not be difficult to find a girl with naturally pink hair in a crowd of people, but then they just did not realize how bad Ulrich's luck was. Ulrich then spotted Hank and Janet trying to usher people out as they evacuated, but then saw that neither of them had noticed an A.I.M. soldier aiming right at them. Ulrich was about to call out to them when someone else beat him to it.

"NO," the familiar voice of Aelita had called out, which led Ulrich to look directly towards where she was standing just in time to see Aelita react on impulse and raise a hand towards where Hank and Janet were standing, not realizing that said hand was glowing for a minute until a large piece of metal that seemed to extend up from the floor formed in front of the two, granting the size changers a temporary barrier.

Aelita could only stare in shock, wondering if she had really just done what she thought she did, and never realizing that some debris from the fire fight between A.I.M. and Iron Man was about to fall on her. Ulrich did notice this though and instantly raced forward, realizing a second later that he was moving so fast that everything else seemed to be moving in slow motion around him, even as he scooped Aelita up into his arms and pulled her out of the way. Aelita and Ulrich both looked back to where they were both standing only a second ago until they shared a look that clearly told the other that they had both reached the same conclusion. Their powers were beginning to manifest.

They did not have much more time to think on it as Janet instantly snapped the two out of their thoughts and shouted, "You two get out of here! We'll be right behind you in just a minute!"

Ulrich nodded and began to lead Aelita, who was still in shock from the revelation that her powers were beginning to awaken, outside, only pausing for a moment to tell Janet, "You guys had better be right behind us."

Janet nodded in reassurance and then returned her attention to the matter at hand as she and Hank continued to escort and usher the evacuating party guests out. None of them ever noticed that Agent Coulson was actually calling Nick Fury to report what Ulrich and Aelita had apparently just done, having been the only person to witness the two using their powers for the first time in real life instead of on Lyoko.


"Well that was some party huh," Janet asked in an attempt to lighten the mood after she and her two young friends returned to her penthouse.

Ulrich and Aelita both looked at each other before they broke out into a small amount of laughter as the former said, "It was definitely not what I had expected, but it was fun until the whole A.I.M. attack thing."

"Plus, at least we got to take a picture with Iron Man afterwards," Aelita added as she looked at the image she had on her camera that she had brought with her.

Janet smiled at the two, glad that they were able to enjoy themselves despite what had happened, and then simply let out a small yawn as she headed off to turn in for the night. This left Ulrich and Aelita on their own to discuss what had happened. "I guess we're getting our powers now huh," Ulrich stated as a way to start things off.

"Yeah, but it kind of makes me worried about what that will mean exactly," Aelita said softly with a sad look on her face.

Ulrich placed his hand atop Aelita's own as he reassured her, "Hey, just because we'll have these powers doesn't mean we'll necessarily have to become heroes again. You know that right?"

"I know Ulrich, but I also know how much you liked being a hero back in the old days. Do you think that…maybe we really were born to be heroes," Aelita asked.

Ulrich just walked over to pat Aelita's shoulder as he said, "Hey don't worry about that kind of thing right now. For now, we should just focus on getting a better handle on our powers so that we don't use them by accident or just find ourselves only able to use them out of a reflex reaction."

Aelita smiled and just nodded in agreement with what Ulrich said before they too went off to their rooms in Janet's penthouse to turn in for the night themselves, knowing that they would have a lot of work to do in the following days starting the next morning. Whether or not it led to them becoming heroes again, only time would tell, and that time would come much sooner than either of them could realize.


AN: So there you have it. Our Lyoko heroes now know a bit more about the world they now live in when it comes to both people and locations, they've now met Iron Man and his friends, had an encounter with A.I.M., and let's see...Oh that's right! They've got their powers now! Hooray! Now, I will say that I do have something of a plan for Aelita and Ulrich's new love interests, but it's a little more difficult thinking of someone for Ulrich than it is Aelita. If you want to know who Aelita's love interest is going to be in this story, you'll just have to wait and see. As for Ulrich, I've set up a poll on my profile to try and ease things out a bit, so please tell me who you want to see Lyoko's samurai be paired up with. Well, I think I've said all that needs to be said, so here's the preview!...

Next time, Ulrich and Aelita have had a fair amount of time to get control of their powers, and now the moment of truth is upon them. A massive event sweeps the world as something causes the security in every one of the supervillian prisons to go down and results in a major event that threatens all the lives of New York, including their new friends. Will Ulrich and Aelita step up and reassume their old mantles? Find out next time in…Chapter 2: The Breakout.

Please read and review, and I'll see you next time!