Author's Note: All right I'm back with another chapter. Hope you guys like this next one.

The Avengers' Crusade

Chapter 3

The Avengers' Crusade Presents: X-Men: The Fall

Back in the present, the young girl known as X-23 related to the Avengers the full details of this dark and twisted future she hailed from. And needless to say it wasn't well received especially by one Avenger in particular.

"What do you mean this is my fault?" Tony barked at her. The young girl got in his face with a finger inches away from his eye.

"If your stupid company hadn't gobbled up all of SHIELD's defense tech then the invasion would have never taken place and Osborn wouldn't be in charge of the Avengers Initiative!" she shot back and was ready to tear his head off before Ant-Man intervened.

"Whoa, whoa time out!" he said pulling them apart and holding them at arm's length.

"I understand your plight, and you have every reason to be mad at Tony. He's done some pretty questionable things in the past. But arguing about it won't get us anywhere. If we're to save the future we need to formulate a plan." He added.

"Ant-Man's right. And what's important now is that we need to find a way to travel into the future so we can change it. So um, how did you get here?" Jan asked bending over slight to her level. X-23 stuck out her lower lip and looked away before answering.

"It was kind of a one way deal." She said in a low voice.

"Great so now we have to make a time machine." Clint said getting up. X-23 whirled around giving Hawkeye a dirty look.

"Well its true isn't it?" he defended. Surprisingly she didn't do anything to him as Iron Man and Ant-Man pondered the necessities for time travel.

"Can you do it?" Iron Man asked.

"Well, in theory it may be possible. But since we don't know the exact process she used to be able to traverse the time stream into our relative point in history. It would be extremely tricky to figure out and could take years or even decades to master." Ant-Man told him.

"What about Banner? He's smart." Hawkeye suggested. Hulk scoffed in annoyance.

"Banner's an expert in gamma radiation not time travel." He commented gruffly.

"Thank you Mister Green Genes." Hawkeye retorted.

"If there's anyone that can engineer the impossible its Reed Richards." said Hank.

"Mister Fantastic?" Hawkeye said surprised.

"No the Easter Bunny." Hulk replied earning a scowl from his teammate.

"Are you always like this?" he growled getting in his face while the Hulk knelt down to his level.

"Anytime you want to go arrow prick." Hulk replied.

"Really? You guys pick now of all times to start fighting?" said Wasp.

"Stay out of this!" they barked to the embarrassment of their teammates. Leading X-23 to say.

"This is professional…"

"Buddy I can take you on anytime!" Hawkeye said poking Hulk's chest. To which the green goliath was tempted to grab and break his wrist.

"Knock it off." X-23 growled but to no avail. The young girl hissed clinching her eyes shut as they continued to argue.

"Knock it off!" she shrieked as they all fell silent.

"Do you have any idea what I've sacrificed to come here? People are dead because you weren't there when we needed you most! You guys are gone! The X-Men are destroyed! There's no one on the planet that'll stand up to Norman Osborn and his goons! And all you do is argue? What's wrong with you guys? How could you be the heroes' kids worship? Your nothing but a disgrace! All of you!" she yelled before storming off.

The Avengers stood around silent as a numb feeling settled into the pits of their stomachs. Wasp went off after X-23 to try and calm her down leaving her male compatriots behind. Hawkeye, Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, Black Panther and Ant-Man gave each other the same disheartened glance. Hulk grimaced and ran a massive hand through his dark green hair embarrassed by the debacle, while the others shifted uncomfortably.

"She's right you know." Cap told them.

"Yeah…" said Iron Man.

"Sorry man." Hawkeye apologized softly.

"Yeah…me too." said Hulk.

X-23 dug her claws into a wall in anger before sliding down to the floor and burying herself in her thighs and started to cry. Wasp came up to her a short while later but kept her distance as she saw the young woman sob quietly into legs. Janet's face softened as she leaned against an archway and stood silently before approaching her.

"Hey their sweetie, are you okay?" she said softly. X-23 shook her head without raising it. Janet took it as a sign and knelt down besides her taking a motherly approach with the girl.

"She has been through a lot." Black Panther said in the next room.

"And we're out here making tools of ourselves. Tony why don't you go ahead and contact Reed Richards?" Hawkeye suggested.

"Already on it." he answered with two fingers pressed against his helmet.

While this was happening Clint noticed that the Hulk reverted back to Bruce Banner.

"And I'll help out anyway that I can." He said holding onto his pants.

"All right then let's get to work." Tony said, while Captain America nodded in approval at his team's change in demeanor. Down the hallway Wasp tried to connect with X-23 still sitting on the floor.

"So you have a real name sweetie?" she asked.

"It's Laura Kinney." she sniffled looking past her knees.

"Janet Van Dyne." smiled Wasp. Laura looked back at her as she extended a hand to X-23.

"Hi." The teen said shaking her hand.

"That's a pretty name." Janet added.

"I guess so." she shrugged.

"I guess you can tell who my dad is." She added looking at her own two prong claws.

"I can think of a few guys." joked Wasp. A faint hint of a smile graced the corner of 23's lips.

"So you do smile." added Wasp. She looked at the older Wasp from the corner of her eye before her smile vanished.

"I don't have a lot to smile for anymore." She said softly.

"I know. You said something about the X-Men earlier?" Janet asked.

"The mansion was attacked last week…a bunch of students died." She muttered.

Janet's eyes widened in shock and jaw dropped at the revelation. Her expression changed to sadness as she leaned back against the wall.

"I had no idea." She said.

"I was in the battle. It was ugly. A crazed pastor by the name of William Stryker believed Mutants were of the devil and called for genocide on national TV. He was one of those televangelists, really controversial but struck a perfect chord with bigots. Founded his own religious hate group called the Church of Humanity. We fought with his group several times before and managed to beat them…but this time was different." She said as she recalled the events.

"Stryker had somehow discovered that the mansion was actually a safe haven for mutants. And organized a strike against the school with the Friends of Humanity, another anti-mutant hate group. The bombed the school, and initiated an all out battle with the senior X-Men. I was on the frontlines alongside them. They were hell bent on killing as many students as they could. When one young girl was killed, Wolverine went nuts and gutted the man that killed her. Cyclops and the others were horrified. There was no time for apologies it was either kill or be killed. I was charged with getting many of the younger, inexperienced students out. I injured and maimed quite a few of Stryker's men with my claws, but it was necessary. And at that moment I didn't care. Some of the kids were pretty scared though." She said remember their horrified expressions.

X-23 wiped a tear from her eye and continued.

"I managed to clear a path for the kids getting them to the buses that were on standby. It seemed as though we were going to make it. All the kids were already on the bus and leaving the facility…then I saw him. William Stryker had a rocket launcher and fired it at the lead bus that was near the front gate and blew it sky high." She said remembering the explosion.

"I was horrified. I've never seen someone so callous in all my life. They were just kids, most of them my age of younger. He aimed for the next bus and I…I just lost it. Before I even knew it I was infront of him ripping the weapon out of his hands, and giving him the most hellacious beating I could muster. He was a monster. I'd never been so angry in all my life." she said as he slid on his back with Laura on top of him.

"I scarred his face with one of my claws and he ran. Stryker later turned up in his church with the right arm of Nimrod, another one of our enemies attached to his own. He had power, and it was my duty to stop him. I tracked him down to his church where he was planning to renew his attack. He captured another mutant by the name of Icarus, a boy with angel wings, and strung him up by such. He revealed to me that Icarus was the one that betrayed us. I didn't want to believe it because he seemed like a decent guy. Stryker revealed that he tricked Icarus, playing with his faith. Saying that God desired his wings back, and that if he did it would save not only his soul but also the souls of his classmates. He was just an innocent pawn in Stryker's sick game. And said he would use Icarus' wings to clone and graft them onto his soldiers to level the playing field. As I got ready to kill him another mutant stepped forward and blasted Stryker through the chest killing him." she said as a gold skinned mutant finished Stryker off.

The large golden blast ripped through the center of his chest and sent him flying back towards the front of the sanctuary. X-23 looked back towards the doors as Elixir stood there with a stern look on his face and his hand outstretched. Elixir bowed his head and lowered his arm in grief, while Stryker's corpse laid spread eagle just short of the pulpit where he preached.

"We got Icarus down and returned him to the mansion shortly there afterward. And then showed the X-Men Stryker's corpse. The battle was over and the mansion was completely destroyed. I haven't been back since." She finished.

In the future, Scott raced across the countryside on his motorcycle as he made his way towards New York City. In his office, Norman Osborn watched a follow-up news report on last week's Xavier Institute attack. A smile played on the villain turned director's face as cameras surveyed the damage, offering up the latest findings the media and law enforcement have attained.

Across the city at the Avengers' museum, one lone child remained infront of Iron Man's statue with a look of intense concentration. His classmates having long since departed the room, this young boy was left all alone in front of the statue. It was amazing that no one had noticed his absence till now as 15 minutes had already passed, and the boy hadnt moved an inch.

"Nathaniel. Nathaniel Stark." his teacher called out.

The boy finally broke his gaze and looked back at her with a bewildered look.

"We're going." she told him.

"All right." he said giving the armor one last look before meeting up with his teacher. The door closed behind them sheathing the heroes' exhibit in darkness.

A few minutes he was on board the bus and made his way towards the back where a brother/sister duo were seated and took the seat next to them.

"What took you so long Nathan?" the boy asked.

"Oh you know Oli just...nevermind." he said declining to answer.

The boy sitting across from him had brown spikey hair with a white streak in his bangs, his eyes hidden behind a pair of sunglasses.

"Checking out your old man's exhibit again." he said playing with a deck of cards. The boy peered over his shades revealing him to have red and black eyes.

"Don't pay attention to him Nathan." the boy's sister told him who's hair color was inverted and had normal green eyes.

"The Avengers used to stand for something Becca. Not these goons Norman Osborn employs. The worst part is no one knows whose under those masks." Nathan said exasperated. Oli smirked as he flipped out an Ace of Spades card and gave it a dark green aura.

"Maybe its time we get thier attention." he said.

"You know your not supposed to do that!" she hissed pushing down on his hand, forcing him to hide his card.

"What's the point of having powers if we ain't gonna use em?" he asked.

"You know damn well why we cant Oliver." she said keeping her voice down.

The bus suddenly rattled as something raced overhead. The students on board pressed to the left side of the bus and caught sight of a figure in an Iron Man-esk armor flying over the city. A smile came to Nathan's face as he reached into his backpack and pulled out a red and silver metallic briefcase with a translucent disc in the middle infront of his friend.

"No Oli's right. Its time we come out of hiding." he said.

A half hour later he stood before the class giving his post-field trip report on their trip to the museum.

"Tony Stark is remember for more than just being the guy that almost doomed the world. Before the Secret Invasion he was an industrialist, but more importantly than that he was a hero. Unlike most superheroes his was known to the world. He was called the Invincible Iron Man, because of how advanced his suit and weapons were he could take on any villain and was prepared for just about anything." he said to the class.

"Too bad his own ego and greed got the best of him." one of his male classmates commented, earning laughs from the others.

"That's enough Reggie." the teacher scolded.

"At least he was a hero, unlike the new so-called Avengers that defend New York." he shot back.

"Your just mad because your dad's gone." Reggie commented smugly.

"What?" he growled crumpling his report.

"Enough!" the teacher yelled standing up.

"You just earned yourself detention. Nathan I'm sorry but we're going to have to cut this short. Please take your seat." she said before sitting back down herself.

The bell rang a moment later as the rest of the students got up leaving Reggie, Nathan and the teacher the only ones in the room. The instructor looked back at Nathan as he stood gathering his things.

"Nathan I realize that your father was Iron Man and that you held him in a higher regard than most people but..."

"Yeah I know, no one else feels the same way." he muttered lugging his dufflebag onto his shoulder and left without another word.

The teacher watched him with a concerned expression while Reggie scoffed thinking he won.

"That last remark was uncalled for, you now have an hour's detention after school till the end of the week." she told him.

In the hallway Nathan was joined by his friends Oli and Becca.

"Sorry to hear about that." Oli said though it sounded apathetic.

"Whatever let's get out of here." Nathan muttered.

"You know there are still other heroes out there." Becca told him.

"Yeah but none of them are willing to stand up to Osborn." he replied.

"I wouldnt bet on that horse yet Nate." Oli countered.

In another part of the city a certain wall crawler landed on the side of a building eyeing the mayor's office. Inside the city's duelly elected official was busy signing paperwork when the window next to him opened and Spider-Man settled on the ceiling of his office. The official jumped as he looked up and saw the red and blue themed superhero perched above him.

"What in blazes are you doing in my office Spider-Man?" J. Jonah Jameson growled.

"To tell you to withdraw your support of Norman's Avengers." he said.

"Oh threatening me are ya? And why exactly would I do that?" he said standing up.

Spidey turned his body over so he was facing him upright with one hand on the ceiling.

"Look J.J. I may be the absolute last person on the planet you'd trust with anything, but your going to have to hear me out on this." he said.

"Ha! All you've done is cause trouble. Norman Osborn saved the human race by killing the Skrull Queen. What have you done? Besides raise my blood pressure?" Jameson countered.

Spidey narrowed his eyes and dropped onto the desk grabbing Jameson by his collar.

"Listen you! I've saved this city more times than you can count! And I've put my life in danger more times than you know! And I am tellingyou that Osborn is a criminal and a psychopath! He is not to be trusted. Just because he ended the Queen's life doesnt make him a saint. Do you hear me?" he said getting in Jameson's face. But his longtime foe didnt answer.

"Do you hear me?" he repeated. Jonah's eyes narrowed as he was forced to stare back at the Wall Crawler.

"No, you listen to me. As an editor I stand only for the truth, and as mayor I continue to do so. So unless you can prove Norman Osborn is what you say he is, I wont believe a word of it." he said with resolve.

"Fine." Spidey said throwing him back.

The mayor staggered back a step before his chair and steadied his balance while leveling his gaze at the hero.

"You've always twisted the truth regarding me. Why should this time be any different?" he asked.

"That's a lie! Even when I'm proven wrong I've always printed a retraction in my paper and you know that! I may not like you Spider-Man but I mean what I say. The truth always prevails." he said.

"For your sake I hope your right." he said before firing off a line and leaving the office. The Mayor sat down in his chair as several aids rushed in.

"Are you all right?" a young black woman asked.

"Yes I'm fine. Get me the Daily Bugle, I need to speak with Robbie Robertson." he ordered.

"Yes Mayor." the aid said and rushed out.

As the woman left, Jonah turned back towards the window Spider-Man had exited from and saw him websling across the city.

"If Spider-Man says Norman is up to something, then this might be worth looking into." he said to himself.

Author's Note: All right sorry about the length of this chapter. It turned out be alot longer than I originally intended. I was going to stop at just the part involving what happened to the X-Men in the future but for some reason it didnt feel complete. I feel like I need to explain a few things as to the X-Men's defeat and dissolution. A large part of this is based on a storyline from a couple years ago in the comics. William Stryker is a long time foe of the X-Men, you probably know him better as the bad guy from X2: X-Men United as Col. William Stryker a rouge goverment offical that tries to exterminate mutantkind. In the comics Rev. Stryker in a renegade televangalist who thinks he's on a mission from God to destroy mutants. What happens to the X-Men in this chapter is a reflection of a recent storyline after the 'Decimation' arc where 90% of the mutant population is depowered. In the story Stryker sees this as a sign from God, and reorganizes his followers known as the Purifiers to attack the Mansion who succeed in killing a vast number of depowered students that were leaving the grounds. In the end Stryker is simularly struck down by the X-Men Elixir. I just thought I'd make that clear so it didnt seem like I held any ill regard. This is just me adapting a storyline from the comics explaining why the X-Men are no more in this future. In hind sight, I probably should have put more thought and consideration into this chapter. I apologise if anyone was offended. Oh and by the way, the kids that show up at the end of this chapter are not OCs.

Let me know what you think.

Please review.