A/N: Hope it was obvious why Santana and Brittany would bond in Lebanon :) And here we meet some more new characters, with more minor edits.
Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, Disney, Fox, Glee, or any of these people or ideas.
(A communications room. Will is talking to his superior, Congressman Figgins, on a video monitor.)
Figgins: This is out of line, Schue. You're dealing with forces you can't control.
Will: You ever been in a war, congressman? In a fire fight? Did you feel an overabundance of control?
Figgins: You're saying that this...Asgard...is declaring war on our planet?
Will: Not Asgard, Lauren. One of their goddesses.
Figgins: She can't be working alone. What about the other one, her sister?
Will: Our intelligence says Quinn is not a hostile. But she's worlds away and we can't depend on her to help either. It's up to us.
Figgins: Which is why you should be focusing on Phase Two, it was designed for exactly this purpose.
Will: Phase Two isn't ready, our enemy is. We need a response team.
Figgins: The Gleevengers Initiative was shut down.
Will: This isn't about the Gleevengers.
Figgins: We're running the world's greatest covert security network and you're gonna leave the fate of the human race to a handful of freaks.
Will: I'm not leaving anything to anyone. We NEED a response team. These people may be isolated, unbalanced even, but I believe, with the right push, they can be exactly what we need.
Figgins: (scoffing) You believe! War isn't won by sentiment, Director.
Will: No. It's won by soldiers.
(We cut to a gym, at night. Finn Hudson, alter ego of Captain America, is hitting a punching bag in a gym.)
Finn's singing voiceover: You and I walk a fragile line
I have known it all this time, but I never thought I'd live to see it break
It's getting dark and it's all too quiet and I can't trust anything now
And it's coming over you like it's all a big mistake
Oh, I'm holding my breath
Oh, won't lose you again
Something's made your eyes go cold
(Finn has several flashbacks of World War Two.)
Come on, come on, don't leave me like this
I thought I had you figured out
Something's gone terribly wrong
You're all I wanted
Come on, come on, don't leave me like this
I thought I had you figured out
Can't breathe whenever you're gone
Can't turn back now, I'm haunted
(During his flashbacks...)
Finn: (flying a plane) There's not enough time. I gotta put her in the water.
(...he hits the bag harder, faster...)
Stood there and watched you walk away
From everything we had, but I still mean every word I said to you
He would try to take away my pain, and he just might make me smile
But the whole time I'm wishing he was you instead
Oh, I'm holding my breath
Oh, won't see you again
Something keeps me holding on to nothing
Carol: (saying goodbye to him) You won't be alone.
(...he hits the bag even faster.)
TITANS Scientist: (defrosting a frozen Finn) Oh my God. This guy's still alive!
Come on, come on, don't leave me like this
I thought I had you figured out
Something's gone terribly wrong
You're all I wanted
Come on, come on, don't leave me like this
I thought I had you figured out
Can't breathe whenever you're gone
Can't turn back now, I'm haunted
(Finn throws the hardest punch he has left and it knocks the bag across the room. Breathing hard, Finn picks up another bag - from a line of about a dozen - on the floor and hangs it up. He prepares, and then begins to hit it-)
Will: Trouble sleeping?
(We see Will in the doorway, watching Finn. He enters the room slowly.)
Finn: (hitting the bag) Slept for seventy years, sir. I think I've had my fill.
Will: Then you should be out, celebrating, seeing the world.
Finn: When I went under, the world was at war. I wake up- they say we won. They didn't say what we lost.
Will: We've made some mistakes along the way, some very recently.
Finn: (as he starts removing his hand wrap) You here with a mission, sir?
Will: I am.
Finn: (removing his other hand wrap) Trying to get me back in the world?
Will: Trying to save it.
(He hands Finn a folder with information on the Tesseract in it.)
Finn: CARMEL's secret weapon.
Will: Howard Abrams fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you. He thought what we think. The Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That's something the world sorely needs.
Finn: (handing the folder back, knowingly) Who took it from you?
Will: She's called Lauren, but she's...not from around here. There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know.
Finn: At this point I doubt anything would surprise me. (He gets up, grabs his duffel bag, and another punching bag while Will is talking.)
Will: Ten bucks says you're wrong. There's a debriefing packet waiting for you back at your apartment. (As Finn starts to leave) Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now?
Finn: (not stopping exiting) You should have left it in the ocean.
(Underwater, at night. Iron Man, a.k.a. Artie Abrams, is underwater near a large pipe. He uses a laser on his suit to cut it open. Then he attaches a device to the wires in the pipe. The device begins to glow. Artie turns and flies up out of the water and towards the city. He begins talking with Tina Cohen-Chang on this phone.)
Artie's singing voiceover: When the lights go down in the city
And the sun shines on the bay
Do I want to be there in my city
Ooh, ooh
Artie: Good to go on this end. The rest is up to you.
Tina: (over Iron Man headset) You disconnected the transmission lines? Are we off the grid?
Artie: Abrams Tower's about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy.
Tina: (over Iron Man headset) Well, assuming the arc reactor takes over and it actually works.
(We see that Artie is flying through the streets of midtown Manhattan. He turns a corner and heads right for Abrams Tower, in the middle.)
Artie: I assume. Light her up.
So you think you're lonely
Well my friend, I'm lonely too
I want to get back to my city by the bay
Ooh, ooh
(The lights slowly come on. The tall building, adorned with Artie's last name next to a small pad near the roof, lights up.)
Tina: (over Iron Man headset) How does it look?
Artie: Like Christmas, but with more...me.
Tina: (over Iron Man headset) We've got to go wider on the public awareness campaign. You need to do some press.
(Artie flies over an overpass and up the side of Abrams Tower.)
Tina: (over Iron Man headset) I'm in DC tomorrow. I'm working on the zoning for the next three buildings.
Artie: Tina, you're killing me at the moment. Remember, enjoy the moment.
Tina: (over Iron Man headset) Then get in here and I will.
It's sad, oh there's been mornings out on the road without you,
Without your charms,
Ooh, my, my, my, my, my, my
(Iron Man lands on the landing pad of the tower. As he walks along the walkway, robotic arms start deconstructing his armor, piece by piece.)
RORY: (over the phone) Sir, Agent Hummel of TITANS is on the line.
Artie: I'm not in. I'm actually out.
RORY: Sir, I'm afraid he's insisting.
Artie: Grow a spine, RORY. I got a date.
When the lights go down in the City
And the sun shines on the bay
Do I want to be there in my City
Ooh, ooh
(Inside the building, Tina stands in front of a holographic display. The shorter Asian woman looks a little confused.)
Tina: Levels are holding steady- I think.
Artie: (putting on glasses) Of course they are, I was directly involved. Which leads me to my next question. How does it feel to be a genius?
(He turns off the display and Tina and he face each other.)
Tina: Well, haha, I really wouldn't know, now would I?
Artie: What do you mean? All this came from you.
Tina: No, all this came from that. (She taps Artie's arc reactor on his chest.)
Artie: Give yourself some credit, please. Abrams Tower is your baby. Give yourself...twelve percent of the credit.
Tina: Twelve percent?
Artie: An argument can be made for fifteen!
(Tina walks toward the living room.)
Tina: (getting annoyed) Twelve percent of my baby?
Artie: (following Tina) Well, I did do all the heavy lifting. Literally, I lifted the heavy things. And sorry but, the security snafu? That was on you.
Tina: Oh!
Artie: My private elevator.
(Tina pours champagne into two glasses.)
Tina: You mean our elevator.
Artie: Yeah, it was teeming with sweaty workmen. (realizing) I'm going to pay for that comment about percentages in some subtle way later, aren't I?
Tina: (with a smile, handing him his glass) Not gonna be that subtle.
Artie: I'll tell you what, next building is gonna say 'Cohen-Chang' on the tower.
Tina: On the lease!
Artie: Well that's probably better, it's a little long anyway...
RORY: Sir, the telephone. I'm afraid my protocols are being overridden.
Artie: Ah-
(Tony picks up his high-tech phone and holds it up.)
Kurt: (on phone screen) Mr. Abrams, we need to talk.
Artie: You have reached the Life Model Decoy of Artie Abrams. (Tina laughs in the background) Please leave a message.
Kurt: (on phone screen) This is urgent.
Artie: Then leave it urgently.
(The elevator suddenly opens and Kurt comes out, hanging up his phone.)
Kurt: Mr. Abrams.
Artie: Security breach. (to Tina) That's on you.
Tina: (to Kurt) Kurt! Come in!
(Tina and Artie walk over to Kurt, Artie looking confused.)
Artie: Kurt?
Kurt: I can't stay.
Artie: Uh, his first name is Agent.
Tina: Come on in, we're celebrating.
Artie: (fake smiling) Which is why he can't stay.
Kurt: (handing Artie a laptop) We need you to look this over, as soon as possible.
Artie: I don't like being handed things.
Tina: That's fine, because I love to be handed things. So, let's trade.
(Tina swaps with Kurt- he has her glass and she has the laptop. She then takes Artie's glass as he rolls his eyes and passes the laptop on to him.)
Tina: Thank you.
Artie: (to Kurt) Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday.
Kurt: This isn't a consultation.
Tina: Is this about the Gleevengers? (Kurt gives her a look) Which I know nothing about.
Artie: (as he heads toward his work station) The Gleevengers Initiative was scrapped, I thought, and I didn't even qualify.
Tina: I didn't know that either.
Artie: Yeah, apparently I'm volatile, self-obsessed, don't play well with others.
Tina: THAT I did know.
Kurt: This isn't about personality profiles anymore.
Artie: (opening the laptop) Whatever! Ms. Cohen-Chang, got a sec?
Tina: (to Kurt) Half a moment.
(She leaves Kurt at the elevator and goes over to Artie.)
Artie: You know, I thought we were having a moment.
Tina: I was having twelve percent of a moment. (Artie gives Tina a look.) I dunno, this seems serious. Kurt looks pretty shaken.
Artie: How would you notice- and why is he "Kurt"?
Tina: (ignoring him, about the laptop) What is all this?
Artie: This is- ah...
(He grabs the holograms on the laptop and throws them up onto his displays. Holograms fill the room, each is an article on one of the Gleevengers. We see old footage of Finn fighting in World War 2 next to a graphic of a shield, The Hulk destroying the army in New York, and a blonde woman fighting a giant robot next to a graphic of a hammer.)
Artie: ...this!
(They both look upon the screens, observing them.)
Tina: I'm going to take the jet to DC tonight.
Artie: (turning to her) Tomorrow.
Tina: (turning to him) You have homework. You have a lot of homework.
Artie: Well, what if I didn't?
Tina: If you didn't? You mean when you finished? Well, um, then-
(She leans in and whispers in Artie's ear. Kurt looks to the side, embarrassed.)
Artie: (with a grin) Square deal. Fly safe.
(They kiss. Kurt looks up at the ceiling.)
Tina: Work hard. (turning and approaching Kurt) So, any chance you're driving by LaGuardia?
Kurt: I can drop you off.
Tina: Fantastic. Ooh, I want to hear about the Warbler, is that still a thing?
(As they are talking, Artie sees a hologram of the Tesseract. It peaks his interest.)
Kurt: He moved back to Lima.
(Tina and Kurt board the elevator.)
Tina: What?! Boo!
(Artie picks up the hologram of the Tesseract in his hand. He looks amazed.)
A/N: I loved Tina/Artie in Season 1. Glad they get to be together here. And we all know from this season that Rory is Artie's inner voice, so he makes sense as JARVIS.
Gleevengers Playlist:
Haunted by Taylor Swift, sung by Finn
Lights by Journey, sung by Artie
Yay for more Journey! And sadly we won't be seeing a lot of Blaine...maybe I'll find a way to include him somehow.