Homunculus
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, The Young Avengers, The Avengers or anything that are made from Marvel. I only own my OC, Maxell Joachim.
WARNING: As far as I know, OCs is NOT what many people would like to have in a fanfic. So please, if you do NOT like OCs being the main attention, either you wait until I made another chapter that involves the rest of The Young Avengers or don't read it at all. You have been warned. Also, boy x boy, OC pairing with Marvel character, swearing, etc. etc.
Author's Note: This took like week (or less, but it sure felt like a week) to finish this Chapter. Heck, I didn't even had the time to even finish this. But I was thankful I managed to. The next Chapter is where Tommy will try to be out from his OOC. Coz as far as I know, I cringed as much as everyone of you because of this.
Previously, on Homunculus…
"My home town is being endangered by a certain species that I am sure that you've already known and even noticed it, Mr Stark," said Maxell, looking calm and collected, having a direct eye contact with Tony.
(next scene)
"My mother died when I was just a year old. I found a death certificate and some medical certificates about her at my father's closet. It was horrible. Mass blood loss was one of the causes of it. Plus, she had gotten sick with thalassaemia. My father, however, died after successfully transferring my soul to this body, as well as failing to transform myself into a full-fledged homunculus."
(next scene)
"I want to protect you. I wanna take care of you. And I honestly wanna be around you."
"Then let me stay like this," a small pause. "A little longer."
Chapter 3: Atoms and Blood
The shining light from the window was hitting the raven-haired boy's eyes made him open his eyes slowly, still sleepy. The pillows ruffle as he tried to move himself out from the bed, without trying to wake up the platinum-blonde. He patted his head, feeling the smooth and soft feeling from Tommy's hair.
When he left the bedroom and into the living room, he only saw a butler and Tony, sitting on the couch, watching TV while the butler makes breakfast for the Young Avengers. Maxell scratched his head and sat at the dining table, greeting Tony along the way.
He was at the dining table, though he still looked groggy from waking up at the time like this. But that doesn't stop him from being hungry still. The butler walked towards Maxell elegantly and asked "Any drinks you like to have?"
"If you don't mind if you let me in that kitchen?" Maxell asked. The butler nodded and the raven-haired boy walked towards the kitchen.
The kitchen looked incredibly simple and clean. He glanced through every single cupboard, looking for something. The butler asked him what he was looking for.
"I'm looking for hot chocolate. And no, I'll be fine making my own, thank you."
The butler gave him the tin of cocoa, finely pounded and high quality. Then the boy gets into making his own cup of hot chocolate. He boiled the water and as he does, he scooped 2 tablespoonful of cocoa into his cup. When the water is ready, he poured the hot water in it. He then took milk from the fridge that was just near to him and poured a bit on the hot chocolate. He walked out as he stirred his cup, making a light metal noise like he was drinking tea.
From the dining table, he saw the TV quite well. But what he saw doesn't quite please him when he was about to drink from his cup: he saw something that looked like a freaking grotesque, to his disgust. You could even see the intestines very well too. Heck, it's even moving on its own. He cringed at the look of it, feeling like belching throughout the entire thing that was shown on TV; directly in front of him. Though only just a few metres away from it. But still, he saw everything and that doesn't please him as much.
Tony placed down his cup of coffee, rather worried as his eyes became linear towards the TV, like as if he couldn't believe his eyes. But then, after finding out of what the young boy had said, he could only think of one thing: the Corrupted.
He still remembers that they are still out there in the sewers, looking for the young boy. And they will stop at nothing to chase after him. And that is when he decided to train Maxell privately, without Steve knowing about this.
Steve knew about how Maxell came here when Tony told him about the young boy and the situation at hand. But that doesn't please Steve about letting him out there and handing the situation with the Young Avengers as he may get hurt from it. Plus, it's just like what the rest of the Young Avengers struggled in back in those days; telling their parents.
Tony already told Steve that his parents are no more, but Steve doesn't give an approval to him just because he is young.
"I don't care if he is young, Steve," Tony yelled. "As I've said: his parents died and he could've handled them back in Transylvania. I understand the reason why you won't let him out there with those things going about, looking for him. But until he doesn't do something about this, they will hurt millions of people in New York. Heck, not only in New York, but across the US or even back in Europe!"
"Listen, Steve. I can just train him and protect him. I'll even be his guardian. I'll sign the legalities if you just please let him handle along with us."
"I'm sorry, Tony," Steve apologized. "But I'm not putting a young boy, with or without powers, in danger. The reason why I didn't let him out is because of how inexperienced he could be."
"And that is why I wanted to train him."
"And that is why another life going to be lost."
Steve understands Tony. But to train a young boy like he did with the rest of the Young Avengers, this is already a different story. Because the Young Avengers took responsibility of their actions and Steve saw it for himself.
"Maxell," Tony said as he walked towards the young boy. "I know this is very sudden. But I would like you to come join in the training program with the others. Is that okay with you?" Maxell's heart felt heavy. His responsibility managed to hold grip onto his entire body. But he doesn't want to escape. He wants to hold onto it until everything is over.
"When will it start?"
"In about 3 hours," he replied. "Jarvis will wake up the others and we'll begin with the training program." Tony left towards his laboratory, bringing his cup of coffee along. The butler went off to the members' bedrooms to wake them up to have breakfast. Maxell took his last sip of his chocolate and went to the kitchen to wash him up.
When Maxell entered the training room, everyone was already there, waiting for Maxell to get ready. He adjusted his newly attained clothes that Jarvis prepared for him: a black hoodie with swirl designs from the collar stretches all the way to the edge of the sleeves, fingerless gloves, slightly baggy jeans and Converse shoes to match well with the jeans.
Everyone looked at him when he wore rather casual clothes, although it somehow doesn't quite fit the occasion, the fact that it is the summer season. But then again, the young boy never complained, so long as there's a new change of clothes, anything is fine and okay.
"Now, Maxell," Tony started out. "Can you tell us what you can do with that power of yours?"
"I don't have natural powers like you guys have," he stated. "My Grimoire has the ability to manipulate conjuration of weapons. I could try to conjure shields, but sometimes it doesn't work." Or so he thought.
"I also have the ability to jump high and float from Transylvania, all thanks to my Grimoire. But I don't levitate, if that's how you put it. I still land on ground at one point. And how I am able to float depends on the wind power that Mother Nature hits me."
"So," Billy asked. "What weapon do you often use?"
"When I was fighting the Corrupted when I was trying to escape, I often find myself using this sword," the young boy replied as his Grimoire glowed and erected a sword out from the pages of the Grimoire. Maxell then pulled it out from its 'sheathe' and showed it to them: a sword that looked like how a Norse being would have. Actually, it is.
"Laevateinn,"Maxell said as he emphasized it. "A weapon that was once wielded by a Norse monster named Surt. But it was first found by Loki himself."
"- by plucking it out from the gates of Death, and t'was kept in a chest with Sinmoera, with nine strong locks." Tony finishes the last sentence for Maxell. It would seem that he knew about the weapon that the young boy was wielding as well. Maxell chuckled softly.
"You remembered well, Mr Stark."
"You're into Norse mythology, that's how I knew you would use that."
Billy's eyes widen with fascination. Alas, someone he could be nerdy geek Norse freak friends with. He fidgeted around, scratching his fingers as his boyfriend placed his arm around the waist, trying to get him to calm down.
"Hey Eli, mind you'd test his abilities?" Tony asked, and Eli just nodded and went a few metres away from Maxell, getting ready.
"Show us what you can do."
Maxell nodded confidently as he went into his battle stance. His left leg moved forward, his left hand landed on his left leg's inner thighs. His right hand, holding his Grimoire while touching his chin. "Ready when you are."
Eli then charged against Maxell, getting ready his star-shaped shurikens. He tossed the shurikens freely towards Maxell. But then the young boy dodged just by moving aside and let the shurikens vroomed aside him. But that doesn't stopped Eli from trying to tackle him with his clenched fist.
Maxell, just by using his legs and only his legs, successfully swept Eli's legs and gave an upperkick to his chest. While Eli went 'airborne', Maxell did an axe kick and slammed Eli down to the floor, hard.
Eli gets up and managed to grab Maxell and wrestled his way through him so he can't move, gripping onto his arms and mostly his legs. "Damn, you're strong."
The young boy tried to counter-attack him by trying to push himself towards Eli and slammed the black American on the floor while being grabbed, but the force is too weak and Eli didn't even flinch at all. In fact, he still landed on the floor first, leaving Eli on top of him. "The best you can do?" Eli mocked.
That is when Maxell got ticked: he managed to twist and turn to release himself from Eli's grip, lifting him off using his own feet. While he's at it, he grasped onto him using his thighs and turned around, making Eli land on the ground whereas Maxell was already onto him. Maxell was rather dangerously close to Eli's face, trying to back off.
Maxell went up to his two feet and lent a hand for Eli to stand up.
"That was unexpected."
"I learned that with my pillow, actually," Maxell grinned sheepishly, trying to hide his blush with his hands covering his mouth.
"Alright then," Tony said. "Next, Teddy, you're up."
It was Teddy's turn to test Maxell. Teddy then shifted himself as his usual self: big, green, hulky, incredibly muscular. That startled Maxell because he didn't expect a shape-shifter to be fighting him. But the blonde never did anything to him. He just stood there without doing anything towards Maxell.
"I just need you to do the best kick you can get to me, and I'll try to measure your strength from there."
Maxell just scratched his head in confusion. But then he tried to land a roundhouse kick at Teddy's stomach. Unsurprisingly enough, he didn't flinch, just like Eli. Maxell cringed in pain: he felt like he is kicking a brick or a titanium wall. Teddy pursed his lips, thinking of how he would rate his attack from one to ten.
Three.
Out of Ten.
Maxell felt saddened by that.
"Don't worry; you could try again, if you like," Teddy said, giving the young boy confidence. Maxell nodded and gets ready to try again.
"Does the amount of kicks count?"
"I guess so," Teddy replied as he scratched the back of his neck. "Whenever you're ready." Teddy then stands still, waiting for the young boy to strike him again.
Maxell takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, trying to focus as he tightens his muscles on his legs. As he breathes out, he opens his eyes. Suddenly, he is seeing things. Either is he hallucinating or it's just out of his imaginations, he saw circles with numbers in it, lines pulsating along with his heartbeat. He could have bet that he is hallucinating. But then he got through it with an idea: follow along with the numbers on how to attack Teddy. He then lunge his leg towards the 'targets', hitting Teddy at the different spots of his abdomen.
As he strikes Teddy with his leg, he could've sworn the circle is gone, along with the line. He now understands that he has to follow what his mind wants him to do. But the problem lies on how he got this vision from. He continued striking Teddy until the circles and lines that he's seeing are now gone, hitting Teddy in every spot his mind tells him to, finishing off with another strong forceful frontal kick. This made the shape shifter moved backwards on impact.
The young boy got exhausted and his eyes looked shaky, his vision made it look like an earthquake has occurred, but never felt anything shaky about him. As he gasped for air slowly but deeply, his vision restored and managed to recover from a quick fatigue. He then stares at Teddy for another evaluation.
Seven out of ten.
Maxell just smiled softly after hearing it.
"Next, Billy?" called Tony.
Billy walked forward with his hands cracking with intense lightning. The young boy shivered in fear. This is something Maxell really hates: lightning. Since he was a very young boy back in Transylvania, one of his neighbors died due to being struck by lightning. What's worse was that his neighbor died right in front of him. And that gave him the most fearful childhood fears.
Since that is his fear, he never stops fidgeting and moving backwards away from Billy, looking uncomfortable and afraid. He tries to look away from it, but the lightning is just too bright for him to away from. That is when Billy found out about his fear.
"Maxell, are ya afraid of the lightning?" the young boy just nodded, shaking. "I guess I could use telekinesis if I can."
Random items then appear out of thin air around the gang. Tables, chairs, vases, TV, knives, arrows, pretty much everything that looked throwing able. The raven-haired boy's hand glowed with intense blue light, lifting objects near him, hovered it about.
Maxell readied his Grimoire and went into his battle position, eyes on the floating objects that surround Billy. His right hand gripped hard on his Grimoire to prevent from falling, with determination to get rid every single one of those objects using his Grimoire.
And then the raven-haired boy lunge his hand forward, launching the table first at the young boy. Maxell's Grimoire glowed as he lifts his hand forward. Laevateinn appeared out of nowhere and sliced the table in half. Four books then start to move fast towards him. The young boy conjured his flint-lock rifle and aimed at the books, trying to shoot the first book, before using it as a bat to swing it against the second one.
But one of the books landed on Maxell's chest, dragging him towards the wall. But he used his own strength and pushed the book away from him and conjured another Laevateinn to cut it in half. The last book was about to lunge itself towards the young boy, but Maxell conjured a cannon and blasted the book away into smithereens.
The TV then moved towards the young boy at an incredible speed. That is when Billy shouted "look out" at him. Maxell tried his best to conjure a shield in front of him, but unable to because of how he started stuttering when the TV is trying to lunge its way towards him. The young boy then tried to close his eyes and murmured. As he murmured, he started to show off a purple aura glow around him. His eyes wide opened, emitting a large purple fire out his forehead. He screamed at the top of his lungs, showing that he is in pain.
A shield came out of thin air and stayed on its ground when the TV slammed itself against the shield with a loud TANG-SCRASH. The TV then shattered itself because of the excess force that was landed on the shield. It was then exploded by the work of the platinum-blonde while Maxell still shielded himself.
Tommy then ran towards the young boy as Maxell's aura withered from his body and landed on the ground.
The young boy found himself in his room, again. He lifts himself up from the pillow that cushioned his head and saw no one else in his room except himself. He brushed his own hands on his face up to his fringe, gripping it hard as he fondles his own hair. The blonde, the platinum-blonde and the raven-haired boy entered the room after a few minutes later.
They were carrying more food than before. Typical. Maxell sighed and adjusted his position so that he is sitting on the edge of the bed. "You know, you guys sure eat a lot."
"Yeah, I know," Tommy replied. "I'm trying to get into shape, but I haven't been eating a lot lately, so yeah." He unwrap his candy bar and chewed. "How are ya feeling? Billy got lost out of his powers, but I kinda got over it." He glared at his twin brother and rolled his eyes. Billy shrugged his shoulders as his Pocky was stuck in his mouth. Teddy was just lying on the floor, his back resting onto the wall.
Maxell shook his head as he brushed his hair backwards and let his fringe fall back into place slowly. "Just something I didn't exactly expect." He picked up a can of Horlicks (do they have it at the US?) from one of the plastic bag. Opened it up and drank from there. Well, it would've been better if it's hot. But he didn't complain at all.
He stared at his own drink for a long time, daydreaming. Billy took this chance to alert Tommy, "Tommy, could you follow me outside for a while?" Tommy gave him a quizzical look on his face.
Billy and Tommy walked out of the room and that's when Billy crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow and smirked at his twin. He knew what is going on. "You're into him, aren't you?"
"W-what do you mean by that?" the platinum-blonde surprised by the question coming out from his twin brother.
"Don't act all 'I dunno what is going on' look on me," the raven-haired boy replied. "Just tell me. I won't tell anyone else. Not even Teddy. He knows."
"If you think I liked him, just think again. Just because I wanna be his partner and protect him doesn't mean I have a thing for him, if that's what you mean," Tommy replied, with the annoyed voice out from his mouth.
"Yeah, but hugging him twice, trying to assure him that everything's okay, that is just not you. You're way out of character there. Just what happened to you?"
"Because you wouldn't even let me care about you," he yelled. "You have Teddy, so what's the point of me taking care of you? Heck, even threatening him with some valid reasons, you still won't care. It's not that I hate him or anything, but really, why can't you let me protect you as well?"
Billy closed his eyes, his lips pursed as if he's pouting, but he's not. "So that's what this is: you want to protect someone other than me, right? Even if it's just a random person you've just met a few days ago?"
"…yeah."
"But you know," Billy explained, scratching his head. "You've already saved some people while we're doing our duties. I'm just gonna point to you that that is already called protecting. Or is there something else I should know?"
Tommy, just shut up and admit. You like him like you like Eli. Just shut up and say it. He's your brother, too. And he also understands you since he's gay and in a fucking relationship with Teddy. So why not be open as well?
"…I'm in love with Max."
"And what did you say earlier?" Billy smirked, trying to annoy the hell out of his brother. Thankfully, Tommy got a taste of his own medicine. Tommy looked down, avoiding eye contact with his brother.
"That I didn't like him…"
Billy hugged his brother tightly, his arms behind his twin's back. "It's okay to be mad at me for nearly hurting him. And it's also okay that you found another one to love other than Eli. I mean, I knew both of you broke up and all that. But at least you didn't give up and found Maxell." He sighed as he released him from his arms. Tommy's tear was on his cheek. Billy wiped his tear with his own thumb, holding dearly with his hand on his cheek.
"God, this isn't me."
"So can you stop with this OOC act, admit to Max and then act as normal?" Billy asked soft but sounds strict. Tommy nodded a yes.
But then when they are about to enter back into Maxell's room, an alarm came out.
"Avengers, please proceed to the laboratory."
I guess this is it, but during a mission?
"We found the Corrupted," was the first thing that Tony told them about it. Tommy saw Maxell fidgeting with his Grimoire on his right hand, trying to pull himself together. He also ignored almost everything that Tony told them to do: just eliminate the threatening Corrupted and ignore the rest until he finally analyzed them for more information.
"Are we clear?"
The team nodded, except for Tommy. And the Young Avengers ran off.
They were outside the Stark Tower and already trying to find the threat around the city when a scream is heard from the east side of where they were at. The gang ran towards the area and found quite a number of Corrupted on the street.
The Young Avengers charged themselves forward towards the Corrupted. Cassie grew as big as one of the Corrupted size and tried to bring it down for the others to attack. Eli already threw the stars while making a frontal attack at them. Teddy hulked himself, aiding Billy. Kate and Maxell are already next to each other, shooting arrows and Laventeinns at them, which leave to Tommy, doing almost nothing other than staring at Maxell.
Kate was already out of arrows at her quiver. "Too many Corrupted out here, I don't think I could be able to handle the rest out other than using my staves." Maxell grabbed the quiver and arrows suddenly appeared again. "Damn, you are useful." Maxell gave a wink and continued fending himself off.
But as they fight, more and more Corrupted arrived. Eli was just getting more and more pissed off as usual. There is like, no end to this raid. Cassie kicked the Corrupted as if it was made of sand. Teddy managed to punch them off from Billy when he was charging his electricity powers. Tommy started waving his hands, exploding every single Corrupted with just a single wave. Kate and Maxell are on each other's backs, trying to push them away from each other.
Tommy raced towards the two and exploded the Corrupted that surrounds them. Kate and Maxell panted for air to breathe. "Where's the last one?"
"Over there," shouted Eli as he pointed at that weird-looking Corrupted. It looked like a zombie, but doesn't quite eat people, as much as everyone is concerned. But its arm is ridiculously huge, like something out of L4D2. But it isn't: the arm and one of the legs is shaped like a crescent, sharp enough to cut even a car and a building. Limping because one of the legs is shorter than the other, it charges against Maxell.
Maxell was about to cast his Laventeinn, but was interrupted by Billy's desire to push him away from the Corrupted attack. But it never gave up: he started to try and attack Maxell again and again. But Maxell managed to dodge its attacks by jumping backwards and letting his Grimoire float him backwards. He then conjured a large spear. "Gungnir!" he called as he tossed the spear and impaled the charging Corrupted.
The Corrupted suddenly dissolved and its particles went into the young boy's body. He winced hard as the particles surged into his blood vessel, making him glow just like how he did back in the training room. He grabs hold onto his chest, tugging his own hoodie, trying to endure the pain.
"That monster we found at the middle of the street looks disgusting," Billy blenched.
"What do you expect," Eli complained. "It is the Corrupted that guy's talking about. And when Maxell is around, they will never stop hunting him down!"
And that doesn't stop the young boy from glowing ridiculously bright now. His eye lids became heavy. No way is he going to faint yet again, and again. Suddenly, the power surged out of him, pulsing every time his heart beats. His eye shot open and the last pulse made him went surprisingly normal. No fainting, no out-of-control. Just normal. That was weird.
Maxell finds himself standing perfectly still without falling. He wanted to open his mouth but Eli just walked towards him and grabbed his arm. "Shut up, and let's go." How he gripped his arm was incredibly hard. Maxell furrowed his eyebrows in pain. Must he have to go through this the pain in general again?
The black American dragged the young boy into the laboratory, making him land on Tony. Tony was completely confused onto what was going on. But he managed to get Maxell up from falling again. "What's the meaning of this?"
"You brought them with you," Eli yelled at the young boy in anger. Kate tried to calm him down, but that doesn't stop him as much. Tommy is already in front of Maxell, getting ready to defend him if the black American raised a fist on him. "Why can't you even fight them yourself?"
Maxell is already at the brink of tear, and also at the brink of losing himself. Billy felt the resonance of power coming out from him and he didn't felt good about it.
"But Eli," said Kate. "You know what was down there. That was a lot. Not even Maxell noticed it too. I saw him being as scared as I was back there."
"But he started all his bullshit and made us clean up the job for him."
"At least he helped out. Heck, he even helped me out back there. Why are you even that angry about?"
"The town was saved, too. No casualties," said Billy. "Eli, you're just being paranoid that this will happen again."
"And of course I don't want this to happen again. If we weren't careful, there will be casualties. It's like a fucking god-damn for-fucking-saken war down there. It's like Civil War II all over it." The black American walked off from the laboratory, leaving the rest sighing stressful while Maxell went into distress. Tommy gripped hard on his hand to assure him everything's alright.
Billy accompanied both Tommy and Maxell in his room. Teddy and the others are already in their bedrooms, resting. "Sorry he kinda hurt you hard there. I forgot to tell you he has super strength."
Maxell shakes his head. Although despite the fact that it does hit him hard psychologically, he doesn't exactly mind the pain too much. It's just that he didn't expect that to happen. Billy, knowing that, just sighed and placed his hand onto the young boy's, reassuring, just like what Tommy has been doing the whole time.
"Whatever it is, Maxell," Billy explained. "I was in that position before." Maxell can only do nothing but pray that this would stop. But it doesn't as long as he felt the heavy guilt on himself.
"And also, he loved you. So please take care of him for me, will you?"
Maxell was surprised the minute he heard that. Tommy, of all people, had feelings for him. He gazed towards the platinum-blonde, who's already asleep. He won't ever stop thinking of trying to repay him with whatever he can.
End of Chapter 3: Atoms and Blood
Next time, on Homunculus; Chapter 4: Bonds
"So he told you about me, huh?" the platinum-blonde replied. "But did he tell you I was once in a relationship with Eli before?"
Maxell nodded and let him explained. "I don't exactly consider myself gay because of what Eli did to me. After we broke up, I even declared myself straight again. And that's why I kept on thinking in my mind 'why am I gay' again just like before."
"Why can't you just accept the fact that you're gay?"
"I just want someone to love for the rest of my life. My life with Eli was short-lived. Plus, Eli even proposed to Kate. Not that I hate her or anything. Heck, I even loved her as well, just not as much as Eli."
"So you're at least bisexual. Just like me."
"What?" was Tommy's only reaction when he found out about Maxell's orientation.
Post A/N: Yep, Maxell's bi. Problem? We'll get to that tomorrow. And after his story, the rest will be in their normal daily lives (because to be realistic, they defeated as almost as four-quarter the amount of the Corrupted that was running amuck in town).
And if you guys guessed the 3rd Birthday from Square-Enix, you are indeed right. Congratulations! Now, have a virtual cookie that doesn't exist at all.
Probably the 2 chapters from now will give Maxell hiatus until further chapters to save your sanity. And also because I don't think Maxell should get too much of attention since the whole story doesn't exactly revolves around him despite him being the protagonist of the story. It's just Maxell in Tommy's life, is all.
Think of this as Final Fantasy XII: Vaan is the protagonist, whereas Ashe is the main storyline character. In this case, Maxell is the protagonist, and Tommy is the main storyline character.
Also, I'll be putting you guys into Tommy's POV starting from next 2 chapters from now until then. Gotta plan ahead before you produce them, ya know.