The prisoners on the Skrull ships could feel and nearly smell the sense of fear in their captors. It brought joy to them as they knew the Skrulls had once again over extended themselves or did something stupid to turn the tide against them. And now the Skrulls seemed to fear those they had captured for their long term plans. The only problem was when to strike before the Skrulls tried to have everyone killed.
Suddenly the lights went out for a moment and guards watching them got scared. The prisoners couldn't understand what they were saying, but that they scared out of their minds was universal from the tones of their voices.
Hank Pym struggled to get himself free. He then realized that they were able to keep him from changing size but his specially treated equipment still would be able to. He hid it even in ways that the Skrulls won't be able to find them. Even in the compromising position he was captured in.
Hank just hoped no one would ask him where he put all of it. It was kind of embarrassing to be honest. And he was sure that Deadpool had hidden things in that place before. Then again Deadpool had done a lot of things shouldn't surprise people.
There was a surge and the electronics in Pym's shackles burned out. Pym appeared to vanish for a moment and when he enlarged again he was dressed in a variant of his original Giant Man costume. He had wanted to take up this identity after Janet left him once again. Not that he blamed her for leaving him. Their relationship had been destroyed by him and nothing could ever fix it to even close to what it had been before. Why they thought that possible confused Pym now. As did the brief relationship between Janet and Clint.
With nothing else to do but think for months, he'd finally figured that out. And pondered asking Tigra out. He wasn't sure if she'd say yes, but it at least was a start on getting back into the dating scene. Not that he considered Greer to be easy, but she was a woman he knew how to keep entertained and happy on a date. And in this case their previous experience together wasn't a weight around his neck.
He frankly wondered why he took up the Yellowjacket identity again. Whatever happiness it had once was now been tainted by many things he was ashamed of. Hank supposed it was feeling he'd put that ghost to rest when he'd merged together the two halves he'd become.
Giant Man found it curious he was the only one to have any after effects to Kulan Gath's magic in Costa Verde.
'Perhaps a scientific look into magic would be in order after this,' Hank Pym mused to himself. While magic didn't flow the rules of science there was the chance to use the scientific approach to figure out magic's own rules.
Pym then went through a crack in the worn brass wall of his cell and blasted the pair of guards with his improved stingers in his gloves. They were knocked back by the power of weapons and the guards clearly weren't trained soldiers as they fired wildly.
Nor where they were told about Bishop's energy absorbing powers as he hit several times by bolts in his purposely crude cell that was metal bars and a bed so he couldn't use that energy to attack them. The X-Man from the future smiled grimly and hit one of the Skrullian guards in the face with an energy blast.
Giant Man grew to ten feet tall and slammed the heads of the guards together. The pair fell to the ground. Hank shook his head. Take away the advantage of stealth and surprise and this group of Skrulls was nothing more then a joke. A very bad joke at that. One he didn't find funny at all.
"Wow, entertainment for the day," Sharon Venture remarked sarcastically. "Maybe we'll see a magic show too."
Susan Richards looked shocked at her former team mates reaction. As did the other heroes. They didn't expect to hear that level of pessimism out of her.
"Well pardon me for not trust him one bit," She-Thing snarled as she hovered mid air in a light blue dome. "And this is just another game to mess with me!"
This Sharon Venture looked like the one mutated by Doctor Doom for failing her, not her original appearance as Susan Richard had seen her have since the time Sharon stayed with Wyatt Wingfoot and his tribe. It made Invisible Woman wonder if she'd been replaced then or the Skrulls were behind on their information.
What made Susan feel worse was she never even asked Sharon how her appearance had changed back then, or why her disposition had become a lot sunnier despite her appearance only going back to her original She-Thing form.
"I agree with Sharon," Mockingbird spoke up. Bishop looked at Mockingbird for a moment.
"How did you survive Bobbi?"Giant Man asked her in a soft voice.
"The one that died was a Skrull," Mockingbird snarled. "She stole my life from me!"
Hank Pym surprised the Skrull Mockingbird by blasting her with a stinger and putting high voltage through her body and causing her to revert to her natural form. It was a trick the Living Lightning had discovered by accident in that whole mess with the Shi'ar and the Kree. It was still the one way to check that the Skrulls didn't have a counter for.
"How?" she moaned in pain.
"Because Bobbi Morse is dead," Pym stated flatly with an undertone of pain in his voice. "And I can't understand why you think we can be made to think otherwise."
"So we're the Defenders or something?" Luke Cage asked while shaking his head.
"No...now we're Avengers," Hank Pym said firmly. It just felt right for Giant Man to use that title.
Luke Cage looked at their group. It was him, She-Thing, Black Widow, Bishop, Invisible Woman, Brother Voodoo and Spider-Woman. And of course Hank 'I franchise super hero names' Pym himself.
"Bishop you and Sharon take point," Hank commanded firmly. Invisible Woman watched Giant Man or whatever he was called now closely. She also kept a close eye on She-Thing.
Black Widow hadn't said anything but she took one of the laser blasters of the downed guards. It wasn't her bracelets but it would have to do for now.
The gleaming silver interior reminded Pym of the interior of Avengers Mansion after it had been rebuilt, and before it had been turned back into the old brownstone in the final confortation with the Gatherers.
Then suddenly a wall exploded and they were face to face with Songbird, Nighthawk, Atlas, Penance, Moonstone, and Radioactive Man. The "Avengers" then looked at the Punisher symbol on the face War Machine. The Thunderbolts looked over the freed heroes with a critical eye. They looked like the originals but that didn't mean much. Karla also pondered the unrelated thought of how Johnny Storm's ex-wife couldn't know his favorite movie.
'No wonder the relationship between the two can never work out,' Karla thought with a great deal of amusement.
"Didn't Bishop go crazy or something?" Atlas asked Radioactive Man. Doctor Chen shrugged.
"Keeping track of the various members of all the X-groups is enough to drive someone mad," Nighthawk mused.
The Punisher wondered why he let them team him up with the bunch. Though he had to admit the ones he'd shoot in the head were already dead.
"We don't have time for this," Songbird sighed. Why couldn't Clint have stayed with them instead of going back to the Avengers?
"If you're really the heroes and not fakes can we please avoid another hero vs. hero brawl?" Moonstone remarked in an arrogant tone. "We don't really have time for one of those macho pissing contests."
"Well that sounds like Moonstone," Pym mused as he scanned them with an improved version of the Skrull reverter that he had made based off Tony and Reed's design. They came up clean but he wasn't entirely sure. It was an untested device after all. Shocking them like he did the faux Mockingbird would start a super hero vs. super hero brawl. Especially if that was Frank Castle with them.
That matter was then made clear when the Skrulls on the ship attacked both groups. The Skrulls didn't try to kill their agents during an invasion. Then there was a horrific scream as a Gen X Super Skrull attacked them.
A spell from Brother Voodoo sent the Skrull flying backward. She crashed into a Super Skrull with a copy of Thor's hammer, Iron Man's armor, Falcon's wings, Wolverine's gloves and boots, the Hulk's massive size.
"That doesn't look good," Luke Cage muttered as the Skrull barely looked barely even fazed. She-Thing hoped to have better luck as she punched the Squadie Super Skrull in the face.
Sharon's hay maker knocked the Skrull back a few steps and he let out a dark chuckle. Then started spinning his arm with his hammer. Knowing what he was going to do, She-Thing picked up the knocked down Gen X Skrull and used her as a baseball bat to hit the other Skrull with.
It hurt a lot more then this time to both Skrulls. Giant Man went ant sized and flew into the Super Hero Squad Skrull's ear and the Skrull screamed in pain as he blasted the inner ear. Pym then found he had to dodge parts of the ear shape shifting into razor sharp spikes.
Invisible Woman surprised the Skrulls by using martial arts to take them down. She judo threw an X-Factor Skrull into an Avengers West Coast one. The only hero there not surprised by that was Luke Cage.
"Danny always said you were one of his best students," the former hero for hire grinned as he decked a Skrull with the powers of his old foes.
"Does everyone know martial arts?" Atlas asked as he slammed a Super Skrull with the powers of Cerebro's X-Men into the ground.
"Captain America teaches the Avengers," Penance remarked as he kinentically slammed a platoon of Skrulls out of their way. "Vance told me about it once."
"I really never had the patience for it," Nighthawk admitted as he dodged a blow from a Hyperion and Whizzer powered Skrull.
The Punisher answered by blowing holes in Skrulls with his suit's palm repulsors and a shoulder mounted minigun.
Bishop shook his head and grabbed the arm of a Skrull soldier and twisted in. The Skrull screamed in pain and Bishop headbutted her to take her out. Then several Skrulls hit him with laser blasts.
"Clearly they did not read up on your powers," Giant Man noted as it seemed whoever build the cell to hold the member of the X-Men didn't tell the rank and file. It was a haphazard level of training the Skrull armed forces lacked.
Pym was proven right as Bishop unleash the absorbed energy in one massive burst at the Skrulls. It knocked everyone they were fighting off their feet. Frank Castle unloaded on those shape-shifters and blood started to splatter.
Radioactive Man gave them cover fire with blasts of radiation. He wasn't sure what the long term effects would be and frankly at the moment could care less what it'd do to Skrullian bodies. They desired to take over the world in a massive preplanned invasion and they got what they deserved.
"We need to get to the power core of this ship," Songbird ordered.
"To shut down the power or take control of the FTL drive and send them back home?" Pym asked as he slammed several Excalibur Skrulls into the ground.
"Either," Atlas admitted as he flung a New Fantastic Four Skrull into a group of Skrull troops. "Though Abe and Techno picked a lousy time to be no shows for the big world in danger event."
"Less talking, more world saving," She-Thing nearly growled as she flung a Super Skrull in a Rhino costume with Doctor Octopus's tentacles and the Scorpion's stinger into a Skrull with massive shoulder pads and a red leather jacket.
They then were attacked by several Super Skrulls in Bartoc's costume. Bishop remembered how quickly Gambit had beaten the original. It only his refined skills from being a member of the XSE that kept him from getting all the ribs on the left side of chest from being broken as these three Skrulls also had the powers of Spider-Man.
"I don't like this," Brother Voodoo remarked as his hands glowed with mystical energy.
"No, really?" Luke Cage remarked as he grabbed the leg of one of the Savante using Skrulls and twisted it hard. The cries of pain made it clean even for a a race as fluid as the Skrulls that there were some directions that bending weren't possible for their bodies.
The Avengers were still watched closely by the Thunderbolts. Though Moonstone figured they were very likely on the level with them.
'Like Swordman's sister was...' Karla mused to herself. The fact she was what she said she was surprised Moonstone. Though given she died in Washington DC Swordsman should have asked for a warranty.
Jessica Drew then hit a Fantastic Force Super Skrull in the face with a bioblast.
"So what are you looking for?" Pym inquired wondering what they hoping to accomplish.
"The bridge and the power source," Radioactive Man replied. "We need to deal with this for good."
"That we can all agree on," She-Thing put gruffly as she felt some semblance of hope for the first time in a very long time. It was an almost foreign feeling to Sharon Venture.
"You take engineering," Invisible Woman told them in an charge tone. "We'll take the bridge."
Pym gave Susan a slightly bitter expression and he thought he was the one charge of this. Moonstone found this power struggle to be amusing.
"Yes let's do that," Songbird agreed. At the moment she was winging it and hoping the other teams were doing their parts. There was too much at stake for them to fail. The world was literally depending on them.
V-V-V
The hanger to the Warship, Dorrick's Revenge, was punched through literally by the being they knew as the Sentry. The Guardian of Good had as much reaction to their laser fire as if it was a light drizzle of rain on a hot summer day. He expanded the hole for his team mates.
A modified Quintjet flew into the massive hanger bay and the Skrulls fought harder to keep their enemies out. The Avengers were only behind the Fantastic Four as their most hated Earth metahuman team. The fact they hadn't turned an emperor's cousin in a grazing animal was what kept them from being at the top of the list.
"Avengers Assemble!" Ronin yelled as the door was opened and fired off several arrows at the Skrull guards. A net arrow trapped a Taskmaster Skrull and another arrow covered a Champions Super Skrull in ice.
Then a red blur passed Clint Barton and at speeds the Skrulls still were shocked at, the Flash did his best to disarm the Skrulls and knock them out. Working with Sentry felt so right, and so completely utterly wrong at the same time. Bob definitely was not Clark by any means. Maybe with some help the man could be the stalwart of justice Superman is, but that was not going to be soon. There was sense of darkness under the surface of Sentry that worried the Fastest Man Alive.
"Man where has this guy been?" Clint asked appearing to be talking to himself. Only the most sharp eyed Skrulls could see the Winsome Wasp flying around his head.
"He said he lost his memory and ended up wondering around," Wasp remarked as she flew around Ronin. "And that the Flash we encountered used to be his sidekick. Why he couldn't move as fast as Barry can is unknown."
"Maybe he ended up hogging the Speed Force," Wonder Man suggested as he dodged a punch from a Hellions Super Skrull. "Whatever that is exactly."
The ionic hero was surprised when Barry stopped dead in his tracks in front of them shocked. They knew people from his dimension? How was that possible? When did this happen? Could they take him home? What shape was home in given the battle with the Antimonitor was raging across so many worlds.
"You...you've all met Wally?" he asked quietly. "And he was the Flash?"
"Talk about it later," Ares groaned. This sort of sentimentality made him desire to vomit blood. "We have work to do. And I do want to get to see my son sooner then later."
"You have a son?!" Ronin gasped. Ares gave the archer a dark look for a moment, pondering if splitting the man's skull would be worth the moment's entertainment.
Several Skrulls coming out of the shadows with their battle cry of "He loves you" highlighted Ares' point. Wonder Man punched a Marvel Knights Super Skrull in the face and she was sent flying into her allies.
A Young Avengers Skrull swooped in and fired on Ronin. The experienced Avenger rolled and fired off an electric arrow at the same time. He seemed amused until a massive Giantman II Super Skrull fell over onto him and they both crashed to the ground. Then the pair were hit with arrows that caused ice to form over their bodies.
Then a patriotic circular shield flew through the air and slammed into the Super Skrulls coming at them.
Captain America then dropped behind some cover and fired his gun. The acrid smell of gunsmoke filled the air.
"Is that a Luger?" Ares asked shaking his head. "James Barnes you do know what a Desert Eagle is right?"
The current Sentinel of Liberty gave the Greek God of War an annoyed glare. Ares was not impressed and took pleasure in driving a claymore through the guts of a New Avengers Skrull. He noticed they left the Sentry out. Either due to him usually being off to whine so often or because of the fact the Guardian of Good was already batshit crazy and they didn't want to see if their copy would go insane and try to kill them all.
"Or even an uzi. Those also work quite well," Ares added as he dodged a fireball from a Human Torch Skrull. It was really poorly thrown as well.
Ares then pulled out an uzi he had strapped to his leg to prove his point. The hollow point rounds cut through unaltered or unarmored Skrullian flesh with ease. Then an Excalibur Super Skrull came out of the ground and with Colossus's organic steel form crushed the firearm.
Ares laughed and stabbed the Skrull in throat with his adamantium knife. The Skrull's shocked expression as he gasped amused him. He dearmored and tried to pull the knife out. Ares dropped his crushed gun and punched the Skrull in the face with his now free hand. He then slammed the battered Skrull into a wall and then cut through where the lungs were down through the heart.
The Flash looked at Ares like he was completely and utterly out of his mind. He'd fought villains less disturbing then Ares. And he was fairly sure if Diana ever met him that she'd shove one of the Greek God's guns somewhere very uncomfortable and in the most painful way she could.
'This Ares is different than my worlds. And still thinks he's a god of war,' Barry thought to himself as he battled a Skrull with powers like his and Superman's. Yet the costume looked wrong to the Fastest Man Alive. The Squadron Supreme Super Skrull fired him laser vision Barry, but found that his target was gone.
Barry went through the floor and went up behind the Skrull and hit him in the back of the skull. The emerald alien warrior turned and managed to grab the Scarlet Speedster's fist when he tried to hit the Squadron Supreme Skrull again. Then suddenly Dragonfang came out of the Skrull's guts. Barry winced as the alien screamed in pain and neon green blood flowed from the wound.
"Looks like uncle Hades was onto something re-empowering her," Ares remarked as he cut a Fantastic Force Skrull in half head to crotch with a massive battle axe. It was something that Barry made a note to look up. He figured he'd be looking at a lot of records to understand what they were talking about so causally.
A Sinister Six Skrull was about to attack Wonder Man when Captain America's shield slammed into his guts. Simon Williams punched the Skrull and it turned to sand. A mocking expression formed on the Skrull's face.
"Fists second only to Thor's hammer can't stop sand," the Super Skrull proclaimed with a savage smirk. Then it found sand wasn't a good form around the Scarlet Speedster. Flash ran around the Skrull and the silicon form of the alien slammed into the ceiling of the hanger bay.
"Thanks," Wonder Man called out to the Flash.
It was then that a red Abomination with an electric arm nailed Wonder Man with his electric arm. Said Skrull Sentry grabbed by the throat and flung at the other Skrulls and managed to knock over a Thing/Hulk/Juggernaut Super Skrull.
"We're definitely going to need to work on our teamwork after this," Ronin and Wasp said nearly in unison. They then looked at each other.
"Looks like great minds think a like," Janet said in a playful tone.
"When you've been leader as long as either us have been it comes natural," Clint commented before punching a Bartoc Skrull in the face. The savate using Skrull was knocked to the ground.
"Jeez even Bartoc doesn't have a glass jaw like that," Clint remarked as he shook his head. "It takes more then one punch to the face for him to go down."
The next thing Clint saw was a Skrull he had no idea what it was. He was wearing a mostly green and purple costume with oversized gloves, a silver mask, a Revolutionary War hat, and had a pair of brown wings on his back.
"Now that's something I didn't imagine I'd see," Captain America admitted as he caught his shield. He then blocked a punch from that Super Skrull with his shield.
"So what is he?" Simon Williams asked as he grabbed the arms of the Skrull in a vice-like grip.
"Team called the Crusaders," Bucky remarked as he bashed the Skrull in question in the face with his shield.
"They were dupes of the Nazis given machine based powers. After that mess was sort out most of them retired after they lost their powers. However one of them became Captain America. The second one if I remember correctly."
Suddenly the Skrull shrank down to six inches tall and hit Wonder Man in the leg. Simon nearly fell over from then force of the blow. And suddenly he reappeared at full size and Ronin fired an arrow. The knock out gas arrow flew through him and nearly hit Ares before Flash grabbed it and threw it at an X-Force Skrull and they got a large breath of the gas.
"What the?" Clint asked confused. Was it an illusion? Intangiblity? Hologram? Magic?
That really annoyed Hawkeye. He needed a handbook to tell whose powers these Skrulls had. While Flash reminded of the Freedom Fighters by the powers the Skrull had. It was almost disturbingly similar to the powers they had. He didn't like that at all. All these twisted fun-house mirror copies of his friends and he wasn't sure what Hercules was like on this world.
'With how things are going he's probably one of the Avengers,' Barry mused. And left him wondering if the Diana counterpart in this universe was a villain.
The Avenging Archer then fired off a Sonic arrow in the general direction of the hologram and or whatever and it vanished. The real Skrull was clutching their ears a few feet away. The Flash ran in and pelted the Super Skrull with blows. The Fastest Man Alive knocked the Skrull down with one final rabbit punch at mach one.
"Ok let's get going," Wasp called out. "We need to take this ship out before Thor and the other heavy hitters start their attack."
Barry took off to scout ahead inside the ship. Skrulls came out of the shadows to jump him, and Barry stopped and started to spin. The crimson tornado wasn't as good as something Red Tornado could make but it sent the Skrulls flying around the inside of the craft.
The Flash almost took a moment to check the pulses of some of the aliens, but wasn't sure if he could check them like he would a human.
One of them rose to use their Carrion Death touch on the Flash but their hands were sliced off by the Dragonfang.
Barry wondered briefly if such violence was because it was an alien and if this would be where the comics of his reality Tanaka Rei had were going to go. It drove home to Barry that he had to stay on the Avengers and lead by example. As a role model and from his memory the whole Registration issue and before that the mess around Captain America and Iron Man's handling of these Young Avengers, he'd definitely have his work cut out for him. He then remembered from talking with Hal about how Green Arrow had let down his sidekick. Issues weren't as black and white as he liked to remember them being.
The Flash then shook his head and ran forward, as there was time to think about when he wasn't in danger. And to never say what he thought to Ares face. He had a feeling preaching anything that didn't involve violence to that Greek God of War would not go well at all.
Wonder Man whistled as he saw the Flash's speed. Then he found himself in front of...himself. The Skrull then became massive, his costume an eyesore and he carried the weird weapon of Century known as the Parallax.
Electric arrows had hit the Skrull and were messing up his ionic body.
"I swear that trick never gets old," Ronin remarked loudly.
Simon Williams had to smile slightly at that. That was the Clint Barton he remembered.
Ares purposely kicked the fallen ionic Skrull as he went past him. The alien shapeshifter took off like a football and made a sicken crunch as he collided with the fall wall.
Wasp shook her head. Ares almost made her long for the days when Hercules didn't think she should be leader, and Namor was on the team. Almost.
Captain America wondered how Steve put up with this and stayed sane. It was a complete mystery to him. This unique and diverse group seemed to have as much attitude in nearly each member as Namor.
A barrage of pulse bolts was unloaded on the Avengers, and a stretching Iron Man armor clad Skrull yelled "He loves you!"
"Shut up," Ms. Marvel yelled as she absorbed the energy and with a glowing fist hit the Skrull.
The alien stretched out at that and found out they wanted him to do that as he became a sail as the Flash made hand tornadoes and sent him flying through the air like kite in high winds.
The former Winter Soldier picked up a Skrull blaster and opened fire. Crimson bursts of energy knocked down several Skrulls.
"Now that's a better weapon for a warrior," Ares remarked with a savage grin on his face.
Clint Barton turned to Ms. Marvel. "Seriously who thought adding him to the team was a good idea?"
"Iron Man," Carol replied.
"That explains that," Clint muttered before taking down a Brotherhood of Evil Mutants Super Skrull. "And where is Herc anyway? You'd think he'd be here kicking ass with us."
"No idea," Wasp admitted as she flew by Ronin. "But I know he's doing his part somewhere. Call it a feeling."
With a savage smile on his face Ares spoke up. "Of course he is. Though I'm sure I could do it better than he could, but I'm a god of war and he's a half drunk bull wrecking everything in his way."
Valkyrie gave Ares a look before charging ahead.
Janet definitely hoped Ares was going to one of those people that had one time on the active roster and then just showed up at the major gatherings for the team. She then shook her head.
"Ronin take Flash, Valkyrie, Captain America, Wonder Man to the command center, I'll take the others to the engine room."
"You know where that is Carol?" Clint asked.
The former Starjammer nodded. "The most heavily defended part of the ship."
"Figures," the former Hawkeye grumbled, though his eyes lit up with excitement.
"Just kick their ass Clint."
V-V-V
Over the Earth a giant version of War Machine opened fire on the Skrull fleet. Inside Suzi Endo watched Rhodey's vital signs. During this she discovered that his body was starting to reject his cybernetic implants. If he didn't have them removed soon after the battle or his mind moved into a cloned body, he would die. Or possibly regaining the Warware armor she remembered him wearing when she met him. That of course being lost in...at this point she wasn't sure where that was lost in now. Maybe Rhodey would remember.
The satellite turned battle armor then shook as the Skrulls let loose on it.
Thor held up his enchanted uru hammer and solar wind bent to the Norse God's command. The charged particles slammed into one of the Skrull ships. It distracted the crew long enough for several dozen Novas to use their gravemetic powers as one to crush the ship flat.
Then the Norse God of Thunder hurled his hammer and it pierced through a massive warship. An Iron Man Skrull thought Thor was easy pickings without his hammer and blasted Thor in the face full power.
If anything it annoyed Thor and with his powerful hand grabbed the Skrull by the arm and snapped it like it was a rotted twig. His hammer returned to his hand and the Odinson slammed his hammer into the chest of the Skrull. Then a massive electrical surge struck the foolish Skrull and he let out a scream that wasn't heard but everyone around them could feel.
"Blue Blazes," Rich Rider muttered as he saw that. Where was this sort of help when he needed it?
Then a golden hammer flew past him and slammed into Gladiator Super Skrull. There was a loud crunch in Robbie's mind as the Stormbringer hit the alien warrior in the face. It looked like it was extremely painful.
"Friend Beta Ray Bill," Thor gasped in shock. He had said that he would return to the stars to get answers.
"I realized that it would be cowardly to leave you and humanity while there was work to be done," Beta Ray Bill stated sounding disgusted with himself. "And these Skrulls will pay dearly for what they did to me!"
If Beta Ray Bill was honest their experiments on him were even more horrifically painful then the processes that made him into the cyborg warrior that he was today. And that which had empowered him had left everyone else physically crippled. He then raised his hammer.
It was then the pair of warriors saw another Galactus Super Skrull with a pair of Fire-Lord Super Skrulls. Thor was not impressed.
"Forward my friend," Thor yelled with his hammer glowing with energy.
It was not a good sign for the Skrulls as Storm Bringer glowed with the same mystical energies and the alien warrior unleashed his rage. The helmet of one of the Galactus Super Skrulls shattered when Stormbringer struck it. The Korbinite warrior then shattered the jaw of a Firelord Super Skrull with his fists. He could imagine the crunch it would have given.
Then a man in a high tech space suit appeared in the battle. The Skrulls ignored him until he blasted an All New All Different X-Men Super Skrull and then snapped the neck of the in armor form alien with ease.
Thor caught sight of the face of the man. It took him a moment to recall him, as the Avengers and X-Men had him on file. And together had battled him in the first public appearance of the man...and only barely won. His real name was Bennet Du Paris, but called himself Exodus, and looked enraged.
"Here me aliens," Exodus called out. "My race does not need you and your pathetic filth taking over. And I know you will treat Homo Superior no better then the flatscans."
"Who invited him?" War Machine remarked as he still remembered Exodus kicking his ass in Genosha years ago.
Then a beam of light started beating the crap out of Super Skrulls. Pulsar had to fight to call out attack names, as she was dealing with her Nextwave baggage.
Seeing Thor again made the former Captain Marvel smile slightly.
"Forward my friends and allies!" the Norse God of Thunder called out. "It is time to show these invaders what happens to those that try to conquer Midgard!"
With that he threw his hammer and sent a Shi'ar Imperial Guard Skrull through a Skrull battleruiser.
Then a massive silver looking metallic dragon appeared. The space station was very eel-like in appearance and fired a massive energy beam at the Skrullian fleet.
"Looks like everyone is showing up for this," Rhodey remarked before feeling like a knife had been shoved into his side and his left side flared with pain.
A Squadron Supreme Skrull punched the stopped giant War Machine and sent him flying through space.
Rhodey's legs twitched and he felt cold. The armored hero fought through the pain and punched the Skrull into a cruiser.
"I just hope the others are doing better," War Machine wheezed.
V-V-V
"You shouldn't be be part of this Sam," Wolverine stated as X-Force stealthy moved through the Skrull ship.
Cannonball sighed. "James has everyone completely forgotten when Peter Wisdom brought us under his wing for six months? Or Cable made us X-Force this sort of thing? Really it is beginning to get on my nerves."
Warpath shrugged, "I blame it on your easy going attitude and not talking about. Why 'Star doesn't get invited to these sort of things is what boggles my mind."
"Agreed," Shatterstar remarked as he moved with the stealth of a snake. "It annoys me to no end."
He then stabbed a Nightcrawler Skrull that had been in the shadows with his sword. Green blood flowed as he'd stabbed it in the heart. He then hit the Skrull in the jaw with a bone snapping kick.
Sunspot turned to Wolfsbane, "And you want to get that hardened?"
"I didn't want any of them to get involved with this," Logan growled harshly.
Suddenly they were all knocked around by a massive shockwave of energy.
"He loves you," black clad female skrull with a dagger shape cut out of his costume on her chest.
"Berto how you doing on solar power?" Cannonball asked. Sunspot smirked.
"Full power Sam," the solar powered mutant said confidently.
"You and James charge her, Tabitha keep him off guard, Danni you introduce her to that photon shield and Thing exoskeleton you got, Magma give her a nasty hotfoot, and 'Star...go nuts," Cannonball commanded firmly.
"What will you be doing?" Moonstar asked, with her voice coming out of what appeared to be the Thing's mouth being weird. Even for a group as jaded to the oddities of super heroics as X-Force was.
"Keeping Wolverine from trying to gut me for stealing his team back to where it belongs," Sam said with a slight smile.
"You with me," Shatterstar stated to X-23 before leaping into the fray. The pair worked as a well oiled machine and the Super Skrull barely was able to avoid them. She saw them as the most dangerous to her life and then realized she was wrong as a massive emerald hand grabbed her by the throat and slammed her to the ground hard.
"I think this is the first time we've ever worked together Wolverine," the Hulk admitted.
"Infinity Gauntlet mess," Logan commented gruffly. That was one downside of regaining all his memories. He remembered what Thanos had done to him with that power, and the complete and utter terror he and the others felt when the Mad Titan had effectively unlimited and absolute power. And Wolverine hated to be reminded of that sort of fear.
The Hulk was about to say something when a five Super Skrulls with his powers plus the Thing and the Juggernaut slammed into him. The Professor growled and sent them all flying through the air.
"Even with those additions I am the strongest one there is," the emerald goliath remarked proudly.
"That's nice," Logan commented. "Less talk, more world saving."
V-V-V
In the bowels of the Love of Kly'bn Donyell Taylor was frustated. His plans to save his brother, the original Night Thrasher, were getting derailed by this invasion. He honestly didn't care if the rest of the team didn't respect him at all as that didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. All that mattered was saving Dwayne from his fate was all that mattered.
Even if it was merely going to create an alternate timeline. Even just doing that was worth it to Bandit.
With a fluid grace Night Thrasher dodged a Super Skrull with the powers of Captain America, Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Thor, and had a boar's head for a hat for some reason. He had no idea what that was referring to.
Jubilee slammed a Deadpool Skrull against a wall hard and gave Night Thrasher a look of disgust. Ink had by accident, or so he told her, learned Bandit's goals. He gave the team equipment scavenged from Avenger's Mansion to be his running dogs and never even gave an inclination he had a worthwhile goal when he was absent or sneaking around behind their backs.
'If he just came clean with us on trying to save his brother's life we won't have any problems,' the former X-Man thought to herself as she kept an eye on the other problem, which was the trio of Skrulls helping them. She shook her head as it seemed that the Skrulls couldn't get a Captain Marvel that didn't become individualistic for some reason.
Crusader didn't even need to be looking in the direction of the New Warriors, but knew they really didn't trust him. Rightfully so given the invasion, but had this weird feeling that things could have been a lot worse. He shook his head as a had this feeling he'd done this before.
This sensation of having done this before didn't sit well with him as it implied he was laying dieing with his piece of the Cosmic Cube what gave him another chance. He didn't want to think about how he could have been mortally wounded.
He was shaken from his musing by Dust screaming and falling to the ground.
"Is she ok?" 'Kid' Nova asked. Instantly he got dirty looks from the Young X-Men.
"No she isn't," Rockslide snapped harshly. "Now do something useful!"
Suddenly the Skrulls started running away from the New Warriors, Skrull trio, and Young X-Men. One didn't need cosmic awareness to know this couldn't be a good thing. They heard a hiss and suddenly air was being dumped into space.
"Blue Blazes," Robbie Richards called out. Even he was surprised he didn't use something stronger.
"Your parents really strict on swearing?" Ink joked to keep calm.
"Make jokes later," Night Thrasher growled.
Wondra however went through a wall and frantically tried to restore the air or open the doors.
"The second blue button on that panel," Captain Marvel called out, and Jubilee hit it hard.
Air refilled the section they were in and the doors reopened when pressure was restored. There was a look of relief on the face of Kid Nova.
Dust still looked weak and was having trouble standing. Other than Bandit, the New Warriors looked uneasy at what had happened to her.
Xavin flew forward ablaze. "My friends are this way!"
To their surprise Night Thrasher didn't say anything as he followed the Super Skrull. Bucky was right behind them. The sounds of fighting were heard in the distance after they got deeper into the ship.
"So you got any idea where they are?" Rockslide asked Ruth and Captain Marvel.
Blindfold nodded. "In the medical labs."
Cipher walked through the walls to find it, and hoping the Runaways were still alive at this point. Or at least in a shape that they'd want to be still alive. Suddenly there was an explosion in front of her and got to see Captain Marvel fighting a Winter Guard Skrull.
"You should have just asked me for directions," he remarked.
"Sorry...used to working more or less alone," she admitted softly.
Skrulls were knocked past them as the heroes raided the medical lab. There was a smell of blood and antiseptic in the air that was unsettling. Any attempt at humor died on Ink's tongue.
Xavin turned rocky and smashed aside anyone as she looked for her wife. Worry filled the shape shifter's heart that her friends were already in pieces. "Where? Where are they?!"
She then grabbed a random doctor. "Answer me! Where are the Runaways!"
He pointed at a group of pods and got dropped to the ground. Night Thrasher quickly knocked him out before he could blast Xavin in the back.
"You sure that's them?" Phaser asked. Xavin gave him a look.
"It is a valid question!"
Crusader hoped for a Skrull detector and one appeared in his hand and he walked up to the still in pod Runaways. Seconds passed tensely as he made sure they were who they appeared to be. If they weren't it would crush Xavin's spirit.
"Are they really them?" Xavin asked softly. Crusader simply nodded.
Suddenly an alarm sounded. The medical staff panicked and ran away from the heroes.
"Yes, that is not a good thing," Blindfold told her allies.
"That's the self destruct sequence," Xavin told them. "We need to get out of here. Now."
The pods were put into antigravity transport mode and the heroes made a break for it. Around them the SHIELD space helicarrier was blowing up Skrull ships.
"He loves you!" echoed and Super Skrull Multiple Men swarmed them to delay them.
Suddenly Dust turned to sand to tore through them. "All of you go! I'll hold them off!"
"Not you too Sooraya!" Rockslide yelled. Xavin stretched around the rock man and pulled him along.
The rest of the Skrulls on the ship were less fanatical and were taking escape pods and shuttles to get away. A Skrull stealth ship decloaked inside the cargo bay.
"Next stop Earth!" the Thing called out as the door opened. The heroes were quiet as they rushed into the ship.
The Thing noticed they were missing a hero as they flew out of the self destructing cruiser.
"It was her time," Ruth told Ben softly.
"Kid...you sure?" the Thing asked her. Ruth gave a small nod.
"Why?" Rockslide said sadly. "Why did she have to die?"
Dust's death caused Bandit wonder if messing with time might not a be a good idea. He turned away from the others and tears came down his face as he began to truly mourn his brother.
V-V-V
Across the planet, and in space the Skrulls found themselves losing. Like the favor of their gods had been taken from them. Those whose faith was not as strong ran and tried to go underground. Better to live on the Earth for a while than be dead.
Afterwards, in a rebuilt Avengers Mansion, Iron Man met with Giant Man.
"I really made a mess of this didn't I Hank?" Tony asked as he looked out a window.
"From what I gathered you did the warm and fuzzy version of registration," Pym admitted. "Though I think the whole thing was a complete mess. And a Thor clone Tony?"
"He's really an Anti-Sentry weapon," Tony sighed. "I like Bob, but his power and lack of sanity..."
Giant-Man nodded. "You should have told Thor that part."
"Things were strained and then he was dead before we could really fix everything between us," Iron Man told Hank.
"That's still less strange then what has happened to me," Giant-Man remarked as he'd what happened with Tigra and his impostor.
"In any case I heard you wanted to set up your own team of Avengers," Tony said to change the subject.
"Seeing as how the two Avengers teams in New York are reunited, I believe a new West Coast team would be a good idea. Especially after finding out the Pride was real and there is a power vacuum in LA now."
Tony nodded at that. "That's not really a terrible idea. Plus the Order's powers aren't exactly infinite."
"Even with me as the leader?"
"Trust me Hank at this point I think Janet is the only one of us that isn't in a glass house when it comes to questionable command decisions."
"Any word on who will be the next leader of SHIELD?" Pym inquired.
"No idea," Tony admitted. "Not that I'm surprised I got the boot."
"Though Hercules being the one to kick the crap out of a Skrullian Eternal..." Pym mused out loud.
"If we knew about that I'm sure someone would have taunted the Skrullian Queen on that," Iron Man joked. Pym cracked a smile.
"Yeah, I can see Clint doing that."
The door then opened. Wasp entered the room in a white and blue costume.
"You two done?" she asked. "Come on, we have a press conference to hold."
Tony put down the faceplate. "Can't keep the public waiting."
As they left the room, Pym felt a feeling of hope. Like a brighter age was to begin for them.
