Hawkeye: Hey fans! Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, the number one archer to ever exists, period, here, and I gotta say, I'm really excited for this newest chapter of Code Avengers: Cosmic. I mean, if you've been keeping up with us, then you'll know that the last time you saw us Avengers around, be it here in this story, or when we made our special guest appearance over in lyokoMARVELanime's Justice League&Captain America crossover, Justice Marvel, then you know that we've been doing really great lately. So I'm betting that this chapter, we're going to be doing just as awesomely. Fight the bad guys, encounter a little drama along the way, but resolve it all by the time we hit the end, and...
AN: Uh, Clint. You have read the chapter, or at least the title for this chapter, right?
Hawkeye: What? Why? [takes a minute to look over and skim through both] Oh. Wow. Well that's...uh...how can I describe this without giving away spoilers?
Aelita: I don't think you can.
Wasp: Plus that reaction probably has already given everyone a bad feeling.
Deadpool: You're a bad feeling.
AN: What the...?! Urgh! I'm not even going to...I just...whatever. Somebody just deal with him, please?
Ms. Marvel: I've got him.
Iron Man: Hey, whoa. You blasted him out of here last time, I'm going to handle...
Ulrich: You always blast him out of here. It's my turn!
Aelita: I can hardly remember the last time I blasted him out of here.
AN: I don't care who blasts him out of here! Just. Blast. Him. Out of here!
Deadpool: [screams like a little girl when all of the Avengers turn and blast him all at once] HEY! I AM NOT SCREAMING LIKE A LITTLE...AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
AN: Well, with that annoyance dealt with, I've kept you all waiting long enough as it is, so why are you still reading this thing? Avengers, to the chapter!
I do not own anything from any of either of the Code Lyoko or MARVEL franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.
Chapter 9: Who Do You Trust?
The day after Aelita's birthday had gone just about as Ulrich had expected it to go. The minute he informed the team about his and Ava's encounter with HYDRA, Savage Artillery, and the Mecha-Tarantula, nearly everyone had freaked out in their own ways. The most notable of reactions was the fact that Aelita had nearly gone on a rampage after hearing that the terrorist group had nearly killed her brother and his girlfriend, never mind how much closer it became when she heard about the mechanical duplicate of one of X.A.N.A.'s strongest monsters and how this Savage Artillery person seemed to know about the two of them, but thankfully, Wasp and Ulrich were able to get her to calm down before she freaked out, and likely unleashed her frustrations on Hawkeye. The only one who knew about all of this before Ulrich had called the meeting was Tony, but that was mainly because Ulrich thought that they should study the Mecha-Tarantula in order to see just how HYDRA had created it and what clues they could find from it that would help in the long run when dealing with similar machines in the future, or even if there was a slight answer as to the mystery behind Savage Artillery. Sadly, neither Tony's people or S.H.I.E.L.D.'s were able to get to the machine fast enough, because by the time they had gotten there, the spider-like machine was already gone, almost as though it had vanished into thin air, with the only indication that it had ever even been there being the collateral damage in the surrounding area. Knowing that this had happened only frustrated the team even more, mainly because it meant they now had a whole new mystery to deal with on top of the ones they already had, and considering how well Ulrich and Aelita were taking the information that they had learned, things were just made even more complicated.
Aside from that, the only really major event that could be noted for the team in addition to Aelita's birthday was when most of the Avengers had an encounter with a group of heroes from another universe, among which was actually another Captain America. The most incredible thing about it all was that said heroes were actually the Justice League, or at least some of its more well-known members. The fact that a superhero team from comic books actually existed and was teaming up with them for a brief time was a shock on its own, right along with the fact that Captain America was actually a member of the team in the League's universe, but it was the adventure that followed that really had them thrown for a loop. In a stunning twist, the Avengers actually found themselves facing off with the Justice League's version of Kang the Conqueror, who had augmented Mandarin in an attempt to destroy both teams of heroes. In return for said augmentations, Mandarin had used the powers of his rings to enhance the doppelganger of Kang's soldiers, thus making the combined forces of the two villains almost too much either one of the two superhero teams to handle. Thankfully, neither group had to handle it alone, and after one incredible team-up, the Justice League and the Avengers had stood victorious. Even so, both villains had managed to escape, but the League was sure that Kang had returned to some point in their timeline, so they assured the Avengers that they could handle it when they got back, while also promising to let the Avengers know if they could use any help with the matter. With that said, all that had been left to do was help send the League back to their own universe, and they did so on good terms with the greatest heroes of another Earth.
Even with all that excitement though, the Avengers were still able to keep a few of what others would consider the less amazing things about their lives in mind, and there was one matter in particular that they felt that they had to address very soon. That matter was finally being taken care of almost a week after the adventure with the Justice League, and they were doing so at one of the team's favorite pizza diners, all decked out in civilian attire so that they did not attract too much attention, with the only exceptions being Cap, Ulrich, and Aelita, who were wearing their civilian-style uniforms. "Okay. So I'd like to make a toast," Tony announced to his gathered teammates just as their first pizza had arrived, which saw only Hulk, T'Challa, and Hank being missing. "Well, less of a toast, more like a welcome. A welcome toast."
"Wow. You're really bad at this," Clint teased Tony, who was actually decked out in a simple black shirt and jeans as opposed to his usual purple costume.
"Well, I'm really good at 'you just got fired' speeches, Hawkeye, if you catch my drift," Tony jokingly threatened, earning a glare from the archer and a small giggle from both Janet and Aelita. The billionaire then cleared his throat, before raising his plastic cup to the other blonde of the group, and their newest teammate. "I'd like to officially welcome Ms. Marvel to the Avengers. You've been with us two weeks now, and have already saved the planet twice. So we're even considering taking you off probationary status."
"Considering it. Don't get cocky," Clint warned, catching on to the fact that Tony was joking around with that last part.
"I'm just glad there's finally another girl on the team," Janet admitted with a happy smile to Carol, who could not stop beaming the entire time since they had gotten to the diner.
"That makes two of us," Aelita nodded with a smile of her own.
"Hear, hear," Clint and Tony both said, while the last two members of the group raised their cups in toast to the newest Avenger as well in silence.
"Thanks, guys. Really, this means a lot to me," Carol told the others. Her expression became a little more serious as she reached for a slice of pizza as she then asked, "But, um, do you have someone at the Mansion? You know, in case of random evil?"
"You mean aside from Hank," Ulrich rhetorically asked with a smile as he and the others grabbed a slice as well. "The guy almost never leaves that computer he uses to monitor us while on missions, unless it's for one of his experiments or some other science-related reason."
"Or a certain wasp," Aelita pointed out with a slightly sly look in Janet's direction, drawing a blush from the size-changer when she did.
Steve had to laugh along with his young friend as well, earning him a slightly apprehensive look from Ulrich and Aelita. After dodging him for so long, Ulrich had finally managed to have that talk he had promised the super soldier they would have about his actions during the Kree invasion, but even though Steve had appeared to readily agree with whatever thrashing Ulrich dealt out with him, there was still something about the super soldier that felt off to the two Lyoko Warriors. That was not important right now though, so they set it aside so that they could focus on the here and now, which included hearing Cap's answer to Carol's question.
"Even with Doctor Pym watching out for things, we have regular monitor duty assignments so that he can take a break every now and then as needed. Hulk is on tonight," Steve explained. When Carol glanced at him with a worried expression, Steve had to smirk a little as he added, "And the Black Panther is on Hulk duty."
"Not that it should be too hard for him to handle. After all, I know a certain someone that's likely to keep Hulk busy for a while," Ulrich stated with a slight chuckle, earning an equally amused smile from Aelita, as if they were thinking of some sort of inside joke. Still, most of the team had a pretty good idea what the two were thinking of.
When Hulk had joined the Avengers, the one thing he had never anticipated was the long, boring hours of monitor duty, which he was currently having to endure while the rest of the team went out for pizza with the new girl. He did not mind it too much, but considering he was having to put up with T'Challa just sitting around meditating in silence, and Hank busily typing away at the mansion's main computer in the Assembly Hall as he monitored the networks for any sign of trouble in nearly equal silence, save for the sounds of his fingers tapping on the keyboards, there was only so much he could really take. Eventually, instead of watching the monitors with Hank, Hulk eventually found himself glaring down at the Wakandan king, as if silently challenging him, only to receive no response at all from T'Challa. That did not stop him from continuing with his task, because not only was he getting really hungry, but he was also really bored, and he did not like it when he was either one of those things. It was times like this that Hulk missed having Thor around all the time. At least then he would have something to do by sparring with the Asgardian.
Eventually, Hulk could not take the silence any longer, and narrowed his gaze at T'Challa before he growled, "You talk too much."
T'Challa could not help it. After he heard Hulk say that, he had to look up from his meditative stance and level a disbelieving gaze at the Hulk, clearly yet silently asking if the gamma giant had really just said that to him, of all people. It did not show of course, since he was wearing his mask as usual, but the fact that Hank had ceased his typing to give Hulk a similar look after he heard that, there was not really much of a need for it too. A second later, the silence was broken once again when the door swished open and admitted a certain, small dog into the room, who was barking happily as he raced over to Hulk, slightly surprising T'Challa, and irritating Hulk and Hank.
"Not again," Hank muttered as he got up out of his seat. "Kiwi, how many times have we told you not to come in here? Now go on, get out of here. Go back to Ulrich's room, Kiwi. Go!"
Kiwi did not pay Hank any mind, but instead just kept barking up at Hulk while said gamma giant glared down at him with a growl. "I believe that Kiwi wants your attention for some reason, Hulk," T'Challa commented, ruefully, showing just how close he had come to his teammates by joking around with them like this.
"Well I don't want his," Hulk grunted, and he then leaned down closer to the dog, intent on roaring at the little guy in an attempt to scare Kiwi away with a roar. He never even got to gather up some air to bellow at him, as Kiwi suddenly reached up and gave Hulk a big lick on the face, making Hulk jump back up as he attempted to wipe the dog slobber from his person. "That's it! Come here ya little mutt!"
A second later, Kiwi was happily running out of the Assembly Hall with Hulk hot on his heels, while Hank and T'Challa just looked on in mild amusement. It always seemed funny how Kiwi would get Hulk to chase after him when he wanted to play with the strongest hero there is, but at the same time, it also struck them as odd that this seemed to be the dog's favorite game to play with Hulk. They eventually just shrugged it off as no big deal, thinking that it probably had something to do with things that had taken place in Ulrich and Aelita's world before they had arrived here, and T'Challa was soon on his feet and going after the two as well, hoping that he could prevent Hulk from smashing the Lyoko Warriors' pet before the dog drove Hulk up a wall anymore than he already had.
Around the same time all the heroes' fun events were taking place, a certain individual was going for a light jog in Central Park. This person's face could not be clearly seen, mostly due to the dark purple hat she wore casting a shadow over her face, but it was easy to tell by her figure and shoulder length hair that she was a woman, and her dark purple running outfit did little to hide that. Aside from that, the only other things about her attire one could really see was the fact that she wore a pair of yellow gloves and shoes, with the former seeming to have a bit of metal connecting to the backs of the hands. Eventually, the runner came to a stop beneath a bridge to catch her breath and tie her shoe, but she soon paused in the action when she heard a very distinct growl coming from behind her. Standing up, she turned around to come face to face with a massive animal-like man who possessed a golden lion mane, large orange wings, and a long reptilian tail. At this point, one would probably have expected the woman to freak out and make a run for it, but instead, the runner just stared up at the chimeric man with an even glare, showing no signs of fear at all.
"I've been looking for you Mister Horton," the woman stated, identifying this figure as the Breakout escapee known as Griffin, and confusing said supervillain a little when she said that. "You probably can't even understand me, but I need your help. I need you to do something for me, but the only way you're going to do it is if I give you the worst earache you've ever had in your life. Sorry."
A minute later, the woman had clenched her fists, and the area around the two seemed to suddenly shake under the force of a sudden, freak earthquake, which was soon followed by a high-pitched humming that sent Griffin into a mad frenzy as he attempted to block it out. Thinking to silence the noise by attacking what was obviously its source, Griffin lunged at the woman with his claws forward, but the woman swiftly evaded his attack and then countered it by slapping an open-palm strike to the side of his head, near where his ear was, and enhanced her attack with a powerful shockwave that left Griffin roaring in pain as he covered his ears and took off to get away from her. Unfortunately, he went flying off in the wrong direction, but that was soon corrected when a sudden blast of electricity suddenly shot across his path, forcing him to turn around and head where the woman had wanted him to go. When the supervillain had flown out of sight, the runner removed her hat to reveal a certain, blue-eyed, brunette S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, who was now glaring at the source of the lightning blast.
"I had that under control," Skye snapped at her current partner.
Said partner stepped out of the shadows to reveal himself as a blonde haired man in a red shirt, brown jacket, blue jeans, and dark brown shoes, and once he was next to Skye, he simply humored her and said, "I'm sure you did, Daisy, but you know we can't afford to take any risks right now."
Skye, or rather Daisy as she now preferred when not using her codename, just rolled her eyes in good humor as she tapped her earpiece and reported in. "This is Quake. Phase One is go."
"Acknowledged Quake. You and Agent Campbell can return to The Bunker whenever you're ready," Quake's superior replied.
"Roger that. We'll see you when we get back, AC. Johnson out," Daisy replied, and she then stepped back into the shadows with Campbell following after her, right until they both seemed to disappear into thin air, making things seem even more ominous to anyone who saw them.
Unaware of what was going on outside the diner, the Avengers who were gathered together for Ms. Marvel's welcome party were all heartily enjoying themselves, be it with some exchanged laughs and playful jibes, to old stories about Ulrich and Aelita's adventures on Lyoko or Cap's time in World War II, and most recently, some of the more exciting aspects of Carol's history, which only came up after Aelita had asked about it. "So I joined the Air Force out of high school. They paid for college, but I re-enlisted anyway so I could fly jets. I loved flying jets," Carol revealed with an extra emphasis on how she felt about flying planes.
"I can kinda relate to that," Aelita nodded in agreement, thinking about all the times she flew the Quinjet or the Skid, despite the circumstances under which she normally did both.
"What was your squadron name," Steve asked, fully intrigued from the moment Carol had gotten onto this subject.
"The hundred and second, the best of the best. Major Carol Danvers, call sign Warbird," Carol stated with pride and a two-fingered salute.
"Warbird huh? I'm surprised you didn't use that as your codename as opposed to Ms. Marvel," Ulrich commented.
"Well, Ms Marvel sounded much better to me at the time," Carol shrugged. "They pulled me into Special Investigations not long after. They knew I was a big believer in law and order. Without rules, we've got nothing."
"Wait, you said your rank was major right," Clint asked. He then threw a smirk at Steve and pointed out, "That means she outranks you, old man."
Ulrich, Janet, and Aelita were all trying their best to contain their laughter at the look on Steve's face after he heard that, though they still let out small snickers all the same, but Carol on the other hand was quick to come to the aid of her fellow soldier as she threw Clint a pointed look and reminded him, "And as a S.W.O.R.D. field commander, I outrank you back when you did ops for S.H.I.E.L.D."
That got the snickering trio to move up to giggling, and soon it was full blown laughter when Clint attempted to shoot Carol in playful revenge with a little tooth pick using a bow he had made from straws and straw wrappers. The reason it was funny was because his attempt had failed due to Carol disintegrating his quick made bow and arrow before he could even fire with a simple energy blast from her finger. "I like you already, Major," Steve smirked to Carol, clearly just as amused as the other three.
All the laughs came to an end when the group heard the crowd outside start screaming in fear, and they immediately turned just in time to see Griffin flying down the street and past the restaurant. "Check, please," Tony requested.
Steve was instantly out of his seat with Aelita right behind him, while Janet shrank down so that she could shed her civilian attire for her Wasp outfit. "Come on, Ms. Marvel, party's over. Time for the after-party," the size-changer stated as she flew up and after the other two.
"You are way too excited about a giant monster flying down the street," Carol told Wasp as she donned her mask and slid out as well along with Clint.
"You guys go ahead. I'll catch up once I've got my armor," Tony told the others while pulling out his checkbook.
"I'll stick around for a bit too. Gotta get Hulk his dinner before he goes crazy from hunger," Ulrich stated.
"Yep and nothing's faster than a Sprint Samurai delivery," Tony chuckled. "Oh, and guys, make sure the newbie does all the hard work."
Clint and Ulrich could only smirk at the jokes before the former headed off to change into his suit, and before she followed after the others, Carol threw one last look to the leader of the Avengers and said, "Tony, thanks."
Tony just smiled back at the blonde and said, "Go get 'em, Carol." His smile grew a little more at seeing Ms. Marvel beaming back with pride before she raced after their teammates, and it stayed that way even after the waitress arrived with the group's check. "We're gonna need about ten pizzas to go. The Hulk will tear us apart if we come home without food."
Ulrich was just about to nod in knowing agreement with the billionaire when the waitress suddenly said in a soft, smooth voice, "Neither of you are going home."
Tony had barely even glanced up long enough to catch sight of the waitress aiming a familiar golden gauntlet at him before she had shot him in the neck with a knockout dart. Ulrich on the other hand was much faster to react, thanks in part to his Super Sprint, and was immediately leveling the redheaded woman with a small glare as he prepared to summon his sabers. Unfortunately, since his focus was solely directed at the waitress, he failed to notice that there was someone behind him until after they had shot him as well, and he ended up collapsing to the floor a second later. Ulrich managed to stay conscious for a few moments though, but it was long enough to see the waitress let her hair out of its bun, confirming who he thought the redhead was, along with a Chinese woman with short, brunette hair that he also recognized quite well from another encounter he had with a certain team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.
"Sorry about this, kid, but this is important," Agent Melinda May informed Ulrich just before he passed out. She then stood up straight and nodded to her current partner in a silent signal.
The redhead returned the nod with one of her own, and then tapped her earpiece so she could report in. "This is Widow. We've got them."
Tony was not sure how long he had been out, nor was he entirely sure what he had been hit with, but at the moment, all he knew was that a certain, male Lyoko Avenger was currently trying to rouse him. "Tony…Tony! Wake up," Ulrich's voice called out.
"Alright, I'm up. I'm up," Tony groaned, fully intending to snap at Ulrich for waking him up until he remembered how he had been knocked out to begin with. When he turned to question the samurai though, he found another individual standing behind Ulrich, and this time, she was decked out in her usual skin-tight black suit, studded belt, and both gauntlets. "Wha…Widow? What's going on? Where are we?"
"You're both in a safe place. You've been out for about twenty minutes, while your young friend was out for about fifteen. I was honestly expecting him to be out longer than you," Widow revealed as she stepped back, leading the two's gaze to the other individuals in the room. Among which, they both picked out the members of Coulson's team, including Campbell, and a woman with long blonde hair clad in a blue suit with billowing sleeves, no pants allowing her shapely legs to be shown off, black boots, and a black/blue mask, who they recognized as Hawkeye's old friend, S.H.I.E.L.D. Special Agent Bobbi Morse, alias Mockingbird. Of course, it was the last individual in the room that got both of their attention.
"Fury," Tony exclaimed as he jumped to his feet, only to find out that standing up so quickly was not the best idea at the moment. Thankfully Ulrich was able to catch Tony before he fell to the floor and helped stabilize the billionaire on his feet before they both turned to the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Nick Fury had not really changed much since they had last seen him, aside from the fact that he now wore a long, brown trench coat and had shaved his head completely while allowing a small goatee to grow out on his face.
"Like the new look, Fury, but would you mind explaining what the hell's going on here, along with a few other dozen things," Ulrich asked.
"Anything specific you want us to answer, Ulrich," Phil Coulson asked as he made his presence known after stepping out of a dark corner. Seeing that both Ulrich and Tony were even more startled by his appearance, Coulson's face became a little sheepish as he said, "Sorry. That corner was really dark and I couldn't help myself. Think there's a bulb out."
Ulrich had to smirk a little at Coulson's statement, glad to see that Phil had not changed since they last met, but quickly got serious again when he launched into the questions. "Oh, I don't know. How about where have you all been all this time? What's Black Widow and Mockingbird doing here?" He paused for a minute to glance at Campbell before continuing, "Who's the new guy?"
"And most importantly, where is here," Tony finally asked, cutting across Ulrich.
"My personal safe house. One of the ones that S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't know about," Fury stated. He then turned to Ulrich as he nodded at Coulson and Daisy while saying, "I'm sure those two will be happy to fill you in on their newest teammate."
Daisy was quick to approach Ulrich with Campbell as she stated, "Ulrich, this is Lincoln Campbell, the newest member of our team of Secret Warriors. He got his powers the same way I did, except his thing is electricity instead of earthquakes."
"It's an honor to meet you, despite the circumstances," Lincoln said as he shook hands with Ulrich. "Daisy's told me a lot about you, at least when it comes to the last time you guys had seen one another."
Ulrich could not help himself. He had to let out a snort when he heard what Lincoln referred to the superhuman S.H.I.E.L.D. agent as. "You're going by Daisy now," Ulrich asked.
"Hey, it's my real name, and part of really getting a handle on my powers involved accepting who I was, so I figured, why not," Daisy shrugged. "But in the field, it's Quake."
"Hmm. Appropriate," Ulrich hummed in response. He then turned back to Lincoln and asked, "So what about you? What's your codename?"
"I…actually don't have one yet. We're still working on it," Lincoln admitted.
"Have you considered Static," Ulrich joked.
"We did, actually, but that one's obviously taken by DC Comics," Ward revealed, earning him a slight scowl from Lincoln afterwards, showing the blonde was embarrassed by that information.
"Moving on from the small talk, I believe you wanted to know what's going on," Fury interrupted. He then stepped aside and gestured to a nearby, closed door and said, "The simple answer is…We're going to show you."
Both Tony and Ulrich gained serious expressions at that, and cautiously stepped forward and into the next room as Fury opened the door for them, but when they got inside, those expressions turned to utter shock and slight horror. There before them, lying on a table, and hooked up to a few monitors that were being examined by Simmons and Fitz, was a woman with dark hair, light green skin, pointed ears, and a large chin with several bumps on it, but the most shocking part of it all was that aside from the obviously out of place features was the fact that said woman looked a great deal like Madame Viper. The outfit she was wearing was even an exact match to the one she had been wearing when Hawkeye, Captain America, Black Panther, and Mockingbird helped to capture her. Seeing the expressions of the two Avengers did not surprise any of the Secret Warriors at all, because they had all had similar reactions when they found out about this as well.
"This is a Skrull," Fury announced after allowing Ulrich and Tony to digest what they were seeing. "A shapeshifting alien that can take the appearance of anyone. They're invading Earth. It's already started."
The minute they heard the word Skrull, both Ulrich and Tony were reminded of when Captain Marvel had mentioned said alien race during their first encounter with him, and from that knowledge, they were also reminded that the Kree scientist had stated that the Skrull were an alien super power. Even so, hearing this new information about said alien race was a little too much for Tony to take. "Stop! Just…just back up," Tony demanded. "Start at the beginning. Where did this thing come from?"
"Uh, Space," Quake quipped.
"Cute, Daisy," Ulrich snipped in reply.
"I know she is," Lincoln muttered under his breath, earning him a side, sly smile from said woman.
"It was actually because of you Avengers that we found out about the Skrull in the first place," Fury revealed. "Hawkeye decided to go after the Black Widow against orders. He tracked her to HYDRA Island."
"Along with Captain America, Black Panther, and Mockingbird over here," Ulrich filled in, remembering the mission that Fury was talking about. It was hard to forget considering how mad Tony had been with them after he found out that they had. Out of the corner of his eye, he could have sworn that he saw Morse smirk a little with a faint blush while Romanoff shot the blonde a pointed look that he was sure had looked like jealousy, but he put it aside for the moment.
"He didn't know she was working undercover for me at the time, but while the Avengers were messing up months of work, Mockingbird took down Madame Viper," Fury continued like he had not been interrupted.
Bobbi took this opportunity to step into the conversation and pick it up from there. "When Viper hit the ground, I was going to go back to help your team, but then I saw it."
"Saw what," Ulrich hesitantly asked.
"Viper changed, right in front of me. She changed into this," the blonde replied.
"And then Mockingbird did the single most sensible thing that any agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. has ever done. She kept it quiet and brought it to me," Fury finished.
"Does anyone else feel like it's a little sad that that's considered the 'most sensible thing any agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. has ever done,' because if that is the case, it doesn't really make the organization as a whole look all that great," Ulrich quipped. His comment earned him a lot of stern looks from most of the people in the room, leading him to say, "Right. Forgot who most of the people in the room were."
Coulson gave Ulrich a sympathetic smile at this before he clued in his part of the story. "After figuring out a way to tell who was a Skrull and who wasn't, or at least as best of one as we could find, Fury came to my team and I, tested us, and then let us in on the secret. We all went underground afterwards, knowing that S.H.I.E.L.D. had likely been compromised if HYDRA had been as well, and have been working as Director Fury's Secret Warriors ever since."
"Coulson, I've told you that you really shouldn't be calling me director at the moment," Fury lightly scolded, indicating that they had this conversation before and it usually ended the same way.
"And like I've told you before, you're always going to be the guy in charge to me and any other sensible agent, Boss," Coulson smoothly replied.
Tony just shook his head at the little quip-pro-quo that had taken place just now, and pulled everyone back on track as he asked his next question. "So, if one of these things got inside HYDRA…"
Fury minutely nodded in response as he stated, "Like Coulson said, at that point, I realized that anyone, anywhere could be a Skrull."
Tony was still not quite willing to accept all of this yet. "It doesn't make sense," the billionaire hero protested, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he did. "How do you know this? How do you even know this is a Skrull?"
"You mean aside from the fact that it's clearly not a Kree," Ulrich questioned. "But then again, it could also be a Martian."
"And you said I was being cute," Daisy muttered.
"Pulled this off it. Some kind of comm. device," Fury replied as he reached into an inside pocket of his jacket and produced said device, which he soon tossed over to Tony so he could have a better look. "It's fried, but we've been able to get some data from it. A bunch of hissing, actually, but the word 'Skrull' shows up a lot. We've been able to determine that Viper received communications from two locations. One of them was the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, and the other…"
"We've got to get back to our team," Tony hurriedly interrupted, leading Ulrich in a charge out the door so that they could do just that. Before they were even within arm's reach of the door though, Coulson finished what Fury was saying, and they both felt their blood run cold the minute he did.
"Tony, Ulrich. The other communication came from your Mansion. The Avengers have been infiltrated," Fury's best agent somberly revealed.
Ulrich could hardly believe it. Someone in the Avengers, his family, was actually a Skrull in disguise?! If anyone else had told him this, he would have been arguing it right away, with or without the evidence that was just presented to them, but this was Nick Fury and Phil Coulson telling them, and there was a Skrull dressed as Madame Viper right there just across the room from him. That alone made it a much more difficult pill to swallow, but then he started to think about a few things regarding said family, and he found himself narrowing his eyes in silent suspicion as only one name came to mind as to who was most likely the Skrull spy. He did not want to say anything though, both because he did not want to get Tony anymore upset than he clearly was already, and because he wanted to see what the Secret Warriors were suspecting.
"Baron Strucker was going to execute us both," Mockingbird stated, referring to the mission she had gone on with Clint, Steve, and T'Challa once again. "But Madame Viper stopped him. She suggested to Strucker they keep Hawkeye alive. We were taken to the dungeons, where they separated us."
"Why," Tony demanded, with his tone dropping to a dangerous level.
"She said he might be useful," Mockingbird replied as simply as you please. That alone showed she had been an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. for quite a long time if she was not backing down due to a silent threat from Iron Man.
"Or she wanted to replace him with a Skrull agent," Fury clued in.
"This is insane," Tony continued to argue. "You're saying Hawkeye is one these…these things? We know Hawkeye."
"I saw Viper every week over the course of a year. The Skrull had her appearance, her voice, yes, but it also had her memories. She was a perfect copy in every way," Black Widow easily countered.
"Maybe not," Ulrich protested. "There's no such thing as a truly perfect copy. If she really was a Skrull agent that entire time, she would've at least acted a little differently, but it would have been hard for you to tell, even if you had seen her for that long."
"That kinda makes it hard for you to say Hawkeye isn't one of the Skrull too, seeing as you and the other Avengers have only known him for about the same amount of time now," May pointed out to Ulrich.
"Well the difference is that we live with Hawkeye, and work side-by-side with him on a daily basis. Widow just worked with Viper, and no offence to her skills or anything, but just working along with someone isn't really much to go on when comparing the real thing with a fake," Ulrich pointed out.
"It doesn't change a thing," Fury argued, slightly grasping Tony's arm, just in case Stark tried to attack any of them in Clint's defense. "Hawkeye's a suspect, you two. That's what we're saying."
"And how do we know you're not a Skrull," Tony demanded after shrugging Fury's hand off.
Surprisingly, Fury actually smirked at that remark and said, "Now you're getting it."
Tony opened his mouth to retort, but immediately shut it once he caught on to what Fury was implying. A second later, he started backing away from everyone in the room, and was about to turn and rush out the door when Ulrich made him pause with one last question. "Why tell us both about this," the samurai inquired. "I get telling just one of us, most likely Tony, but why tell me as well if you're so suspicious of the world at large?"
"The simple reason, Ulrich is because you are one of the only two people in any organization, maybe even the world that can't be a Skrull," Fury replied. When Ulrich just shot him a confused look, Fury went on to add, "One of the communications we were able to decipher from that device spoke of two young heroes that the Skrull could not replace for some reason. Admittedly, that's not a lot to go on, but thankfully, Fitz-Simmons helped us narrow it down to the only two people it could be. We probably never would have found out on our own anytime soon, but sometimes, a small lab accident can reveal the most startling of things."
That earned him more looks of confusion from both Tony and Ulrich, and while the billionaire of the two slowly started to move a little closer to his young friend, Fitz launched into a small explanation for Fury's statement. "Jemma and I were studying this Skrull in an attempt to determine a way to root out the imposters, or at least develop a scanner that would better point us in the right direction when we discovered this," Fitz started. "The same day it happened, we were actually experimenting with a sample of the energy that you and your sister give off when using your powers or your suits…"
"How the hell did you get a sample of that," Ulrich demanded, his tone becoming a kind of dangerous that Tony recognized from every time that the team had found research notes on methods for hurting the Lyoko Avengers.
"It was purely accidental, I assure you, but regardless of that, it did present us with a wondrous opportunity to see what other applications the energy could be applied to," Simmons instantly informed him, coming to hers and Fitz's defense.
"And I'm sure the fact that it would allow you to develop weapons against me and Aelita never once crossed your minds," Ulrich sarcastically filled in.
Jemma had flinched back a little at the bite in Ulrich's voice, but Fitz was quick to press on before Ulrich's temper ran any hotter. "Regardless of what uses the experiments were meant for, none of which included weapons development, I assure you, what had happened when that energy was exposed to our pointy-eared friend here is far more important."
It was at this point that Fitz indicated a cloth over one of the Skrull's arms that Ulrich and Tony had not taken notice of until now, and upon pulling it back, the two could only gasp at what looked like a small burn mark on the lower area of said arm, given the skin discoloration and slight scabs around the discolored area. Looking at this, Ulrich could not help but move a little closer and reach out towards this area of the Skrull's arm, as if he thought that touching it would help him understand what it was that had happened to said appendage. When he did though, Fitz-Simmons instantly started shouting for him to wait, but the warning came too late. The second Ulrich's hand had just brushed against the Skrull's skin, the burn mark seemed to explode outward until it had extended from the Skrull's wrist to his elbow, startling him almost as much as Fitz-Simmons' sudden shouts of warning had.
"That's what helped us realize that you and Aelita are the only ones who can't be Skrulls," Fury answered. "A simple approximation of the energy that you two give off thanks to your powers and suits was able to cause that small burn to the arm, and we long suspected that the real thing would cause something a little more serious. I'd say this pretty much confirms that. The Skrulls can't replace you or your sister with one of their agents because they can't duplicate the energy giving you your abilities without harming themselves, and more than that, you two are also able to inflict injury to them if you come into direct contact with them, much like the X-Man, Rogue would if she were to touch someone with her bare hands."
"In other words, you and pinkie aren't just Skrull proof; you're living poison to them," Ward revealed.
"Well then there's our way of finding out whether or not Hawkeye really is a Skrull. We just have Ulrich go over to him and shake hands or something," Tony sighed in relief.
"You might want to hold off on that plan, Mister Stark," Coulson cautioned. "Just because Ulrich and Aelita could do this to a Skrull in their natural state, doesn't mean that they can do it to one when they're in disguise, and we can't test to see if that is the case since we have no idea for certain just who is a Skrull; only suspects."
Tony deflated quite a bit after hearing this, knowing that Coulson had a point, and a simple glance to the man's science tag team confirmed this suspicion to be well-based. At this point, he was starting to think that maybe there was a chance that Hawkeye was a Skrull in disguise, but someone quickly voiced an argument of their own a second later. "Hawkeye's not a Skrull," Ulrich declared, his voice brimming with confidence.
"He's the most likely suspect, kid," Mockingbird told the young speedster. "I hate having to say that myself, but…"
"No. I'm telling you it's not Hawkeye," Ulrich repeated, and from the look in his eyes, everyone could tell that nothing anyone said could convince him otherwise. Tony figured it was because Ulrich did not like thinking anyone in his new family could possibly be an alien spy, and that feeling was shared by just about everyone in the room, except for Fury and Coulson.
"You have a suspect of your own in mind, don't you," Coulson asked.
Ulrich said nothing in reply, not wanting to divulge that information if Fury's early statement to Tony was accurate and instead just glanced at Stark, silently telling him that they were done here, and turned to leave. Tony shot a perplexed gaze after his friend, but ultimately shrugged it off, figuring that he would find out something for sure later on, and followed Ulrich out as well, feeling the slightly suspicious gazes of the Secret Warriors on him the entire time he was leaving the room, and a headache forming in his head due to the secrets that he just learned.
Despite the fact that Ulrich and Tony had never joined them, the Avengers that had taken off to pursue Griffin were able to subdue the chimeric criminal with little trouble, at least in the opinions of Wasp, Hawkeye, Angel Guardian, and Captain America. If you were to ask Ms. Marvel though, she would say that it was a bit of a workout, but that was mostly because the other four had done as Tony said and left her to do all the hard work. Sure, Cap had redirected Griffin to a safer area, while Wasp, Hawkeye, and Angel Guardian had managed to throw him off balance a little, but in the end, it was Carol who had ended up wrestling Griffin to the ground after the supervillain had tackled her out of the air and into the ground of Central Park beneath them. The other four probably could have helped her to make things easier, but at the same time, they also wanted to give Carol a bit of a hard time dealing with it just because. Sure, Aelita had eventually stepped in when she thought Carol had enough of getting tossed around, but she still had to admit, watching Carol get knocked around that easily when she was obviously so overconfident about how the fight would go was a bit entertaining.
"Oh man, you guys, you're so lucky," Carol chuckled, having finally joined the others in their laughter at her expense. Of course by this point, it was mostly directed at Griffin and how he had ended up by the time the fight had ended.
"The look on the Griffin's face when he bit down on your leg," Wasp smirked as they moved through the lounge.
"Hopefully his teeth will grow back. No one's going to take him seriously like that," Clint joked in agreement.
"I don't know. I mean, he's still got the large wings, and his claws might still be…slightly sharp, so maybe…" Aelita tried to argue, but in the end, she just could not do it, and ended up giggling at the memory of how the guy had turned out at the end. "Nope, you're right, Clint. No one's ever going to take him seriously like that."
"I felt bad," Carol protested, but since she did it with a smile, they all knew she was not being serious. "He got those big puppy dog eyes like I yelled at him or something."
"Well, next time the Hulk gets out of line, we're sending you in. I think you can take him," Janet informed her friend.
"Assuming that Aelita doesn't get to him first and hits him with her own sad puppy look," Captain America pointed out in good humor, earning another round of laughs from all of them, the pinkette included, since she knew why that part was included in the joke.
"What's so funny," a very gruff, grumpy sounding voice cut in, silencing all laughter and causing all five of them to freeze up a little in fear, as they glanced across the foyer to see the jade giant himself leaning against the column.
"Nothing," was the group's simultaneous reply, leading Hank to smirk from where he was as he entered the room as well, knowing full well what that likely meant.
"I don't see any food," Hulk then remarked with a narrowing gaze, and that statement made the scientist take a step back, just to be cautious, in case Hulk did not receive an answer he liked.
"The Griffin attacked, Hulk. We had to leave dinner early. Sorry, pal," Captain America swiftly answered.
"Humph. Lucky for you," Hulk huffed in reply, earning silent sighs of relief from the others that went unnoticed by anyone else for the most part while Hulk indicated Hank and T'Challa. "I was stuck here with the geek and him. I'd rather be fighting."
That was when Aelita suddenly realized something, and she quickly pointed it out. "Wait a minute. Are you saying that Ulrich never stopped by here? He was going to rush some food over for you guys before joining us in fighting the Griffin along with Tony."
"Uh…No, sorry Aelita, but we haven't seen Ulrich since he headed out with you and the others," Hank stated, honestly confused by that as well, and it was clear that Hulk was just as surprised by this too, since his own expression was soon starting to match the former Ant-Man's a little after hearing what the pinkette had said.
Everyone was about to start going a little further into the mystery when T'Challa suddenly turned towards the main entrance, tensing up a little as he did, putting everyone on edge in an instant. When nothing happened right away, Hawkeye relaxed a little bit and finally asked, "What're you looking at?"
"Iron Man," T'Challa revealed. "He is standing in the corner, cloaked."
That surprised everyone, and they were all instantly shooting worried looks at the corner that Black Panther had indicated, wondering why their team's leader would be just standing there, invisible to all. Their thoughts on the matter went to various different ideas, ranging from the idea that T'Challa had mistaken someone else who had a similar armor to Tony's as their leader, to the possibility that one of the Iron Man suits had been hacked again like they had been during the Ultron Incident, until finally, the armored Avenger shimmered into existence, fully suited up in his current armor, and even from their current distance, everyone could tell that even with his face plate down, he was glaring at nearly everyone in the room.
"Uh Tony? You in there? What's going on," Janet finally asked, being the only brave enough or the first to come out of shock to ask the question.
"Oh he's in there all right, and just for the record, I told him from the start that this was a bad idea," Ulrich voice suddenly announced, and the group immediately spun around to the back of the room as he walked in, geared up in full Sprint Samurai attire with a saber already out and at the ready, instantly telling everyone there was something very wrong.
"What are you talking about? What is this all about," Aelita asked.
"Sprint Samurai and I just got back from a meeting with Nick Fury and Phil Coulson, and I've got a quick question I need to ask everyone other than Ulrich and Aelita," Iron Man announced as he stepped out of the shadows of the doorway and into the light. "Is anyone here a shapeshifting alien?"
"What," Janet and Aelita both exclaimed in disbelief.
"You saw Nick Fury and Coulson," Carol gasped, finding that a little more surprising than Tony's question.
Tony just ignored the blonde's question, along with Ulrich's obvious eye-roll that had resulted from his direct approach on the matter, and went right to the explanation for his questioning. "Remember when the Kree showed up? Captain Marvel told us how they were at war with an alien race called the Skrulls. Well, the Skrulls are here, and they can look like almost anyone, save for Ulrich and Aelita, and Fury thinks that one of the rest of you has been replaced by one."
Everyone was silent for a moment, until Janet finally burst out laughing, earning her looks from the rest of her teammates. "Wait. You're being serious," Janet realized. "You've got to be kidding. That's just not possible. We're…We're us. We know each other; no one here is some alien imposter."
"And even if we were, why is that Ulrich and I are the only ones who aren't suspects," Aelita demanded, her eyes narrowing dangerously at the accusation that Tony was throwing at her family.
"Because the energy our powers and suits give off, which is also coursing through us both, is like poison to the Skrulls, and prevents them from replacing either one of us. I've seen it effect the Skrull that Fury managed to capture. He's definitely right on that," Ulrich revealed.
That sent the room into silence once again as they all glanced between Iron Man and Sprint Samurai, waiting for them to say something else, until Hawkeye realized why they were not saying anything. "You're holding back," Clint accused. "Fury wouldn't have come to you guys with this if he didn't have someone pegged, even if Ulrich and Aelita can hurt the Skrulls."
"You're right," Tony confirmed, but his next statement was one that Clint had not expected at all. "It was you. He said you were the Skrull, Clint."
Clint did not know what to think after hearing that, and when he did not hear anyone say anything in protest of this, he was quick to start looking around at the others to see why they were not saying anything. For the most part, he saw nothing but even, slightly suspicious gazes, save for the concerned look on Wasp and Aelita's faces, and the neutral one on Ulrich's, and he instantly knew what they were thinking. "Whoa. Whoa, whoa, Wasp is right. Th-this is crazy! I've saved this team more times than I can count. I've helped save the world! I'm not some alien," Clint insisted, his eyes narrowing in anger at many of his teammates before they finally settled on Iron Man.
If the archer had expected anyone to speak up and agree with him on this, they either never did or just did not get the chance, because Carol beat them to the punch with something else. "Hawkeye…Clint, I need you to come with me," Carol informed Barton, and no one missed how her voice sounded like that of an officer that was trying to peacefully arrest someone.
"What're you talking about," Clint softly demanded, while Ulrich started to tense up as though he was getting ready to dash in at a moment's notice.
"I may be an Avenger now, but I'm also an agent of S.W.O.R.D. This is what we do," Carol explained as she slowly approached him. "If Nick Fury thinks you're one of these Skrulls, I need to bring you in for interrogation. Those are the rules."
Carol then reached to gently grab Hawkeye's arm, but Clint instantly shrugged it off and snapped, "Don't touch me!"
The two then glared at each other for a minute before Carol made the next move by dropping into a ready stance and powering up her fists with energy. "Don't make me do this the hard way, Hawkeye," Carol pleaded. "Look, there are rules, and without them…"
Carol never got to finish her sentence, as she was quickly interrupted when she found an arrow aimed directly at her face. "You can stuff your rules, Major. I'm not going anywhere with you," Clint snapped.
It really looked like the two were going to start fighting each other at any second, but before they could make another move Janet immediately shrank down and flew between them in an attempt to get them to calm down. "Carol, stop this," Janet ordered. "Hawkeye's one of us."
This time it was the sound of a repulsor powering up that cut someone off, and Clint glanced out of the corner of his eye to see that Iron Man was directing one of his repulsors directly at him. "So much for 'Avengers, assemble,'" Clint muttered.
That was when Ulrich finally made his move, and he was soon standing between Tony, Clint, and Carol with both sabers out, one pointed at the armored leader, and one waving between the half-Kree woman and the archer. "Now that's enough," Ulrich half shouted. "Tony, power the repulsor down; Clint, lower the bow; and Carol…um, just stand down." His main reason for pausing at that last one was mostly because he was not entirely sure how else to tell Carol to back off without actually saying the words.
"All of you stop this," Janet snapped at all four, right after she had shot Hank a quick glance, telling him to get somewhere safe just in case. Once her lover was at least out of the room, she returned her attention to the four who were aiming weapons or powers at each other and continued, "We're the Avengers! We're supposed to be better than this. If we can't trust each other, then we've got nothing."
"Jan's right. We're a family, and if we start something like this, we'll be destroying that," Aelita agreed, her eyes begging for everyone to stop.
Not able to resist that look of Aelita's, yet still not willing to drop his guard in case one of the others who were aiming at him and accusing him of being a traitor jumped him, Clint looked to the one person in the room he felt like he was closest friends with. "T'Challa…It's me, T'Challa. You have to believe me. You know me," Clint begged his friend.
Black Panther was silent for a moment, but when he did speak, it was not what Clint was hoping for. "Iron Man is correct," T'Challa stated, sadly, earning him glares from Hulk and Ulrich, along with disbelieving and hurt looks from Clint and Aelita. "While Sprint Samurai and Angel Guardian cannot be replaced for the reasons that Ulrich had just explained, any of the rest of us could have been replaced at any time. Look at Doctor Pym's recent behavior. Who is to say that the Ultron incident was not intentional?"
"Hey," Wasp, Ulrich, and Aelita angrily snapped.
"You do know that I'm still standing right here, don't you," Hank asked with his arms crossed. "And besides that, if Ultron was intentional, then I would've given you guys bad intel on all of your missions since I took up my support role, if for no other reason than to sabotage you at some point."
"Perhaps, but no one truly knows anyone. Not that well," T'Challa insisted, and with that, he turned and left the room, leaving no doubt that he was heading down to the hangar for his personal aircraft with an intention to leave.
You would think that having one of their own walk out of the room like that would clue the others in as to how messed up all of this was becoming, but it seemed to not have that effect at all. Instead, it simply drove Carol and Tony forward in their intentions. "I'm giving you one last chance. Come in with me to S.W.O.R.D., we'll sort this all out," Carol informed Clint as she slowly made her way over to Iron Man, while Captain America and Sprint Samurai stood ready to act in any way they could to prevent their teammates from harming one another.
"How about this: if you don't put your arms down, you're gonna lose 'em. Hawkeye's with me," Hulk threatened as he moved to stand by the archer.
"I've earned my place on this team, I'd like to think I've earned a place in Ulrich and Aelita's new family, and I've earned your trust, Stark. You and Miss Rules, here, you need to back off right now," Clint insisted.
"I'm sorry, Hawkeye. You're going with Ms. Marvel one way or another," Tony started to say, but he was quickly interrupted again.
"Enough! No one is going anywhere with anyone, or doing anything," Ulrich stated as he raised his sabers, ready for battle if necessary.
"Not until you all calm down and stop doing the Skrulls' work for them," Aelita added as she powered up a pair of energy fields.
"Will you two cool it?! I'm trying to settle this the right way here! At least at S.W.O.R.D. there's a better chance of confirming that Hawkeye's not a Skrull or not, and if he's not, then he's got nothing to worry about," Tony pointed out.
"Unless you're a Skrull, or Ms. Marvel is," Clint pointed out, pulling back on his bow string ever so slightly.
Wasp could hardly believe what was happening, but she was not going to let that stop her from settling this before anyone got hurt. "Everyone just breathe. Everyone just…"
That was as far as Janet got, as Hawkeye let loose his arrow, right into Iron Man's palm, where his repulsor was, disabling the palm weapon when it struck. Seeing this prompted Ms. Marvel to attack as well, and while Janet and Ulrich were quick to race out of the way, Hulk stood where he was and took the blast as best as he could, while Hawkeye rolled to the side and readied four new arrows. Once he had them notched, he instantly let them loose on Iron Man and Ms. Marvel, the former of whom was still recovering from his first attack. None of the arrows hit this time, as Cap quickly pulled Tony out of the way while Carol blasted the remaining arrows that did not already hit the wall. Carol did not get a chance to try and attack Hawkeye again, as she forced to back flip out of the way of Hulk's initial charge at her, and then raised her hands up to intercept Hulk's arms as they came down on her. Even though the floor beneath her feet cracked a bit, Carol actually managed to stand strong and push back against Hulk's brute strength, surprising Wasp, Ulrich, and Aelita when they saw this.
"Whoa! She really is that strong," Aelita whistled, impressed at the sight.
"Not really the time, Princess," Janet reminded her figurative little sister, and her point was quickly emphasized when Ms. Marvel suddenly released an explosion of energy that actually managed to blast Hulk off his feet and across the room. Seeing that made Janet quite upset with her friend, and she was intent on making sure that Carol knew that when she flew over to the blonde. "I can't believe you're doing this," Janet snapped. "We made you an Avenger; we welcomed you in! We trusted you."
"Do you think this is how I wanted today to go," Carol demanded. "I have to do this, Jan. This isn't just a hobby for me, this is my duty."
"And you think that's not how the rest of us feel about this," Ulrich snapped as he pushed her out of the way before an explosive arrow could hit her. "Think about what you're doing right now! You're asking us to let you arrest a member of our family just because of the suspicions of one man, who could be wrong."
"This is Nick Fury we're talking about here! Since when has he ever been wrong," Carol retorted in kind.
"One word: Graviton," Aelita reminded her, only to jump a little when she heard Iron Man blast Hawkeye's next explosive arrow.
The armored Avenger would have blasted Hawkeye as well from the air had Captain America not jumped in at the last second to deflect the blast with his energy shield. "Don't do this Iron Man," Steve ordered.
Tony did not dignify Cap with a response, and instead just flew back a little as he readied the wrist-mounted missile launcher on the arm opposite of his currently working repulsor. Seeing that this was going nowhere, Janet immediately narrowed her eyes and focused, until the whole room was lit up with the light of her size-changing powers activating as she went as big as she could in the confined space of foyer, and then slammed a massive fist down in between both sides of the fight. "Enough! All of you! We're all friends, practically family, more so for some of us than others. We shouldn't be fighting each other like this," Janet shouted as she returned to her normal Wasp size, barely showing any signs of exhaustion as everyone started to stand down, with the exception of Iron Man, who was still holding his weapons at the ready, even as he landed on the ground.
"Wrong. I have to. I…" Tony started to say, until he stopped himself and lowered both of his arms. Some of the group thought that this meant that Tony had finally seen sense in all of this madness, but he quickly disappointed them all with his next few words. "I can't trust you, any of you. Ulrich and Aelita, maybe, but the rest of you…Hulk and Wasp are already shape-changers. Captain America could've been a Skrull from the day we found him. Ms. Marvel was working with an alien when we met her. And Panther…Panther was gathering information on all of us, he even hacked J.A.R.V.I.S. for our files, and we just blew it off."
"We don't have any proof, Tony," Wasp reminded him.
"I saw it," Tony snapped before she could go any further, lifting his face plate so that everyone could see how serious he was, while also putting his distrusting glare on full display. "Ulrich and I both saw Fury's Skrull with our own eyes, right along with how it got hurt when Ulrich's hand was just close enough to its bare hands. This is happening."
"If Skrulls really are invading, then the world needs us. The Avengers can fight this," Janet insisted, but Tony did not seem willing to listen.
"Panther was right to leave. I can't trust any of you aside from Ulrich and Aelita, and for all I know, their judgment on who you guys are might be impaired because of how they view all of us, and if we can't trust each other, we can't fight anything," Tony continued on as he turned around and stomped away. He did not turn back to them until he was standing in the middle of the room, snapped his helmet shut again, and blasted up into the air, preparing to fly out of the mansion. "I started this team because I needed people I could count on. And now I can't."
"Tony, please! Don't do this," Aelita begged, and one look at her instantly told everyone that she was already beginning to shed some tears.
Seeing that made Tony think he should reconsider for a minute, but only for a minute. As much as it was breaking his heart to have to do this to Aelita and Ulrich, he felt that he had to do it. "Sorry Aelita, but the Avengers are over as far as I'm concerned," Tony apologized, and with that, the team's former leader blasted out of the sky-light and away into the night.
Everyone just looked on in silence for a minute, disheartened by Iron Man's departure, until Hawkeye turned to the only other person in the room besides Hank who was not standing with the rest of the team right now. "I'm not a Skrull, and I'm not some flunky for S.H.I.E.L.D. I'm an Avenger, and if you're gonna try and take me in, you'd better be sure. You'd better be sure about all of us," Clint warned Carol, and his point was emphasized when Hulk, Ulrich, and a hesitant Wasp all moved to stand with him.
Carol just stared at them all for a minute, including Captain America and Aelita, who were both standing off to the side, but clearly stating that they did not want her to do anything rash, until she finally lowered her head and sighed, "This was supposed to be my welcome party."
"Carol, wait! Carol," Aelita called out, but it was too late. Ms. Marvel was already flying back off into space and back to Damocles so that she could return to S.W.O.R.D. Headquarters. After seeing that, Aelita ended up falling to her knees, drawing Ulrich to her side as he holstered a saber so that he could place a hand on her shoulder in comfort, and softly said, "I can't believe this is happening. I knew this couldn't last forever, but I never thought it would end like this."
"We not going to let it end like this," Janet insisted as best as she could.
"Get real," Clint huffed. "Iron Man was right about one thing. The Avengers are over."
"No," Captain America suddenly said, surprising almost everyone. "Like Aelita said, this is what the enemy wants. To tear us apart with paranoia and mistrust. To win the war without ever firing a shot. Well, I don't know about you, but I'm not going to let that happen. Being an Avenger is the only thing I have in this world, and I'm not going to give it up that easy…I'll lead you, if you'll have me."
The super soldier then raised his hand forward, asking the others if they would accept his offer of leadership, and it took little time before they started to accept. "If I leave, it's like admitting I'm guilty, and that's not going to happen," Hawkeye stated as he stepped forward and placed his hand on top of Cap's. "I'm in."
"I'm not going anywhere. I made a deal, and I've got people who not only treat me like a real hero here, but like family as well. That's something very rare for me to find. Besides, what's some Skrull going to do to me," Hulk stated with a grin as he placed his hand atop the others.
Hank then stepped forward and stated, "Well, aside from my work at Greyburn, I will admit that I've enjoyed making a real difference in the world by acting as support for you guys, so I don't think I'll be going anywhere either. Count me in as well."
Seeing her boyfriend voice his agreement to this along with the others brought a smile to Janet's face, and she quickly flew over to Steve and joined them after softly saying, "Thank you, Cap."
All that was left was for the youngest members of the team to join in, but when the five looked back at them, they were surprised to see Ulrich and Aelita just standing where they were with even, neutral looks on their faces. "Ulrich, Aelita? Aren't you with us as well," Steve inquired.
The samurai of the two exchanged a small look with his adopted sister before looking back and saying, "Hey, we're not going anywhere. Like we've stated in the past, the Avengers are our family now, but neither of us are going to be willing to accept you as the leader."
"And why not," Steve inquired, while the others gave him incredulous looks. This was Captain America Ulrich was talking about, for crying out loud! Why would he not be willing to follow him into action, be it for a battle or any kind of mission?
"Simple, because we don't trust you," Aelita answered, surprising the others even more. "Fury may have his suspect as to who the Skrull might be, but Ulrich and I both know that's a load of crap because we've got a suspect of our own who seems a little more likely: you, Captain America."
Now the other five were all completely stunned, and for a moment, none of them said anything, until Hank finally stepped forward. "That's a pretty bold accusation to make after everything that's happened, Aelita," Hank cautioned.
"Just hear us out," Ulrich insisted, and with that, the room fell quiet again, prompting the two to continue. "Think about it for a minute; ever since we came back from Asgard, Cap's been acting a little different lately. Some of the changes may be more subtle than others, like in how his fighting style changed, or how he's a lot less by-the-books than he used to be, but some are glaringly obvious. For example, the moment that the Kree showed up at the UN Building. The entire time, Cap was nothing but hostile to them, insisting that we just take them all down instead of trying to see if we could resolve things peacefully, and not only that, but he was the one who fired the first shot and shouted 'Avengers, attack'."
"While you do have a point there, Ulrich, I can't help but feel like that would've turned out pretty much the same regardless," Clint admitted.
"But that's not all," Aelita added. "You guys know how strong my super hearing is, right? In case you've forgotten, its strong enough so that I can even tell when a person's lying based of their heartbeat, or when their unconscious or sleeping based off that and their breathing. When Cap gave Zemo his word that he would save him from Enchantress, his heartbeat sped up just enough for me to be able to tell he was lying. I know that Zemo was one of his greatest enemies, but the Captain America I know would never give his word without meaning it. Not only that, but when he had the chance to activate the magic dampeners, and Zemo had signaled him to do so, I could tell by both his heart and breath rate that Cap was just standing there calmly, like he wasn't concerned at all about the fact that Zemo was just seconds away from being killed, and that he wasn't doing anything, while Hank was unconscious. Not only than that, but when he told us what had apparently happened to him and Hank during that same time, his heartbeat picked up again. Cap not only lied to Zemo when he gave his word that he would save him, but he lied to us about why he and Hank had been unable to do something when the time came to do so."
Hearing all of this new information coming from Aelita surprised everyone, and considering that it was the pinkette who was saying it all, none of them felt like they could ignore it, and they were all soon directing a slightly suspicious gaze at the super soldier. If this bothered him, Steve did a remarkable job of not showing it, and instead asked, "If you really believed I am the Skrull, why did you wait until now to say anything?"
"You saw how Tony was acting. The guy doesn't trust anyone, and if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say he probably barely even trusts himself right now. No matter what we said, he still would have left, and I doubt Carol would've been willing to hear out any of us at that time," Ulrich informed them.
"Besides, this is something that the Avengers need to deal with, and not anyone like S.H.I.E.L.D. or S.W.O.R.D.," Aelita stated. "If there really is a Skrull among us, then we'll find him and expose him, hopefully before it's too late."
"Still, if Cap really is that high up on the list of suspects, you do have to admit it still leaves one question: who's going to be the leader," Hank pointed out.
"Maybe one of our anti-Skrull deterrents," Hawkeye suggested, casting a glance at the two Lyoko Avengers. "Not only are they not viable suspects, but they're also probably the most experienced out of all of us when it comes to saving the world."
"No thanks," Ulrich immediately shook his head. "I was practically the field leader of the Lyoko Warriors a lot of the times when we were on Lyoko, and I have no desire to assume any similar kinds of roles again."
When she saw everyone turn their gazes to her, Aelita instantly joined her adoptive brother in refusing. "Sorry, but I was always more of a second-in-command type of person, be it with the Lyoko Warriors or any group afterwards, and in the few times that I did take the lead, I was freaking out for every second of it, constantly telling myself not to mess up."
"Well then who would you two recommend," Clint asked.
Aelita could not help but smirk a little as she replied, "Honestly, I can only think of one person here best suited for the job."
"Are you thinking of who I think you're thinking of," Ulrich asked, albeit a little playfully since he was pretty sure he already knew the answer.
"Yeah, good thinking," Aelita nodded, and the two then turned to the Avenger that they had in mind to be the new team leader, leading the others to turn and settle their gazes…on her as well.
"What? Why is everyone looking at me like that," Wasp nervously asked, hoping that it was not for the reason she thought it was, even if a small part of her wanted otherwise.
"I think you know, Jan. Even without all the suspicion, after Cap, you're the best suited person to lead us," Ulrich insisted.
"Oh no! No way! I'm not a leader, especially not for this team! I could never," Janet tried to argue, but it did not seem like anyone was going to hear it.
"Yes, you are. Janet, just look at all the times that neither Tony or Cap were around and you had taken charge, or even times when you just took charge period. Honestly, sometimes I couldn't help but wonder if Iron Man was really leading the team when you did that, because I can honestly say that you seemed to have a better grasp on how to handle a situation than some of the rest of us did," Aelita pointed out. "Remember Korvac? Who knows what would've happened if you hadn't gone and found Corrina? Or what about that time when you, me, and Thor had busted up an AIM deal? We wouldn't have been able to have found their base, which inadvertently lead us to discover a way to cure Simon if you hadn't thought of a way for us to better track their ship back to the base. Plus, out of all of us, you probably care about this team and the people in it more than anyone else. Who could be better to lead us than someone like that?"
"I agree with Tinker Bell and Swords. You've got what it takes," Hulk stated.
"As much as I hate to admit it, the kid's got a point. You may be someone who belongs on the party circuit, but you do seem to know what you're doing when push comes to shove," Clint nodded in agreement.
"You can definitely do it, Jan, and you're the best person to help keep the Avengers honest no matter what happens. You're practically the heart and soul of this team. It only makes sense for you to be leader if you ask me," Hank informed her.
Looking to Steve, Janet waited for a moment until the super soldier finally smiled and said, "If that's what the team wants, then who am I to argue? I'll gladly follow you, if you'll lead us, Wasp."
Janet glanced around at the others for a moment before she finally landed on the ground and returned to her normal size, and said, "Well, I guess there's only one thing I can say…Avengers, assemble!"
With that declaration, the team brought it once again, this time with Janet's hand being the first in, and Ulrich and Aelita both joined in with smiles on their faces, while the latter of the two looked to her big sister figure happily and whispered, "Thanks, Jan."
Unknown to any of the heroes though, they were being watched from a distant rooftop by a certain group from the Secret Warriors, and those four had seen everything that had unfolded right from the moment that Iron Man had revealed himself to the team. "I can't believe he just came out and asked them if they were Skrulls," Quake grossed as she observed the mansion through her binoculars.
"No kidding. I thought Stark was supposed to be one of the smartest people on the planet. Why would he do something so stupid," Lincoln asked.
"This is a man who kept his secret identity for about five minutes," Coulson pointed out to both of the younger agents. "Why did you think he wouldn't tell them?"
"Either way, it doesn't matter. I got what I needed. Iron Man's the real deal," Fury stated, lowering his binoculars and glaring hard at the mansion where the remaining Avengers were, along with his suspect. "And not only that, but thanks to the listening device we planted on him, we now know who's at the top of Ulrich's list of suspects."
"Which will destroy itself without anyone noticing right about…now," Daisy finished.
"Oh, great. Except that by revealing your involvement, they let the Skrulls know that you're on to them," Lincoln pointed out.
"I've assumed they've always known I was on to them," Fury revealed. "Iron Man's doing the same thing I did. He's putting the Skrull in a position where he can mess up and reveal himself."
"Honestly Boss, I'm not sure whether to hope if you're wrong about whom the Skrull is, if I should hope Ulrich and Aelita are," Coulson commented, feeling torn about both arguments. "Hawkeye was one of our best, and I've worked alongside him in the past, while Cap is…well, Captain America. Hard to imagine either one of them could possibly be a Skrull in disguise, even with what we learned."
"Either way, if one of them is the Skrull, we need to do some digging through the footage we have of Captain America's past actions to see if we missed something, and keep an eye on both of them, and to do that, we'll need to keep both eyes open," Fury stated.
"So…what now," Daisy asked.
"Now we wait. It's the Skrulls' move," Fury answered.
All three of the other agents nodded in response to this, and then departed along with Fury, only pausing to spare one last look at Avengers Mansion as they did. Though the day had been a roller coaster of good and bad events, one thing was certain. It was a new dawn for the Avengers. The only question now was what would come of it.
T'Challa was disheartened by what had happened at Avengers Mansion, and he could not help but feel that maybe he made the wrong decision by walking out like this when the world needed the heroes to stand together, but he had made his choice, and he had to stand by it. Not only for the sake of Earth's mightiest heroes, but for his people as well. That was why he had immediately returned to Wakanda and summoned his most trusted advisors and guards, once he had changed into the more ceremonial version of his Black Panther suit. "My Dora Milaje, prepare Wakanda for invasion," was T'Challa's simple command. The Skrulls may already be in his nation, but whether they were or not, he had no intention of letting them stay for long.
What T'Challa did not know, was that other points around the world, the other two members of the Avengers who had left the team were taking a moment to prepare for the storm that the Skrulls were bringing in one way or another, but at the same time, they were also kicking themselves for how things had played out at Avengers Mansion. While Carol was much more controlled in her response to things by simply saying that she had nothing to report when asked by her superiors and then taking a moment to brood, Tony could only sit in his office in silence before he finally let out a frustrated yell as he tossed his helmet against the wall. Despite their different approaches, there was one thing that all three of these departed Avengers could agree on though: everything that they had worked for in the Avengers up to this point had all been shattered apart in their eyes.
When it was once again the middle of the night, Captain America made his way to the same warehouse he had made his previous report from. He knew that this new development would need to be reported on, along with how his mission had been slightly compromised, but all the same, it needed to be confirmed. This time though, he did not go for his communication device, partially because he was sure that Fury might intercept his transmission, and partially because he would not need it this time.
"And how did it play out," a woman's voice asked from the shadows once Captain America had reached the middle of the room.
"Almost exactly as you predicted. Unfortunately, I could not secure a place as the Avengers' leader due to the interference of the youngest members, but it should not matter too much. They chose the Wasp as the team's new leader, and I doubt that she would be able to make them as great a threat as they once were again. Soon, Earth will be ours," Captain America reported. A moment later, the woman stepped forward and into the faint light of the warehouse, revealing herself to be none other than Mockingbird. When the blonde was standing directly before him, the Skrull disguised as the legendary super soldier dropped to one knee in a respectful bow and finished, "As it is written, my Queen."
The Skrull then resumed his natural form before he kissed Mockingbird's offered hand, and upon allowing the action to take place, Mockingbird's human appearance melted away along with her mask to reveal a female Skrull, who appeared to strike a much more regal appearance, and possessed purple and black eyes and long black hair. With her transformation complete, the Skrull Queen smirked and stated, "As it is written. And do not despair. Despite what they are able to do to our kind, the Lyoko Avengers will not be able to stop what is ordained."
The two Skrull both smirked widely at this, sending a chilling sensation through the warehouse, and somehow to the area around it, giving anyone who was passing by a slight shiver for reasons that they could not guess. Had they known why they had felt such chills though, they probably would have run in fear, because there was no doubt that the Skrulls were not bringing a promise of anything good.
AN: Okay, I know, I probably could've made things different so that the team was not split up like that, but then there wouldn't be any need for everyone to have a chance to grow as characters, or for Ulrich and Aelita to finally reveal their suspicions to the team.
Aelita: But did we really have to say goodbye to T'Challa and Tony like that, and practically chase Carol off?
Carol: Yeah, I thought I was going to be around more in this story. How's that supposed to happen if I'm not on the team anymore?
AN: Whoever said that you were off the team? You're not gonna stay gone for long anymore than you were in the original continuity of the show. Moving on though...
Wasp: WHY THE HELL DID YOU MAKE ME BE THE LEADER?! WHAT COULD'VE POSSESSED YOU TO DO THAT?!
AN: Janet! Calm down. My reasoning was pretty much explained in the chapter. Ulrich and Aelita had revealed their concerns, and when a group is that concerned about the guy leading them, a team is liable to fall apart in an instant. Plus, I just didn't want to have Skrull-Cap leading the team this time, because that's what caused a few other things to go bad in the original continuity, like Hulk's arrest or the Avengers being lead into that trap in DC for example. As for why I chose Janet over Ulrich or Aelita, for one thing, the two had both had their fair share of leading experience from their time as Lyoko Warriors, but they did not want to have to assume such a role again since it would likely dredge up some old memories that they would rather forget, even if they have moved on. Not only that, but given how their attitudes have been whenever they find someone researching ways to hurt them, do you really think that they would be fit to lead at the moment.
My other reason is because, believe it or not, Janet actually has been leader of the Avengers in the past. You can look it up if you don't believe me. I thought that was a pretty cool idea that someone like Wasp would be the leader of the team, so I thought, why not work that in here. Plus, as mentioned, look at the other options that were left. Can you really see Hulk leading the Avengers? Or Hawkeye?
Hawkeye: Hey! I've lead the Avengers in the past before.
AN: I'm pretty sure that was the New Avengers, Hawkeye, and besides, even without Ulrich and Aelita's testimony in your defense and against Cap, there is still some slight suspicion on you.
Coulson: I'm just glad that my team and I got to return to this story. And I'm glad to see that we've added Lincoln to the fold as well.
AN: I thought you might, plus it also gave me a chance to work in a little reference to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in case any of you hadn't noticed that. Also, yeah, I brought in Lincoln Campbell, you might remember him as the electricity power guy from Seasons 2 and 3, as well as Quake's love interest after Ward. I really liked those two together, and I kinda hated how that ended to be honest. Really, Daisy deserves some happiness in her life after all she's been through, so why is it that every time she finds a guy she likes that much, they end up going down a bad path of some variety?
Coulson: Agreed. And have you seen some of the more recent episodes of the series?
AN: You mean like that one with a flashback of a past mission you and May had together, during which you were flirting for like the entire time, and it had been confirmed that you two got a real close at some point in the past.
May: We're not talking about that.
AN: Oh come on! I mean, can you imagine how nuts all the fans went after hearing about that, and about how they all went crazy over how even your LMD was totally flipped for Coulson?
May: Moving on.
AN: Alright, alright. Just chill. So yeah, anyways, I'll keep brainstorming on ideas for Lincoln's codename, because seriously, the dude needed one before his final fate. I'm thinking something along the lines of Voltic or Discharge. You know, like static discharge?
On a more story related note, yeah, the team's split up and now reformed under new leadership with the line-up you all saw at the end: Hawkeye, Captain America (The Skrull), Hulk, Hank Pym, Ulrich, Aelita, and Team Leader Wasp. Don't think it's going to stay at just those seven though.
Aelita: Why not?
AN: Here's a little hint: Onto the Preview!...
A series of events leads the Avengers to consider expanding their ranks in the wake of Iron Man, Ms. Marvel, and Black Panther's departure, and while not everyone is in total agreement with the idea, a group vote decides that they go ahead with it. The decision made, Aelita and Captain America head out to the Xavier Institute to enlist the first of these new Avengers Recruits, but soon find themselves once again caught up in another X-Men problem. Makes you wonder if they can ever just visit the school for mutants without this kind of thing happening, doesn't it? And just what kind of problem is it that would draw Ms. Marvel into the fray as well? Find out next time in…Chapter 10: Avengers Recruit: The Mutant.
Yeah, that's gonna be happening. Oh, and another thing that might be happening is the decision on whether or not I'll make that Spider-Verse story arc for this series I mentioned into a separate story. It's still a long ways off, so if you guys really want to see that, please, let me know in your reviews. Oh, and if any of you are followers of my current Kingdom Hearts story, Kingdom Hearts: Dual Keys, please, make sure to cast your vote on the poll regarding an important matter for that story if you haven't already. With all of that said...
Please read and review, and I'll see ya next time, fellow true believers!
