AN: Ladies and gentlemen, we are now at the point where the Avengers team was finally completed for Season One of Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, but does that mean that the Avengers team is now fully completed for this story? Well, only time will tell that answer, but for now, please enjoy the tale of the two part adventure from Season One that was the Hulk's returning moment. Also, expect a special set of cameos from MARVEL's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and finally, the poll for Ulrich's love interest in this story is now closed, and the winner is...Ava Ayala, the White Tiger! Expect the chapter for their first meeting soon, but for now, let's get on with the show, and for you Gundam SEED Prime fans, be ready for the returning update of Destiny Sentinels coming by the end of this week! Now, it's time to Assemble!...
I do not own anything from either the Code Lyoko or MARVEL franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.
Chapter 9: Gamma World
New York has often been called the city that never sleeps, and right now that holds true for both the Avengers and their latest Breakout escapee: a former inmate from the Vault who was also a traitor to S.H.I.E.L.D., Clint Barton, alias Hawkeye. Despite the fact that Barton did not have any powers at all and nothing but a quiver full of high-tech trick arrows and regular arrows, he was giving the Avengers a good chase, including Sprint Samurai, who was following him from above on his Overbike 2.0 right at this very moment. "I'll say this much for Barton: I can see why he was one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s best agents before he turned traitor," Ulrich admitted as he accelerated towards his target.
The Samurai's approach did not go unnoticed by Hawkeye though, as he immediately pulled out and unfolded his bow and readied an arrow. Ulrich immediately whipped out a saber in response so that he would be ready to deflect the attack, but to his surprise, Hawkeye actually fired an arrow at a ventilation shaft in front of him. The minute the arrow had hit the shaft and blew it open, Hawkeye immediately dived in and landed inside the abandoned warehouse it led to. "Damn it," Ulrich cursed aloud. He then placed his saber back in his harness and tapped a control on his visor to scan the building as he reported, "Tony, I've lost visual on Hawkeye. He pulled an arrow and made me back off to prepare for an attack and then took the chance to duck down into a building."
"Any sign of him still being close by Samurai," Iron Man asked as he flew overhead.
"Hang on, I'm scanning now," Ulrich replied, but a minute later, the sound of glass breaking reached his ears, and he spun to see the archer had leaped out a window onto the roof of a nearby building, and then started running once more. "I've got him, and he's on the move again! Panther, Cap, he's headed your way!"
"We see him, Ulrich, and we're pursuing now," Steve reported as he raced across the roof tops on his motorcycle, while T'Challa used the vibranium in his suit to run across the sides of the buildings in pursuit as well.
"Stay on him," Iron Man immediately ordered, and soon enough, he, Wasp, and Angel Guardian were flying overhead of the two roof hopping Avengers. A minute later, Captain America had landed on a rooftop just a short ways behind Hawkeye.
"I've got visual. This jokers fast, I'll give him that," Steve commented. As Iron Man flew overhead to make sure that they did not lose visual. A minute later, Hawkeye jumped once more and disappeared into an alleyway bellow, leading him to fall out of Iron Man's sight.
"Cap, Panther, he just disappeared off my grid. Do you have him," Iron Man asked.
"Wow, HYDRA agents are getting good," Wasp commented. "He doesn't even have any powers."
"To be fair Janet, Ulrich and I didn't have any powers in the real world for a long time and we had to hold our own against guys who had powers for a long time back in the day," Aelita commented as she flew up to soar alongside her small, fellow flyer. Janet nodded in conceit of this fact and then spotted their runaway archer in the alleyway bellow.
She quickly dived down with Angel Guardian right behind her, but when they rounded a corner that Hawkeye had disappeared behind, they found themselves face to face with a metal arrow head and Hawkeye ready to fire it as he smirked and said, "Hi there ladies."
Aelita was quick to react and readied an energy field in one hand just as Iron Man had floated down with a repulsor raised and the others had joined them. "Give it up Hawkeye," Iron Man warned the ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. "You can't win."
Just then a bright light illuminated the area and the sounds of jet could be heard as someone called out to the team over a loudspeaker. The sudden intrusion caught everyone's attention for a moment, and due to this, the minute they looked back to where Hawkeye originally was, they saw that he had disappeared completely. Iron Man's eyes narrowed for a minute as he scanned the area, only to come up empty, and he then turned his attention to the S.H.I.E.L.D. jet that was now lowering closer towards them and had opened up to reveal Agent Quartermain and two other agents. Aelita's eyes immediately narrowed at the sight of the blonde agent as she, Iron Man, and Wasp all flew up to meet him, as she remembered full well her first impression of the man from when the Avengers encountered him after the Breakout, but she was brought out of her musings when Iron Man told the man, "You just let your own traitor get away! Next time S.H.I.E.L.D. wants to help, don't."
"Let him go for now," Quartermain simply replied. "We didn't come for Hawkeye, Iron Man. We came for you and your team. We need your help."
Any other time, and Aelita would have given some retort to the man that had once threatened her and her friends, but she knew full well that if S.H.I.E.L.D. was asking the Avengers for help, then it must be important, so Aelita simply pulled out her ID card and said, "I'll call Thor."
A few hours later, the team, minus Ant-Man who was in Wakanda, was flying across a vast desert in the Quinjet while Iron Man flew ahead of the Avengers' main transport with a small squadron of S.H.I.E.L.D. jets escorting them to wherever they needed their help at. Needless to say though, Iron Man was not enjoying the flight. "I'm getting a little impatient here, Quartermain," Tony told the blonde agent. "You won't tell us where Fury is, you're not telling us what's going on…"
"Even if I knew where Nick Fury was, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be at liberty to tell you, Iron Man," Quartermain interrupted. "As for what's going on, it's simpler if you just see it yourself."
"Look, on the horizon," Steve suddenly shouted out. The minute they all did, the heroes could all see a large green dome around what looked like a broken cube that was sitting on one of its points, and from what they could tell, the field appeared to be expanding little by little.
"Is that…the Cube," Aelita asked from her seat at the Quinjet's controls. It had been decided that Aelita would fly the jet whenever Iron Man could not after she had successfully landed it that time when they first met Captain America , and everyone had to agree that it was a good choice considering how smoothly a flight with her tended to go.
"Yeah it is, or at least it was," Wasp replied as the pinkette landed the jet near the other S.H.I.E.L.D. transports. The second Iron Man had landed in front of them, the Avengers quickly climbed down the boarding ramp to see what the billionaire genius could tell them.
"What manner of sorcery is this," Thor asked, which was basically his way of asking Iron Man the question that everyone was wondering.
"It's pure gamma radiation," Tony replied in amazement. "Man, I'll bet Hank is sorry he went back to Wakanda now."
"No kidding. This is way cooler than studying vibranium," Wasp instantly agreed.
"Jan," Aelita cautioned the size changer as she pointed to T'Challa.
"Oh, uh…no offense," Wasp immediately apologized, and she took T'Challa's silence to mean that none was taken.
"Where is Bruce Banner," a new voice suddenly asked them. The team all turned to see a big man in black pants and a red shirt with long green hair standing before them with Agent Quartermain who then said, "I was told he was on your team."
Steve raised an eyebrow in confusion as he turned to Iron Man and said, "I know that Angel Guardian has natural pink hair, but I still have to ask, why does that man have green hair?"
"I have no idea," Iron Man replied to the captain before he turned back to said green haired man to address him. "You're Doctor Leonard Sampson, right? Hulk is on a…vacation." The two men's eyes widened, clearly indicating that they did not know that the Hulk was being pursued by Ross's Hulk Buster unit after he left the group a while back, but before they could ask any questions, Iron Man quickly asked, "Now, does someone want to tell us what's going on?"
Quartermain and Sampson both nodded and then gestured for the Avengers to follow them to a nearby, temporary S.H.I.E.L.D. facility. Once everyone was inside, Quartermain brought up a video on the monitor and began explaining the situation to the team. "This is video from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s incursion into the Cube after the Breakout," the blonde agent told the Avengers. "The staff and S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel were all accounted for, but the prisoners…well they were another matter."
The minute Quartermain had said that, the Avengers all saw a large, green three fingered hand reach out and grab one of the agents just before a massive green glow erupted and the video cut out. "What was that," Wasp exclaimed, referring to the large hand that had appeared.
Quartermain then brought up an image of a green face with bat like ears and scales on top of his head as Sampson explained, "Emil Blonsky, the Abomination. Strong as the Hulk, twice as mean, and with military training. He's not the problem though."
Quartermain then brought up another set of footage that showed three S.H.I.E.L.D. agents standing a ways away from where the incursion team as he said, "The energy dome exploded outward from the Cube, and the S.H.I.E.L.D. team was caught inside it. Then this happened."
The Avengers all cringed or gasped in shock as they watched the agents in the video all begin to writhe around in pain and then mutate into bizarre creatures the minute after the flash of light from the dome appearing had faded. "My god," Aelita exclaimed as she placed both hands over her mouth.
"Couldn't have said it better myself," Ulrich agreed as he stared at the image wide-eyed.
"The dome is expanding with no sign of stopping," Quartermain then continued. "At this rate it'll hit a town in the next six hours, and a major city in eight."
"Who is responsible for this," Captain America then demanded.
"Samuel Sterns, the Leader," Sampson replied as he brought up a holographic image of the large headed gamma criminal. "A gamma irradiated villain. As strong as the Hulk is, the Leader is intelligent."
"That's scary," Ulrich said.
"As far as we know, the Leader's inside, most likely with a mess of gamma villains," Quartermain then informed the Avengers. "The Abomination, the Absorbing Man, Zzzax, they were all inside the Cube when the Breakout occurred. We want you to go into the Cube."
Wasp then started laughing, much to everyone's surprise, until she quickly stopped herself and adopted a worried look as she said, "Oh wait, your serious." She then threw a worried glance at the expanding gamma dome before she asked, "Not to harp on this one particular little point, but how're we going to get into the Cube without…you know…getting all gamma-ed up?"
"This is how Wasp," Sampson replied, and he then tapped a control that brought out a set of white and green hazard suits which some S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had already suited up into and others then began passing out to the Avengers. "I've modified this S.H.I.E.L.D. radiation plating to protect you. Wearing these, you should be immune to the effects of the gamma dome."
"Should," Ulrich asked the Avengers were looking over the suits they were given.
When one agent approached Thor with a suit, the Thunderer simply scoffed and said, "An Asgardian needs no such protection."
The agent looked at Thor for a minute before nodding and then moved to hand the suit to Sprint Samurai or Angel Guardian when the former said, "No thanks, we're good too."
"You sure about that," Sampson asked as he started putting his own suit on. "I mean, I get that Iron Man probably has shielding in his armor and that Thor doesn't need it, but in your case…"
"Our suits keep us protected from everything short of the vacuum of space. We'll be fine," Aelita reassured Sampson.
Sampson was about to protest when a new voice suddenly said, "I'd take their word for it if I were you Doctor. If they think they'll be fine in just their basic suits, then I'm sure they will be." They all turned to see a man in a S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform with regulation length brown hair and a woman with shoulder length black hair and a deadly serious look that could easily hide any intentions in an all black S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform. The man stepped forward after he had acquired his own suit and shook hands with Ulrich for a minute before he introduced himself and his partner saying, "Agent Grant Ward, nice to meet you and your sister at last Mister Stern, and this is Agent Melinda May. We're with Coulson's team."
Ulrich smiled, knowing that meant that there were now two more S.H.I.E.L.D. agents he and Aelita were very likely to be able to trust over the others and then replied, "Nice to meet you Agent Ward, Agent May. Is Fitz-Simmons here too?"
"Unfortunately, no. They were needed for another mission with Coulson and the rest of our team, but Fitz did want me to ask you how the Overbike 2.0 was treating you."
"Well, you can tell him that I said it was riding like a charm," Ulrich replied with a smile.
Iron Man smiled beneath his helmet, having always liked Agent Coulson and his team, and then he turned to Sampson and asked, "So, you've sent people in wearing these?"
"Uh…no, it hasn't been tested yet," Sampson admitted. He then noticed the Avengers sending him looks that clearly stated that wasn't helping, and he quickly slipped on his helmet as he added, "But I'm confident it will work."
"Sampson's one of the leading scientists that worked on the Cube before the Breakout. If he's confident that this will work, then it likely will," Agent May stated as she holstered a pair of guns onto her suit's belt, clearly sending a silent message that they need to get going now.
The Avengers who would need the suits then began suiting up as Iron Man tapped a control in his armor's arm that caused the blue lights on his armor to turn green, indicating that his suit's gamma ray protection systems were now active. As she finished slipping her suit on, Wasp turned to Aelita and asked, "Aelita, be honest with me. Does this suit make my butt look big?"
Aelita paused for a moment, still not entirely used to being asked those types of questions, and simply said, "I…uh…think that depends on personal preference Jan, but maybe you should just test to see if you can still…you know." Aelita then opened her wings and flapped them for a minute while she gestured with her hands to indicate shrinking, and Janet immediately got the message.
"Right, thanks," Wasp replied, and she quickly tested to see if her powers and wings would still work while she was inside her suit, soon finding that they did in fact. A minute later, everyone was suited up, those who were wearing the gamma suits had their suits activated, and they all then turned to head into the gamma dome and the Cube.
A few hours later, everyone was standing just a short distance from the edge of the dome. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents quickly checked their weapons to help alleviate a bit of the nervousness that came from the fact the gamma suits had not been tested while Iron Man asked, "So who wants to go first? Panther, Samurai?"
T'Challa was about to step forward when Captain America raised his shield in front of the young king of Wakanda and then told Tony, "Leaders lead."
"Thanks Cap," Iron Man moaned in reply. Stark then walked forward a few paces before pausing to cast a glance back at his team. He received a thumbs up from Cap and a motion to go on from Ulrich, and he then turned back to face the dome just as it passed over him. Upon seeing that he was still the same, the others entered the field and found that the suits did indeed work. With that knowledge now well in mind, they began to cautiously make their way towards the Cube and the wreckage from the previous S.H.I.E.L.D. team.
"Iron Man to S.H.I.E.L.D. base camp, respond," Tony then called out over his radio, only to receive nothing but static in response. "Ugh. Communications are down."
"S.H.I.E.L.D.s' down too, I've got nothing," Quartermain then reported.
"Then I guess we're on our own now," Ulrich stated solemnly, and he then pulled out one of his sabers so that he would be ready for action at a moment's notice.
Wasp and Angel Guardian then flew a short ways ahead when they came upon the remains of the S.H.I.E.L.D. plane that had flown the previous team in. It was completely torn apart, with tears, burn marks, and multiple other signs that indicated that something had completely destroyed it from the outside and the inside. "Man, look at this place," Wasp commented.
"No kidding. It's like some sort of animal or vicious monster just came out and tore through the whole area," Aelita agreed as she looked around to see similar destruction nearby. She then spotted what looked like moving rocks start to rise up behind Wasp and the minute she saw the eyes on the rocky surface, she immediately charged an energy field and shouted, "Jan, move!"
Wasp was quick to fly out of the path of the energy field that Aelita had hurled in her direction, and her eyes immediately widened when she saw what her fellow Avenger was firing at. The minute Wasp and Angel Guardian were back alongside the others, a large, hulking man and what looked like a massive woman with wings had joined the first creature from earlier, and they could all see the remains of S.H.I.E.L.D. uniforms on each of them. "Quartermain," Iron Man asked.
"It's them. It's my men," Quartermain gasped.
"More like what was your men," Grant said as he pulled out a sophisticated looking pistol and aimed at the gamma-fied S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.
"Kind of miss chasing Hawkeye now," Wasp admitted.
"You and me both," Iron Man agreed. Quartermain's team and Agents Ward and May immediately opened fire on the gamma monsters that were once their fellow agents, until the winged agent flew down and grabbed one of Quartermain's men and started to carry him off. Wasp and Angel Guardian were quick to give chase, and the minute Wasp's stingers had hit a soft spot, the agent was released and dropped into Aelita's waiting arms. A minute later, the two flying women had lead the gamma flyer back towards the others, where Ward and May opened fire once again, each hitting her a few times and causing her to become greatly disoriented long enough for Sampson to grab hold of her leg and swing her down to the ground hard.
Meanwhile, Iron Man had to avoid a blow from the rock monster by jetting up into the air, only to get knocked back by a swing of the rock monster's arm. After regaining some stability, he opened fire with some repulsor blasts, and distracted the beast long enough for Thor to slam Mjolnir into the beast and knock it down on the ground. This did not go unnoticed by the hulking man that was facing off against Captain America, Black Panther, and Sprint Samurai, and the minute he saw his comrade get knocked to the ground, he gave off an angered growl and began slamming his massive fists against the captain's shield over and over again. Before he could land another blow, Sprint Samurai raced forward and slashed across the beast's torso horizontally, allowing T'Challa to land a flying kick to his head a minute later.
The gamma beast growled in anger for a minute before he charged at Black Panther and tried to hit him, but the Wakandan king just leaped up to avoid the blow and threw a kick across his face while in mid-air. T'Challa was about to strike once again, but he soon found his leg caught in the larger man's hold and he was then thrown aside almost like a rag doll. The gamma monster was about to turn to attack the Samurai, when suddenly, he received a flying kick to his side, courtesy of Melinda May, who then proceeded to strike at a series of pressure points, disabling the use of his arms. May then jumped clear just before Ward opened fire with his pistol once again, sending the gamma ray altered man further into a daze long enough for Sprint Samurai and Captain America to race up and knock him out with a saber slash and a shield bash respectively.
Thor had meanwhile allowed the rock monster to rise up again and land a few blows against him until finally, he caught one of his opponent's fists in his own, and then used Mjolnir to send the beast flying over to a waiting Iron Man. The minute the rock monster was in arm's reach, Iron Man pulled out a set of discs from the sides of his armor and used them to electrify the monster's head just enough to knock it out. Thor glared at the beast he and his team's leader had just fought and simply huffed in disappointment as he said, "These creatures may share his origin, but they are pale reflections of the true Hulk."
"That's a good thing Thor," Iron Man reminded the Asgardian before they walked over to the others who had gathered around Sampson as he scanned one of the gamma rayed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.
"Once these agents are clear of the gamma field, they should revert back to human form. Hopefully, with no side effects," Sampson reported as he put away his scanner.
"You had some pretty good moves back there Doc," Captain America then told the gamma scientist.
"Doc. Sampson, Avenger. Think about it," Wasp then added.
Sampson would normally have felt honored to receive such praise, but instead he simply sighed and gestured at their surroundings as he said, "Look around. This is all my fault. Bruce warned me, and I didn't listen. My only concern right now is making this right."
"Don't worry Doc, we will," Aelita reassured Sampson. She then turned to the others as she pointed out, "This dome has to have some kind of power source to keep running and expanding like it is."
"Like a gamma generator," Iron Man finished for the pinkette, once again amazed at the young woman's intellect.
"If the Leader truly is as brilliant as Sampson says, then this is no doubt a trap. He would be prepared for S.H.I.E.L.D. at the very least, and the Hulk at the very most," Black Panther then pointed out.
Wasp suddenly gasped as she exclaimed, "I forgot you talked."
Ulrich and Aelita both laughed for a minute while Thor walked up to the Wakandan king and placed a hand on his shoulder as he said, "If this is a trap, warriors, then so be it."
"Thor's right," Ulrich agreed. "The Lyoko Warriors ran the possibility of running into a trap almost all the time back in the day, but if we always ran the minute it seemed like there was one, then we never would've gotten any of the jobs done. We can't just back down now because there might be a trap waiting for us, and I don't know about you guys, but I know for a fact that Angel Guardian and I are not going to start doing that today."
The words of both Thor and Sprint Samurai seemed to be all the encouragement that the team needed for their resolve to be hardened to the point of non-breaking, and everyone was now truly ready to head in and stop the Leader's plan. Seeing this, Iron Man then announced, "Okay, Thor and Sprint Samurai go in first."
A few hours later, the whole team was inside the Cube and they were all instantly on their toes as they made their way through the darkened hallways full of green mist that they could only assume was from the gamma radiation. "Stay sharp team," Captain America warned everyone.
Iron Man cast a look in the captain's direction and then said, "Right, everyone stay sharp."
Before anyone could shake their head at Stark's antics, one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents hollered out in fear before he suddenly disappeared into the smoke, and a second agent was quick to follow soon after. Quartermain tried calling out to his men, but it was of no use as he received no response in reply, and that was all the excuse that May and Ward needed to pull out their guns once again. "The gamma radiation is messing with my systems. I've got multiple contacts, but I can't lock them down," Iron Man then reported.
"If anyone is completely terrified, I can escort you out," Wasp then commented, and from the sound of her voice, Aelita could tell that Janet was probably just as terrified herself, and to be honest, she could not blame her. It honestly felt like the first time she went to the Hermitage after she began living at Kadic right then. Suddenly, something had grabbed a hold of Sampson and threw him against a nearby column, and for a moment, Ulrich could swear that it looked like the smoke had grown arms and done it.
"Show yourself, coward," Thor then demanded, only to find himself grabbed from behind by a massive man who appeared to be made of metal and then thrown back like a sack of potatoes.
Seeing this large metal man, who he recognized as Ironclad, told Quartermain exactly who was attacking them, and he immediately cried out, "It's the U-Foes!" A minute later, a man with a skull for a head, known to the world as X-Ray, had grabbed the blonde S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and zapped him with a powerful blast of electricity.
Captain America was about to move to engage when he was suddenly swept up off the ground by a swirl of green smoke which then seemed to take on the shape of a woman. A minute later, the smoke woman had drifted up to the captain and hissed, "Give Vapor a kiss." The minute she said that, Captain America found his suit penetrated by Vapor's gas form and his mouth being filled with toxic gas that began to suffocate him while somehow feeling like someone was trying to kiss him.
When Wasp and Aelita saw X-Ray attacking Iron Man, they prepared to engage the gamma villain, when suddenly they found themselves being pulled away by an invisible force, almost like someone was moving the telekinetically, and were soon knocked into the wall. The minute after Wasp had fallen to the ground and Aelita was starting to rise to her feet, a man who seemed to have the appearance of the galaxy cut out and given human shape with white eye and a v-shaped symbol on his forehead stepped forward and said, "Welcome to the Cube."
"Vector," Sampson gasped. He then noticed a circular device on Vector's chest that he immediately identified and he then shouted, "That's…I created those devices to drain gamma energy!"
"The Leader has other plans for them," Vector replied as he gestured to the device on his chest, clearly beginning to boast. "Our power has increased to levels you can…"
He was quickly cut off halfway through when Black Panther leaped down from where he had perched himself on a nearby wall and kicked him in the back. "You all talk too much," T'Challa commented before he leaped off of Vector.
At that point, Ulrich had raced out of his own hiding place directly at Ironclad and slashed the metal U-Foe with his sabers, disorienting Ironclad long enough for Thor to break free and slam his hammer into the villain. Thor then spun to where Captain America was and swung his hammer around to create a massive wind that quickly blew Vapor off of the captain. The three took a small note of when Iron Man blasted X-Ray off of him, and then simply threw their respective weapons at Ironclad, disabling him the moment they all hit. "Truly a poor showing," Thor commented. "The Leader will have to do much better…"
"No," Black Panther suddenly cut in, getting all three of their attention directed towards him. "The agents outside, the U-Foes. It is all a distraction."
T'Challa's fear was quickly proved true when a large wave of electricity suddenly swooped down on Wasp and Quartermain, shorting out their suits and then suddenly reemerged as Zzzax. Ward opened fire on Zzzax immediately with his special pistol, only for May to shout out, "Hold your fire! The Icers aren't going to do a damn thing against an enemy made of electricity!"
"Well then what do you suggest? Punching him," Ward asked rhetorically.
The electricity villain then fired a massive electric blast at Iron Man and Captain America, but his attack was diverted by Thor and Sprint Samurai as the former shouted, "Attack us, monster!"
"And just see what happens if you dare," Ulrich added as he readied both sabers. Zzzax then charged at them, and then dispersed Zzzax instantly with a swing of both Mjolnir and both of Ulrich's sabers.
"You don't get it, do you," Vector asked as he propped himself up on his shoulders. "We don't need to beat you."
Iron Man's eyes instantly widened when realized what the U-Foe leader meant when he said that. "The gamma armor!"
Sadly, it was already too late for Wasp and Quartermain as their suits had already failed and began coming apart as they started to change. Soon enough, Wasp's suit had completely fallen off of her and revealed that she had turned into a humanoid version of her namesake. The Avengers could only stare at their teammate in shock until she knocked them out of it by charging directly for Sampson.
Thor was the first to react by standing in Wasp's path to Sampson and he then called out, "I have no desire to fight you Wasp." Sadly, Wasp did not share Thor's desires at the moment, and she began slashing her stinger pincers at him while he could only block her strikes with his hammer. "Remember who you are!"
Thor's cry seemed to reach Janet for a minute as her eyes suddenly stopped glowing green for a few seconds, but Gamma Wasp was quick to shake it off and then shrink down before attacking Thor once again. However, Aelita suddenly tackled Janet from her side and grabbed her in a hold as the pink haired Avenger shouted, "Jan, please focus! It's me, Angel Guardian, you know, Aelita? We're your friends!"
Wasp did not seem to hear Aelita's pleas any more than she did Thor's, and she quickly shrunk down even further before she started to attack both Aelita and Thor. The others would have moved to help the two against Gamma Wasp, but they were quickly surrounded by the gamma S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. May and Ward were quick to open fire with their Icers, but the weapons seemed to do little good against their former comrades. "This doesn't look good," Ward commented.
"Oh, ya think," Iron Man retorted. "Thoughts?"
"We can't hurt these men," Captain America insisted, but even so, May kept firing her Icer on them.
"I'm pretty sure Agent May doesn't agree with you, Cap, and even if she did, I'm pretty sure that they don't feel the same way about us," Iron Man quipped. "Panther, you take Quartermain; Cap, Samurai, and I will…"
Iron Man never got the chance to finish, as Black Panther suddenly flipped over his teammates and landed feet first atop a gamma S.H.I.E.L.D. agent's head before flipping back once more and quickly running off in another direction. "I can't believe this," Iron Man groaned as he watched Black Panther run out on them again.
The remaining Avengers, May, Ward, and Sampson all then began to open fire on both the gamma agents, but it was not long until the U-Foes and Zzzax had all suddenly found their second winds and began to join the assault on the heroes. "There's too many of them," Iron Man shouted as he continued to fire his repulsors.
"We can't give up," Ulrich shouted as he slashed at one agent before tossing a saber at another. He then thought of what Black Panther was doing and then immediately shouted, "I'm going after T'Challa! I think he might be onto something!"
"Ulrich, wait," Iron Man shouted, but the Sprint Samurai had already sprinted away to join the Wakandan king in his mystery mission.
Iron Man simply groaned in annoyance as he resumed firing while he said, "All they have to do is take out our armor, so we have to go for the generator. Sampson, go! I'll cover you."
Sampson immediately raced off towards the generator with Ward and May flanking him on either side, and Captain America following behind a moment later while Iron Man shot out some covering fire. Iron Man looked back to Thor and Aelita, who were still battling Gamma Wasp and shouted, "Thor, Angel, we have to go!"
"We can't just leave Jan like this," Aelita protested as she pushed her friend back with a protective energy field.
"Iron Man speaks truthfully, Angel Guardian," Thor admitted begrudgingly as he intercepted Wasp's next strike against the first Lyoko Warrior. "If we are to save Wasp, we must make haste and eliminate the greater threat, but rest assured my friend, the Leader will pay for this."
Aelita was about to argue, but she knew that Thor was right and simply nodded before spreading her wings and taking off after the others, providing covering fire with Iron Man as she went. Thor was next to follow them and he brought down a great deal of the ceiling to block the path so that the gamma agents and Gamma Wasp could not follow, which Aelita then followed up with by using her creativity to form a massive barricade that was similar to the ones that would have activated to prevent an escape attempt had they not gone off line during the Breakout.
Sadly, the blockade the two had made did not last very long, as the gamma agents, Gamma Wasp, and all the gamma villains they had just faced were soon upon them once more. Iron Man quickly opened fire with his repulsors when he was suddenly tackled from above by X-Ray. Iron Man was quick to blast the U-Foe off him, but he soon found himself directly beneath one of the gamma agents until Cap's shield suddenly struck the agent. "You two protect Sampson! I'll get Tony," Steve then shouted to Thor and Aelita as he retrieved his shield.
Unfortunately, the captain's rescue attempt was all for not, as both he and Iron Man were soon caught in Zzzax's grip and their suits were quickly shorted out. As he felt the gamma rays seep into his armor, Iron Man called out, "Thor, Aelita, destroy the generator no matter what!"
Sampson was about to move and help Iron Man when Thor placed a hand on the doctor's shoulder and said, "Doctor, Iron Man speaks truly. Find us the Leader and we will finish this."
Sampson quickly nodded in understanding and then led the two remaining Avengers and the two remaining S.H.I.E.L.D. agents down the last bit of hallway to the generator. Unfortunately, the Leader was not the one waiting for them there. "Ah look Wrecker, they actually thought the Leader was gonna be here," Piledriver commented to the leader of the Wrecking Crew.
Piledriver then took one of the gamma enhancers and attached it to the device on his chance, and soon enough, the entire Wrecking Crew were all mutated into the Gamma Wrecking Crew. "Let's take 'em down, boys" Wrecker shouted, and his crew immediately charged in.
"Wrecking Crew," Aelita asked.
"Aye," Thor replied exasperatedly. A minute later, Thunderball had thrown his wrecking ball directly at Sampson, knocking him out of his suit. Thor and Aelita both looked on in shock only to see that Sampson had remained the same as he was before.
"I'm okay. I'm not changing," Sampson told them just before Piledriver slammed into him. Thor and Angel Guardian would have moved to help him, but unfortunately, they were quickly ambushed by the rest of the Wrecking Crew, and they were quick to pin Thor and Aelita down underneath them. Just when it seemed like the heroes had lost, Aelita noticed a brief flash of gold from the corner of her eye and she glanced up to see Black Panther and Ulrich had entered the room from a higher level and raced out onto the edge of the generator over a support beam.
Before his suit was penetrated, Black Panther tossed a pair of vibranium daggers into the core of the generator while Ulrich did the same with one of his sabers, and a moment later, the generator exploded, and the gamma dome suddenly dispersed completely. The shockwave from the gamma dome coming down was enough to render the Wrecking Crew and all the other gamma villains in the prison unconscious, and upon seeing that their allies were quickly getting back to their feet, Panther and Samurai both raced down to meet with them. "Sorry for the wait you guys," Ulrich apologized as he holstered the saber he just recalled.
"We could not get close enough to the generator while the Leader's forces guarded it," T'Challa then explained. He then turned to the other five and asked, "Are you okay Doctor, Agents, Thunderer, and Angel Guardian?"
"Aye T'Challa, but truly that was a close one," Thor replied with a smile.
"Well to be fair, we've had some close calls that cut it a lot closer than that before back in the day on Lyoko," Aelita then joked, and that immediately got a laugh out of everyone, something that they were all grateful for.
A few hours later, night had fallen around the Cube, and everyone who had been infected by the gamma rays were being checked out while the villains that were protecting the Cube were cuffed and escorted to a transport that would take them to the new supervillain prison. "Everyone is recovering with no residual radiation poisoning. The energy the Leader used was very specific," Sampson reported to May and Quartermain.
"The Leader," Quartermain then asked. "There was no sign of him?"
"No, but we saved a lot of lives today, and we foiled his big plan," Sampson replied proudly.
"Did we," T'Challa asked. The minute he asked that, an enormous green energy dome suddenly edged its way over the facility and then towards them.
"I think we have your answer T'Challa," Ulrich said as he pulled out his sabers from their harness on his back just as the dome swept over the area and everyone standing in it. He and Aelita were now very thankful that they had elected to keep their suits activated in order to keep their identities safe, even though everyone there was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who probably knew their names.
"How is this possible," Thor asked as he suddenly found himself back-to-back with Sampson, Sprint Samurai, and Angel Guardian the minute their friends and the other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were mutated. "The Leader's machine was destroyed!"
Before he could answer the Thunderer, Sampson suddenly found himself tackled away from the three heroes by Gamma Black Panther and quickly knocked out, leaving Thor, Sprint Samurai, and Angel Guardian to deal with the other gamma agents, and the other Gamma Avengers. "Avengers, remember who you are," Thor pleaded with his comrades.
"That didn't exactly work too well last time," Ulrich reminded Thor, and it proved to be just as effective this time around as well, as Gamma Captain America suddenly charged and tried to smash all three of them. All three of the heroes were quick to avoid the soldier's strike, but since she had taken flight in order to do so, only Aelita was able to escape the sudden dog pile that Thor and Ulrich soon found themselves fighting back against. "Aelita, get out of here," Ulrich shouted.
"I'm not leaving you guys," Aelita argued as she tossed an energy field to scatter the gamma monsters that were attacking her friends.
"We'll be fine, just go and get out of here," Ulrich insisted.
"Sprint Samurai speaks truly Angel Guardian," Thor shouted in agreement. "Right now, you are our best hope of averting this disaster. Flee this battle and seek out the Hulk! He may very well be our best hope of smiting this plan of the Leader's!"
Aelita hesitated only for another minute, letting tears fall from her eyes at the possibility of losing her friends and family once more, but in the end, she knew that Thor was right, and she then quickly turned and flew off, never once looking back as Thor and Ulrich were soon overwhelmed. Once she was out of the gamma dome, she pulled out a communication device like the one she had given to the Hulk and immediately called out, "Hulk, come in please! It's Aelita, we need your help!"
Somewhere in a forest in Northern Canada, a Hulk Buster operation against the Hulk was currently in the progress, and it seemed like it was going to be successful, when suddenly a barrage of arrows suddenly caused the helicopter of the unit to begin losing fuel and eventually end up having to land somewhere. Hulk was quick to recover and he quickly engaged the remaining Hulk Busters, easily tearing apart the first tank like only a Hulk could. He was about to attack the next tank, when much to his surprise, Hawkeye suddenly swooped down in front of him and fired an arrow at the tank, destroying it almost instantly just after the soldiers had evacuated. The soldiers froze for a minute when they saw the Hulk, thinking he was going to smash them, but instead, Hulk simply elected to roar at them angrily and that was more than enough to get them all running.
Hulk then glanced at the tank that the soldiers had abandoned before he crushed it with his fist, and then turned to Hawkeye and ordered, "Leave Hulk alone."
"Leave you alone? I just saved your green hide, and now you get to return the favor," Hawkeye immediately retorted. "I need some help."
"Call the Avengers. I'm already expecting someone else to show up in a minute," Hulk huffed.
Hawkeye paused in confusion for a minute before he shook himself out of it and said, "The Avengers are the ones I'm trying to save, not to mention the whole world. There's a big green energy dome…"
"Turning everyone into gamma monsters," Hulk cut him off. "I heard, but if you want someone to fight monsters, you should ask them," Hulk then said as he gestured to the fleeing Hulk Buster soldiers.
"I don't need them, smart guy, and I don't need you," Hawkeye retorted. "I need Banner."
Hulk then growled as he turned to Hawkeye and snarled, "Banner's not home, now leave me alone!"
At that point, Hawkeye had finally had it. "Listen Big Foot, if you don't give me Banner in the next three seconds, bottom line, I will…"
"Soon find yourself back in prison," a female voice suddenly interrupted. Hawkeye and Hulk both then turned to see a very pissed off Angel Guardian swooping down with an energy field in hand, which she then threw at the archer. Hawkeye immediately leaped aside and drew an arrow to try and restrain the pink haired girl, but Aelita was quick to swoop in and deliver a spin kick to Hawkeye's head just as she retracted her wings and landed.
Hawkeye then leapt back to his feet and was about to charge Aelita once more while she did the same to him, when Hulk suddenly stepped between them and shouted, "Hold up Tinker Bell! He's not here to fight."
Aelita looked at Hulk like he had just lost it and asked, "You're kidding, right Hulk? He's Hawkeye, an escaped prisoner from the Vault."
"Who was only put there because he was framed by his former partner the Black Widow," Hawkeye cut in. "If you need further proof, then you can check the read outs on my Sky-Cycle, but right now, I'd rather save the world from the Leader, so if you guys don't chill out and give me Banner, I will take you both down."
The three stared each other down for a minute, Hulk and Aelita on one side, and Hawkeye on the other, until suddenly Hulk burst out laughing. Aelita stared in shock for a minute, having never thought she would hear the Hulk laugh like that, but then suddenly he started shrinking and his skin changed to Caucasian until finally, a shirtless Bruce Banner stood in the Hulk's place. "O-okay, you'll have to give me a minute. He hasn't let me out in weeks," Bruce said as he finally calmed down while Hawkeye folded up his bow and stashed it away and Aelita finally relaxed her stance seeing that the supposed S.H.I.E.L.D. traitor truly didn't mean any harm. "Now, Agent Barton, Aelita, tell me everything you know," Bruce then requested.
A short while later, the three were sitting in a small cabin in the forest that Bruce had set up some lab equipment in. "Wow. You did all this while you were on the run," Hawkeye asked as he and Aelita looked around, the latter keeping a close eye on the archer since she still did not entirely trust him.
"Yes, and don't touch anything," Bruce replied in warning from his computer. "Hawkeye's Sky-Cycle collected quite a bit of data about the gamma energy the dome was putting off."
"S.H..I.E.L.D. likes to be thorough," Hawkeye told the gamma scientist.
"So I've noticed," Aelita commented with a slightly snide tone. Admittedly, the girl would normally be a bit more willing to give Hawkeye the benefit of a doubt or at least be a little more pleasant towards the archer, but after the day she had been having, she was not really in a good mood to be giving an escaped prisoner of a supervillain prison any such courtesy.
Hawkeye threw the pink haired Avenger a small, annoyed look at her comment when Bruce suddenly jabbed a needle into his arm. "OW! Hey, what did you do that for," Hawkeye demanded.
"I just inoculated you," Bruce explained. "That will temporarily protect you from the Leader's gamma energy. Angel, we should probably do the same for you in case your suit shuts down for any reason at some point."
Aelita nodded in reply and accepted the needle that Bruce had offered to her. While she inoculated herself, Bruce finished packing a bag with some supplies as he said, "We're gonna have to do some of this on route. There's not much time."
"Are you sure that it'll be okay like that Doctor Banner," Aelita asked as she handed the needle back to Bruce.
"Yes," Banner replied as he handed Hawkeye the bag. "The longer people are exposed to the energy, the more likely the changes will become permanent." He then turned back to his computer and typed a few commands before he said, "I've located the epicenter of the dome. That's where the Leader will be with the gamma energy generator, and that's what we have to destroy."
"Not again," Aelita moaned, having gone through one gamma generator busting run already.
"Well, you've just got all the answers don't you," Hawkeye stated sarcastically. "So how are we gonna get to the Leader?"
Bruce then turned to Hawkeye and smirked as his eyes began to glow green and he replied, "The direct route."
Aelita then smirked and asked, "Time for you to get angry, Doctor Banner?"
"That's actually the secret, Angel Guardian. I'm always angry," Bruce replied. A minute later, Banner had transformed back into the Hulk once again and the three were headed off to the center of the gamma dome, with Hawkeye screaming like a little girl as he was forced to ride on the Hulk's back. Hearing the archer's cries, Aelita had to laugh and find herself sorry that she did not have a camera on her at the moment for obtaining future blackmail material, should she need it, but she quickly brought her mind back to the task at hand, and began praying that they would not be too late.
In a tall sky scraper located in the center of Las Vegas, the Leader had both Thor and Sprint Samurai fighting for their lives against Abomination. When he had the two brought to him by the Gamma Avengers along with Sampson, the Leader was admittedly curious as to why the two were not affected by the gamma dome. When he found out that Asgardians were not affected by science of "mere mortals", as Thor had put it, and that Ulrich was not affected because of his Lyoko Warrior suit, a fact that the two had tried to hide but to no avail, he immediately had Blonsky try to put an end to the two.
At one point, the two had managed to get the Leader talking for a minute so that Thor could focus long enough to call for Mjolnir, but sadly they had to endure Leader's monologue about why he was so fit to rule over the world and how everyone was inferior compared to him, and the minute he had finished, Blonsky was back on the attack. They both then allowed the Hulk's archenemy to land a few blows against them a few times, Thor more so than Ulrich, until finally, they made their move and Ulrich dashed behind Blonsky with a saber ready just in time to slash Abomination as he was sent flying by Thor's punch. "You two cannot win. You must know that," Leader then told them from his perch above them.
"This coming from the guy who's sitting out of arm's reach of us for the moment," Ulrich quipped as he readied his second saber.
"Even so, I disagree, villain," Thor stated. Mere seconds after Thor had voiced his disagreement, Thor's mighty hammer had flown through the window and into his hand, unleashing a lightning strike outside the moment it touched Thor's hand. "We played your game long enough for me to retrieve Mjolnir," Thor started.
"And now, it's game over for you," Ulrich finished as he assumed a ready stance. Suddenly, they were both encompassed in what appeared to be moving metal that had risen up from the floor all the while, Leader was smirking in amusement at them. "What the hell gives," Ulrich demanded.
"You feeble minded fools," Leader then openly mocked them. "Of course I wanted you to retrieve the hammer. I let you do it."
Both Asgardian and Lyoko Warrior were confused for a moment, until the latter's eyes widened in realization as he realized why the Leader would do that. It was too little, too late now though, as the substance holding them suddenly unwrapped and formed a hand a top Mjolnir revealing the Absorbing Man. "Nice hammer," the gamma villain complimented as he absorbed the material of Mjolnir and transformed his whole body into it. "Now let me show you boys why they call me the Absorbing Man."
The minute Absorbing Man's body was completely covered in Mjolnir's material, he seemed to flash with electricity, all while the Leader declared, "You asked before what gives me the right to rule? Because no one can stop me."
Absorbing Man and Abomination then began knocking the two Avengers back and forth between them while said Avengers did their best to try and fight back, all while they had to listen to the Leader continue to drone on, "In fourteen point seven hours my gamma dome will have covered half the planet. In another eleven point four three hours, the entire world will be engulfed! Anyone within the dome is mine to command. You have lost, Asgardian and Lyoko Warrior."
Ulrich and Thor both snarled in response as Thor slammed his hammer against Abomination and shouted, "Never!" Thor was then tackled and sent plummeting to the streets below by Absorbing Man, and now all that was left to fight against the Leader and Abomination was Sprint Samurai.
Seeing this, Ulrich readied himself for the coming attack as he shouted, "So long as we're still able to keep going and there's at least one person out there to fight back, we'll have never lost! I never bowed down to my enemies even once before, so don't expect me to bow down to you, Leader!"
"Please spare me," Leader groaned. "Without the Avengers, who is left to stand against me?"
Leader's question was then answered as the floor suddenly exploded behind him, and Hawkeye, Angel Guardian, and the Hulk leapt up with weapons and fists primed and ready for action. "You, with the head. Freeze," Hawkeye shouted.
"Or better yet, just let us blast you. I've got a lot of anger to work out from today alone," Aelita then added as she aimed an energy field.
Leader just ignored the two as he turned his attention to the Hulk and said, "I knew you would come eventually, my old enemy, but you of all people must realize this is for the best. In Gamma World, no one will hunt you, no one will try and cure you, you'll be a king. Everyone who hated you, who attacked you, they will be you. Are you really going to try and stop me?"
"You bet the hell he is," Aelita shouted as she summoned an energy field to her free hand.
"No Tinker Bell," Hulk suddenly said. "Not stop him. SMASH HIM!"
Aelita then simply shrugged a bit and said, "Yeah, that works too."
"Disappointing, but not unexpected," Leader sighed. A minute later, Abomination had leapt at the Hulk and knocked him to the ground.
"You ready animal? With the Leader's tech I'm stronger than you, I'm smarter than you, and I'm gonna beat you to a…"
Anything more that Abomination was going to say was lost in the din of Hulk's roar as he kicked Blonsky through the ceiling and then leaped after him. Seeing that the Hulk had things under control there, Hawkeye and Aelita immediately fired at the Leader, only for Hawkeye's arrow to be intercepted by Gamma Panther and Aelita's blasts to be intercepted by Gamma Wasp's stingers. "You're all either very brave or very stupid, archer, Angel Guardian, and Samurai," Leader then commented as the other Gamma Avengers stepped forward. "You're all outnumbered."
"That's okay," Aelita replied as she then used her creativity to pin Wasp down.
"I've got an arrow for each of you," Hawkeye then finished as he fired at the now immobile Gamma Wasp. Hawkeye then leaped aside as Gamma Captain America rushed him and fired a second arrow that hit the gamma captain's leg, while Ulrich raced around slashing at Gamma Panther and Gamma Iron Man in order to keep them busy.
"What do you think you are accomplishing, archer," Leader demanded. "You're toys cannot hurt my creations."
"Yeah, I'm not a genius like you," Hawkeye admitted as he notched another arrow.
"And that's why we went to find one, and he made him some new arrows," Aelita then stated as she turned to Gamma Wasp, just in time to watch her change back into regular Wasp and then collapse. "He goes by the name Bruce Banner. Have you heard of him?"
"Indeed I have," Leader snarled. He then tapped a control on his console, and his perch then retracted to reveal that he was sitting in a large, battle suit that closed up the minute it was ready for action.
"Ah shit," Ulrich moaned. He then saw Aelita throwing him a look for using such language and he immediately told her, "Get over it."
The three then began to evade Leader's shots as Hawkeye fired arrows at the remaining Gamma Avengers, returning them to normal, and upon seeing that everyone had been returned to normal, they all raced past the Leader and up through the hole that the Hulk had made when he had kicked Abomination through it. Leader yelled in frustration for a minute before he quickly blasted off after them.
Up on the roof, Hulk and Abomination were fairly evenly matched in their struggle against each other, until Blonsky decided to up the power of his gamma enhancer and suddenly became much bigger than the Hulk. In no time at all, Abomination had the Hulk pinned down beneath his feet and he then declared, "I'll always beat you Hulk. Do you hear me? I'm better than you in every way!"
"But I've got a couple of things that you don't," Hulk retorted. He then glanced off to the side and smirked as he said, "Friends and backup."
A minute later, Abomination's head was hit with a gamma arrow, courtesy of Hawkeye, and he was knocked off the Hulk by and energy field barrage from Angel Guardian. The minute he had pulled Hawkeye's arrow off of him, it was already too late, and Abomination had already started changing back to his normal state without the gamma enhancer, just in time for Sprint Samurai to further disorient him, and Hulk to send him flying across the city and into the desert with a hard punch. Just then, the three heroes all raced over to Hulk, just in time to avoid the Leader's robot as it landed across from them. "The four of you think you can defeat me," Leader demanded. "I have already calculated a thousand ways to destroy you all!"
"Somehow I doubt that," Ulrich commented as he held his sabers down by his sides.
"And I sincerely doubt that any of them include Absorbing Man crashing into you because he was stupid enough to absorb Mjolnir's essence," Aelita added as she pointed to the sky. Leader then looked to where Angel Guardian was pointing and saw exactly what she had just mentioned, Absorbing Man flying towards him as Thor floated down to stand by his allies.
"Destroy? You do not know the meaning of the word, Leader," Thor insulted.
"You really want to hurt the Leader," Hulk asked as he stomped up to the gamma energy generator. "This is how!"
With that declaration, Hulk grabbed the large antenna that was the generator and lifted it up with all his might, before doing what Hulks do best. Smashing. The minute the generator was destroyed and then sent flying off into space by the Hulk, the gamma dome fell and the Leader was completely disabled, due to the sudden burst of gamma energy towards him making his head far too big and too heavy for him to lift. "It would've been glorious," Leader moaned. "I was creating the perfect world, all in my image."
"That's the problem. Your ugly," Hulk stated.
"Couldn't have said it better myself Hulk," Aelita said as she threw Hulk a smile, which Hulk happily returned, a sight that actually shocked Thor, Ulrich, and Hawkeye to complete and utter speechlessness.
A few hours later, the true clean-up was underway, and the Avengers who were infected by the gamma dome were now being double checked by medics as Sampson was wheeled off to a medical facility. Meanwhile, Hawkeye was sitting off to the side as Quartermain, May, and Ward all checked over the video footage from Hawkeye's Sky-Cycle, until they finally turned to the archer as the blonde agent said, "The footage from your Sky-Cycle confirms your story. The Widow is working for HYDRA."
"We sent agents to her location, but she was already long gone," May then added.
"Yeah, she's good, I'll give her that," Hawkeye admitted.
"Well, you're cleared Hawkeye, and your S.H.I.E.L.D. special agent status will be reinstated. Congrats," Ward then said.
"You mean the same S.H.I.E.L.D. that locked me up," Hawkeye then asked rhetorically. "Yeah, no thanks. I'm going after the Widow on my own."
"Here's another option," Tony then said as he walked over. "Join the Avengers."
Hawkeye glanced at the recovering heroes before he said, "I don't think so. Look how easily the Leader took you guys out. I'm better off on my own."
"Trust me Hawkeye, no one is better off on their own. I should know," Ulrich said.
Thor then turned to Hulk and asked, "And what of you? Will you walk away as well? You are indeed a noble warrior Hulk, one who has saved the Avengers and now helped save the world. I would trust you with my life. Will you trust us?"
Hulk was about to say no when Aelita then said, "Hulk, please?"
Hulk looked over to Aelita and saw that while she was not giving him the sad puppy face, she was giving him a look that was clearly begging him to stay with them because she did not want her friend to leave again. Seeing this, Hulk finally caved and said, "Alright, I'll stay, but only cause Tinker Bell asked, and only if Cupid stays."
Knowing the gamma giant was talking about him, Hawkeye immediately spun around and shouted, "You wanna go J-jaws, right here and now? Let's do this!"
"Hey it's not his fault you have such poor fashion sense that makes you choose an outfit like that, Cupid," Ulrich commented.
"At least people can remember my name well enough to get it right, Dash Ninja," Hawkeye retorted.
"I'm not a ninja! I'm a SAMURAI! How hard is that to grasp," Ulrich shouted in retort.
"Okay, this is gonna be fun," Tony commented sarcastically.
"That's one way to put it," Aelita agreed, but she still smiled all the same, happy that the Hulk was now going to be coming back with them for good this time. The minute he saw her smiling, Hulk was more than happy to return the smile with a small one of his own that only Aelita noticed.
Out in the desert, Abomination was crawling across the sand, feeling completely drained of his gamma power after his battle with the Hulk, Hawkeye, Angel Guardian, and Sprint Samurai, and having only just recovered from the final blow that had rendered him unconscious for so long, when he suddenly paused at being covered by the shadows of four people. Abomination looked up to see Baron Zemo, Enchantress, Executioner, Simon Williams, now known as Wonder Man, and Crimson Dynamo all standing before him, as the baron said, "Hello Mister Blonsky."
AN: Well there you have it. I can already tell you right now, that we'll be seeing more of Hawkeye having some confrontations with the last two Lyoko Warriors, and some of them will involved him making Aelita angry. If you think Hawkeye running for his life from an angry Hulk was funny, then I'll bet that you'll really enjoy the archer running for his life from an angry Aelita. Also, yeah, Ulrich's going to have people getting his hero name wrong for a long time to come, but don't worry that will soon just be happening intentionally and a lot less often soon enough. Now brace yourselves, because next chapter will see an addition of another major MARVEL villain joining the Masters of Evil and a special guest line-up from one of MARVEL's other major hero teams. If you can't figure out which team it is from this preview, then go back and review your MARVEL facts immediately after you finish reading this chapter.
The Avengers plan to try and take a day for some medical rest after Gamma World, and while Hawkeye, Hulk, and Aelita use this as an excuse to do some more work while the others are recovering, Captain America and Ulrich decide to take a small road trip having discovered that one of the captain's old war friends is still around. Their destination? A school for the gifted in Salem Center City, Westchester County. Tune in next time for… Chapter 10: The Avenging X-Factor.
Did you figure out who it is? If you did, just say yes in your reviews, but don't say who it is. I don't want to spoil it for everyone who couldn't figure it out by the time next chapter is posted.
So, please read and review, and I'll see you all next time!