AN: [looks to computer screen] Report.
Ulrich: All clear backstage.
Wasp: Nothing out of the ordinary in the air vents.
Ant-Man: There's no sign of any problems down here in the basement or anything else at this level or lower, and I've got a massive number of ants combing the area and every other point in the studio watching everything for even the slightest change.
AN: I hope not Hank, otherwise I'm going to have a hard time explaining that to health department. [clears throat] Cap, Aelita, what've you got?
Captain America: All clear here in the break room.
Aelita: Same up here on the roof.
Iron Man: I've just finished wiring J.A.R.V.I.S. into the security system, so if anything or anyone gets in here that isn't supposed to be, he'll know in an instant and deploy one of my armors in sentry mode to respond.
AN: So if I'm hearing this right, we shouldn't have any trouble getting things rolling today, or any problems what-so-ever at all?
Iron Man: Yep.
AN: In that case...HALLELUJAH! Take that Deadpool! You are not getting in here today! [starts dancing and singing] We are sa-afe~. Don't have to worry about the crazy psycho man~.
Iron Man: It's time to party~ Who's got the chimichangas?~
AN: Duh da-da-~ [record scratch] Wait a minute. Tony, why did you ask about chimichangas?
Iron Man: Uh, did I say chimichangas? I-I meant schwarma. Who's got the schwarma?
AN: Oh really, Stark, or should I say...DEADPOOL! [Zuko, Sora, Roxas, Optimus Prime, Kira Yamato, and Captain America burst into the room ready for action]
Iron...I mean, Deadpool: Shit! Busted.
Captain America: Language.
Zuko: Did he seriously just say that?
Captain America: Sorry, it just slipped out.
AN: Just get that psycho out of here!...and for spark's sake, watch your language!
Captain America: [chuckles] That's not going to go away any time sooner than it did in Avengers: Age of Ultron, is it?
[Deadpool screams like a little girl as he runs away in an attempt to survive the guys who are now attacking him]
AN: Ah, the sound of Deadpool being torn apart by real heroes is like music to my...oh, hey everybody! lyokoMARVELanime here, and let me start off by saying sorry for taking so long to get this next chapter out, but I've been pretty focused on Shield of the Cosmic Era recently, and last week was surprisingly busy for me, but after I finally found a chance to finally watch Avengers: Age of Ultron again after getting it on Blu-Ray, my Avengers writing spirit returned in full, and I can now say that this story will become my main center of focus since it is drawing to a close. Now with that said, let's get things started! 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 20: Hail HYDRA
Ulrich and Aelita honestly had to wonder if all great marksmen were overconfident or just determined to do whatever they could to test their limits at the moment. Clint had been dared to try the most impossible shot that Iron Man's training room could provide, and Tony did not fail to deliver in setting up such a shot. Multiple, rotating energy barriers with only a small gap in each one that were never lined up perfectly all at once as far as the average person could see, walls that were constantly popping up from the floor nearly at random, and it was all between Hawkeye's currently notched arrow, and the single, red apple sitting upon a pedestal on the opposite side of these obstacles. Now Ulrich and Aelita were both very confident in Hawkeye's abilities, as he had shown them that he could pull off incredibly difficult shots in the past, and also because they had seen Odd pull off similarly difficult shots back when they were fighting on Lyoko, but clearly, most of the other Avengers did not share that confidence. "There's no way you're going to make that shot," Iron Man stated confidently, proving the twins' beliefs and the fact that he was certain he was going to win the bet he had made with Hawkeye.
Hawkeye merely scowled in response to the billionaire's comment, never letting his eyes wander too far from the object he was aiming at, even as Wasp flew up to float near his face. "Yeah, Iron Man's right. That's just not gonna happen," Janet told the archer, giving him her honest opinion. She was a little optimistic about Hawkeye's chances, but not optimistic enough to let Hawkeye go through with this dare.
"I don't like to use the word impossible, but it may fit here," Hank added in as he watched from the side along with Hulk. He then looked to the gamma giant and asked, "What do you think, Hulk?"
"Don't care. Only came in case Hawkeye started a fight," Hulk admitted with a smirk.
"Thanks for the support, team," the archer in question pointedly replied. Clint then glanced in the direction of the only three in the room who had not given a voice to their opinions and asked, "What do you think old man, kiddies?"
"I haven't seen you miss yet; I don't expect you to start now," Captain America replied in full confidence as Ulrich and Aelita both glared at Hawkeye a little for his calling them "kiddies."
Shaking their annoyance off, Ulrich told the former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, "I've seen you pull off incredible shots before, Barton, and I speak for both me and Aelita when I say that you're definitely one of the best sharp-shooters we know."
"Yeah, you've got this," Aelita nodded in agreement. Hawkeye smiled in thanks to the three, and then turned his attention back to the shot that everyone was watching him attempt. Clint took a minute to steady his breathing and analyze every last detail of his target, the obstacles between him and them, and every other aspect of the environment, until he finally released his bowstring, letting the arrow sail through the air with ease. Everyone watched with baited breath as the arrow flew past the barriers, but just as it was nearing the apple, the lights all suddenly went out, shrouding the room in near, total darkness.
"What? Did I make the shot," Hawkeye asked.
"I'd be more concerned about the sudden power outage," Aelita remarked as she summoned a couple of energy fields to give the room a little light, casting a faint, pink glow on everyone as she did.
"What happened," Wasp asked as she added the light from her stingers into the mix. Everyone glanced around for a minute, until their eyes fell upon Iron Man, who was lying on the floor with all the lights on his suit completely out for a few seconds before they finally flickered back on.
"That was an EMP, and electro-magnetic pulse," Tony groaned in reply to Wasp's question.
"Why isn't the mansion power up yet," Hank asked.
"Yeah, doesn't this place have a lot of backup systems for this kind of thing," Ulrich asked.
"Yes it does, and it could've handled one pulse, but it looks like three went off in the city back-to-back," Tony explained after glancing at his suit's readouts. "We have to get up there now."
Everyone was quick to oblige, and shortly after Ulrich and Aelita had suited up, Hulk grabbed onto Hawkeye, Ulrich, and Captain America, and then jumped up through the ceiling and into the main foyer of the mansion, with everyone else flying up to the same floor a minute later. "You know there were stairs we could've taken," Iron Man pointed out after he had landed.
"Hey, you're the one who said there was…" Hawkeye started to say only to trail off after he had opened the door to find someone standing right on their doorstep. The person in question was an attractive woman with fair skin, red hair, and green eyes in a skin-tight, black suit that was open near the top, with a yellow, studded belt and a pair of yellow gauntlets on her wrists. Even though neither of the two Lyoko Warriors knew who she was, they had a very good idea about her identity based on Hawkeye's reaction to seeing her.
"Avengers, I need your help," the woman stated in a slight, Russian accent that would have most average men turning into pudding at her feet, but none of the male members of the Avengers were most men, especially in the case of Hawkeye, since he knew the person behind that voice, and the same could be said of the Hulk.
"Hulk remembers you," Hulk growled as the redhead walked in after brushing past Hawkeye, who was leveling a small glare at her as she passed. "Stupid spy girl attacked Hulk in the desert!"
"So I guess that means it's safe for me to assume that this is the infamous Black Widow," Ulrich asked, already raising a hand to one of his sabers.
"Yep," Hawkeye nodded. "Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow herself."
"And she's also a traitor and a member of HYDRA," Wasp finished angrily while she shrunk down to her smaller size. "Hulk, go smash her!"
Hulk did not hesitate for a minute to grant that request, and a minute later, Black Widow was pinned against a nearby wall in the large hero's massive hand. "Have to listen," Widow gasped, desperately.
"Give us one good reason why we should," Ulrich demanded. The whole team knew everything about Black Widow's history with Hawkeye, and how she had set him up as a traitor, and her last encounter with the archer was no secret from any of the team either, seeing as it had led Captain America, Black Panther, Hawkeye, and a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent by the name of Bobbi Morse to take down the terrorist group's main island base.
"Widow, you've got about three seconds before we let the Hulk squeeze," Iron Man then stated as every present member of the team leveled a glare at the S.H.I.E.L.D. traitor. "Did you set off the EMPs?"
"Not…a traitor," Widow gasped, casting a desperate look at each of the heroes. "You have to believe…Nick Fury sent me to get inside HYDRA." Sadly, it did not seem that Widow was selling her story to any of the team, so she elected to cast a desperate look in her former partner's direction and begged, "Clint…please!"
Clint Barton knew the redhead better than anyone on the Avengers, and if there was one thing he knew about Natasha, it was that she never begged for anything or any reason unless she absolutely had to for one reason or another. True, it could just be an act, but Clint also could not forget that when they had last met, Widow had prevented Baron Strucker from draining his life energy, so he could only sigh and say, "Let her breathe, Hulk. She saved my life. I owe her that."
Hulk only growled for a minute, until he looked at Barton and said, "You've gone soft."
As soon as she was freed from the Hulk's grasp, Clint allowed his former partner to catch her breath for a minute before telling her, "This better be good, Natasha. You've got one minute. Start at the beginning."
Natasha looked up at the archer with a small look of thanks that only Clint had caught, before she adopted a neutral look and began her explanation. "Strucker has just located the A.I.M. Base and transmitted the coordinates to every ship HYDRA has, with his orders being that M.O.D.O.C. be destroyed, and that no one was to touch an object called the Cosmic Cube but him," Widow said. "Before he departed to fight with the rest of his troops, I convinced the baron to tell me exactly what we were dealing with, and he didn't hesitate for a minute to explain. Apparently, A.I.M. has been creating a device that can change reality itself, that device being the Cosmic Cube, and it was designed to take one's deepest desires, their greatest wishes, and make them reality. Strucker isn't a fool though, because he knows that if M.O.D.O.C. did have such a device, he would've used it by now, which could only indicate that it was not complete." She then paused for a minute to catch her breath, before she finished, "This was my mission, to infiltrate HYDRA, learn the nature of the weapon they had hired A.I.M. to create, and neutralize it. No one could've foreseen this."
Given how serious she sounded, it would seem that Natasha's story really was true, but the Avengers knew that she was not one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s best spies before she had apparently defected for no reason, and there was also some other things that did not add up. "If you infiltrated HYDRA under orders from Nick Fury, then why come to us? Why not go to him," Captain America pointed out.
"I tried," Natasha revealed. "He had set up a special channel for me to contact him when I needed to, but he's not responding. As far as S.H.I.E.L.D. knows, the Black Widow is a traitor, so if I go to them, I'll be arrested. Fury was the only one who knew the truth, and as far as I can tell, he's disappeared."
"Yeah, I'm with Cap. I don't buy it," Iron Man immediately stated. "Not the Fury part; that I can believe, but a Cosmic Cube? Come on, nothing can just change reality."
"It doesn't matter what you believe. Both Strucker and M.O.D.O.C. believe it, and they're going to tear the city apart fighting for control of it," Natasha argued.
The redhead did have a point in her argument, but most of the Avengers were still hesitant to take her at her word in this regard, even in the case of Ulrich and Aelita. "Can you tell if she's lying," Ulrich whispered softly enough so that only Aelita's hearing would be able to pick it up.
"Normally I would say yes, since my hearing can pick up on the sound of a person's heartbeat speeding up when they lie, but given what we've been told about her, I'm not so sure," Aelita admitted. Before anyone could say anything else though, a sudden tremor caught the team off balance for a minute, and a blinding light lit up the city outside the mansion's windows. "Okay, now I can definitely say that she's telling the truth," Aelita quipped after the light had died down.
No one wanted to wait around for someone to double check, just to make sure that they had not imagined what had just happened, because if there was even the slightest chance that Romanoff was telling the truth, then hundreds of lives were about to be caught in the crossfire of a war between HYDRA and A.I.M., so the Avengers immediately raced to move out.
"If you so much as sneeze in a way I don't like, I'll let the Hulk have you for lunch. Got it Widow," Iron Man asked in a dark tone after the team was in the air, with the armored Avenger flying in between the HYDRA ship that Widow had stolen and was now aboard with both Ant-Man and Hawkeye, and the Quinjet that the rest of the team was currently aboard.
"Of course," Widow agreed. "We all want the same thing here, Iron Man. Once we get the Cube, I'll surrender myself to you."
If Ulrich was being honest with himself right now, he was very glad that he did not ever get into the world of spies and secret agents like Barton and Romanoff had, because if the redhead's story was true, then he could honestly say that there were too many secrets in that world for his tastes. Still, Aelita seemed to think that Natasha was being honest when she said that she was working as a double agent for Fury, and since Aelita was normally a good judge of character in these things, Ulrich was a little willing to trust her for now. Of course, that did not mean he was not going to let her catch him off guard and stab him in the back if it came to that.
Hoping to diffuse the tension in the air, Wasp then smiled at Hulk and remarked, "Isn't it funny how people are all afraid of you? I bet she really thought you'd eat her."
"I would," Hulk replied seriously, leading Wasp to give a nervous laugh as she turned back to the front.
"Hulk, please don't try to scare Janet with your sense of humor," Aelita lightly reprimanded. Hulk could only smirk in reply to the pinkette, almost as though he were trying to look innocent and say that he had no idea what she was talking about, until Steve brought everyone's attention back to the matter at hand.
"Heads up team," the super soldier called out, leading everyone to lay eyes on the earliest, tell-tale signs of weapons fire lighting up the night skies of New York, all of which were coming from ships belonging to A.I.M. and HYDRA.
"Shields are holding," an A.I.M. technician called out from his station aboard M.O.D.O.C.'s ship.
A minute later, his superior looked to their leader and said, "The EMPs took down some of the HYDRA forces, but the majority are equipped with shielding that…"
"That we designed for them," M.O.D.O.C. interrupted angrily. The oversized head of A.I.M. then calmed himself down a little and stated, "It does not matter. We do not need to defeat HYDRA; we only need to delay them."
"Seventeen minutes until influx of extra-dimensional energy is complete," the ship's computer reported, drawing M.O.D.O.C.'s attention to the Cosmic Cube as it was nearing completion. It was now only a matter of time until the world was at the mercy of A.I.M., and M.O.D.O.C. would make certain that no one would stand in the way of that goal, be it HYDRA, S.H.I.E.L.D., or anyone else who would be foolish enough to so much as try.
It was not long after seeing the ships of HYDRA and A.I.M. battling it out that the Avengers were intercepting both ships in the hopes of preventing any of the ships on either side from causing any significant damage to the city, and while things were certainly not as chaotic as they were when Kang had attempted to conquer the Earth, they were certainly very close to that level. Really the only difference between the battle against Kang and what was happening now was that it was the middle of the night, so there were not as many people running through the streets in a panic this time around, but given that New York was known as the city that never sleeps, there was still a chance of some innocent civilians getting caught in the crossfire. With all of this in mind, Captain America glanced to his left as he fired the Quinjet's guns on the HYDRA ships and asked, "Iron Man, what's the ETA on Thor and Panther?"
"They're nine minutes out," Iron Man replied as he unleashed a volley of repulsor blasts while avoiding an attack that an A.I.M. ship had fired at him. "This is crazy," Tony then moaned. "I think that A.I.M. ship just opened a black hole."
"Sounds kind of familiar to what Wasp, Thor, and I encountered once before when we were chasing after them once," Aelita commented.
"I say we let them fight, enjoy the show," Hulk huffed after moving to get a better look at the battle ahead of them.
"There's nothing to enjoy about fighting," Ant-Man solemnly stated.
"You're doing it wrong then," Hulk told the size-changer.
"The tracer I planted on Strucker's ship is active," Black Widow then reported, getting everyone back on track. "We can find him, and make sure he doesn't get close to the Cube."
Hawkeye nodded in understanding, and then veered off to follow the signal from said tracking device as Widow requested. The others were about to follow them, when Iron Man suddenly stopped them. "I'm picking something up," the armored hero explained. "That's M.O.D.O.C.'s energy signature! J.A.R.V.I.S., scan the ship."
The billionaire's personal AI immediately granted the request, and it was only a matter of seconds later that Tony was able to see the leader of A.I.M. inside the lead ship of the technological terrorist group. Shortly after though, something very strange caught Tony's attention, but before he could get a decent scan of the object, a blast of energy seemed to erupt from the object and into his suit, causing it to immediately begin to malfunction to the point that Iron Man was dropping from the sky like a stone, and he soon crashed into the ground at the pier as a result. "Okay, what was that," Tony groaned as he stood up, his suit still malfunctioning as he did, save for the arc reactor powering it. "My whole system just shorted out when I tried to…AH!"
Tony's sudden exclamation was due to the fact that a number of HYDRA's massive, octopus-like robots rising out of the water, but while most of them seemed to ignore him in favor of entering the city to join the rest of HYDRA's forces, one did take notice of Iron Man and prepared to fire its weapons at as close a range to Iron Man as it could a achieve without Iron Man flying right up to be in front of the guns. Iron Man immediately turned around and attempted to start up his armor's thrusters, but unfortunately, since his systems were still rebooting, Tony was unable to such much as lift off the ground. Thankfully, Iron Man was saved from being blasted by the massive HYDRA machine due to a last second save by the Wasp.
Iron Man nodded to Janet in thanks as the two sat up, and as they watched the machine that had just tried to attack Iron Man join the others in heading into the city, Wasp placed a hand to one of her antennas and reported, "Cap, we've got giant, atomic, robo-monsters coming into the city by the pier. Oh, and Iron Man's okay."
"Hulk, Samurai, and I will take care of HYDRA. You and Iron Man keep after M.O.D.O.C. as soon as Angel Guardian joins up with you," Captain America replied through the radio. Wasp was about to reply in affirmative, when both she and Iron Man found themselves in the center of bright spotlight. The two stood up and were about to prepare for another fight, thinking that it was another HYDRA ship at first, but immediately relaxed a little when they saw that it was actually the Helicarrier shinning a light down on them from the air. At least they were relaxing until a squadron of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents suddenly swooped down from their flying fortress, surrounded them, and proceeded to aim their rifles at the two heroes.
"Um, I don't know if you guys noticed, but HYDRA's invading New York," Wasp pointed out, throwing each of the agents surrounding her and Tony a glare that showed she was a little miffed at their actions.
"We noticed, Wasp," a female voice replied, drawing the female size-changer and Iron Man's attention towards the approaching woman that they both recognized as Fury's second in command.
"Agent Hill," Iron Man greeted coolly, making sure his current level of dislike for the woman showed.
"Director Hill," Maria corrected. "And I'm putting this entire city on lockdown, including the Avengers."
That statement immediately raised a number of red flags with the two heroes, and they were certain that it was doing the same for Aelita as well, who was most likely listening in once she had gotten close enough to see the Helicarrier. "I don't buy it," Iron Man stated. "Why would you be the new director of S.H.I.E.L.D. when it's plain as day that Coulson is the better option, and I'm certain that's just as much in Fury's opinion as it is mine."
"Simple, because Fury's now off the grid, and he's taken Coulson and his entire team off the grid with him," Hill stated coolly. "Now I suggest you either stand down or finally use that big brain of yours to realize that the only way you can really help here is by joining S.H.I.E.L.D."
Clearly they were not going to get very far in convincing Hill that she was being stupid at the moment, but that did not mean that Iron Man was not going to try. "Okay, look, I know you and I got off to a rocky start, Hill, but we need to work together here. The Black Widow says that A.I.M. has created a weapon of incredible power, and we have to…"
"We don't have to do anything," Hill snapped before Iron Man could continue. "The Black Widow is a traitor working for HYDRA. You expect me to believe her?" Hill did not even pause to allow Iron Man to answer before she laid out one final fact to the two heroes. "The bottom line: you Avengers are vigilantes and unless you join S.H.I.E.L.D. right here and now, you're criminals as well."
Iron Man only narrowed his eyes as he met Hill's glare with one of his own just as his readouts stated that his suit was now back to minimal power, and when he heard a familiar bit of singing starting up, he immediately spoke over it as he told the apparently new director of S.H.I.E.L.D., "I've had about enough of you. I'm going after the Cosmic Cube, which is dangerous as it turns out. You're welcome to help."
Iron Man then lifted off into the air with Wasp following right behind him seconds later. Hill just glared up at where the two had started to fly off to before she gave an order that she had been secretly wanting to give her agents in regards to the Avengers for a long time. "Take 'em down."
The agents all immediately fired up their jetpacks, but despite all efforts by the devices' propulsion systems, they were not able to get up off the ground, and after trying to walk forward, they found that they were also unable to lift up their feet at all. When Hill looked down, she saw that the feet of both her and the agents around her were all encased in hardened cement, and Hill knew the list of reasons as to how that happened was a very short one, with one explanation in particular being right at the top. Her suspicion was soon confirmed when she looked up to see Angel Guardian hovering above her and the other agents with an uncharacteristic glare on the pinkette's face as she said, "Normally, this would be the part where I would give a sarcastic apology or something like that, but in your case, I'm not going to bother since it would be a waste of breath for me to flat out lie like that. Now you're going to stay there and think about what you did, or tried to do, and once you come to your senses and decide to help, I might let you out of there, but that's a very, very big 'maybe'."
The fact that Aelita's tone was so harsh and cold would probably have made someone instantly freeze right then and there, since most would not suspect her of being able to speak in such a way, and Hill would be lying if she said that hearing said tone did not send a least a few shivers down her spine, especially since it was directed at the new S.H.I.E.L.D. director, but that did not stop her from radioing the Helicarrier to send more agents after the three Avengers once Aelita had flown off in the same direction that Iron Man and Wasp had left in just moments ago.
Inside the city, it was now truly chaos in the streets as HYDRA and A.I.M. troops were battling it out with everything they had using whatever weapons that they had at their disposal, causing the streets to be torn apart and nearby vehicles to be destroyed or overturned with every stray shot that hit them. Thankfully, no civilians had been hurt yet, and it did not seem likely to happen anytime soon when a sudden swarm of ants rose up from the sewers and covered the combatants of both sides from head to toe, courtesy of a request from Ant-Man. HYDRA and A.I.M. were quick to direct their fire on the small-sized hero, but their efforts were short lived when Hawkeye and Black Widow dropped down into the fight from above.
"Just like old times, right," Hawkeye shouted over the weapons fire as he kicked a HYDRA soldier away and notched an arrow while Widow threw a mean right hook into an A.I.M. trooper. "Except for all the lies and betrayal."
"Do you think it wasn't hard for me, Clint," Natasha demanded as she fired some stingers from her gauntlets, clearly demonstrating her skills as a fighter by being able to fight off two, battling groups of terrorists and having such a conversation at the same time as she did.
"Which part? Framing me, or beating me up," Clint asked after he socked another trooper away and fired a trick arrow at a charging group of soldiers, though he was beginning to lose track of which was HYDRA and which was A.I.M. a little were it not for the different uniforms the members of the two groups wore.
"I had my orders. You would've done the same thing," Widow reasoned after kicking another group of soldiers into the path of Hawkeye's arrows.
"I don't believe that," Ant-Man cut in, growing to his normal size the minute he entered the conversation. "Hawkeye was your partner and your friend. Couldn't you have just tried trusting him?"
"No," Natasha replied, shortly and with as little hesitance as one would expect from someone of her skill level and profession.
"I just don't understand that," Hank groaned.
"I do," Hawkeye told his teammate. "I don't like it, but I get it. Undercover is undercover, and she couldn't have gained Strucker's trust without doing what she did." He then gave his old partner his patented smirk and added, "I must've been one big pain in your ass."
"You've no idea," Natasha lightly chuckled in reply, taking a moment to let a little emotion show, something that she had always been able to do around Clint.
"And I thought Jan and I had problems," Hank muttered in response to the twos conversation. The relationship between these two spies most definitely exceeded any sort of relationship drama between him and Wasp, but then again it was probably mostly due to the fact that they were professional spies that were also two of the best in their respective fields. Before anyone could further comment on how messed up each of their personal lives were, Widow's tracking device let out a rapid beeping, and quickly directed their attention to a fleeing HYDRA transport, which Natasha stated was where the signal was coming from.
Hank wasted no time at all in changing into Giant-Man as he raced towards the ship, and even less time in slamming it down into the ground after he had the ship in his grip. Once the massive scientist had the transport firmly held down, he ripped open the door and let three HYDRA soldiers drop out as Hawkeye and Widow raced up to hold them each at the tip of Hawkeye's newly notched arrow and Widow's stingers. It did not seem to frighten the soldier that was closest though, as he simply rolled over into a kneeling position and told Natasha, "Baron Strucker wanted you to have this…traitor."
The minute the soldier had finished his sentence Widow could feel a bit of worry seeping into her, as the soldier was holding out the tracer that she had planted on Strucker. Even though her worry did not show at all in her expression or posture, Hawkeye knew his partner well enough to know that Widow was panicking a little at this new development, partially because he was too, and he merely summed up the situation with just two words. "Uh oh."
Elsewhere in the city, a HYDRA Octopus Robot had launched a missile at M.O.D.O.C.'s ship, only for it to be intercepted when one of the other A.I.M. ships placed itself in the path of the projectile, and before the massive machine could attempt a second shot, Hulk had leapt down on top of it and knocked the cannon on top it off with a powerful punch. Hulk then used the cannon as a large club to topple the machine completely, rendering it completely disabled. Once he had safely set the cannon aside, Hulk was able to turn his attention to his two current partners in this fight in case either of them needed help, and at first glance, it almost seemed like they did.
From the minute they had set foot on the ground, Captain America and Sprint Samurai were taking on HYDRA soldiers left and right with all the skill and ability of two well-trained fighters, but that did not mean there were not moments where the two would occasionally be overwhelmed, such as right now. This was mostly due to the fact that a group of soldiers had attempted to dog pile them both and were now trying to hold the two in place, but Cap was quick to get free after one of the soldiers made the mistake of trying to take his shield from him. Using that opportunity, Cap was able to knock the offending soldier aside before slamming the edge of his shield into the back of another soldier's head, freeing him up to kick the last one off him just as another Octopus Robot closed in on him. Thankfully, Ulrich had noticed the robot approaching Cap, and sped up his efforts in dispatching the soldiers that had dog piled him in a way similar to how Steve had, with the main difference being that Ulrich had used his sabers in addition to his martial arts skills. Once free of the soldiers, Ulrich used his triplicate to create a pair of duplicates that he had race off towards the legs of the robots in an attempt to slow it down, granting him the opportunity to toss one of his sabers at the metal monster's cannon, and the other through one of the yellow optics. The attacks on two of its legs, its main cannon, and on its optic served their purpose, as the Octopus Robot immediately let off a small explosion in each of those areas before it toppled over into a nearby building, just as Ulrich had summoned the previously thrown sabers back to his hand.
"Lucky shot," Hulk grunted when he came up behind Ulrich and Captain America.
"Keep telling yourself that, big guy," Ulrich smirked in reply, knowing that it was Hulk's way of saying good job.
"Job's not done yet, soldiers," Captain America cut in before the two could exchange any more banter. "And remember to watch out for civilians."
"Is that why you teamed up with me? To protect people from the monster," Hulk demanded, getting right in Cap's face when he did.
"Are you seriously still on that after all this time," Ulrich asked in disbelief. "Hulk, we've told you that none of us think you're a monster, and that's especially true in the case of me and Aelita since you've done nothing but act as a hero since the day we met. Is it really that hard for you to trust us?"
"I trust you and Tinker Bell well enough, Swords, but after being hunted by guys like Ross and S.H.I.E.L.D. for so long, along with having so many people running in fear of me just because they just saw me walking towards them, do you really think I wouldn't have trust issues," Hulk replied. Sadly, Ulrich did not know what to say in argument to that sentiment, as he could not deny that after all that, Hulk had every right not to trust people as easily as he did him and Aelita.
"Alright, stow that talk," Captain America ordered the Hulk in deep, serious voice that left no room for argument. "I want you to protect civilians from HYDRA. They're the monsters here, Hulk, not you. In my day, we had a name for someone like you."
"Yeah? What's that," Hulk snarled, daring the captain to tell whatever this name was, as he was already anticipating the worst thing to come out of the super soldier's mouth.
What Cap did say though was not what Hulk was expecting at all, as the soldier simply replied, "Hero." When he saw Hulk move back in surprise for a minute, Steve went on to add, "I've been watching you, Hulk. No matter how scared people are of you, no matter how much you're hounded, you always do the right thing, and that makes you a hero in my book."
Hulk was completely astounded. He knew that Aelita and Ulrich considered him to be hero, but to hear Captain America say that he thought the same thing of the gamma giant was another matter entirely. To hear such praise from the man people called the first Avenger was not something to be taken lightly, a fact that everyone knew full well, and if you were to add in the fact that Cap had said every word with so much seriousness in his voice and with just as much belief in his eyes was enough to leave the Hulk completely speechless and flattered. It was just not something that Hulk was used to hearing coming from a soldier, or really anyone in general unless they were Aelita, Ulrich, and Janet, but then again, Captain America was not just another soldier any more than he was just anyone.
Seeing that Hulk was so surprised by Cap's words prompted Ulrich to add his own thoughts on the matter as he told his friend, "I still remember the day we met Hulk, and I never once saw a monster. I saw someone who was willing to put himself in the way of Nick Fury himself just so that my sister and I wouldn't have had to get dragged into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody against our will, and even though you hide it well, I can tell that every time you're with me and Aelita, you're always really happy to be with us, not just because of what we have in common, but also because you're our friend. Having you as a friend is definitely something that Aelita and I both consider to be a great honor, and I would give my life for the world to see the hero that Aelita and I both know you are. To be honest, you're more than just our friend; you're family."
Now Hulk was more than flattered; if he were being honest with himself he was touched, something that happened so rarely that most would think that it was not possible for him. He knew full well what Ulrich and Aelita thought of him, and it was always nice to hear them say it, but he had no idea just how deep that bond went or how much it meant for the last Lyoko Warriors. Hearing Ulrich tell him this was enough to nearly drive Hulk to shed tears of joy, as it had been a long time since he had last heard someone say that he was family to them, outside of his one cousin, and Hulk took that as a great reason to not let them down, no matter what happened, a fact he showed through the grateful smile he gave to Ulrich.
Seeing such a touching moment between the two unfold before him was something that Steve was very happy to see, and under normal circumstances he would have let the two drag this little moment out a little longer, but the sounds of explosions from HYDRA and A.I.M. ships alike drew all three of them back to the matter at hand, so Steve just smirked to them both and asked, "Well then, what do you two say we smash some more HYDRA goons?"
Ulrich and Hulk both exchanged that same smirk with Cap before Ulrich spun both of his sabers around in his hands and stated, "Cap, you just said the magic word. It's virtual time!"
Hulk immediately roared in response to Ulrich's cry, and then jumped at another HYDRA Octopus Robot, smashing it apart the minute he landed on top of it, while leaving the soldiers piloting it to be taken down by a number of high speed strikes from his samurai friend and brother. Once the machine was well smashed though, Hulk had to look at Ulrich and ask, "'It's virtual time!'? What the hell was that?"
"I've been thinking about a personal catchphrase that Aelita and I could use," Ulrich shrugged. "You know, like how you say 'Hulk smash,' or when Thor shouts 'For Midgard,' that kind of thing. That was just something I thought of off the top of my head."
"Might want to keep working on it," Hulk suggested, letting a teasing smirk spread across his face. A minute later, the three found their attention being directed towards the ship that Iron Man had identified as the one M.O.D.O.C. was on when it was suddenly hit by an attack from HYDRA and then crashed down in another part of the city. Hulk glanced at the smoke that was rising up from that area and the goons that were still around them before he told Captain America and Ulrich, "You guys go on and deal with that. I'll handle this."
"You sure, soldier," Steve asked. He did want to go and check out the area, but he was not all that comfortable with leaving his teammate to handle such a thing alone, even though he knew Hulk was able to handle it just fine.
"Of course he is," Ulrich replied in Hulk's place. "After all, Hulk's the strongest one there is."
"Got that right," Hulk smirked, and just to prove this point, he quickly tore off another Octopus Robot's cannon and used it to smash apart that same robot in addition to two others. That was all the convincing that Ulrich and Steve needed to go on towards the area that M.O.D.O.C.'s ship had crashed at, with Ulrich giving Steve a lift so that they could get there faster, and as they went, they only made a mild note of the S.H.I.E.L.D. troops and jets that had now joined the fight against HYDRA and A.I.M.
After M.O.D.O.C. was able to get himself out from under the wreckage of the warehouse his ship had crashed into, he immediately ran a damage assessment of his systems and that of his ship and followers, and upon finding all such damage to be negligible, in his opinion, he quickly moved into the burning warehouse to search for the Cosmic Cube. The minute he located the glowing cube, he could feel his joy rising, only for it to be replaced a minute later with anger when Baron Strucker and squad of HYDRA troops stepped out of the smoke on the opposite side of the cube. "The game is over, you disgusting monster," Strucker told A.I.M.'s leader. "The cube is mine! Had you just given it to me, I would've allowed you a place in my new world. Instead, you get a grave!"
"I AM M.O.D.O.C! I CANNOT BE DEFEATED," M.O.D.O.C. retorted, and he angrily released a psionic blast upon Strucker and his troops, rendering them unconscious in a matter of seconds. "I am designed only for conquest," the disproportionate head then added to his rant before he reached out for the cube. Unfortunately for him, Strucker was able to regain consciousness much more quickly than his other troop, and was thus able to prevent the head of A.I.M. from laying so much as a finger on the reality altering device by blasting said leader with his energy pistol.
"Dreadnoughts, destroy M.O.D.O.C.," Strucker then commanded, and a minute later, the large automatons of his forces had M.O.D.O.C. surrounded. This did not deter A.I.M.'s leader at first, as he was quick to attempt to drive the automatons back with a blast of his mental bolts, but his worry immediately grew when the automatons were not affected in the slightest due to the fact that the machines had no brainwaves. With M.O.D.O.C. at such a disadvantage, the automatons were quick to dispatch A.I.M.'s leader, leaving their commander to approach the Cosmic Cube without any interruption. "Now the world will be remade in HYDRA's image," Strucker boasted in premature victory.
What Strucker did not know was that Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Hank Pym had all seen where the A.I.M. ship had crashed, that it took very little time for them to realize that was where he and the Cosmic Cube were, and they had quickly determined there was only one way for any of them to reach Strucker's location before it was too late. Unfortunately, their plan could only get one of them there in time, and it involved traveling down a very small path through the windows of multiple buildings. In most cases, such a plan was impossible, but there were two things that made it likely to work. One of those things was the fact that Hawkeye would be able to make such a shot along that path, and the other was that Ant-Man was able to become small enough to ride on the arrow that Hawkeye had now notched to fire, much to Hank's concern and discomfort.
"You're sure you can make this shot," Ant-Man asked Hawkeye once he was situated on the tip of the archer's arrow.
"He'll make it," Natasha stated with full confidence, something she never once lost in Clint, especially when it came to his skills as a marksman.
Before Hank could say anything more in protest, he was already screaming his head off at the sudden rush towards the first of many buildings in his path when Hawkeye released his bow string. Ant-Man made sure to hold on to the arrow as tightly as he could, extremely grateful for the fact his helmet was protecting him from the window glass that he crashed through, until he finally saw Strucker's form approaching. Hank quickly moved to jump off the arrow, and once he was finally close enough, he jumped up, grew to his normal size, and delivered a hard uppercut to Strucker's chin just as Strucker's hand was about to brush the edge of the Cosmic Cube.
"Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker, you really don't want to touch that. It could be dangerous," Hank quipped after he was standing over HYDRA's current leader with a smirk on his face, immediately leading him to wonder if he was spending a little too much time with Ulrich and Aelita if he was making such jokes at times like this.
Strucker did not take Ant-Man's mockery or his interference lightly, and immediately roared, "Dreadnoughts, execute this fool!"
When he spun around to face the large robots that were closing in on him from behind, Ant-Man could only question his sanity at letting Hawkeye and Black Widow talk him into doing that little stunt that had gotten him here as nervousness at facing the large machines overtook him.
Despite Aelita's attempts to keep S.H.I.E.L.D. from wasting their time pursuing and even attacking them, the agents were able to give chase to Iron Man, Wasp, and the pinkette in no time at all, but none of the three heroes attempted to fight back any more than necessary, as evidenced by the fact that Aelita made sure to either throw up energy fields in defense, Wasp fired disabling shots on the agents, and Iron Man just kept flying forward while letting the agents' blaster fire bounce off his repulsor shields. They all knew that under normal circumstances this would not be such a problem, both because they did not normally have to fight S.H.I.E.L.D. while they were trying to save the world and because Maria Hill was not usually calling the shots for the organization, but that served as all the more reason as to why they were not taking any offensive action against the agents just yet, as it would only serve to give Hill even more of a reason to try and take them down. That quickly changed when the agents finally got through Iron Man's shields and blasted him out of the sky, sending the armored hero crashing into the water.
When they saw this happen to their friend, Aelita and Janet both gasped in shock, which quickly turned to anger after they watched Hill stand over the area where Tony had fallen for only a minute before she turned her back on the spot and started to walk away. Wasp was the first to react, as she quickly flew up to Hill's face with her stingers charged and ready to fire on Hill, leading the other agents to take aim at Janet even though they knew that there was a more likely chance they would hit the acting director if they fired. "What is the matter with you," Wasp demanded of Hill, her anger showing in every word. "We're on the same team! You have to stop this!"
"No," Hill immediately replied, shortly. "You've got one last chance, Wasp…"
Before Hill could finish, an energy field suddenly struck the ground near her feet, drawing her attention to a very angry Angel Guardian who retorted, "Correction, you've got one last chance, Hill, and I suggest you take it. That is of course unless you can't hear it."
"Hear what," Hill asked, only for her question to be immediately answered by the sound of thunder clapping in the sky.
"That," Aelita stated, and shortly after she had, a series of precise lightning bolts zapped each of the weapons aimed at Wasp and Aelita into dust, just as Thor appeared in the sky above them with Mjolnir held high. Hill was a bit concerned at this new development, as she was not as confident about facing someone who was practically a god as she was in facing Wasp, Tony, and Aelita, and that concern only grew when Black Panther suddenly appeared to her right. "Like I said before, you're the one who's going to be getting one last chance, Hill," Aelita reiterated. "And after what you did to Tony, all I need is for you to give just one, small reason."
Hill could just feel the air thickening with tension as Aelita had spoken, as the girl was speaking in a tone that promised a great deal of pain if she did not agree. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on who you asked, she was spared of any concern on the matter when Iron Man burst up from the water and landed behind her. "Thor, Panther, Wasp, Angel, just stop! We're not going to fight S.H.I.E.L.D.," Tony ordered.
"Can I please just blast her with the weakest energy field I can manage," Aelita pleaded in a childish tone of voice, only for Iron Man to look at her with what she could only assume was an expression that told her now was not the time for such things, leading her to just huff and cross her arms in reluctant acceptance.
Iron Man then stomped up to Hill and said, "My team is going out there to save the world. Either work with us or stay out of our way."
Hill just stared Iron Man down, which was rather difficult considering that Stark was taller than her, especially in his armor, until the other Avengers were standing alongside their leader, and she then tapped her communicator and said, "This is Director Hill to the Helicarrier…fire on the Avengers."
Aelita could not believe that Hill was really that narrow-minded, even though she knew full well that the agent was one the biggest forces of opposition to the Avengers in S.H.I.E.L.D., and the pinkette was now even more tempted to blast Hill, Iron Man's orders and all consequences be damned, but that temptation was quickly squashed when another HYDRA Octopus Robot rose up from water and turned to fire on the Helicarrier. "Avengers, save the Helicarrier," Iron Man shouted, and the team did not hesitate for a second to comply, even though they were questioning why they were helping S.H.I.E.L.D. right now the entire time.
Strucker only indulged himself in watching Giant-Man struggle against his automatons for a few minute before he moved to try and seize the Cosmic Cube once again, but before he could even reach for it, a saber cut him off and Captain America slammed into him, knocking him further away from the device. Strucker immediately tried to attack his old foe from World War II, but unlike Zemo, Strucker did not stand much of a chance against Captain America due to his aged body, as evidenced by the fact that Steve merely side-stepped one of his last swings before extending his foot out and tripping the Baron as easy as you please. Unfortunately, Strucker found a chance to turn the tides when the captain lifted him up by the back of his shirt, and as soon as he was close enough, Strucker immediately grabbed Captain America's face with his red, mechanical arm, draining the youth out of the captain like it had so many others before him.
As Captain America fell to his knees, Strucker could only grin with pleasure at the feeling of the captain's strength rushing through the mechanical arm and into his body, but this rush was soon over when he was knocked aside by a shoulder jack from Sprint Samurai. Strucker did not let this deter him in the slightest, and simply drew his sword as he said, "The captain's strength is now mine, Sprint Samurai. Once I have dealt with you, I will finish my battle with Captain America that we had begun so long ago at last!"
"Well you'll have to get past my cold, dead body first," Ulrich retorted as he readied both of his sabers for action. The two then charged each other and their blades quickly met in sword combat, while the rest of the battles in the warehouse faded just out of their notice, and while Ulrich would never admit this later, Strucker was actually proving to be a very skilled opponent in the way of sword fighting, but that soon changed when a stray missile barrage that was meant for the recently arrived Hawkeye hit the floor close to them, causing it to give way under theirs and Captain America's feet.
After hitting the floor bellow, it did not take long for Strucker to notice that the Cosmic Cube had fallen down to the same level as well, and he quickly tried to force Ulrich off of him with a series of slashes that the samurai hero easily met. Eventually though, Strucker was able to kick Ulrich out of his way and make a run for the cube, deflecting the barrage that Black Widow was firing at him with his sword as he went, but he was soon knocked off his feet when Captain America's shield forced them out from under him. "I've been fighting you since you were a kid, Strucker," Captain America stated once he had caught his shield on its return trip. "Today it ends."
Strucker was not going to let that happen, and he was quick to knock Cap's shield out of his grasp before engaging the captain in a straight up fist fight. Since Strucker had used his mechanical arm on the captain earlier, the fight was a bit more evenly matched than before, as neither could hold an advantage over the other for more than a few seconds. That did not stop Steve from being able to match Strucker blow for blow, and the soldier was more than able to knock Strucker off his feet for even just a moment, until Strucker finally knocked Captain America onto his back with a sudden kick that had caught Steve off-guard. Strucker then moved to land the finishing blow with his mechanical arm, but just as he was getting close, Ulrich gave his saber a hard toss, and the blade ran right through the arm and pinned Strucker to the crates behind him while disabling the youth draining device at the same time, allowing Captain America's full strength and youth to return to him in an instant.
"Strucker, by the order of S.H.I.E.L.D., you are under arrest," Black Widow's voice called out, drawing everyone attention to the redhead herself, who was standing on the floor above Strucker, Cap, and Ulrich with Hawkeye, Ant-Man, and Hulk at her side and her gauntlets primed to fire.
Seeing the heroes standing over him only served to further Strucker's ire and his desperation, and in that desperation, he did the only thing he could do now in order to win; he separated his mechanical arm from his body and made a final, mad dash for the Cosmic Cube. Even as Black Widow fired her stingers at him, Strucker paid them no mind, instead opting to fire at Cap as the super soldier ran towards the cube as well, hoping to keep Strucker from reaching it by any means necessary. Seeing the two racing for the cube caused Ulrich to react on instinct, and he joined the three in the race for the Cosmic Cube, reaching it and grasping the glowing object at just the same moment as Cap and Strucker had. Everyone immediately braced themselves for the sudden change to reality, which seemed to be unleashed when cube let out a blast of blue energy over all of them, but after waiting for a minute, they all registered the same thing.
"I…I don't understand," Strucker protested as he sat up from where he had landed after touching the cube along with Steve and Ulrich. "Nothing has changed! But…but I touched it…the cube…"
Indeed, nothing had changed at all, and everything was exactly as it was before any of the three had so much as laid a finger on the cube, much to the heroes' relief and Strucker's despair, which only left one thing to say. "It's over Strucker," Captain America stated in finality.
"And you've lost," Ulrich finished, summing up everything with just those words before he contacted the other Avengers to report on their status.
A few hours later saw S.H.I.E.L.D. escorting Strucker, M.O.D.O.C., and the last of their remaining forces into transports that would be heading for the prison in the Negative Zone, and while they knew she would never admit it, there was no denying that Maria Hill was grateful to the Avengers for what they had done. That did not stop the team from needing to hold Ulrich back after he found out that Hill had not only ordered people to hold Aelita at gun point, but had also ordered for the Helicarrier to attack her, but no one was planning on stopping Iron Man from saying what he wanted to say to Hill.
"So the Avengers took down HYDRA and A.I.M., saved your Helicarrier, and probably the world, even after you shot at me," Iron Man pointedly told Hill. He knew that there was no chance that this was going to change Hill's opinion about the Avengers, but there was still no harm in at least trying. The fact it just felt good to rub it in her face was just a small bonus for Tony.
"Nothing's changed, Stark," Maria informed Tony. "I'm not giving the Avengers a pass; I'm not Nick Fury. I'm going to the president and congress. I want the Avengers registered and working for S.H.I.E.L.D., and I'm going to make it happen whether you like it or not."
Hill then spun around her heel and prepared to storm away, not knowing that Tony had noticed some of her agents throwing unsure looks in her direction as she had said what she did earlier, but she immediately stopped short when she found Angel Guardian staring her in the face with a neutral expression that hid a great deal of anger. "You disgust me," Aelita snarled at Hill.
"What," Hill snarled in response; clearly daring Aelita to repeat that last statement, and it was at that moment that Tony could already see the lawsuits piling up from the pinkette killing Hill.
"Actually, not just you, but people like you," Aelita clarified. "I don't know what you've learned about me and my brother since you took over for Fury, but I'm sure that you never bought the story that he tried to pass off, so listen closely." Hill was about to say something in response to Aelita's accusation about not buying what Fury had said, but the younger woman did not let her so much as utter a syllable before she continued. "I've seen you're type before, Hill. A government agent who holds no remorse over what they justify as necessary actions for their cause, even if it tears other people apart, and you know something, it's because of those type of people that my father had to give his life just so that I could be safe from harm. Not only that, but my mother was also taken from me because of those people just so that they could keep my father from interfering with them, and all I could do was watch as they shoved her into a car and raced away before I finally tried to chase after them, crying in a vain attempt to keep it from happening. Don't bother trying to say that you'd never do that, because I can already tell that you would, maybe not today or tomorrow but one day you will. Eventually, you will be responsible for ruining someone's life like those people had to me when I was just a little girl, so when that happens, I'll make sure you take a good, long, hard look at that little girl's tears just so you can see how great an injustice you had caused."
Having said her piece, Aelita then walked away as slowly as deliberately possible, just so that her point could be driven further in. The whole time the pinkette was departing, Hill was trying to figure out what she was more shaken by between what she had just heard from Aelita in regards to the girl's parents, and what she had just promised her. The most frightening thing for Hill was that Aelita had said it with such certainty and coldness that the new director could swear that her blood had frozen her solid. By the time she had shaken herself out of this stupor, Iron Man and Aelita were already long gone, and Hill could only stare at the spot that the girl who had just spoken to her had disappeared to moments ago before she finally began a slow trek back to the Helicarrier, with Aelita's words echoing in her mind with each step she took.
Hawkeye glanced out of the alleyway he was currently in, watching as a squadron of armed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents ran past, and once he was certain they were gone, he looked into the alleyway and called out, "You're clear."
As soon as he had said that, Black Widow stepped out of the shadows with just the barest hint of a grateful look on her face. Shortly after the Avengers had started transporting Strucker and M.O.D.O.C. to the transports that would take the two to prison along with their forces, the red haired agent had asked Hawkeye to help her in avoiding capture by S.H.I.E.L.D., and like the good friend he had always been to her, Hawkeye immediately agreed. Clint had a very strong suspicion as to what his old partner was planning, and he did not like it at all, a fact that he was intending to make very clear to the redhead.
"This is crazy Natasha," Clint told his friend. "Come back to the mansion with me. The Avengers will protect you until we can locate Fury."
Natasha was truly touched by Clint's offer, but she knew she had to turn him down both because of how much harder Maria Hill would come down on the hero team and for her own sake as well. "No, I have to find him. Clint, if Fury really is missing, and Coulson's team is off the grid, then something terrible has happened," Natasha finally told her partner. She honestly did not want to leave Clint like this, so it was understandable that she asked him one thing. "Come with me."
The offer was tempting, a fact Clint would not deny, but he knew that like Natasha, he would have to refuse for his own reasons. "I can't," Clint said. "I'm an Avenger. They're my partners now."
Natasha just nodded sadly in acceptance of this, and elected to simply give Clint a sad look before she slowly wrapped her arms around him and met his lips with her own in a small kiss. Clint happily responded to her with his own, until he finally allowed Natasha to break it off, and then watched her go as she raced off into the shadows once more to set out on her new mission. Once Black Widow had disappeared completely, Hawkeye hesitantly turned and began his trek back to Avengers Mansion, and to his new partners that were waiting for him.
When morning finally came, the Avengers team had all gathered in the lounge so that they could discuss what had happened the previous night, and no one had even the slightest shortage of stories to tell in the way of their adventures. They did have to listen and wait patiently as both Ulrich and Aelita ranted about Hill and what she did, none of them voicing any disagreement with the two, but eventually they did get around to the most important matter of all in last night's adventure: the Cosmic Cube.
"I can't believe all of that was for nothing," Janet exclaimed. "The cube-thingamajig didn't even work!"
"I knew it wouldn't work," Tony scoffed in an attempt to hide the fact that for a moment he actually thought that it would.
"Of course not," Aelita agreed. "Something like that is nice to dream about, but in reality, it's just not possible."
"Just imagine though, what if they had done it? You could change anything just by touching the cube," Hank suggested with pure wonder in his voice. Such a feeling was understandable to everyone, as they all knew that the chance to change anything to what they wished for it to be was a very tempting offer, and that inevitably lead to each Avenger wondering what they would have changed.
"You touched it Cap, Ulrich," Hawkeye pointed out. "If it had worked, how would you guys have changed things? What would you have wished for?"
Clint's question had immediately grabbed everyone's attention, since the archer did make a very good point, so it was only natural that the question would be raised to the two, and they were all very curious as to what Steve and Ulrich would say. Steve took a minute to glance around the room until he finally smiled and said, "The world did change today. Today the Avengers took down HYDRA, something I was never able to do in my time, and we didn't need wishes to do it. I wouldn't change anything."
Everyone was very touched by Steve's words, and Janet and Aelita honestly felt like crying tears of joy right then and there, but that only left half of the question answered, so they all looked to Ulrich to see what he would say. "If you guys had asked me that a few months ago after I had first arrived in this dimension, I probably would've said that I'd have wanted to get back everyone that Aelita and I had ever lost. Don't get me wrong, I'd probably still wish that I had some of those people back and here with us, but after all that's happened, I think that wish is dwarfed by something else. I've got a home here, a great girl, an amazing sister, and a new family in the Avengers. I guess you could say that, my answer is the same as Cap's. I wouldn't change a thing either."
This time, Janet and Aelita really did cry a few tears of joy before both girls wrapped Ulrich in a tight hug, while Thor and Hawkeye gave him a light slap on the back, and the other members of the team smiled and nodded in thanks to the young man for his words, showing that they felt the same way. Still, it did nothing to prevent the group from talking about the types of things that they would probably have wished for, even in jest for the rest of the day.
X.A.N.A. was tearing apart every inch of the area around Kadic Academy, clearly feeling the equivalent of great joy at having killed the leader of the Lyoko Warriors just moments ago, but before he could move to target the others, the blonde boy that they called Odd Della Robbia suddenly ran up to him with a loud battle cry, almost as though he was intending to fight the massive, mechanical monster that the artificial intelligence now was head on. The mechanical monster just scoffed at Odd's foolishness and irrational decision, and did not hesitate to attack the boy with the rest of his robotic forces. Odd did not stop trying though, even after sustaining a great deal of injury, which was quite perplexing to X.A.N.A., until he finally realized what Odd had been doing.
The boy who assumed a feline-like appearance on Lyoko was stalling him so that the others could escape to their precious factory, and X.A.N.A. was quick to turn to where the group had previously been retreating only to find that they were already gone and Odd was giving him a weak, yet victorious smirk. Infuriated, X.A.N.A. unleashed his most powerful weapon on the boy with a strange hairstyle, and then relished in the sound of Odd crying out in pain when the blast hit. The demonic, artificial intelligence then ordered his troops to pursue the Lyoko Warriors who had fled the battle, never once realizing that there was no trace of Odd Della Robbia at all in the area where the blonde had once stood.
Odd himself had felt the searing, agonizing pain of the explosion that enveloped him, and was unable to do anything to contain his cry of pain in response. As he felt his consciousness slipping, he could swear that he barely registered a voice that sounded like Ulrich crying out, "No…no, it can't be…ODD!"
The next thing Odd registered was a feeling of drifting in a strange space, and that the area around him felt cold, but he knew that it was not because he was dead, because he could still feel the sting of pain from the injuries he had received, so he struggled to open his eyes a little, only to look out at a place that he did not recognize, mostly due to the fact that his vision was incredibly blurred. He tried to sit up, but immediately stopped both because of how painful the effort was, and because he felt as though he was tied down. Glancing around again, Odd could catch small glimpses in his hazy, blurred vision of other…people, he guessed, around him, and it sounded like they were saying something, but he could not hear anything at all due to a constant ringing in his ears that was no doubt a result of the explosion he was caught in, and that he knew should have killed him.
Eventually, Odd found the strength to try and call out, and weakly moaned, "Ul…rich…Ulrich…Ulrich!"
His cries went unanswered though, but the next time he cried out, his voice suddenly changed to that of a woman's. "ULRICH, WAKE UP!"
That was all the prompting that Ulrich needed to jump in bed, screaming, and after looking around to see that he was in his room at the mansion he began to calm down a little. His nerves soon calmed completely when he felt a hand rest on his shoulder, and he then looked to see a very concerned looking Janet and Aelita standing over him, the former of which having been the one to scream for him to wake up. "Are you okay," Janet asked, her concern dripping with every word.
"Yeah…yeah, it was just a nightmare," Ulrich panted.
"Are you sure," Aelita asked. When her brother looked at her in confusion, Aelita then went on to say, "Ulrich from the way you were screaming, it sounded like you were having a dream like the ones I used to have after we discovered the Hermitage out in the woods."
Ulrich hesitated for a minute, honestly not sure on how to respond to this, until he finally said, "I'm sure it was just a nightmare in this case Aelita."
"Well do you want to talk about it," Janet asked, clearly determined to get something out of Ulrich about this.
Ulrich hesitated for a minute until he finally replied, "It was…about that day when that monster attacked and killed everyone that Aelita and I knew and loved…or at least, part of it. It seemed to focus on Odd's point of view right up until the point he had died, or at least, the point where he should have died. The next thing I know, I'm watching Odd as he ends up…I don't know where it was, but I'm pretty sure he was a prisoner or something…it's ridiculous though. There's no way Odd could've survived getting blown up like that, right?"
Aelita and Janet were both very concerned about what Ulrich had told them of his dream, but in the end they could see that he was very insistent on being fine, so they agreed to let the matter drop and say that Ulrich was right before they both yawned and returned to their rooms for the night. What they did not know was that Ulrich did not go right back to sleep after they left, as the nightmare he just experienced had felt so real to him. Even though he was sure that it was not real, he could not stop from wondering whether it was just a dream, or if Aelita was right in what she said, and it was something like one of her old visions.
AN: Will this chapter was certainly much longer than the last one, and it had no shortage of action in it either. Plus when you add in the fact that this is also the first chapter in this story that Black Widow has appeared in, that just makes it even better, am I right? Now a few things I'd like to address. Yes, Hill still became director of S.H.I.E.L.D., because if you'll recall, a lot of things happened as a result of that, but I didn't want anyone to think I'd forgotten about how Fury had named Coulson the new director in MARVEL's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (sorry for the spoilers for those of you who didn't know), so I threw in a little reference to that along with a reason as to why Coulson couldn't have become the new director in this story, aside from the fact that Skye is on his team of course.
In addition to this, I do not generally like Maria Hill, as most of the time she comes off as the queen of bitches, especially throughout season 1 and some of season 2 of Avengers: EMH, so I just had to include that little scene between her and Aelita. Don't get me wrong, I don't flat out hate Hill, but she does tend to make it rather difficult to like her most of the time, the MCU version being the exception of course, because she's cool. Plus, when you think about it, it's only natural that Aelita would have a moment like that one at the end there with Hill, and that will come into play later on.
Also, yeah, I know it's probably a little cliche to have such moments in there, but I just had to have Ulrich tell Hulk and the rest of the Avengers that he and Aelita now consider them to be like family to him, and really, after all this time, why wouldn't they? Speaking of Ulrich, I had him touch the Cosmic Cube along with Cap just because it made sense that he would do so, and it served as a way for Hawkeye to have a reason for raising the question as to what Ulrich or Aelita would've wished for if it had worked.
Finally, that little dream of Ulrich's at the end there, if you think I'm going to say anything regarding whether or not it was just a dream, then you're going to be extremely disappointed, since I'm not saying a damn word on the matter. If you can figure out why it's in there, then good for you, but don't expect me to answer you if you ask if it means what you might think it means, otherwise, don't say anything about it in case there is even the slightest chance that you are right and you give away a spoiler for everyone else.
Well I think that covers everything here, and yeah, I told you I'd mention of Widow's Sting at some point, now with everything said and done, Onto the Preview!...
With the fall of HYDRA, things seem to be going a lot more smoothly for the Avengers as they continue to track down the remaining supervillains that had escaped during the breakout, but after an encounter with the Serpent Society goes wrong, Hank finds himself questioning whether or not he is really making a difference by being part of the Avengers. In addition to this, Iron Man takes notice of how a number of supervillains had been acting rather strange lately and decides to look into it while promising to help Thor with finding a way for the Asgardian to return home along with Aelita. Just as they are starting to do so though, a new enemy suddenly arises, and an unexpected tragedy strikes the team. Find out what is going on, and what will happen, next time in…Chapter 21: Ultron-5.
Please read and review, and I'll see ya next time, fellow true believers!