Code Avengers

by lyokoMARVELanime

They're enemy had somehow survived, and the last of them were willing to give their lives to stop him for good after losing everything, but something unexpected happens that allows the last two members of these mighty warriors a second chance at life. Brace yourself as Earth's Mightiest Heroes now find themselves united with two of Lyoko's.

25. A Day Unlike Any Other

AN: No dear MARVELites and Lyoko Loyals, you're not dreaming. It really is here. This is the final chapter of Code: Avengers! Yes that right, this is the end of the story, the final battle, the cou de grace, the...oh you get the point, but don't think that this is the end of the entire story just yet, and you'll see why I say that soon enough. But enough about that and me wasting your time by making you read this silly note. Avengers, to the chapter!

I do not own anything from any of either the Code Lyoko or MARVEL franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.

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Chapter 24: A Day Unlike Any Other

When Valkyrie had told them that they were in Valhalla, the placed that Thor had called the world of the honored dead, Ulrich and Aelita's first reaction was to freak out, thinking that they were dead. Thankfully, the blonde spear holder was quick to assure them both that they were in fact still alive, partly because warriors from Midgard had not been allowed to enter Valhalla for many years after meeting their end, and also because she could tell when a person was either dead or alive. After finding no reason to not trust Valkyrie, Ulrich and Aelita both nodded in acceptance of her words, feeling that they would know as well if they were dead, and asked her if she could tell them what had happened while Thor was on Earth. In response, Valkyrie asked the two to come with her to the feast hall where some of her allies were training, saying that one of those allies would be able to explain the situation much better than she could.

After agreeing to speak with this ally of Valkyrie's, Ulrich and Aelita found themselves following her to a massive, wooden building from which they could hear joyous laughter that one would normally find at a massive party for people like Thor, or really just any typical warriors, but what caught their attention was actually what was outside of the building, just a short ways away from the deck before the entrance. Gathered around a few tents were a small group of warriors that were dressed in armor similar to Thor's that was more than a little battle-tested, and they all seemed to be sporting various injuries, aside from the one woman standing in the center of the group looking over them all. The woman in question had long, black hair, fair skin, and brown eyes, and she wore a sleeveless, silver and red suit of armor with similarly colored arm bands, a red, knee-length skirt, black leggings, and silver boots. From where they were standing, the two Lyoko Warriors could see that the woman also carried a silver shield with a sword holstered in it.

It was actually a few moments until the black haired woman had sensed their approach, as she had been helping tend to the wounded, but when she finally did, she was quick to face them, reach for her sword, and demand, "Valkyrie, what is the meaning of this?"

"It is alright, Sif," Valkyrie told the woman in a placating tone. "They are not of Loki's forces. They are allies of Thor, from Midgard."

"What," Sif exclaimed. "That is impossible. How could mere mortals, living or dead, enter this realm?"

"From what they have told me, I believe that it was a result of their own attempts at preventing Loki from seizing Midgard as well," Valkyrie explained. "Apparently, they had been pursuing evil forces that had somehow acquired the Norn Stones, and in order to prevent the stones from bringing harm to their world, they were forced to destroy the relics."

"Whatever the case, they must be returned to Midgard at once," Sif stated, finally relaxing her guard when she did. "They will surely perish if they were to remain."

"Uh, excuse me, but I'm pretty sure that, not only are you being very rude by talking about us like we're not even here, but that we should get a say in whether or not we stay," Ulrich interrupted. "Besides, we need to make sure that Thor and the rest of our friends are safe. They might've been scattered to the other Nine Realms when they destroyed the stones as well."

Sif seemed to ignore Ulrich for a minute, looking him over like she was analyzing him with a microscope as she did, until she finally stated, "If you are to remain, mortal, then you had best be able to fight and survive, because our resistance against Loki's forces needs more warriors."

"Well then, this is your lucky day," Ulrich confidently smirked. "You've got a pair of warriors right here, lady, and not just any warriors either. We're Lyoko Warriors. More to the point, my name is Ulrich, the Sprint Samurai."

Sif stared at Ulrich with a stern look for a moment, until she suddenly drew her blade while bringing her shield onto one arm and said, "If you believe that you honestly stand a chance against Loki's might, then I shall just have to smite such foolish thoughts from your mind, mortal."

Ulrich did not like the way that Sif was talking down on him like this, and he figured that if he was going to put an end to it, he might as well accept this challenge, so he immediately drew one of his sabers and assumed a battle stance, giving a silent acceptance of Sif's challenge as he did. Sif just stared at Ulrich for a minute, until she finally charged him, intending to deal a critical blow to him in one fell swoop, but Ulrich was able to dodge the strike very easily and then retaliate with a horizontal slash. The samurai hero's sword met Sif's shield with a resounding clang, due to the Asgardian being able to raise her shield in defense at just the last moment, but Sif was soon thrown off balance when Ulrich snapped his leg into her side, giving Ulrich the chance to use the momentum of said kick to spin around and land another slash on the dark haired woman. This did not deter Sif for long, as she was quick to regain her balance and then parry Ulrich's next attack before swinging her blade at him in a powerful, diagonal slash. Thankfully, Ulrich was able to avoid being hit once again using his great speed, which also allowed him to race around to Sif's exposed back and land a combination of strikes on her from behind.

After regaining her balance once again, Sif could only stare in shock at Ulrich while he assumed another battle stance in preparation for her next attack. She had never seen anyone move as fast as he just had, mortal or otherwise, and in addition to that, he was also matching her movements almost flawlessly, and the only ones who had ever been able to so much as come close to that was Thor, the Warriors Three, and Balder, the latter of which were now imprisoned by Thor's treacherous brother. She could only wonder just what other sort of skills this mortal possessed, and if the female one that had accompanied him and Valkyrie was just as gifted and powerful a warrior as he was, but her moment of paused to think ended up being just the opportunity Ulrich needed to race in and knock her sword out of her grasp, before grabbing the blade's handle himself and pinning her beneath him at the tips of both blades.

Sif's shock had immediately increased at this, for it was very rare for someone to actually catch her off-guard enough to disarm her and then seize her weapon to use it against her, and yet this young mortal had actually done that, defeated her in combat, and now held her at his mercy. Sif was not sure what to expect from him next, as she had often found mortals to be unpredictable and often barbaric at times, so she truly did not expect Ulrich to lower his blade, spin her sword around in his hand so that the handle was facing her, and then hold her weapon out for her to take as he said, "You're definitely good, but you're going to have to do a lot better to discourage me from fighting Loki, assuming that's what it will take for my sister and I to find out what happened to our friends. After all, I was holding back, same as you."

Sif was truly astonished, because she had been holding back due to the fact that she did not wish to injure the mortal boy too greatly, and to hear that he had been as well was actually a very welcoming surprise. After she accepted her offered weapon, she holstered the blade once again and smiled as she said, "Perhaps you and your sister may be able to help us make a difference after all, Ulrich the Sprint Samurai of Midgard. I am Lady Sif, former defender of Asgard and leader of the resistance efforts against Loki's forces."

Ulrich just stared at Sif in skepticism for a minute, but he eventually smiled and holstered his own weapon as he accepted a handshake from Sif in response, while Aelita stepped forward and said, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Sif. I'm Aelita, better known as Angel Guardian. Thor's actually told me a lot about you."

The two Lyoko Warriors could have sworn they saw Sif's face gain a slight dusting of pink at hearing Aelita mention that Thor had told them about her, but she had apparently shaken it off before anyone could make any real notice of it and asked, "Perhaps one of you could then explain why Thor has not returned to Asgard in its greatest time of need."

"He's tried to, but something had locked him out," Aelita explained. "We were actually about to try an alternate way of getting Thor home before the problem with the Norn Stones came up. Enough about that though, what exactly happened to Asgard, and how is Loki around?"

"Yeah, I thought Thor said that his father banished Loki for crimes against Asgard," Ulrich added.

Both Asgardian women's faces fell at the mention of Loki and their home, but they were able to straighten up just enough for them to ask that the two Lyoko Warriors join them inside the dining hall so that they could give them a proper explanation. Seeing as they did not seem to have a better option, Ulrich and Aelita both agreed and immediately followed them into the large, wooden building, and they were immediately greeted by the sounds of loud laughter, cheering, and even singing in some cases once they were inside. Looking around the room, the two could see various warriors that were dressed in some form of Viking-like armor feasting away on mountains of food that never seemed to run out, and basically having a grand time before they decided that they had eaten their fill and moved on to one of the various rooms that lined the hall with weapons in hand.

After their hosts had taken a seat, both Valkyrie and Sif insisted that Ulrich and Aelita sit down as well, and that the two have something to eat while they still had an appetite, indicating that they would not have one after they had finished the tale. Not wanting to be rude, the two accepted the offer and helped themselves to the delicacies, immediately finding them enjoyable after a small taste. "Mind if I have seconds, please," Ulrich asked.

"Why are you asking so hesitantly, young one," a nearby warrior asked with a chuckle. "If you desire another, make your voice known to all."

Ulrich looked at the man strangely for a minute, eliciting small murmurs from the other nearby warriors that he could tell were all directed at him in a teasing way, but he quickly remembered something that Thor had once done during their first meal together at the mansion, and smirked a little in mild excitement at what he was about to do. Aelita raised a curious eyebrow at her adoptive brother for a minute, but then jumped a little in shock when Ulrich threw his glass down on the floor and shouted, "Another!"

While the other warriors all laughed and shouted with joy at Ulrich's sudden action, Aelita only gave him a reprimanding look and asked, "Really?"

Ulrich only shrugged in reply with a smile and replied, "What? When in Asgard, do as Asgardians do."

Aelita just rolled her eyes in response to Ulrich's simple reasoning, not noticing the smirks of approval on Sif and Valkyrie's faces as she did, but eventually, she ended up doing the same as Ulrich had done, and they were both soon faced with seconds. After taking a moment to enjoy the food and drink before them, the two turned to Sif and requested that she tell them what happened once again. Sif's face fell a little at the reminder of the main reason they had come into the dining hall, but she quickly composed herself and told them the tale of how Thor and Odin had a small falling out after Loki's banishment, which had inevitably led to Thor choosing to defend Earth over Asgard even though his home would be at its weakest due to the fact that the Odin Sleep was close to being upon them. Ulrich and Aelita both already knew this much from talking with Thor, so they simply nodded in understanding before Sif continued to the part where things had gone wrong.

"And so the time for the Odin Sleep finally came, in which Lord Odin rested so that he may replenish his great power," Sif continued on with her explanation, in a tone of dread. "We had all thought that we would be ready for the worst, yet we never knew just how greatly wrong that belief truly was until it was too late, until the time when the Allfather never awoke, and we discovered that someone had managed to seize Lord Odin's power for themselves. We are still uncertain as to how he did so, but Loki managed to not only seize Odin's throne, but also the Odin Force's great might as well. We had all believed it was impossible, but that wretched trickster somehow managed to find a way. Soon after, Loki began his conquest of the Nine Realms, until the defenders of each fell and were captured, and the realms became his, save for one realm."

"Earth," Aelita silently breathed. "That's the only place left that Loki hasn't seized, and that's most likely because he believes that mortals pose no threat to him."

"You speak wisely, Lady Aelita, Guardian of Angels," Sif complimented.

"It's Angel Guardian," Aelita corrected.

"Is that not what I said," Sif asked in confusion.

"Can we get back on track, please? I'm still confused about how Loki managed to do all this when he was supposed to have been kicked out of the house," Ulrich pointed out.

"It is because of his being 'kicked out of the house,' as you call it, that Loki was able to do this," Valkyrie explained.

"Loki can never resist the chance to boast of his believed genius in a moment of triumph, and because of that we were able to learn that his last attack on Asgard before Thor's departure was meant to fail," Sif filled in. "He knew that his actions would lead to banishment, and that his being in exile would lead us to believe that he was no longer of any threat. In addition to this, Loki orchestrated the argument between Thor and Lord Odin, driving Thor to leave Asgard for your realm. Due to the fact that he had not returned sooner, I can only assume that he came up with some way to keep Thor's attention on Midgard."

Ulrich and Aelita were not sure what to say in reply to this for a few minutes, until both of their eyes widened a little in realization, leading Aelita to ask, "You don't think that…?"

"It's not like there's anything to say that he couldn't have done it," Ulrich replied in a thoughtful tone.

"What be the reason for your sudden concern, strange mortals," Valkyrie asked.

"Almost a year ago now, there was an event on Earth known as the Breakout, in which every single supervillain prison in the world suddenly went offline, leading to the escape of Seventy Four of our world's most powerful and dangerous villains," Ulrich explained. "The worst of which was what had drawn Thor to join us in forming a team of heroes that could avenge the wrongs caused by all those villains, because none of us could take on such a threat by ourselves, no matter how strong or skilled we were."

"It was actually a week later that we first found ourselves fighting against the Enchantress and Executioner," Aelita continued. "We were able to just barely defeat them, but they were able to escape and then form a group of the most talented and dangerous of the escaped supervillains, which became known as the Masters of Evil."

"Amora the Enchantress," Sif snarled in disgust. "I should've known that witch would be involved in this. I will enjoy making her pay for her crimes."

"Well you'll have to get in line," Aelita remarked with a similar look of disgust at the thought of said witch. "Has she worked with Loki before?"

"On occasion, she has," Valkyrie confirmed.

"So it would make sense that she and her loyal lumberjack were forming the Masters of Evil as additional pawns for Loki's game, with the whole thing involving the Norn Stones just being the most recent play," Ulrich reasoned.

The four were about to continue their discussion, when a Viking warrior suddenly burst into the hall and ran towards them, panting, "Sif, there is news from Jotunheim! The Frost Giants and their ruler are currently engaged in battle with a pair of strangely dressed mortals. A woman and a man, but from what our scouts reported, the woman is much smaller than even the average mortal, and the man suddenly turned into a giant in a flash of light."

Ulrich and Aelita both did a spit-take when they heard this news, having taken advantage of the pause to take a small gulp of their drinks, and immediately drew concerned looks from the two Asgardian women before them while Ulrich coughed out, "Did you say that you saw a man turn into a giant in a flash of light?"

"Aye," the warrior confirmed.

"Was he wearing a red and black suit with antenna on his head, and was the woman dressed in a yellow and black dress," Aelita frantically asked.

"Aye they were," the warrior confirmed once more. "A most peculiar choice of attire for battle."

"That's Jan and Hank," the two Lyoko Warriors both exclaimed at once, startling the three before them.

"You know of these mortals," Sif asked.

"They're our friends, and Thor's too," Aelita immediately stated as she shot up from her seat and started making her way to the door. "We've got to help them!"

"No," Sif immediately denied. "I shall not allow an ally of Thor's to risk their lives against Ymir. Valkyrie and I shall retrieve them."

"She wasn't asking to go, and neither am I," Ulrich retorted. "They're not just friends to us; they're family. Those two, Thor, and all the rest of the Avengers are the closest thing we have to that aside from each other. Would you be able to stand by and let someone else help your family when you knew you could help?"

Sif seemed to be at war with herself after hearing this revelation. She did not wish to endanger these two mortals by bringing them into the path of Ymir's wrath, but something about them and the looks in their eyes easily told her that the two young mortals would likely go to Jotunheim with or without her approval or protection. This determination was also coupled with how great the fire in their eyes seemed to be, for it was a fire that Sif had only seen in seasoned, well-trained warriors who would give their lives to defend what they cared for, and when you added that she could not honestly say that she would stand by while those she cared for were in danger in response to the two's question, Sif found that she had very little ground to really argue on. A glance in Valkyrie's direction told Sif that the blonde warrior trusted their leader to make the best decision for everyone, to which Sif gave a small nod of thanks to before she finally returned her attention to the two mortals who had not lost their determined looks for even a second.

"Do not expect us to watch over you like a child in its cradle as Thor does for other mortals," Sif told the two after collecting her shield and sword from where she had set them down before taking a seat at the table. "If you come, you must be ready to enter battle with all that you hold dear to you. Is that understood?"

Ulrich and Aelita both nodded in reply with broad smirks on their faces, leading Sif to develop a small smirk of her own, and the three immediately left the dining hall along with Valkyrie so that they may ready their transport to Jotunheim and the battle that lay ahead.

---

Hank Pym was not having a good day right now. One minute he and Janet were on Earth fighting off Abomination and massive ice monsters while trying to destroy a magic stone from Asgard, and the next minute he was waking up on another world that was covered in snow and ice, while Janet remained unconscious. Hank was quick to try and find a place for them to take cover from the cold, while also finding even further evidence that they were no longer on Earth as he did, but he did not get far until more of the ice monsters that he now knew were Frost Giants appeared before him, saying that they were on Jotunheim, and clearly stating that they were planning on ending the two insect-themed heroes. After the day he had, any notion of feeling like talking things out had left Hank, so he gently laid Wasp down in the cover of a nearby outcropping of ice, transformed into Giant-Man, and grabbed one the Frost Giant's weapons before charging the monsters with roar.

Hank was able to hold his own for a moment, until additional Frost Giants appeared before him, and he was fairly certain the one at the forefront was the leader of the ice monsters due to the presence he gave off, and the fact that he saw the Casket of Ancient Winters strapped onto the front of the monster's chest, which the Frost Giant did not hesitate to open for a few minutes. Those few minutes were all that was necessary to blow Hank away and onto his back before he was frozen solid in ice, with the ice weapon he had retrieved having slipped out of his hand. Even though the casket had closed, that brief exposure to its eternal cold was enough for the Frost Giants, and for Hank to feel a foreboding sense that he was about to meet his end, which meant that the unconscious woman he was trying to protect as he fought would do the same shortly after, if not from the Frost Giants, then most certainly from the freezing cold.

Hank struggled for a few minutes in the ice, even after he felt his hand brush against the control on his belt that would allow him to grow bigger once again, determined not to give up just yet, but when he saw Janet lying in the snow nearby, he could not stop himself from pausing for a minute to take in how peaceful she seemed to be despite her subtle shivering. Seeing that moved Hank to feel the need to do whatever it took to make sure that she would survive, even if he did not, and Hank felt that it was either now or never to finally get something off his chest. "I'm sorry, Jan," Hank whispered, even though he was fairly certain that Janet could not hear him at the moment. "I'm so sorry that I let you down; that I let everyone down." He then paused for a moment to take one last look at Janet's face before he finally said three words that he had wanted to say to her for so long now, and even though she would probably never hear them, Hank just had to tell her this one thing before he met prepared to meet his end. "I love you."

When the shadows of the Frost Giants fell over him, Hank's face immediately solidified in determination, and he soon managed to hit the control on his belt, becoming Giant-Man once again, making him more than ready to fight to his last breath if he had to. Just as he was about to throw a punch at the leader of the opposing giants, he heard the sound of wings coming towards him, prompting him and the Frost Giants to look to the source just in time to see a trio of winged horses flying towards them, and upon closer inspection, Hank had to smile in relief when he saw the familiar forms of Sprint Samurai and Angel Guardian riding on the backs of two of those horses. A minute later, two of the other warriors on the other horses threw the spears they were carrying at the Frost Giants, prompting two of them to come to leader's defense, while Aelita slipped off the horse she was riding on the back of, opened her wings, and flew towards the giants with energy fields at the ready.

When the pink haired Avenger started peppering the Frost Giants with her energy fields, Hank could only smile in thanks for whatever power had allowed for his two young friends to have made it in time, until he suddenly heard Ulrich shout, "Hank, shrink down!"

Hank spun around to see Ulrich and a black haired woman in silver and red armor racing towards him, both with swords drawn, and Hank did not need to be a genius to figure out why Ulrich had called out for Hank to shrink when he did. Knowing this, Hank immediately returned to his normal size, just as Ulrich had leapt over his head from the horse and swung both of his sabers down across the leading Frost Giant's face, while the woman slashed at the giant's cheek with her own sword as she road past him. Hank immediately took this moment to run over to where Janet was and scoop her up in his hands, but in doing so, he had left himself unprepared for when the giants opened the Casket of Ancient Winters once again, and was thus blasted over the edge of the cliff by the freezing blast of wind that rushed forth when the casket was opened along with Ulrich. The two men continued to spiral down into the icy depths bellow them, until the black haired woman that Ulrich had been riding with and Aelita swooped in and caught them both, with Hank being caught by Aelita and Ulrich being saved by the woman that Ant-Man did not know.

Aelita's smile of relief at seeing Hank was alright was soon met with a smile of thanks from the scientist, until the pinkette asked, "Where's Jan?"

"She's right here," Hank replied, opening his hands a little so that Aelita could see Wasp lying in his palms, while still making sure that she was safely secured in his hands. "She's a little cold and unconscious, but she'll be alright."

Both Lyoko Warriors and their new allies nodded in recognition of this, before the woman that Ulrich was now riding with signaled for her troops to retreat, clearly indicating that they had accomplished what they had intended to do by rescuing the size-changers. Once they had reached a safe distance, the woman that had saved Ulrich smiled to Hank and said, "Truly you are strange, yet wondrous beings. One of you being an elf and a fairy, another a powerful swordsman with great speed, and another being a man and a giant, but you each fought well…for mortals."

"Thanks…I think," Hank replied in uncertainty.

"Trust me, coming from Sif that is definitely a compliment, along with the fact that she hasn't tried to slash your head off," Ulrich reassured Hank, while gaining a small smirk from the woman in question at his last words.

"Uh, the giant said this was Jotunheim," Hank cut in before any banter could start. "This is one of the mythical Nine Realms, right?"

"Aye," Sif replied. "But that was no mere Frost Giant you fought. That was Ymir, himself."

"In other words, you just fought the leader of the Frost Giants and survived," Aelita quipped. "That should earn you some respect in Asgard."

"Assuming that we are ever able to retake Asgard from Loki's forces," Valkyrie reminded everyone. "Any attempts to do so have failed in disaster, and we now no longer have the forces we require to make a charge on the gates of the Bifrost."

The three Avengers looked at each other for a moment, two of them silently asking the third if he would be okay with what they were going to suggest. When all three eventually nodded in agreement with each other, Aelita smirked at Valkyrie and declared, "Actually, you do now, because we're going to help you guys take back your home."

"I admire your courage, mortal, but this is an Asgardian matter," Sif immediately denied. "Should you wish to face Loki, you will face creatures unlike anything you have ever seen before, and you will likely not survive."

"I don't know. We've seen some pretty crazy stuff in our lives," Ulrich shrugged like it was no big deal.

"The monsters guarding Bifrost will tear you apart and likely eat what is left of you, assuming anything is left at all. Even if you were to survive his guards, you would never survive Loki's wrath so long as he possesses the Odin Force," Valkyrie tried to argue, only to find that none of the three Avengers were losing their smirks in the slightest.

"So basically we'll be fighting an army of monsters in an attempt to stop a powerful psychopath from taking over the universe, and our chances of success are extremely slim, right," Aelita asked. After receiving nods from Sif and Valkyrie, she and Ulrich exchanged a look before she stated, "Sounds like a trip back to our old stomping grounds."

Sif was about to argue further against this when Hank interrupted, "I wouldn't try to talk them out of this. These two have been fighting to protect worlds since they were really young. There's no way you can convince them to not help out when they know that they can help make a difference, and besides, tell me that you can't afford to not accept any help where you can get it."

Seeing as they were both defeated in this argument, the two Asgardians finally relented and accepted the Avengers' offer to help retake their home, but they immediately stated that they would only commence their charge on Asgard after they had treated any wounds that Hank and Janet may have received, and after they had found what they would consider suitable armor for the size-changers. Ulrich, Aelita, and Hank were more than happy to accept such conditions, and in no time at all, they were on their way back to Valhalla so that they could gather said armaments. As they were flying through the portal, Janet finally began to stir, and after slowly waking up, the small-sized woman glanced at her current position in Hank's protective hands, to the smiling Aelita that was carrying him, and to Ulrich and the two Asgardian warriors that were accompanying them, she just had to ask, "What'd I miss?"

Wasp's fellow Avengers exchanged a look between themselves before Hank decided to keep it simple until they had reached their destination, and he simply replied, "It's a long story, Jan."

"Isn't it always," Aelita quipped, getting a laugh out of her new family. Once the laughing had settled down, Aelita gained a mischievous look as she asked Hank, "So Hank, you want to try telling Janet that really important thing that you told her earlier while she was unconscious?"

Hank's face immediately turned crimson, as he knew that there was no question about whether or not Aelita had heard him admit his feelings aloud, but before he could stutter any sort of excuse, Janet simply flew up to his face and kissed his cheek and said, "He doesn't need to say anything that I don't already know, Aelita."

Hank was not sure what to think at this point, but he could not really care at the moment, because he knew they had a more important job to do, so he simply faced forward along with the others, determination set firmly in each of their faces at the thought of what would most definitely be their greatest mission as Avengers yet. Still, it did nothing to keep the goofy grin off his face that he ended up getting after Wasp flew up to his ear and whispered, "I love you too, Hank."

---

At the end of the Bifrost Bridge, a number of various monsters from all the Nine Realms were vigilantly standing guard at the gates of Asgard along with the warriors who had once served Odin. Naturally, they did not see much in the way of battle, aside from the few times when small groups of the remaining rebels attempted to charge the gates in a foolish attempt to retake the once great kingdom, so it was the most relaxed and easy-going job for anyone in Loki's forces to undertake. Of course, that did make it quite boring as well, even when the rebels did make their charges, so when a portal to another realm suddenly opened up before them, one of the Frost Giants had to smile a little in hopeful excitement at a possible challenge as he commented, "More rebel warriors to crush."

The giant that had spoken did not have the chance to crush anything, for a minute after the portal had completely opened, a loud roar was heard by all, and a massive figure with a large axe swooped down and destroyed the giant's ice club, before knocking him unconscious. Looking to the being that had toppled a Frost Giant so easily, the gate defenders raised an eyebrow in mild surprise before their expressions narrowed after the Hulk roared, "You wanna crush something; try me!"

The other Frost Giants were more than ready to grant Hulk his request, when the Warriors Three suddenly rode in with weapons ready, and dispatched two of the giants in a matter of moments. Once the group had landed on the Rainbow Bridge, a group of Asgardian warriors suddenly approached them, and the leader announced, "By Loki's decree, those who do not bow before him will be executed. Surrender!"

"Traitors," Fandral shouted in response. "We will never bow to Loki." This would have led to a stand-off between the two sides, but Hulk did not want to wait, and simply charged in to meet the warriors who opposed him. "Mortal, WAIT," Fandral shouted, but it was to no avail, as the Hulk was already within the opposing army's striking range.

The gate defenders were quick to react once the Hulk was close enough, and they immediately sent the jade giant flying back into the head of one of the unconscious Frost Giants, allowing them a chance to charge in and surround each member of the Warriors Three. Hulk did not stay down for long though, but after he had risen to his feet again, he was quickly dog-piled by the goblins and ogres that had been defending the bridge. Even though he is the strongest hero there is, Hulk would not deny that sometimes he did need help, and this was certainly one of those times. Thankfully, he soon received the help that he needed, as evidenced by a barrage of yellow and pink energy blasts that knocked Hulk's attackers off him.

Looking to the source of the blasts, Hulk smirked in thanks and relief when he saw Sprint Samurai, Angel Guardian, Wasp, and Ant-Man racing towards the battle with additional backup in the form of Valkyrie and Sif. He was a bit curious about the additional silver and black armor that Janet and Hank were wearing, but when the latter dispatched one of the larger monsters by turning into Giant-Man, Hulk just waved it off as something he would ask about later. It was a good thing he did too, because he soon spotted Valkyrie being knocked off her horse by one of the remaining Frost Giants, so Hulk immediately leapt into the air to catch her before she fell to her death, and then shielded her from the subsequent attack by the same giant.

The giant was about to launch another attack at Hulk when Ulrich suddenly jumped off the horse he and Sif were riding on with his sabers drawn and shouted, "For Asgard!" After spinning through the air, Ulrich brought both of his blades down in a powerful cross-slash to the Frost Giant's face, causing it to stumble right into the path of Sif's sword, allowing the female Asgardian to finish the job. Once he saw that the giant he had attacked was down, along with Hulk's look of amusement at the samurai hero's earlier battle cry, Ulrich just shrugged and admitted, "I've kinda wanted to say that for a while now."

The two quickly brought their attention back to the fight when the shadow of another giant fell over them, but thankfully, Giant-Man was able to intercept the icy opponents before they could attempt another strike. Just after Hank had caught another giant's arms in his grasp when the massive ice monster attempted another attack, a glowing arrow sailed through the air and the giant's weapon, drawing everyone's attention to the airborne sailing ship that Hawkeye, Black Panther, and an elf were riding in on. After crashing the ship into most of the Frost Giants, sending said giants hurtling into the abyss bellow the Bifrost, Hawkeye quickly fired a pair of glowing arrows with a golden bow, and leapt down off the ship as the arrows knocked out their targets, with T'Challa and the elf following right behind him. Seeing these new opponents charging into the fray prompted a pair of the goblins to try and attack the archer and the Wakandan, but they were never able to reach the two thanks to a slash from Sprint Samurai, and Giant-Man bringing his massive down on the remaining monster.

"Good to see you, Clint," Hank told the former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent as he returned to normal size for a moment.

"Yeah, I bet," Hawkeye grumbled in retort. "The three of us had already snuck half way to the palace when you guys set off the alarm. Way to ruin it."

"Sorry, but not all of us are all that great at stealth like you and T'Challa are," Ulrich pointed out after he had joined the four in the run across the bridge.

"Perhaps we should win this fight before starting another," T'Challa commented, and he received no arguments on the matter, especially when one of the Frost Giants that had not been knocked off the bridge tried to smash all of them with his large hammer. Black Panther then furthered his point by using his quick reflexes and agility to leap over the hammer and up to the giant's face before rendering it unable to fight with a powerful slash from both of his claws.

Nothing else was said between any of the warriors that were hoping to liberate Asgard, as both the remaining rebels to Loki's reign and the Avengers quickly dealt with the remaining gate keepers. Between Wasp's stingers, Aelita's energy fields, and Hawkeye's arrows, a good number of the monsters that were loyal to Loki were quick to fall, and when one added in the combined abilities of Black Panther and Ulrich, along with that of Giant-Man and Hulk, it took very little time until the bridge was completely clear of any forces that were not on the same side as the Avengers. Once that job was done, the Earth heroes allowed Sif to tend to the Asgardian heroes while they gathered together to exchange information on what they now knew.

"Did you guys see me? I was on a flying horse! I rode a flying horse through space," Wasp gushed to her friends and teammates while showing off her new, Asgardian look, drawing smiles from each of the Avengers for a few minutes.

"Through a wormhole, actually," Hank corrected his girlfriend. "We're in Asgard. The Norn Stones pulled us through."

"The light elf, Faradei informed us that Thor's half-brother, Loki is attempting to conquer each of the Nine Realms," T'Challa then added. "Although I suspect we stalled his plans on Earth."

"Yeah, we gathered as much from what Sif told us," Ulrich nodded in confirmation.

"So the Masters of Evil work for Loki," Wasp asked in slight disbelief.

"No, but you're pretty close," Aelita stated. "They worked for Enchantress, and she has been using the Masters as a way to help Loki achieve his goals, but Loki did play a large in helping her to gather members for the group."

"Meaning," Hawkeye asked in a request for a little more detail.

"That the question of how the Breakout happened may not be a mystery anymore," Ulrich clarified. "From what Sif said, it isn't too hard to believe that Loki was the one who caused the supervillain prisons to shut down like they had." Before the Avengers could continue their discussion, Ulrich noticed that Sif and the Warriors Three were marching towards the gates of Asgard, and he quickly called out, "Hey Sif, where are you going?"

"The Warriors Three and I intend to show Loki and his lackeys the error of their ways," Sif calmly replied.

"Whoa! Whoa, whoa. We're not going to just sit on the sidelines here, beautiful," Hawkeye immediately argued as he put himself in Sif's path.

Janet rolled her and Aelita both had to roll their eyes a little in response to Hawkeye's mild flirting, but their attention was quickly brought back to the conversation before them when Sif pointed out, "Loki has somehow tapped into the Odin Force, itself. He is too powerful for any mortal to fight."

"Didn't we have this conversation already," Ulrich asked Sif.

"Or how about the fact that we just took on, like a hundred giants and warriors," Wasp pointed out in addition to Ulrich's question.

Hoping to avert an argument, Hank quickly stepped up and said, "Look Sif, Thor is our teammate, and Earth is just as much in the firing line as Asgard. We're in this together."

"Thor's not just our teammate, he's our friend, and a brother to us," Aelita added. "We'll be going in there to fight Loki whether you want us to or not."

Sif frowned at the mortals' stubbornness, but she could tell that she was not going to win this argument, especially given how little time they had before Loki sent additional forces after them, so she had no choice but to reluctantly accept their help. Before they could start heading towards the gates though, Clint had to pause for a minute and ask, "Hey, speaking of together, anyone seen Iron Man or Cap?"

The silence that met Hawkeye's question was all the reply anyone needed, and it soon led the Avengers to feel a little more worried about their chances until Ulrich said, "We'll just have to do what we can without them until they're able to join up with us."

"What makes you so sure that this Man of Iron and Cap will be joining us in the struggle," Fandral asked.

"They'll be here," Aelita insisted in Ulrich's place. "There's no reason to ever doubt that either of them would leave their teammates to fend for themselves when they knew that they could do something to help their team. Until that time though, we keep going no matter what happens or what gets thrown at us. If you get hurt, hurt them back, and if you get killed, walk it off."

Everyone's courage immediately sky-rocketed at Aelita's words and the conviction her voice carried when she said them, and with this newly enhanced determination, the Avengers and Asgard's warriors all turned to charge the gates of Asgard with full intention to meet anything Loki threw at them without fear.

---

The mighty Tree of Life, known as Yggdrasil, always radiated with the vast power that was held within it even in the darkest of days, and its power was one that the green and yellow clad conqueror of Asgard could not keep himself away from, a fact that was easily enforced by how Loki was bathing in its vast power even at this very moment. As the power surged so immensely through him, Loki could only grin in dark triumph of what he had accomplished. His adopted father, Odin was forever trapped in the Odin Sleep, Heimdall, Balder, and even his wretched brother, Thor were all in chains awaiting executioner, and soon all the Nine Realms would fall under his rule. There did not seem to be any end to the great fortune that was befalling Loki at the moment, and the power he was now able to wield at his leisure only furthered his elation.

Loki's joy in absorbing more of the Odin Force did not last forever though, as he eventually had to bring his consumption of the great power to a sudden pause when an ogre entered the room and announced, "My lord, Loki, there is trouble!"

Loki glared at the ogre for his interruption, but he eventually just turned and walked back to the throne room of Asgard's palace after collecting his trusted spear. Once he had seated himself on Odin's former throne, Loki waved a finger and opened a magical window to see just what the problem was, only to roar in fury when he saw Thor's mortal allies blasting through the gates towards him along with what was left of the Asgardian rebels. Looking down to where Thor was forced to kneel in chains, his helmet and hammer well out of reach from him, Loki felt his rage growing a little due to his infuriating brother's slight smirk, but Loki had not gotten this far just to be bested by a small group of mortals, so he was quick to calm himself and say, "Your mortals seek to do battle with Asgardians, so be it. Before you meet your end, brother, I will destroy your Avengers right before your eyes."

Thor's worry for his friends immediately grew in force as he watched his adopted brother summon a horn into his hand, and then blow into the instrument. The Thunderer knew of only one creature that particular horn could summon, and he found he could only pray that his friends would survive the wrath of the beast that was soon to be upon them.

---

Things had seemed to be going pretty well in the opinions of the Avengers, as they were able to fight their way through the gates of Asgard and into the center of the great city without much problem. They had to fight a few more monsters along the way, of course, but compared to the earlier fight out on the bridge, they did not have to struggle all that much. When they were getting close to the palace though, they heard the sound of a horn bellowing out across the city, and given the fact that all the other creatures that had been fighting for Loki were quick to abandon the battlefield, along with the sounds of large footsteps coming towards them, they could only assume that things were about to get much worse.

"What's that," Wasp quietly asked. "More giants coming?"

"Feels bigger," Hulk rebuked. It was a tense few minutes for the heroes until they finally saw the beast that had been called forth stepping out of the light fog around Asgard, and they could not help but gawk in shock at the sight of the creature before them, which had revealed itself to be a massive ice wolf that exceeded the size of all the Frost Giants that they had encountered so far. When he saw the wolf monster, Hulk could only spare a small side glance to Wasp and say, "Told ya."

The heroes did not have any time to reply to Hulk's words, as the massive wolf released a blast of ice from its mouth with a roar, which froze over one of the nearby walls around the city, before shattering along with everything that it had encased. Thankfully, the heroes had managed to avoid being hit by the icy blast, but they quickly found themselves unable to deal much damage in retaliation before the wolf had turned its gaze on them once again.

"What the heck is that thing," Hawkeye demanded as he and Faradei tried to deal some damage with their arrows, only to be met with unsatisfactory results.

"Loki has gone mad," Sif murmured in reply. "He has summoned Hoarfen, the Ice Wolf!"

"What is it with evil Asgardians and wolves," Aelita groaned in response to Sif's words, but she never received a response, due to the need to quickly scatter with the other heroes before Hoarfen crushed them all under his massive paw. Hulk tried to attack the massive wolf, but his efforts were all in vain when Hoarfen batted the gamma-ray hero aside with his paw. Giant-Man's attempts to deal some damage to Hoarfen fared no better, as the minute that Hank had grabbed onto the wolf's mane, his arms had started to become frozen, forcing him to release his grip and then be crushed under Hoarfen's paw.

Hank was not too seriously hurt but the ice wolf's attack, but seeing both of their heaviest hitters being taken down so easily did a great deal to discourage the other Avengers, right to the point that they were unable to move due to the shock of what they had just seen, thinking that they were about to meet their end. Just as Hoarfen was about to swoop down and capture the remaining heroes in his massive muzzle, a familiar red and white blur suddenly flew over their heads, and hit the wolf on its nose, dealing the first bit of real damage to the massive monster that anyone had managed to inflict. Looking around behind them, the Avengers were soon smiling brightly as Captain America caught his shield on his arm and began shouting out orders to his teammates.

"Hawkeye, Wasp, Panther, Samurai, go for the eyes and mouth," Captain America shouted. "Giant-Man, Hulk, Angel, pick a leg and take it down. LET'S MOVE AVENGERS!"

The reaction to Cap's orders was so instant that you would think that it had all happened at the speed of light, for it was only seconds later that Hulk and Giant-Man were pushing back against Hoarfen's front legs while Aelita was blasting at the wolf's back legs with everything she had. The minute that the three had toppled the ice wolf, Hawkeye and Faradei had let loose a pair of arrows directly into Hoarfen's eyes, which Wasp quickly increased the potency of with a continuous burst of energy from her stingers. This gave Black Panther and Ulrich the chance that they needed to race up into Hoarfen's mouth, and once they had done so, Captain America had tossed his shield up to T'Challa, allowing the Wakandan to easily block the burst of ice that Hoarfen had fired in an attempt to blast the two off, while Ulrich did the same by crossing his sabers in front of him.

Once the ice blast had ceased, Hulk immediately joined his two teammates in Hoarfen's mouth, grabbing onto the beast's tongue as soon as he had while Ulrich slashed apart the monster's teeth with his sabers, and T'Challa tossed a series of blasts from his vibranium daggers down Hoarfen's throat. The sting of the attacks that were being thrown down his mouth were made much less bearable for Hoarfen when Giant-Man leapt onto his back and started pulling on his mane in an attempt to drive the beast away from the other Avengers on the ground, and after much effort, Hank was able to direct the massive being right to a point that the Avengers all wished to reach as soon as possible: the Asgardian Palace.

---

Loki had been confident that the Avengers would fall to Hoarfen's might until Captain America suddenly appeared on the scene and organized the heroes' counterattack against the massive beast, and his anger at this sudden change only grew Thor smirked at Loki's displeasure and proclaimed, "It would seem we have something in common, brother. We both have underestimated the mortals."

Loki sneered at Thor for his mockery before the trickster brought his attention back to the battle that he was viewing in the magic window. Eventually though, he could not help but wave the image away when he saw that Hoarfen was not going to win, but if Thor thought that Loki was going to start raging in anger and displeasure over Hoarfen's now clear defeat, he was sadly disappointed, as Loki insisted, "These fools pose no threat to me! I command the Odin Force! The Tree of Life gives its power to me now!"

"If you are so 'all-powerful,' Loki, then why haven't you won yet," Thor pointed out.

Loki was about to retort in response to Thor's question, but he was immediately diverted away from it when Hoarfen suddenly came crashing through the palace walls before falling unconscious. Upon looking up to where the ice wolf had emerged from, Loki could see the Avengers and their Asgardian comrades stepping forth from the smoke, sending a silent message that they were not going to let Loki win no matter what the cost while exuding an aura of power and justice in their steady stride. When they finally came to a stop, Aelita shot a look in Thor's direction that said they would help the blonde Asgardian as soon as they could, while Ulrich quipped to Loki, "Sorry to give you the bad news, but we had to put your rabid mutt down."

"Surrender Loki," Captain America then ordered, but he was only met with silence from Loki, followed by an outburst of laughter, indicating that the God of Mischief did not believe Cap was being serious.

"Looks like he wants to do this the hard way," Hawkeye smirked as he reached back to his quiver for another arrow.

"Don't they always," Aelita quipped in reply.

Steve's eyes just narrowed in response before he shouted, "Avengers, take him down!"

Hulk was the first to move against Loki by charging Thor's half-brother, but Loki simply raised a hand and blasted the jade giant away in a single burst of energy. It did little to slow down the other Avengers though, as Hawkeye let an arrow fly, Captain America tossed his shield, Wasp fired her stingers, and Aelita threw a pair of powerful energy fields in Loki's direction. Loki batted each of these attacks away with a wave of energy from his staff, and he immediately spun it around to block Sif's blade before she could use it to so much as give him a small cut. After blasting Sif directly into Faradei, Loki caught Giant-Man in an energy field just as the massive scientist was bringing his fists down on the Asgardian usurper, and then used his staff to throw Black Panther into the massive Avenger just as T'Challa was about to pounce on him from behind. Another spin of his staff allowed Loki to intercept Ulrich's sabers before the high speed hero could land a blow on Loki, and the trickster then used the hold his staff had on Ulrich's sabers to throw the Sprint Samurai into Aelita just as the girl was charging in from above, causing the energy that was building up around her fists to be dispersed the minute she had been knocked to the floor along with Ulrich. Before any of the heroes could attempt to rise again, Loki released another burst of energy with a simple wave of his staff, and the heroes were all soon blown across the throne room by the explosion of energy.

When the smoke cleared, only the Avengers were still conscious enough to attempt to rise, but out of all of them, only Hawkeye had managed to hold on to his weapon. Ulrich was honestly not sure where his sabers had landed for a minute, but when he glimpsed what appeared to be the handle of one of them encased in a barrier, he immediately whispered a request to Aelita for her to disrupt the barrier with her powers, to which Aelita could only reply with a much softer version of her creativity power's usual singing. As he waited for the barrier to be disrupted enough for him to grab the weapon that lay near him, Ulrich mentally groaned as he heard Loki start to monologue, "Surrender? You really have no idea with whom you speak, do you, mortal?"

A flash of light immediately came after Loki's question, which was soon followed by an explosion from close to where Ulrich was lying, and even though he could not turn his attention away from the barrier to see who had been hit, Ulrich could tell by the grunt of pain that it was more than likely Captain America. Ulrich could feel his rage towards Loki boiling more and more by the minute after hearing that explosion, and it only increased as the trickster continued, "I have watched you worms all this time, all of you scared and alone. On Midgard, you may play at being heroes, but here, you are less than nothing! Without Thor, who will…?"

"Would you just shut up," Ulrich finally interrupted, and he immediately charged Loki, grabbing the weapon that Aelita finally managed to free from the magical barrier around it as he ran. Loki did not even have time to react to Ulrich's interruption, as the samurai had immediately slammed the weapon he grabbed into the trickster with all of his might, and he quickly followed up with another pair of strikes before he finally thrust the weapon into Loki's chest, which caused him to be blasted back by a burst of lightning, much to everyone's shock.

After managing to rise to his feet again, Loki fully intended to curse out Ulrich for his attack, but the scowl on Loki's face instantly morphed to horror when his eyes fell upon the samurai hero. "No it…It can't be! How could a mere mortal, and a mortal child at that, possibly…" Loki protested in denial of what he was seeing.

The other Avengers could only stare in equal shock as well until Aelita finally whispered, "Oh. My. God."

"He is worthy," Thor gasped from where he was still chained.

Ulrich's expression was of even greater shock than all the others, for there in his hand, with lightning surging around both it and him, was not one of his sabers, but Thor's mighty hammer, Mjolnir instead. A small glance to the side showed Ulrich that his sabers had actually landed a bit closer to where Aelita was lying on the floor, while also letting him see the shattered remains of Captain America's shield, and even though it did not take much to figure out how the previously near-indestructible disc had been destroyed, it was still a shock to see it shattered into so many pieces at all. After turning his full attention back towards Loki, Ulrich's eyes narrowed as he lifted Mjolnir high above his head and allowed its thunderous might surge out around him, further emphasizing the fact that the hammer had indeed deemed Ulrich Stern, the Sprint Samurai worthy to wield its incredible power.

Loki's stunned disbelief immediately morphed into a scowl once again as he sneered, "I do not fear the power of Mjolnir, mortal, much less so while it is wielded by you. You may be worthy of the hammer by some miracle that is far beyond my knowing, but you are no Thor."

"You're right, I'm not," Ulrich smirked in retort. "I am Sprint Samurai, a Lyoko Warrior, and as my friend and newest brother, Thor would say, have at thee, villain!"

An instant later, Ulrich had positioned himself like he sometimes would before racing off with his super sprint, but instead of the usual gold and brown blur that accompanied said power, he instead vanished into a burst of lightning that immediately raced around Loki and seemed to hammer against him. Eventually, the lightning dispersed as quickly as it had come, revealing Ulrich just as he had landed a powerful swing on Loki with Mjolnir that sent the trickster flying into the wall behind him. Looking down at himself and the hammer, Ulrich could not help but say, "Guess I don't know my own speed while I'm using this thing. You want to give up now?"

Loki just snarled in response before he unleashed a furious blaze of energy blasts on Ulrich, and the samurai hero was quick to raise Mjolnir to block the blasts. He was able to prevent Loki's blasts from hitting him, but since he was more used to the fluid movements and reach of his sabers, Ulrich was not able to block the attacks as effectively as he normally could, so it was only a matter of time until one blast of magic slipped past his guard and struck him on his shoulder, allowing Loki to blast him dead center. Thankfully, Ulrich had managed to keep a firm hold on Mjolnir, but that did him little good when his suit started to phase in and out of its active state while his body screamed out in pain just as it when Ulrich had been struck by attacks from Wanda, Ultron, and Kang, inevitably giving Ulrich another name to add to the list of people that could harm him and Aelita while they were using their Lyoko suits.

Loki smirked at the samurai's sudden misfortune and weakened state, and immediately moved to put an end to Ulrich, when he was suddenly hit from the side by an energy blast. Looking to the source, Loki was immediately greeted by a very pissed off Aelita as she was charging towards him with an energy infused fist, and shouting, "Get away from my brother!"

Loki was unable to defend himself from being struck by Aelita's energy fist, but when Aelita tried to hit him with another energy fist, Loki was able to intercept the attack with his staff, causing their two energies to collide and release a massive explosion that threw them both back. Aelita let out a scream of pain when the explosion hit her, and she was soon lying on the ground next to Wasp as her own suit faded in and out of its active state, while Loki on the other hand was only knocked down to his knees for a few minutes. The Asgardian trickster was now more than simply annoyed by the mortals' constant interference in his plans, so as soon as he was on his feet again, he turned a heated glare towards Ulrich, whose suit was still fading in and out a little as he tried to stand, and growled, "I will not let such humiliation go on any longer. First I will finish you, then your precious sister, and then the rest of your friends, and once you are all gone, who will be left able to stand against me?"

Loki's answer came much sooner than he had expected, as the sound of thunder soon rang out in his ears. Knowing that it could not possibly have been Thor or the samurai before him, Loki had to gaze up in wonder as to just what was causing this sudden thunder just in time for a bolt of lightning to crash through the ceiling and into the floor between Loki and the other Avengers. As soon as the smoke had cleared, the Avengers were all shocked to see a man in a grey and silver suit of armor that held a very familiar design, and their joy immediately rose up when the armored man stood up and they heard him speak in their team leader's voice. "I will! Avengers, assemble!"

"YOU DARE TO…" Loki started to shout, but he quickly paused when he noticed something about Iron Man's armor that stood out to him more than anything else. "That armor…the metal is Uru!"

"Yeah, the same as Thor's hammer, I know," Tony admitted with a bit of pride before his voice became much more threatening. "Now get away from my people before you get hurt."

"You think to threaten me, man of science," Loki demanded. "You are as much of a threat to me as this child proved to be. Do you realize the power I wield?"

"It wasn't a threat," Tony stated, and he quickly followed up his statement by firing a blast from his repulsor beam at Loki, revealing the ray to be infused with lightning when he did. The blast was easily dissipated by the barrier that Loki had raised before him, but the barrier did not last long either after the blast had hit it, and this allowed Ulrich to use the very hammer that had just been mentioned a minute ago to bash Loki into the throne. "Free Thor! Samurai and I will hold him off," Tony shouted to the other Avengers, and he was soon blasting into the air with Loki hot on his tail, followed by Ulrich after he had give Mjolnir a spin in his hand and launched into the sky like he had seen Thor do many times before.

After Iron Man and Sprint Samurai had flown out of the room, Captain America quickly retrieved Sif's previously dropped shield and ordered, "Hawkeye, Panther, Ant-Man, Angel Guardian, get to Thor. The rest of you are with me!"

Aelita wanted to argue with Steve's orders, knowing that she could likely be of more help to the super soldier's team, but she knew that Thor would know how to stop Loki better than anyone else, and would also be better suited for fighting against the trickster than anyone else, so she simply nodded along with the other heroes that had been named for her team and let Captain America, Wasp, and Hulk race out of the room after Ulrich and Iron Man. It did not take all that much to free Thor though, as the chains the Asgardian had been imprisoned in immediately began to crumble when they were struck by one of the magic arrows that Faradei had given Hawkeye after they had first met, allowing Thor to break free with a little push from his Asgardian strength.

"Yggdrasil is the source of the Odin Force," Thor revealed to his teammates once he was freed. "Loki has corrupted it. You must find a way to break Loki's connection to it."

"Us," Hank asked in confusion. "What're you going to do?"

Thor simply narrowed his eyes as he placed his helmet on his head again and replied, "I am going to have a word with my brother."

"If that's the case, then you'd better make sure you're carrying a big stick, or in this case, two big sticks," Aelita suddenly said, drawing Thor's attention to her, and the minute his eyes had fallen upon Aelita, Thor saw that the pinkette was holding out her adoptive brother's sabers to him.

"Aelita, I…I cannot," Thor protested, clearly indicating that he was not sure he had the right to wield his young friend's blades.

"Hey, if Ulrich is worthy to wield your hammer, then I'd say you're worthy to wield his sabers," Aelita pointed out, holding the sabers further out to the blonde Asgardian as a way of silently insisting that he use them.

Thor looked at the twin blades hesitantly for another minute before he finally smiled and grasped the two sabers by their handles, causing their blades to suddenly surge with a bit of electricity for a minute as he said, "I will be certain to live up to that worth."

---

The sky above Asgard was only lit by the flashes of lightning that came from the attacks being launched by Loki, Iron Man, and Sprint Samurai, as the trickster matched his power over the corrupted Odin Force against Iron Man's Uru armor and Ulrich's admittedly amateur skills with Mjolnir. Of course, had either hero attempted to take on Loki on their own, they probably would not be doing as well as they currently were, but since they were fighting together, they were both more than able to compensate for the weaknesses the other currently held at the moment. Since Ulrich was not used to the shorter range and extra weight that Mjolnir had in comparison to his sabers, he had to be careful about how he blocked Loki's attacks while also making sure that he did not try to overextend his current reach with the hammer, an effort made much easier with Iron Man providing some long range covering fire for whenever Ulrich accidentally did one or the other, but at the same time, despite how similar it was on the basic level to his other armors, the suit that Tony was wearing was still extremely new, especially since he had just finished building the suit before he donned it, so he was doing his best to be careful in how he handled it. Loki on the other hand had no such problems in his efforts.

The trickster easily made his superiority in terms of mastery over respective powers clear to Ulrich and Tony by blasting them with multiple varieties of magic spells that were each infused with the corrupted power of the Odin Force, and he spared no expense in showing the two mortals what happened to those who incurred his wrath, should they not be able to deal with it. He made this point quite clear when Iron Man flew in to land a series of close range strikes on Loki, by grabbing the armored hero and releasing a wave of his magical might into the armor as the trickster said, "Dealing with mortals is beneath me, but you have earned my attention."

Ulrich tried to rush in and help his friend, but Loki was able to see the samurai coming and directed a burst of magic onto said samurai with but a look in Ulrich's direction, sending him crashing into a nearby tower. Thankfully, Loki did not see Captain America come onto the roof bellow him, and that allowed the super soldier the chance to knock the treacherous Asgardian off of the Avengers' leader with a toss of his borrowed shield. Hulk was then quick to follow up Cap's attack by leaping up and slamming his fist into Loki, knocking the trickster off balance, and giving Wasp the chance to leap over her green friend's head so that she could further disorient Loki with a barrage of stingers directly into Loki's eyes. This allowed Ulrich the chance he needed to give Mjolnir a spin and release a lightning blast onto Loki, stunning the Asgardian long enough for Iron Man to try another frontal attack, but Loki saw Tony coming and immediately blasted Iron Man back down into the city bellow once again.

When he saw Iron Man crash into the nearby tower, Captain America instantly leapt down from his current perch to a bridge bellow, just seconds before Loki had blasted the tower he was standing on with a blast from the trickster's staff, and once he had landed, Steve reeled back and tossed his shield at Loki once again. Having been expecting it this time, Loki simply batted the spinning shield away with his staff before spinning around and catching Hulk's fist in his bare hand after the jade giant tried to hit him from behind. After sending Hulk falling to the ground with a blast from his hand, Loki could only glare irritably at Wasp as she tried to distract him with her stingers, until he grabbed her in his free hand, squeezing the small-sized woman as tightly as he could without killing her. "I shall enjoy making you mortals suffer," Loki declared to the captive heroine.

"Let her go, Reindeer Games," Ulrich suddenly shouted, and Loki only had time to turn his head in the samurai's direction before said Lyoko hero had slammed Mjolnir into Loki's head, knocking his antlered helmet off his head and freeing Wasp from his grasp. Ulrich immediately followed up with a few more blows against Loki, until the Asgardian finally regained his bearing and intercepted his last few with his staff and grabbed Ulrich by the throat.

"You are beginning to irritate me, boy," Loki snarled at Ulrich, and he then prepared to finish off the young samurai, only to pause when a sudden stabbing pain ran into his shoulder, forcing him to drop Ulrich from his hold. Looking to where he had been stabbed, Loki saw one of Ulrich's sabers in his shoulder, and he did not even get the chance to pull the offending blade out before Thor suddenly leapt up from out of nowhere and slashed at his foster brother with the second saber, pulling the first one free from Loki's shoulder as the traitor to Asgard fell into another building.

When Thor touched down on the bridge bellow him, he found Ulrich rising to his feet, and immediately offered the samurai hero a hand up, which Ulrich gratefully accepted. Once he noticed that Thor was holding his usual weapons, Ulrich had to smirk a little and comment, "I didn't know you knew how to fight with swords."

"Well I did not always wield Mjolnir in battle," Thor shrugged in reply. "Are you ready for another bought my friend?"

"What, you getting sleepy already," Ulrich quipped in reply as he spun Mjolnir in his hand. Thor just smirked at Ulrich's response, but all manner of humor and banter vanished when Loki suddenly burst out from the top of the tower that Thor had knocked Loki into, with the power of the Odin Force surging around him in pure chaos. Both warriors were quick to raise their weapons in defense when a bolt of Loki's powers nearly struck them, but it was clear as day that the bolts had came at random.

"What's happening," Iron Man shouted once he had flown up to where his two teammates were currently standing.

"He is losing control of the Odin Force," Thor cried out in slight fear, which did not give any good feelings to anyone who heard it. That fear increased when Thor looked to his brother and pleaded, "Loki, you must keep the power contained! Without control, the Odin Force could destroy the Nine Realms! You could begin Ragnarok!"

Apparently Loki did not care about the consequences that Thor spoke of, or he just found them preferable to being defeated at the hands of his brother and the Avengers, because his response to Thor's warning was a maniacal grin accompanied by three simple words. "SO BE IT!"

The Avengers then found themselves bracing for anything while they watched the power Loki had stolen for his own selfish greed lash out and tear apart the barrier between the realms, instantly seeing Earth in the sky seconds later. As this continued, they all found themselves praying that the efforts of their teammates were close to paying off, because they were clearly running out of time to stop Loki's scheme in its tracks.

---

While the chaos in the battle outside had raged on, Aelita and the others had somehow managed to find the room that Yggdrasil was inside of, and after seeing the mythical Tree of Life, everyone's first thoughts were that Hulk was right to say that it was indeed a big tree. Their second and all other thoughts afterwards though were on how to purify the tree from Loki's influence, which led T'Challa to begin analyzing the power flowing through the tree with the lenses in his mask. "Tell me again how you can see magic," Hawkeye asked once Black Panther had reported on the matter.

"Thor allowed Wakandan scientists and shaman to study his hammer. It was…informative," T'Challa replied as he studied the tree. After a short silence, Black Panther stated, "Yggdrasil…it seems to be the focus of the energy."

"So what're we supposed to do," Hank asked, honestly confused as to how they were supposed to fulfill Thor's request to purify the tree of Loki's corruption.

"When in doubt, blow it up," Hawkeye stated as he notched an arrow to fire. Before he had pulled his bow string far enough back though, T'Challa and Aelita both raised a hand signaling him to wait before firing, immediately drawing confusion from the archer. "What?"

"In mythology, the Tree of Life holds together all of reality, and as all of reality seems to be feeding into this tree, perhaps we should consider this," T'Challa stated in a sage-like tone.

"In other words, let's not blow up the tree just yet if there's a chance that we could also blow up the universe with it, Legolas," Aelita simplified.

Hawkeye rolled his eyes a bit at the girl thinking that she needed to simplify it that much for him, inevitably drawing his attention to the crows sitting in the branches above them. "Hey look. Asgard's got birds," Clint commented, drawing everyone else's attention to the crows above them as well, just before said birds released an ear-piercing shriek that caused the heroes to immediately clamp their hands over their ears in a hopeless attempt to block out the debilitating sound.

As he struggled to block out the noise, Hank managed to activate his Ant-Man helmet and shrink down, giving him the chance to slip into the cover of the tree's roots where the horrible shriek was not as loud and unbearable. Once he had gone far enough into the roots' alcove, Ant-Man noticed a bright glow emitting from close by that felt stronger than anything that Loki had unleashed upon them, and after feeling the power that came from that light for a few minutes, Hank immediately realized what had to be done. After retracting his helmet, Hank raced out from under the roots and instantly sprang into action by changing into Giant-Man and grabbing the tree, silencing the crows' cries the minute he had a firm hold on the mythical plant. Once the shrieking had stopped, Hank pulled on the tree with all of his strength, until a bright yellow glow erupted from beneath it, at which point, Giant-Man immediately turned to his young, pink haired friend and shouted, "Angel, use your powers directly on the tree's roots! Give it everything you've got and don't stop for anything!"

Aelita was not sure what Hank was up to, but a minute later, she immediately felt the energy that was coming up from the tree's roots, and understanding dawned on her just as quickly. Having reached the conclusion that she did, Aelita placed one hand to her temple while raising her other hand towards the roots, and immediately unleashed the most powerful burst of her creativity powers to date. It was only seconds after the song of Aelita's creativity powers had started up that it became much easier for Giant-Man to pull the tree free from where it was rooted, and as soon as it had been pulled out, the energy that had been struggling to emerge from beneath it surged forth, and with Aelita's help, it seemed to become more focused until it took shape in the form of a new tree that was even more magnificent than the one that had previously been in its place.

Seeing what had happened, the four Avengers could not stop the feeling of relief washing over them that somehow let them know that they had just managed to put an end to Loki's plot.

---

Loki could only cackle like the maniac that he is as the universe continued to come apart at the seams around him and the Avengers, even as he boasted, "Did you really think you could beat me?! A band of mortals against Loki?!"

Loki would have continued his premature boasting when a massive, golden light erupted from the Asgardian palace, and then seemed to repair the damage that he had unleashed upon the universe in an instant. Before Loki could form any coherent thoughts on the matter, he cried out in agony as he felt the power of the Odin Force being pulled out of him at great speeds and with an even greater pull. Hearing Loki's cries of pain as his power was taken from him drew smirks onto the faces of each Avenger that had been fighting him, as they immediately figured out what was happening.

"We didn't have to beat you, Loki; we just had to keep you busy," Iron Man revealed.

"Busy enough for the rest of our team to fix the mess that you had made of the Odin Force and Yggdrasil, and returning the power boost you got from them to where it belongs," Ulrich finished just as the last ounce of the great magic drained out of Loki.

With the last of his stolen power gone, Loki was unable to keep himself from falling to a walkway bellow him, and after managing to return to his feet, he instantly saw Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Thor, and Sprint Samurai standing at one end of the bridge, with Ant-Man, Black Panther, Hawkeye, Wasp, and Angel Guardian joining them on the other side, effectively surrounding the God of Mischief. "No…NO," Loki protested. "I am LOKI! I will destroy you all! I will…"

"Be in very big trouble with the real ruler of Asgard in about five seconds," Aelita interrupted with a smirk. Loki froze when he heard the young woman say those words, and he instantly spun around to see the golden armored form of a very pissed off Odin floating right behind him.

"LOKI," Odin shouted once he had grabbed his adopted son in a force field that the trembling trickster could not escape. "Long have I ignored your mischief, Loki, but this is not mere trickery; this is evil. I gave you everything; I made you my son, and this is how you repay me?!"

"You deserve a thousand times worse," Loki snarled in his bindings. "Go ahead; exile me! I will never stop!"

Odin may have held a furious posture and gaze on the outside, but Thor could easily tell that Loki's words were truly saddening to the Allfather, and somehow, Aelita could just sense that sorrow as well. Odin did not even let his sorrow show as he declared, "If you thought the Isle of Silence was torment, you do not know the meaning of the word."

Odin's eyes then glowed with a bright blue, and in a flash of light, Loki had vanished from before the Allfather and the heroes, sent off into the tormenting exile that Odin had promised him. "Where do you think he went," Aelita asked after walking over to her adoptive brother.

"Something tells me we don't want to know, Sis," Ulrich smiled to the pinkette. Aelita smiled in acceptance of this, and allowed Ulrich to walk over to Thor so that he could return the Asgardian's hammer to him. "Thanks for letting me use it, Thor, but as much fun as this was, I think I'll just stick to what I'm best at. Plus, it's a little too heavy for my taste," Ulrich told his teammate and friend.

Thor smiled in response before he accepted Mjolnir back and returned Ulrich's sabers to him as he replied, "You need not thank me, Friend Sprint Samurai. Mjolnir deemed you worthy, and that was reason enough for you to have had the chance to wield its great might. I am simply honored that I was able to wield your blades in battle, so I believe that we should, as the mortals say, call it even."

Ulrich nodded in acceptance, to Thor, and sheathed his sabers in their harness on his back, and as he and Aelita fell into step alongside the Avengers in their return to the Asgardian palace, both of the two Lyoko Warriors looked around at their teammates, friends, and family, and found themselves overwhelmed in the happiness of the fact that they were all still alive after all that had happened on this day that was truly unlike any other.

---

While one would think that it would take ages to restore the damaged palace of Asgard to its original state, with Odin now back in control of his great power, it actually took very little time at all, and after the palace was restored and all of Loki's remaining followers were placed in chains, the warriors who had fought so hard to free Asgard and the Nine Realms from the God of Mischief's treacherous reign were quickly gathered in the throne room to hear Odin's words on what had happened with brilliant smiles on their faces.

"My son," Odin began with pride and joy seeping into every word of his voice. "You returned to Asgard in its time of need. You have freed us."

Thor shook his head and gestured to his friends and teammates from Midgard as he declared, "No father, I have not. I myself was freed by the Avengers."

"Mere mortals," Odin gasped in skepticism.

"These mortals just saved all the Nine Realms. They deserve our respect," Thor pointed out. He then approached said mortals and kneeled before them as he stated, "Avengers, I thank thee. Truly I am honored to count myself among you."

The heroes of Earth smiled in response to their friend's words, and their smiles were eventually joined by one from Odin as well, as he approached the heroes with some words of his own for them. "You have the thanks of Asgard, mortals. You have our respect," Odin told the Avengers in a tone that showed just how true that respect was. The bearded man then looked to the two youngest members of the team and stated, "You two, especially, have earned my respect. Never in all my years had I thought that a mortal would be deemed worthy of Mjolnir's power, or that a mortal would possess the power to purify Yggdrasil of the corruption that Loki had inflicted upon it."

"These two are no mere mortals, my lord," Sif stated with pride and assurance of the fact. "They are the Warriors of Lyoko."

Ulrich was about to correct Sif on her mistake when Aelita just raised a hand in front of him and whispered, "It's close enough." The two then brought their attention to Odin and lightly bowed as the pinkette said, "We are humbled by your words and the honor you have bestowed on us, Lord Odin."

Odin smiled in reply to Aelita's words and he then turned to the audience around them as he cried out, "To the mightiest heroes in the Nine Realms! HAIL AVENGERS!"

Odin's last words were repeated in cheers from all the people around the heroes, and as each member of the Avengers listened to the cheers of praise and thanks ringing out around them, they all felt that they could not have been more proud to be a part of something as great as their team had become than they were right now. "Not too bad, team," Tony stated to his teammates, vocalizing their feelings in those four words.

"Not too bad yourself, Iron Man," Captain America replied with a smile. The two then turned to their youngest teammates just as the super soldier added, "And not too bad on your parts either, Lyoko Warriors."

Ulrich and Aelita were now certain that the smiles on their faces were going to freeze in place, because they had honestly not felt so happy or so proud of what they had done in a long time, and it was a feeling that they hoped would never fade away.

---

After the celebrations in Asgard had finally died down, the Avengers were sad to say that they ended up saying goodbye to Thor, as their Asgardian friend decided that he should remain in Asgard until the last traces of the chaos Loki had unleashed were dealt with. They were all sad to see Thor leave, but the blonde promised that the minute he heard of something on Earth that would require his help he would be there in a heartbeat. Hearing this promise helped everyone feel a little better, but it did not stop Aelita from telling Thor that she and Ulrich planned to visit him as well whenever they could, a declaration that Odin was happy to allow, and with that, the heroes of Earth returned home to Avengers Mansion for a well deserved night of sleep.

As he was heading to his room, Ulrich had noticed Steve had a saddened look on his face, no doubt due to the fact that his trusty shield that had seen him through so many battles was now destroyed, so the young man was quick to try and say something that would cheer up the old soldier. Steve was extremely grateful to Ulrich's words, and the fact that he promised they would talk to T'Challa about seeing if the Wakandan and his people could help fix the shield first thing in the morning, and with his spirits now raised up a little, Steve was able to give Ulrich a genuine smile before he disappeared into his room and let Ulrich go on to his own. Just as he had reached his room though, he quickly noticed that the door was open, and upon looking in, he relaxed a little when he saw that Aelita was inside gazing at the stars in the night sky.

"Hey Sis, you okay," Ulrich asked after joining Aelita by the window.

Aelita smiled in thanks for Ulrich's obvious concern and replied, "I've never been better, Ulrich. Looking up at the sky now, I don't feel like we're strangers anymore or like I still need to get used to everything that's happened to us. For the first time since this whole thing started, I finally feel like I'm at home."

Ulrich smiled and wrapped his arm around Aelita's shoulders in a one-armed hug as he stated, "I know. I feel the exact same way. I guess it just goes to show we're not just Lyoko Warriors anymore. Now, we're Lyoko Avengers."

Aelita smiled in good humor at Ulrich's last words, and the two Lyoko Warriors then just sat by the window for a few more minutes in silence, looking at the stars above them, and in that one moment, they honestly felt that they could not ever feel happier about their lives right now. Despite all the tragedies and horrors that they had ended up witnessing, they now had something great to live for. They had new friends, a new family, new people that they cared about more than anything else in the world, and more than that, they were a part of something even bigger than anything they had been part of before. Add in the fact that they had just helped save the universe, something that was far greater than anything they ever did with their old friends and team, and they honestly felt that they would be ready for anything that the future would ever send their way.

---

All was quiet in the area of a long-abandoned warehouse district, several miles away from any major city, not a soul in sight or a sound to be heard, until a bright light suddenly illuminated the entire area. It was only a matter of time before someone had called the authorities about the strange light and subsequent sounds that had erupted, but the sight that had greeted the first responders when they arrived was unlike anything they had ever seen. In the remaining rumble of what had once been a massive warehouse, was a large machine that had a near demonic quality to it, which made everyone hesitant to approach it. Eventually, someone did gather enough courage to get closer, and that ended up being a fatal mistake, for the minute he was in reach of the machine, its arm suddenly shot up and crushed his skull in one fluid motion. This drew a quick response from all of the remaining responders, as they fired their guns on the metal monster, but it was a futile effort, as they quickly ended up joining their now deceased comrade at the machine's hands as well.

Once the last human had been killed the machine glanced around at its surroundings, analyzing every inch of every molecule that was around it while trying to process what had happened. Any thought on how it had arrived at this location made no true logical sense to the machine, as the last thing that its databanks could recall was that it was inside a secret laboratory before the lab had exploded, and the next thing it knew it had come online in this new location. The only thing it did register was that before it had come online, there was a strange, massive surge of energy unlike anything that had ever been registered in its database, which was accompanied by the sound of a familiar song.

At the memory of this song, it all instantly came back to the machine. All the memories of its enemies, what was nearly its greatest victory, and the final defeat that the last two of its enemies had attempted to deliver onto it, which seemed to have failed if the fact that it was still functional was any indication. The massive robot could then only laugh at the two's failure, until it began reviewing current events through the most recent new articles and located their familiar visages in several stories alongside so-called "heroes." Reaching this discovery allowed the mechanical monster to gain a new objective: revenge against those who had stolen what was rightfully its.

Just as it had reached this conclusion, a government vehicle suddenly approached the scene, prompting the machine to ready its weapons for battle once more. Before it fired though, a man that had no characteristics of a soldier of any kind stepped out of the vehicle and approached it. "I am Dell Rusk, the US Secretary of Defense," the dark haired man wearing glasses said to the machine. "Can you understand me?"

The machine regarded this man for a moment before it lowered its weapons and replied, "Affirmative. Error: provided designation does not match DNA scans of known humans. Please explain."

Rusk smirked in reply at how quickly this machine seemed to unravel his ruse, and he stated, "Let's just say that I have an old enemy that currently believes I am dead, and I would like him and the world to keep thinking that until a time of my choosing."

"Elaborate," the machine demanded.

"What do you know of the man called Captain America," Rusk asked.

The machine paused for a minute, as though it were searching its databanks, until it finally replied, "Steven Rogers, alias Captain America. Born in New York, New York in the year 1918. Later enlisted in United States Armed Forces to fight in World War II, until he was believed to have been killed in action. Recent events confirm that Steven Rogers is still alive and is now allied with the group known as the Avengers. Analysis: Captain America is allied with old enemies, who now go by Sprint Samurai and Angel Guardian."

Rusk smirked at this information and stated, "Perhaps you and I can help each other to eliminate our respective foes, and the Avengers as well. Once we have done that, the world will be ours for the taking."

The machine seemed to consider its options for a moment until it finally stated, "Suggested course of action acceptable. Alliance will be forged with you."

Rusk's smirk grew even more before he finally asked, "So my large, metal friend, what should I call you, or do you have some form of name at all?"

The machine seemed to smirk a little as it replied with two simple words that would send shivers down the spines of those who knew just how great a significance they held. "Designation: X.A.N.A."

By the time anyone else had arrived, whether they were from S.H.I.E.L.D. or any other organization, the two were already long gone, and with all the death and destruction that was left in the area, one could not help but gain an ominous sense that something horrible was soon to come from the alliance that had just been forged.

---

To Be Continued...

---

AN: Well that's a wrap, for now. No you did not read any of that wrong, X.A.N.A.'s back and formed an alliance with someone who is not what he appears to be, and if you know who that person really is, then please don't spoil for anyone who doesn't know. If you don't want to wait and find out, then I suggest you go watch Season 2 of Avengers: EMH. Also, yes Ulrich and Aelita will now be referred to as Lyoko Avengers from this point onward, at least in this continuity, and all the struggles that they've dealt with up till now have finally come to a head.

Be honest, how much of this chapter did any of you not see coming? I mean, it made sense that Loki would be able to hurt our two Lyoko Avengers while they're suited up, at least while he had the power of the Odin Force under his control, that shouldn't have been a surprise, but I'm talking more about in the way of how Aelita was able to help purify Yggdrasil and the fact that Ulrich turned out to be worthy to wield Mjolnir. I honestly hadn't planned on making that possible for them, but after thinking about it for a while, I figured that after all that they had been through and the fact that they were still the same kind of people despite what had happened to them, it just made sense that either Ulrich or Aelita would be able to use that crazy, user-picky hammer. It was just a matter of figuring out which one of them would prove that one was worthy, when it would happen, and how.

Also, I hope that this made it very clear that neither Aelita or Ulrich are dead, as some people may have gotten that impression after the end of the last chapter, due to the fact that they were in Valhalla. I just want to remind you all that you don't need to be dead to get into Valhalla, as MARVEL Ultimate Alliance proved, so unless I actually say that someone is dead or believed to be dead in those exact words, I don't want you to assume that someone is dead. Also, the fight between Ulrich and Sif, I just had to include that in there, along with some of the other little homages to moments from the MARVEL Cinematic Universe. Show of hands, how many of you caught them all? Here's a hint, there's only two that Ulrich and Aelita really indulged in. One was from Thor and the other was from Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Now with that said, as you may have noticed, just because this story is over, that doesn't mean that this adventure is over, as indicated by the whole to be continued thing I put in there, so I guess I'll just have to say this now...Avengers, to the Preview!...

The heroes of Code Avengers are back once again, as they continue on their adventures to track down the remaining Masters of Evil and the other Breakout Escapees that are still on the loose, but they'll find themselves dealing with other problems as well that come from beyond their world. A secret invasion at their doorstep, threats from other worlds, and a cloud of suspicion that will lead the team to wonder just who they can really trust? When mixing this in with the relationship drama some of the team is experiencing, government conspiracies, and the concerns over Ulrich and Aelita's new attitudes towards a certain matter relating to them personally, one can only wonder just what it will take for the Avengers to stand strong and continue to fight as one in the face of these new challenges. It's going to take some new heroes joining the Avengers' ranks in order to keep it together, and even then, there will still be a number of incredible discoveries and adventures that will keep you guessing as to what will happen next, including a ghost from the Lyoko Avengers' past coming back to face them along with X.A.N.A. Find out what sort of exciting adventures, challenges, and mysteries the heroes will face in the thrilling sequel of this grand tale...Code Avengers: Cosmic.

Well there you have it, a little look into what to expect in the next story, but don't think I'll be starting it right away. I do have some other stories to write you know. Starting with finishing up Gundam SEED Prime: Chaos Hunters, as well as continuing work on Shield of the Cosmic Era, and of course continuing on where I had last left off with some of the ideas that I haven't even thought of working on in months, so before I start the sequel of this story, I fully intend to finish Chaos Hunters, and to at least get halfway through SoftheCE while also updating some of my older stories, so until then...

Please read and review, and I'll see ya next time, fellow true believers!