I've had this idea for a while, hence the fact that this takes place right after YJ season 2.
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ALLIES FROM ANOTHER WORLD
Chapter One: Downtime
New York Triskelion Headquarters:
S.H.I.E.L.D's Superhuman Response Unit.
The mid-morning rays shone down on Manhattan, striking the streets of the big city as people walked along the sidewalks, some leisurely, others hurriedly. The big grin etched onto the face of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman only adding to the bright sunny day.
It had been two months since the graduation of the seniors from S.H.I.E.L.D academy, and to the surprise of the man behind the blue and red mask, Peter Parker had noticed a significant decrease in villain attacks during that time.
Despite his premature impression of his schedule freeing up due to the less missions to complete, and courses to take, it only got busier. Nick Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D and supervisor of S.H.I.E.L.D Academy, had put Peter in charge of coaching, teaching, and training the new cadets that had joined the school for heroes. Between that, visiting his Aunt May, and taking down low-life thieves and patrols, he didn't have much spare time. Which, in truth. shouldn't have come as a surprise to him.
But regardless of his overflowing agenda, Peter had made it a point to take a vacation day often enough to keep the young man alive...After learning the hard way just what the definition of overworked really meant. This day happened to be one of those vacation days.
After a grueling training camp and midterm exams for the students (and inadvertently the T.A's) Spiderman announced that 'Tomorrow everyone gets a day off! No patrol, no courses, no training, just some well-earned downtime! Afterall, what can a villain do when we take one day off, right?'
But as fate would have it, Peter would later groan at his own words, knowing full well that he had jinxed himself.
"Sorry I'm late everyone," Peter called as he swung into the students' lounge, where most of the T.A's and a few students had decided to meet up for their day off. "Just had to pick up some goodies from Aunt May on the way."
Sam Alexander rolled his eyes in mock annoyance at the appearance of his team leader and friend. "You really came didn't you, Web Head?"
"Great to see you too Buckethead." Peter retorted, rolling his eyes with a playful smirk back at the Living Rocket sitting on the couch.
"Wassup Webs, oh thank May you brought snacks, I'm dyin' of hunger here!" Luke exclaimed, rummaging through the bag that Peter brought.
The brunette chuckled, releasing his grip on the paper bag that was torn from his hands. "Hey, where's Harry?"
"Said he couldn't make it. Something about his dad." Sam replied, aquamarine eyes flicking up from his phone before going back to idly scrolling through his social media.
"Hey Pete, what took you?" The familiar voice of Peter's childhood friend MJ called.
"I stopped by Aunt May's to pick up some sna-"
A loud exclamation erupted behind the senior member of the team, cutting him off. "PETE MY MAN!" Flash Thompson smacked the aforementioned man hard on the back, who stumbled forward, hacking.
Ben, the Scarlet Spider, rolled his eyes before they locked onto the brown bag Ava was wrestling out of the other boy's hands. "What did May give you?
"Boys! The snacks are for later. Get your paws away from the bag!" Ava barked while slapping the boy's hands away from the snack bag.
"Ava, are Peter's quips rubbing off on you?" Danny asked jokingly. MJ rolled her eyes but grinned, taking a seat next to Sam.
"...Wait how does-oh." Luck sighed, while he relented his hold on the snacks. "Danny, to be honest, I think your sense of humor might be worse than Web Head's."
"And that's saying something." Ava grunted, growling at Flash who reached for the bag.
"Hey! My quips are the best." Peter cried in defiance, slipping out from his blond friends' arm, which was around his shoulder.
"I gotta disagree on that one, Spidey." Miles commented, walking in with Amadeus Cho, the two greeted the others with simple hellos or high fives.
"Well he's right about that. They're the best in being the lamest jokes this world has known." Sam agreed, slipping off the couch and quickly stuffing a cookie in his mouth, earning a smack from Ava.
As the hero's laughter resonated around the room, a single person stood out of place, hands in pockets, eyes trained on the floor. A frown found its way onto the Spiderman's face as he studied the sullen Ben Reilly in front of him. Despite the months that had passed following Ben's betrayal and reunification to the team, he still seemed out of place and uncomfortable, like a friend invited to a party but presence was never really wanted. While the team had forgiven him and welcomed him back, there was still a sense of mistrust following him.
Peter would be lying if he said he didn't notice his teammates watching him closely, or when their voices became quieter as they discussed an assigned mission when he was close by. The leader of the team himself couldn't deny that sometimes Scarlet Spider made him jump when he hadn't noticed him enter a room. It certainly didn't help that Ben distanced himself: perhaps it was because he wasn't blind to the same observations Peter made, or that he felt guilty for his actions and was unable to forgive himself. Unlike Peter, who'd forgiven him when he faked his death. It wasn't unknown to Spiderman the manipulation and daunting words of Doctor Octopus. Compared to most of his teammates, Peter saw the pain and the nightmares that Ben suffered at the hands of his 'creator' and abuser.
The young man sighed in his irritation, he didn't blame his teammates for the extra caution they had towards Scarlet Spider, but at the same time it had been months, the young man had changed and realized his mistakes.
As Peter made a move to confront his distressed friend, the blaring sound of the Triskelion's alarm rang through the structure, sending the ten heroes in the room on edge. Peter didn't even have to look at his S.H.I.E.L.D watch to know it was an intruder alert. "Intruder alert in sector 8!" Amadeus affirmed, while suiting up with the rest of the team.
Peter pulled on his mask, "Crap, that's the off-limits sector!" he groaned.
Sam pulled out his bag and unzipped it, grabbing his helmet and placing it on his head. "Why does this always happen on our days off?"
Seconds later the group was running, or swinging, down the halls of the Triskelion towards the offender who'd ruined the perfect day the team had planned for. Spiderman had made contact with the S.H.I.E.L.D security agents, coordinating between the two groups.
"Ya'know, I'm getting really annoyed with all these bad guys trying to take over the world, can't we have a break for once?" Luke gasped, panting.
"Yeah, I agree. If the Triskelion gets blown up again, I'm gonna file a complaint." Ben grumbled from the back.
"You do realize you brought down this base last time, right?" Ava added, not meaning it in a hostile way, but a hint of accusation slipped into her tone.
"I honestly don't think you have a reason to complain." Amadeus conjectured.
Peter sighed inwardly, before calling to Amadeus somewhere behind him. "Amadeus call back up!"
"I contacted the rest of the team, but everyone is off the island, Nick says he's on his way, ETA ten minutes."
"Of course. We couldn't have planned this better." MJ grumbled dryly, shooting her Web Head a glare as it was his dumb idea. "'What villain is going to attack on our day off? This is a great idea!'"
"Okay MJ! Lesson learned!" Spidey remarked with a roll of his eyes. "Why the heck is it gonna take Fury that long?"
Amadeus shrugged as he answered, "Something about a confidential meeting and paperwork, didn't give details."
Danny grunted, before voicing the thoughts of everyone, "Do you know who the intruder is?"
"It's gonna be Loki, probably." Luke bet through a pant.
Ava looked over at Luke and shook her head. "It's not gonna be Loki. My bets on Taskmaster."
"Why not just jinx us all and say it's gonna be both of them!" Miles added sarcastically, swinging next to Spiderman.
Flash cringed at the idea, "Can we not think about that?"
The team halted before their destination. An iron-steel enforced double door, where surrounding the storage unit was a squad of S.H.I.E.L.D agents waiting. Spidey sent a nod to the captain, and hastily flashed his I.D, gaining access to the sector. The double doors slid open in response, allowing the young heroes to make their way in. On the inside was all sorts of objects locked away in secure shields and boxes. The sides of the room were lined with crates and shelves that held different items, devices of powerful capabilities, and deadly weapons.
Standing center stage of the S.H.I.E.L.D agent's attention was a man in green and gold armor. In one hand he held a golden staff, attached at the top was the Tesseract-being one out of six Infinity Stones of unparalleled power, was a cosmic cube owned by Odin, King of Asgard. A single touch and one would be consumed by the overwhelming power and virtually disintegrated.
To make matters worse, Loki's right was occupied by the one and only Taskmaster.
"Now look who jinxed us!" Sam growled, shooting Miles a glare.
"Why, if it isn't the annoying bug and his friends." Loki spoke, disgust, annoyance, and irritation lacing his words.
"Wow, Loki, I never would have guessed it was you. You know, you've been so-"
"Oh no." Ben sighed.
"—low-key lately." Peter finished with a snicker. The rest of his team sighed and palm faced at the sorry excuse of a pun. "And you Tasky,"
"Please don't." Luke begged.
"Aren't you a Master of delaying my Tasks!"
Flash grinned, finding the joke hilarious while the rest of his team had a sudden urge to smack their beloved leader into unconsciousness.
"Your inadequacy at making jokes is almost amusing, Spiderman. Almost." Task Masters deep, collected voice responded, a tinge of exasperation hinting at how unimpressed he was by the last joke.
The aforementioned young man sighed in defeat. "Why does nobody like my jokes?"
"What are you doing with the Tesseract Loki?" demanded Ben, stepping out from his spot in the shadows.
"Why is it that there are always more spider men every time I see you?" The god of mischief wondered, looking at Peter.
Ben grunted and whipped out his stingers. He rushed forward, the rest of the team following suit.
As soon as Ben moved, Spiderman called to his team members, "Venom, Kid Arachnid, Spider-Woman, run variation twenty-one. Scarlet, keep Tasky distracted. Tiger, Iron Fist, Power Man, S.H.I.E.L.D attack plan six A on Loki! Nova, work on getting that Infinity Stone. I'm gonna put this place on lock down."
An explosion rocked the room, and the S.H.I.E.L.D agents who'd been filing in took cover as a maniacal laugh escaped the villain's lips. "I hope you realize we won't be so easily defeated. After all, we have our own little army."
Spiderman whirled around, signaling to his teammates to continue with their attacks before turning back to the offender who'd spoken. Loki held out his staff, a portal swirling open to allow Task Masters henchmen to jump out. Following up in the rear came in all his bug like glory, The Beetle.
"Great! The Beetle, just what we needed!" Flash moaned, memories of his first encounter with the suited man re-running through his head.
"I'm surprised Tasky, and you too Loki. I didn't think you were doing teams again, didn't work out so well for you last time now did it?" Spidey taunted, dodging a stray bullet. He signaled to the agents behind him to move in before slamming down on the big red button on the wall that never meant anything good.
Taskmaster glared at him from behind his mask, tuning it to the sound of not only the 'intruder alert' alarm but now the 'the triskelion is going on lock down' alarm blared over all the noises as well. Metal doors and locks closed down on the shelves, protecting them from being stolen.
"We may have our differences, but we've come to an agreement. In order to achieve the goals we want, working with allies is the best option in the book." The masked man tumbled out of the way as Nova came barreling through attempting to swipe his legs out from under him.
"I'd love to hear you describe that conversation for me. Could take a whole book." Peter laughed while he dodged his co-workers as they fought the other villains. Sam stopped where he was in midair and just looked at his friend.
"Did I really just hear that? Couldn't you at least make a joke that makes sense?"
Peter looked up, offended "What do you mean? That made plenty of sense."
"No," Ava commented as she slashed at Beetle before jumping next to Spiderman, "It really didn't."
As Taskmaster grabbed Sam's hand and judo flipped him onto his back, Peter shot a web that latched onto the masked man. Yanking his line, the other man went flying into Beetle. Danny, who had been fighting the armored clad man along with Tiger, nodded his thanks, before the two converged on the recovering mercenaries.
Through all the chaos, Spiderman watched his teammates in action, the S.H.I.E.L.D agents where handling most of Task Masters underlings while the heroes turned their attention to the three most dangerous villains in the room, Loki being the strongest with the Tesseract in hand.
Taking action, Peter swung and performed a flying sidekick directed at the Asgardian. "So, you gonna explain to me why you have the Tesseract and what you're doing here with it? I thought it was on Asgard. And why on earth is Tasky and Beetle with you? How did you meet them?"
"You really never shut up do you? The Tesseract was, until I took it back that is." Loki pointed his staff at Peter, who cartwheeled out of the way. "And as for my... 'allies' I thought it would be mutually beneficial to all of us if we were to form an alliance. I do do my research." A grin stretched across the black haired mans face, showing his evil intent through blue eyes.
"Something about this seems fishy…you don't do teams. So, what are you planning with that cube then? Don't tell me your plan involves math?" Peter looked over his shoulder as he snapped his fingers and pointed at Miles with a grin under his mask. Miles, who was standing to the right of him, rolled his eyes and palmed face.
"Never mind what I said earlier, I'm gonna file a complaint about webheads dumb jokes." Ben remarked while he avoided another mini rocket form Beetle, standing back to back with Peter. "The Tesseract and math? Most people don't even know that there's a geometric figure with the same name!"
"I still think you need to take a class on quips, webs." Sam agreed, switching his focus onto Beetle.
"Guys, stop wasting time complaining about Spidey's jokes and focus!" Called MJ as she jumped from the wall and shape shifted her arms into a spike ball.
Peter swung into the battle once more as he complained. "Thank you!"
The girl landed her fists with a 'bam' next Taskmaster, who with practiced easy dodged, eliciting a growl from the young woman. "You're smart, agile and learned. You should have joined me instead."
"I see you are still into recruiting; will you not learn?" Danny's fist glowed with his chi, his fist colliding with the masked assassin who hit the ground with a thud.
On the other side of the room, Sam slammed into the back wall with a loud 'oof', blinking way the stars that blurred his vision. Ava pounced on The Beatle before he could finish Nova off. A kick to the back of his knee forced him on the ground and a knife hand strike to the neck caused the armored man to fall forward before blasting off into the air again. The hero and heroine glanced at each other before nodding and taking off after him.
Nova shot passed Luke who's punch found Loki's stomach, sending him flying across the room, smashing into a locked down shelf with a cry of pain. Coughing he stood up and leaned against the damaged shelf.
"Where is Nick and the others?" Luke called, glancing at the dwindling numbers of S.H.I.E.L.D agents. "We need to have a better protocol for this." He grumbled, smashing his fist into a henchman's face.
A second before Spiderman's foot connected with Loki's jaw, the Asgardian teleported himself behind the red and blue hero.
"I think you should know," A ray hit the ground where Spidey had been a second before. "That this little team of mine isn't interested in you or this world anymore. A better opportunity has arisen for us. If you walk away now, we'll never have to see each other again."
Curiously, Spiderman ceased his attack on Loki, intrigued by the conversation. "What does that mean?"
A smirk formed on Loki's lips, mischief glimmering behind his blue orbs. "It means, we've got what we came for; and if you don't interfere, this world will never see us again. But either way, there's no stopping us."
The feeling of slight dread wormed its way into Spiderman's stomach, instinct telling him that the man Infront of him had devised a plan that far surpassed his team, and even this world.
Blue eyes narrowed in attempt to figure this new threat out, Peter's mind searching for a way to stop it before it could begin. But alas, before he could find his voice, a portal shimmered open, and Loki and his team along with a hand full of Task Masters henchmen disappeared in it, the god of mischief's conniving grin only confirmed Peters dreaded speculations.
"Well. So much for downtime."