Chapter 8

Operation New Hope Part III

The Avengers Cruiser shot a beam through the side of the biggest Vordock ship they found in space and entered into the hanger bay of alien craft. The ship, being designed from some kind of synthetic organic alien material, instantly recovered it's wall as soon as the Avengers entered the ship. Captain America gave orders, as the hatch opened and the team left jet.

"Our mission is twofold. First, we must rescue our friends that are being held captive. Then together, with the rest of the team, we find the leader of this Vordock invasion and take him down. Any questions?"

There were none, so the super soldier led his squad into the depths of the alien ship in search for his allies. To Quicksilver, the inside of the alien spaceship seemed like the inside of a large beast. The walls seemed to inhale and exhale slowly as if they were lungs. The floor was soft, and all around the corridors were giant green eggs that were linked into the ship by some kind of vein.

"This is by far the most repulsive place I have ever been…" Wanda groaned, disgusted at the sight of the alien technology, as the team entered a large room.

"We said the same thing when we invaded your little planet." A low, deep, booming, and loud voice was heard all throughout the large dimly lit room.

"We're not alone!" Captain America spoke as he readied his shield, "Keep your heads up…Be ready for anything!"

"So many unique individuals this Earth has to offer." The voice spoke, as the room lit up through unknown measures. "You all will make valuable additions to my collection of prisoners. When we are done with the invasion, you will be taken back to the Mother Planet for inspection and extraction. Your powers will aid the Vordock empire greatly."

The lights revealed the Avengers to be in a massive room of many levels filled with a multitude of eggs, similar to the ones that had been all over the ship. In front of them at the top most level, stood a Vordock larger than most of his kind. He wore a different kind of armor with a star on his chest, and several mechanical devices attached to his body. It was clear that this Vordock was the leader, and controller of the ship. Also notably in the room, the four humans noticed a few tubes filled with green liquid, and captive Avengers.

Quicksilver looked as he identified the heroes based on Hawkeye's description during their trip to San Diego. There was a man suited in red and gold armor known as Ironman, who co-led the Avengers with Captain America. Next to him on the right side was a man dressed in black known as the Black Panther. Next to the Panther, was a tiny woman (the size of a bee) wearing black and yellow, with pixie-like wings, known as Wasp. Next to Wasp was a man wearing a red uniform with a silver helmet known as Ant-Man. All heroes were currently unconscious.

"Dang, they really got hold of most your team didn't they?" Quicksilver callously replied, noticing the fallen heroes. He particularly found amusement in seeing a tanked up Ironman, who was one of the heroes that had brought him into the negative zone.

"The Vordock were innumerable when they invaded Earth." Captain America spoke grimly, as he reminisced on their many recent defeats. "But I've noticed we haven't been met with much opposition here in this ship."

"Maybe they sent all their guys onto Earth figuring nobody could get to this ship?" Hawkeye spoke as he raised an arrow pointed at the Vordock leader. "What a stupid move, well…their loss. I'm sure given time, the Vordock Empire would have appreciated Earth as a nice vacation spot from all this ugliness."

"Foolish meat!" the alien warlord grumbled as he began pressing buttons on his gauntlet. "How little you understand of the likes of the great Vordock race. We are never at a shortage of troops!"

After speak, the commander pressed one last button and suddenly all the eggs in the room burst. As blue goo spread everywhere and on everyone, several dozens of Vordock brutes jumped out the eggs, roaring with rage. Out of the ceiling several axes flew down towards the aliens, all of whom caught the weapons with ease.

"You just had to say something, didn't you?" Scarlet Witch mocked Hawkeye as she swept the gross blue goo off her face as several aliens rushed the team.

"Make them suffer!" The Vordock leader ordered to his minions.

The four heroes fought hard against the mass of soldiers that closed in on them. Hawkeye and Scarlet Witch did their best strike them down with arrows and hex bolts from a distance, and Captain America and Quicksilver would fight in the front lines. Doors opened from all over the ship into the giant central room they were in, as many more Vordock hatchling aliens rushed in with murderous intent. Quicksilver surveyed the area quickly to notice that the four of them were way outnumbered. Not having lost hope yet, Quicksilver's eyes fell on the tanks with the captive Avengers. A mischievous smile appeared on Pietro's face as he sped by a Vordock, knocked him down, took his axe, and ran up to the capsules.

The speedster whizzed up to Tony Stark's capsule and paused briefly. He had no idea if striking into this capsule would save the hero, or kill him. Thinking of it for half a second, and then shrugging, Quicksilver struck the capsule hard with the sharp alien battle axe. The glass shattered and the green liquid escaped, vaporizing upon exposure to oxygen in the ship. Ironman fell to the ground and instantly awoke, gasping for air. He looked up at his unexpected rescuer, Quicksilver.

"How'd you know that wouldn't have killed me?" Ironman asked, as he quickly jumped to his feet.

"I didn't." Quicksilver spoke as he took the axe and swiftly freed the other Avengers, all who awoke just as quickly.

"How sweet…" Ironman muttered, and then used his repulsors to fly into the air to survey the situation. Yelling out to his recently freed allies, the leader prepared for battle. "Looks like we woke up in the middle of a fight, let's send these Orcs back to Lord of the Rings. Avengers Assemble!"

Black Panther, Wasp, and Ant-Man instantly struck in a well-rehearsed battle formation against the Vordock. Quicksilver sped back down to the ground level to join his sister in battle, as the fight swerved onto the favor of the good guys, with their increased numbers. Pietro ran into several circles creating whirlwinds that blew Vordock axe-men away from Wanda, as she hexed parts of the ship to fall onto troopers. As they were battling, Iron-Man levitated down next to them.

"It's great to have you on board, Speedy and err…Red Woman." Tony Stark's cocky attitude shone through his words.

"That's Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver." Wanda corrected him, annoyed that the man in tin armor would dare belittle the two mutants. "And I'd remember that if I were you…it'd be a pity if there was any chance of your armor shorting out in this battle."

"That's highly unlikely," Ironman beamed with pride as he talked about his armor. "The energy cell I have right now is…"

"How unlikely?" Scarlet Witch flared with fury at the man who threw her in prison. Upon looking at Ironman, his entire body stopped moving and his armor began to shut down.

"Right…" Ironman spoke softly, being put in his place. "I remember now, you're the chick that can control probability."

"Wanda!" Quicksilver grabbed his sister's arm, surprised at this sudden outrageous outburst towards Ironman in the middle of fighting for their life. "This is SO not the place for starting a fight with the side that we're on. C'mon, let him go!"

"Damn straight I control probability." Wanda replied as she cooled down and let Ironman go, allowing his suit to regain power. "And don't you dare forget it, tin man."

"Right…Got it, Crazy." Ironman breathed easily, as his suit regained functions. "Listen, the big orange ugly leader up there is getting away…do you think you two could pave me a path to him? I want to make sure I thank him for his hospitality, before we go."

"You got it." Pietro spoke as he sped on and punched several Vordock soldiers, knocking them down in an instant. Scarlet Witch followed his obedience by causing several energy axes held by the aliens to blow up in the hands of the warriors. The small explosion was enough to knock them to their feet as well.

As the battle continued on the lower level, the Vordock leader saw that it was time for him to retreat. He began running out of the room towards the escape pod, but was cut off by Captain America and Hawkeye leaping in front of him.

"End of the road for you, ugly." Hawkeye spoke as he raised his bow.

"Your invasion is over." Captain America added, "the Vordock have lost."

"How dare you speak to me with such impetuous tongues!" the warlord yelled in fury as he turned around, only to be met by a large chest blast from Ironman. The powerful attacked knocked the warrior on his butt, as the three heroes surrounded him.

"You've over stayed your welcome." Ironman said as he pointed his hand blasters at the alien leader. "So I think it's time you call off your dogs here, bring home the ones on Earth, and go back to wherever the hell you came from…And this is me asking nicely."

"This isn't over…" The Vordock commander grumbled as he pressed buttons on his armor, that ordered the soldiers to return to the walls of the ship. "When we come back, it'll be with a force unlike anything you've ever seen. Things would have been easier if you had just let the Earth fall at the hands of one Vordock Warlord…crossing the entire empire as you have is like signing your own death sentence, Meat."

"If all the Warlords put up as much fight as you do, I think we're good shape." Hawkeye interjected, as the alien pressed another button on his armor to teleport away to an unknown location.

After the aliens left the ship, suddenly red lights started to flash as a siren began to sound. All Avengers looked around as they noticed the walls began to glow orange, as if charging power from some kind of source. From the entire room, the team began to hear growls that could only be assumed to be the native tongue of Vordocks.

"I'm sure whatever it is that thing is saying," Ant-Man, the scientist of the team spoke frantically, "can be translated to "This ship is about to blow up!""

"Let's move people!" Captain America instructed the team, pointing them in the direction of the Cruise ship.

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Quicksilver spoke speedily, as he picked up his sister and whisked away to the cruiser. When he got to the ship, he looked back, considering leaving without the Avengers. The speedster spoke out loud. "It'd make things so much easier for us if they weren't around to catch us next time we're in a bind…"

"No…" Scarlet Witch said, as she stepped out of his arms. "We have no reason to kill them. When we arrive home with the Avengers, Captain America will give us our freedom. Then things will be back to normal. Killing him or any of his friends won't give us our freedom. Besides, we're low…but we're not that low."

"I guess you're right." Quicksilver replied, remembering that he had stopped Pyro from a similar plot against Captain America that was almost as treacherous.

Within moments the rest of the Avengers arrived and Hawkeye flew the jet out of the giant space station, that exploded within moments of their departure. The blackhole back to Earth that Scarlet Witch had hexed was still open, but rapidly closing. Thanks to some impressive flying on archer's part, the jet made it back to Earth just before the portal completely closed. They landed the assault cruiser down on top of a tall building to overlook the city of San Diego, which was no Vordock free.

Outside of the jet, the Avengers stood together as Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch slowly walked away. Captain America and Hawkeye left from the huddle with their team mates to speak to the twins.

"Listen," Captain America spoke to the two, "we could not have stopped the invasion without you two today and you saved my lives. We need some more Avengers, and you two would fit the bill perfectly."

"Us, Avengers?" Quicksilver chuckled at the idea.

"Please!" Scarlet Witch exclaimed, "Hey, if the hero thing falls through, at least you have a career in comedy, Captain."

"Who you fooling, Wanda?" Hawkeye asked, in a moment of rare seriousness for him. "We all know you're not one of the bad guys. And Pietro, the way you jumped to save Captain America earlier, freed the rest of the Avengers, and didn't just leave the starship without us in the Avengers jet…you guys are in fact heroes, you're just afraid to admit it. Take it from a fellow rogue, that's not such a bad thing."

"You two, I can handle." Quicksilver admitted, "But don't stick me with Ironman for the first little bit, and we may have a deal."

"Taking out more gross aliens could prove to be entertaining." Scarlet Witch admitted as she began to enjoy the idea of being an Avenger."

"Well look around, soldiers." Captain America spoke, pointing at Hawkeye, himself, Quicksilver, and Scarlet Witch. "Because as of right now, we are now what will be considered the West Coast Avengers. Welcome to the team!"