MADRIPOOR, APRIL 24, 8:00 UTC
"Are you really that mad?" Black Ant asked his friend Taskmaster. Taskmaster had to think of the circumstances, and every single time he came to the conclusion…
Yes he was really that mad. Look he was 50+ years old. He had been hiding out in Madripoor in relative peace...Maybe even happiness.
Sure Ultron destroyed America, who cares? It wasn't the only country in the world. And realistically it was only a matter of time. With the amount of times some villain of the week tried it, no one should have been surprised it finally happened.
What really annoyed him was coming out of retirement for this...to-to be Zemo's and Viper's lapdogs. He and Grady deserved better.
He hadn't planned on getting into a fight with super powered teens. Even fighting the wannabe Hawkeye was annoying. He had thought Zemo and Viper had better planning than this but clearly they hadn't understood. They still didn't understand just how desperate that country was. If they were smart they'd pick on a country with more to lose. This wasn't as easy as they thought it was.
"Tasky, we're about to land." Black Ant informed his longtime friend "You also didn't answer me, are you really that mad?"
"Yeah, I am." Taskmaster sighed "Everyday I question whether those fools know what they're doing."
"Well you might as well ask them today. If those little kids are as strong as you say they are, they need more planning than anticipated."
"You saw the girl." Taskmaster huffed "Even as we were leaving the tremors felt from the thunder was immense. Whatever she and that Wakandan wannabe were up to was far more powerful than anything we could have dreamed."
"You're right you know. And now the Masters are down by two members. They're definitely going to jail old Willy, but they might struggle with Chen."
"No." Taskmaster disagreed "Not if Stark is still with them."
"Makes them even more dangerous." Black Ant sighed "That Madame Viper better know what she's doing...I can't keep giving her a pass because she's hot."
"You are an idiot." Taskmaster smirked at his friend
"What? It's true. She's gotta be like 50 and she doesn't look a day over 25." Grady commented
"Yeah...We are old. All of us. Those idiots may not like it but those Kid Avengers have youth on their side. It helps."
The two didn't converse much after that. Instead landing their plane on the Helicopter pad on the huge towering building. Targo Corporation. In other words, a front for the real company the Masters of Evil inhabited. Advanced Ideas Mechanics. Otherwise known as AIM. the bright light of the building shone in the dark smoggy atmosphere of Madripoor.
The two friends got out of the jet and headed towards the Elevator on the roof, two guards were in there, each packing heat, that had been the standard as Zemo and Viper continued to plan in case of an attack.
Taskmaster was about to let them know this security wasn't going to do shit against those kid Avengers.
Taskmaster and Black Ant were quickly directed to the meeting room. Where Baron Zemo, Madame Viper, Egghead, and Moonstone were sitting there.
In his head really, the only one who could take the Asgardian was Moonstone. She could go toe to toe with most. But with Radioactive Man subdued...Things were going to be hard.
"Report?" Zemo questioned the Mercenary. Wordlessly Taskmaster pulled out a little usb looking device and slid it across the table to Zemo, the man took the device and passed it off to one of the guards.
"Chen was captured." It wasn't stated like a question, it was a statement coming from Madame Viper, and judging by the look on her face she wasn't happy about it.
"Yeah. Saved my ass."
"You three told me you'd come back just fine." Viper said once more
"Yeah, because our first fight was with a bunch of non-super powered kids. And even then they aren't slouches. But now you add a 20ft kid, a pissed off Asgardian Teen, and some Prince of Wakanda, you've got big problems."
"But-"
"And don't get me started on Cap's kid." Taskmaster sneered "Fights just like his pops. Except he seems a little faster, a little stronger, a tinge cockier too. And that's a problem. Because I'm a tinge slower, a little weaker, and a lot more annoyed when it comes to dealing with people's bullshit."
"Taskmaster." Zemo commanded "Calm down." It wasn't really a suggestion, and so Taskmaster did his best to relax, finally taking his seat at the table with the rest of the Masters.
"Are you saying there stronger than that footage from two years ago?" Moonstone asked
"Definitely, they are basically seasoned veterans." Taskmaster admitted
"And that was to be expected." Viper contested "We knew they'd be at least a little bette-
"It wasn't just a little better." Black Ant spoke up in defense of his friend "I had to be twenty miles away and we could still feel the tremors from the Asgardian and Prince using their powers. It was immense."
Viper seemed to stare down Grady, but he held his ground, they could not, and would not be blamed for this.
"It doesn't matter anyway. The plan moves on since you've got the information." Zemo put everyone back on the same page "All this means is that we have to plan a little better when it comes to these...Avengers. They are a little stronger than anticipated."
"Correct, and the information you've provided will keep us steps ahead of the children. You've done great work."
Still though Taskmaster didn't really believe they understood what he was talking about "I just...You didn't see the looks in their eyes. There is absolutely nothing left for them to lose, they lost their parents, cities, countries, any semblance of family is with each other. They've seen and experienced it all. Death, trauma, pain, hurt. Our little mental games won't work for long. If we are going to come punching, it better be a knockout because I promise you they will come back 10x harder."
"And that doesn't even account for the fact that Thor isn't dead." Black Ant added shortly. Viper and Zemo seemed to look at each other in silent communication.
"Understood Taskmaster." Zemo started "Your opinion is greatly appreciated. We will take this into consideration Meeting adjourned."
As everyone except the Hydra heirs left the room, Taskmaster could really only hope they took him seriously. He didn't want to spend the rest of his life imprisoned by a bunch of kids.
"Not even kids...Avengers." He mumbled to himself as he walked into quarters, needing a long rest after that day."
ARCTIC CIRCLE, BIODOME APRIL 24, 16:40 UTC
The team wasn't used to losing. No, from the moment they had gone out to fight Ultron, it seemed like they couldn't really lose. Especially after they went out and beat him. Anything else after that seemed like a cakewalk.
Whether it was taking down waves of drones for hours in South America, or helping the military take down the towers in Great Britain. It was done with the mentality that nothing in their way could stop them.
But yesterday they had been stopped. Stopped by two mercenaries and a superpowered Radioactive Man. Yeah they took two of them out, but the most important one got away with essential information.
And now to make things worse they had three villains at their base with Crossfire, Radioactive Man, and Omega Red. This wasn't good at all. The Biodome wasn't created to be a prison.
At the end of the day, to James there were many things to take from this, many things they had to do. But the most important thing was practice. Nothing mattered anymore if they couldn't win fights, did it?
That's why he called a meeting. Him, Azari, Torunn, Francis, and Pym, were all there. Tony, Riri, Cho, and Banner walked in shortly taking their seats at the extended table. After that Daisy walked in taking the open seat beside James, James who was standing at the head of the table, as he had called the meeting.
He took a look at everyone, Azari seemed fine for the most part, if he had suffered any injuries it wasn't visible. Francis had a few cuts, a few scrapes but he was good, Torunn's arms looked a little redder than normal, but she was Asgardian, she was fine. The one who had gotten hurt the most had been Pym, blotches of red puffy skin was still on his face, and arms. Radioactive Man had really hurt their youngest teammate. And Torunn wouldn't let him forget it.
"You sure you're okay Pym." Torunn whispered to her little friend. She couldn't help but feel worried, they were her family, and she'd known Pym since he was just a little baby.
"Fine Tor, you don't gotta worry about me." Pym insisted with a grin, "It doesn't even hurt."
Torunn took his jaw within her hands once again inspecting for any injuries, maybe she had missed one. She heard a loud huff from Pym, and unhappily took her hand away "If you say so Pym, but I'm always going to worry about you. All of you actually."
James took a look at Daisy who seemed to instantly notice James, and gave him a nod and a smile back. It was hard to peel his eyes away when she was wearing such a form fitting uniform. But he managed, hopefully before anyone noticed. Everyone bar Vision was here, so James started the mission.
"Alright." James' voice quieted the already less than talkative room. Still, when he really thought about it. The fact that he commanded this type of respect from his teammates, Tony, Bruce, and the Scavengers, was surreal. Hopefully they understood where he was coming from.
"Yesterday we got our asses kicked. We, the Avengers as a whole, got beat by three people. Not because we weren't strong enough, not because we weren't fast enough. But because we are ill informed. In the past the only threats we've had to face were Ultron, Ultron Robots, Ultron Sentries, Ultron ships. That era is coming to a close." James told everyone
"Our enemies before were well known commodities. You put an Ultron ship in front of this team and we dismantle it in a minute. The structure and weak points have been etched into our minds from constant battle for two years. It's time to focus on the Unknown. We need to start admitting to ourselves that we have no clue who or who isn't alive."
"So what's the play?" Francis asked lazily
James messed with a few things on the meeting room's computer before pulling up a screen of Radioactive Man, Crossfire, and Taskmaster's files, with strengths, weaknesses, and other things that should have given them an edge.
"Starting from today. Every Avengers, Every Scavenger, I want every person who enters this building to know these files up and down. From A to Z. Whoever we've got a file on, we need to read it. Unfortunately not knowing who is alive is going to make work harder for us. But this is the best way to make sure we are prepared to fight."
"Those are a lot of names." Pym sighed "It's going to slow us down."
"It's necessary." James insisted "Nothing we do here matters if we lose when we fight out there."
"Alright." Tony nodded "Alright, we add this to everyone's tablet. Gonna have to make time for studying people, got it?"
Everyone gave Tony their verbal agreement, and they moved onto the next issue. It felt weird to actually have this many different problems.
"Alright, next thing is the ones we've captured. Omega Red, Radioactive Man, and Crossfire have been moved around 20 clicks from our position. They are being kept in a well structured containment unit, thoughts?"
"It's probably unwise." Azari spoke up "The possibility of those three plotting down there to escape is too great. And it's not that I don't believe we won't stop them. But the damage they could do to the Biodome...We really don't have anywhere else to stay, it's integral to our success. We have to move them."
"Agreed." Francis chimed in "But I'm not exactly sure if we can afford to move them. I mean, realistically where would they go, to one of the outside prisons? Are there still functioning prisons, I'm not sure if I trust those people with a task like this."
"They aren't incapable." Riri spoke up for the first time "Don't get me wrong, down there isn't in the best place, but they can work. They can do jobs, in fact that's what a lot of them want. For society to turn back to normal."
"Riri is right." Amadeus agreed "Everyone is really ready to forget Ultron. I'm not sure the 'outside' world has a prison capable of holding Omega Red and Radioactive Man, But if you give them the tools they will surprise you."
"How long would it take to construct a prison that could hold super powered villains?" James asked curiously
"Jocasta, pull up files on the Raft." Tony asked his AI, dutifully the screens switched to pictures of the old superpowered prison prior to it's destruction. "A couple of months maybe...If I can get away with using the Iron Legion. It could take longer if we don't get clearance from the Government."
"What government?" Francis scoffed "Nobody does anything out there except for us!"
"Not true. There's no president, that's true. But what's left of government officials, mayor's, senators, and the Senate meet together. They've grown in two years, and they pass laws. Things still go through them." Pym explained
"It doesn't matter, they are going to say yes. There's no reason not to. We are under attack, they'll understand." Cap waved away "Regardless, the problem remains, I don't want those three around for a couple of more months."
"I mean, last I heard they were rebuilding Rykers? Right?" It seemed like Amadeus' question was more directed at Riri, as they were the people who lived in the real world.
"Yeah you're right, but it wouldn't be finished in time seeming as Ryker's is supposed to be in NYC, but NYC isn't NYC just yet…"
That was putting it lightly. At this rate no one knew if NYC was ever going to be NYC again.
"There was another old prison. Down in Colorado. The Vault, remember Tony?" Banner asked the Inventor
"Yeah it was a superhuman maximum facility as well. It just wasn't run by S.H.I.E.L.D. I'm pretty sure Ultron would have left that up."
"You would be correct Henry. Though records show the Vault doesn't currently have any prisoners."
"That's fine it works… So we give the guys over there some things to work with, just to make sure nothing happens to those who work there." James decided
"We could probably deploy some of the Scavengers. I know for a fact some have gotten a little antsy and could probably benefit from getting their feet wet somewhere else." Daisy added
"Perfect."
"So we all agree that the Raft should still be created though right? Create the Raft which will be like the pinnacle of superpowered prisons, and for now jail em in the Vault to keep everyone safe, and send some Scavengers just in case anything happens." Francis reiterated.
Once again everyone stated their agreement, leaving just a few more things on the menu for today's meeting.
"Last thing is Cross, and Chen Lu's interrogation. I want Pym, Riri, and Amadeus on this. Try and decipher anything you can. I'm going to be honest Francis and I couldn't get much. But maybe there was a hidden message in their words." James explained
"We're going to need it for the counter attack on Madripoor." Francis added "So really anything at all is appreciated."
"Gotcha Boss." Amadeus nodded
"It shouldn't be a problem." Riri nodded also. Pym didn't have to say anything, as he was expected to lead in that department, and looked a little bored if they were being honest.
"Alright then, the meeting is adjourned I guess. I expect some news tomorrow on the jail front. And everyone better start working down the list we've got. It's imperative to our survival." James started to leave the room and basically everyone followed, Daisy in particular fell step by step with him. She seemed to be following him to wherever he was going.
"What are you going to be doing?" Francis asked James curiously, easily noticing Daisy's presence
"Planning the counterattack." James said shortly "Come on Daisy."
Francis looked at Torunn and shrugged, and she didn't say anything back, watching the two leave the room. "Wanna get some food?" Francis asked Torunn
"That'd be great." Torunn decided to "Lead the way Francis."
Everyone left leaving Riri, Amadeus, and Pym alone in the conference room. But Pym didn't plan on staying for long. He had his own thing he wanted to do.
"Riri, Amadeus...I was wondering if I could leave you guys to do this by yourselves. You're both as smart as me anyways. I don't think you'll need three of them to decipher that meeting."
"Yeah, it's cool." Riri nodded, secretly liking being alone. She didn't mind Pym, actually he was very easy to work with, same with Amadeus. She just naturally liked to be alone. Plus it helped that she got to work on her own projects.
"Sure Pym." Amadeus nodded "But...I was wondering if after I could take a crack at those Ultron encrypted files. I know it's not the focus, but he kind of locked half the internet away. And I don't know, I guess it'd be a fun side project."
"Hmm, I mean sure." Pym shrugged "There's no harm, go ahead. I'll catch you guys later." Pym left the room to go to the laboratory, where he stored the gun he took from the Golden People.
Armed with his special laptop, a bunch of different lab scanners, and a freshly brewed cup of coffee, Pym was ready to work "Now to find out what the heck you are."
HEROES OF TOMORROW
Sometimes James quarters felt foreign to him. The large room was filled with little knick knacks, and things of his interests. But when your interests were war, and fighting things got real boring quick.
There wasn't much to decorate his room with, it felt...childish, especially considering the circumstances. So before he had a lot of toys, and posters and stuff most of that had been removed.
There was a large drawing of his Mom and Dad. He had done it over a year ago, a reminder of who he fought for, his shield hung on the wall, it was fine because the energy shield never left his wrist. His uniform also hung up. As well, his helmet, shining A, a constant reminder to the legacy he was supposed to carry on.
A couple of other things were around like his laptop, but that was the only thing left that really had any important to him.
He entered the passcode to his quarters, the door sliding open easily, and wasted no time walking to the large desk where he and Daisy were going to work.
"Huh, I guess even Captain America can't avoid the monster that is a teenaged boys room." Daisy teased.
James shrugged, and kicked a shirt over to make way for Daisy, and brought her a chair, Daisy set down the coffee they had gotten and looked around. James didn't seem to care for too much other than his work. An easy way to forget the past.
"So what's up." She asked the super soldier in front of her. James tapped a few things on the desk's interface, pulling up some plans he seemed to be working. He looked very determined, very cute. If you were allowed to call Captain America cute? Well she would, because he was.
"You listening Daisy?" James asked with a teasing grin, Daisy shook her head trying to avoid the blush creeping up her cheeks.
"Sorry, I zoned out. What were you saying?" Daisy asked, determined to get her mind of James' face and one what he was actually saying.
"I was thinking the mission would be more stealth based, you know seeming as we don't exactly know what's going on Madripoor, and then-
"You wanna go spar or something." Daisy interrupted him. She couldn't do it. She knew she should be focused on the mission, but come on no one was more focused on the mission than her and James. They could spend 30 minutes doing something else.
"What?" James asked confused
"Would you like to spar, maybe go to the common room, do something other than this?"
"Dais-
"I know, I know." Daisy interrupted him again, she hadn't even realized she had gotten up and into his face "We have to work, and we can. But I really want to spend time with you...Not just working you know. I want to do stuff with you, to just do it...you know just cause we can, not because of missions.
James' breath was basically on her face she put her hands on his chest never really noticing the height difference between them until now. Her head only reached his chest, he practically towered over her and he wasn't even six feet.
James tentatively put his hands around Daisy's waist pulling her in even closer, foreheads nearly touching as James stared down at her brown eyes, and she stared back at him with a passion he hadn't thought he'd ever seen before. It ignited him, made him really feel things he tried to suppress for the sake of the mission
"Daisy, I want to spend time with you too." He whispered, he cupped her cheek and she let out a little sigh, James realized he had never been in such a sexually charged moment in his entire life "I promise I do want to spend time with you. We just have to wait a little longer, then I can take a day off and we can do something. Sounds good?"
Daisy nodded quietly, not moving from her position, face snuggled in James' chest, and James didn't either, it felt good being in another's person's embrace. Especially a person you felt that way about.
They would have stayed a little longer, if a loud crash wasn't heard across the hallway. Immediately James and Daisy pulled away from each other, both on high alert. James messed with the interface, pulling up footage from across the hallway. Vision's room.
They watched the Hallway Camera as Vision seemingly phased through the floor, but then slammed into his quarters door, seemingly forgetting to phase. He finally got it right, going to his room where no noise was no longer heard.
Vision had been acting a little weird lately hadn't he? James thought, even if he wasn't, his and Daisy's moment was over. Though he was okay with that and so was she.
Daisy had a smile on her face and sat back down at the desk "Well I guess we can do some work today. Next time I spend time in your quarters I don't want it to be on this chair though."
The innuendo wasn't lost on James and his cheeks flushed as red as his hair as he stammered onto explaining his plan. For the first time in a while, he was looking forward to after the mission.
HEROES OF TOMORROW
Francis and Torunn were alone in the lunchroom. Empty plates of food between, they were on C for the list of villains, and Francis was already feeling like his brain was turning to mush. Francis was amazed at the amount of idiots who wanted to terrorize the world.
He turned his head towards Torunn, she was frowning at her tablet as they looked at the villain known as Cassandra Nova.
He wasn't focused on the bald villain however, his eyes couldn't leave Torunn's face. Even when she was the world's largest frown on her face she was cute. Even though she was just wearing a simple sweater and shorts. Cute.
And to think, he used to date that...still could maybe. "Hey Tor?"
"Yeah Francis?"
"Why did we ever break up?"
Torunn gave a deadpan look, he knew why they broke up "Because we fought too much. It was a detriment to the team."
"Huh oh yeah…" Francis smirked "It was pretty fun though."
"Francis." Torunn warned, what was he playing at?
"What it's true!" He insisted "Working together on missions, travelling the world, enjoying whatever it had to offer. Remember Sweden?"
A small smile crossed her lips, and a blush found her cheeks as she remembered the memory. The people there had treated them great, especially considering she was Thor's daughter, someone the nordic people truly loved. It had been especially great at the time since Francis and her had been dating. Whatever they had wanted they got. It had been a nice little mini vacay for the team. And for her and Francis...an experience to say the least.
"How could one forget?" Torunn retorted "We spent lots of nights gazing at the sky. Talking about how we thought things were going to look in 5 years. 10 years. We were pretty innocent at the time."
"Yeah...but not too innocent." Francis said cheekily, causing Torunn to blush. "No, not too innocent. Though we might have been, had I not made any moves. Someone was too afraid to say what he wanted."
"Oh come on, I'm...me, and your you!" Francis laughed "Of course I was intimidated. I'm not the same person now." Francis boasted
"Really?" Torunn questioned skeptically "For some reason I don't believe you."
Francis took that as a challenge and scooted right beside Torunn "Do you believe me now?"
"Nope." Torunn responded
"Now?" Francis asked as he moved right in front her face, They stared each other in the eyes, there work all but forgotten
"Not yet." Torunn breathed.
"Well…" Francis took her hands in his and pushed forward so their foreheads touched, noses against one another. "How about now?"
Torunn didn't even say anything instead met his lips with her own, it was a comforting gesture, one etched into her brain. Immediately she placed her arms around his neck and his arms flew to her waist.
They had to have been there for a minute or two, until Torunn quickly pulled away leaving a very confused and moderately aroused Francis.
"We shouldn't have done that." Torunn stood up and and began collecting her things
"Why not, are you dating someone?" Francis asked
"No but-
"Well I'm not either, so I don't get it. Why can't we. No one's getting hurt, we're responsible adults...ish" Francis told her
"Just...please Francis. I need to process everything. Sorry." And with that, the young Asgardian flew out of the room.
"Could have been worse." Francis mumbled to himself. Still he was hopeful. Him and Torunn just worked together, he'd make her see that.
HEROES OF TOMORROW
Azari traveled to his quarters, after spending most of the time studying in the gym. There wasn't too much to do today. The Avengers for a moment had peace. This was the first time he had a moment to check what his Aunt Shuri gave him.
He took a deep breath and looked around his room, and it did anything but fill him with confidence. There was a painting of his parents done by James, of course that might have been the most mature thing about it. There was his computer, and all that good stuff. And an abundance of toys he had been too nostalgic over to ever give up.
He was just 15 and rarely ever used any of them, but still. That wasn't a very good excuse when he was expected to be king. "I'll remove all that stuff. I have too." Azari murmured.
It was funny because most people who knew the electric 15 year old would tell you he's one of the calmest, most mature teens you'll ever see. He knew when it was okay to joke and okay to work. Unfortunately he seemed to be holding himself to a much higher standard.
Azari moved under his bed and pulled out the special ornate briefcase. The lock on the front was in the shape of a panther. No surprise there.
He put his hand over the panther buckle in admiration, and almost immediately the eyes glowed an almost white-blue. Like his lightning.
The big case popped open and Azari was shocked to see its contents. The first thing was a black panther suit. Like a real Black Panther suit. The type his father used to wear. It was jarring to say the least. The next thing, in it's on little compartment was the heart shaped herb, fourth was Kimoyo Beads, there were candles, coal, and special types of incense, what he thought was Wakandan sand, and last but not least a piece of paper with written instructions.
It almost made the instructions more important in his eyes, seeming as his Aunt had written it down instead of using their vast technology.
"Azari…" He started reading the message to himself "You are a very special boy. You don't seem to understand that yet, and that's okay. You live a very noble and valiant life, an especially courageous feat at just 15. But I need you...Wakanda needs you to take that next step. You're just a child, a young prince, and I completely understand that. But in a few years time, you will be expected to take the throne. I know you're wary, but heed these instructions, they might give you a new perspective on your situation."
"First things first fill your bath." Azari dutifully obeyed the instructions filling his tub with the hot water. "Next burn the incense." there was lots of it, so he spread it around his bath making sure he burned a lot of it. There was a real earthy smell to it...it was comforting. Reminded him of his Mother. And that wasn't something he could say often.
After that he took a little water and put it in a small bowl, and put it over the coals he was burning, he was sure Tony would freak out if he saw what he was doing, he'd probably think he was going to burn down the Compound.
Next he lit the candles, which he thought might have been a little overkill, but whatever, he wasn't going to mess up the ritual. Last but not least was herb. As he took the purple plant into his hands it faintly glowed. He placed it in the bowl with water and started mixing it in the bowl. Quickly the plant started to dissolve and a purple liquid was what was left.
He wasn't partial to this part of the instructions but he had to do it anyway, he stripped down to his briefs before he entered the water with a fist full of the Wakandan sand and spread it around the water.
With the heart shaped herb concoction in his hand he took one last deep breath before taking the plunge "Praise the ancestors." and he drank the heart shaped herb.
It barely took a few seconds to register before Azari was feeling a tightening in his chest, it almost seemed like his skin glowed purple for a second as he fell into a trance. He slipped under the water...sand? All he knew was one moment he was staring at candles and the next the world was moving a mile a minute.
He couldn't catch what he was seeing, it's like his eyes were moving a mile a minute as his life flashed before his eyes. Soon enough however, everything calmed down. Things slowed and it was like his eyes opened once more and he was streetside.
Azari couldn't even comment, because he wasn't sure his mouth was working. He couldn't fathom what he was seeing.
Vista Boulevard. This was their street. When his Mom and Dad weren't in Wakanda, this is where they came to live. This is where a lot of his earliest memories were created, the only pieces of his Mom and Dad to this day.
He remembered it like it was yesterday, he remembered the vibrant neighbourhood that had constantly been filled with children playing. He felt like he remembered each tiny little crack in the street. But the most important thing was their home.
Azari ran up the street looking for the familiar white and blue house. It wasn't all too big and that was the entire point. His father had been royalty all his life, and his Mother was appreciative of the quiet, so they went for this house instead.
His running came to a stop as he saw the house 22 Vista Boulevard. Azari slowly walked past the gate into the front yard. His mother's garden was there, and it was just as perfect as he remembered.
A wide array of tulips and daffodils covered the bushes. He could easily remember lying in the grass and watching his mother work the garden. She'd tell him stories about the X-Men, or just old folktales and he'd listen to her every word attentively. Then she'd bring out lemonade when the sun shined just a little too bright, and they'd drink together to cool off. His father would come out to the porch, maybe read a book or just watch them with a smile on his face. It was perfect.
Just as quickly as he was sucked into the memory, he was phased out of it. Azari shook his head and headed into the household, and it seemed the nostalgia trip was never going to stop. The only difference between the scene he was in now and the past being the fact that there were no people.
As he entered the house he saw a familiar picture of the three of them at some sort of royal party in Wakanda. They were all dressed up, and all had bright smiles on his face. He could almost remember that night. Almost.
As he continued to enter the house there were a couple of toys on the ground, children's books that were way past his age, but he had been able to read them just fine. A prodigy, his father used to call him. He passed by the kitchen, one of his favourite places to sit and watch parents.
As he got near the kitchen table there was a large panther locket on the table. He took it in his hands feeling the cool vibranium, it was a gift from his father to his mother. Unfortunately he never found out what it was supposed to do.
"The locket did many things, I made it to be a locator, a tracker, computer, basically anything your mother needed and more."
No way. Azari gently set the locket down on the table and turned back towards the kitchen where his father in all his glory was there, just leaning against the counter.
"Father?" Azari questioned softly "Is that you?"
"It is my son." he said with a bright smile "What? Won't even give your old man a hug?"
At that Azari dashed towards T'Challa and wrapped him in a hug, he couldn't believe it. He also couldn't stop the tears streaming from his face, luckily his father seemed to understand. When he was able to recollect himself, they took a seat at the table, and Azari told him everything.
"I would say it was only around a year ago when the world really started living again. The biggest thing will always be New York. No one wants to say it, but it's hard to imagine the city coming back to form...At least anytime soon." Azari admitted to his father.
T'Challa himself had a solemn look on his face, contemplating the words Azari told him "It's unfortunate. We had failed you."
"No father-
"We did Azari." T'Challa disagreed "There's no denying that. We...The Avengers were so desperate for peace. So desperate to stop fighting. We just ignored our duty. And it came back to bite us. And not just us, the world."
"Tony regrets creating Ultron every day."
"Tony?" T'Challa asked confused, before shaking his head as if to clear it "Ah yes. Tony. Well it's not his fault. Plus at the very least he got you safe, and you children managed to pull off the spectacular. But Azari I can tell there's more. What's wrong with Wakanda?"
"There's nothing wrong with Wakanda." Azari sighed "It's what's wrong with me. I'm not ready to be a king...I'm, I'm not ready to give up playing with Pym, or going on missions with the team, I'm not ready to stay in Wakanda full time, I'm not ready to be Azzuri the Wise. And it doesn't help that I'm a phony either."
"Who says you have to be King tomorrow?" T'Challa asked
"Well...no one father but-
"So stop worrying about it. When I was studying to be King I felt the same as you, the people were going to resent me because of the change I wanted to bring to the country, but the people grew to love and respect me. Your time as King will come. It is inevitable. But it won't be before you're ready. You have always been a bright boy, you are so very young. When I was 15 I could only dream of doing half the things you do. Sit down and relax. It will come naturally, and the people of Wakanda don't hate you Azari. Your special, everyone knows that. After all who else gained powers without the use of the heart shaped herb? Who else?
"No one."
"Exactly my son. No one except future King Azari T'Challa. My son that I'm very proud of." T'Challa beamed at him
Azari didn't even acknowledge his tears, and he was glad his father didn't either, but he had one more question "Dad...what, what happened to Mom?"
This was a question that no one seemed to have an answer to. The X-Men didn't know, Wakanda presumed her dead as did Tony. But Tony also thought there weren't anymore X-Men. Or Masters of Evil. It was safe to say he didn't know everything.
But his father and mother were connected at the hip. If his Mother had gone somewhere, it was likely he knew where.
"I'm not sure...It's been a long time. The Avengers fought and were killed by Ultron. But your mother had never been a part of the group. Of course you tell me Ultron's nuclear strike was successful. But she should have been in Wakanda, because of all the stuff with the Legacy Virus...It's possible she was in New York."
Azari couldn't help the disheartened sigh that passed his lips. He just wanted to see her, just one last time! Explain how much she meant to him in words he could never form all those years ago.
"Relax Azari. Whatever has happened to your mother, dead or alive. The answers you seek will be found at your mother's home in Kenya. You should stark there."
Azari could feel himself slipping out of this lucid dream, so he quickly hugged his father once more "Thank you for everything father."
"It's the least I can do. Rejoin the world, I and the rest of the Kings, will be here whenever you need us."
Azari nodded and just as fast as he was pulled into this dreamscape, he was pulled out of it.
"AUGHHHH." Azari yelled and pushed himself out of the sand. His entire tub was filled with sand, and he didn't even question how all the sand got there in the first place.
"Azari?" He heard Torunn's worried voice "Azari are you okay in there?"
"Fi-fine Torunn!" Azari called. He hopped out of the sandy tub and ran to blow out the candles and the incense, but he stopped in the mirror as he saw his eyes glowing blue. It definitely felt a little different this time.
"Are you sure Zari?" Torunn asked "You know you can tell me anything right?"
"Of course Torunn." Azari called back, it's just he didn't need the team going crazy over this.
He didn't need them to think he was leaving anytime soon. He didn't want to be the one who added pressure on the team. He was going to take everything one day at a time.
"Okay then…I love you Azari." Torunn called distantly
"Love you too Torunn." It wasn't the first time Torunn said that, and it probably wouldn't be the last, but there was something about it this time that just perfectly encapsulated the way Torunn had been acting since her last couple of trips to Asgard. Regardless Azari forgot everything else and dialed up his Aunt Shuri's number. His father had just given him a beautiful new perspective on things.
"Aunt Shuri. I opened up the briefcase...I'm ready to learn." Azari said determinedly
HEROES OF TOMORROW
"How we looking FRI?" Pym asked the AI, he dug into his bag of chips chowing down as he flew around to his setup.
"63% finished Henry." Friday responded dutifully.
Usually Pym liked working in the main lab. The one He, Tony, Banner and Azari would work on for hours on end. And nowadays Riri and Amadeus would come and work as well. It was peaceful, serene. It was weird but for the young scientist nothing was more calming than getting to work.
Knowing that he was providing a big help to the team was great, and spending more time with the aging scientists was always an experience, and now that he had more peers on his wavelength, he could even take a step back and work on individual projects.
Projects such as this. When Pym had picked up one of the Golden People's guns in the Savage Land it had simultaneously looked ancient, and too advanced for a civilization that barely wore clothes.
Bringing it to his personal laboratory, he thought he might be able to reverse engineer the technology, see if it was worth anything, but as he messed with the energy gun he realized the power wasn't nearly as interesting as where it came from. An answer he was still looking for. How does a civilization that doesn't like pants find something so advanced?
He checked the diagnosis he had made on the weapon. The mechanism was broken, which made it even funnier the Golden People had been using it, but regardless. The gun was also waterlogged, which means it was possible one of them had left it in water, or that's where they had found it. The second was more likely, because the gun was very rusty, he suspected the water was the main reason for the gun's corrosion.
It made everything a little weirder as well, because the gun almost seemed to function on water. How a weapon could depend on the one thing ruining it didn't make much sense to Pym. But he guessed he was about to find out.
"Scan complete." Friday's voice called "Would you like me to take you through the prognosis Henry?"
"Go for it FRI." Pym told her and took a large swig of his coffee, at this rate he'd be up all night. At least he was allowed to be up all night. Nothing was worse when he actually had a bedtime. He could thank Torunn for dealing with Tony on that one.
"Initial assumptions about the weapons age are correct. Absolute dating techniques put the weapon's creation in the early 19th century."
"I'm not an expert on that time period, but that has to be early for a weapon of this power to be created." Pym ascertained
"You'd be correct." Friday confirmed
"Hmmm, estimated origin of creation?" Pym asked, he was a little stumped.
"Generating…" Friday told him, Pym waited a few moments drinking more of his coffee before doing a near spit take at the AI's answer "Coordinates of 36°27'35.3"N 52°24'08.4"W."
"FRI, That's the Atlantic Ocean!" Pym told the AI incredulously "Run it again."
"Generating…" Friday's voice droned on again, And Pym could tell he annoyed the sassy AI, but there was no way she had done that correctly "Coordinates of 36°27'35.3"N 52°24'08.4"W."
"But how…" Pym whispered to himself in astonishment "FRI...are you sure, you know, you're doing the math right?"
"100% certain Henry. Unless you no longer believe my skills are up to par. Maybe I should call Vision to do the math-
"No, no. I trust you FRI. Sorry." Pym apologized to the living computer. But that still didn't answer the question of how? He'd flown over the Atlantic many times, there was nothing to suggest there were any serious lifeforms over there.
"FRI, pull up Tony's database and cross-reference all mission files, data sequences, profiles with those coordinates, and the Atlantic Ocean."
Tony had told Pym many times that he had lost so many files to Ultron, due to the fact the Robot had taken over the internet, but everything Tony had in his suit, and what was already in the limited Arctic Base was kept.
"Processing…" FRI's voice rang out once more. "Information found."
"That was quick." Pym muttered in surprise, and delved deep into the information, most of it was useless, coordinates for flying over the Atlantic, things of that nature, Military meetings, stuff like that.
Where he had really struck gold wasn't on the words Atlantic Ocean or the coordinates themselves, no it was different. About a person named Namor. And a city, a city called "Atlantis…"
"No way." Pym whispered in astonishment as he continued digesting the newly found information. It was times like this he got a little annoyed at Tony and Bruce. They undoubtedly knew about stuff like this, but they just didn't tell them for reasons that weren't ever clear. They had saved the world from a killer robot's grasp in their teens. Everything after in their lives would pale in comparison to that moment, he was sure of that. So why hide anything?
"Are you okay Henry?" The AI asked the young genius, and he just sighed in response. "It's getting late Henry."
And indeed as he looked at his alarm clock it was 3 in the morning, he needed to get some rest. "Alright shut everything down FRI."
Pym put away the weapon that possibly just unlocked a whole new avenue of life for the Avengers and flopped straight into his bed.
"I have to talk to Tony and Bruce tomorrow." Pym told Friday
"I'll assure you don't forget it." Friday told him diligently
"Tch, thanks Friday." Pym mumbled "Goodnight."
"Goodnight Henry." Friday responded softly
As Pym closed his eyes and tried to sleep he thought of all the things he and the rest of the Avengers were missing out on, simply because they had no clue it existed. What else was out there? Shape shifting Aliens? Different dimensions? What else could Tony be keeping from them just cause...just cause he felt like it?