Video Man: The New Adventures

by Baldwin17

This is the story of Terence Alexander Byte, a young 18 year old with a passion for video games new and old. One day, his life is changed forever when he finds a mysterious medallion on the ground. One that holds the key to a great new life of adventures in the world of video games.

7. Chapter 6: Divided We Fall

Chapter 6

"Divided We Fall"

It all began after Terence and Pixel had just finished watching Captain America: Civil War. "Wow! Who would've thought that superheroes would end up fighting superheroes?" Pixel said in shock and amazement. "Yeah, but it actually began with a comic event I read, or two. I think there's a video game based on them both." Terence responded before going into his Xbox 360 library to see for himself. After some searching, he found it. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2. "Here we are, the game that was inspired by one of the comic events that inspired Captain America: Civil War." Terence said. "So, shall we?" Pixel asked. Without another word, Terence popped the game into his 360 and was soon transported to the city of Doomstadt in the country of Latveria. Terence watched as guards patroling a nearby tower were promptly taken out by Spider-Man, Captain America, Wolverine and Iron Man. However, one guard was able to sound the alarm and get plenty of backup. But, Iron Man and Wolverine pulled off an incredible attack that saw Iron Man fire a repulsor ray at Wolverine, who blocked it with his claws, causing the ray to create shockwaves until Wolverine finally released the full power of the atttack to knock out all the guards with a massive shockwave.

"That...hurt." Wolverine said. "But it worked. No pain, no gain, my boy." Iron Man responded. "I ain't your boy, Stark." Wolvy retorted before noneother than S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury walked into the building and made some adjustments on the console nearby. "All right, that should do it. Won't be any Latverian air support bothering us on our way to Castle Doom now. We'll take it on foot and bring in Bravo team once we hit checkpoint three." he said. " 'On foot'? You're kidding, right? Do you have any idea how little arch support I get in this outfit?" Spidey asked, clearly unhappy with having to walk to Castle Doom. "Put a sock in it, webhead." Fury responded. "Yeah, socks make it worse, actually-" Spidey said. "All right, ladies... let's move, now!" Fury ordered before Terence gained control of his four hero team, his mind split amongst them, upon their arrival into the city of Doomstadt, proper. In no time, the Latverian soldiers called in a retreat. "So much for them. Castle's straight ahead, barring a few twists 'n' turns. Move out." Fury said. And so, Terence moved on, taking out Latverian soldiers as they came. "Black Widow should've left an intel drop for us nearby. Use your navigation system to locate it." Fury said after some traveling through the city streets.

After doing more of the same, Terence's team was quickly surrounded by robots. "These must be the new model of Doombots, if Dr. Doom was still alive, that is." Terence said before pulling off the same move that he saw at the start of the game, taking out all the robots in sight. Afterwards, Terence found the intel drop that Black Widow left, which said: "July 11, 0800 hours. We've determined there is a massive power source operating within the city. Potent, but unstable. If you can take it out, you may find your hike to checkpoint four a lot less troublesome." And so, the team had their next objective. "You heard the lady. Let's find that power source." Fury said before the team ventured on. After a lot of hiking, and plenty of both soldier bashing and failed attempts to raise both Bravo team and Black Widow, Terence found where the power source was. "The electricity source is a... church? Sheesh, talk about the power of prayer. Let's check it out." Fury said. Once the guards were dealt with, the team entered the church but found it had been turned into a makeshift power station, and inside it was none other Electro. "I figured I'd have to wait 'till I got back to the good ol' U.S. of A. to try out the Tinkerer's new toys. But instead, I can give you a preview right now. Free of charge." he said. And so, the fight began. Electro proved to be faster than the last time Terence faced him, and only half as strong. During the fight, Electro tried healing himself with capacitors that would regenerated his energy, but Terence destroyed both of them before taking out 'old sparky' himself and the power he was providing. "Good, the power's out - should make teh rest of our trip a little easier. Might even clear up our radio communications. Let's head out through that back door." Fury said before Terence did so.

Upon exiting the church, Terence lost control as a cutscene began. "Bravo team, come in. Come in. Bravo, do you copy?" Fury said, trying to get a hold of Bravo team. "Nothin' new to me so far. But black ops are really S.O.P. for you boys, are they? How'd Fury get you to -" Wolverine spoke before Iron Man cut him off. "Same way he got you to, I expect. Everyone owes that old warhorse favors, and he always calls them in, sooner or later. Could be much worse than this." Stark spoke. "Yeah, but don't you guys wonder... I mean, invading a foreign country? Like we're soldiers of fortune or something?" Spider-Man asked, clearly not comfortable with what they were doing. "I've known Nick Fury a very long time, Spider-Man. We wouldn't be doing this without a good reason." Cap responded beore Fury approached, having overheard what Spidey had said. "Aww... wringing your little hands over the poor Latverians, huh? Y'think they'd do the same for you?" the Colonel asked before he had a flashback where he was making a presentation to the president of the US and his cabinet. "Colonel Fury...what do you have for us?" asked the president. "Mr. President, one of our ongoing investigation into supervillains recently had a major break. We've always been aware that many of these criminals who run around in high-tech armor were getting their materials from an underground figure...Phineas Mason, a.k.a. the Tinkerer. But what we didn't realize until recently is that the Tinkerer himself is being supported by someone outisde the country. Specifically, Lucia von Bardas - the elected Prime Minister of Latveria. As you know, the link to a foreign power makes this, by definition, international terrorism. The evidence is right here, sir. We're under attack." Fury said as he tossed a file onto the table before the flashback ended. "Trust me... they've earned what's coming to 'em." he added before Terance regained control.

"They must be jamming our signal from somewhere. We're gonna have to keep goin' it solo for now. Let's move." Fury said before Terance did start to move. While he did, he started to think. "So, this Tinkerer fellow is being supplied weapons and armor by the new ruler of Latveria to sell to supervillains in America in order for them to commit their crimes? I just hope I don't end up wishing Dr. Doom was still around after this." he thought. But after some traveling, a helicopter came in with guns blazing and missiles firing. Thankfully, Terence took out the chopper by chucking one of the grenades it launched right back at it. Soon, Terence came to an elevator that led up to the path that led to Castle Doom, clearing out the guards and robots upon arrival at said elevator. "Awright... after this elevator it's almost a straight shot right to von Bardas's front door. They know we're comin'. Could get a bit harier from here on out." Fury said. "Whatever. What about when we get there? What's the plan?" Terence asked, aggresively. "Let's just say I got a message for their Prime Minister. Somethin' ya just can't say over the phone. Now you don't need anymore detail'n that. Let's quit the jibber-jabber and get this job done already." Fury answered. "I'm in for now, Fury, but keep it up and you're gonna wind up on my bad side." Terence responded. "Aw, now ya gone and hurt my feelings. Time to move out, ladies. Goin' up..." Fury said, with a hint of sarcasm at the start, before the team boarded the elevator. "Head left. This wall leads to the castle gates." Fury ordered as Terence and his team continued up to the gates of Castle Doom, fighting off more guards and robots, and dodging fireballs being aimed at them. Eventually, they reached the gates and found the source of the fireballs, two other villains: Steven Hudak, aka Scorcher, and Bentley Wittman, aka The 'Wingless' Wizard. "More supervillain tourists, huh? Let's get 'em!" Fury said as the area was encircled by a ring of fire.

The fight entailed that both Scorcher and Wizard would switch positions now and again, with a shield being provided by Wizard to protect one of them. Once the fight ended with Wizard and Scorcher being knoked out, Fury noticed they had a small pickle. "Blast. These doors are actuated to Wizard's gauntlets, but he's out cold. Maybe we can power 'em up manually with some repulsor fire..." he said, indicating that the only way was to use Iron Man's repulsors in combination with Wizard's gauntlets to open the gates, which happened, but it blasted a hole in the gate rather than just open it. Soon, Terance lost control as another cutscene began, showing all the troops inside the castle charging outside the door, ready to defend it and Lucia. "Great, here we go again!" Cap said. "Hey Fury, where's that Bravo team you've been tryin' to reach?" Wolverine asked. "Communication's still jammed. Someone's gonna have to go round them up - and you just volunteered." Fury answered as Cap and Iron Man went into battle. "What, and leave all the fund to you girls? Bite me, Fury." Wolvy retorted. "No time to argue, shorty! Take Webs with you, locate Bravo team, and find another way into that castle!" Fury rebutled as he drew his pistol and went into battle. "You heard the man, webhead! Let's move!" Wolvy said to Spider-Man. "Yeah, yeah. Sheesh, no respect..." Spidey said as he swung after Wolvy. Soon, Terance found himself in the team creation screen, but went ahead with what the game chose for him, that being a team consisting of Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil, Carl Lucas, aka Luke Cage, Spider-Man and Wolverine. With the team assembled, Terence gained control of them.

"We're stuck down here, Bravo! Take down those shield projetors so we can get in!" Fury ordered. With no questions asked, Terance did so, allowing Iron Man, Nick Fury and Cap to enter the castle. "Good work, Bravo. That'll get us in." Cap chimed as soon as the shield dropped. "Bravo, we've got local voice communications working but long-range is still jammed. We need Black Widow on the radio. Head to the security control room and get those jammers offline." Fury put in. Terance headed on, fighting through more Latverian resistance, until he came across a cyborg soldier, equipped with an energy blade where his right hand should've been. After taking it and two more down, Terance met more resistance before hearing the voice of Latveria's new ruler herself. "Attention all troops - this is Prime Minister von Bardas. Repel the invaders by any means necessary!" she ordered. Once the troops and robots were taken down, Terance made it to the security control room and smashed everything in sight, but that didn't clear up the long-range radio. "Bravo, I still can't contact Widow. Head outside and disable those jammers manually." Fury ordered. Once back outside, Terance found the jammers and stiff resistance guarding them. "Hurry it up, Bravo! Remove the plating and break those jammers!" Fury demanded. In no time at all, the first jammer was taken out as the enemies kept coming. "Getting a fix on Widow's signal now. Take out the other jammers and we can lock it in." Iron Man said before Terance did just that. And it wasn't too long before all the jammers were taken offline and Black Widow's voice was heard. "...calling Fury. Repeat, Black Widow calling-" she said. "We read you, Widow. We're positioned to move on the throne room. Can you support Bravo? They've got a job to do." Fury responded. "Roger that. Bravo, take that elevator down. I'll monitor you remotely." Widow said before Terence boarded said elevator and lost control for a cutscene showing Fury, Iron Man and Cap confronting von Bardas and a small platoon of both human and cyborg soldiers.

"-I ain't here to fight ya, von Bardas. I'm here to make an example of ya. This place is goin' down, along with your little operation. Should help deter anyone thinkin' along the same lines." Fury said. "So much for your President's friendly words to me. Or does he even know you're here?" von Bardas responded, hinting that this whole operation could be unsanctioned by the U.S. government. "You got a simple choice, toots. Either come with us quietly, or die when we turn this place into a big pile a' Latverian bricks." Fury retorted, clearly hinting at bringing the castle to the ground. "You'll pay for this, Nicholas Fury. I promise you that. Take them!" von Bardas sharply replied as her soldiers charged at Iron Man, Nick and Cap, forcing them to brace for battle before Terance regained control of his team. "Fury will handle von Bardas. Head to the reactor room. It's time to bring this castle down." Widow said over the radio, causing Terence to realize what she and Fury meant. "Bring it down? Big pile of bricks? Reactor room?! Are those two seriously thinking of destroying the castle with a nuclear explosion or something?!" Terance thought, thinking they lost their minds. But regardless, Terance pressed forward until a projected head appeared at the end of the hallway. "Where do you think you're headed? Stay out of my workshop!" it said. "Guess you must be The Tinkerer. Sorry, pal, but I've got orders." Terance responded before meeting some of Tinkerer's new toys, more Latverian cyborg soldiers, this time with rocket launchers on their right hands. After dispatching them, he moved on before hearing Widow's voice again. "We've identified three heavy capacitors below you. Destroying their locks will allow us to set up a cascade explosion." she explained. "Looks like I was right, a nuclear explosion is it!" Terance said before breaking the lock on the first capacitor.

Soon after, the other two locks were destroyed. "Dead-set on this idiocy, are you?" Tinkerer asked, having watched all the goings-on up to that point. "Sorry, Tinkerer, orders are orders." Terance responded. "Good, you've primed the capacitors. Now head down to the reactor." Widow said. With that, Terance delved deeper into Tinkerer's workshop. "Excuse the mess. I don't clean up for uninvited guests." Tinkerer chimed in, but the banter fell on deaf ears as Terance moved on. And soon enough, he met the man himself. "Grr... I wasn't quite ready for combat testing, but you've forced my hand." Tinkerer said before retreating and letting his 'new toys' have some fun. But against Terance, these 'toys' were easily broken. "Imbeciles! Do you really wish to taste my full wrath?" Tinkerer asked, quite annoyed with the results of the 'combat test' for his 'toys'. In moments, Terance and his team were soon in the ractor room, the heart of the whole operation and the castle itself and destroyed the heavy robot guard that was present in the room. "You should be at the main reactor. Disengage the auxilary shield batteries first." Widow ordered before Teraence disengaged the first battery. "You're mad! You'll kill us all!" Tinkerer shouted, confirming the nuclear explosion theory that Terance had even further. Then, the second battery was disengaged. "Good work. That should allow you to break the reactor shield and gain direct access to the core." Widow said before Terance did just that. But as soon as that task was done, a large, quadrapedal tank-like robot came walking into the room with a projected face of the Tinkerer on it. "Punching, breaking, destroying... is that all you simpletons know how to do? Very well. I can concerse with you on that level, if need be!" he said before the battle began.

The key to taking down the Tinkerer's robot was to take out the legs. But it wasn't easy with the robotic reinforcements from the new Doombots, but eventually, the robot was beaten as the reactor began to show signs of melting down and exploding. "No matter. My toy distracted you long enough. I'm clear of the blast - I doubt you will be so fortunate." he said as the castle began to rock with multiple explosions. "That did it! Now RUN!" Widow ordered, but Terance lost control before he could even do any running, just in time to see a cutscene where Castle Doom went up in an explosion as all the heroes just barely escaped without being hit by any of the debris. As the dust settled, Fury simply spat in the direction of the castle before walking away as Iron Man and Cap looked at each other before the game flashforwarded to New York City a year later. After being welcomed by the voice of Iron Man, and after wandering around and getting used to everything in the HQ, which was, once again, Stark Tower, Terance headed off to the briefing station for his next mission. "Things have been pretty quiet aroud here lately. I suppose we should have known it was too good to last." Iron Man said. "Ms. Marvel has been investigating an international gun-running ring in the city. A lead identified this Roosevelt Island construction site as a front for their operations, and last night she reported discovering unexpected tunnels running beneath it. This morning she failed to check in." Cap put in. "Carol can definitely take care of herself, but we'll need to follow up on this, just in case. Let's start by investigating those tunnels." Iron Man finished before the briefing ended and Terance found himself in said tunnels.

While investigating, Terance ran into a number of foreign mercenaries, indicating that there really was something going on underneath Roosevelt Island, before coming across a force field blocking a giant metal door. "Energy readings indicate force shielding in that area. Find and destroy its power supply to get through." Iron Man said over the com-line. While Terance fought the mercenaries, he realized that there were metalic-looking parts in the crates he kept breaking. "These look like the parts used for those new-fangled Doombots back in Latveria." he said to himself. After more exploration, Terance found the power supply to the force field. "You're very close to a major power source. Take it offline." Iron Man spoke. And in no time, Terance did so, cutting off the lights in the tunnel and switching on the red emergency power lights in the process. But once he returned to where the force field was, he found it opening on him, and on the other side were Latverian cyborg soldiers and Doombots. "Surprised, Americans? Did you really think you were finished with Latveria?" one of the cyborg soldiers asked before Terance started to clear them out. "Looks like my hypothesis was right, those parts I found WERE Doombot parts. Guess Latveria wants revenge after the destruction of Castle Doom and the death of their newly elected Prime Minister." he said to himself after clearing out his opposition. After moving forward, Terry found Ms. Marvel herself in a restraining device and being both guarded and interrogated by Herman Schultz, aka the Shocker. "How much more of this you think you can take, 'hero'? Now don't keep tellin' me you came in here alone. Where are the others? Huh?!" Shocker asked. "Right behind you." Ms. Marvel responded. "Oh, c'mon, you really think-" Shocker started to say before he realized she was right. "Oh." he said meekly before the fight began.

After pounding away on him and taking down the Latverian cyborgs backing him up, Shocker retreated, allowing Terance to free Ms. Marvel. "Thanks. As you can probably tell, this op is a lot bigger than we thought. We need to figure out what these Latverians are up to." she said once freed. "Call Nick Fury. He's all about Latveria." Terance responded. "We'll contact him soon. But we can't just walk away. There's an old factory above these tunnels. If we destroy the weapons they've stockpiled there, it's bound to slow down their operation." Ms. Marvel retorted. However, before they could get to the elevator, they were ambushed by a small army of Doombots. "Shocker must be trying to slow us down. What's he keeping us away from?" Ms. Marvel pondered as she and Terance went to work. In no time, the ambush force was destroyed and the heroes reached the elevator. "That should lead up to the factory. You go on ahead... I'm going to finish exploring these tunnels to look for additional intel. If you need any help, I'll be ready." Ms. Marvel said before the elevator headed up to the factory she mentioned. Once at the top, Terance spotted Shocker running for it. "You can deal with Shocker later. Trash the Latverian weapons first." Ms. Marvel said over the com-line. With no questions asked, Terence went to work, destroying all the weapon stockpiles and taking out the robots and cyborgs in place to guard them. "That'll put a wrench in the works. Now find those villains." Ms. Marvel said with a pleasing tone. But once that was done, however, more Doombot reinforcements showed up. "Wait, Ms. Marvel said villains, as in, more than one. Does that mean there are more down here?" Terance asked himself as he fought more Doombots. He then found that he was right as he stood face to face with three villains, Shocker, Rachel Leighton, aka Diamondback, and Eric Williams, aka Grim Reaper.

"I'll hold this line. Go help the boss get everything ready." Grim said to Shocker and Diamondback before they agreed and reatreated. Terance knew that this fight was gonna be dangerous, due to Grim's right hand being a scythe, hence his namesake. As he fought, Terry noticed something about the cyborgs that came to help. "Wait a second! I faced off against Latverian cyborg soldiers that have the same weapons as Shocker and Grim Reaper. Does that mean Lucia and Tinkerer used their weapons as a reference for the cyborgs?!" he said, completely shocked that he didn't realize it until then. But regardless, Grim was soon beaten. "Go after Diamondback and Shocker. We have to find out what they're planning." Ms. Marvel said over the com-line. Terance did so, while destroying more Latverian tech, further disrupting their operations. A good idea, according to Ms. Marvel. Once all that was done, Terance cornered Diamondback on what appeared to be a barge. "I will hold them off, Madame von-" Diamondback started to say, before she was interrupted by the TRUE perpatrator of this whole thing, Lucia von Bardas herself, revealed to be alive, but now a disfigured cyborg. "That won't be necessary, my dear. Take your post. If our friends here wish to join us on our little cruise, so much the better." she said as Terry looked in bafflement. "Lucia's alive?! I thought she went up with her castle!" he said in shock. Suddenly, the barge started to move, and in no time, he found himself along the East River with Shocker, Scorcher, Wizard and Diamondback manning cannons pointed at the city. "If only Nick Fury were with you to witness this firsthand. But he will see it soon enough. The whole world will." von Bardas said as one of the cannons, manned by Scorcher, fired the first shot of what was now a terrorist attack on the US. "Now we destroy your home, the same way you destroyed mine. Tear them apart!" she bellowed as the, literal, fight for New York began.

Terance easily took out the cannons. But for each one he took out, he had to fight the villain controling it. "Oh, if it were only that simple." von Bardas said after the last villain and cannon were taken out. "I am no long human, as you can see. Fury ripped that from me one year ago today. Now I am a bomb. Nothing more, nothing less... a bomb that will kill millions. And you just lit the fuse." she continued and she made all four of the downed villains levitate around her as she started to use their energy to try and overload herself so she could explode and take both Terry and New York City with her. But with some fast thinking and even faster reflexes, Lucia was defeated at last and New York was saved. Afterwards, Terance lost control and saw a news report on MNN covering what happened. "Manhattan continues to reel after tonight's devastating terror attack. Inside sources are indicating that the terrorists may have been from Latveria. Furthermore, they claim last night's attack was in direct retaliation for a secret, unsanctioned S.H.I.E.L.D. assault on Castle Doom exactly one year ago. S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nicholas Fury, now wanted for questioning in connection with these claims, has disappeared. In his absence, Commander Maria Hill has been named Acting Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Super heroes potentially linked to the Latverian mission have refused to comment, leaving the rest of us to wonder why this horrible tragedy had to happen."

Next thing Terance saw was the clean-up of the disaster, with Storm, aka Ororo Munroe, Captain America and Iron Man lending a hand. "You hear what they're saying about that mission in Latveria?" Cap asked Iron Man. "Color me shocked, Steve. I half-suspected we weren't sanctioned." Tony answered. "You half-suspected...Nice of you to say to at the time." Cap responded. "Given a choice between Fury and the government, who are you going to trust?" Iron Man asked. "Mm, tough call. That's why I didn't even ask you to make it." answered a familiar voice, revealed to belong to Fury himself. "So, thanks to you, all this is on our hands." Cap said. "No. Not on yours." Fury responded as the rest of the briefing with the president that Terry saw earlier began. "The evidence is right here, sir. We're under attack." Fury said as he tossed the portfolio onto the desk. "Colonel Fury, since Dr. Doom's death, Lucia von Bardas has bent over backwards to mend the ties between America and Latveria. We got her elected. This year alone, we lent her country 72 million dollars in aid-" said the President. "Yes, sir. And it hurts to imagine what she's done with that money, knowing what we now know." Fury responded. "Thank you, Colonel." said the President. "I have a recommended response scenario for the-" Fury began to say. "That won't be necessary." the President interrupted. "Sir... if I may - this situation is sure to escalate. I can-" Fury tried to say, hoping to convince the President, but he wouldn't have it. "We have a pleasant relationship with Lucia. We'll handle things. Diplomatically." the President responded before the flashback ended. "I kept you in the dark, so that if somethin' like this ever happened, your consciences would be clear. It's on me, and I'm takin' the fall for this one." Fury said. "You got that right." Iron Man responded before firing a repulsor blast at Fury, revealing it was actually just a robot, a S.H.I.E.L.D. LMD (Life-model Decoy), talking to both him and Cap. "Darn it, Stark...you think these things grow on trees?" Fury asked, clearly upset, from his secret headquarters/hideout as the robot went off-line. "I'm sure you've got plenty of back-ups, old man. You always do." Iron Man responded. "Enjoy your exile, Fury, wherever you are. We'll just stay here and keep picking up the pieces." Cap added before Terance found himself inside Stark Tower once more.

After being welcomed back by Iron Man, Terence wandered around and talked with other heroes before heading to the briefing station where his next mission awaited. "Our worst fears seem to be coming to pass. Congress is debating a new bill, the Superhuman Registration Act. It would require all heroes to register with the government, whether they want to or not." Iron Man explained. "Which would mean the politicians get to tell us who the bad guys are. We need to make sure this thing doesn't happen." Cap added. "To that end, we're heading down to Washington. I've been offered a chance to testify before a Congressional Subcommittee." Tony continued. "And I'm going to rally the people down there. We need to get a grassroots resistance movement going before the SRA can gain any momentum." put in Cap. "We want you to come along in case there's any trouble. We've got a Quinjet waiting to fly us down there. Let's go." finished Tony. An hour later... "We're coming up on D.C., team, but the situation has radically changed during our flight. And not for the better. The city just came under attack by an unknown terrorist force. We're going to coordinate defense efforts with S.H.I.E.L.D. Buckle up and be ready for anything." Iron Man said before Terance found himself in Washington D.C., right outside the Capitol Building. "This is S.H.I.E.L.D. Lieutenant Farrell. We've got some of the Senators prepped for evac, but the zone's too hot to lift off. Eliminate the enemy forces in the area so we can get those people out." said the Lieutenant as the terrorists did their dirty deeds. At least until Terance got control and took them out.

Once they were out, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent came up to him. "This zone's secure - we'll get the choppers out. You should proceed down the hill, head 'em off before they can hit us again." he said. And so, Terry did head down Capitol Hill, just in time to see Lieutenant Farrell's aircraft be taken down and out of the sky by an incoming SAM, aka a possible RPG, but thankfully it had a safe, but hard, crash landing. At the Lieutenant's request, Terance came in and mopped up the terrorists near the aircraft. "Blast, what a mess. I shouldn't've jumped the gun like that. That rocket came from the southeast. We need to take out whoever fired it before we can bring anyone else in." said the Lieutenant before Terance headed off to do so. As he fought against more mercenaries and took out any of them wielding rocket launchers, he also took out their supply caches as a secondary objective. But once that was done, a cutscene began. "You like, American? Yeah, have some more!" said a mercenary before a familiar face, Deadpool, teleported behind him and knocked him out. "You stupid, vaguely-foreign freaks! You ruined my vacation!" he said before teleporting again and reappearing just to knock out a S.H.I.E.L.D. trooper. "And you! Dumb-as-nails S.H.I.E.L.D. clones! I saw what you did to those cherry blossoms back there! You think those things grow every day?!" he asked before turning towards the camera. "And YOU! You think if makes me less of a man if I came here for the cherry blossom festival? Huh?" he added before teleporting away, then reappearing again. "You're laughing with your eyes! I can see it! Fine! Time for a little boss battle, brother!" he shouted as Terance, still baffled that Deadpool was even there to begin with, got to work and took care of the Merc with a Mouth.

"Ouch. I knew I should've sprung for the health meter enlargement I saw in that e-mail. You're probably trying to clear out these terrorists, huh? Can I join the party?" Deadpool asked after the fight. "Thought you were here for the cherry blossoms, tough guy." Terry answered. "Ehh, they'll still be here next month." Deadpool responded, clearly knowing that he may miss the festival, but he wouldn't miss the flowers. Soon, the new S.H.I.E.L.D. commander drove in. "I'll take things from here. Titanium Man seems to be behind all this. He just made off with some senators and took them underground. We'll cover the Capitol. You get down to the subway and pursue that tin-plated Russian and his pals." Commander Hill said. "I don't answer to you, Hill. Got that?" Terry said, clearly knowing more about Commander Hill's history in the Marvel universe. "Sorry, I didn't have time to say 'pretty please with sugar on top.' Now will you get going?" Hill retorted before Terry took his team down into the subway station. "Hey, when we see Titanium Man, let's try to get him to say 'moose and squirrel'!" Deadpool said, jokingly referencing Rocky and Bullwinkle, as Terry entered the subway. "If I were a super-sized Russian bad guy, I'd head for some American chow. This way - to the food court!" Deadpool added as he headed off in the direction of the food court. "What makes you think he'll be there?" Terry asked himself.

(Because I know my way around this game from this level on, dummy! - Deadpool)

After fighting through more of Titanium Man's terrorist friends, Terrence found one of the senators being held hostage by one of Titanium Man's men. "Da, Americans. Your precious 'representative' is safe...for now." said a voice before it was revealed to be Titanium Man with his invisibility cloak on. "Do you have the courage to save him? Let us see!" he continued before trashing the food court and more of his terrorist pals showed up. "Now he's gone too far. Nobody attacks America's food courts!" Deadpool shouted, clearly upset that the food court was destroyed like the White House in the movie, Independence Day, before Terance set to work. Afterwards, Terry headed down to the parking garage downstairs. After more fisticuffs, Terry caught up with Titanium Man, who had two senators hostage rather than one. "We will bury you!" Titanium Man shouted as his friends blocked the way Terance came, assuring that the fight wouldn't end with Terry retreating. "He's trying to escape with OUR elected representatives! Get your own, buddy!" Deadpool said as the fight began. After taking out the extra hands, and pounding away on Titanium Man himself, the second Russian enemy of Iron Man decided to retreat himself. "Follow me, 'heroes', if you dare!" Titanium Man said before taking off. "Senator Lieber, from New York state. Good to meet you. You've done us a great service. You heroes are okay in my book. Maybe we should put this registration business on hold." said one of the senators, who clearly looked like the man, the myth, the legend of comics himself, Stan Lee. "No kidding, bub. You can't expect the X-Men to reveal their names to the-" Wolverie started to say. "Say no more, Canucklehead. Not everyone fears and hates mutants. Well, best of luck trying to catch that maniac. Like our state motto says, 'Excelsior!' " Senator Lieber interrupted. "Don't I know you from somewhere?" Deadpool asked, clearly thinking he saw the senator somewhere before. "You don't look like the voting type." Senator Lieber responded. "Yeah, whatever. Hey guys, I'll take these pencil-pushers back to the Capitol. Give me a call if you want to hang out again!" Deadpool told Terance's team before the brave hero found himself outside the Lincoln Memorial, where Cap was supposed to start his rally.

"Americans! Your deaths await you...here! You are once again a nation divided... only this time you will fall." Titanium Man said after reappearing before the monument before taking off. "With a little help, if necessary." he added before the final battle against him began. It proved to be much more of a challenge thanks to Titanium Man's invisibility cloak, but despite that and the anti-American slander Titanium Man was throwing about the leaders of the country being cowardly, Terance came out the winner as the tin-plated Russian terrorist took the final blow and crawled backwards towards the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. "You...you think you've won. But you haven't. You'll soon see... you've already lost everything..." he said before collapsing in defeat. But little did Terance know how close to right he would be as another cutscene began, this time inside the Capitol Building. "...and so to answer your question, Mr. Senator, in spite of these recent events... I don't believe forcing super heroes to register with the government is the answer. This law would split the hero community right down the middle, with consequences I'm not sure any of us want to ponder." Tony said to the Congressional Subcommittee before he exited the Capitol Building and entered his limo, which Captain America was already inside. "Was that really your best shot?" Cap asked. "Sneaking around doesn't become you, Steve." Tony answered. "Maybe I'll need the practice. Maybe we all will." Cap said, grimly. "Don't be so melodramatic. This whole thing would affect you least of all. You're already deputized." Tony pointed out, clearly knowing that Cap's service during World War 2 would grant him some kind of immunity. "You almost sound like you agree with them. This Registration Act would tear down everything we've done, destroy a century-old tradition of-" Cap began to say, thinking that Tony was siding with the politicians on the matter. "I'm trying to save it, Steve. As much of it as I can, anyway. Don't you see where this is headed? All it's going to take is one more slip-up by anyone in a cape, and we'll be lucky if registration is the worst they do. They could just turn us all into criminals, hunt us all down-" Tony interrupted as the limo came to a stop. "No, they won't, Tony...not in my country." Cap said as he exited the limo.

The game then fast forwarded three days later where Tony was watching TV while on his laptop up in Stark Tower. "-now return to our special LIVE episode of THE NEW WARRIORS, coming to you straight from Stamford, Connecticut...where the Warriors have just been spotted by their super-villain quarry. Looks like it's on!" said the announcer. "I've got Coldheart, you guys! Hey, somebody snag Nitro, he's rabbitting!" called out one of the heroes. As soon as Nitro was mentioned, Tony looked up and saw, in disbelief, the recklessness of The New Warriors as they tackeld the situation. "Don't worry, Speedball. I'm on him." said another of the heroes, who turned out to be Namorita, Namor's cousin. In Stamford, while the cameras were rolling, Nitro, aka Robert Hunter, rushed towards an elementary school to try and escape Namorita, only for the cousin of the Atlantean King to ram him into the side of a school bus, supposedly taking him down. "On your feet, Nitro. And don't bother trying any of your stupid exploding tricks." Namorita said as she got Nitro on his feet. "Oh, baby, don't you even know? You're playing with the big boys now..." said Nitro with a chuckle and a glowing look in his eye as he did the unthinkable and EXPLODED right then and there, taking Namorita out in the blast while several civilians were caught up in it. The blast was so powerful, it took out the video feed over at Stark Tower, forcing Tony to get his Iron Man armor and look for any survivors. The game then showed the aftermath of the explosion as news reporters talked about it from Channel 8... "-reports now coming in from Stamford, Connecticut indicate a massive explosion in a residential neighborhood..." to MNN. "-just over 12 hours ago now, and preliminary casualties are said to be over 600. In Washington, rumblings on whether super hero reform should be brought to the table-" The news was all over America, and the public blamed superheroes. "-following last week's devastating explosion, Congress has rushed through passage of the Superhuman Registration Act. With the President expected to sign the Act into law..."

The game then cut to a S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, high above New York City, where Cap was having a disagreement with Commander Hill. "This is just completely insane, Hill. I won't do it." Cap said. "I'm sorry, was it not clear I was giving you an order?" Hill asked. "You're asking me to arrest people who risk their lives for this country every day." Cap said, sharply, clearly not looking to turn his back on his fellow costumed crimefighters and uphold the traditions of the superhero, chiefmost among them was keeping the secret identity just that, a secret. "No. I'm ordering you to obey the will of the American people, Captain. Either you help us bring them in, or we'll bring you in." Hill retorted, clearly not willing to take any nonsense as her troops surrounded Cap. "Weapons down, gentlemen, or I-" Cap started to say. "Tranq darts! NOW!" Hill shouted before the soldiers started to open fire. But Cap refused to go down so easily and plowed through the squad of troops like nobody's business before jumping through the window and landing on a jet, breaking the windshield with his shield. "Keep us moving, son, if you want to stay conscious." Cap said to the pilot as he flew off while Commander Hill watched in disbelief. "You idiot. We were trying to save lives." she said before the game cut to the White House, where a crowd of protestors were outside the gates demanding that superheroes be registered while the President himself was in disbelief that Cap would go AWOL. "Of all the people to go underground... Captain America? Now every super hero who disagrees with the Act suddenly has a leader. Maybe we should hold off until-" he began to say. "That won't be necessary, Mr. President. Registration can go forward as planned. We'll take care of Captain America." Iron Man interrupted, clearly siding with the politicians after everything that had happened before Terrence found himself back in Stark Tower.

"-and with the passage of the Superhuman Registration Act earlier this weeok, super heroes around the country are being forced to choose a side. Do they register with the government to uphold the law, or become part of an underground resistance movement? So far-" said the reported before the report was turned off by Patriot, aka Eli Bradley. "Can you believe this is really goin' down? The Act kicks in at midnight, but word is S.H.I.E.L.D.'s gonna be here sooner than that, taking signatures... or prisoners. I wanna talk to Cage about it, but he's too busy arguing with Mr. Fantastic over there. Maybe you can break into their little pow-wow and get some sense out of 'em." Patriot said before Terance got back in control. He then did as Patriot asked and walked right up to Luke and Mr. Fantastic. "-understand your skepticism, Luke. But you have to believe me. I've crunched the numbers, and we absolutely can't rebel against the government on this. If we do, the consequences-" Mr. Fantastic said. "Can't be any worse than burnin' the Constitution." Luke interrupted. "You're exaggerating. This is a temporary measure. Once things settle down-" Mr. Fantastic responded. "I ain't buyin' it, Reed, and I can't believe somebody as brainy as you would." Luke interrrupted, again, before both he and Mr. Fantastic saw Terance's team nearby. "Oh, hello. Good timing. Perhaps you can talk some sense into Mr. Cage, here. He and Iron Fist seem determined to get arrested." Mr. Fantastic said. "He's the one who needs a reality check. But good luck gettin' anywhere with that." Luke retorted before walking away. Mr. Fantastic went the other way as Terance was left in the middle.

"So, this is it, huh? The entire super hero community split down the middle." Terry said to himself as he went to talk with both Luke and Mr. Fantastic. After speaking with Luke and hearing their side of the arguement, Terry headed over to Mr. Fantastic before finding him talking with Songbird, aka Melissa Joan Gold. "- and so in a worst-case scenario, we'd find ourselves in the equivalent of a super-powered Civil War." Mr. Fantastic said to Songbird. "Heroes so busy fighting each other, the criminals get a free pass." Songbird rationalized. "Exactly. That's where you and the Thunderbolts would come in, Melissa. We'd need you to help S.H.I.E.L.D. keep crime under control while we focus on- Oh, hello again." Mr. Fantastic said just as Terrence showed up. After hearing what Mr. Fantastic had to say, Terence soon was faced with the tough choice of either siding with the government to uphold the law alongside Iron Man and S.H.I.E.L.D. in order to prevent another Stamford tragedy, or side with Captain America and uphold the age-old tradition of the superhero; the secret identity. After thinking about it, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent came up and made an announcment. "All superhumans, the Registration Act is in effect. You are now required to meet with Commander Hill and register your identity with S.H.I.E.L.D." he said. Soon, Terence went down an elevator to meet with Commander Hill. "I'm glad to see you're willing to meet with me on civil terms. Once you register, I'm sure we'll have a productive relationship. The peperwork is right here. Step up and sign, please." said the Commander. "Gimme one good reason." Terence said, still unwilling to trust Hill so easily. "Because it's the law. And because if you don't, we'll drop you so fast your super little heads will spin. So? What's it going to be, heroes? Just sign up here and you'll be bona fide law enforcement agents. You're not looking to start trouble, are you?" Hill responded. And so, Terance made his choice, and approached the desk.

"Smart move. I'm glad to see you're going through with registration." Hill said, quite pleased. "Yes, we'll register. The law is the law." Terance responded. "Congratulations on making the right choice, heroes. The only one you really had. I'll look forward to working with you." Hill said before Patriot came bursting in. "No! How could you?! Cage told me I should've left with him and Iron Fist, but I didn't believe you'd do this! You blasted traitors!" he shouted in disbelief, clearly feeling betrayed. "Well, looks like your first assignment just walked through the door. Either convince that idiot to register, or take him down." Hill said before walking away. "This ain't the way ta fight this, kid. Settle down and-" Wolverine tried to say. "Shut it! There's nothing you can say to make me join you! This is for Cap!" Patriot interrupted as the battle began. After a bit, Patriot was taken down, arrested and taken away by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. "An unfortunate introduction to government service for you. I'm sorry it had to come to that. Cage and Iron Fist refused to sign and escaped. And they're apparently not alone. I'm just glad you made the correct decision. Let's head back into the main area. We're going to have our hands full, I expect, and I'm sure Tony will want to thank you personally once he gets back from Washington." Mr. Fantastic said as Patriot was taken away. Soon, another cutscene began. "I don't need to tell you that you've made the right choice. You're here, and that means you understand the reality of our situation. You know what we're up against - who we're up against. We simply can't restore the public's faith in us while Captain America and his recruits are still playing by the old rules." Tony said. "S.H.I.E.L.D. is going to use their expanded authority to keep super-villain activity in check. That leaves us with responsibility for dealing with the rogue heroes." Reed added. "We need to act decisively to end this fast. We have a few leads and may be close to identifying one or more locations being used as hideouts for the rebels. Come back here later. By then, we should have something more solid." Tony concluded.

After exploring around the newly decorated Stark Tower, Terence headed to the briefing station for his first mission with the Pro-reg forces. "Captain America's people are equipping themselves for a war. We need to cut off their supply lines before they can fortify. We've been tracking some suspicious cargo enterin the Jersey City shipyards... we believe it's headed for a hideout being set up by the unregistered heroes." Tony said. "Our original hope was to catch Cap himself, by my money says Cable is behind this op. He must be establishing this facility to support Captain America, wherever he's hiding. Expect strong resistance. Cap's managed to turn a number of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to his cause... apparently they call themselves the White Star, in his honor. And I'm sure he's sent some of the unregistered heroes in for support." said the leader of the op, an X-Man named Lucas Bishop. "Bishop will be running the show on the ground. If we can shut down this operation, we'll send a powerful message to Captain American and his followers." Tony finished before Terence found himself right near the place where the rebel cargo was being unloaded. "OK, we're all here - now listen up. Black Widow's going to scout ahead and locate the rebel hideout. Meanwhile, we'll provide a distraction by destroying this shipment before they can unload it." Bishop said. "Can we smash a few heads while we're busting up boxes?" Terry asked. "We'll do what we have to do. These are good people we're going up against, but they're breaking the law. Now let's get a move on before they realize we're here." Bishop answered. And in no time, the mission was underway as the White Star forces mobilized.

The main part of the mission was for Terry to destroy the enemy shipments. Turns out, according to Bishop, the cargo was robot parts that were originally S.H.I.E.L.D. combat units, now repurposed by the White Star to boost the numbers of both themselves and the anti-reg heroes. Soon, the shipments of robot parts were destroyed. "Good. Let's keep moving and meet up with Widow." Bishop said as more White Star troops arrived. Soon, a truck departed from the warehouse. "Follow them! They'll lead us to the hideout!" Bishop ordered before the truck turned a corner and blew up. "Heh. Sounds like Widow left a little surprised for 'em. She must be nearby." Bishop said as Terry continued to move forward. After dealing with more White Star soldiers, Black Widow soon came in. "Ah, there you are. Just in time to create the diversion I need. Their base is somewhere nearby, if you distract the guards, I'll find a way to get you in." she said. "Got it. We'll keep them busy." Terance responded. "Watch for me... I'll get you that entry point. See you on the other side." Widow said before heading off as more White Star soldiers showed up with grenades in hand. Soon, the soldiers were dealt with as an unregistered hero ordered more to keep Terance and his team back, that hero being none other than Jessica Drew, aka Spider-Woman. "Pursue Spider-Woman! I'll make sure she doesn't lock you out." Widow said over the radio. Soon, Terance's team took out the guards blocking the entry and found himself inside the White Star base, which turned out to be an old HYDRA base, where they soon found Spider-Woman. "I've sealed the base. The only way through is through us." she said. "This is pointless. You can't stop us on your own." Terry responded. "We don't need to beat you. Just delay you, to buy our friends some time. We're not backing down. If you go down this road, you're going to have to take on all of us." she retorted before the fight began.

Though White Star soldiers complicated matters, Terance managed to bring Spider-Woman down, just in time for S.H.I.E.L.D. to bring her in. "That should hold her. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents can take Spider-Woman in, but the base is still sealed." Bishop said, but before anyone else could say anything, Black Widow blasted her way in through another door. "Your entry point, as promised. This is an old HYDRA terrorist base. I recognize the layout. You can get around the blast door through here, but there will be another sealed door iside." Widow said. "So? We'll break right through it." Terry said. "You can try to break through if you want. But it'll take major firepower to destroy the inner barrier. I will bring Spider-Woman to the detention center. You head inside and find a way through that second blast door." Widow responded before Terance headed on to find the blast door, and a way past it. Soon the team made it second entrance to the base and, but it was shielded. Once the barrier was down, Terance was forced down to the drive way that led to the door thanks to some rockets destroying the overhead bridge. Once the White Star forces were dealt with, Bishop told Terance to attack, destroy and overload the power conduits for the door. Once that was done, the energy transferred into Bishop, allowing him to blast through the door with his mutant ability to absorb and redirect any energy directed at him. Once through the door, Widow chimed in. "Team, they're sending out a high-speed data stream. Get to the command center and shut it down." she said. Soon, some guards came in and were easily dealt with. "I've hacked some of their security. Break left! I've disabled the barrier there." Widow said as Terance did so.

Soon, the barrier after that was disabled as well. "There! I've opened a path to central command. Now if I could just link us into their comm channel..." Widow said before the voice of the man in charge of the op, Cable, was heard. "Yes, Sanchez, I know your men are getting hit hard. But you've got to buy me some more time!" he said. "I knew Cable was running the show. The fool doesn't realize we can hear every word he says." Bishop said immediately after. Soon, they were in a supply room. "Hutchens, they're headed your way. Break out the big guns and slow 'em down." Cable ordered before a much larger battle robot appeared, flanked by several smaller robots. Once they were done, Terance looked around until he found the switch that opened the door which led deeper into the base. Once the guards were dispatched, a locked door stood in the way of Terry's team. "This is as far as I go. I've got to keep the door open from here so you can get through. Cable's uploading a lot of data. You have to reach him before he finishes transferring that intel!" Bishop said. "Don't worry, we'll beat some sense into him - with his own arm." Terry responded, clearly ready to rumble. "Stay focused on our objective. Stop that upload, at any cost. Now get a move on! I'll be in touch via radio." Bishop responded. Soon, Terry's team was on the elevator and headed down towards Cable. "They just keep coming! Hold them off. I need more time to get this data sent to Cap!" Cable said as Terry's team entered the depper portion of the command center. "Hear that? Cable's getting nervous. Push forward and shut him down!" Bishop said as the team headed forward. Soon, Terry's team heard Cable's frustration as he noticed one of the doors was jammed. "Just like ACME, never trust Hydra brand products." Terry said to himself before moving on.

But soon, Terry spotted another unregistered hero, Marvel's own Hercules, but temporarily so he could thrown missiles and duck and hide. However, the team was soon trapped and ambushed. Yet the reinforcements stood little chance against them. Afterwards, the team hit one of the security bypass switches, allowing them further access in the base. "Nice work, team. You should be able to access the rest of the base now." Bishop said. And so, Terry and his team kept on going before they ran into Hercules again. "Vile turncoats! Thy betrayal will be met with flame!" he bellowed before proceeding to throw missiles at Terence's team. But each one hindered them none. "Traitors! You shall not pass!" Herc bellowed before they all began to fight. "Are you supposed to be Hercules or Gandalf?" Terry joked as he fought. The battle was long, but Terance's team came out on top Soon, the second bypass switch was hit. "Almost there, now! Be ready for anything!" Bishop said over the radio as the team pressed on. And then, after all that effort, Terry came face to face with Cable, aka Nathan Summers, himself. "Hold them back! Captain America needs this data!" he ordered his forces. But they all fell, along with the turrets that were protecting him, and finally Cable himself. "Looks like you've been cut, Cable." Terry said to himself. "Quick! Get to Cable's computer console before the rest of the intel is transferred!" Bishop ordered before Terry did so. But right after, a hologram of Cap appeared. "Cable warned me we'd need to treat this conflict like a war. You've certainly proved him right." Cap told the team. "We proved more than that... people will keep getting hurt if you don't stop this foolishness." Terry responded. "Come on. You invaded our space... you picked this fight. Maybe you think you're still heroes, but you aren't... not anymore. And I won't forget what you did here today." Cap retorted before the hologram transmission ended, along with the mission.

Soon, the game fastforwarded two weeks later, where Terry was soon confronted with the voice of his C.O. (Commanding Officer), Iron Man. "Your capture of Cable, Hercules and Spider-Woman a few weeks back seems to have put a serious crimp in Cap's plans. Thanks to all our hard work, more unregistered heroes and super-powered criminals are being rounded up every day. Of course, it's one thing to capture them, and quite another to make sure they stay that way." Tony said. "As you may have heard, our massive new holding facility in the Negative Zone is now up and running. Codenamed Prison 42, it's a clean, safe and totally secure detention center for unregistered superhumans. Access is possible only through a network of strictly-controlled transdimensional portals, the first of which is situated deep in the Ryker's Island prison." Mr. Fantastic added. "We're still hoping this conflict can be resolved quickly, but in case that's not possible, Prison 42 will serve our cause well. We've built in multiple failsafes to ensure that it's completely inescapable. It should give unregistered heroes good reason to reconsider their position." Iron Man concluded before Terry found himself inside Stark Tower once more. After talking to everyone inside, Terry headed to the briefing station for his next mission.

"Despite our recent victories, the Anti-Registration movement continues to grow. S.H.I.E.L.D. is too busy dealing with opportunistic supervillains to help us. So we've decided to bolster our ranks with some allies you might find... surprising." Tony said before profiles of various supervillains, among them being the Green Goblin, Bullseye, Grim Reaper, Steven Levins, aka Jack O'Lantern, Yuriko Oyama, aka Lady Deathstrike, and Mark Raxton, aka Molten Man, appeared. "There are dozens of super-powered criminals now being held in Prison 42. Collectively, they represent a formidable fighting force. Our goal is to harness that potential to help us win this war. Reed?" he continued. "We recovered some highly advanced nanotech from the Latverian attack on New York, and have found a way to use it to control the behavior of intelligent lifeforms, including humans. We've injected these nanites into the bloodstreams of a number of these incarcerated super-felons. The nanites - tiny machines as small as a red blood cell - situate themselves in the host's nervous system. This forms an electronic network that we can wirelessly tap into, allowing us to remorely monitor and control these unpredictable but powerful new allies." Mr. Fantastic explained. "In addition to the behavior control system, there is also a failsafe. Using it, we can remotely render the host unconscious at any time." Tony added. "The system has passed all preliminary trials, but now it's time for a field test, under real-world conditions." Reed pointed out. "That's where you come in. A number of unregistered heroes are about to be transferred to their new homes in Prison 42. You will protect that convoy. And, once we feel the time is right, we'll deploy one of our nanite-controlled agents to assist you. If they get out of line... we'll take care of it. Delivering these prisoners and proving out the nanite control system are two important steps to ending this war once and for all." Tony concluded before Terry found himself up on the rooftops of New York, right as White Star forces started raining fire down on the convoy as they were passing through a neighborhood called The Kitchen.

"Strike Team Delta, take out the rooftop fire teams and destroy their munitions so the convoy can advance." Black Widow said over the radio before Terry got to work. Soon, the White Star fire teams were dealt with and four of the seven munitions were taken out when something, or someone, came down on the roof on the other side of the street and took out more White Star soldiers and the radio tower to get across the street to the team, that being none other than Mac Gargan, previously known as Scorpion, now known as Venom. "What are you staring at? You act like you nev- hggkkk" Venom said before he was cut off by his nanite handler, revealing that he was part of the nanite control system. "Whoops, sorry about that, Mr. Stark. Guess I forgot to lock down Venom's vocals. Anyway, my 'buddy' and I are here to help. Widow figured we could give you folks a hand." said the handler through Venom's head. "We can't afford any errors with this nanite control tech, Swanson. Stay sharp." Terry said as Iron Man. "Will do, sir. I'll have him follow your lead." Swanson responded. "Sorry to interrupt, Tony, but we've got some more White Star inbound across the street. We need you to deal with them." Widow chimed in before Terry led his team, and surprising ally, across the fallen tower. "Kinda feels weird to be working with a villain." Terry said to himself before he reached the other side, only to be confronted by an anti-registered superhero known as Prodigy, aka Ritchie Gilmore. "Well, look who's here! The 'real' heroes! You know, like I used to be? Until I refused to sign a piece of paper? I mean, look at you! Do you even see yourselves? You're standing there with Venom, and you still think you're the good guys?" he said. "Venom here is a lot better at following orders than you are." Terry retorted. "You've lost it. I can't believe I used to respect you." Prodigy said before going on the attack.

The fight didn't last too long as Prodigy's magic costume stood little chance against Terance's team's superior strength and tactics. Then, across the street, a White Star fire team took down another radio tower. "So much for the prodigal son. Now head toward the High Line. There are a few White Star troops making trouble for the convoy." Black Widow said over the radio as Terry's team crossed the downed tower and mopped up the White Star forces on the other side. Soon, the last munition stockpile was destroyed. "So far, so good. Just one more test - this'll be fun. Stand back... we're going to check the failsafe system." Swanson said before Venom collapsed right then and there. "Shutdown signal worked like a charm... he's in perfect stasis. Okay, I'm gonna bring him back online." Swanson said before Venom got back on his feet as S.H.I.E.L.D. troops surrounded him. "Mr. Stark, Hank Pym is requesting that we bring Venom back to HQ. Everything's nominal, but he's detecting some unexpected signal traffic. Probably nothing." Swanson said. "I thought Hank had this thing locked down one hundred percent." Iron Man responded. "I'm sure he did, sir. It's just some side-signals we didn't expect to see. We'll be back once they give the all-clear. Admit it, you'll miss having this pretty face around" Swanson responded. Soon, the crane arm across the street came around to allow Terry and his team to cross. "Delta, we still need you on the High Line. Use that crane to - look out!" Black Widow said before a White Star chopper took the crane down. Luckily, no one was hurt. "Rough landing there, huh? No matter, you ended up in the right place. We need you to clear the High Line of all enemy forces before the convoy can pass through the intersection." Widow said after Terry recovered.

"Hurry up and clear the High Line! We can't risk this delay much longer." Widow added as Terry started to deal with the White Star troops. Soon, the White Star forces along the train tracks were dealt with, allowing the convoy to continue. "Convoy, this is Widow. The High Line is clear. Move out." she said. But as the Convoy reached the intersection, a White Star chopper halted them and caused the vehicles to come to a halt and/or crash. "Blast it, how did White Star get through? Delta Team, hit the street! We'll take care of their chopper. Those heavy bots are hitting the transports! Destroy them!" Widow ordered, clearly not happy with the surprise attack. All the while, soldier and robots dropped down, allowing unregistered heroes to escape, one of them being Patriot. Soon, the final heavy bot fell as Widow hit the White Star chopper overhead. "Direct hit on the gunship! He's going down - uh-oh - he's going to hit that transport!" she said before it was hit, allowing yet another unregistered superhero to escape. "Madrox is off the leash! Repeat, Madrox is free!" a S.H.I.E.L.D. trooper reported as none other than Multiple Man, aka Jamie Madrox, stepped out. "Oh, for the love of Pete! Heads up, Delta Team... looks like Multiple Man is on the loose. Take him down before he swarms us!" Widow said, clearly not happy with the predicament. But despite Multiple Man's ability to make clones of himself, Terry took him out. "Okay, looks clear from up here. See if you can get that empty transport out of our path." Widow said immediately afterwards. However, that task was taken care of early as none other than Ben Grim, aka The Thing, arrived on the scene, clearly not happy with the carnage going on around him.

"What in the name of Samson Hill you think you're doin' here, Reed? Besides tearing up my home turf!" Thing asked. "Ben, we're just trying to pass through peacefully." Mr. Fantastic responded. " 'Peacefully', huh? So much fer that! Nothin' good can come of all this, Reed, and what's happening here just proves it." Thing retorted. "Can you help us clear everyone out? That's all I'm asking of you." Reed asked, trying to appeal to the gentle heart inside of his rock-hard friend. "Smart choice. So where do -" Thing started to say before being interrupted by Widow giving them a heads up on incoming White Star soldiers. "That's it! These bums just bought themselves a Grade-A clobberin' from Yours Truly!" Thing said as he and Terry's team charged into battle. "More Multiple Man duplicates!" Widow said as Terry turned his attention towards them. In no time, the second round with Multiple Man ended with Terry coming out on top and the unregistered heroes who attempted to escape, among them Multiple Man, Cable and Hercules, being put in a new transport. "Roger that, just loading them in the new transport now." said a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent overseeing the job. "10-4. Alternate route Charlie now cleared thorugh 40th street. Good to go." said the leader of the convoy over the radio as the unregistered heroes were loaded in. "Sheesh. You were right about them White Star guys, Stretcho... seems like they'll stop at nothin'." Thing said. "They're passionate, but misguided. Everything depends on getting them reined in, and quickly." Mr. Fantastic responded. "All I know is, they sure ain't actin' like heroes. So, I guess you can count me in, Reed. I'm gonna stay here and make sure the clean-up goes nice an' smooth. Call me later if you need my help." Thing said, clearly seeing the pro-reg side of the arguement and the danger the anti-reg forces posed to everyone else.

"Okay, Delta Team, back up to the rooftops to continue your sweeps. We may not be out of the woods yet." Widow chimed in as the convoy started to move. "When did everything get so dad-blamed complicated?" Thing asked before things took a turn as the second transport stopped still. "What's the deal with the second transport?" asked a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent at the checkpoint the transport stopped near. "Got me." answered another. "Black Widow, are you in contact with Transport Beta? We got some unusual behavior here." radioed one of them. But as he talked, Cap was seen sneaking around with Cable and Hercules out of the transport and right behind him. "Negative, they're not responding to our signal. We've got a visual - wait!" Widow said when she spotted Cap and the freed heroes making a break for it. "We have prisoners escaping from Transport Beta! Repeat, prisoners escaping on foot! Looks like Cap himself broke them out. All units, close in! They're headed up to the rooftop! Delta Team, you're in position to cut them off! Move, move!" she added before Tersnce took control and started after Cap and the escapees. As Terry and his team pressed forward, Swanson reported on getting a nanite operative in position to help Terry out. Soon, the team had Cap and the escapees cornered. "Did you honestly think we'd let you waltz right through midtown with out people locked up?" Cap asked. "Actually, the plan all along was to capture you. Thanks for playing!" Spidey jokingly answered. "Sorry, but you were wrong. In a very big way." Cap retorted before he and the escapees jumped off the side. "Don't let them get away-!" Widow said as they jumped. But before Terry could pursue, a big problem came into view. A REALLY BIG problem named Bill Foster, aka Goliath. "Better worry about yourselves first." he said as he grew to the size of a building and set the unregistered heroes on a roof across the street.

"What the - Goliath?! You have to take him out! The other transports will never get past him." Widow said in shock and worry. "Great, I have to fight someone who's probably bigger than Ymir from the first Ultimate Alliance!" Terry said to himself as the fight began. It was slow, with the only weak point being Goliath's hands. Once the big man punched the wall of a building on the left, Terry headed through. "Swanson, where's that support?" Widow asked. "Coming up, Widow." he responded before another nanite agent, Molten Man burst through the wall. "Need a light?" Swanson asked before the fight against Goliath continued. It was still slow, but in the end, the giant finally fell. "You know what they say, the bigger they are -" Swanson said. "The harder the thud when they fall and hit the ground." Terry finished. "That's quite enough, Swanson. Well done, Delta Team. All transports, you're clear to proceed. We lost some prisoners, but Captain America lost Goliath. I'd say that's a fair trade." Widow chimed in before Terry lost control while the game fastforwarded 2 weeks later. "The nanite-controlled criminals we enlisted have made a huge difference in our struggle to both fight crime and deal with the unregistered heroes. We now have dozens of these agents in Prison 42, ready to support us at a moment's notice. The tide may be turning in our favor, but the longer this conflict drags on, the greater the chance of devastating repercussions. We intend to find a way to end this thing as quickly and cleanly as possible. Given what you've done for our side so far, we know you'll be a big part of that solution." Iron Man said before Terry found himself inside Stark Tower once more.

After wandering around and chatting, Terry headed to the briefing station to learn of Tony's next move. "This super-powered Civil War has gone on for too long, it's time to finish it. And with any luck, we can do it without firing a shot. We're going to lure the Anti-Reg forces to an unpopulated location by faking a major disaster. Once they arrive, we'll cut off any and all avenues of escape. Then we'll be in a position to offer them one last chance to lay down their arms and register. If they refuse, we'll still have them trapped with nowhere to run. You'll help guard the perimeter. If things get ugly, make sure Cap and his crew don't escape." Tony said before a cutscene began, showing the anti-reg forces arriving at the location of choice, the Geffen-Meyer Chemicals plant, with help from Cloak, aka Tyrone Johnson, one half of the superhero duo, Cloak and Dagger. Among them Cap, Cable, a couple copies of Multiple Man, Luke Cage, Hercules, Firestar, aka Angelica Jones, and Cloak's partner, Dagger, aka Tandy Bowen. "How many trapped workers did the radio say?" Cap asked. "Over three hundred - but something's weird. I'm not getting anything over my info-net. No panic signals, nothing..." Cable answered before looking down at his feet and seeing a plate that set the plant was owned by Stark Industries, all the while, a gun was trained on Cloak. "What's wrong, Cable?" Luke asked. "Cloak, get us out of here! It's a trap!" Cable shouted, but it was too late, as a tranq dart was fired that hit and took down Cloak before he could act, serving as a signal for Iron Man and his forces to move in. "Of course it's a trap. How else were we going to get you all in one place?" Iron Man asked as he was flanked by a few S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, Black Widow, Mr. Fantastic, James Ruper Rhodes, aka War Machine, and Jennifer Walters, aka She-Hulk. While on Cap's left were Green Goblin, Venom and Lady Deathstrike.

"Skybird One, is the area fully cordoned?" Iron Man asked as the camera panned up to a S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, captained by Director Hill. "Roger, perimeter sealed. No one's leaving the zone without our say-so." Hill responded. "Copy that. Stand by." Iron Man responded. " 'Stand by'? You and S.H.I.E.L.D. going soft, Tony?" Cap asked. "We didn't come here to arrest you, Cap. I talked S.H.I.E.L.D. into offering all of you a chance at amnesty." Tony answered. "You mean surrender? Thanks, but I think I'd rather take my chances." Cap retorted, forcing Iron Man to lift his face covering. "Cap, please... you know how hard I tried to fight this... but that was before Stamford. The public doesn't want secret identities anymore. Registration is the only way to make them feel safe when we're around. Just give me a chance to tell you our plans for my twenty-first century overhaul." Tony pleaded before extending his hand. Cap looked around, seeing Bullseye, Songbird, Simon Williams, aka Wonder Man and Bishop alongside Lady Deathstrike and Venom before looking up at the Helicarrier and finally taking Tony's hand. "You've got five minutes." he said. "That's all I'll need." Tony said happily before realizing there was something on his hand. "What in the world?" he asked as he saw an electronic device that suddenly shut down his armor, allowing Cap to get a shot in before both sides went at it while Terry gained control once more. "Delta Squad, we need you to apprehend some of Cap's people. We've got agents pursuing Multiple Man in the vicinity. Move forward and assist them. What the -?! We're seeing White Star troops all over the place! No idea how they got into the zone. Watch yourselves, people!" Maria said over the radio as Terry started to move forward. "You're approaching Multiple Man's position, Delta. Make sure we get ALL of him this time." Hill chimed in before Terry started pounding away on said hero.

After a long and lengthy battle, Multiple Man was defeated once more. "And this time, stay together, Jamie." Terry said. "That's one rebel down, more or less. We've sighted others moving your way. Push forward and cut them off." Hill said over the radio. Terry headed on and fought more White Star troops before the intended path became blocked. "Rhodes, check your fire! Delta, break right. You'll have to open a path to proceed." Hill said, revealing that it was accidental friendly fire that blocked the path. So, he took an alternate path, but found it sealed off. "Delta, Stark's people report those valves are sealed. You'll have to tear them open to drain the tank." Hill said over the radio before Terry did so. But on the other side of the blockage awaited Firestar and Patriot. "You like ambushes, huh? Then you're gonna love this!" Patriot said before the fight was on. Terry easily came up with a plan, take down Firestar, and then focus on Patriot. Soon enough, both of them went down for the count. "All according to plan." Terry said with a gleeful smile. "Good job handling those kids, Delta. You've got more unregistered combatants ahead. We'll send a nanite agent to support you." Hill said. "Osborn's free and clear. Sending him to support Delta." Swanson said as Green Goblin showed up to help take out more White Star troops at the top of a lift. "War Machine, we might have a visual on Cap. Sending coordinate. Please investigate." Hill said over the radio. As Terry pressed on, even more White Star troops and robots fell. "Delta, we've spotted two more insurgents on top of a mixing tower near you. Head up there and deal with them." Hill said. Once a large White Star battle bot was dealt with, Terry moved on to find that the insurgents were none other than Dagger and Piotr "Peter" Nikolaievitch Rasputin, aka Colossus of the X-Men. "Peter! They're here!" Dagger said. "So... we show up to help people in trouble - but you come to haul us to your Negative Zone Gulag." Colossus said, clearly not happy that his fellow heroes are being faced with prison if they don't register "Yup. It's like playing "cops and buffoons". Terry responded as Carnage. "Fine. You've chosen your battlefield. But you won't be choosing the result." Colossus retorted before the fight began.

This time, Terry switched up his game. He took out Colussus first, rather than Dagger, because he knew Colussus was much stronger, due to his metal skin. After Colussus fell, so did Dagger afterwards. And so, with Green Goblin and Lady Deathstrike guarding them, Terry and his team moved on. "Excellent work, Delta. Now sit tight while I check in with Rhodes." Hill said as Terry cooled his heels. "I'm offline! Cap got me with one of those darn joy buzzers." War Machine said over the comline. "Power down and perform a clean reboot, Rhodey. I should be back online in a couple minutes." Iron Man responded. "Looks like you're on point, Delta. Pursue Captain America!" Hill ordered. As Terry went on, he saw S.H.I.E.L.D. soldiers fighting White Star soldiers and Venom and Cable were going one on one, but then he came upon his target. "Think you've got us trapped? Think again!" Cap shouted as he leapt down to his escape route with Terry on his tail. "Cap, I'm on your heels! So stop running and just consider what's best for the people of America! Their safety!" Terry shouted before seemingly trapping him. "This is the part where you wish you hadn't caught me." Cap said as the fight began. Considering he had a shield, that made the fight harder than expected. "Let's take this outside." Cap said before making a break for it with Terry on his trail. "My suit is partially functional, Delta. I'm moving to your location. Keep him busy." Iron Man said over the comline. But as Terry pursued Cap... "Hey, catch!" someone shouted before an the runway collapsed, thanks to Cap's second in command, Luke Cage. But Terry noticed that while Luke Cage was up on the catwalk, right down on the ground level with him was Daniel Thomas Rand, aka Iron Fist, and Cap himself. "Cage, stay up there for now. Back me up, Iron Fist. This shouldn't take long." Cap ordered as the fight continued. "Iron Fist is the primary target! He can use his poers to heal Cap." Hill said over the comline. "I'm way ahead of you!" Terry said.

In no time, Iron Fist was down for the count. "Luke! Turn up the heat!" Cap shouted as fire came out of the ground. But that didn't make much a difference as Cap kept getting hammered. "Cage, get that door open now!" Cap ordered. "You got it!" Luke responded. Cap soon made a break for it through the open door, only for Iron Man to meet and get tackled by him. Down on the ground floor after Iron Man got tackled off the catwalk, Terry found himself confronted by both Cap and Cage. After taking Cage down, Cap became the prime target. Soon, he was cornered by both Terry's Team and Iron Man. "Don't, Steve. Just stay where you are. We'll get you and Cage some medical attention." Tony told his former teammate, hoping to reason with him. "How generous of you. You'll make a just and fair - what? S.H.I.E.L.D. Commander? President?" Cap retorted, defiant as ever. "You must be kidding. You think that's what this is all about?" Iron Man asked, completley in disbelief that Cap would go so far as to accuse him of only taking up the position he was in just for the power of authority it gave him. "Oh, wait, that's right. They don't elect drunks to the White House." Cap responded, striking a nerve with Tony and his past as a drinker. "Don't go there." Tony said, clearly not willing to hear about his past as a drunk. "Maybe you'll be able to settle for just being drunk with power. Huh, Tony?" Cap continued, prompting Iron Man to fire a chest repulsor beam at Cap, which Cap deflected right into a tank, which exploded, giving Cap and Cage cover to escape. "Darn it! Skybird One, this is Stark. Cap got away again. I'm going after him." Tony said, clearly not happy that Cap used his past alcohol abuse to get away. "Roger. Delta Team backing you up?" Hill asked. "Negative. I'm doing this alone." Tony answered, clearly looking to get back at Cap for the jabs at his past. "Okay, Delta. The nanite agents' control grid apparently just spiked off the scale for a secnd. They're telling me it's fine, but why don't you go make sure?" Hill told Terry before another cutscene began, showing both sides going at it, with Wonder Man fighting Hercules, Songbird fighting Firestar (who had somehow escaped), and She-Hulk fighting Patriot (who had also escaped somehow), while the nanite-controlled supervillains ran on with some S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, when suddenly, an explosion in one of the mixing towers caught the agents' attention.

Right on cue, Bullseye and Lady Deathstrike looked to each other, their eyes glowing light blue, and then they sprouted light blue tendrils from their shoulder blades, as did Green Goblin and Venom, before they started to attack the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Once the agents were down, the out of control villains grabbed some explosives and ran off with them. One agent, however, was still alive after the attack, but it turned out to be none other than Nick Fury under the helmet. Fury soon saw what the villains were doing, planting the explosives on some tanks to blow the plant sky high. Suddenly, Green Goblin spotted Fury, forcing him to retreat, but he soon met with Terry and his team. "You there! I need your help! Something big's going down. Those villains Stark's been controlling have gone off the leash. They've set up a trap on the core tanks that could blow everyone here to kingdom come. "There any reason we should trust you? Seem to recall that not working out." Terry asked, clearly remembering what happened last time he trusted the former S.H.I.E.L.D. director. "I was trying to keep people safe. If you still care about that, follow me and see for yourself. C'mon, we need to head to the central facility of the plant." Fury responded before Terry found himself there while Fury was up on the catwalk surrounding one of the core tanks. "I'll stabilize the bombs and toss 'em to you, then you dispose of 'em." Fury said before spotting something, or rather, someone. "Oh, and keep those two busy, would ya?" he asked as he pointed toward Venom and Green Goblin. "Lead the way, Fury. But if you're fooling us all over again, there'll be consequences to pay." Wolverine said. "Look, they're up to somethin'. We'll have to sort out the details later." Fury responded. "No prob, Fury! I never trusted the likes of Venom and Green Goblin anyway." Terry added as the fight began.

Soon, Fury had the first bomb secured. "Use that vent to get rid of the bombs! Heads up! Grab that thing and get rid of it!" Fury shouted as he tossed it down. Soon, Terry tossed the bomb into the vent, allowing it to explode without anyone being hurt. During the fight, Venom and Goblin switched places on the latter's Goblin Glider before the second bomb was disposed of. Soon, the third bomb was taken care of. But when Fury tried to dispose of bomb number four, Venom took to the air on the Goblin Glider and use his symbiote webs to tie Fury down to the bomb, causing him, and essentially Terry and his team, to get caught in the blast. Terry soon realized he wasn't dead, but inside Fury's secret HQ, having barely survived the blast with Fury himself there to greet him. "Well, well, well... look who's back in the land of the livin'." he said. "Where am I? What the heck happened?" Wolverine asked. "You're in a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. base that only I know about. Hm, well, I guess now you know about it, too. You guys did a great job buyin' me time to defuse those bombs. I got most of 'em... but not all." Fury answered as a flashback to previous events showed that it was actually an android replica of Fury that got caught in the explosion. "Neither side is gettin' too specific, but a good number of those heroes got pretty badly hurt in the explosions. Including yourselves. No one saw what those mind-controlled freaks were tryin' do do, or that we tried to stop 'em. So it was up to me to save you." Fury said as it was revealed in the flashback that multiple Fury android replicas were at the plant, and they all saved the lives of Terry's team before the flashback ended.

"While you healed up, I tried to warn Stark about what had really happened." Fury continued before another flashback showed him talking with Iron Man. "-ah, c'mon, Tony. I'm telling you, those 'mind-controlled' criminals of yours were completely out of control. They're the ones who rigged the explosions. I tried to-" the former S.H.I.E.L.D. director argued. "And I'm telling you it's impossible. Our records show the villains were accounted for the entire time-" Tony rebuttled. "Somone hijacked 'em. I saw it myself." Fury retorted. "I don't know what your angle is this time, old man, and frankly I don't care. I've got a war to win. Either help me do that, or get out of the way." Tony said, clearly not wanting to listen to what Fury had to say, before cutting the call. "Well, things didn't go much better with ol' wingtips, either." Fury said as the flashback continued and showed him talking with Cap. "Sorry, Fury. You've got no evidence, and I need more than your word these days. Besides, if Stark's attack dogs really are turning on him and S.H.I.E.L.D., so much the better. Serves them right." Cap said before cutting the call as the flashback ended. "They can deny it all they want, but something big is goin' down. Maybe even bigger than this 'Civil War' you're all havin' so much fun with. Someone out there is tryin' to take advantage of the situation. Maybe by now I could've figured out who, if I hadn't been too busy playin' nursemaid to you grunts. You owe me. And since you're all presumed dead by boths sides, you're the perfect little group to check out of this war - at least for a bit - to help me figure this thing out. You with me?" Fury continued. "Awright, Fury. We're in." Wolverine answered. "Remember, we're the only ones ready to figure out who's behind this. Meet me at the briefing station when you're ready for action." Fury concluded before Terry took control.

After exploring Fury's base, and finding out that Fury recurited the Tinkerer to find out what or who was causig the nanite-controlled villains to go berserk, Terry headed to the briefing station. "Awright, listen up. Tinkerer here's been tryin' to figure out who might be pullin' the strings of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s nanite criminals when no one's lookin'." Fury said. "Since I had some...involvement...in the original nanotechnology S.H.I.E.L.D. converted for their use, I was optimistic that I could puzzle out the situation with the data already available. However, that has not proven to be the case. I have nothing more than conjecture at this point. In order to determine what's really happening, I will need to view the networking logs for S.H.I.E.L.D.'s nanite control grid. Unfortunately their signal is highly encrypted. It could take years to break their code and directly access their servers." Tinkerer said. "But we don't have time for that, obviously. The shorter and quicker route is to physically transmit that data directly from their servers, which we've discovered are located in Ryker's Island penitentiary. So that's where you're headed. Now don't worry. I know tryin' to bust into that place on your own would be near impossible, since it also contains the portal to Stark's Negative Zone prison. But we got information that Captain America and his forces are about to stage a prison break to release their buddies from the Negative Zone. They'll have to smash through Ryker's to get there. We'll take advantage by having you piggyback on their incursion. While they're driving toward the portal, you'll follow in their wake and get that data sent to us. Then we can figure out who the heck's grabbing control of these psychos, and why." Fury concluded. Soon, Terry found himself in control and along the wall of Ryker's Island.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. should have their hands full, but I'll patch you into their comm channel so you won't get any nasty surprises. Now get to the portal room and upload those network logs." Fury said over the com line before Terry started moving towards his goal. "Attention S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel - this is Commander Hill. Any superhumans not accompanied by Iron Man should be detained, by any means necessary." said the so-called 'acting director' as Terry met with S.H.I.E.L.D. defenses for the first time in the mission. Terry soon reached the west cellblock. "S.H.I.E.L.D. forces, we've got rogue superhumans running loose in the west cellblock. Contain them!" Hill ordered. After taking the S.H.I.E.L.D. forces in the west cellblock down, Terry moved on. "Cap's strike team has already crossed into the Negative Zone. That means you're the only targets Hill's got left on this side." Fury chimed in before Terry and his team met the woman herself in the prison recreational courtyard. "Stand down, 'heroes'. You might have helped us before, but I can't be sure who you're working for now." she said. "Maybe we can settle this with a little rock-paper-scissors?" Terry asked as Deadpool. "No can do. Bring 'em down!" Hill responded before more S.H.I.E.L.D. troops showed up. "Iron Man has secured the Negative Zone portal. Fall back to the courtyard!" Hill ordered as Terry mopped up the remaining troops. Soon, Terry saw Iron Man talking with a new hero in his ranks.

"If I remember correctly, I'd say that guy is the former member of the New Warriors, Speedball, aka Robbie Baldwin. After the blast at Stamford that killed 612 people, including 60 children, Baldwin was found alive, having been saved by his ability to create kinetic forcefields, but flung 500 miles away from the area of the explosion. Now he's known as Penance, because his powers, which are now the ability to create energy blasts, only work when he's in pain, hence the spikes on his costume, sixty of them being larger and representing the children that died in Stamford." Terry said. "Penance, stay here and guard this door. No one gets through, understand? And keep an eye on these nanite-controlled prisoners." Iron Man ordered. "Okay." Penance responded, coldly, as Iron Man was teleported to the Negative Zone and Prison 42. "The computer with the data we need is in that holding chamber, but the area's sealed. You'll have to get the access card from Hill." Fury chimed in before Terry went after her. "Whether you're with White Star or not, you're breaking the law, and will be dealt with accordingly." Hill said as her forces started going after Terry. After breaking through two force fields, Terry had Hill nearly cornered. "She's goin' for her chopper!" Fury said before a White Star soldier shot it down. "Now, Hill, if you would be so kind as to hand over that access card." Terry said smugly. "Fine, take the key. Go help Captain America or whatever you think you need to do. But there's an army on the other side of that portal waiting to stop you." Hill responded. "You don't really listen well, do you? Oh, and thanks for the key." Terry said. "I'll enjoy interrogating you when this is all over." Hill retorted. "Ain't she a sweetheart? Now go get that data." Fury chimed in. "Anyone who's still standing: get to the portal! Rogue supers just stole my access key. Cut them off!" Hill ordered over the comm line. "Don't worry, Hill. I'll stop 'em." Penance responded. "So, she's a jerk, a pain in the capital B, AND a liar? No wonder I always hated Maria Hill!" Terry said to himself.

After taking down the reinforcements, Terry's team finally reached the portal to the Negative Zone, but were soon met by Penance. "Not so fast. I've got my orders." he said, coldly, before powering up. "No here's one for you, get out of this prison!" he bellowed before the fight began. "I was told your powers thrive on pain and you're wearing that suit to pay for your mistakes in Stamford. Well you're about to feel more pain than you can take, Robbie." Terry said with glee. But as soon as Penance was nearly down for the count, he backed up to the center of the teleportation pad. "You won't get past me...you WON'T!" Penance shouted before he used his powers to accidentally free the nanite-controlled prisoners around the room, who proceeded to grow tendrils on their shoulder blades, a sign of the malfunction seen with Bullseye, Green Goblin, Lady Deathstrike and Venom. "Oh, man, they're all loose!" Penance said with a hint of worry as the group of inmates started to beat up on him. They then turned towads Terry and his team, but were quickly dispatched. "Use that networking monitor station to send their logs to us for analysis." Fury said before Terry did so. Soon, Terry lost control as Fury and Tinkerer broke down what they learned from the data in the logs. "We got the transmission, and Tinkerer's done a quick analysis on the data. Doesn't look good." Fury said. "We were concerned that an unknown megalomaniac might be overriding S.H.I.E.L.D.'s nanite control signals, with intentions unknown. However, the truth is much stranger, and potentially more troubling. There is no secret mastermind pulling the strings of these criminals. The network that links their minds has become large and complex enough to emergy as its own intelligence; a neural net whose intellect grows each time they inject another host with the nanites." Tinkerer said, causing Terry to pause in shock. "The only reason this thing hasn't already spread like wildfire is because S.H.I.E.L.D. lets just a few of 'em out at a time." Fury adds. "Correct. If the entire group were released from lockdown, they could escape Prison 42 and eventually spread across the Earth like a techno-plague. Everyone would eventually become part of its collective conciousness." Tinkerer put in. "We already saw that they could override S.H.I.E.L.D. control. Wouldn't there be any way to stop 'em?" Fury asked. "To determine that, I would need a pure, untanted sample of the nanite material... on that hasn't yet been injected into a host." Tinkerer answered. "Okay. They must have some of that in their Negative Zone jailhouse. And we won't get a better chance to head in there and grab some of that stuff than right now, while the heroes are still beatin' the daylights out of each other. I'm gonna have to do this the old fashioned way. Sit tight till I arrive to help you out." Fury concluded before Terry regained control and the former director teleported in.

"Ugh. Teleporting makes my skin crawl. But you'll need my help, and I can't send a decoy into the Negative Zone. Signal won't cross over. I expect Cap and Iron Man will still be butting heads in there. Let's move while they're distracted." Fury said after arriving. "I'm pretty sure I've seen this movie, and the funny guy dies first." Terry said, jokingly. "This is the best shot we're gonna get to break into that prison... we gotta take it. Otherwise nobody'll be sitting on an antidote that could save humanity from this thing." Fury responded. "Hunh. And I thought everyone was too busy fighting each other to watch out for civilians. Let me help. I can activate the portal for you." Penance said after he got up. "Thanks, Robbie." Fury responded before Terry gained control again. "Go on through. I'll be ready to help you anytime." Penance said, showing he was ready to fight for the right cause and make up for what happened at Stamford. Soon, Terry and his team were teleported right into the Negative Zone, an entire universe of antimatter, and right at the door to Prison 42. "It's a lot easier gettin' into this place than gettin' out. I'll head to the portal control room to make sure this gate's open for us when it's time to book. The nanite labs are a few levels below us. Head down there and grab that pure sample. I'll meet you back here." Fury stated. "Alone? You're not a fancy-shmancy robot this time. You're just an old guy." Terry said. "Yeah, and I was kickin' butt back when your mama was wiping yours. I can handle myself. I'll let you know when I reach the control room. From there I should be able to help clear your way. Now get going." Fury responded before the portal lowered down into the labs like an elevator, only for Terry to meet with S.H.I.E.L.D. troops and robots.

They were quickly taken down before the door to one of the labs opened. "Lab personnel, this is Nanite Control. Detain those rogue heroes! We're going to bring another nanite agent online to assist you." Swanson said over the coms as another villain was being taken into the lab. "Sounds like they're prepping someone for nanite injection. Try to stop 'em before they use up that pure sample we're after." Fury said as Terry headed down the hall to the lab. "Awright, I'm in portal control. Security's pretty light up here... everyone must be focused on the main fight. Lemme see if I can open a path for ya. There, got it. Hurry up and get that sample." Fury chimed in after the S.H.I.E.L.D. forces were dealt with and before Terry headed into the lab. "I don't care if he hasn't been fully prepped. We need Equinox online to defend the labs. Start the procedure!" Swanson ordered before the troops and robots were dispatched. "Stay back...I'm gonna skip the startup protocol and take direct control ASAP. Should have this freak on the leash any second." Swanson said, and in no time, Equinox, aka Terrance Sorenson, became part of the nanite control network and went on the attack. "Done! I never liked working with these 'heroes' anyway. Time to put 'em on ice!" he added after, clearly showing his true colors towards Terry. "Darn. He's been injected with the pure sample. I'll find you another one." Fury said while Terry focused on what was in front of him. "Great, Terrance vs Terrance." Terry said to himself, sarcastically. The battle was one of elements, considering Equinox had the powers of both fire and ice at his disposal. But he went down regardless. "Found it. Head to the other side of the labs. You can grab a pure sample there." Fury chimed in afterwards.

But as soon as Terry reached the hall leading to the next lab and the next sample, something happened. "Now! Overload the decontamination field!" Swanson said as said field destroyed two S.H.I.E.L.D. robots. "I can't disable that thing remotely. Find away around, see if you can shut it off." Fury said as Terry managed to duck into a room to avoid being disintegrated. After doing it a couple more times, the field was shut off. "That cleared your way. You can head for the sample now." Fury chimed in as Terry charged into the lab. "You'll have to stop those capes yourselves! We can't get another nanite agent online in time!" Swanson told the troops as Terry wailed on them. "Finally. Grab the pure sample from that machine." Fury said as soon as the room was clear. In no time, Terry has the nanite formula sample in hand. "Good work, team. You should be clear to head back to the portal. No one's gonna stop ya...they're all too busy partyin' it up in the cell blocks..." Fury said before Terry lost control and a cutscene began showing a battle in the cell blocks, with Luke Cage using his strength to clear away some S.H.I.E.L.D. troops. "We'll never reach the jail cells at this rate!" Luke said to Cap after he dispatched some troops. "Are those the conduits we saw on the schematics?" Cap asked. "Yeah - the only exposed power cables for both the main systems and the back-ups." Cage answered. "Those get cut, and all the cells open up? Including S.H.I.E.L.D.'s remote control super-criminals?" Cap asked. "You got it. But the released prisoners might give S.H.I.E.L.D. more than they can handle - 'least for a few minutes. Could help cover our escape." Cage answered. Cap then did what Terry thought was the unthinkable, in regards to the nanite-controlled supervillains, and cut the cable, letting all the prisoners out of their cells. "Cap, you fool! What have you done?" Terry asked himself as the unregistered heroes and the nanite villains escaped and headed into battle, save for Venom who let the nanites take over and headed off to do some dirty work.

Back on the battlefield, the fight intensified as Patriot knocked out a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Hercules took down War Machine, only for She-Hulk to land a lucky shot and Cable attempted to blast Mister Fantastic, only to miss. Iron Man soon saw the nanite villains come out, almost every last one of them. "Never thought the cavalry would looks quite like that...but I'll take it." he said. Bullseye, completely taken by the nanites, picked up a bullet and looked up at Green Goblin, who had also been taken over, holding a pumpkin bomb before nodding, flying away and tossing it with a chuckle, just in the right place for Bullseye to use his uncanny aim to throw the bullet at the pumpkin bomb, causing it to rain down fire on everyone, both pro-reg and anti-reg. "Nanite Control, watch what you're doing with those prisoners! They just-" Iron Man started to say, but he was cut off by a blast from behind by a supervillains named Moonstone, aka Karla Sofen, before he could finish. "Darn it, Swanson! Get those prisoners attacking the right tarets!" Tony said, clearly not happy about being attacked by his own troops. "We're trying, sir, but they're not responding! The inhibitor transmissions aren't having any effect!" Swanson responded, clearly worried if not panicked. "Then spke their nanochains! Shut them down, NOW!" Tony ordered, but when Swanson tried to press the failsafe button, nothing happened. "No effect, Mr. Stark! The villains are completely out of control!" Swanson responded, clearly more scared than before when the shadow of Venom came over him. "You don't say." Venom said before using his symbiote powers to do away with Swanson. Back on the battlefield, Lady Deathstrike was about to land a final, fatal blow on Tony, clearly worried for his life underneath his armor, before Cap came in and saved him before helping him to his feet. "Looks like Fury was right about your nanite-injected slaves." Cap said, clearly realizing Fury was telling the truth. "We had it under control until you busted in here and released them all." Tony retorted, trying to defend the tactic that had helped the pro-reg forces. "Gentlemen, I suggest we focus on getting our people out of here alive." Mr. Fantastic interjected before the cutscene ended and Terry regained control.

"Darn it, this is exactly what we were worried about. The nanite agents are free, and they're showin' hive mind behavior. Great... looks like the power surge knocked out the portal. We'll need it to get our people out of here. Take that lift and rendezvous with Cap and Iron Man. You explain the situation to them while I try ta figure a way to jump-start that portal." Fury said, clearly not happy about the ensuing chaos. WIth that, the lift went up and Terry met with Cap and Iron Man, who were carrying Wonder Man and Dagger, respectively. "Where did you-?! It doesn't matter. We need your help. Something's gone terribly wrong with the nanite control systems. "Guess someone should've listened to Fury." Terry said, knowing that if he had, this wouldn't have happened. "Based on what? The rantings of a manipulative-" Iron Man started to ask. "Tony, there's no time to fight about this. We've got to work together to get everyone out of here." Cap said. "You're right - but this portal's offline. We're going to need to fight through the escaped inmates to get power flowing to it again." Iron Man said, clearly knowing the danger at hand was more important than his opinion on Fury. "It won't be easy. Their link seems to make them nearly invulnerable." Cap added. "We've actually been handling them for a while." Terry said, confident that he can take on a few more nanite villains. "You have? Okay, then... sounds like a plan. Get power flowing to this portal." Iron Man said. "Head to the top of the cellblocks to reach the power conduits. Tony and I can hold this portal as a rally point. Send any heroes you run into back here." Cap added. "Sorry about what I said before. You and Fury kept your eyes on the ball while the rest of us were fighting over who was right. I only hope it's not too late." Iron Mad put in, apologetically. "Sounds like those two have come to their senses. 'Bout time! Guess I'll switch us over to their radio frequency." Fury chimed in. "Fury? Is that you?" Iron Man asked. "In the flesh, Stark. And that ain't a figure of speech." Fury responded. "I hate to say it, old man, but you were right. We should've listened." Tony said, clearly feeling like a fool. "We're just lucky you and your team saw this coming, Nick." Cap added.

As Terry's team headed on, they saw another inmate be injected with nanites, but what was more shocking was the fact that the inmate had pyrokinetic abilities, and shared it with other, lesser inmates. "The nanite link is letting them share powers somehow. Be careful out there." Cap said over the com line. After taking out the inmates, Terry reached a lift that moved up to the next floor. "Stark, any idea how we can deal with this power sharing?" Fury asked. "Target the ones in orange. They're the high power level superhumans. Beyond that - I have no idea what we're seeing." Iron Man responded. "Oh, it's obvious what we're seeing. What happens when you put machinery into humans when it's NOT a medical emergency." After fighting through more inmates, Terry's team reached another lift. "These linked powers are no joke. We need the portal online so we can get our people out of here." Cap chimed over the com line. Soon after, Terry reached some kind of paralyzing floor that was designed to paralyze any rioting inmates. "I can't disable those things from here. Should be some panels you can trigger to help clear your way." Fury said before Terry made his way across. "Cage here. Area's clear, I'm heading to the portal." Luke reported as Terry finally reached the other side of the first paralyzing floor. "Almost there. Ran into some trouble on the third floor, but I think I can - ungh!" Cage said before being taken down and cut off. "Luke? Luke! He's not responding! Get to his location!" Cap said, clearly worried about his second in command. After dealing with inmates sharing the power of electro-kinesis and making their way across the other paralyzing floor, Terry saw Cage being prepped for nanite infection by another nanite villain, Grim Reaper.

"Grim Reaper. Long time no see." Terry said before freeing Cage and taking Grim down. "Thanks. Those freaks meant business. I'm gonna go help Cap at the portal." Luke said, grateful for being saved from becoming part of a hive mind. "Get that pure nanite sample they left. Never hurts to have a spare." Fury suggested before Terry did so and moving on. "Fury, the prisoners are taking our people alive. Any idea what they're trying to do?" Cap asked as Terry headed to the next lift. "They share one mind, they want to add more and more people to their group - and they'll kill anyone who stands in their way." Fury answered as Terry and his team went up on the lift. "And if they get back to Earth..?" Tony asked. "We can't let that happen, Stark. No matter what." Fury answered, knowing full well what a nanite collective on Earth would do to the population as Terry moved along. "Oh, great. NOW the prison 'bots come back online. Sit tight, I'll open an exit." Fury said as Terry and his team met said robots and fought them. "Darn stubborn piece of... there! Fields should be down." Fury said at last. Soon, Terry spotted Firestar inside a nanite chamber. "Get me out of here! They're trying to turn me into one of them!" she called out. "No problem, always wanted to rescue one of the Spider-Friends." Terry said, obviously referencing the show that Firestar spawned from, Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends. Soon, both the nanite villains protecting the chamber, Bullseye and Moonstone, were taken down and Firestar was rescued. "Good job getting Firestar out. Send her our way." Cap said once the job was done. "You'll have to get down to the lower levels to restore power. There's a lift nearby." Fury said before Terry got on said lift and headed down to the generator level.

"A few energy cores were... displaced earlier. If you move them back into position, Fury should be able to restore power." Iron Man instructed. Soon, both cores were plugged in. "That did it! Energizing the portal now!" Fury said. Soon, the portal came online and Luke and Firestar helped Wonder Man and Dagger to safety. "We're getting everyone out now. Get back to the portal!" Iron Man ordered. But before Terry could even get to the lift, noneother than Molten Man showed up, along with a couple dozen regular inmates. But they easily fell. "These nanite villains just keep coming! Is there no way to shut them down?" Cap asked. "First thing we tried. They've changed the network's encryption code, and we designed it to be unbreakable." Tony answered. "We're going to have to do something decisive - and fast." Fury said before Terry took the nearest lift up. "I can't bring those turrets down. You'll have to fight past 'em." Fury said as gun turrets appeared to fire at Terry and his team. Upon getting past them and more inmates, Terry took another lift down to the floor where he fought and beat Grim Reaper, only to see him get back up with reinforcements behind him. "They're reviving each other somehow. Not good." Fury said, having seen everything through the prison security cameras. "Guess you really are the Grim Reaper, you just won't stay down." Terry said as he took him down, for good. "Toe-to-toe, we can't win this fight. We need another option." Cap said. "Well, there is a self-destruct protocol for the prison. But Reed and I never -" Iron Man said, revealing the last ditch effort to stop something dangerous beyond belief for the prison was to blow it up. "We can't! Some good people are still unaccounted for." Cap said, clearly not looking to leave anyone behind. "Cap, it's our only chance to keep this from spreading to Earth. Send me the codes, Tony. I can trigger the destruction sequence from here, then meet you at the portal." Fury retorted, knowing that stopping the collective was what was important, as Terry reached the next floor down and dealt with more inmates.

"Heads up! Moonstone's back in action." Iron Man reported as more inmates fell and Terry's team made it to another lift. "This is Nick Fury to all friendly forces. We're gonna blow this place to kingdom come. Get yer butts to the portal, double time!" Fury said over the com-line. Terry fought through more inmates and finally reached the portal. "You made it! Come on, we need your help!" Cap called out before more inmates came flying in on whirlwinds, a power shared by another supervillain by the name of Whirlwind, aka David Cannon. "If we clear this area, Fury can trigger the destruct sequence and follow us out." Iron Man said as Terry and his team got to work fighting Whirlwind and his fellow inmates. "Watch it! Diamondback's joining in!" Cap called out as said villainess appeared. Soon, Diamondback was taken out. "Resistance is thinning out a bit here, Fury. Is that self-destruct set?" Cap asked. "Hey, I didn't design this thing, awright?! Just hang in there." Fury responded, clearly frustrated a bit. "Heads up! It's Moonstone!" Iron Man called as said villainess flew in. But in no time, Whirlwind was taken out, along with Moonstone. "It looks like they've backed off for the moment, Fury. Can you trigger the destruct sequence or not?" Iron Man asked. "Close enough. Head through the portal and make sure only the good guys come through." Fury answered. Soon, Iron Man, Cap, Terry and his team step on the portal pad. "Get going. I'll be right behind you." Fury said as the group teleported back to Earth. "See you on the other side, Nick." Terry said while teleporting.

Soon, Terry lost control as what appeared to be an explosion occurred, followed by a cutscene showing both sides of the Civil War conflict having made it to safety. "You made it! Was Fury behind you?" Cage asked, but the portal suddenly shut down before anyone could answer. "Hmm, closed off from the other side." Reed pointed out. "What do you think it means? Did Fury detonate-?" Cap began to ponder, only to be cut off by Maria Hill at gunpoint with S.H.I.E.L.D. troops flanking her. "Step to one side, Captain. You and your friends here are under arrest." she ordered. "For Pete's sake, Hill... these people need medical attention!" Cap retorted. "He's right. Lower your weapons and call in the medics-" Iron Man concurred. "No, Stark. I'm under directo orders from the President. The SRA dictates that these unregistered-" Hill began to argue, only for Iron Man to cut her off. "We're giving everyone temporary amnesty on my authority, at least until we figure out what just happened. If you have a problem with that, Commander Hill, you're going to have to take it up with all of us." Tony said. "Well, Hill? What's it gonna be? You really want to try and fight an ARMY of superheroes? Would that be what his honor the President of the United States and the people he governs want? To arrest all the superheroes in New York, regardless of their position on the SRA? That would make you and S.H.I.E.L.D. look like the bad guys, now wouldn't it?" Terry asked cheekily, really looking to see if Hill would lose her position, or even her job, for firing on friendlies and rebels. Hill looked around, realized that she and her troops wouldn't stand a chance against every superhero in the room, and relented. "Get the medics down here." Hill said, knowing she had no choice. "Well, Hill. Looks like you won't be bothering the superhero community ever again. Like I said in DC during the Russian terror attack, I don't take orders from you." Terry said, satisfied with her decision, the smartest one she made the whole game. The game then fast forwarded three days later to a memorial service being held in a cemetery in honor of the supposedly dead, among them Fury, Black Widow, Spider-Woman, Cable, Havok, aka Alexander Summers and Bishop among others.

"... so many lives apparently lost. And yet, lost so that many more lives might be saved. We may not know the true fate of Nicholas Fury, but we do know he showed his willingness to sacrifice himself on behalf of us all. For him - and for the rest of the missing and presumed deceased - we ask Almighty God to watch over their souls. Amen." said the priest in charge of the ceremony as multiple S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, including Maria Hill, and superheroes, among them The Fantastic Four, Gambit, a crying Ms. Marvel, a saddened Hercules, She-Hulk, Daredevil, Iceman, aka Bobby Drake, Luke Cage, Tony Stark and Captain America. Soon, the scene transitions to Fury's secret HQ. "I've got to hand it to Fury. I'm not sure we ever would've found this place if you hadn't led us here." Iron Man said. "Hey, at least some of us were smart enough to believe him. If the rest of you had, who knows? Maybe he wouldn't be pushin' up daisies right now." Deadpool said, clearly knowing that the death of Nick Fury and several other heroes in Prison 42 could've been avoided. "You're right, but... I'm not ready to buy that Fury and the others are dead. Not yet. We found no bodies, detected no explosion..how can we be sure what really happened?" Cap pointed out. "Tony and I have already been over this a dozen times. We can't be sure... not without a working portal to the Negative Zone. And that wil take us weeks to bring online." Reed responded. "Great. So in the meantime, it just goes down as a mystery?" Cage asked. "Yes. But we do have some evidence of Fury's success. I've been monitoring, and there's still no sign of the nanite collective's signals here on Earth. It's a shame the Tinkerer seems to have escaped. I was hoping his research would corroborate my own. Still, I believe I can use this scanner to confirm that the nanites haven't - oh, no." Reed answered before seeing what he didn't want to see. "What is it?" Cap asked. "Nanite control signals. Hundreds... maybe thousands of them." Reed responded. "Fury failed?" Cage asked in disbelief. "We all failed. We lost our way." Cap answered. "And now the world pays the price." Iron Man finished, grimly. "This is what Fury wanted to avoid, and because of your focus on this stupid in hindsight Civil War, it's already happening.

"We're facing what looks like a full-scale invasion. Let's meet at the briefing station ASAP." Iron Man said. After wandering around the base, Terry headed to the briefing station to plan on how to deal with the invasion. "In the span of just a few hours, the world has gone insane. The nanite collective's agents are swarming all over the globe, infecting key victims in an apparent bid to eliminate all serious resistance to their expansion." Cap said. "Their movements seem methodical and well-coordinated. They must have used Prison 42's portal system to move this fast. Worse, time is on their side. If we can't stamp this out quickly, it will grow to encompass all of humanity." Iron Man added. "In the face of this new threat, the Registration Act has been temporarily suspended to allow us to work together." Cap put in. "We're deploying teams around the world, but the most explosive situation right now is in the African nation of Wakanda, which has reported a massive incursion into their capital city. Ruled by our friend T'Challa, also known as the Black Panther, Wakanda is a highly-advanced country blessed with the world's only deposits of vibranium." Iron Man explained. "Your knowledge of the nanite collective makes you the best team to send into this combat zone. Do whatever it takes to help Black Panther defeat these invaders and regain control of his country." Cap concluded before Terry found himself in the jungles of Wakanda. "Thank goodness you're here, my friends. No time for pleasantries, though. The enemy have our city surrounded, and they are firing on us with siege cannons! Please take out those guns - we can't hold out against them much longer!" Black Panther said over the com-line as Terry and his team moved out and forward before they came to the first cannon.

Right on cue, members of the Wakandan guard, known as the Dora Milaje, appear to help out. "You will never take Wakanda, invaders!" one of them said before Terry got to work. Soon, the cannon was destroyed and the nanite guards beaten. "Thank you, heroes! Your help is most welcome. The nanites are spreading - the escaped inmates have infected hordes of mercenaries. And now they have come for us. We must stop their assault before they take the city. The cannons are our primary target." said one of the guards. "Thanks for the intel. We'll take it from here." Terry said. "And I should leave Wakanda's defense to foreigners? Ha! Not a chance. Come, they have more artillery ahead. I willl open the security fields for you." said the guard before she lowered one of them. "They have another cannon near here. We must find it." she added as Terry moved on. Soon, they found it and destroyed it. "Excellent! We should ascent the mountain now." the guard said as the nanite troops were dealt with. They soon started up the mountain and found what looked like a puzzle. "This ancient lock was built to secure the path - but I'm sure you'll be able to open it." the guard said. "This is too easy, match the rock keys to the right key holes." Terry said as he got to work solving the puzzle. "Sometimes the old ways are not the best... at least when it comes to security systems." said the guard while Terry placed the keys in the proper key holes. Soon, the puzzle was solved and the door opened. "They are using their powers to shield the cannons! Stop them!" the guard said as soon as the door opened to reveal the next cannon.

Soon, the cannon was destroyed, followed by the last one. "Let us go on to defend the city." said the guard once the final cannon was destroyed. And so the team headed toward the city, but found a presumed deceased ally standing in their way. "Havok? Alexander, what are you doing here?" Storm asked, only to find that he was part of the nanite collective. "Be careful, my friends! That is not the man you think you know!" said the guard as Terry began to fight the now enslaved Havok. After a long battle, Havok was defeated. "You have done well, but the enemy is inside the city. Please, hurry." Black Panther chimed in. "King T'Challa needs your help. I will secure Havok, then follow you to the city. Go!" urged the guard as Terry and his group headed into the capital city of Wakanda, where they saw pods landing in the city. "They have taken our defenses offline, leaving us vulnerable to airborne assault! Head to the towers at the top of the city to restore the defenses." Panther said before Terry got control and entered the city. "Maybe I can help turn things around more by destroying these pods." Terry said as he found that they were teleporter pods, which would allow new nanite troops to enter the battlefield. "Breaking those is a fine idea. I do not want their teleporter pods in my city." T'Challa said over the com-line. Soon, four of the pods were destroyed as Terry reached tower number 1. "Beware! Incoming aircraft!" T'Challa warned as a chopper made appeared. "You are near the defense towers. Please, get their power cores back into the sockets." Panther added as Terry fought more nanite troops and restored the tower. "Good. There is another tower to repair nearby." T'Challa said once the tower was active.

Soon, another pod was destroyed and another tower was activated. "You have aided us greatly, heroes, but there is more to be done. We must activate one last tower. Let us descend. I shall open the way for you." said one of the guard before the security field was lowered. "Come along. We must travel down to the marketplace." the guard added as Terry and the team went down. "The last tower is just ahead." she put in as the final tower was spotted. Soon, three more teleporter pods were destroyed, more nanite troops were defeated, and the final tower was brought online. In moments, a defense shield appeared over the city. "It is done! Our city is safe." T'Challa said as more pods came down, only to be destroyed by the forcefield. "We must travel to the Panther's palace through here. It remains undefended." said the guard before unblocking the path to the palace. But on the way down, Terry and his team came across another nanite infected hero, A-Bomb, aka Rick Jones. The fight was hard, considering that A-Bomb was about as strong as Hulk, and having another nanite-controlled hero protecting him, that being Justice, aka Vance Astrovik, who was able to form a shield around A-Bomb using his own powers. "Focus on Justice! His powers are shielding A-Bomb!" T'Challa advised, and Terry did just that. Soon, both A-Bomb and Justice were down. "Our homes are safe. I shall post guards with these two while we go secure the palace." the guard said, gratefully, as Terry headed to the lift leading towards the palace. "Your help in the city is much appreciated, but the palace defenses are still offline. I must ask for your help once again. Use the lift to reach the palace grounds." T'Challa said as Terry made his way towards said location. "There are two towers in the palace defense network. Restore them, and I will open the way to the palace." Panther said before Terry set forth.

After dealing with more nanite soldiers, destroying more teleporter pods, Terry brought the first tower online. "Very good. There is but one more tower to activate." T'Challa chimed in. "The final power core must still be placed into the large tower." the guard added. Soon, once more soldiers were dealt with and more pods were destroyed, Terry reactivated the final tower. "Take that lift to reach the palace." said the guard as said lift came down. Terry and the team got on and headed up to the palace. "It appears we are safe, thanks to you. But it seems things are going badly in New York. I will patch you in..." T'Challa said before letting Terry hear what was going on in the Big Apple. "...priority one distress call from Stark Tower to all friendly forces. We are under attack. Invading force is comprised of nanite-controlled criminals as well as infected super heroes, including - unnhh!" said She-Hulk before being attacked. "She-Hulk, look out! I will deal with - arrgh!" Colossus shouted before being attacked himself. "Colossus!" Hercules called out. "Fall back! Fall b-" She-Hulk ordered before the transmission cut off. "She-Hulk! Stark Tower, respond!" Black Panther said, clearly worried. "If these nanite freaks are strong enough to take down She-Hulk, Colossus and Hercules, then I know we're in for a real war." Terry said to himself. "Please join me inside. I will continue trying to contact our allies. Panther calling Stark Tower. She-Hulk, do you read?" Panther said as Terry and the team entered the palace, only to get a surprise transmission from a famliar face. "Fury...? You survived?" Storm asked, baffled that Fury was still around after the explosion of Prison 42.

"Surviving, and thriving. Better'n ever, in fact." Fury responded. "Wait... what are you saying?" Storm asked, confused. "I'm sayin' what you should already know. I'm in The Fold now." Fury answered as tendrils appeared out of his shoulder blades, revealing that he was infected, too. " 'The Fold'? What are you talking about?" Storm asked, more confused than before. "I'm talking about the end of war. I'm talking about sharing what's left of this forsaken planet. Everyone... together." Fury answered. "You are... You are not yourself. You are one of them, now." Storm said, deeply shocked. "I'm one of 'us', now. And when you're one of us, you're gonna understand. We're finally gonna be done fightin' each other... forever." Fury continued. "With no individuality? Nothing of ourselves left? Absolutely not, Fury. We would rather die than be enslaved like you are." Storm responded, knowing that Fury was far gone. "Really? Well, we can arrange that too." Fury said before the transmission ended. "So these guys are calling themselves The Fold? And Fury is one of them if not their leader? Well that's just great." Terry said to himself before the shields over the palace and the city dropped. "They've broken through our defenses! How...?" Panther said in shock before his own guards came down through the ceiling, but now with tendrils in their shoulder blades, revealing they were taken by The Fold. "No! My own people, taken! This has gone too far!" Panther said, unhappy that his own royal guard were infected and taken into The Fold.

Suddenly, during the fight, Green Goblin showed up, to the shock of everyone. But after a bit of fighting, Venom showed up. "Venom as well? How many foes will Fury throw at us?" Panther asked as the battled continued. "If I know my villains, the Venom symbiote is weak against high pitched sounds. So we could use those pillars to generate sonic bursts to force Venom into a stunned state." Terry thought to himself. As he did so, the battle became somewhat easier. Soon, both villains fell, and so did the infected guards. "Thank you. Without your aid, I shudder to think what would have become of my homeland. Now... what should we do with these two?" Panther said before pointing down to the knocked out villains. Soon, Terry lost control again. "The fall of Stark Tower was just the beginning. Over teh past few weeks, The Fold has aggressively ramped up its campaign to take over all of humanity. Many of our closest friends and allies remain unaccounted for. We have to assume they've been taken into The Fold." Cap said as Terry saw the several teams fighting The Fold, with many of them considered unaccounted for, including the likes of The X-Men, The Avengers, Omega Flight in Canada, the Great Lakes Champions, Excalibur in England, China Force in China, and The Winter Guard in Russia.

"It's no coincidence, either. The Fold's primary targets are clearly superhumans, and thanks to the acquisition of Fury and his decades of intel, the've been able to make serious inroads in expandin the collective's power base. Fortunately, Fury's knowledge of Wakanda isn't comprehensive, which is why we've been using Black Panther's palace as our temporary base of operations." Iron Man added. "Fold forces were unable to retrieve Venom and Green Goblin after you defeated them. Using the pure nanite sample your team obtained from Prison 42, we've been able to cure these two criminals of their infection." Mr. Fantastic put in. "Venom and Goblin both claims a strong desire to help us stop The Fold. They're not the most trustworthy of allies, but frankly we can't afford to turn them away. With The Fold growing exponentially - infecting entire populations at a time - it's become obvious we can't win a war of attrition against them. Their network seems to be the key... if we could only find a way to disrupt it. Unfortunately, they've clearly been taking steps to make that all but impossible." Iron Man added. "Our best minds are working hard to devise a strategy to defeat The Fold before it becomes unstoppable. We'll let you know if and when we come up with anything solid." Cap concluded. "My home is yours, friends... everything here is at your disposal. Let us meet at the briefing station when you are ready to act." T'Challa said as Terry regained control. After wandering around the palace, Terry headed off to the breifing to hear the plan Iron Man, Goliath, Mr. Fantastic and Yellowjacket, aka Hank Pym, formulated to stop The Fold, or die trying.

"Analysis of Fold technology retrieved after the liberation of Wakanda has revealed details about the collective and how it's spreading. We're now aware of massive 'repeater towers' being erected in secret locations around the globe at an astonishing rate." Iron Man explained. "These heavily-defended towers are clearly being built to extend the reach of their network. Like the internet, their grid is adaptive and seems highly resistant to being completely shut down. So, trying to destroy the towers would be an inefficient use of our time and resources." Mr. Fantastic added. "However, we might still have an ace in the hole. Our nanite stasis signal should still function, if we could only broadcast it on their network. Their encryption makes that impossible to do from the outside, but if we were able to take control of one of their repeater towers and send the signal from there, it just might work." Iron Man pointed out. "We've identified only one tower that is central enough to reach the entire Fold before they could react." Mr. Fantastic put in. "If we were able to infiltrate this enemy base and send the shutdown signal, all members of The Fold would be paralyzed, allowing us to round them up and cure them of the nanite infection." Iron Man continued as the map singled out Iceland as the location of the tower. "It sounds simple, but won't be easy. Iceland was one of the first countries to be completely overtaken by the collective. However, this may be our only shot at defeating The Fold. If we fail here, we'll have revealed our only trump card. And they won't give us another chance, once they figure out what we're up to. We'll get as close to the tower as we can without attracting their attention. From there, we'll have to fight through their defenses, make our way into the base, and send out that signal." Cap concluded as the map revealed the tower was in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland. Soon, Terry and his team found themselves close as they could get to the tower.

"That's as close as we can get you. You must find a way inside so you can send out the stasis signal." Panther said. As Terry went on, smashing as many Fold troops as he could, he saw what looked like a new version of the collective's teleporter pods, as proven when a group of Fold troops came in. "Dr. Pym, are those devices anything like the recovered nanite tech you've been studying?" Panther asked. "Yes, T'Challa. Team, this is Hank Pym. Those amplifiers allow them to teleport in. I'd recommend destroying as many of them as you can." Yellowjacket responded. As Terry went along, he kept smashing more amplifiers. "It seems like The Fold is using a lot of their teleportation tech here, too. They must have adapted it from the Negative Zone portal design." Yellowjacket theorized. Terry moved on, pushing past an unsuccessful Fold ambush and destroying the last two amplifiers as he went. "T'Challa, what's that noise?" Yellowjacket asked. "Long-range proximity warning. We may have company before long, Dr. Pym. Defensive stations, everyone!" Panther answered. Before Terry reached an entry point to the tower. "If you block the side vents, I believe the central port will be forced open." Yellowjacker said before Terry did so, which opened the central port as suggested, allowing an entry into the tower. However, two more nanite infected superheroes showed up, Wonder Man and Spider-Woman, the former of which closed the port. "Looks like you got their attention! I'd say 'try not to hurt them', but there's no time for subtlety. Take them down!" Yellowjacket said afterwards before the fight began. Soon, both heroes were defeated before the team entered the tower.

"We have multiple intruder alerts here. We may not be able to stay in contact much longer. Hurry to the inner base to get that stasis signal transmitted!" T'Challa urged, knowing that everyone in the palace wouldn't have much a chance against the full power of The Fold. Soon, after fighting through multiple Fold troops, Terry came upon a nanite infected She-Hulk. After a long battle, She-Hulk was smashed. "The tower base control station is straight ahead of you, but the pad is inactive. Try blocking the other paths first!" T'Challa advised before Terry went towards one of the open paths. "Use that object to block the teleporter. It will reroute their system and let you access other areas." Panther added as Terry blocked the first teleporter and dealt with another nanite infected hero, Colossus. Once Colossus was dealt with, the teleporter back to the tower base teleporter pad activated. "Team, you must find a way to move forward! Things are getting wores. I - Hercules! Look out!" T'Challa said as the palace was soon under siege, exemplified by the background noise of battle. Terry moved on to the next teleporter. "We are under attack! They're throwing everything they have at us. You need to - UNNH!" Panther said before being cut off, proving things were going from bad to worse, especially when Terry saw a nanite infected Firestar standing in the way. After dealing with her, Terry headed toward the main teleporter pad and met a new class of soldier under the recruitment of The Fold, much taller metahuman soldiers. "What has been done to those people you're fighting? What is The Fold trying to creat?" Black Panther asked. "I don't know, but it looks like they're trying to bolster their ranks." Terry responded as he dealt with the new Fold soldiers.

Once they were taken out, Terry infiltrated further into the tower and took down more guards, both regular and enhanced, and discovered the true mastermind behind The Fold, The Tinkerer. "What a waste. You should have accepted Fury's offer, Spider-Man." he said. "Hey, if he had offered to throw in a lifetime supply of stain remover, I would've been right there. As it is, looks like we gotta fight." Spidey responded. "We know what you're plotting. It won't work." Tinkerer rebuttled before teleporting away just in time for more Fold soldiers to come in with Whirlwind himself to back them up. But Whirlwind was soon knocked out, allowing Terry and his team to move on. Soon, Terry confronted The Tinkerer once more. "Very well. You could have selected the painless option. Instead you chose... this." he said before three more enhanced guards showed up. After dealing with enough of them, Tinkerer made a break for it and teleportered away. Soon, the bridge to the lift that led to the top of the tower, and the console that would send out the stasis signal, came up. "Hurry! Send the signal! We cannot hold out much longer!" Black Panther urged. Soon, Terry sent out the signal. But up on the top of the tower, Tinkerer appeared. "Good work! The signal upload is commencing!" Black Panther told Terry's team. However, the reprieve was brief as Tinkerer started using a console at the top of the tower to stop the upload. "Wait, something is wrong - the upload has stopped!" Panther soon said in shock. "Yeah, you can thank Tinkerer for that." Terry said. "Dr. Pym, the Tinkerer must have locked them out somehow!" Panther continued. "Darn it! Alright, uh...let me think... Okay, you should be able to override him if you can get to the top of the repeater tower itself. There should be a console up there that you can-" Pym responded before being cut off.

Soon, Terry found himself on a lift heading to the top of the tower. "They got Bishop! Blast! Do whatever you have to - just get that signal out!" Panther implored. "Alright, this has gone TOO far! Don't move, Tinkerer, you're about to get the super-powered beating of a lifetime!" Terry said, clearly not happy with what was transpiring as more Fold troops came in to impede his team's progress. But with more effort than ever, Terry neared the top. "Tinkerer will be ready for you. Do not let him stand in your way!" Panther advised. "Get the Tinkerer away from that console! Hurry!" Yellowjacket added in, urgently. "Don't worry. He's just a man with a powerful thinker, my superpowered team and I can take care of it." Terry said confidently. And then, with one or two strikes, Tinkerer was KO'd. "The uploard is starting again! Hold your position. We cannot let anyone stop the signal this time!" Panther said as soon as the upload began again. As Panther talked, teleporter pods came down with Fold troops in tow. After less than sixty seconds of pounding away on Fold troops, the stasis signal was uploaded and started to broadcast, paralyzing every single infected hero, infected villain and Fold trooper all over the world. "They're all paralyzed!" Yellowjacket said. "Reports coming in now from all over the globe. It looks like the entire collective is down. Great work!" Panther said, grateful that the whole ordeal was seemingly over. "Hey, it's what I do, T'Challa. Wakanda forever!" Terry said, just as happy. "We'll need to mobilize S.H.I.E.L.D. to begin rounding up and curing the nanite-infected population. Until then - what in the...?" Panther began to say before being cut off. "That's never a good thing to hear." Terry said to himself. "Something's channeling strange energy signature back through the networkd, converging in your vicinity. Can you investigate? I think-" Yellowjacket began to say before the com-line cut out as something, or rather someone, came out of a nearby pod.

Who it was was noneother than a fully-powered, nanite-transformed Nick Fury. "Is that, Fury?! What did they do to you?!" Terry asked in shock, clearly not happy to see that Fury traded in his Fold tendrils for what looked like nanite-created armor. "Cute trick... but did you really think we wouldn't see it coming?" Fury asked. "It's over, Fury. You're alone, you can't possibly-" Spider-Man began to say before Fury cut him off. "Oh, I'm not alone. You may have frozen The Fold, but you haven't eliminated it. And with these new nanites I can draw on the entire collective's power. I won't even need more than a fraction of it to kill you. Then I'll shut down that annoying signal of yours for good." Fury retorted before the final battle began. Fury proved he had indeed drawn on the power of the entire collective, demonstrating by using electro-kinesis against Terry and his team. "Wait a second, that holographic image above and around him, that's Electro! He must be able to draw on the powers of metahumans that were already infected!" Terry said in shock. Not only did Fury possess the powers of Electro, he also had Havok's plasma powers, Firestar's ability to manipulate microwave radiation to create fire, Multiple Man's duplication ability, Bishop's energy absorption and redirection abilities, and A-Bomb's incredible strength. During the fight, Fury taunted Terry and his team about refusing the olive branch to join The Fold, but all that didn't matter as after a long and tiring fight, Fury was defeated, losing all his powers in the process. Soon, Terry lost control one final time and witnessed Tony and Cap in Fury's base waiting for the man himself to come out of the medical room.

Soon, he did, with Mr. Fantastic helping him. "Awright, awright, Stretch. I can make it." Fury said as he weakly walked to a chair and sat down before Mr. Fantastic took his leave. "Smart guy... but I'll take a S.H.I.E.L.D. nurse over him any day." Fury said after Mr. Fantastic left. "So how are you feeling?" Cap asked. "Henh. How does it look like I'm feeling?" Fury asked back. "Could be a lot worse, all things considered. Everyone else who was infected is pretty much recovered, but the stuff the Tinkerer put in you was ten times -" Tony responded before Fury cut him off. "Yeah, I know... Believe me, I know. Listen, guys... about all this... Well I just wanted to... uh..." Fury tried to say. "You can stop there, Nick. There's plenty of blame to go around, on all sides." Cap interrupted, knowing everyone had a part to play in the whole catastrophe. "And plenty of cleaning up yet to do." Tony added before Fury stood up. "Yeah, there's that. I know you'll put it right... get things back to where they used to be." Fury said. "I'm not sure things will ever be quite the same as they used to be." Tony pointed out. "No. But that doesn't mean they can't be good again." Cap put in before they both walked away. Then, a news report on MNN came up about what happened. "And so with the global battle against The Fold now won, thanks in large part to the combined efforts of the world's super heroes, Congress this week voted to amend the Superhuman Registration Act. The updated Act allows super heroes to voluntarily register for training without revealing their secret identities to the government, or being pressed into mandatory police service. Tony Stark, fresh from accepting his new position as Commander of S.H.I.E.L.D., spoke earlier today at the Capitol Building regarding the agency's new attitude toward super heroes." said the reporter. "It's too easy to think of super heroes as weapons... something to be deployed like an arm of the military." Tony said off-screen before he's seen speaking outside the capital building with Terry's team behind him.

"But now I understand, better than I ever have, that that's not what they are. They're people. We heroes can work together, and in order to protect this world, we must. But from now on our alliance will be forged in trust, not in fear or fore. Because no threat can stand against us when we choose to act as one." Tony concluded as the game concluded and Terry was brought back to his own world. "That was quite a politically driven story." Pixel told his friend. "I know, now what say we go for a bit of a walk?" Terry asked. Pixel just smiled and both happily exited the room. Meanwhile, elsewhere in town, Alyssa was about to embark on her first video adventure. "Ready, my new friend?" she asked her Pixelverse companion, who bravely nodded. Then, she powered up her own Xbox 360, with a copy of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 in the disc tray, and began her first of many adventures.