Been a little while since I updated this story, huh? I am not sorry since I did say that A Ninja Rises will be focused on until it got to this point in the story. I hope you guys enjoy the story, and I do not own anything.
Angelic Code flies above the city sighing at the fact that Phantom is unable to join them. 'We were about to leave, and Ninja just comes out of nowhere and takes him away.' She thinks hating the fact that Ninja ruins her small plan to have some alone time with Danny. 'Of course, Danny and Rogue did just break up, and all I'm thinking about is trying to make him spend more time with me. I might need someone to help me with that.'
She looks down at the city and watches people go by through their normal business. "It is almost like the big fight last week didn't even happen. Makes me wonder what people would think when they see we have Hulk on our new team." She remarks as she sees a red mansion where Hulk was waiting with his arms crossed over his chest. She sees the red headed woman, Pepper Potts, waiting along with Hulk and sighs when Angelic Code sees no one else there.
"Hm?" Hulk looks up to see Angelic Code flying towards them and grunts happy that someone else was on time for the team meeting.
Pepper looks up as well and sighs in relief. "Oh good, not everyone is late." She says happy someone else showed up on time.
Angelic Code lands on the ground and puts her hands on her hips. "Sorry I was almost late, but I had to talk to my professor about one of the other students…well…Let's just say she broke the rules." She explains calmly not wanting to reveal what she is in front of a bunch or strangers who are walking by.
Hulk raises an eyebrow, "What rule she break?"
Angelic Code sighs, "Sorry Hulk, but I can't talk about it out in the open like this." She glances at a woman walking by with her dog staring at Hulk. Aelita smiles uneasily and watches the woman continue walking her dog as she leaves their sight. "It's also something you don't need to worry about."
"Hm…good to know." Hulk remarks taking her word for it.
Angelic Code looks at Miss Potts and asks, "Have any of the others shown up?"
Pepper sighs and glances at her watch. "No, you and Hulk are the only people I've seen in the past half hour." She looks around realizing that Phantom was nowhere in sight. "Where's Phantom? I thought he was supposed to be here with you."
Angelic Code looks away with a sad sigh escaping her lips. "He was, but something came up."
"What?" Hulk asks not liking the fact that Phantom was not here.
"A friend of his swung by and asked for help to fight some evil people in Italy." Aelita explains.
"So, while we're stuck here waiting for Stark, Phantom is out there fighting some bad guys." Hulk summarizes not liking the idea of being left out of a fight.
"Pretty much."
"You plan on going after him?"
"I am."
"How you going to get there?"
Angelic Code smirks, "Let's just say Stark can't keep any technological secrets from me." Hulk raises an eyebrow at her vague answer.
"Did you hack Tony's files again?" Pepper asks hating that Tony's files were not safe from Angelic Code.
"Hacking is a strong word Miss Potts." Angelic Code answers dismissively. "I make sure he isn't trying to use my work to improve his own. I know how much he wants to study my father's work, and I'm the only one who knows how any of it works. With how easy Tony's work gets hacked or stolen, I have to take precautions against it."
"Tony has been focused on many things Angelic Code, but your work has not been brought up once." Pepper assures the heroin.
Angelic Code sighs, "Believe what you want to, Pepper, but it's my business to know what is going on. The last person my father trusted got my mother kidnapped and me and my father trapped in the digital world."
Pepper looks away unsure of what she should say, and Hulk grunts understanding that Angelic Code did not have an easy life. "Hello Miss Potts…" Thor says as he lands on the ground in front of the group, "Angelic Code, and Hulk, it is good to see you again." He walks up to Hulk and put his hand on Hulk's shoulder. "Are you ready for the upcoming battles?"
Hulk pushes Thor's hand off his shoulder. "You ready to get a watch?" Hulk asks leaning in towards Thor and hating the fact that his new teammates were late to their first group meeting. Thor realizes what Hulk means and glares at Hulk who returns it with his arms crossed.
"We're here." Wasp says flying between Hulk and Thor before anything else could be said. "Sorry we're late." She turns around to where Antman is riding an ant. "I had to tear Hank from his lab." Hulk rolls his eyes at Jan's excuse for being late.
Antman grows back to his normal size and explains, "It was an important experiment."
"Friend Pym, I did not see you there." Thor obviously states as Wasp lands on Thor's head. "I expected you to be…giant." Thor makes a small gesture with his finger when Hanks turns around to look at Thor feeling a little perplexed.
"Really, why?" Hank asks curious on why Thor would think that.
"Thy giant self seems more useful." Thor explains thinking it was obvious.
"Well, actually…"
"Where's Stark?!" Hulk asks feeling frustrated that their 'leader' has not shown up and making him lose his patience.
"Sorry!" Ironman apologizes as he flies over to the Avengers. "Sorry everyone." He flies to the ground and lands next to Pepper. "I got caught up in a meeting." He looks at Pepper and immediately realizes that he could not lie to her. "Uh, actually," Tony removes the helmet with an uneasy look on his face, "I missed that meeting too."
"How many meetings does it make that this week?" Angelic Code asks crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.
"7…this would make the seventh meeting he's missed this week." Pepper answers without missing a beat.
Tony chuckles nervously, "Right…Anyway, thanks for coming and welcome to Avengers Mansion." Everyone looks at the mansion and wonders what Stark is going to show them. "This was my…"
"Argh!" Hulk slams his hand against the gate breaking them off the wall and onto the floor before walking onto the front yard of the property.
"You know that…was really rude."
"Your fault for being late to our first team meeting." Angelic Code points out before flying after Hulk with Jan following her.
"She's got you there." Hank says.
"Let's just get going." Tony says not liking that Angelic Code was making him look bad.
Angelic Code flies by Hulk and stops in front of the door putting her hand out to stop Hulk. She looks up at Hulk who raises an eyebrow at her way of stopping him from entering the building. "I know you're upset the others were late Hulk, but please don't destroy the whole place. I rather not listen to Tony complain about all the damages you caused him to pay for."
"He deserves it." Hulk says without missing a beat.
Angelic Code sighs, "I know, but he built this place for us to stay at as a team. Would you want to listen to him complain about everything he has to rebuild because you destroyed it?"
Hulk thinks about it for a second and grunts, "Fine, but don't expect me to enjoy staying here."
The teen shrugs, "Fair enough." Angelic Code opens the doors and enters the mansion with Hulk following her.
Wasp flies into the mansion and gets a good look at the front lobby as the others enter the building. She smiles already liking the idea of the mansion being their headquarters. "Hey Danny, what do you…" Wasp trails off when she does not see her cousin in the room. "Wait a minute, Aelita, where's my cousin? I thought he was supposed to come with you." Wasp asks as she flies up to the teen.
"Actually, she makes a good point." Tony says noticing that Phantom was not among them. "Where is Danny, Aelita?"
Aelita sighs, "He was, but we got a surprised visit from another hero known as 'The Norisville Ninja.'" She makes a holo-screen pop up and shows the team Ninja in his black and red ninja suit with a red scarf.
"Never heard of him."
"That's because he usually never left the city he protected until a couple months ago." Aelita admits. She brings up a map of the city and frowns, "Norrisville, California."
"Why would he stay and protect a small city none of us heard about?" Hank asks putting his hand on his chin in though.
"I don't know. Danny wouldn't tell me." Aelita admits.
"Ok, so you guys got a surprised visitor, but I fail to see why Phantom could not be here." Tony admits not understanding what Aelita is telling them.
"It's like this."
Flashback
Danny walks down the stair to find Aelita standing at the bottom waiting for him. "You ready?"
Aelita nods, "Yep, I'm actually excited with what Tony has actually done this past week."
"Cool." Danny reaches the bottom of the stairs when they hear something tear open. They turn their attention to the noise, and Aelita widens her eyes when they see a purple vortex in shape of a claw tear. They watch as Ninja jumps out of the portal and lands in front of them.
The portal closes behind Ninja as he stands up in front of the pair. "Oh cool, I was able to get here in time." Ninja says when he sees Danny and Aelita standing there staring at him. "Hey Danny, how's my bruce friend doing today?"
"Ninja, why are you here?" Danny asks not missing a beat.
Ninja wipes some dust off his suit and says, "Can't say much, but we got trouble."
Danny raises an eyebrow, "What kind of trouble?"
"After our last talk a couple weeks ago, I decided that I needed help tracking the Elemental users down, and since Dr. Strange has a lot on his plate, I needed someone to help me with finding them." Ninja explains getting Danny to nod understanding what Ninja was talking about, but Aelita listens unsure of what Ninja was talking about. "I was able to get someone to help, and he's really good at tracking people down, and I mean really bruce."
"That's good Ninja, but what does that have to do with you being here?" Danny asks his friend.
"They're in Italy, and they're attacking Will and her friends." Ninja explains getting Danny to widen his eyes in surprise. "I know, but we don't have time to talk about this. Will you come and help me stop them?"
"Why do you need my help?" Danny asks unsure why his friend was asking for his help.
Ninja sighs, "Last time I fought them on my own and got help from people they could easily beat. I'm not happy about that, and I don't know if Will and her friends can fight them. If they do get defeated, then it will be 1vs3, and I do not like the idea of protecting five people while fighting three at the same time."
"You fear that they're after something important from them." Danny summarizes getting Ninja to nod. "Ok, I'll help." He turns his head to Aelita who was looking at him with a deadpan look. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"What kind of things have you two gone through and talk about to be friends?" She asks him suddenly getting Danny to smile nervously.
Ninja put left hand on Danny's right shoulder and says, "Yeah sorry, but we're on a time limit, and I know that you probably have much to talk about, but we got to go." Ninja raises his other arm up showing the golden metal claw resting in the grip of his hand. "Golden Tiger Claws!" He tears open a portal and turns his head to Danny. "You ready?"
Danny sighs and gives Aelita a sad smile. "We'll try to be back soon." Danny transforms into Phantom and gives her a salute before jumping into the portal with Ninja following him.
End Flashback
"So, he just left without trying to bring us along?" Wasp asks.
"As I said, Ninja looked like he was in a hurry." Aelita sighs and shakes her head. "I would have gone with them, but Ninja didn't know who I was since he never saw me outside of my hero costume. I didn't want to take the risk."
"What's the plan?" Hulk asks not missing a beat.
Aelita smirks, "We're going to Italy in Tony's new jet he built for the team in the hanger."
"Really? You have to ruin the surprise?" Tony asks sarcastically.
"Sorry Tony, but my best friend is in Italy fighting people none of us know. We don't have time to do a house tour."
"Even if we do get to Italy and help Phantom, what would we be able to do?" Hank asks trying to be reasonable. "You said it yourself. We don't know who the enemy is or what they can do. Going into this blind could cause problems if we're not careful."
"Then it's a good thing Phantom can update us when we get there." Tony remarks getting Hank to sigh. "One thing is sure though. No Avenger gets left behind to fight alone. Let's go team." Tony puts the helmet on. "We got a Phantom to save."
"Uh, Tony, are you forgetting something?" Pepper asks pulling out I.D. cards from her pocket.
Tony glances at Pepper and raises the mask. "Oh…right, I got caught in the moment." He turns to the Avengers and explains, "What Pepper has in her hands are our I.D. cards that allow you complete access to the mansion. I made these for us to stay in contact with each other, and they are able to work anywhere across the world."
Pepper hands everyone their I.D. cards giving Aelita Phantom's I.D. for her to give him. 'Not a bad idea Stark. Guess I better upgrade my communicators.'
"Enough stalling." Hulk says before anything else could be added about the mansion. "Are we going to go help Phantom take down some villains, or are we going to just stand here all day?" Hulk punches his other hand to make his point getting the others to become serious.
"Right." Tony's mask goes down over his face. "Avengers Assemble!"
Rogue stares out the window of her room unaware of her friends standing outside her room. 'Ah'm still going to worry about him.' Rogue sighs and removes the glove from her right hand. She puts her hand on the window and hears someone knock on her door. "Come in." She slips her glove back on her hand not looking to see who opened her door.
"Rogue…"
"What do yah want?" Rogue asks before Ororo could say anything.
Ororo sighs, "Rogue, I…no, we wanted to make sure you were ok?"
"Ah'm fine."
"Rogue…"
"Ah said 'Ah'm fine!'"
Ororo sighs deciding to give Rogue a little more time to herself. "Ok, if you ever want to talk about it, you can talk to me."
Rogue hears the door close and sighs, "How can Ah get past the breakup when Ah still worry about Phantom leaving to save other people?"
Flashback
Rogue watches Danny walk down the stairs and stops herself at the edge of the front lobby to see Aelita standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting for him. "You ready?" Danny asks Aelita.
Aelita nods, "Yep, I'm actually excited with what Tony has actually done this past week."
"Cool." Danny reaches the bottom of the stairs when they hear something tear open. They turn their attention to the noise with Rogue watching intently, and Aelita widens her eyes when they see a purple vortex in shape of a claw tear. Rogue gasps when she sees a ninja jumps out of the portal and lands in front of her friends.
The portal closes behind Ninja as he stands up in front of the pair. "Oh cool, I was able to get here in time." Ninja says when he sees Danny and Aelita standing there staring at him. "Hey Danny, how's my bruce friend doing today?"
'Wait, Danny knows this guy?' Rogue thinks not recognizing the new person in the building.
"Ninja, why are you here?" Danny asks not missing a beat.
Ninja wipes some dust off his suit and says, "Can't say much, but we got trouble."
Danny raises an eyebrow, "What kind of trouble?"
"After our last talk a couple weeks ago, I decided that I needed help tracking the Elemental users down, and since Dr. Strange has a lot on his plate, I needed someone to help me with finding them." Ninja explains getting Danny to nod understanding what Ninja was talking about, but Aelita listens unsure of what Ninja was talking about. "I was able to get someone to help, and he's really good at tracking people down, and I mean really bruce."
'Oh no.' Rogue thinks her eyes widening at what she was hearing.
"That's good Ninja, but what does that have to do with you being here?" Danny asks his friend.
"They're in Italy, and they're attacking Will and her friends." Ninja explains getting fear to enter Rogue's mind. "I know, but we don't have time to talk about this. Will you come and help me stop them?"
"Why do you need my help?" Danny asks making Rogue hope that Danny was not going to go.
Ninja sighs, "Last time I fought them on my own and got help from people they could easily beat. I'm not happy about that, and I don't know if Will and her friends can fight them. If they do get defeated, then it will be 1vs3, and I do not like the idea of protecting five people while fighting three at the same time."
"You fear that they're after something important from them." Danny summarizes getting Ninja to nod. "Ok, I'll help." Rogue's eyes widen in fear as Danny turns his head to Aelita who was looking at him with a deadpan look. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"What kind of things have you two gone through and talk about to be friends?" She asks him suddenly getting Danny to smile nervously.
Ninja puts left hand on Danny's right shoulder and says, "Yeah sorry, but we're on a time limit, and I know that you probably have much to talk about, but we got to go." Ninja raises his other arm up showing the golden metal claw resting in the grip of his hand. "Golden Tiger Claws!" He tears open a portal and turns his head to Danny. "You ready?"
Danny sighs and gives Aelita a sad smile. "We'll try to be back soon." Danny transforms into Phantom and gives her a salute before jumping into the portal with Ninja following him.
Rogue watches in fear and surprise and takes a few steps back before running to her room passing by Ororo and Max. She enters her room and falls onto her bottom against her door as tears start to fall. 'Why? Why do you still risk your life to protect those yah barely know and…not meh?'
End Flashback
Ororo closes the door behind her and sighs in defeat. "She's back to worrying about Phantom, again?" Logan asks as he stands against the wall with his hands in his pockets.
Ororo sighs, "She is."
"Give her time." Logan pushes off the wall fiving Ororo a serious look. "She'll get over it."
"What if it isn't just about the breakup?" She asks wondering why Rogue was back in her depressed mood.
"Then we'll hope Max can use his words to help her get out of it again." Logan remarks pointing back in the direction where Max is. "Either way, things are going to become complicated when the students find out that Danny and Pinky have joined a hero team called the Avengers."
Ororo looks down the hall to see Kitty walking towards them with her head down. "Hello Kitty," Kitty's head moves up to see Logan and Ororo standing there as she starts fearing what they could say to her.
"I'm sorry, okay!" Kitty says before Ororo could ask her question. "Stacy and I overheard Danny and Aelita's conversation with that guy, and Stacy went after them before I could stop her. I didn't want her to…"
"Relax Kitty. We understand the situation." Ororo says getting Kitty to calm down a little.
"We didn't think she would do something like this." Logan admits finding Stacy running off after Danny a little bizarre.
"Why would she do something so reckless? We never taught her to make reckless decisions."
Kitty makes an uneasy face and moves her bangs behind her ear. "Well…we might have been feeling a little jealous at not knowing what is going on with Danny and Aelita, but when a friend of theirs showed up in the lobby. Stacy wanted to know what was going on and went after them."
Logan sighs, "Oh boy…"
"Who was this friend Kitty?" Ororo asks.
Kitty blinks then raises an eyebrow. "Didn't Aelita tell you guys already? I honestly thought she would mention a guy in a ninja suit."
Logan and Ororo share a look and look at Kitty. "No, she never mentioned that, but we'll worry about that later." Ororo admits before Kitty could say thing else. "You just go ahead and try not to worry about Stacy. We'll make sure she gets the proper punishment she deserves."
"Yes mam."
The adults watch Kitty head to her room, and Logan sighs hating how the students were acting out of line because of Aelita and Danny. "How many more times will this happen until the others start acting like Phantom and Pinky?" Logan mutters distastefully.
"Let's hope never." Ororo admits. "Stacy's disappearance will only be noticed by a few students."
"Luckily, they're the ones who know how to keep quiet."
"That still isn't reassuring."
Logan shrugs, "Eh, not my problem. Phantom will either know she is there or will find out at some point. Nothing more we can do until she gets back."
Ororo sighs agreeing with Logan's logic. "Once she gets home though…"
"I know, but we'll worry about it when she gets back."
'Let's just hope she doesn't get into trouble.'
'I have probably made the worst decision in my life.' Stacy thinks as she watches the guy in the ninja suit fight a guy in armor covering his main body, shoulders, and hands. 'I am so dead when Danny finds out I'm here.' She moves behind the tree and sighs in defeat. She takes a deep breath and tries to calm her nerves. "Ok, there is no way I'm able to help Danny or anyone else in the forest right now, and that guy in armor is totally hot and could kick my behind." She shakes her head to remove the thought of the enemy being hot. "Wrong thought process. He's the enemy. Danny or Aelita will give me an earful if they ever find out about me saying that out loud."
Stacy grabs her hair and groans at her situation. "I am regretting my decision of following them." She looks at the battle in front of her and sees another guy in a black ninja suit with yellow and brown lines running down the sides of the arms and legs fighting two girls with wearing clothes that made Stacy think they are fairies. She watches the girls fall into the ground and fly into the sky and gasps when one of them is grabbed by the ninja. 'I need to help them.' She takes one step when she realizes her identity could be recognized easily. 'I need a disguise or something…a mask?'
Stacy reaches into her pockets and pulls out a black eye mask. "Wait, where did this come from?" She wonders raising an eyebrow at the piece of fabric. She hears a crash coming from the battlefield and flinches at the sound. "Right, no time to worry about that." She ties the mask around her head and makes sure the mask covers her eyes. 'Ok, now my face is covered, but that will barely cover me from making people recognize me.' She reaches in her pockets again and pulls out two teal hair scrunchies. She makes a confused face before reaching up to grab her headband with her bow on it. She looks between the two choices in her hands and makes a serious face. She pockets the headband and ties her hair up into two ponytails on the back sides of her head. She looks back at the fight and tries to calm her nerves when she sees one of the fairy girls fighting the ninja while the other girl was unconscious on the ground. 'Time to see if I can help.'
The ninja grabs the fairy, slams her onto the ground, and pushes the gravity onto her body making her unable to move. He moves his hand off her body and leaves the gravity on her body. He makes the ground cover her legs and arms trapping her in the ground adding more weight along the gravity. "That should hold you until your friends come back to save you." He remarks glaring down at the fairy.
The brunette smirks, "Then it's a good thing that I don't need my limbs to fight back." Water seeps out of the ground around the ninja getting him to sigh.
'Why are all water users so annoying to fight?' He thinks wanting to meet up with his teammates. The water turns into sharp needles and heads straight to the ninja who covers his body in rocks making the needles stab into the rock armor. "I'm growing tired of your constant water attacks."
"Then it's a good thing she's not the only person who can use water." The two enemies turn their heads to Stacy as she walks up to the pair in her 'disguise.'
"Uh…who are you?" The fairy asks not sure on who she was meeting or what she should be looking at.
"I am…I, uh…" Stacy stops to think and sighs, "I probably should have thought this through better." 'Nice first impression Stacy, but what should I call myself?'
"My hero." The fairy says sarcastically with a deadpanned look in her eyes.
The ninja raises his hand and shoots a rock at her only for it to go through her body. He blinks realizing that his attack did not stop her from her thoughts. He throws two more rocks at her only for them to go through her body again. The fairy blinks and looks over at her opponent then at her 'hero' who snaps her fingers when a name came to her mind. "I got it! Call me…Aqua!" Stacy says as she makes a pose with needles of water forming between her fingers.
"How original." The fairy remarks sarcastically rolling her eyes at the name.
"Hey, at least you can give me credit for trying!" Aqua cries out feeling offended that the fairy was not appreciating that she was getting help.
The ninja shakes his head and drops a giant rock on Aqua getting the fairy to widen her eyes in horror. He turns his head to his opponent and says, "That should take care of one annoyance." He makes the ground around the fairy break off from the ground and raises the ground up when his armor breaks apart surprising him. He looks down to see a giant puddle of water at his feet when Aqua's face pops out of the water.
"You dropped a boulder on me?!" Aqua yells grabbing the ninja's legs and pulls his legs out from under him. She forms her body back up as if she was never hit to begin with and uses her water to hold the ninja down by his legs and arms. 'That should hold him for a bit.' She turns to the fairy and runs over to her side and asks, "Are you okay?"
"How about you ask me when I'm not stuck into the ground by dirt and rocks?" The fairy replies sarcastically as the gravity on her body returns to normal.
"Oh right." Aqua puts her hands on the ground covering the girl's arms and soaks the ground allowing the fairy to break her arms out of their prison. The fairy moves the water on the ground covering her legs and breaks her legs out next.
The fairy gets back on her feet and wipes the dust off her outfit muttering, "Thanks."
"No problem." The two teens look at the captured ninja and widen their eyes when they see nothing on the ground. "Uh…how did he escape? It literally was only fifteen or twenty seconds."
The fairy shrugs, "No clue."
Ninja appears in a cloud of red smoke and looks around carefully. "Are you girls alright?" He asks keeping his guard up.
"We're fine." Aqua answers.
Ninja blinks at the simple answer and glances at the fairy. "Uh, is your other friend okay?"
"Corny!" The fairy yells remembering the reason why she was fighting the other ninja and runs to where her unconscious friend is lying on the ground. Aqua and Ninja follow the fairy and watch her grab her friend's wrist sighing in relief. "She's okay."
"Are you sure?" Ninja asks as he kneels next to the blonde looking fairy.
"She has a pulse. My dad taught me a couple things to do when you see an unconscious victim." The brunette explains calmly glad her friend was okay.
"Then let's get her to a safer place." Ninja goes to pick her up when a bed of water goes under the unconscious girl and picks her up off the ground.
The two heroes look at Aqua who raises the water keeping the girl's body balanced on the water. She glances at her acquaintances and becomes confused by their looks. "What?" Aqua asks unsure of why they were staring at her.
The fairy opens her mouth to speak when the group hears a jet and feels the gust of wind coming from the jet as it moves in close to the forest. The three teens notice the jet and raise their eyebrows at the arrival of the unknown jet. "Uh…am I the only one who is getting some weird vibe of the appearance of that jet?" The brunette asks pointing at the white and red plane.
"I am." Ninja admits.
"What are we going to do?" Aqua asks turning her head to her acquaintances.
"I got a plan."
"Well, this is the place." Tony says as Wasp lands the jet on the ground outside the park. "Do you have a locked signal on Phantom's position?"
Aelita brings the tracer up on her holo-screen and sees Danny's indicator near their position. "He's in the forest."
Wasp raises an eyebrow. "Looks more like a park to me."
"Doesn't matter." Tony says before Aelita could respond back. "Our teammate is here and should be fighting some bad people."
"Has anything even happen yet?" Hank asks as he notices the city and park have no marks of people fighting. "Everything seems…fine."
"Something is not right. If Phantom is here, then something should be going on." Tony opens the cockpit and exits the jet with the others following.
Thor looks around carefully and sees a ripple from the invisible force field surrounding the park. "Hm." Thor walks to the force field and puts his hand on the field feeling the pulse of magic coming from the invisible field. "It seems there is an invisible blanket protecting us from seeing inside the forest."
Hulk smacks his fist into his palm and smirks, "Then let's smash it down."
Thor puts his hand out to stop Hulk from punching it. "No, my friend, the field is coated in magic and could cause serious backlash for anyone who tries to disturb it."
"Then what are we supposed to do? Stand here and look pretty?" Wasp asks putting her hands on her hips.
"I can open a small enough hole for us to enter, but…" Thor feels a disturbance and looks up to see the field tearing down.
The others look up to the invisible field falling apart around the park. "Well, looks like we don't have to worry about that anymore." Tony remarks trying to lighten the situation.
Wasp shrinks and flies above the deteriorating field and gasps in horror at the state of the forest. "Guys, you're not going to like this."
Tony, Aelita, and Thor fly up to Wasp and look down at the park surprised to see parts of the park destroyed. "Ok…this does not look good one bit."
Hank widens his eyes when he sees debris everywhere, destroyed trees, and small fires going throughout the forest. "This is definitely not fine at all." Hank mutters.
Hulk grunts, "No kidding." He walks into the destroyed park and takes notice of multiple rocks thrown around everywhere.
"We need to find Phantom and fast. Who knows what else could happen before we arrived?" Tony points out.
'Be careful Danny.' Aelita thinks before splitting off from the others to find her best friend.
Phantom stares at the three unconscious girls resting on the three beds in front of him and his friends. "You sure they'll be alright?" He asks Dr. Strange.
"Their minds and bodies have no mental or physical damage when their powers were taken. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about their life force." Dr. Strange answers as he examines the three unconscious girls.
"What do you mean?" Will asks as she and her friend, Irma Lair, watch him intently.
"When the Elementals stole your friends' magic, they also take a small piece of the girls with them." Dr. Strange explains. "This could go anywhere from personality to a piece of their souls."
"What did they take?" Ninja asks not liking the answer.
Dr. Strange sighs, "Your friends got lucky in not losing anything that could make them live shorter lives, but their minds are no longer present in their bodies."
"Wait, are you saying that they are just bodies with no one inside them?" Irma asks making an uneasy face.
"No, their souls have remained untouched." Irma sighs in relief. "Their minds were taken meaning that they will remain unconscious until their powers have been given back."
"That's not good." Aqua mutters as she looks at the three bodies as she stands next to Phantom.
"So, all we have to do is get Corny, Taranee, and Hay Lin their powers back from those bozos, and everything will be back to normal?" Irma asks summarizing Dr. Strange's explanation. "Sounds way easier than it should be."
"Even if you did get their powers back, I cannot guarantee that their minds will be fully restored." Dr. Strange decides to point.
"Got anymore bad news to give us?" Irma asks sarcastically with a dead-panned look in her eyes.
Will elbows Irma's side getting the brunette to grunt at the jab. "Is there anything we can do that could get them to wake up before we head home to see our families? I rather avoid telling our families our biggest secret because of this battle." Will explains.
"You're still going to have to tell Matt's grandfather though." Irma mutters getting Will to sigh in defeat.
Dr. Strange sighs, "I am sorry Guardians, but with their consciousness gone, anything I will do will cause more harm than good, and we cannot risk harming them in their current states."
Irma groans and sits down on the chair behind her crossing her arms over her chest. "Great."
"Are you able to keep them stable until we get their powers back?" Ninja asks wanting to get the conversation back on the girls' health.
"I can."
"Good." Phantom says. "Because we got other problems to worry about."
Will balls her right hand up and mutters, "Matt…"
"Fire escaped with Air and took hostages with her, and unless I'm wrong, she made it sound like they won't be alive much longer." Phantom explains getting Irma to widen her eyes and look at Will seeing the tear escape the redhead's left eye. "Sadly, Air mentioned something about the Heart of Earth being in trouble."
Irma and Dr. Strange quickly moves his head to look at Phantom with wide eyes. "The Heart of Earth…" Dr. Strange mutters not liking what Phantom just said.
"Lillian…" Irma jumps to her feet and looks at Will who has her head down with her hair covering her eyes. "You knew…"
"I was there when they told us, but I couldn't just leave our friends on the ground unsupervised." Will points out getting Irma to put her hands up defensively understanding Will's decision. "Right now, I'm just torn Irma. My boyfriend…" The tears start to escape Will's eyes, and Irma sighs wishing she understood how hard it is for Will to choose. "I could end up losing Matt, but our world could be in danger if something happens to Lillian…I…"
Phantom walks over to Will and pulls her into a hug, and she puts her face in his shoulder as the tears escape her eyes. He glances at Ninja who nods his head when he sees Phantom's look. "We might be able to save both if we split up to search for them." Ninja starts explaining getting everyone except Will to look at him.
"I'm sorry Ninja, but the Elementals have left no trace behind for me to track them down." Dr. Strange decides to point out before Ninja could make a plan for them to catch the Elementals.
"Then we save the girl." Aqua speaks up getting Phantom to give her a knowing look.
"Stacy…" Phantom starts in a warning voice.
"I know that I'm in trouble for coming here without permission Danny, but the situation sounds…well…pretty bad. On one hand we save her boyfriend and have no idea where we will go, but there is also a little girl who could be in danger and has the Heart of Earth, whatever that is." Aqua shakes her head. "Either way you look at it something bad will happen, and I rather save millions of people if it means saving a little girl." She looks at Irma and asks, "She is little right?"
Irma moves her hand back and forth in a 'so-so' manner and says, "Eh, she's about ten years old."
"Good enough reason for me." Ninja says getting Phantom to give him an 'are you serious?' look. "Alright so we know little to nothing of what is going on."
"The girl was kidnapped by someone not related to the Elemental users." Phantom points out.
"Which means our kidnappers are in the city, and I have a good feeling that they might be those people who showed up with that jet."
"Says the guy who got distracted fighting another villain instead of fighting the Elemental."
"Don't get me…" Both male teens get an electrical shock to their systems and hit the ground with Will still in Danny's arms.
Irma blinks a couple times and opens her mouth. "Don't you dare make a comment about this." Will says turning her head to Irma with anger in her wet eyes.
Irma closes her mouth and walks away with a shrug. "I wasn't going to say anything."
Phantom groans, "Did you have to electrocute us?"
Will gets on her feet and wipes some dirt off her sleeves. "You guys were about to argue. We don't have time to waste on you two arguing." She wipes her eyes getting rid of her tears and sighs, "Anyway, the jet is our only lead right now, and while I doubt it has anything to do with Lillian, we don't really have many other options to go with."
Irma hums and nods agreeing with Will when someone came to mind. "Hey Will, where's your brother?"
Will lowers her arms and looks at Irma. "He's with a friend Ninja brought with him."
Both girls look at Ninja as he regains his bearings and stands on his feet. "And who is that exactly?"
"She called herself Bunnyx, and weirdly enough, she was in some weird bunny costume." Will explains unsure of what she should think about the strange clothing Bunnyx wears.
"A bunny costume?"
Ninja raises his right hand with his index finger up. "In her defense…she didn't…have much…choice…phew you really shocked me. How powerful can you get with your electricity?"
"I'll tell you later."
Phantom grunts and gets on his feet muttering, "You really shouldn't have shocked us so much."
"Don't argue when we have a time limit then." Will remarks getting Phantom to sigh agreeing with her words. "Anyway, do either of you guys have Bunnyx's number? I need to know if my brother is alright."
"I got it." Ninja pulls his phone, and Will snatches it from him. "Hey!"
Will looks at the phone and says, "Hello Kenny, I need you to call a person named Bunnyx." Everyone except Irma stares at her with confused faces wondering why she called Ninja's phone Kenny. "What is Bunnyx's real name?" She pauses for a couple seconds getting Irma to raise an eyebrow.
"Wow tough phone." Irma mutters.
"Could you at least call the person I'm talking about then? You don't have to reveal the person's name."
"I don't know whether to be creeped out or just confused." Aqua remarks finding the situation a little bizarre.
"Thank you." She puts the phone up to ear and listens to it ringing. She listens to it ring a few more times before lowering the phone when it hits voice mail. She looks at Ninja and asks, "How often does she answer your calls?"
"Actually, she mostly calls me since I live on the west side of the U.S. and she lives in France. I rather not end up calling her during the middle of the night."
She nods accepting his reason. "Fair enough." Will tosses Ninja back his phone which he catches easily.
"She didn't answer?" Phantom asks.
"No, and that worries me." Will looks at Ninja's phone and asks, "Are you able to track where her phone is right now?"
Ninja blinks a couple times and asks, "Are you asking me?"
"No, she was talking to the other ninja in the room." Irma sarcastically responds crossing her arms over her chest with an 'are you serious?' look in her eyes.
"Well sooorrrryy, I guess I left my phone tracker at home in the fifteen hundred." Ninja sarcastically remarks getting Irma to wince at his response. "On another note, I don't know how to hack phones nor how to track people with them, but I do know someone who does." Ninja pulls out his communicator and hits the video call button to his specific friend.
"Who?" Aqua asks finding herself a little curious about this friend.
"Let's just say that he's one of best in the world when it comes to technology."
"I somehow doubt that." Irma whispers to Will.
"Ninja does know some good people Irma." Will points out crossing her arms. "Just give him a chance."
"Wait a minute, how do you even know this guy? None of us even met him before today, and none of us left the country unless you want to…"
Will puts her hand over Irma's mouth before she accidentally spills anything about their life in front of Aqua. "Worry about that later. Right now, I need to know if my brother is okay before we…"
Irma softens her look and grabs Will's hand off her mouth. "Sorry…"
"I know." Will sighs and tries to harden her resolve of the situation laid in her hands.
"Hey Ninja, you finished with the mission yet?" A dark teen asks wearing a light blue t-shirt and blue jeans.
"Afraid not Wade. Bunnyx isn't answering her phone, and we're a little worried about that." Ninja explains.
"Already on it." Wade starts typing in the commands on his computer as he asks, "Any reason why you are calling her…Wait, who is Bunnyx?"
"I'll fill you in about her later." Ninja pushes the conversation to the side knowing that they are running short on time. "She's watching my friend's little brother, and we needed to make sure that he is okay."
"Ah, I see what you mean." Wade stops typing and brings up a map and a location of their friend. "Alright, she's not too far from the fight you guys just had, which I'm going to ask about later, but…this is weird."
"What do you mean?"
"Ninja, your friend…she's underground. For some reason she is under the city, and I'm picking up traces of foreign tech… possibly… alien." Wade explains getting confused looks from everyone and a curious look from Danny.
"Alien?" Ninja whispers.
"Yeah, when I hacked into their tech a few seconds ago, these weird symbols came up." Wade explains bringing the weird symbols on the screen. "My computer is designed for me to translate any language on earth."
"Any language you say?" Dr. Strange asks walking over to Ninja. "Sounds pretty impressive for someone like you to build a translator into your computer Wade."
"Thanks Dr. Strange, but unfortunately, my computer can't translate it. I feel like we're either dealing with a new language or something not from our planet." Wade analyzes.
"So, she's somewhere unsafe." Will deflates hating what she is hearing. "Great…Just great…"
"Are you able to get a location of where she is?" Ninja asks not liking the information that Wade was giving him.
"She's underground in the middle of the city." Wade answers not missing a beat. "I should warn you though; the enemy seems to be hiding their base really…" Wade's computer beeps getting him to smirk, "Never mind, I found you an entrance point that Bunnyx took to get into the base. Unfortunately, the way in is by vehicle."
"Then it's a good thing we have another way to get in." Phantom says giving Ninja a knowing grin.
Nick Fury looks out the front window of the jet he and multiple Shield agents are riding and asks, "What's the status report?"
"The fighting has ended sir, but only the Avengers are there not the teens or the enemy." A Shield agent replies as he looks at the video surveillance.
"You find out Phantom is here, and the team follows." Fury mutters not liking the idea of the Avengers being here. "What about our new finding of the Galactic Kids Next Door base?"
"Still no major activity Director Fury." Another agent replies. "The bunny girl went in but has not caused anything to happen yet."
"That means we've made it just in time." Fury nods glad that nothing big has happened to the city. "I need all soldiers to get ready to go in and stop this threat. This team of alien kids were sent to take out the girls and their powers. If those kids destroy them or the city, we're going to be reaching a new level of this alien threat that none of us will see coming."
"Then I guess it's a good thing you got me then." Maurice says over the com link as he watches the building from his hiding spot.
"Don't do anything that will jeopardize your location Maurice. We can't take any risks with this team."
Maurice's face turns serious as he says, "You can relax Fury. I won't do anything to jeopardize the mission."
"You better."
Maurice turns off the com link and hears something tear open near him. He looks around carefully and blinks when he sees a random portal ripped open in the middle of the parking garage. "What in the…" He stops when Phantom comes out of the portal with four other people following.
"Ok, so how are we going to get into this base and find this rabbit girl without being seen?" Irma asks as she looks at Phantom.
Maurice raises an eyebrow understanding that Phantom and the others are going to enter the base. "It's pretty simple. I phase us through the ground and turn us invisible as we enter the base. From there, we find a good spot to hide and try to find the best way to find…"
An explosion goes off below the six teens getting everyone to widen their eyes in surprise. "What was that?!" Aqua asks when a round light blue portal opens next to the group.
A pink haired girl in a white and light blue bunny costume comes out of the portal with two kids in her arms. Ninja catches Bunnyx and notices the young boy and girl in her arms. "Chris!" Irma yells and leans down to look at her little brother.
"This is Lillian!" Will says as she looks at the girl held in Bunnyx's other arm.
Bunnyx groans and glances up at Ninja. "Ninja, the enemy…" She loses her grip on the kids, and Will and Irma grab them before they hit the ground.
"What's wrong with her?" Aqua asks cautiously.
"I don't know." Ninja admits as he looks over her carefully. He sets her down and puts his hands on her stomach. "I got an idea though. Ninja Art of Healing." His hands glow red and start healing her body's energy.
"Art of healing?" Irma mutters raising an eyebrow.
"I'm just as confused as you." Will admits not sure on what she should think about Ninja's abilities.
"Ah!" Bunnyx sits up with a gasp and looks at her left to see Ninja kneeling next to her. She looks down at her body and feels around noticing that the pain and exhaustion were gone. She looks at him and asks, "What did you do?"
"I healed you. Why does that shock you?" Ninja asks knowing that he told her about most of his skills and powers.
Bunnyx reaches into her pocket and pulls her miraculous out seeing that her miraculous is back to full power. The ground starts shaking getting Bunnyx to pocket her miraculous. "I'll explain later. Right now, I need to get these two to a safe place far away from here."
"What did you do with my brother?" Will asks as Bunnyx as she reaches down to grab the blonde girl.
"Don't worry. I'm having someone I know watch over him, and I'm going to get these two there as well before trying to save those adults they captured." Bunnyx explains as she picks Lillian up into her left arm.
Will and Irma's eyes widen realizing what Bunnyx is implying. "They got our families." Irma mutters looking down at her unconscious little brother.
"Guess that explains why they said something about targeting a group known as the Guardians." Bunnyx remarks starting to understand who is being targeted.
The ground shakes again getting everyone to lose their balance and turn their attention to the bottom floor of the parking garage moving to the side. "You might want to get those kids out of here." Phantom says.
Bunnyx grabs the young boy and creates a portal away from the action about to happen. "I won't be long." She runs through the portal as the five teens stand in position waiting to see what was going to happen.
Aqua's eyes widen when she sees a group of kids in makeshift bikes with odd weapons on them. She then takes notice of the giant tank behind the makeshift bikes and mutters, "What have I got myself into?"
The leader looks around the area quickly and stops when he sees the five teens standing a few feet in front of his team. "Well well well, look who we have here." The leader with a backwards yellow baseball cap says as he takes notice of them. "If it isn't two of the Guardians, I was wondering when you were going to show up. You would think that kidnapping your families would get you to come here, but nnnoooo, they just happen to take forever to show up since their personal lives are more important than their families! Typical teenager behavior."
Phantom rolls his eyes. "You know that would work if only they actually knew that their families were taken." He remarks getting the leader to frown.
"Doesn't matter." The leader snaps his fingers getting all the other children to point their laser guns at them. "You teens have been the bane of our existence since the very beginning."
"What exactly have we done to make you hate us?" Aqua asks not seeing the point as to why the kids hate teens.
"That also does not matter."
"I think it does." Irma remarks getting the leader to glare at them. "I mean you guys are pointing those guns at us and make it sound like you guys should be in charge."
"Enough of this!"
"No, she's right." Phantom says getting the kids to point their guns at him. "You believe that the world should be all about kids. You guys find adulthood as a disease, and well…you guys don't truly know what you are talking about."
"Don't know what we're talking about! We do know what we're talking about you stupid teen! Adulthood is a disease! You have to grow up and do things you don't want to do, and the adults…" The leader grips his hair in anger. "All they do is boss us around and tells us what to do giving us no time for fun! You need to do this! You need to do that! It's time for the adults to swim in the pool!"
"Actually, my species can't touch water without causing skin damage."
He looks down at his fellow operative and yells, "Not the point Number -902!" The girl cringes at his yelling. He looks back at Phantom with a menacing glare. "We are tired by your rules and will stop at nothing to make sure you pay for the crimes you have committed to kid kind!"
"He's starting to sound more delusional every second." Irma mutters.
"Yep." Aqua agrees looking around carefully at their situation.
"The only delusional one is you Guardian." The leader pulls out two laser pistols and smirks, "Now, we're going to show you what it means to take on the Galactic Kids Next Door."
Dawn looks out in the distance from her room and mutters, "The battle has begun. Be careful Stacy."
Aelita watches the blinking on her screen change positions immediately and mutters, "That's weird."
"What is it?" Hank asks getting the others to look at her.
"Phantom's location just changed."
"So, he's on the move?" Ironman asks getting Hulk to look up to see if he could find Phantom flying by.
"I don't see him." Hulk points out.
"He's not on the move Stark. Danny has already moved from spot to another without the marker changing until last second." Aelita explains.
"And that's weird because…?" Wasp trails off finding Aelita's words a little confusing.
"Because my tech cannot glitch like a normal network since it runs off my powers. Something must be…" Aelita trails off when she realizes what could be happening.
"Aelita?"
"They're here." Aelita mutters.
"Who are?" Hulk asks noticing the tense look in Aelita's eyes.
She looks at her team and says, "The Galactic Kids Next Door."
"The second battle has begun." Clockwork says as he, Future Bunnyx, and Professor Paradox stare at the screen in front of them.
"My origin story has begun." Future Bunnyx mutters sadly.
"Let's just hope the battle has no interference with what is supposed to happen." Paradox looks at another screen where the Avengers are making their way to Phantom's location. "The Avengers…"
"Let them be." Clockwork interrupts before Paradox could voice his concerns. "They won't be able to make it in time to help."
"I somehow doubt it." Future Bunnyx remarks crossing her arms. "None of them are that slow."
"True, but a little electronic interference will keep them away long enough for Nicolas Fury to get his team there."
"I thought you knew that already Bunnyx." Paradox raises an eyebrow at the young woman who sighs.
"In case you forgot, I was more inside the building hoping to…"
"Uh uh, no spoilers, we wouldn't want the show to be ruined for those of us who weren't there." Paradox warns her.
Future Bunnyx rolls her eyes and leans against the couch. "Would you stop acting like we're apart of some reality show or something?"
"Well, you could say that we're a reality show or just a story written by someone else. The world is full of mysteries Bunnyx…"
"Don't start explaining to me about the mysteries of the galaxies Paradox. It's hard for me to comprehend that…" Future Bunnyx pauses sighing in defeat. "Let's just watch the fight." The two time-travelers shrug their shoulder, and the three time-travelers watch the fight about to start. 'Be careful little me. The power of the Miraculous is about to be unlocked.'
Another chapter done for this story, and I am a little upset with how it turned out since it does pull straight into the story of A Ninja Rises. Good news is that Stacy is making her debut. Bad news is that the fight is going to be a tough one.
R&R