THE NEW AVENGERS - PART 2.
Kang smirked at the events that had taken place less than an hour ago.
The Avengers were dead, his plan was working perfectly and there was no one else nor anything that could stop him.
Or so he believed.
- Hey, Kang! - A youthful voice shouted. - If you really are from the future, tell me how many times I'm gonna punch you!
Faced with these unexpected words, the man from the 30th century turned around, feeling completely confused, then his confusion was quickly replaced by an amused expression as he saw the nine persons in front of doorway of the ARC reactor room.
- Get away from the machine or we'll force you to do it. - War Machine said as he aimed his entire arsenal at Kang.
Kang chuckled at that moment, then said:
- How entertaining. Are you the new Avengers?
- Well, indeed, we are. - Bobby said. - Now, you've heard Iron Man Noir, get away from that thing or you'll regret it.
- We gave him enough time, it's time to finish him. - Luke Cage said as he cracked his knuckles.
- Wait, we need a... - Said Spider-Man.
- What? It's only one against nine, what's he gonna...? Oof!
Before Cage could finish speaking, a beam of green energy hit him in the chest and sent him flying backwards. Then the New Avengers looked to the front and saw Kang with his hand extended to Cage and surrounded by some sort of energy of the same color as the beam that had struck Power Man.
- Avengers attack! - Johnny roared, causing almost the whole team to launch into attack.
- Wait! We need a plan! - Spider-Man said.
However, the team continued to ignore Spider-Man.
The Thing jumped and tried to pounce on Kang, who simply turned to the orange rock man and fired some kind of shockwave from the generator of his chest, which stunned the Thing and sent him against a wall. Immediately afterwards, the Human Torch, Firestar and Iceman aimed their hands at the conqueror of the future and fired torrents of flames and a stream of ice against him, which struck the powerful energy shield around the man of the 30th century.
At the attack from the youngsters, Kang simply smirked and turned his attention to War Machine, who activated the turret on his shoulder and began to shoot at Kang. The rounds of War Machine's turret bounced off Kang's shield and almost hit Johnny, Angelica and Bobby, however, the same couldn't be said of Wolverine and Power Man. But to the luck of both, Wolverine's body simply ejected the bullets that had hit him while Power Man's skin resisted the bullet hits as if nothing.
At the ineffectiveness of his weapon, War Machine grunted and activated the missile launcher on his left shoulder and fired a missile at Kang, who made a move with his hand and turned it towards the Mole, who had tried to rush back against Kang. Once the missile hit Ben, Rhodes winced.
- Sorry, Thing. - Said Rhodes, before noticing that Kang had disappeared. - Kang! Where is he?
- Right here. - Kang said, as he appeared behind War Machine.
Rhodes let out a choked cry, then tried to turn to shoot a repulsor beam at Kang on his horrible blue face, but the conqueror simply took his arm and disappeared again, just before Firestar, Iceman and the Human Torch tried to rush against him , Only to end up crashing against each other and falling to the ground.
After that, Kang reappeared in front of the control console of his time machine, then let out a muffled cry as he saw Iron Fist pouncing against him, his right fist covered with golden energy. Kang simply smiled with satisfaction as he watched as the Iron Fist attack crashed uselessly against his energy shield. Then the hero of K'un-Lun tried to give him another two blows with his iron fist, followed by a couple of kicks, but Kang's shield resisted without any problem. Then Kang barked a chuckle and threw Rhodes against Rand, sending both of them against Spider-Man, who managed to dodge them both easily.
At that point, Wolverine pulled his claws and launched into the attack on the conqueror, while Spider-Man, reluctantly and even knowing that his attack would probably fail, decided to try to catch Kang with his cobwebs.
Two strands of spiderweb were fired at Kang, who made them surround him, defying all the laws of physics, and managed to get Wolverine enveloped by them.
Spider-Man cringed with a gesture of guilt as Wolverine growled in frustration.
- Hey! - Wolverine snapped.
- Sorry! That was my fault! - Spider-Man said.
- I'm more than fed up. - Kang said. - It's time for...
At that moment, a piece of debris crashed into Kang's shield, causing the conqueror to turn to Power Man, who was running towards him, with his fists ready to pound the blue-faced man into the ground.
At Luke Cage's actions, Kang raised his fist and fired a bolt of energy that hit Cage directly in the chest and made him stop for a second, but the Hero for Hire managed to stand still and keep walking towards the conqueror, with a furious glare.
- I'M... GONNA... TEAR... YOU... APART! - Roared Power Man.
Kang narrowed his eyes and increased the amount of energy that was shooting, throwing Cage like a ragdoll, causing him to end up flying up through the roof and crash into the pavement in front of the Stark Industries building.
A few seconds later, Iron Fist, Iceman, Firestar, the Human Torch, the Thing and War Machine suffered the same fate as Luke Cage, and moments later, the heroes managed to get uo as they groaned in pain.
- What happened? - War Machine let out. - He beat us like we were nothing!
- Wait a second... - Firestar said with a groan. - Where are Logan and Spidey?
- They're still down there with Kang. - Iron Fist said.
- Make way! - Spider-Man shouted.
At that moment, the New Avengers turned their gaze to the hole through which Kang had thrown them and saw a webbing line coming out of it, with which Spider-Man swung out of the basement of the Stark building, carrying Wolverine under his right arm and avoiding a shot from Kang.
Shortly afterwards, Spider-Man landed in front of his teammates, with Logan growling in frustration, before he shoved the wall-crawler away from him.
- Don't touch me! I already had 'im! - Wolverine roared.
- Oh, you already had him? - Spider-Man said sarcastically. - Well, excuse me, maybe you're a mutant with a regenerative factor, but where I come from, getting shot in the face is no way to win a fight!
- What the hell... - Cage sighed. - We failed...
At that moment, the team turned to hear a strange noise, then all gasped as the Stark building began to flicker, changing into some sort of futuristic-looking tower, at the same time as several buildings did the same.
- It can't be... - Firestar let out.
- Kang is bringing his future here... - Spider-Man said. - He has weapons, ships, machines... and he's bringing them all here...
- He's gonna take over the world... - Said War Machine.
- No, we still have a mission to complete, we can't let Kang win.
- How do you expect us to beat him? I got news for ya, boy, Kang beat us without even breaking a sweat. - Power Man said.
- I hate to admit it, but Cage is right, we are heroes but we're not Avenger material. - Johnny sighed.
- Kang is not invincible, the Avengers already beat him, twice to be precise. And you wanna know how they did it? They worked as a team, helping each other and not tripping over each other. True, we're not Avengers, but if Stark saw anything in us, then it means that we do are Avengers material, I know Iron Man personally and he isn't a person who's kind enough to say that everyone has talent.
Despite the boy's age, the spider-themed hero's words had a strong impact on everyone present, showing everyone that he was mature enough and smart to be so young.
Then, Spider-Man sighed and looked at his team, seeing the expressions of surprise that they all addressed him with.
- Look, I know we're not the dream team, but I think we can do this. - Spider-Man said. - And for that, I have a plan... Or at least part of a plan.
- And what's your plan, wall-crawler. - Bobby asked.
- It's obvious that whatever Kang is planning is controlled by the ARC reactor, so we have to turn it off somehow, I think I can do it, but I need some of you to get Kang out of there.
- I can get him out of there. - War Machine said.
- The last two times you got near him, he almost squashed you like a bug. - Johnny said. - Firestar and I will help you.
- Don't speak for me, Johnny... - Firestar snapped. - But fine, I will...
- Excellent, the rest then stay here and try to entertain Kang while I figure out how to turn off that machine. - Spider-Man said.
- We'll do what you say, insect, but don't even think I'll call you boss. - Wolverine snapped.
- I wasn't expecting you to, so focus, Wolverine.
The Canadian mutant grunted in affirmation, then Spider-Man looked at Firestar, the Torch and War Machine, and nodded at them, signaling that they should begin with the plan.
- Well, Avengers Assemble! - Spider-Man said enthusiastically.
- That sounded much better. - The Thing said.
- I'm inspired, this team is improving.
(In the meantime)
Kang was a bit angry, but at last he knew that the last threat to his plans by the primitives had vanished.
Now he only had to complete the transfer of his Citadel to prevent the Kree from destroying his future.
What he didn't know, however, was that the New Avengers were still on warpath.
As such, War Machine made another hole in the roof of the basement and entered flying at supersonic speed, tackled Kang and took him out of the basement, while Kang tried to recover from the Rhodes' attack.
Then Rhodes let go of Kang, who glared at the man in the armor, just before a fireball hit him in the back. Kang growled in pain, then turned with an even more furious expression and saw Johnny Storm smirking at him.
- Hello, Kang. - Johnny said. - I saw you were a little cold, so I decided to help you warm up a bit.
- I'm going to exterminate you! - Kang roared before trying to shoot a beam at the Human Torch.
However, before Kang could attack the member of the Fantastic Four, a figure flew around him and created a barrage of flames that stopped him.
This made Kang even more furious than he already was, for the figure who had created the fire wall around him was laughing.
- I'm sorry, Kang, but if you can't stand the heat, you should stay away from the kitchen. - Firestar laughed.
- THAT'S IT! - Kang roared as he disappeared.
Rhodes, Johnny and Angelica stood in a circle, their backs together to try to face Kang, but the conqueror had already foreseen that. At that moment, Kang reappeared in front of Rhodes, grabbed him by the head and used him to hit Firestar and the Human Torch, sending the three New Avengers to crash into the roof of the Stark Tower.
- If you want to be Avengers... YOU WILL SHARE THEIR DESTINY! - Kang roared as he charged a lot of energy in his hands.
Meanwhile, on the street in front of the building, the rest of the team watched with concern the scene over the Stark Tower.
- That doesn't look good... - Luke Cage said.
- Hey, rock. - Wolverine said to the Thing. - Do you know how to pitch? Would you throw a quick ball?
The Thing looked at Wolverine and saw his defiant grin, then nodded and said:
- Oh yeah.
Meanwhile, Kang put his hands together and prepared to disintegrate the three idiots who had dared to challenge him once and for all, but just before he could do so, a roar made him turn his attention to try to find the source of the roar, only to catch sight of Wolverine with his claws ready to pierce him.
Kang barely had time to open Wolverine's arms to keep him from driving his adamantium claws into his abdomen, but the Canadian X-Man still managed to tackle him down from the top of the building to the pavement.
The conqueror gritted his teeth and roared, then hit Logan hard and made him crash into a car, as the Thing, Power Man, Iron Fist and Iceman lunged at Kang.
- It's clobberin' time! - Ben Grimm said.
Meanwhile, inside the basement of the Stark building, Spider-Man came down with a webbing strand until he was in front of the ARC reactor and carefully inspected the machine that Kang had built for a couple of seconds.
- JARVIS, hey, buddy, are you still there? - Spider-Man asked.
- Indeed I am, Spider-Man, I'm transmitting on the same frequency of your spider-tracers to your communicator. - Answered the AI of the Avengers.
- Wait a minute, Iron Man knows about my tracers and my communicator...? Ah, anyway, it's not important... Do you know how to shut this thing off?
- No, Kang's technology is from the future, so it works in a way that I do not understand.
- What kind of robot butler are you?
- I can only speculate that perhaps it is controlled via thought by Kang himself, or through his time throne, or by some kind of intuition which Iron Man was not aware of.
- Well, what if I try to tear it apart?
- It would probably cause too much damage, possibly not just to the Earth, but to the whole universe.
- I get it. - Spider-Man said as he watched carefully a couple of consoles in front of the ARC reactor. - These things look like power cells, what if instead of destroying this machine, I remove the cells?
- That could shut the machine off... or blow it up.
- You know, you're not very good at motivating people.
Spider-Man released the webline from which he hung upside down and fell on his feet, then went to the machine consoles and sighed.
- Ok, Spidey, the rest of the team is counting on you, so you better find a way to turn this machine off. - Spider-Man said with his hand on his chin. - But how...? Wait a second, intuition, that's it! If I do something that could make it explode, my spider sense will warn me.
The young bearer of Responsibility and Fate smiled slightly, then reached carefully for one of the energy cells and prepared to remove it, but a pang in the back of his head stopped him.
- Okay, I should not touch that. - Spider-Man said to himself and moved his hand to the other power cell. - It seems that this is the one that I must remove.
The teenager put his hand on the power cell and hesitated for a second, fearing that his spider sense would go off at the last second. But once Peter was sure that his spider sense was not going to go off, he removed the cell without hesitation and winced in fear, hoping that he hadn't caused anything to destroy the world.
For a moment, as he heard the alarm of the machine, Spider-Man feared the worst.
- Warning. - An automated voice said. - Insufficient energy to complete Citadel transfer. Process interrupted. Do you wish to intervene?
Spider-Man let out a victory laugh as soon as he heard the voice, then dropped the power cell and looked at the holographic control panel that had appeared in front of him.
- Intervene, nah, I'd rather intrude. - Spider-Man chuckled as he began to press commands on the control panel.
On the other hand, outside the building, Iceman, War Machine, Human Torch and Firestar had cornered Kang between an icy blast, a powerful unibeam and two torrents of flames, but the conqueror was still undamaged, for his shield of energy was still around him.
And since he was fed up with having to endure the futile attempts of the primitives to stop him, he created a shock wave that sent his attackers back, along with the rest of their companions.
- Your little mission ends here... - Kang said before noticing something out of place.
At that moment, a strange noise attracted the attention of the conqueror, who turned to the source of the noise and let out a gasp as the objects and creatures of the past and the future began to disappear, while the Stark building returned to normal.
- NO! - Kang shouted and disappeared.
The New Avengers let out a sigh of relief, then stood up and the Human Torch said:
- Do you want to guess where he went to?
In the meantime, Spider-Man continued to "intrude" with the control panel of Kang's time machine, guiding himself with his spider sense through the various commands, since the panel was in a language from the future that neither he nor JARVIS could understand.
- Okay, I have no idea what the hell I'm doing, but I've learned to trust in you, spider sense. - Spider-Man said before he felt a pang in the back of his head. - Like right now!
Spider-Man jumped instinctively and turned to face Kang the Conqueror, who was glaring at him.
- You. - Kang said as he pulled out an axe and some kind of gun from a couple of portals. - You have interfered with my plans for the last time, Peter Parker...
With that said, Kang was launched against Spider-Man, trying to cut him in half with his axe, but the young man dodged it without much difficulty and tried to give Kang a kick, but the latter teleported behind the wall-crawler and tried to shoot him, but thanks to his spider sense, Spider-Man reacted in time and kicked Kang's gun away, managing to deflect the cannon before he could shoot him.
Then, taking advantage of the momentum of his attack, Spider-Man made an acrobatic turn and shot a web at Kang in the face, blinding him long enough for the young hero to use a webbing line to twirl the conqueror and throw him hard against a wall.
Immediately afterwards, Spider-Man fired two webbing strands and used them as a slingshot to propel himself against the man of the 30th century, but Kang managed to disappear just in time, causing the arachnid-themed hero to crash into the wall and injure both of his legs because of the force of the impulse he had.
Peter let out a cry of pain, which was quickly silenced by a hand that covered his mouth, as it lifted him off the ground to meet Kang's furious gaze.
- Time to die, boy. - Kang said while he charged energy in his hand.
In that second, a repulsor blast struck Kang in the face, which gave Spider-Man a chance to kick Kang away from him, then made an acrobatic twist back, and got surprised as he found the rest of the New Avengers there.
- Guys, we made it! - Spider-Man said.
- This isn't over yet, wall-crawler. - Wolverine grunted as he unsheathed his claws. - We still have to get rid of blue-faced guy.
- I am more than fed up with you primitive apes trying to interfere with my plans. - Kang said as he pulled out his gun and his axe again. - Do you want to know what history says about your little team? Absolutely nothing, all of you were completely ignored by history, you were but another ephemeral moment in time.
- Then I think it's time to rewrite history and make sure we engrave our names in everyone's memory. - Spider-Man said while he and the New Avengers got into combat stance. - Avengers Assemble!
Kang fired his gun several times against the New Avengers, who evaded his attacks with relative ease.
Later, Iceman fired ice picks at Kang, who looked at him in annoyance as the X-Man attack struck his energy shield, but when he tried to shoot the young man, two huge pieces of debris crashed into his shield and made it flicker, which caused Kang to turn his attention to the two apes known as Power Man and the Thing, who were throwing rocks at him. Suddenly, a sound of shock against his shield again attracted his attention and saw Iron Fist repeatedly hitting his shield with all his power, at the same time as War Machine's unibeam and two torrents of flame reached his shield.
Kang roared and caused his shield to create a shockwave, which sent his attackers back, but before he could attack the New Avengers, a webbing strand stuck to his chest, which sent him toward the heroes, giving the Thing the chance to give him a powerful punch in the face.
After this, Machine of War managed to capture to Kang in the air, soon it shot a repulsor ray to the face and it threw to the ground, where few seconds later, teletransport behind Rhodes and tried to attack it with its ax, but Rhodes deactivated its Boots at the last second and fell a couple of meters, enough that Iron Man, who had been released by Power Man, hit Kang in the face with the golden energy.
The time traveler flew away and crashed against a wall, then fell face-first to the ground and growled in pain. Then, Kang looked up and saw Spider-Man staring at him as he received a beating from the New Avengers. That made him angry, so he charged energy in his right hand and aimed to shoot it against the teenage hero, but before he could even try it, Kang received a last repulsor beam that managed to render him unconscious.
In that second, everyone turned to see War Machine, who looked confused at what had just happened.
Suddenly, Spider-Man let out a gasp and the others looked in the same direction as the arachnid hero, imitating his expression as they saw the original Avengers coming out of the shadows, all of them having smiles in their faces.
- New Avengers, who would say that would really work? - Iron Man said as his mask was opened.
- So does this mean we won? - Asked the Thing.
- That's right, Ben. - Johnny nodded.
- Hurray... - Firestar sighed.
- That means you owe us money, Stark. - Luke Cage snapped.
- We'll talk about that later, for the time being, we could use some help to escort Kang back to his comfortable cell in the Hydro-Base. - Said Captain America.
All of the New Avengers, except Luke Cage and Wolverine, smiled at that moment and followed the Avengers, while Iron Man put special handcuffs on Kang.
(Hours later)
Johnny, Angelica, Bobby and Peter were sitting on the ledge of a building next to the gargoyle Spider-Man called "Bruce," eating hot dogs, as they looked at the city, which had returned to normal.
- It's strange to think that just a couple of hours ago the city was on the verge of annihilation. - Bobby snapped before he bit his hot dog.
- Meh, I think it's more strange to see four teenagers eating next to a gargoyle. - Johnny said as he smiled. - And it's even more strange that one of those four consider the gargoyle one of his friends.
- Hey, Bruce is a better friend than you, Johnny, at least he doesn't hang up on me. - Peter snapped.
- I think like the Torch, it's weird to hear that you talk with gargoyles, son. - Said a familiar voice.
The four teenagers got startled (especially Peter, who inadvertently dropped his snack), then turned and saw Captain America, leaning against the wall of the building, except Peter, who jumped off the ledge to get his hot dog back.
A few minutes later, Spider-Man climbed the wall of the building back with the others, letting out a gasp through his hot dog as he saw Captain America, who looked at him with a confused look.
- You know, kid, it's rude to jump off a building to avoid talking to someone. - Cap said.
- Sorry, Cap. - Peter said as he took the hot dog out of his mouth. - I just didn't want to lose my hot dog, I'm hungry and I don't have the money to buy another.
- Peter, you really need a new job. - Bobby said.
- Maybe I can help with that. - Said a mechanical voice behind the teenage heroes.
The young heroes turned around again and gasped as they saw Iron Man floating a few feet away from them.
- What are you doing here? - Asked Firestar.
- Well... - Iron Man said. - It's not easy for me to say it, but I must admit that you did well.
- More than well according to all the Avengers. - Captain America clarified. - And that's why we want to recognize it properly. Tony...
Iron Man let out a sigh, then a compartment on the hip of his suit opened and Iron Man pulled out four cards from it, then the Armored Avenger approached the young men and offered them the cards.
The four young men looked at each other in confusion for a second, then took the cards and saw them carefully, then they let out a loud gasp, which made Captain America chuckle.
The cards were Avenger IDs.
- Are you serious?! - The teenagers said in unison.
- Yes. - Said Cap. - We really want you four to be Avengers.
- But don't rejoice too much, you'll only be Reserve Avengers. - Iron Man said. - Rhodey and the others turned down the chance, so if you dare to even try, I'll kill you.
- The problem is that Bobby and I are X-Men. - Firestar said.
- And I'm one of the Fantastic Four. - Johnny said.
- That's why you're Reserve, because we won't call you unless the world is falling apart, or if the Avengers get killed for real. - Iron Man said.
- Wow ... - Peter said, still looking at his ID. - Thank you... sincerely... I don't know what to say...
- I have learned that sometimes it's better to let your actions speak for themselves. - Said Captain America. - You were very impressive, even to Iron Man, though he doesn't admit it completely, and I know you'll continue to impress us as time goes by.
- Thank you, Cap. - Iceman said with a smile.
The four teenagers and the two Avengers were silent for a moment, then Spider-Man cleared his throat a bit and said:
- I only have one question... do we get a discount somewhere with these?
Iron Man and Captain America stared at each other for a moment, while Firestar, Iceman and the Human Torch facepalmed at Spider-Man's comment.
- Are we really sure about this? - Iron Man asked Captain America.