Returning to Grace

A Marvel: Avengers Alliance fanfiction

by Jonathan 'KnightMysterio' Spires

Chapter 3: Juggernaut

All characters not original copyrighted to Marvel and used without permission for non-profit amusement reasons. All original characters copyrighted to me. Agent in this and subsequent stories is male and based on me, but my in-game Agent is female.

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Manhattan...

A bar downtown...

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Agent Towers shook his head as he wandered into the ruins of the tavern. Several chairs were in pieces, and a good deal of the patrons were cowering in the booths. He could see why, though.

Sitting at the bar was a massive figure, the bar stool bent slightly under his massive weight. His body was a giant wall of solid muscle clad in a form-fitting red costume. A bullet-shaped red helmet lay on the bar, the owner of that helmet running his hands through his hair in frustration as he drank. And surrounding him were various bar patrons in various states of kicked ass.

"Juggernaut," Agent Towers said, trying to hide his frustration.

The massive man ignored him.

Agent Towers rubbed his temples. "Cain..."

"Stick with Juggernaut until I respect you," the massive man said, sipping his beer.

Agent Towers grumbled, folding his arms. "Fine. Juggernaut. What the hell happened?"

"Some assholes mistook me for this Australian rugby player. Or something. I dunno. I stopped caring after the first chair hit me over the back of the head," Juggernaut said.

Agent Towers looked at the ruins of his attackers. "...Was all this really necessary?"

"No," Juggernaut said.

"Then why..."

"Felt like it," Juggernaut said, sipping his beer and giving the Agent an amused look as he facepalmed. The massive man smirked, and said, "If it helps, they all kinda deserved it for more than just bugging me."

"Oh? Did that one guy deserve having a stripper pole wrapped around his neck?" the Agent asked.

"He was harassing the dancers," Juggernaut said. "Thought this was another kinda club."

The Agent blinked. He hadn't expected a good answer. "...The one embedded in the wall?"

"Some family came in with their preteen daughter. He got a little fresher with her than I'm comfortable with," Juggernaut said, calmly sipping his beer.

"The one with a pool cue smashed over his head?"

"Mutant hater. I ain't a mutant, but I don't got nothin' against any that aren't the X-bozos. Hell, I worked for Magneto all this time, didn't I?"

"The one with his arms bent the wrong way?"

"Got grabby with a waitress that I knew, had a date with a couple times."

"The one with the beer can shoved up his butt?"

Juggernaut paused. "...I'm not apologizing for that one."

The Agent facepalmed again, and sat at the bar, ordering a screwdriver. "Juggernaut... this is going nowhere. If we're gonna work together, I want to get to know you, understand you." He gave Juggernaut a pleading look. "If you're gonna force paperwork to cover messes like this on me, you could at least talk to me."

Juggernaut stared at the Agent, and chuckled, shaking his head. "Seriously? You wanna hear my story?"

The Agent nodded. "I do, Juggernaut."

"Hnh. Well, ain't that a peach. All right, here goes: I found a gem in a temple. It let me talk to a god. He made me invincible. The End," Juggernaut said, sipping his beer. He shook his head. "Fat lot of good it did me..." he muttered.

The Agent quirked an eyebrow. "You got huge, a stylish costume with a look that's never gotten old, and are one of the few people on the planet who can fight on equal terms with the Hulk. I'd say it did you a lot of good."

"Sez you," Juggernaut snarled. "All I ever wanted when I got this power was to put my fist through the head of my brainiac half brother-Charles." At the Agent's confused expression, Juggernaut clarified. "You know him as Professor Xavier."

The Agent blinked. "I didn't know you were related to the Professor," he said, frowning. "He plays it very close to the chest with information on his team's foes."

"Figures. Ol' 'Professor X' was always a weaselly little worm," Juggernaut sneered, shaking his head. "Pfft. What kinda dork calls himself 'Professor?'" He began making mincing gestures, his voice becoming a falsetto lilt. "Oooh, look at me! I'm gonna make my own school so you all hafta call me Professor! HA!" He scoffed, making a dismissive gesture with his massive hand. "What a crock..."

The Agent started to speak again, but Juggernaut interrupted him. "And we ain't blood related, either. Thank God. I don't think I could take it if we came from the same parents," he said, scowling. "Ever since we was kids, he's been using his mind-reading garbage to get ahead and keep me down. Even my old man liked him better. Bastard..."

The Agent shook his head. "I'm sure that's not the case," he said as his drink was served. "All fathers love their sons."

Juggernaut snorted. "Lemme guess. Your Dad went to all your soccer games and what not? Got you that G.I. Joe doll when you was a kid, never questioned it if you wanted a My Little Pony instead?"

The Agent grinned. "Well... close enough," he said, reminiscing fondly about his father.

Juggernaut rolled his eyes. "My Dad told me to my face that he liked Charles better. One time, I had a toothache that just kept getting worse and worse, and every time I told Dad about it, he just ignored me or told me to 'man up.' Had to steal out of his wallet to pay for a filling for the cavity that had developed. And when he wasn't praising Charles or ignoring me, he was HITTING me!"

The Agent went wide-eyed, backing up a little as Juggernaut stood up, clenching his fists tightly in anger. "His own son! His own son and he fucking HIT ME!" He whirled, glaring at the Agent. "So pardon me if I don't think you and your superdad can really relate to me, Agent. In fact..." Juggernaut suddenly closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. "Ah... forget it. The old man's a sore spot."

The Agent just nodded, not trusting himself to say anything more than "I'm sorry."

Juggernaut scoffed again, making a dismissive gesture as he returned to his beer. "...How's your Dad?"

"Died when I was in high school. A Sentinel," the Agent said, frowning sadly and sipping at his screwdriver.

"Goddamn tin cans..." Juggernaut muttered, gently patting the Agent on the shoulder. "Anyway. Charles and his prissy mutant freakshow have always shut me down. Don't matter what I did or who I joined up with. I can punch a mountain to gravel, but I can't kill a cripple." He shook his head in disgusted amazement. "A goddamn cripple."

He turned to the Agent, putting on his helmet. "So here I am," he said, gesturing grandly. "I could say Magneto had the right idea in joining you mooks, or that I had a change of heart, or that Cyttorak told me to switch teams. But that's crap."

He poked the Agent in the chest, nearly knocking him over. "You wanna know why I'm joining you? Simple: I like winning. And I've been losing for too damn long. Screw Charles, screw the X-Men. I'm done wasting my time trying to kill them."

He started out of the bar, throwing some money of the counter. "If that's not a good enough reason for SHIELD," Juggernaut said, not looking back as he left, "they can all line up to kiss my big unstoppable ass. You've got the Juggernaut, whether you want me or not."

"Joy..." the Agent muttered as he looked around the ruins of the bar.

The bartender chuckled. "Betcha you got some paperwork coming your way, don'tcha g-man?"

"Yeah," the Agent muttered. "And worse, I can't make Juggernaut do it all as punishment..."

THE END