Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Avatar the Last Airbender or the Avengers (MCU), only the story. Avatar the Last Airbender and its characters belongs to Nickelodeon and Avengers belongs to Marvel. I apologize for any errors in grammar and/or if I was not accurate in reference to something.

A/N: And I'm back with the finale. I'm a little disappointed that no one is talking about anything like I had asked. But the show must go on.

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Katara: Water, Soldier, Mechanist, God, Earth, Fire, Spy, Archer, Monster, Air

(One by one, eight figures do something to show off their skills: the Waterbender weaves a stream of water from the ground, around him and then thrusts it towards the side, the soldier blocks an attack with his shield before throwing it, the mechanist has armor envelope him and then uses the repulsor on his hand to blast something on the side, the god holds a powerful hammer high to summon a bolt of lightning, the Earthbender kicks the ground bringing up a large rock before he kicks it away, the Firebender twists around as she summons fire from her foot before doing a high kick to the ground and makes the flames spread, the spy drops down from above and displays a few moves, the archer rolls across the ground and fires a few arrows, and finally the monster comes down from a jump and smashes his huge fists on the ground, the Airbender drops down and then with a circle of his arms he creates a blast of wind.)

Katara: Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.

(Docked on a shore, five Fire Nation ships with the Hydra insignia released their soldiers. With a jump forward and a palm thrust, the firebenders released a wave of fire as the Hydra soldiers used their advanced technology.)

Katara: Only the Avatar, master of all four elements could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished.

(The Avatar, a man with a crown on his head and dressed in robes stands on a pillar of stone as he bent the four elements of water, earth, fire and air to show his skill in the arts of bending. After releasing a powerful disk of wind, he disappears from existence.)

Katara: A hundred years passed and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar: an Airbender named Aang and met the team called the Avengers.

(The water tribe siblings find a young Airbender frozen in block of ice. After freeing him, they are then joined by heroes called Captain America, Ironman, Thor, Hulk, Clint, and Natasha.)

Katara: And although with the teams help and his airbending skills are great, he has a lot to learn before he's ready to save anyone.

(At an Air Nomad path, Aang creates an air scooter and starts to have fun with it. But when he expands his circle a little bit, he runs right into a statue. He rolls over onto his back as all six of the Avengers then poke their heads from behind the statue to check on him.)

Katara: But I believe the Avengers and Aang can save the world.

(Aang, Steve, Katara, Tony, Thor, Bruce, Sokka, Clint, Toph and Natasha stand side by side, looking down at the world on a mountain's peak for a moment as the reader's view is turned upwards to the sun.)

Nickelodeon and Marvel

The Avenging Avatar

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Avatar Roku: Previously, on Avenging Avatar…

Iroh was a little put off when he said, "Now that your fever is gone and you seem a lot better, you seem different somehow."

"Things are looking up for us, you guys." Zuko said with a grin. With a grin of his own, Tony nodded and said, "Yeah. They are."

From her spot next to a window overlooking the city Azula said, "From here on the inside, we're in the perfect position to organize a coup and overthrow the Earth King and defeat our enemies in one fell swoop.

Azula then put out a good piece to their plan when she turned to them, "If we enlist the help of the Dai Li, then we'll have the necessary forces to accomplish these goals. The Dai Li is the key to this."

"After all, whoever controls the Dai Li will have control over Ba Sing Se." The Scarlet Widow thought aloud.

"What I want is to make a deal." Long Feng simply put it. Azula only gave him a questioning look.

At the Eastern Air Temple, Guru Pathik tried to make Aang see reason by saying, "To master the Avatar State or your other halves, you must open all of the chakras."

Captain America was unprepared for a sonic scream from behind by Shriek. It knocked him forward and Ty Lee managed to land two-fingered jab to the back of his leg. Cap winced from the jab and found that he couldn't move his leg. Cap tried to get up to stop her from hurting Katara, but a boot to the face knocked him out. Katara gasped when she saw Ty Lee jump into the air. The Waterbender tried to bring her water out again, but she was too slow to stop the Fire Nation acrobat from hitting a nerve in her shoulder. It seemed to do the trick as the Waterbender lost all feeling in her body and fell to the ground.

After receiving a vision that a couple of friends were in trouble, Aang stood up and informed, "Katara and Steve are in danger. We have to go, right now!"

"On it." Bruce said as he got up to go with him. Johnny was right behind them and they started running for the edge of the roof. But Guru Pathik stopped them when he called out, "No! Not yet!"

They had slid down to the edge of the roof when they stopped. They looked back up just as the guru appeared. He warned them by saying, "By choosing attachment, the three of you have locked the chakra.

"If you all were to leave now, the results will be disastrous, I promise you." He added with a swipe of his hand. Bruce then asked, "What do you mean?"

"You will never find peace, and the Rider may continue to lose himself." Guru Pathik warned the hosts of the Hulk and Ghost Rider respectively. But looking to Aang he said, "For you, you won't be able to go into the Avatar State at all."

"If you are killed in the Avatar State," Avatar Roku warned his successor after showing the meaning behind the state and faded with the other past Avatars to make his point, "the Avatar will cease to exist. "

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Book Two: Earth

Chapter Twenty-Two: Crossroads Part 2: The Fall

It was a nice morning over the Earth Kingdom with big clouds rolling through the sky. Down on the ground between the Inner and Outer Walls of Ba Sing Se, an ostrich-horse was taking a drink of water from a stream. It looked up to see a growling Appa passing overhead with Sam and Rhodey flanking him on both sides. Up on the bison's head, Sokka looked to the three, but mostly Aang and asked, "So, what kind of trouble are Katara and Steve in, exactly?"

"I don't know." Aang shook his head. Looking to the Water Tribe teen he said, "In my vision, I just knew that they needed help."

"Gee, that's really helpful." Natasha rolled her eyes. Sokka agreed with her by saying, "It would be really nice if your Avatar powers could be more specific from time to time.

"We're just saying." He shrugged, feeling that it wouldn't be too much to ask for. Sam looked to his left and shouted, "Guys! We've got something on our six!"

"What is that?" Sokka asked and pointed when everyone looked. They all heard a rumbling sound from the ground and saw something kicking up a large dust cloud as it moved quickly through a forest. Appa gave a low groan when Aang steered towards the quickly moving thing and the two flyers banked left as well. Natasha squinted when she tried to get a good look and asked, "Is that Clint and Toph?"

"I think it is." Bruce nodded as they got closer to them. They could see the Earthbender and the archer standing on a platform of earth with the former swinging her arms back and forth to make it move. From the looks of it, they were making a B-line towards the Inner Wall. Appa pulled down next to them and Sokka startled them when he shouted, "You guys need a ride?!"

They both cried out as their platform suddenly fell to the ground. Everyone winced from how painful it looked, "Ooh."

"I think we should go back and help them." Johnny suggested and everyone nodded in agreement. Aang pulled on the reins to make Appa turn around while Sam and Rhodey managed to do it on a dime.

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Not far from where a majority of the group were, the Guardian's ship was flying close by. Rocket was at the wheel so to speak and Quill looked out the right side of the cockpit. Pointing he asked, "What's that over there?"

Everyone looked to see a large dust cloud in the distance. Gamora then said, "That could be the others returning."

"Does that mean that Aang, Bruce and Johnny have completed what they needed to?" Drax asked. Quill shrugged, "Only one way to find out.

"Rocket." He said to the tech guy of their group. Rocket lightly scoffed, "Yeah, yeah. I'm on it."

Quill just shook his head while Rocket turned the stick to head towards the dust cloud.

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In an unknown part of Ba Sing Se, Azula had managed to gather just about every Dai Li agent within the city. The location they were in was a tunnel with large statues on both sides and covered in large sheets of sorts. She, Mai, Ty Lee, Shriek and the Scarlet Widow stood on a small stage with the princess at the front. Azula was the only one out of her Kyoshi Warrior disguise while the other four remained wearing theirs. Azula gave the agents a speech by saying, "The Earth King and the Council of Five do not trust the Dai Li. They have imprisoned your leader, Long Feng.

"And soon they will most likely turn on all of you and eliminate you, no doubt." She added, making sure to keep them on her side. The princess came down the stage and informed them, "Seizing power today is a matter of both life and death."

Her words seemed to make some of the agents think as one lowered their head. But they remained attentive as she continued, "This coup must be swift and decisive.

"The Earth King, and each of the five generals that are here in the city, must be taken out simultaneously. And under the most discretion. Long Feng has placed you all in my command while we overthrow the final Earth Kingdom government." Azula instructed them. She walked down the line of agents and warned them, "And let me just tell you now, that if I sense any disloyalty, any hesitation, any weakness at all, from any of you…

"I will snuff it out myself. Or have an associate of mine do it for me." She threatened when she turned to an agent with a long scar on his right cheek. The agent looked a little worried when she walked away from him. She moved to stand near the steps of the stage and dismissed them, "That is all."

The Dai Li agents took their leave and exited the room. They all watched the agents go and when they were the only ones left, Azula rejoined the other four and Ty Lee prepared a cup of tea for her friend. She commended Azula by saying, "That was a nice speech, Azula. It was really pretty and poetic, but also in a scary way of course."

"Where Captain America goes for courage and will, you mostly go the opposite direction with intimidation." Scarlet Widow said with a grin. Mai chuckled when she said, "Yeah, I thought that you were gonna make that one guy pee his pants."

"All we need to know is make sure that everything goes to plan." Shriek said, wanting to be reunited with Cletus again. Azula nodded in agreement as she said, "And it will. There are just a few loose ends to tie up-

"The Avatar and the Avengers, and my brother and uncle." She said with a glare before taking a sip of her tea.

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Speaking of Zuko and Iroh, they and Tony had just been dropped off before the Earth King's palace. The tea master held an ornate box in his hands to hold his supplies for the tea. Zuko and Tony stood on both sides of Iroh and the inventor looked to his friend and asked, "You okay there? Not nervous, are you?"

"Not at all." Iroh shook his head as the cart pulled away. Then he looked between them and said, "There have been many times I imagined myself here. At the threshold of the palace.

"But I always thought that I would be here as a conqueror. But instead, we are the Earth King's personal guests, and here serving him tea." He joyfully added as they approached the gates. Tony pulled out the invitation to show the guards. Looking to Iroh he asked, "Would you trade this meeting for one in your old life?"

"Not for a moment." Iroh shook his head with a slight grin. He nodded when he said, "Destiny is a funny thing."

"It sure is, Uncle." Zuko agreed with him as they approached the gates. Even Tony grinned from how things were looking up for his friends.

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Back at the Outer Wall, Appa, Sam, Rhodey and the Milano were about to pass over the wall. Toph was holding on to Clint as they flew and asked, "So how did it go with the guru, guys? Did you get a hang on your special powers?"

"Yeah, did you gain some wicked new powers?" Quill asked over the comms that they had lent those outside of the space craft. Aang, Johnny and Bruce all looked to each other with unsure looks, "Uhh…"

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(Flashback)

They remembered Guru Pathik's words when they were leaving. The guru was standing at the edge of the roof and warned with a swipe of his hand, "If you all leave now, the results will be disastrous, I promise you. You will never find peace, the Rider may continue to lose himself and you won't be able to go into the Avatar State at all."

(End of Flashback)

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When the three didn't say anything, Sokka asked, "Uh, you guys okay?"

"We're great. Perfectly great." Aang said with a grin to make them not worry. He glanced away when he said, "It went great with the guru."

"You sure you want to keep using the word 'great'?" Bruce asked before receiving a light elbow from the Airbender. He gave Bruce and Johnny a look saying that he would tell them later.

Both Johnny and Bruce just sighed as they thought to trust him. Natasha lifted the comms and asked, "So what are you guys doing back from the wall so soon?"

"Let's just say that not everything's okay back in the city." Rocket said, making everyone look to each other with confused looks. Clint then urged, "Uh, you might want to elaborate on that."

"We'll explain when we see the Earth King." Rocket told them a little harshly. That just made everyone both outside and inside the Milano look to each other with questioning looks.

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Back in the city, Tony, Iroh and Zuko found themselves within a smaller building of the palace. Iroh had placed four cups for the three of them and the Earth King to enjoy. They were sitting in a room with a smaller throne on a smaller dais and silver looking earns in each corner. Tony looked to him and asked, "How exactly did you know that he would like jasmine tea?"

"I didn't." Iroh shook his head as he poured tea into each of the four cups. He looked to the inventor of the Iron Man suit with a grin and said, "But we'll find out soon enough."

Both Tony and Zuko only grinned as they continued to wait. But when they didn't see or hear anything, Zuko wondered aloud, "What's taking so long?"

"Maybe the Earth King overslept?" Iroh guessed with a shrug. Tony glanced around the room and said, "I don't like the feeling of this."

And he was proven right when some Dai Li agents entered the room. More appeared behind the trio and Zuko got the same feeling as Tony when he said, "Something's not right here."

"I think we've been set up." Tony glared as they soon found themselves completely surrounded by a ring of Dai Li agents. They were all surprised when a new person entered the room, but it wasn't an agent as a feminine voice said, "It's tea time. And with a bit of a workshop to go along with it."

"Azula!" Zuko angrily said and rising to his feet. Tony crossed his arms and commented, "Just to let you know, you need to work on your witty banter."

That caused both Iroh and Zuko to chuckle a little while Azula could only scowl. Her smile returned when she asked, "Have any of you met the Dai Li? They're Earthbenders, but they have a killer instinct that's so Firebender, or Hydra agent…

"And it's actually something I admire." She added, thinking that with them surrounded, then their capture was assured. Tony then asked, "So besides the bath robe wearing freaks, you still keeping wannabe company of my team?"

"Oh, they are here and there's a whole lot more on the way, I can promise you that." Azula said, her grin not faltering. Iroh rose to his feet as well while picking up one of the cups. Then he asked his niece, "Did I ever tell you the story of how I got the nickname the Dragon of the West?"

"I'm not interested in a lengthy anecdote, Uncle." Azula dismissed as she looked to her nails in boredom. But Iroh thought otherwise when he lifted the cup when he said, "It's more of a demonstration, really."

While Tony was a little confused at first, he felt Zuko grab a hold of his arm. He glanced to the teen who had a knowing smile on his face. Iroh took a sip from the cup and Zuko pulled Tony behind Iroh just as the older Firebender opened his mouth and let loose a large torrent of flame that put the Dai Li agents on the defensive. He turned a full circle to get them to back up enough to give the trio smore more room. Tony looked to Zuko and asked, "Mind making us an exit?"

"With pleasure." Zuko said before launching a pretty big fireball at a wall. It blasted a large hole that was big enough for them all to slip through. Iroh provided cover fire while Tony and Zuko were the first to go through. Iroh followed behind them while shooting one more flame at their foes.

They all ran down a hall just as a couple of Dai Li agents appeared through the hole. In a mirroring motion, the agents launched a multitude of rock fingers at the three. Luckily, all of them turned a corner and the projectiles crashed into another wall. Tony looked ahead and looked back when he said, "We've got a road block and it's coming up fast!"

"I'm on it." Iroh said as he started moving his fingers around. He built up a bit of a charge of electricity before firing it past the boys and to the wall. The bolt of lightning created a large hole for them all to fit through.

Down below the hole was Wade Wilson, who had gotten back with the others but had broken off from the others, was walking by the ruined wall when a yelling Iroh came crashing down on him. The mutate let out a pained cry and Iroh quickly apologized, "Oh, Mister Wilson. I am so sorry."

"No worries. Just give me a minute." Wade said as Iroh stepped off of him. But before the merc with the mouth could get up or anything, Tony ended falling onto his back next. Wade gave another pained cry, this time Tom and Jerry style. Tony looked down and said, "Uh, sorry about that."

"Just help me move." Wade strained and both Tony and Iroh got to work moving him. They moved back to the wall and looked up to see Zuko standing there. Iroh shouted to him, "Come on. You'll be fine."

"For you and Wade." Tony added while Wade just gave a shaky thumbs up before it fell back onto the ground. But Zuko just shook his head, "No. I'm tired or running in fear.

"It's time that I faced Azula and her goons." He added before turning to go back in. Both Tony and Iroh groaned from how stupid Zuko was being. The former shook his head, "The one time I don't bring my suit."

"We need to get help." Iroh said and Tony nodded in agreement. Wade then lifted his head and weakly told them, "I know where you can get some."

"Great. Let's go." Tony said as he and Iroh took off running. But they were stopped when Wade called out, "Uh, a little help."

"Oh, right." Iroh said as they rushed back for the ailing mutate. They hoisted him up and started running again.

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Back in the hallway, Zuko came face to face with Azula and her entourage of Dai Li agents. The younger sibling sighed when she commented, "You're so dramatic sometimes.

"What, are you going to challenge me to an Agni Kai?" She questioned, knowing how the last one she watched went for her sibling. Zuko didn't hesitate when he glared, "Yes. I challenge you."

"No thanks." Azula shrugged nonchalantly. But Zuko wasn't going to let her get away so easily as he moved back before creating a stream of fire before it became a flaming wheel and launching it forward. Two Dai Li agents rushed forward and with a raise of their arms, they lifted a piece of the floor up to block the blast. When it fell back to the ground, both agents fired a rock glove that made Zuko's feet stuck to the ground. The teen cried out as he fell forward and stopped himself from falling over. But it costed him by another agent launching another rock glove that pinned his hand down. Zuko strained to free himself, but the situation wasn't looking good for him when he raised his head. The smirking Azula turned and walked away as two more agents moved forward and launched a couple more gloves at the trapped prince.

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After a bit more flying, Appa, the Milano and the two flyers descended at the Earth King's palace. They were able to move past all the guards and found themselves within Earth King Kuei's throne room. The Earth King sat on his throne with a sleeping Bosco laying right next to his feet. Aang explained the situation, but the Earth King assured them by saying, "Captain Rogers and Katara are fine. You have nothing to worry about."

"Let's hope we didn't rush back for nothing." Sam commented to Rhodey and Bruce who could only shrug. Aang didn't seem so sure when he said, "It's just that, in my vision, I felt so sure that they were in trouble."

"When was the last time that you talked to them? We really need to know." Natasha asked, not wanting to take anything to chance. Earth King Kuei took a moment to remember before saying, "Well, they met with the council of generals to help plan for the invasion. And since then, they've been off with your friends, the Kyoshi Warriors."

"Well, it seems that they're with Suki." Sokka said with a shrug. Then he added, "They're probably back at her apartment right now talking about makeup or something."

"I feel bad for Steve then." Rhodey said, earning a few snickers from the guys. Rocket stepped forward and said, "Well, even if they ain't in trouble, you do need to keep a look out for any kind of trouble."

"What have you found at the drill?" The Earth King asked, wondering what the Guardian could mean. Quill then informed, "A transmission had come through a communications network and from what we heard, the enemy could be making their move soon."

"I'll be sure to inform the generals." Earth King Kuei nodded, knowing that if he were to let his guard down again, it could mean his downfall. Aang on the other hand took a deep breath and said, "I guess we'll just need to be on our toes."

"Well, believe me, if there was any danger at all…" The Earth King assured. He looked to the sleeping Bosco next to him and said, "Bosco's animal instinct would sense it."

The bear rose its head with a low growl, either his instincts kicking in, or confused about being talked about. Natasha then suggested, "Let's head back to the apartment and see if we can meet up with anyone."

"Sounds good to us." Rhodey agreed and they all took their leave.

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Somewhere deep below the city of Ba Sing Se, a troubled Katara and Steve were amongst green glowing crystals. Steve sat on the ground while Katara paced around for what felt like hours. She had told him everything that had happened before their run-in with Azula's entourage. Steve shook his head, "I don't think that Zuko and his uncle are here to cause trouble."

"How can you say that after everything that's happened between us?" Katara asked, reminding him of the skirmishes. Steve firmly believed his words when he said, "When we were being chased by Azula, even though it was a rocky alliance to begin with, they both stood with us.

"And if the brother, sister and uncle of the Royal Family were on the same side, I doubt she would have tried to kill him." He pointed out. Katara was about to keep arguing when they heard the sound of rumbling coming from above. They looked up a tunnel of earth to see an opening being lifted by a Dai Li agent. Another appeared from the side with someone in his grips as the first smugly said, "You two got some company.

"Be sure to play nice." He added while the other agent shoved Zuko down the steep slope. Zuko tumbled down before falling right before the two. The entrance closed down just as Zuko sat up. Katara glared when she said, "Zuko."

"Well, this could get ugly." Steve said as he got up off the ground. He got himself ready to intervene in case things were about to get rough.

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Elsewhere, Iroh, Tony and Wade were all lying in wait in an abandoned alley. They heard the sound of footsteps coming and Iroh peeked out to see who it was. His eyes narrowed before glancing back to the other two. He placed a finger to his lips to indicate that it was someone that they were waiting for. Wade and Tony nodded and all three tensed up. When the Dai Li agent with a scar walked right by the door, all three men jumped out and tackled him to the ground. Before the agent could scream for help, Wade gagged him while Tony and Iroh bound his hands and feet. When the Dai Li agent was nice and secure, they all took a breath. Tony looked to Iroh and asked, "Now what?"

"We need to find the Avatar and your friends." Iroh told them. Wade took out a piece of paper and offered with a shrug, "Maybe this has their address on it or something."

Iroh took the paper and he looked over it. He nodded and said, "This will work."

"Then let's get this guy there as discreetly as possible." Tony said and he and Wade picked the man up. Trying to keep a low profile, the three men hurried to get to who they hoped were their allies.

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When the group had reached the apartment, the Milano on one side of the house while Appa landed on the other. Clint noticed the house and said, "Looks like they got started on repairs while we were gone."

"How'd that happen exactly?" Mantis asked, wondering what could cause so much damage. Aang, Sokka and Bruce all said in unison, "Toph."

The others of the group looked to her and she just gave a grin, not feeling sorry for doing it. Groot seemed to make a comment when he said, "I am Groot."

"Of course it's not all ruined." Rocket shook his head. Looking to his little buddy he said, "I doubt we'd be able to go in if it was completely ruined." He looked to those who lived here and asked, "Right?"

They didn't say anything as they just went into the house. A chittering lemur came scurrying up to the group and a happy Aang raised his arms into the air, "Momo!"

When Bruce was the last to walk through the door, the others gasped before moving out of the way. Just as he was about to question what was going on, three brown shapes tackled into him and sent him falling to the floor. Two of the three Pygmy Pumas sat on both sides while a third sat on his chest and lightly pawed him in the face while giving a low growl. Bruce glanced to the others and commented, "I think I'm getting scolded."

"Well, maybe you just had them worried." Peter teasingly said when he, Fae, Logan, Thor and Loki came out from one of the rooms. The cats let Bruce up and he closed the door behind him. Thor then asked, "We didn't expect you back until a few more days."

"We had to come back because Arrowhead felt that it was urgent." Sam said while gesturing to Aang. Natasha then asked, "Don't suppose you've seen Steve, Katara or the Kyoshi Warriors have you?"

"We've only been back for a few hours and haven't seen anyone." Logan shook his head. Thor then said, "We haven't met up with the Kyoshi Warriors, and we haven't seen Katara or Rogers in a while."

That made everyone's eyes widen with concern and Aang said, "They really are in trouble. I knew it."

"Oh, no." Sokka said, fearing that his sister and their friend could be in danger. Peter then asked, "What exactly is going on?"

"Aang had a vision that Katara and Steve were in some hot water." Johnny told them. But before anyone could say or do anything else, Toph stopped them by turning her body slightly and pointing back to the entrance, "Wait. There's someone, no… A few someone's at the door."

She was proven right when a knock came from behind the door. A smile formed on her face when she sensed who it was, "Actually, I know at least one of them. He's an old friend of mine.

"The other two I can't really place." She said while moving to the door. They moved out of her way, and she slid the door open. Standing on the other side of it was Iroh, Tony and Wade. Toph gave Iroh a big smile as she said, "Glad to see that you're okay.

"And I see that you've made new friends." Toph said when she could sense Tony and Wade. But Iroh got right to the point when he said, "I need all of your help."

There were a lot of emotions running through the group. While Toph, Clint, Thor, Loki and those of the rescue group waved to them with grins, Sokka, Aang, Natasha and Momo were greatly startled by the sight of Zuko's uncle. The only ones who were confused were the Guardians of the Galaxy and Bruce. Momo chittered as he flew away while a greatly confused Aang pointed at Iroh and asked, "You guys all know each other?!"

"Me, Clint and Thor met him…" She gestured to Iroh, "In the woods once and knocked him down." Iroh gave a sheepish grin as she added, "Then he gave us some tea and some very good advice."

"It was after your little spat with her before your training began." Clint clarified for them. Those who didn't know had an 'oh' kind of look on their faces. Loki then said, "I first met Iroh when he and his nephew were about to be captured by Azula before she met up with her friends."

"And we had met him, his nephew and Tony on our way to the city." Rhodey said, feeling a few things coming to light. Sam walked up to him and asked, "So, you're not who you said you were."

"Well, in his defense, the family he's practically known has it out for his head." Tony said, even if didn't help with the situation. Iroh stepped forward and said, "I do apologize for the deception, but I was just looking out for the wellbeing of my nephew, Tony and myself."

"So, what Jet said about you is true? You're a Firebender?" Logan asked, feeling a little ticked off. The old Firebender bowed when he said, "I know that this will make it hard to trust me, but we have more urgent matters to attend to.

"May we come in?" He requested and Toph nodded. Before some of the others could protest, Iroh, Tony and Wade stepped into the house. Wade looked to Bruce and commented with finger, "And don't think I don't know about that Wings of Fire reference you just did."

"Wha-?" The Gamma scientist asked in confusion. But nothing more on that matter was said when Iroh told them, "Princess Azula is here in Ba Sing Se. And no doubt she isn't working alone."

"She must have Katara and Steve." Aang deduced, thinking what everyone was. There were a few still in the dark as Quill leaned to Natasha and Clint before asking, "Who's Azula exactly?"

"His niece." Natasha said and pointed to Iroh. Though it didn't help at the moment, Quill decided to be quiet and listen. Iroh then said, "She has captured my nephew as well."

"Most likely they're all in the same place." Tony guessed, though he didn't know where to start. Thor stepped up and said, "Then we will need to work together to fight Azula and save all of them."

"Whoa, whoa, hang on there." Sokka said, making all eyes turn to him. Sokka walked up between them and said, "You lost me at saving all of them. That means rescuing Zuko."

"We're gonna have to let some things go if we're to save them." Gamora interjected, feeling that they had a common enemy. Iroh then tried to quell their fears by saying, "And I know how a few of you must feel about my nephew.

"But believe me when I tell you, that there is good inside of him." He assuredly said when he placed a hand on Sokka's shoulder. Tony spoke up for the prince by saying, "And if you had seen what I did these past few weeks, you'd be thinking differently."

"Yeah, he's not all bad." Peter said, before covering his mouth when he realized what he had just said. Those of the Rescue Group looked to him and Johnny asked, "What do you mean by that exactly?"

"Well, um, actually, I kind of found out about Zuko and Iroh." Peter started to say. Eddie stepped up and asked, "You knew about them the whole time?"

"Not the whole time." Peter quickly shook his head. He glanced to Tony who nodded his head, "It was some time after we had gotten here and Jet got arrested."

"And you didn't tell us why?" Logan asked, feeling ticked off once again. Tony stepped up and said, "That's on me. I had asked him not to tell, to try and find the right time."

"Right time or not, but we still have an issue to deal with." Thor said, trying to defuse the situation. Sokka then said, "And whether or not good's in him, I'd still need to see it to believe it."

"Seriously, let it go already." Clint said. Aang agreed by saying, "Katara and Steve are in trouble. All of Ba Sing Se is in trouble."

"Working together is our best chance of beating them." Bruce agreed with them. Everyone, even Sokka agreed when they saw the upside to the alliance. Rocket then asked, "So where do we start, exactly?"

"I literally thought that you were a Build-A-Bear for a moment." Tony commented to the raccoon. Rocket countered with, "Maybe I am."

"I am Groot." Groot said to get everyone back on track. Rocket nodded and said, "So, what do we got?"

"We did bring someone along who might be able to help us." Iroh said as he made his way back to the door. Opening the door, a good deal of the group stepped out and while the others looked from the door. They turned to the left side of the porch to see the Dai Li agent sitting on the ground. Clint looked to the Earthbender of the group and said, "Toph."

"On it." Toph acknowledged before raising her arms. She created a pair of slabs of earth that kept the agent's arms pinned before she raised it up to have him standing. The frightened Dai Li agent started breathing heavily into his gag as the group started to approach him. Iroh came up and lowered the gag and the Dai Li agent quickly let all he knew out, "Princess Azula and Long Feng are plotting a coup. They're going to over throw the Earth King."

"My sister and our friend!" Sokka said as he pulled out his machete. Pointing it at the agent he questioned, "Where are they keeping them?"

"They have the young Waterbender, Firebender and Captain Rogers held in the crystal catacombs of old Ba Sing Se, deep beneath the Earth King's Palace." The agent told them. Quill walked up and asked, "Know anything about Azula's alliance with Hydra?"

"None of the Dai Li agents have heard any news." The agent shook his head. But then he said, "But I do believe that if the Fire Nation has infiltrated the city, then Hydra should not be too far behind with a small invasion."

"What do we do with him?" Bruce asked about the agent. The agent became a little fearful at what they could possibly do to him, but Aang walked up and asked, "Do you know where they've taken the other girls from the Lake Laogai base?"

"Yes." The agent nodded, knowing full well of the Dai Li's doings. Glancing back to Fae he asked, "If we asked you to take Fae with you, will you go and release them."

"I don't know how exactly to undo the hypnosis, but I will do what I can to help." The Dai Li agent promised. Feeling satisfied, Aang assumed his earthbending stance before a flick of his wrists caused the slabs of earth to break apart. The Dai Li agent wobbled a moment to keep himself from falling and Iroh came up to undo his bindings. When the Firebender took a step back, Aang said, "Thank you."

"It's I who should thank you, young Avatar." The Dai Li agent bowed in respect. He looked to Fae and said, "If you'll come with me."

"Be careful, Fae." Clint said as the former host and the Dai Li agent walked off the porch. The large group watched them go before rushing off the porch themselves.

\_|_/

In the Ba Sing Se prison, another agent came to Long Feng's cell to report how the coup was going. He stood by the opening of the door and said, "The movements of all the generals and the Earth King have been plotted out, step by step."

"Good." Long Feng said while not disrupting his meditation. Then he asked, "And the Fire Nation princess and her allies are cooperating?"

"Oh, yes." The Dai Li agent nodded, still feeling intimidated by Azula. Looking into the cell he said, "More than cooperating actually, the princess has really taken charge of the agents. She's terrifying and inspirational at the same time." He shrugged when he couldn't find the right words, "It's hard to explain."

With nothing else to report, the Dai Li agent walked away from the door. From inside his cell, Long Feng opened his eyes and from the look of it, didn't like how it seemed that Azula was trying to take power from him. A smirk crossed his face as he thought of how he planned to rectify this.

\_|_/

At the palace, Azula and her entourage were waiting for the coup to begin. The princess looked to the Scarlet Widow and asked, "Do the agents know which one to cut off?"

"They do." The spy for Hydra nodded with a grin. Then she asked a question of her own, "But do you think he will be swayed to our side?"

"If I manage to push all of the right buttons, then perhaps I can make him see reason." Azula said, believing she could sway whom they were talking about after reading the file on him.

\_|_/

Down in the catacombs of old Ba Sing Se, Steve was the only thing keeping Katara from attacking Zuko. They had mostly been sitting in silence for an hour or so after the Dai Li had thrown the prince with them. That didn't stop her from saying how she felt as she looked to the Fire Nation teen who had his back turned to them. Looking to him with a glare she questioned, "Why did they throw you in here with us?"

"I think us all being prisoners might be a reason." Steve commented with a raised brow. It earned an unamused look from Katara while Zuko didn't seem to be answering. Katara scoffed, "Please, there's got to be more to it than that.

"And now that I think about it, let me guess." Katara pretended to think. She turned to the former prince and said, "It's some kind of trap. So when Aang and the other Avengers show up to rescue us you can finally have them all in your little Fire Nation clutches and please Hydra while you're at it, huh?"

That made Zuko glance back for a split second before looking away again. It just seemed to upset Katara even more as she moved a little closer to the prince. Steve stood up and moved to stand between them when he said, "Katara, I think you've made your point."

"No, I haven't even begun to make my point." Katara angrily argued at the super soldier. Then looking around Steve to the prince she bitterly said, "You're a terrible person, you know that?!

"Always following us, hunting down the Avatar and the Avengers." She listed and started to pace around the room, "Trying to capture the world's last hope for peace, using Bucky as a weapon in your plans."

"I never did that!" Zuko angrily shouted when he turned to them. That made Katara stop pacing and Steve looked back to the prince. Zuko looked away and said, "I never really saw Bucky as a weapon. Not after getting to know him as best as I could."

"Even if that were true? Why should you care?" Katara angrily questioned and turned away from him. She glared when she glanced back and said, "You're the Fire Lord's son. Spreading war and violence and hatred is in your blood."

"Katara, that's enough. If it were true, I doubt that he would be sitting down here with us." Steve argued for Zuko's sake. The former prince agreed with him by saying, "He's right. You don't know what you're talking about."

"I don't?" Katara angrily exclaimed when she turned back to the prince. Steve kept her back from doing anything rash as her eyes narrowed, "How dare you. You have no idea what this war has put me through.

"Me personally!" She shouted before moving away and dropping down into a crouch. Both Zuko and Steve looked to the Water Tribe girl as she sadly touched her mother's necklace, "The Fire Nation took my mother away from me."

Katara sobbed when she remembered that day and a sympathetic Steve knelt down next to her. He pulled her into a hug to comfort her while Zuko also looked back with a sympathetic look and offered, "I'm sorry.

"That's something that we have in common." Zuko admitted, thinking of his own mother. His words made both Katara and Steve look back to him. Katara wiped the tears from her eyes and Steve said, "Maybe there's just been a lot of misunderstanding between all of us."

"Maybe." Zuko and Katara agreed, a small smile forming between the two of them.

\_|_/

Outside of the palace, everyone gathered around Toph when she knelt down and placed her hand on the ground. Those with armor, symbiotes or costumes had put them on before arriving at the palace. They waited until she said, "Well, what do you know? There is an ancient city all the way down there."

"Looks like our new friend was right." Drax nodded, impressed with how Toph was able to find the old city. Toph turned her head to them and told them, "Yeah, but it's really deep below us."

Clint motioned for everyone to take a step back from the Earthbender. Crossing her arms for a moment, the ground started to shake before Toph swung them out. The resulting motions caused a large crater to form in the middle of the path.

"Okay, since Steve's not here to make up a game plan, let's see what we can do." Tony said and everyone paid close attention. Tony then said, "We need to divide into two to three teams. One to go rescue the captives, one to go try and warn the Earth King about Azula's coup and one to prepare a getaway in case things go south for us and need an extraction."

"Well, between Appa and the Milano, we pretty much have the getaway covered." Quill nodded. Sokka stepped up and said, "Aang should take Iroh and some of us to rescue Katara, Steve and the angry jerk.

"No offense." He said to the older Firebender. Iroh shrugged when he said, "None taken."

"Okay." Peter said as no one could see that coming. Sokka continued by saying, "And Toph and I will take another group to go and warn the Earth King."

"And we'll keep watch with Appa and the Milano." Quill volunteered the Guardian's services. Tony then said, "Everyone hurry up and get with a group. We know that there will be a fight, and we need to be prepared for it."

"Right." They all agreed with a nod. Tony, Clint, Natasha, Logan and Deadpool stayed with Aang and Iroh while Bruce, Thor, Loki, Peter, Eddie and Johnny when with Sokka and Toph. Sam and Rhodey opted to stay with the Guardians and Appa just outside the palace.

Down in the tunnel, Aang used his earthbending to deepen the hole while the other two groups had ran off to do their tasks. When they had gone down deep underground, Iroh used his right hand to summon forth a flame to help light the way while Tony used the repulsors on his hands to help out as well. They stayed back while Aang was in front of them. With a flick of his arms, he caused the tunnel to continue downward a few good yards. When it stopped with a loud boom, the group continued down the tunnel. No one said anything before Aang lightly rubbed the side of his head and decided to ask Iroh, "So, Toph thinks that you give pretty good advice, and great tea."

"The key to both of those things is proper aging." Iroh gladly told them. Tony nodded when he said, "Even Thor would agree on that one."

"Wait, what?" Natasha asked a surprised look, feeling a little lost. Clint nodded and said, "Yeah, when the three of us separated from you guys and we met Iroh here, he made a pot of tea that Thor really seems to enjoy."

"Well, that's something new." Natasha said. Iroh looked to the Avatar and asked, "Is there something on your mind?"

"Well, you see, my friends Bruce, Johnny and I met this guru." Aang started to say. Natasha then asked, "Aang, did everything not go alright with the guru for you guys?"

"Well, I-" Aang tried to find the right words. Logan then said, "Just keep saying what you were going to say."

"Yeah, non-Ant Bully." Wade agreed with what looked like a grin underneath his mask, "You'll probably feel a whole lot better."

"Uh, okay." Aang said while he and the others of their group gave Wade odd looks. Aang then explained the situation, "Well, like I was saying, he was supposed to help us master the Avatar State, the Hulk and the Ghost Rider. But to do it, I would have to let go of someone I love, and I just couldn't."

"And Bruce and Johnny?" Clint asked him. Aang looked to the archer and said, "I'm not sure. I may have snapped them out of what they were going through when I sensed that Katara and Steve were in danger."

"In my honest opinion, I think that perfection and power are overrated." Iroh said when they came to a stop at the end of the tunnel. He really believed it when he said, "I think you are very wise to choose happiness and love over it."

Aang repeated the earlier motion and the rocks descended deeper into the tunnel. The Avatar then asked, "What will happen if we can't save everyone in the city and beat Azula and Hydra?

"What if without the Avatar State, I'm not powerful enough. Same with Bruce and Johnny?" Aang asked some pretty good questions. Tony then said, "Well, with all of us together, I think we can win the day."

"Well, while that is a good point, Tony." Iroh nodded in agreement to that. Then he said, "And I do have a little advise for you myself.

"Sometimes life is like this dark tunnel. You can't always see the light at the end of it." He said and it made sense to the whole group. They came to the end as Iroh started to say, "But if you just keep moving forward…."

Aang thrust his arms forward and mostly everyone shielded themselves when a large gust of wind blew in their faces and blew out the flame of a smiling Iroh's hand. They walked out of the tunnel into a large chamber filled with big, green, glowing crystals. Iroh's grin didn't falter when he said, "You will come to a much better place."

"Wow." The others said as they gazed upon the ruins of old Ba Sing Se. After a moment of watching, Tony then said, "All right, enough sight-seeing. We've got some friends and family to find."

"Hm." Aang and the others nodded in agreement. They ran down a steep slope to start searching.

\_|_/

Back with Sokka's group, they had climbed up to the top of the large stairway of the palace. Momo chittered as he flew over the group and Thor started to ask, "So, how did the trip to the guru go?"

"Well-" Bruce started to say when they reached the top of the stairs. But Sokka stopped him when he pointed, "There's General How."

But before they could move any further to warn him, Peter sensed something and stopped Sokka and Toph by pulling on their shirts. Toph was about to protest when Sokka shushed her when he saw something. Everyone moved behind two pillars of the palace and glanced around to see a couple of Dai Li agents hiding on another set of pillars. When General How passed by, they dropped down and launched their cuffs forward. The surprised general gasped when both wrists were detained and struggled to break free. With a yank from both agents, How was brought to his knees while a third agent dropped down from the ceiling. General How looked between the three and angrily questioned, "What's going on here?!"

"You're under house arrest." The Dai Li agent simply told him as the other two agents moved to take him away. Sokka and the others pulled back behind the pillars and Sokka worriedly said, "We're too late, the coup is happening right now!"

"So what now?" Bruce asked. Sokka took a quick minute to think before saying, "Maybe if we free the generals when they're captured, then maybe we might be able to fight our way through this."

"But what about the Earth King?" Peter asked, thinking of the original plan. Then he pointed out, "Someone has to go and warn him."

"The spider and I can go after them." Loki suggested while gesturing to the agents and their captive with his head. Thor didn't seem to agree with that plan when he said, "You are not leaving my sight."

"The Earth King will be better protected if you're with him." Loki argued with his adopted brother. Then he said, "Plus, the spider will keep me in check."

"Think you can do that, Peter?" Johnny asked the teen. Peter nodded and said, "Yeah. Let's do it."

"Good luck you two." Sokka said before he and the majority of the group started to rush off. Thor was the last one to go before saying, "Just come back."

"Then make it to the other side." Loki countered before he and Peter rushed off after the four.

\_|_/

In another part of Ba Sing Se, one of the other generals was walking over a steaming grate. He was startled when a multitude of chains suddenly shot up from the grate and latched onto his wrists before pulling him down to the ground. The general looked down between the bars of the grate to see a number of Dai Li agents that had been waiting for him.

\_|_/

In a different section of the city, General Song was walking past a building when a couple of shackles came from behind an alley. He yelled as he was yanked back into the darkness.

\_|_/

The final two generals were overlooking the map of the four nations in the war room as a few Dai Li agents silently crawled along the ceiling. They moved into position before launching their shackles at the two men's feet. Both generals cried out as they were pulled up to the ceiling of the war room.

\_|_/

Out by the Milano and Appa, Quill and the other Guardians were making sure that everything was prepared for takeoff like they had agreed. Sam and Rhodey were side-by-side with Appa and the Pygmy Pumas as they waited for a signal or something. From the cockpit of the Milano, Quill was overlooking a few engine checks when he noticed something in the distance behind the palace walls. Not looking away while turning his head, Quill alerted the others, "Uh, guys. Something's happening."

"What?" Gamora asked when she came in and looked to see a surge of lightning over the wall. Activating her comms she said, "Sam, Rhodey, we got something happening over the wall."

"Copy, we'll check it out." Sam replied.

Sam and Rhodey used their thrusters to blast them towards the wall and landed to where they could peek over the top. They climbed up a little to where they could see and their eyes widened when they saw what looked to be a large portal opening within the courtyard of the Earth King's palace. The portal moved forward and a large number of Hydra agents appeared in rows. At the final row, stood Johann Schmidt, Arnim Zola, Crossbones, Abomination, the Destroyer Armor, Justin Hammer, the guy in the bug suit, Cletus, Wilson Fisk and Victor. The Red Skull moved to stand before the agents and said, "Today, the Earth Kingdom will fall before the combined might of the Fire Nation and Hydra. Not even the likes of the Avatar and the Avengers will be enough to stand in our way. All of this world will know our name and fear us.

"For should they cut off one head, two more shall grow in its place." He said the creed. Raising a fist he shouted, "Hail Hydra!"

"Hail Hydra!" The agents chanted as they all raised their fists into the air. From their spot, Sam looked to Rhodey and said, "Situation is getting worse."

"Someone needs to warn the others and fast." Rhodey said, trying to think of how to get to them. Then he suggested, "We'll split up. We go to warn the others and go ahead with the extraction."

"Sounds like a pretty decent plan." Sam agreed. They quietly slipped down just as the Red Skull and his forces started to march towards the palace.

\_|_/

After finding a way into the palace, Loki and Peter were running through the halls searching for General How. Peter looked to his ally and asked with an awkward grin, "Don't suppose you can sense him or anything?"

"Sensing people is the Earthbender girl's job." Loki said with a questioning look to him. But Peter suddenly sensed something and shouted, "Look out!"

They managed to stop just in time when two Dai Li agents dropped down from the ceiling. The two shadowy Earthbenders assumed their stances before launching their hands forward and letting a couple of rock gloves fly. Both Loki and Spiderman managed to either duck or jump out of the way. The two agents then moved to where they stood between the two heroes after the wall crawler had landed. One of the Earthbenders lowered his arms before quickly raising them up again and sending Spiderman flying through the air. The arachnid-themed hero managed to nimbly turn himself to where he would land on his feet again and moved to jump out of the way when the agent launched another rock hand at him. Loki pulled out his dagger and waited for the agent to make some kind of move. But the agent only smirked before raising his hands up high and created a barrier that separated Loki from his ally. Loki rushed up to the rock wall and smacked his fist against, "Spiderman!"

"You won't be able to get to him through that way, I'm afraid." A familiar voice said from behind. Loki slowly turned around to see Princess Azula standing there at the end of the hall. The prince of Asgard gave a small grin and asked, "Are you going to try and fight me by yourself."

"While it would be an entertaining fight to see which of us would win, I'm here for something else." Azula said to dis-sway any means of a fight. Loki raised a brow, "Oh, and what might that be?"

"I'm here to offer you a deal. I want you a part of my alliance with Hydra" Azula grinned as she took a step closer to him. This caught Loki by surprise and he asked, "Really? You want me to help you?"

"Indeed. We are much alike you and I." Azula said, looking to play her cards right with him. Gesturing between the two of them she pointed out, "Both destined for a throne, both the younger sibling whose had a parent treat them more lovingly."

Loki knew whom she meant and seemed to be thinking about it. Azula then told him, "The Fire Nation can help you, Loki, to achieve your dreams. Think about it.

"The Fire Nation conquers this world, Hydra conquers theirs and then we help you conquer Asgard. If we all help each other out, the odds will be stacked in our favor and we will have the victories that we so desire." She said, making him look to be thinking more on it. Loki then asked, "Say that I was interested in something like this. What would I need to do?"

"To prove your loyalty." Azula simply said. Glancing behind him she said, "Arnim Zola requests a few samples from the spider-boy, the annoying blabbermouth and the host of the black symbiote."

"What would he need them for?" Loki asked, wondering what Hydra was up to. Azula shrugged and said, "Who knows. Maybe to make more weapons.

"So, are you in or out?" Princess Azula asked before extending her hand to him. Loki looked down at the appendage as if he were pondering this deal.

On the other side of the wall, Spiderman was still jumping and dodging the agents' attacks. On a particular jump, he managed to web up their hands together with a few shots from his web shooters before diving down, rolling across the ground and leaping up feet first to deliver a kick to their chins. Both Dai Li agents grunted as they smacked against the rock and slid to the ground unmoving. Spidey laughed as he pumped a fist. A door to his right suddenly opened up and Loki stepped through it. Pulling off his mask, Peter ran up to him and said, "Hey, you're okay."

"Apologies, my young friend." Loki said when the teen stopped in front of him. Peter waved it off and said, "Nah! It all turned out fine."

"No, for this." Loki shook his head, making the boy confused. He was unprepared when Loki grabbed him by the shoulder and seemed to use a nerve pinch to knock him out. A wide-eyed Peter fell to the floor while Azula stepped out of the room behind Loki. Looking down at the fallen hero she commended, "Not bad, you had him right where you wanted him."

With a wave of her hand, Azula suddenly turned into Loki and her into her. The Fire Nation princess looked down at the web slinger before pulling out a vial. Without looking back she extended her hand and said, "Hand me a knife."

"Are you going to kill him?" Loki asked as he pulled the tool out. Azula shook her head, "I would to tie up any loose ends, but Zola asked for him to be alive in case more samples were to be collected."

"Then we better move him before someone we don't want comes." Loki suggested and she nodded in agreement.

\_|_/

Sokka's group made it into the throne room without much of a hassle. They saw Earth King Kuei sitting on his throne with the false Kyoshi Warriors standing at the bottom of the stairs. Sokka exclaimed, "Thank goodness we made it in time!"

"In time for what?" The Earth King asked in confusion. The disguised Ty Lee asked, "Yeah, what are you guys in time for?"

She cartwheeled over to them, namely Sokka, got real close, scaring Momo and the three Pygmy Pumas and added, "Cutie."

"Uh, I'm kind of involved with Suki." Sokka said while rubbing the back of his neck. But the others became suspicious of how the warrior was acting and from her voice. They were even more suspicious when Ty Lee asked, "Who now?"

That clued just about everyone as Toph suddenly bent a pillar of earth underneath her. Ty Lee cried out as she was sent flying but managed to land above the throne. Toph pointed to the other three and shouted, "They're not the real Kyoshi Warriors!"

The Earth King gasped to the news while Mai, Shriek and the Scarlet Widow smirked. Mai reared her arm back as she said, "Sorry to disappoint you folks."

Then with a fling of her arm she threw some daggers at the group. Toph quickly raised a wall of earth to protect the group. The daggers embedded themselves in the earthy protection and Toph retaliated by launching the rock wall at the false Kyoshi Warriors. Shriek stepped up and unleashed her killer voice. Rings of sound came from her and caused the rock wall to shatter into pieces. It also caused most of the group to cover their ears. But it made Eddie to drop to his knees screaming in pain from the loud sounds. Inside, he could feel Venom in agony from the assault on their ears. The Scarlet Widow jumped at the group and fired a few of her own Widows Bites at the group. They moved out of the way while Shriek calmly walked up to Eddie. The host of Venom opened an eye to see her coming and quickly allowed Venom to come out.

The Symbiote roared down at the woman, but all Shriek could to is smirk at him. With a grin she said, "You know, my Cletus has something like that, and it's just as sensitive to something like this."

Venom raised a fist to strike at her, but Shriek just opened her mouth again. She unleashed another wave of sound that made Venom roar in agony from the loud sounds and he dropped to his knees and clutched his head. The Symbiote retreated back into Eddie and Shriek took advantage of this by striking the man across the face. The force of the blow knocked him down.

Both Mai and the Scarlet Widow were jumping out of the way of either Mjolnir or Johnny's chain. When Mai landed, she was suddenly knocked off her feet by a small pillar of earth from a smirking Toph. The Scarlet Widow gasped when she was put into a full nelson by Bruce and he said, "Yeah, go ahead and try something. We both know how it'll go."

Sokka was about to come to Eddie's aid when a giggling Ty Lee suddenly appeared in front of him. The Water Tribe teen managed to either duck or move out of the way when she tried to jab at him. The two seemed to move in sync and she said, "Mmm, it's kind of like we're dancing together."

"Can you please focus, Ty Lee!" Shriek shouted to her comrade as the two kept moving.

A sudden gasp made everyone stop moving and look to the throne. The heroes eyes widened when they saw Azula standing behind the Earth King. She had a hand on one shoulder while holding a blue flame at the ready on her finger tips. Princess Azula observed the room and said, "This fight is now over. Drop your weapons or else."

"Good thing Wade's not here. He'd say or else what." Johnny commented as both he and Thor dropped their respective weapons. Everyone jumped from Mjolnir crashing against the ground and making small cracks in the nice floor. Ty Lee quickly moved between everyone and with a few quick jabs made them all fall to the floor. But when she reached Thor, he managed to grab her arms and held her close. The action caused all four of the entourage to glare at him. Looking to Azula he demanded, "Release the Earth King at once. Or your friend here will know what being struck by Mjolnir feels like."

"Oh, I highly doubt that." A familiar voice said from behind Thor. Thor's eyes furrowed when he knew whom was behind him and questioned, "What are you doing, Loki?"

"Let's just say that I've taken a liking to what appears to be the winning side." Loki said as he readied a large piece of metal in his hands. Thor released Ty Lee and recalled Mjolnir to his hand. He swung his hammer at his treacherous brother and Loki dived down to avoid being struck. When he rose to his feet again, he managed to strike a hard blow to the back of Thor's head. The older prince of Asgard clutched the back of his head before swinging Mjolnir to parry another swing from his brother. The blow from Mjolnir caused the piece of metal to bend slightly and Loki looked between his opponent and his weapon with a slight glare. Thor had to use Mjolnir to defend himself when Mai suddenly threw a few more daggers at him and Shriek suddenly came up behind him. She unleashed a third wave of intense sound that made Thor cry out, thus leaving him vulnerable to another attack. Loki came up with his dented weapon and struck Thor really hard in the face. Thor dropped to the ground unconscious while a scared Momo tried to fly out of the room. A Dai Li agent suddenly appeared and fired both his rock gloves at the lemur. Momo squeaked as he was caught and bounced along the ground past the fallen heroes.

"Get them all out of my sight." Azula ordered and pushed Earth King Kuei down the stares after him. Mai, Ty Lee, Shriek, the Scarlet Widow and a few Dai Li agents dragged the heroes out of the room while a couple of agents escorted the Earth King and a groaning Bosco after them. Loki remained behind and took a seat on the stairs before the throne. Azula smirked to see them go, but her grin fell when she noticed a large group entering the throne room.

Long Feng with a great number of his Dai Li agents walked in. The cultural emissary of Ba Sing Se had a glare as he and his men came to a halt before the throne. Looking up to the princess he said, "Now comes the part where I double cross you, princess.

"Dai Li agents, arrest the Fire Nation princess." He ordered and waited for the order to be carried out. But before any of them could make a move, a new voice filled the throne room, "Any who dares to lay a hand on the princess will suffer great consequences."

Azula's grin returned when she saw the Red Skull and the rest of her entourage enter the room. Multitudes of Hydra agents suddenly appeared all around Long Feng and his agents. Johann Schmidt and the higher agents walked around the group of Earthbenders before standing at the bottom of dais. Looking over them the Red Skull asked, "Agents of the Dai Li, today the city of Ba Sing Se has been taken from the Earth King by the combined efforts of you, the Fire Nation and Hydra.

"And the fool who stands before you, wishes to usurp the power that you have rightly worked for." He added and gestured to Long Feng. Long Feng glared at him before the Red Skull then said to them, "So now we offer you a choice; continue to follow Long Feng into oblivion, or join us in a bright and dawning future for our worlds.

"The choice is yours." He said, letting them have free reins on the matter. Long Feng scoffed and he said, "You really think that my agents would blindly follow you. You have no idea of who you're up against.

"Dai Li, arrest them." He ordered his agents. But he was greatly surprised that no moves were made. Long Feng looked back to them and angrily questioned, "What is wrong with all of you?"

"I think it's safe to assume that they've made up their minds." Azula said, making Long Feng look to her again. With a shrug she said, "They're just waiting to see how this is going to end."

"What are you talking about?" Long Feng questioned with narrowed eyes. Princess Azula didn't lose a step when she said, "I can see your whole history in your eyes. You were born with absolutely nothing. So you've had to struggle and connive and claw your way to the top for the power that you once had.

"But true power, the divine right to rule, is something you're either born with or willing to go above and beyond to get it." She said, gesturing between her and Johann Schmidt. With narrowed eyes the Red Skull added, "The fact is, the agents don't know which of us is going to walk away from this encounter with breath still in their body or which of us will be lying in a pool of our blood."

"But I think you know as we know." Azula taunted a nervous looking Long Feng. She then made her way up to the throne and sat down. Everyone waited to see what Long Feng would do. The man clenched his fists and angrily shouted, "I won't lose what I've worked for to all of you!"

He assumed his Earthbending stance before raising up a sphere of earth and chucking it at the princess. But Johann Schmidt was able to use his powers to blast the rock apart. A surprised Long Feng was knocked back by another blast of the Red Skull's power and tumbled a bit before pushing himself off the ground. He looked at them with a glare and defiantly said, "I'll fight to my last breath if I have to."

The Red Skull smirked as he pulled a small pistol from its holster. He readied the weapon by pointing it at Long Feng and pulled the hammer back. Johann then said something from a bygone age, "Evidently not."

With a pull of the trigger a bullet was sent flying through the room and Long Feng tried to quickly raise a barrier to defend himself. But the bullet moved too fast and made it past before the barrier could truly protect him. The projectile hit home in Long Feng's chest and he gasped in pain from it. He could feel his robes becoming stained with his blood as he fell to his knees. From behind, two of the Dai Li agents lowered their hands to lower the barricade Long Feng had raised. Princess Azula, the Dai Li and Hydra watched as Long Feng fell face first against the floor as his blood started to pool around him. Crossbones then commented, "Looks like we beat him at his own game."

"Don't flatter him, Rumlow." Azula disagreed with him. Looking at the body her eyes narrowed when she said, "He was never even a player to begin with."

"So, what now?" Kingpin asked, wondering what the next move was. Azula rose off of the throne and said, "Now, we deal with the Avatar and the Avengers.

"And maybe pull someone else over to our side." Azula added as she lead the large group to the final battle. From his spot on the steps, Loki watched the group go before getting up himself and walking after them.

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Elsewhere after everything had cooled down, Katara, Steve and Zuko were standing in silence. Katara rubbed her arm as she said, "I'm sorry that I yelled at you before.

"And I'm sorry I was so cross." She added to Steve. The super soldier patted her comfortingly on the shoulder and said, "It's okay. Old feelings were just running around."

"I still shouldn't have." Katara shook her head. They looked to Zuko when he said, "It doesn't matter."

"It's just that for so long now, whenever I would imagine the face of the enemy, I would imagine yours." Katara shamefully said. Zuko lightly touched the scar when he said, "My face? I see."

"No, no. That's not what I meant by it." Katara shook her head, not meaning for it to sound that way. But it didn't seem to bother Zuko too much when he turned away and said, "It's okay. I used to think that this scar marked me.

"The mark of the banished prince, cursed to chase after the Avatar forever." He added when he turned away from the two. He glanced back when he also added, "And to have people you care about ripped from you."

"Are you talking about your mother? Or Bucky?" Steve asked, remembering what happened at the North Pole. Zuko glanced away when he said, "Both actually. But I've realized that I'm free to determine my own destiny, even if I'll never be free of my mark."

"If we're talking about marks, then just think about my friend Tony or Bucky." Steve said, earning a confused look from the former prince. Zuko asked, "Wait, what?"

"Yeah, Tony's had that Arc Reactor in his chest to help keep him alive, and Bucky's metal arm is an attachment after losing his real one in the fall during our first war with Hydra." Steve said with a bit of a grin. Zuko did seem to think about it and became surprised when Katara said, "And for your own, maybe you could be free of it."

"What?" He asked and he and Steve looked to the young Waterbender. Gesturing to herself she said, "I have healing abilities."

"It's a scar, it can't be healed. Not by normal means." Zuko disagreed. But Steve shook his head, "I don't think she was planning to use normal means."

"How so?" Zuko asked, wondering what they had in mind. Katara pulled out the vial she received from Pakku a while back, "This has water from the Spirit Oasis of the North Pole. It has special properties, so I've been saving it for something really important.

"I don't know if it'll work, but…" She offered as she walked up to him. Steve then said, "It would be your choice, Zuko."

Zuko seemed to think about it for a moment before he closed his eyes, as if accepting their help. Katara lightly placed her free hand over the scar and was about to start performing when they heard a rumbling sound. They were all startled when a wall not too far from them suddenly exploded and Steve moved to shield the two with his shield. They looked to see Aang's group walk in and Katara happily shouted, "Aang!"

"Guys!" Steve said as both he and Katara rushed up to meet with them. Iroh ran past them and both sides embraced each other. But it wasn't looking too well with Aang and Zuko glaring at each other.

"Thanks for coming after us." Steve said looking between his friends. Tony shrugged and said, "Yeah, well, it's not like we had anything else to do."

"Okay, really?" Clint said with a playful glare. Katara looked between them and said, "I knew that you would come to find us."

"Uncle, I don't understand." Zuko shook his head. Gesturing to the heroes he asked, "What are you doing with them?"

"Saving you, that's what." Aang rudely said. Iroh kept an irked Zuko from rushing at the Airbender while Steve said, "Aang, now's not the time for that."

"And Zuko, it's time that we had a talk." Iroh said and pulled his nephew back. Looking to the group he said, "Go and help your other friends. We'll catch up to you all in a bit.

"And you go with them, Tony." Iroh told the inventor of the Ironman suit. Though he wanted to stay with his friends, Tony nodded while Aang bowed in respect to them. Wade then said, "Come on, the others probably need us."

"One of the few things he makes sense about." Logan shook his head as they all ran back down the tunnel. But as she followed the group, Katara looked back to Zuko and still wanted to help him with what he was going through. With a reluctant look, she ran into the darkness after them.

"Why, Uncle?" Zuko asked when they were all alone, feeling a little betrayed by this new development. Iroh then said to his nephew, "You're not the man that you used to be, Zuko. You are stronger and wiser and freer than you have ever been.

"And now you have come to the crossroads of your destiny." Iroh said, willing to support his nephew however he could. Zuko looked unsure as his uncle said, "It's time for you to choose. It's time for you to choose good."

Zuko shut his eyes, unsure of himself at the moment. He really wanted to do things his way, but felt as if there was still something holding him back. But before any decisions could be made, the room started shaking and they both cried out as a large number of crystals grew out of the ground and came around Iroh. They restrained his movements while Zuko assumed his stance towards the entrance. Coming down the tunnel was Princess Azula, a couple of Dai Li agents and the Red Skull. The three men held back while Azula stepped forward and said, "I expected this kind of treacherous behavior from Uncle.

"But Zuko, Prince Zuko, you're a lot of things, but you're no traitor, are you?" She questioned her older brother. Pointing to the captive Iroh Zuko demanded, "Release him immediately."

"It's not too late for you, Zuko." Azula said, still trying to get him onto her side. With a grin she added, "You can still redeem yourself."

"The kind of redemption that she offers is not for you." Iroh said, trying to dissuade Zuko from listening. Princess Azula glared at her uncle and questioned, "Why don't you let him decide for himself, Uncle?

"I need you, Zuko." Azula said with a pleading look. But with a shake of her head she gestured to the Red Skull and said, "No, we need you. We've plotted every move of this day," She stood proud of what they were achieving when she raised a fist, "this could be glorious day in Fire Nation history, and the only way that we win is together.

"Isn't that right, Johann?" She asked of the otherworldly leader behind her. Johann took a step forward and said, "Yes, indeed. The day is already beginning to fall into place as a victory for our alliance. And should the crown prince of the Fire Nation be at our side, well…

"The victory would be much grander than ever. And think of what could await you on the other side of all this." He added with a grin. Azula continued for him, "At the end of this day, when Ba Sing Se, the Avatar and the Avengers fall, you will have your honor back, you will have Father's love and the admiration of your people again. You will have everything you want and more."

"Zuko, I am begging you." Iroh pleaded behind the prince. Zuko looked to his trapped uncle as Iroh said, "Look into your heart and see what it is that you truly want for yourself."

Zuko glanced between his two family members before lowering his head and closing his eyes to think. Seeing that he needed time, Azula said, "You are free to choose for yourself.

"Johann, agents, with me." She called to the Red Skull and the Dai Li before walking past her brother and her captive uncle. Iroh watched his niece, the leader of Hydra and the two agents walk down the tunnel after the Avatar and the Avengers. When they were gone, Iroh looked to Zuko who took in a deep breath as he came to a decision.

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Up in the cold dungeon of the palace, Sokka, Toph, Thor, Bruce, Eddie, Johnny and Earth King Kuei were sitting in their cells. While the heroes were thrown into one cell, Sokka, Toph and Earth King Kuei were thrown into a cell that contained Peter. He had told them all that had happened between him, Loki and Azula. In Sokka and Toph's cell, the Water Tribe teen was keeping a look out when Toph asked, "See any Dai Li or Hydra agents nearby?"

"None that I can see. I think we're all clear." Sokka shook his head. Looking over to the other cell where the other heroes were he asked, "Eddie, can Venom sense anything?"

"All good on my end." Eddie said when he looked through the little window. Toph and Thor both moved to their respective doors. While Thor effortlessly ripped the metal door off of its hinges, Toph cracked her knuckles and used her new metalbending skills by causing the door to be pulled off of its hinges before being knocked out of the slot. The metal door banged against the metallic walls of the hall before falling against the floor next to the other ripped door. Grabbing the Earth King's wrist Sokka said, "Let's go!"

"I'm not leaving without Bosco!" The Earth King said as he was yanked through the halls. Momo chittered as he flew after them.

It didn't take long for the group to find themselves back at the throne room. They saw Mai sitting with a bored expression while Ty Lee was trying to teach Bosco a new trick and Shriek just stood there with her arms crossed. All three girls had removed their Kyoshi Warrior makeup She tried to coax him into doing it when she said, "Come on, it's easy.

"You just walk on your front paws instead of your rear ones. Like this." She said and performed the trick. But after taking a few steps on her hands, mounds of earth incased her arms and she struggled to break free. When she lowered her legs to the ground to try something else, they too became encased in stone. Shriek questioned, "What in the-"

But before she could finish, a blur came out of nowhere and struck her upside the head, knocking her out. Sokka's boomerang returned to his hand. Bosco clapped with delight while the readied group looked to fight against Mai as Toph complimented, "That is a nice trick.

"Got anymore?" She asked as they got ready to charge. But before they could make any moves, Mai just waved them off when she said, "Just go and take the bear."

"Bosco!" Earth King Kuei happily said as he ran up to his beloved ursa. Bosco gave happy roar now that he was reunited with his best friend. Sokka then gestured, "Let's get out of here!"

"Right behind you." Earth King Kuei agreed and they all ran out of the room together. They came to the end of the hallway and Thor said, "We need to join up with the rest of our friends. So we'll need to split up."

"You guys go and find your friends." The Earth King said as he removed his arm from Sokka's grip. Gesturing to himself he said, "I'm going to find Bosco and meet you at the Milano with the Guardians, Sam and Rhodey."

"If they're not already where the others are first." Johnny commented with a shrug. Bruce then asked, "Are you sure that you're going to be okay."

"I do. And I honestly think you'll have more success of defeating our foes if you're all together." The Earth King said before taking his leave. They watched him go for a moment before Toph decided to get creative and lowered her arms down. It caused a large circle to form around them and they all yelped as they were taken on a one-way trip down to the catacombs.

\_|_/

At the other end of the tunnel beneath the palace, the Aang's group had come into the old city. Katara looked to them and said, "We've got to find the others and get out of here."

"With any luck, they're waiting for us right outside." Tony said as they kept running. The sudden sound of flames made Aang look back and he shouted, "Watch out!"

He quickly raised a large wall of stone to protect them. But the blast was so powerful that it made everyone yell as they stumbled back. They all gasped when they saw Princess Azula, the Red Skull and the Dai Li agents standing at the end of the tunnel. Steve removed his shield from his back, Tony's mask came down over his face, Natasha removed Jet's hook swords, Clint readied his bow, Deadpool pulled his mask on and Logan extended his adamantium claws. Captain America looked to Katara and said, "We need some cover."

"On it." Katara nodded and ran around the flames. With an upward swing of her arms, Katara bent a wave of water at the quartet of villains. Azula used a fire blast to knock it back, but Katara was able to bend it back around at them. Azula quickly defended her group by launching another blue fireball forward before expanding it upward. It created a large smoke screen that obscured the heroes' view.

"Stay alert, people." Ironman said as he used his scanners to locate their foes. The group remained together as Azula and the two Dai Li agents came leaping out of the smoke screen and the Firebender fired a couple of fireballs while the Dai Li agents came in from the sides and fired the fingers from their gloves at the group. Both Aang and Katara moved in sync to bend a stream of water out of the canal to defend themselves from the fire blasts while both Cap and Wolverine moved to deflect the rock fingers.

Azula landed on a rocky pillar and when the water dropped, Aang quickly acted by raising his arms before pulling them in. The action caused two cracks to form from him and go towards the rocky pillar and made it shake. Azula gasped as she jumped off of the crumbling tower. The Red Skull rushed forward and used a blast from his powers to try and knock some of the heroes off of their feet. But Clint, Natasha and Deadpool all moved out of the way and the blasts created large craters where they stood. Clint let loose some arrows that Johann jumped out of the way before rolling back onto his feet. The red skinned man had to duck when both Natasha and Deadpool swung their respective weapons at him. With a feral holler, Wolverine leapt at the two Dai Li agents and slashed through whatever stone projectiles they flung at him. The heroes were able to corral the four villains in a single spot. Azula, the Red Skull and the two Dai Li agents prepared themselves to keep on fighting. The villains glanced between the heroes to see what they would do. But before any moves could be made, a large red fireball landed in the space between them and made everyone shield their eyes. Everyone looked to see Zuko standing there with his arm outstretched and had it aimed right at the villains. He moved as if he were going to strike at the bad guys, with Azula and the Red Skull sending him glares. But they were greatly surprised when Zuko's vision shifted towards the Avatar, making everyone gasp. With a lash of his fist, Zuko sent a fireball flying right at Aang. The Airbender used a current of wind to keep the fire from him while moving a good distance back.

Azula and the Red Skull smirked at each other, knowing that the tide of the battle had turned in their favor. Azula rushed for Katara while the Red Skull directed the two Dai Li agents at the other heroes. While they were pretty much engaged, Johann Schmidt extended his arms and prepared to turn the tide of the battle even further to their side. His hands started to glow blue and his eyes started glowing as well.

Azula sent a wave of fire that Katara managed to block with a stream of water. Zuko was sending fireball after fireball right at the Avatar while the Dai Li agents either sent waves or flying rocks at the heroes.

\_|_/

Outside the palace, the Earth King and Bosco hid behind a large pillar as a number of Hydra agents were making their way across the courtyard. Earth King Kuei peeked out and saw the agents out and about. He looked to his beloved bear and said, "What should we do, Bosco? We can't possibly sneak past all of them."

Bosco's reply was a quiet roar. When the Earth King looked again, he gasped when some were coming their way. Earth King Kuei tightly hugged Bosco as he was fearing the worst for them. But before they could get too close, a couple plasma blasts rained down in front of the group. The Earth King and Bosco peeked out from around the corner. They saw both Rocket and Star Lord descend from the sky and the latter said, "Okay, you guys. Let's chill out for a second."

"It's one of them! Open fire!" One of the agents shouted and they all started firing their blasters. Ducking their heads down, Rocket shrugged, "So much for diplomacy, huh?"

"Pretty much." Star Lord agreed with him. Rocket reached behind him and pulled out a small sphere. He touched the top of it before chucking it towards the Hydra agents. A small red light flashed as it landed at their feet and it made them all look down. When the flashing red light increased in frequency, they panicked when they realized that it was a grenade. But they didn't get away in time as the grenade went off with a really loud bang.

The Earth King and Bosco looked around again to see that they had cleared the Hydra agents. Star Lord looked back and said, "Come with us, your Majesty, we'll keep you safe."

"And we better hurry, too." Rocket said when he pointed across the courtyard. A lot more Hydra agents were running up to see what was happening. Earth King Kuei then said, "We need to start running."

Bosco lowered himself to allow King Kuei to hop. The Earth King quickly climbed on and the bear started running for the nearest gate. Rocket and Star Lord looked to each other with questioning looks before shrugging and taking off after the two. At times the two flyers would turn and provide cover fire when the agents behind them shot at them.

\_|_/

Back down in the catacombs, Zuko was rapidly firing at the Avatar and Aang was using his airbending as he ran. At one point, Aang used his airbending to launch an outline of himself made of air at Zuko. The Fire Nation prince gasped before being knocked off his feet by the blast of air. When he landed on his back, Zuko looked up to see Aang coming at him and quickly rolled out of the way to avoid being blasted when Aang came down. Aang jumped out of the way when Zuko used a fiery sweep of his hand. Getting up, Zuko launched more and more fireballs at the Airbender as he landed on a pillar of stone connected to the ceiling of the large chamber. Aang managed to dodge the blasts and came to a stop on a large crystal. Zuko gathered as much energy as he could before unleashing a large fire blast at the Avatar. Aang tried to defend himself by raising a few of the crystals around him. But the impact of the blast sent him flying before landing behind another group of crystals. Zuko then lashed out his arms and caused the flames around his hands to expand in length. He then lashed them at Aang who managed to free himself from the crystals and jumped out of the way when the flame whips came at him. The flame whips sliced through the crystals and narrowly avoided touching Aang.

Azula rushed at Katara who used the water laying before her. The Waterbender raised a wave of the liquid and threw it forward. Azula managed to side step it at the last minute and the water only managed to slice through a few inches of her hair. With a glare she sent a few blue fireballs in the young Waterbender's direction.

Over at the battle with the two Dai Li agents, Captain America threw his shield at the agents. They managed to create a barrier that the shield became lodged in. One of the agents then ran around the barrier and used his earthbending to rocket himself towards the super soldier. But before he could get too close, Ironman came down between them and fired a really big repulsor blast at the agent. The man grunted when he was sent flying back and Cap rushed to get his shield back.

The other Dai Li agent was about to move to intercept when Deadpool came around and managed to land a kick to the agent's chest. The merc with the mouth turned in Johann Schmidt's direction and question, "Looks like you're starting to run low on friends, Mr. Sunburn Man."

"I would think again." The Red Skull countered as he suddenly created a multitude of portals that expanded a great deal around the cavern. And stepping from those portals were the other agents, including the new arrivals that Johann had picked up to help the Fire Nation and Hydra's cause. The Kingpin twirled his staff before asking with a grin, "So, who dies first?"

"You just had to say something." Logan said as the heroes started to reconvene with each other. Deadpool suddenly looked to the reader and shrugged, "But that Scorpion King line is kind of hard to beat."

Everyone was greatly startled when the entire chamber started rumbling. They looked up to see a portion of the ceiling suddenly came down and the rest of the group suddenly dropped down. But thankfully before they could hit the ground, Bruce grabbed Sokka and Toph as he turned into the Hulk while Spiderman grabbed Johnny to bring him down. Eddie unleashed Venom and he, Hulk and Thor all landed with a loud boom along with large pieces of stone. Both sides soon gathered together and stared each other down. Captain America looked between his friends and said, "Avengers! Let's give them heck!"

"Not a very cool way to say it, but it is a PG to PG-13 kind of story." Deadpool cracked. Clint glared at him and questioned, "Do you ever shut up!"

"Nope!" A good deal of the group and the man in question said in unison. Ironman then said, "Let's do this."

"Everyone, attack!" The Red Skull shouted when he threw his arm forward. The allies of Hydra either readied their weapons or let loose their Symbiotes to fight. Everyone took off running to meet against their respective foes; Cap against the Red Skull, Ironman against Justin Hammer, Clint against Kingpin, Hulk against Abomination, Thor against the Destroyer, Venom against Carnage, Black Widow against Scarlet Widow, Wolverine against Sabertooth. Deadpool, Spiderman, the Ghost Rider went up against the guy in the bug suit while Katara and Aang continued fighting against Azula and Zuko. Toph and Sokka found themselves surrounded by a number of Dai Li agents who assumed their earthbending stances.

Captain America and the Red Skull started trading blows while Ironman and Hammer fired either rockets or repulsor blasts from their respective suits. Thor threw his hammer at the Destroyer armor and sent it falling back. But the automaton didn't stay down for long as it lifted its head and unleashed its fiery blast at the Asgardian. Thor ducked down under the blast before recalling Mjolnir to his hand. Hulk tried to tackle into Abomination, but the bigger Gamma Monster managed to grab him by the throat before slamming him against the ground. The Hulk retaliated by landing a heavy knee against Abomination's side. Blonsky gasped in pain and it left him open to a hard punch to the face that sent him flying. Venom and Carnage both lashed out at each other with tendrils grown from their arms while Wolverine was tackled into by Sabertooth before being kicking him off. Both Widows entered an acrobatic brawl when they somersaulted towards each other and lashed out a foot, mirroring the other's forms as they kicked at each other. Kingpin and Clint's staves clashed as the two foes glared at each other. They broke apart and Clint whacked his Bo Staff against Kingpin's side and the mob boss shrugged it off as if it were nothing. With a swing of his own he put Clint on the defensive side. The guy in the bug suit was able to dodge a swing from Deadpool's sword and flew out of the way when the Ghost Rider threw his chain at him, but was caught off guard when Spiderman suddenly came in from behind and delivered a kick to his back. The wannabe supervillain nearly crashed into the ground but managed to keep himself airborne before flying out of the way when the Ghost Rider tried to hit him again. From their battle with the Dai Li agents, Toph managed to block, deflect or return the attacks sent at her by the agents while Sokka managed to slash at each of his incoming projectiles. Looking to the Earthbender on his side he said, "Toph, launch me!"

"Okay, if that's what you want." Toph said before stomping her foot before raising her arms into the air. Sokka somewhat regretted his decision when he screamed as he was sent flying through the air and managed to knocked a few agents down when he landed. The other agents around him moved out of the way when he started slashing at them with his machete.

Katara was still on the defensive against Azula as she brough up wave after wave of water to deflect the Firebender's attacks. When Azula sent a pretty big fireball at her, Katara used the water around her to send her flying into the air high over the fireball before using a new stream of water and freezing it to slide back down. When she reached the bottom, she resumed her stance while Azula did the same.

Aang was still jumping out of the way of Zuko's flaming whips as he jumped higher into the chamber. When he reached the top, he used his earthbending to cause a stalactite to fall before gripping the side of where it once hung. Then jumping off of the flat portion of earth, Aang used his earthbending to send it towards the ground much faster. When it touched down with a large boom, it caused Zuko and some of the other fighters to fly in different directions. Zuko was sent flying across the stream and crashing into a collection of crystals before sliding down.

Natasha and the Scarlet Widow, who were some that were knocked down, got back up. The Scarlet Widow assumed a stance that held one fist forward while an open hand was kept close to her person. Natasha reached back and drew Jet's hook swords from her back and held them at the ready. The Scarlet Widow was put on the defensive with each swing from her red-haired adversary and Natasha quickly acted upon this with a swift kick to her midsection. The Scarlet Widow rolled backwards before rising to her feet once again.

The Hulk and Abomination entered a bit of a power struggle as neither one could topple the other over. Their clenched hands would move slightly back and forth as they tried to get the edge on the other. Both Gamma beasts were surprised when a sudden yowl came from behind the Hulk and one of the Pygmy Pumas suddenly jumped over the Hulk's head. Though its claws didn't do much damage to him, it was enough to get Abomination to back away from his adversary. The Hulk wanted to make a move against his longtime foe, but didn't want to hurt the feline attached to Abomination's face.

Captain America blocked blasts from the Red Skull with his shield before launching himself forward and attempting to land a hit on the leader of Hydra. The Red Skull managed to catch the Avenger's fist before turning and throwing Cap over his shoulder. Captain America landed on the ground and glanced back to see his foe trying to stomp down on him. The super soldier rolled out of the way of the Hydra leader's foot before he twisted his body and swept the Red Skull's feet from underneath him.

Azula cried out when Katara sent a large glob of water at her and made her fall to the ground. While she rose up, Katara started to draw the water around her to envelope her entire body. Not only that, but Venom managed to toss Carnage across the canal next to her. The Symbiote moved to watch her back as Katara prepared for Azula's next attack. The Fire Nation princess got back up and tried to fire at the Waterbender, but Katara managed to extinguish the flames with a tendril of water while grabbing onto Azula's outstretched hand. Azula became worried as she was now in Katara's grip and tried to break out of it by lashing out with a fiery blast from her foot but Katara managed to act quickly by using her other water tendril to grab the limb. Azula gave a worried cry when the Waterbender started to lift her up. But luckily for the sister, the brother came in to help when he rushed forward and jumped in the air with a spin. He unleashed a vertical wave of fire that cut through Katara's attack. Both Katara and Venom looked to the other side of the canal just as Carnage joined the prince. Azula smirked when she landed on her feet and looked over to the crater where Aang had landed to see the Airbender rising out of it. With a new opponent in mind, Azula rushed at the Avatar while he was still picking himself up.

Katara, Zuko, Venom and Carnage all moved in sync as they created tendrils from their element or body and started lashing out at the other side with them. After deflecting one of his strikes, Katara looked to Zuko with a glare and shouted, "I thought that you had changed."

"I have changed." Zuko said while lashing his fiery whips at her. After deflecting one of Venom's tendrils with his own, Carnage looked to the prince and said, "Just hurry up and finish her off already."

"Don't tell me what to do!" Zuko shot back as he stopped performing the fire whips before launching a fireball at the two. Venom quickly acted by grabbing Katara and jumping out of the way of the fiery projectile. With glares, Zuko and Carnage chased after the two.

The trio of heroes weren't having much luck against the guy in the bug suit as he kept moving out of the way or unleashing charged up blasts from his suit. The lasers he fired sliced through crystal and created grooves within the stone. The Ghost Rider tried charging at him, but was immediately blasted back by the lasers. Spiderman tried to catch him off guard when he grabbed some crystal shards with his webbing and hurled them at their foe. The guy in the bug suit rolled out of the way but was surprisingly met with a kick to the back from Deadpool. When he landed on his feet, the merc with the mouth went on the attack again.

On the far side of the cavern, Thor was starting to struggle against the Destroyer as it kept blasting at him and he moved to deflect the blasts with Mjolnir by twirling it really fast. Still wanting answers from their last encounter, Thor said, "I remember you spoke. But the Destroyer does not speak and I only know of one who spoke such words.

"Is your soul inhabiting the Destroyer, Malekith?" He questioned with a glare when the Destroyer stopped firing. The prince of Asgard became greatly surprised when not only did the face plate of the Destroyer open up, but also the torso as well. His fears were proven correct when the Dark Elf was present to the world of the Avatar for the first time. He looked just as he had when he was defeated by Thor and his friends during the Convergence of the Nine Realms, loss of limbs, not to mention greatly scarred from having been nearly crushed by the falling ship. Pieces of technology was connected to the severed limbs to allow the Dark Elf to control the Destroyer. Malekith had a stoic expression when he said, "I'm glad that you remembered, Asgardian. And now you know who killed you with your own weapon."

"I wouldn't get too confident with the Destroyer." Thor argued. Pointing Mjolnir at him he said, "I managed to defeat it once. And with or without you, I will do it again."

"Then let us see you try." Malekith challenged as the armor closed up again except for the face plate. Malekith the Destroyer unleashed a powerful blast at Thor and he used Mjolnir to quickly move out of the way.

After switching dance partners, Aang was up against Azula as they stood in section of the chamber. The princess had a smirk while the Airbender's look turned into a glare and he readied himself. Azula then wove her arms around before throwing them back and unleashing two large torrents of fire and igniting flames under her feet that propelled her forward like a rocket towards her foe. Looking to counter it, Aang used his earthbending to lift some crystals from the floor before pulling them towards him. The crystals formed a suit of armor around the Avatar and he launched himself forward with the power of his earthbending and his arms outstretched. Both opponents raced towards each other and were coming up pretty fast. But at the last few yards of the collision, Azula jumped forward and launched the fire from behind her towards Aang. Aang tried to use his crystal armor to protect himself, but it wasn't enough as the blast sent him flying through the cavern. He was sent crashing into one of the old buildings of the ruins.

"Aang!" Clint yelled when he had watched what had happened. But he was snapped back to his own fight when the Kingpin swung his staff. Fisk grinned when he said, "You should keep yourself in the fight, lest you lose your head in such an easy way."

They both swung their respective weapons and entered a bit of a power struggle. Kingpin leaned a little closer to the archer and taunted, "You know, when I'm through with you, I'm sure to let your family know that you died with honor. That much I can do for you."

"You stay away from them!" Clint shouted as he used what strength he could gather and pushed his enemy back. Fisk only smiled as he stood his ground and waited for the next attack.

The heroes were starting to lose ground when the Scarlet Widow, the Red Skull, Victor, Carnage, the Royal Siblings and the Dai Li agents knocked their enemies back. Both Azula and Zuko ganged up against Katara as they both shot large fire balls at her. Katara tried to defend herself with as much water as she could draw, but they overpowered her with a combined attack that sent her flying into a large collection of crystals. The force of the impact caused Katara's hair to fall out of place as she dropped to her side with a groan. Sokka looked to see his sister on the ground and shouted, "Katara! No!"

He started to rush to her side when he was stopped by a couple of Dai Li agents. But before anyone could make any moves, a large rumbling noise came from the other side of the cavern. They all looked to see Aang shoot himself from the collection of buildings back down to the battlefield. With a yell he dropped down and landed with a big boom that knocked any wayward Dai Li agents off their feet. Then with a swing of his arms, the Avatar rode towards the large group on a mound of earth that was moving pretty fast through the cavern. Some of the villains were pretty worried when they saw the look on Aang's face as he came closer to them. But the Red Skull was not so when he ordered, "Some one stop him!"

One of the Dai Li agents moved to intercept the Avatar and caused the mound of earth underneath Aang to explode and send the boy flying with a scream. The boy landed a great deal from the group. From his spot, Cap shouted, "Aang!"

But he had to duck behind his shield when Zuko sent a fireball his way. Sokka, Toph and most of the others were able to regroup with the others and the villains started to close in. Thor leapt at the Destroyer harboring Malekith only for the armor to grab his outstretched arms with one of his own. Malekith then used his free one to smack Thor away from his weapon and the Asgardian prince landed amongst his friends. Mjolnir fell to the ground with a loud thud and the Destroyer housing Malekith walked by it to put itself between it and his foe. From the heroes side, Clint and Natasha reached down to help pull Thor to his feet.

From his spot, Aang groaned as he started to get up again. He looked to a large multitude of Dai Li and Hydra agents appear from the catacombs of the city and join the villains. Sokka helped Katara to her feet when she woke up and everyone found themselves completely surrounded by the enemy. Katara quickly bent some water from the canal and used the Octopus technique to try and handle some of the agents while Toph pulled some nearby crystals onto her knuckles for another set of villains. Sokka quickly reached behind him and pulled out his boomerang and held it and his machete at the ready. Wolverine had his Adamantium claws at the ready as Deadpool readied his own swords. Captain America lifted his shield while Ironman raised both hands and held them up at the Hydra agents and their Fire Nation allies. Clint and Natasha readied their respective weapons.

Abomination managed to dislodge the Pygmy Puma from his face before throwing it to the ground. The cat yowled in pain from a loud crack coming from its body and the Hulk looked to it with wide eyes. His worry became anger as he looked to his enemy and charged forward. But Abomination only smirked as he gave a heavy back hand to the Hulk and sent the smaller Gamma Monster flying back. Hulk landed next to the injured feline and started to rise. He winced in pain and felt his forehead before lowering it. A little greenish-red blood stained his fingers. It only seemed to make him more mad as he clenched his fist. But unbeknownst to the Hulk some of the blood from his hand dripped from it and landed on the Pygmy Puma right behind its right ear. The Puma's ear twitched a little but didn't move after that.

Venom roared in pain when Carnage managed to land a slash from an axe like construct of his hand. The move happened so fast that they didn't see a piece of Venom fly off of the black Symbiote. The piece landed a few yards away and started to move about a little as if trying to find its way back to the Symbiote.

When Aang was back onto his feet, he assumed a stance to continue to fight. But as he looked about the cavern, he began to notice how many outnumbered him and his friends. At the head of Dai Li and Hydra agents, the Red Skull, Zuko and Azula stood at the ready to face against the Avatar while the other allies of the Fire Nation and Hydra looked ready to finish off his friends. He looked over to them to see them ready to continue to the end as he thought, "There's too many of them."

"The only way is to let her go." Guru Pathik's voice echoed in his mind. Aang's stance fell as he knew that the guru was right. Clenching his eyes shut he regretfully said, "I'm sorry, Katara."

His enemies were greatly confused when they saw him turn away from them and lash out his arms downward. It caused a large tent of crystals to grow around him. From inside, Aang only hoped that it would hold long enough for him to finish unlocking the final chakra. The other Avengers looked over to where Aang was and became greatly surprised by what they were seeing. Clint looked to the others and asked, "What's the kid doing?"

"I think he's doing what he needs to." Deadpool said, and it was proven right when both the Ghost Rider and the Hulk nodded in agreement.

Inside the tent of crystals, Aang sat down and began meditating. Inside his mind, he once again let Katara go and could feel himself drifting out of his body for a moment.

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(Aang's Vision, Purple Hue…)

Aang once again found himself at the end of the path just as the Avatar Spirit floated down to him. Seeing the sphere of cosmic energy within the spirit's hands, Aang took a deep breath before stepping inside of it. He could feel the energy starting to pulse within himself and spread to his body in the Physical World.

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(Real World)

In the crystal tent, Aang's tattoos started to glow and it made the crystals illuminate. Outside the tent, everyone winced or shielded their eyes from the bright lights coming from the crystal tent. Another second later, Aang's eyes snapped open as he was fully within the Avatar State. The immense power within him caused the crystal tent to implode and cause everyone to shield their eyes from the intense bright light.

When it died down, they looked with great surprised to see Aang standing in the crater, eyes and tattoos glowing really bright. The sight of the Avatar caused some of the Dai Li agents to back away while the Hydra agents readied their weapons. The Red Skull ordered, "Open fire!"

All the Hydra agents did as their leader commanded and shot round after round at the Avatar. But in his empowered state, Aang used his airbending to move quickly out of the way of the bullets and they embedded themselves in the far wall next to a waterfall. This greatly surprised everyone as he jumped at the group of enemies and unleashed a large wave of air with a roar. The Red Skull, Zuko and a good number of the enemy were knocked off their feet.

The Destroyer turned to the Avatar and its face plate opened up. Unleashing a large torrent of energy, the Dark Elf within the automaton hoped to incinerate the Airbender. But with a quick movement of his arms, Aang created a large pillar of earth and the beam hit it instead. The pillar leaned a little before falling to the side completely. Aang landed next to the Destroyer armor before turning his glowing eyes to Mjolnir sitting not too far from him. Seeing what the Avatar was about to do, it lunged forward as it readied a fist before swinging at Aang. But the Avatar quickly created a hole that he dove into before closing it up. The Destroyer turned to try and spot where the Avatar would pop back up. A rumbling came from the front and it turned its vision to where Mjolnir lay to see Aang pop out of the ground with a small explosion of earth. With a stomp of his foot, Aang created a small mound of earth that raised the hammer up a little. Reaching for the hammer of Thor with his left hand, Aang grasped the hilt. Everyone watched with a held breath to see what would happen. With a simple lift, Aang lifted the hammer from the mound of earth and surprising everyone.

Aang held Mjolnir in his hands before readying it for the fight. The Destroyer prepared to once again fire its beam at Aang, but the Avatar was much quicker when he flung the hammer at it. The hammer smacked against the automaton's face plate and Aang jumped over the Destroyer to catch it. When he landed on the other side, Aang stomped his foot to lift a few large rocks out of the ground before using Mjolnir to smack each one at the Destroyer and a few other villains that tried to charge at him. The rocks smacked into the Destroyer's back while knocking both Abomination and Carnage off their feet. Aang jumped out of the way when Sabertooth tried to jump him from behind and lifted Mjolnir high into the air. Everyone was once again surprised when he managed to summon a lightning bolt before pointing it at the mutant and unleashed the electrical attack. Sabertooth roared as he was knocked back and felt as if his insides were on fire.

Some Dai Li agents quickly moved forward to attack him, but by quickly twirling Mjolnir by the rope tied to it, Aang managed to deflect each of the boulders or rock gloves sent his way. When an agent stomped his foot and thrust his right arm forward, it had created a large wall of earth that was sent right at the Avatar. Rearing his arm back, Aang launched Mjolnir at the incoming attack before twisting around and flinging a wave of air that made the hammer fly much faster. The hammer not only smashed through the rock wall, but it smacked into the agent's torso and sent him flying back.

Extending his hand, Aang recalled Mjolnir to him and prepared to continue the battle. Captain America looked to the others and said, "Let's give him a hand."

"On it!" They shouted in agreement. The Hulk rose from his spot next to the Pygmy Puma and charged for some of the agents that were close by. Venom roared again before charging at the red Symbiote. Wolverine, Natasha and Deadpool all readied their respective weapons before leaping forward. The Ghost Rider removed his chain before flinging at left and right, agent after agent. Cap, Ironman, Clint and Johnny remained by Katara, Sokka and Toph's sides as the rest of their enemies came around again.

After knocking a few of the agents back with Mjolnir, Aang set his sights on the Zuko with some of the agents of both the Dai Li and Hydra. Holding Mjolnir high, the Avatar leapt high into the air with the intention of bringing the hammer down hard. But just as he was starting to come back down, he used Mjolnir to deflect an energy blast from the Red Skull who had moved to the side. But the leader of Hydra had dark grin on his face. For he had been just a distraction. Just as he was about to ready another attack as he came down, Aang was taken by surprise from behind as a volt of electricity entered his back, courtesy of one smirking Azula whose fingers were smoking from launching the attack. Everything in the cavern seemed to slow down when the heroes looked to Aang as the lightning coursed through is body. The lightning burned a great deal of Aang's shirt, the leg of his pants and his left shoe.

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(Aang's Vision, purple hue…)

Aang was greatly surprised when the Avatar Spirit's eyes started to close a little. The sphere of cosmic energy around him faded. The Airbender grew scared when both the Avatar Spirit and the path underneath his feet fell away. Aang's consciousness fell back to earth, but unlike the last time, everything went completely dark for him.

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(Real World)

Everyone of Aang's friends watched in horror as the young Airbender dropped from the air and towards the ground below. Tears welled in some eyes while others became enraged for what just happened to him. Katara bent the water around her from watery tendrils to a wave of water before launching herself forward. She moved around her friends but didn't think twice about running over the allies of the Fire Nation with her ride.

Everyone cried out as they were knocked over or swept away from Katara's wave, especially when it joined the waters of the canal and grew bigger. Katara managed to grab Aang and stop his fall before coming to a stop in the crater. Mjolnir landed not too far from them with a loud bang. When the water receded, all of the heroes regrouped around the Waterbender holding the lifeless Airbender. Katara looked up to them with tear filled eyes. Sokka dropped to his knees and his voice hoarsely came out, "A-Aang?" He shook his head, not wanting to believe it, "No!"

"This can't be happening." Clint shook his head while the others looked fearful for the young Avatar. They looked around to see Hydra agents, the bigger villains, the Red Skull, Zuko and Azula starting to draw closer. The heroes started to ready themselves to keep on fighting. But before the battle could continue, large fireballs landed between both groups. Everyone looked up and Ironman, Spiderman and Wolverine all shouted, "Iroh!"

The former general of the Fire Nation had managed to free himself of the crystals not too long ago and had come into the chamber. He had watched everything that had transpired and was shocked to see what his niece had done to the Avatar. But he knew that now was not the time as he continued to rain fire blasts to prevent them from touching the heroes. He jumped from his spot and landed between the heroes and the villains. He glanced back and shouted, "You've all got to get out of here! I'll hold them off as long as I can!"

"Come on!" Captain America urged and helped Katara to her feet while she held Aang. Everyone formed a barrier to keep the Fire Nation, Hydra or the Dai Li from getting to Aang's body. They quickly moved towards the waterfall. While they were escaping, Iroh started throwing fire balls left and right to keep what he could back from his friends. But some of the agents managed to get around the Firebender and raised their weapons. But before they could open fire on the heroes, blasts of energy and bullets rained down from above. Everyone looked to see Star Lord, Rocket, War Machine and Falcon descending from the hole that Toph had made and provided some more cover.

As he walked, Thor held out his hand to recall Mjolnir back to him. The hammer flew from where it landed before reaching the Asgardian prince. Hulk quickly rushed back over to the lifeless form of the Pygmy Puma and gently picked it up with his large, green hands. As Deadpool kept his weapons at the ready, the Red Skull removed his pistol again and shot at the Mutate. Deadpool grunted in pain when the bullet passed through his body before coming out the other side and embedding itself against the ground. Wolverine quickly rushed to catch his friend and helped him get to the waterfall after the others.

The guy in the bug suit flew right at them, but the Ghost Rider was ready for him as he undid his chain from his person. Twirling it around for a bit, he threw the fiery weapon at the agent. The man cried out as the unearthly flames on the weapon burned him when it wrapped around his person. The Ghost Rider didn't seem to be in a merciful mood when he gave a harsh yank on the chain. The man's allies all winced when the chains sliced right through him. While the pieces of the guy in the bug suit fell to the ground, the Ghost Rider drew his chain back before wrapping it around himself again.

When they had reached the waterfall, Katara used her free arm to bend a large amount of water around her, Aang and some of their friends. Star Lord came down and took Johnny into the sky as the Ghost Rider receded back inside. War Machine grabbed Deadpool, Wolverine, Spiderman while Falcon grabbed Clint and Natasha. Thor used Mjolnir to fly him up while Hulk and Venom launched themselves. Cap took the ride with the kids as they went up the waterfall. But before joining them, Ironman looked back to Zuko.

The teen couldn't see it, but he could tell that the man underneath the mask was disappointed with him. Ironman looked away before flying up after the others. Only when they were all gone did Iroh look to see that they all escaped. When he saw that he was the only one left, he calmed himself to allow himself to be captured. Two Dai Li agents came up and raised their arms to trap Iroh in crystal again, leaving only his head visible. Zuko looked to his uncle only for Iroh to look away in shame, disappointment and sadness.

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On the surface, the group ran through the courtyard with Sokka and Katara carrying Aang. Bruce had de-transformed and Venom retreated back into Eddie for the time being. They nearly made it to the Milano and Appa when they were suddenly surrounded by more Dai Li and Hydra agents. The heroes prepared themselves for another fight, but luckily for them, reinforcements of their own came. A man in a robe suddenly rushed up behind the agents before jumping a bit before extending his right arm at the wall of agents. All the men cried out as they were sent flying by a mound of earth that went through them. When the heroes looked, they saw that it was the Dai Li agent that had helped them earlier. He waved to them and shouted, "Hurry! This way!"

The group of heroes didn't waste a second as they rushed forward again. The flyers managed to provide cover fire when the other agents attacked at them. When they reached Appa and the Milano, the six Avengers, the children, the Earth King and Bosco climbed onto the bison while the remainder of the group boarded the ship. The bison, the flyers and the space craft soon took off into the sky and flew a good deal above the city. While the majority of the group were sitting on Appa's back, Steve kept Aang steady while Katara reached for the vial around her neck. Pulling it over her head, she uncapped it before using her free hand to bend the spiritual water out of it. The small dose of water gave a light humming sound as it started to spin rapidly in a circle and glow above her palm. Steve gently moved Aang to where Katara could see the wound on his back. On the Airbender's back, there was a large star shaped scar from where Azula's lightning hit him. Everyone watched with mixed looks of hope and sorrow of what could happen. Katara gently bent the spiritual water into the wound and it glowed brightly for a moment before disappearing into Aang's body. Waiting to see if it worked, Steve said, "Come on, come on."

"Wake up, kid." Tony said, really wanting it to work. But when nothing seemed to work, Katara started sobbing at the apparent loss of her friend. And they all knew what it meant if he were dead; that the Avatar Cycle was broken and could never be restored. The others let tears flow from their eyes in sadness for their friend. In the Milano, Gamora watched from one of the pilot chairs and slowly shook her head. She whispered to herself, "Not again."

But unbeknownst to the group, Aang's tattoos briefly glowed for a moment as life returned to his body. Aang moaned from the pain that his body was in and it made everyone look to him. Steve moved Aang to where he was laying against Appa's back and everyone could see that Aang's eyes were open. A light smile grew on his face when he could see the others with bright happy smiles as they knew that he was going to be okay. But none were happier than Katara as she placed a small peck against the Airbender's cheek. Aang's eyes slowly closed again and his head fell to the side. Steve looked to the others and he said, "He's going to be okay."

A collective sigh ran through the entire group as they were relieved to know that Aang was still with them and was going to be okay. Clint looked over to the flyers of the group and gave a thumbs up to let them know that things were starting to be okay again.

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Back in the throne room of the Earth King's palace, Azula sat on the Earth King's throne with both her brother and the Red Skull standing beside her. She sounded ecstatic when she said, "We've done it. It's taken a hundred years, but the Fire Nation, with the aid of Hydra and the Dai Li have finally conquered Ba Sing Se."

"Revel in the moment, my friends. This victory was well earned." The Red Skull said, a grin forming as he knew that their plans could further advance. Zuko hung his head when he said, "I betrayed Uncle."

"No, he betrayed you." Azula disagreed. Johann agreed with her when he said, "She is right. He kept you from fulfilling your destiny at your place by your father's side."

"And when you return home, our Father will welcome you as a war hero. And if you're lucky, you'll be able to meet up with Barnes again." Azula promised when she rose from the throne. But Zuko was unsure when he said, "But I don't have the Avatar or the Avengers.

"What if Father doesn't restore my honor?" The prince asked, fearful that he would never truly be accepted back. He was surprised when his sister said, "He doesn't need to, Zuko.

"For today, you have restored your own honor." She said and placed a hand on her brother's shoulder. The large doors to the throne room opened and they looked to see Azula's entourage, the newer villains and Loki. Zuko was greatly surprised to see the prince of Asgard amongst the group. Johann then ordered Zola, "Report what you have found."

"We managed to recover a sample from both Mr. Wilson and the Symbiote known as Venom." Zola told his leader and showed two containers of both the piece of the Symbiote and the bullet with Wade's blood on it. Then he said, "The Avengers and their allies have managed to elude capture from us and are no doubt fleeing into the wilds of the Earth Kingdom."

"News of the Avatar's death will spread like wild fire. There will be uprisings." Rumlow nodded, certain of this outcome. But it didn't seem to faze the Red Skull or Azula as the former waved it off, "Let them try to fight. We have the man power and the resources to squash what futile resistance they may try to throw at us."

"Indeed, the Earth Kingdom is now ours." Azula said with a smirk. The Red Skull raised a fist and shouted, "To Victory!"

"To Victory!" The other agents and villains shouted in unison. The only two that didn't join were Zuko and Loki. They could only watch as one of them had a great sense of guilt on his shoulders.

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Above the city of Ba Sing Se, Earth King Kuei looked down to the city he once governed. He reluctantly said with sorrow, "The Earth Kingdom has fallen."

"But we're gonna make sure that it rises again." Clint promised when he placed a comforting hand on the king's shoulder. Toph turned her head to the others and asked, "What do we do now?"

"For now, we need to find a place for Aang to rest." Steve said as Katara held the unconscious Airbender close. Bruce held the unconscious Pygmy Puma close while the other two gave worried whines and asked, "But where exactly do we go?"

"I think I have an idea." Sokka said and they all looked to him. Natasha got an idea and said, "Maybe he can help us."

"Who?" Toph asked in confusion. Sokka looked down to his sister when he said, "One of the few people are still able to fight."

"Then lead the way." Tony gestured towards the horizon. Appa moaned quietly as he, the fliers and the Milano flew over the Inner Wall and out into the unknown.

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Back on Earth, in a secret location within the Himalayas, the Sorceress Supreme stood on the balcony. The stars shone brightly on this night, but it was not a happy time. Not too long ago, she felt the Avatar's spirit briefly leave the world before returning. Sensing the fall, she began to fear that this would lead to an imbalance that the universe wouldn't be able to recover from. The sounds of opening doors made her glance back to see her trusted friends Mordo and Wong step out to meet her. They bowed to her and Mordo asked, "You called for us, milady?"

"Indeed I did." The Sorceress Supreme nodded. Then she informed them, "The Avatar is in dire need of help."

"Has the situation become dire?" Wong asked her. She nodded again and said, "His spirit and the Avatar spirit nearly left the mortal world for good. Which would bring great imbalance upon us all in the long run."

"So what shall we do?" Mordo asked, knowing that the situation could get worse. Stepping away from the balcony, the Sorceress Supreme began to think. The Ancient One thought that Thor would most likely make contact with Asgard to ask for their aid in the upcoming battles and thought to lend them even more aid. She then decided and asked, "Wong, are they ready?"

"Surely you do not plan on bringing them into this so soon?" Mordo asked as both sorcerers knew of whom she was talking about. The Ancient One turned to them and said, "We would have needed to call upon them at some point. But the Hundred Year War is starting to go down paths that could most likely end in disaster. Without their help, I fear that Hydra and the Fire Nation will grow to powerful."

"Then I shall retrieve them." Wong bowed and turned to leave. As he left, Mordo looked to his leader and asked, "You do not think that having the bearer of the Ten Rings is too much."

"He and the Avatar would eventually end up meeting again. Perhaps this way it'll be under much better circumstances." She only said as she too disappeared into the monastery. While watching her go, Mordo said to himself, "I can only hope that you are right."

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This story's dedication to:

Stan Lee: 1922 – 2018

And

Michael Clarke Duncan:

December 10, 1957 – September 3, 2012

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Author's Note: I do apologize for their not being a Stan Lee cameo in the final chapter of Book 2, I honestly forgot. On the other hand, were any of you expecting that little bit of awesomeness that I threw into the final battle? I mean, I had this idea a good while ago. Well, God helped to inspire me about it and I got the whole Avatar State part while holding Mjolnir after talking to a friend of mine, but man do I think that was awesome. Not to mention a few other things that were put into the story. But with this final chapter and the ending titles soon after, Book 2 is officially over. But worry not, I plan on giving you all a sneak preview of Book 3 to give you an idea of what's to come. And on a side note; I get that a lot of you want T'Challa to be a part of this, and I do too. I do plan to add him, just not in Book 3. He'll be leaping into the adventure around Book 4. I look forward to reading your reviews. Be sure to leave a comment either about if I've done something wrong or if you want something specifically to happen. See you all next time and may God bless your day.