Archer vs Avengers
Chapter 3
And So It Begins
The Avengers were in their last meeting before Emiya arrived, and Stark had news for the rest of them that didn't make any sense. "I've done some research from facial recognition scans and I finally found a match from footage from Fuyuki, Japan a few years ago. However, what I've found makes as much sense as Hulk being into Ballet," Stark said as he brought a holographic image above the table they were gathered at.
The image was of a teenager with deep orange hair, almost red, light skin, and gold eyes that held weight to them, but the most surprising thing was that he was still a teenager. He did bear a striking resemblance to their mystery guest, but this teenager wasn't at all the same man from before.
"This can't be him, this is a kid while our guy is a man, full grown man, and the skin, hair, and eyes don't match up," Hawkeye pointed out.
"I know, I scanned it five times, all getting the same results that the two are the same, but people transforming isn't really new for us so that isn't the strange part. The strange part is after checking for current footage of him I found that he lives in London right now with his girlfriend, Rin Tohsaka. And in the current footage, he is buying groceries during our conversation with our mystery guest, so, that only leaves us with cloning and transforming capabilities, any thought," Stark asked.
"Are you sure that the time stamps match up with our conversation with our guy," Widow asked.
"Yes, every possible way I know of to determine what's going on has been thought up, but the only logical conclusion is cloning and transforming powers," he replied.
"What about time travel, did you do a tachyon scan on him," Falcon asked.
"I did, and I didn't find a single particle of tachyons on him, so like I said, cloning and transformation," Stark said.
"True, but where are we in determining who the boy is, maybe that will help give us a name to our guest," Captain America asked since he was tired of referring to their intruder as guy or uninvited guest.
"His name is Shirou Emiya, his father was a man named Kiritsugu Emiya, a known assassin that never missed a target, mainly random business men, but the man retired and wasn't seen in the public eye for years before he was reported dead. The boy has only ever been seen as a normal looking school boy that studies and doesn't do anything out of the ordinary," Stark informed as pictures of both father and son were now shown.
"That is the boy of Shirou, but the man of Shirou might be quite different, might even be an assassin like his father, anything you can tell us about this man that looks like Shirou," Captain America asked.
"No, this is the first ever recorded footage of him, nothing throughout the entire network that I can find matches the man, the boy yes, but not the man," he answered.
"What about the inhumans, all of them were registered and I know you have a copy of the registry, anything on that," Widow asked.
"I do have a copy, and no he is not on the list in any form, the only information we have on the guy is that his name could possibly be Shirou Emiya, and that is it," Stark stated.
"Now all that we need to do is wait until he attacks and tries to fight us with his unknown power, which will be where we kick his but all across New York," Hawkeye stated.
"Nay, we don't know his power, that means he can pull un honorable trickery during the battle," Thor suggested.
"Which is where we get the drop on him, he doesn't know us, he thinks he does from probably news reports and probably this world he was assigned by, but he doesn't know us. He doesn't know what we are capable of when we stand together and work as a team, all we have to do is wait until he shows up to fight and take him down as a team," Captain America stated.
"Couldn't have said it better myself Cap, we'll call the man Emiya and the boy Shirou so nobody will be confused by the two, and I say we end this meeting here," Stark suggested.
"I second that motion, I'd like a sandwich before we are embarrassed from facing the rooky that thinks he can win," Hawkeye said before everyone but Captain America, Black Widow, and Hulk got up and left.
"I have a feeling this is a bad idea," Widow stated.
"I agree with Widow, this is not a good idea Cap, we should talk the others into pulling out, or at least find a way to negotiate with Emiya," Hulk suggested.
"You of all people are saying that, that's hard to believe, but they are dead set on trying to beat this guy, and they're sure they'll win," Captain America stated.
"You know this will be tough, we all have our instincts screaming at us not to fight him, why don't the others feel it, at least Hawkeye should be able to tell," Widow asked.
"They got to cocky in all our wins, they think that they have nothing to be afraid of with a new threat because we've faced so many they've become numb to the dangers," Captain America stated.
"Our SHIELD training was supposed to snuff that part our, but with us not being in it for so long, maybe he's regressing," Widow guessed.
"Could be, but we can't do anything about them sitting around, until Emiya comes for us, we focus on what we can do to avoid the fighting," Hulk stated.
"One thing that still bothers me is that you are fine with not fighting, Hulk, almost like you're scared," Widow said with a small teasing smile.
"I'm not afraid, I just know when to follow my instincts, and right now they are telling me not to fight the new guy unless we have to, and unless everyone else agrees to try and avoid the fighting, I'm afraid we'll have to," he stated.
"That's really mature of you Hulk, just goes to show you how much time passes over the course of the Avenger's career," Captain stated.
"Thanks, I guess, but let's end this sub meeting thing so we can convince the others to not fight and negotiate or something," Hulk suggested as they got up and left to try and convince the rest to not fight.
Next day
The Avengers were now fighting with the masters of evil again, and this time it was a more evenly matched fight between them. The fight seemed to go on forever, but the Avengers did eventually win when a device the masters were going to use to release a deadly gas that only they had the cure for was disabled. When they were distracted with their plan failing, the Avengers struck and knocked them all out and waited for the cops to show up and take them into custody.
All was going good, nobody was injured, people were safe, and the team gets to go out for sushi tonight, all was going good. Until they heard the voice of Emiya cut through the air while in front of the tower with a voice nobody could pinpoint the origin of. "I hope your warm up for the day has been good enough to loosen your muscles, don't want to get a pulled muscle during our fight, do we?"
"Loose and ready to take you down Emiya, but how about we make it a fair fight and let us see you as well," Ironman suggested.
"So, you found that boy's name did you, but that isn't my name, I have long since abandoned it, but if you want to call me something, call me Archer if you wish," Archer stated. The man stepped out of the shadows and revealed the same man from their first encounter, but instead of a tan shroud, he wore two red long sleeves connected by a metal plate at the back. He also had an open in the front red skirt ending just above his shins, and to be honest, he looked a little badass to the Avengers.
"So, it was time travel, but without tachyons, that should be impossible," Falcon stated while he scratched the back of his head.
"Impossible or not, he's here and we still have to beat him, so keep your guard up," Captain America ordered.
"Why, we'll still win, we're the good guys and the good guys always win, so do you want us to take you out at once, or take turns to show that you are out matched with just one of us," Hawkeye asked.
"Before that, it has been pointed out that I neglected to inform you that the disbandment will only stay as long as a galactic threat doesn't come forth, which is less than once every two years," he stated.
"I still say no, now let's end this quickly so I won't have to write anymore checks for damages," Ironman said.
"It doesn't matter because we won't be fighting here," Archer informed before beginning a chant that the Avengers never heard before.
I am the bone of my sword
Steel is my body and fire is my blood
I have created over a thousand blades
That was as far as Archer got before he was interrupted by Captain America throwing his shield for his head forcing him to dodge and break the chant. "I don't know where you heard those words, but I first heard them during the war through a door I was about to break down. When I broke the door down there was nobody in there, but after the raid mission we were on the mop up crew said that in the room was a hundred soldiers killed by arrow and impalement wounds. Was that you," Captain America asked him with a very serious tone.
"Does it matter, you will still fall, but until then, TRACE ON," Archer stated before a blue glowy mist surrounded his hands, and from the glowy mist, two 40-inch blades started to form. Both were of the same shape of the blade, and both had a yin yang symbol at the top of the brown guard, halfway into the guard and halfway into the blade. This is where the two blades differ, the one on the left was black with a hexagonal pattern on it with a white spike looking bottom of the blade (Kanshou). The right one was a white like you would find in a hazy cloud with the bottom spike looking bottom being black (Bakuya).
Without warning or, what he thought, time to act, Hawkeye shot three arrows at him all at once, but what surprised the Avengers was that Archer didn't move a single ceilometer until the arrows were like three inches from target. In one swift fluid motion, he brought up his blades and knocked the arrows away faster than the Avengers could blink or comprehend his movements. Acting upon their shock, Archer took off and intended to strike Hawkeye down with a single cut of Kanshou, and he would have too, if it wasn't for Captain America blocking the blade with his shield.
"You can't take us out that easily Archer," he said while holding him off, which let enough time pass for Thor to arrive and swing Mjolnir for Archer's side. However, the move was obvious and easily predictable for Archer so without even looking vaulted over Captain America and let the hammer strike at his shield instead. Acting with the force from the impact, Archer used it to spin himself midair, like one would find a gear doing inside a clock tower. He threw Bakuya at a still stunned Falcon and impaled his leg making him scream out in pain as the blade disappeared in another blue glowy mist.
Taking the initiative, Widow sped to the enemy with her electrified batons ready to strike, but what she didn't expect to happen, happened. Another white blade was made in an instant and used to not block, but slice the batons in two like they were made of butter, and in such shock, she barely dodged the black blade about to take off her arm. She didn't escape without a scratch though, her efforts got her a deep cut on her left bicep.
The rest of the Avengers fell back a seemingly safe distance, except for Hulk who decided to charge in and try and use his brute strength to gain an upper hand on Archer. Hulk jumped up high in the air in order to bring down his giant fists to smash Archer, but the man jumped back himself with what could only be described as superhuman-like agility at the last second. The damage to the city block in front of Avengers tower was quite extensive from the force of Hulk's impact into the ground. Cars thrown into buildings, light posts thrown about and imbedded into the cars that weren't blown away, and one building that already had a bad foundation collapsed.
Archer knew that he needed to hurry up and pull this fight into his reality marble soon or more property damage could be brought about and you can add economic failure to the Avenger's growing list of stupid mistakes. Introducing magic was one, keeping your enemies alive was two, reckless endangerment for property causing more money to be spent because of their stupid mistakes was three, so to add economic failure to the list wasn't too much trouble from there.
Deciding to get on with taking out the big guy, Archer sent Kanshou and Bakuya back to his reality marble and brought out his bow and a drill looking sword with a white grip and golden guard. Knocking the sword on his bow, the Avengers thought that he was crazy for trying to load a sword onto a bow, but they didn't expect the sword to turn into an arrow like shape when the Archer pulled it back. "I am the bone of my sword," they all heard Archer say as a blue glowing mist came from all around him and they all knew that he was aiming for Hulk. "Caladbolg," he said and the unthinkable happened, Archer released the arrow/sword and a spiraling vortex of powerful energy ripped through the air headed straight for Hulk.
Then the impossible happened for Archer, Hulk actually stayed there with tense muscles and actually reached up and grabbed the Caladbolg while it was still spinning. The force from the weapon was so great though, that it only stopped headed forward while it still kept on spinning and still had the vortex of magic surrounding it. Hulk roared with rage, power, and pain as he kept the weapon at bay from hitting the others in this battle of sheer force of will. Cracks were forming from the earth and getting bigger and bigger the more the two struggled, the earth itself looked to be breaking apart as blood was beginning to drip from Hulk's hands from the arrow.
'Not even Berserker was able to do this, even if he was almost a mindless beast, but the Hulk is actually stopping it from hitting himself. The Caladbolg can't stand much longer,' Archer thought to himself as he saw Hulk holding it back with a determination in his eyes that Archer knew wasn't of a mindless beast. 'He isn't making sure it isn't hitting himself, he's making sure it doesn't hit the Avengers, no that determination is closer to love than anything else. You have got to be kidding me, he's in love with Widow, I can't even use that to my advantage if I wanted to, I can't let the Hulk get any angrier.'
"I can't believe what I'm seeing, Hawkeye, can an arrow be that powerful to be giving Hulk this much trouble," Captain America asked the archer.
"That's not the issue here Cap, that bow that Archer has is like nothing I've ever seen, and the way he manipulated that sword itself was unlike anything I've ever seen," Hawkeye stated.
"Avengers, what Archer said was Caladbolg, that's a mythical sword and not an arrow, how he did that is beyond me but it looked like he manipulated the matter itself and turned it into one," Ironman stated.
"How is that possible, we have never faced such a foe that can do that mid battle," Thor proclaimed.
"He said the world sent him here, that means that it must have determined that his powers are best suited for taking us all out," Captain America guessed.
Archer had enough of waiting for Caladbolg to finish what it was currently failing to do, so he willed it back to his reality marble just as Hulk let go and fell to his knees panting heavily. "I commend you for taking my Caladbolg head on, not many, if any, can do so, and live. I will grant you and your love one last chance to pull out before I get serious," Archer stated evenly and without emotion.
"We're... not... going... anywhere," Hulk stated while panting quite heavily from the strength required to do what he just did.
"Very well," he said before the same blue glow came through and took the bow and replaced it with a red spear with intricate carvings on it. It looked like a standard straight spear, but was red and gave off the glow of evil above anything else. Archer jumped back and got into position by crouching low with his left hand and right foot extended as far in front of him as it could go, and his left leg tucked under for balance in this stance. He moved forward a little then jumped up high in the air and stayed there gripping the spear and aiming straight for the Hulk. A red glow brighter and darker than anything the Avengers could remember surrounded the spear with overwhelming power. "Gae Bolg," Archer yelled before hurling the spear with all his might at the green monster with a speed faster than most eyes can comprehend.
Captain America however, is not most men, he saw the path the spear was headed and reacted as fast as his super soldier body could take him and moved to knock the spear away with his shield. However, when the shield and spear made contact, everything stopped and time seamed to reverse itself to where the spear went straight for Hulk and instead of hitting against Captain America's shield, it changed trajectory. In midair it adjusted to miss the shield and landed straight into Hulk's chest just shy of missing his heart. Hulk screamed out in pain as the spear was embedded into his chest, he tried to grab a hold of the spear to pull it out, but the spear shot out of his shoulder and landed back in Archer's right hand.
"What was that, I don't even know how to process what happened," Falcon questioned holding his leg from being impaled in the limb.
"Good question, and I've been looking up that term he used, Gae Bolg is the name of a legendary spear that reverses cause and effect. In other words, you knock it away the first time, it reverses time and misses what knocked it away the first time," Ironman explained.
"Correct stark, the only way to counter the spear is to face it head on, not knock it away, but there is no guaranty that Captain America's shield could hold up to the spear," Archer confirmed.
"Such a dishonorable way to fight, you hold no honor, even our villains would not stoop so low as to pull that level of trickery," Thor argued.
"Success washes away dishonor, you can feed your honor to stray dogs for all I care, or better yet, shut up all together," he argued back.
"You could have killed Hulk, I thought you said you were going to just stop us, not kill us," Widow questioned as she tried to contain her own rage from Hulk getting stabbed.
"I basically said disband or I will disband you, if that means to kill you, then you shall all die, or at least most of you," he said.
"What about all the threats to earth, what will the world do without the Avengers," Ironman asked as he readied his hulk buster armor sequences.
"There are plenty of your superheroes to do the job instead of you, the Defenders, X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Guardians of the Galaxy are some of them are they not," Archer said smartly.
"True but none of them have what we have," Captain America retorted as the Hulk's wound finally healed enough for him to stand.
"What would that be," Archer asked back.
"They don't have a Thor," Hawkeye said with a smirk before said thunder god made a dash straight for the red clad man. Thor swung his hammer down intent to take the man's head off, but again the move was predictable, and all Archer had to do was step back before both Kanshou and Bakuya were brought forth and cut both wrists of Thor, making him drop the hammer. Then Archer did something the Avenger didn't expect, he grabbed hold of the hammer, and everyone knew what would happen, he would try to pick it up, fail, and they would strike in his shock. They didn't however, think that he could lift the hammer of Thor, and that is just what he did, he lift the hammer before their very eyes and through it back at Thor who caught it easily.
"How can you be worthy of Mjolnir, such a dishonorable man, you have shown nothing worthy of picking up my hammer," Thor yelled in irritation.
"Because it can sense my Mjolnir on me," Archer said before he materialized an exact copy of Mjolnir, engravings and all. "I had a theory that if it sensed my copy than it would assume I was worthy, and I was right, because it did."
"How could you have copied Mjolnir, the meeting is the first time we've met," the thunder god said.
"True, but just looking at a weapon a copy is instantly made and sent to my storage container of sorts," he said making everyone realizing the implications.
"How many weapons can your storage container hold," Widow asked in slight fear.
"Let me show you," Archer ominously said before he started the chant again just as the Avengers got ready for round two. Ironman got in his hulk buster armor, Widow was given some spare batons, Falcone could barely stand but he did, and the rest got into position as Hulk was heeled enough to at least fight.
I am the bone of my sword
Steel is my body and fire is my blood
I have created over a thousand blades
Unknown to death, nor known to life
Have withstood pain to create many weapons
Yet those hands will never hold anything
So as I pray, UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS
That was when the Avenger's worlds seemed to crack up and split apart before they were taken to a land that held swords without number, giant gears were in the sky and everything had a strange orange-red tint to it. They saw Archer standing across from them and they heard the first words in the new land they were in, "and so it begins."
