Jason Fuller & The Elementals: The Stones Of Olympus (Book 1)

by Andarion The Storyteller

This story is about the adventures of a young mutant named Jason Fuller and his friends as they embark on a journey to save the world from Doctor Doom and the Masters of Evil. Lives will be changed, destinies will be fought, ancient magic will resurface, and for Jason, a question that has plagued him since his parents death, about what it truly means to be a hero, will be answered.

27. Ch 27: Twas The Night Before Doomsday

Chapter 27: Twas The Night Before Doomsday

Everything kinda when into a blur after Cap basically responded to our silent S.O.S. We took roll on all our abled bodied agents and heroes, as well as accounting for our dead. Yeah…..talk about infinite levels of suck. Northstar, Falcon, and Tigra were just three of the hundreds that were dead. I had to use Z.O.R.D.O.N. to locate War Machine's armor (which was over 1,000 ft deep and sinking), swim down, and drag his 40 ton ass outta the water. Most of his armor was shredded, and…...look, regular people aren't meant to go that deep underwater. Rhodey (I heard his name a few times in training) was basically a crushed bloody mess, just like Janus. I felt genuinely bad for the guy. Not just cuz it was my plan that killed him, but cuz he was always there when we needed him. The zombies in Kansas, the Helicarrier defense, he always answered the call. Plus the guy was Air Force; he deserved better than this. Anyway (great segue), I summoned some War Force, manifested as red flames, and burned his body. Dunno if i'd catch hell for that later from a certain Iron Avenger, but I wasn't gonna let Rodey just sit here as a wet, gory heap.

After rounding everyone up, Strange conjured portals to the West Coast Avengers base, and sent the heroes and soldiers on there way. Fury was making calls to any and all other heroes everywhere. He made it clear that absence was not an option, and after ten minutes of telemarketing, informed us that we could expect literally every X-Man ever, and various street level heroes like Moon Knight, Winter Soldier, Shang-Chi, Elektra, and U.S. Agent. Hell, even Deadpool got an invite (what does he do anyway?). All of Black Panther's guys were on the way to the rendezvous point, and so were the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Fury sent for. Strange actually had to use magic to make the interior of the complex big enough to fit several hundred people inside. Everything was lined up perfectly for a late night save the world meeting, but I just couldn't shake off a bad feeling I had since Doom made that stupid comet.

"Hey, Doctor Strange?" I asked him.

"Yes, boy?" he responded.

"I wanna….check on someone. Like scrying. Can you-"

A mirror, about the size of an iPhone materialized in my hand.

"Speak the name of the person you want to see, and it will be so," Strange said.

"Thanks," I said, before speaking my mom's name into it.

The mirror rippled, and showed my mom a few seconds later (I might've choked up a little). She was still at the house, her hair a cool blue now, and she was packing leftover Chinese, pizza, and Raisin Bran (she LOVED Raisin Bran). Yup, that was my mom. It's not enough for her to get out of a crisis, because she (we) never plan for this $#!+. Knowing mom, she wasn't leaving without her phone, Bible, at least one more change of hair dye, and her various hair products and tools. I can't talk; i'd grab my laptop, iPod, fantasy books, and my favorite shoes. Still, it was so good to see her. I realized all at once how scared I was of never seeing her again, how much I left unsaid, how much I needed to tell her. Yeah…..this made my priorities clear. No matter what else, I was gonna see my mom before I fought (and would most likely die) to save the world.

"Hey, Fury?" I asked him. "How long till the Avengers get to base?"

"A little over an hour and a half," he responded. "Why?"

"My mom. Look, I know we're at DEFCON four million, but….I haven't properly seen her in a over a week. I need to talk to her before she goes through that portal. I need her to know that i'm ok."

"And then what? You think she'll just let you jump back into the fire? She'll just be cool with you risking your life again, right after she just got you back? Who's to say you won't just open a wound, giving her more baggage to deal with?"

"You mean on top of getting kidnapped?"

"After you almost killed someone."

"Damn you, Fury! I just need half an hour to talk to her! She's the only family I have, and I might not even see her again!"

"And how do I know you won't get cold feet? For all your tough guy talk, you sure cry a lot about your mommy."

I almost slammed him into a pillar just for that. If Grant hadn't put himself between me and Fury, i'd tackle him into the Atlantic.

"Jesus, dude," Grant said to him. "Are you just a professional asshole, or what?"

"I'm just trying to keep the last hope for life as we know it focused on saving the world, Mr. Jackson. You're the big hero, why don't you talk some sense into your fearless leader."

"Yup, professional asshole confirmed. Dude, i've been shot at, stabbed, blasted, eaten, beaten down, and psychologically f*(#$% with to a depressing degree. I kinda want some time with my folks too. I didn't exactly leave them, hell, didn't leave a lotta people back home on good terms. A good hour to get my $#!+ straight before I go back into the jaws of death wouldn't hurt."

"Gotta side with them, sir," Allyson said. "My mom's probably bawling her eyes out trying to call me. My dad's either failing at calming her down, or pacing back and forth down the living room trying to calm himself down. I'd give anything to let them know i'm ok, and seeing as my phone is still blocked, how about a portal from our magic friend?"

"It would not be any trouble at all, Colonel," Strange said. "A simple spell charging three Sling Rings with enough power to make two jumps. Let the children have a true moment of peace with their loved ones. Better to have their heads as clear as they'll be, rather than have their heads out of it when we need them the most."

Fury sighed, and turned to Mrs. Kennedy.

"What's your two cents on this, Agent Kennedy?" he asked her.

"Honestly, sir," she started. "I'd like nothing more than to see my family as well. The only difference here is that if I allow myself that moment, i'll never let go. They aren't me. Grace and Jackson are too much into the whole 'save everyone' mentality to not return to finish the fight. And at the very least, Fuller's pride is hurt; he won't leave that unpunished. You don't have anything to worry about, sir."

Fury sighed again, and put his hands on his hips.

"Do you think i'm a professional asshole?" he asked Strange.

"Second only to Stark, Colonel." Strange said.

"Do you even have a plan, Fuller?"

"About 40% of one," I responded. "Mostly involving how to combat Doom, potential surprises he might have in store, and various ways to use the agents and heroes on teams. I've got a ton of stats to read up on in the few seconds I get to the facility and through the door."

"A simple yes woulda sufficed, but alright, ya get one hour. Hug your folks, say your prayers, cry your eyes out, but get your butts over to the rendezvous point at 1600 hours. Got it?"

We all agreed, and Doctor Strange gave us all a Sling Ring (sounded like a ring version of Spidey's web shooters). They were basically weird looking rings (duh) with two finger holes under a gold bar with magic inscriptions. Strange gave us a quick rundown on how the things worked. We visualized where we wanted to go, made a circular motion with one of our arms, ring hand out, and jump through the gate. This took a lotta practice to do, but the rings did the heavy lifting for us.

"See you guys in a bit," Allyson thought to us as she jumped into her room (which was double the size of mines).

"Later, bro," Grant said as he conjured a portal inside what I think was a barn.

That left me for last. I followed Strange's instructions, and in a few seconds, a blazing light portal opened up, showing my room. It wasn't much. Average sized with a drawer, closest, work desk, and a twin bed. The floor was blue carpet, but was buried under my dirty clothes, pizza boxes, and take out boxes (super speed was gonna come in handy real soon). I quickly jumped in, and closed the portal behind me. I did a quick look around, and i'll admit, I got a little tug in the feels. Looking at all my collected books, my Power Rangers, Bakugan, Yu-Gi-Oh, Lakers, Ducks, and Eagles posters (not to mention that weird minty/vanilla smell that was all move the house), it truly hit me that I was home. Forget all the $#!+ i've had to go through for the past 10 days, forget the fact that I had to go back out there again tomorrow, right now I was safe in my room. I woulda probably chilled out in here for a few minutes, but my Thunder Sense pinged my mom just about to leave the house. Yeah, that was a big nope; she had to give me a whole buncha hugs and kisses before she left! I powered down before leaving my room, and rushed to the stairs.

I'm a speedster (just in case you forgot). One second for you is at the least one minute for me. As fast as I am now, I can stretch that out to three. As fast and as smart as I am, I coulda whipped up a well spoken, sentimental, heart tugging speech about how much I missed, appreciated, and loved my mother, Doris Lauren Campbell. Here's what came out.

"Mom," I said to her from atop the stairs (like I said, i'm a poet).

She turned around like she heard a glass smash. As soon as she saw me, she put her hand over her mouth, and teared up.

"Hi," I continued, slowly coming down the stairs (Robert Frost, who?).

She walked towards me, her arms outstretched for a hug, and I quickly shuffled down the rest of the stairs, and wrapped her in a bear hug! She cried, and hearing her break made me cry too. She gripped my clothes like they were the most valuable thing on the planet, and her knees were buckling like crazy. It felt like I had to use all my strength to hold her up (not true, I could juggle fifty of her all day), but I did. I breathed in the smell of her vanilla moisturizing cream, her kiwi shampoo, and endless amount of hair products. She muttered things like "my boy", "my baby", "my sweet boy", "my beautiful son", and heart choking stuff like that. I was too busy trying to pull myself together to say anything in response, but I kept rubbing her back, and gave her ocasional kisses on her head. We stayed like that for a total of 3 minutes, trying desperately to pull ourselves together. When both of us reduced our crying to huffy sniffling, my mom cupped my face in her hands, and looked at my face like she was seeing it for the first time.

"Jason," she said. "You….your eyes are blue?"

We laughed for a bit, and I nodded.

"Yeah," I said. "Sorry. I think its a side effect of my powers."

"The lightning?" she asked.

"Yes ma'am. But….you should stand back."

She did as I asked, and I put on a 30 second show of the century! I levitated myself in the air with a small tornado, and created a thundercloud big enough to cover the whole living room. I made the cloud light up with lightning, brought some thunder, and turned the cloud into water, which I shaped into a giant snake. I had the snake coil around me, before dissipating the water into the atmosphere, and going into Thunder Form, Thunder Form 2, my Storm-Form, and my Sea Form. Finally, for my last trick (after putting my body back), I cleaned up the living room, kitchen, my room, and took out all the trash, all in one second (I was saving that last bit as a surprise). By the look on my mom's face, I probably shoulda opened with that.

"Uhhhh," she started (always the go to for WTF moments). "Well…..that's nice, baby."

"Yup," I said. "I also got super speed. Take a look around."

She did so, and she gasped at the clean living room, organized bookshelf, TV stand, cleaned dishes, shiny floor, and empty trash can.

"Where the heck was that on Thanksgiving days?" she asked me, laughing.

"Don't worry, ma," I said. "Clean up's gonna be a lot faster from now on. So, what do you think of my eyes?"

"Well, you did always want blue contacts."'

"And you kept saying no. Said they'd make me look fruity."

"You'll never let that go, baby. But yeah, you look fine. Handsome. And you got all big and muscular too! Look at my boy, the superhero!"

I looked at her like she found something in my room I thought she'd never find (happened a few times with my Percy Jackson, Eragon, and Harry Potter books. She wasn't always a fan of those).

"What?" she asked me. "You think I didn't know. Boy, I raised you for almost ten years. You think I don't know how you move and talk? Like anyone else in the world knows that I think bigger banks are more trustworthy? Please. That was a nice suit, son; and Storm-Lord is a boss name! I'm proud of you and your little friends."

She gave me another hug, and I fought back tears. My mom was always proud of me, she always said so, but it wasn't until now that I really felt I deserved it. Hell, it was all the more heartbreaking, considering I had royally screwed up and gave Doom the keys to the earth. Still, that just gave me another surge to keep fighting. I wasn't gonna lose my mom to some would be dictator. Doom was going down tomorrow. That meteor was not gonna hit the earth.

"Thanks, mom," I said. "Look, I hate to do this to you, but we're both on a tight schedule. Let's sit down; i've got a lot to tell you."

We sat on the couch, and I told her everything. S.H.I.E.L.D., my friends, the Stones of Olympus, our missions, how I got my powers, my divine lineage, the whole works. Mom stayed silent through all of it, but her reactions were a complete story in its own right. Everything from shock, pride, grief, happiness (especially the bits about Allyson), and genuine anger. By the time it was all over, I thought she might explode.

"Wow," she simply said. "So….you one of them demigods now?"

"Kinda sorta," I said. "It's complicated. You don't hate me, do you?"

"No, baby," she laughed at me. "You're still my boy. My super fast, muscular, great whatever grandson of those silly gods you always love to read about. Still can't get you behind to open a bible, but that's between you and God. Wait, you still Christian, right?"

I laughed at her so hard.

"Yes, mom," I eventually got out. "I am. Heck, Ares literally told me not to trust any of the other gods."

"Mmmhmm," she said. "You'll talk too Ares, but I bet you don't talk to Jesus."

"Ma."

"Don't trip, boy, i'm just playing!"

We laughed again, before jumping into a bit of an awkward silence. We both knew what had to happen soon, but if we could, i'd just stay here with her for the rest of the night.

"So….." she eventually said, taking my hand. "I guess you gotta go back out there. You think you'll win?"

I sighed, and let go of her hand.

"I dunno," I said. "It's a lot to deal with, ma. So many variables, scenarios, outcomes, all jumbling around in my head a million miles per second. I'm trying to make a plan, but…..mom, I got people killed. Someone gave me a KFC beat down; a 10 piece combo with a biscuit. I don't wanna fail again. If my friends-"

She took my hands again, which I had balled up into fists.

"Breathe, Jason," she said to me. "Why you always do this to yourself, son? Remember what we practiced? Deep breaths. Let yourself go. Get outta your head."

I did as she said, working through the building stress and anxiety. It took a few breathing rounds (really wished Allyson could sing me a calming song), but I eventually leveled out.

"My boy," mom, laughed at me. "You remember rec hockey when you were eight?"

"You wouldn't let me quit until I was ten," I said.

"And you loved it, even though you didn't want to. You were so good, Jason! Every week, another team bit the ice! Didn't stand a chance against the Penguins! All until y'all faced the Polar Bears."

"Lost by a mile," I sighed. "12-3. Didn't even score a goal in that game."

"Oh, how you cried after that game, baby! Said you never wanted to play hockey again!"

"I was serious too. You bribed me with Power Rangers toys to make me finish the season."

"You were finally smiling. I'll be darned if I was gonna see you see you crawl back into your room unless you had to come out. Thought you'd just give up and half it for the rest of the season, but you did the opposite. I still feel pride thinking back on how you rallied your team together after that loss. Convinced them and the coach for longer practices, to change up your playbook, and actually get lessons from high school hockey players. Y'all dominated the season even more so; almost completely shut out the other teams every game. And when you faced the Polar Bears again, before the Playoffs-"

"We still lost."

"But only by two points, baby! 3-5, y'all almost had them boys! Made em' sweat! Made em' earn every goal! And still, you never gave up! You wanted to win that championship! I've never seen you so excited for anything in your life. Well, except for that girl of yours."

"Mom!"

"Boy, hush! At least you finally got a nice one. Thought after that Hannah girl moved away, you'd never look at another girl again."

"Yeah, can we get back to the hockey again?"

"Don't think we're done, Jason. I want that girl as my daughter-in-law! So yes, the Polar Bears won again, but the Penguins were well into the Playoffs safe zone. You breezed through the Sea Lions, Sharks, and Killer Whales, and met the Polar Bears again at the championship. Those Polar Bears were not prepared, but you were. You spent over a month studying the way they play. Who their best players were, what were they best at, and how to take that away from them. It was scary; how could a ten year old be so devious?"

"Cuz you made me watch PBS all the time, even after all the kids stuff went off! They did an in-depth analysis on the Art of War, by Sun Tzu! You can't expect a kid not to run with that when he wants to beat his rival team!"

"And boy did it work, because those Polar Bears finally ate it at the championship. 8-3, them boys ain't know what hit em'!"

"Didn't come back for the next two years either. The Penguins went 3 years undefeated. Good times, but what's the point of this?"

"To remember your roots, son. You've always been good on the fly, but you're best when you've had time to reflect and learn. Heck, ain't Meet The Robinsons your favorite Disney movie? Learn from your failure. Look at what makes that Doom guy strong, and take it away from him. Make him and his sorry he ever messed with Storm-Lord! So come on, son, make a plan. I ain't lettin' you leave this house until you do."

"Yes ma'am."

You think my mom was kidding, but she was dead ass. Powers of a god or not, I was not leaving this chair until I did all my homework (all of a sudden I was 11 again). No use fighting it, so I pulled up Z.O.R.D.O.N., had him pull up the 3-D hologram program. For half and hour, I went through every possible variable that could factor into tomorrow's battle. Doom's forces and potential forces vs. my forces, what teams would be good for what, where Doom possibly would set his soldiers, aerial combat, how to factor in Z.O.R.D.O.N.'s mole in Doom's CPU, our shared and complex relationship with the Stones of Olympus, and of course, how to fight a man that was basically god. It definitely wasn't a perfect plan, and any one of these things could (and probably would) go wrong, but at this point in the game I was well aware that at least 65% of what would come would rely on improv.

"Well," I sighed to my mom, after I finished telling her the plan. "What do ya think?"

"To be honest," she started. "Ya lost me at talking to the magic rocks, son. But hey, you seem to know what you're doing, and i'll be praying for you every step of the way."

"Look….just in case we don't win. Maybe…..I just think you-"

"I only serve one god, Jason, and he didn't need magic rocks to shape the world. Doom may have some faithless people praying to him, but I ain't one."

"Then that makes it simple; I won't lose."

"That's my boy."

She gave me a hug, and kissed me on the cheek.

"Guess I better get going," she said as she got up. "Don't wanna be on this side of the world when the lasers start flying."

"Definitely not," I said. "Z.O.R.D.O.N., where's the nearest evacuation portal?"

"Soundview Park," he responded.

"Cool, I can whip up a portal for you, ma."

She looked at me confused, so I pulled out my Sling Ring.

"Doctor Strange gave me this," I said. "I can use it to make portals anywhere I want. It'll save you gas money."

"Ok, Jason," mom said with an unsure tone. "But you know I don't mess with that witchcraft nonsense. Don't you get involved with them demonic spirits and what not!"

"Don't worry, ma, I won't."

"Good."

She gave me another hug, holding on a lot longer this time.

"Hey, mom, can I ask you one more thing?" I asked her.

"Sure, baby," she said. "What's up?"

"All those years ago…..you chose me. You coulda chosen anyone else. You coulda chosen someone less difficult. Why me?"

She smiled deep, and put her hand on my face. I'll never get tired of that look; the way she can make it seem like i'm the sun of her universe. She opened her purse, and pulled out her keys. On the chain was a picture of her, about 30 years back, with her husband at their wedding day. I've seen that photo before, but never gave it much of a thought. Still, mom was looking good! Don't get me wrong, she still had her old lady good looks (think Diane Lane or Christie Brinkley), but she was rocking her wedding dress. Her hair was a lot longer, and red, and she was pretty toned. The guy next to her looked like he belonged on Sanford and Son. About my height, light brown skin, rockin' the tux, and absolutely killing the fro. They looked so happy together, which made me feel guilty for thinking she never married when she adopted me. She looked at the picture lovingly for a few seconds before speaking again.

"His name was, Donald Perry Campbell," she said. "We met in the Navy; got married 10 years before we got out. He was good, funny, strong, compassionate, and he loved kids. We had that in common. Of course, we tried for a kid, but…...there was a car accident. Lost my son and my husband on the same day. I…...I gave up on life that day. Couldn't find a reason to smile, couldn't praise God for anything. My friends at the salon helped me get through that when I moved here. Without Don, I couldn't afford to keep our place back in Buffalo, so I moved back here; my parent's house. Had to get the thing fixed up of course, it's been in my family for four generations, but it was nice to be home again. Still, something wasn't quite right. I needed more, something to help me truly let the past be past. I needed a son. You're right, Jason, you were a handful; all the social workers said so. Still, when I saw you, I didn't see a monster, a troubled child. I saw a boy who lost something irreplaceable, and way too soon. A boy who was going through a pain he didn't know how to deal with, and nobody around who was willing to help him try. I saw someone who was gonna get shuffled through the foster system, and who's anger was gonna burn him out if someone didn't take the time to nurture him. True, he was gonna be a handful. Yes, there was a chance it would be all for nothing, but being a parent isn't easy. I saw the person that boy could become, good and bad, and decided I would do everything in my power to steer him on the right path. I'm proud to say that little boy grew up to be a man i'm proud of. A man his mother and father would be proud of. I always did like the name Jason. So much so, Donald and I agreed it would be our child's name."

Yeah, I was already holding back tears…..that last bit opened the floodgates. Took me five minutes before I could get it back together.

"How come you never told me?" I asked her.

"You never asked," she shrugged. "Also because I never wanted you to feel like you were somehow less than. Look at me, Jason, and always remember this, you are mine. Not the next best thing, not a facsimile of what almost was. I know I could never replace your parents, but you couldn't be anymore my son, even if you were my flesh and blood. Remember that when you're saving the world tomorrow, and come back to me as fast as you can."

I nodded and gave her one last hug and a kiss on the cheek, before morphing into my battlesuit (she laughed at Morphin' Time), and conjuring up a portal to Soundview Park. She quickly walked through it, and waved goodbye to me. I did the same before closing the portal. My Sling Ring dissolved around my fingers, but don't worry, I thought this through. I quickly had Z.O.R.D.O.N. draw me up a plan to the Avengers West Coast facility, and was already outta New York state in three seconds. Hey, with all that emotional feels I just went through, I needed a good run to process it all, and clear my head for the upcoming superhero club meeting.

(Allyson's Perspective)

Hey y'all, it's Allyson again, and let me formally welcome you to my room! First thing's first, I had to clam Dinah way down after opening a fiery portal that came outta nowhere from her perspective. After calming her down, I took a good five minutes to pet her, as I took in my room for the first time in over a week. Quick note, i've never been called spoiled in my life; not once. Sure, I was daddy's princess, and mommy's little song bird, I know, super cheesy, but i've never been called spoiled. If you saw my room, you'd call bullcrap in a heartbeat!

First off, my room space was that of three single bed rooms. It was painted with pink and white stripes, which wasn't exactly my style, but nothing I cared to change. The room had a giant window, which gave me a good view out from the second floor. Because I had so much room, I basically divided it into sections. The first was my bed/work section. This section consisted of my queen sized bed with one of those frames that had a drawer under it, as well as a set of shelves behind it. These shelves were filled with pictures of me with my parents, friends, and special occasions like cheer competitions, vacations, and various little Ally photos. I also had Powerpuff Girls bedsheets. Not ashamed to admit that. Next to my bed was my desk. It was still in the exact place I left it. Half finished pictures from my various adult coloring books, not adult themed, mind you, my laptop, notebooks, textbooks, headphones, and various pencils and pens all sprawled about. In the middle of the room was my rug that was shaped like a sun. Mom thought it was cute, Dinah thought it was comfy. Straight ahead was my closet, drawers, and the door to my own bathroom. Over in the corner was my music space where I put my guitar, drums, violin, keyboard, and clarinet. I've made a lotta Disney covers over the years; you should follow me on Instagram and Snapchat! Anyway, after calming Dinah down, I turned off my battlesuit, scooped her in my arms, and started on my way down to the living room, where I could hear the TV blaring the news. I could guess what was going on, but I was too focused on my mom basically screeching at the TV, while my dad was trying to calm her down. I sat on the staircase, just outta sight, to listen for a little bit.

"How can you be calm at a time like this, James?!" mom screamed at dad. "Our little girl is God knows where, fighting a war those jack booted thugs dragged her into! She could've been dead long before this. She couldn't even beat that madman with only three of those whatchamacallits. How do you expect her to fight him with a full house?! Do you even care?!"

"Of course I care, Anna-Marie!" dad actually raised his voice. "You think I don't want my little Ally here in my arms? Like I wouldn't lock her in her room to keep her safe? Honey, we trained her for this!"

"No, we trained her to keep her head down. To only use her powers when absolutely necessary! Not everyone feels the same way about mutants around here. I've been worried sick someone would find her out for a year! We didn't train her to be some knockoff Avenger wannabe!"

"Oh, come on! Like Allyson would be content with just healing scraped knees and sprained ankles? Do you really think someone with her passion to help people could be confined to just being a neighborhood medic? I saw it in her went she made her first fist out of light, when she watched Dragon Ball Z with me, just to get an idea of what flying while fighting looks like. She was born to be a hero, Anna-Marie. And if God is for her and her teammates, then who can possibly stand against them? Our girl will come home, Annie, and when she does, we'll give her a hero's welcome."

There it was. Dad always managing to quell my mom's fire with his words. Again, if I needed an hour or two extended on my curfew every now and again, daddy always found a way. Still, it was heartbreaking to hear my mom cracking under the pressure.

"She shouldn't be out there," she continued, her voice muffled in my dad's shoulder. "She shouldn't be halfway around the country, fighting a battle she didn't ask for. She should be here with her family, James; it's Christmas for God's sake! Heck, she should be out with her friends, pretending to stay the whole time at the church party, before they spend the rest of the day at the mall!"

"I always knew you knew," I said, finally stepping in sight. "The only thing that kept us going at all was Mrs. Hayweather's bangin' pecan pies."

My parents looked at me as if they weren't exactly comprehending what was in front of them. To be fair, it was a bit surreal for me too. My dad was standing there with a look that was a mix of dumbfounded, fear, and joy. He was wearing a red muscle shirt over a long white shirt, jeans, and boots. My mom had her pixie cut slicked back, and was wearing skinny jeans inside her brown boots, a red turtleneck, and a god awful green cardigan with white snowflake patterns plastered all over it. She may as well have been a magnet, because I barely even felt my feet move as I practically ran into her arms! We cried….a lot. Heck, even though I could feel my dad wrapping us both in a big bear hug, even though I could feel him kissing my head, and smell the overwhelming odor of Axe cologne all over him, most of it was drowned out by my mom and I sobbing into each other. She smelled like pumpkin spice and peppermint, which totally meant peppermint/pumpkin pies for Christmas dinner! It took about ten minutes for us to finally cry ourselves out, and actually look at one another. Mom grabbed my cheeks, and looked like she was gonna give me a kiss on the forehead, but she paused. That was one thing I playfully resented my parents for. Not the whole forehead thing, but because when it came to height, I got the short end of the stick. Dad was 6'3, mom was 5'12, I sputtered out at 5'10. Every time they surrounded me like this, I felt like I was gonna get stepped on.

"Darling," mom said all confused. "Your skin…..it feels normal. James, feel it."

Dad did so, and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah," he said. "Ally, you used to be a walking heater. Pretty sure i'm packing more body heat now. What happened to you, baby girl?"

"Yeaaaah," I started. "It's been a wild ride since I left. We should sit down and catch up."

We made our way to the living room, muted the TV, and sat on the couch. I quickly did my best to summarize my experience on Delta Force, while cutting out as much unnecessary info as possible. Me and my friends were trying to get items of power that were scattered across the globe. True enough, without mentioning the gods and magic; things my parents did not take lightly when they were outside of a movie. It was extremely hard getting these items, while fighting bad guys and such. Again, pretty much true; who needs to know the amount of near death close calls I encountered while doing so? I quickly brushed through who Grant and Jason were, leaving specifics for later, my powers evolving, and the fact that I had to go back out there to fight Doom one last time for all the marbles. My mom tightened her grip on one of my hands when I got to that last part.

"No!" she said. "You are not going back out there! We just got you away from them, i'll be darned if I let you go get yourself killed!"

"Mom, did you look at the news?!" I almost shrieked at her. "Did you not hear what Doom's planning to do with that comet?!"

"I heard every word, Allyson! Which is why you are not taking a step out of this house!"

"Now, Annie," my dad started.

"Don't you Annie me, James!" mom responded. "You know this is exactly the kind of nonsense we wanted to keep her out of! Why are you all of a sudden so calm with sending my only daughter to her her death!"

"First of all, Anna-Marie, she's my daughter too! Second, this isn't like any other scenario we imagined being in! If that comet hits, we all die!"

"Then let the Avengers or the X-Men handle it; they always do! Allyson said so herself, the heroes are building an assault against Doom!"

"An assault that requires me, mom!" I spoke up.

"You're powers are drained, Allyson!"

"I've got somethin' that'll boost me seven times that, mom!"

"What good will it do against, Doom?! He has all seven of those things, and an army that ravaged the world's military!"

"We have a pissed off Storm-Lord, an army to match Doom's, a plan, and a Hulk."

"And how'd that work out for you last time?"

"That's not fair," dad said. "They didn't have a Hulk last time."

We both laughed a little, but mom was having none of it.

"BOTH OF YOU STOP!" she roared. "This isn't funny! It's not a game! Allyson you almost died! Can you even understand that?! You could've died a million miles under the sea, and I wouldn't even be able to bury you! I You may have had a grand time flying around the world, playing hero, but I was here crying and praying everyday that I would hear your voice again! You're my daughter, not some S.H.I.E.L.D. thug, and you belong here with us! Allyson, please! You're teammates look capable enough on their own, and they'll have an army at their back. What can you do that they can't?"

She started crying again, and it took all I had not to cry with her. Dad moved over to her side, and tried to console her, but when mom gets this way, there's only one thing that'll help. I opened my mouth, and started singing. I started with 'My God is Awesome'; our favorite song. Try as she may, my mom couldn't stay crying even halfway through the song. She joined me in the second verse, and my dad followed shortly afterwards. This was literally what we did every time something got a little too real. Not to ignore the problem, or sweep it under the rug, but to give us a moment to breathe and process the moment. We were all great singers, not to brag, so it was only natural that this was our favorite thing to do as a family. We sung two more songs: 'He Still Loves Me' and 'Seasons of Love', before we stopped to talk again. I took my moms hands, and looked her in her eyes.

"Mom," I said. "I'm gonna be completely honest with you; i'm really freaking scared, ok? You think i've been having a fun time? Mom, i've been stabbed, shot, beaten, knocked out, almost drained of my powers, and even had my actual soul get attacked. So many people and creatures have tried to kill me over the past ten days, I can't even remember all their faces. I've had to heal people with blown off limbs, third degree burns, and wounds that oozed more blood than I thought a body could hold. You think my friends don't need me, but if I weren't there for certain battles, they wouldn't make it without me, nor I without them. Heck, just barely a few hours ago, even in the midst of defeat, I saved over 200 agents and heroes from a crumbing Helicarrier on its way into the ocean. And yes, mom, Doom wants all three of us to fight him tomorrow. I don't know what Jason has planned, but the dude is crazy smart, and on some levels, vicious, when it comes to battles. I'd say I trust him with my life, but it's far too late for that. Me and the team have saved each other more times than I care to remember, and we can't do this without each other. Believe me, mom, I know this isn't a game. I've killed people who got very close to killing me, and that wasn't fun. Still, i've come this far. God brought me this far, and I know it wasn't just to fail. Deuteronomy 31:6 says "Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee." In the words of Mary Mary, "I just can't give up now. I'm come too far from where I started from."

"Nobody told me, the road would be easy," mom said.

"But I don't believe He's brought me this far to leave me," dad finished.

"I love you, mom," I said. "You too dad. I know everything you've done was to protect me, but you can't protect me from this. It's my turn to do the protecting. I'm not sure if I wanna be a superhero forever, but that's what I am right now, and i'm really good at it. I'm Sunbird for cryin' out loud, and again, I won't be alone. Please, you have to let me go. I promise i'll come back."

She looked at my dad, blinking the remaining tears from her eyes.

"Guess I don't have to ask your opinion on this," she tried for a smile.

Dad shrugged, and gave her a bear hug from the side.

"Like I said, Annie," he said. "I'm proud of her. Sure, i'd rather her be safe here at home, but if that comet touches the ground, there won't be a home left for us. So I give my beloved daughter my blessing to go and kick Doom's tin can! Give em Hades, Ally!"

Mom chuckled, and pulled me into a hug.

"I love you, Allyson," she said. "I missed you. Every molecule in my body wants to keep you here, but you and your father have already made up your minds. Just….just promise you'll be safe. I'll let you have as many pumpkin pies as you want on Christmas, just come home."

"I will. And i'm totally gonna hold you to that pie promise!"

She laughed at me, and gave me another kiss on the forehead. I gave dad another hug, scratched Dinah behind the ears for another minute, and put on my Sling Ring.

"Bye," I said to my parents, as I opened up a portal to the West Coast Avengers facility. "Make sure to watch me on TV!"

(Grant's Perspective)

I opened a portal to our barn for two reasons. Number 1: Brentley basically spent 70% of the day sleeping on my bed. If I opened a portal right in front of her, she'd flip the f*(# out. Number 2: If that happened, my parents would come up, flip out, and i'd have to spend my hour and a half just trying to get them and the dog to shut up. Nah, it was better to do this the old fashioned way. I exited the barn, and walked barely 100 meters to the house. I had a weird sense of fear walking up to my doorstep, and the size of the house didn't help. Yeah, our family house was basically a poor man's mansion. Like I said, my grandpa built several additions onto the house, which was originally just a two story wooden house big enough for a family of at least five, with a wrap around porch. Once kid number eight came along, grandpa added three more sections to either and the back side of the house, each big enough for a single house. Grandpa had to break up the wraparound porch into two sections that revolved around the multiple add-ons. Each section was connected to the main house via ten foot bridge. My room was on the second floor main section, mainly because it would be too easy to sneak out if I was in another section of a house just barely connected to the original. I still had an easy enough time sneaking out, so whatever. Still, my house always felt intimidating; like a fortress. Sometimes when I walked in, especially when I was in trouble, I felt like I wasn't gonna come out. Now…...to be honest, I dunno what I was afraid of.

"What troubles you, my champion?" Gaea asked me.

"First time home since…...everything." I said. "So much baggage even before I left. How do I make up for it all in an hour and a half?"

"You don't. You can't. But you can start by finally knocking on the door, and relieving your parents for a moment."

"Yeah, can't stay out here forever."

I knocked on the door, and heard my mom say "Hugh, can you get that?"

"Yeah," my dad said, as he set his papers down.

Forget Doom, Goblin, and Abomination, nothing made my heart hammer as much as my dad making a beeline for the door. What would he say to me? How would he feel? What was I supposed to open with? "Hey, pop, i'm the champion of earth now?" Not exactly a good way to ease into this $#!+. Didn't matter, cuz when dad opened the door, I just when blank. First off, my dad was basically a less muscular me. We were about the same height, with curly brown hair, and until Gaea changed them, blue eyes. He was wearing jeans, a sky blue T-shirt, Tims boots, and his glasses. He looked at me like I was a ghost, and i'm pretty sure I was returning the look. Maybe three seconds passed before we wrapped each other in a tight hug. No words, no tears, just a ten second hug that was worth more than all the gold I could make in a lifetime.

"Hey, pa," I said to him as we let each other go.

"Son," he responded. "Missed you. You wearin' contacts now?"

"Actually-"

"Who there, Hugh?!" my mom shouted out.

"It's me, mom!" I yelled back at her.

Probably shoulda let dad break the news, cuz I heard a glass shatter, following by my mom straight up barreling outta the kitchen. Usually the sight of my mom charging at anything was terrifying, but having not seen her in over a week, it was all I could do not to run at her myself. She was two inches shorter than me and dad, but had muscles on her muscles on her muscles! Like I said, she was built like Gina Carano. She had two tattoo sleeves of various flowers colored red, blue, purple, and a few butterflies on her arms, and was wearing a white T-shirt and her biker pants. While she was built like an ox, her face betrayed her hard-ass cred. With the exception of a scar on her right cheek, her face was kind and soft. Right now, she was wearing red lipstick, green eyeshadow, and had her long black hair blown out. This made me real glad I wasn't staying the night, cuz when mom gets dolled up it either means church, special occasions, or her and dad f*(#ing in the barn. God, I wish I was makin' that last part up, but you can't unsee that $#!+. Anyway, mom wrapped me in a hug, and held on for almost half a minute. I hugged her back, but it was weird interacting with things now. I had to be careful not to accidentally snap a bone. After she was done hugging me, she gripped my arms, and looked at my face.

"The hell you wearin' contacts for, Grant?" she asked me.

"Not contacts, apparently," dad said.

Mom looked at him, then looked back at me. Her face was so shocked, I had to struggle not to laugh at her.

"Yeah, ma," I said. "It's been a crazy week. Got a lot to tell ya, not a lotta time to get it all out."

Her and dad looked at me, flashed a quick expression of fear and protectiveness, then looked at each other. That's always been the thing about my folks; they didn't need to talk to have conversations. Hell, as crowded as our house gets sometime, we all learned to read body language, or get popped in the jaw when you exceeded someone's patience. The look mom and dad were giving each other said that they were at least gonna hear me out. Hell, while nobody said it, we all knew what was at stake, and that I was way past the point of them doing anything to stop me if I wanted to do something. Not that i'd use my powers to bully my parents, but…..ya know.

"Alright," mom said. "Still, I bet them government boys ain't fed you properly. Let's get some chow in ya. Y'ALL! FOOD!"

Yeah, that's how we knew food was done! Mom had a voice that could go from relatively deep and chill, to basically gorilla roaring! In a few seconds, I heard the rumbling of my uncles comin' down the steps to the dinner table. I laughed, not knowing how much I missed that, and my dad put a hand around my shoulder, bringing me in the house.

Dinner was great. Mom made BBQ chicken, red rice with sausage and bacon, and some collards. I had to settle for some lemonade, while everyone else had beers. As we ate, I quickly brushed over what happened while I was at S.H.I.E.L.D. I didn't sugar coat anything. I told mom that we were descended from Hercules, which uncle Jericho went nuts for, that I was the champion of Gaea, the Stones of Olympus business , Doom, and my new powers. I actually caused a small tremor, hovered outta my seat, made the silverware float, and then converted them into 24 carat gold utensils. My uncles were foaming at the mouth, wanting to pawn them off ASAP. As I told the story, I paid close attention to mom and dad's expressions. At first they were a mix of disbelief and awe, then confusion, a little fear, and a final look that said they were just done. They didn't interrupt or anything; they just listened to me ramble about magic, gods, and magic rocks. By the time I was done, I legit thought they were gonna blow.

"Wow," mom said. "I always did think our family had a strange extra strength about us."

"Ain't it?" Uncle Abraham said. "I remember pushing ma's car into the yard every time she broke down, since I was 12. Felt like I could push it across the country!"

"You damn near weighed more than the car, Abe!" uncle Jeremiah said.

We all busted up fo a little bit, before getting back to the topic at hand.

"Guess I can't tell ya you can't go," mom said.

"And even if we did," dad said. "Couldn't stop you."

"Please guys," I sighed. "Don't be like that. I'm still me! I wouldn't-"

"Relax, Grant!" mom laughed at me. "We're just messin' with ya! If anything, i'm the one that owes you an apology. The powers, S.H.I.E.L.D., saying goodbye to the football scholarships…...it was a lot to take in at once. Still, the last thing you saw as they basically dragged you outta the house, was my disappointed face. Everyday I was scared $#!+less that i'd never see you again, son. That i'd never get the chance to tell you I could give to $#!+$ about what you were. You're my son, and i'm proud of you. Always have been."

"Ditto, son," dad said. "And hey, what's football? At the rate you're going, you'll be an Avenger one of these days! Hell, if nothing else, we're gonna have some good farming seasons, and some gold nuggets here and there to help pay some damn bills!"

Everyone at the table did a toast, and I felt my stomach drop. I was so worried that my folks would hate me for not being a football star. Now I was terrified they'd actually disown me once I fessed up to what really caused Lindsey's suicide.

"I love you guys," I said. "Lookin' back on the last few years, I can't exactly say I was the ideal son. Y'all kept me from doin' some real stupid $#!+. weren't scared to lay them hands on me neither. I…..I wish I payed attention before…"

It was hard to get out. Even after coming to terms with it in the Nethertrench, and with Ally and Jason, it was still a knife in the heart to think about Lindsey.

"What is it, champ?" dad asked me. "It's ok, you can tell us anything."

"I killed Lindsey," I said. "Wait, that didn't come out right, but it's basically true."

"What you talkin' bout?" mom asked me, a bit of fear creeping in her voice. "Everyone says she killed herself."

"She did, but she did it cuz of me. I cheated on her. Barely gave a thought to how she'd take it. I found her suicide note in my locker after school, barely an hour before my powers kicked into gear. To say i've been beating myself over the head with her death is an understatement. Too late I realized that my actions have consequences; some of which people don't walk away from. I can't apologize enough for what I did, and I know words don't mean a damn thing to the Ellis', but I can say i've done a complete 180; my days of using girls just cuz I can are done. I'll never forgive myself for what i did to Lindsey; she deserved so much more than me. I know there's nothing I can do to make up for it, other than to never forget, and to never repeat."

Everyone was silent around the table for a good half a minute. Mom clearly didn't know how to feel, or what to say. Dad picked up the slack.

"Son," he said with a heavy voice. "I think I speak for your mother and I when I say i'm extremely disappointed in you. We thought you'd mess around and get someone knocked up, but you somehow managed to take it a hundred steps forward! Yes, we appreciate that you've had a change of heart, but it was only after the fact! Usually I say better late than never, but this is too late, son! Not for you, I want you to hold on to your new resolve to be a better man, but too late for the Ellis', that girl's friends, extended family, and God knows who else! Everyone who's ever loved her, or even been in contact with her, now have a missing piece nothing can ever fill. Not all of the blame can be placed on you, of course. Your actions didn't help, but Lindsey made her choice. Just like you, I don't think she considered how her death would affect everyone around her; especially her parents. You say you want to be a better man? Here's your chance to prove it. The Ellis' will undoubtedly need some help on their farm. After you save the world from Doctor Doom, you will go to them, offer your condolences for their daughter, and insist upon working at their farm until you graduate high school. If they deny, you will insist until they accept, and work for free. This will be in addition to the work you have to do around our farm, and whatever superhero antics you involve yourself in. Do we have an understanding, son?"

"Yes, sir," I said.

"Anything you'd like to add, Eileene?" dad asked her.

"Just that you're lucky I can't beat your ass anymore, son," she said, glaring at me. "I'd hit you over the head with a pan, but i'm pretty sure you'd break it. I'd read you the riot act but, your dad already covered the bases. All I can say is you gonna do every last chore the Ellis' give you. I don't care if you have to milk 100 cows before nightfall, you'll milk every last one of em'. I'm glad you apparently natured, but you better not do this again, or i'll make sure you don't live to be an Avenger. Got it?"

"Got it," I said.

"Alright, now come here. Gimme another hug."

I got up and gave mom and dad a hug, before heading up to my room. It wasn't much just a twin bed, desk, closet, two drawers, one of which had a flat screen on it, and a bathroom. My wall was plastered with Avengers, X-Men, Raiders, and Fantastic Four posters. Also my letterman's jacket, which was due for another patch in the summer. I sat at my desk, pulled out a pen and notebook, and started writing letters to every girl i've ever wronged over the last three years. Super speed was my best friend, cuz it only took five minutes to finish 30 personalized letters. I put them all in my backpack and went downstairs again.

"I'm out, y'all," I said to everyone.

Everyone said some form of a goodbye to me, which mom followed up by telling me to kick Doom's candy ass, and I dashed outta the house in Blitz Mode. Yeah, I know I was gettin' short on time, but I didn't write those letters just for the hell of it. Hell, I wasn't satisfied with waiting for the mailman told deliver em'. Not when I could do it all myself. Good thing I knew where everyone was at.

I hightailed it to an abandoned barn, just a few miles outside of town. During Christmas, Spring Break, and summer, this was the party spot for the cool kids. Yeah, I know, super played out, but only the jocks, cheerleaders, and pretty people showed up to party here. Geeks and nerds were too busy actually doing something productive with their free time to brother comin' out here. The yard was packed with over 30 trucks and cars, so there was plenty of cover to dip behind. Afterwards, I dusted myself off, and started on my way into the barn. The plan was to be in and out before I drew too much attention to myself, but my team was havin' none of that. As soon as I opened the door, all eyes were on me. First was deafening silence, following by an overwhelming applause! My teammates, every one of em', swarmed me, givin' me mad respect! My boy, Dustin Summers, did a signature handshake with me, gave me a Smirnoff, and pulled me aside for a quick chat.

"Dude!" he shouted over the music. "Where you been at! You totally flaked on Mr. Brown's chem test! I've been stackin' up your make-up work for the past week!"

"Sorry, man," I said. "I got drafted."

"Like…...the army?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D. You know them new heroes Doom's fightin'?"

"Yeah?"

I conjured a pinch of G-Force in my fingertips, causing Dustin to almost go into shock!

"You!" he hissed at me. "You're the guy!"

"I'm the guy," I nodded.

"Dude, you took down Magneto! You fought those zombie things in Kansas! Wait, did you smash that hottie sun chick yet?"

I almost wanted to launch him into the next time zone for comin' at Allyson that way, but I had to realize Dustin didn't know about my sudden life change. Had to cut him some slack.

"Nah, man," I said. "I don't roll like that no more. Tryna keep it in my pants for a change. Look, I can't stay long, but I wanted to drop by and say thanks for not outin' me, and for watchin' my back. If I don't come back, take care of the team for me."

"Don't sweat it man, I looked into a bracelet that dampens mutant powers. If you get one, use it when we play games, coach has to let you back on the team."

"Appreciate it, D, but somethin' tells me this was my last season. But hey, you're just as good as me, better in the pocket for sure. Get the Patriots one more championship for me, will ya?"

I held out a fist, and after a few seconds, Dustin gave me a bump.

"No problem," he said. "Take care of yourself, G. Save the world for me; I finally got Maria to give me a shot!"

We laughed, gave each other a quick hug and I hightailed it to give my apology letters out. It took a good ten minutes to find them all, not to mention get the girls to listen to me, but they all eventually accepted their letters; begrudgingly in most cases. I felt worse facing all the girls I wronged over the past three years, but it was a good kinda worse. Like digging all the junk out from under your bed. I doubted i'd ever be on good terms with them again, but I hoped I gave the girls some sort of closure. No time to contemplate that now; I had a world to save. I chugged my green apple vodka, put on my Sling Ring, and opened a portal to the West Coast Avengers base. After I got behind some cover, of course.

(Jason's Perspective)

I zoomed across the country in 3 minutes! Damn, that was fun! I was almost tempted to take another lap, but I knew I had to get serious. Also, the West Coast Avengers mansion was sweet! First off, I love California weather. It's hardly cold, and while it was getting close to 8 on the east coast, it was a little after 4:30 here. The mansion sat on 50 acres of land, and was made of three interconnected buildings made of white brick and red roof shingles. The main building was big enough to stack three of my houses inside of it, while the other two were long rectangles that stretched out as wide as two blocks. That was just the main mansion. This place had five bungalows (mini-houses) spread across the main lawn, a helipad, tennis court, Olympic sized swimming pool in the back, underground hangar, a garage, and a park sized yard just for training. The mansion sat just 200 meters away from a clif, which led to a private beach (I really loved this place). Anyway, as I walked through the gate, Doctor Strange was there to greet me.

"Storm-Lord," he said as he shook my hand.

"Doctor," I replied. "Everyone here?"

"The majority, yes. Still waiting on the Avengers and various other reinforcements to join us, but I feel you should plan what you have to say to the assembled."

"Don't worry, I got a plan all drawn up."

"Do you now? Mind sharing that information with me?"

I didn't (he asked nicely), and quickly ran over the plan with him. He nodded in agreement with most of it, but made some changes based on heroes he'd need for his part of the battle effort to be successful.

"Also," he said, conjuring up images. "Doom has made a rather interesting choice of power distribution. He has endowed specific villains with an extraordinary amount of Olympus Energy, and opened a channel in which power will automatically flow from the stones to them."

He listed the villains off, and I felt a headache comin' on. First, we had our boy Venom (where'd he get more goo?) back in red with Ares Energy. Goblin was of course representing the Hades team (that was gonna be a run rematch), Magneto with the Zeus Energy, Hydro Man with Poseidon, Anaconda with Hercules, Jim with Demeter (I was so gonna kill Doom for that), and f*(#!^% Fin Fang Foom (big ass green dragon that could talk) with the Apollo Energy!

"As best as I can tell," Strange continued. "These villains act as generals for Doom's army. Still, if we can gather them within the same vicinity, I can conjure an incantation that will syphon their power away as it keeps coming."

"Which will fast track the energy pocket we need to overload Doom's gauntlet." I said. "Nice. I'll put a team on that. Good talk, Doc."

"Indeed. Sunbird is already inside the compound. If you want to spend some time with her before the briefing."

I tried not to blush, and zipped to the mansion entrance, where two dudes in biker gear were talkin' about some dude called Mephisto (sounded sinister). I ignored them, and contacted Allyson as soon as I walked into the mansion.

"Yo, Allyson,"I called her morpher. "I'm here. Where you at?"

"Living room," she responded. "First floor, east wing of the mansion, sittin' next to Dagger."

"Of course you are. Y'all hit it off, didn't ya?"

"What can I say? Lightbringers gotta stick together!"

"That's so corny."

I followed her instructions, and found her sitting on a huge sofa that looked more expensive than my mom's car. She was outta her battlesuit (which made me feel stupid for staying in mines), sitting next to Cloak, Dagger, Colossus, Luke, Nightcrawler, and Quicksilver.

"Hey, guys," I said.

Everyone said hi, and waved.

"Why are you still in your armor, Jason?" Allyson asked me.

"For the same reason, I cringed inside when you called me Jason," I said. "Tryna keep a low profile."

"For what? Everyone here knows you."

"Yeah, everyone on this couch. I dunno about everyone else."

"C'mon sugah," Rogue said as she walked into the living room (loved her accent). "Most of us are harmless enough; especially compared to ol' eyepatch. Besides, you're a global sensation now. Check Twitter. Ain't no point in hidin' from us. All eyes are on you and your friends."

Damn. She had a point. I powered down, Allyson smiled.

"See?" she said to me as she got up. "Why would you wanna hide those eyes? C'mon Rain Cloud, let's go for a walk!"

She grabbed my hand and led me outta the living room.

We basically toured the mansion for a little over an hour, as we talked. The way the place was set up, the east wing was the oversized living area with several single and long couches, a big screen TV, and a view of the distant forest. The kitchen was was in the lower half of the east wing, which was basically that kitchen from Ratatouille (that movie always makes me hungry). Seriously, the joint had a freezer big enough to use as a makeshift morgue (dunno why I went there). Heading out the back of the kitchen, there was the dining room, big enough to host a family of 20. Further back was a patio with recliners, hammocks, coffee tables, and a gorgeous view of the ocean.

"Nice place," I said, as we stopped to take in the view.

"Yeah," Allyson nodded. "A lot less palm trees than I was expecting, but not a bad first impression for Cali. So, how'd your goodbye go?"

"A lotta crying, a good pep talk, and slew of emotions i'm not used to feelin'. Also, I constructed another plan of attack against Doom. It'll most likely fall apart, forcing us to improv for our lives, but that's life."

"Typical, Bolt Boy."

"The one and only. So how'd it go with your folks?"

"Me and my mom cried a lot. She didn't wanna let me come back, but me and my dad managed to convince her to let me back into the fray. Also singing. A lotta singing. By the way, we are so totally kicking Doom's butt tomorrow! Mom promised me as much peppermint/pumpkin pies as I want if I come home, so losing is not an option!"

"Yes ma'am."

"Ugh, don't call me that, i'm not 40."

We laughed, and leaned close to each other. We pressed our head together, and after some awkward Eskimo kissing (Logan and Quinn made it look so easy), we finally kissed for real. I dunno what it is about Allyson, but kissing her never got old. Hell, I made thunder ripple across an almost clear sky. That must've made Allyson feel good, cuz I felt her body heat rise to almost scalding!

"Romantic," she said, hugging me tight.

"Yeah…" I responded. "I…..dunno what to say."

"It's ok, I can feel your emotions. I read you loud and clear."

Again, I got a high dosage of emotions I was not used to, nor well equipped to handle. I gave her a kiss on the head, and we continued our self tour of the mansion.

The west wing consisted of a multipurpose room, big enough to host a gala, following by a lounge with an arcade (Wolverine was killin' Ms. Pac Man), a pool table, soda machine, and a TV that was literally a wall. The second floor west wing had a library bigger than the one in my school, and an office building. Towards the center of the manion was a master bedroom with a bed that was wider than an eighteen wheeler, a bathroom, two wardrobes (a rich man's closet), and a widescreen TV. This used to be Hawkeye and Mockingbird's room, which made me and Allyson feel kinda awkward. We moved to the east wing second floor, which was entirely the medical wing. I'm not talkin' elementary nurses office either; we're talkin' defibulators, a surgery room, and several containment rooms filled with enough drugs to dope up a whale! The mansion also had two sub levels that were reserved for training simulators, classified meetings, and crazy science stuff. Below those were the hangar for quinjets. I was tempted to explore those levels, but it was getting time for the meeting, so me and Allyson decided to head back to the living room. Lo and behold, Grant was down in the lobby, chattin' it up with every superhero he could get within' five feet of! The dude was like an uncaged lion in a room of gazelle (that sounds like an awesome bloodbath waiting to happen), either bragging about his heroic exploits (aka the Magneto battle he'd never shut up about), or shoving his autograph book in everyone's face.

"Dude!" I said to him as I approached. "What the hell?!"

"What?" he responded. "World crisis or not, i'll never have a better chance at gettin' this many autographs in one place. Gotta get while the gettin's good! Now if you'll excuse me…..Yo, Cyclops!"

Allyson laughed at him, and told me to let him have his fun. She led me back to the lounge, where we chilled for a few more minutes, until the sound of a quinjet roaring into the the hangar put everyone on hush mode. A few minutes later, the Avengers and friends walked into the living room, bringing in the entourage of superheroes with then. They looked epic (couldn't even pretend to be unimpressed).

Captain America had a more armored look to him. Same color scheme and design, just swap spandex for a kevlar/titanium mesh look. His top half, which was usually a kinda chainmail design, was a layer made of octagonal armor pieces, and his cowl was now a military grade helmet that covered the top half of his face, with his wings painted on the sides. Black Widow was next to him, and Jesus Christ this woman was hot as- (i'll stop their, before Allyson blasts me). She had on a design similar to her usual get up, just swap latex and/or spandex for Kevlar. She had two guns strapped to her hips, and one of those weird alien bayonet guns the Chitauri used when they invaded New York (the first time) strapped across her back, along with some strange looking energy batons. That mixed with the fact that there were slots in the bottoms of her suit's wrists (totally Assassin's Creed blade shooters), and I immediately got the impression that she was not to be f*(#%&$ with. Hawkeye looked like he always did, rockin' a black T-shirt with a big downwards arrow on the chest, black pants, purple lensed shades, and black boots. He didn't look too thrilled to be back at his old base. Thor looked the same too, wearing chainmail under a breastplate with those six circles (seriously, what are those even for?), a winged helmet, and his signature hammer in hand. Hulk looked almost nothing like I thought he would. He ditched the shirtless look for a breastplate with glowing circles (two on opposite sides of the chest, one on the centerpiece of his belt) that formed an upside down triangle, armored legwear made of the same material, fingerless gloves, and boots that looked like they could crush a tank. Also, the dude had a buzzcut! Finally, Iron Man looked the same, just swap the red in his costume for black. Alongside them were the Guardians of the Galaxy, Young Avengers, Runaways, Power Pack, and the Nova Twins (you'll see why I called them that later).

The Guardians were a weird bunch. Star-Lord, aka, Peter Quill (I read everyone's files) was a white dude, probably in his mid-40s, with short and curly brown hair, wearing a blue T-shirt, crimson leather jacket, jeans, and boots that had rocket boosters on the sides. Gamora was green skinned (immediately thought less muscular She-Hulk), with a white full body armor suit, and a sword strapped to her back. Drax was a grey guy (who looked strikingly like Batista), with intricate red tattoos all over his face and torso. He was rocking the shirtless look, with blue uniform pants, and knives in his boot sheaths. Rocket….was a talking raccoon, wearing a blue uniform to fit his tiny racoon body. I…..got nothin' on that one. Only thing I could say was i'd take careful care not to call him a racoon (or fox, monkey, puppy, and rabbit), as he had a very short temper, an overly anxious trigger finger, and guns that could allegedly blow up moons (could use some of those right about now). Believe it or not, he wasn't the weirdest of the bunch. That golden trophy went to a walking tree alien that could only say "I am Groot" (bet you'll never guess what his name was). Based on his file, he was like Coco, from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends (loved that show). He said the same thing, but could mean literally anything.

Next up were the Young Avengers, who haven't been seen in a hot minute. Patriot, aka Elijah Bradley, was a black dude, probably early 20's (like most of em'), with a bald head, goatee on his chin, red domino mask, blue kevlar armor, with white highlights, and a star on his right chest, white pants, blue boots, and his triangular American flag shield. He walked like a teacher's pet; I didn't like him. Next was Hulking…..who….why was he called Hulkling? I guess if you stretch it, it makes sense. He had green scaly skin that acted as natural body armor, blonde hair, a black and purple sleeveless bodysuit, and some kinda magic longsword on his back (the thing was glowing, and had alien runes on it). He was at least as tall as Grant, and double the body size, but Hulk-like? I didn't see it. Anyway, we had Wiccan next to him….who looked like Sasuke. No, seriously, same haircut, similar face…...if he was not cast for a live action Naruto movie, you're doing it wrong, Hollywood. He was rockin' a cool ass uniform that was basically a blue jumpsuit, but the sides of his pants and his arms looked like a clear night filled with stars. I needed to have a shirt like that. Elsewhere we had Speed (Thomas Shepard, Wiccan's twin), who looked like a teenage quicksilver, wearing a green spandex suit that had silver stripes going down the sides, orange goggles, and silver boots. He looked like an easy going, fun kinda guy; unlike his uncle (technically), who was either super serious, or super cocky (unlike myself). Movin' onto the ladies, we had Kate Bishop, the girl Hawkeye (is it sexist to call her 'girl Hawkeye'? You can never be sure with these things). She had long black hair pulled back in a ponytail, purple tinted shades, a bow and full quiver slung across her back, and a purple kevlar suit that had a sleeveless side, with fingerless gloves, and purple boots. It was hard to read her. She either didn't care, or hid how much she cared under her meh face. If she was anything like me, it probably varied. Next we had Cassandra Lang, aka Stature, Ant-Man's daughter. She used to be dead, but now she's not. She was a tall blonde, wearing a black domino mask, and a heavily armored version of her usual get up. The lower half was just pure black with red highlights, and a utility belt. The torso was red surrounding a black negative space of a large black circle, and three lines cutting into the red. Two of those lines cut diagonal across her chest, and into her shoulders, which was more black across her arms, up to her red gloves. The last line stopped at her navel area. When looking at the picture as a whole, the black negative space made the Pym Particles logo. From what I could see on her suit, she had blaster gauntlets, and her suit probably had shrinking/growing tech. Dunno why she'd need it (her power was to grow in size), but whatever. The last member of the Young Avengers was some Latina chick named America Chavez, and she either really loved this country, or was a huge fangirl of Captain America (maybe none of the above). She was wearing red, white, and blue everywhere! Her converses, shorts, blue T-shirt with a star in the middle, denim jacket with stars going down the sleeves; this chick was all out for the flag! Aesthetic preferences aside, she reminded me of Grant. She had that look about her that said she was used to being the strongest person in the room. Dunno if she was cocky to the point of annoyance, but that was for later.

Moving onto the Power Pack (thank God there were only four of em'), they looked like a junior Fantastic Four, mixed with The Incredibles. The oldest was Alex Powers, also known as Zero-G (better than Super-G). He was tall, blonde, toned, and looked about 20. He had on a white jumpsuit that had black jigsaw puzzle piece looking designs spread out over the whole of the suit. Looked kinda cool, and was by far the most unique of his teammates. Not that the rest were bad, he just had an aesthetic that was way different from the rest. Next to him was Julie Powers, aka Lightspeed, who looked around my age, maybe a year older. She was a red head, about the same height as Alex. Her costume was kinda like her two other siblings, in the sense that it was a modified red jumpsuit, with long black stripes along the sides and arm sleeves. Her suit had an exposed midriff (this girl had abs for days!), and a black design of a prism on her chest. She reminded me of Allyson, in the sense that she looked unbearably hopeful and optimistic. I immediately liked her. Next to her was Jack Power, aka Mass Master (not terrible). He looked about 15 or 16, with spiky NSYNC brown hair, wearing a blue jumpsuit with metal bands around his wrists and boots. He had a black stencil on his chest, making a blue cloud image. His younger sister, Katie Power, aka Enerizer, couldn't have been a day over 13. She wore her blond hair in pigtails, and was wearing a yellow jumpsuit exactly the same design as her brother Jack's, only with a different stencil of a star-like design, similar to the first Captain Marvel's (who was the current Captain Marvel anyway?).

Finally, the last group that wasn't the Nova Twins, were the Runaways. I'd find out later why they got that name, but let's just focus on the members right now. First up was their leader, Nico Minoru, who was an asian goth chick, about the same age as the Young Avengers. Yeah, I know it was a bit of a broad stroke, but it didn't get any more goth than this chick. She was wearing a fishnet suit over a bra, and under some black shorts. Over that, she had a long black sleeveless trench coat, and matching fingerless gloves on her hands. She had purple eyeliner, black lipstick, and was wearing black combat boots that literally said on the sides 'your head here', with an arrow pointing to the ground, and 'your ass here', with an arrow pointing to the boot tip.. Plus, she was an actual witch. Next to her was Chase Stein. He was about my height and build, with long blonde hair that rivaled Thor's. His hair was in that Shawn Michaels style, and he was wearing a black Iron Man-like suit that had an orange arc reactor and repulsors. I could feel the heat of em' from 10 feet away; like the dude had a volcano stored in there. Also he had a pet raptor that had a nose ring (as you do). Next to him was a blonde chick, Karolina about his height, wearing some kinda white battle suit that had bright yellow lines making a series of V's going down her torso, stopping just at her navel. She had two batons sticking outta her back, which I guess were alien weapons. Oh yeah, her deal was the fact that she was an alien that absorbed solar energy, and could fly, and shoot energy blasts, while looking like a multicolored disco machine (fun). Up next, we had some…..black chick? Maybe? She was a Skrull (green, shapeshifters, wrinkled chins) named Xavin, so she was just putting on a front. Also, she was a Super Skrull (cuz of course she was), meaning she could imitate the powers of the Fantastic Four (that's actually pretty badass). She had long, curly brown hair, and was wearing a purple jumpsuit with a black stripe running down the middle, and black boots and gloves. Finally, we had Molly Hayes, who looked about 16. She was wearing a pink hoodie, jeans, converses, and Finn's Adventure Time hat. She was apparently one of the strongest heroes ever, and it showed. Even under the hoodie, I could see the muscles on this chick. Even if she didn't have super strength, she coulda punched Crosby out in her sleep, and just like Chavez, she knew it.

Finally, we had the Nova Twins. If it weren't for the fact that I heard them conversing as they walked in, I wouldn't have known they were Japanese. They looked about the same age as the Young Avengers, and were identical in height (about 5'10). Their costumes were exactly the same: black metallic armor that had those three Nova circles on them, a gold waist band, gold boots, black Nova helmet with a red cross on the forehead, glowing mechanical eyes, and golden gloves. They looked like I felt. For some reason, based on their body language, I felt like they got thrust into a predicament they were not prepared for, and just barely managed to navigate their way through it. I immediately felt for them, and felt bad that they seemed to just get outta the fire, and into the frying pan. But yeah, these were the final players. With them here, we could get the briefing started, which Strange was way ahead of.

Everyone suddenly got portaled into the oversized ballroom, where there were just enough chairs to accommodate the hundreds of heroes, agents, and Wakandan soldiers. Fury was at the head of the table, with me, Grant, Allyson, and Mrs. Kennedy along his left side. On the other was The Avengers, Young Avengers, Runaways, Guardians, Nova Twins, and everybody else. The look Cap was giving me was…..unsettling. There wasn't immediate judgement (a nice change) or condescension, just curiosity. It helped put me a little more at ease as Fury started the briefing.

"Nice to see so many friendly faces," he said as he stood up. "I wish the circumstances were less dire, but when are they not? Some of you know what's been up for the past 10 days, others only have inklings, or no clue at all. Allow me to bring everyone up to speed."

Fury spent the next ten minutes or so explaining what went down with the whole Stones of Olympus nonsense. He brushed over the details of most of our missions, but made it very clear that Delta Force wasn't something to write off. Still, even tho he skipped over the major parts of the canyon battle and the Helicarrier defense, I couldn't help but feel my stomach drop.

"With that being said," Fury wrapped up his intro. "I give the floor to Mr. Fuller here, who…..wait, you do have a plan, right?"

I nodded.

"Ok then, let em' have it."

I fiddled with my watch, brought up the plan schematics, and enlarged them to project overhead.

"Ok," I started. "What we know for certain is that Doom wants me and my teammates only in the city. We've been a thorn in his side, and he wants to make an example of us."

"Then why are you walking right into the trap?" Patriot spoke up.

"Please save all questions till the end of the presentation, thanks. As I was saying, Doom wants the three of us there. Based on the lieutenants he's chosen to give bigger power boosts, most of which my team and I have defeated, he intends to play a game with us before he wipes us out. Yeah, I don't expect Doom to play fair, not with so much on the line, so I won't either."

I switched the schematic to project Manhattan.

"While me and my team entertain Doom, you lot will chill in the Mirror Dimension exactly in Manhattan. For those that don't know, the Mirror Dimension is an ever present, but separate reality of our world. You can't affect the real world inside it, nor can the real world see or affect you. This is how we'll ambush that son of a bitch. When the heat ramps up, Strange will pull you lot outta the Mirror Dimension, right on top of Doom and/or his forces. You'll have armor upgrades, provided by Agent Kennedy here, who'll be working tirelessly with me and the other tech heads to give us a fighting chance against Doom's enhanced cronies."

"If I may interject, Storm-Lord-" Doctor Strange spoke up.

"Storm-Lord?!" Rocket laughed at me (stupid racoon). "Why not put a sign over ya head that says 'hello, I have daddy issues'?!"

I was about to make fried space racoon, but Drax stepped in to save his tail.

"Quiet, inconsiderate beast," he said in a voice that reminded me of one of my teachers who used to be a Marine. "The young warrior shows intelligence and spirit. He would have made a keen ally in the battle against Thanos. Young warrior, what is the origin of your title? Do you indeed harness the power of the elements as its master, or is that a pretentious title you've given yourself to sound, as you humans would say "cool"? My companion, Quill, would be the latter."

"Dude!" Quill looked at him.

I immediately liked Drax, and created a small tornado and lighting storm on the table, letting it sit for a few seconds, before dissipating it.

"Well met, Storm-Lord," Drax nodded. "Please, wizard, continue with what you were about to say."

"Thank you," Strange said, barely containing his annoyance. "As I was saying, Storm-Lord, i'll need you with me after this meeting adjourns. The outcome of the battle depends on it. I'm sure you understand."

"No problem, Doc," I said. "Back to the plan, the battle will be just that for most of you. Doom has imbued most of his forces with the power of the Stones of Olympus, but doing so keeps his battlesuit operating at full capacity. When defeating an enemy combatant, their energy aura is displaced, and would usually divert back to the stones, but Strange has found a way to divert the energy into a pocket that we will use to our advantage. When the energy pocket has reached optimal capacity, i'll use a mole I put in Doom's CPU to temporarily force his suit's energy processing capabilities to stall. At the same time, Strange will release the overflow of energy into Doom's gauntlet, overloading the thing, and making it go boom. I'll be engaged in combat with Doom, more on that later, so i'll be there to take the stones from him, and use their power to kill him. And yes, I said kill. That comet is forged with powerful dark magic that's tied to Doom's life force. It only loses its protection if Doom bites it."

I paused, seeing if anyone had any objections. Most of em' definitely looked uncomfortable, but with so much on the line, with so little time on the clock, nobody was making any moral grandstanding.

"Ok," I continued. "So, i've set up teams based on our different plans of attacks: ground, air, subatomic, snipers, magic, and a special team I call Task Force Skittles. Ground team will be the battle the bulk of Doom's army. Air team will take Doom's air support; make sure the ground team isn't fighting a battle on two ends. By the way, air team that's not Geo-Titan, you'll be up against some demon chick that calls herself Dragon Empress. She's got an army of various dragon creatures, and ship's made of nigh indestructible metal. Best way to take out the ships is to fling them into each other. Sniper team will be our eyes up high, distance, and guerrilla warfare fighters. Our magic team will be our guys behind the scenes. They'll be operating the Mirror Dimension transportation, as well as maintaining the energy pockets we'll need to make the overall plan work. Finally, Task Force Skittles will be in charge of taking on Doom's super powered generals. Long story short, Doom's opened up an automatic power transfer to his lieutenants. With some magical assistance, we can use that against him by branding them with a spell that will divert the power stream to our energy pocket. The brand will take a few minutes to kick in, and once it does, the person of interest will be transported into an interdimensional pentagram? Look, if you wanna know the specifics, ask Doctor Strange. In the meantime, i'll be engaging Doom directly. On the off chance he doesn't have the balls to face me in the field, Strange will have another, significantly smaller, energy pocket ready. That one'll ping the stones, and draw him directly to me. I'll keep him occupied until the bigger energy pocket is ready to blow his gauntlet to hell. Afterwards, Doom and his comet won't be far behind. Any questions before I move onto naming the teams?"

Cap raised his hand.

"Yes, you with the A on your forehead?"

"Just wondering about your specifics on fighting Doctor Doom, son. You've cooked up one hell of a detailed plan regarding everything else, but you seem a bit sparse on Doom himself. No offense, but unless you're packing on some hidden muscle, I don't know how you plan to fight Doom by yourself."

Usually, i'd take offense to that, but i've been underestimated so many times, I was numb to it.

"First off, strength isn't everything, Cap. But just so you know, I can bench press a battleship for a mid-morning workout. But yeah, I got a plan. First things first, because Doom's splitting his power so thin, he won't be at the same power level he was back in our first encounter. Even with his reserves, he won't have the same bite as before. As such, he'll be more on my level. Second, I shatter that sword of his. You haven't seen it yet, but Doom has a sword made of all the Olympus Stone energies. He got it several hours ago in our first encounter. It enhances and focuses his energy. Without it, he'll have a harder time keepin' it all under control. Finally, I can more or less speak to the stones. I'm more or less a melting pot of several generations of Greek demigods. As such, i'm compatible with the Olympus Stone energies. If I can get the stones to turn on Doom, they're fickle like that, I can make his day go south real quick. Also Strange is givin' me some kinda upgrade…..I think. Is that sufficient, Captain?"

"It'll have to be. I don't mean to belittle your efforts, i'm sure you've done your best-"

"Then don't," Grant interrupted him. "No disrespect, Cap, i'm a huge fan, and i'm sure you were out saving the universe in an epic space adventure. Still, we've been here, protecting the world, while you we're in a galaxy far, far away."

"Not very good," Patriot spoke up (yup, definitely hated that smug asshat).

Before Grant could respond, I made it thunder real loud!

"Enough." I said. "Save it for the bad guys. I get what you're gettin' at Cap. We lost bigtime. You wanna assign blame, look at me. I came up with the plans, the plans blew up in my face. I know i've got blood on my hands, that a lot of you have dead people cuz of me. I'm not askin' for forgiveness, and I sure as hell can't bring em' back. Still, most of you are, or were Avengers, so do what your trademark says. Also, i'm not askin' for permission to lead this battle. I failed, no two ways about that. I'm lucky Doom has to work on a generous timetable, along with his massive ego to trip him up. Still, I learn from my failures, and keep movin' forward. Losin' ain't an option, and i'm goin' for blood. Doom's goin' down, if I have to go through any of y'all to do it, I will. Anymore questions?"

Cyclops raised his hand. He had on a black and red suit, with an X visor over his face. How he shot outta that thing, I didn't know.

"Yea?" I asked him.

"Relax, Storm-Lord, i'm not gonna give you trouble, just wanna ask a favor. After the battle, I respectfully request Magneto and his remaining mutants be delivered into the custody of the X-Men."

"You ain't a X-Man no more, Slim!" Wolverine snarled at him. "Not after what you did!"

He was probably talkin' bout that Phoenix

Force $#!+, and justified or not (totally justified), I didn't have time for it. I summoned another thunder clap, to stop another fight.

"Again," I said. "Save it for the bad guys."

"Erik is not just another bad guy," Cyclops said. "He's one a valued member and protector of my school, and I would not see him incarcerated. He will be dealt with accordingly, as he was not sanctioned to league with Doom. I understand his motives, Doom assured him a world where mutants would rule in a new regime, but countless of our kind will undoubtedly perish if Doom is successful. Not all will submit to his offer. Still, Eric is a mutant, and should meet justice from his own, not S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Do you know what your buddy's been up to the past week?" I asked him. "At least 100 human deaths under his belt, attacking a school fulla kids, and nearly killing me and my team. You're lucky if I don't take his head."

"I am aware of Erik's crimes, and do not take them lightly. Believe me, he will be punished accordingly once in my custody. From one mutant to another, can I count on you to show mercy?"

I took a few secs (dramatic effect) before answering.

"I won't kill him," I said. "But as for that whole custody thing, that's not up to me, you'll have to parley with Fury on that one. Best of luck. Any more questions or concerns?"

Nobody spoke up.

"Alright then," I said. "Let's get these teams sorted."

I transformed the hologram to the list of teams, and started naming them off.

"Ground Team consists of: all S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and Wakandan Special Forces, Captain America, Black Panther, Groot, Drax, Patriot, Hulkling, Wolverine, Colossus, Shadowcat, Spider-Man, Cyclops, Magik, Psylocke, Daredevil, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Rocket, Gamora, Quicksilver, Deadpool, Elektra, Iceman, Shatterstar, Misty Knight, Jessica Jones, Beast, Gambit, X-23, Bishop, Surge, Xavin, Ant-Man, Stature, Wasp, and Hulk-"

"Hulk on air team!" he spoke up.

"What?" I sighed at him (always gotta be one guy that makes trouble) "Dude, you can't fly."

"Hulk smash dragon lady! Hulk smash spaceships! HULK ON AIR TEAM!"

He pounded his fist through the table, and I was half a sec away from losing it.

"Fine!" I snapped at him. "Stupid…...no, nope, save it for the bad guys. Ok, Air team, you got a new member now. Including Hulk, Air Team is: Geo-Titan, Thor, Iron Man, Pepper, Star-Lord, Chase, Angel, Storm, Rogue, Ms. Marvel, and Blue Marvel."

"What if I want to be on the Ground Team?" Stark asked sarcastically.

"Then i'll shoot you outta the sky, and put you six feet under it," I responded.

"Yeesh. Lighten up kid. Take up yoga or something."

"Tried it once, didn't work out. Moving on, Subatomic Team is Victor and Vision."

"Just us, hombre?!" Victor asked. "A little short on the muscle, don't ya think?"

"Can we talk about the fact that a guy who goes subatomic on a regular basis is not on the subatomic team?" Ant-Man spoke up (had a feelin' he'd feel hurt by that).

"Cool it." I spoke up. "First off, Ant-Man, it was a struggle putting you on a team. I was wrestling with putting you on Sniper Team. Your shrink and grow gimmick would be amazing against focused targets. You're on the ground to basically do the same thing. Break enemy lines, take out stragglers, the works. They'll overlook you, and that'll be their mistake."

Scott practically puffed up like a peacock and went silent.

"As for you and Vision, Vic," I continued. I'm not expecting you to fight off an army of Yellowjackets. Well, Vision will, but his upgrade is beast enough for him to do that. While Vision's fighting the brunt of the attack as a nanobot swarm, Vic will use his electromagnetic powers, which i've read is powerful enough access a metropolitan city electric grid, and fry as many Yellowjackets as you can. We don't need them running interference in our battle formations. Cool?"

Vision and Vic (sounds like a trashy 90's sitcom) nodded, and I moved on.

Alright," I continued. "Sniper Team is: Black Widow, both Hawkeyes, Emma Frost, Nightcrawler, Cloak, and Dagger. Magic Team is: Doctor Strange, Nico, Wiccan, Doctor Voodoo, and Scarlet Witch. Last, but not least, Task Force Skittles is: Power Pack, Sunbird, America, Molly, Karolina, and the Nova Twins."

"My name is, Sutadaiyamondo," one of em' said.

"And I am, Kirakiraboshi," the other said.

"And I can't tell you two apart to save my life," I said. "Hence, why your the Nova Twins for now. Nice to meet you, tho."

It was nice to get to a team that didn't object to their placing. Task Force Skittles was my automatic favorite.

"And there you go," I said. "Everyone do what you have to do. Get some sleep, train, build, whatever, but we're up at 6, and in place by 8:00 EST. Any questions?"

Nobody had any.

"Alright," I said. "Let's get to work."

Fury got a hold of me a few minutes after the meeting.

"Helluva job, Fuller," he told me.

"Thanks," I said. "Sorry about that whole thing back there with Cap."

"Don't sweat it; you held your own. They'll at least respect that. Hell, it ain't easy wowing a crowd after a blunder. I would know. So, off to see the wizard?"

"Did you just make a joke? Like….a good one?"

"It's been known to happen every other moon."

Fury walked off, and I made my way to Allyson and Grant.

"Hey, guys," I said. "Ya'll ok?"

"All good here," Grant said. "I'm bout to get into some last minute training with Gaea; finally get to transforming my skin into 'living metal'.

"Ditto." Allyson said. "Not the metal skin thing, but after I power up, i'm gonna get with my group, and do some training. We need to get a feel for each other if we're gonna work together."

"Well said, Ms. Grace," Strange said behind her (that guy moved like a shadow). "Which is why we should get started posthaste."

He flung his hand out to the nearest wall, and a door materialized from nowhere.

"That door leads to a parallel dimension where time is substantially slower than ours." he said. "An hour in our world is a week in there. You can use it to train at your leisure, Storm-Lord."

"Train?" I asked. "With what?"

"Your extended power, of course. You're ethereal imbalance suggests you've already tapped it at least once. Indeed, your divine lineage has been ignited by the arcane energies of the Olympus Stones. If you want any hope of defeating Doom, especially if you mean to battle him on your own, the might of seven Olympians would be a comforting tool."

"Oh, he won't be alone," Allyson spoke up. "As soon as i'm done smacking Doom's sidekicks around, i'm flying straight for the Tin Man myself."

"Same," Grant said. "I'm practically dedicating my workout routine to that asshole."

Strange looked like he was laughing inside.

"Be that as it may, we still need to balance your ethereal energy, Jason," he said. "Mr. Jackson, if I could attain some Nature Force?"

"You can't magic up some yourself?" Grant asked as he conjured some in his palm.

"Not without the favor of Demeter, and gods are difficult to gain favor with."

Strange twisted and stretched the Nature Force like silly putty, before hovering it over my head, in the shape of a halo, and bringing it down over my head (I felt like I was being knighted). The energy dissolved into me, and I felt the seven different god energies click; like a lock finally hitting that last correct dial. I suddenly felt like some put a phone that was set to vibrate in my chest (sounds kinda relaxing). Energy rubled inside me, like I was a volcano that just went active! Hell, multi-colored sparks passively surged around my body, and I felt like I was on the brink of going Super Saiyan 5! I managed to cool it (didn't wanna blow up the base), but now I was itching to cut loose and see what I could do!

"That'll get the ball rolling," Strange said. "You'll have about seven weeks to harness and expand your powers. As soon as Ms. Grace is finished replenishing her power, you'll have exclusive access to the parallel dimension."

He closed his fist, and Allyson's stone started glowing.

"That'll go off in less than thirty seconds, Ms. Grace," he said (nice timing). "If you'd be so kind as to-"

"Later, y'all!" she said as she bolted into the Minecraft Dimension (seriously, nothin but a field of grass in there).

"Well," Grant sighed. "That escalated quickly."

"Yup," I said. "So, off to do your metal skin thing?"

"Yeah. Gonna do it in the Geo-Nexus. Be back in time for the big brawl."

"Aight, do it big, man."

We dapped each other up, and he left me alone to wait for Allyson to finish charging up.

(Allyson's Perspective)

Ok, can we all agree Doctor Strange is kind of a jerk?! Seriously, this rock had the power of seven suns of cinnamon or whatever! That coulda easily burned down the world, and he just activated it in attempt to get me to hurry up! Dick move, wizard!

Anyway, I bolted into grassy dimension and just kept running! I dunno why I was so paranoid, but I just wanted to get this pebble sized nuke away from the door back to my world. As I ran, the pebble kept heating up. Pretty sure it was at least 500 degrees when it finally blew. Speaking of which…..holy Jesus when that thing blew!

First off, it wasn't an explosion, rather than a really intense energy transfer. The energy of the seven suns coursed through my body like it was an injection, and my cells drank it up like hot chocolate! The feeling was intense! Like Doctor Strange said, i've been taking the sun in from billions of miles away. This was literally like if seven suns were slammed right on top of me! I lost track of time, but i'm pretty sure I was at double what I was used to in just a few seconds, and it just kept going! Seriously, it was like steroids mixed with heroin! At least that's what I think that would feel like. I was afraid that I might explode or something; I mean, i've never exactly tested my solar absorption limits before. Heck, I could feel my body blazing in a bright yellow bonfire! For the first time in over a year, I felt like I was getting too hot! I panicked a little, kinda scared about what was gonna happen next, but then I felt myself…...open? I dunno how to describe it, just that my body seemed to open up more room to absorb in all the excess energy. It felt like the world's biggest heart burn, but it was over after a few seconds. I hunched over, breathing heavy, trying to stop my vision from spinning. Eventually I just sat down, deciding to stick it out until it was done. And wouldn't ya know it, Apollo flashed next to me in a beam of light!

Yeah, I know that had no buildup whatsoever, but it really was that fast. One second I was alone, the next I had a Greek Sun God next to me. He was a super muscular, with long blonde hair that was sticking out under his golden battle helm that had a plume made of yellow fire. Speaking of which, Apollo's armor was lit! It was a classic Greek armor variation with a giant gilded sun in the center of the breastplate, and flame patterns all along his arm guards and greaves. He had a flaming sword in his hand, a loaded quiver strapped to his back, which i'm certain had magical trick arrows,and a giant gilded bow with a fire string. He looked so not like he did in the vision. His carefree, almost effeminate demeanor, was replaced with a hardened resolve. His eyes were sad and angry; like he wanted to beat someone to death with a harp, as he sobbed his eyes out. Heck, while i'm certain this was some kinda illusion, he had cuts along his arms and legs, as well as monster blood spattered all over his sword and breastplate. He barely looked at me as he talked.

"Granddaughter," he said in a voice that was still as sweet as an angel.

"Granddaughter," I nodded. "Makes sense."

"Pardon?"

"My mom never knew you enough to talk about you, but was always bitter about it in a way that suggested she had negative experiences tied directly to you. That mixed with the fact that she neeeever talks about my grandma, as well as my sun powers, and all this godly nonsense going on…...I mean, i'm not stupid."

"Are you angry with me, child?"

"Nah. You were never around to miss, kinda what gods do, and my life is pretty good, even with all this crap going down. Still, why are you here?"

"You were pushing your powers to fatal limits. I would not see my granddaughter perish. You are needed in the wars to come."

"Wars? I don't like the sound of that. Also, thanks, gramps. Nice to know that you care so much."

"But I do, Allyson. When you were born premature, I willed your powers to activate as to ensure you'd grow healthy and strong. I still care for and visit your grandmother from time to time."

"What?! No that's not true! She's dead!"

"She lives, though not for much longer. I wish I could tell you more, but time is short. Before I leave, I give you a gift."

He tapped my forehead, and I felt a wave of fire pass through me from head to toe. My vertigo immediately subsided, and I felt like a sun was feeding me continuous energy. Also, my senses seemed heightened. Everything seemed brighter, even in the night sky, and I was suddenly more aware of things like wind direction, angles, and a whole buncha stuff related to accuracy.

"The blessing of Apollo," grandpa said. "No matter how far you stray from the sun, you will never be without its power. Also, you see and experience reality one-third of the way that I do. You'll never miss another shot."

"Wow," I said. "Thanks, grandpa."

"My pleasure, granddaughter." he smiled at me. "Punish that cretin for daring to use my stone."

Apollo dissipated in a flash of light, leaving me a little confused, but with a nice warm feeling in my heart. I kept that with me as I headed back to my own dimension.

(Grant's Perspective)

After I ditched Jason, I walked out the front door, and flew near the woods area.

"Can I get a lift, G?" I asked Gaea.

"You sure?" she asked me sarcastically. "Last time didn't go so well."

"I'll take my chances. Who knows, maybe more of my baggage will show up this time."

"Elder Gods forbid."

She sent up the obsidian tube, and I took another roller coaster ride back to the Geo-Nexus. I didn't pass out this time, but Gaea's new look was makin' me a bit weak in the knees. Seriously, I dare you not to look at Gabrielle Union in a bikini made diamonds, lying on a lounge chair, with sunglasses on, and not want to go Looney Toons! Why she was dressed like this on my mansion patio, I had no idea, but I was diggin' it.

"Why?" I asked her. "We ain't even on the beach."

"Can't a girl just relax every now and again?" she asked me.

"Sure, on your own time. You said you'd train me with the whole skin changing stuff. Let's hop to it."

"First off, i'm going to enjoy lying about in this beautiful body. You will train. For this to work, you need to be at 15% Geo-Force capacity use. 10% won't be enough for you to surviethe initial transformation."

"Huh?"

"You'll find out. I have to prepare the portion anyway. Oh, and i've slowed down time enough that you'll have a little over two months of training. Let's get to work on getting that Geo-Force power up to par, starting with body training."

She set me up with a series of tasks that was basically crossfit for gods! First I did my usual upper and lower body with large rock bodies. Last time I was strong enough bench press a continent. By the time I was done with a week's worth of lifting, squatting, pulling, pushing, and crushing land masses the size of Australia, I could bench a three continents of top of each other!

After the warm-up, Gaea had me do 2 weeks worth of intense meditation, followed by another one of martial arts training. I would sit on a remote island for seven days straight, sittin' on my ass, and channeling the G-Force through my 7 chakras. Starting from my Root Chakra, all the way up to the Crown, I focused on incorporating as much G-Force into them, and merging my chi with it. By the time I was finished going into the G-Force version of the avatar state, I felt like I was operating at hyperdrive! My senses were sharper, I felt stronger, faster, and more aware of my sense of self. I did the same thing with the Nature Force, as Gaea wanted to be sure the two respective energies grew with each other within me. I put my hyper senses to work during my martial arts training. I focused on practicing Tiger, Monkey, and Dragon Kung-Fu style. I was kinda in a state of intense meditation as I did the sequences; pouring everything I had into the various moves and sequences. Throughout them all, I could feel specific changes in me. The tiger made me feel stronger. I could feel my eyes and ears sharpen, and I quite literally grew fangs and talons. The same was basically true for the dragon except I could literally feel fire building up in the center of my chest. The monkey just made me more flexible, sharpened my reflexes, and gave me a craving for mangoes and bananas.

"What was that about, Earth Ma?" I asked Gaea.

"Your spiritual attunement has grown exponentially," she said. "As such, you're learning to channel various other spiritual energy connected to the Geo-Force."

"Like that whole mind download thing you do?"

"Precisely. Perhaps we can expand upon this new ability in the future, but for now, focus on your training. You're at 13%; almost there."

The rest of the training was on another level of god mode! For a month, Gaea had me creating, and destroying land masses as big as North America for a warm-up. I had to convert the same amount of land into various metals. She had me create G/N-Force charged sandstorms big enough to swallow Australia, while I meditated in the eye of the storm. That last part was the last week of my training stretch, and by the time it was all over, I was strong enough to create a sandstrom that could grind a whole continent into dust! Finally after all that, I was at 15% power. Wow…...I am gonna be so f*(!^% strong when I hit the big 100!

"Yes," Gaea mused. "Very impressive. Almost worth your insufferable puns. Now come over here; the potion is ready."

I flew back to the mansion patio, to find Gaea with a salad bowl full of bright green oozing….uh, let's call it juice. It didn't smell like anything, but it didn't look appetizing at all.

"Strip," Gaea bluntly said.

"What?!" I almost choked.

"Remove your clothing."

"But-"

"I have to administer the substance via arcane ritual markings across your body. Afterwards, the potion will merge with your chi, and begin the transformation. Stop being an idiot, I know what a naked man looks like. And yes, you are indeed…...well endowed. Does that alleviate your apprehension?"

I shrugged, and started stripping. After I was done, Gaea took the bowl of goo, and started telekinetically lifting chunks of it outta the bowl. She splattered the goo on my stomach, and gradually reshaped it into the image of a woman in a robe with outstretched hands reaching up just below my pecs. From the waist down, the woman's body was a green outline of earth. After getting the initial marking done, Gaea added on. The woman's hands grew leaved branches that stretched up my pecs, and stopped at my shoulders. The addition after that stretched another set of leafed branches down my arms, like outstretched spindly hands. The same could be said for the branches going down my thighs, legs and feet. The tattoos burned like hell! I figured the goo was made of hyper concentrated G/N-Force, and it sure felt like it! My powers surged inside me like a thunderstorm! My skin felt like it was hardening up to statue levels, and I was causing quakes and vegetation growth on the patio floor. Hell, Gaea had to do the same tats on the back, and I was pretty sure I was on the brink of creating a 1906 San Francisco earthquake! My power level eventually leveled out after a few minutes, also my tattoos faded completely, but Gaea wasn't done with me yet. She ground up a whole buncha rocks into sand, and covered me in a giant sand cocoon! I instinctively struggled and fought, but my tattoos flared up, paralyzing me almost completely! The sand cocoon gradually burrowed into my skin, until at least 3 tons of sand had completely forced itself into my skin. Gaea dropped me on the ground, and before I could punch her in the face, I started f*(#!^% dissolving!

Seriously, my right hand slowly dissolved into sand, and the rest of my body was doin' the same thing! It didn't hurt, but it was scary as $#!+, and i'm not afraid to say I woulda $#!+ myself if my ass wasn't already sand!

"GAEA!" I yelled at her.

She simply put a finger over her mouth, telling me to shush, and let me dissolve into a pile of sand!

I remember blacking out. For how long, i'm not sure, but I remember being pissed the f*(# off when I came to. Oh, I didn't have my body, but I was gonna fix that real quick! I was a pile of sand, I could sandbend, and I was gonna sandbend myself up to punch Gaea in the f*(#!^& face! I was expecting it to be hard, but it was actually a lot easier to get the hang of than you think. All I had to do was concentrate super hard, and the sand automatically shifted and formed my body. Granted, being in Sand Titan mode, official, was hard, as I had to constantly focus to keep my form, but my body seemed to want to go back to normal, so I let it.

It f*(#!^% hurt like hell! I was reforming bones, organs, skin, blood, and everything else people need to live! It was all over in a few seconds, almost makin' me pass out in the process, but damn!

"Well," Gaea said, relaxing on her lounge chair again. "That went well."

"You f*(#!^%-" I started.

"Ah, ah, ah. Don't you dare finish that. First time's always the hardest."

"You turned me into sand! That wasn't even what we agreed on."

"No, but its a good starter. We have three days to get through the basics. Let's get back to work."

Gaea had me going through some pretty intense training. For 12 hours straight she had me convert myself into a sand pile then a….tryin' so hard not to say sandman, but you know, and then, reforming my body. She also had me convert individual limbs and body parts to sand; gettin' me used to the feel of it. After that, she had me go into construct mode. In Sand Titan mode, she had me: become a sandstorm, a giant version of me, a cyclops, lion, and a tank. We kept that going, and experimented with how I used my powers in controlled ways. I converted my arms into sand and constructed them to clubs, maces, axes, and cool arm cannons that shot out G-Force blasts. We practiced on hardening my Sand Titan form into rock…..which…..ok. Can't call it rock titan, and i'm already Geo-Titan…..eh, i'll figure it out. Anyway, after hardening myself into rock, which was easier to hold together, we went hardcore with that training too. I learned how to split myself into knife sized shrapnel, and launch myself at enemies. I could convert the rock into any other earth element, and experimented with obsidian, gold, bronze, and titanium. Hell, after practicing enough, I managed to shape my form to where I had G-Force repulsors comin' outta my hands, and could shoot out missiles from any part of my body. Oh, and because of Gaea's magic and stuff, my metal forms were almost as strong as Adamantium. Oh, and I had double strength. Not bad for only a 5% jump in G-Force power.

"Well," Gaea said as she summoned the Titan Tube, which is a totally boss name. "There you are. A new power and a boost on what you already have. Try not to lose again. For as flawed as it is, I like the earth fine in its current state."

"Thanks, coach," I said. "I'll win the big one, I promise."

"Ugh, hug me before I throw up."

I gave Gaea a hug, and went into the tube. A few seconds later, I was back above ground, just in time for the pregame to the fate of the world.

(Jason's Perspective)

Allyson quite literally took 30 seconds relative to me (if only she was that quick pickin' a dress). She looked like she Peter Griffin levels of so f*(#!^% ready, and I immediately felt sorry for her teammates. Me, her, and Grant could do without sleep; dunno if I could say the same for the rest of Task Force Skittles (why did I call them that?).

"Hey," she said to me, giving me a kiss on the cheek. "So, my grandfather's a god, my mom's been lying about my grandma, and i'm a constant solar sponge now. I got a lotta conflicting emotions i'm not sure what do with, and some upcoming hard questions i'm not ready to ask. I'm gonna hit the bad guys so friggin' hard tomorrow. Anyway, have a good workout, Bolt Boy. See ya tomorrow."

She walked off to find her teammates, leaving me with a huge load of WTF to deal with.

"What an astonishing young woman," Strange said. "I'm sure you two will be very happy together. Now, if you'd-

"Yeah, yeah," I said as I walked into the Minecraft Dimension. "Training time."

As soon as I shut the door, I immediately went to work. I had a 7 weeks to work with; had to divy up that time wisely. I took my watch off, and summoned Z.O.R.D.O.N.

"Now what?" he asked. "Need me to do your homework?"

"Who put a virus up your ass?" I asked him.

"Snark. Learned it from observing your conversations with your peers. Thought i'd try it out."

"Can you not? Snark only works when you have someone to play off. Two snarks will kill each other."

"Fair enough. So what's the deal."

"Need you to set 7 alarms. Each one goes off after a week's span is out. Also, go to my Youtube Reading Music playlist. Start playing. When those run out, start playing' really long intense workout music mashups."

"7 weeks?! The hell are you doin'?"

"Gearin' up to fight a false god."

I morphed into my battlesuit, and as soon as Pellek's (check out his channel, really cool stuff) cover of Crossing Field started playing, I cranked up the gods in me.

I started with Ares, and man was he fun! My eyes went red, my body was flowing with blood red fire, and I felt strong enough to take on an army! I wished I had someone to fight, and the Minecraft Dimension delivered. The various trees around me morphed into an army of savage tree golems! They surrounded me from all sides, and numberd in the mid 500's at the least. I think I smiled as they charged at me.

I'm not gonna lie, I don't really remember half of what I did during the first week. I recall blasting waves of fire in every direction, incinerating tree golems by at least three dozen at a time (Grant woulda either hated or loved me). Shortly after that I started to use simple constructs (swords, axes, Gatling guns, etc.). Finally, when I actually found myself across the other side of the blood craze, I was in the middle of a warzone! Seriously, the tree golems had multiplied from the 500's to the thousands! To be fair, they were just trying to meet supply with demand, cuz I was a straight up murder machine! I was simultaneously holding together a construct army composed of: Spartans, Dragons, Marines, fighter jets, War Machine armors, medieval knights, Power Rangers, and hydras! Hell, that was just in the background! I was battling atop a hill of broken tree golems; hacking them down with a War Force sword and axe! My adrenaline was through the roof; couldn't tell if I was tired or injured. And sure, it was definitely scary how fast and long I lost myself in the War Force, but now that I went through the fire, I truly felt as if I had control over it. The hate, pain, and rage that came with the energy finally felt under lock and key. I could go full force with this power without losing myself in it. I kept up the fight for a little over three more days, getting a lot better at shaping the energy into things I wanted. From Bakugan, to Yu-Gi-Oh monsters, and various wild animals (all in giant form), I was an unstoppable tool of death and destruction….not sure if i'm proud of that.

After the first week was up, I transitioned into training with the Darth Force (Hades Energy ain't got a good ring to it). I didn't need the tree golems for this part of the practice session, so I willed them to beat it. Just like a video game, the Minecraft Dimension reset to default. You'd never know a war was fought here if I didn't tell you. Anyway, I pulled the same stunt I did with the War Force, and immersed myself in as much of the Death Force as I could. The result was…...different to say the least. With the War Force I was tapping into an energy that was ever present (like Mrs. Kennedy when she was chaperoning school dances). The Death Force was SO not that. I had to reach down, deeper than I thought the earth could possibly be, and pull the energy up like an oil rig. When I finally managed to bring the energy up, the cold almost consumed me! I was bombarded with the screams of the damned, the unearthly growls and wails of the monsters of the Underworld, and the pull of pit of Tartarus! It was almost too much to deal with, but I couldn't let it win. The Death Force played for keeps, and if I gave in, i'm pretty sure it would consume my soul (or at least give me an Underworld version of a sunburn). I stayed in a state of undead meditation (mom would so kill me right now) for about three days, slowly exerting my dominance over the damned souls and monsters of the Underworld. They came at me hard at fast, thinking they could overpower an amater kid (which I was), and feast on an 'innocent' soul (guess innocent is relative to uncle Hades). They learned over the course of those three days that I was not the one to try! First, I built a mental wall around myself. I let the Underworld crew throw everything they had at me for two days (and they came strong, I won't lie), giving me enough time to get used to how hard those stallions could buck (ugh, what am I, a cowboy?). On the third day, I let loose a wave of anger, frustration, and above all dominance over thousands upon thousands of souls and monsters, who got quiet real quick! I wasn't just some punk kid from Bronx, New York, I was the descendant of the Greek gods of Olympus! Hell, I was probably the 12th great descendant of some broad Hades f*(#^&, which gave me superiority over those pathetic sons of bitches (can't tell if that was me or the leftover War Force workout talkin')! They would shut up, do what I said, and go back in the dirt after I was done with em'.

After the three days were up, I started flexing my muscles big time! I spent two days going through some basic attacks with the Death Force. From balls of purple fire, power blasts, making constructs, and all that good stuff. The final two days of Death Force training was nothing short of heavy lifting! I finally summoned my first batch of damned souls, staying in the safe lane with only 50 souls. Throughout the day (huh, there was a sun in this dimension) I expanded the souls by another 50 every hour, slowly getting used to the strain of controlling that many dead folks that wanted to devour my soul (some guy named Jeff wanted to grill it over a fire). Again, it was all about control. I managed (barely) to keep a leash on 2,400 damned souls went it was all over. After the gloom and doom of the Death Force, I needed something way more upbeat, so I decided to try my hand at my untapped sun powers.

This one was a bit trickier to practice with, as my sun powers worked the same as Allyson's. The big problem was that I didn't spend almost an entire year absorbing solar rays, and I probably wasn't gonna get a Seven Suns of Cinnabus boost from Strange. Oh well, had to make do. I started by willing the Minecraft Dimension to keep the lights on full time for the third week. I really wanted to get the full experience of mastering my sun powers, but I had to cut some corners here and there. First off, I cut healing songs outta my curriculum. I could heal myself with voltage, and the battle would be way to intense for me to try and take Allyson's thing. Also, I had to do away with the light/fire difference. Dunno why Allyson started out with only light, but as I was absorbing the sun in (18 hours a day for absorbing, 6 for actual combat training), I couldn't make that split. It just felt like straight fire being injected into every atom of my body! Anyway, I split my training days into three categories. Two hours for flight, constructs and blasts, and mini-suns respectively. To be honest, sun powers weren't that hard. The fire wasn't aggressive, didn't have any ulterior motives, it was just there. As such, it wasn't any different from controlling lighting or wind. I struggled with flying for the first few days, but eventually got the hang of it. Wasn't anywhere as good as Allyson (forget about tryna do a Super Sunbird), but i'd be able to hold my own. I was a natural at constructs and power blasts, just had to practice with controlling a high amount of it. Mini-suns were a bit trickier to do. I could make them, easy, but I spent the whole week tryna figure out the gravity part of it (how'd Allyson get it so quick?). Still, for as forced as my training schedule had to be with this part, I think I turned out relatively alright. With all that fire training, I was aching to cool down with some water/Sea Force training.

This one was just doing more of what I was already good at, and stretching it to category 5 level. I had the Minecraft Dimension shift into a grassy cliff overlooking a vast stretch of empty ocean to train. For three days, I pushed my waterbending past its limits as I created tidal waves, and attempted to stop them before they hit me. It took me a whole day to get strong enough to conjure a tidal wave, and another to finally stop one. By day three, I had the strength to summon/stop a wave big enough to wash New York City off the map (as long as I had my trident)! For the following three days, I focused on using my expanded power to practice with creating constructs, whirlpools, sea storms, and experiment with my Sea Form (when I merge with the water; don't worry if ya forgot). I could make myself into a tidal wave if I wanted to! The last day was saved strictly for Sea Force. I practiced with constructs, blasts, Sea Force charged water attacks, and even figured out how to do Sea Force magic without killing myself. Long story short, as long as I used the trident as a makeshift wand, having it take most of the burden of magic using, I could cast ten spells max, before I got dizzy. Overall, I almost felt sorry for Doom if I ever got him into the water. Then again, Namor and Atlantis might be dead because of him. All of a sudden, my pity evaporated.

After water/Sea Force training, I moved on to training with the Hercules Energy, which I renamed God Steroids (at least it wasn't another Force). This one was…..difficult in certain places. The good news was I already had a baseline to build on with it. I could already lift a battleship, and when I powered up with God Steroids my strength doubled. For a week, I did a god level workout. From lifting mountains, pushing/pulling trains (I had the Minecraft Dimension drop workout gear), tire jumps and flips, pushups, situps, all the ups, and some kickboxing training. My base level strength doubled, and with the power of God Steroids, I could literally lift the weight of Manhattan…...for about 12 seconds. The one thing I didn't get…...constructs. Yeah, try as I might between break times, I couldn't make a single giant orange fist to save my life! I could make blasts of varying degrees, but no constructs. Maybe I wasn't strong enough, maybe the Hercules Stone was the only way to pull it off, but the orange construct game was a no go. Ah well, moving on.

Winding down, I did the same training regimen with the Nature Force as I did with the Death Force. I surrounded myself in a giant empty field, and meditated on the power for three days straight. The Nature Force felt so f*(#!^% good as it coursed through me! It was warm, pure, and not malevolent (kinda like how I imagine Life Magic is in Wizard101). Like the power from the sun, the Nature Force didn't have an agenda, it was just there. As such, when I finally got around to training with it, it was thankfully easy to manipulate. I started with energy blasts and constructs, but quickly moved to plant manipulation. I started by raising a whole forest from the grass, then transforming them into tree golems. I created armies of giant snakes, lions, and other animals outta plant life, made living cacti golems that shot out spikes, giant tree megazords, shields, body armor, Venus Fly Trap snares, explosive pollen grenades, acid spitting tulips, and various other plant themed instruments of violence. By the end of that week, I had a newfound respect for gardeners.

Finally (saved the best for last), I went hardcore with my storm powers! I had the Minecraft Dimension put me in the middle of an empty field, and let loose with the biggest thunderstorm I could muster up! I spent a whole day doin' that, summoning winds over 300 mph, white lightning bolts big enough to swallow skyscrapers, and enough rain to drown any city in an hour or less. Day 2 was all about the tornadoes, and i'll be goddamned if I was gonna slack on my vortexes. I started by creating ten lightning charged F3 tornadoes. I kept them up for an hour, then upped them all to F4. It took me 12 hours (including 20 minute brakes) to cope with the strain, so I didn't bother tryna up them to F5s. Instead, I focused the remainder of day 2 on creating and expanding an F5 to a lightning charged tornado so ungodly huge, it could swallow Manhattan whole! Hell, while doing so, I accidentally activated what I call Thunder God form. Basically, when i'm charged up with so much Zeus Energy, my body internalizes it, makin' it easier to create and maintain bigger and badder storms. Also my eyes go all white with lightning, my body absently surges with the same voltage (really boosts the self-esteem), and I can hit with the force of a thunderstorm!. I spent day 3-5 practicing with the basics and the Power Grid, constructs, flight, Thunder Form 1-2, Storm Form, Phantom Bolts, Static Jumps, the whole f*(#!^% shebang! In Thunder God mode I make Phantom Bolts big enough to rival my Mega Lightning Strikes, do Static Jumps across areas as big as Colorado, and fly with the winds as easy as walking. I could become tornadoes big enough to swallow Manhattan (for like five minutes), and become one with my lightning strikes and constructs, which I could expand to city destroying levels.

With only two days left, and me already satisfied with my storm powers, I decided to try something a bit more extreme. Instead of one at a time, I practiced with using all my god powers at once. Couldn't do anything to fancy, just blasts and basic weapons constructs, but for two days, I couldn't complain. I tried out some cool combinations, mixed and matched all the energies to see what worked and what didn't, and even managed to combine all the energies into a badass Olympus Cannon (you know that's official!)! As time finally winded down, I brought myself down to a calm, and walked towards the door outta the Minecraft Dimension. One way or another, it all ended today.