Chapter 35: The End? No….Definitely Not The End

The next week was so weird to me, cuz it was so normal. At least relatively speaking. I settled into my new school, and because I wasn't looking at the world so doom and gloom anymore, I actually made friends. Hell, mom had to install a curfew (random superhero emergencies notwithstanding), as I would come home well past ten, after video games, skateboarding, and binge watching sessions. Me and the team moved into West Coast Avengers Mansion, and after a brief fight, sorted out who would stay where. Since Wiccan and Hulkling were married, they got the master bedroom in the main mansion. The rest of us bartered for roommates to bunk in the five bungalows that were on either side of the mansion. Kate, America, Xavin, and Karolina would get the first bungalow on the left side (used to belong to Wonder Man.) Molly, Julie, Katie, and Cassie got the bungalow below them (used to belong to Thora). Allyson, Nico, Sutadaiyamondo, and Kirakiraboshi (the names were growing on me) got the bungalow below them (used to belong to Hank Pym). On the right side, me, Grant, Jimmy, Chase, and Victor took the first bungalow, that used to belong to Iron Man (when Rhodey was Iron Man, which made me feel bad). Eli, Tommy, Alex, and Jack took the bungalow below that, which was the guest bungalow. Also, nobody could complain about space, cuz Wiccan and Nico used magic to do a Halloweentown, and make the inside of the relatively small bungalows stretch to a mansion sized space on the inside, with magic doors for everyone to have their own rooms! The same could be said for the mansion and the hangar. We had enough space to park as many cars and aircrafts we could fit.

We immediately got to training. First week was just battle simulations. We battled three times a day, for an hour straight, getting a feel for each other's styles, mixing powers and abilities, noting when we struck golden combinations, and trying out unlikely teams (turns out me and Patriot weren't half bad as a team). We also hit the upgrades hard. In addition to Patriot's new digs, Kate got Quantum Bands that allowed her to teleport, and an Adamantium katana (she wasn't a half bad swordswoman). Hulkling and Wiccan were fitted with Vibranium weave suits that would enhance their magic (Nico didn't want one), and Xavin was gonna teach Hulkling how to go Super Skrull. Speed got a full makeover, as his suit was dissolved into a million nanites (courtesy of Vic), and reformed with a kinetic absorb/expel effect. Basically, the more he ran, the more juice he had to throw at bad guys (cardio days were a must for him). Vic also gave Karolina the same deal, but in her case, he pretty much made her suit on par with the Nova Twins! She didn't have a limitless amount of energy to throw around, but as far as weapons, she had literally everything the Nova Twins had! Hell, with the suit now absorbing 200% more energy for Karolina to use, Majestia would be a real powerhouse going forward! As for Victor himself, me, him, Agent Kennedy, and Amadeus Cho (we needed all brains on deck) were working together to try and properly integrate the Victorious Protocols, and give Victorion (he needed a codename) a permanent cosmic boost. After a week of tinkering, simulations, and coding...we didn't get jack $#!+. Ultron's coding was airtight, even by our standards. We'd keep trying, but man, this was a real conundrum. Another thing we worked on was the Bastion Armor. After a few days of planning, sketching, and simulations, we figured out a way too basically modify the armor too where it could be powered by rechargeable tachyon arc reactors. The reactors couldn't hold that much tachyon energy, so we made a plan to construct five of em', each able to store ten minutes worth of energy. The only downside was that it took a whole day to recharge two minute's use, but I didn't mind. Bastion was gonna be relegated to a last resort move anyway.

The team actually ended up going into action a few times too. Allyson stopped a hostile takeover of the Staples center by some Goblin Knights, I stopped a couple robbery attempts with the perps being some dudes hopped up on God Steroid pills, and The Nova Twins took down The Junior Wrecking Crew (kids these days), as the would be villains tried to make their big debut by destroying the Golden Gate Bridge. Our biggest win was that mission to Lemuria Namor finally called me up for. What was supposed to be a simple aura cleanse on my part, exploded into an entire Nethertrench army erupting from an unstable dimension breach, and rampaging their way towards the west coast! I called the team together, and had to hold the demon army off until backup arrived. Said backup came in the form of my Allyson coming in to wreak Eden Inferno Havoc, The Nova Twins combining into Nova Prime, and using the Sea Force alongside the Eden Inferno, as well as Grant, Wiccan, Hulkling, Sister Grimm, Magik (I promised to join Cyclops' X-Men if he let her join our team), and Power Unicorn helping us on the front lines. We managed to beat The Nethertrench monsters back, but some made it past our wall. That's where America, Hawkeye (armed with magic arrows), Patriot (armed with magic throwing stars), Princess Powerful, Stature, Victorion, Speed, Iron Torch, Majesdia, Super Skrull (Xavin), and Demetrion (Jimmy) came in. They cleared the beach of civilians, and made sure the stray Nethertrench monsters didn't get into the city. Ultimately, a sealing spell powered by my Sea Fore, and Allyson's Eden Inferno, drawn by Wiccan and Sister Grimm, and channeled into Hulkling's sword, cut off the Nethertrench fissure, and after doing a quickly wellness check on my team, I gave Namor the go ahead to start Phase One rebuilding on Lemuria.

We threw a party that Saturday night, to celebrate a successful first week of being a team. We made tacos, watched a movie, played Mortal Kombat, and checked out our highlights on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Everyone agreed that my interview with the local news team made me a shoe in for our press relations guy. Allyson and Grant were hard at work getting us all official Twitter accounts, as well as creating our own blog site, where we could all post whatever. Her first act was to post a heartfelt introduction message above our first team photo we took before training. It went as such:

Hey all! Odds are you don't need a refresher on who most of us are. A good chunk of us have street cred as Young Avengers, Power Pack, or the team that just stopped Doctor Doom a week ago. Weird how the world brings some people together, but we believe it was for the best, and decided to form this team. As the new/younger kids in the game, we're committed to not only protecting this world, but doing our part to help in building a better one for everyone. We're not just about stopping the super powered bad guys, we're here to help those that have boots put on their heads everyday by a system that doesn't care who it hurts. We're here to rebuild and strengthen communities, protect vulnerable ones in our society, and hold the ones who think they're untouchable accountable for the damage they inflict everyday on this world and the every person trying to get by. Were not The Avengers, or the X-Men, or the Fantastic Four, but that's ok. We look forward to carving our own legacy, and heaven help those who think they can take us down. We are The Elementals, and we stand united against whatever this world and any other has to throw at us.

After joking about how sappy her speech was, everyone retired to their bungalows, and called it lights out. Tomorrow's training was gonna be a doozy. I slept soundly for like 3 seconds, before I felt my soul leave my body, and hurtle through the cosmos! After half a minute of soaring through stars, nebulae, and entire galaxies, I landed on some kinda planet that was a living contradiction. First off, the place was perpetually in what I thought was an eclipse, but realized was just a black hole that somehow wasn't ripping the planet to shreds. The ground was like the Sahara. Scorched, as if something had burned it, but even as a displaced soul, I could tell any heat on this planet was artificial. A scorched ground shouldn't be able to grow anything, but I was surrounded by batches of black and red grass, as well as patches of trees that seemed to be made out of solidified shadow, growing some kind of fruit that hissed and emitted soft waves of shadow. I was not feeling brave enough to try it, tho a dark elf (i've seen Thor fight a few of em' on TV) occasionally teleported to a tree, plucked a fruit, and teleported away. I heard the distant sounds of some kind of aircrafts, and looked up to see a fleet of alien ships flying by. The smaller ones, enemy fighters I presumed, looked like giant black daggers, while the bigger ship's, easily ten times their size, looked like giant black T's, with a flaming red core at the head. The fleet was dropping for a landing, and as they approached, the ground shifted and changed to meet them! Tons of black marble-like blocks formed into pillars, roofs, towers, terraces, courtyards, etc. I was currently in a corner, looking up at an elevated dias of some sort. The said dias ejected 7 black pillars that chiseled themselves into massive thrones, set around the circumference of an average sized house, above a churning pool of bubbling shadow energy. I had just a second to pray nobody could see me, before three red lights flashed on the head three thrones.

On the center throne was a dark elf as pale as the moon. He wore gleaming white armor, draped under his long black trench coat. He had a long broadsword, about as big as Magik's soulsword, strapped to his side. To his right was another dark elf, which I was gonna guess was his son.

The elf's skin was blue, tho the left half of his face was black, and he had long flowing white hair. He was wearing a breastplate, with ridiculously long battle skirt straps that reached down to his ankles. The right half of his armor was black, with half of the sun (I think it was a sun) emblem on his chest being white. The left half of his emblem was black, with the rest of the armor half being dark red.

To Malekith's left was this behemoth of a figure. He was ten feet tall, completely encased in this kinda black stone armor, with bone protrusions jutting out of his shoulders, and massive horns and tusks growing out of his head. If this thing could speak in complete sentences, i'd die of shock.

Going around counter clockwise, next to the big monster was The Enchantress. A bombshell of a woman with long golden hair, wearing a bright green corset, matching boots, and a headpiece.

Next to her was The Executioner, a big beefy, bald dude, with arcing tattoos coming down either side of his head. He was wearing a brown breastplate, with a red axe emblem on the chest, over a blue shirt. He also had on black leggings under his blue battle skirt, with matching gloves and boots. In his hands was an axe that was almost as big as me! The blade crackled with different kinds of energy. Fire, ice, lightning, dark matter, etc. Oh, and he had two huge AK-47's strapped to his sides. Like…...ok.

Next to him, vertical to Malekith's throne, was Loki himself. The dude was in a bold choice of fashion; an all black suit with a green tie. He looked like he was tryna suppress a laugh: like he just thought of the funniest thing ever.

Next to him was this thing that looked like the world's biggest caveman. He was easily 8 ft tall, hairy, with pointed ears, and only two toes on both feet. He was wearing something akin to a green wrestler's uniform, but armor, and with a matching coast of chain mail covering his chest. Again, if he could speak in complete sentences, i'd go into cardiac arrest.

Finally, next to the caveman was this dude who I really had no clue in hell who he was supposed to be. He was bald and brown skinned, but I couldn't hazard a guess at his ethnicity to save my life. Flame and smoke curled around his fingers, out of his mouth, eyes, and all over his fireproof all black blazer.

The group took their seats, and Loki was the first to break the silence.

"Well," he said with a wide grin. "That went well, wouldn't you say?"

"My daughter is in a regeneration tank, fighting for her life," the fire dude said. "Your champion was defeated, Midgard still stands as it was. Even you cannot lie your way out of your failure, trickster."

Loki chuckled, like fire dude was not getting the joke.

"For once, Surtur," he said. My words are entirely truthful."

"Malekith," he gestured to the pale elf. "This splendid castle, forged from stone and darkness, rose out of the foundations of Svartalfheim to greet us. In the days of old, this ability to construct entire kingdoms in seconds made it impossible for Asgard to defeat your kind on home soil. The All-Father had to strip the power of the Aethir from you in order to stand a chance. For countless eons you have been starved of its power, but you begin to remember its embrace, do you not?"

Malekith fixed his jaw, and let a cloud of black/red energy curl around his arms.

"It is sufficient," the elf uttered. "My people begin to rise in power by the day. We have waited millennia to exact our revenge against the Aesir. We will happily wait a little longer."

Loki gestured to Enchantress.

"My lovely Amora," he said. "Half a fortnight ago, you were already one of the most powerful sorceresses in the world. Twas' you who enchanted Skurge's axe. Now you mold the very fabric of reality, as a potter molds clay."

Amora smiled curtly.

"Ulik," Loki gestured to the hairy caveman. "Odin himself decimated Vanaheim. Only the trolls managed to survive the great decimation. Your kind have been scraping by on scraps, but with the old Vanir magic beginning to flow again, you feel your strength rise, do you not? And with the pompous, half-rate, lesser gods scattered to the dust of the realms, your kind is on the verge of making it's own empire! One that, in time, could fill its halls with the songs of Asgard's demise!

Ulik beat his chest.

"Surtur," Loki continued. "You, who are destined to burn the very Tree of Life, have had your powers stolen from you by the All-Father personally. Fire giants used to tower over mountains with ease. Odin made your kind a pale imitation of your former glory. Laufey and the frost giants as well. Yet the last time I paid a visit to Muspelheim, I couldn't help but notice your kind begin to grow again. Your fires burn hotter, and Twilight begins to heed your call again."

Surtur smiled contently.

"My friends," Loki stood. "When have I ever committed myself to one side, much less the side of an egomaniac with delusions of grandeur? I arranged it so his defeat would be just as beneficial to us as his triumph. The realms weaken, and Odin's gambit returns to bite him. Come next convergence, the shackles Odin forced on us will be no more, and the realms will tremble with our wrath!

"To vengeance!" Malekith shouted.

"To chaos!" shouted his son (I think).

"To conquest!" "the monster shouted.

"To the death of Sif!" Amora shouted (yeesh, move on lady).

"To war!" Ulik shouted.

"To Ragnarok!" Surtur bellowed.

"To rebirth," Loki mused (a little underwhelming).

"And what of the children, Loki?" Amora asked him. "Plan or no plan, they are strong. Will they be a problem?"

I suddenly felt as if my soul was being twisted into a pretzel, as Loki forced me into the center of their council! I screamed so loud and shrill, my voice eventually gave out!

"A mere nuisance, my sweet Enchantress," Loki chuckled, as everyone watched my suffering. "Besides, they still are of use to me. I shall permit them to live. For now that is."

Loki made a waving gesture with his hand, and my soul shot back into my body with such force, I leapt out of my bed, and crashed onto the floor!

I knew it was too good to be true. The peace I had now, no matter if it lasted ten years, was a breathing period. Something big had started with the Stones of Olympus $#!+, and it wasn't over by a longshot.

To be continued in Jason Fuller & The Elementals: The Convergence Crisis

Author's note: Wow! So this is it! At long last, my first book is done! Thank you to everyone who has read my story! For those that favorited and followed, I truly appreciate it! I love writing this story, these characters, and taking the Marvel Universe (or at least the part I made for myself…) in my own direction! I'm gonna go through my story one more time to fix some small editing errors here and there, and make sure the continuity lines up. However, work on the second book has already begun! My outline and chapter orders are complete, and along with another project i'm working on (A Maleficent smut), chapters will drop starting January 31st 2021! Until then, be safe, and be awesome!