Here's the second half of the Battle of New York. I definitely pushed myself to write more, as an apology for that long hiatus thing. A few little easter eggs here and there, some more obvious than others. I'm definitely excited to expand more on the deeper mythos of this universe that includes more than what is strictly seen on the Silver Screen.
Chapter 2: Same Problems, New Names
Part Two: Legends are Born
Natasha had never been more saddened then when she saw the kid on the battlefield. He was never going to have a "normal" life, that much was obvious from the metal that he had absorbed onto his skin, once gleaming steel now replaced with the extraterrestrial metal that made up the weapons and hovercrafts of the invading army. She was not saddened by the fact that he was fighting either; it's the fact that he clearly seemed quite used to it. The brutality he displayed with every punch and kick was something that isn't seen with military veterans, much less a young kid. It made her stomach churn, remembering back to the Red Room where trained children assassins were being traded around the planet like currency.
"Can't say the kid doesn't have a knack for this." Clint chimed in with an unnerved look at Kevin bashing one alien into the ground with another, like a club. He shook his head while notching another arrow and letting it loose into a particular large group, not even slowing down as the ensuing explosive charge blew up the surrounding vehicles. "Kinda reminds me of that Kinney girl." Once again nonchalantly firing off three arrows rapidly.
Several more began to swarm them as Clint got into a melee with the nearest foot soldier, sweeping its legs out from under it and directly stabbing it through its ribs with an arrow. Natasha was in a small scuffle of her own, fighting off the opposing pair while using one of their own weapons against them. They were holding their own, but were steadily being overwhelmed.
The Man out of Time made a mighty leap to their position, directly ramming two aliens lined up next to each other and using the edges of his shield to bash in a couple more. Kevin joined the fray, throwing another soldier like a spear at the super soldier who batted it off the bridge. The two worked in perfect synchronization, with Kevin using Steve as a springboard to dropkick another of their approaching opponents. Steve threw his legendary weapon, ricocheting it off of two aliens, and Kevin himself, to land perfect in his hand.
"Hey man! Watch it!" Kevin gave him an annoyed look.
Cap gave an apologetic smile in return. "Sorry son, it was the only angle I could get."
"Can you quit calling me so-" Blaster fire slammed into his cheek and Cap's heart beat froze. He looked at the direction where the aliens were aiming to fire a second shot, but had almost no time to react. Luckily, he didn't have to as a burst of lightning fried the small group of aliens. Thor landed on the ground, flying in from who-knows-where, but Cap didn't pay attention as he checked on the downed 13-year-old.
Kevin was actually fine, just fell to the ground out of surprise. "So I guess their weapons can't break their metal, good to know." He absent-mindedly nodded his head up and down. Cap just let out a breath of relief, with Natasha and Clint both silently doing the same.
From there, Cap focused his mind back on the matter at hand. He turned to Thor, "What's the story upstairs?"
Thor grimly replied, "The power surrounding the cube is impenetrable." He noticed Kevin walking up to the pair alongside Romanoff and Barton. The god of thunder's eyes flicked back to Steve with a curious look. "The young one?"
With a crackle, they heard Tony speak up over the comms. "No time to get He-Man caught up, but he's right, we gotta deal with these guys before anything else."
"How do we do this?" Natasha asked casually.
Steve firmly replied, "As a team."
Tony spoke up once again. "Well I've been on a recruitment drive, got a guy comin' your way, said he's run into you lot already."
As he said that, three alien cruisers exploded in a mass of flames, with a being resembling a rock golem on fire lowered himself down on a platform of flaming cement. Thor spun his hammer aggressively, but Steve noticed the symbol on the being's chest, exactly like the one on the alien who dropped off Kevin earlier in the battle. "Thor, stand down. He's a friendly."
With a raspy voice, he replied. "Yep! Friendly and huggable, though I wouldn't recommend that second one if you don't wanna be deep-fried."
Kevin rolled his eyes. "Your "jokes" just get less funny each time Tennyson."
Heatblast chuckled before being enveloped by a green light. The young Ben Tennyson reached out a hand to shake to two large men in front of him. "Ben Tennyson, alien superhero. You must be Medieval Man, with his sidekick: America Boy." He mocked Thor and Steve's uniforms respectively. Clint snorted, taking a liking to the boy already.
Thor squinted and turned to Steve. "Another? Are children warriors common on Midgard?"
Ben piped up again. "I dunno what a "mid guard" is, but I'm gonna say probably not on this earth. Anyway, I'm here to help; this is your show, tell me what you need me to do." Everybody present schooled their features with Thor's jaw clenching.
"I have unfinished business with Loki."
Clint fiddled with one of his arrows. "Yeah? Get in line." He snarked.
Steve broke up anything before it could start. "Save it. Loki's gonna keep this fight on us, and that's what we need. Without us, these things could run wild." He was already in no-nonsense command-mode.
"Very inspirational." Ben whispered to Kevin jokingly, while the older boy snickered. Cap seemed to hear them, fixing the pair with a chastising look, but dropping it and continuing.
"We got Stark up top." He pointed above to the aliens flying by overhead. "He's gonna need us to-" He was cut off by the sputter of a small vespa, pulling up behind him. Cap quickly turned and marched toward him, with the others trailing behind.
"Hey man, did you not notice the rubble? You can take a day off from your daily commute." Ben quipped with a smirk.
"Fury's recruiting kids now?" He looked at Cap with a sad smile.
Steve himself tried for a smile, but ended up giving more of a grimace. "It's just extenuating circumstances."
"Well he's not exactly wrong, this all looks...horrible." He looked around at the carnage.
Natasha looked pointedly at him. "I've seen worse."
Bruce looked regretful, but not exactly surprised. "I'm sorry."
"No, we could use a little worse." The two looked at each other quite intensely.
"That wasn't at all awkward" Ben cut in looking between the two.
"Stark, we got him."
"Banner"
"Just like you said."
"Well you tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you." Natasha looked curious at Ben, or rather the watch he was wearing, as she heard Stark's broadcast emanating from it, but quickly turned seeing Iron Man himself sharply turn a corner around a building. Right behind him, a Chitauri Leviathan crashed through the corner of the building, roaring as it slithered along in the air. Thor grunted and snarled, preparing his hammer for battle.
Natasha just stated in shock, "I...I don't see how that's a party."
Tony lowered his elevation, the Leviathan copying him until it was practically on the ground, tearing up everything from cars and trees, to the concrete and pavement.
Seeing it approaching fast, Ben wiped the smirk off his face and tensed up, prepared to transform in a second. Kevin clenched his fists, pumping himself up and being ready to shield the more vulnerable superheroes around him. Natasha and Steve were both unsettled, but resolute, staring the whale down without flinching. Clint just wanted a nap; he was getting way too old for all this crazy shit.
Bruce sighed and turned around, casually walking towards the space whale. Ben's eyes widened in shock and stepped forward in alarm, only to be held back by Natasha.
"Dr. Banner, now might be a really good time for you to get angry."
"That's my secret Captain." He turned and looked at the gathered group. "I'm always angry." As he once again faced the Leviathan, Ben's jaw dropped seeing the average looking man instantly transform into a large, green, and insanely muscled beast, known to the world as the Hulk.
With a thundering grunt, the Green Goliath slammed his fist into the Leviathan. Hulk held his ground, digging a small trench in the earth as he pushed it back, the armor collapsing and falling to pieces. The Leviathan began to flip onto it's back, due to the incredible force fighting against its momentum.
"Hold on!" Tony shouted, firing a missile into an open wound, cut open by the sharpened edges of the fracturing armor. The body of the Leviathan exploded into pieces, a brilliant ball of fire raining down on top of the grounded Avengers.
Cap quickly moved to protect Natasha and Clint jumped behind the armored Kevin, who batted away debris flying at them. Ben, not to be outdone transformed into Humungousaur, growing to his maximum height of about 60 feet. The Scales all over his body shifted as he caught the massive head from falling over the bridge onto civilians below. With a very dinosaur-like roar, he threw the head behind him, further down on the empty bridge. His tail swished, the spikes that grew out of it glinting dangerously in the light.
The Hulk gave a mighty roar, as the Avengers circled back-to-back, staring down the vicious army jeering and surrounding them, clinging to the facades of nearby skyscrapers. Tony slowly came in for a landing, lowering down in the circle. Hawkeye drew another arrow from his quiver and loaded it into his bow, the marksman getting a target in his sight. Thor spun the powerful Mjolnir in his hand, the Nordic warrior inside of him screaming for battle. The most dangerous woman in the world, Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow herself, loaded her pistols with new magazines, her face stony and her expression lethal. Kevin cracked his knuckles, and the young Osmosian morphed one hand into a thick hammer, and the other into a wicked sharp blade. Ben beat his mighty chest and mockingly laughed at the army, his pure green eyes glowing as bright as the Omnitrix on his chest. Finally, Captain America, their steadfast leader and the Star Spangled Man with a Plan, tightened the straps on his shield, teeth gritting in determination.
They were an odd group, something that shouldn't work. Almost none of them were usually team players, their personalities usually driving each other further apart, rather than pulling them together. Not to mention the two children who were only just old enough to start having crushes, much less fight in a large-scale battle. Yet here they were, putting aside all differences, the two children standing alongside these powerful men and women as equals. As heroes.
They all stood mighty, as Avengers.
And thus, the universe's greatest heroes came together, a force unlike any other. The army surrounding them continued to grow, but the heroes never faltered.
Hundreds of feet above them, Loki, the god of mischief glared down at the Avengers, the irritating thorns in his side. He was intrigued at the sight of the boy who absorbed the Chitauri metal and the other who instantly turned into a beast larger than the Hulk. He was quite intrigued. The green beast was little more than just that, a mindless beast and Thor, his favoured brother, was a brute who thought with his fists rather than his brain. Stark was quite brilliant, there was no denying that, but his little toys aren't much compared to the might of a god. The rest of this "team" were rather unimpressive in comparison to the three powerhouses. These two were children, and yet they apparently possessed enough skill or power to merit their place with the others. He would be following these two very closely during this battle.
"Send the rest." He said with a flat expression on his face.
More Leviathans and Chitauri flew through the portal and internally, Ben was a little apprehensive; the single Leviathan was already enough of a challenge, he wasn't exactly excited for more.
"Guys…" Natasha called to the rest in warning.
"Today's gonna be a long day." Kevin groaned.
"Call it Cap." Tony voiced aloud.
The Living Legend already had a battle plan in mind. "All right, listen up. Until we can close that portal, our priority is containment. Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays." Clint nodded his head in affirmation. "Stark, you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out you turn it back or you turn it to ash."
Clint nodded towards Stark. "Can you give me a lift?"
"Right. Better clench up Legolas." He snarked while walking up to the archer. Clint set himself in a ready position just as Stark grabbed a hold of him and rocketed them both in the air.
Cap was already moving on. "Thor, you gotta bottleneck that portal. Slow them down. You got the lightning. Light those bastards up." The Prince of Asgard quickly spun his hammer and launched it forward, pulling him to the skies.
"Did he just fly by throwing his hammer?" The massive alien hero scratched the top of his head.
"Ben, how many abilities exactly do you have access to?" Cap had a plan in mind for the young changeling.
"Lemme think…" He tapped his chin with a giant finger. "Pretty much all of 'em." Natasha looked up, stunned, while Steve only faltered for a second.
"Well you're our most versatile and Loki doesn't know about you yet. You're our ace in the hole. I need you to track down Loki, find a way to end all this. I know you have some flyers so try to help Stark where you can."
"Gotcha Cap." He gave a mock salute before a flash of green revealed a purple and pink crystalline creature. The creature had a single eye and was rather thin, though its body seemed to be made of rock. "Ha, these bums are worthless against an energy-absorber." He remarked before he took to the skies.
The Captain refocused on Kevin and Romanoff, who were both looking at him expectantly. "Us three are gonna stay on the ground. We keep the fighting here." He remembered the remaining Avenger, awaiting his order. "And Hulk…" He snarled and grunted in acknowledgement.
"Smash" The Strongest One There Is simply gave a smirk.
Nick Fury stared intently at the screens aboard the helicarrier, watching the news broadcast report on the destruction brought forth by Loki. He was slightly relieved that the team managed to finally come together, but was still brooding on account of the war going on in the city. He was curious about the two new "additions" he had managed to spot in the news broadcasts. People were already asking about the "metal boy" and the "shapeshifting monster", but he was less curious about who they were, and more about what they wanted and how they could do what they were doing. He had it on good authority that the shapeshifter was actually another child and that both boys showed up to the fight together.
"Sir." He was pulled out of his inner musings. "The council is on." His second in command, Maria Hill alerted him. He sighed before closing the screens in front of him.
Ben tore down the street as Cannonbolt, mowing over everything that stood in his way. He flattened about 10 Chitauri before unfurling and seeing another Leviathan fly toward him, apparently noticing the threat on the ground. He thought quickly, transforming into a blue-furred, 4-armed monkey. With a few chitters, Spidermonkey leaped into action, firing a web into the concrete pillar of a building and attaching the other end to a stone divider. He turned back into Cannonbolt and rolled straight into the webline, pulling it as taught as he could. When he met as much resistance as possible, he stopped and let the web line launch him. He had angle himself up so he went flying in the air, directly at the Leviathan. Mid-air, he transformed once more, this time into a large yellow-armored alien. The alien had pumps on his elbows, similar to a hydraulic engine. Armodrillo began to pump the presses, while still flying at the whale like a javelin. At this point, the pumps were moving so rapidly, they looked like a blur, and the bulky alien reared his arms back as he was about to make contact.
Right as he hit the alien, he punched his arms forward and made contact with the snout of the giant creature. The two jackhammers pushed a shockwave all along the creature, but it caused an incredible amount of damage to the point of first contact; the snout of the Leviathan, along with part of its face and the armor covering it had caved in, instantly felling the beast. Ben rode the creature as it fell from the sky. Its trajectory saw it crashing down to the ground below, its momentum pushing it forward enough to barrel through a small restaurant packed with people inside, all staring up at the two in fear. He grit his teeth and started pumping his jackhammer arms again, pushing shockwaves straight down to ground the Leviathan sooner. He knew it wouldn't be enough as the alien monster touched the ground, so Ben jumped down in front of the snout, turning once again into the 60 foot Humungousaur. He pushed hard into the Leviathan, doing all he could to stop it from killing the helpless civilians. He yelled, pulling out every ounce of Vaxasaurian strength from within himself, and brought the dead whale to a stop, mere meters in front of the paralyzed onlookers. He panted heavily before falling to his knee, shrinking down to 10 feet in height. A green light surrounded him, leaving his 12-year-old self falling to his hands. He was sweating heavily and trying to catch his breath, hearing the shocked whispers of the rescued civilians.
"It's...it's just a kid."
"I have a son who looks his age."
"How...how did he…"
Ben groaned as he moved up to one knee and lifted himself to his feet. He was still much shorter than most of the people around him, yet he still stood tall over all the people in the restaurant, looking just as mighty as the alien he was before. People looked on in awe.
"Hey, it's alright everybody. You all know Captain America right? Well he told me to tell you to get underground, however you can. Subways, basements, whatever, just get to safety. Quickly!"
One boy, looking a couple years younger than himself walked closer to him, ignoring the rush of other panicking civilians and the couple he broke away from.
"Who...who are you." The brunette boy was shaking like a chihuahua, but still kept his voice steady.
Ben just smiled and clapped a hand on the kid's shoulder. "I'm Ben Tennyson, and I'm just your everyday awesome alien superhero." Both boys turned their head at the sound of screams in the distance. "Well I gotta go dude. It's hero time." He said with a casual shrug. Ben proceeded to run and jump off the bridge, turning into Jetray and flying off, leaving a sonic boom in his wake.
The young Brunette looked in awe and just kept staring, even as his aunt and uncle dragged him away, while yelling about how worried they were.
"Thor! Light me up!" Feedback yelled out as he bashed two Chitauri together by their heads.
"Nay, my young friend, have you lost your mind?!" Thor didn't exactly treat him as a kid like a couple of the others, but he still treated him a bit too carefully.
"Just trust me!" Thor still looked unsure, but still firing a powerful burst of magic lightning at Feedback.
Almost immediately, Feedback felt the difference. He had absorbed energy similar to lightning before, but this felt much different, much more powerful. "Oh yeah! That's what I'm talkin' about! HAHA!" He shouted, feeling even more fired up. He raised all of his bolts, both hands and antenna, and shot out a massive stream of energy, frying a whole fleet of Chitauri and frying the underside of another Leviathan.
Thor let out a booming laugh. "Ha! You are quite a mighty young warrior, You'd do well in the Halls of Asgard!"
Ben chuckled along with him. "Haha yea...I have literally no clue what that is."
The two noticed the Hulk riding atop the Leviathan that Ben just fried, seeing the powerhouse trying to bring down the massive whale, but being distracted by the swarming Chitauri. "Come, Son of Tenn! Let us do battle." He flew off with Mjolnir, followed quickly by Jetray.
Kevin was exhausted as he continued to fight through the aliens, their blue blood covering his fists. He kicked another off the bridge and ran back to where he saw Romanoff last. He came upon her pointing a Chitauri weapon at Cap with a somewhat crazed look in her eyes. She lowered it seeing it was only him. They both looked over at him and walked over to gather up. Cap rested a hand on the boy's shoulder. "You doing alright?"
Kevin appreciated that he didn't add on a 'kid' or 'son'. "Yeah, I'm alright, just a bit tired, but I'll be fine."
Steve lifted a hand up to his ear, activating his comms unit. "Ben? Check in. Gimme a status update."
They heard a crackle in their ears. "I'm fine Cap, I just- *grunt* -I'm a little busy right now. Please leave a message."
Kevin cut in. "He's fine." He waved it off.
Natasha was still leaning on the weapon she had swiped, panting in exhaustion herself. "Cap, none of this is gonna mean a damn thing if we don't close that portal."
They all looked up at the open portal, with Chitauri constantly flooding out of it. "Our biggest guns couldn't touch it."
"Well maybe it's not about guns."
"If you wanna get up there, you're gonna need a ride."
The spy lazily threw away the weapon and took a few steps forward. "I got a ride." Cap noticed she was referring to the Chitauri flying overhead. She looked over at Kevin. "How far can you throw?" Kevin just smirked.
They both got into position as Natasha spied her target. "Uh, you ready lady? 'Cause it probably won't end well."
"Quite pessimistic there, huh?" She gave a small, teasing smile.
"I've always pronounced it 'realistic'" Kevin, despite what he said, still threw her right on target. Natasha flew through the air before quickly grabbing onto the small cruiser and flying off with it.
"Alright Kevin, you're with me. Let's go."
"Hey wait, what's that thing made of, 'cause it's definitely not steel." He pointed at the circular shield.
"It's called Vibranium. Three times as strong and half the weight. At least that's what a smart guy I used to know told me." He shrugged.
"Mind if I…"
"Oh yeah, go ahead." He raised his shield up for the boy and Kevin just laid his hands on it. It wasn't enough for it to spread all over his body, but it did cover his arms up to the shoulder. Unfortunately for Kevin, the metal on his arms seemed to copy the painted color scheme on the shield, resulting in his arms covered in red and white stripes, with both his shoulders adopting a dark blue shade with a white star right in the middle of them.
"Aw man...my cool factor just lowered by like 10 points." Still, the two rushed at the oncoming Chitauri jumping onto the sides of the bridge.
All across the city of Manhattan, the Avenger worked as a team, maximizing each of their strengths and covering for each of their weaknesses. They used their powers and abilities in perfect tandem, dealing out pain to any alien in their sights. Iron Man and Captain America took out dozens on the bridge alone, reflecting repulsor blasts off of the indestructible shield. As Iron Man flew off, Kevin jumped and was caught by Tony, who threw him up towards a building. The Osmosian smashed through a wall, tearing through three Chitauri perched there, but didn't stop for a second as he sprinted through the building and jumped through the window on the other side, slamming like a meteor into the battlefield below.
On top of that very building, Hawkeye sniped any target he set his eye on, never wasting, nor missing, a shot. One in particular struck the pilot of a small cruiser, sending the other two aboard spiraling until their collision with a Leviathan.
On top of said Leviathan, Thor, Hulk, and Ben were fighting off swaths of enemies while trying to kill the giant beast. Ben had an idea to shake off all these enemies, before switching from the ghostly Big Chill into the small silicon being he knew as Echo Echo. He cloned himself dozens of times over and clung all over the top and sides of the Leviathan. With a robotic voice, he called out to his other two teammates, "Grab. Onto. Something!"
At the same time, all of the Echo Echo clones used their sonic scream from each of their positions scattered around the space whale. It roared in pain and began to shudder, tippin nearly onto its side before righting itself shakily. This was just what Ben intended, as the Leviathan inadvertently bucked off all of the swarming aliens trying to prevent Thor and Hulk from attacking. With an angry snarl, the Hulk ripped off a jagged piece of the armor and slammed it into the Leviathan, piercing it. Thor noticed this, and spun Mjolnir a few times before bashing the giant, crude shiv further into the beast, with a burst of lightning for good measure.
That seemed to finish it off, as it immediately went limp and crashed straight through the front of Grand Central Terminal, where it lay permanently.
All the clones scattered around all merged back into the original, who shook his head to clear the cobwebs, quickly turning back into Ben with a green flash. He walked back to where he last saw the two powerhouses, but only saw the Hulk.
"Huh, Thor must've run off somewhere else." He was only answered by a series of grunts. "Hey man, ya know, you're pretty cool. And the way you just turned and punched that big whale like it was nothin'! That was like the most awesome thing I've seen in a long time." He raised his hand for a fist bump, but the Hulk seemed confused. "Here man just raise you fist and hold it there like that." He helped out the Green Goliath by raising up his enclosed fist and letting it hover in the air. He decided to just show him by bumping his fist where he held it. "That's a fist bump. You do that with your friends when you do or say something cool." He nodded his head sagely, like he was speaking about philosophy.
The Hulk just stared at the little person. He knew that the big dinosaur was the same, and back then, his instincts screamed at him to prove his dominance, but now, well now the Hulk wasn't so sure. He knew though, that he wasn't about to let any alien injure him. That, and the little person called him friend; friend=protect. He looked away sharply with a few soft grunts and jumped out of the terminal with a single leap, ready to do what he does best.
Ben watched him leap away with a large smile on his face. "So cool." He noticed Thor limp forward back to his position. "Hey man...thought you left."
The god had an annoyed look on his face and grumbled something under his breath. A bit louder, he said, "Let us do battle friend." He flew out in his usual flair of lightning. Ben turned around to see the crowd of dumbfounded people, seemingly trying to get as far away as they could from the Leviathan.
"Hey! You guys need to get out of here! It's not safe anymore! Or at least find a way underground, help will be here soon, I promise!" In a burst of light, XLR8 ran off in a blur.
Along the way, he skidded to a stop seeing a Leviathan apparently internally combust and explode. It actually was Iron Man, who shot out of the side of the Leviathan and crashed into the ground. As he was trying to get up, shakily at that, he was shot down once again and practically dogpiled by every Chitauri in the area. He quickly changed into a tall, plant-like alien, with a head similar to a budding rose, colored red and yellow. He had holes in the middle of his palms, which had a small stream of gas leaking from them.
Swampfire jumped into action, pulling two off of Tony's back and throwing them away with enough force to launch them through cement walls. A stream of fire shot out of his palms, shot out with enough force that the scorched aliens were sent flying away. To tangle up the rest while Tony recovered, Ben threw seeds that he had plucked from his shoulders. Utilizing his chlorokinesis, he forced the seeds to grow as soon as they touched the ground, sprouting giant roots from the ground, trapping and strangling the nearby Chitauri, and blocking off others with its tough outer layer.
"You alright?" He reached out a hand for him and Stark accepted, pulling himself to his feet."
"Yeah, but I gotta go. Fury told me a nuke's been launched at the city, and I've got just the place for it." He said erratically before rocketing off in the air.
Ben's eyes widened, but he didn't hesitate to catch up to him as Jetray. "Wait! I don't know who this Fury is, but...but I can help!"
Tony gave a humorless chuckle. "You got some good years ahead of you kid, take a breather." From one of his gauntlets, he launched what seemed to be a wire of electricity. It wrapped around Jetray and his wings, along with electrifying him to hell. He fell down to the roof of a skyscraper just below them, sustaining very little damage, but he was incapacitated for the moment.
"No man! Don't do this!" His cries didn't matter, Tony wasn't about to let someone with so much potential sacrifice themselves for others' mistakes.
Moments earlier, Kevin, Thor, and Cap were all fighting on the street, but it was going well. They were slowly being worn down, while the Chitauri seemed to be endlessly flooding out from the portal. A lot of Kevin's metal shell covering his body had been torn off throughout the fighting. His arms, covered with Vibranium, seemed to not even have a scratch. Still though, the spots not covered in armor were bruised, bleeding, and covered in dirt and grime. He heard a small cry of pain and turned to see Cap on the ground. Kevin moved quickly to cover him, using his mostly still armored back to protect him from oncoming fire. Thor batted a car at them with his hammer, sending the car flying into the gathered aliens, crushing them. Kevin dealt with the ones on the opposite side by ripping the concrete from the ground and heaving it right at them.
They took a second for a breather, with Thor helping the Captain to his feet.
"Are you ready for another bout?" The ever enduring Thor questioned.
"Do you even need to ask?" The thirteen-year-old said with attitude.
Both smirked at the response, with Cap replying to Thor, "Yeah, you better keep up." Thor summoned his hammer back to his hand.
The crackle of their comms once again resounded with Natasha's voice resounding through. "I can close it. Can anybody copy?" They were all so surprised and relieved that they faltered for only a moment. "I can shut the portal down."
Steve's response was immediate. "Do it!"
"No, wait." Tony chimed in.
Steve was incredulous. "Stark these things are still coming."
"I got a nuke coming in. It's gonna blow in less than a minute." Kevin wasn't exactly a genius, but he knew very well what that meant.
"Are...are we screwed?" Kevin knew none of his abilities could help him survive this. He wasn't even sure Ben could survive this.
"Not yet kid, I have just the place to put it."
Steve looked down and said slowly. "Stark, you know that's a one-way trip." There was no response from the other side. Kevin looked down. He didn't know any of them really, not for very long at least. But there's always a bond with those you fight alongside. Plus he knew that Stark was a good man, the type of man that Kevin is trying to be. They all looked up to see Stark push his thrusters to their limit, forcing himself and the missile off trajectory, pointed straight up at the portal. Within seconds, he flew through the portal disappearing from sight. For a few seconds, they all held their breath, standing back-to-back facing the gathering aliens. Spontaneously, they all fell limp, like puppets with cut strings. Even the Leviathans seemed to just shut down, collapsing all over the city. They did it, New York was safe.
The invasion was over.
Ben, from several blocks away, noticed the Chitauri die on the spot, but still didn't rest. He was still shaking off the effects from the electricity, but still pushed himself through the air as fast as he could. He pushed way past what he thought were his limits, enough so that it actually hurt, but still didn't slow down. He was a superhero, and he wasn't about to let anybody, much less a friend die while he was around to help. He saw that Tony still wasn't coming back through the portal, despite having accomplished whatever it was that he did to stop the invasion.
He felt frantic as he heard Cap forlornly give the order. "Close it."
No! It won't end like this! He seemed to move even faster, shattering glass in a radius around him just by the speed he was producing.
"Ben stop! What are you doing?!" Cap cried out in alarm.
"Tennyson! Don't do this man!" Kevin tried to convince his friend, but knew him for far too long to think that he would change the shapeshifter's mind.
Natasha was horrified, having just closed the portal. She didn't outwardly show it, but she felt her heart break, thinking that it would be another pure, innocent's blood spilled on her hands.
Ben shot through the slowly closing portal and all he saw was the ball of fire. He heard nothing. Though Jetray could survive in space, the cold cosmos, combined with the blistering head of nuclear fire almost paralyzed him. He grabbed onto Tony with his red claws. And though, nobody could hear, he was grumbling about an old man in a tin can with a martyr complex. He shot back through the portal just as it finally closed in on itself, the heat nipping at his toes. As soon as he flew through, he felt a wave of exhaustion hit him. He angled both to the ground near Cap, Kevin, and Thor's position, but felt his eyes flutter shut just before hitting the ground.
Both heroes were caught in the big green hands of the Hulk, who just tossed Tony to the ground but treated the now-human and asleep Ben with more care than anything his size should possess, setting him down gently separate from the armored Avenger. Thor reached down and easily tore the faceplate away from the badly damaged suit, while Steve bent down, using his enhanced hearing to listen for breathing and a heartbeat. He fell back, sitting on the ground, thinking that Tony didn't survive the trip. Ben quickly woke up and noticed the forlorn expressions on everyone's faces and came to the worst conclusion, his shoulders slumping in grief. Suddenly, the Hulk roared defiantly and Tony's supposedly dead body. His eyes flew open and Tony sucked in a few gasping breaths, like he was just given a shot of adrenaline. Hulk continued to roar, now in triumph, pounding his chest in victory.
"What the hell?" Everybody looked at him with a relieved smile. "What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me."
Kevin crossed his arms, a tired, but relieved expression on his face. "Don't flatter yourself. Nobody's that desperate." That got a good laugh out of Ben and weary smiles from all, but the Hulk.
Steve sat there, finally giving himself a moment of relaxation. "We did it. We won."
Tony's head fell back with a metallic clunk. "All right, yay! Hurrah, good job guys! Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day."
Ben smirked. "Just a day? You're probably old enough for a happy retirement."
"What are you doing out of school, kid? I thought it was a show and tell day?" Tony sniped back just as quickly. Everybody fell into a happy banter, finally glad the fight was over. "Hey, you two alien boys ever tried shawarma? Is there even shawarma where you're from? There's this one joint about two blocks from here. No clue what it is, but I wanna try it."
Thor brought everybody back to the matter at hand. "We're not finished yet." everyone looked back up at Stark tower
Ben rolled his eyes. "Aaannd… moment's gone."
"All right, shawarma after, though."
Loki tried to crawl to his feet. He was furious, yet shocked at the same time. That puny group of heroes and their mindless animal defeated his army; they humiliated him, him, the god of mischief. He would not stay here, maybe he had time to-
All thoughts ceased as he realized the banes of his existence were gathered behind him. They all were beaten, bruised, and bloody, but none of it diminished the harsh glares they pointed in his direction. Stark's helmet was retracted, and to his left stood the soldier, shield strapped to his arm. The Hulk was between them, and he shivered at the glare of the monster. The furthest on the right was the spy, holding the scepter in her mortal hands―blasphemy on the highest order. On her right stood his idiot brother, his stupid hammer gripped firmly in his hand. Right in front of his face was the archer, and arrow drawn and pointed right at his eye socket. On either side of him stood the two children, the brunette shapeshifter on the left, his eyes and strange watch glowing dangerously. On the right was the onyx-haired absorber, metal shell glinting in the sunlight.
"If it's all the same to you, I'd like that drink no-" A Vibranium metal arm to the jaw quickly shut him up, and made the villain see stars.
"Despite the devastation that has been confirmed as an extraterrestrial attack, the extraordinary actions of the group known as the Avengers have been to many a cause not only for comfort, but for celebration." Many new broadcasts were displaying people all over the world celebrating the actions of the Avengers, everywhere from Paris to China. People wore merchandise, drew murals, made parades all in the name of those eight heroes who saved their lives. Captain America's shield stood for a greater symbol than he could've ever thought. The Hulk, once seen as a monster, now had his likeness worn by children in adoration. The robotic face of Iron Man and the hammer of Thor were splayed everywhere in sight. Even the green hourglass seen on a newly introduced shapeshifting hero were worn on t-shirts by men, women, and children alike.
"It's just really great knowing they're out there. That someone is watching over us."
"I love you Thor!"
"And then these guys were like…*Pew pew* And then the air goes…*Boom* And this green guy walks up and he goes… *Roar!*
Not everyone was exactly happy. They were certainly grateful, but there was a fear present.
"I don't know. I don't exactly feel safer with those things out there."
"It just seems that there's a lot they're not telling us."
"That shapeshifting guy's just a kid! I saw it! We don't trust kids to vote, how can we trust them with power like that?"
"They were shot at. I have two little boys at home, children don't belong in something like that."
An old man with slicked back silver hair and a full moustache sat playing chess. "Superheroes in New York? Give me a break."
Even politicians were rallying against these heroes. "These so-called 'Avengers' have to be held responsible for the destruction done to this city. This was their fight. Where are they now?"
"Tough questions are being asked about the Avengers themselves. Their sudden appearance and equally sudden disappearance.
Those who know the truth, who know what the heroes stand for and how they fought for the people, spoke up, and their voices drowned out the barrage of fear and distrust.
"What, this is all somehow their fault? Captain America saved my life. Wherever he is, and wherever any of them are, I would just...I would want to say thank you."
The Avengers, now out of their costumes/uniforms, all gathered in Central Park. Nick Fury, who Ben and Kevin met, and certainly rattled with their mass amount of power, had assured the team that they would have all the privacy they would need. Loki was among them, gagged and in chains, now powerless to do anything but await his sentencing. Romanoff stood by Clint, who was still recovering from the whole mind control ordeal. Him and Kevin talked, he didn't know about what, but it still seemed to do good for both of them. Natasha keeps both boys in her vision almost constantly, after seeing Ben fly through the portal, holding an odd over-protectiveness for a super spy like herself. Bruce and Dr. Selvig moved the Tesseract into a special containment unit provided by Thor, meant specifically to teleport them back to Asgard. Thor placed both of his heavy hands on the shoulders of the two boys, smiling at them.
"Fret not, my young friends, we will do battle together again. One day." It was still quite loud, but it was the softest any of them, Loki included, had ever heard Thor talk.
"Yeah, see ya blondie." Kevin smirked, but looked away. Ben smiled brightly.
"Awesome! We kick serious butt Thor, I honestly feel bad for whatever ugly wants to take all of us on next!" The other Avengers couldn't help but share Ben's enthusiastic smile, while Loki just rolled his eyes. "Speaking of ugly, that'll teach you a lesson for messing with Earth Loki!" Thor chuckled while walking up to his brother, but it quickly faded as he looked into his fallen sibling's eyes.
They all watched as a bright blue beam surrounded the two, and they disappeared with a pop. They all began to disperse, Steve shook Tony's hand in goodbye and winked over at Ben and Kevin who had finished saying goodbye to Bruce. Kevin moved over to where Natasha and Clint were in their 4-seater, and climbed in the back; both Ben and Kevin, who both had nowhere to go as Bellwood didn't exist, had decided to go back with the two agents to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters to try to get something situated for them on this earth. Ben moved to say goodbye to Tony, who kneeled down to reach Ben's rather short height.
"Listen kid...Ben...I heard what you did. Ya'know...in the portal. I just wanna say thanks." Ben smirked slyly at the man. "Don't read too much into this, just trying not to be rude. Anyway...if you or Kevin ever need a place to stay, well my tower has some pretty nice rooms near the penthouse." Tony was awkward, way out of his element when dealing with a kid he didn't find wholly annoying.
"Thanks Tony...but if you ever shock me again, I'll show you exactly how I beat up alien warlords in my universe." Ben had a smile on his face to show that he wasn't too serious. He walked away from Tony, not seeing the fond smile that the man was sending his way. He climbed into the sportscar, trying his best to ignore Bruce's knowing look and teasing smirk as they drove off.
Ben saw Natasha leaning against the passenger door, with Kevin and Clint already inside the car. "Come маленький воин, we still have things to do." She sat in the car and Ben followed.
"Literally no clue what that means."
Nick Fury was very annoyed, and oh, so very tired. These meetings with the World Security Council always managed to actually make him somewhat hate his job.
"Where are the Avengers?" One of them demanded.
"I'm not currently tracking their whereabouts. I'd say they've earned a leave of absence.
The Councilwoman followed, "And the Tesseract?"
"The Tesseract is where it belongs. Out of our reach." Needless to say, Fury wasn't about to try again with that thing, and risk bringing something worse.
Another Councilman was indignant. "That's not your call."
"I didn't make it. I just didn't argue with the god that did."
"So you let him take it AND the war criminal, Loki, who should be answering for his crime."
"Oh, I think he will be." And Fury didn't doubt that fact one bit.
"I don't think you understand what you've started, letting the Avengers loose on this world. They're dangerous."
"They surely are, and the whole world knows it. Every world knows it."
"What of the children? Credible sources say that the changeling boy has more powers than any of those other Avengers. Do you really expect us to trust the world into the hands of irresponsible adolescents?" The boy actually had more power than anything on the planet, maybe even stronger than the Tesseract. Not even he could deny the concern there.
"I expect you to see what they all did here. They showed everyone and everything that Earth isn't to be pushed around, that we won't be beaten."
"So was that the point of all this? A statement? A boast?"
"A promise." With that final point, Fury left the room, ending the conference.
"Sir, how does it work now?" Maria Hill, his loyal right-hand woman asked while on the Helicarrier command deck. "They've all gone their separate ways. Some, pretty extremely far. If we get into a situation like this again, what happens then?"
"They'll come back." He responded with full confidence.
Hill wasn't as confident. "Are you really sure about that?"
"I am." He said simply
"Why?"
"Because we'll need them to."
Maria walked away, still not completely sure, but willing to trust her boss.
Fury was still stewing on something, something that's been nagging him at the back of his mind. The council wasn't always wrong. "Maria, open up three files. Title them 'Benjamin Tennyson', 'Kevin Levin', and… 'Omnitrix'." Fury didn't get to his position by being trusting to everyone and anyone, and from the reports he's heard, that one twelve-year-old scares him more than Loki ever could.
Maria seemed to understand, even if she didn't completely agree with it, but once again, complied with her boss' orders.
Fury just stared at the island of Manhattan below him.
I know I didn't focus on every little fight scene, but you guys already know the movie, you don't wanna see scenes replayed for the sake of replaying it. I primarily just stuck with scenes featuring Kevin and Ben. I also made sure to pair them with people who I think each would get along with quite well. Ben and Tony have their blending personalities, and Kevin always looked up to the Plumbers, with his dad being one, so I feel he would definitely look up to Steve. He's working for his redemption, and so he would want to reflect the attributes of a guy like Captain America. Anyway, the next chapter deals with the long-term aftermath of everything.