Chapter 4: Together
Authors Note: Okay everyone, here we go. This chapter will have our character learning to work together and find out who is behind all this. I'm sorry for the long delay, but with work, the holidays and life I had lost motivation to continue, but I am here, and I am going to get through this story so I hope you all enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own The Avengers, or anything Marvel.
"And that is what we have so far." Crow explained to everyone as he set the gauntlet down on the table. Everyone sat at the table, letting what he just said sink in. The crisis in New York and Ultron were all caused by the power of the Infinity Stones and these two gauntlets were somehow able to harness a small amount of their power.
So far, only a small number of this group has suffered at the hands of these gauntlets, but it would only be a matter of time before more would surface and whoever distributed these gauntlets, would make their move.
"Question," Wile asked. "Why not just call The Avengers?"
"Ross's bullshit policy," Tamaya scoffed. "If we involve him he will no doubt want the gauntlets, files on all of us and to keep us on his radar. Especially those of you who are from Asgard and of mystical backgrounds." She looked over at Jokul, Arndis and Nyima.
"We can't let them get a hold of any of these items." Arndis stated. "No offense, but the last thing we need is for the government to get a hold of this supernatural power."
"Well they already have a walking infinity stone, so start worrying." Tamaya stated. "Anyways, you two are Asgardian, Wile is an alien and Nyima is magic is there any way you guys can tell us who made these?"
Jokul grabbed one of the gauntlets and examined it closely. It was a golden fingerless glove with indents that were engraved all around the glove that led to a circular indent on the back of the glove. This is where the energy was harnessed and used.
"Aside from the metal and design it is no different than a regular gauntlet on earth." He explained. "Maybe, the energy is there beforehand and when we sever the glove from its host it instantly surges back into their body which causes them to die. Like this is the power glove so that man blew up and that reality gauntlet caused that greedy punk to transform into a wad of cash."
"So now it is just a useless gauntlet?" Johanna sighed sarcastically as she grabbed the other gauntlet. "Look, not to rain on anyone's parade, but why are the rest of us here. Shouldn't you just use these guys to help track down the mystery man?"
"We could, but we don't know who they are or what they want." Crow explained. "So far they gave a power stone glove and a reality stone glove to two very dangerous individuals and from Jokul and Nyima told me there could be four more gauntlets that can control time, the mind, open gateways to anywhere in the universe and even manipulate souls."
"Damn, these things are really that powerful?" Akiko asked as she lifted her mask up.
"Yes, now listen to me very carefully, because I am not going to repeat myself." Crow said as he stood before everyone at the end of the conference table. "I selected all of you, because you are all gifted, skilled and willing to do good in this world. After Ross's bullshit plan to monitor the Avengers, there is no one out there to protect us from threats like Loki and Ultron and if we have someone out there causing chaos then we need to be the ones to stop it. If you want to help save the world then welcome aboard, but if not, then you know where the door is."
Everyone stayed silent, not knowing what to do. A lot of them had plenty of reasons to leave, but they also had just enough right to stay. They had spent the better part of their lives hiding from the world and beyond, but now with the threat of domination or damnation there would be no where left to hide.
"I'm in," Wile Jones said. "Why not, my people thrive on war and Earth has been good to me. I might as well use everything I know to try and prevent the world from ending."
"Sounds good, anyone else?" Crane asked.
"I've got this power and it's only purpose is to destroy, so it might as well be on the bad guys threatening my family." Tamaya stated.
"Me too," Dante called out from his chair. "I mean if Old Yeller' and Supermom are going to save the day then why shouldn't I get a chance in it?"
"Okay, asshole is on board."
"I'm in too," Johanna stated. "As long as I get the info on the guys who gave me those drugs that turned me into this, berserker."
"I might as well too, otherwise that peeping Tom from Asgard won't leave me alone." Anaya muttered as she played on her phone.
"I'm in too," Akiko raised her hand as she spoke. "The vigilante thing was good but being one of the heroes will be a better use of my powers and talents."
"You already know I am in." Mente informed. "This is a history defining moment, just like the Battle of New York, there is no way I am missing out."
"You chose me for a reason, even though I am not really one for fighting, but I will do whatever I can to aid you and nurse you to proper health." Nissa stated.
"Great, everyone is on board with our Avenging Avengers," Jokul said, before looking to his friend, Arndis. "And can we count on you?"
"Hey, I wouldn't be here if I wasn't already on board." She stated.
"Okay, we are in this together, we will fight together, win together and god forbid…lose together." Crane said with a solemn look on his face. Dante shot up from his chair and stared daggers at Crane.
"That isn't an option." He said in a low tone.
"It never is, boy, but if an when that day comes, you need to be strong." Jokul explained as calmly as he could, lightly shoving a plate of his cookies to him. Dante snatched one off the plate and sat back down in his chair. "Now, what is the plan?"
"Well, since you, Arndis and Nyima are experts with magic and energy I'd figure you guys could examine the gauntlets. Maybe find out about where they came from and who built them."
"I'll help too." Mente offered. "I have better deductive senses than all of you, if there is something from sight and smell I can find it."
"Good idea." Crane stated.
"What about the rest of us?" Akiko asked.
"There's a training yard outside." Crane explained. "We can go out and work on our coordination as a team and understand one another's powers and abilities."
"Good plan." Let's get started.
(!)
The facility the New Avengers were staying at were settled on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. There was plenty of room for sparing and training sessions where the team could work on their strategic battle tactics and understand one another's powers.
The first hour of the lessons was spent observing one another's moves and abilities.
Jordan started out first as he showed everyone how his armor worked. He held out his left arm and showed everyone his dark feather, surprising everyone when the feather spread out all along his arm, before consuming his body, transforming into a jet-black suit of armor with a white crow on the chest plate and a helmet in the shape of a bird. His eyes glowed yellow as he scanned everyone around him.
"Feather is an artificial intelligence that is synced to billions of nanomachines that form the armor you see before you. He is bullet proof, resistant to heat and he can form energy-based weapons both lethal and non-lethal as well as blunt and bladed weapons. Those are just the some of the weapons I use."
"Very interesting, but how much can he stand against someone like us?" Tamaya asked as she looked Jordan's armor up and down. He held his arms out, welcoming her challenge.
"Take a shot and find out." He challenged.
The woman smirked as she walked away from the group and stood across Jordan. Her hands opened and closed three times, before taking a deep breath and thrusting both hands out. Everyone jumped when two red beams shot out from her fist and nearly hit Jordan, before transforming both arms into wings and blocking the attack. The two remained locked like this for a minute and for a second it looked like Jordan was about to give up as he fell to one knee, until Tamaya started to over exert herself and had no choice but to cancel her attack.
"Whew," Jordan exclaimed as his helmet fazed off. "That was tough, I almost gave up there, even Feather was worried that he would burn out even with his energy absorption."
"Yeah, I was getting a little frustrated for a second." Tamaya panted. "That's that flaw with my power, if I lose focus due to anger or fear I could end up firing off lasers like one of those star light projectors."
"I guess that is why you don't use your power as much?" Jordan asked. "See everyone this is the point of these exercises, to learn and understand one another."
"Great, when I start shooting at you next?" Dante said with bitterness. Jokul gave him a light shove and the two locked eyes.
"You have no discipline," The Asgardian warrior grunted. "Why do you think you almost lost to that novice back at your school. You just charged up your, whatever it is you do, and fired without thinking about what could happen."
"Hey, if I had super strength as well as magic powers, I could talk all the shit I want just like you, but I can't take a punch from the Hulk or lift fifty tons over my head like you. All I can do is sweat and blow shit up. That's it and if this guy can take a hit from me, then what good can I do against whatever danger that may be out there?"
"Dante does have a point as well as Jokul." Jordan stated as he deactivated his armor. "Dante you do have great power, but you lack the responsibility to use it in regarding the damage it could do to not only your enemies, but to everyone else. What's the point of saving the world if you end up destroying it as well?"
Dante said nothing, took what he said to heart as Jordan turned to Jokul.
"And Jokul, even without your powers you're still an exceptional warrior, but not everyone had the time to train in the art of close quarters combat like you. They didn't even ask for the power they have now, it just happened for most of us. So, don't you think that maybe instead judging people for their lack of skill you should be helping them hone theirs?"
"I suppose you are right, Crane." Jokul contemplated. "But if I am to help you, we cannot go out there until I am sure we can work together as a team, agreed?" Jokul asked.
"Agreed, it's like I said we work together or not at all." Jordan said as he shook Jokul's hand.
"Now, we have all the time in the world to work on our coordination's and understand each other's powers, so let's get started on some basics."
Jordan had everyone pair up and for some simple sparing and asked everyone to keep their powers held back as they took their fighting stances.
Wile was paired up Johanna, or Joan as she would prefer to be called and the two squared off.
"Okay, Mr. Wile E. Coyote, let's see what you got." She chuckled as she raised her fists. Wile merely rolled his eyes.
"Well. Its better than 'wolf boy' and 'Fido'." Wile shrugged as the two engaged.
Joan sent a quick jab to Wile's face, but the former warrior assassin easily dodged it and easily ducked down and swept her feet from under her, before regaining his composure. She looked up at him in shock and frustration.
"I was training since I popped out of my mother, kiddo, you gotta do better than that." Wile chuckled. Joan laughed back, before quickly tackling the wolfman in his stomach and pinning him down on the ground. He quickly raised his free fist to her face, but she quickly grabbed it and pinned it to the ground.
"He has skills." Jokul said in admiration.
"And she has strength." Jordan stated.
"But how did she get it?" Tamaya asked. "I still can't find anything solid on her records. Just the vigilante sightings of her in Chicago and her high school and college records. None of which are good."
"What do you mean?" Jordan asked.
"I mean she was a train wreck. From the last semester of eleventh grade to the first quarter of twelfth she went from a straight A, overachieving academic to a party girl drop out. There are police records of her underage drinking, drugs, fist fights at schools and other late-night activities. I guess she saw the light because after thanksgiving she cleaned herself up and managed to at least graduate, but in comparison to her grades before the partying she was just another average graduate. No honor roll and no scholar ships."
"Hey, I graduated thanks to the no child left behind act too, but I still had to put in the effort." Jordan stated.
"I'm not saying she didn't redeem herself, but she dropped out of college soon after and immediately off the grid afterwards."
"So, she got her powers after that, big deal we'll look into it. I'm sure she's just as curious as to how she got them as well." Jordan stated as Wile and Joan locked arms and tackled each other to the ground.
They both had exceptional skills with Wile's maneuvers and Joan's strength. They quickly called off the fight, not wanting to risk anyone getting hurt or starting an even bigger fight.
"That was very good," Jordan complimented. "I can't wait to see what more you can do, Wile."
"Yeah, I don't want to risk using my Ki on someone who might not be able to handle it." Wile said as he fixed his hair.
"Hey, I can handle it, hell there isn't a day where I'm not picking off smashed bullets from my skin." Joan boasted. Jokul snorted.
"Have you ever tried not to get hit by gunfire?" Jokul shrugged. "You'd probably save yourself some skin."
"I can handle myself." She said bitterly to which Jokul waved his hands in front of him defensively.
"I didn't mean any offense. I am merely stating that you should learn how to be evasive rather than offensive. You seem to be as strong as the Hulk, but unlike him, you can out maneuver your opponents and dodge their blows rather than charge headfirst into enemy gunfire."
"I guess." She agreed.
"Hey this is why we are here, to learn to be better and work together." Jordan stated. Joan nodded as Wile and Tamaya led her to a different training area. Jordan clapped his hands together and reactivated his armor.
"So, who's up next?"
A week has passed since the band of misfits formed the team and while it was stressful, they did manage to work together and understand each other's powers and abilities better.
Jokul demonstrated his ice powers with his dual broadswords Dodsisolering and Isbrekk which he used to turn one of Dante's explosive fire balls into an ice ball, before cutting it in half.
Anaya showed off her energy manipulation powers by summoning black energy shields to deflect Jordan's blades, then levitating a nearby crate at him, before countering Dante's fireball with an energy blast of her own. She was very talented with her powers, but whenever someone complimented her, she would merely shrug or let out a small, 'whatever', before going back to her phone. Still, she was a valued member of the team.
Arndis's runes proved to be very helpful as activated the ones tattooed on her arms to enhance her strength enough to match Joan's strength and then she activated the tattooed runes on her legs to enhance her speed and flexibility. Those were only a few of her runes, but she assured that the rest would be much more helpful for the team and devastating for their enemies.
Akiko proved to be very skilled in parkour and her stealth exercises. She even managed to use her kusarigama to latch onto Jordan's ankle when he tried to fly away, but without strength to back it up she ended up going on a ride around the training center, before Joan caught up to her and help her pull Jordan down. She even gave a demonstration on her poison manipulation. Lucky for her and the team was that she could control how much poison she could secrete from her energy, she could touch people without killing them.
They still had ways to go, but they were getting better with each passing day.
Everyone was gathered in the cafeteria when Mente and Nyima both walked in, excitement on their faces. Dante looked up from his burger with an eyebrow raised.
"I almost forgot about you guys, what the hell have you been doing?" He asked. Mente held up his tablet. "The gauntlets we know how they work, follow us to the lab."
Jokul didn't waste any time as Jordan and the rest of the team followed them.
Everyone gathered around the research table where the power gauntlet and the reality gauntlet sat. Mente pressed a few buttons as a 3D image scanned over the gauntlets. Mente grabbed the images and lifted them up and enlarging them for everyone to see.
"Okay, so from what Jokul and Nyima told me is that that these two gauntlets are based off the Power Stone and Reality Stone, two out of six Infinity Stones. One has the power to destroy a planet and the other could make that planet's moon into cheese." He explained.
"Yeah, we know that already." Akiko stated.
"Yes, but here's the thing." Without any explanation and to everyone's horror, Mente picked up one of the gauntlets and slipped it on his hand. Everyone freaked out as Jordan and Wile lunged at his glove, but to everyone's relief nothing happened, the glove didn't even fit.
"Are you insane?" Jordan snapped. Mente chuckled as he removed the gauntlet and set it back on the table, after receiving a slap upside the head from Wile.
"I had Arndis and Nyima check it thirty times, this has no power. This is just an alien glove as far as everyone is concerned. Now, let me show you something Arndis spotted. Feather, remove the glove and leave the engravings on the scale."
The gloves deleted from the image, leaving the engraves present. They weren't anything fancy, but they centered around the round image where the orb once stood.
"Now, that is where the, fools stone, once stood, but when the gauntlets were forcibly removed, they disappeared taking the owner out with it. They died based on the stones power, blowing up or morphing into something unrealistic. Now, watch the real gauntlet as Arndis gives it a little juice."
Arndis touched the real gauntlet and using her magic, a red aura flowed through the engravements and met in the center of the gauntlet. Everyone jumped when the gauntlet snapped into a solid position. Ardnis picked it up and waved it around, showing that it was locked in place.
"The glove only fits when the energy is built up in the center." Dante stated.
"Yes, only when my energy disperses nothing happens under my control."
"So, whoever powered these gloves up the first time powered it up with the Infinity Stones?" Joan asked.
"Yes, and that's not all this engraving isn't just for show, it is a rune." Ardnis said with disgust. "This rune is a forbidden Asgardian magic that links something to your very soul. Whoever did this not only know Asgardian magic, but they are also strong enough to copy the Infinity Stone's power and mold it to their souls."
"That explains why they die when they lose the gauntlet." Dante stated.
"But where are they getting these things?" Akiko asked.
"I may have an idea." Jokul said as he placed his swords on the table. Feather did a scan and the image showed everyone a periodic table next to his swords and the gauntlets. Obviously, none of the Earth's elements matched these tools, but there was one metal outside of Earth that both objects had in common.
"Uru." Jokul stated. "The only metal in the Nine Realms that can forge into a weapon that can channel our powers."
"Like Thor's hammer?" Joan asked.
"And Loki's Scepter." Jokul confirmed.
"So, this metal, where does it come from?" Mente asked.
"Where ever rare metals can be found, my swords were a gift from Odin himself, he had them crafted by the dwarves of, Nidavellir." Jokul explained. "They have good relations with the Asgardians, but they are still blacksmiths they can anything for anyone."
"Yes, but from what Ardnis just demonstrated is that these gauntlets are used to wield magic. They are forged by blacksmith's who are in good relations with Asgardians and they are branded with Asgardian runes. I guess that only means one thing, we're dealing with another angry Asgardian."
"Shit." Jordan ran a hand through his hair as he looked towards Ardnis and Jokul. "I don't suppose you two may know who it is?"
"I'm not sure." Jokul sighed.
"Mr. Crane, we have a bigger problem at the moment." Feather said as he pulled up the news on the hologram table. An anchor woman sat in front of the camera with a frantic look on her face.
"Down in Washington, three former Hydra agents have taken over the White House and have kidnapped the President and the First Lady. We don't know how they did it, but foul play may be at work as all of the security officers have been brainwashed into turning against the President."
"Brainwashed, the mind stone." Jokul snarled.
"That's not all," Jordan said as he pulled up the security footage. The image showed a blue portal warping in the main lobby, showing three men in black jumpsuits and each one had a gauntlet. "The galaxy stone."
Just as he said that, the security guards all surrounded the intruders, but before they could fire, one of the intruders raised his own gauntlet and clenched his fist. A green misty hue shrouded the agents as a dial illuminated over the back of his hand, before turning it clockwise, aging the agents into elders in a matter of seconds. Old and weak, the agents fell to the ground helplessly as the other man clanged his own gauntlet, letting out a golden glow as he tapped each agent on the head one by one, before the previous intruder turned the dial counter clockwise aging them back into their previous ages.
"The mind, galaxy and time stone gauntlets." Jordan pondered. "All three out of six gauntlets. What are the odds of that?"
"Slim." Mente sneered. "I think the previous owner of those two gloves wants us to know that we've got their attention."
"And they got ours now." Dante snarled as he fastened his gauntlets.
"Wait." Jordan said, but Dante cut him off.
"No, look I know you think we aren't ready, but-"
"But I need to know, are we in this together, or not?" Jordan asked.
This was a big moment for everyone as they looked around for reassurance. They had only known each other for a week and despite their progress they were still far off from a proper team, but when they looked into each other's eyes all they saw was determination.
"You want us to be a team, then it's now or never. Together or not at all." Dante assured him.
"Okay, Avengers assemble."