The Avengers Assemble
Summary: Three years after Thor gets his powers back, Director Fury is forced to assemble the Avengers when Victor Von Doom threatens to destroy humanity.
A.N. Okay, so I took a lot of liberties with this one. I needed a reason for Fury to get the Avengers together that didn't have anything to do with Loki trying to rule the world.
I'm writing this with the idea that Doom has his electrical powers from the first films. And after three years, Thor would have been introduced to all, if not most, of the Avengers even though they've not been brought together to fight before now.
It was a strange, motley crew that Director Nicholas Fury had gathered aboard the impressive S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier which hovered high above the great cities of the world. His companions consisted of Thor the Norse God of Thunder, Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Bruce Banner, all of whom had had all of an hour or so to talk as a team in the same place before.
"Thought I was too reckless for you, Nicky boy," Iron Man crossed his arms as best as he could whilst wearing his metal suit. "Egotistical and self centred, wasn't it...or something like that, you turned me down for your little squad here...not that you're not all just y'know, nice people, and all," he shrugged.
"Now is not the time to be petty..."
"What happened to the Fantasy Four?" Tony mocked.
"The Fantastic Four," Fury corrected with a long suffering sigh, "Have got their hands full with Doom's new army of robots."
"Go on, say it...they're called Doombots," he grinned, "Kinda tacky name but, hey, who am I to judge?"
"...And...they need help," the director finished.
"And we are to help them?" Thor inferred.
"No, together with our forces, they're more than capable of dealing with the robots for a while. We need you to take the fight straight to Doom in Latveria and stop him. The Avengers program was dropped before it was even started because it was thought that bringing together the most powerful people on earth would only result in..."
"Chaos?" The God of Thunder raised an eyebrow.
"Nothing worse than modern government," Tony shrugged at him.
"We don't have time to argue semantics, Stark, we're in this together...unless you'd rather get down on your knees and beg Doom for mercy."
"...Okay, I'm in' I mean, not in the begging part..but I'll kick his ass for you."
"Since you all know each other, it'll save time," Fury nodded, "I trust you have no objections to working as a team?"
"He is a sorcerer?" Thor frowned after hearing the all of the information that S.H.I.E.L.D had, "But he is mortal."
"He's not a sorcerer, he's a giant conductor!" Tony protested.
"I don't care what you call him, your job is to stop him, not categorise him," Fury snapped.
"My brother would be able to stop him," Thor sighed, "He is a powerful sorcerer, surely a mortal magician would be no match for him."
"Well, if you can find him before we get there, that'd be great," Steve replied, "Otherwise, we're on our own."
"I don't like this," Thor scowled, "I am not good with covert missions," he said as they surveyed the large castle from behind a tor.
"We know," Steve sighed.
"We heard you the last ten times," Tony added. "But it's not like we can just knock on the front door and ask him to stop trying to take over the world, is it?"
"So don't get any ideas, big guy," Captain America slapped the God of Thunder on the back with a grin.
As the Avengers passed through the underground tunnels of Castle Doom, Loki, God of Mischief strode invisibly through the castle itself as though he belonged there. He was dressed in his full regalia complete with his horned helmet and long, green cloak with golden arm and shoulder guards.
It didn't take him long at all to follow the trail of magic that had been calling out to him. The call was like a sirens' song and on his last brief visit to Midgard, Loki had heard its first waking breaths but he'd thought little of it at the time. After all, most of the Nine Realms knew that Midgardian magic was weak, even in its prime it had been nothing compared to what the other Realms could boast.
But this magic was different somehow. It was powerful and Loki knew he had to have it.
And so it was, that the Norse God of Mischief walked proudly into the heart of Victor Von Doom's castle and declared himself with a light, almost polite cough as he emerged from the shadows.
"Victor Von Doom, I presume," he smiled as the caped and masked man spun around.
The villain looked like a wraith, swathed in black except for the red staff he held in his right hand, it was almost blood red and tipped with ornate gold. To Loki, who could sense the powerful magic that lay within it, knew that the mortal that held it could only touch on a fraction of its true power.
Without a word, Von Doom threw out his left hand and shot a blast of crackling blue and silver lightning at Loki, but he vanished instantly, only to remerge behind the mortal. "I believe you missed," he grinned.
He vanished again and Doom swung the staff at him, clutching it with both hands now but of course, Loki was long gone before the man had even blinked. He then appeared behind the mortal again, tapping him on the shoulder and watching as Doom turned again only to find that Loki was gone again.
"Coward!" the man hissed from behind his mask, "Show yourself!"
"As you wish," Loki chuckled and now, he stood not three feet away, facing Von Doom.
"What are you? A mutant? One of S.H.I.E.L.D's new pets, perhaps?"
"Oh, please," Loki rolled his eyes, "I'm insulted, really."
"Then what?!"
"I am Loki," he smiled and inclined his head for a brief moment.
"...Loki...of Asgard?"
"Correct...in a manner of speaking, I suppose," Loki replied.
"And you are here...to what? To stop me?"
"By no means," the God replied, "I care nothing for this Realm or its inhabitants."
"Then why did you break into my castle?"
"I broke nothing," Loki objected petulantly.
"What do you want?!" Doom demanded, shooting another bolt of crackling power at the God who vanished as it passed through the air where he'd been standing a second before.
"That weapon you now wield," the disembodied voice of the Trickster spoke, "It is of mortal origin, yes?"
"It is mine!"
"It holds power beyond your feeble comprehension and I am here to relieve you of it."
Von Doom spared a glance at the staff he held in his right hand and scoffed, "I am the only one capable of wielding its power! This is a mortal weapon, only a mortal can use it."
"We shall see," Loki replied calmly.
"So much for discrete!" Iron Man hissed as he flew over a Doombot before landing and shooting a wrist full of tiny, powerful rockets at it, watching it explode with childlike glee before he found his next opponent.
"It was not my fault!' Thor yelled back.
"Sure it wasn't," Steve nodded.
"For the record, I'm so not taking the rap for this," Tony told them.
"Well, someone is," Natasha shot back.
"Tasha just volunteered," Iron Man laughed.
"I did not!"
"Too late now," Barton smirked as they moved on again, having now defeated the last of the Doombots.
"Your power is unusual...for a mortal," Loki said to Von Doom.
The man himself said nothing as he tried to shoot the taunting God with a bolt of electricity only to miss and crack one of his own walls instead. "I can't help but wonder how you acquired such an ability," Loki spoke, "Or that artefact in your hand. It doesn't seem to like you every much. Can't you hear it? It's screaming."
"Screaming?" Doom scoffed, "That's ridiculous!"
"It has powerful magic and magic takes on a life force of its own. Don't you know that, you foolish mortal?"
"We'll see who's foolish when you're the one a burn to ashes!"
Loki grinned at the threat, ready to strike again, but instead, he kept back, gracefully, away from the human and tilted his head, as listening intently. He let out a quiet sigh a moment later.
"I'm going to have to bring our fun to an end, my friend," he announced sadly.
"What?!" Doom exclaimed, watching as the God before him vanished.
Before he had time to do anything else, one of the walls was suddenly blown apart and in stepped the Avengers.
"Good luck," he heard the disembodied God of mischief say, "I'll be watching."
"Wonderful, more unwanted guests," Von Doom sighed dramatically.
"What's with the death stick?" Tony found himself asking as he and the others fought the enraged Von Doom.
They were surrounded by Doombots as the man himself tried to electrocute them and the staff he held spontaneously shot out jagged blasts of gold power.
"This?" Doom held up the staff. "This is Rúyì Jīngū Bàng, thought to be a only a myth in Chinese culture. But I found it, therefore I am worthy of its power." *1
"Yeah...its needs a better name..."
"It's name doesn't matter," the man told them, "You won't remember it when you're dead!"
Throughout the fight, Von Doom swore that he could see flashes of the God of Mischief who kept throwing daggers at his hand, trying to dislodge the staff from his fingers. It was clear that he wasn't interested in aiding the Avengers, he just wanted the staff. No one else seemed to be able to see him though.
"Stop interfering!" Doom yelled angrily sending a blast of his own power and the uncontrollable energy from the staff at Loki.
"Not gonna happen!" Tony cried back, thinking that the man referred to the Avengers since they couldn't see the God of Mischief.
Loki himself couldn't stop the blast that was sent his way, the power from the staff had proved too much for him and he was sent hurtling away at incredible speeds through thick, stone walls until he landed on the ground outside. Even a God's bones could be broken and Loki knew that he'd just broken too many to count on his journey. Each of the defensive castle's walls had been at least five feet thick and he'd smashed through far too many of them.
Now, as he forced open his eyes, he saw that he was surrounded by destructive robots that Thor and the Avengers had somehow missed on their journey through the castle. The commotion of his crashing through the walls had obviously altered them and he was now considered a threat despite the fact that he could hardly move.
"...Use...less...fools," Loki hissed, hatefully.
The God of Mischief wasn't there to witness Doom's defeat at the hands of the Avengers but he didn't care. He only wanted the staff and he watched, invisibly as the mortal was lead away in chains.
Loki's form shimmered once the room was deserted, his clothes were torn and bloody, his bones were broken and bruised and he hobbled weakly on his aching limbs as he appeared. He managed to somehow walk over to the discarded staff to lift it from the ground and use it to prop himself up. It glowed a pale green in his hands for a second before the magic settled and he, once again, vanished.
He wasn't there to see the team of S.H.I.E.L.D agents who later searched the castle from top to bottom on the words of Doom himself that the artefact had power that they didn't understand. But no one could find it.
*1 Rúyì Jīngū Bàng is a fictional staff in a 16th-century classic Chinese novel 'Journey to the West.' Its name translates roughly as 'The Compliant Golden-Hooped Rod.'