Son of Iron Man

It's been a long time since I've seen you all. It's been a long time, been a long time, been a long lonely, lonely, lonely time!

But enough adapted Led Zeppelin lyrics. It has indeed been a long time since I uploaded anything, and boy, do I wish I had an excuse. What I do have, though, is the longest chapter I have ever written! From stealthy infiltration to full on battles, this one has it all! Below is my original intro that is still relevant, so I can't be bothered to remove it. Enjoy the longest chapter in this story's history!

It's the big one! Iron Man vs. Emily Frost in a battle for the future of the Avengers. Will the trust of Avengers old and new be stronger than the mind control put on Emily and the others? It's in this chapter that we will find out.


Chapter Twenty-Five: War

Night had fallen. Inside the facility, Emily and her Avengers were on patrol; there would be no closed eyes tonight. This left Lupin alone in the artificial forest, looking desperately up to the sky for the blue flash heralding Toby's return. No such thing happened. What he did, see, however, was the shimmer descending silently from the sky. What he smelled was the distinctive smell of electricity and gold-titanium alloy. Without a word, Lupin found himself floating up out of his prison, above the trees and into the night air.

It had begun.

In the security room, Emily watched all the myriad monitors. Ben was watching the feeds in the lenses of his costume. Ty was sitting nervously on the couch, knowing he would be called to action that night.

Where none of them were looking was in the walls of the facility, where Cassie Lang was crawling undetected, too small for her heat signature to register on the scanners.

"I'm in," she whispered over the communicator in her helmet.

"Good," came the reply by Toby, who was watching her progress from afar using a tracking device he had placed in her helmet. "Follow the wall round to the left, then start climbing when you see the air duct above."

"That one?" she asked after a while, looking upward at the metal sheet above her.

"Yes," Toby confirmed, watching the visual feed from her helmet. Cassie began to climb up the wall, using minute cracks as handholds. As she neared the top, Toby asked: "Are you sure you can get in there?" Cassie simply smiled. Within moments, a swarm of ants were crawling past her. Toby watched, impressed, as the ants gnawed away at the metal. Soon, there were thousands of them crawling out of the woodwork. In just minutes, there was a hole big enough for Cassie to crawl through. She found herself in the air ducts. Without her suit, the cool air would have frozen her. She pressed on, fighting against the gentle breeze threatening to blow her away.

"Would you stop being so melodramatic and just get on with it?" came the voice of Deadpool over the radio.

"Ignore her, you're doing great," Toby said reassuringly.

"I'd... like to see her... do this... at this size!" Cassie grunted as the fought the breeze.

"So would I. She wouldn't know how to grow again," Toby quipped.

Finally, Cassie reached the vent at the end of the ducts.

"OK, you're approaching the security room. Now, I designed this place to be impenetrable. See those red sensors at the edge of the vent? They detect anything larger than a microbe and it's vaporised in less than a nanosecond," Toby explained.

"I hope you have a plan," Cassie said. She heard his hand rustling through his hair stressfully.

"I have... part of a plan," he replied.

"Part of a plan?" Cassie hissed.

"OK, most of a plan! Happy?"

"I'd be happier if you had an entire plan."

"Yeah, well I'm running on a tight schedule!" Toby protested. After a moment's thought, he spoke again, excited: "I've got it! Can't that suit go to a molecular level?"

"It technically can, but there's no guarantee I can grow back to normal, or even shrunken size," Cassie explained. "But you're Toby Stark! Don't you have some... nanobots, or something?"

Toby's stupidity hit him like a train. "Yes," he said. "Hang on." After a few minutes, a tiny Iron Man suit came boosting down the air vent. Just as it was about to hit the sensor field, it seemed to dissolve before reappearing on the other side. The miniature suit flew to a control panel, so small that Emily couldn't see it, and pressed the button which deactivated the sensors.

"OK," came Toby's voice in Cassie's helmet. "Sensors are down. Sorry I can't keep the drone with you, but I'm going to need my concentration elsewhere." The tiny suit dissipated into an unseen nanobot cloud. "Now, get in position. I'll let you know when the rest of us are ready."

"Can't wait," Cassie said as she hopped through the vent.


Matt Spector placed two fingers on the button in his ear.

"Stark, I'm in position," he whispered.

"Good," replied Toby. "See the skylight?" Matt looked out across the flat, grey roof at the raised skylight.

"I see it."

"Good. Is Lupin with you?" Stark asked.

"Yes," Matt replied with a disdainful look at the wolf sat beside him, scratching with his back paw at the back of his ear. "But I fail to see how this dog will help anything."

"Wolf," Lupin corrected him, sitting straight and fixing him with a glare. "I thought you'd recognise a wolf, Moon Boy."

"Knight," Spector growled.

"Stop arguing," Stark ordered. "Lupin will be more use than you could imagine. It's your job, Moon Knight, to get inside and incapacitate the boy. Don't. Kill. Him."

"Please, my father was the mercenary. I know what I'm doing," Matt scoffed. With that, he and Lupin crept across the roof to the skylight. Spector put a single finger to his lips before removing a small laser from his utility belt. Down on one knee, he took a second tool from his belt. It was a rope with a powerful suction cup on one end. He placed the cup against the glass and, with great strength, pulled back the lever which created a vacuum within. Handing the end of the rope to Lupin, who took it in his mouth and pulled it taught, he then took the laser cutter and cut a clean circle in the glass. As soon as he felt the change in resistance, Lupin began to pull, his paws scrambling on the rooftop. Once the way in was clear, Spector took Lupin under one arm and a grappling hook in the other. Silently, the pair descended into the living room of the facility. Below them was the blond head of Ty Banner, sat on a sofa with headphones on. Thankfully, the lights were off, so neither of the intruders cast a shadow. They touched down behind the sofa, and Spector immediately took a tranquilliser dart from his belt. Before Ty could react, the dart was in his neck and he was asleep.

"Target neutralised," Matt whispered into the communicator. "I used a compound that's ten times stronger than horse tranquilliser. The Hulk will keep him alive, but he won't be getting up anytime soon."

"Excellent. Lupin, I need you to guard Ty in case Matt's wrong," Toby instructed.

"Sure, who better to be the guard dog?" Lupin said sarcastically.

"With Mothi and Magni still in Asgard, you're the only one even remotely approaching his power levels," Toby explained.

"He's a talking dog," Spector said disbelievingly.

"Oh, he's more than that. I just hope you don't have to see it tonight," Toby said grimly.

"OK, so the wolf is on guard duty, but what am I doing?"

"You're already inside, now. I've set up a loop on the footage for the room you're in, but it won't go unnoticed for long. Stay with Lupin for now, and we'll call you in when it's time."

"You're the boss."


On the mainland was an old waterfront warehouse. Inside, Toby Stark was watching the feeds of Cassie and Matt on a monitor formed by the nanobots. Around him were Nathan, Laura and Eleanor, each of them checking over their equipment and outfits. On Deadpool's wrist was a teleporter her father had stolen from Cable, a mutant from the future who was the son of Cyclops and therefore, Toby realised for the first time, Emily's far older brother. This device was key to Toby's plan.

"Is everyone ready?" he asked as the monitor dissolved and the suit formed around him.

"Ready," replied Hotshot as he placed his pistols in their holsters.

"Ready," X-23 replied, the claws on her fists popping out with a snikt.

"Let's f*** some s*** up!" Deadpool cried, drawing her katanas and letting loose a primal yell. "Really, you'd censor me?" she added in an inaudible whisper.

"OK, everyone, gather around Deadpool," Toby instructed. "Hands on the teleport."

"I feel so loved."

"Cassie, now!" Toby commanded. In the security room, Cassie unplugged the monitors, cutting the security feeds.

"What?!" he heard Emily's voice, deep and slow, warped by Cassie's diminutive size.

"OK, guys, we're going in." With a flash, the group disappeared.


Inside the security room, Emily Frost was furious. She started slamming her hand on the monitors, trying to get them to work.

"Ugh!" she sighed. "Ben!" she called, standing up and storming toward the door. As it slid open, she was greeted by a smiling face, surrounded by people she didn't recognise.

"Hello, love," Toby Stark said with a grin. "Did you miss me?"

"Toby. I thought you were dead," Emily replied.

"You thought wrong. My friends and I are here to take you down." Claws, swords, guns and clubs were drawn and Cassie returned to normal size beside Matt.

"You're not the only one with friends," Emily threatened. "Banner! Parker!" Ben came running in to stand beside Emily, but Ty was nowhere to be seen.

"I was expecting more," Toby said teasingly. "But then, I don't need to be a mind reader to know you did, too."

"Perhaps if you were a mind reader, you'd know this isn't all I have," Emily said, placing a finger on the black gem in her navel. It began to glow. Suddenly, the corridor was flooded with the souls of the damned, black shades with eviscerating claws. "Have fun," she smiled before both she and Ben disappeared in a black cloud.

Hotshot made the first move. He fired a bullet at the nearest shade, and it continued as though it had hit nothing, making several shades dissipate in a puff of smoke before being caught by a claw, which was clearly a physical presence. He looked at Toby, who had already taken the hint.

"Right, one hit and they're dead, but mind those claws," he called out. "Avengers..."

"He's gonna say it!"

"ASSEMBLE!" Rallied, the heroes went to work. Toby and Hotshot were the big hitters, with missiles and explosive bullets fired at the ground taking out multiple shades at the same time. Before long, the heroes stood in an empty corridor.

"That was easy," Nathan commented.

"That was barely the start of the battle. The souls of the damned are numberless, and we haven't freed a single person yet," Toby explained.

"Well, bring 'em on and we'll send 'em straight back to hell," Laura said.

"That's the spirit," Toby said.

"Ha! Good one!" Deadpool laughed.

"What – oh, right. Spirit," Toby sighed. "OK, we've got to get into the security room and try to find Emily and Ben." The group rushed into the room and Cassie plugged the monitors back in.

"Welcome," came a pre-programmed voice. "Please identify."

"Toby Stark," Toby said clearly. A retinal scan activated upon his reply, and he placed a thumb into a scanner on the control panel.

"Access..." the voice said. "Denied. Identification not recognised."

"What? I invented you!" Toby burst out in annoyance. "Ah... Emily must have locked me out. We'll need one of the others if we want to get in."

"Not so fast," Laura interrupted, sniffing the air. "I got a scent. Leather. Perfume. Spandex."

"Emily and Ben," Toby realised. "Can you track them?"

"Of course," Laura smirked. She took off down the corridor, followed by the others. As they rounded a corner, however, a red light flashed and an alarm sounded.

"Intruders detected!" the computerised voice announced as a turret descended from the ceiling.

"I thought you deactivated the alarms!" Toby and Cassie said in unison. "I thought you did!"

An ice bullet froze the turret before it could fire.

"Shut it, both of you!" Hotshot declared, his pistol still smoking. "The alarms don't matter any more, but these turrets will get annoying."

"I've got this," Toby said. "J, can you shut down defences?"

"Not from here, sir. The system is too well defended," JARVIS replied.

"Damn, I've literally outdone myself on this base. Is there anything we can do?"

"Perhaps, sir... if I could be uploaded into the system, I may be able to take over. But... there are risks."

"Risks? What kind of risks?"

"Should I fail to take over, my programming may be destroyed by the base computer."

"Is that likely?"

"Well, sir, the system is already able to keep me out. However, I am reasonably sure that I could overpower the system were I inside it," JARVIS explained. Toby looked dismayed.

"We're going to have to try it, aren't we?" he asked.

"Should I succeed, we would have control of the base. I believe the benefits outweigh the risks," the AI responded.

"Well, you're the computer. Do it," Toby said.

"Very well, sir." With that, JARVIS was gone from the armour, which dissipated without him to control it.

"Uh, what was that?" Cassie asked.

"JARVIS is trying to hack the system. He should be done any moment now," Toby answered. Several long moments passed without a sign of his return. Toby grew increasingly more concerned.

"Should he be back by now?" Matt asked. Toby let out a long, resigned sigh.

"Yes."


"Why did we split off from the group again?" Nathan asked as he and Toby ran down a corridor, pausing to freeze the occasional turret.

"Without JARVIS, I can't control the suit, which means I can't fight. These glasses? Useless without him. I've been working on a backup AI, in case JARVIS ever went out of commission. We need to upload it into the glasses, and I need you for backup against the defences," Toby explained.

"OK, great," Nathan said. "How far are we from this backup?"

"Not far. Turn left here." They rounded the corner and Nathan shot out two turrets. "Here." They dived through an open door just as it started to close against them. They hit the ground just as it snapped shut.

"We're trapped. I hope you got the right room," Nathan said.

"Oh, don't worry about that," Toby grinned. They looked up to see a second laboratory, one which no one but Toby even knew about. "This is the lab I use for secret experiments. Do me a favour and just stand at the door while I find the disk." Toby walked toward a central computer and accessed the catalogue.

"Systems in here run independently from the rest of the facility," he called to Nathan as he worked. He soon found the AI's files. Creating a wired link between the computer and his glasses, he initiated the transfer.

"Is this going to take long?" Nathan called.

"Shouldn't be long – ah, it's done!"

"GoOd eVenIng, mAAm, maY I tAke yoUr cOat?" asked a broken voice, changing in pitch with every syllable. Nathan looked shocked and horrified.

"This thing is supposed to operate an advanced battle suit and not kill us all?"

"ExCuSe yOu, meaTbAg. I aM CaLliDos, noT tHinG."

"His programming is complete, I just haven't finished coding the personality matrix. He can do anything JARVIS can do," Toby offered sheepishly.

"YoU waNt I sHouLd desTrOy tHe rUde mEatbAg?" Callidos asked.

"No, Callidos, he's a friend. Here, let me update your codex," Toby said. He linked the glasses with the computer again and quickly typed up friend and foe designations for him, but before he unplugged, Nathan made a request.

"Can you fix that pitch issue? It's really annoying."

"I can try." He typed away on the keyboard for a few moments before asking: "How's that, Cal?"

"Much better, master meatbag," Callidos replied.

"Good," Toby said. He then turned to Nathan, adding: "Best I can do for now. His personality matrix is still pretty unfinished."

"I am pleased to meet you, Hotshit," Callidos said without emotion. Despite the situation, Toby and Nathan burst into laughter.

"Ha, sorry! Typo in the codex, I guess!" Toby chuckled.

"Doesn't matter, let's go find the others... how are we going to do that, by the way?"

"I put trackers on everyone at the start of the mission. With the armour back online, I'll be able to find the others no problem," Toby explained. "Cal, I need armour."

"Yes, meatbag." On his command, the nanobots swarmed around him, forming his suit.

"Now we're talking!" Toby said with a grin. Without another word, he blasted the door down and took flight, carrying Nathan with him.


Lupin sighed. He'd been sat in the same room for what felt like hours, watching over the unconscious Ty, who was now more unconscious than ever. He scratched at that insatiable itch behind his ear and looked down at Ty. Why did Toby leave him on guard duty? After these rough last few weeks, he desperately wanted to cut loose and smash some heads together. He sighed again.

Unbeknownst to the wolf, a dark figure dropped down through the hole in the skylight and landed behind him. Only at the last minute did he catch the scent of the intruder, at which point he turned round to see a pair of glowing green eyes which were soon eclipsed by a fist, which struck him hard. With a yelp, he flew across the room and landed in a heap on the floor; and in his last waking moments he saw the green-eyed figure shouldering Ty and walking toward the door.

"You are still needed, my brother..."


"They're just through that door," Laura announced, sniffing the air. She turned to the others and placed her hands on her hips expectantly. "What do we do?"

"As much as I'd love to get in there and kick some ass, I think we should wait for Toby and Nathan," Matt proposed. His suggestion was met with murmurs of agreement, mixed with a sigh from Deadpool. They didn't have long to wait before Toby flew in, dropping Nathan off before landing himself. Callidos overrode the external speakers.

"I am glad to finally meet you meatbags! I am Callidos, your future overlord!"

"Ignore him, he's unfinished," Toby said in response to the confused looks on his friends' faces.

"Master meatbag, I do not have a designation for the black and red one in the mask. Shall I destroy it?" Callidos asked. Toby donned a thoughtful look.

"...Unfortunately not. That's Deadpool, she's... kind of a friend on this one."

"Did you hear that?" Deadpool whispered to Cassie, "Iron Man said I'm kind of his friend!"

"Understood, meatbag. Terminating decimation protocols."

"And can you stop calling us meatbags?" Toby asked, annoyed.

"Yes, ma'am." Toby sighed, but didn't bother to correct the unfinished prototype.

"I guess there's reason we've all stopped here?" he asked.

"They're just through that door," Laura replied.

"Great. Matt, have you scanned the room with infrared?"

"I tried, but they've blocked it."

"Right. Well, that's the training room. It's based on the danger room the X-Men use, which means we could be facing anything in there. And the LMDs I've programmed not only mimic real powers and weapons, but can be told to kill. They've chosen a good place for a last stand," Toby explained. "We've got to be ready for anything in there. Once you're in, trust no one: it could be an LMD disguised as one of us. We split up once we're in. Our target is Emily. If you see any of us, speak the word 'watermelon' so we know you're real. The LMDs are pre-programmed with forms, and they won't learn any new language in combat. Everyone got it?"

"Got it," replied everyone but Deadpool, who declared: "Watermelon."

"Good. We move now."

The training room was dark when the team entered, pitch black except for one circle of light far away, within which Emily, Ben, Ty and the green-eyed newcomer stood.

"You took your time," Emily commented.

"We had some delays," Toby replied.

"So I hear. But you're here now, so why don't we finish this?" At that, the circle of light rose up on a pillar until it was out of sight. The lights came on to reveal several more pillars breaking up their lines of sight, but no sign of any enemies.

"Alright, everyone, split up," Toby commanded. He took to the sky while the others ran off in separate directions. As soon as he was alone, two more armoured figures appeared in the air with him: LMDs in the form of the Black Knight. "This should be fun," he muttered as he dodged a red repulsor blast.

Down below, Moon Knight prowled among the pillars, seeing nothing in their shade. Infrared revealed nothing, but then the cold machines probably wouldn't show up, and he knew shades wouldn't. He drew his grapnel gun and ascended to the top of a pillar, where he perched and observed the battlefield. But again he saw nothing. He descended to the ground and looked around, scratching his head. Then, suddenly, he felt his mask being lifted from behind and a soft pair of lips on his own.

Not far away, Laura grunted as she withdrew her claws from the head of an LMD which had previously taken the form of Wolverine. She turned to face the other three Logans with a grim look of determination on her face.

"We don't want you," they spoke in unison. "We never asked to be cloned."

"I never asked to be cloned from you," Laura growled, leaping into a spinning attack with her claws and taking out one Logan. The claws of another cut her arm, but it healed almost instantly. She retaliated, taking out the Wolverine which had attacked her. Now there was only one left. It felt more personal. She went to attack, but her claws were blocked by the LMD's synthesised adamantium. Each combatant made and blocked several more attacks before the LMD knocked Laura off balance and grabbed her, restraining her by the arms. As she struggled, she caught the scent off the same perfume she had been tracking to find Emily. Sure enough, the blonde emerged from the shadows, applying fresh lipstick, and stopped right in front of Laura, taking her chin in one hand and holding her head still.

"I'm glad it's dark here," Emily observed. "People might start to talk if they could see us." In one swift movement, she kissed Laura, holding it just long enough to administer the dose of mind-control before retreating. But Laura's eyes remained the same green they had always been.

"What? Why aren't you – ah, your healing! It must be counteracting the magic," Emily realised. A smile curled her lips. "Then I'll have to try and overwhelm your ability."

"It won't work. Please, skip trying and save us both the embarrassment." But Laura's protests were silenced by another kiss.

Cassie watched in horror, small and unseen, as Emily kissed the helpless Laura. She wanted to interfere, but she could see all the LMDs and shades waiting for the business to be concluded. All she'd achieve would be to get captured herself. And so all she could do was watch. After several excruciating minutes, Emily stepped back and Laura dropped to her knees, defeated.

"I obey, mistress," she spoke. Cassie stepped back, horrified, but backed right into the foot of an LMD, which promptly picked her up and held her out for Emily to inspect.

"What do we have here?" Emily purred, bending over to get a closer look. "Ant-Girl? Oh, that will never do." She took out her lipstick and applied a fresh layer. "Come on, grow up. Let's get this over with."

"Never!" Cassie squeaked.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Emily teased. "Oh, someone, get her to normal size!" At that, an LMD in the form of the Wasp, Cassie's mother, flew up to her and, wordlessly, pressed the button on her wrist which controlled her size. Cassie grew to normal size; the LMD now holding her by the wrists. She hung her head in defeat before Emily raised it up by the chin. Cassie saw her own eyes reflected in the ruby quartz glasses Emily wore as she went in for a kiss. When Emily's lips left her own, black, soulless eyes stared back.

Up above, Toby blasted the last LMD out of the air and jetted down to try and spot his allies, but they were nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, he heard a roar, and a large red blur charged out from the shadows. He only just reacted in time to dodge it.

"Oh, no," he breathed as he looked down to see none other than the Red Hulk.

"Smash!" Ty bellowed as he leapt into the air, narrowly missing Toby.

"Now, now, brother, remember: mere anger won't defeat this one." Toby looked around to try and determine the source of the voice. Immediately he saw the glowing green eyes in the darkness. They stepped forward, revealing the rest of a body that, with a sharp intake of breath, Toby realised he recognised.

"Adrian...?" he gasped, quickly followed by a harsh realisation. "There're two of them!" He started firing on the brothers, but he knew he couldn't beat them. "Cal, have we got a hulkbuster form I forgot I programmed?"

"I'm afraid not, ma'am," Callidos said.

"OK, any tactical recommendations?"

"Suggest we lure them to a secluded spot, deploy laser monkeys, and then melt them with acid," Callidos suggested.

"A superlative suggestion, Cal, with just two minor drawbacks. We have no laser monkeys to deploy, and we have no acid to melt our friends with," Toby sighed.

At that moment, a hole opened up in the ceiling, casting a beam of light into the room, and a hulking figure jumped down with an angry snarl. It was Lupin! The wolf pounded Ty, leaving Adrian to Toby. Counting his blessings for the lucky break, he swooped down on Adrian, who – other than the glowing eyes and brutal strength – appeared normal. As he hit Adrian with a double uppercut, he realised something: his eyes were glowing green, not black. Adrian wasn't being controlled! Which meant he could be reasoned with.

"Adrian, that's you in there, isn't it?" he asked.

"So what if it is?" Adrian growled as he stood back up in time to catch a repulsor to the face.

"We don't have to fight! You can help us fight the real bad guys!"

"Way I see it, you are the enemy. Why else would you knock out my brother like that? Why else would you betray your whole team for these other 'heroes'?"

"Is that what Emily told you? That I betrayed the team?"

"Yes, and the others agreed, even Ben. Why would you do that to your best friend?" Adrian demanded, catching Toby with a strike and sending him flying. He leapt after his foe, holding him to the ground and striking his faceplate multiple times in fury. "WHY?!"

Toby caught the next punch with his hand and dissolved his faceplate, spluttering: "Why indeed?" He fired a blast through the gauntlet which held Adrian's fist, blasting his assailant back. But Adrian just became more angry, and was back on him in moments. Toby managed to catch both fists, at which point he held them still.

"Bored now," he said, and his armour crept off his body and encased Adrian's. "Cal, remote override. Give control of the suit to me and me alone."

"Yes, ma'am." Toby's glasses began to show what the armour saw through its eye slits. He had control. Under his influence, the armour flew up through the hole in the ceiling, and didn't stop. It flew up, and up, before dissolving into the swarm. Adrian came crashing down, the force of his fall enough to knock him out, but the Hulk inside him keeping him from any lasting damage. As Toby's suit reformed around him, he looked around for Lupin and Ty, but they had disappeared into the darkness. He scanned for heat signatures, but as before, they were masked so he couldn't see anything. He landed, dissolving his faceplate so he could try to spot figures in the darkness. But again there was nothing.

Then, suddenly, the whole place lit up. As Toby's eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness, he registered that the pillars were all gone, and the ground was flat. At the end of the room stood Emily, as well as all of his friends, brainwashed. Only Lupin and Deadpool seemed unaffected, though Lupin was at the end of a chain held by Ty and Deadpool was being restrained by three shades. Emily began a slow clap, which spread to all of his friends who had their hands free, as she walked toward him. Then, at her command, all fell silent.

"Toby, my love, your attempts to defeat me are just painful to watch. First you try to betray your team..."

"That never happened! You're the traitor!" Toby protested. Emily put a single finger to her lips and he found himself silenced.

"Now, now, Toby, it's rude to interrupt people. As I was saying, first you betray your team, then you find a new one just to try and take them down! Truly shameful..." Emily admonished Toby. He suddenly found himself able to speak again.

"That's a lie. You're controlling them! You're controlling all of them! Adrian, listen to me, just look into someone's eyes!" Toby shouted. Emily silenced her again, but too late. Adrian did look into Ty's eyes, and he didn't like what he saw.

"It's true," he realised. "You're the traitor." He turned to Emily and charged forward tackling her to the ground and relinquishing her hold on Toby, who took the opportunity to blast Lupin's chain out of Ty's hand and fire precision rockets at the shades holding Deadpool. Both newly liberated heroes hurried over to join him, dodging attempts to recapture them. But the brainwashed team was too focused on Adrian, who was displaying new levels of rage as he pummelled Emily, resisting her mind tricks and batting away anyone who tried to help her. Even her diamond form didn't offer much resistance, and as her skin began to crack her optic blasts simply bounced off of him.

"You did this!" he raged. "You controlled my brother and my friends! It was all you!" he finished his beating with a primal scream, leaving her broken body in an Emily-shaped crater and stepping back, his skin glowing green. As he cooled off, he looked around, panting like a dog. Then the glow grew more intense until it was hard to look at him.

"Help," he said in a small voice, before the green glow filled the room. As everyone's eyes cleared, they saw that Adrian Banner was gone. In his place, red eyed and muscle-bound, was a still-glowing Black Hulk. Everyone was still, waiting to see whose side he was on. For several agonising moments, he looked slowly around the room, then down at himself. With no other sound than a short, he leapt upward, smashing a hole in the ceiling of the training room and disappearing. While everyone else watched, perplexed, Emily spluttered from the ground:

"Kill the traitors."

Everyone turned on Toby, Lupin and Deadpool.

"Watermelon?" Deadpool offered. The onslaught began. Toby took to the sky, followed by Ben and being shot at by Hotshot. Lupin took on Laura, Cassie and Matt all at once, leaving Deadpool to try and fight Ty. The battle was hard fought. Deadpool almost immediately got smashed by Ty, who moved on to fighting Lupin, who in turn had already knocked Cassie and Matt out of the fight. Seeing Ty coming, Toby hit Laura's eyes with laser beams, blinding her and temporarily removing her from the fight. This freed up Lupin for continued battle with Ty. Toby, meanwhile, incapacitated Hotshot with a stunning sonic attack tried to do the same to Ben, who kept dodging the attacks and retaliated with webs. Toby knew Ben was beyond reasoning, but he still couldn't bring himself to harm his best friend.

He looked below and saw that Laura had already recovered, and Matt was already awake. The last three heroes were fighting a battle they couldn't win. It would take an act of God to beat the odds this time.

But he could settle for the acts of two.

At that moment, two silhouettes descended through the hole in the ceiling, swords glinting in the evening sunlight as they swung rapidly round. As the two descended, one shouted in an ancient accent:

"Friend Stark! Despair not, for we have found you at last."

"Heimdall informed us of your plight. We come with a solution," boomed the other.

"'Tis the gem in the navel of fair Lady Frost which causes your friends to act in such a way."

"Were it to be destroyed, the spell may yet be broken, and your friends freed."

"We are Mothi and Magni, of Asgard, and we give back to Midgard its protectors!"

At that, a bolt of lightning struck the swords of the Asgardians and the brothers, in unison, pointed their weapons at Emily, channelling the strike towards her. It hit the gem with pinpoint precision, the enchanted lightning bolt destroying the gem instantly. The brain washed heroes suddenly dropped to the ground, then as they woke up, looked confusedly around.

"What... happened?" Ben asked, sitting up and rubbing his head. Besides Emily, he had been the first to fall, and the most affected.

"A lot. I'll have to explain later," Toby said. While everyone woke up in a similarly confused state, Toby made his way over to Emily, who was lying bruised and battered, beaten by a semi-hulk and enchanted lightning, on the ground. He brushed the mess of hair out of her eyes, and tried to peer through the lenses to determine whether or not she was conscious.

"Toby... is that you?" she coughed.

"It's me, Emily. But is that you?"

"What... I..."

"What do you remember?" Toby asked.

"I... was out on patrol. Found a gang, but..." her eyes widened. "It was Enigma! Enigma wanted me to kill... oh God, what have I done?"

"Nothing, nothing!" Toby hastened to tell her. "Everyone's fine. You tried, and you almost succeeded, but everyone is alive."

"Why did it end? Who stopped me?"

"In the end, it was Mothi and Magni, but..." he turned to the brothers. "I'm not really sure how."

Magni began to explain, "A while ago, we were sent back to Midgard to seek an old enemy of Asgard who had escaped to this realm. When we had no sight of the enemy nor of yourselves, we returned to Asgard to ask Heimdall, all seeing guardian of the bifrost, to locate both. He informed us of the situation here and we rushed over as soon as we could."

"But most perplexing of all was the source of the enchantment on young Lady Frost. When Heimdall tried to search for our original quarry, he could not find the being, but could detect traces of its magic. He saw the Lady Frost while searching for our quarry," Mothi added.

"Then the enchantment is Asgardian in origin?" Toby surmised. "That explains why you knew what to do."

"Yeah," piped up Deadpool, "they knew what do to because they're ass guardians, not plot devices."

"Then we have a common enemy again?" Toby continued, ignoring Deadpool.

"It would seem so, Friend Stark," Magni agreed.

"Did Heimdall have any idea how to track Enigma down?" Toby asked.

"Unfortunately not," Mothi replied. "Yet... it seems we don't need to track him down. He's already found us!"

The team turned toward where Mothi pointed to see a puff of black smoke disappearing as the Enigma stood before them.

"Toby Stark. Mothi and Magni Thorson. I must congratulate you, I thought this plan would work smoothly. It's a shame beautiful young Emily here was so useless at her job," he spoke in a menacing whisper.

"Ha! You are a fool, 'Enigma', to come here to us," Mothi declared.

"Please, Mothi, you know my name. Why not use it?"

"Very well, Hel," Mothi said. At the mention of his true name, Enigma morphed into the figure of a young woman with brown hair and green eyes. Like her father before her, Hel wore two golden horns on her head, but her dress was different. Similarly dressed in green, she wore battle armour which nonetheless accentuated her body, providing a hint to her other parentage.

"Friends, meet Hel – daughter of Loki and the Enchantress, two of Asgard's greatest troublemakers."

"Troublemakers is indeed the word," Hel nodded. "My parents were tricksters, a pair of jokes themselves creating annoyances but nothing more. I will be different. I will conquer this realm, and I will not be stopped by anyone, not even the sons of Thor." She spoke the last phrase like it left a bad taste in her mouth.

"Hel, you don't have to-" Magni began, but Hel interrupted him.

"Spare me this tripe. I've tried to conquer Midgard in subtle ways, but I suppose I've got to do it the hard way, now." As she spoke, green and black magic encircled her and an army of shadows arose around her.

Even with the whole team back together, the Avengers were outmatched. Still sluggish from their recent spell of mind control, Toby knew they would soon be overpowered. Luckily, it seemed Mothi and Magni had also considered this.

"Heimdall, now!" they cried out in unison. The room was suddenly filled with rainbow coloured light, which dissipated to reveal an army of armoured Asgardians. At their head, bowing and armed with his famous hammer, was none other than the all-father himself: Thor, rightful king of Asgard.

"Warriors of Asgard!" he bellowed. "Attack!"


Yup, that seems a good time to end this bumper chapter. It's been looooong in the making, but hopefully the wait has been worth it. Join us next time for a battle between Asgardians and a resolution to the current arc. But just when is next time? I know by now that I'm better off not promising a release date for a story that has existed since 2014 and is just now getting its 25th chapter, but I am feeling the inspiration right now, so who knows? Whenever next time is, I look forward to it. In the meantime, I get email notifications whenever I get a PM or a review, and I check my emails every day whether I'm writing or not, so if you want to talk about the story or just ask me where chapter 26 is a year after I promise it, that's the best way to do it by far.

Until next time, true believers!