Book 2: Connect What?
Now for book 2 of The Spades Chronicles. Still the same warnings, plus alcohol, drug abuse, smoking, cutting, violence, and a lot of other dark stuff. This is for the Disney XD show and will be slow. Also, I might change up their dialogue to make it seem more realistic, not as clean as a children's cartoon. I added them both to the same story because the first book was only 12 thousand words. The color of her energy weapons reflect her mood.
I jumped up off the bed in surprise as the timer for the Avenger's Protocol turned on and a small floating metal ball thing floated into my room.
"Hey Meg. I've activated the Avengers Protocol."
I glared at the simulation of Tony.
"I figured as much- you decided on ignoring me the whole time, it had to be something huge to actually talk to me." I shot to him.
"I'm sorry, Meg. But we need you. You know my ego well enough to know I wouldn't send out this call if I could just whip up a suit of armor and make the bad things go away. So, will you come?" I didn't even hesitate.
"Of course. I'll be at the Tower in a few."
"Actually, get on the jet outside."
I blinked, then nodded, before rushing out the door and getting in the jet.
"Called you too, huh?" Clint asked.
I glared. "You didn't even call me."
Clint chuckled nervously.
"Anything going on in Asgard?" I asked Thor, sitting beside him.
"Yegensborg! The Norse tree-hurling competition and a festival the likes of which you can't even imagine." He looked serious and almost sad suddenly. "But never have I heard Stark so serious."
I bit my lip silently, wondering if I should tell them.
I decided against it.
Other than that, the autopilot going out kind of ruined the whole moment.
"Autopilot's out! Cross your fingers!" Clint went to the front and tried to pull the jet up.
I fell back into Thor and he quickly wrapped his arms around me as I gave a few shrieks every time the jet jostled.
Clint gave a sigh of relief when he fixed it and turned.
"Now, Thor, go hit whatever hit us."
"No, don't do that, it was Hulk." I said, quickly getting into one of the seats and strapping myself in.
Thor opened the door, and I heard him say, "Hulk, you fool."
He jumped out and I heard a clang.
"You'll kill us all!"
When Clint and I were alone, he started talking. "What have you been doing these past 3 days?"
I shrugged. "I tinkered with some stuff I've been making, wrote, read, listened to music, ate, and slept."
He nodded.
We landed and watched Thor and Hulk start to fight.
I groaned. "I got this." I told Clint when he raised his bow.
I made a smoke disk out of my red energy and threw it.
It exploded in a plume of smoke between them, causing them to stop.
"Enough, if you guys fight, all of downtown Manhattan will go up in flames." I chided like a mother. Which is weird since I'm the youngest. In more ways than 1.
"Thanks for reminding me why this didn't work last time." Clint grumbled as he walked away, and I glanced at him before turning back to the 2.
"Alright, boys. Let's get inside."
-Spades-
"Here's what's happening; the Avengers are reassembling." Tony said in his Iron Man armor.
"Why thank you, Admiral Obvious!" I chirped sarcastically, and even though I didn't see it, I'm pretty sure Tony glared at me.
"Handpicked by me, under my command." He said flatly, watching me.
He turned forward.
"Ha! You?" Clint asked. "You could lead a field trip to Vegas, maybe, but…"
"No jokes. Not now." Tony said immediately.
"Cap is gone." Tony reached up to pull off the sheet from Cap's statue.
I scowled.
"Show me the video, if you have any."
Tony gave me a Stark Pad and I watched it silently, even though I already knew it wasn't death, it was teleportation.
I couldn't help but give a laugh.
"What?" Tony asked darkly. "Do you think Cap's death is… funny?"
"If he was dead, it wouldn't be funny at all!" And I couldn't help but laugh hysterically.
"Is the Daughter of Cards sick?" Thor asked, confused, which made me laugh harder.
"Daughter of Cards? Oh, I understand, spades!"
I finally calmed and looked to Tony, who looked like he was thinking.
"If he was dead…? What were you thinking, Meg?" He asked me genuinely.
"Teleportation. It's obvious, no?" I asked, and he watched the video a few times.
"Besides, even if it wasn't, Red Skull is dying. He would need a young, healthy body with the same serum that gave him his strength. He probably has a machine to switch bodies with Steve."
"We need to save Cap, then. And save the Earth from MODOK and Red Skull. I know all of you have your reasons to walk out that door, but I can't do this alone. Can we set the past aside and work together one last time?" Tony asked, face mask up.
"No." I said seriously, causing everyone to look at me in shock.
"No?" Tony asked.
"Don't you dare say one last time. You don't get people together just to break them apart right after, you understand me?"
Tony glanced to the floor in silence, and I sighed.
"You know my real answer is yes. But seriously?"
"We are Avengers and the world needs us." Thor said in his booming voice.
"You know me, point and shoot." Clint pointed at Tony.
"We gonna hug now, or can we go smash someone?" Hulk asked.
"Yeah, go hug Tony. Have you had sex yet? Are you the seme or the uke? I bet you're the catcher. You seem more like the bottom." I rambled, looking up at Hulk.
Everyone around me had turned red, and Clint pushed against my back, guiding me toward the door.
"Come on, let's go…" He said shakily.
We ended up in the jet.
-Spades-
"I hacked every satellite there is to trace the tachyon particles associated with teleportation." Tony said to us, and I gave him a sideways nod.
"All data points to Antarctica." Jarvis finished.
"Whatever gets us smashing faster!" Hulk growled behind me, and I hurriedly went to the front with Tony when I saw Clint reaching for the mints.
"Clint, we're in a moving jet. Don't push anything." I chided.
Clint rolled his eyes and flicked the can of mints. It landed between Hulk's teeth, and I facepalmed, shaking my head.
"They're called 'mints'. Try a dozen." Clint said sarcastically.
"Hawkeye!" Me and Tony yelled at the same time, then glanced at each other a moment.
"What?! Can't look for bad guys if I have to cut through his gamma breath to see them." Clint justified himself, and I noticed Hulk glance at me, as if to ask…
"Go for it. He needs to learn his lesson." I winked at Hulk and he nodded, before grabbing Clint by his shoulders and opening the jet, holding him out by his leg.
"See anything now?" Hulk asked, smirking.
I heard Clint scream. "Hulk! … Actually, you just did me a favor, green bean."
"He doesn't know when to quit… What do you see, Hawkeye?" I yelled to him.
"Eight o'clock!" He yelled back.
I heard the backfire of the missile and lunged for the controls. Landing in Tony's lap, I heard Thor and Clint start taking out missiles.
"Thor just got hammered, speed up!" I plugged in my flash drive into the jet and went back to my seat as the jet super speeded to a parked position on the ground.
"I saved the jet! Can I get a hell yeah?!" I quickly jumped out the jet and promptly puked into the snow. "Ew, my stomach…" I whined. Tony looked over to me and sighed. Thor landed beside us, spraying snow everywhere and covering my vomit.
"What is our plan to vanquish the skull?" He asked. "Hit everything! Hard!" Tony yelled.
"That's not a plan!" I yelled loudly to him as he flew off. I rolled my eyes.
"I thought he was the smart one…" Clint said behind me.
"Well fine, I'll try and formulate a plan. I'll teleport inside the base. Thor, go after anyone with missiles, guns, anything that can shoot. Clint, shoot electro arrows at any open power grids. Hulk, open the power grids, and smash some people."
"At least you have a plan…" Clint grumbled, and they went to do just that. Yes. I think I may have saved this operation!
I pressed some buttons on my watch that had Alice in it and teleported into the base. Slowly making my way towards where the Red Skull, MODOK, and Cap were. Except MODOK wasn't there because he was up there getting Iron Man.
And I was down here getting captured by Red Skull. "Well, well, what do we have here? A cherub walking into my home?" I gritted my teeth as the Red Skull picked me up harshly.
"Maybe you should have rethought your part in the plan, Miss Spades." Alice said, and I growled. "You think?!"
-3rd Person-
"Where's Meg?" Natasha asked.
Tony looked around. "She's right, where IS Meg?"
"She went inside." Thor answered.
"Yeah, she came up with a plan that was working until you got in the way!" Clint argued with Tony.
"Wha- hey, I had a plan!"
"That wasn't a plan." Clint deadpanned.
"You better stop acting solo and actually lead this team before you lose more friends today, like Meg." Natasha told Tony in a serious tone.
"All right. As a team." Tony answered. "MODOK's cloaked. I can't find a hair on his big ugly head. Ideas?"
"Scan for either the Skull or Meg." Natasha answered. "The Skull is a super-soldier alumni, his blood has trace isotopes that will show up on a chemical scan, and Meg as residual powers from the Oryx which will show up as well."
"I'm impressed." Clint said.
"Of course you are." Natasha answered, punching the man that had tried to get her from behind.
"Accessing super soldier files, adding in Oryx, scanning for chemical match, and… there's 2 Oryx's?" Tony asked in surprise.
-Meg POV-
I watched the boy my age in front of me darkly. When I had grasped the Tesseract, I must have made him.
"His name is Alfie. He is like you, Miss Spades. Because he was made from you. But…" The Red Skull clapped a hand on Alfie's shoulder. "He is my adoptive son. The perfect weapon of mass destruction, and you created him by saving the world from destruction. Ironic, isn't it?" Red Skull grinned at me, and stepped into the body switching machine. I turned to Alfie, who stared at me with round green eyes. His hair was dark brown. He looked like me before…
The blast across the room startled me, the boy growled at me inhumanly before teleporting away, and Iron Man destroyed the machine.
"You were right, Meg!" He yelled to me. And I would have shot back an answer to that, but suddenly I didn't feel very… like myself. He watched me a moment, then jumped over to Captain America. I blinked, suddenly not being able to hear, and I went numb. Then memory hit me. "Tony, that's not Steve! That's the Red Skull!" I cried. I watched in horror as the Red Skull in Steve's body hit Tony across the face.
"Tony!" I screamed, and suddenly it all rushed down on me. I was a child. An 8 year old child. I might have had powers, yes, but did that really matter when I was in such a young and frail body? Red Skull flung the shield at Tony again and caught it before throwing it at me. Using one of the 3 powers I now had, I created a shield out of my energy, and noticed it was an odd grey color. Usually the color of my energy reflected how I was feeling. What did grey mean?
"Not much of a futurist if you didn't see this coming, Herr Stark." I watched Red Skull carefully, and narrowed my eyes. He pulled his leg up. "I was dying." Before he could stomp on Tony, I flew towards him with the 2nd of my powers, the black angel wings on my back.
His foot landed on me and he grew angry, kicking me across the room. A sickening crack resounded through the room and I groaned in pain as Tony quickly got up. "MEG!" I heard him scream, and the numbness edged at my mind.
"My body ravaged by the same serum that had given me such strength all these years." He went towards me, and Tony tried to fix his armor to get to us as he picked me up by my collar and slammed me against the wall. "No!" Tony cried, giving up on the armor and running towards us, but Red Skull just flung him back with the shield.
"But why perish when there was an alternative?" He asked, throwing me into the machine he had switched bodies with Steve. "MODOK was the key. His power transferred my being into a body where the super soldier serum actually worked." I looked up at him and noticed that he had started ignoring Tony. "But maybe, just maybe…" He knelt beside me and helped me up. "Maybe I had been wrong, and this wasn't the body I needed." Red Skull watched me for the longest time.
"Johann Schmidt." I whispered, and he watched me for the longest time, searching my face. "I always thought you were one of the smarter, better villains." I confessed, then smiled slightly. "But evil cannot flourish. That is the rule of this world. You are just going to become another statistic, Johann."
"And what statistic is that?" He asked, and I smirked. "Another villain beaten by Captain America."
"This is gonna hurt me more than it hurts you." I heard Steve say from Johann's body, and smiled when he punched Johann.
"Cap, I hope that's you."
If memory serves me well… I immediatly stood and made a gun of murky grey energy, shooting it at the gun that had been previously held in Johann in Steve's body's hand.
I need to get them in their proper bodies fast.
"Jarvis, has Sam left the Tower?" I heard Tony ask, and quickly listened in to hear Jarvis. "Yes, he's on his way, but…"
"Perfect. Then its nap time for big brain." Tony looked up to Johann in Steve's body as I lay Steve in Johann's body down beside the machine.
"Before you said I didn't know anything about sacrifice. Let's see if I've learned anything." Tony said, powering up is EMP pulse.
"No, don't let him!" MODOK cried.
The blast shut down all the working tech in the base, and Tony fell over.
"In your borrowed face."
Johann laughed and I looked to him suspiciously.
"Your armor is nothing but dead weight now. Captain America is too weak to do anything. I can do whatever I wanted with Meg and you couldn't stop me."
I heard Tony curse loudly and I watched in slight fear as Johann stalked towards me slowly, as if trying to draw it out as long as he could.
"You did nothing but ensure your own demise and my powers I will get from Meg. It had been my plan all along. I'm in a strong and healthy body, fit for taking over the world. All I needed was a pet with powers enough to help."
"I know you're the smart one, but that was pretty dumb." Steve said from Johann's body, trying and failing to get up.
"Wait for it…"
Just as Johann was about to grab me, Sam burst in through the wall.
I started going numb again as Sam hit Johann in Steve's body.
A deafening, piercing sound hit my eardrums as Johann yelled, "NEIN!" And was hit by Sam in his Falcon suit.
"Please tell me there was a good reason for that because I have always wanted to meet Cap and knocking a guy out is not a way to meet your hero." Sam said. While Tony whined in the background about how he thought that he was Sam's hero, I stood and said, "That's not Cap. That's J- Red Skull. He switched bodies with Steve and we need to switch them back. Now."
As I rushed to the controls and let my genius engineer and computer whiz skills out, Johann threw Steve's shield and Hulk caught it.
"Cap?" I heard Clint ask, and suddenly a sense of fear for the man entered me, and I looked up as Tony told him it wasn't Steve.
"Who's the bird man?"
"His name is Sam Wilson. SHIELD trainee. Been moonlighting for Tony in secret for months." Black Widow answered, and I ignored them and went back to hacking, fixing. Wait, why was Johann letting them talk away with each other?
"Welcome to the Avengers." I called half-heartedly as I struggled to reach a higher switch, standing on my tip toes. But that question was nagging at me now. Oh, right. There was an army coming.
"Avengers, Assemble!" Tony yelled, and I watched them look fucking awesome.
"I'm busy!" I yelled, shattering the moment.
"You wanted a plan? Here it is. Meg, keep trying to fix the body switching machine. Hulk, Thor, keep MODOK off balance. If he can't concentrate, he can't take me out. Widow, Hawkeye, get Cap into the brain switch-a-roo thing. Falcon, keep the goons off Meg's tail. The Skull is mine. That an acceptable plan, Mr. Hawkeye?" Tony finished, and Clint smiled slightly. "I'll let you know when it works."
"If it works!" I called back. "Don't be a pessimist." Tasha deadpanned.
Then they were off as I kept fixing the thing. But the sonic boom of Hulk's clap with Thor's hammer caught me off guard, as Falcon and all the others kept fighting around me.
"I guess you'll be sitting this one out?" Tony asked.
"More like turtle-ing it out." I smirked at the memory of how he looked trying to get up from his back. "We good?" I yelled.
"Great." I heard Steve in Johann's body say, before I threw a dull grey smoke disk at Johann in Steve's body before he could hit Clint, and he fell to the side before scrambling up rather quickly. "Thanks, Meg!" Clint yelled, and I gave him a thumbs up.
"NO! THIS ENDS NOW!" Johann in Steve's body yelled angrily. Tony shot the shield out of his hand and Steve in Johann's body grabbed onto him by the front of his spandex.
"I think you're right. You've scratched up my body enough. Is it ready, Meg?" Cap asked.
"Hold on, almost… YES! It's online, but not for long. It took hell a lot of damage when you pulsed this sucker!" I yelled as Steve in Johann's body threw Johann in Steve's body towards Tony, and he took the opportunity and threw Johann in Steve's body into the machine.
"You'll regret this, Stark!" He yelled.
"I hate seeing me squirm. Meg, will you please hit the switch?" Steve in Johann's body asked me. "Sure, sweetheart, since you asked so nicely. But it's actually a knob, then a switch." I twisted the thing and lightning started, then I flipped the switch and winced as they both screamed, then I pulled the switch back.
Steve got out, now in his own body, and looked to us. "Much better, thank you." He said, and I smiled at him. Tony handed him his shield and I let my hands drop to my sides.
"All of you."
"No one messes with one of our own and gets away with it." Tony said to Steve, and then realization hit me.
"… fearless leader."
"Fuck!" I cursed under my breath, turning and bounding to MODOK.
"Leader?" No, no, this can't happen, what if me being here gets Tony killed? No one was watching MODOK, and no one was paying attention to me.
"All these years, all these battles, and I've been going about it wrong."
"No, please, Johann!" I yelled against my better judgment, and he leveled a glare at me before giving Tony a twisted grin.
"Thank you, Stark, for showing me what I must become." I couldn't help but give a slight sob at that.
I leapt forward just as Johann cried, "MODOK!"
The energy from MODOK repelled me backwards as the only thing registering in my mind was Tony's scream.
"My armor! What… what are you doing?!"
"Tony!"
As the adrenaline started to wear off, the pain in my ribs, arms, and legs became more prominent, but the ache in my chest at the thought of Tony dying was way worse.
"If I cannot have his body to keep me alive, then I will take yours." Johann said simply, and I stood, limping towards the shield and smashing it with my hands weakly before I slid to the ground on my knees.
His screaming had grown more intense as the arc reactor was forcefully ripped from his chest.
"IRON MAN!" Steve cried, and I screamed in anguish as my child body couldn't take the sorrow.
"Iron Man is no more." Johann laughed, and I felt deep anger pierce through me, and my hair grow long and black.
Purple and black bubble power started to pop up around me as my eyes turned purple. But I immediately turned back as the change and all that had happened weakened me, and I fell back to my knees, barely able to hold myself up. But I thought that I couldn't turn into the Oryx anymore… Then I realized I couldn't. That's why I'm so weak right now. My body can't handle it. Getting angry will kill me.
"LONG LIVE THE IRON SKULL!"
I don't think I've ever cried like I did right then and there. I heard Steve scream no, but everything started to blur as the numbness I had felt before took over again as Tony fell to the floor. Hulk shattered the shield and all the others ran forward as Johann and MODOK teleported away.
"Meg, are you alright?" Someone was leaned over me, and I glanced up at Natasha. I shook my head no before getting up and running towards Tony.
"TONY!" I yelled in misery, flipping him over to see him. "No, no, no, no…" I said over and over as I jabbed my fingers into his neck to check his pulse. It was so weak…
Steve came up to us, looking at Tony in shock.
"Hey Cap, remember how hard I worked to pull your butt out of the fire?" I sobbed.
"Your turn."
As he relaxed with a sigh, I looked to see them standing still in shock.
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?! HE COULD DIE AT ANY TIME, HURRY!" I yelled, and this seemed to spur them on.
Hulk burst through the ceiling to make a hole and Clint yelled, "Get us topside, Hulk!" before Hulk grabbed Clint and Nat, throwing them backwards into the snow. I flew up with Falcon and landed beside Hulk, shivering.
Steve held Tony in his arms. "Stay with me, Stark!" I heard him command.
"How's a guy supposed to pass out in peace with you yelling like that?" Tony asked in pain.
"He's not." I answered, and Thor flew out the hole.
"How's he holding up, Falcon?" I asked as Steve laid Tony on the floor, propping him with his shield.
"If he was a car, he'd be…"
"A really cool sports car." Tony finished with a smile.
"Running on fumes." Sam deadpanned.
"He needs medical and tech, now. Where's the Quinjet?"
"Oh, it's over…" My face fell as I pointed to the smoking carcass of the jet, strewn across the snowy wasteland.
"There, there, and, yeah, there." Hulk pointed to the places the pieces were.
"MODOK must have destroyed it while we were inside." I mused.
"I brought my own ride." Natasha said on the speaker from her flying car, and I sighed in relief.
"Just promise not to rip the leather."
-Spades-
"It's crowded in here. Shouldn't those who can jump and fly be outside?" Clint asked, looking pointedly at me and Hulk.
"Meg is too weak to fly right now, and Falcon is looking after Tony." Steve joined in.
"Jumping? Hulk?"
"Deal with it. There's a NATO hospital in Reykjavik." Natasha said, and I looked to her from my spot beside her. "A hospital won't work. Tony's armor was the only thing keeping the shrapnel from going through his heart, specifically the arc reactor. Without it, he doesn't have long. We need to get to the mansion."
"Yes, do as she says…" Tony said lowly.
"Are you sure? I don't know if you'll make it." Sam said to Tony.
"Welcome to the big leagues, Falcon. Impossible is what we do." Steve added, making hand gestures to Thor as me, Tony, and Sam looked over.
"Crap. Fasten those seatbelts if there is any." I yelled back, clicking mine in.
"A wind tunnel? Aye, follow me!" Thor yelled.
"We're going to save your life, alright Tony?" I assured him, and the light smile made it worthwhile.
The whole car shook.
"Hey, do I know how to pick a team or what?" Tony asked Sam, before groaning and falling back.
"Tony. Tony!" Steve yelled.
"TONY!" I screamed loudly.
"Iron Man!" Steve continued.
"His vitals are dropping fast!" Sam yelled.
Wait, I can make anything out of my energy, right?
I suddenly held faintly yellow -meaning fear- electrical pad things in my hands and rubbed them together.
"CLEAR!" I saw everyone try and get as far from Tony as possible as I touched them to his body, and he convulsed, gasping for breath as I let the pads disappear, falling back into the seat as my energy drained worse.
"Ok, he's a little better." Sam breathed, looking at Tony with an emotion I couldn't understand.
"If Tony dies, Red Skull is going to have an arrow in his head." Clint said darkly.
When the car touched down onto the front lawn of Avengers mansion, it tore the ground up and left the car nearly wrecked.
"Sorry about the car, Tasha." I said half-heartedly, keeping a close eye on Steve holding Tony over his shoulder. "The lab! Go!"
-Spades-
"Try not to die on my first day as an Avenger, Tony." Sam said, putting more cords into the whole in Tony's chest. He flipped the switch and blue light glowed from his chest as Bruce, now in human form, ran into the room with wide eyes.
"Come on Tony! Come on!"
I heard Tony groan and he sat up, eyes wide and hair sticking up. "That was something I would never want to do again." I sighed in relief and fell onto the chair behind me as Tony leaned forward, hair falling into place.
"Thanks for not electrocuting me on your first day as an Avenger, Sam!"
"He's about as good with thank yous as a ravenous badger when you save him from a rattle snake while he's shitting in the woods." I said matter of factly.
"I really don't like that analogy." Tony levelled his eyes on me.
I shrugged. "So? It's true."
"Great work, Falcon." Steve told him and went forward to Tony.
"Could you say that again into my phone?" Sam asked, and I flicked my Irken tongue at him when he continued, "I-I want to make it my ring tone."
"Rookies…" Tony chuckled.
"Jarvis? The mark 50, if you please." He continued to the computer.
"Sir, the mark 50 is not ready."
"Jarvis, the mark 50!" His face was dead set, and I felt worry in my stomach at that.
"You ok?" Bruce asked me, sitting next to me.
"Doesn't matter, Tony is in need."
"Tony can wait a moment." Bruce answered, before feeling my ribs, arms, and legs.
"You have a few bruised ribs, nothing to serious. You cracked your right Ulna and your left Fibula, so you might want to rest a little."
I waved him off. "I was making a drink yesterday that fixes minor breaks and bruises, I'll just use that. I have it in my pocket."
I grasped the vial of salmon colored liquid and drank.
When Bruce looked again, the cracks were gone.
He nodded slowly before looking over at his possibly boyfriend, in the middle of putting on his new suit.
Wait, what was MODOK's plan…? Oh, no, the bug things! It's going to infect them! I grasped the mask in my backpack slowly and put it over my bottom half of my face from the bridge of my nose down, completely under my eyes.
No one took notice, so I took it back off and pressed the button to shrink it, putting it in my pocket.
The blast from his repulsors took me out of my reverie, and I looked at him with wide eyes.
"In Theory equals Untested. Classic." Clint said.
"Details. I'll work it out. Soon as I do, I'll be smacking the red off the Red Skull. Speaking of the Red Skull…" Tony turned to me, faced mask up.
"How did you know his name?" I closed my mouth and couldn't help but gulp.
Is it really my origin story time?
"I can't tell you right now." I decided on, wincing at the hurt look on Tony's face. "You don't trust me? You don't trust us?"
I pursed my lips for a split second before dropping them.
"No, that's not why-!"
"Then why?" Bruce cut me off, and I glanced around the room.
"Because Tony is breaking up the team." I answered, hurt in my voice.
"What?" Steve asked, looking over to Tony, who nodded slowly.
"I know that look. It comes right before 'It's not you, it's me.'" Natasha said, and I barely withheld a chuckle.
"Look, I activated the Avengers Protocol because I thought you were gone, Cap. You're back, I didn't croak, Red Skull didn't get Meg as a pet or however he said it, wins all around, so back to the grind, right?"
"Seriously? You rebooted the Avengers just to break us up again? Didn't Meg tell you to not to?! Unbelievable." Clint said to Tony, and he left the room with Natasha in tow.
"Jeeze, and people wonder why I hate people." Bruce chuckled to me.
"But you don't leave, right? You live in Stark Tower with Tony." He nodded, and I nearly had a fan girl heart attack.
"And you're together?" He looked slightly uncomfortable, then nodded.
"Mortals… Fun but too complicated." Thor said, walking off. Bruce followed, probably because Hulk wanted to fight. The sound of him turning into Hulk confirmed my theory.
"You're serious? After what we just survived?" Steve asked, and I looked down.
"Looks that way."
Tony turned towards the screens and I put on the mask hurriedly, bringing my hoodie over my head.
"Explain. And if you give me any of that Stark talk, I'll knock you out of that armor myself." Steve told him.
"I led the Avengers for a day and I almost lost everyone."
"So you're scared. We all get scared, and we push through." Steve tried, and I stood, leaving the room unnoticed.
I got to the front room just as Hulk punched Thor through the floor, him hitting the ceiling.
"Guys enough! He's strongest, you're prettiest, whatever!" Clint yelled.
"No, something's wrong!" Natasha said, holding up a hand.
"You dare touch the son of Odin?!" Yeah, I'm leaving before I get wrapped up in this.
Hulk's roar startled me, however, and I jumped into the air, falling straight on my ass onto the floor.
"Ow!" I cried, turning back towards the way down to the mass reactor thing.
"HULK SMASH STUPID AVENGERS!" I heard distantly, before leaping down the stairs instead of walking down.
"HULK SMASH YOU ALL!" Hulk roared again, and I slid into the seat in front of the mass reactor, then stood to mess with it.
This was going to be fun.
-Spades-
I jumped out the window of the mansion and stepped into the lawn.
Now Steve and Falcon were out there as well, and I watched helplessly as they fought each other.
"You ran from SHIELD. We can't count on you!"
"Me?! Everyone knows you're a two-timing traitor bitch!"
"Go back to your day job, kid, you don't deserve this!"
"Says the jackass responsible for almost getting Tony killed!"
"Fought bigger, beat badder! ERGH! You will fall, monster!"
Hulk roared in response.
I shook my head and made 3 EMP discs out of my now murky green energy, throwing it at each pair.
It shook them out of their reverie, and I pointed towards MODOK.
"Go fight him, Falcon, Natasha, Thor. Hulk, Steve, and Clint, you're with me to get the Skull."
Course, Tony already shot him with the repulsors, and I looked over.
"Well…"
I shrugged, beckoning Hulk, Steve, and Clint. They followed me down to the reactor.
"Hey, Red Skull!" I yelled loudly, and it startled him.
"You actually messed with it? I thought you were smarter than that." He looked down at the reactor and looked around wildly, before his eyes fell on a small black circle clinging to the machinery and he glared at me, eyes smoldering.
"See ya, Skelly!" I grinned as he disappeared, off to the frozen tundra.
Well, it's better than actually being able to do stuff.
"Now, would you guys help me with this? I really don't want the mansion to go boom."
-Spades-
I watched as Tony lead the others, and I watched Steve, Clint, and Nat leave when he said for anyone who didn't have armor or gamma shielded skin should clear the area of civilians.
I stayed behind, and though Tony looked at me a moment, he didn't comment.
"Hulk, it's time to get angry."
"My favorite time of day!" We jumped into the hole and Hulk grabbed a hold of the reactor.
"Hard as you can throw it, straight into the vortex, green guy." Hulk roared and threw it up as Tony shot his unibeam at the reactor and I sent a beam of dark purple energy to it as well.
I sighed in relief and fell back, Tony catching me. After all that's happened, Falcon shouldn't be the only one to be able to have some sleep.
When I awoke, I was set down from Tony's arms to look at the fiery ruins of the mansion.
"Pass out?" Tony asked Sam as Thor set him down. "Don't worry, Meg did the same thing."
"So that's it?" Hulk asked.
"There's no more mansion, no more bad guys. Does that mean the Avengers are kaput?" I asked, standing with the team in front of Tony.
His face mask went up. "Let's talk."
-3rd Person, with Johann-
Red Skull shivered as frost bite crept into his suit of armor. He kept trying to call MODOK, but the poor excuse for a henchman would not pick up.
"MODOK!" He yelled into the arm band when the head finally answered.
"Get me out of here! Ergh, Stark stands with giants! How are we supposed to win… without doing the same…" He thought a moment.
"MODOK, I have an idea. But first…
GET ME OUT OF HERE NOW!"
-Back to 1st person-
I sat in Tony's briefing room in Avenger's tower, watching them with slanted eyes.
"The Skull almost took us out by teaming with MODOK, which means he's gonna try again, but with bigger and badder allies."
"You're robo-butler tell you this?" Clint asked, and I gave a slightly undignified snort.
"No, the Skull did." Tony pulled up the feed from Johann's message to the evil doers and I yawned, leaning into Bruce in his human form.
He put his arm around me and I went slightly rigid, before relaxing. It almost felt like he was trying to be… family.
I fell asleep on him and thanked god that my sleep was nightmare free.
When I awoke, I was on the couch in Tony's living room, and an alarm was blaring in my ear.
"Gentleman, Miss Spades, the Great Wall of China just stood up and is smashing towards Beijing." Jarvis said, and I groaned.
I had wanted to sleep without my insomnia acting up!
"Interested?" Jarvis asked.
I stood, putting on my mask and hood.
"Avengers, assemble!" This is going to be a long adventure with the Avengers…
"Jarvis, engage Avenjet prime."
"What's an Avenjet prime?" Sam asked Tony.
"You're standing in it." Tony answered as the wall went loose from the tower.
I strapped myself into my seat and grinned when Sam yelled, "This is the best day of my life!"
This is the best day of mine to, Sam. It really is.
"Show off." Steve grinned at Tony.
"What, your house doesn't do this?"
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