Kate had been forced to watch, in stunning 3-D, the defeat of her team-mates by the opposing team. She had seen within minutes where they were going wrong: they weren't acting as a team, they were letting themselves be divided up and destroyed.

She was just about to try jemmying the door open with the sharp end of an arrow when it began to move. Stature and Speed, who had been trying to break through the walls, both stopped what they were doing and looked at the door. It opened up onto… the back of an opened area similar to the one they'd been in, except that this one was open on one side to the arena. Kate guessed that this was the cage that had held their teammates before they had been sent out.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, IT'S VERY STRANGE! DUE TO A TECHNICALITY, THE YOUNG AVENGERS ARE FIELDING AN ADDITIONAL THREE MEMBERS! THERE'S NOTHING AGAINST IT IN THE GOUND RULES, SO PLEASE WELCOME TO THE ARENA: STATURE! SPEED! AND HAWKEYE!"

The three new fighters moved into action immediately. Stature ran for Cobalt Lad, trying to hold him down in her giant hands. He kept moving away, but Wiccan was using his powers to try and hold him in one place.

Speed ran straight for the fight between Hulkling and Nal-Rogg. Building speed, he ploughed into Nal-Rogg, knocking away from Hulkling. Nal-Rogg got up winded. "As a xenoform… interfering in a… sanctioned duel," he gasped, "under Kree law I am allowed to deploy lethal force. Feel the wrath of my kinetic ram!"

Speed dodged the blast. And the next blast, and the next. "Kinetic ram," he said, "right."

Suddenly, he wasn't there anymore. Then he knocked into Nal-Rogg from a different angle. Nal-Rogg's armour protected him, but he was totally unprepared for the blizzard of punches that rained down on him.

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Hawkeye had seen gorillas before, but never this close. And never this fierce. A couple cc's of tranq ought to do the job, she thought.

And then she saw the Meltress attacking Patriot. Were-Ape forgotten, she selected a magnet-head arrow from the bag, aimed for the other girl, and let fly.

The magnet-head arrow hit her helmet hard enough for it to hurt. But that wasn't the point. The magnet interfered with the electronics in the helmet. Patriot stopped clutching his ears, but by the time he looked up, she was gone, and he could see his friends needed help.

But that wasn't enough, thought Hawkeye. Now that the fight had started, with the powers at play, it wouldn't be long before someone got killed. And for what? So Kang could brag to his friends, as soon as he got some. Hell no. Mastermind jerks like him needed to be close to the action, so they could feel better about not being involved. She was going to find him and get him to end this.