A/N: After playing through the main campaign of the EXCELLENT new Avengers game, I was inspired to write something featuring Kamala. This isn't going to be a typical story, either as an Avengers story, or even for my usual writing style…more a series of shorts that I will occasionally update with a new instalment if the inspiration takes me and people enjoy it. I have no intention of doing anything serious, more just something for my own amusement.
The stories will be based on the game's universe, and as it's only just come out, I've kept it as spoiler-free as possible. Though, I imagine if anyone's reading Fanfiction, they likely know enough about The Avengers either from the comics or the games to not really consider much of this spoilers, but due warning to continue at your own risk.
Legal: I do not own The Avengers, Marvel, or any of the associated names, characters, places, events etc. Anything not covered by these rights should be considered purely the creation of the author.
Rating: T – Not so much this chapter, but to give me some leeway for the future, may be some mild adult themes including language.
Her whole life, Kamala had loved super heroes. It was really no surprise, virtually everyone did. People always loved the idea of mythical, powerful beings of mysterious origins coming from nowhere in times of dire need, doing mind-boggling things that defied the very definition of the word possible and always doing so in order to do the right thing. To fight for people that simply didn't have the means to fight for themselves. It wasn't a new concept, characters like Hercules, Perseus and suchlike had existed as long as written language, and as most of these tales descended from a time when tales were passed along orally by people at campfires and in meeting places, such stories predated even that.
It was also somewhat tough not to love such characters when you lived in a world where they were real.
From her earliest memories, when she was still playing with her toys on the carpet, her Dad would call her when the television came on with the latest stories of her favourite heroes doing miraculous things to save the day. Some of her happiest memories were when he would sit her on his knee, or when she was a little bigger right beside him and let her see their stories unfolding on television.
It was some time before she realised that these "stories" were in fact the news and actually happened, but when her Dad had the misfortune to be out shopping with her and got caught up as Captain America was battling to prevent Crossbones from robbing their local bank, it woke her up to the fact that the stories she'd been seeing on the television weren't like those other shows with the cat and the mouse that liked to torture each other or the shows her mom liked with the people who always seemed to be yelling at each other about something or another despite being neighbours and friends only minutes earlier. No, her heroes were real, and it only made her love them all the more.
Her room had always been a shrine to her heroes. Comics, toys, memorabilia that she had purchased online from vendors of varying levels of credibility. When all of her friends were moving on to other interests or discovering new things, for her Super Heroes were always her first and most active love. She would even write her own stories about them. It was funny to think of people writing stories about these characters, considering the fact that what they did on a daily basis was already so hard to believe, but she always loved to imagine what they did in their time between missions and in all those missions that didn't make it to the news. After all, it was hard to ignore when a giant, metal alien snake appeared in the sky over Manhattan and smashed up a whole bunch of buildings, but considering many of them also worked for the Government, through SHIELD, one of the most prestigious security agencies in the world…it wasn't hard to imagine much more of what they did never did manage to end up on camera.
Her love of writing stories about her heroes had even led her to a fanfiction contest in San Francisco, the Avengers Convention. It was that day that changed everything, not just for the world, but also for her. The incident still referred to as A-Day.
She still wasn't entirely clear on what had happened. She knew it had something to do with Terrigen, the substance being used to power the reactor in the new Chimera Helicarrier, that had turned her and many others into what were now referred to as Inhumans. She had long wished to be like her heroes, to have amazing powers and abilities that defied all logic and reason, and she had gotten that wish…only with the drawback that people still considered Inhumans to be "diseased". It still wasn't clear why some people turned and others didn't. Of all the people present on A-Day, the millions that were all present when the Terrigen was released, only some became Inhumans. She'd heard all sorts of figures as to exactly how many there were, ranging from less than one percent of those exposed to as high as fifty. She doubted the higher end, but since many never had their powers manifest immediately and many more had some VERY good reason to keep whatever powers they did have hidden, herself included for a time, considering the fact a lot of people still considered Inhumans a danger to society that needed to be eliminated, exactly how many Inhumans there were was frankly anyone's guess.
Still, nothing could have prepared her for her adventures, which had taken her from her relatively quiet life in Jersey, all the way to meeting her beloved Avengers, to actually standing alongside them in their battles. It was a dream come true…if she didn't mind the people that kept trying to kill her of course.
She sat in her room on the Helicarrier, which she had decorated in some of her Avengers memorabilia. She still kept her life in Jersey, and was only called upon when they needed her, but she loved knowing that she had her very own room on the Helicarrier! That in and of itself was something so awesome she could barely contain herself. Coming back from one of their latest missions, she was in her room, trying to do some of her homework. The one thing she did find out since joining The Avengers was that she couldn't exactly give her teachers a card saying "Sorry, I was busy saving the world" to get out of homework. Still, it helped when she had easy access to a couple of the greatest minds in humanity to help her with science, and her World War 2 assignment was the easiest A she'd ever gotten since she had the ability to talk to someone that had quite literally punched Hitler in the face!
"And that's another foe vanquished by the incomparable Ms Marvel!" She said cheerfully as she saved her Math homework, cheering to herself, imagining an adoring crowd. She looked to the clock, seeing that it was very late. Far too late for her to be up on a school night, but she didn't feel at all tired, and it would be some time before the Quinjet would be able to drop her back home in Jersey. She drummed her fingers on the table for a moment, trying to think of what to do. None of her online gaming friends would be awake at this time, and even her fellow Avengers were asleep on the Helicarrier, leaving the autopilot to take them on their path home. It left her at a little bit of a loose end, and after staying in the same room this long, she needed to see something other than these four walls, even if they were covered in her favourite posters.
She got up and headed out into the Helicarrier, wandering around, hoping that somewhere she'd get the inspiration to go and sleep a little. She went to the commissary, checking out the vending machines. There was one that Thor insisted was put on the Helicarrier, but even if she wasn't underage, she knew that mead was Haram. She looked through the options, finally finding hot chocolate. Getting a large cup, she decided to go for a little stroll around the Helicarrier while she drank it.
To say it was huge was an understatement on the level of saying that The Hulk had the occasional temper tantrum, or that Thor was a little bit dramatic. Even now she had no earthly idea how large it was. She only saw the floors she had access to, which allowed her access to the Command Deck, the Avengers' dorms, the Commissary, the training area and the Hangar. Given that at any time there were entire armies of SHIELD agents on the other decks, along with multiple vehicles, it was a question she was sure would never be answered exactly how much of the thing she had never seen and likely never would. Despite being an Avenger, there were still areas she found her clearance wouldn't allow her access, and just assumed there were some things they didn't want her to know.
Still, no one had really had the time to give her a full tour. Between planning missions and the fact they all had their own lives outside of their duties as Avengers, it took up a whole lot of time, and so she had only been shown a small amount of the Helicarrier and other than that she was still finding areas of the ship she had never seen before. She figured now was as good a time as any to do some more exploring, no doubt she'd find something else cool before she got tired enough to sleep.
She was slowly but surely figuring out which doors she could open and which ones she couldn't, making mental notes of where to go and where not to bother going back to, but she had a feeling she could spend a couple of years on the ship and still not have tried them all. She started checking a few more doors, looking for cool things. So far she'd found an old-fashioned gym, full of old posters for events that took place before her dad was born and realised this was for Cap. She'd found a large bathroom with a tub that was barely short of a swimming pool full of aromatherapy oils and scented ointments that she had originally been a little puzzled by, until she found a towel that was larger than a tent and figured out this was where The Hulk went when he really needed to unwind…she really didn't like the mental image that gave her!
She opened one door, and the room was in darkness. She had a look around, but couldn't see terribly much.
"JARVIS, can you get the lights?" She asked.
"Certainly, Ms. Khan." The Artificial Intelligence responded, illuminating the room. She almost fell over as she saw what was inside. Her mouth hung open, and she started to breathe rapidly.
"This…is…AWESOME!" She declared as she saw a room that was bigger than the gym in her High School, that was filled with rows and rows of warehouse style shelving, full of clothing. All of it clothing she recognised. It never occurred to her what The Avengers did with all those outfits they just stopped wearing whenever they got replacements, but given the sheer size of the place, she had to imagine all of it was here.
He saw a computer terminal near her, and checked on it, finding that it was an inventory, with a search program. It made sense that since the place was so huge, they needed some kind of filing system so that they could find anything at all. She could already see from the door some costumes she hadn't seen in years, and even some that had been in use before she was born.
She tried to think of what to search for first. A smile came to her lips, it didn't take long for her to decide on her first search. Carol Danvers. Captain Marvel had always been her favourite superhero. She idolised her so much that when she became an Avenger herself, she even picked her own moniker, Ms Marvel, in honour of Carol's old name. The system had a whole section dedicated to her. Checking the listing, Kamala set of to find it.
The whole section was full of outfits. Some of them weren't too different from each other. She imagined for reasons of wear and tear caused by battle and, of course, basic hygiene, they all had to have multiple versions of their current uniforms, and over the years they had numerous variations and versions of their outfits. Tony had so many action figures that her dad outright refused to buy her any more. She started looking through some of Carol's outfits. Her oldest outfits, the ones she wore at the very beginning of her career, back when she was simply Ms. Marvel and didn't acknowledge her Air Force Rank was cool, but a little too revealing for Kamala's liking. She imagined her mom would freak if she ever saw her walking around in what amounted to a swimming costume in the street. She decided to put it back, and instead picked out one of her iconic red and blue outfits. The colours she wore when she finally became Captain Marvel!
She'd heard that her uniform was reminiscent of a Kree military uniform, but that Carol had opted to choose American colours for it. Carol had been in the Air Force, and despite her name had actually attained the rank of Major. It was something Steve had told her once, it meant that since he was a Captain, as far as Armed Forces ranks went, technically Carol out-ranked him. It was something they both found more amusing than anything else, and didn't take too seriously. Kamala looked to the costume fondly, wondering what kind of adventures it had seen. Had it been involved in a battle with the Kree? Against Galactus? Doctor Doom? As she stared at the outfit, more and more one thought came to her. Looking around to make sure she was the only one there, she took it off the hanger.
Carol was a little taller than Kamala, and a different build to boot, but that was no real issue. Kamala's polymorphing abilities had certain fringe benefits that definitely bent the rules on using powers for personal gain a little. She'd ridden a couple of roller coasters that she should have been too short to ride. After a little effort, she finally finished fastening up the costume. Finding a mirror, she admired herself, standing there, resplendent in the costume she had seen on so many posters growing up. She struck a pose, taking in her appearance. It was no wonder Carol had used this costume in preference to her "swim suit" look. It definitely felt like it was less draughty…though since Carol had so much energy within her, she figured it probably didn't matter much to her what the temperature was.
She threw out a few punches, and made some blasting sounds with her mouth, imagining what it must be like to fly around the cosmos like Carol. She loved her powers immensely, but at times she was a little envious of those that could fly. She wondered briefly if any of her fellow Inhumans could fly. As she finally satisfied herself, she looked aside and saw another rack. She took off the costume, replacing it on the rack, before going to the next one.
This rack, it didn't take a genius to figure out who it belonged to. The clothes were all so immense, there was exactly no human alive that would fit these clothes. These were all old outfits for Hulk. She found one that made her giggle a little, it was a pinstripe suit and hat that looked like something from the movie The Untouchables. It took a fair bit of growing, but she finally made herself fit the outfit, and stood, staring in the mirror.
"Kamala Smash!" She called out, swinging massive fists around for a little while. It was really something to think about, Hulk wearing this. She'd never seen the big guy wearing anything other than stretchy pants. She found something in one of the pockets, a business card for someone called 'Mr Fixit'. She just shrugged and put it away, before moving on.
The next one was another rack that looked like it hadn't been used in a while. T'Challa, while still a member of The Avengers, had his own nation to rule, and so even before A-Day, it had been a while since he had been with the Avengers, but clearly he ensured he had something on the ship just in case he was ever called. She got inside the armour, once again growing until she filled it, and stood before the mirror. This time, thanks to the mask, no one looking at her would know that it was not the King of Wakanda that was standing in the mirror…up until she spoke.
"For Wakanda!" She called out, swiping around with the claws a little. She was having a lot of fun until she accidentally hit one of the shelves, taking a huge gouge out of it. She let out a shrill shriek as she realised what she'd done and stared at the claws.
"OK, note to self, the weapons are actually part of the suit." She commented, sheepishly taking off the armour before she caused any more damage. "Vibranium versus steel is not a contest."
As she put it away, she finally came to rest on another rack. She smiled as she saw some of Natasha's old outfits. While Carol was her favourite, Natasha was always high on her list. She was always one of the main characters in all her fanfictions. As much as she wouldn't trade her powers for anything, she always had to respect how the Black Widow was one of the only people who had earned a spot on The Avengers despite having no super powers of any kind. Sure, she was a highly trained, deadly assassin and spy, and was considered one of the greatest Martial Artists alive by more than a few people, but she was completely human. Even Cap, as badass as he was, had physical abilities that were considered at the very least the absolute peak of any human being's in pretty much all areas as a result of the Super Soldier program. While not nearly as outlandish as being able to call down thunder and lightning or throw a car hundreds of feet, his abilities could be considered super to a lot of people. Natasha, she was there all because she was just that damn badass!
She quickly got into the costume and posed before the mirror.
"I'm always picking up after you guys." She said wearily, echoing some of the things she had heard Natasha say. She threw out her hand, pretending to launch one of her Widow's bites. She shrieked as when she flexed her wrist, completely without warning, it launched a dart, which shattered the mirror and sent sparks flying.
"Oh, no, no, no, no, NO!" She screamed, observing the damage as she took off the outfit. "This is bad, this is bad, I didn't know these things were loaded! Oh man! The guys are gonna freak…"
She heard a little cough from behind her, and froze. She turned slowly towards the door, and saw Natasha standing there, her arms folded, tapping her foot.
"Um…I was just…"
"We're almost at Jersey." Natasha told her. Kamala just nodded.
"Oh…right." Kamala responded. She started to make her way out of the room, before Natasha coughed again. Kamala looked down, realising the costume was still in her hands, before handing it over to Natasha contritely. Without another word, she left to go and pack up. Natasha just looked to the pieces of the mirror.
"JARVIS, can you clean this up?" She asked. A cleaning droid came out of the wall and started to sweep up. "Kids."
"I seem to remember something similar happening to you when you first got here." JARVIS reminded her. "A certain incident involving Captain Roger's shield and Mr Odinsson's favourite tankard."
Natasha just smiled.
"Like I said…kids." She responded, before putting her costume back fondly in its place.