Chapter Three; The Avengers of World War II
Commandos Part Two
As they walked, Nova asked the Worldmind to form a profile of the soldier leading them. As he'd already suspected, it was Wolverine, World War 2 flavored. And, as he'd suspected, they'd be gutted the moment they gave him a reason to. Nova just prayed his teammates were smart enough to realize that.
Black Archer was doing some praying of his own. They were led into an old abandoned barn. It was pretty dark inside, and most of them could only see the light from the glowing tip of the cigarette and a pair of hands shuffling cards for a game of solitaire in the one patch of light.
Pete could see more than that though. The man in the shadows had only one eye. His dog tags said Nick Fury, and his badge said Howlers under a picture of a menacing looking wolf. As he laid down his card for the next game, Pete realized he wasn't alone. Behind him were several men, all wearing the same badge. All Howlers. All ghosts. Pete shivered involuntarily.
When he interrogated them, Rachel realized that the other soldier kept slightly nodding his head, or shaking it after each question. She figured he must be able to sense lies, and was giving the man in the shadows a signal. Thankfully, he only shook his head twice. But twice was enough.
Fury took a long breath of air through his cigarette. "So. I've decided that you aren't lying." He said. "For the most part. But I don't trust you." He stood up. "If you really are here to protect the Avengers… then fine. We're going on a raid tomorrow of the nearby Castle Hamlind. It's occupied by German forces, and from what are best spies can tell us, they're working on something that could potentially be more disastrous than Pearl Harbor or Dieppe." He stepped into the light. "Apparently, more than one world rests on the Avengers coming out of this one alive, so you can come along. Do what you can to protect them. But until then, you stay in chains." He nodded at Howlett. "Take them to the cellar. And remember; if just one Avenger falls tomorrow, I will make it my mission in life to hunt you down and kill you."
The Exiles were led into a wine cellar connecting the barn to the farmhouse. "I think that went rather well." Impossible Man said.
"Went well?" Black Archer said. "I'm pretty sure that was the opposite of 'went well'! He wants to kill us, I just know it!"
"Be quiet." Nova said.
"Yes, please do." The team realized they weren't alone. Six people were in the cellar with them, in various costumes. The one that had spoken was a scrawny man in tattered clothes working intently at fixing a clock. On the wall opposite to where they sat, a broad shouldered man wearing a flame red costume underneath his lab coat was grinning, bemused. Next to him sat a girl with a similar costume, except it was light blue. In a corner of the cellar, a giant navy blue robot sat staring at them.
"Hello." Impossible man said.
"How's it going?" The robot answered.
"Sssssh!" The skinny man hissed.
"Sorry." Impossible Man apologized. "So… who's in charge here?" He asked in a whisper.
"That would be me." A man in a red white and blue uniform walked out from behind the wine racks, followed by a giant of a man, wearing Greek armor and carrying a battleaxe in one hand and an assault rifle with his other.
"I, am Le Patriot." The man in red white and blue said quietly. "I am the leader of the Avengers. Who are you?"
"We're the Exiles." Nova said. "I'm Nova. This is Impossible Man, Black Archer, Peter Wisdom, Rachel McKenzie, and the Mask. We're here to protect you."
The man in the lab coat straightened up and put down the bottle of wine he was sharing with the girl. "And what makes you think we need protecting?"
"The Tallus said so." Rachel said, indicating to the Tallus.
"To put it simply, we're interdimensional travelers on a mission to save worlds." Nova said. "And for one reason or another, we think that if you die tomorrow your entire world will be… destroyed. To put it simply."
"Mon dieu." Le Patriot muttered stroking his goatee. "Truly?"
"Yeah, it's true." The large man next to him said. "I've felt something odd for the past couple of days, I just didn't want to get you guys on edge. It'll all come to a head tomorrow, and if you guys are nervous it'll be that much easier to lose." He sniffed. "Why're you guys in chains?"
"Isn't it obvious?" The scrawny man asked, still engrossed in his clock. "Fury doesn't trust them. Nor do I. Parallel universe theory is far too complex to be possible."
"I've always thought the complex things in life are the ones most real." The Mask said, dreamily.
The man looked up. "Nonetheless, Fury doesn't trust you." A gear fell out of place and he rushed to put it back in.
"He would have trusted us if Archer here hadn't lied." Rachel said. "Why did you tell him you were in the army?"
"First key of survival; if it's intelligent it can be reasoned with, and if it can be reasoned with, try to place it on your side."
"He was already on our side you paranoid freak." Rachel's voice began to rise. "Just because you think everybody in the world is a horrible person, doesn't mean it's –" She froze, Le Patriot's sword against her throat.
"I would advise you to be silent dear girl." He said, lowering it. "Bloomburg hates noise while he tinkers, and it would be bad for all of us if he were to get angry now. You wouldn't like him when he's angry." He put his sword away. "Regardless, if what you say is true, than I trust you. Avengers." He turned and talked to his team. "Tomorrow, we will face the fight of our lives. This isn't just a fight against the Nazis anymore. If we lose tomorrow, then our whole world will be destroyed. And I don't plan on letting that happen."
"Hear hear." Bloomburg muttered.
Le Patriot put his hand forward. "For France." He said.
The robot put his hand in. "For America."
The man in the lab coat followed. "For Canada."
Then the girl. "For Britain."
Bloomburg raised his hand without looking up. "Austria." He muttered.
The giant put his hand in. "For the Swiss, not that they need it. And hey, Patriot, not that this isn't cool or anything, but it would be more effective as a rousing gesture before battle, not just before lights out."
They looked around. "You're right." Le Patriot said. "We'll do it tomorrow. Snow, get our guests some food."
They all went back to where they were. The man in the lab coat walked up to them. "Hello." He said. "My name's Hank McCoy. You can call me the Human Torch. I'm the Avenger's resident scientific mind." The girl came back with a tray of food. "And this is my fiancée, Janet Van Dyne. Also known as Snowqueen."
"Charmed." She said, giving them all some food through their manacled hands. "I'm sorry we don't have much. We are in the middle of a warzone."
"That is so interesting." Rachel said. "In my dimension, you're blue, and furry, and my chemistry teacher. And Janet's married to Ant-man."
"Ant-man?" Janet asked. "Who's he?"
"Hey." Impossible man said. "Keep quiet about your dimensions guys, we don't need to give these guys any wild ideas. In my dimension, the Avengers became presidents and tried to kill me. Now, I don't know about you but I don't want that happening here. So let McCoy and Janet live their lives, don't even mention any other possibilities."
"Sorry." She muttered.
"It's okay." Janet said. "We have no plans to take over the world. And I already know my Hank's the man for me." They exchanged happy looks.
"So, who else is on the Avenger team in this dimension?" Pete Wisdom asked.
"Well…" Hank pointed at Bloomburg. "You've already met Robert there. He was a Jewish clock maker in Austria, and he was rounded up into a prison camp. They were experimenting with mutants and gamma down there and… they made him into the Hulk."
"Oh…" Nova nodded understandingly. "So, he gets mad he gets strong?"
"Exactly." Hank said. "Caused a disaster in Dieppe. Poor planning, everybody expecting us superheroes to take up the slack, and we're forced into a now-show because of the Hulk. He's on our side now. He's… a little broken. Always obsessed with his clocks, and finding out how things work. In some ways his analytical mind is exactly what the Avengers need, but in others it makes it easier for him to get upset."
"So, who's Le Patriot?" Nova asked.
"Ah… we don't know." Hank said with a shrug. "He's basically a key player in the French resistance, but we don't know his origin or his name. Some say he was a swordsman for a French circus who saw the Nazis kill his father. Some say he was part of a French super soldier program, but a spy killed the head scientist before a second volunteer could be found. Some say, that he was raised by wolves until he was found by a martial artist living in the woods. All we know for sure is, he's a savage fighter, skilled swordsman, and master strategist. The man's a legend."
"And the guy he's talking to?" Pete asked.
"That's Ares, the Greek god of war." Snowflake said. "Literally. He came down from Olympus to help us win this war."
"And that leaves…" Hank gestured to the robot. "The Titan. His name's Ben Grimm. He was a pilot. But he got shot down during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Fortunately, his friend is big shot scientist Reed Richards. Richards managed to save his life, and at his request he built him a suit of armor so he could keep fighting in the war."
"That's amazing." Rachel said.
"We are a pretty unique group." Hank said, smiling. "And so are you. I was hoping you could answer a few questions? About the multiverse?"
"Doesn't exist." Robert said, tightening a gear. "The pieces wouldn't fit together. Impossible."
The Human Torch and the Mask spent the next several hours discussing parallel dimension theory. Robert interrupted at some points, to remark at the impossibility of it all. Nova joined in too, making a few points about it and then warning them that they couldn't use this knowledge or else they may create another rift in reality (to which Hank heartily agreed). Then Logan came down to tell them it was nightfall and to get some rest.
Black Archer woke up in the middle of the night. He looked around curiously, then realized Impossible Man was up. "hey!" He whispered. Impossible Man spun around, pressing his finger to his lips. Black Archer nodded, then whispered. "How did you get out of your handcuffth?" He made sure to pronounce the 's' with a lisp. S was the loudest letter in the alphabet.
Impossible Man crept up to him. "I wath never in." He whispered. "I'm a profethional thief. Handcuffth are the leatht of what I deal with." He looked around. "Alright, I need thomething from you." He said.
"What do you need?" Black Archer asked.
"I need you out of the fight tomorrow." He said.
Black Archer blinked in surprise, then grinned. "You won't hear me complain. But why?"
"You're gonna be the athe up our thleeve." Impossible Man whispered. He began to move away. Black Archer grabbed his arm.
"How are you going to get patht the tholdier? I think he hath thuper hearing."
"Let me worry about him." Impossible Man said. "Jutht thtay out of the fight until I give you the thignal."
"What are you gonna do?"
Impossible Man grinned. "I'm going to change the game."