Chapter Eight; New Avengers

The Secret Invasion Prt 1

Mystique took her unconscious son, and thanked Impossible Man. Then she left the Exiles on the hill overlooking the ruined Nazi fortress, with the Avengers shaded under a tree.

"That was a pretty risky plan." Nova said. "Do you have any idea how many ways that could go wrong?"

The Impossible Man thought about it for a moment. "About forty-seven different ways I think… yeah."

Nove checked with the Worldmind and discovered that he could only come up with forty six different ways that the plan could have misfired. "So, why didn't you think of an easier plan?"

"Because." He smiled. "I only got into the burglary business for the fun of it. After the Avengers caught us, it significantly decreased my options, so I went with the fun ones."

"The fun ones?" Archer asked.

"Yeah. I mean, look at me. I used up all of my dynamite. Seriously, that was amazing! And maybe it was risky. That's why I got Archer her on standby, that's why I gave you and Pete vague instructions, that's why I had mystique impersonate me so I could slip anywhere I wanted and help you out as need be. I had a plan, but the Red Skull's pretty smart, so I but failsafes in place and I was lucky enough to not need some of them."

"Guys." Rachel said. "The Tallus is blinking."

"What is with that freakish gator thing?" Archer asked.

"I'm naming him Chomps!" Rachel said, patting the creature's head with a smile. Chomps grinned too, showing off his four rows of giant teeth.

"Still, the next time we go on a mission, could you try and make your plans over how effective they are instead of how fun they are?" Nova asked.

"No. I don't think I will. It's just so much fun."

"We're trying to save the world here." Nova said. "No, we're trying to save every world. We're trying to save the multiverse. I don't think it's out of line to expect that we take this seriously."

"Oh, I'm taking it seriously. I'm just taking my entertainment seriously too. Don't worry, it wouldn't be nearly so fun trying to save the world if we failed."

"Am I supposed to… to push a button?" Rachel looked at the blinking Tallus inquisitively.

"Here let me see it." Peter took her arm and examined the device.

"What's really interesting is Ms. Mask's mysterious stranger."

"The what?"

"My old nemesis slipped through the portal and came after me. He almost cost us the mission."

The Worldmind filled in the other missing way the plan could have failed. "Who is he?"

"He's my universe's Red Ghost."

"Why didn't the Timebroker tell us about him?"

Pete Wisdom pressed something on the Tallus, and it beam of bright light engulfed the team. "WHAT IS THIS I DON'T EVEN –"

The team fell on the floor in the control room of the M'Kraan crystal. "Don't push any more buttons." Archer advised.

"Welcome back." The Timebroker strode forward. "Your mission was a qualified success."

"Qualified?" The Nova asked.

"What's with the Qualified?" Archer scoffed. "We came, we saw, we trounced that redheaded $*# all the way to Berlin and back.

"Exactly." The Timebroker said. "Your mission was –"

"Chomps!" Rachel shot upright. "Where's Chomps!"

The Timebroker looked at her inquisitively. "The abomination you call Chomps has been left on Earth –"

"Why didn't he come with us?"

"He is not a member of the team, and therefore not attuned to the Tallus."

"So?"

The Timebroker sighed, and with a flash of light the crocodile beast from chilren's nightmares appeared in the crystal. "There you are Chomps!" Rachel hugged the beast, who wagged its enormous tail and grinned, showing off its many, many teeth.

"As I was saying." The Timebroker continued. "Your mission was to keep the Avengers from death. You instead elected to destroy their target and kill an enemy who was supposed to continue challenging them long into the future. At best you prolonged the stagnation of their world, but I had to send in another team to clean up your mess."

"The Exiles are supposed to fix a wound in the multiverse… a wound caused by interference in the alternate reality star. You Exiles are to interfere in only the most minimal way possible… to keep the inhabitants of the otherworlds from being aware of your existence at all if possible. Yes, you saved the Avengers. But you also took lives that would have otherwise live on, informed a prominent scientist of the possibility of the multiverse, and fought what would have been one of the turning points of war in their world practically by yourself."

Even the Impossible Man looked a little embarrassed.

"So… no killing?" The Black Archer asked.

"No killing. No informing others of your existence. No interfering with large scale events on a large scale. Stay in the background. In short, never involve yourself in somebody else's story."

"Alright. Deal." Nova said. "This was our first time, and we made mistakes. It won't happen again."

"Good." The Timebroker said. "Many heroes have died across the multiverse. You were chosen specifically for this route towards the center of the infection. Substandard performance will not tempt me to send you back to your own worlds."

"Substandard…" The Impossible Man hissed. He glared at the Timebroker.

"Your next assignment…"

"Woah, woah, woah." Nova said. "What about the Red Ghost?"

Masque nodded. "My old nemesis followed me through the portal. Why didn't you tell me before you shut it down?"

"That situation is in hand." The Timebroker said.

"How is it in hand?" Masque asked. "You didn't pick me, I wandered in. There's no reason I shouldn't be on his case instead of with this team."

"That situation is in hand." The Timebroker repeated.

"Then why did he have a Tallus?" The Impossible Man asked.

The Timebroker paused. "You will now be sent to your next mission. Please try to stay in the shadows this time."

"Now wait a minute…" Before the Impossible Man could protest further, there was a flash of light and the seven of them were standing on a rooftop overlooking New York.

"Substandard!" Impossible Man said. "The gall of him!"

"He did have a point." Nove said. "After all, your 'bring the fortress down around the Red Skull's ears' scheme was almost impossibly unworkable."

"But it worked!" The Impossible Man yelled. "If you're so sure of yourself, why don't you come up with a plan this time around."

"Maybe I will." Nova didn't say it out of spite. He was well aware that the Impossible Man was smart. But his genius was restricted to thievery, and hampered by his thrill seeking. He could lead the team better than the Impossible Man. "What's the mission?" He asked.

Rachel checked the Tallus. "It says… 'Stop Dormammu's invasion into this dimension'."

"I've got this one." Pete grinned. "You have no idea how many times I've had to stop Dormammu's incursion into this reality. The first step to prevention would be finding out who wants to do the summoning. If we knew that, it would be an instant win. Does the Tallus know who's going to summon him?"

Rachel gave him a somewhat blank look, and pushed random buttons on the Tallus. "Um… I don't think it does."

"Alright then. That's okay. I have a simple spell that will show us where he is. Does anybody have a compass?"

"My suit has an internal compass." Nova said. "Will that help?"

Pete considered it. "I think it will, I've cast the spell on a bird before. Alright." He took out a strip of parchment and a knife. Pricking his finger, he wrote something in a language so old that the Worldmind couldn't translate it.

When he finished, the parchment disappeared in a puff of smoke, and nova heard an irritating buzzing in the back of his mind. "It's… north. He's north somewhere. Northwest."

"Hey!" Rachel said. "We're over a pet store!"

After waiting for Rachel to buy Chomps a collar and leash, the Exiles headed across the New York skyline. They all seemed quite proficient in roof hopping.

*BOOM*

"Nova, is the compass spell pointing you in the direction of that explosion?"

"Yes."

"Excellent!" The Impossible Man crowed.

"We're staying out of sight." Nova said sternly.

"Unless they're trying to summon Dormammu." Pete corrected. "Then we'll have to intervene."

"I don't think that's likely." Masque said. "After all, last time the Tallus put us in place a full day before the Avengers were in trouble."

They made it to the roof of a tall building, and watched from a distance as a pair of giants strode through the Hudson. They approached a pair of freight receivers and began lifting containment units off of them, emptying what looked like tons of gold into their bags.

"There's a man down there with a white gorilla costume." The golden Archer said. "Any chance he's our magic man?"

"No." Nova said. "The buzzing's coming from somewhere else. It's getting closer."

Suddenly, Something emerged from the ocean. A head with a blue mask, with wings on the side.

Rachel stared. "Oh… my…"

Captain America stood at his full height of eighty feet tall.

One of the giants dropped his bag of ill gotten gains and took his sword out. The two titans clashed in the Hudson, shield against sword.

"Look." The Golden Archer pointed. There was another explosion, and the gorilla man flew away from one of the crates.

"You're not getting any of your hands on the vibranium or the gold Man-Ape!" A deep voice yelled. "Avengers! Assemble!"

And so the Avengers appeared. The man who yelled was presumably Thor, although he didn't wear a cape or a helmet, he wore goggles and his hammer was much larger. Next to him was somebody who looked like a female version of Iron Man, but wearing a cape. Behind them was somebody who looked like the Thing, but with red rocky skin.

The giant who wasn't fighting the giant Captain America roared in pain as the Scorpion of all people leaped on top of the containment unit he was picking up and stung his hand. As the giant dropped the unit, the Scorpion ran up his arm and towards his face, only to be brushed aside by a titanic hand. It didn't matter though, as the Scorpion landed unharmed on a nearby crane and the giant was set upon by Banshee and somebody who looked like the Scarlet Witch, but with a black cloak.

Man-Ape shot a blast of energy at the Iron Woman and Thor. The Thing grabbed him and they began to wrestle, but the Thing was at a clear disadvantage as the Man-Ape used the hands on his feet to great effect.

Captain America threw a mighty punch at one of the giants and he collided with a giant forced back by Banshee's screams. The Scarlet Witch threw a lasso of energy around the giants and they both vanished.

Pete whistled. "Wow. She just unsummoned a pair of titans."

Man-Ape threw the Thing into a containment unit, and did something with his staff. A solid block of vibranium shot out of the unit, and used it to block a repulser ray blast from Iron Woman. But Thor tossed Mjollnir at the unit he was standing on. Electricity ran across the crate and the Man-Ape froze, paralyzed as the electricity ran through the crate. The Thing got up and deliver a final, stunning haymaker across the Man-Ape's jaw and tore his staff from him as he collapsed.

The fight was over, and the Avengeres were putting the gold back where they found it. Nova gulped. "I don't know… it's vague…" He pointed. "One of them. One of the Avengers plans on unleashing Dormammu."

The Golden Archer stared, slack jawed. "Well, %#$."