Chapter 2: Reaching out to Hope
Me: I am back and ready to see what you guys think about this new chapter, yeah I know there is some confusion on some of the characters species are so let me clear the air. If you guys don't know what the alien species can do or what they look like in general, just look up what they look up. Also this is an original story based mostly on the Avengers fil so there will not be any Ben 10 characters, just the alien species and perhaps a reference here or there but that's it. Sorry if you may be disappointed, not that I hate them it's just that they don't fit into my story okay?
Godzilla: Now that that is all settled, Paladin I think you should do the disclaimer now.
Me: That's not necessary Goji, I don't need to...
Godzilla: SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOONK!
Characters and their species:
Nick Fury-(Methanosian) Swamp Fury
Agent Hill-(Human)-
Agent Coulson-(Human)-
Hawkeye-(Classified) KickinHawkeye/Clint Barton
Black Widow-(Anodite) Natasha Romanov
Hulk-(Vaxasaurian) Hult/Bruce Banner
Thor-(Tetramand) Thor Boltson
Iron Man-(Pyronite) Tony Blast/Fire Man
Captain America-(Petrosapien) Steve Rogers/Diamond America
Loki-(Necrofriggian) Loki Chillson
Dr. Selvig-(Human)-
The Other-(Ectonurite)-
Chitauri-(DNAliens)-
Tesseract-(Alpha Rune) Alphax
In an old abandoned warehouse, on the outskirts of a small region of Russia, A smuggling leader named X, a deep red skinned Tetramand, stands along with two of his thugs one a thin human the other a bald Transylian. The bald one was in the process of brutally beating Natasha, a tall,well built, black and purple skinned Anodite with red etherial hair and wearing a black dress. Her hands were tied behind her back and she was also tied to a chair.
The bald thug backhands Natasha in the face. She feels pain but refuses to show it.
X smiles as he walks towards her. "This isn't how I wanted tonight to go" he speaks in Russian
Natasha looks calmly at him and says, "I know exactly how you wanted tonight to go, believe me, this is a lot better."
His smile in place, X casually asks, "Why'd they send you, an Anodite? Did Perro think that his tanks, will stop my exports?"
The Bald thug rocks Natasha's chair back, balancing her off the edge of an open floor. Natasha glares at him then looked back at X. "I thought that general Solohob was in charge of the export..."
X grinned revealing white, crooked, teeth. "Solohob? Your outdated and incorrect information betrays you...the infamous Black widow. And yet you are nothing but a pretty face."
With a look of false happiness, Natasha asks mockingly "You really think that I am pretty?"
X walks slowly to a table filled with various tools, and used both of his right hands to pick up two pairs of pliers. The bald Transylian forces Natasha's mouth open exposing her teeth as she looks a little uneasy as she watches X come closer to her.
"We don't need Solohob anymore. Tell him that he is out. Tell him, well..." He pauses and continues in English, "You may have to write this down."
X reached the first set of pliers close to Natasha's exposed teeth, when the skinny thug's phone rings. X and the Transylian give him the Are-You-Effin-Kidding-Me look and Natasha tries to hold back a snicker as the thug answers his phone.
"Ya?" The thug answers feeling sheepish and hurt. He listens for a second. "Boss, it's for her."
X curses in Tetramand as he angrily grabs the cell phone from his naïve employee. "Stupid Americans..." X then places the phone against his ear when he said, "You listen carefully..."
"You're at 132 Koshekev road, Russia in an abandoned warehouse on the second floor. We have an F22 exactly 8 miles out. Put the woman on the phone or I will blow up the block before you and your buddies can reach your precious red truck sitting in the front," came a man's voice on the other line. X looked around nervously and placed his tools down on the table and put the phone to Natasha's ear. Natasha managed to hold the phone between her ear and shoulder so X could walk over to his thugs.
"We need you to come in," said the man
Natasha made a face and spoke in English in an irritated tone. "Are you kidding, Coulson? I am working!"
"This takes precidence."
"I'm in an interrogation and this moron is giving me everything."
X looks confused and amused, he had his upper arms crossed and his lower ones in his pockets, "I dont give everything..."
Natasha shot him a look. "Look, you can't pull me out of this right now."
Agent Coulson sighed. "Natasha...Barton's been compromised."
Silence
"Let me put you on hold."
She nods to X. As he comes to take the cell phone off her, Natasha kicks him with her leg and head-butts him in the diaphragm knocking the wind out of the Tetramand as he fell to the ground. Like a spider, she elegantly stands up, rushes towards the bald Transylian and roundhouse kicks him in the face. Still tied up, she rolls over the human after she trips him. Then she stomps on the bald thug's foot with a peg of the chair. She then flips over and falls hard on the human thug, breaking the chair. Coulson was just sitting there on the other line patiently listening to the sounds of fighting and waited.
Natasha sees the dazed Transylian stand up. Natasha takes off running towards him, with the added momentum she drop kicks him, falls down, flips back up and wraps her legs around his neck to knock him out. She grabs X, wraps a chain to his leg and drops him through the open floor, leaving him dangling upside down.
Picking up her heels and the cell phone, she continues her conversation with Coulson. "Where is Clint now?"
Coulson answered with the upmost seriousness and honesty. "No clue"
"He's alive, though right?"
"We think so. I'll brief you on everything when you get back. But first you gotta talk to the big guy."
Natasha rolled her eyes. "Coulson, you know Blast trusts me about as far as he can throw me."
Coulson shook his head and replied, "No, I have Blast. You get the Big Guy."
Natasha paused for a second and swore in her Anodite language.
Somewhere in a small village in some region of Africa a young girl was running towards a small hut in the middle of the night. She runs up the steps and is stopped by an attending woman. The little girl looks for the doctor.
"Doctor?" she calls out looking around the small hut urgently. There he was ducking under the doorframe.
Doctor Bruce Banner was a Vaxasaurian, a humanoid dinosaur like species, being very tan in color. He has human-like nails with four thick and slender fingers. He also has a long dinosaur-like tail, he was 8 feet tall, sadly he was born without the ability of size alteration which is rare for his species, however the "Other Guy" makes up for it in a way. Dr. Banner was drying his hands with a towel, he wore prescription glasses, with a brown jacket and a purple undershirt, and brown sandals. He also wore an expandable necklace with a small worn out medallion, it was a gift from his mother before she died.
The attending woman looked at the girl like she was crazy and spoke in Swahili. "What are you doing here?! Get out! There is great sickness here!"
"It's my father! I have to see the doctor!" said the little girl, she was obviously scared.
Bruce kneels down and bends over to look her eye to eye "Calm down. What's wrong child?"
"My Father..."
Bruce pointed to a bed with two children lying on a bed coughing as the village medicine man tended to them.
"Is he like them?"
The girl holds out all the money she has in the world as she holds back tears.
"Please" she said in English.
Dr. Banner follows the child as she runs hastily towards the edge of town. As she gets ahead of herself, Bruce gently grabbed her arm and yanked her back before she was hit by the local government car and turned away to block any view of his face.
The girl rushes to her hut and Bruce follows but as he walks in the girl escapes through a window, leaving Dr. Banner standing there like an idiot.
Bruce leaned against the wall chuckling to himself. "Should've gotten paid up front, Banner."
Natasha appears from behind some curtains and Bruce turned slowly to face her.
"For a man who should be avoiding stress, you picked one hell of a place to settle." She says with a small smile while glancing around at the dirty and old hut.
"Avoiding stress isn't the secret," He says while placing his huge bags down, one with equipment and medicine the other with all of his belongings. Natasha looked at them and whistled lightly while Bruce chuckled again, most Vaxasaurians can carry five times the stuff than he can.
"What is it then? Yoga?" Natasha tries being sarcastic but it was obvious that she was nervous
Bruce smiled lightly, "That may not be a good thing for my species to do, considering that we are big."
Bruce glanced at the door and windows and said, "You brought me to the edge of the village, smart. I, uh...assume the whole place is surrounded?"
"Just you and me."
"And your little actress buddy, she a spy too? Do they all start that young?"
Natasha made a face. "I did."
Bruce wanted to get this conversation over with before something goes horribly wrong
"And who are you exactly?"
"Natasha Romanov" she replied
Bruce clapped his hands together gently and rubbed his palms together as he looked at the Anodite in front of him
"Are you here to kill me, Ms. Romanov? Cause I can assure you that's not going to work out for everyone."
Natasha walks around the Vaxasaurian from a distance of ten feet. The tension in the room was so thick you could cut it with a knife. "No. No. Of course not. I'm here on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D."
Dr. Banner looked down for a second and said, "S.H.I.E.L.D….How did they find me?"
"We never lost you doctor. We kept our distance and even kept some interested parties off your scent."
Bruce walked around the hut slightly more relaxed before he stood next to a crib and asked, "Why?"
"Swamp Fury trusts you. But now he needs you to come in."
"And if I say no?"
Natasha paused for a moment. "I'll persuade you."
"And what if the…" Banner pauses and looks up at Natasha, "Other Guy says no?"
"You've been more than a year without an incident. I doubt you'd wanna break that streak."
Bruce smiles lightly as he gently pushes the cradle side to side, "Well, sometimes I don't always get what I want…."
Putting all her charm in her words, Natasha says, "Doctor, we're facing a potential global catastrophe."
Still smiling lightly Bruce rolls his eyes, "Now those, I actively try to avoid."
Natasha sits down at a table as Bruce walks over to her. "This is the Alphax" she shows him a picture of the Alphax on her cell phone. Dr. Banner slips on his glasses and gently picks up the phone for a moment to look at the picture closely. "It has the potential energy to wipe out the planet, maybe even more."
"What does Fury want me to do? Swallow it?" Banner asks
"He needs you to find it. It was taken by S.H.I.E.L.D. It emits a Gamma signature too weak for us to trace. You know Gamma radiation better than anyone. If there was someone who knew it better, I would be there." Natasha replied
Banner takes off his glasses and looks back at Natasha. "So, Fury isn't after the monster?"
"Not that he's told me."
"And he tells you everything?"
"Talk to Fury he really needs your help on this."
"He needs me in a cage."
Natasha attempts a soothing smile. "No one's going to put you in a…"
"STOP LYING TO ME!" Banner bellows as he slams his hands against the table, which creaked in protest. The outburst caused Natasha to quickly reach for her gun and aim at Banner. Bruce sits up straight and smiled. "I'm sorry, that was mean. I just wanted to see what you'd do. Let's make this easy so that you don't use that and the Other Guy doesn't make a mess? Okay? Natasha…"
Natasha stands there for a second with her gun still aimed at Dr. Banner, there was nothing but fear in her eyes. At the recognition of her own name she lowers the gun and speaks into her earpiece, "Stand down."
Dozens of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents surrounding the hut turn to leave.
Smiling apologetically and looking at Natasha, Bruce says "Just you and me?"
Natasha fidgets a little.
Fury was facing several large monitors in the dark S.H.I.E.L.D. room as he had a conference with the members of the Homeland Security Council.
An elderly man who must be the head representative spoke, "This is out of line, Director. You're dealing with forces that cannot control"
Not missing a beat, Fury replies', "You ever been in a war councilman? In a firefight? Watching the game on Saturday? Did you feel an abundance of control?"
"Are you saying that this…Asgard has declared war on our planet?"
"Not Asgard, Loki." Fury corrects
An English woman spoke up, "He cannot be working alone. What about the other one? His brother?"
"Our sources say, Thor is not a hostile. But he's worlds away, so we can't depend on him for help. It's up to us."
"Which is why we should focus on phase 2, it was designed specifically for this." The elderly man said
Fury narrowed his eye at the councilman, "Phase 2 isn't ready, our enemy is. We need a response team."
"The Avengers initiative was shut down."
"This isn't about the Avengers…"
"We have seen the list" A Loboan councilman interjected
"You're running the world's most covert security network and you're going to leave the fate of the earth's residents to a handful of freaks? The older man asked.
"I am not leaving anything to anyone. We need a response team." Fury interrupted, "These people may be isolated, unbalanced even, but I believe with the right push they can be exactly what we need."
The Englishwoman stacked her papers together, "You believe?"
"War isn't won by sentiment, Director," The Loboan stated
"No, it is won by soldiers." Fury replied
In an old worn out boxing gym at night the only living being awake dressed in a white shirt and sweatpants, was a Petrosapien named Steve Rogers, the first Avenger, a man out of time, Diamond America. Steve is a super soldier, the first and last of its kind since the secrets of the serum used on him were lost long ago. His race are made of a green diamond like material, they are a little taller than humans. Have four digits on their hands and none on their feet. Males have a spike on the back of their heads and two on their back; Females don't. At the moment, Steve was punching the crap out of a punching bag as memories flooded his mind.
Bullets were flying and energy blasts exploded around him as he leaps over a fallen log and continues running through the trees.
"There's no time! I have to put her in the water." He said on the radio
As Steve was delivering his punches, they gradually became more powerful and devastating with each new one. Steve then remembers putting the compass with the image of Peggy Carter on the dashboard of the plane.
Peggy's last few words to him rang in his ears, "You won't be alone."
Another memory of the Red Shard picking up the Alphax entered his head.
"Oh my god!" said A S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist from long ago when they found him somewhere in the Artic. He was half frozen, lying on a medical slab as two scientists ran scanners to check his vitals. "This Guy's still alive!"
Steve punched hard, so hard in fact that the punching bag was sent flying, spraying sand everywhere. Steve took a bunch of
Deep breaths as he walked over to a pile of fresh new punching bags and picked one up and clipped it to the chain and started punching again in an attempt to release over 100 years of pain, emotions, and memories.
Fury stood by the doorway as Rogers started punching more quickly
"Trouble sleeping?" Fury asks.
"I've slept for a hundred years sir, I think I had my fill." Steve replied.
"Then you should be out celebrating, seeing the world." Fury said as he walked closer to the hundred year old Petrosapien.
Steve stood up straight, the pinnacle of peak condition as he started to remove the wrappings from his arms.
"When I went under, we were in the middle of a war. I wake up, and they say we won. They didn't say what we lost." Steve glanced at Fury before sitting down and stuffing his wrappings into his gym bag.
"We made some mistakes along the way, some very recently," Fury says while looking at the man before him slightly in pity.
"You here to give a mission for me, Sir?"
"I am."
"Trying to get me back in the world?" Steve asks
"Trying to save it." Replied Fury as he hands Steve a file on the Alphax.
"HYDRA's secret weapon." Steve said as he looked at some of the files.
"Howard Blast fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you. He thought what we think; the Alphax is the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That's something that the world sorely needs."
"Who took it from you?" Steve asks as he hands Fury back the file.
"His name is Loki, He's….not from around here. There is a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. The world has gotten stranger than what you already know." Fury explained as Steve stood up
Steve raised an eyebrow and cracked a small smile. "At this point, I don't think anything will surprise me.."
Fury looked at Steve with amusement. "Ten bucks says your wrong."
"You're on" Steve said as he walked away with his bag and grabbed a spare punching bag
"There is a debriefing packet waiting for you back in your apartment."
Steve started walking towards the exit of the gym carrying the punching bag on his shoulder and holding his gymbag in his hand. "Is there anything about the Alphax that we should be aware about?"
"You should have left it in the ocean."
Somewhere off the coast of NewYork, in the ocean, Tony Blast using his Core flames, is cutting a pipeline transport with concentrated heat from his Omni-Palms. He then places a Blast energy reactor which starts to light up.
Fire man starts his fire boosters and his flames glowed brighter as he shot up ou of the water, flying towards Blast Tower
"We're good on this end. The rest is up to you." Tony says
a flame holigraph of Pepper appeared in front of Tony's face as he flew past many buildings. "You disconnected the transition lines? Are we off the grid?
"Blast Tower is about the be the beacon of self sustaining clean energy. Light her up"
As Fire man flies up to Blast tower, all of the lights started to flicker and light up, the Blast logo lit up on the side of the building
"How does it look?"
"Like Christmas, but with more me."
"This is amazing, I'll have to do some press. I'll go for the zoning for the next billboard and go wider on the public awareness campaign,"
"Pepper, the moment remember? Enjoy the moment." Tony said smirking to himself as his half Pyronite girlfriend made a face
"Get in here and I will."
"Oooh."
Tony arrives at his skyscraper penthouse and is in the process of having several mechanical arms with special devices cool down his outer skin and his core temperature dropped to normal and some of his Omni devices were removed, some magma plates formed. then Jarvis' voice came from his earpiece, "Sir, Agent Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D. is on the line."
Tony rolled his eyes, "I'm not in, I am actually out."
Tony started to resemble more stable in appearance, Tony Blast is a Pyronite, a magma based species that are composed of bright inner magma body, covered by a dark red or brown rocks. As a fire-based entity, their body radiates high amount of heat, their feet usually have a slight oval design with only two toes and one back toe. They can also make their rock covering to encase their burning body and become more human like, while weaker in this state this form is the one they prefer to be in outside of battle, this form is the one he is shifting to now as he walked closer to the penthouse. Tony found a way to make his molten armor harder, and increasing his abilities and strength, taking on completely new forms and becoming more powerful. For this he is constantly dogged by scientists, inventors of varying sanity, and even the military.
"Sir, I am afraid he is insisting." Jarvis informed in the form of a black and white blob that popped from a nearby computer screen.
"Grow a spine, Jarvis. I have a date."
As soon as Tony entered the penthouse, he was greeted with the sight of his beautiful girlfriend, Pepper Sparks who was looking at a computer screen that had the stats of the reactor. Along with some of the energy levels.
"Energy levels are holding steady...I think."
Tony walked towards his girlfriend with a smirk. "Of course they are, I was directly involved. So, how does it feel to be a genius?"
Pepper looked at Tony with a small smile. "Well, I wouldnt know how would I?"
"What are you talking about? All of this came from you."
Pepper shook her head, "No, all of this came from that." she tapped Tony's chest plate.
"C'mon, give yourself some credit. Blast tower is your baby. Give yourself 7% of the credit," Tony smiles
Pepper raised an eyebrow, "Seven percent? For my Baby?"
"In an argument, It could be made for fifteen." Tony replied trying to make up for his mistake.
Pepper walked over to a table with champagne and poured some into two glasses.
"I did do all of the heavy lifting, I literally lifted all of the heavy things. And sorry, but that security snafu? It was on you"
"Oooooh poor baby."
"My private elevator.."
"You mean our Elevator?"
"It was teaming with sweaty workmen. I am going to pay for that comment about percentages in some subtle way later?"
"Oh no, I am not going to be subtle."
"How about this? The next building will say Sparks on the tower."
"On the lease."
"Uhh um. Call your mom can you bunk over?
Jarvis's voice rang from some speakers in the room, "Sir, I am afraid that my protocols are being overwritten."
Agent Coulson's voice came from Tony's phone, "Blast, we need to talk."
Tony picked up his phone and made a serious face, "You reached the life model decoy of Tony Blast, please leave a message."
"This is urgent."
"Then leave it urgently."
The elevator door opens and Coulson stepped out. Tony jumped slightly, "Security Breach." He looks at Pepper, "That's on you."
"Mr. Blast." Agent Coulson looks at Tony pointedly
"Phil, come on in." greeted Pepper as she stood up.
Tony raised an eyebrow. "Phil? Uh, his first name is Agent."
Coulson pulled a file out of his bag, "I can't stay."
Ignoring his comment, Pepper says warmly, "Come on in, we are celebrating."
"Which is why he can't stay."
Phil Coulson holds out the file to Tony. "We need you to look over this as soon as possible."
Tony refused to grab the file, "I'm sorry, I dont like being handed things."
Pepper interjected, "Dont worry, because I love being handed things. So let's trade."
Pepper snatched the champagne from Tony's hand and grabbed the file, she then handed Tony the file and gave Agent Coulson the glass.
Sighing in defeat Tony looked at Coulson. "Official consulting hours are between five and seven p.m."
Coulson smiled at the Pyronite, "This isn't a consultation."
"Is this about the Avengers?" Pepper piped up, she then went all defensive. "Which I know nothing about..."
Tony set up the holigraphic file as he headed to his desk, and said, "The Avengers Initiative was scrapped, I thought. I didnt even qualify." Pepper raised an eyebrow, "I didnt know that." Tony then continued, "Yeah, apparently I am arrogant, self obsessed, dont play well with others." Pepper smiled and rolled her eyes. "That I did know."
"This isn't about personality profiles anymore," Coulson says to keep the conversation from getting off topic.
"Yeah, Yeah." Tony waves Agent Coulson away as he asks, "Ms. Sparks, got a minute?"
Pepper then walked over to where her Pyronite boyfriend stood entering files into his database. "You know, I thought we were having a moment," he says in a low voice.
"I was having seven percent of a moment." Pepper replied snarkly, "Something's up, Phil looks upset."
"Oh really?" Tony paused for a second, "Since when is he Phil?"
"What is all of this?" Pepper asked as she looked at the small screen.
"This? Well its..." Tony pressed a button
Holographic screenshots of Diamond America in action, The Hult roaring as he picks up a humvee to throw at the army in the University of Montevallo, Thor fighting the Destroyer, and another is of Loki and the Alphax, to which Tony and Pepper looked on in awe.
"I am going to take the jet to D.C. tonight" Pepper says, still in awe
"Tomorrow," Tony says halfheartedly.
"You've got homework, a lot of homework." Pepper said pointedly
"And what if I don't?"
"You mean if you finished?" Tony nodded his head. "Well, um...Then..." Pepper smiles slyly as she whispers something in Tony's ear. His mouth gapes open and he smiled. Agent Coulson looked away in embarassment.
"Deal, have a good flight." Tony says before kissing Pepper on the lips sending some small sparks in the air.
"Work Hard," Pepper says as she leaves with Coulson. "Any chance that you are headed near the airport?"
Tony was about to say something but Coulson cut him off
"I can drive you" Coulson replied
"So how is that cellist girlfriend of yours?"
"She flew back to Portland."
"What?! Boo..."
When the two entered the Elevator, Tony grabs the Alphax in holograph form, looking worried.