Hearts of Avengers

by lyokoMARVELanime

Instead of Traverse Town, Sora lands in New York after Destiny Islands fell and just moments before The Breakout happens. One superhero team-up later, and the Keyblade Hero is now a member of the Avengers. It's the story of Kingdom Hearts with a marvel of a new spin. Just see how Sora and the Avengers will affect both of their adventures, now.

4. A Living Legend's Return

AN: Well, like the old saying goes, good things come to those who wait, so I must simply thank you all for waiting, because your patience is now being rewarded with the newest chapter of Hearts of Avengers!

[audience applause]

Yes, quite exciting huh? Not just because this is the chapter where we meet Captain America, but also because Hulk's still around and ready to do a little more avenging...Okay, so the first half is the part that's mostly true, right?

[audience laughter]

Hulk: Hey! You saying that I'm not as good as Flag-Man?!

AN: No, I'm just saying that Cap's got a larger following than you, or at least it seems that way a lot of times, but you can't blame me for thinking that, Big Guy. I mean, most of your movie appearances lately are only in Avengers movies or in movies featuring other characters as the lead star, like Thor: Ragnarok for example. (Great movie by the way, if you haven't seen it yet. Way awesome) It has been a while since we saw a solo movie for you.

Hulk:...Okay, yeah that's fair. I guess.

AN: So, let's answer some reviews now. For starters, let me give a general response to those of you who asked or just guessed. Yes, Doctor Strange will be involved with teaching Sora magic, and will basically be filling the role Merlin had in cannon for this story. Congrats to all of you who guessed that. You are all very smart.

Next to our old pal "Monkey D. Conan", I like the suggestion you made about Sora getting some type of helmet or semi-armor, and I'm actually thinking of incorporating something like that in here now. It'll likely show up next chapter so keep an eye out for that.

Now how about we have a chat with the guy who gave the idea for this little crossover, "Spiderfan626". I want to go ahead and warn you that the Masters of Evil won't be involved in all the worlds, but the reactions they have to certain Disney villains and worlds will most likely be very funny, or at least that's what I'm aiming for. Oh, and by the way, in case you or anyone else is wondering, I will be including some other worlds besides those of Disney movies in here, and I don't mean just places like Traverse Town, Hollow Bastion, and the like. No spoilers on that just yet though. You'll have to wait and see where else Sora and the Avengers will end up when we start traveling to other worlds.

To "The Keeper of Worlds", glad you're liking those interactions. I was definitely aiming for that kind of relationship to build up between Sora and Wasp, and maybe between Hulk and Sora. To be honest though, I really just wanted Hulk to be able to know he could count Sora as a friend, something that Hulk has very few of, and as we all know, Sora has an uncanny talent for making friends almost everywhere he goes.

Wasp: Doesn't that sound like how everyone says that Naruto can make his enemies turn good just by talking to them? Or how that should be called something silly like "Talk no Jutsu"?

AN: NO! No mentioning that anime here! There are already enough Naruto fanfictions, crossover and otherwise as there is! I don't want people getting ideas that I might be thinking of starting a Naruto story of my own!

Wasp: Sorry.

AN: It's cool, Jan. Now, let's talk to our guest reviewer, "darthrevan-b312". Thanks for such extensive information on that particular OC of yours, but I'm afraid that I'm not planning on adding any OCs into this story, other than the OC I use so I can make cameo appearances in my stories. But you definitely do a great job throwing that together. You're definitely set for that RPG of yours if you can come up with all of that my friend.

To our guest reviewer "KH summons", I'm not really planning to include summons in this story at the moment. Maybe I will, maybe I won't, but for now, I'm mainly focusing on how Sora can grow and learn about his abilities in this new continuity. Whether or not that will include the use of summon charms later on is still to be determined I'm afraid.

And finally, in response to one last guest reviewer, one "AvengersFan24601", I do have some small plans on the X-Men showing up at some point in this story, but nothing entirely solid just yet. I do want them to appear though, so we'll see how well the plans pan out. As for the Disney Worlds we'll see here, I'm not going to say anything just yet. I want them to be a surprise until we see the previews for those little adventures.

Sora: So is that all you wanted to say, or is there anything else we need to talk about?

AN: No, I think that covers it. Any remaining questions should be answered either in the main story or in the preview for next chapter, so let's get on with the show. Avengers, to the chapter!...

I do not own anything from either the Kingdom Hearts or MARVEL franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.

---

Chapter IV

While they waited for the other Avengers to arrive, Hulk regaled Sora with the tales of their frozen friend, and needless to say, the boy was hanging on every word, grinning from ear to ear the entire time. You could not blame the kid though. Even with Hulk's abilities in storytelling, the things that Sora learned about the first superhero of this world were nothing short of amazing. He started out as a twenty pound asthmatic who was determined to serve his country despite how his condition prevented him from doing and ended up becoming the first super soldier after volunteering for an experimental procedure that would accelerate the human body to its maximum potential, making him stronger and faster than most average people. Not only that, but from what Sora could tell, based on what Hulk explained, Captain America was more than just another soldier; he was also a good man who always did what he believed to be right, no matter what. In short, Captain America sounded like the ideal example of what it meant to be not just a hero, but a good person as well. It made Sora feel a little sad that he was not going to get a chance to really meet the captain. After all, what were the chances that he had survived that fall from a missile and into the icy waters below, let alone remaining inside of the ice for all of these years?

Apparently, they were very good odds, because just after the other Avengers arrived, Iron Man took a quick scan of the captain's body and confirmed that the super soldier was indeed alive, much to everyone's shock. After they had gotten over their shock, they all quickly worked to cut the captain's frozen body out of the larger ice, and then moved him onto the Quinjet so that they could fly him back to New York, with Hank and Tony monitoring the super soldier's condition the entire time. They got a little extra help about a quarter of the way back when Hulk, reluctantly decided to change into Bruce Banner, allowing Sora to meet the other side of his gamma powered friend at last, while freeing up more room on the jet, and allowing Banner to put some of his medicinal skills into practice. Seeing as their three friends had things under control in regards to the captain for the moment, Thor and Sora could only sit back and watch with baited breaths as they waited for the war hero to wake up, while Janet did the same as she flew the jet. At least, Sora thought that's what Janet was doing, until she revealed that thing was apparently on auto-pilot while throwing a pouting look in Iron Man's direction, much to Sora's amusement.

Sora got a bit of a small laugh out of Janet's attitude in regards to how she was not being allowed to fly the team's jet, but he did have one burning question on his mind that he just had to ask once he realized they were almost back at New York. "How come he's still alive after all this time," the Keybearer asked, pointing to the thawed out captain when he did.

"It was likely the Super Soldier Serum in his body," Banner theorized. "According to what is known about the effects of the serum on a subject's body, it is said to grant a really strong regenerative ability, which is also part of the reason why Captain America no longer has to worry about the medical afflictions that plagued him pre-serum. If that would be the case, then the captain's regenerative abilities had likely allowed him to stave off any hypothermia that would result from the extreme cold and instead just placed him into a state of suspended animation the entire time he was down there."

"…Uh, what," was the most intelligent response that Sora could come up with for that.

"The serum made Cap a fast healer, and that in turn made it so that instead of freezing to death, he just ended up sleeping for the last sixty years while being a Capsicle," Tony simplified into layman's terms for the kid.

"Oh, well why didn't you just say that," Sora asked Bruce.

"I did," Banner shortly replied.

"Well, I'm just going to enjoy the fact that we currently have someone here besides Hank who speaks English," Tony commented while giving his fellow scientist a pat on the shoulder, to which Bruce just smiled a little.

"Seriously, is that really what just happened," Sora whispered to Thor, but the Asgardian just shrugged in response. He understood mortal science terms about as well as his young comrade did, so one had to wonder why Sora was asking him of all people.

Just as they were about to continue the conversation, a soft groan reached everyone's ears, and everyone other than Wasp turned to see that the captain was beginning to stir a little. "This is incredible," Hank gasped as he approached the medical bed with Bruce moving past him to check a few things personally. "He's already waking up."

"Is his brain okay," Wasp asked, still doing her best to not take her eyes off of the sky before her. The Quinjet might have been on autopilot, but you still never know when that might change for some reason.

Wasp's question went unanswered for the most part as everyone gathered around the World War II hero, while Bruce elected himself to be the one who spoke to him first. "Captain," Bruce softly called. "Captain Rogers, are you all r…"

"BUCKY," Captain America shouted, and on reflex, he slammed his shield right into Bruce, knocking the gamma scientist into Hank and sending them both flying up into the cockpit, causing Wasp to turn around and see what was going on at last when they landed near her. He then caught Thor appearing to move towards him out of the corner of his eye, and immediately sent a kick at the Asgardian that nearly knocked the blonde into Sora had the boy not rolled out of the way at just the last second.

"Whoa, whoa, wait. Everything's…" Iron Man tried to say, but the captain did not seem to listen, as he just spun up off of the bed he was on and then slammed it into Tony, pinning the armored Avenger against the wall. After groaning a little from the impact, Tony looked up and attempted to reason with the soldier again. "Okay, Captain, you're safe. You're with friends."

"What are you? Some kind of HYDRA automaton," Captain America demanded, obviously not believing Tony at all.

"Listen! You've been frozen in ice for decades," Iron Man tried to explain.

"You're creative; I'll give you that," Captain America scoffed. "Where have you taken me? Where's Bucky?"

"Hey, just calm down for a minute," Sora called out after standing up straight again. "We're not HYDRA. We're the good guys, and we just saved your life a moment ago."

When the super soldier turned to Sora, he suddenly paused in what Sora could only describe as mild surprise. Tony would have to agree with that assessment, because from what he could tell of Captain America's expression, it almost seemed as though the man recognized Sora somehow. Although it was a bit more likely that the captain thought Sora was someone else that he knew from the Forties, or held a strong resemblance to such a person from what the super soldier could see, but whatever the case was, it seemed like Sora was starting to get the man to calm down a little bit. At least it seemed that way until Thor started to approach once again in an attempt to help placate the man.

"Please calm yourself, Captain. As the robot and Keyblade master say, you are among friends," Thor reassured the super soldier, placing a hand on his shoulder as a show of good intentions. Apparently, Captain America did not take it that way, because he immediately slammed his shield into the back of Thor's head, and then elbowed him in the gut before he threw the Asgardian over his shoulder right into Sora.

The two wielders of magic weapons both went flying right into the cockpit's main dashboard, and upon impact, a small explosion erupted from the controls, causing the whole jet to start sparking with electricity. There was no doubt that after said impact the autopilot was now offline, and the fact that the Quinjet was now taking a nosedive directly towards the water below them just proved that point. Wasp was quick to start pulling back on the controls while Sora tried to help once he had scrambled to his feet again, but they still caught notice of the captain opening the main hatch and jumping out of the jet almost seconds after they had gotten closer to the ground, much to some of the team's surprise, and to the horror of the others.

"Uh…was he wearing a parachute or anything like that just now," Sora asked, worriedly.

"No. No he wasn't," Iron Man almost chuckled in response. It was almost a chuckle because while it did remind him of some of the stories he heard about the captain as a kid, the fact that his jet was currently damaged and falling out of the sky with all of his team aboard was a little more pressing at the moment, especially if they did not want to crash down in an area where someone could get hurt.

---

In retrospect, Captain America would be the first to admit that jumping out of the plane full of strange people he did not know was probably not his best idea when he did not even know where he was going to land, or if he was even close to actual land, but at the moment, he was just grateful to see that there was a shore to pull himself up onto. Once he had climbed out of the water, he looked up to see the welcoming sight of Lady Liberty standing tall and proud in the sunlight, confirming that he was at least back on American soil again. That simple fact alone was reassuring to him, as it had been a long time since he was back in his home nation, and it would have brought a smile to his face had he not heard the sound of jets approaching him from above, and then looked up to see the man in gold and red armor from before slowly floating down towards him. He was not sure who these people were, but he was certainly not going to take any chances, hence the reason why he ignored the armored man's request for him to stand down and instead threw his shield directly at him. The vibranium disk easily struck its target, and in an impressive display of accuracy, ricocheted off the statue's torch and back into Captain America's waiting hand.

"Hey, we don't want to fight you! We're trying to help you," a woman's voice cried out from behind him, and Cap immediately spun around to the speaker, only to pause for a second once more when he saw that the woman in question was only about six inches tall at least, and possessed bright yellow wings that were buzzing in the air like a fly's. It was honestly much more baffling than her yellow and black attire, but it was not too different from some of the things that Cap had seen before, and much of it had come from only one place: HYDRA.

"What are you, lady? One of Zemo's experiments," Captain America demanded of the small woman.

"What? No, I'm…Well it's complicated," the miniature woman shrugged, and from her expression, Cap could see that she was at least being honest in what she said.

"Stand aside, Wasp," a loud voice suddenly boomed from the air, startling both soldier and small woman as the blonde man with a cape from before suddenly seemed to drop from the air with his hammer raised. Any protests from the now identified Wasp went ignored by the blonde, so Cap did not let it bother him either, as he simply raised his shield above him and to block the hammer's strike. What he did not expect was that a surge of lightning would ignite upon the hammer's impact with the shield, but a little light show was not going to distract Captain America from a fight, and he proved it by dropping down and sweeping the Viking-styled man's feet out from under him with a quick kick. Before he could press his advantage, Cap's ears caught the sound of something really big moving in the water, and he immediately turned to see the man in red and black rise up behind him, only now, the man was no longer wearing the silver helmet with antennas that he had before, and was easily matching the height of a skyscraper, if the super soldier had to make a comparison.

"Sir, we really need to get you to a hospital," the giant of a man cautiously advised the captain, and Cap was just going to brush it off once again so he could go on the attack, until the sounds of a crowd reached his ears, drawing his attention over to a ferry full of people who were staring at him in awe, some even going so far as to take pictures with both cameras and their phones. Aside from the fact that people had what looked to be mobile phones with cameras of all things, what came as more of a shock to the captain was that the boat was full of people from different races and nationalities that would likely have been trying to kill each other the last time he had checked. It was only natural that the captain would be looking at this odd sight in shock for a moment.

"Okay, enough," the armored man shouted as he flew over so he was once again floating before the captain, while the others started to regain their footing and circle him as well. Though the captain did have to wonder why the other two people he had noticed on the jet were not here with them, he kept his main focus on the fight happening right here and now. "You have to come with us. You don't understand. This is not 1943."

"He is a warrior, Stark. He will not yield," the man that Captain America had heard Wasp call Thor stated.

"You've got that right, buddy," Captain America shouted as he threw his shield once again. This time Iron Man quickly dodged the shield on its initial path and then again after it rebounded off the side of the passing boat, but Thor was not so lucky to avoid the flying projectile. Iron Man then found himself getting tackled to the ground by Captain America and then reacted on impulse and tired to fire his repulsors at the super soldier. The captain quickly took advantage of that and redirected the blast into Giant-Man's face with his bare hands, sending Hank crashing down into the ocean, before he flung Iron Man around and into Thor. Seeing that he had effectively disabled his opponents for the moment, Cap tapped his shield with his boot and flipped it up onto his arm as he assumed a ready stance for anything else that would get thrown at him.

He was still not quite ready for the hit he received from behind, which nearly knocked him off his feet, and after he had regained his balance, he spun around to see that one of the absentees had now joined the fight, namely the young boy from before. When he first saw the kid, Captain America could have sworn for a moment that he was looking at Bucky, but that was mostly due to how his vision was still a little bit hazy after just waking up. When it started to clear up a little more, he then thought that the kid was someone else he knew from his previous battles, and there was certainly a resemblance between said soldier and this kid, but now that he got a good look at the kid, he could tell that this boy was indeed someone else, and not just because he was clearly younger than that soldier was. The boy's hair was much wilder and shaggier than Cap's old comrade had ever been, and he also remembered his ally wielding a weapon that was far more practical than the giant key that the boy was using appeared to be. Still, the fierce glare that the kid was throwing at the captain was very reminiscent of that same ally of his.

"How many times do my friends and I have to say that we're trying to help you before you actually listen to us," the kid asked.

"My apologies, son, but this soldier doesn't take help from HYDRA agents. He just takes them down," Captain America quickly replied, and he instantly rushed in to attack the kid. He was soon halted in his advance when a sharp sting suddenly hit him in his side, and he instantly turned to see Wasp aiming her hands at him with a guilty look on her face.

"Sorry, but Sora's right. We need you to listen for a moment," Wasp tried to reason with the captain.

Captain America did not listen to Wasp, and instead just waved his hand at her in an attempt to get her to back off. Normally, he would not attack a woman in such a way, but given that he believed she was an enemy soldier, he could only assume that it would be excusable. Apparently, his attack did not sit well with this boy named Sora, because the kid was charging him once again, with his giant key ready to strike. The key quickly collided with Cap's vibranium shield, releasing both a loud clang and a powerful shockwave when it did, instantly telling the captain that there was more to this boy's odd weapon than what he had assumed at first glance. He shook it off though, and then shoved the boy back and off his feet, but before he could charge the kid, Wasp zapped him once again with her stingers, trying to keep him from hurting Sora. All it really did though was start annoying Captain America, and he proved it when he turned to try and take down Wasp once again.

Seeing this, Sora scrambled up again and aimed his giant key forward, likely not realizing that it was glowing a little at the tip while he shouted, "Would you please just calm down already and stop!"

Captain America was not sure what had happened then, but the next thing he knew, he heard what sounded like a clock chime and was completely frozen in his tracks. There was no sign of anything that could be holding him down, but for some reason, he was just unable to move anything other than his eyes and mouth. "What…what just happened? What did you do to me," Captain America demanded as best as he could, his eyes turning towards the kid when he did, figuring that only he could know the answer.

Sora just looked between the captain and his Keyblade for a minute in awe before he replied, "I'm honestly trying to figure that out myself. This thing didn't come with any kind of instruction manual or anything."

"Either way, maybe now you'll listen to us," Wasp suggested.

"Like I said before, Miss, this soldier doesn't listen to HYDRA agents. He just takes them down," the captain retorted, still keeping up his determined glare despite his current situation.

"Fine, don't listen just look," Wasp sighed irritably, and she immediately flew up a flight of nearby stairs. When she realized that Cap was not following her, she gave herself a mental slap for her moment of forgetfulness and turned to Sora and asked, "Uh, do you think you can unfreeze him now?"

"I'm not even sure how I did it in the first place," Sora protested, much to both of the other two's irritation and disappointment. "Hey, it's not like I can just wave the Keyblade and say reverse or undo, or something."

Apparently, that was all he had to do, because while he was complaining, Sora had failed to realize that the Keyblade's tip had flashed for a minute, and whatever was holding the captain was instantly released, granting him full range of movement once again. When he noticed this, Sora just smiled sheepishly and then dashed after Janet as she flew up to where she had been heading before with the captain hot on their trail. When he laid eyes on what Janet was trying to show the captain, Sora could only stare in awe at the sight before him, and from the gasp of shock he heard come from behind him, he had to assume that Captain America was just as if not more shocked than he was. There, standing proudly near the base of the Statue of Liberty, was a bronze statue of Captain America and his young partner Bucky, and at the base of the statue was an inscription that read "In honored memory of Captain America and Bucky".

Seeing this memorial statue of himself and Bucky finally clued Captain America in as to what the others were trying to tell him, but he was not so sure that he was quite willing to believe it. Still, the evidence was hard to deny, so when he heard the other strange people that Sora and Wasp were allied with approaching him, he simply turned around to face them with all reason to try and fight them now gone from his system. That did not make it any less shocking for him when the armored man's helmet opened up to reveal the face of a man who looked a lot like Howard Stark, but he still listened with rapt attention as he spoke. "You've been gone a long time, Captain. Welcome back."

Captain America just looked between this man who looked so much like Howard Stark, his friends, and the statue for a minute before he finally nodded in thanks, and then allowed himself to collapse in exhaustion, all fatigue he felt having finally caught up to him now that the adrenaline had run its course. Despite himself, he could feel a small smile reach his face as he felt gentle but strong arms carry him back onto the plane he was flying in before while these strange people talked about bringing him back to some mansion, because for the moment, he was just glad to be home again.

---

Somewhere far from Ellis Island and New York, a certain man dressed in a purple outfit that covered him from head to toe, with a sword strapped to his belt was descending down into the lab of the man that many considered to be HYDRA's best scientist: Doctor Arnim Zola. This man was Baron Zemo, former leader of HYDRA before Baron Strucker, and Zemo had come planning to take back HYDRA from the, as he had put it, "child in an old man's body", until he had learned of some startling news: Captain America was alive. Ever since the war, Zemo had held a burning hatred of the captain, especially since he blamed Rogers for how he was exposed to Virus X. Yes, it did give him the excuse to evolve his body so that he could live longer, but at the same time, he now required various treatments to ensure that he would live until a cure was found. Ever since then, he had sworn he would get his revenge on the captain, but it had long seemed that the Red Skull had beaten him to the punch. Until now, and Zemo knew that Zola would have just the solution he would need to getting his revenge, so he decided that Wolfgang could have HYDRA. All that mattered to him now was destroying Captain America, and all he needed for that was Arnim Zola.

At last, Zemo arrived at his destination, and he swiftly entered the darkened laboratory, paying little mind to the strange machines in the room as he passed them, or even the odd creatures inside some of the tubes. They did catch his attention eventually though when one creature in particular suddenly shot out at him from behind, forcing Zemo to draw his sword and sever the tentacle in two with one, fell swipe. Zemo's attacker then floated out into the light, revealing it to be a strange, dough-like creature with two skinny arms and a large mouth and eyes. The beast immediately began roaring at Zemo for his attack, even as the severed arms regrew, but Zemo just glared in response until a synthesized voice suddenly called out from the shadows, "Enough, my pet."

Turning to the speaker, both baron and creature looked on as a man in a large orange suit with a camera where his head should be, and his face being shown in a screen on his stomach stepped forward into the light, which Zemo instantly identified as Arnim Zola himself, and from the grin on his TV screen face, Zola did not look half as apologetic as he attempted to make himself out to be when he addressed the baron. "You'll have to excuse Doughboy. He is very excited to see that you also escaped SHIELD's prisons during the recent exodus."

Zemo put aside any lack of sincerity that Zola may have had and simply placed his sword back in its scabbard before brushing Doughboy's hand off his shoulder as he addressed the scientist. "I have news, Arnim. But first…"

"Yes," Zola replied, and he then led Zemo to a bed beneath a large machine. The moment Zemo had lied back on the table and it was lowered to a resting position, Zola walked over to the machine's controls saying, "It is good you escaped when you did. Your last treatment has almost worn off."

The machine was then activated, and a beam passed over Zemo as Zola continued what he was saying before. "We did too good a job on Virus X, my old friend. Sadly, I still have found no cure. Our formula is the only thing keeping it from…"

"Captain America is alive," Zemo interrupted as the procedure came to an end.

Zola's eyes widened as he proclaimed, "Amazing! Erskine's super soldier serum must be responsible. Had we ever obtained a DNA sample from the captain, we could've created an army of super soldiers." Zola's camera eye then turned to Zemo as the masked man stood up, and he quickly added, "And of course, cured you, Baron. I still believe the serum will reverse the effects of the virus."

"You need a DNA sample? I will bring you Captain America's head," Zemo told Zola confidently. "But there is a problem: the Captain it seems has found powerful allies."

"I am the finest bioengineer on the planet, and over the decades I have learned one thing," Zola informed Zemo confidently. He then gestured to a specific glass tube that held what Zemo could only describe as a larger version of Doughboy, and yet was clearly more powerful than Zola's little pet, and declared, "Every problem has a solution."

Seeing this creature made Zemo smirk under his mask in anticipation for what would be coming for Captain America, until he realized that he, Zola, and Doughboy were not the only other ones in the room besides this creature. Reaching this realization, Zemo instantly spun towards the intruder and drew his sword again as he demanded, "Who's there? Show yourself!"

"I am merely a friend who has coming seeking the door to this world," the stranger replied in a deep, cold voice that almost sent shivers up Zemo's spine, and if he still had one, Zola was sure that he would have felt a shiver or two as well. The stranger then stepped out into better light, but still remained at a point where his face was hidden by the shadows of the room. Not that it was all that necessary, since the brown cloak he wore kept his face very well hidden. Aside from that though, the only thing that Zemo could tell about this person was that he was rather short and a bit hunched over. "This world has been connected. Tied to the darkness…Soon to be completely eclipsed and likely would have by now, were it not for the Keyblade's chosen one."

"What manner of riddles are you spouting," Zemo demanded, honestly confused by everything that this stranger had just said.

"I am referring to one of your enemy's new allies. He may be the youngest, but make no mistake, he holds the potential to be the greatest threat of them all," the stranger explained. "If he were to interfere, your plan will most certainly fail."

Now Zemo was intrigued. He had seen some news footage of the boy with spiky hair, which he had heard many believed to be the youngest of the Avengers, and at first he thought little of the child. However, if this stranger was to be believed, then he may prove to be more of a problem than he originally thought. More importantly, he had a feeling that this person would not have appeared here if he did not have something to offer him that could counter this problem. "Go on," Zemo prompted as he lowered his blade, but still keeping it ready just in case.

"I can grant you temporary use of creatures that will best keep the Keyblade's chosen at bay, and I can also infuse your scientist's beast with the same power that they possess to keep these other heroes from interfering with you, but only if you desire such dark powers," the stranger revealed.

"If it will help me to destroy Captain America and obtain Arnim's DNA sample, then I most certainly do. However, I am not a fool, so I must ask what the payment for this is," Zemo questioned.

"Nothing for the moment, but I will require your assistance in a much larger manner later on, should you fail in your objective or not," the stranger shrugged. He then waved one of his hands towards the creature in the tube, and a haze of darkness was soon washing over the beast. When the haze settled, the stranger then waved his hand towards Zemo, and the same haze briefly appeared over the masked daemon for a moment just before a number of odd looking creatures in knight armor appeared around him. "The power to command these Heartless is now yours to wield as you please for now. One of my agents will be in touch with you later on, Baron."

"Just a moment," Zola demanded as the man turned to leave. "Who are you?"

The stranger paused for but a few seconds before he looked back and replied, "My name is of no importance, for now at least."

With that, the stranger disappeared into the shadows, almost as though he were a ghost. If this set off any warning bells for Zemo or Zola, they either did not care or just ignored them completely. After all, whoever this person was, he had just given them something that would ensure they would get what they wanted from Captain America, and that the Avengers would be of little concern to them when they attacked. With such abilities and resources at their disposal, one had to wonder what more could a villain ask for, but that did not mean they were able to shake the dark feelings that they somehow knew were just rolling off of this stranger. It was hard to put into words, but if they had to, they would say that it was almost like he was an embodiment of darkness itself.

---

Sora was honestly a bit surprised that Captain America had woken up again by the time they were halfway back to the mansion, and as a result, he found himself glancing back at the super soldier every few seconds or so. He knew that it was probably rude and that the man had likely noticed by now, but Sora could not help it for two reasons. For starters, Captain America sounded like everything Sora believed a hero should be and he looked like it too. It took a great deal of skill to be able to handle powerful opponents like the Avengers with nothing more than your bare hands and a shield, which Sora noticed was not the least bit damaged even after taking a blow from Mjolnir, surprisingly. On the other hand, it was for that exact same reason that Sora was a little nervous. The man had single-handedly defeated nearly the entire team, save for Hulk, all on his own without any real special powers, and he did it in the most strategic of ways possible, and it was all just moments after being thawed out of the ice. In fact, he was sure if he had not somehow managed to freeze the captain in place like he had, then Cap would likely have figured out a way to beat him too. He supposed there were a few benefits to not knowing the full extent of what he could do with the Keyblade, but all the same, he was especially glad that the captain was one of the good guys.

While Captain America did have his attention though, Sora's gaze would occasionally wander to another of the jet's occupants: Bruce Banner. Sure, he had heard a bit about Hulk's alter ego, but he had never actually seen or met the man until now, and he was honestly a little curious about Bruce. Ever since Hulk had turned into the man, Bruce had shown absolutely no indication of being anything like the Hulk right to the point where Sora was sure that he would never have believed that Banner was the jade giant if he had not already known beforehand. After another moment of pondering and staring, while listening to Hank break the news to Captain America about what had happened in his absence as delicately as possible, Sora finally felt like he could not take it any longer and decided to approach the gamma scientist so he could talk with him. Sure, he might have looked a little busy with monitoring the medical scanners that were helping to make sure that Cap was still in good physical condition, but Sora could not wait any longer before asking him about these things.

"Hey Doctor Banner," Sora greeted once he was next to the scientist, drawing Bruce's attention from the tablet he was working on.

When he saw the young Keyblade wielder, Bruce raised an eyebrow in curiosity for a minute before he finally smiled and extended a hand to the kid as he said, "Oh right, I suppose we haven't really had a chance to get properly acquainted before now. It's nice to finally meet you in person, Sora, and please, call me Bruce."

Sora glanced between the offered hand and the man for a minute before he finally just accepted the handshake with an easy going smile. That did not stop him from asking the question that was now burning in his mind. "What do you mean when you say it's nice to finally meet me in person? I mean, we've already talked with each other a lot, haven't we?"

"No, you've only talked with Hulk. This is the first time you and I have ever interacted with each other," Bruce explained, but he could tell that Sora was still a little lost.

"You make it sound like you guys are two different people," Sora commented.

"Because we are," Bruce explained. "The Hulk and I may share a body, but we're not the same person. After the accident that first changed me and gave birth to the Hulk, whenever I got angry, I would turn into the Hulk and I would only change back after he calmed down." He then paused for a minute to consider something and then asked, "Do you have the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on your world?"

"Yeah," Sora nodded, knowing exactly what Bruce was talking about.

"Well, it's basically the same thing with me and the Hulk. Of course, in the beginning, Hulk was nothing but blind rage and an urge to attack anything and everything near him, and while he was doing that, I would black out. I would sometimes get images and memory flashes of what happened when Hulk was in control, but beyond that, nothing. It was so bad that I actually agreed with everyone else on the idea that the Hulk was a monster that should be contained, but unlike the military, I just wanted to find a cure and destroy the Hulk before he caused any more damage."

"What changed," Sora asked. He was honestly intrigued by this whole story, and while he was not exactly happy about the idea that Bruce wanted to get rid of Hulk like everyone else was, he could tell that the man had a different opinion now because of how he talked about the jade giant.

"I realized that I did have some bit of consciousness inside of Hulk's mind. After the first time we defeated Abomination, Hulk and I left any form of civilization, and I then made my way to a safe house I had set up after I started running from Ross and SHIELD so I could practice various ways of trying to communicate with Hulk while he's in control."

"And that's how you knew who I am," Sora asked, just to make sure he understood correctly.

"Exactly," Bruce nodded. "Once I figured out how to communicate with Hulk, I was able to talk to him and influence him in a way. Thanks to that, I started to realize that the Hulk could be more than the monster people believe him to be, and that he could be a force for good, and that definitely helped me in convincing Hulk to come and help you all fight Graviton."

That surprised Sora a little bit, and he did not hesitate to put his shock into words. "How come Hulk never told us that?"

Bruce actually laughed a bit at that question as he said, "Well to be honest, Hulk doesn't like me very much. Then again, he doesn't like anyone, period. At least, until he met you. I can definitely say with the utmost confidence that you are the first person that Hulk has ever really considered to be a true friend, at least, outside of this one kid by the name of Rick that we met a while back."

The Keyblade wielder smiled upon hearing that, but he was still confused by something. "If you change back after Hulk calms down enough, how come we haven't seen you until now?"

Sora may not have been aware of this, but most of the others were listening in on this as well, save for Captain America, who would not really have understood anything that was being said at the moment even if he was paying that much attention. To be fair though, he was trying to process the fact that he had missed the last sixty years of the world going by while he was frozen in ice, along with everything that had happened according to Hank, so it was forgivable for him to not really be paying too much attention to the topic that Sora and Bruce were discussing. Everyone else on the other hand was very much curious for their own reasons, but whether it was because they wanted to know simply for the sake of knowing, or because they wanted to talk and work with Banner personally, it did not matter, because they were all still willing to listen and learn.

Bruce sat in silence for a minute before he finally sighed and revealed, "In order to get Hulk to help you guys out, I had to make a deal with him. If Hulk helped stop Graviton, then he would get full control of our body; stay the Hulk and not turn back into Banner."

"Well that doesn't seem very fair," Sora protested. He was glad that Hulk was willing to help out, and he could understand why Hulk would want to be the one in control most of the time, but never letting Bruce out again, especially if he was his own person as well did not seem like a very fair trade in Sora's opinion.

"Maybe not, but I think it was a fair trade, all things considered," Bruce admitted. "For the longest time, I figured I was always working in a way where I always had at least one hand on the wheel, but from Hulk's perspective, I guess he figured I was just locking him in the trunk until I needed to let him out, so it's only fair that the reverse happen eventually."

"But still, he shouldn't just keep you locked up inside forever. After all, you can help a lot of people as Bruce Banner, and sometimes in ways that are better than the Hulk can," Sora continued to argue.

Bruce may not have said anything about it, but he could also hear Hulk inside of him while he was in control, and from what he could tell it seemed that the gamma hero actually understood what Sora was saying. Even now, Hulk was humming in thought about something that no doubt had to do with what Sora was saying to him, and that made Bruce smile a little more. This kid was definitely something else, and if what Thor said about the boy's weapon was true, then Bruce could see why the Keyblade had chosen Sora to be its wielder. This was a sentiment that was shared by the rest of the Avengers who had heard the exchange as well, and they had to wonder if Sora would be able to do something for Captain America as well, because there was no doubt that the super soldier was likely going to need a bit of encouragement after he had learned everything he needed to learn.

Apparently the time for that was now, because the Quinjet had just landed in the mansion's hangar right when Hank had finished filling Captain America in on everything he had missed. Out of all that information though, there were only a few details that Cap was concerned with, and those were the ones that pertained the most to his time and the war that was taking place then. "So we…won the war," Captain America asked.

"Thanks in part to you," Tony confirmed as he opened his face mask once again.

"So HYDRA's gone?"

"Uh…it's complicated," Tony told the captain. They had not really gotten around to explaining how HYDRA had changed over the years mostly because they were not sure how to break that particular news to him. After all, HYDRA was Cap's main enemy for most of the war, so hearing that it was still around and now a full-blown terrorist organization would probably have not gone over well with the super soldier. Tony put that aside for the moment, and instead focused on a more important matter. "I've had JARVIS prepare a room for you until we get everything sorted out. You've been gone a long time, Cap."

"Welcome back, sir," JARIVS added, getting Cap to pause in surprise and look around for the source of the AI's voice.

"The building has its own voice. Tis very disconcerting," Thor explained as he walked past.

"Yeah…" Captain America replied with a slow nod. After all, things like AIs were the stuff of science-fiction in his day.

"If it makes you feel any better, I was pretty surprised too the first time I heard JARVIS speak," Sora reassured the captain. It did not seem to raise the super soldier's spirits by that much, but Sora could have sworn that he saw the corners of Cap's lips move upwards by a tiny smidge as they continued on into the Assembly Hall.

"There's something I have to show you," Tony told the captain as he brought up an image of a news article that was titled Captain America Fallen on the holographic screen. "My dad used to tell me stories about you when I was a kid. You were an inspiration to me."

Cap's eyes had widened the moment he saw the image of the news article appear from the table, but beyond that, his expression remained neutral. No one was going to kid themselves into thinking that he was not upset by seeing his own obituary, because they all knew that it could not have been easy, so it came as little surprise that Captain America was putting on a brave face at the moment as he studied the article. Out of all of them though, Sora felt like he was the one who could most relate to what the captain was feeling. At least Cap had something to remind him that his world existed. All Sora had of Destiny Islands were the destroyed clothes that he had been wearing when he first arrived on this world.

"Hmm. That's…some poor reporting," Captain America finally hummed after a minute. His face then drew a contemplative and hopeful look as he muttered, "But if I survived, maybe Bucky…"

Tony knew where the super soldier was going with that line of though, and as much as he hated to do it, he knew he would have to break the news to his father's old friend. So, he placed a gentle hand on the captain's shoulder and sadly said, "I'm sorry, Cap. Every kid in school learns that Captain America and Bucky sacrificed their lives to stop the Red Skull. It's a miracle you survived."

He knew that Tony was trying to be reassuring and maybe cheer him up a little, but that did not make this news any less disheartening for Captain America. He appreciated the effort, but it did not change the facts that he saw before him. "Bucky's gone," Cap sighed. "Everyone I ever knew, my whole world…It's all gone, isn't it?"

No one said a word in reply. What could they really say? Everything that Captain America had just said was right, and they knew it to be true. You could see it in the sad expressions on their faces as they stared at him, and that was all Captain America needed to see to confirm it. Seeing that, Cap removed his shield from his arm, placed it down on the table, and walked away sadly to the room that JARVIS had prepared for him. Janet was about to go after him when Hank placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "Give him some time, Jan."

Sora was not so sure that was really the best thing to do right now. He knew that what he needed after coming here was not just to be given time and space, but rather someone who could be there as a friend, and Janet had done just that for him. Now, it was his turn to help out a new friend, and he did not hesitate to take that turn and go after Captain America so he could try and talk to him. Of course, that meant he had just missed JARVIS reporting a monster attack on Ellis Island along with Tony leading the rest of the Avengers in the charge out there, save for Wasp, who was still looking at the door that Captain America and Sora had both just left through.

---

It seemed that Ellis Island was a bit more popular than usual today, but more so in the way of being the site of a major event like the monster attack that was taking place right this second. Everyone was running scared and screaming in fear as the massive blob monsters rose up from the water and began to cover the island, and while the timely arrival of the Avengers did seem to slow the beat's advance, it was only just barely, so you could see why most people were still panicking in spite of the heroes' arrival. As he flew over the area from atop one of his ants, Ant-Man could not help but marvel a little at the being that was currently attacking. Blame the scientist in him for finding such a creature fascinating. "Amazing," Hank gasped. "They appear to be some kind of man made biological life form."

"You say man made as if you were proud of this," Thor grunted as he tried to pull himself and his hammer free of the beasts, having gotten caught in their sticky clutches after he had taken a swing at them.

Eventually, Thor was starting to get pulled further in, and that was all Iron Man needed to try and take action to assist the Asgardian. His first course being his usual one of firing his repulsors at the monster, and unfortunately, all it seemed to do was make a small hole in the head of one of the monsters which quickly sealed up before the creature grew bigger at a very rapid pace. "Guys, my repulsors aren't affecting them," Iron Man informed his teammates as he tried to fly away from the creature when it suddenly transformed into a massive wave of goo that threatened to swallow him. "If anyone has got any ideas here, now's the…"

Iron Man's request was cut short when he swallowed by the gelatinous beast's wave, and he likely would have gone completely under had Hulk not suddenly dropped down on the beast, grabbed the armored Avenger by the arm, and pulled Tony free with one pull. He then let out a massive roar before he clapped his hands together and created a shockwave that blasted much of the monsters off of Thor long enough for the Asgardian to break free and take to the skies again. Hulk would have done more, but he suddenly found his leg caught in the grasp of the globs. This was soon noticed by Hank, who went Giant-Man to try and pull Hulk out, and while he was successful in getting the jade giant to safety, it did not stop him from suddenly being swallowed up by another wave of goo, courtesy of the monsters.

Hulk was about to try and get these things off of the size-changing scientist when he heard someone crying out for help, and it did not sound like any of the Avengers. He immediately turned around and saw that a small number of kids had all been backed up against the wall, surrounded by the glob monsters on all sides, and all panicking at the fact that they had no way out. Hulk may have been considered a monster by most of the world, but if there was one thing he hated more than anything, it was seeing kids getting picked on, so it was only natural that he leapt over to where the group was to help, making sure to land in a way so that he would be sending out a shockwave that would push the blobs back. Once he had done that, he quickly scooped the kids up in his arms and leapt up to an area on higher ground where the other civilians had taken shelter. When he landed in front of the shelter, Hulk could already hear a lot of people start to panic at the sight of him, but he ignored it in favor of setting the kids down as gently as he could before turning to get back into the fight.

Just when he was about to leap away, Hulk paused when he heard one of the kids say, "Thanks for saving us, Mister Hulk!"

Hulk instantly turned around to see that one of the boys in the group was smiling and waving happily at him, with his friends doing the same as well, and he was honestly surprised by this. Did that kid actually just say thanks to him? He must have, because the other kids were shouting similar words of gratitude as well while they kept waving. It was probably the most unbelievable thing that Hulk had ever seen or heard in his entire life, and if he were being honest, he kind of liked it. It definitely showed when he gave the kids as gentle a smile as he could muster and nodded while saying, "You just stay in there where it's safe, and try not to get caught up in anymore monster attacks."

"Sure thing. Now go smash that thing," the boy who had spoken up first cheered.

Hulk smirked in response to that and said, "I'll be sure to throw a few punches just for you, kid."

With that, Hulk leapt back into the fight and right at the moment when the creatures had started merging together. While that did give him a bigger target to smash, it also made things a lot more difficult, because the creatures were quickly covering the entire island, along with his teammates, who were quickly losing safe ground to stand on, as evidenced by how Giant-Man was now struggling to pull himself free and find a foothold that was not already covered by the monsters. Hulk took this chance to try and repay Giant-Man for pulling him out of the muck earlier by doing the same for Pym, but it was soon proving to be more difficult for Hulk than he had originally thought it would be. Not because he was unable to pull Pym free, but because he was quickly having to try and pull himself free as well, and from where he was standing, it looked like Iron Man and Thor were not having any better luck.

"Good thing Cap's not here," Iron Man commented as he tried to fly free of the monsters' grasps, pushing his thrusters up to their maximum settings as he did, even when the beast began to latch onto him all the more tightly. "This kind of thing probably didn't happen in the Forties. He might freak out."

"You mean like you and Goldilocks are now," Hulk retorted as he pulled one of his arms free for a few moments, only for it to get caught again seconds later.

Iron Man was about to say no, but when the monster suddenly gained a stronger hold on him and pulled him under, he found that he was unable to deny it, so he simply said, "Yep, just like I am now."

"I am not," Thor denied. "I have faced far greater beast than this in defense of Asgard. Though I will admit, none have been quite as…disgusting as this one, or as annoying."

"Heh, welcome to my life," Hulk grunted in annoyance before he snapped his mouth shut in order to keep any of the globs from getting in it.

---

Back at the mansion, Captain America was sitting in his room, having changed out of his old, torn uniform and into a fresh new one that was almost just like it. Sure, it was a deeper shade of blue, the gloves were now fingerless and the same shade of black as his new boots, there were some red highlights along some parts of the suit, mainly on the arms, a brown harness for his shield was now included, and his mask was now more like a helmet, but it was still the same uniform for the most part. At the moment though, Captain America was not really much for caring about how he looked in this fresh, new uniform, and it showed in how he was just sitting on his bed with his mask off, staring down at an old picture that seemed to be one of the only things he had left of his time. Some would think that it would make him feel a bit better, knowing he had something of his world left, but in reality, it was just reminding him of how he was now a man out of time in a strange world that had changed so much in his absence. Oh he had been glad to hear that they had won the war, but no one ever said what they had lost, and that held a little more significance for him than anything else right now.

Just then, he was stirred from his musing when he heard someone knocking at the door, and since he was technically a guest here at the mansion, he did not really feel like he had a right to turn them away, especially after all that the Avengers had done to try and help him so far. Plus, he did owe them a few apologies for attacking them after he woke up, even if it was out of confusion. Either way, he did not hesitate to call out, "Come in."

When the door opened, Cap could not help but smile a little when he saw the spiky haired form of Sora coming into the room, a small smile on the boy's face as he did. "Hey Cap. Sorry if I'm bothering you,"

"Don't worry. I'm just…taking it all in," the super soldier reassured Sora, his smile a little more crestfallen than he probably realized.

It was not unnoticed by Sora either, and while normally, it would have been typical to ask if Captain America was okay, even if it was obvious that he was not, but Sora opted to try a different route. Thankfully, he did not have to think too long or hard to find one, because it presented itself to him when he spotted the picture that Captain America was looking at and became a little curious about it. "Who's that," Sora asked, pointing to the image.

Cap looked back at the photo again and smiled a little more genuinely this time in response. "That's me and my old partner, Bucky," Captain America explained. He then glanced at Sora again and had to chuckle a bit when he added, "You know, after I first woke up, I almost thought you were him. The two of you do look a lot alike, except for the fact that Bucky kept his hair regulation length. I think you're probably close to the same age as he was when we first met and when he…"

Sora did not need to guess where Captain America was going with that last sentence, and it honestly made him sympathize with the super soldier. After all, there was still no guarantee that his own friends were okay despite what happened to their island home. Still, he had to stay strong, and if he was going to do that, he had to make sure that Cap did as well as best as he could. "It's really tough, isn't it," Sora asked as he sat down next to Cap on the bed, just to make sure he had the war hero's attention. "Suddenly waking up in another world that seems so similar and yet so different from your own, not knowing where any of your friends are or if they're even okay, and in the end, even if you want everyone to think that you're doing all right, you can't just hide how much its tearing you up inside forever."

Hearing all of this come from someone so young surprised Captain America a little and he just had to ask, "How do you know about all of that?"

"Well…Let's just say that you're not the only one here who's going through that kind of change. Just the most recent," Sora replied, and from the look that Cap was giving him, he quickly figured out that he was going to have to give a little more than that. "I'm actually from another world entirely, and from what the others have told me, my world sounds like a paradise, even it is a really small one. Maybe it is, and maybe it isn't, but what I do know is that all I had ever wanted was to leave it so I could explore and see all the other worlds out there with my best friends. What I didn't expect was that our dream would become a nightmare the minute my home was attacked by these creatures known as the Heartless, or that after landing here on this world it would become part of my new responsibilities to stop the Heartless from destroying any more worlds like they had my island."

Captain America stared at Sora for a minute, and the boy was starting to think that Cap was thinking he was crazy, until the super soldier smirked a little and said, "Somehow I just knew you were going to tell me you're from another world. After all, out of everyone on your team, you definitely look the most like someone who comes from another world, aside from Thor. Of course, your weapon was a bit of a giveaway in that regard."

"Wait, are you saying that you've met another Keyblade wielder like me back in the war," Sora asked.

"Is that what you call that thing you were swinging around," Cap asked, nothing but total honesty in his question, which confirmed that this was the first he had heard of the weapon. "I've never met someone who wields a sword like yours, but I have met someone who did wield a very unique sword of his own. That's part of the reason why I said I thought you looked like Bucky at first, because now, I can honestly say you remind me a little bit more of that other soldier, at least in terms of appearances."

Sora crossed his arms in thought after hearing that, wondering if he might somehow know the person that Cap was talking about. When he could not think of anyone though, he shook it out of his head and decided they needed to get back on topic, saying, "My point is that the transition you're going through might seem hard now, but it can get better with time if you let it."

"I'm not so sure about that," Cap admitted with a sigh. When Sora remained silent, Cap knew he was going to have to elaborate for the kid. "I should never have woken up. I'm a soldier, not some future man. I can't really imagine a world that's changed so much still needs…Captain America."

The two just sat there in silence for a few more minutes, until Sora thought of something that might help Cap feel a little better. "You know, my mom used to tell me all kinds of incredible stories about my dad and the adventures they had before I was born. I'm not entirely sure how many of them were true, but for the longest time, they served as inspiration to me for my own dreams," Sora started off, gaining Cap's attention and making the super soldier wonder where he was going with this. "Dad was never around though because he had disappeared a short while after I was born. Whenever I asked her about where he was, Mom would always say that he was off doing something important that would help keep us and others safe. Every time I asked her why he had to go and do it, she would tell me, 'It's because he cares about us so much, and he would do anything to make sure that we could live in a peaceful world. More than that, it's because he knew that no matter what changes, any world will always need its heroes.' With that in mind, I think that this world is lucky that you woke up, because you're one of its greatest heroes. At least, it certainly seems that way based on what I've heard about you."

Captain America mulled that over for a minute. While it was sad to hear that Sora never knew his father, the reason for why the kid's dad had left was certainly a noble one in its own right. After all, if a man loves his family so much he's willing to leave them just to keep them safe, it certainly says a great deal about his character. Maybe it is wrong to have to let Sora grow up without a father for so long, but if Sora's dad was doing something that would allow both the boy and his mother to live peaceful lives, then Cap could not really fault him for his decision that much. To be totally honest, he could sympathize with Sora a little more after hearing that. After all, his own father had died serving his country, and his mother had died not long after that, so he had a pretty good idea of what it was like not having at least one parent around in your life. Learning all of this about Sora allowed Captain America to see that this kid really could empathize with his situation and that made Cap smile a little in spite of himself.

Knowing this, Captain America immediately stood up, fixed a much more confident gaze on the boy and said, "How about I make you deal son? If you keep believing in what you're doing and never give up the good fight, then neither will I."

Seeing the fire that was now burning in his eyes made Sora finally see just why everyone saw this man before him as one of this world's greatest heroes. It was a fire that was brimming with confidence and determination to never give up, and while it may not have been all that strong right now, it certainly seemed to be steadily building up to the point where it would have made anyone want to believe that anything was possible so long as Captain America was standing with them. That feeling was all that Sora needed in order to nod in response to the captain's offer, earning a grin from the super soldier in response, and he was just about to ask Cap to tell him a little bit more about his past adventures, when another knock sounded at the door, and the two turned to see Wasp standing there with a small smile on her face.

"Janet, were you eavesdropping on us," Sora playfully accused.

"Not intentionally. I was actually just on my way up to help Steve myself, but it looks like you beat me to it. I only stuck around in case you needed an extra hand in the matter," Janet admitted. She was then wrapping Sora in a comforting hug to show him that she was going to be there for him if he ever needed her, which Sora recognized and reciprocated in kind with a small smile, and with that out of the way, she then turned to Cap and asked, "So, I've gotta ask, how do you like the room? Iron Man tried to make it as much like the Forties as he could."

Before Cap could answer, a sudden beeping came from the old radio set that was sitting on a bedside table, and the device then opened up to reveal one of JARVIS' terminals inside. "Excuse me, Miss Wasp, Master Sora. There appears to be a guest at the main gate."

"As much like the Forties except for the talking computer," Janet shrugged with a small laugh, earning a small smile from both of the two boys in reply.

"It's all right, actually," Steve said with a smile. "I'm just still trying to get used to it all. Especially in the case of the talking computer."

"Yeah, I'm still getting used to JARVIS always being around myself," Sora admitted. He then looked to the terminal and quickly added, "No offense JARVIS."

"None taken, sir."

"I'll go see who's at the door. Hopefully, it's not anyone from SHIELD trying to get us to join up with them or something," Wasp offered, and then left the two with a small wave.

Sora could not help but smirk a little in response to Janet's comment. Even after they had refused Fury's offer to join SHIELD, the agency had not quite given up on getting the Avengers to join them. Apparently, Fury had even met with Tony at his office building the night when Enchantress and Executioner attacked them to say that he was going to be helping the team off the books, and while Sora thought this was a good thing, Tony had quickly shot that down when he said that it was not a completely honest offer. Apparently, the man was only planning on helping the Avengers when he was not trying to manipulate them, and while Fury was being honest in his offer to help locate this world's Keyhole and Sora's friends, any other help that Fury offered beyond that needed to be looked at with a microscope just to make sure that there was no drawback or grand scheme that Fury or SHIELD was trying to work behind their backs. Honestly, Sora was not sure why SHIELD would be so against the Avengers being a team or just being heroes in general. After all, they were all doing their best to help keep the world safe, so why should they be fighting with each other like they were not.

Sora just put it aside for now, realizing that if he thought about this for too long, he would likely give himself a headache, and then returned his attention to Steve just in time to see the super soldier's confused face. "What's SHIELD? Is that a future word for pest or something?"

This time, Sora did not bother stopping himself from laughing, even as he replied, "No, not exactly, but that's really more a matter of perspective and circumstances. They're supposed to be a peace keeping organization for the whole world, but they don't always do a great job of it. Tony says that they also do a lot of sketchy stuff that they justify as a necessary action for the sake of the larger world, and it's one of the few things that Hank agrees with him on. I mean, they did try to cover up the matter about Graviton, but aside from that, I haven't really seen that much to say that they aren't at least trying to help."

Steve just nodded along to Sora's explanation, even when he became a little lost when the kid mentioned Graviton, and was about to ask Sora for a little more information regarding the group when they both jumped at what sounded like an explosion, followed by Wasp screaming. Cap only paused to slip his mask on over his head, but the minute he had it on, he was following Sora out of the room and down the hall to where the kid believed his friend was right now. If he was being honest though, Captain America was not really looking forward to facing whatever this was without his shield, but whatever concerns he had about that matter were quickly put aside so he could focus on the task at hand. Just because he did not have his trusty shield with him, did not mean he was helpless without it. When the two rounded the next corner, they were left a little stunned at the sight of Wasp flying around the hallway as fast as she could while firing a barrage of stingers at a flying, literal slime ball with arms, legs, eyes, and a mouth, and it was clearly a lot faster than its size would lead others to believe.

Given how fast it was moving, it was likely going to be a matter of time before this creature caught up to Wasp, and Captain America was not going to let something happen to the small-sized woman. So he immediately charged at the thing, and tried to jump it from behind, slamming his fists down on the creature. While the effort was valiant, it was also in vain, because just seconds later, the slimy creature threw Cap back into a wall, and quickly tried to keep him there until Wasp swooped in with stingers blazing, getting the monster off of Captain America long enough for Sora to run over to try to help him up. Cap nodded in thanks to Sora to confirm that he was okay, and the kid then turned his attention to Doughboy.

"Let's see if I can slow him down a little," Sora quipped as he whipped out his Keyblade in a flash and then aimed it at the slimy creature, intending to either blast it with some ice or just freeze it in place like he had Cap earlier that day. Sadly, the Keyblade did not do anything but sit calmly in his hands, even as Sora gave it a couple of shakes as if he were trying to encourage it into doing what he wanted it to do. "Come on, come on! You were just letting me shoot fire and ice last night, and you froze Captain America in place earlier today without me even intending you too, why can't you just work with me now that I'm trying to actively do one of those things, Kingdom Key?"

Wasp would have commented or rolled her eyes at Sora's feeble attempts at getting his Keyblade to work, but she was a little more preoccupied with Doughboy at the moment. That did not mean she did not at least notice Sora's troubles, and that moment of distraction ended up costing her, because the next thing she or anyone else knew, Doughboy was right on top of her. She quickly tried to fight back and get him to back off, but all her efforts did nothing to stop Doughboy from swallowing her whole once he had her in his mouth.

"JANET/NO," Sora and Captain America shouted in horror. The two then prepared themselves for another round with Doughboy when they saw him turn to them, both fully intending to pay the slimy thing back for what it did to Wasp, but they were soon furrowing their brows in confusion when the monster paused with a pained look on its face. A second later, its body began bubbling like boiling water, swelled up, and then exploded, covering the entire hallway and Sora and Steve with what was left of it.

"Gross," Sora groaned as he wiped some of the slime off of him, and Captain America could only nod in silent agreement with the kid. "What just happened," Sora then asked.

Steve was about to say that he was not sure either until they saw some of the sludge start to move a little before a pair of wings suddenly sprouted out from beneath it, and then lifted a small bit into the air. They then heard someone coughing and groaning to show how grossed out someone had been before the person the wings belonged to wiped some of the goo off of their face to reveal a very disgusted Wasp underneath the sludge. Seeing that Janet was all right, despite getting swallowed brought relieved smiles to both of the two boys' faces, but they still felt bad that she was the only one who was drenched in the nasty substance that had just been a monster they were fighting.

"Okay, that was disturbing," Wasp coughed once she had managed to wipe enough of the gunk off her person.

Before anyone could further comment on Wasp's statement, or even check to see just how okay she was, a laser blast suddenly struck her in the abdomen, knocking her out cold. Sora and Cap both immediately spun around to face the shooter, and they were both quickly greeted by none other than Baron Zemo himself, smoking pistol in one hand, while his other hand held his sword at the ready. "Captain America, it's been a long time," Zemo casually remarked, almost making it sound as though he were greeting an old friend that he had not seen in a long time, and while it was true that he had not seen the captain in person for quite some time, the two of them were far from friends, and it showed in how Rogers was glaring at the masked daemon.

"Zemo," the captain snarled as he narrowed his eyes in anger, instantly recalling all the atrocities that the man had caused during the war. Apparently, being acknowledged by his old enemy was all that Zemo needed to start firing his weapon again, but Captain America was quick to react and immediately charged the masked man while dodging his shots. Once he got close enough, Cap immediately spun around to kick Zemo's pistol out of his hand, and then planted another kick right into Zemo himself, knocking the supervillain down and pinning him beneath the captain's boot.

Surprisingly, Zemo seemed a little too happy about being so quickly disarmed and pinned than one normally should. "Excellent, I was worried you wouldn't be as I remembered you," Zemo declared. "I wouldn't want you to be anything less than perfect for this."

As he finished saying that, Zemo kicked Captain America off of him and retrieved his recently dropped sword by kicking it up into his hand. "All these years, I thought the Red Skull had defeated you. Now I can finally have my revenge," Zemo declared as he charged the captain, kicked him in the chest, and then began circling him as Captain America did the same.

"How are you still alive Zemo," Captain America demanded.

"Death means nothing to me. I have evolved my body over the years, while you remain as you ever were," Zemo boasted. He then charged Captain America and slashed at Captain America with his sword. For the most part, the only damage Zemo really did was to the captain's costume, but despite the fact that Steve was doing his best to fight off the old World War II criminal, he was finding it a little difficult to land a solid hit on Zemo, and even more so in protecting himself from Zemo's attacks, making him wish he had his shield right now.

While this was happening, Sora had gone to check to make sure that Wasp was okay, aside from the obvious, but afterwards, he was only able to watch as Zemo matched Captain America move for move in the fight, and his worries only increased with each passing blow that Zemo landed against the super soldier. When Zemo's last strike ended up causing Captain America to drop to the floor, Sora's concerns immediately grew even more, and they just kept rising when he saw that Cap was now struggling to stand up again while Zemo boasted, "You are alone, Captain. A relic in this world. Arnim Zola's creatures will deal with your new friends, but you…Let the Skull have Bucky. Your life is mine to take!"

Zemo then lunged at Captain America, intending to run him through with his blade, but his sword never reached the super soldier. Instead, it was intercepted at almost the last minute by Sora's Keyblade, and the wielder in question was soon not only holding Zemo at bay, but also pushing him back seconds later. "Sorry to disappoint you, but Cap's not alone, and I'm not letting you hurt any of my friends," Sora promised as he readied himself for a full on sword battle against Zemo.

It came as little surprise to him that Zemo would laugh at his threat, but what Sora did find surprising was what Zemo said in retort. "So, we meet at last, Keyblade's chosen. I suppose he was right to say that you would present a problem if I wished to obtain my revenge on Captain America."

"Wait, you…know about the Keyblade? And who are you talking about," Sora asked. He was under the impression that everyone still thought Kingdom Key was either just a giant skeleton key or a key-shaped sword. There was very little chance that someone would actually have found out that it was called a Keyblade so soon, at least outside of the small circle that Fury told them about or the other Avengers. Not only that, but if what Zemo said was true, and someone really had told the masked man about him, then Sora had to wonder who it could have been that spilled the beans on that.

"I can honestly say that I do not really know who he is, but that is the problem when dealing with a man who hides in shadows and wears a cloak that prevents you from seeing his face, but I will say this: he gave me the perfect tool for dealing with you in particular," Zemo admitted. He then snapped his fingers, and the next thing that Sora and Cap knew, a number of creatures in odd-looking knight armor suddenly materialized before them, and if what he read of the report that Fury had given them was any indication, Sora could see that they all had the emblem of the Heartless emblazoned on their chests.

It took little time for Sora to identify these particular Heartless as the ones known as Soldiers, which he also remembered seeing on the Helicarrier the day of the Breakout, but he still had to wonder, "How are you able to control the Heartless?"

"As I said, a little temporary gift from a recent acquaintance. Not that you will live long enough to discover who he is, mind you, but why let you die with too many unanswered questions," Zemo shrugged, and he then waved his hand towards Sora, signaling the Heartless to attack. A signal that the Soldier Heartless did not hesitate to follow, because they were quickly jumping right at Sora.

Sora quickly raised his Keyblade in defense once more, and just in time to parry a blow or two that would have sent him flying across the hallway, but he soon found that Soldiers were a bit more difficult to fight than the Shadows. This was due in part to the fact that the Soldiers were able to parry his attacks as well and easily spun across a battlefield in a variety of ways to hit him. Sometimes in somersaults, other times like tops, but when they were not spinning all around the place, they were kicking and clawing at him just like the Shadows would. With these new added tactics to contend with, along with how many of them there were and how unexpected their appearance had been, Sora found it a little difficult to fight off the Heartless this time. This was only proven more true when one finally got him from behind, giving the others a chance to dog-pile him, and Sora was now struggling to stand just about as much as Captain America was, unable to do anything more than watch as the remaining Heartless advanced on the unconscious Wasp while Zemo prepared to finish off Captain America once more.

Just when all hope seemed lost though, something suddenly came flying across the room, straight through the Heartless that had pinned Sora down, and right into the path of Zemo's blade, intercepting his strike before he could hit his mark. The minute he was free, Sora instantly dashed over to where Wasp was, and sliced through all the Heartless that had been moving towards her. With that done, Sora immediately turned in time with Zemo to see who had thrown that last minute-saving attack, and they both found their eyes settling on a man in a skin-tight, black cat suit perched up on wall. The cat-suited man then drew some purple daggers and hurled them at a new wave of Heartless that were about to get the drop on Sora once more.

When Sora realized this, he immediately turned to try and thank the cat-man, but before he could get more than one word out, the man had already leapt clear across the room in an incredible display of acrobatics, and out of sight once more like a ninja. Zemo likely would have attempted to pursue whoever that man was for his interference, but his attention was drawn away from the interloper when Captain America suddenly shouted, "All right, Sock-Face. You want a fight, you've got one!"

Both Zemo and Sora instantly turned to the captain to see that the object that the stranger used to save Sora and Cap was actually the super soldier's red, white, and blue shield, which Cap was now wearing proudly on his arm as he charged in to face Zemo once more. Zemo was quick to try and counter with his sword, but now that he had his shield, Captain America was able to parry the strike with no problem at all, and as such, he was also able to kick Zemo away while he spun around so that his shield would have more power behind it when he threw it at his old enemy. Zemo easily ducked under the shield, but failed to realize that Cap had thrown it so that when it rebounded off the wall, it would ricochet in a way that would allow it to hit him from behind until he felt the vibranium disk hit him in the back of his head. Captain America then leapt into the air so that he could catch his shield on its return trip, and his shield was soon meeting Zemo's sword just after Zemo had flipped back up onto his feet.

Sora would likely have joined in at some point to try and help, but he did not for two reasons. The first reason, and the most obvious one, was that the Heartless were still in the mansion, and he had to get rid of them before they tried to hurt Wasp. The second reason was that Sora could see very clearly that this was Captain America's fight alone, so it would not have been right for him to step into the middle of it right now. Not that he really saw any way that he could, because from what he could see, Cap had effectively turned the tables on Zemo completely, as evidenced by how the super soldier spun around to force the dagger Zemo drew on him into the wall before snapping the small blade in half with a kick. Having his dagger unexpectedly shattered while it was embedded in the wall like that threw Zemo off balance a little, giving Cap a chance to slam his shield into Zemo's chin in an uppercut and then kick Zemo away hard. Thankfully, Cap's last hit on Zemo had sent the masked daemon flying right through the last of the Heartless, causing them all to be dispersed upon impact, and even though it was likely unintentional, Sora still had to throw the captain a nod of thanks for making his part of the job a little easier.

Captain America returned Sora's nod with one of his own before both of them moved towards the defeated villain while the former ordered, "Give up, Zemo."

"Never. This is my world, and you don't belong in it Captain, no matter how much your new little friend seems to believe otherwise," Zemo panted, showing he intended to keep fighting to the end if he had to.

"I may not know a lot about the future, but I know one thing about the past," Captain America told his old foe with a small amount of pride. "You lost the war. You'll always lose, whether I'm here or not."

Apparently that Zemo was not one to take such comments as anything other than insults, because the next thing he did was reach into his belt and pull out a small device which he immediately activated and then threw towards Wasp. Even without the soft beeping that it was giving off, Cap could not think of anything that device could be other than a bomb, and if it went off that close to Wasp then she would most definitely die, and there was no telling how much more damage it could do when it did go off. Knowing this, Captain America immediately made a mad dash over to the size-changer while shouting, "Sora, take cover!"

Like Captain America, Sora also acted on instinct when he realized what was about to happen, but instead of just diving for cover like Cap had told him to, he raised his Keyblade up between him and his friends, and immediately shouted, "DEFENSE!"

What happened next was the sound of Cap's shield landing on the floor between Wasp and the bomb, along with what sounded like a barrier of some type forming in the area, followed by the bomb going off and leaving the half the hallway in rubble and fire. What no one expected was for a second explosion to be released afterwards, this one being of light instead of fire. After the explosions had passed, Captain America looked up to see that not only had Zemo escaped, but none of them had even the smallest scratch on them. Even his shield had escaped from the blast without a little bit of soot, and Steve could only think of one person who could have done that. As such, he immediately turned to Sora, who was still holding his Keyblade up in the air out of shock when he realized what he had done just now, gazing at the Kingdom Key in questioning disbelief the entire time.

"You sure have the oddest timing when it comes to getting that thing to do something that will be the most helpful," Captain America commented.

"I'm not even sure what I did just now to be honest. I just reacted on instinct and then the Keyblade threw up a barrier around us," Sora admitted.

Hearing that, Cap could not help but chuckle a little as he said, "Maybe you should consider getting an instruction manual for that thing."

"I can't argue with you on that," Sora laughed in agreement, and their laughter ended up being what finally roused Janet back into consciousness.

"What'd I miss," Janet gasped when she saw that the hallway was on fire.

"We'll explain on the way," Captain America said as he helped Janet up, feeling a little odd when he did given that Janet was still only six inches tall. "Your team is in trouble."

"And if the Heartless were here with that Zemo guy, then there may be a chance that they're also attacking the others as well," Sora pointed out.

Wasp just nodded in response to the two and immediately flew off towards the Quinjet once she was up, with both of the two men following after her as fast as they could. The fight was still not over yet.

---

Back at Ellis Island, the blob monster had nearly consumed all of the island beneath it, and Thor's lightning attacks were not making any difference in stopping it. If anything, they were just making it more of a problem. "Hey, Goldilocks! The lightshow is not helping," Hulk hollered as he struggled to pull himself free of the giant Doughboys.

"Thor, Hulk's right! The electricity is making it grow," Giant-Man shouted before he was almost completely submerged beneath the wave of blobs.

Thor immediately ended his lightning attacks, but was soon swarmed by the monster's gooey form, even as he tried to hammer it away to no avail. "You say science is responsible for this monstrosity," Thor questioned as he continued struggling in an attempt to free himself.

"Well, people are responsible for it," Giant-Man clarified as he pushed against the blobs around him. "Bad people using science very irresponsibly."

"In other words, yes! Bad science made this thing. No one cares about the specifics, Tiny," Hulk retorted, feeling that Pym was wasting his time trying to get into specific details in the middle of a fight like this.

Iron Man blasted himself free for a moment then, but he was quickly pulled back down, and he had to cry out, "Someone do something!"

His request was soon fulfilled when a red and white blur sliced through the tentacles that were pulling him down, and he immediately looked up just in time to see Captain America catching his shield on its return trip up on the Quinjet's boarding ramp. The minute he had his shield in hand again, Captain America immediately leapt down off the jet with Wasp and Sora following after him through their respective methods of flight, the former of the two firing her stingers as she descended down to the others. Unlike any of the attacks that the others had thrown out though, Wasp's stingers ended up having a very significant impact, something she had realized earlier in her fight against Doughboy, and she was quickly using that to her advantage so that she could get the rest of her teammates free. Sora on the other hand simply flew down so that he could help pull Thor and Hulk free from the oversized blob, and then struck at it using the skids of his bike. Surprisingly, when Sora hit the beast with his Keyblade Glider, it seemed to writhe in almost as much if not just as much pain as it did whenever Wasp hit it for some reason, showing that Sora was somehow able to hurt it just as much as Wasp could, a fact that he was not complaining about.

With Sora and Wasp going to town on the massive blob monster, the other Avengers were soon as free as they could get from goop, with Iron Man being the last one to be pulled free thanks to Captain America. "Thanks," Iron Man nodded to the captain once he had flown them both out of danger for the moment and over to where the other Avengers had regrouped, with Wasp keeping up a perimeter by constantly firing her stingers at the monster, while Sora did what he could to keep it at bay by slashing it with his Keyblade anytime it got past Janet.

"We're not done, soldier," Captain America informed Tony while the others moved a bit closer to them. "This is one of Arnim Zola's genetic freaks."

"Zola, of course! I should've recognized his work," Hank exclaimed after he had shrank down to his normal size. "That's why Wasp's stings were so effective. They're bio-energy!"

"Well then how come Spiky's Keyblade is working just as well," Hulk questioned, growling a little at the fact that the tiny girl was able to hurt this thing more than he was. Though he would admit that he was smiling on the inside at the fact that she was also doing a better job of hurting it than Thor was, so there was that silver lining.

"I'm…not sure," Hank admitted with a shrug, jumping a little when one of the tentacles got a little too close to him until Sora sliced it away.

Sora slashed and sliced at the monster a few more times until he finally found a moment to pause and said, "I think I might know why." The others immediately turned to him at that point, and he quickly explained, "I can't explain how, but for some reason, I feel like there's Heartless in the area."

"But we haven't seen anything other than this oversized muck since we got here, and I've recalibrated my scanners to better detect Heartless after we ran into them during our fight with Thor's old pals," Iron Man argued.

"I know, but I'm just getting the feeling I normally have whenever the Heartless are nearby. They're not here, but I can…sense that there's something with their power all around us," Sora elaborated. "I think somehow this Zola guy found a way to infuse this thing with the same kind of darkness that the Heartless possess."

"I think you might be right about that," Hank agreed. It was not like he had a better explanation after all.

Still, hearing that Hank recognized Zola's work made Captain America feel a little weary for a moment, which is why he had to ask, "You know that madman?"

"I studied some of his creatures before," Hank revealed. "They all had a weakness. Instability, and with the right energy signature, we can accelerate that instability!" Hank then activated his Ant-Man helmet and began cycling through the sound frequencies it put out until he found just the right one, which caused the glob monsters to move back and cry out in pain. Hank then looked to his armored teammate and shouted over the noise, "Iron Man, modulate your repulsor. Match the energy signature my helmet is putting out!"

"JARVIS…what he said," Iron Man then told his AI.

"Indeed. Modulating repulsors now," JARVIS replied, and he immediately began doing just as he was asked while Ant Man, Wasp, and Sora continued to hold the monster at bay, with Hulk pitching in with a shockwave or two whenever he could. The minute the modulation was finished, Iron Man fired his unibeam at full power, and the monsters were instantly vaporized, leaving nothing more than a gooey mess on the island and everyone on it.

"Victory…is ours," Thor declared unenthusiastically as he blew some of the gunk out of his face.

Wasp just flapped her wings a bit to clear some of the gunk off of her as she shivered and then sarcastically commented along with Hulk, "Hooray."

Everyone just stood there for another minute either looking over what had happened or wiping the gunk off of them, when the sound of excited cheers of the grateful people reached all of their ears. As they all turned to face the crowd, each of the Avengers could see a smile on the face of Captain America, proving that he finally had the last bit of proof he needed that he was indeed still able to make a difference when it came to keeping the world safe. Aside from that, Sora also looked to see that Hulk was gazing out at the cheering crowd in disbelief, clearly surprised by how so many people were showing this kind of thanks to him of all people, and after another moment or so, he saw the big guy crack a small smile at the sight.

When he saw that happen, Sora just had to comment on it. "You see, Hulk. People can see you as a hero, and everyone can now see that they can count on you to help them out."

Hulk knew that there was no arguing with the kid now, so he just sighed in defeat and said, "All right Spiky, you win. I'll stay, but only because you've convinced me too."

Sora just grinned when he heard that, and he did not need to glance at the others to know that they were all showing a great deal of relief or happiness at hearing the big guy was not going to take off again. After all, Hulk was a founding Avenger, so it would have sucked if he just took off and left the team again so soon after it had been formed.

---

That night, everyone had returned to the mansion for some much needed showers and a good dealing of simple relaxing. During that downtime, Thor had quickly sought out the Hulk so that he could speak with the gamma hero, feeling that he owed Hulk a few words after everything that happened between them. It did not take long for Thor to find his friend, because he soon found Hulk pigging out in the kitchen much like he had been when he walked in on their first day at the mansion. When Hulk realized that Thor was there though, his rapid eating immediately slowed to a crawl so that he could glare at the Asgardian, and the blonde did not shy away from it or give one of his own in return, much to Hulk's surprise.

"I am glad that you decided to stay, Friend Hulk," Thor started off, a little hesitantly but still honest all the same. "I also wish to apologize for my earlier behavior towards you. I can see now that you are indeed a noble warrior, one who has saved the Avengers and others many times. I will admit that fighting you was probably the most exhilarating battle I've had in a long time, but my reasons at the time were not the correct ones."

Hulk just stared at Thor for a minute before he finally shrugged and said, "It's okay. I'm not exactly the easiest person to get along with. Besides, you can't really blame me. I've spent a lot of time running from guys who want to either kill me, turn me into a weapon, or simply take me down. That makes it a little hard to trust others that well."

"Yes, I can understand that," Thor nodded, grabbing a drink from the freezer as he did so he could join Hulk for his meal.

"Plus, I just get so angry all the time, and it isn't always easy to handle, even for me," Hulk growled.

Thor nodded once more to that, even as he poured a drink for himself and for Hulk, and after passing Hulk his drink, Thor found he could not help but smile as he said, "You know, we're actually very much the same, you and I. Just a couple of hot-headed fools."

"Yeah, same," Hulk agreed. "I'm like fire, and you're like water."

"Well, we are kind of both like fire," Thor disagreed.

"But I'm like a real, raging massive fire, and you're like a puny, small, smoldering fire," Hulk insisted.

Thor just glared at Hulk for a minute before he finally found himself laughing a little, with Hulk joining in soon after for a moment. When they both settled down, Thor raised his mug up in a toast and said, "Well, here's to us and the battles we will face, both against our future enemies and against each other." When Hulk quirked an eyebrow at that last part, Thor explained, "We never really did determine who would win in a match between us."

"Heh, sure we did. It was me, and you just kept thinking you could knock me down," Hulk smirked in kind.

"Did more than think, I believe," Thor retorted.

"Well, here's to next time I smash you then," Hulk agreed, and the two settled on that before enjoying the rest of their meal in companionable silence.

What neither of them knew was that Sora secretly had followed after Thor when he found out that the Asgardian was looking for Hulk, and had heard the whole conversation as a result. It was not the kid's intention to spy on the two, mind you; he was just worried that the two would get into an argument again and that it would drive Hulk to attempt to leave once more. Naturally, he was very happy to hear that the two had resolved things the way they did, though he did have to struggle to not burst out laughing at some points during their talk, and feeling satisfied with how things turned out, he immediately pushed off the wall and left for the lounge where he knew Tony and Captain America were currently watching one of the news reports that were discussing the events that had happened earlier that day. When he started to get close to the room, he instantly picked up on the sound of Tony's voice and he knew that the Avengers' leader was getting ready to talk to Cap about the matter he wanted to discuss, so once again, he hung back to listen in on the conversation in secret. He knew he would have to step in eventually, but he wanted to see how things played out before he did.

"Bio-engineered monsters, freaky ooze creatures…is that what it was like fighting evil in the forties," Tony asked the captain.

"No. Sometimes it got strange," the soldier replied with a smirk.

Tony stared for a moment before he asked, "Did you just make a joke? Captain America has a sense of humor."

"Don't get used to it soldier, and please, call me Steve," Rogers then told Stark with a smile.

Tony smiled as he stood up and held out a small picture to Steve and said, "I found something. I want you to have it."

"Howard Stark," Steve exclaimed as he accepted the photo of him, the previously mentioned man, and Bucky.

"My father," Tony explained. "He looked up to you so much. We all did. We all do."

"That was a long time ago," Steve argued.

"Could've fooled me," Sora disputed, deciding that now was the time to make himself known as he walked in, earning the other two's attention. "I only just learned about you yesterday, and after everything I've heard and seen up until now, I'm happy to say that I look up to you a lot too. You're definitely a real hero, Steve, and one that I'm proud to call a friend."

Steve smiled in response to Sora's words before he turned to Stark and said, "Thank you for the photo, Tony. It's really all I have now."

"That's not true. You saved our lives today, and Zemo and Arnim Zola are still out there. You have place here Steve, with the Avengers," Tony then told the captain as he held out his hand.

Steve smiled proudly as he accepted the handshake saying, "I'd be honored. Now, when can I meet the Avenger who saved me from Zemo? The one in the black cat suit?"

Tony paused for a minute as he raised an eyebrow and asked, "Wait, who?"

"Oh yeah, uh I was actually going to mention that to you earlier, Tony, but with everything that happened today," Sora admitted sheepishly. Tony's reaction was instantaneous, because he immediately ranting and raving about how he could not believe that someone had already gotten past his security system twice now in less than two days, and he then stormed out of the room while muttering about giving the system a complete overhaul, leaving Steve feeling concerned and Sora a bit amused.

"Is he going to be okay," Steve asked.

"Yeah, I think so. He just needs to do something to help calm down a little, and we've all had a pretty exciting day, so maybe a good night's sleep will help too," Sora waved in reply.

Steve just nodded in reply and said, "I'd also like to thank you for what you said earlier, Sora. It really was a big help, and if you ever need someone to talk to, I'd be happy to listen."

"Thanks Cap," Sora nodded.

"Hey, like I told Tony a moment ago, you can just call me Steve," the captain informed the kid.

Sora nodded in reply to that and then glanced at the photo that was still in Steve's hand. Feeling curious, Sora immediately asked if he could have a look at it, and Steve did not hesitate to grant that request so long as Sora brought back to him or up to his room when the kid was done. Looking down at the black and white photo, it took Sora little time to pick out Steve and Bucky, and if his guess was right, he figured that the man in between them was Tony's father, mostly because of how much he looked like Tony. There was one other person in the photo though, and that was what made Sora pause for a second. The person in question was a relatively tall man, standing somewhere between the height of Howard Stark and Cap, had long hair, and seemed to wear a long-sleeved coat over a shirt, along with dark pants that was held up by a couple of belts. He also had what looked like a large sword hefted up over his shoulder, and despite the fact that the picture was in black and white, Sora could somehow picture a slightly tanned face with blue eyes that were very similar to his own on this fourth person. When he realized how easily he was able to picture that, Sora's eyes immediately widened while one word slipped from his lips in shock. "Dad?"

---

During the celebratory time at Avengers Mansion and Sora's startling discovery, Zemo had returned to Arnim Zola's lab and upon his arrival had called out, "Your creatures failed me Arnim. In order to defeat Captain America, we must destroy the Avengers." Zemo then paused for a moment when he received no response and called out again, "Arnim?"

A light suddenly came on behind him and he instantly spun around to see Arnim Zola lying on his side at the feet of Enchantress and Executioner. Seeing that these two had apparently dispatched Zola so easily, along with the faint traces of movement in the shadows behind them quickly told Zemo that these two must have been the agents that the stranger had spoken of, which was why he stayed his hand and allowed Enchantress to say, "Baron Zemo, I have an offer for you two."

---

AN: Well, that's a wrap. Uh-oh, guess who that was that gave Zemo the power to control the Heartless earlier. Seriously, if you know your Kingdom Hearts, this should be easy to figure out. But here's a better question, why does it seem like Enchantress is working for him? Or is there something even deeper going on there?

Speaking of which, who else knew that Cap comparing Sora to Bucky was going to happen? Yeah, I just had to throw that in there. After all, in mainstream continuity and in Avengers EMH, Bucky was just a kid during WWII, so it would only be natural that Steve make the comparison. While on the subject though, yeah, it looks like Captain America fought alongside Sora's dad here. Someone had mentioned to me that it would be hard to say that Cap had teamed up with a Keyblade Wielder during the war, and I had to agree with them. Yes, there is typically a time difference between worlds in KH, but not even real life has a time difference that great between two places. At least, not that I know of. But I was not going to have him miss out on something from another world entirely, and that gave me the idea of how to push forward a little more with the AU aspect of this story.

One thing that we always see in any KH fanfiction is Sora and other KH characters getting parents, simply because they want to, or even the simple reason that we never see Sora's parents in KH mainstream. Or Riku's for that matter. Yeah, we heard Sora's mom's voice in the first game, and we know that Kairi's foster dad is the mayor of Destiny Islands while her grandmother raised her when she was a little girl, but that's really the most we get in that regard. Now I know what some of you are thinking, and let me tell you right now that Sora's dad in this story...Is going to be something of a surprise that will not be unveiled until we get to the chapter in which Sora finally travels to Traverse Town. But you will get a clue as to who his parents are next chapter. That's all I'm going to say on that right now.

On to another matter: Hulk's presence and how things changed for this chapter because of it. Yeah, I needed to have that little moment between Hulk and the kids. What better way to show people that the big guy's not a monster than by having him save some kids, right? And then of course, we got to meet Doctor Banner at last, and have him explain to Sora how his relationship with Hulk works. That being said, everyone caught all the little references and homages to Thor Ragnarok, right? Because I just had to put them in there, either because it helped with certain parts of the story, or because they were funny.

Also, we saw a little more showcasing on how Sora is still learning about his Keyblade's abilities, and how it's giving him so much trouble. First off was his use of the Stop spell during the fight with Cap, and then his use of the Reflect spell to protect himself and the others from Zemo's bomb. Seems like he's having as much trouble with the Keyblade as Ben 10 normally has with the omnitrix, huh? Well, it's going to stay that way for a while, but we won't really see much evidence of that next chapter, because we've got something else going on that might get you all feeling pretty excited or unsure, depending on how you feel about it after you move Onto the Preview!...

In the calm that follows after Captain America's return, Sora finds himself facing what could be his greatest challenge yet. One that may prove to either make him stronger, or break him entirely. The challenge that all teenagers must endure at some point in their lives: Sora must attend…High School. And not just any High School. Sora has been enrolled as one of the newest students at Midtown Manhattan Magnet High, and just after arriving, he finds himself making new friends and some new discoveries regarding his identity as an Avenger. Just what will Sora experience in these halls of learning, what sort of people will he meet, and could it be that something may happen that will make the whole thing a little more spectacular? Find out what sort of amazing experience awaits, in the next thrilling chapter.

Yeah, you heard it here. It's happening. Sora's heading off to school, and it's the same school that everyone's favorite MARVEL hero attends, which means said hero is likely to appear next chapter! You know him, you love him, and if you can't guess it yet, then I'll go ahead tell you about him. It's none other than the amazing, the spectacular, the sensational, the friendly neighborhood...SPIDER-MAN!

[cue "Spectacular Spider-Man" theme music in the background as the web-head flips and swings across the stage for an excited audience applause]

And don't think that we'll just be seeing Spidey and a couple of his friends next chapter. There will be others from Spider-Man mythos in there too. Until then though...

Please read and review, and see ya real soon, fellow true believers!