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.

5. Spectacular Class Time

AN: Well, it took a little while, and had to wait while a couple of my other stories were getting updated, but we are now back for the next chapter in the tales of Sora's adventures with the Avengers. And not only that, but this chapter, we're going to see some really great stuff this time around, because this is the chapter where we see this story's iteration of everyone's favorite web-swinging crime-fighter, the spectacular Spider-Man!

[audience applause]

Yep, you know this is going to be all kinds of awesome, and from some of the reviews we got after last chapter, I'm betting a lot of you have just been itching for this chapter to come out.

Sora: I haven't. I've gotta go to school in this.

AN: Well, we've all gotta go sometime.

Hawkeye: I didn't. I grew up in the circus.

AN: Yes, and we all know how well that turned out.

Hawkeye: Hey! What's that supposed to mean?

AN: Nothing Hawkeye, I'm just messing with you. We all know you could've ended up being a lot worse than you are now. Anyways, before we start this thing, how about a review answer or two?

First up, let's start with "Disneyfan62". When we learn who Sora's father is, I think the question of who his mother is will fit into place pretty easily. I haven't really given too much thought to how a third story for this epic would happen, or what would take place in it just yet, but I can promise that it could very well happen. I just don't want it to focus too much on the Xehanort plot. As we will see here in this story, this is technically mixing together the stories about both series while giving a new spin to one or both. Some Final Fantasy characters will indeed be joining the Avengers, but I'll be keeping information on which ones to myself, along with whether or not it'll just be a temporary team-up or a full-time membership. I can promise that we will see at least one of them showing up in the next chapter though. Finally, there's no real plans for Star Wars in this story at the moment. I just haven't found a way to work it into things in a way that makes sense yet, and I am actually trying to be honest.

Next is to our pal "AvengersFan24601". You'll find out the answer to most of your questions in this chapter, but as for Spidey being a full-time member in this, if you mean in regards to the Avengers, no, he won't be a full-time member. More like an honorary member at this point, but that won't be coming until later on.

To our 2/13 guest reviewer "Guest", Harry will actually start out as...less than a real friend in this story, but don't worry, Sora will play a small part in helping Harry to remember who his friends are. Though that won't happen for a little while.

Speaking of guest reviews to answer, let's go on to the one from "avenger11". Yes, Disney does exist in Marvel, and no, I'm not going to repeat my reasons as to why that is. I made them very clear the last time this little line of critiquing came up. As for your other concerns regarding fourth wall breaking...Well, I'll leave that to my man Tony Stark.

Iron Man: Well to put it simply...[gets zapped by a jolt of lightning] What the hell was that for?!

AN: Not yet, fool! I meant, I'm letting you explain in the main story. I'll also simplify it for everyone in the ending note as well, just to be clear.

Moving on to "Straw Hat PiratesFan2018", Sora and the team will be going to other worlds soon. I'm aiming to make it happen in a couple more chapters, so look forward to that.

Speaking of other worlds, in response to a review by "Dragon Naruto", yeah, the Avengers will indeed join Sora on his trip to Hollow Bastion, and not just to help him stop a final bad guy or two. They'll have a pretty huge stake in that journey as well.

Wasp: Well that's not ominous or anything.

AN: Moving right along, to "keys of fate", glad your so fond of the story so far, and here's hoping it continues to impress. Most of your questions will get an answer here, but I will say that the Kahmal Khan Ms. Marvel will not be appearing here. Mainly because she got her name from the original Ms. Marvel, aka Carol Danvers, and Carol hasn't shown up or become a hero in this story yet.

Now, in reply to another guest review, this one being the "Guest" from 12/13/17, Sora may or may not encounter an enemy of Doctor Strange or two, but that's yet to really be determined. After all, he needs to be focused on the Heartless and such, so Strange won't want Sora to get mixed up in his branch of insanity.

Wrapping it up with our old friend "Monkey D. Conan", the version of Spider-Man we see here will become clear by the time the chapter is through, and as for Sora's combat teacher, he'll have both Captain America and Black Panther to help in that department, if he feels that he needs it, or if they do.

Well, that just about covers everything in the review answering department, so let's get the show swinging. 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 V

Things passed by in relative peace at Avengers Mansion after the events of Captain America's return, and while some of the other heroes were all keeping busy with some manner of business, Sora was preoccupied with something else. While he was sure that the man in that picture Tony gave to Steve was his dad, he did not want to confront either Stark or Cap on the questions that were now racing through his head just yet. All his life he thought that his father had been traveling his rather small world, seeing things that no one else had known about, and he would admit that some small part of him believed his father had found a way to reach other worlds, but finding proof of that idea was another matter entirely. That was actually part of the reason why he wanted to travel to other worlds with his friends; to see if he could find some clues as to what happened to his dad, but now that he had found something, he was not entirely sure what to think. Did his father really find a way to reach other worlds, did his mother know about that too, and if so, why did she not ever tell him? More to the point, what else had his mother not told him, in regards to his father, and the lives his parents lived before he was born?

With all of those questions running through his head, it was a little easier to understand why he was not approaching any of his teammates with that information just yet. Sora wanted to try and figure this out for himself before going to anyone else with it, and besides, for all he knew, he could be wrong, and the man in that picture was just someone who looked a lot like his dad. On the other hand, Cap did mention that one of his old war buddies was someone from another world when they were talking the other day, so maybe it was his dad. Either way, Sora was not entirely sure. Speaking of other worlds, there was one other thing that had been on Sora's mind lately, namely since that meeting the Avengers had with Fury after the battle with Graviton. It was not something he had really ever gotten around to talking with the others about with all the excitement that they had been through since forming the Avengers, but since they now had a chance to breathe, Sora was not going to waste the opportunity to ask someone about it, and he already knew two people he could ask.

The first person he wanted to question was Hank, but unfortunately, Ant-Man was busy working on his pet project, Ultron, and did not seem to really be receptive to very much going on around him, unless it was named Janet Van Dyne, so Sora ended up settling for the other resident scientist of the team. "Hey Tony, can I ask you about something really quick," Sora questioned after he found the Iron Man in one of the mansion's other labs.

Tony had been working down in said lab on some upgrades for his armors, while simultaneously going over some details for a meeting he had with Simon Williams of Williams Innovations the next day and studying the security feeds from the other day in an attempt to figure out who the mysterious cat-suit man that saved Cap and Sora was, but the minute he heard Sora come in, he did put a small pause on at least two of those projects. He kept working on figuring out who had managed to get past his security system and move around the mansion clear as day without JARVIS ever knowing he was there as a point of pride, but he still made it clear he was paying a little attention to the kid when he said, "Sure Sora. What's on your mind?"

"Well…Remember when Fury told us about how he learned of the Heartless from Mickey Mouse," Sora asked, figuring that was as good a starting place as any.

"It's kinda hard to forget, considering that guys like Nick Fury don't admit to something like that very often," Tony pointed out.

"Right, and I figured that must mean that a bunch of other Disney movies are real too, or that they might be different worlds," Sora explained.

"Okay…" Tony urged, wanting to know where Sora was going with this.

"Well, if and when I finally figure out how to reach other worlds, and that does turn out to be the case, then wouldn't that mean we would know about everything that happens on that world because we saw those movies," Sora asked.

"Probably, but I highly doubt it," Tony answered. When he heard no reply from the kid, he turned away from his work to see Sora giving him a confused look, and he knew that he would have to give more explanation than that. "Well, here's what I'm thinking, Sora. Just because Mickey Mouse might be real, doesn't mean that every other world out there is just a Disney movie made real, and even if that is the case, the chances of events following along to the exact same line as those of the movies is incredibly low. For example, if we went to say…Agrabah, then it could be that Aladdin was the evil sorcerer who wanted to take over as sultan while Jafar was the selfless street-rat."

"That's a little disturbing," Sora informed Tony with a cringe.

"Yeah, I know, but it doesn't change what I'm getting at," Tony pointed out. "Even if we have seen all the Disney movies, we have no way of really knowing for sure if the events of other worlds would play out the exact same way, assuming that those movies are the stories of other worlds at all. Not only that, but there's just as easily a chance that the events of those movies have already happened, and when you do get to those worlds, you would end up at a point after those stories, between the stories, assuming any of them had sequels with a significant time-gap, or even at a point before those adventures had even happened at all. But like I said, this is all going off the idea that the worlds you would travel to are similar or even duplicates of those movies."

"So what you're saying is that even though we know about the movies, we won't be able to make things go any differently than they had in the movies, because the stories of those worlds might unfold in a way that's already completely different from what we know," Sora asked.

"Exactly," Tony nodded. "Of course, it's going to be pretty different anyway, since you would be right in the middle of it, or even you and whichever one of us ends up going along with you to these other worlds, but there's also the chance that you might end up on a world that tells the story of a video game series or something. Either way, we can't just go in thinking that any fictional media we've seen is going to be some kind of outline on how events will play out, so why do so in the first place. Think of it like the multiverse theory, which says that what happened in one world, didn't happen in another, or that if we made one decision in one world, then another world where we made the opposite choice is created."

"I think I get it," Sora nodded. His head hurt a little, but he did understand all the same. Basically, Tony was saying that even if another world had people and places that they knew from the Disney movies, there was no way that the actual events of those worlds would be exactly the same as the stories they knew, so there was no chance of them being able to interfere or break the fourth wall.

"Glad to hear it, and I'm also glad to see that you're already getting a workout for your brain going, considering what tomorrow is," Tony informed Sora, a small, teasing smirk forming on his face when he did.

Sora looked at Tony in confusion, not entirely sure what the billionaire genius was talking about, until one particular thing clicked in his mind. "Oh, come on, Tony. Do I really have to," Sora complained.

"Yes, Sora, you do," Tony confirmed, and while his teasing grin remained, his tone carried a slight air of tiredness to it, proving that they had this conversation a few times already.

"Aw, but I don't wanna," Sora whined with his arms crossed.

"Well, you're gonna. We've been over this Sora. You may be an Avenger, but you're still fourteen years old. So tomorrow, you're going to be starting the first day of your freshman year of high school," Tony declared like it was the greatest thing in the world. A fact that Sora wholeheartedly disagreed with.

"Can't I at least wait until summer's over like any other kid," Sora practically begged. He may have been eager to grow up and reach the age where he would be able to get his driver's license and such once upon a time, but that was back when he was little, and like many other kids, the one thing that Sora did not enjoy that much was school. If it was back on Destiny Islands, it would be a different story, mainly because he would at least be attending with all of his friends. Except for Riku since he was a year older than most of them, but at least he would still be going to the same school as his best friend. Here, he would be enrolling into a whole new school where he would not know anybody, so that was a huge problem for him.

Apparently his latest complaint on the matter had thrown Tony off quite a bit, because the genius had stopped his work completely to give Sora a bewildered look of his own for a minute until he finally revealed, "Sora, summer vacation ended about a month ago."

"What? That can't be right," Sora protested. "It was just the middle of summer a week ago."

Tony was about to argue against that again, until he thought of something else. "Was this here, or back on Destiny Islands?"

"Back on Destiny Islands, why," Sora questioned, not understanding what that had to do with anything.

"Well that explains it then," Tony replied. "I don't know if you know this Sora, but time usually flows differently on other worlds in comparison to the one you call home. This right here is one such example. While it was the middle of summer back on your island, the new school year has been going on here for about a month or so. In fact, if we were to go further into detail, it could be mid-morning on another world right now, despite it being nighttime here."

"Oh…I see," Sora sighed with a slump, seeing that he had no way out of going to school now because of this little detail. Until he thought of one other detail. "Are you sure I can't just be homeschooled or something? I mean, what if bad guys attack the school because I'm an Avenger or something? And besides that, what if something happens and you guys need me to help save the day, or I suddenly get zapped to a different world in the middle of class?"

"I've already thought of all that. I've explained the principle of your new school that you will need to be excused from class for Avengers business, but only if it's an absolute emergency or something. And I've also made sure that he understood that if you ever suddenly disappear without us summoning you, it would most likely be due to something relating to your powers. I didn't tell him it would involve you going to another world because of how we're supposed to be keeping that a secret, apparently, but either way, you're covered on that front." Tony then turned to his work bench so he could grab something from it, and then finished, "As for what would happen if bad guys attack…well, I'm sure no one will be too concerned, since I've already promised to pay for any damages and the school's new insurance policy with Damage Control Inc. Plus, you'll also be even more ready to handle it with this."

Sora arched an eyebrow at Tony once again, only to suddenly jump back when Tony threw something to him that he barely managed to catch. Looking down at the object in his hands, Sora saw that it appeared to be a small ring or collar of some kind, and his confusion was now amplified even more. "What's this thing," Sora asked.

"A new addition to your wardrobe," Tony replied. "I was going to include it before, but Janet insisted that we needed to get the basic parts of your outfit for you right away. This is just what I think will be the most vital part of your new…let's call it partial armor."

"You're making me armor," Sora asked in excitement.

"Not a full suit, kid. Just a few pieces. Your outfit may have some additional padding to it thanks to the nanotech in it, but that still leaves a good amount of you without protection, like your head for example," Tony explained as he walked over to help Sora strap the newest addition to his outfit in place. "This little bad boy will fix things in that area specifically. Just strap it on here around your neck, tap the right side, and voila! Instant head gear."

When the device was in place, Sora did as Tony instructed and tapped the right side of the collar. In an instant, a helmet slid up the back of his neck to his forehead, leaving a few tuffs of his hair sticking out at the sides, and after the helmet had reached his forehead, a blue visor slid down in front of his eyes. When the visor had slid into place, Sora soon found himself viewing several different readouts on a Heads-Up-Display, which held the Avengers logo in the top left corner, while the crown symbol on his necklace was in the top right. "Whoa," Sora gasped. "Well, it's not as cool as having a full suit, but it's definitely impressive."

"Glad you think so," Tony nodded as he held up a mirror so Sora could get a better look at himself. While the kid was admiring the latest addition to his new look, Tony went on to explain, "That helmet has a built in comm. device that's linked to the same frequency as your ID card, and even has a direct connection to JARVIS, should you need his help while you're out helping us save the world. If necessary, it will also help you to better target enemies, namely for when you finally get a handle on how your Keyblade shoots fire, ice, and whatever other kinds of things you can shoot from it. It can also cycle through various ranges of the visual spectrum, and has a scanner that's tuned to the energy signature of all the Heartless we've encountered so far. I've even programmed it so that it can automatically update that particular database if you ever encounter a new Heartless."

"This is so awesome, Tony. Thanks," Sora immediately said. "But, I don't think they'll let me wear this in class."

"Well not in its active state," Tony pointed out. "Just tap the same spot as before, or think at it, and the helmet will retract on its own. I would advise you to still wear this as often as possible though. We wouldn't want people to think that we're being irresponsible by letting you fly around on that flying bike of yours without a helmet."

"Got it," Sora nodded as he retracted the helmet, noticing that when he looked in the mirror, you could not really see the collar it came out of under his jacket, which proved to be something of a relief to him. "So is there any other armor pieces that you're making for me?"

"Probably some kind of armguards or something, but that's still in the works, and I'd like to focus on more important matters right now. Like figuring out who our mystery intruder was, preparing for my meeting with Simon tomorrow, and getting you to bed so that you don't oversleep and end up being late for your first day of high school, which you are still going to tomorrow, unless some world-ending crisis or something similar comes up."

"Awww," Sora whined again, but he still began his slow trudge up to bed all the same, knowing that he was not going to win this argument.

Just before he was out the door though, Tony suddenly remembered something and asked, "Hey, by the way Sora, what's your last name? The school has been asking me for it so they could finalize your enrollment. I mean, it's already been finalized, but I guess they just don't like having a student who doesn't have a last name."

Sora paused for a moment, having just realized he never told the others this before himself, and then turned to Tony and replied, "Hart. My full name is Sora Hart."

"…Seriously," Tony asked after a beat.

"What do you mean," Sora asked.

"You're fighting Heartless, you're supposed to protect the hearts of all worlds, and your last name is Heart," Tony asked with a small grin. "Tell you don't see why I would find that a little funny."

Sora thought about it for a minute before he finally conceded, "Okay, yeah, I guess that's fair, but just to be clear, my last name is spelled H-A-R-T, not H-E-A-R-T."

"Okay, okay. I got it. Now skedaddle to bed, young Hart," Tony said as he waved the kid away. "You've got a big day tomorrow."

"Yeah, a big day of torture," Sora grumbled. There was no way he was going to enjoy going to school, with or without having to just jump right in it after barely even having half of his summer vacation, and nothing was going to be changing that.

---

The very next morning, Sora was still complaining and trying everything he could think of to get out of going to high school, but despite his best efforts, he still ended up being driven to the front entrance of his new institute of education by Janet. Looking up at the place, Sora could tell that the building was big, probably even a few stories bigger than most schools should typically be, and the entrance into the courtyard was easily noticeable by the large archway with the school's name at the top. Looking the place over from here, Sora would admit that Midtown Manhattan Magnet High School looked impressive, but that was not changing his feelings about this whole situation any time soon. It did not help that Janet was using this opportunity to tease him for every second of the ride over, basically acting like a doting mother to him, much to his embarrassment. Now, one would wonder why Sora did not just fly over on his Keyblade Glider, and the answer to that is actually because Janet wanted to drive Sora to his first day of school. That, and she insisted that Sora would not make many real friends if he revealed he was an Avenger like that right off the bat. Sora would argue that it was silly to hide he was an Avenger by this point, since everyone in the world had likely seen his face by now, but at this point, he was starting to wonder why he was even bothering to argue with any of his teammates when it came to this whole situation.

"Now be a good boy, and have a good first day, kiddo," Janet cooed, continuing with the teasing as she put the car in park for a minute.

At that point, Sora had finally had enough of this, and said, "Janet, can you please stop saying things like that? You're starting to sound exactly like my mom, and its creepy."

"Are you saying you don't think I'd make a good mother," Janet questioned. Despite her attempts at sounding offended though, the small grin on her face gave her away easily.

"No, if anything I'm saying that you look more like you could be my older sister," Sora immediately revealed.

"Aw, so you think of me as an older sister? That's so sweet, Sora," Janet cooed once again, and this time, her expression did carry a bit of sincerity in it, despite the fact it still had a teasing feeling to it.

Sora just rolled his eyes, albeit playfully, and then asked once again, "Are you sure I have to do this? I mean, can't I come with you and Thor to bust that arms deal you were talking with Tony about at breakfast? From what I've heard about AIM, they sound like a pretty dangerous group."

"Pft, please," Janet scoffed. "They're just a bunch of geeks with some crazy toys. I think Thor and I can handle them. Besides, as superheroes, we need to set an example for people, and part of that means making sure that the youngest member of our team is properly educated. Now stop fighting it, and go enjoy your first day."

"'Enjoy my first day,' she says. You are forgetting that not only am I a freshman, but I'm also the new kid who won't know anybody," Sora reminded Janet, even though he still grabbed his backpack all the same.

"I doubt you'll have to worry about it that much. You're the kind of guy who can make friends with just about anyone, even if they're your worst enemy," Janet smirked in reply.

"Okay, okay," Sora sighed in defeat as he finally climbed out of the car. "I'll see you guys tonight then, assuming I survive."

Janet just waved goodbye to him after he closed the door, and then drove off, intending to return the very expensive car they had borrowed from Tony before heading out on her patrol, and Sora was left to just stare up at the intimidating building before he started his trek inside, hoping he could find the main office without any trouble or incidents. Thankfully, it did not seem like he was going to run into anything like that for the most part even after he had gotten into the building, as everyone was too busy with their own matters to really notice him, and if they did, Sora had just missed them doing so, as he was just trying to make his way through the busy hallways without running into anyone. Just as he was nearing the office though, his good luck finally ran out, and he accidentally bumped into someone, causing them to drop a few things.

Turning to see who he ran into, Sora immediately identified the girl as a cheerleader, mostly because she was wearing the uniform of one, and saw that she had long blonde hair and blue eyes, which were fixated on him in a very annoyed glare. That look alone quickly told him that she was probably one of those stuck-up princess types who followed the cliché high school cliques to the letter, and that any apologies would fall on deaf ears with her, but all the same, he still intended to at least make the attempt. "Sorry about that. I didn't see you," Sora started to say.

"Well maybe you should consider looking where you're going next time, loser," the blonde sneered in response, her voice sounding a lot like nails on a chalkboard to Sora.

"Hey, lay off, Sally. It was just an accident," one of the girl's friends admonished on Sora's behalf, making him turn to see a dark skinned girl with short hair in a yellow sweater and brown skirt. Looking around, Sora could also see a few other kids coming along as well, most of them being big guys in dark green letterman jacket, and about two other girls, one of which was a Latino girl also in the cheer-squad uniform, while the other was a girl with long hair in a red and a dark violet skirt. The girl who was just speaking to the stuck-up blonde then got a good look at Sora and asked, "Say, are you new here?"

"Yeah. First day, actually," Sora admitted.

"First day for some new Freshie, huh? You don't say," one the tall, blonde guys mused with a cocky grin. "And you're messing with Rand's girl? Not smart."

"Hey, I wasn't messing with anyone! I just got a little turned around trying to find the office, and didn't see her until it was too late," Sora hurriedly insisted, already knowing that one of these big jocks was likely to be Rand.

"Chill, kid. Flash's just messing with you. It's cool," a large, black man with a green cap reassured Sora. "In case you didn't already figure it out, I'm Rand. Rand Robertson. This guy riding your grill is Midtown's all-star quarterback, Flash Thompson, the big guy over here is Kenny Kong, and this is Hobbie Brown. And of course, you've already met my girlfriend, Sally Avril."

"Sorry about her, by the way. I'm pretty sure she didn't get her coffee this morning or something," the girl who had stood up for Sora a minute ago said. "By the way, I'm Glory Grant, Kenny's girlfriend, and this is Sha Shan Nguyen, Flash's girlfriend. And that's Liz Allen."

"Let me guess, she's Hobbie's girlfriend," Sora offered up.

"No. I'm single at the moment," Liz replied, her tone carrying a bit of sadness in it that was hard to miss.

"Oh, uh sorry," Sora quickly apologized. "Anyways, I'm Sora. Sora Hart. Any chance one of you guys could help me find the main office?"

"Sure, it's just down this hall to the right," Sha Shan offered with a polite smile, pointing in the direction that Sora needed to go in.

"Thanks," Sora nodded in reply with a grin, and he was about to head off in that direction when Rand suddenly stopped him.

"Say, are you sure we don't know you from somewhere? I feel like I've seen you before," Rand asked.

"I'm pretty sure I would remember meeting any of you guys before. I've got a pretty good memory," Sora laughed off.

"Well maybe not in person, but were you ever on the news or something? I ask because my dad's Editor-in-Chief at the Daily Bugle, so I hear about a lot of news stories when he comes home from work," Rand revealed.

"Really? Wait, isn't that the same paper that's known to be the only one ever able to get good pictures of Spider-Man," Sora asked, hoping that he would be able to deflect the question with that change in topic.

"Yeah. You a Spidey fan, too," Flash asked, a little too eagerly one might say.

"More like a fan of heroes in general," Sora admitted.

"Well, you should know that the guy who takes all those pictures actually goes to school here," Kenny said. "He could probably give you an autograph or something, assuming he actually talks to you. And that's a big if, seeing as he's been going out of his way to be alone ever since he and Liz broke up."

"Kenny," Glory hushed while elbowing him in the side, directing her boyfriend's attention to how Liz seemed to deflate a little more at that reminder.

"Oh…Uh, sorry."

The whole hallway suddenly seemed to become thick with the air of awkwardness that fell on them, and Sora figured that this was not a fire that he needed to fight right now, if ever, so he quickly excused himself, saying that he still needed to get his schedule from the office, thanked the group for their help, and took off with a run, barely catching Flash mutter to the others about how fast he appeared to be. As he finally reached his destination, Sora could not help but think that maybe Janet was right when she said he had a natural talent for making friends, at least if that little interaction just now was anything to go by. He had to put a pin in that for now, because he still needed to get his schedule from the principle and get to his first class before he was late. Unfortunately, he was only able to accomplish the first of those tasks, because the tardy bell immediately rang right when the principle had handed his schedule to him. Luckily, the principle was kind enough to write him a note for his first period teacher that explained his lateness, and Sora was soon off and running once again, only this time at a more sedated pace as he searched the hallways for the room number of his first class.

He soon breathed a sigh of relief when he finally found the right door, and after taking a deep breath to calm the rest of his nerves, he knocked and slowly entered the room, instantly garnering everyone's attention. "Sorry I'm late," Sora said to the room at large. "I have a note from the principle though."

When the teacher held out his hand, Sora immediately walked up and handed it to him. After reading the note for a minute, the teacher quickly smiled and said, "Oh, so you're our new student? Well, welcome to Midtown. I'm your biology teacher, Professor Aaron Warren. Why don't you take a moment to introduce yourself and find an empty seat."

Sora nodded in thanks before turning to the class and saying, "Hey everyone. I'm Sora Hart. Nice to meet you all."

He did not receive much more than silent nods or smiles in reply, but Sora just shrugged it off and quickly moved to find an empty seat. Thankfully, it did not take too long before he settled for an empty seat near the middle of the room next to a kid who looked to be about his age in a black hoodie and grey pants. "You don't mind if I sit here, do you?"

"Nah. Go for it," the kid replied with a smile. "Name's Miles by the way. Miles Morales."

"Nice to meet you, Miles," Sora nodded with a smile, and the two fell silent after that, turning most of their focus to the lesson at hand, with Sora thinking that maybe this school thing was going to be okay after all.

---

I was wrong. School still sucks, Sora thought a couple hours later after his class had let out, and that was only after the first class of the day, never mind the rest of the classes he had been through up until now. He nearly fell asleep from being bored out of his mind, and just about everything that the teachers were talking about went way over his head. Now Sora was not a complete idiot, he was actually something close to a studious student, but he had a feeling that Tony had signed him up for a class that was a little too hard for him. He probably could not blame Tony though, seeing as Stark had no idea just how good Sora's grades were back home, but all the same, he could have at least asked Sora about this before setting up the kid's schedule with the school. He was just glad that he could relax now that it was lunch time. The only thing that made it even better was that they could all enjoy lunch outside on the school's roof. Sure, there was an indoor cafeteria, but when the sun was shining and the skies were clear, Sora found no reason to stay inside if he had the option of being outside. The only problem now was finding a table to sit at.

While he was looking, Sora found himself thinking back to some things he had overheard a few kids saying while he was not only between classes but in class as well, namely things about the Avengers. While it was not too different from your typical bit of hero worship and kids saying how cool the team was, the thing that really had him hooked was the fact that so many of the stories seemed to center around him: the boy with spiky hair and a key-shaped weapon. From what he could tell, everyone was talking about how cool it was that someone that was around the age of the students here was part of a group like the Avengers, and it honestly made him smile a little while also admitting that Janet had been right to say that his popularity would have been based on his reputation as an Avenger alone if he had flown here this morning. Sora was not too fond of being friends with people who only hung out with him because of his reputation, but then again, he had never had to worry about that before now, so he did not let it bother him too much. If anything, he was more interested in how so many people were interested in giving him some kind of fancy codename like the most of his other teammates. He had heard people calling him a variety of things like the Samurai Key, Key Ronnin, or even Key-Swordsman. It was not like he was offended by it, but it did still make him think that maybe he did need a codename like some of his teammates did. He just had not thought about it until now because it never really seemed important. In fact, he was actually brainstorming ideas for a codename as he was scoping out the area for a table right this second.

After a minute or so, he quickly spotted one person in particular who was all by himself, and from where Sora was standing, it did not appear to be by choice, given the sad-looking expression on the other boy's face. The boy in question was dressed in a rather simple attire of a blue t-shirt over a grey long-sleeved one and brown pants, while his brown hair was kept in a rather messy fashion, meaning he either had not combed it, or he just let it get that way after getting here. Sora figured the guy seemed nice enough and decided to go over and sit with him, until someone suddenly grabbed his arm and started pulling him in another direction. When he turned to see who it was, he was greeted by an older looking girl in blue jeans and a blue shirt with a star that was a lighter shade of the same color on the center, while her long hair was brown in color, and she seemed be of Mexican ethnicity from what Sora could tell.

"Not a good idea to be sitting over there if you don't want to destroy any chances of a good social standing, kid, unless you're setting up a time for a tutoring session with the guy," the girl cautioned, her voice carrying a hint of an accent to it. "Parker's rumored to be the social pariah of the school."

"And…who're you," Sora asked, feeling a little annoyed with this random stranger telling him what to do and who to talk sit with.

Before the girl could reply, they both heard a familiar voice calling out to them, and turned to see Miles rushing over. "Yo Sora. I was hoping I'd catch you here. I see you've already met Anya, one of the cool upper classmen."

"You wish that was the case, Miles. The cool upperclassmen are all juniors or seniors. I'm still just a sophomore," Anaya playfully scoffed. She then turned back to the Keyblade Avenger and said, "So you're the infamous Sora that Miles was telling me about, huh? Nice to finally meet you. I'm Anya Corazon. I sometimes have a small study group with Miles when one of us needs help in a certain subject. He's the tech-wiz, and I'm the bio-wiz."

"Cool. Maybe one of you guys could help me out with some of my own school work, because a lot of the stuff we went over in Professor Warren's class made little sense to me," Sora nodded in understanding, accepting the offered handshake. He then glanced back at the boy he was about to approach earlier and asked, "So why did you say that I shouldn't sit with that guy over there?"

Miles looked to where Peter had indicated and then went into the explanation for Anya. "Well, I wasn't here last year, since I'm a freshman like you, but the word is that Parker went from Midtown's champion geek, to being the guy in the center of the most diverse group of friends, until finally landing a reputation as being bad luck for any sort of friendship. Apparently, he was dating Liz Allen for a bit, but when it became clear that he was more interested in other girls than her, she broke it off in a spectacular fashion that made everyone start treating him the plague or something."

"That's just the exaggerated story though," Anya waved off. Being the only one of this little trio who was actually attending at this school the previous year. "A lot of stuff happened to Parker last year, right to the point where it seemed like even being his friend was promising a roller coaster of drama that no one wanted to ride, and it had nothing to do with who he did or didn't date last year. From what I heard, he was actually going to try and hook up with his best friend, Gwen Stacy, but she turned him down in favor of his other best friend, Harry Osborn."

"Osborn? Like as in Norman Osborn of Oscorp," Sora asked.

"Yep, and his rep's even more messed up than Parker's, considering that he was playing on the football team while juiced. We had to hand over the championship because of him, so no one was really too fond of him for a long time, aside from Stacy and a couple of other people. Add in the fact that his dad died near the end of last school year after being revealed to be the Green Goblin, and well…I'm surprised that he hasn't snapped just like his dad clearly had," Anya reported.

"Doesn't Parker have any other friends, though," Sora asked.

"You would think that he would, being the Spider-Man photographer and all, but considering his two best friends are now dating each other, and that his next door neighbor, Mary Jane Watson is also best friends with his ex and used to go out with Liz Allen's older brother, he hasn't really managed to find anyone to really fit in with. Not that he ever really seems to try that much. He actually goes out of his way to avoid most people."

"I'm lucky he actually agreed to tutor me on the stuff that Anya couldn't help me out with," Miles piped in. "I mainly figured that it was because his family was struggling with bills and stuff at first, but given the distant attitude he was usually throwing out a majority of the time, now I'm not so sure. Of course, I guess his job is pretty demanding, so he could just be really tired. There's no way it's easy trying to take pictures of Spider-Man all the time."

"Well, maybe he just needs someone else to make an effort," Sora suggested, and he was soon resuming his trek over to Parker's table, ignoring Anya when she muttered to not say they did not warn him. Admittedly, Sora was kind of hoping to find and talk to the guy who took Spider-Man's pictures after hearing that said photographer went to school here, because he was hoping that he could set up a meeting for the Keyblade wielder to meet with Spidey and offer him a place on the Avengers. Hearing that he did not really have many friends at the moment for one reason or another just made it even more important for Sora to try and reach out to the guy.

When he finally reached Parker's table and sat down, it seemed as though the guy had either not noticed Sora or was just ignoring him. Sora was not sure which was the case, but he figured he would give the older student a minute or two, and when he did not respond, Sora finally let out a small cough to get Parker's attention. Hearing Sora's cough drew Parker's eyes up from his barely touched food, and from what he could see of the senior's eyes, Sora was quickly able to see the tell tales sings that this guy was really tired, and also had the look of someone who had not really had many friends around him for a while. "Is there something you needed," Parker finally asked.

"Well…Not really. I just wanted to make sure if it was okay to sit here," Sora replied, slightly unsure. He probably should have thought of something to say before trying to get Parker's attention.

"Sure, if you want, and if you don't mind destroying your social reputation," Parker shrugged, turning his gaze down again and acting like he did not care.

Sora was a little put out at first, but quickly shook it off so he could press on. "I'm Sora, by the way. Sora Hart. I just started here today."

"That would explain a lot," Parker muttered under his breath. He then glanced up again and said, "Peter Parker, and before you ask, yeah, I'm the guy who takes Spider-Man's pictures, the same guy that everyone thought was Spider-Man a few months ago, even though they shouldn't have thought that since the information came from a supervillain, and no, I can't help you get Spidey's autograph."

"I'm guessing you get those questions a lot," Sora noted with a small smile.

"From just about every other new student that finds out about me, yeah," Peter admitted. "Though these days, most of them tend to avoid me because of the rumors that have been going around since my breakup with Liz."

"Well I'm not one for listening to rumors, and besides, from what Miles told me, I don't think he feels that way."

Peter let out a dry chuckle before saying, "He only thinks that because I helped him out with a couple of assignments. It's not like we're best friends or something. Besides, these days, being friends with me only leads others to get hurt."

"Hey, I don't get hurt that easily, so I don't think you have to worry about that," Sora reassured him.

"I wasn't talking about physically, and we literally just met. How could we be friends already," Peter asked.

"Why wouldn't we be? Besides, you seem like a cool guy to me, and you look like you could use some more friends right now," Sora gently argued, his smile not fading even a little bit.

Peter just stared at Sora for a minute, his eyes showing just how much disbelief had been instilled in him by the spiky-haired teen, and eventually, he had to let out a small smirk as he asked, "You're one of those glass-half-full type of guys aren't you?" When Sora gave him a confused look in response, Peter explained, "You know, the kind of person who's incredibly optimistic no matter what."

"Oh, well to be fair, considering the situation I'm in, I kinda have to be," Sora shrugged in response.

"What's that supposed to mean," Peter asked.

Now Sora was stuck. He was not entirely sure how to explain his situation to Peter without revealing too much. After all, saying that he was from another world that was consumed by darkness about a week ago was grounds for either being called crazy or helping the older student figure out that he was the youngest member of the Avengers. Thankfully, it did not last long, as he soon remembered the cover story that Tony and the others helped him come up with. "You see, I'm from a small island very far away from here, and it was recently attacked by some unknown force. As far as I know, I'm the only one who made it out alive, and my home's probably long gone."

"Oh man. I'm so sorry to hear that," Peter immediately said, his voice truly sympathetic.

"It's okay," Sora waved off. "Besides, some friends are letting me stay with them while helping me to look for anyone from back home, so there's always that silver lining. Besides, I also got here just in time to see the Avengers form and save the city, so how cool is that, right?"

"Yeah…Sure," Peter shrugged, but his voice was nowhere near as joyous as his words should have been.

Sora quickly noticed that, and had to ask, "What's wrong? Do you not like the Avengers or something?"

"No, it's not that. I'm glad to see that there's now a bunch of heroes coming together to protect the world, but from where I'm sitting, it looks like they're only worrying about the escaped supervillains and bigger threats while ignoring the little guys," Peter revealed, his tone not quite agitated, but still clearly criticizing. "I mean, I get that it probably doesn't seem like a big deal to guys like Stark or Thor, but you'd think that someone like Captain America, Wasp, or even that Key-Swordsman guy, or whatever his name is would take at least a little time out of their day to help stop a mugger or something instead of just leaving that to the cops or Spider-Man. Besides, their current popularity and public approval is not gonna last."

He hated to admit it, but Sora knew that Peter had a point. The Keyblade wielder had been so busy with worrying about the Heartless, supervillains, and finding both his friends and the Keyhole of this world that he had not really thought about doing anything else while he was here. It only made sense for him to help out if he had the ability to do so, and Steve and Janet would probably agree with him on that, but it was not like they could be everywhere and solve every problem in the world. The Avengers were formed to recapture the supervillains that had escaped during the Breakout, along with any other bad guys that were too much for others to handle, while also working to protect this world from the Heartless, so that should mean that the cops and what Tony classified as small-time heroes would be able to handle the simpler stuff. Besides, Sora was still learning how to use his Keyblade, and about all the different things he could do with it, so he was not entirely sure if he would be able to stop a normal bad guy without hurting the criminal in the process.

Even with all of that in mind, the last thing that Peter had said stuck out to Sora more than anything else. "Why do you think that the Avengers' popularity won't last?"

"Dude, Spidey's been around for over a year now, and in barely more than half that time, people had started flip-flopping between calling him a hero, a menace, or a threat, with or without the stuff that the Bugle prints. People like heroes okay at first, but after a while, they start to look at them in a different light. Some people will even blame the heroes for some bad thing that had happened to them as a result of that hero's actions, even if there's no real reason to," Peter explained, almost sounding like it should have been obvious. "Not only that, but do you really think that after he's saved the day and gone home, Spidey's able to just live it up in luxury? I've heard him complaining about repairing his costume and how much it costs to make his webs more times than I can count while taking pictures of him for the Bugle, so I highly doubt he's got it easy outside of his suit."

Sora had to admit that Peter probably had a point there. He had seen more than a few articles from the Bugle that had painted Spider-Man in a less than favorable light, so who was to say that the same would not happen to him or the rest of the Avengers eventually, be it individually or as a whole? Not only that, but he had not really thought about how someone without the resources he and his teammates had would be able to manage being a hero while maintaining a secret identity. Even though he was trying to blend in on his first day so that he would make some real friends as opposed to ones who only wanted to hang out because he was an Avenger, he did not actually have a secret identity, and neither did any of his teammates, so there was no way of really knowing what Spider-Man must have to go through in order to keep it. Now that he thought about it, Sora could not help but wonder if anyone even knew who Spider-Man was behind his mask, be it friends, family, or even enemies. He remembered reading that one guy, Venom had seemed confident that Spider-Man was Peter Parker, but he also knew that rumor was eventually killed off a few days later, so he doubted that any bad guys knew who Spider-Man was under the mask.

One thing really stuck out to Sora though, and that was how certain Peter seemed to be about all of this, and the Keyblade wielder just had to call him out on that. "You know, you sound like you know Spidey really well. Are you sure you two aren't friends or something?"

"Uh, no," Peter instantly protested, a little too quickly in Sora's opinion. Peter must have realized this, because he quickly back-tracked and tried to calmly add, "I mean, sure I take his picture for the Bugle, but we're not all that well acquainted or anything. I'll admit he has sometimes called me on my cell when he's about to fight after seeing the first pictures I turned into the Bugle, but it's always from a blocked number. I don't think he really trusts me all that much to be honest."

It may have been a pretty decent story, but it was still given so quickly that Sora was almost sure that it was a lie. He probably would have called Peter out on it, but considering he seemed to be gaining a little ground in becoming Parker's friend, and that he did not know Peter too well yet, Sora figured it was best to keep his mouth shut for now. Of course, there was also the fact that before he could think about calling Peter out on his little story, something suddenly came crashing down on the middle of the roof-top eating area, scaring several students who quickly scattered away from the crash site. As the smoke cleared, Sora and Peter both shot up from their seats at the sight of a large, cat-man in a hunter's get up growling down at any students who were still nearby, and he soon let out a loud, primal roar that made anyone who was still too close for comfort scramble away like lightning. Next to the massive cat hybrid was a man in a green suit and purple cape, with a glass orb covering his whole head, while on the other side of the cat was the only normal looking person of this little trio. This third individual was a large man in grey pants, a green-striped shirt, and brown boots, and his classification as normal quickly went out the window when he suddenly shifted both of his hands into a pair of large hammers that seemed to be made out of sand.

"Spider-Man! Show yourself and face Kraven," the cat-man roared. "You cannot hide. Kraven knows you are here. Your scent is all over this school!"

"And I'm gonna kick your butt just for making us come to a school to find you, Spidey," the man with sand-hammer hands said, his legs quickly turning to sand as well as he seemed to glide a little closer to the fleeing students. "I swear, the best day of my life was when I left school to take my first shot at getting a big score."

"That explains so much," the fish-bowl headed man muttered as he waved his hands forward and chanted something in a language that Sora did not recognize. A moment later, a green cloud of mist appeared over the school building, and few flashes of lightning were soon raining down around them. Sora did not miss how nothing seemed to be damaged by the lightning strikes, but he did miss Peter ducking away while no one was paying attention.

Another thing Sora did not miss was that Miles was suddenly charging right at this trio of villain with a lunch tray in hand, which he was clearly intending to use as a blunt weapon. He tried to call out for Miles to stop, but his classmate had already hit the man in green with the tray, only for it to go right through the guy as the part of his body that was struck turned to sand before reforming again. The bigger guy looked down at Miles with a deadpanned expression and asked, "Really? Did you seriously think you could hurt the Sandman with a lunch tray?"

"Well then how about we try this instead," Anya's voice suddenly called out, and when Sandman turned towards the girl, his face was quickly covered in ketchup and mustard, blinding him long enough for Anya to run up and start pulling Miles out of the way. They did not get too far, as the fish-bowl head waved his hands at the two while uttering another unknown word, and both of Sora's new friends suddenly dropped to their knees looking incredibly drowsy.

"Sorry to say, but you cannot escape from the power of Mysterio and his allies that easily children. To think that you would succeed in this endeavor is an incredible folly on your part. However, Mysterio will admit that your courage is admirable, so Mysterio will grant you a swift end," the now very-well-identified Mysterio remarked as he raised his hands at the two.

"I'd just settle for you to stop talking in the third person," Miles groaned sleepily, barely even reacting that much when Anya's head suddenly dropped onto his shoulder for support.

Before Mysterio could launch his next attack, Sora decided it was time to make his move, and immediately started racing over while he shouted, "Hey! Leave my friends alone, you creep!"

The three villains all turned just in time to see Sora springboard into the air off a table, and then summon his Keyblade while in midair, which he immediately swung down at Mysterio, knocking the illusionist away from Miles and Anya just in time. When Sora stood up again, he quickly dropped into a battle stance and narrowed his focus on the three villains, only just barely noticing the gasps of surprise and looks of shock that his classmates and new friends were all sending his way. That did not mean he did not hear any of them though.

"No way," Anya gaped. "Miles, how come you didn't tell me your new friend was the Key Fighter of the Avengers?"

"Because I only just found out, too," Miles admitted, completely shell-shocked.

"You mean that new dweeb is an Avenger," Sally half-shrieked from where she was hiding behind a nearby table with the rest of the guys that had first met Sora at the start of the day.

"I knew he looked familiar," Rand silently cheered.

"No kidding. I can't believe we didn't figure it out sooner. The spiky hair should've been a dead give-away," Flash added with a grin.

When the three bad guys turned their attention to Sora, Kraven could only smirk in response while Sandman looked a little worried. Mysterio's expression remained unknown since his face was still hidden from view. "An Avenger. Well now, this may prove to be an even greater challenge than Kraven had wished for," the cat-man grinned excitedly.

"Whoa, whoa! Nu-uh! I didn't sign up to take on the Avengers," Sandman immediately protested.

"Oh please, don't embarrass us, Marko. He may be an Avenger, but he is still just a boy with a ridiculous weapon. He is no more a match for our combined might than Spider-Man would be," Mysterio scoffed.

Sora just rolled his eyes at that last remark before glancing to Miles and Anya as he said, "You guys get to safety. I'll handle this little circus show."

"Huh? Oh, yeah! Sure thing, Sora, err, Mister Avenger…Key…guy," Miles stuttered, suddenly not sure how to refer to Sora.

Sora merely smiled in response and said, "Just Sora is fine, Miles. After all, we're friends, remember?"

Miles silently confirmed that by returning the smile with one of his own, and immediately helped Anya get away from the fight that was about to happen. They had done so just in time soon, because Sora was suddenly hit in the side by a blast of what he could only assume was magic, since it felt so much like the ones that Enchantress had thrown at him back when they first met. After crashing through a few lunch tables, Sora managed to pull himself up again and looked to see who had just pulled a sneak attack on him, only to pause in confusion at what he saw. The individual in question was not someone that he recognized, but for some reason, his attire felt familiar to Sora. This new individual seemed to only be slightly taller than Sora, probably close to Riku's height if Sora had to guess, and wore a tight body suit that consisted mainly of a black and purple material that had a strong resemblance to muscle tissue, which turned to dark red at the wrists, giving it an almost organic look. A white cloth with jagged, almost ripped edges was tied around his waist, opening at the front and secured by a purple belt, while a pair of purple gloves covered his hands and were tucked into the suit, and a pair of purple boots and shin guards that faded to the black on the rest of his legs adorned his feet. The chest area of this stranger's suit was a purple-blue color with a Heart-shaped emblem in the center that looked just like the Heartless emblem, save for the fact that it lacked the spiked, criss-crossing bars on the inside. To round out this stranger's outfit, he wore a silver helmet covered with dark glass, keeping his face hidden from view.

The stranger just stared at Sora for a minute before turning his head to the trio of villains and said in a deep, heavily distorted voice, "I thought I told you to leave the Keyblade wielder to me if you encountered him. You don't possess the means of fighting him like I do."

Sora was not sure if that was this guy's actual voice or if it was something he was doing to mask his real voice, but right now, the wielder of Kingdom Key did not care. All he knew was that this guy had just taken a cheap shot at him, and was clearly gunning for him for whatever reason. That was all he needed to jump back onto his feet and hold his Keyblade at the ready while he demanded, "Who are you, and how do you know about the Keyblade?"

The stranger turned back to Sora and chuckled, "I think the better question would be how does anyone not know about it, considering how many people around here probably already do by now."

"I said who are you," Sora repeated, showing that he was not in the mood for any games.

"My name is of no real consequence at the moment, but since everyone around here seems so fond of colorful titles…Why don't you just call me Night Hunter, and you have something that belongs to me, Sora," the stranger revealed, worrying Sora a little with that last bit of information.

"What're you talking about, and how do you know my name," Sora asked.

"Sorry; no spoilers," Night Hunter mocked. "But to answer your first question…well, let's just say I think we should let the Keyblade return to its true master."

Night Hunter then held his hand forward, and the next thing he knew, Sora felt the Kingdom Key shaking in his grip. Before he knew what was happening, Sora suddenly found himself struggling to keep the Keyblade in his hand as it jerked forward and moved towards the newly arrived villain, like it was being called over to Night Hunter or something, and it was pretty clear who was causing that to happen. "What're you doing?"

"I'm simply calling my Keyblade back to me," Night Hunter shrugged like it was no big deal, not lowering his hand at all, as Sora struggled to keep his hold on Kingdom Key. "You see, you're not truly the one that the Keyblade chose. You're just the delivery boy meant to pass it over to its true master, so like I said, I'll be taking what's rightfully mine."

Sora glared in response to this, refusing to believe that this guy was supposed to be the true master of Kingdom Key, but when he saw the Keyblade start flashing like it was about to disappear from his hand, he started to worry that might be the case. At least, he would have been worrying had he not felt something from Kingdom Key just as it was starting to vanish. He would not exactly describe it as feelings exactly, but it was most definitely the closest thing he could compare it to, because for a moment as it was appearing to nearly vanish, Sora could have sworn that the Kingdom Key was afraid of being pulled over to this stranger. Knowing that the Keyblade was afraid of the dark man before him, Sora immediately knew that Night Hunter's claims had to be a lie, and he was soon mentally reassuring Kingdom Key that he would not let this strange individual take it away from him, while fixing a defiant glare on Night Hunter as he started to pull back harder than ever.

Just seconds after Sora had given his Keyblade that reassurance, a massive light seemed to erupt from the Keyblade that caused everyone to make some attempt at shielding their eyes until it died down. When it finally did, everyone looked to see that Night Hunter and Sora had blown a few feet back from where they had previously been standing, and the former appeared slightly disoriented while the latter was still standing strong, with Keyblade firmly in hand. "Impossible," Night Hunter whispered, clearly angered by this sudden change. "The Keyblade is mine! Why is it remaining with a weakling like you?!"

"Guess you were misinformed about who the Keyblade's wielder should be, at least as far as Kingdom Key goes," Sora retorted with a confident smirk. "So if you want my Keyblade, you'll have to go through me first."

"That can be arranged quite easily, Sora," Night Hunter promised, and with a wave of his hand, a dark sword with a blade shaped like a demonic wing appeared in his hand in a haze of shadows. The blade was not the most creepy thing about this odd sword though, as both Sora and some of the other Midtown students could have sworn that they saw a blue eye with a cat-like iris in the handle, while the handle itself appeared to consist of dark braids, at least from what anyone could see of it while it rested in Night Hunter's hand.

Just as it seemed like the two were about to engage in battle, with Sora even going so far as to activate his new helmet, another new voice interrupted, only this one sounded far more cheery when he spoke, and most likely belonged to someone on Sora's side, given what he had said. "So let me get this straight. You're getting all upset over how this guy's sword, which looks like a giant skeleton key, won't just come jumping into your hands, and you're acting like you're willing to kill him for it, when you've already got an awesome looking sword like that one in your hand? Man, it must be your first day as a supervillain, because you clearly do not know how to accessorize right. I mean, that sword you've currently got clearly suits you way more since it matches with your look perfectly."

Just about everyone's gaze was directed upwards and onto the individual who had spoken, and they were all soon gazing upon a figure who was sitting above them all on the side of the wall. Even without seeing him display his ability to stick to walls, or any of his other skills and powers, no one needed many more clues than the red and blue, web-themed outfit with a spider-symbol on the front and back to guess who this was. "SPIDER-MAN," Kraven, Mysterio, and Sandman all shouted at the sight of the hero.

"Ah, I never get tired of hearing that reaction," Spider-Man sighed whimsically as he spun down from the wall and landed next to Sora. "Although, I gotta admit, I'm a little disappointed. I always kinda hoped my first real superhero team-up would be against someone like Doc Ock, Venom, or even the entire Sinister Six, and that it would be with Iron Man or the Fantastic Four, but I guess I can settle for taking on the Threatening Three with the rookie hero of the Avengers."

"Hey! Who're you calling a rookie," Sora demanded.

"You, kid. I mean, even Wasp has been around and in the hero business longer than you, at least as far as I know. Are you even old enough to drive, yet," Spidey asked.

"At least I'm actually part of the Avengers, and a founding member at that," Sora countered.

"Touché, Samurai Key," Spider-Man conceded.

"Okay seriously, what is with this whole nicknaming thing everybody seems to want to do," Sora asked, dropping his battle stance for a moment to show how frustrated he was starting to get in regards to the subject. "My name is Sora, so why can't people just call me that? It's not like I'm making an effort to hide my identity or something like you are."

"Which you really should be doing, if you ask me," Spider-Man stated. "I mean, I get that you're part of the Avengers and everything, but if you want to keep the people you care about from getting hurt, you really should have considered wearing that helmet of yours before now. Or at least doing something about your hair that did not make you so easy to recognize."

"Hey, leave my hairstyle alone! Everybody else likes it and says its distinctly me. Besides, I've tried combing it before, and not only did it fail to work, but it ended up breaking every single brush and comb that my family, and my best friend's family owned," Sora revealed.

Spider-Man immediately let out a small laugh at that until he realized that Sora was not laughing with him, and asked, "Wait, are you serious? That actually happened?"

"It's not a day that I can easily forget, considering I had to get what was left of those brushes surgically removed from my hair," Sora grumbled.

"Wow. And I thought my life was weird," was all Spider-Man could say in response.

"Trust me, when it comes to the weirdness in my life, you don't know the half of it," Sora cautioned, his mind instantly going to everything that had just happened over the course of this previous week.

"Don't ignore us, you pathetic fools," Night Hunter angrily shouted, his mood easily reflected by the three villains who were now glaring at both Spider-Man and Sora. The first response he received to that demand though, was a glob of webbing to his helmet, which no doubt left him blinded, given how he was scrambling to scrape the sticky substance off of the dark mask.

"Hey, do you mind? We're trying to have a conversation here," Spidey quipped, not lowering the hand he used to shoot the web from right away. "I swear, bad guys are just getting more and more rude every day. I can't even try to make simple small talk with someone without some tool telling me to shut up. It's like they don't want to hear what I have to say."

"Wow, now that is just so weird," Sora commented, seeing what Spidey was doing and immediately joining in on it, while trying his best to keep his knowing smile as small as possible. "I mean, as superheroes, we do tend to have some very important wisdom that needs to be imparted to others so they can lead better and safer lives, so why wouldn't someone want to listen to you?"

"I know, right," Spider-Man agreed rather enthusiastically. "I'll bet you it probably has something to do with our outfits or something. I mean, you probably don't have that problem yourself, but people do often make fun of my costume, so I can't help but figure that's a factor."

"Nah, I don't think that's it. Personally, I think your suit looks pretty cool. Works well with you, has that whole spider-theme to it, and it's in classic red and blue. A lot of great heroes wear those colors, right," Sora disputed, throwing in a little praise while he was at it. "Out of curiosity, where did you get your suit from? I mean, mine was made by Janet and Tony, but I can't help but be curious as to where other heroes would get their suits from."

"Oh, well uh…I actually made it myself. I know, not the most manly thing to do, but hey, if it helps me keep my secret identity, then learning how to sew was necessary," Spider-Man revealed, rubbing the back of his head in slight embarrassment at this admittance.

"Well you must be pretty good then if you could make something like this without any extra help," Sora complimented.

At this point, the villains had finally had enough. Night Hunter especially, because he finally ripped the webs free from his helmet, he growled loudly and shouted, "All right, that's it! You two want to joke around? I'll give you something to laugh about!"

The dark swordsman then clutched a hand to the heart-shaped emblem on his chest, as said symbol glowed with a faint, shadowy aura, and when he thrust his hand out again, a large cloud of smoke burst forth before impacting the ground on the football field behind the school. When the two heroes turned, they both went wide-eyed at the sight of a massive monster that looked similar to a knight. The very bizarre thing was that its arms, legs, and head all seemed to be disconnected from the rest of the hourglass-shaped body, but that was only a small factor in comparison to the three, clawed fingers it possessed on its large arms, or the hammer like feet it had on its otherwise short legs. While Spider-Man was freaking out quite a bit at the sight of this monstrosity, on the inside at least, Sora could only narrow his eyes into a glare when he spotted a far-too-familiar, heart-shaped emblem emblazoned on the center of this massive beast's torso.

"Okay, safe to say we've ruffled their feathers quite a bit, but I did not expect doing so would lead to him creating…THAT! What the heck even is that thing," Spidey questioned, hoping that Sora had an answer.

Thankfully, he did, and it came in one word. "Heartless."

Spider-Man was silent for a moment before he looked to Sora and said, "Geez, dude. I know that it isn't exactly the most friendly-looking thing out there, and it's probably going to attack us, but that's no reason to label it with something like that."

"No, not that kind of heartless. It's literally called a Heartless," Sora quickly explained. "Creatures of darkness that act like animals and prey on the darkness in the hearts of others. They consume other people's hearts to create more Heartless and grow stronger."

"Okay, so keep it away from civilians, and don't let it get the chance to tag you," Spidey summarized in order to show his understanding. He then asked the all-important question. "Any suggestions on how to stop it?"

"My Keyblade is one of the only things that can effectively destroy them, so you keep these other guys busy while I handle that thing," Sora told him, and he prepared to jump down from the roof and summon his Keyblade Glider in order to fly over to the Heartless, only for a sudden rush of sand to pull him back.

"Aw, and I thought you were gonna stick around to play with us," Sandman mocked, suddenly feeling more confident now that Night Hunter and his recently-summoned Heartless had joined them. His face was soon filled with webbing from Spider-Man, making him lose concentration long enough to drop Sora.

"Sorry, Marko, but you've gotta deal with me before you can get to the rookie hero and youngest Avenger," Spider-Man quipped, spinning his way over to his old adversary as he did.

"A challenge that Kraven shall gladly take," the cat-hunter of the trio declared as he rushed Spider-Man, tackling the web-swinger in mid-air.

Kraven was not alone in his attack, because Mysterio was soon following the hunter's charge with a blast of energy from his fingers, directed at the wall-crawler. Spider-Man probably would have been hit had Sora not jumped in at just the last second to deflect the blast with his Keyblade. He then spun around to strike Kraven with Kingdom Key, and upon getting hit, Kraven immediately released Spidey, allowing the web-head to flip away from the oversized cat. Spidey then put his full focus on his three bad guys, though mostly in the case of the ones he could actually hit without getting incredibly creative, while Sora made another attempt at getting to the massive Heartless. Sora did not get any luckier in reaching it than the last time, only this time, Night Hunter was the one who intercepted Sora by taking a swing at him with his demonic sword. Sora managed to block the villain's strike before I could hit, and just glared at this mystery masked man before shoving him back again and beginning a full-on sword battle with Night Hunter.

Calling the little duel that broke out between Sora and Night Hunter a sword battle was probably not all that accurate, though. If anything, it would have been more accurate to call it a one-sided beat down, because Night Hunter was clearly much more skilled than Sora, and that was without using any of his extraordinary powers. For every one of Sora's swings, Night Hunter had a parry or a deflect ready and waiting to use, and not only that, but even Sora's own defense was not able to stand up to Night Hunter for very long, because the masked villain seemed to find a weak point or a hole in it every time, often resulting in Sora getting hit pretty hard. With how easily Night Hunter was able to best him, Sora was starting to feel like the villain somehow knew his fighting style almost perfectly. Sora was not about to kid himself into thinking that he was a master swordsman or anything, but from what he could tell, neither was Night Hunter, even if his technique was much more polished and refined, so it only made sense that Sora would assume that Night Hunter had studied up on Sora in order to gain an upper hand against him in a fight. The thing that really threw him off though, was that somehow Night Hunter's fighting style actually felt a little familiar to Sora as well. Do not ask Sora why that seemed to be the case, because he could not really tell you for sure. Thinking about this made Sora wonder if he really did know the person behind Night Hunter's mask somehow, and it certainly lined up with how the guy was talking like they knew each other earlier, albeit in a less than friendly manner, but that did not make it any easier for Sora to place who this guy could be.

Sora was quickly reminded that thinking about such things in the middle of a fight was a bad idea, because the second he took his mind away from the fight, he left himself open for Night Hunter to blast him back into the wall, near the door where several students had previously fled through or were now taking cover behind. Night Hunter must have been smirking behind his mask as he slowly approached, and it honestly disturbed Sora how easily he could imagine said look, but just as he was about to reach Sora, he was suddenly hit in the head with a burger of all things. He looked at the messy remains of the sandwich before turning his head towards the direction it had come from along with Sora, who was just staring in disbelief wondering if that had actually just happened. When the two laid eyes on the thrower, they quickly spotted a girl with long blonde hair dressed in a white shirt under an orange vest, a black skirt, black stockings that went up to her knees, an orange head band that helped keep her bangs out of her face, and brown shoes. Despite the fact that her bright, crystal blue eyes were glaring daggers at Night Hunter, neither Avenger nor villain were able to believe that she had just done that.

After another minute or so, Night Hunter finally said, "That…was a very stupid move, Blondie. You realize that, right?"

"Yeah, well so is attacking a school, as well as teaming up with Spider-Man's villains. Now leave both Spidey and Key-Fighter alone," the blonde retorted, her hand already reaching for another bit of cafeteria food to throw.

Someone else beat her to the punch though, as another glob of food was suddenly thrown at Night Hunter's back, and when the two turned just in time to get a spray of soda right into the face of his mask, courtesy of Anya, while Miles readied another food projectile for action. "You heard, Stacy, Diablo. Leave our friend alone," Anya shouted while shaking another soda can.

Night Hunter was quickly getting annoyed, but he was also being easily distracted, and Sora was able to use that to his advantage. While his two new friends and the girl Anya called Stacy were still peppering Night Hunter with food, Sora took a page out of Riku's book, and flipped himself to his feet, kicking Night Hunter in chest as he did. He may have always hated it when Riku did it to him during their spars, but Sora would definitely admit that it was effective. Night Hunter was a bit disoriented by Sora's attack, and as such, Sora was able to rush forward and smack him across the roof with his Keyblade, right into Sandman. Sora found it a little odd that the living beach was not taking part in the fight too much, while Kraven and Mysterio were so intent on dealing with Spider-Man, but he was not complaining too much right now, and he doubted that Spidey was either. Especially since there was still the matter of a certain, large Heartless to address. Sora was just about to make a dash for said Heartless, when Night Hunter slowly stood up again, and he was quickly dropping back into a battle stance, ready for whatever the villain would try next.

What he did not expect was for Night Hunter to just laugh a little and say, "So the big tough Avenger needs to be saved by a trio of kids. Pathetic." A then snapped his fingers, and his sword disappeared while a black portal appeared behind him, and he slowly walked backwards into it while leaving Sora with one last warning. "We'll meet again, Samurai Key. But for now, consider yourself on probation. Though, if you defeat the Guard Armor, perhaps you'll get off early."

With that, Night Hunter disappeared, and his portal vanished soon after, leaving Sora to just stare at where his newest enemy had previously been in confusion. He quickly shook it off though at the sounds of shifting sand and Spider-Man's webs, and he immediately returned his attention to what was going on right now. Before he did anything else though, he looked to his two new friends and the other girl so he could address them. "Appreciate the help, but you really shouldn't be here right now."

"Why? So we could wait outside until we heard you got the crap beaten out of you or worse later," Miles asked. "Like that was going to happen."

"Besides, Spidey's saved this school and a lot of our lives several times over, my own included. If we can help out, even a little, then why shouldn't we," Stacy stated with her arms crossed and a look on her face that dared Sora to argue with her.

Sora had to admit that she had a point, so he just nodded in reluctant admittance of this, and said, "Okay, fair enough, but next time, maybe just go about it the same way anyone else would? After all, there are better, less-life-risking ways to show someone you're grateful to them. Now you guys get out of here so I can help Spidey take down these other guys and that Heartless down there."

"You got it, Sora," Anya nodded, and she quickly lead both Miles and Stacy through the door back into the school so they could evacuate to safety with the other students.

With his friends now in the clear, Sora quickly surveyed the area in order to get a feel for things and help decide what he should do next. From where he was, Spidey seemed to be handling Kraven and Mysterio pretty well, while Sandman either seemed hesitant or too slow to try and help his allies. Given Spider-Man's experience, Sora was sure that the web-swinger could handle them, and it looked like Spidey was trying to get the villains out of the school and out onto the street, or down to ground level at least. With that in mind, Sora figured it would be better for him to focus on the Heartless, and now that Night Hunter had vanished, there was nothing to keep him from going after this Guard Armor thing. His decision set, Sora raced to the edge of the roof again, and this time, managed to jump down and summon his Keyblade Glider. He only kept it out for a little bit, but that was all he needed to move in close to the massive monster before changing the flying bike back into a Keyblade, which he immediately swung straight down the middle of the Guard Armor.

When he turned to observe his handiwork, Sora was shocked to see that the Guard Armor did not appeared to be harmed at all. He was sure that it would just be destroyed the minute he hit it with his Keyblade like any other Heartless had been, but from where Sora was standing, it looked like he had not even scratched the thing. Sora quickly shook it off and made to charge the Guard Armor again, when something suddenly slammed into him from the side. The something in question was actually Spider-Man, who had succeeded in drawing the other villains down to the ground, but only because Kraven had thrown him down there, and he had barely saved himself from becoming street pizza by slinging out a web-line at the last minute. He had mainly slammed into Sora because he was not able to put on the brakes fast enough, so now, he was jumbled up in a mess alongside Sora.

"So, how's your day going," Spidey asked once they untangled themselves.

"Oh you know. Got a new archenemy who apparently knows me despite the fact I have no clue who he is, my first day of school is turning into even more of a nightmare than I thought it was going to be, and I've got a massive Heartless that's turning out to be harder to kill than the normal ones to deal with. So, I'd say my day's just peachy. How about you," Sora quipped in reply.

"Eh, I've had better, so I guess we're pretty much in the same sinking boat," Spidey shrugged. A minute later, Kraven and Mysterio dropped down near them, standing on the one side of the heroes, while the Guard Armor remained on the opposite side, and looking just as dangerously menacing as the Heartless. "And it looks like its drowning even faster."

Looking at their surroundings, Sora found himself once again wishing he understood how he did some of the more crazy things that were possible with his Keyblade, namely freezing someone in place like he had Captain America when they first met, but it did not look like he was going to get very many hints right now, and at the moment, he did not have the time to pause, breathe, and attempt to focus. Just when he had thought that, a sharp pain suddenly ran through his head, much like the one he had when he learned about the Keyblade Glider, and next thing that Sora knew, his surroundings had started becoming hazy, then started slowly shifting and changing, while the people in the area began to fade away from view, until at long last, he found himself watching something else entirely.

---

Despite the calm, serene surroundings, which included the very strange, yet magnificent castle on the mountain behind him, he was feeling very frustrated, a fact that was only punctuated by how he punched the ground in frustration after he had dropped to his knees in exhaustion. "Why can't I get this," the young boy shouted. What he did not expect was that his cries would elicit a small giggle from behind him. Hearing that particular giggle made him freeze a little, because he immediately recognized it, and immediately turned to see that a certain blue-haired woman was standing there with a hand trying to hide her smile. "Aqua! How…How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to see you completely drain yourself while practicing magic," Aqua shamelessly admitted with a kind smile. She then walked over and knelt down to his level, her smile never wavering, even as she ruffled the hair of her friend. "You know that getting upset isn't going to help you master your magic. You need to keep a calm mind, otherwise every bit of your inner strength could be drained by even the simplest of spells. Kinda like the first time you tried using Fire, remember?"

"I know, I know, but no matter what I do, I can't keep focused long enough, and I get frustrated when my best spells come out like they're just thin air," he retorted. He then sighed and said, "I wish this stuff came as easy to me as it does you and Terra."

"Me, I can understand, but Terra? Were you watching the same thing as me the last time he tried to cast something more than Thundaga, because I could've sworn it looked like he ended up frying his own butt instead of the targets," Aqua lightly joked, earning her a laugh from her friend. "Don't worry, everyone has a different approach when it comes to learning magic. You just need to figure out yours."

"Well there's gotta be something that's similar for everyone, because I've been trying to figure out what mine is without any luck," he protested.

Aqua hummed in response to this, and placed a hand to her chin in thought, until she smiled and said, "Well, there is one thing: Master Eraqus once told me that many Keyblade wielders will think about the things that matter to them most in order to center their inner strength and control their magic, namely that one thing that allows them to remain in the light. Maybe if you try thinking of what's most important to you, you'll be able to handle it. After that, it's just a simple matter of remembering that magic is really as simple as wanting something to happen."

"Are you sure, Aqua," he asked, still sounding unsure.

"Hey, you should at least try it before writing it off, Ven," Aqua jokingly scolded with a playful shove, just before everything went white again.

---

"SORA," was the other thing that drew Sora out of his vision, along with hearing what Aqua had just called…him? It was him who had been through that, right? It looked and felt a lot like a memory, but that could not have been the case. If that was one of his memories, then why would Sora not remember that until now? Whatever the case, Sora had to put it aside, because right now, Spidey was back to fighting Kraven and Mysterio, with the Guard Armor swinging its massive fists at him as he spun through the air in an attempt to avoid the Heartless.

Despite this, Sora still paused as he thought about what he just saw and heard, namely the advice that Aqua had given before he returned to the present situation. Could it really be that simple when it came to controlling his magic? Simply thinking about what he viewed to be most important to him and then channeling it into inner strength? It seemed both too easy and clichéd, and yet, if there was a chance that it could work, Sora had to take it. Turning his gaze about the area again, Sora analyzed the area, using the visor in his helmet to help, and after studying the Guard Armor with his scanners, Sora saw that this thing was putting out a much stronger signal than any of the Heartless he had dealt with before now, so he doubted he would be able to affect it with that freezing spell like he had with Cap. That meant, he would just have to use it on Mysterio and Kraven, hoping for the best. Once he had zeroed his sights onto the two supervillains, his helmet's visor aiding him by giving him a set of targeting reticules over the bad guys, he aimed his Keyblade at them, focused on thoughts of his friends, and shouted a single word that summed up what he wanted to happen next. "STOP!"

Spider-Man did not know what happened. One minute he was on his back, unable to do anything other than watch as Kraven charged, ready to sink his claws into him with Mysterio using his cackling little gremlin-robots to distract him, and the next thing he knew, both villains had frozen in place after what sounded like a clock chime had gone off. He then slowly moved around, looking the two over, and neither one of them even moved an inch, save for how Kraven's eyes seemed to move from side to side. "Um…What just happened," Spidey finally asked after a minute.

"I think I've finally gotten the hang of this thing when it comes to magic," Sora revealed with a smile. The sound of shifting sand drew his attention to what was behind him, and he immediately jumped away just as Sandman had fully formed in front of him. "How about you chill out. Or better yet…Freeze," Sora shouted, aiming his Keyblade at Sandman. Unlike before though, nothing happened, much to Sora's annoyance. "Okay, maybe I'm just starting to get the hang of it, but I don't need magic to deal with a walking sandbox."

"Whoa, wait a minute there, Key-Boy," Spider-Man interjected, jumping between the two when he did.

"Key-Boy? Seriously," Sora asked. "Now you're just trying to make fun of me."

"Well then, either pick a name for yourself, or take what others are giving you."

"Oh, so if you call me Key-Boy, does that mean I can call you Spider-Boy?"

"…Touché. Just let me talk to him," Spidey nodded before returning to the matter at hand.

"Why," Sora asked. He did not get what Spider-Man was getting at. Had he forgotten how often Sandman had nearly killed him in the past, or any of the other crimes that said supervillain had committed? It was not exactly kept a secret from the public.

"Well, there's the fact that he's keeping your other big friend over there from trying to hurt us, in case you hadn't noticed," Spidey pointed out, waving towards the Guard Armor when he did.

When Sora looked to the Heartless in question, he saw that Spidey was right. There was sand rising up and holding the Guard Armor in one spot, much to his surprise, and the only explanation behind that could have been Sandman. Seeing this, Sora eventually just nodded to Spider-Man and let the web-swinger do his thing. "What're you doing, Marko," Spidey asked. "The last time I saw you, you had helped me to save the lives of a lot of people. I thought you were gone after that, but the fact that you're still here is…Well, it's a huge relief, except for the fact that you're still making the same bad choices as before. What did these guys promise you? Money? Jewels? Some other trinkets that would count as part of another big score?"

"No, Spidey. Not this time. They only needed to offer me a cure," Sandman revealed.

"A cure? A cure for what," Sora asked, now very confused.

Spider-Man on the other hand, did not need any hints, because he had already started putting the pieces together, and the full picture just became clear thanks to that last one. "Whatever gave you your powers is starting to have a nasty side-effect on your body. You're already having a hard time pulling yourself together again, and that's why you've been dodging us for most of this fight instead of just letting our hits go through you like normal."

"Yeah, and pretty soon, I'm gonna go from Sandman, to just plain sand," Marko confirmed. "Doc Ock's the one who made me this way, and I figured that he's the only one who could undo it. I don't want to turn into some beach forever, so if there's a way I can avoid turning to dust, I've gotta take it, even if I gotta do something I don't want to."

Now Sora was starting to get where they were going with this, and an idea quickly clicked into his head. "You don't have to work with bad guys to get cured, Marko. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm friends with Tony Stark and Hank Pym. They're both pretty smart, and if they can't figure out a way to change you back to normal, then they've got other smart friends who could help. Just let us give it a try, and maybe we can…"

"What? Lock me up like all the other villains who are out and running lose since that whole Breakout thing? No way. I wasn't even doing good stuff even before I went sandy. I don't want to go back to jail again. Besides, I may want stay together, but I don't want to be normal again. Flint Marko was just a nobody, and he never meant anything to anyone."

"Really, because I think he means a great deal more than you think," Spidey argued with total conviction. "You may have had powers to help you do it, but you still helped save both the lives of a lot of sailors and my life when that tanker blew. That wasn't Sandman who did that; that was all Flint Marko."

Hearing that made Marko pause and think for a moment, until he finally smiled a bit and said, "Yeah…I guess you have a point there."

"And you can do that again by helping us take down that Heartless," Sora pointed out, indicating the Guard Armor.

Marko looked between the heroes and the Heartless for a minute, thinking about his next decision, until he finally looked to the two with a determined expression and said, "What can I do to help?"

"Hold the thing in place long enough for me to get in close and hit it with the Keyblade. I just need to land a clean shot and it'll be destroyed," Sora explained. "Spidey, think you can spare a few webs to help with that?"

"I should have enough web-fluid left for the job," Spider-Man nodded with a roll of his shoulders. He then fell into a battle stance of his own and said, "Let's do this."

With that, the three immediately rushed in, with Sandman using every grain of sand that he had at his disposal to hold the Guard Armor in place. Spider-Man was able to provide a great deal of support in restraining the Heartless by adding a few webs into the mix, so the Guard Armor was completely immobile by the time Sora had gotten in range, using a pedestal that Sandman had formed to help boost him into the air so he could land an aerial strike on the massive monster. The hit was true and clean, but unfortunately, it did not seem to do anything, as the Guard Armor proved when it managed to get a leg free and kick Sora away, right into Sandman, who instantly dispersed into sand the minute that Sora went through him. After rolling aside in order to avoid being stomped on, Sora had to take a minute to spit some sand out of his mouth while Spider-Man flipped over to him.

"Well, that worked like a dream," Spidey sarcastically commented.

"I don't get it," Sora muttered, ignoring the web-head's sarcasm. "I know this thing has more power than the other Heartless, but that shouldn't mean its invincible against the Keyblade."

"Well apparently it does," Spider-Man retorted, waving his hand at the Guard Armor as if to prove his point.

"But it shouldn't. Fury and Thor both made it very clear that creatures like the Heartless are most vulnerable to the Keyblade, so why is this one still going like I was just throwing a simple rock at it," Sora demanded, barely noticing that Sandman had finally managed to pull himself together, proving he was telling the truth when he said that he was having a hard time keeping and regaining his solid state.

"Hey fellas? What happened to the thing's arm," Sandman suddenly asked, interrupting the arguing heroes.

Spider-Man and Sora both turned to see that the Guard Armor was indeed missing an arm now, whereas it still had both before Sora's strike. After thinking for a minute, Sora just shrugged and said, "Maybe it detached it in order to launch some kind of sneak attack on us?"

"Kid, the thing wasn't attached to begin with! None of its limbs are," Sandman pointed out.

"Hold on…Maybe that's why Sora couldn't take him out so easily before," Spider-Man suggested, a theory quickly forming in his head. "Maybe each part of the thing has its own energy levels that are depleted when they get hit by the Keyblade, which would mean that it would get weaker every time we take one part out."

Sora was quickly scanning the Guard Armor with his visor, and he immediately revealed, "The energy levels on the Guard Armor have gone down quite a bit compared to what they were before."

"So we just have to take it apart piece by piece, and then its toast," Sandman asked.

"Yep, pretty much," Spider-Man confirmed. "Sora, you stay at the ready to hit it once you have an opening. Marko, you and me are gonna pick a limb and pin it down anyway we can."

"Right," the two nodded, and they were soon setting to work once again.

This time around, Sandman focused mainly on keeping the remaining arm and torso of the Guard Armor in one place, while Spider-Man webbed up its large feet every chance he had, and they both made sure that each part of the massive Heartless stayed where they were long enough for Sora to rush in and slash it with his Keyblade. Despite the fact that each part of the Heartless was weaker than they were as a whole, Sora still had to hack at each one a couple of times or so before they dispersed or broke apart, but that mattered very little because in a short time, Sora had managed to destroy both the legs and the arm, and all that was left was the torso. Without its other limbs, the Guard Armor had been freed to unleash a powerful spinning attack on the three, but thankfully, they were able to stay out of its way for the most part, and with Sandman's help, Spidey managed to pin it down before it could try the same trick twice in a row. Taking his chance once again, Sora rushed in, leapt into the air, and hit the torso of the Guard Armor with a powerful, downward slash. A minute after Sora's feet had touched the ground, the Guard Armor began to rattle and shake, until it finally just dropped down onto the ground with a loud thud, and dispersed completely, releasing the same heart-shaped crystal that Sora had seen many times before.

"Well…that happened," Spider-Man panted in relief.

"Yeah. Welcome to my life," Sora panted in agreement as he plopped down on his back.

"Um…" Sandman suddenly said, drawing the two heroes' attention to him. "Were you serious when you said that you would talk to Stark and Pym about helping me, or did you only say that to get me to help you take down that monster?"

Sora just smiled in reply and said, "I'm always serious when I say that I'm gonna try and help somehow. You do still have to turn yourself in, but I'm definitely going to talk to Tony and Hank later today. I'm pretty sure that they're still going to make us finish up the school day or something."

"Yeah, somehow, I get the feeling that they're going to send students home early after what happened here, even after the cops have come to get…" Spider-Man stopped midway when he saw that Kraven and Mysterio were both now long gone, and groaned, "Aw man! I hate it when the bad guys get away like that! I thought they weren't going to be moving after you zapped them with your weird Key-sword."

"Keyblade," Sora corrected. "And to be fair, this is the first time I've actually let that spell run its full course. The last time I used it, I somehow managed to cancel it on my own without meaning too. I'm just glad that it was on Captain America and not an actual bad guy."

"Well…at least we got two of them," Spider-Man said. When Sora looked at him a little weirdly, he quickly asked, "You did get that Night Hunter guy, right?"

"No…He got away too, but I get the feeling that I'm gonna run into him again sometime soon," Sora revealed. His serious mood was quickly killed though when Sandman suddenly rushed up and scooped him up in a huge hug, much to both heroes' surprise. "Uh, what…?"

"Just…No one's ever done anything for me just to help, ya know, so thanks, kid," Marko explained once he had released Sora.

Sora simply smiled before looking to his Keyblade for a minute, and decided that it was time to finally put a certain nicknaming matter to rest. In order to do so, he simply hefted the Keyblade up so that it rested on his shoulder, and smirked as he stated, "That's Keyblade Samurai to you guys."

Marko smiled in approval of the new name, and Sora had to assume Spider-Man was doing the same since he could not see the web-head's face. That and the fact that Spidey had swung away shortly after Sora had said that. At that point, there was really nothing more to do but wait for the authorities to arrive, and Sandman made no moves to try and run whatsoever, determined to show that he was willing to own up for his crimes in order to get his cure. Seeing that, Sora could not help but smile, glad that Spidey had shown him that they did not always need to beat up a bad guy to win. Thinking on that, Sora found himself hoping to meet the web-head again, because he had a feeling that there was still a lot he could learn from him. To be honest, Sora was really looking forward to when that day came, and he had a feeling it would be really soon.

---

When the police came by later that day, they were accompanied by SHIELD, and Fury himself promised Sora that he would have Sandman transferred to a special holding cell where the Fantastic Four could safely work to find a way to stabilize him. He also promised Sora that Reed Richards would be getting in contact with Stark and Pym at the earliest possible moment, but Sora simply waved it off and said that he was already going to tell the two when he got home anyways. It did not stop Fury from making a small joke about how Sora's first day at school had gone, just to get a rise out of the kid, but even so, Sora was still happy for Marko, and seeing Flint's grateful smile definitely helped him feel even better about how things had turned out.

As for school itself, it turned out that Spidey was right to assume that the students would be sent home early, mainly so that Damage Control Inc could restore the place so that it would be safe for everyone, but the fact that a number of students had been quite shaken up had a lot to do with it too. Not that very many of them really showed it that much, making Sora wonder just how often some of these guys had encountered something like this in their lives. When he was walking out, Sora found himself getting the royal treatment as so many of his new classmates were now offering him thanks, while some even offered to be his new best friend, though Sora could tell that the latter of those were just doing it so they could say that they had an Avenger on their speed-dial. Not that he was too bothered by it, because he had already found a few real friends as it was, which he was happy about.

He had actually just spotted Miles and Anya on his way out, and was about to go over and talk to them, when he was stopped by none other than Peter Parker, who was now looking a little sheepish and apologetic. "Hey listen, sorry about some of the stuff I said before. You know, about you and the Avengers," Peter started off.

"Hey, don't worry about it. You did have a few good points," Sora tried to wave off.

"Well it still wasn't cool, and if I knew you were the Key-Guardian…"

"Keyblade Samurai," Sora interrupted, earning a confused look from Peter. "Hey, if everyone's going to insist on calling me something, I might as well have a say in the final decision. Anyways, like I said, you were right before. I guess some of the team do think we need to focus more on the bigger picture, and honestly, I was kinda focusing on at least part of that myself. Guess I forgot that other people are going to need my help too sometimes, be it because of the Heartless or even a simple purse-snatcher."

"Oh, well…Glad I could give you that reminder," Peter replied, slightly unsure but glad to see his words did have a bit of an impact. "And thanks for helping to save the school. I don't know if you know this, but you actually helped keep one of my best friends safe. Gwen Stacy. You know, the girl with blonde hair?"

"Yeah, I think I know who you're talking about, but to be honest, I think she actually helped save me more than I did her. Same goes for Miles and Anya too, really," Sora admitted. It was at that point, he thought of something he had heard earlier, and he just had to ask Peter about it. "By the way, I heard that you and Gwen Stacy were close to being a thing last year, but something had happened that made you guys decide not to. Care to explain that?"

"I'd rather not. It's…a little complicated," Peter revealed, his expression making it crystal clear how little he did wanted to discuss this particular topic. "Besides, Avenger or not, I doubt there's all that much you could do to help."

"I wasn't really offering, but I would like to if I could," Sora pointed out. "Besides, you could at least let me help by letting me be your friend. Sometimes, that's all someone really needs to get through the tough times, you know?"

Peter was silent at that point, and seemed to think about it for a few minutes, until he finally gave Sora a small smile and said, "Yeah, I'd like that. Thanks Sora."

"No problem, Peter," Sora nodded.

The two then fell silent after that, not really sure what to say now, until Peter thought of something that he could bring up. "Say, since you just started today, I'm guessing you're a little behind on what they're teaching. If you still need a tutor, I'd be happy to help out, and I get the feeling that Miles and Anya would too."

"Yeah, that would be great," Sora instantly agreed.

"Great. How about we start today? I was going to head over to ESU for my internship at Doctor Warren's lab with Gwen, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you tagged along. He's already cool with Miles and Anya stopping by every now and then for tutoring, and Gwen could be a huge help as well, so…"

"That would definitely be a huge help, thanks," Sora nodded. "Besides, I'm in no rush to get back to the mansion just to find that I have to keep Thor and Hulk from nearly starting a fight that could tear the place down again."

"Again," Peter asked.

"Long story," Sora shrugged.

"Well, it's a long bus ride to ESU, so I'd say we've got time," Peter shrugged with a friendly smile. He then looked over to see Miles and Anya approaching them as he added, "And I get the feeling they would want to hear it too."

Sora smiled in response to that, and immediately launched into story-mode, regaling his new friends with stories of things that had happened since the Avengers had formed, both big and small. As he boarded the bus for ESU with the three and Gwen, once she had caught up, Sora could not help but think that maybe school was not going to be so bad after all. He could not wait to tell Janet and the others about his day when he got home.

---

Late that night, Enchantress, Zemo, and Executioner were all gathered together in the ARC Reactor room of Stark Tower, where they witnessed Enchantress using her powers to restore Simon Williams, who had been transformed into a being of ionic energy and had nearly perished as a result of his transformation. The only reason he was still alive now was because of Enchantress' powers, and she had a simple task for him to carry out in exchange for this token of good will: destroying the Avengers. While Simon was not entirely okay with destroying the entire team, he did not have any problem with putting an end to Iron Man after Stark had bought out his company, and the Wonder Man was not going to let Stark destroy everything he had built and get away with it. Add in the fact that he did not want to die anytime soon, which he knew would happen in an instant if he said no, and Simon readily agreed to the Asgardian sorceress' offer.

Having settled that business, the four were just about to leave, when a dark portal suddenly appeared near them, from which a certain masked swordsman of darkness stepped forth. Zemo was instantly reaching for his sword, until Enchantress raised a hand and said, "There will be no need for that, Zemo. This young man is with us."

"And just who is this…boy," Zemo questioned, not at all seeing why they would need someone who was obviously a child in their steadily growing alliance of villains.

"Night Hunter, your counter to the Keyblade wielder, who apparently has decided to call himself Keyblade Samurai," the dark swordsman revealed with a smug tone.

Zemo froze a little, because despite the fact that it seemed as though this boy's voice was distorted, he did still recognize the rather deep tone it held as being similar to that of the man who had granted him temporary control of the Heartless. Was this the reason why he had been hiding behind that cloak before? No, that did not seem likely to Zemo. He may not have seen the stranger, but Zemo was absolutely sure that the man was in fact much older than the young lad before him. Enchantress on the other hand remained unfazed, and instead directed Night Hunter's attention onto another matter that she considered far more important. "And what was your impression of the boy?"

"I ran into a couple of hiccups during my encounter with him, but nothing that was too difficult to deal with. In the end, it just proved what I already knew: he's not going to be able to cut it. Even with those other heroes, or really just some random stranger, Sora will never be able to become a true Keyblade master. In the end, I'll get what is rightfully mine."

"You mean to say that you failed to capture the Keyblade from him," Enchantress questioned.

"Yeah, which reminds me that you and a certain someone else had said that I should have been able to take it from him, so why didn't it come to me," Night Hunter questioned, his tone carrying a strong hint of anger.

Enchantress was not at all phased by his outrage, though she was a little worried about what Zemo would say later since Night Hunter had indirectly mentioned her master, but she let that little slip slide so she could provide the explanation he needed. "It may not have chosen Sora originally, but clearly, it's found his heart much more suiting than yours after being in his possession for so long."

"Are you saying my heart's weaker than his," Night Hunter demanded, dark smoke already forming in his hand to show he was about to summon his weapon.

"Perhaps in some sense, and whatever the case, it's now bonded to his heart, so there will be no taking it from him without destroying him completely. But do not despair, my boy. That particular Keyblade is inferior to your current weapon, and the one that we are currently forging for you, so it won't matter if it remains with him or not. You'll still be able to prove you are his better regardless," Enchantress explained.

If she could see his face, Amora would have been able to see that Night Hunter's expression was twisted into one of anger at the first half of her speech, but by the time he had finished, all anger was replaced with a wide, twisted grin. All the same, he was not about to let the blonde Asgardian forget the reason why he was helping her and her master. "Just remember that I'm not doing any of this for free, Enchantress. And I'm not just referring to how you're to leave Sora to me and me alone."

"Of course," Enchantress waved him off, seeming as though what he was referring to was no big deal. "You help us, and in return, we'll grant you your wish, but only so long as you continue to uphold your end of the bargain."

"Don't worry. I intend to, and I won't let anyone get in my way. Including Sora and his new playmates," Night Hunter promised, and that made both Amora and Skurge's smirks grow even wider. After all, Night Hunter was certainly living up to the latter part of his name, and in no time at all, the worlds would all belong to them and their master.

---

Meanwhile, far away from where this little gathering of villains was taking place, another meeting among evil doers was happening, only this one involved villains that came from multiple different worlds, and who were all much more aware of the grander scheme than Zemo or Wonder Man were. The main topic of this meeting: the Keyblade Samurai's recent victory. "That little squirt actually took down that Heartless. Who'd have thought it," a large man with grey skin and blue flames for hair growled as he watched the images of Sora, Spidey, and Sandman's battle against the Guard Armor replaying before them.

"Such is the power of the Keyblade. The child's strength is not his own," scoffed a very regal sounding man dressed in an equally royal outfit while carrying a snake staff. "More than that, the boy had aid from another so-called hero of that world, and a supposed villain. Rather insulting to think that this Sandman could have been so easily swayed."

"Might I suggest we turn him and all of his friends into Heartless? Not only would that settle the problem of their interference, but it would also likely allow us to gain powerful new servants as well for our own needs," offered a tall man whose purple eyes seemed to glow with power, while his long, light blue hair ran down his back in a styling that made it look similar to two long horns, while his long ornate robes seemed to glisten a little even in the shadows of the room around him.

"Or we could just end up with more of the typical, pathetic Shadows that we already have in abundance. Like we really need more of those, especially when it concerns the plans I have in store for my own world," another man in a blue outfit, who strangely enough, had blue skin and a stitched up scar on one side of his face.

"And the brat's friends are supposedly this world's 'mightiest heroes,' while the king's lackeys are likely to appear before him any day now," a hook handed man in a pirate outfit snarled, scowling as he studied both Sora, and the images of the Avengers that had appeared alongside the first one. "Swoggle me eyes, they're all bilge rats by the look of them!"

"Well with all due respect to you, as a fellow pirate captain, yer not much of a prize yerself, me lad," another pirate stated. This one had a thick, wiry beard, shoulder-length hair, and a long black coat that was paired off with the extravagant tattered hat on his head.

"Shut up," the hook-handed pirate snapped, taking great offense despite his fellow's pirate's assurances that none was intended. "I won't stand for insults from some cursed cur like you."

"Enough," a new voice calmly declared, putting an end to any fighting that was about to break out. At once, everyone turned their attention to the head of the table, and leveled their gazes on the man who lead this group of villainy. This man was clad in a black bodysuit with gold armor covering his torso and arms, while black boots were adorned on his feet, a helmet with long antlers was worn atop his head, and his hand held a rather impressive trident-like staff. This man was none other than Loki, adopted brother of Thor, enemy of Asgard, son of Laufey, and God of Mischief. "The Keyblade has chosen this boy, however unassuming he may be, and our forces are already moving into play in order to handle him. Will he conquer the darkness, or will the darkness swallow him, my brother, and these Avengers whole? Either way, none of them are ready for what's to come next."

---

AN: And there you have it. Sora and Spidey have met and teamed up, the Master of Evil have a new member, this story's court of villains has made their debut, there was the battle against the Guard Armor, and Sora somehow managed to survive his first day of high school!

Sora: Ha, ha, very funny.

AN: Well I certainly thought so. Just to be clear, this Spidey and his supporting cast are mainly those of the Spectacular Spider-Man animated series (which should have gotten a third season), but it is in the aftermath of the show's second season. Meaning that Peter's a senior at Midtown, he's dated and broken up with Liz, he and Gwen both have feelings for each other but can't be together because of Green Goblin Junior, and...well, if you've seen the series, you know what I'm talking about. And if you know this, then I assume that I can guess you all know why I had Sandman's character go the route he did, so I'm not going to say much more on that.

BTW, like I said at the start, I'm going to simplify Tony's explanation as to why we're not breaking the fourth wall when Sora travels to other worlds in this story. At the most basic level, it's just like how they say that there's more than one way to tell a good story. I mean, this entire website is proof of that, for crying out loud! We all tell our own versions of various different stories with every chapter or story that we post on here, so even if Disney does exist in this story's version of the Marvel world, we won't be breaking the fourth wall simply because of that reason. Sora and the others have no way of knowing that the movies are a guideline to events of other worlds, so they're not going to approach anything like they know what will happen, and even if they did, it won't make a difference, because things could be completely different in comparison, or they could be at a point that the movies don't go into detail about, or that's in between two movies in a series, like Aladdin, Toy Story, etc.

Now that we've cleared up that mess (and will hopefully never hear of it again), let's talk about Night Hunter. I know, not the most creative name, but it was really the best that I could think of, or at least the best thing that didn't sound something that was already used by someone else. If you're having a hard time figuring out his appearance, here's a simpler description: Riku's Dark Form with Vanitas' helmet. I'm sure a lot of you have already figured out who it is that's behind the guy's mask, even without that little detail that I just gave, and are wondering why I added in the helmet. Well the answer might actually surprise you a little...But I'm not going to reveal it just yet. I don't like giving out spoilers you know.

Hulk: And you also like messing with all of a story's cast members that try to give them.

AN: Well I wouldn't say all of them. I've never done a spoiler gag on you, have I Hulk.

Hulk: Because you know I'll smash you later if you do.

AN: I can neither confirm nor deny that. Oh, before I forget, yeah, I added in Miles Morales (The Ultimate Spider-Man aka Kid Arachnid) and Anya Corazon (Spider-Girl), both of which are closer to Sora's age than Peter is, and there appearances are actually similar to those that they have in the newest Spider-Man cartoon, Marvel's Spider-Man 2017. I know not a lot of people are really big fans of that series, and I have to admit, I myself find it to be a bit lacking in a few departments too, but it does make up for that in a few different ways, partly by adding in characters who we haven't seen in any Spider-Man animated series yet, like Max Modell or Anya, and partly because it also does something that other series don't really do that much: emphasize the scientist side of Spidey's character. Before anyone asks, yes, Miles will assume his heroic alter ego later on in the story, and Anya may end up becoming Spider-Girl at some point in the series as well, but for now, the only other female Spider-Hero I intend to add would be our new favorite Spider-Woman: Spider-Gwen. Yeah, Gwen's going to get spider powers later on, and you'll see how when we reach that chapter. Plus, since Peter is in a higher grade level than Sora, I needed to add in a character or two that was in the same year as him, otherwise, it would just be Sora and maybe one or two other characters attending Midtown by the next story, since Spidey and all of his friends are seniors here.

Hope you all also enjoyed another little bit of Ven's influence in Sora's journey for this story via that little flashback scene between Ven and Aqua, and before anyone asks, yes, we will be seeing more of such visions happening, along with one or two visions of things that happened to both Ven and his two best friends, at least in regards to their adventures here on the Avengers' world. I mainly just added that in so that Sora could have a way to start getting a better handle on his magic, or at least something close to a better handle. Obviously he's still got a ways to go, otherwise, he'd be using things like glide, wall-jumping, and teleporting by now.

Also, in case it wasn't clear, yes, this chapter happened at the exact same time that the other Avengers were dealing with Wonder Man, hence another reason why we saw that little scene between Night Hunter and the Masters of Evil at the end there. And speaking of bad guys, now you know how the big council of villains has changed in this story, compared to the canon version. Obviously Ursula and Oogie Boogie are not part of this, and there are quite a few members that are still present (Namely Hades, Jafar, and Captain Hook), but we've also seen two other Disney villains join in along with a third member as well. In case you did not figure it out, the new guys are Dr Draken from Kim Possible, and Hector Barbosa from Pirates of the Caribbean, so you can probably guess what that means for two worlds we'll be seeing in this story.

Captain America: What about that third villain. The man with strange hair and eyes? He did not seem to be a Disney villain.

AN: That's because he's not. He's a Final Fantasy villain, and we'll be seeing him again in a chapter that will come after the events of Gamma World, so expect to see him again some time soon.

Wasp: Please just tell us who he is. None of us can take the suspense.

AN: Okay, fine. He's Seymour Guado from Final Fantasy X. Happy? Good. Let's move on, and before anyone asks, yes, that does mean the world he's from will appear here. I did say we were going to have more than just Disney and KH worlds in this story, after all. And to round things out, it's not Maleficent who's leading the big bads from other worlds, but our favorite, evil Asgardian who we just love to hate, Loki! Who is actually sporting his appearance from the Avengers Assemble animated series, the first one to be more specific. But he does have the staff he was using in Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, at least at the moment, so hope that will make up for anyone who's not okay with that. Honestly though, I gave Loki that appearance because I like that one more than the one he had in Avengers: EMH. It just seems better in my opinion. As for why I have Loki leading the villains as opposed to Maleficent, well, it just made more sense. Besides, the two have a lot of similarities, so it's not like it's going to be that incredibly different having Loki calling the shots. Sorry for anyone who was hoping to see Maleficent getting her dragon-hide kicked here.

Well, I think I've covered everything I wanted to, so I'll just go ahead and get to the really good part of these ending notes, aka the part that everyone normally reads them for: details/ideas on what's gonna go down next chapter. We're headed back to the main story there, and I'm sure everyone's going to be especially excited about it after seeing the awesomeness that is the movie about one of the characters who will join the team next chapter! Onto the Preview!...

It's back to work for the Avengers again, and their main objective right now is identifying the mystery man who saved Captain America and Sora from Zemo when the masked villain had infiltrated the mansion. They do not have to ponder that for long though, as the man in question appears before them, revealing himself to be the prince and rightful ruler of Wakanda, T'Challa, and he has come with a desperate plea for help. When the team finds themselves entering a battle against both the forces of Wakanda and HYDRA, one has to wonder just what it will take for them to come out of this alive, let alone help restore the Black Panther to the throne. Maybe perhaps, a mystery individual who has been running around the vibranium mine in an attempt to sabotage HYDRA since T'Challa's departure? Find out what sort of jungle rumble the team will get into, in the next thrilling chapter.

Yep, the king of Wakanda is coming aboard next time, and it looks like he won't be alone. Exciting, right? For now though...

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