The Young Avengers' Chemical Romance
(Or Something, I'm Not Really Sure TBH just Spitballing)
1. Daily Protector of Jersey CityKamala Khan was writing fanfiction. The story was titled 'The Great Adventure of Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, and Monica Rambeau'- so obviously it was by her. Also obviously, she should probably be sleeping right about now. But she couldn't wait to finish the sixteenth chapter, and she was writhing in excitement from the text that had popped up on her phone at exactly 7:26 pm, while she was visiting Bruno, Nakia, and Zoe to make homemade ice cream. The one that invited her to a new group of Avengers- they were called the Young Avengers, no less. Kamala squealed again, and then winced- if her Ammi or Abbu heard her at this time at night, she'd likely not only be grounded, but have her being-a-superheroine privileges removed, and with rising crime rates, Jersey City could not afford that right now.
She silently cursed herself for making so much noise, and then as she finished the last six words, she looked at her chapter and scowled. It was undeniably short- five hundred words or so. Plus, she was skeptical about the plot twist. With a groan, she deleted the chapter and logged on to FreakingCool (she always backed up her info with a google doc) to alert her followers (which she had far more of than her YouTube Channel) that the fic's release would be a day or three late. She quietly closed her laptop and crawled under the comforting covers. She could worry about all that tomorrow.
Which she would've, if an hour and a half later, her alarm went off signaling that it was time to wake up for school. Sometimes, Kamala really hated everything that she had to balance; it was so much pressure, especially when she had an idea she had no idea how to get out onto paper in a reasonable amount of sentences and wound up writing six hundred words on two characters that never interact romantically ever again, but what was she going to do about it? Those were average fanfic writer woes. Why did I choose to do this?
With a groan, Kamala slid out of bed. She wanted to get to school a half hour early today to see if she could avoid her daily catastrophes (which had gone back to being more or less problematic ever since the development of her superhero powers) and to break the news to Nakia, Zoe, and Bruno. She slid down the stairs, where her parents were already up (because they were like that), before she was hit by a tidal wave of exhaustion overtaking her and nearly causing her to fall over.
"Kamala, beta, are you okay?" Kamala's mother said immediately. "You seem exhausted lately… this isn't because of a boy, is it?" she added, dropping her voice low. Kamala could only shake her head 'no'. Maaaaaaybe she should stop pulling two all-nighters in a row to patrol and write fanfic. "Good," Muneeba said firmly. "I want you to stay away from that as long as you possibly can."
"Ammi, I'm nearly eighteen. I think I can take care of myself," Kamala muttered as she grabbed a piece of naan bread (Kamala insisted on getting the garlic butter brand from Raleys; it tasted so good) and ran to the freezer door.
"You failed your driver's license test again, beta," her Abbu reminded her. "That doesn't help support your case." Kamala sighed, snagged a Capri Sun from the freezer (she liked them better when slightly frozen), and ran down to the car. It hadn't even been her fault! How was she supposed to know everyone was supposed to be buckled before the car was turned on? Plus, she had done that test on two hours of sleep. It was hardly her fault. Wait, she'd told herself that already.
"I only failed because the instructor held a grudge on me from last time," Kamala said instead, which wasn't true because it had been a different instructor, but whatever. "I forgot to take the car out of reverse! It was a technical thing, and to this day I swear every single one is out to get me."
Kamala's parents sighed, and she stepped outside, snagging her backpack off of the coat hook on her way out, sliding into the slightly dinged up family car, which was an ugly shade of blue Kamala hated. She preferred red cars, if she was being honest. With a metallic sheen and automatic shift- not stickshift, like her parents insisted she learn. She checked her phone, glancing at the text to make sure it was real as she closed the door. But this time, there was a new one, much to her surprise. (She was also surprised the first text wasn't gone, but whatever)
UNKNOWN SENDER
7:26 PM
Unknown Sender:
To whom it may concern, you have been recognized for your work in helping the world. You have been recruited to join the Young Avengers (a new team being formed). Meet at the old Avenger Tower on Sunday at noon.
6:02 AM
Unknown Sender:
Dear Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel), you have been, under close scrutiny and with careful debate, selected to lead this team. Do not let us down.
Kamala nearly dropped her phone. Now she had to tell her parents. "Ammi, Abbu, I received a text message from S.W.O.R.D," she said. Immediately, both her parents stopped their worrying and fussing over random things and turned to stare at her intently. "You know… the Sentient World Observation and Response Department?"
Finally, her mother nodded. "We knew that, Kamala. We just are quite surprised they'd contact you again, is all. What is it this time?" Her Ammi's voice was almost flat and robotic (likely from trying [and failing] to not sound upset), and yet still filled with unease- and Kamala couldn't blame her. The last time S.W.O.R.D needed her for anything, it had ended with an intergalactic space quest and flerkens. She was now trying to convince her parents she needed one of the adorable fluffy octopus cats, if not because it would be a fun sidekick.
"Well, I'll tell you on the way to school," Kamala said, noticing the car hadn't budged an inch, and she still wanted to be early. Speed it up, please; I need to plan to save the world. As the car began to move, she too began to speak. "But basically, they're making a new team of Avengers and they want me- can you believe it?- to lead. I get lead a team that saves the world-"
"Absolutely not," both of Kamala's parents said simultaneously. Kamala wasn't surprised- but she also knew this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to lead a team of superheroes, and some of them could be older than her! She could be in charge of adults! Kamala's mother went into further detail, "There could be boys there, beta, and you could be put in even more danger by being associated with them. Of course, there are many other reasons why this is not a good idea. So yes, our answer is 'No' and that's final."
Only problem was, Kamala wasn't going to take no for an answer. With a sigh, she knew what she had to do: AvengerCon 2.0. And lots and lots of sleepovers and hangouts and study sessions with Zoe as cover (because Nakia's parents would absolutely sell her out to her parents; Zoe's parents, not so much).
With a grin, she pulled out her phone and began to text Bruno.
All three of them were down to help. Kamala could've sworn she saw Zoe shed a tear. "Our closeted girl is all grown up~"
"I'm bisexual, not locked up in a basement," Kamala sighed, interrupting her. "And you will speak none of this. This is very against the rules- Nakia can attest to that- and I've broken enough rules without directly going against the Qur'an- I'm still not sure if this does and I'm not willing to test it-, so if you could please spare me the humiliation of becoming a heretic and possibly being killed by extremists that would be great."
Zoe looked at her with mild shock, and Bruno looked equally concerned. "Wow, that's intense." But she said nothing more on the matter and simply moved on, much to Kamala's relief. Bruno also decided it was a good idea not to press, and Nakia knew full well that Kamala wasn't exactly the safest in that situation, but it was time!
"Alright. Here's how we fool my parents!" Kamala announced immediately. "One. Whenever there's a mission, there will be sleepovers, last minute study sessions I forgot about, anything. Zoe and Bruno will be my people in the chair. Comprendo?"
"Maybe try learning Urdu before Spanish," muttered Nakia teasingly, but under Kamala's frustrated glare, she decided not to speak further on the matter. Everyone nodded to show their comprehension, and Kamala grinned excitedly.
"Great. This is perfect! I'm the team leader of this group, so I'll have a lot to do. Nakia, whatever you do, make sure the IluminAunties never find out about this, or your parents. Maybe try to avoid the InstaClique group too. Otherwise, I will be grounded faster than you can find something wrong with the mosque and for longer than it takes to protest and fix it." Nakia nodded seriously; she knew Kamala wasn't kidding. She took a deep breath and began to speak again.
"Bruno. Whenever it falls through, I'm on a mission to help Kareem or Kamran or some innocent bystander and have to do something quickly. Whatever happens, divert the suspicion away from me. Maybe even say you gave the wrong location. This is the most important moment of my life and we cannot mess it up!"
Kamala ended her speech and plan. The other three nodded. Then Bruno looked her dead in the eye and said, "Yeah, I didn't really hear the first half. Can you repeat all that?"
Needless to say, Kamala was less than pleased.
It was Saturday. Nervously, Kamala approached the building. Both texts that had been sent by S.W.O.R.D. had long since been automatically deleted for security reasons. Better to be fifty minutes early than five minutes late (it was less awkward that way). Though it was more like forty-seven, she wasn't going to do the math now. In fact, she wasn't even the first one there- a (familiar) blonde Russian was pacing the steps impatiently.
Kamala nervously sat down. After a half hour of thinking, she began to wonder… maybe she wasn't cut out for this- wait a MINUTE! She recognized this blonde Russian lady (she could tell because of the accent when she was muttering to herself). Kamala shot up like a rocket. Oh my god! she thought immediately."You're Natasha Romanoff's sister, Yelena Belova! Holy sweet Allah, can I have your autograph?"
Yelena looked at her for five seconds, and… immediately walked the other way. "Get out of here, kid. From being on previous teams, I know how important your fanbase is, but… this is official-"
"Young Avengers business! I know, I'm Kamala Khan- your leader." Yelena slowly turned around. The way her face contoured from one of minor annoyance to complete and utter disdain within seconds was both remarkable and terrifying. Then a girl with a star jacket ran forward, huffing and puffing, temporarily distracting Yelena from possible thoughts of murder.
"Would have been easier to just use my slinglet, but no, I have to earn the damn thing," the girl muttered. "I'm nearly done with my training! But I have to go save the world and I just barely learned I can fly-"
Kamala and the girl made eye contact and time seemed to stop. Her eyes were like a dark chocolate brown, Kamala noticed, and her entire face looked like it would be perfect if only it was smiling. She stopped muttering and stood up, smiling (she knew it would look perfect that way) at Kamala. "Hi. I'm America Chavez."
"America Chavez." Kamala managed to choke her name out, grinning stupidly and staring dreamily at her and then shook her head. America stared at her with amusement and it seemed even Yelena couldn't contain her laugh. "Oh, I meant- I'm Kamal- erm, Kamala Khan," she stuttered out. Dangit, Kamala, she thought. Now is not the time to be bisexual. Fortunately for Kamala, another girl arrived- followed by a few guys and two clearly confused kids.
"No idea how we got here," one said. A girl dressed like a squirrel said something about a plot, and what looked like Scott Lang's daughter, Cassie, began to laugh at it. Finally, at noon, everyone was there. Except for a girl who came flying in on a zipline and jumping randomly- she was about five minutes late (Kamala's worst fear). Captain Marvel appeared in a hologram, and Kamala smiled to herself happily. She knew this hero. In person!
"Kamala. I see you're here- a welcome surprise. And per usual, Kate, you're fashionably late," Carol muttered. She turned to Kamala. "This is your team. Yes, Peter, before you ask, S.W.O.R.D. files do not cease to exist overnight. We know about you." A boy in a spider costume said nothing, only nodded, understanding it was time to be silent.
"You will assign the rooms to people," she instructed. "Recently, since reobtaining Stark's purchases from the government thanks to Wakanda, we have renovated the place, and now it's yours. Your team will be America Chavez, Yelena Belova, Kate Bishop, Daisy Johnson, Doreen Green, Cassie Lang, Nadia Van Dyne, Princess Shuri, Riri Williams, Peter Parker, Harley Keener, and Billy and Tommy Maximoff. Choose who will room with who- and we will make changes if deems necessary, just so you know."
"What?" cried Kamala. "I can't room with people, I have my parents and stuff like that, and school-"
"An email has been sent to your parents, Kamala," Carol warned. "You will be attending a privately owned, government funded school for free due to a scholarship you won in a class. They already know and have approved it as of…" Carol checked something. "Two seconds ago."
Kamala sighed. There goes my AvengerCon 2.0 plan, she thought as she looked back at the group, and began a mental paring. An idea began to form. She made her choice quickly, based on how each person was interacting currently (and based on how cute she thought America was). However, she knew she was on thin ice, since these people had just met her. "Alright. Me and America will room; Yelena and Kate; Doreen and Daisy; Cassie and Nadia share; Shuri and Riri are a duo too; I won't separate the brothers, so they'll room together; and Peter and Harley will as well."
As she finished the pairings, Kamala got hit with a major realization: this was a huge step up from Jersey City. And she wasn't sure she was ready for it.