AN: Story's Shadow and I are back with another chapter for War Of The Realms. Story's Shadow wrote this entire amzing chapter, It was so good I didn't want to add anything. Unto the show...
-New York City, Manhattan, Avengers' Tower, that night-
The old team, the Academy, the Avengers, and the Guardians of the Galaxy celebrated the old team joining the ranks of Earth's mightiest heroes. The Academy and the Avengers made preparations for the party: food, drinks, music, etc. The Avengers were a bit unsure of partying with the young adults, but Spider-Man said they needed to connect more with the younger generation of heroes to which they agreed.
But the Avengers and the Guardians mostly stayed around the bar whilst their juniors partied, well, most of them. Ka-Zar, Zabu, and Cloak stood awkwardly away from the group. Ava didn't really party like the others did, but she did drink and share stories with the others. Luke, Sam, and Agent Venom were dancing wildly. Spider-Man climbed on the wall next to the older heroes.
"What's the matter guys? Don't feel like partying?" He asked.
"Normally I would, but I don't think doing it with kids is very...uhh..." Tony tried to answer.
"We're not kids, Tony. We've helped save this world countless times," Spider-Man said.
"I know, but you're not-" Tony tried to say.
"-mature enough?" Spidey interjected.
"Well-" Tony tried to reply.
"Tony, you, Clint, and Thor did rolling chair races down the hall the other week. Remember? I had to take them away until you promised you would stop doing it," Natasha interjected.
"Wait, you what?!" Spidey gasped.
The wall crawler laughed as he practically rolled back and forth on the wall.
(Oh my God that's too funny! I wish I was here to have seen that!)
Tony and Clint looked at him without amusement.
"Natasha and Spider-Man are right. This is a celebration for our new teammates. We should be there to join them in the celebration," Steve said.
"Steve, when was the last time you partied?" Clint asked.
Steve rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
"Ummm...uhhh," he tried to say.
"Oh, wait I got it!" Spider-Man said.
The heroes gathered around a table, a chair at both ends.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the first annual Avenger Arm Wrestling Tournament!" Spider-Man proclaimed like a fight announcer.
Some rolled their eyes while others readied themselves for the tournament. Hulk, Thor, and Power Man stood from the sidelines watching with amusement.
"This shall be a most entertaining 'bout," Thor chuckled.
"Still think we should participate through the whole tournament," Hulk said.
"Hulk, you know you and Thor have an unfair advantage when it comes to this. You guys have your own match later," Luke replied.
Hulk smirked.
"I am the strongest one there is," Hulk bragged.
"Debatable," Thor chuckled, elbowing his friend in his side.
Hulk grumbled and threw his fist at him, but Thor blocked the huge green fist with Mjlonir. Thor smiled coyly back at him. Luke rubbed the back of his neck at this, not wanting to get involved. He had to be taken out of the tournament as well as he was also stronger than nearly everyone present. But he still wanted to see the matches. Clint sat in one chair.
"Who's ready to get beat?" He chuckled.
Before anyone could sit down, Zabu put his huge paws on the table and grunted.
"NO! No, no, no, no!" Clint panicked.
Everyone laughed.
"Down brother, I shall go," Ka-Zar chuckled.
The sabretooth grunted as he walked a few paces away. Clint gasped in relief.
"Ok, jungle boy, let's do this," Clint chuckled, throwing out his hand.
Ka-Zar sat down in the chair opposite from the archer.
"You know how to do this, right?" Clint asked.
"Yes, I spent enough time here to learn some of the 'games' that are played," Ka-Zar replied, taking the man's hand with his own.
"I still do not understand. Why are they holding hands? Is this...how do you all keep trying to tell me:...a sign of friendship?" Drax interrupted, confused.
"It's a contest, Drax. To see who's stronger," Carol explained.
"Ah, I see. It seems Earth does test its people...perhaps in a simple manner, but still something to test one's mettle," Drax replied.
"Sometimes it's more competitive, but it's usually for fun. In this case, it's both," Carol added.
"Go!" Spidey said.
Clint growled as he put all his strength into dropping the jungle dweller's arm onto the table. His eyes closed and his teeth gritted as he fought to win. But when he open his eyes, he saw Ka-Zar arm hadn't moved an inch. Clint's eyes opened wide with shock just as Ka-Zar slammed the Avenger's arm down.
"H-How?" Clint gasped.
"I regularly wrestle with my brother for fun and training. You did better than expected though," Ka-Zar explained.
Clint looked at him with disbelief. Black Widow patted him on his shoulder, an amused smirk on her face.
"Don't feel too bad, I don't think you could beat the sabretooth either," she said.
Zabu grunted a response in agreement. Clint pouted. Up next was Iron Spider and Iron Man.
"You sure you wanna do this, kid?" Tony chuckled.
"What's the matter? Afraid I'll beat you in a test of brawn, not just brains?" Cho mocked.
"Ok, kid. Let's do this," Tony replied, a little irritated.
"Go!" Spidey said.
The weight behind Tony's arm and armor was pushing Cho's down.
"What's the matter, kid? Is the old man still too strong for ya?" Tony mocked.
"Don't...count on it!" Cho grunted in frustration.
Cho somehow managed to move his arm up. Tony's eyes went wide under his helmet. Both grunted and huffed as they fought to win the match. But soon there were the sounds and sight of their arms' armors glitching and going haywire.
"End match! End match!" Spidey said.
"What?! No! I didn't win!" Cho complained.
"You mean: I didn't win," Tony said.
"Well look at it this way boys: you're both equally short fuses," Natasha said.
Almost everyone there laughed. Ava smirked at this.
"I've heard what you've been up to, nice work," Natasha said.
"Thanks. You gonna participate?" Ava asked.
"Please, that's something I don't need answered," the spy replied.
"Figured you'd take a shot with at least one. Spidey told us about the other Avengers except for a few. What about Jane Foster, Songbird, and Doctor Strange?" Ava said.
"Jane's been in a lab S.H.I.E.L.D. provided for her in Scandinavia, trying to work on the science of the hammer Odin gave her," Natasha explained.
"When are these eggheads gonna learn magic isn't science?" Ava sighed, talking to herself in part.
"Well Doctor Strange advised her of this, but I think she also wants to play with it a bit," Natasha added anyway.
"Speaking of him, where is the good doctor? And Songbird?" Ava asked.
"I'm not sure, which is odd for me. He said he'd been sensing something different and had to retreat to some mystic ground to meditate on it. Songbird's working with her old Thunderbolt team lately, trying to balance herself between both groups. Last I heard they were pursuing some Hydra goons in South America," Natasha answered.
Ava rubbed her chin, contemplating this.
"Well in any case, the next match is up," Ava said.
Steve stepped up to the table. Peter Quill strutted with a confident smirk to the table. Both sat down.
"You're sure you want to do this, soldier?" Steve asked, arm out.
"You bet, old man," Peter chuckled, taking Steve's hand.
"Go!" Spidey said.
The two men went at it. Peter was stronger than he appeared. Because of his hybrid nature, he was stronger than the average human...but Steve Rogers wasn't your average human.
"Well...pretty strong for an old man," Peter grunted, teeth gritting.
"Well son, I've been do the hard work longer than you have," Steve replied.
Eventually though, Steve managed to slam Peter's arm onto the table. Peter mumbled, rubbing his arm. Rocket snorted a scoff at this.
"What's with humans and this need to show off?" Rocket asked.
"You're one to talk," Gamora scoffed.
"Hey! I have to actually prove I'm dangerous! You know all those jerks underestimate me!" Rocket snarled.
"You literally have a reputation as a shoot first ask questions...never sort of Guardian," Gamora replied.
"Yeah, but they never expect it with this body," Rocket hissed, pointing to all of him.
"I am Groot," Groot said, patting his friend on the back.
"Yeah...fair point, thanks Groot," Rocket sighed.
Groot smiled.
"I'm up next!" Carol said, cracking her knuckles.
"What'd you say, Cap? Want a rematch with the gal who slammed your arm through the table?" Tony chuckled, elbowing Steve.
"I think Carol should have someone who's more worthy of challenging her," Steve said.
"Aww, thanks Army," Carol chuckled.
Carol looked around then smirked at one person.
"Gamora, why don't you show me what you've got," Carol chuckled.
"Is this really necessary, Captain?" Gamora asked.
"You might as well, Carol isn't exactly good with 'no's'," Natasha said.
Carol smirked at her.
"Very well then," Gamora said.
The two women took their seat and grasped each other's hands.
"Go!" Spidey said.
The two women went at it. Gamora grunted as she fought against Carol. Carol smirked the entire time, enjoying this every second.
"Come on, you can do better than that, Gamora," Carol teased.
"Don't push your luck, Captain," Gamora grunted, teeth gritting.
Eventually Carol put Gamora's arm onto the table. Carol shot her fists in the air.
"Yes!" Carol chuckled.
"In brute strength you hold the edge, but maybe we should have a full combat rematch," Gamora said, a smirk on her face.
"Love too, maybe we can do that for some other contest later," Carol chuckled.
The sound of something rolling is heard. Steve walks in, pushing a cart, with a huge cake on it.
"Cake! Sweet!" Nova said.
Everyone gathered around.
"Our final little, 'gift', to welcome you into the team," Tony said.
The group smiled. Ava's smile vanished.
"What's wrong?" Luke asked.
Zabu grunted, grumbling in the direction of the cake. Ava, kicked the cart up and the cake suddenly exploded all over Tony. Everyone except for Tony laughed.
"How'd you know it was a prank?!" Tony screeched.
"I thought I heard ticking and Zabu grumbling at it just confirmed my suspicion. Besides, I know you like to pull pranks on new members," Ava explained.
"Alright, let's go get the real cake," Steve said.
After a few minutes he brought back the same kind of cake. Zabu didn't grumble at it and every started digging in.
"Gotta say, Earth isn't all that bad," Rocket said, enjoying his piece.
"Indeed, their celebrations are most interesting," Drax agreed.
Spidey walked to his old team.
"So?" He chuckled.
"Thanks, Web Head," Nova said.
"Dream come true," Luke added.
"A great honor," Danny proclaimed.
Spidey turned to Ava, who had a smirk on her face.
"You never cease to amaze me, wall crawler," Ava teased.
Spidey grinned, putting his arms around them.
"Glad to have you guys back," he said.
"Alright everyone, time for the picture," Steve said after another few minutes.
The old team got their uniforms on. White Tiger, Iron Fist, Zabu, Rocket, Groot, and Thor grunted in surprise and confusion.
"What's wrong?" Sam, Falcon, asked.
"I am Groot," Groot answered.
Sam looked at Rocket, confused.
"Got a weird feeling," Rocket said, scratching his head.
"Indeed, there is something amiss," Thor added.
"What do you mean?" Steve asked.
"There is a strange energy...some mystical...and unknown," Danny answered.
"Maybe you all are just getting cravings for more cake?" Tony suggested.
"No, they're right. Something weirds going on," Tiger said.
Zabu grunted in agreement, Groot nodding as well.
"Strange said he sensed something. Maybe they're sensing the same thing?" Hulk suggested.
"Aye, we should talk with the doctor. He may have discovered something," Thor agreed.
"Sound plan," Steve said.
"Whatever it is, it doesn't seem to be a big deal. No strange weather or whatever going on. Let's just keep going with the party," Peter said.
"Well, we can finish the party. Tomorrow we can look into it," Spider-Man suggested.
"Fair enough," Steve agreed.
"Now come on, let's take this photo," Carol said.
Tony gave Agent Venom a camera. The Avengers, new and old, took their places and made poses.
"On the count of three, say: Avengers Assemble!" Agent Venom instructed.
Everyone got ready.
"One...two...three!" Agent Venom said.
"Avengers Assemble!" The Avengers proclaimed as Agent Venom took the photo.