Author's Note: Don't think I forgot about this story for a moment!
It's a grudge match of titanic proportions! The dastardly Advanced Idea Mechanics (AIM) and the villainous Hydra are at each other's throats over a device of immense power, the cosmic cube… and the Avengers are caught in the middle! Will they topple these criminal enterprises, true believers? Or will they and the rest of the world be forced to shout-
Chapter 19: Hail, Hydra!
Within the training hall of Avenger's Mansion, a series of oscillating particle fields orbited a single apple atop a pedestal. The scarlet fruit was only visible through the odd opening in the circling shields, both moving at different intervals and directions, making each gap appear for only a split second before disappearing again.
"There's no way you can make that shot." Iron Man intoned. Hawkeye paid little attention to him, his focus entirely on the apple and the shields as he pulled an arrow taut within his bowstring.
"Yup, Iron Man's right. There's no way you're gonna hit that." Wasp agreed, her tiny form hovering just at the corner of his vision. Hawkeye refused to reply, his eyes narrowing as he targeted the pinprick of an apple in the distance.
"I don't like to use the word 'impossible' but it may fit here." Ant-Man added. "What do you think, Hulk?" He asked the resident giant.
"Don't care. Only came in case Hawkeye started a fight." He rumbled with a smile. Finally, Hawkeye rolled his eyes.
"Thanks for the support, team." He grumbled, never once taking his eye off the apple. "What do you think, old man?" He asked aloud, noting Cap hadn't voiced his negativity yet.
"I haven't seen you miss yet." Steve replied from behind him. "I don't expect you to start now."
"Yeah… not to mention I placed a bet on you making this shot. So you better not give up your perfect aim now." Cybernaut remarked. Smiling at the supportive comments, Hawkeye renewed his aim and his focus, watching the patterns set by the shields and timing his release just so…
The moment things aligned, he loosed his arrow. Passing through first one shield, then another, it seemed to be on track for the apple-
And then the lights when out.
"What? Did I make the shot?" Hawkeye wondered amid the pitch black surroundings. None of them could see a thing, even a hand right in front of their face was practically invisible amid the thick darkness.
"What happened to the lights?" Janet wondered, searching around. "I can't see a thing-Oof!" The air rushed from her lungs as her minuscule form collided with Connor's face. "Sorry!" She quickly apologized, deciding she needed a light more than anything. Using her bioelectric powers, he fists became as bright as glowsticks and illuminated the rest of her team. "Where's Tony? What happened?" She wondered. They soon discovered his disabled suit of armor lying motionless on the ground. Gradually, his ARC reactor rebooted, flooding subsystems with a blue glow as his power was restored. Connor knelt and picked him up,
"I can tell you one thing, that was an electromagnetic pulse." He told the team. "All of the mansion's systems were abruptly cut off. I could sense them."
"But why isn't the mansion power up yet?" Hank questioned. Tony had his answer in moments.
"Well, it could've handled one pulse. But it looks like three went off in the city, back to back." That alone was alarming news and they all knew it. "We have to get up there, now."
Grabbing Hawkeye and Captain America, Hulk launched them skyward until they crashed through the floor of the main hall of the mansion. Hank shrank down and allowed Janet to carry him up while Connor and Tony flew in from behind under their own power. "You know, there were stars we could've taken." Tony grumbled, eyeing the sizeable hole right in the middle of the floor. Hawkeye scoffed and made for the front door, pulling it open.
"Hey, you're the one who said there… uh…" he paused mid-sentence, halted by the sudden and unexpected appearance of none other than Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow herself, on their doorstep. "…trouble." Hawkeye finally concluded.
"Avengers. I need your help." She stated coolly.
"Natasha…" Still lost for words, Hawkeye had very little to say as she pushed past him and entered the mansion unbidden. Hulk sudden recalled a memory from his past… and didn't like her presence one bit.
"Hulk remembers you! Stupid spy girl attacked Hulk in the desert!" He shouted.
"Yeah, and she's a traitor, a member of Hydra." Wasp echoed, shrinking down and taking flight. "Go smash her!" Not needing to be told twice, Hulk lunged forward with an angry roar and grabbed Widow in his oversized fist, slamming her into the nearest wall and pinning her there. Overcome by the ferocious assault, Natasha struggled to breathe.
"Have to… listen!" She rasped desperately.
"Widow, you've got about three seconds before we let the Hulk squeeze." Iron Man threatened. "Did you set off the EMP's?" He demanded.
"Not a… t-traitor…" Widow gasped, "you… h-have to… believe…! Fury sent me… to get inside… H-Hydra… Clint… please!" She begged her former partner. Loosing a sigh, Hawkeye relented, torn between two options and choosing to spare Black Widow over their shared experience.
"Let her breathe, Hulk." He said. "She saved my life. I owe her that much." The gamma giant turned to him, a frown on his face.
"You've gone soft." He grumbled, letting Widow fall to the ground on unsteady feet as she gasped for air.
"This better be good, Natasha." Clint snapped, not giving her a breather. "You got one minute, start at the beginning." Rubbing her neck with a groan, Natasha then began her tale…
Earlier…
Baron Strucker's Hydra contingent was scrambling to act. Orders had come down and troopers were on the move, arming themselves and loading into dropships. Ranks of uniform footsoldiers lined the Baron's path to his personal transport, accompanied by Black Widow.
"The AIM base has been located. It's coordinates are being transmitted to every Hydra ship. MODOC is to be destroyed! No one touches the Cube except me!" Strucker ordered.
"Baron, I need to know what we're dealing with here." Widow urged. "I am the only lieutenant you have left and I cannot help you if I don't know what is going on." Halfway up the boarding ramp, Strucker paused as he weighed her request. So far, only he had been privy to the goings-on between Hydra and AIM, not even Madame Hydra had known the true extent of AIM's project. Perhaps now, at this most pivotal juncture, it was time to let Widow in on the truth.
"MODOC and AIM have created a device that can change reality itself. The Cosmic Cube was designed to take one's deepest desires, their greatest wishes, and make them reality." He explained. "For instance, a reality where Hydra won the Second World War." The information was mind-blowing, but Natasha kept her composure, showing minimal expression.
"But if MODOC had such a device-"
"He would've used it by now." Strucker concluded. "That is exactly why we must capture it before it is complete. Then… the world will be mine!" Turning on heel, he extended a raised fist towards his loyal footsoldiers. "Hail Hydra!" At once, each soldier raised their fists in salute, returning his rallying cry as a chant that even Widow joined in on as proof of her loyalty. "Hail Hydra! Hail Hydra! Hail Hydra!" The transport door sealing shut, Strucker and several attack craft took their leave as the Hydra armada began to move… but not before Black Widow could establish tracking beacons on each of them.
"This was my mission: to infiltrate Hydra, learn the nature of the weapon they had hired AIM to create, and neutralize it. No one could've foreseen this." Natasha summarized, the Avengers listening patiently.
"I don't buy it, lady." Captain America stated directly. "If you infiltrated Hydra under orders from NIck Fury, then why come to us? Why not go to him?" He questioned.
"I tried. He'd set up a special channel for me to contact him if I needed to. But he's not responding." Natasha answered. "As far as SHIELD knows, the Black Widow is a traitor. If I go to them I'll be arrested. Fury was the only one who knew the truth, and as far as I can tell, he's disappeared."
"That doesn't make sense. The leader of the world's most prominent peacekeeping and special response division suddenly disappears? Sounds sketchy at best." Cybernaut surmised, crossing his arms.
"Cybernaut's right, it does seem a little fishy." Ant-Man agreed.
"I'm gonna go with Cap on this one, I don't buy it." Iron Man chipped in. "Not the Fury part, that I can believe. But a Cosmic Cube? Come on, nothing can just change reality."
"It doesn't matter what you believe. Both Strucker and MODOC believe it, and they're going to tear the city apart fighting for control of it." Natasha retorted. Suddenly, a distant rumbling followed by a shockwave rocked the mansion, every person on site feeling its effects. Then the outside window turned white, the result of some distant weapon discharged within the city.
"Kinda like that, I'm assuming." Ant-Man remarked.
"We need to hurry, before New York descends into an even bigger warzone." Natasha said hurriedly.
"We need a plan. We can't just start chasing random targets, we'll never get anything done otherwise." Cap insisted and the team agreed. "If this Cosmic Cube, or whatever AIM built, is what they're both after then that's what we need to find." Iron Man was about to suggest re-rigging the Quinjet's scanners when Connor stepped up.
"That… gives me an idea," he offered, turning to his other red-clad ally, "Ant-Man, I need to borrow Ultron…"
Moments later…
Bursting from its underwater hangar, the Quinjet took flight alongside Black Widow's commandeered Hydra jet. Iron Man flew between them, keeping a careful eye on Hawkeye and Widow in the green-shaded cockpit. "If you so much as sneeze in a way I don't like, I'll let the Hulk have you for lunch. Got it, Widow?" He threatened.
"Of course. We all want the same thing here, Iron Man. Once we get the Cube, I'll surrender myself to you." Natasha replied coolly.
Aboard the Quinjet, Cap took the reigns with Ant-Man as Wasp as co-pilots while Hulk sat in the back with Cybernaut busy working on Ultron. His hands on either side of the android's head, Connor applied his technopathic skills to rerouting his programming. Sitting quietly and obediently, Ultron subconsciously took notice of his incredible powers as they wove through his mind. Janet suddenly turned around and commented to Hulk, "Isn't it funny how people are all afraid of you? I bet she really thought you'd eat her."
"I would've." The jade giant rumbled. Nervous laughter followed as Janet shrank down in her seat, slightly unnerved by the very real possibility Hulk was telling the truth. Who knew what he was truly capable of?
Requiring an immediate change of mood, Janet looked to Connor and Ultron. "So, Connor, what, ah, what's your big-brain plan?" She wondered.
"I'm reprogramming Ultron's scanners based on the theory that Black Widow is telling the truth." He replied, his attention entirely focused on his work.
"And how exactly are you gonna get him to find a mystical-day-changing-cube-thingy?" Janet asked.
"Let me guess, by adjusting the range of his sensors to look for trace quantum elements that would be otherwise effected by the Cosmic Cube's distortion field?" Hank theorized. Janet shot him a bewildered look, like he'd just spoken a different language that was plain gibberish to her.
"Excuse you?" Connor cleared his throat and made to clarify. Hank was, by and large, correct.
"All matter in the universe is made up of similar ingredients: protons, neutrons, the god gene, quarks, atoms, that kind of stuff. As we exist, all of those things are in a specific order. I can adjust Ultron's scanners to perceive changes to that specific order, which we can then trace back to the Cosmic Cube in order to find it." He stated, dumbing down the terminology for Janet's sake. She seemed to understand.
"Ohhhh…" She realized with a nod. Then she turned on Hank, playfully smacking his shoulder. "Why didn't you just say that?!" She wondered, feigning mild annoyance.
"I did!" Hank protested.
"Heads up, team." Cap cut in, the flaring bursts of crafts exchanging fire obvious from their point of view as AIM and Hydra battled across the nightly New York skyline. They were in for a real firefight. Cap turned on end, making a steep banking turn towards the nearest dogfight as he, Iron Man and Hawkeye collectively strafed the line of AIM and Hydra ships, their rounds reflecting off special ray shields coating each vessel. "Iron Man, what's the ETA on Thor and Panther?" Steve questioned.
"They're nine minutes out, moving as quickly as possible." Tony replied, veering out of the way as Hawkeye narrowly avoided a black beam from one of the AIM ships, the bolt tearing open a gravity well in mid-air that lasted only a few seconds. "This is crazy! I think that AIM ship just opened a black hole." Tony exclaimed.
"Huh. I say we let them fight. Enjoy the show." Hulk remarked.
"There's nothing to enjoy about fighting." Ant-Man countered.
"You're doing it wrong then." The gamma behemoth retorted.
"The tracker I patented on Strucker's ship is active. We can find him and make sure he doesn't get close to the Cube." Natasha informed them all. They advanced on the next swarm of craft, Iron Man leading the charge.
"Hang on, I'm picking something up." He realized, tuning his sensors to check the leading AIM ship again. "That's MODOC's energy signature… JARVIS, scan the ship." He ordered. His HUD turned red as his advanced sensor suite pierced the ship's hull to provide an in-depth layout of the craft. He spotted a pair of AIM drones in their golden-hunted suits as well as the hulking monstrosity that was MODOC. But he also noted the massive influx of energy from an object in the midst of the he ship, producing energy waves so powerful they exceeded the limitations of his scanners. "Wait, what…?" Trialing off, Tony was unprepared for the sudden energy surge that exploded from the ship, overloading his suit and causing him to plummet like a rock, his sudden pained exclamation filling the comms.
"Wasp, Cybernaut, make sure he's okay!" Cap quickly ordered. Shrinking down and taking flight, Wasp booked it out of the ship as Cybernaut released Ultron.
"Programming accepted, recalibrating scanning systems." The android stated.
"Come on, you can recalibrate on the way!" Cybernaut urged, disappearing out of the craft behind Wasp with Ultron in tow. Down on the ground, Tony had slammed into the concrete foundation of New York Harbor'sHarbours shipping yards, his suit sizzling with fried energy.
"Ack!" Sputtering and coughing as his suit rebooted, Iron Man picked himself up with a groan. "Okay… what was that?" He wondered aloud. "My whole system just shorted out when I tried to-" His question hung in the air as a giant Hydra battle mech rose up out of the water behind him and a seconsecond crawled over a nearby container ship. One made its way into the city, the other dropped low before Tony, bringing all of its guns to bear on the armored Avenger. "This is gonna be a long day…" He groaned. Turning and attempting to flee, his thrusters failed to respond, sputtering energized flames that failed to ignite. Powering up the hard-point console on his gauntlet, Tony scrambled to input a reboot code. "Come on… Come on, you stupid armor, reboot!" He muttered in frustration, frantically typing in command after command as the glow of a charging cannon illuminated his position.
Suddenly, Cybernaut flew in from around the Hydra mech and bowled over Tony with a magnetic burst, knocking him out of the way before cannonfire blasted the ground where he had stood. The two tumbled to an eventual halt, Connor picking himself up as Janet and Ultron arrived.
"Cap, we've got giant, atomic, robo-monsters coming into the city by the pier." Wasp radioed as the Hydra mech turned and strafed several passing AIM ships with its weaponry, blowing one to pieces in the process. "Oh, and Iron Man's okay."
"Hulk, Ant-Man and I will go after Hydra with Widow and Hawkeye. You and Iron Man keep after MODOC." Steve replied.
"Ow… a little heads-up next time?" Iron Man groaned, rubbing his armored helm while looking to Cybernaut. The technopath shrugged.
"You're welcome?" He retorted. At that moment, a blindingly bright spotlight illuminated the foursome, the white ray cast from a hovering SHIELD helicarrier. Dropping down from hatch, a group of armed agents with jet packs descended to encircle the rising Avengers… and promptly held them at gunpoint. "The heck's going on here…?" An irritated Cybernaut wondered.
"Um, I don't know if you guys have noticed but Hydra's invading New York!" Wasp snapped.
"We noticed, Wasp." A feminine voice announced. The SHIELD agents parted to allowed a jetpack-clad Mariah Hill to emerge from the shadows and enter their midst.
"Agent Hill." Iron Man noted.
"Director Hill." Mariah corrected. "And I'm putting this entire city on lockdown… including the Avengers."
Within the city, teams of AIM and Hydra agents engaged in brutal combat, turning every alleyway and road into a warzone as they exchanged fire with high-powered weaponry seemingly pulled from the distant future.
Unbeknownst to one such firefight, an army of ants began crawling out of the sewer grates. They attacked both groups, enveloping both AIM and Hydra agents, forcing them to cower on the ground in fright as millions of ants skittered across their bodies. The Avengers had joined the fray, Ant-Man working his magic alongside Hawkeye and Black Widow, the archer dropping a trio of AIM goons with quick electric shots while Widow unleashed her gauntlet repeaters to mow down incoming Hydra troopers.
"Just like old times, right? Except for all the lies and betrayal!" Hawkeye remarked.
"You think it wasn't hard for me, Clint?" Natasha questioned as he laid out a Hydra trooper with a swift push kick.
"Which part? Framing me, or beating me up?" Clint shot back as he decked an AIM drone.
"I had my orders. You would've done the same thing." Widow replied as Hawkeye blasted two Hydra agents with a thick cloud of noxious black smoke.
"I don't believe that!" Ant-Man cut in, leaping off his winged mount and growing to full size. "Hawkeye was your partner and your friend. Couldn't you have just tried trusting him?"
"No." Widow stated flatly as he knee drove deep into a trooper's abdomen and put him down.
"I just can't understand that."
"I do." Hawkeye countered. "I don't like it, but I get it. Undercover is undercover, she couldn't have gained Strucker's trust without doing what she did." He reasoned. "I must've been one big pain in your backside." He added with a smirk.
"You've no idea." Widow responded, the barest smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
"And I thought Jan and I had problems." Ant-Man muttered with a sigh. A beep interrupted them and Widow pulled a tracker from her belt, tracing the reading to a nearby Hydra dropship getting ready to depart.
"That one. That's the ship the tracer signal is on." She quickly directed. Reaching for his belt, Ant-Man triggered his growth formula and grew to Giant Man, grabbing the transport before it could take off and slammed it back into the ground with ease. Tearing open a panel, a trio of Hydra troopers tumbled out onto the ground where they were met by Black Widow and Hawkeye, both ready to fire. One of the nameless goons pulled a device from his belt with a chuckle.
"Baron Strucker wanted you to have this, traitor." He mocked and held aloft Widow's tracer. They all knew what that meant, and it wasn't good.
"Uh oh…" Hawkeye groaned.
Elsewhere in the city, Captain America and Hulk fought side by side against the onslaught of Hydra's forces, Cap taking on the dozens of footsoldiers as Hulk laid low their towering battle mechs, ripping apart weapons, hull plates and tentacles like they were nothing and already three lay dismantled in his wake.
Shrugging off the footsoldiers dogpiling him, as easily as he had during World War Two, Cap whipped his shield towards another battle mech and took it out from within, his shield shattering the glass viewports in front and shredding the internal mechanics, causing thick smoke to pour from within as the mech slumped over and collapsed against a building, inoperable.
"Lucky shot." Hulk grumbled as the supersoldier caught his shield.
"If you say so, big guy." Cap replied. "Now remember, watch out for civilians." He added in a cautionary tone.
"Is that why you teamed up with me?" Hulk accused, levelling a giant green finger at Cap. "To protect people from the monster?"
"Stow that talk." Cap snapped. "I want you to protect civilians from Hydra. They're the monsters here, not you." He explained. "In my day, we had a name for someone like you."
"Yeah? What's that?" Hulk growled, expecting an insult.
"Hero." Cap stated, shattering Hulk's expectations. His anger lost, the gamma giant listened out of surprised awe. "I've been watching you, Hulk. No matter how scared people are of you, no matter how much you're hounded, you always do the right thing. And that makes you a hero in my book. Now, how about we smash some more Hydra goons?" Hulk liked that idea very much and took to it with a grin, leaping into the air and obliterating the nearest battle mech with a single punch. His gaze turning skyward, Cap watched as bigger AIM ship was shot from the air and careened out of control, crashing into the warehouse district with a thick plume of smoke marking it's landfall.
The air was soon filled with fresh ships as SHIELD Skystriker fighters chased down AIM and Hydra jets while agents and Mandroids engaged the ground forces with suppressive firepower, working hard to bring down both terrorist groups and drive them out of New York.
That being said, not all of SHIELD's efforts were altruistic…
"Okay, look, I know you and I got off to a rocky start, Hill," Tony began, attempting to reason with Mariah, "but we need to work together here. The Black Widow says that AIM has created a weapon of incredible power and we have to-"
"We don't have to do anything." Hill interrupted curtly. "The Black Widow is a traitor working for Hydra. You expect me to believe her?" As she carried on, Tony glanced at his HUD and noted the quickly recovering state of his armor. He was nearly fully powered again. "The bottom line? You Avengers are vigilantes, and unless you join SHIELD right here and now, you're criminals as well."
"Geez. You know, there's a word for women like you… and I'm not allowed to say it in polite company." Cybernaut remarked and Wasp snickered at his insinuation.
"I'm with Cybernaut. I've had about enough of you." Iron Man chorused in agreement, his HUD reading nominal power restored, enough to get him up and running again. "We're going after the Cosmic Cube, which is dangerous as it turns out. You're welcomed to help." He countered, issuing a very final ultimatum of his own.
"Alert. Quark-atomic disturbance detected." Ultron announced. Connor whirled around, having forgotten about his reprogramming.
"Where at?" He asked.
"Scanning… Scanning… Anomaly detected two-thousand meters southeast." Ultron replied, turning and pointing towards downtown New York.
"Are there any Avengers close by?" Connor quickly inquired.
"Triangulating Avengers ID card signatures… affirmative. Captain America is closest Avengers unit to anomaly." Ultron revealed and Connor was quick to get on his comms.
"Cap, it's Cybernaut. Ultron's pinpointed a potential location for the Cosmic Cube. You're the closest guy we have." He explained.
"I think I know exactly where. An AIM ship just crashed into a nearby warehouse. I'm moving in to check on it." The supersoldier responded.
"Get some backup in there, no telling what might go down." Cybernaut cautioned. "Iron Man, Wasp and I are on our way."
"Roger that." Signing off, Connor turned to his teammates.
"We better get moving and secure the area before Hydra gets their tentacles everywhere." He urged and Tony nodded in agreement.
"Come on, guys." Taking flight, Wasp, Cybernaut and Ultron followed suit. Watching them leave, Hill got just what she wanted.
"Take them down!" She ordered, her agents jetting off in hot pursuit.
At the crashed AIM ship, MODOC struggled to a vertical position as his subsystems rebooted, having been flung from the wreckage into the interior of the warehouse. "Damage assessment, negligible." He surmised, surveying the wrecked ship. "Searching…" He muttered, floating deeper into the warehouse as he sought out his prize. Pausing with a gasp, the bright white illuminated glow of the Cosmic Cube greeted his eyes amid the fiery gloom. MODOC moved to grab it, but was suddenly halted as a heavily accented voice addressed him.
"The game is over, you disgusting monster." Strucker growled, emerging from the smoke with four armed Hydra soldiers training their rifles on MODOC. "The Cube is mine. Had you just given it to me, I would have allowed you a place in my new world. Instead, you get a grave!" The Hydra leader promised viciously. MODOC frowned.
"I am MODOC. I cannot be defeated!" He retorted, unleashing his Psionic beam to envelop the Hydra operatives, snaring Strucker and his team and forcing them to drop their weapons. Promptly overloading their minds, MODOC drove them into the floor with smoking heads. "I am designed only for conquest!" He roared triumphantly. Slowly picking himself up, Strucker drew his sidearm and blasted MODOC with his pistol, knocking him away from the Cosmic Cube before he could reach it.
"Dreadnoughts! Destroy MODOC!" Strucker ordered, a series of spheres flying into the room and rolling to a halt around MODOC. In the blink of an eye, they had transformed into hulking mechanical dreadnoughts, vicious robots armed to the teeth in order to fulfill Hydra's wishes. Unleashing his Psionic powers again, MODOC attempted to shut them all down.
"Not… possible!" He gasped, struggling to maintain his abilities as the dreadnoughts closed in unhindered. "No… brainwaves!" He realized too little too late. With drills and saws spinning at high speed, the dreadnoughts attacked, MODOCS pained screams filling the air as Strucker closed in on the Cosmic Cube.
"Now… the world will be remade in Hydra's image!" He gloated giddily as his gloved hand reached for the Cube. One touch was all he needed to change reality itself…
The battle continued to rage outside, Hulk busy dismantling Hydra battle mechs as SHIELD began to route both AIM and Hydra.
But at the pier, a very different battle was unfolding.
Iron Man, Wasp, Cybernaut and Ultron were pursued by SHIELD agents actively firing on them. Blue energy salvos whizzed past them as Wasp returned fire wither her biostings, gunning down two of them as Ultron opened fire with his own disabler rays, taking out the other two.
"Ugh! Just when I thought I could get to like SHIELD!" Wasp complained. "What's Maria's deal anyway?"
"If she's the new director, then the power's gone straight to her head. It's a different regime under her now." Cybernaut replied, hurling one of his irons to disable the jet packs of several more incoming agents.
"Alert, incoming targets detected ahead and above us." Ultron warned, already targeting the incoming SHIELD teams. "Also, we are being pursued from afar. Laser-targeting machinery located, approximately one-hundred yards away."
"Great! She's got snipers on us!" Wasp cried in alarm. And it was true, for Agent Jace Carson led a team of three SHIELD snipers from atop one of the many sea-cans lining the docks, each one of them armed with a high powered rifle.
"Got a bead on Iron Man, sir." One of them stated.
"Keep tracking but hold your fire. No one does so until Director Hill gives the word." Carson replied. Deep down, however, he was struggling with his mission. He hated having to hunt down the Avengers like this. They should be allies in this. Why Maria was going to such extreme lengths to get the team a branded division of SHIELD was beyond him, and he didn't like her methods. The teams began to close, Iron Man's shields taking the brunt of the damage as Cybernaut and Wasp were forced to engage evasive maneuvers.
Far, far away, Strucker's position so close to the Cosmic Cube was being observed, the universe in very grave danger unless one could get him away from the device. And someone was working on it.
The warehouse was on the other side of another warehouse, the windows aligned. But that was approximately twenty blocks away, past a metro train, on the other side of a third warehouse that was another ten blocks away, and a straight line could only be drawn through the rafters of said warehouse.
It was, well and truly, the impossible shot.
An uneasy Ant-Man dropped to his stomach and clung for dear life to the head of Hawkeye's arrow, the archer lined up and ready to fire. "Are you sure you can make this shot?" Hank asked. He figured the earlier test run in the mansion was impossible, but this? This one was downright inconceivable.
"He'll make it." Black Widow said simply, her trust and confidence total. With a smile, Hawkeye closed one eye and loosed his shot. His arrow whizzed through the air, a screaming Ant-Man along with it. Clearing the rafters of the first warehouse, the arrow whizzed over the street and the metro train, crashing through the first and second windows of the second warehouse before finally crashing through the final window and zeroing in on Baron Strucker.
An amazed Hank Pym quickly triggered his growth formula and exploded to full size right under Strucker's nose, landing a high-density punch that knocked the aging Hydra leader clear across the room.
Staggered and bewildered, Strucker sat up to find Ant-Man standing between him and the Cube with crossed arms. "Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, you really don't want to touch that. It could be dangerous." He remarked. Enraged that his impending victory had been stolen from him, Strucker roared out to his minions,
"Dreadnoughts! Execute this fool!" The hulking mechanoids turned to obey, leaving a damaged MODOC behind as they closed in on Ant-Man. Their shadows loomed over him and Hank turned to confront his attackers.
"Oh boy… where's Cybernaut when you need him?" He bemoaned.
The answer to Hanks questioned lay at the docks, besieged by SHIELD agents. "Let me see… 40 kilojoule PULSAR-XVI with extended barrel, scope and stock. Based on Stark Industries' Apollo particle rifle." Connor surmised, reaching out with his technopathic powers, "Not bad… not good enough, though." He mused, his mind flicking a proverbial switch that shut down the weapons barraging Iron Man. The confused agents had little time to react as Wasp and Ultron appeared, promptly knocking them all unconscious with concentrated Encephalo-bursts and bio-sting strikes.
"JARVIS! Shields!" Tony cried, under fire from yet another team. Unfortunately, the repeated attacks did little to help out his armor's situation and Tony's protective aura soon failed him. Struck by a barrage of rifle rounds, his smoking armor veered out of control, crashing into the floor of the docks before being pitched into the sea.
SHIELD made landfall, the agents and Maria Hill watching as mere bubbles indicated Iron Man's crash site. Satisfied, Hill turned to leave, only to be stopped by a very angry Wasp and Cybernaut wasn't far behind.
"What is the matter with you?! We're on the same team!" Wasp demanded, twin bio-stings charged and armed to strike. The SHIELD agents raised their weapons, ready to fire, but a magnetic burst from Cybernaut knocked all their weapons into their face, knocking them all to the ground in a daze.
"For crying out loud, Hill! The world is in trouble and you're bound and determined to lock us up! The good guys!" Cybernaut snapped, brandishing his batons.
"We have to stop this!" Wasp urged.
"No." Maria calmly and stubbornly retorted. "You two have got one last chance, before I-" Her threat was cut short as thunder rumbled overhead, dark clouds forming as arcs of lightning crackled within them. Then guided bolts of lightning reached down and destroyed the SHIELD agents' rifles as well as Maria's jetpack, having done so by the command of Thor. As they all stared in awe at his arrival, Black Panther dropped down across from the scene, his claws out and ready to pounce.
"Nice timing boys!" Cybernaut complimented.
"Yeah! Maybe the Avengers are going to give you one last chance, Maria." Wasp added, sticking her tongue out at Hill after a cheeky grin. Then, from behind her, Iron Man burst from the water at full power and descended to join the scene. Seeing his arrival, Maria knew she was in trouble and reached for her back-up team.
"Carson! Open fire!" She ordered. From his perch, Jace heard the order perfectly. But the conflict of interest brewing within him took ahold of his mind fully, forcing him to stop and con aside his next actions very carefully.
With a sigh, he shook his head. He knew this was wrong. He knew they shouldn't be doing this. This Avengers and SHIELD needed to work together, not against each other. And he wouldn't be the one to drive a deeper wedge between the two.
"Orders, sir?" One of the snipers questioned.
"Nothing." Jace lied. "Best stand down, gentlemen."
"Thor, Panther, Wasp, Cybernaut, just stop." Iron Man commanded as he strode right up to Maria. "We're not going to fight SHIELD. They're a waste of time compared to the real threat." He stated, now nose to nose with the Hispanic woman. "My team is going out there to save the world. Either work with us or stay out of our way." He demanded, leaving no room for debate. With his team flanking him, he made for an imposing figure who really should be taken seriously.
But Hill, stubborn as ever, wasn't backing down.
With Jace unresponsive, Maria made to enact one final course of action and she put out a call. "This is Director Hill to the Helicarrier. Fire on the Avengers." She ordered. The guns of the carrier began to move and they would've done as asked…
If not for another Hydra battle mech rising from the sea.
Taking it, it's main battery opened fire on the Helicarrier, bypassing its shields and boring a hole through the hull. Shocked, the Avengers made to respond. "Avengers! Save the Helicarrier! Move!" Iron Man cried, all six of them taking flight. Cybernaut made a beeline for the battle mech, adding atop its head and quickly commandeering its systems through his technopathy. Wobbling a little, the battle mech jerkily put to sea, moving under Connor's command as the immediate threat was removed and the Avengers made to salvage the damage and rescue any in danger.
Meanwhile…
Batting aside the Dreadnoughts attacking him, Giant Man was fully preoccupied and incapable of stopping Strucker as he made a break for the Cosmic Cube. Fortunately, Captian America finally burst into the warehouse and interrupted him, plowing into Strucker shield-first. Laying the Hydra commander flat, Cap leapt to his feet and made ready as Strucker picked himself up. With a shout, Strucker lunged, Cap spinning around and shoving him into some crates with his palm. It took Strucker a moment to recover and he charged Captain America as soon as he could, only to be bowled over again as Cap embarrassed him. Scrambling to his feet, an enraged Strucker tried once more only to be tripped by Cap as sent head-first into the crates, smacking his head hard against them.
Grabbing him by the uniform, Cap hoisted Strucker off the ground… which proved to be a mistake as Strucker lashed out with his Satan's Claw, managing to get ahold of Steve's face and begin to siphon off his life force. Falling to his knees, the weaker Cap felt, the stronger Strucker became, the aged Hydra commander rendered a little more youthful by the sudden influx of Captain America's strength and vigour. He would've sucked him dry, if not for Cap finding the strength to snap up his shield and knock Strucker aside.
"You're strength is now mine, Captain!" Strucker announced as he landed on his feet and drew his sword. "and now, I will finish this!" Now really showing his age, it took Cap a moment to stand upright, his face a little more wrinkled than before.
Trapped holding off all three dreadnoughts, Hank made an effort to avoid them by shrinking down into Ant-Man and narrowly avoided a blast of flame from one dreadnought as Black Widow arrived and snatched him out of harm's way. She herself found a spot of trouble when one dreadnought gripped her in its mechanical hold, which lasted for only a few seconds until Hawkeye took off its head with an explosive arrow.
"Everyone relax! I'm here to save the world! Again." He remarked, leaping out of the way as another dreadnought opened fire on him. The floor, already destabilized by the fire and combat, gave way and dropped Captain America and Strucker into the floor below, along with the Cosmic Cube.
"Cap! Hawkeye!" Ant-Man cried in alarm as he grappled against a dreadnought. Fortunately, Hulk arrived just in time to knock the dreadnought flat on its back, his mighty foot crushing its head under heel.
"See? Fighting is fun!" Hulk rumbled with a grin.
Cap and Strucker squared off down below, the advantage now decidedly in Strucker's court with his stolen strength and agility enough to overwhelm Captain America and make a break for the Cube. Natasha got their first and promptly blasted Strucker with her repeater gauntlets, forcing Strucker to divert and ward off her salvos with his sword until Cap's shield took out his legs and sent his sword clattering across the ground.
"I've been fighting you since you were a kid, Strucker. Today it ends!" Steve promised, retrieving his shield. Strucker refused to give in and the two started trading blows, engaging once again in a gruelling slugfest hailing from all the way back in 1942. Despite his loss, Cap refused to give in, landing equal hits against Strucker as the two men grappled for supremacy.
But unlike Strucker, Cap had allies in the wings.
An arrow pierced the Satan's Claw and pinned his arm to a crate, Strucker's power reversed as his strength returned to its rightful owner while Hawkeye, Black Widow, Hulk and Ant-Man made ready to intervene up above. With Steve standing straight up, the odds had shifted once more.
"Strucker, by the order of SHIELD, you are under arrest." Black Widow announced.
"Yeah. Take that." Hawkeye teased.
But Strucker was not so easily undone.
"Never!" He roared, snapping off his mechanical limb and making a sudden break for the Cube. Natasha cried out, blitzing him with her gauntlets as he powered through, Turing his pistol on Captain America. Knowing what was at stake, Cap sprinted alongside him, the two racing towards the Cube as fast as they could manage.
Whoever touched it first, controlled the fate of the world.
Their pace was equal, their motions exact, the two arch-rivals reaching simultaneously as they leapt at the same time…
Both of their hands touched the Cosmic Cube and a blinding light erupted forth, cosmic power flooding the planet as the reality-changing effects of the Cube exploded forth in all their glory.
As the light receded, nothing had changed. Strucker and Captain America remained frozen in place, their hands on the now-dimmed Cube. "I… I-I don't understand." A defeated Strucker looked around in dismay. "Nothing has changed. But… B-But I touched it, the Cube!" He stammered.
"It's over Strucker." Cap stated firmly, standing tall above him and flanked by the rest of the Avengers. Hanging his head in defeat, Strucker had no choice but to relent.
Hydra had failed.
SHIELD teams started rounding up AIM and Hydra affiliates, both organizations having fallen with MODOC and Strucker in cuffs. The ruins of each filled the streets, and a long night of cleanup lay ahead.
"So, the Avengers took down Hydra and AIM, saved your helicarrier and probably the world. Even after you shot at me." Iron Man remarked.
"Nothing's changed, Stark." Maria retorted dismissively. "I'm not giving the Avengers a pass, I'm not Nick Fury. I'm going to the President and Congress, I want the Avengers registered and working for SHIELD. And I'm going to make it happen, whether you like it or not."
"Wow, shocker. I had no idea you were capable of 'evil overlord' vibes." Tony mused. "Something about you wanting us under your thumb just… I don't know, unnerves me." He added. "Which is why the Avengers aren't giving in. Try all you want, Hill. It's never gonna happen."
Meanwhile, roaming SHIELD teams started searching New York high and low for any sign of the 'traitorous' Black Widow. They missed the obvious in an alleyway as Hawkeye watched their patrol carefully. "You're clear." He said and Black Widow emerged from the shadows. "This is crazy, Natasha. Come back to the mansion with me." He offered. "The Avengers will protect you until we can locate Fury."
"No, I have to find him." Natasha insisted, stepping closer to him. "Clint, if Nick Fury really is missing then something terrible has happened." She whispered, laying her hands on his chest. "Come with me." She begged, their faces very close. Clint thought about it, seriously weighing her offer in his head.
"I can't. I'm an Avenger. They're my partners now." He replied ruefully. Saddened, but accepting of his decision, Widow had nothing more to say. Reaching close, she pressed a soft good-bye kiss to his lips that Hawkeye reciprocated. Then she turned and darted off into the night, disappearing from view.
That morning…
"So you actually made the shot?" Connor repeated in disbelief, his mask lowered as he Avengers basked in the morning quiet after a hard night of protecting the city.
"Through three buildings, across about thirty blocks and over a metro track." Hank replied in affirmation, Clint grinning smugly from ear to ear.
"Ho, man! I guess I get to collect on you making the impossible shot." Connor noted, smiling broadly.
"Hey, wait a minute, we made bets on a completely different shot. That doesn't count!" Tony interrupted. Connor simply shrugged.
"Let's just trade shot for shot." Connor suggested.
"I don't think that's how it works." Hank protested. "But after last night, I'm too tired to argue."
"I can't believe all of that was for nothing." Janet realized. "The Cube thingamajig didn't even work."
"Shoddy AIM construction and all that." Connor remarked.
"Yeah, I knew it wouldn't work. For that very reason." Tony scoffed.
"Just imagine, though… What if they had done it?" Hank proposed. "You could change anything just by touching the Cube."
"Hey, you touched it, Cap." Hawkeye said. "If it had worked, how would you have changed things? What would you have wished for?" He wondered. His hood lowered, Steve Rogers sat by the fire, contemplating the events of last night. With all eyes on him, he turned to his team with a smile.
"The world did change today. Today the Avengers took down Hydra, something I was never able to do in my time. And we didn't need wishes to do it." He stated. "I wouldn't change anything." He determined.
"Amen to that." Connor agreed, looking around at the superhero team he was proud to be a part of.
1942…
An explosion over the arctic circle brought with it the disappearance of Captain America and the death of his ward, James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes. History unfolded as it did, Cap lost in the ice while trapped in a state of suspended animation for seventy years until his revival by the Avengers and his return to heroic service in the name of freedom and justice. Alas, Bucky was lost, his name and memory rendered into the files of those killed in action.
But then, something changed.
A shockwave of temporal energy, wrought from the moment Cap touched the cosmic cube, bathed the moment in a sapphire hue. Events proceeded as they did, Captain America flung free of the blast by Bucky's heroic sacrifice, the Hydra VTOL detonating as the two partners were lost from view. But among the wreckage that fell into the Atlantic, the body of James Barnes fell… no longer dead, but alive.