March 5th/2023
Queens New York
Several days have passed since the Hydra attack on New York and things have changed for Morgan. Astella was worried sick during the attack on the city as she was a part of the hundreds of people who had to evacuate to one of the city's natural disaster shelters. She was even more alarmed when Shield officers contacted her and brought her aboard the Helicarrier where she learned that her son had become a vigilante and helped tip off the heroes to the attack.
Needless to say, Morgan was grounded but after a lengthy conversation with Director Fury, Astella knew that Morgan now had a responsibility to the United States Government and was to become an active agent of Shield, which meant that his education would be moved from Midtown High to the Helicarrier. He was also given a new room in the Helicarrier to live in for the time being as some of his things got moved into the room.
However, Morgan still remained in contact with his mother as he was given a new state of the art smart phone that only responded to him via DNA scanning technology.
"Mom, I promise that I'll be careful and as soon as I can. I'll come back home." Morgan said over the phone to Astella who was still worried and terrified about the entire situation.
"I just don't get why you didn't tell me that you developed superpowers. You should know that I don't care if you're a mutant or not. You're my son and I love you."
"I know mom and I'm not a mutant…I'm a magic user. I promise I'll tell you more about it later when I have some more free time." Morgan said back before they both said 'I love you' to each other before hanging up.
After the call Morgan simply flopped onto his bed in his room and just laid down with his forearm over his eyes as he let out a groan.
Nick is keeping his promise and is willing to let Morgan finish his personal missions of clearing out the remaining rat dens, but on the condition that any information he gets on Hydra, or any other dangers get reported to him directly. However, at the moment Morgan wasn't concerned about the rat dens and instead is thinking about how he's become a member of a new team of heroes working for Shield.
Reading the Shield standard work and assignment manual was a whole different breed of headache, but it did enhance his INT stat as a reward, so he didn't mind it much, but it was still a pain in the ass. The saving grace was that he could at least rely on a team now instead of doing things solo style.
Knock-Knock
"Come in." Morgan said with a groan as he was dressed in the standard Shield body suit that lacked any protective armor…It reminds Morgan of vault suits from the fallout games honestly.
Now the door to his room opened and he had a smile appear on his face as his teammate entered his room dressed in her own jumpsuit.
"Morgan, we're going to be late for our first official team exercise if you don't hurry." Julie said with a smile. She had joined the team despite the Power Pack retiring after Hydra's attack.
Her brother Alexander and her two younger siblings remained with the Fantastic Four but are going to avoid fighting crime and instead just focus on exploration adventures with the Fantastic Four.
"I know. I'm getting up, and again I want to say sorry for not telling you who I was when we first met with our masks on." Morgan said while Julie scratched her head a bit.
"You don't have to apologize. I was keeping my identity a secret too. I don't honestly know if I would have ever been able to tell you since that's extremely dangerous. Any enemies of the Fantastic Four might have tried to hurt you to get to me or something." Julie said back while Morgan stood up from his bed and stuffed his phone into his suits pocket.
"Well, all things considered. I still owe you an apology. I couldn't protect you during the Hydra attack, and I promise I'll get strong enough to make sure that I will be able to protect you from the next threat we face." Morgan said back as Julie smiled and blushed a bit.
"Thanks for that Morgan. But I can protect myself you know. Now let's not keep the team waiting." Julie said before the duo made their way to the newly developed training room for the newly created Strike team.
The training room was a massive room created with the most state of the art technology designed to create artificial training situations in real life by creating hardened holographic projections capable of harming and interacting with the people within the room.
All agents were instructed that the room was only meant for the Strike team purposes and maintenance personnel. The door to the training room had a DNA code scanner acting as the locking and unlocking mechanism which is designed to scan a person's hand and is programmed to respond to the DNA of certain agents only as an extra security measure.
"Glad you two could finally arrive." A familiar voice said as Julie and Morgan entered the room and saw that the room was massive and there were blue cubes of various sizes all over the room while the walls were white in comparison to the floor and objects of the room.
The voice who spoke was the leader of the Strike team. Daisy Johnson aka Quake. Daisy has clear Asian features with fair skin and short black hair on her head, black eyes and she is decently fit while being dressed in the standard shield jumpsuit, however hers is altered with the addition of a heavy coat adorned with badges while she also has protective armor over her legs along with strange devices on her forearms that look like thin oval shaped mechanical devices along with black boots on her feet.
Cloak and Dagger, better known as Tyrone Johnson and Tandy Bowen appeared ahead of schedule apparently dressed in their own jumpsuits and looking just as surprised as Julie and Morgan while they looked around the room.
"Aren't we on time?" Morgan asked with a raised eyebrow.
"If you want to impress someone and show that you're serious. You need to arrive ahead of time." Daisy said back to Morgan, which promptly made him stay silent before the door to the room closed behind Julie and Morgan when Daisy pressed several buttons on the device placed on her right forearm. "Now that everyone is here, I will explain things in clear detail. This is the training room we will use only for team training and mission drills. This place isn't a toy nor is it to be used for anything other than training purposes."
"The room was created with state-of-the-art technology as well as experimental technology which isn't to be disclosed to any of you yet. Each of you will follow orders and fall in line with the chain of command. That chain means that I am your team leader, and that any order I give you, or orders that my superiors give you is to be followed." Daisy explained in a stern voice.
"We already know that. When can we get to the actual training?" Tandy asked bluntly as Daisy narrowed her eyes in response before speaking.
"Eagerness leads to danger Tandy, but since you don't seem to want to listen. Let's start with a light training drill as well as going over battle formations and strategies." Daisy said before she typed away on her left forearm device and everyone saw the room spark to life as blue cubes appeared across from them and blended with one another to form a new shape.
The new shape became a humanoid android before it multiplied. Soon, the team had been surrounded by the androids as they began their first team training operation.
1
The training room drills had been brutal and left no rest for the wicked, however the safety protocols did prevent any serious injury or harm. Morgan didn't let anyone know about his powers, except for his ability to generate a shield/ward as well as being able to magically generate rock-based abilities. So, in addition to his checkups in the infirmary, Morgan's file listed him as an Inhuman with lesser Geokinesis, shielding capabilities and a minor healing factor, since his time resting in beds allowed his body to heal his bad injuries from the Hydra attack.
"That could have gone better. We basically have no teamwork skills, except for Julie since she's used to working on a team." Morgan said while he was in his room on the Helicarrier and eating a protein bar, which gave him a small energy regen buff before he pulled up his perk screen to try and figure out what perk he should invest in.
Morgan had given it some thought before and realized that a major issue of his is that he has no clue about what kind of end game goal he should lean towards in terms of powers and skills. However, with his knowledge and several Fudgemuppet videos on YouTube about Fallout and Skyrim builds, Morgan had gotten some ideas and figured out what kind of power base he wants to lean into.
"Gaia, are you there?" Morgan asked as he felt the connection between himself, and the goddess appear.
"I am now. It'd be wise to remember that names have power, when addressing god-like beings or actual Gods. So, what is it you need my Champion?"
"It took me time to get this far and I'm not stopping now. So, I wanted to tell you that after giving it some thought, I've figured out how I can become a proper Champion worthy of your gifts."
"Really? What plan did you have in mind?"
"You told me that I am the champion of earth, and it's time that I prove it. The abilities I'm getting are now going to be thought about carefully instead of just being used for situational benefits." Morgan said before he proceeded to spend his perk points.
Perk Points: 4
New Perk Purchased!
[Solar Powered, Passive Rank: 1
During the hours between 6:00 AM and 6:00 PM. You have gain plus 10 to all stats indoors and while outdoors in the sun you gain plus 20.]
Perk Points: 3
[Solar Powered] ranked up! Rank: 1-2
Perk Points: 2
[Solar Powered, Passive Rank: MAX
During the hours between 6:00 AM and 6:00 PM. You gain plus 30 to all stats indoors and while outdoors in the sun you gain plus 50. You can absorb the sun's rays and gain 50 DT while in sunlight. You gain a minor healing factor while in the sunlight.
Healing factor: 5 HP per 10 minutes.
By absorbing the sun's rays, it has magically altered your biology and gave you access to these sub-skills related to the sun.
Solar Bolt, Active Level: 1
Solar Beam, Active Level: 1
Solar Aura, Active Level: 1
Flash, Active Level: 1]
Perk Points: 1
[Geomancer, Passive Rank: MAX
Your magical power is strong and sturdy like the earth itself. Your ward spells are now twice as effective and have their MP cost cut in half.
This perk unlocked the sub-skill.
Force Nullification Field, Active Level: 1]
"Wow." Morgan said to himself as he took a deep breath as he felt a new sensation warming up his entire being…Literally, his insides felt warm, and he could feel it almost radiating off him.
"Both perks are wise choices, however outside of the sun your power will be lessened. At a higher level you can unlock another perk to mitigate this weakness, but it still worries me a bit. You could be dispatched during a mission at night when you are weaker and could be easier to kill."
"I know of the risk, but I think this boost is worth it. I can basically make myself insanely durable during the right conditions and thanks to the Geomancer perk, my shield wards cost is reduced and their twice as strong. During the daylight, I'll basically become a tank."
"To normal beings sure, but those Hydra agents you've fought would still be a challenge for you to overcome, and there are many other threats in this world that can kill you despite how you've enhanced your durability."
"I understand that. And I'm making sure that I'm prepared for when those fights occur." Morgan said back before Gaia severed their connection and let Morgan rest on his bed for a while.
"I just need to recover for the moment before I leave and conquer these left-over rat dens." Morgan said to himself as he proceeded to rest for a while until his energy was fully recovered.
2
When Morgan left his room, he was immediately put on high alert as Tyrone was waiting for him outside his room while dressed in a dark hoodie and jeans.
"Wah." Morgan cried as he jumped back a bit in surprise. "Damn it, dude. Why are you just lurking around?"
"Sorry for scaring you, but you didn't respond to the team alert messages, and I was asked to check up on you." Tyrone explained before Morgan checked his phone and saw several messages that weren't opened.
"Sorry. I kinda fell asleep in there for a bit." Morgan admitted before both made their way towards the meeting room for the Strike team where the boys met up with the girls of their team.
"About time." Daisy said in an annoyed tone of voice before she grabbed a tablet on the meeting room table and activated it to reveal a hologram image of a Ratmen. "We've gotten reports of several Ratmen emerging from several locations throughout the city, and local police are a bit overwhelmed, and the city is still recovering from the Hydra attack, so this operation is of extreme importance. We need to eliminate these forces and drive them back."
The image changed to the different types of Ratmen along with Ratmen ogres and even cybernetic Ratmen before showing a wrecked warehouse where the Ratmen seemed to have created a portal of some kind that was equal parts mechanical and magical.
"Scouts have discovered this location as a place where the Ratmen are gaining reinforcements. We need to not only eliminate the Ratmen, but we also need to destroy this portal." Daisy said before Morgan saw a new quest alert pop up.
[Faction Quest Alert!
Name: Finishing the Ratmen horde
Objective 1: Help eliminate the numbers of the Ratmen!
Objective 2: Destroy the gate to Theros/Olympia where the Ratmen are gaining reinforcements!
Hidden Objective: N/A
Rewards: 35,000 EXP, 2x Loot Orbs, Increased REP with members of the Shield Faction!
Failure: Possible Death!
Do you accept this quest? Y/N?]
"The Ratmen." Morgan said with narrowed eyes while the rest of the team looked at him after he spoke.
"You know about these things?" Daisy asked while Morgan nodded in response.
"Yeah, these are the things that I've been hunting. Hydra aimed to use them as disposable shock troops for the invasion, but something changed, and I was in the middle of figuring out what caused the change before other important matters came to mind. Clearing out the dens also gave me the information I gave to the Fantastic Four." Morgan explained calmly.
"When you say cleared out…Do you mean that you killed them?" Julie asked with a bit of hesitation in her voice before Morgan looked at her, making his face soften a bit before he spoke again.
"I did. They are monsters that won't hesitate to take human lives, and from what I've seen they are also cannibalistic to both human corpses and even their own brother and sister rats. If you hesitate to deal with them, they will kill you. But thankfully I can say that I've never had to kill a living person within one of their Dens, although I did meet one person who is connected to the Ratmen in a way I don't really understand."
"Who was that person? Any information could help us." Daisy said back before Morgan talked about his experience with the stranger known as Seira.
"Wait…This mysterious person summoned a monster to attack you before vanishing in thin air via some form of teleportation or possible enhanced speed?" Daisy asked.
"Basically. So, if the Ratmen managed to do all this under the worlds nose; I doubt that Seira wouldn't be involved." Morgan replied before Daisy placed a hand over her mouth in thought.
"The more we learn, the more we don't know…Right now we need to focus on the mission. We take out the Ratmen and destroy the gate they created. Everyone suits up and make your way to the stealth bird in the docking bay." Daisy ordered before the group separated and went into their various rooms and changed into their heroic outfits before meeting up in the large stealth bird on the deck of the Helicarrier with Daisy taking the controls as she is dressed in a militaristic set of protective clothing decorated with the Shield logo on the chest of her suit.
"Are you ok?" Morgan asked while sitting next to Julie and whispering a bit while Daisy took to the air.
"I'm…Not sure about being a part of an extermination mission…It feels wrong." Julie said as her outfit had the new addition of a holster across her chest with pistol placed in a holster at her right side along with some ammunition clips attached to the holster.
"I won't lie and say that it gets easier…Killing sucks and I don't get why some people take pleasure in it. But sometimes it has to be done, and you don't have to do it if you don't want to. I'll handle you're share of the Ratmen for you, but if you want to help fight, then you'll have to fight to kill these monsters." Morgan whispered back to Julie who looked down at her hands on her knees before she balled up her fists.
"Where going to touch down soon. And remember to only use codenames in the field." Daisy said before she started flipping some of the switches on the stealth birds' controls to activate the single minigun attached to the undercarriage of the ship as she started firing high impact shells at the dozens of Ratmen that littered the ground of Staten Island where the Ratmen forces have gathered.
"There's so many of them." Tandy said as she sat in the co-pilot's seat looking on at the scene of hundreds of Ratmen.
"They multiply fast and grow fast just like normal rats. If they managed to make this many, then that means that all the dens couldn't have just been in Queens." Morgan said before the stealth bird started getting hit by volleys of condensed chaos energy.
"Everyone hang on. Were making an emergency landing." Daisy said before she quickly managed to land the plane in a relatively safe area near a police barricade where police and FBI agents were holding the line against several Ratmen. "Move it or lose it people." Daisy said before the Strike team made their way out of the plane and onto the mainland where they quickly sprang into action with the one formation, they managed to memorize from the training simulations earlier in the day.
The diamond formation was simple. Quake took point while Dagger and Cloak were behind her and guarding the left and right sides. Gladiator took the rear and prepared for combat while Lightspeed was hovering over them and keeping a watchful eye on the surroundings to make sure they didn't get flanked or pincered.
This formation works in theory, but the team is still rusty and when they sprang into action against the Ratmen, they struggled to keep the formation strong.
"Damn pests!" Gladiator shouted as he summoned an Earth Spear before slashing at several Ratmen who charged at him. Thankfully the slashes were strong enough to knock the Ratmen back due to his enhanced strength in the sunlight. Sadly, the Ratmen who weren't hit tried to swarm Gladiator, who responded with swinging and stabbing with his rock-based spear.
"Dagger, stay in formation!" Quake ordered when Dagger broke away and created a trio of light-based daggers that she threw at a massive armor clad Ratmen that had progressed towards some of the officers.
"Foolish human-things. Thinking you can kill-slay all Skaven." A shrill voice said with a hearty laugh before Quake thrust her hands outwards as she created a barrier in front of her from the sound of vibrations around her just in time to stop an advanced Ratmen from stabbing her as it leaped over several of its brethren to attack.
Sharp-Claw, Level: 27
Ratmen Master Assassin
Sharp-Claw is dressed in black robes with a metallic helmet on his head and on his claws are mechanical gauntlets that have extended claw shaped blades that are lined with condensed warpstone giving them an unsettling green glow.
Sharp-Claw planted both his clawed feet on the barrier and jumped backwards with a flip as several crudely made shuriken and kunai were thrown at Quake's barrier in an attempt to shatter it, and with the chaotic energy lining the weapons, Quake's shield of vibrations fell as the group now saw that the advancing party of Ratmen were all basically ninja themed rats.
"Great a bunch of ninja rats." Lightspeed said before dodging several thrown weapons that were tossed at her.
"My clan is the best-best and we will kill-slay all of you for trapping us here!" Sharp-Claw shouted before Gladiator rushed past Quake and charged at Sharp-Claw specifically and attacked him with his new skill.
"Solar Beam!" Gladiator shouted as his hands released a condensed beam of solar energy that scorched the Ratmen's head inside his helmet, making his scream in agony before the other Ratmen ninja's charge at Gladiator who summoned another Earth Spear to attack and defend himself from the other rats while the rest of the team joined in the fight and soon enough the area had been cleared of all the rats while Gladiator delivered the finishing blow against Sharp-Claw but stabbing his exposed throat with his rock based weapon and liberal use of his defensive skills that protected him during the conflict.
[Earth Spear] has leveled up! Level: 2-3-4!
[Spear Mastery] has leveled up! Level: 12-13-14!
[Parry] has leveled up! Level: 15-16-17!
[Iron Skin] has leveled up! Level: 3-4-5-6!
[Force Nullification Field] has leveled up! Level: 1-2-3!
[Solar Beam] has leveled up! Level: 1-2!
You have leveled up! Level: 16-17-18-19! You have gained 15 SP for a total of 35 and 3 PP! You have fully recovered all of your HP and MP!
"Gladiator, do you want to explain what the hell you were thinking by breaking formation?!" Quake asked with clear anger in her voice.
"The formation wasn't working, and the Ratmen were advancing faster than we could anticipate, so I took the initiative to attack fast and catch them off-guard."
"And what would you have done if you're attack failed and got you seriously wounded or killed?" Quake asked back before Gladiator looked down with a sigh.
"Sorry. I'm used to fighting these monsters in a certain way. The formation was already failing, and I didn't know what else I could do besides taking the fight to them."
"Gladiator has a point Quake. The formation or whatever wasn't going to hold out much longer." Dagger added in while Quake glanced over at the civilians.
"Let's just move out. We need to focus on destroying the gate they created." Quake said before the group saw several Shield jets over the city and firing on the Ratmen infesting the city, allowing the team an easier time to move through the city and head towards their destination.
After a while the Strike team makes its way towards the center of Staten Island where the warehouse was. The Strike team saw the entire front wall of the warehouse had been taken down, revealing the gate itself.
The base is made from scrap materials used as a foundation along with being a power source as large ores of warpstone are connected to the device and connecting to the stairs leading towards the platforms actual portal that was circular in shape and within the circle of the portal are electrical bolts sparking to life as several Ratmen elite guards have been placed around the portal.
Two Ratmen Gatling gunners opened fire on the group, but Quake created a vibrational barrier in front of them along with Morgan generating several walls of condensed earth behind Quake's barrier to reinforce it as the bullets started getting through the defenses before Cloak used his powers to teleport himself and Dagger behind the gunners.
Dagger created a dagger of light that she stabbed into the Ratmen's head while Cloak released tendrils of dark energy from behind his literal cloak that constricted the Ratmen and with a brutal squeeze the Ratmen's bones shattered under the pressure and falls limp much to Cloak's surprise.
He certainly didn't intend to brutally squeeze the rat like a melon, and that surprise proved dangerous as he was hit in the back by a bolt of green energy from one of the elite guards' warpstone bombs.
Dagger let loose a barrage of light daggers at the Ratmen before she went over to Cloak's side and helped him up while Lightspeed stayed to help. Quake and Gladiator on the other side advanced forward towards the portal.
"Earth Missile!" Gladiator cast his spell three times to take care of the three remaining Ratmen before Quake and himself made their way to the controls of the portal.
"What the hell?" Quake asked as the controls were in some kind of language that neither hero could even understand or identify.
Suddenly the portal sparked to life before the controls in front of them suddenly exploded, sending both heroes back onto the ground.
"Sorry kids but I can't let you ruin the fun just yet." A familiar voice said as Morgan knew that voice and looked up to see none other than Seira hovering in the air.
"Why the hell are you doing all of this?! Hydra was already defeated, and these shock troops are basically worthless at this point!" Gladiator shouted at Seira before he or she lowered themselves to the ground and was engulfed in flames before the flames vanished and revealed Seira's true form.
He was tall at seven feet with tanned skin and a buff build and was dressed in heavy metallic armor with various spikes and on his head is a true spartan themed helmet that matched his armors black color.
Aries, Level: N/A
God of War
"Oh, fuck me." Gladiator said in a horrified tone of voice in realization of who was in front of him.
"The champion of the goddess Gaia has come to face me, yet you're nothing but a fledgling. It's a sad thing to see you die before you can put up a proper fight." Aries said before opening his right hand and in a flurry of magical flames emerged a dual bladed great axe that was a dark obsidian color and shined as if it was made out of glass.
"Friend of yours?" Quake asked as she got into a ready stance.
"That's Aries, as in the God of War Aries. So, were in some serious shit." Gladiator said and Quake looked a bit confused before she extended both her hands outwards and focused to control and generate powerful vibrations underground to shake the earth near them to hopefully stagger the god of war.
But Aries remained on his feet even when Quake turned up the heat with the vibrations powers and fractured the earth underneath him to create a small hole for him to fall in.
"Solar Beam!" Gladiator cast his solar attack at Aries in tandem with Quake's attack, aiming to make him fall, but Aries used his axe to smack away the beam of sun light before he rushed them with speed so fast, neither hero noticed where he went until Gladiator was suddenly smacked by the flat of the great axe and sent tumbling hard onto the ground.
Quake leaped back a bit before creating a vibration-based barrier surrounding Aries like a bubble as she focused and condensed the barrier inward to try and restrain him.
"You can't fight if you can't breathe or move." Quake said before Aries started fighting back with enhanced magical power before shattering the barrier with a chuckle.
"When I came to this world, I expected to fight a true battle with the likes of the Hulk or the god of thunder. But this is pathetic." Aries said as he raised his axe and slammed it on the ground towards Gladiator, which fractured the ground and released magical flames that rocketed towards Gladiator who quickly sprang up to his feet before activating both his Iron Skin and Force Nullification Field spells to absorb the magical flames that took the form of a serpent and aimed to tackle him.
His protective abilities reduced the damage as Gladiator was suddenly wrapped up in the flaming serpent before it slammed itself down on the ground hard before fading into nothingness while Gladiator was left on the ground hurt and slightly burned with both his protective spells breaking under the pressure of the attack.
"Stay away from him!" Lightspeed shouted as she rammed into Aries at full speed, which had pushed Aries back while his feet lost traction on the ground. However, Aries stomped both his feet on the ground and with his offhand he managed to grab Lightspeed by her hair and slam her down hard onto the ground.
Aries prepared to raise his axe and behead her until his hand was suddenly burned by two of Dagger's light-based dagger weapons that were embedded in his hand, causing him to drop his axe while Lightspeed quickly took to the air once again.
"The holy element. That is unexpected." Aries said with a chuckle before he turned to Dagger who was rushing up and throwing more of her light-based daggers towards the god of war who countered by extending his hand outwards and releasing a torrent of magical flames that shattered the light-based daggers, but before the flames hit Dagger. Cloak appeared and absorbed the magical flames into his darkness, which did end up causing him intense pain before he passed out onto the ground when the Aries stopped his attack.
"Cloak!" Dagger cried as she went to Cloak's side and tried to wake him up by healing his wounds. But since the flames aren't normal, her light-based healing was going at a snails paste and hardly seemed to be doing anything to treat the new magical burns that appeared on Cloak's body.
"A light elemental crying over a dark elemental. Truly a song meant to be played by the bards of Olympia." Aries said before he flexed his hand and telekinetically called his axe to his hand.
"Earth Javelin!" Gladiator cast his spell as he stood up and tossed his Javelin towards the god of war who simply took the hit in the back.
Gladiator watched it shatter like glass as it didn't even leave a scratch on the god of war who turned to face him.
"Surely you have more than that boy." Aries said in an arrogant tone of voice before a booming noise caught everyone's attention as they saw a being start to emerge from the portal that just sparked to life. "It seems that more Skaven had made it to the portal."
"No." Quake said in surprise, but what came out of the portal wasn't more Ratmen.
The being that came out of the portal was of equal height with Aries, but this person is much more buff, similar to the Hulk. He is wearing a green tunic with tanned trousers and sandals. On his back is a mace made from magical metal along with an arrow quiver full of arrows and a large wooden bow. He has curly brown hair on his head with a full beard on his face and in his right hand is the limp body of a Ratmen.
Hercules, Level: N/A
God of Strength/Champion of Olympia
"Aries I've finally found you." Hercules said confidently while Aries had a shocked look that quickly shifted into anger.
"You…How are you here?! You should have been trapped on Olympia!" Aries shouted in rage before he made his axe burst into flames before it transformed into a demonic looking bow as he drew the drawstring back and formed a magical arrow of fire that he launched at Hercules.
Hercules quickly dropped the dead Ratmen he was holding before grabbing his mace and smacked away the arrow along with the following arrows that Aries fired at speeds that seemed like a blur to the eyes of the mortals on the scene.
"Gladiator, do you know this new guy too?" Quake asked as she rushed over to him and helped him to his feet.
"That guy is Hercules. The OG hero of Greek and Roman mythology." Morgan said back before Quake looked back at the scene in shock and awe.
Hercules closed the distance between himself and Aries and attacked with a flurry of blows from his mace, which were countered by Aries who had created two demonic looking hatchets to try and gain an advantage on the God of strength.
"I don't understand why he's here, but he's keeping Aries distracted. We need to strike now." Quake said in a whispered tone over the teams' earpieces. "Everyone strike the portal machine with everything you've got."
"But what about Hercules? He came out of the portal, right? So, doesn't that mean that we'll be destroying his way back home?" Lightspeed asked, making Morgan think for a moment before he spoke.
"We don't know that for sure. It sucks but we have to finish the mission and stop this invasion and take Aries into custody." Gladiator said and everyone silently agreed before they took the time to strike after Hercules delivered a powerful strike to Aries with his mace, causing the god of war to be sent flying into a ruined building.
Quake focused as hard as she could on creating a miniature tremor underneath the machine, causing it to slowly fall into the earth while Gladiator sent multiple Earth Missile spells at the controls. Dagger struck with a barrage of light daggers while Julie finally took hold of her gun and fired at the machine as well.
The machine couldn't take all the punishment and as it fell deeper into the earth underneath it; electrical sparks emerged from the machine followed by large amounts of green smoke while Hercules spoke loudly to the heroes.
"Well thought young ones. That warp gate would have done a lot of damage to your world if not destroyed." Hercules said with a kind smile before Aries let out an ear shattering scream of anger as dark clouds formed in the sky while the warp gate exploded causing the heroes to go low to the ground, excluding Hercules who stood firm and tightly gripped his mace.
"You bothersome heroes! You constantly ruin the plans of your betters! This day you will die!" Aries said before the ground in front of him changed into molten lava, and coming out of the lava were various types of monsters from the Underworld. However, before the monsters charged at the heroes, they were all struck down by massive bolts of lightning.
"Your assault on earth ends here!" A proud and powerful voice said as the god of thunder himself came down onto the ground with his mighty hammer in hand while he was clad in elegant looking armor.
"Thor, God of thunder. Tis been many moons since we've last fought together old friend." Hercules said proudly getting the thunder god's attention for a moment.
"You're not wrong son of Zeus, but we can speak later. First, we must apprehend Aries." Thor said while Hercules let out a chuckle.
"Of course." Hercules said before the Strike team each stood ready to fight, excluding Cloak who was still down while Dagger was still trying to heal him.
"You think you can stop me?" Aries replied in bitterness while his lava slowly started expanding and melting the Ratmen corpses near him. "You will rue the day you've interrupted my plans sons of Zeus and Odin. You heroes will also face my judgement, especially you. Champion of Gaia." Aries said in distain before his lava suddenly cooled into hardened rock while he teleported away from the scene.
"For a god of war, he is cowardly." Thor said with narrowed eyes.
"Aries is many things, but cowardly isn't one of them Thor. He wouldn't normally run from a fight that he was sure he could win, and he would not let us off so lightly unless his plans significantly fell through the cracks…I fear that this was only the beginning of his assault on Earth." Hercules replied before he turned and looked at the Strike team and walked over to them. "You, young ones put up a mighty fight against overwhelming odds. It does my heart good to see such hearts of courage in the younglings."
"Thanks for the help mister, Hercules. To be honest we wouldn't have stood a chance against Aries without you suddenly helping us." Gladiator said to the God of strength.
"Aye. You have potential as a Champion of Gaia, but you're still a fledgling. Aries wouldn't have hesitated to skin you alive, but the fact that you didn't back down from him proves that you have a champions heart." Hercules replied before extending his hand and Gladiator extended his own as the two of them shook hands.
"I'm lost here. Why are you calling Gladiator a champion of Gaia?" Lightspeed asked as she stepped up next to her boyfriend.
"Tis not my place to explain young lass." Hercules replied before Quake spoke.
"We can talk later. Right now, we need to help Shield and paramedics to take care of the wounded, as well as finding any wounded that are in hiding throughout Staten Island." Quake said to her team.
"What about Cloak? He's injured bad and my healing isn't doing much." Dagger said before Hercules kneeled down near Cloak.
"It seems that he took the brunt of Aries cursed fire of Hades. I am not good at the healing arts, but I can lift some of its effects to aid your healing attempts." Hercules said before his hand glowed a golden light as he touched Cloak.
Cloak's body became shrouded in light as some of the nastier burns cleared up a bit and when Dagger went to heal him, she noticed that the healing now took more effect on Cloak, who finally started to stir and awaken.
"Are you going to take your leave Hercules?" Thor asked as Hercules shook his head.
"Not this day. I must remain on Earth and stop Aries plans wherever they appear." Hercules explained before the group of Strike and the duo of God's helped with the rest of the efforts on Staten Island.
[Quest Completed!
Name: Finishing the Ratmen Horde.
Hidden Objective discovered: Survive long enough to get help from Hercules.
Rewards: 35,000 EXP, 2x Loot Orbs, Increased REP with members of the Shield Faction!
Bonus Rewards: 10,000 EXP, Increased REP with Hercules, Thor and the Olympia faction! 1x Chest Piece of Rage!]
[Earth Missile] has leveled up! Level: 1-2-3!
[Iron Skin] has leveled up! Level: 6-7!
[Force Nullification Field] has leveled up! Level: 3-4!
You have leveled up! Level: 19-20-21! You have earned 10 SP for a total of 45 and 2 PP for a total of 5 PP! You have fully recovered your HP and MP!
Physically Gladiator was fine but mentally he was beyond exhausted, and it took a toll on him, making him work a tad slower in the relive efforts, but thankfully he did manage to help as much as he could before the Strike team returned to the Helicarrier with the duo of God's that Nick Furry is interested in talking with.
END!
A/N: Okay another chapter done, and not only did we see Hercules, but we also saw Thor. The Gods of Strength and Thunder. We also saw Aries who was 'playing' with our heroes before fighting Hercules and prepared to fight at full power before he suddenly cut and ran.
Who knows where this crazy train is headed too next. Stay tuned to find out. Also, please fav, follow and review.