Shock and confusion filled the room as all the Avengers and X-Men finally noticed each other. The team's respected leaders and longtime allies, Steve and Logan, began to approach one another, and both were determined to find answers as to how they were transported out of their brutal battles.
The X-Men themselves couldn't help but stand in stunned silence in the presence of not just the Avengers, but the living legend, Captain America himself, even though they had long since known that Logan's healing factor slowed down his aging, the fact that he fought in World War II, and alongside Steve no less, was still quite mind-boggling.
And one young X-Man, Bobby Drake, couldn't help but be utterly star-struck by the Star-Spangled Avenger he had idolized for so long. "Oh crap, Captain America!" Bobby whispered ecstatically, then coughed to make his voice sound deeper and puffed up his chest to make himself look bigger in order to impress the 'world's first superhero.'
However, Bobby's eagerness to look presentable to Steve only annoyed Kitty, who looked at him with a narrow brow. "Geez, Bobby," Kitty whispered with narrowed eyes. "Fanboying much?"
Once the two leaders approached one another, Steve was the first one to speak, all while looking over Logan's shoulder and seeing the X-Men, though he seemed to be put off by Bobby making himself more muscular. "I see that you brought your team with you."
Logan responded with a sneer as he looked behind Steve and glared at Tony. "More like We were brought here by THEM," the displeased Logan declared. "Stark, if you and Richards built some contraption to beam us up here to help you fight off some giant monster wanting to destroy the world, we were already dealing with one of our own in Egypt!"
Tony immediately became perplexed when he heard that Logan and his team were in the country where the team's new problem, the flying pyramids, was coming from. "What, you were at-?!" Suddenly, Tony could hear the leather that covered Logan's fingers and palms rubbing against one another as a result of the X-Man tightening his fist in aggravation. As such, he decided to explain how this wasn't his doing before Logan chose to pounce on him. "N-No, no! We were dealing with a group of HYDRA wannabes led by Fury's brother called the Zodiac. After that, we got a call about some flying pyramids coming from Egypt. We were on our way to deal with it, but then we got covered in some white light. Next thing you know, we ended up here."
The mention of the 'white light' reached the ear canals of 'The Thing' himself, Ben Grimm, and thus raised a curious, rocky eyebrow. "That a fact?" Ben then pointed his large thumb at Johnny and himself as he shared his experience with that strange glow. "That same light covered me and Hotshot over here while we were watchin' the game."
A disappointed Johnny nodded in agreement. "Yeah, right up to the point where the Mets were about to win, and Ben was about to pay me twenty bucks."
Though Ben loved Johnny like a brother, he also viewed him as a source of eternal aggravation, one that would make him pull out his hair if he still had any. And upon hearing Johnny remind him of the bet they took, specifically how the Mets were about to beat his beloved Yankees, Ben saw nothing but red as he gave the young blonde a death glare. "Now, hold on, you little-!"
Johnny could tell that Ben wanted to hurt him, and anxious to prove that he was no pushover, the figurative and literal hotheaded Johnny was about to burst into flame and show his rocky friend what happens when one plays with fire. But before the tense situation between two of the most impulsive members of the Fantastic Four could escalate, a small transparent wall suddenly appeared between them before a single blow was struck.
A barrier created by Sue, who projected it from out of her forehead, for along with turning invisible, she also possessed the ability to create transparent shields and constructs. Something that was the most useful, whether it was fighting off villains or shielding herself, her teammates, and other people near her from incoming threats, or in this case, playing din mother to her short-tempered brother and her husband's irritable best friend. "Rein it in, you two!" Sue commanded sternly, showing her patience for their bickering wasn't as strong as it usually was. She then turned her attention to Reed, who appeared curious about this new Marble room they found themselves in. All of which caused Sue to let out an exasperated sigh; for while usually, Sue found her husband's curiosity charming, now was not the time for it. More importantly, she remembered that the last time she saw Reed was when he, as always, was working in his lab, which led to the uneasy Sue saying this. "Reed, please tell me this isn't part of one of your experiments!"
The sound of his wife calling his name was enough to snap Reed back to reality and make him turn to face not just concerned Sue but the very annoyed expressions of his fellow heroes. "I'm sorry, what?" Reed asked, confused, then remembered that he was working in his lab and realized that his less-than-pleased fellow heroes thought that he might have something to do with this and thus held up his hands in defense. "W-Wait, wait!" Reed exclaimed nervously, then took a deep breath to settle his nerves before explaining himself. "Yes, it's true. I was working on something in my lab, but it was a prototype generator designed to power all of New York with clean energy for five hundred years. But before I could even test it, this 'white light' surrounded me, and well…here we are."
Upon hearing Reed's answer, Tony breathed in and sighed out his now in frustration. For one thing, he knew that as brilliant as his friend was, Reed's one-track mind when it came to science was always annoying and only made Tony further wonder why a woman as stunning as Sue saw in him. However, as he turned around, Tony soon spotted another person looking around the room with interest. That person was Dr. Stephen Strange, and the sorcerer's calm behavior caused a suspicious Tony to raise an eyebrow as he stated this theory. "Well, if science isn't how we got here, there's always magic."
Clint heard Tony's declaration, and as much as it pained him to admit it, he believed that his 'spoiled rich boy' of a teammate did have a point regarding magic being the likely cause. After taking part in battles against magical-based villains like Loki and Enchantress, the usually skeptic archer knew that magic was not only real but also something that was not to be underestimated and, in this case, not to be ruled out. Moments later, Clint saw Tony facing Stephen's direction, but before he could shift his gaze at the Sorcerer Supreme, the former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent spotted a worried Peter on his left and narrowed his eyes at the masked young man in disdain. "And I think we all know who to thank for that!"
Through the corner of his eye, Peter noticed Clint staring daggers into him, and he was both offended and confused as he realized what the archer was implying. "Whoa, whoa, wait a sec! What makes you think I had anything to do with this?!"
"Well, you did piss off a lot of people after your little 'wardrobe change,' bug boy!" Clint explained angrily. "Maybe one of them is that Mysterio clown you've been known to tussle with, and not only did he decide to bring you here, but for some God knows why reason, all of us too!"
Though Peter didn't blame Clint for being angry, he still couldn't help but feel perplexed by this accusation. "Whoa, whoa, hold on!" Peter exclaimed with his hands held up, then briefly exhaled to settle himself down so he could explain his innocence. "Look, when the white light got me, I was in my apartment and out of my costume! Which, if it makes you feel everyone feel better, I was about to toss into the Hudson and stop being everybody's problem!" Upon giving this answer, Peter could see everyone look at him with still angry expressions, some of whom were stunned at how this one young hero was considering giving up.
Chief among these surprised heroes was Steve Rogers himself, who always saw Peter as an outstanding young man and saw firsthand that he had great potential when he helped him fight off the terrorist group known as the Serpent Society, all while underneath a collapsing sewer, trying to save civilians. The memory of this faithful day was enough to make the soldier have enough faith in Peter that he would be strong enough to learn from his mistake and earn everyone's trust back by continuing to save lives as he always did. But upon hearing the young man's decision to give up, Steve could only look at him with disappointment and heartbreak.
Peter could feel his stomach knotting up as his fellow heroes, many of whom he looked up to, looked down on him with condemnation, and knew they had every right to feel how they felt about him. But regardless, he continued to explain himself. "Point being, if there's anyone powerful enough in magic to not only find out who I am and bring us all here, I know for a fact it's not Beck! He's nothing but smoke and mirrors and doesn't even use real magic!"
Surprisingly, Peter had only one person in this gathering of heroes that supported him. That person was Stephen Strange, who still appeared transfixed in these odd new surroundings. "The kid's right," called out the calm Stephen, especially when it came to Quintin 'Mysterio' Beck, a man who came to him just two years before asking to train him but obviously refused.
Suffice it to say; this caused all suspicion to fall on the Sorcerer Supreme. And Tony, who looked at Stephen with narrowed eyes, was the one to be vocal about it, as always. "You don't say?"
"Before you say anything else stupid, Stark, no, I didn't bring us here," Stephen clarified sharply without turning to face the eccentric billionaire and continued to look around the room with intrigue. "Still, something about this place seems…familiar."
Steve immediately took a step forward to confront Stephen, for as cryptic as he was, he knew the sorcerer had some idea of what was happening and needed to get as much information as possible. "How familiar?"
"Only from what I've read about in one spell book within the Sanctum's library," replied Stephen. "It told of a being that was so powerful; it made Galactus look like a giant teddy bear!"
As Stephen went on to explain what being he was referring to that could possibly dwarf the planet-eating entity that nearly devoured the Earth, the word 'library' seemed to trigger the X-Man, Piotr Rasputin, and make him freeze in pure terror. As it reminded him of when he was back in…
THE XAVIER INSTITUTE
…more specifically, when he, Kitty, and Rogue, all out of their uniforms and in regular clothing, were in the library standing in front of an opened hidden doorway behind a bookcase with Piotr and Kitty on the right side of the door while Rogue was on the left. They all guided the running children, all in their pajamas and lined up in a single file, into the doorway which led to the lower levels of the mansion. The reason was that they saw the news coverage of the flying Pyramids being spotted flying in the air via footage sent by on-lookers in the streets of Cairo. Thus they assumed the worst for their teammates in Egypt and proceeded with Logan's orders to get the children to shelter.
Usually, such an extreme circumstance would scare any child into a panic, but oddly enough, these young students of the institute seemed calm as they made their way through the doorway and to the bottom of the mansion, especially for two particular girl students that were the closest to him.
The first was a skinny, fair-skinned thirteen-year-old red-headed girl named Tilde Soames, who was brought to the mansion due to her mutant ability to manifest her own nightmares and make what she dreamt of real. It was an ability that proved quite dangerous and scared even the girl herself, for she once unintentionally created a building-sized monster that nearly destroyed a city. It was thanks to the efforts of the X-Men, more specifically Rogue, that she would bring this ability under control, and she's been in the school learning to control her powers ever since.
And the second was that of Pitor's pale-skinned, blonde-haired little sister named Illyana, who held on firmly to Romeo's left hand to avoid falling and getting trampled by her new schoolmates. Like Tilde, she, too, had an emerging mutant ability that would be considered chaotic, as it somehow allowed her to gain access to the dimension known as Limbo.
Most distressing of all was that both girls' powers, though different, reacted based on their emotions. And it was when they were under great stress and fear that things became chaotic. All of this made Romeo's job difficult, as he had to focus extra hard on both Tilde and Illyana to keep them from panicking, and thus giving himself such great strain, he started to gain a migraine.
The process of getting the children to lower levels ran smoothly. However, just seconds later, something surprises the children. Especially Romeo, so much so that he stops concentrating and allows the calmness he created for the children to fade away.
And that surprise was in the form of the cosmic white glow beginning to consume Piotr, Rogue, and Kitty, which understandably shocked the three X-Men as well.
"Piotr!?" Illyana exclaimed, her fear escalating as Romeo's calm influence wore off.
Piotr was momentarily brought out of his stunned silence when he heard his sister's voice, then looked up and saw her frightened face and tears running down her cheeks. "ILLYANA-!" Piotr screamed as he reached up to her, but before he could tell her to keep following the students downstairs, the entire room was consumed in white light, and seconds later, Piotr, as well as Kitty and Rogue, ended up in…
THE BEYONDER'S THRONE ROOM
…where the memory of his sister's frightened face made Piotr's eyes grow large with fear and panic. 'ILLYANA!" The muscular X-Man yelled hysterically, then immediately ran past and nearly knocked down two of his teammates, Bobby and Hank, as he began his desperate search for his little sister. "WHERE ARE YOU, SNOWFLAKE?! ILLYANA!"
Out of all the heroes to stop the panicky Piotr, it was the rocky Ben Grimm who placed his large, three-fingered stoney hand on the X-Man's massive chest. "Hey, hey, hold your horses, pal!" Ben told the anxious Peter, trying to sound reassuring, despite finding the role of supporter a little off-putting, as he usually used his fist to bring down a rampaging large man rather than words.
The idea of anyone stopping him from saving a member of his family never sat well with Piotr, whether it was by ordinary humans or, in this case, a rock man who was globally known as a hero as opposed to a monster, which was what Piotr and his fellow X-Men were referred to. Nevertheless, this sparked enough anger within Piotr to make him instinctively activate his mutation. Which was to instantaneously convert every tissue in his body into an organic metal-type substance, making him, unlike Tony, a true man of iron. "GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Piotr roared in a rage, then would his steel right hand backward and nailed Ben in his rocky jaw with an uppercut, which in his metal form, was strong enough to knock the Fantastic Four's powerhouse off his feet, causing the rest of the Fantastic Four to run towards him in worry.
Naturally, the sight of the Blue-Eyed Thing receiving a punch powerful enough to knock him down shocked members of the Avengers and X-Men alike, but for those like the Hulk, he only growled angrily and then pounded his fists together. "Finally! A chance to smash!" Hulk said, seething, not because he liked Ben, but because out of all the fights they've had, the green-skinned powerhouse felt that only HE and he alone could bring down the Blue-Eyed Thing. As such, he used his massive legs to propel himself forward, then once he got close enough, grabbed Piotr by the throat and pinned him down to the floor.
As the heroes stood shocked at the situation going from bad to worse, this caused Tony to roll his eyes in aggravation because, just like any other disasters that he and the Avengers faced, the Hulk may have just made it worse due to his loving for 'smashing.' "Oh, beautiful," Tony muttered sarcastically but was then alerted by a beeping sound coming from his chest. This prompted him to look down and saw that it came from the Ironheart, which also had a small flickering blue light, indicating that it was now out of sleep mode and back online. Not wanting to waste another second, Tony quickly used the tips of his right index and middle fingers to tap the blue light, which in turn released the nanites in their silver liquid form, allowing them to flow out of the Ironheart and consume Tony's entire body in a matter of seconds. It didn't take long for the nanites to take the shape of the Mark L armor and for its systems to come online.
One of the systems was that of J.A.R.V.I.S., who transferred his data from the Avengers Mansion headquarters to a space satellite owned by Stark Industries and into the Ironheart. Something considered a safety precaution should the armor pick up energies associated with transporting Tony's matter from one place to another. "Greetings, sir," said J.A.R.V.I.S. in a pleasant tone. "Data transfer complete, and all Mark L backup systems are online."
"And not a moment too soon!" Tony declared, then with a mental command, his jet boots powered on and thus flew straight towards Hulk like a torpedo for the seemingly impossible task of prying his green-skinned teammate off the struggling Piotr, with the rest of the Avengers, as well as the Fantastic Four and X-Men, not far behind.
Another science lover who witnessed the fight between the two strong men of their respected teams was Hank Pym, who, disturbingly, had a sadistic grin to appear on Hank Pym's face. A smile that did not belong to the brilliant pacifist that Hank had long thought to be, but rather that of the 'Yellowjacket,' a persona that Hank inadvertently created via the stress and guilt of creating Ultron, one of the team's most powerful enemies and one who wanted to destroy all humanity. "Hey, don't hog all the fun, Jolly Green Giant!" Hank called in a bold, arrogant tone, then clicked his belt to activate his suit's Pym Particles to shrink to insect size, then used the suit's flight capabilities to fly towards the Hulk.
All of this frightened and worried Jan, as she had gotten to know Hank's new persona firsthand and how it already made whatever disaster they faced worse than they already were. "HANK, NO!" The wide-eyed Jan cried out, then quickly shrunk down herself and, as her wings sprouted out, flew after her former partner just as the Avengers and X-Men had gathered around Hulk to try and pry him off the struggling Piotr.
The only hero who seemed hesitant to try and contain the Hulk was that of the young Peter, who, despite possessing enough strength to bench press a car, wasn't sure if it was enough to take the Hulk head-on. However, just like all problems, his conscience told him to honor his late uncle; he had to help out in any way he could and thus let out an exasperated sigh. "Come on, Parker, they may hate your guts, but you still have to at least try to help them!" he thought, then pointed both of his hands upward, with the tips of his middle and ring fingers on top of the trigger buttons of his web-shooters underneath his gloves, to shoot two web-lines at the ceiling and hurl himself in the air and on top of Hulk's shoulders, where he would grab his eyes and hopefully get him off Piotr and allow the much strong Avengers like Thor and Ms. Marvel subdue him down and Steve could talk some sense into him.
However, before the chaos could increase even further, the commotion among the heroes was brought to an abrupt halt when that same blinding light consumed the room, followed by a commanding booming male voice. "ENOUGH!" The voice echoed, and though the heroes heard it, they were too busy rubbing their eyes in pain from the flash. As such, they did not see the light condense itself into a ball, which formed into the one responsible for this unusual get-together; The Beyonder. Despite the heroes 'rowdy behavior,' he still chose to be a gracious host and waited for their vision to clear before introducing himself properly. It didn't take long for the heroes to regain their senses, and once they all looked at the omnipotent being in white with shock and confusion, the Beyonder finally addressed them. "Heroes of Earth…welcome."