Author's Note: Merry Christmas EMH fans! Hope you all have a lovely and festive holiday season. I know it's been of a fraught year with all manner of ups and downs for everyone, but hopefully this might brighten up your day. Enjoy!
The revenge of Kang has come! Freed by extradimensional visitors, the futuristic conqueror is about to make a new play to wipe the Avengers off the face of history! But new heroes are rising up, ready to tackle this foe and succeed where their predecessors have failed! This one's for all the marbles, true believers, come and witness the first mission of the-
Chapter 50: New Avengers
Fully operational and determined to be the newest most-secure prison facility in the world, SHIELD's new Hydrobase was (by all account) the perfect location to house super-criminals as well as powerful alien marauders and otherworldly creatures that might do planet Earth harm. SHIELD made it their highest priority to ensure every level of containment was taken to ensure a mass-breakout was not just unthinkable but simply impossible.
So when abnormal reports came pouring in, something needed to be done.
Hydrobase was a flurry of activity as Wasp and Captain America arrived at the central monitoring station. Waiting for them was one of their own, "What's the situation, Iron Man?" The supersoldier inquired.
Bent over a console, a helmetless Tony poured over data readings. "About twenty minutes ago, the energy sensors I installed in Hydrobase's prisoner cellblock went ballistic." He explained. "They started picking up huge quantities of chronal energy, all concentrated around one man." It didn't take Cap long to figure out who, 'chronal' being the giveaway.
"Kang."
"Wait, I don't get it. Without his armor, without his time-chair, Kang shouldn't be able to do any kind of time travel shenanigans, right? Connor put a lock on all of that when we took him down… so what's happening?" A befuddled Wasp questioned.
"Uh, something bad I'm thinking." Tony responded as he pulled up a live monitoring feed from the would-be conqueror's cell. "Connor, picking up anything?" He asked over comms.
"Not a peep out of the man in question. But, don't worry Tony, I'll shut anything down as soon as I sense it." The team's resident technopath responded.
Within Kang's cell, Cybernaut, Hawkeye, and Thor had been placed on security duty as per Tony's request, just in case the bound ex-conqueror made any sudden moves. While it seemed entirely improbable, given how Kang was powerless without his technology, the Avengers refused to take any half-measures. With their experience fighting him, they knew Kang was as deadly as he was unpredictable.
As it stood, he could not fight, but he sure could run his mouth.
"All it takes is one small anomaly and 'earth's mightiest heroes' come running." The conqueror chuckled. "Even in chains, forced to live this life of imprisonment, you fear me."
"It's not that, Kang. I pity you, really. We could have worked together to save your future and Ravonna, but you choose to try and kill Captain America and subjugate our reality." Connor responded. "You brought this on yourself and there's no one to blame but you."
Kang's restrained hands balled into fists. "You? Pity me? I am Kang the Conqueror! I need no one's pity!" He seethed.
"Give it a rest, Blue Man Group. You don't look all that intimidating tied to a chair, the whole conqueror shtick just doesn't have any weight when you're looking like that." Hawkeye remarked, promptly blowing a bubble with his gum. Kang grunted softly, his gaze turning to the one in the room he had yet to goad.
"Are you worried, Asgardian? You should be. Because even chained here, stripped of my armor, I am still the Conqueror." He threatened. "And I will not rest until you are crushed beneath my boot."
Thor took that as a challenge and started to advance. "You wish to test my might, villain?" He boomed, raising Mjolnir aloft. "Then come, let us-"
Time stopped.
Kang blinked in confusion. He looked to Thor, mouth open in midst retort and body frozen mid-stride. Hawkeye remained where he stood, but his gum bubble hung suspended mid-pop. Cybernaut was reaching for Thor as if to dissuade him, his arm remained outstretched as he too went unmoving.
Everything had come to a sudden standstill.
A pinprick of light suddenly formed in the air, growing in shape and intensity until Kang was forced to turn away from its brightness. As the light abated, the bound conqueror looked to see three figures, all dressed in armored robes not unlike his own. But in their own ways, they remained very different from him. One was short and hovered high in the air in a cross-legged position. The other was decidedly feminine with visible curves. The third of the three looked much like Kang did, but the blue of his enviro-glove retreated, revealing the face of an old man with a grey beard.
"Hello, Kang." This elder greeted. Kang frowned. He knew who these were and he did not like them.
"The Council of Kangs." He muttered. "Have you come to gloat? To mock my imprisonment at the hands of these primitives?" He wondered derisively.
"Is that not exactly what you would do, Kang? We are you, after all, simply from other timelines." Lord Kang responded with a gleam in his eye.
"You present the Council with a problem." She-Kang stated.
"Your timeline has become dangerous." Young Kang continued.
The captive Kang arched a brow. "What are you talking about?" He demanded. Lord Kang turned and hovered over to Thor, studying the Asgardian.
"These Avengers, we have seen them appear in the various timelines only to be eliminated." He claimed. "But in yours their power grows."
"This timeline has splintered off from a previous one, becoming a beta-reality that demands a close inspection by the Council. The Avengers of your timeline are not unlike their host timeline, but they present a grave concern." Young Kang elaborated, still hovering cross-legged.
"The Cybernaut of this timeline is the first one to become attuned to your technology. Out of all of them, he presents the biggest threat among this version of the Avengers." She-Kang said, gesturing to the technopath at the back of the room.
"In time, if left unchecked, these so-called heroes could threaten all Kangs across all of time." Lord Kang concluded, floating back over to the captive Kang.
"They are nothing to me." Kang snarled, gaze turning venomous. He looked to Cybernaut with malice in his eyes. "He is nothing to me."
"Of course not. You appear to have things well in hand." Lord Kang mused with a chuckle.
"The Council of Kangs has sworn never to interfere in another Kang's timeline." She-Kang told their captive alternate.
"But because of the danger posed by your Avengers, we make an exception." Young Kang then added. As he finished, Lord Kang lifted his hand and at once the restrains around his wrists opened. Then She-Kang conjured a portal that summoned his armor and robes to him. Finally, young Kang turned and raised his hand towards the Avengers, summoning a bolt of light that fashioned around the neck of the frozen Cybernaut. It hardened into a collar with no visible clasp or latch.
"Deal with the Avengers, Kang, as we have." Lord Kang commanded as he summoned a portal to remove the three from this timeline. "The world has no need of these heroes…"
"finish this-AUGH!" Thor was promptly blasted across the cell as Kang hovered before him, redressed in his battle armor.
"Indeed, thunderer. Let us finish this!" Kang roared, unloading plasma blasts from the generators in his gloves to pummel the Asgardian into submission.
Hawkeye and Cybernaut were stunned. One minute Kang was bound to a chair, the next he was free, armed and ready for battle! The technopath tried to shut him down, but discovered a terrible reality: he had been rendered powerless. No longer could he hear the voices of machinery and technology calling out to him. No longer could he control any of the equipment on his person. All was silent. Deathly silent. That's when he felt the collar around his neck and a sudden wave of deja vu overcame him as he thought back to the attempted Skrull invasion.
"Tony we could use some help here!" He shouted into his comms.
In the monitoring station, Tony, Cap and Wasp were extremely perplexed by the sudden split-second development. "What happened? How did he do that?" Wasp hurriedly demanded aloud. "One second he was in the chair, the next-"
"Our people are in trouble, that's all that matters." Captain America interjected, turning and bolting for Kang's cell. "Avengers, assemble!"
Cybernaut was knocked to the ground by a concussion blast, followed closely by Hawkeye. "KANG!" Thor roared as he unleashed a column of lightning from his hammer. But the conqueror merely absorbed his strike as his shields took the brunt of the electrical energy. His cell door swung open and the other three Avengers stormed in to join the fray. Kang took a moment to analyze his surroundings. Hawkeye, Thor, Iron Man, Wasp and Captain America were ready to fight, but they remained at a severe disadvantage with Cybernaut out of commission.
He smiled, knowing full-well that he had their attention. Reaching out with his hand, he formed an energy field around the helpless Cybernaut and pulled him close. Summoning his transporter circuits, Kang vanished in a flash of light and took Connor with him.
"Wait, he ran? Kang the Conqueror ran away?" Hawkeye questioned.
"He ran away with my boyfriend!" Wasp snapped as she bolted for the door. "Come on you guys!"
"Hold on, Wasp." Captain America slowed her, knowing better than to move without a plan. "Iron Man, can you track him?"
"He could be anywhere, any when." Tony differed. A chirp from his onboard systems gave him pause,
"Pardon me, sir, but there's been a security breach at Stark Industries." JARVIS suddenly announced. "An intruder within the ARC Reactor chamber." Tony deadpanned.
"Or, Kang could've gone to my office building."
Moments later…
Beneath Stark Tower, Kang flexed his power and technology to convert Tony's energy generating station into a sinister vehicle for his own villainous designs. Beside him, forced to watch helpless within bonds he could not break, hovered Cybernaut. The technopath glanced between Kang with armor aglow and the pulsating ARC reactor as pumped out coruscating ribbons of green energy. Whatever he was up to, it wasn't a good thing.
"You won't win, Kang. This? This is just a setback." He promised.
"To paraphrase one of your primate friends," Kang retorted, without looking at him, "give it a rest. Even with a new appearance, you are nothing when I know your weaknesses."
A sudden explosion turned him away from his work, revealing a sizeable hole in the rear wall… one that had been made by the arriving Avengers. Iron Man had pulled out all the stops and summoned every available member on the team; himself, Thor, Hawkeye, Captain America, and Wasp had come from Hydrobase, while Miss Marvel, Vision, Black Panther, even Yellowjacket answered the call to rendezvous at Stark Tower.
"Kang! Step away from my ARC reactor and surrender!" Iron Man commanded.
"You heard the man." Captain America echoed.
"Yeah, and give me back my boyfriend!" Wasp added.
"Enough! We know this foul creature refuses to heed our wisdom. Therefore we must force it into him!" Thor growled, rushing forward with Mjolnir raised. His hammer struck Kang's shield, doing nothing.
"Avengers, hit him with everything you've got!" Captain America ordered and the team rushed in to attack.
Miss Marvel unleashed twin photon blasts, Hawkeye loosed an explosive arrow, Captain America swung his shield around at the same time Thor brought Mjolnir crashing down, Vision altered his density and dove in head-first… all of them were immediately rebuffed by their own attempts.
Black Panther dove in with claws out, only for Kang to teleport behind him and put him down with a photon bolt from his gloves. Hawkeye shot out another explosive arrow only for Kang to redirect it into Miss Marvel, knocking her out of the air.
Then Yellowjacket charged in, his fist glowing as he charged up his stings. The unique vibrational property managed to bypass the atomic structure of Kang's force field and belt him right in the face. Seizing an opportunity, Captain America backhanded him with his shield, setting Kang up to be bowled over by Thor as he threw out Mjolnir and hammered him in the chest.
"Warning! High concentrations of chronal energy detected." JARVIS cautioned.
"The reactor… he's turned it into a time machine!" Iron Man realized.
"Get me outta here, Stark, and I'll shut it down!" Cybernaut exclaimed from within his bonds.
Tony took aim with his repulsors. "JARVIS, regulate repulsor frequency to match a counter-wave form based on the energy around Connor." He ordered.
"Modulating… sequencing at fifteen-percent completion."
"Cap, Thor, somebody take out the reactor in case I can't pull this off!" Tony hurriedly tasked. The Avengers bolted to respond as Kang took control of the reactor with his own brand of technology. His fingers flicked back and forth across a holographic screen as he keyed in a few commands…
A sudden pulse of energy swept over the Avengers, seemingly wiping them from existence! One by one, Cap, Thor, Hawkeye, Panther, Miss Marvel, Wasp, Cybernaut, Vision, and Yellowjacket disappeared from sight. To Tony, it seemed like they had been disintegrated… and he would be next. With barely a second to think, he made one last command,
"JARVIS, initiate the New Avengers protocol! Now!"
To Kang, Tony's final shout was nothing more than the desperate cry of a man soon to be erased from his timeline. With Iron Man gone, the conqueror stood alone in the room. He savoured the silence for a moment, letting his power flex as he took great joy in being able to finally carry out his plans.
"So ends the Avengers…" He declared triumphantly.
Unbeknownst to Kang, Tony's final order to his AI was promptly heeded. Back at the empty Avengers Mansion, JARVIS booted up scanners and began locating chosen recruits…
Elsewhere in New York, oblivious to the demise of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the web-slinging Spider-Man perched atop the edge of a rooftop, scaring away a few seagulls. "Step aside, birds. Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is having lunch." He announced, lifting the bottom of his mask as he rifled through a satchel made from his own webs. Spidey soon produced a triangular sandwich. "Ah, PB and J with the crust cut off." He mused excitedly. "Thank you, Aunt… May?" He trailed off as a green glow caught his eye, drawing his attention to Stark Tower. "That doesn't look good."
Flashes of light rippled throughout the city, heralded by thunderous booms as they disgorged time-displaced entities, transforming New York City into a historical warzone. World War One biplanes streaked through the sky, futuristic three-legged walkers attacked civilians with laser fire, ninjas with katanas and shuriken surged into the street, and a pack of triceratops crushed cars in a stampede.
"It's gonna be one of those days, isn't it?" The web-head wondered aloud.
He had his answer when a seagull ripped his sandwich out of his hand.
Down in the streets, law enforcement was overwhelmed. "This is Bendis, we need back up at the corner of fifth avenue and-" A cop attempted to report into his radio only to find himself being held at swordpoint by a band of ninjas straight from Japan's feudal era. The leading warrior raised his weapon, prepared to strike…
Only to be bowled over by a straight, energy-infused punch.
Officer Bendis took off running as the ninjas prepared for battle. "Watashi wa aian fisutodesu. Watashi wa anata to tatakaitaku arimasen." Iron Fist told them in perfect Japanese. As one, the ninjas attacked, Danny Rand executing high-kicks and palm strikes as he whittled down their numbers one by one. Nearby, Luke Cage lounged quietly by a bus shelter, seemingly unconcerned by the battle his friend was enduring.
"What'd you say to them?" He questioned.
"I told them I didn't want to fight." Iron Fist replied as he uppercutted one of the ninjas.
"You have some serious problems, man." Luke remarked.
"Are you gonna help me, Cage?" Iron Fist demanded as he caught an incoming katana between two hands.
"Naw, you look like you got it covered." Luke Cage answered with a dismissive wave. "Besides, Fist, no client means no money. We're heroes for hire, not heroes for freebies." He leaned to one side as a powerful blow from Danny's iron fist smashed a ninja clean through the bus stop.
"Look around! The city's going nuts, there's all this weird energy. And I'm pretty sure I saw some cowboys fighting a group of medieval knights a few streets over." Rand exclaimed. "We have to do something!"
"If it's that big of a problem, someone should be willing to cough up some cash." Luke retorted. Suddenly, he raised his arm to block a katana strike, the sword shattering to pieces against his unbreakable skin. Driving an elbow into the ninja's face, the warrior went down cold. "Fine. We'll help." Luke relented. "But all this stinks like an Avengers problem, so I'm sending them the bill."
"Fair enough." Iron Fist agreed. "Where are the Avengers anyway?" He wondered off-hand.
War Machine rocketed across the skyline as energy bolts tracked him, striking buildings in their attempt to gun down Colonel James Rhodes. A lucky hit managed to halt his flight and a second took Rhodey out of the air and sent him skittering across blacktop. The three-legged war droid closed in as his armor's systems struggled to reboot in time. "Come on… Come on!"
Raising one of its legs, the war droid made to crush Rhodey underfoot… but it failed to succeed as the rocky form of Benjamin Grimm, Thing of the Fantastic Four, intercepted the limb and held it at bay with all his strength.
"Hang in there, bucket head!" He growled, struggling to maintain his posture. Luckily for him, he wouldn't have to for long.
Darting in with a flash of white and green, Ava Ayala's claws cut clean through the ward droid's legs as the White Tiger successfully dismembered the machine. Rearing back with a newfound weapon, Thing hammered the war droid, using the leg like a baseball bat. The machine was propelled into a nearby high-rise, where a shrieking groan of shorting circuits announced its end.
The rocky superhuman turned and offered Rhodey a hand, helping him to his feet. "Thing? What was that?" War Machine questioned. "What's going on out here?"
"Eh, it's better not to ask I find." Thing replied with a grumble. "Pretty fancy suit there, Stark. Did you get bored with the old one?" He complimented. Rhodey promptly burst his bubble by lifting his faceplate. "Okay… Am I in some kinda alternate universe? Who are you?"
"I'm War Machine, my name is James Rhodes. I work with Tony."
"Well, where the heck is he? Where are the Avengers?" Thing questioned.
"Maybe fighting the cavemen I saw over on fourth ave." Ava proffered as she joined the two.
"Sorry, who are you?" Rhodey wondered.
"White Tiger. I'm normally over in the Bronx." The heroine answered. "And if they're not on fourth, then maybe they're responding to that." The men followed her gaze to Stark Tower, the entire building shimmering behind and intense energy field.
"Maybe, but I don't know. I can't reach Tony." Rhodey said. He looked to Thing. "Where's your team? Where's the Fantastic Four?"
"Eh, some kinda diplomatic mission in another dimension." Grimm replied nonchalantly. "I stayed home to watch the game… which I'm missing now, thanks to all this." He added, grunting in annoyance. He gave Rhodey a quick once-over. "Any way you can find out the score with that suit of yours?" He asked, earning a bewildered stare from the Colonel.
Having joined the chaos, Spider-Man found himself in a far-less desirable situation as he was chased down streets by a violently-hungry Allosaurus. "Woah, woah, WOAH!" He swung around hard on a webline, moving with enough speed and finesse to outwit the dinosaur. But the Allosaurus remained determined and kept on chasing him with a hungry roar. "Thinking quickly, Spider-Man fired off enough webbing to create a net between two lampposts, trapping the Allosaurus as he lunged at him with snapping jaws. Straining against its bonds, the Allosaurus promptly wore itself out and slumped over in defeat. "Okay, think, you can figure this out." Spidey breathed, taking a moment to examine the creature. "Dinosaurs are extinct. Ergo, these aren't dinosaurs. Maybe they're ghost dinosaurs? No, that's dumb," he rambled, "maybe they're time travelling-"
His musing were cut short when a velociraptor nearly bowled him over. With enhanced strength and reflexes, Spider-Man kicked the dinosaur off of him and sprang to his feet, only to discover he was surrounded by two more equally-hungry raptors. Vaulting over one, he grabbed it by the tail and threw it to the ground, only to get pounced upon by another. "D-Down boy! Heel! Heel!" He cried, fighting to keep the snapping jaws filled with sharp teeth from clamping down around his head. It seemed like a losing battle. The raptor was determined and incredibly strong…
"Hey! Ugly!" A gruff voice snapped. "You wanna take a bite out of someone? Try me." The velociraptor turned, Spider-Man turned, and the newcomer announced his presence to the tune of snikt as he popped his claws.
He was none other than Wolverine of the X-Men.
The three raptors bolted, claws out and jaws open, snarling as they tried to catch an easier meal. What they found instead were Logan's Adamantium claws as he ripped into the dinosaurs with animalistic brutality. Wide-eyed beneath his mask, Spider-Man was captivated by the gruesome display as Wolverine shredded one raptor after another with quick swings of his claws, slicing through flesh and bone with ease as he killed all three in quick succession.
"Was that really necessary?" Spider-Man wondered, fighting back the urge to dry-heave. "You just wiped out the dinosaurs. Again."
"You're welcome." Wolverine grunted in reply. "Any idea what's going on here? And where are the Avengers?" He growled. Spider-Man didn't have an answer, but-
"Hello, Spider-Man." A familiar voice greeted. The webhead sprang away as a holographic render of Iron Man appeared out of nowhere. "This is an emergency message from the Avengers. If you're seeing this, that means we're dead." The hologram announced. "But the world will always need heroes, so I put together a failsafe program if anything ever happened to us."
Across the city, the same hologram broadcasted its message to the other responding heroes of New York. Thing, War Machine, White Tiger, Iron Fist and Luke Cage watched, listened and reacted in their own way as Iron Man's hologram continued.
"That doesn't sound good." Thing muttered.
"The Avengers are gone?" White Tiger stated, sounding incredulous. "But… who's gonna stop this?"
"You're up. We need your help." The hologram stated. "Each of you has proven yourself as a hero, as someone who has what it takes to be an Avenger."
"Is this for real?" Iron Fist questioned. "Iron Man is asking us, us, to be-"
"Avengers Mansion, the Quinjet, everything. It's all yours now. The world is depending on you. So go save it." With that, the hologram faded away, leaving the remaining heroes dumbstruck in the wake of such devastating news.
Spider-Man could hardly believe it. In fact, he didn't want to believe it. The shock of losing Earth's Mightiest Heroes seemed too much too soon. "I'm pretty sure he was talking to you, bub." Wolverine grunted.
"Well, what am I supposed to do? I have no idea what's going on." Spider-Man retorted.
"Hello, Spider-Man." JARVIS suddenly greeted, startling him. "I have additional information for you." He explained, earning a groan of annoyance from Wolverine.
"You heard that too? Tell me you heard that too!" Spidey cried.
"Unfortunately." Wolverine huffed.
Later…
Wolverine and Spider-Man made their way to the edge of the shimmer Stark Tower, soon joined by Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Thing, War Machine, and White Tiger. "Should we have name tags?" Spider-Man wondered aloud as the New Avengers assembled. "Well, I'm Spider-Man, and this is my trusty sidekick, Wolverine." He cheekily greeted.
"Don't push it, webhead." Logan snarled.
"Well, I can see this is gonna work out just fine." White Tiger muttered dourly. As a group they made to enter the building, following the directions given to Spidey via JARVIS.
"Anyone happen to know why time is coming apart at the seams?" Iron Fist inquired. "We fought cavemen on the way here."
"Well, the weird British computer in my head is saying that some guy named Kang the Conqueror is pulling his citadel here from the fortieth century. And it's breaking time and that we should stop him." Spider-Man proffered. "Does that make sense to anyone?"
"Nope." Said Luke Cage.
"I'd say you were on drugs if I didn't know better." White Tiger remarked.
"But if Stark's counting on the seven of us to save the world, then we're all in some serious trouble." Luke continued.
"Um… okay. Thanks for that. I guess… Avengers, assemble?" Spider-Man awkwardly replied.
"That could've been better." Thing huffed, crossing his arms.
The heroes made their way beneath the tower, quickly discovering Kang had not moved from his position in control of the ARC reactor. "Hey, Kang!" Spider-Man called out, earning the conquerors attention. "If you're really from the future, how many times am I about to punch you?"
"Step away from the machine, now. Before we make you." War Machine commanded.
Kang loosed a chuckle. "Amusing." He retorted. "You think yourselves the new Avengers? Let me reveal to you what history tells of your little team here: nothing."
"Enough yappin'. Let's do this!" Wolverine growled as he popped his claws with a snikt.
"No, wait," Spider-Man cut in, "we have to-"
"What, are you kidding?" Luke Cage interrupted. "It's one guy. What's he gonna-AUGH!" The hero for hire found himself blasted away by a concussion beam from Kang's gauntlet and sent slamming into a distant wall. Thing quickly rushed in to attack, only for Kang to blast him away with a plasma pulse from his chest. War Machine moved next, his shoulder-mounted gatling cannon spewing high-energy salvos that ricocheted off Kang's shield. He took flight, firing a missile from his opposite shoulder launcher.
But the conqueror promptly vanished from view and his missile struck Thing instead.
"Sorry Thing!" Rhodey apologized. "Where's Kang?" He had his answer when the conqueror reappeared and attacked him from behind, a plasma blast knocking War Machine out of the sky.
Spider-Man took his chance, firing off two web strands only for Kang to let them phase through his body and entangle Wolverine as he approached from behind. "Sorry! That was my fault!" Spider-Man apologized as the mutant snarled irritably.
Iron Fist lunged in with White Tiger, their matching martial arts striking Kang's protective shield before the conqueror blasted them away with photon bolts from his hands. Seeing his friend go down, an incensed Luke Cage charged into the brawl. He bore the brunt of another photon blast as Kang attacked him, relying on his unbreakable skin to tank the shot as he continued struggling towards the conqueror. "Gonna… tear… you… apart!" He growled.
Kang seemed unimpressed. His eyes glowed and his powers intensified. A sudden surge of explosive energy propelled the heroes out of the ARC reactor chamber, through the walls, layers of dirt and concrete, before they exploded out into the open and came crashing down one by one outside of Stark Tower.
"What was that? He ripped through us like we were nothing!" War Machine exclaimed. Iron Fist took a headcount.
"Spider-Man and Wolverine, they're still down there." He realized.
"Come on. We gotta give them a hand." White Tiger urged, charging back towards the hole in the street. She abruptly stopped when a webline shot free and snagged the side of a building.
"Coming through!" Spider-Man announced as he swung into the open with Wolverine under one arm. Hot on their heels, a plasma blast from Kang ripped through the air in their wake. Setting down in their midst, the X-Man seemed particularly perturbed. Moreso than usual.
"Get off me! I had him and you-"
"Oh, you had him?" Spider-Man retorted. "Wow, okay. Maybe it's some weird mutant thing, but taking a laser to the face is a new way to win a fight!"
"Guys? Guys!" Iron Fist snapped. "Look." The heroes turned, following his finger and watched as Stark Tower flickered in and out of reality. Phasing into its place was Kang's citadel. Armored and impenetrable. There would be no destroying it once it arrived in the present.
"What's happening?" White Tiger wondered.
"It… I-It's being replaced." Spider-Man realized. "Kang is bringing his future here. He's got weapons, robots, ships, and he's bringing it all here."
"Wait, robots? Like those things from months ago that attacked the entire world?" White Tiger questioned in dismay. "We can't fight that! The Avengers took them out, but just barely!"
"So if he brings more of those tin cans here…" Thing trailed off.
"He's going to take over the world." Spider-Man grimly surmised. As if on cue, the disc-shaped golden command ships of Kang phased in and out of existence. Not yet a threat, but an ominous warning of what was to come.
"Is that even possible?" Iron Fist wondered.
"Eh, the FF have seen weirder stuff." Thing mused, sounding unimpressed.
"So how are we supposed to stop this? Take down Kang?" Luke Cage asked. "Here's the news: he just took us all down without breaking a sweat!"
"You're right. But this is on us." Spider-Man stated. "Kang's not invincible. The Avengers have taken him down before and you want to know how? They did it as a team." He said valiantly. "They didn't trip all over each other, they worked together and took him down. And that's what we're gonna do."
"Huh. That… actually sounded like a decent speech." White Tiger remarked, hands on her hips.
"Really? Gee, thanks." A bashful Spidey replied. "Now, we have to shut down Kang's machine. I have an idea. I just need time. And I'm gonna need you guys to get Kang out of there." The rest of the heroes seemed hesitant to commit. But War Machine stepped to the plate.
"I can do that." He said, charging his ARC reactor.
Moments later…
With the heroes out of sight and out of mind, Kang resumed his plans to finish merging eras. Once the 40th century had come to this present time, all heroes would be wiped out and eradicated from the timeline. He would dispose of all who tried to fill the Avengers shoes later.
"Citadel transference at ninety-three percent." His personal computer announced.
A distant rumble drew his attention, the conqueror attuning his audio receptors to pinpoint the cause and location of the disturbance. There was no need for them, however, for War Machine announced his presence with a deafening battle cry as he burst through one side of the wall at top speed. He collided with Kang and powered the conqueror up and out the other wall, taking him out into the open.
"Enough!" Kang roared, blasting Rhodey point-blank with a concussion beam. Freed from his clutches, he gripped his armored helm. "You wish to be Avengers? Then share their fate!"
Down on the ground, the remaining heroes could see War Machine was in deep trouble as Kang drew back his arm and his gauntlet glowed. An idea came to Wolverine and he looked to Thing. "Hey, Rocky. How's your throwin' arm? Got a fastball in ya?" He wondered with a smirk.
"Aw, yeah." Thing replied, grinning as he cracked his knuckles.
Within moments, Wolverine was hurtling through the air as he and Thing executed a 'fastball special'. The mutant plowed into Kang and took him to the ground, slamming the conqueror into the pavement claws-first.
"It's clobberin' time!" Thing bellowed as he, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and White Tiger converged on the scene. A rocky uppercut plowed into the recovering conqueror, pitching him high into the air…
With Kang busy, Spider-Man lowered himself into the ARC reactor chamber on a webline and set about his plan. "JARVIS, buddy, you there?" He inquired aloud.
"Indeed, Spider-man. I am broadcasting on the same frequency that allows you to sense your spider-tracers." The AI answered, prompting Spider-Man to splutter in bewilderment,
"What? Iron Man knows about-… You know what, that can wait. Any idea on how to shut this thing down?"
"No." JARVIS said simply.
"What kind of super-computer, butler-thing are you?" Spider-Man grumped.
"Kang's technology is from the fortieth century and operates in a way I cannot comprehend." JARVIS told him.
"Then how did the Avengers stop him last time?" Spider-Man asked.
"Cybernaut was able to gain remote-access of Kang's technology via his technopathic abilities. Analysis suggests everything appears to be controlled by Kang via thought, or possible some intuition Iron Man and Cybernaut were unaware of." JARVIS stated in explanation.
"Uh… Well, what if I just start tearing it apart?" Spider-Man proffered, starting to eye up the technology in the room. "Or… no, no, no wait, these look like power cells, what if I just pull those out?"
"It could shut it down. Or more likely it could explode." JARVIS said.
"You really stink, you know that?" Grumbled Spider-Man.
Outside, the battle against Kang was heating up as the conqueror called on his personal arsenal.
"Luke! Distract him! White Tiger, with me!" Iron Fist called out, the three splitting up to attack Kang from different position. Luke Cage rushed in only to be batted aside by a battle hatchet. Thing attempted to compensate only to be blasted away by a laser rifle. Together, Iron Fist and White Tiger struck, the hero with his chi fist and the heroine with a lunge kick. Both were repulsed by Kang's kinetic shield. War Machine took flight and fired off four rockets from his shoulder launcher, only for them to be destroyed by Kang's optical-lasers. But with his attention turned, Wolverine lashed out ith his claws and struck Kang in the head, taking him down as Adamantium tore through metal and left jagged gouges behind, giving the team a fighting chance...
Meanwhile, Spider-Man was hyping himself up. "Alright… everyone's counting on me, I have to-" he abruptly paused, thinking about what JARVIS had to say. "Intuition! My spider-sense!" He realized. "If I'm doing something that will blow it up, my spider-sense will tell me!" With renewed hope, he approached a nearby console and reached for one of the switches. "Okay, Spidey, no big deal. You can do this… You can do-woah!" He abruptly stopped as his sixth sense flared, sending unpleasant tingles up and down his arm. Spider-Man promptly pulled his hand back from the switch. "Okay, not that one." Looking around for another, he reached for a hard drive and wrapped his fingers around it.
He felt nothing.
Bracing apprehensively, Spider-Man yanked the hard drive free. "Warning. Power down initiated." A computerized voice announced. At once, the ARC reactor ceased to spin, slowing to a halt as the green glow faded from the room. "Time shifts detected. Do you wish to intervene?"
"I prefer the term meddle." A happy Spider-Man remarked as he approached Kang's console…
Up above, Kang had laid out each one of the New Avengers with a concussive wave, leaving himself standing triumphant. He took aim with his battle rifle at War Machine, "Your future ends here." He announced.
But before he could pull the trigger, he was interrupted by golden rays of light stemming from Stark Tower.
Reversing chronal energy began to transport everything back to its proper place in time: ninjas faded away, cowboys and cavemen disappeared, knights blinked out of sight, futuristic war droids were spirited away, everything returned to its rightful place in history… including Kang's citadel and his armada.
"No… NO!" Kang roared, teleporting away the instant he recognized the changes.
"Three guesses where he went." Wolverine remarked as the heroes picked themselves up.
"C'mon, Spidey's gonna need backup." Thing urged, hauling himself up and leading the New Avengers back down the hole in the street. They all piled into the ARC reactor chamber as explosive bolts struck walls and the ceiling, in pursuit of a nimble Spider-Man trying to avoid getting shot. He hit the ground as the heroes prepared to do battle again.
"Fools! You think you've won?" He demanded, taking aim at the heroic ensemble…
His aim was ruined when a star-spangled shield struck him in the back of his head.
Captain America caught his shield, standing tall and alive alongside the rest of the original Avengers. "Kang!" He shouted, earning the conqueror's attention. With a snarl, Kang raised his weapon and pulled the trigger… but nothing happened.
Cybernaut stepped to the forefront, a hand outstretched, revealing he no longer wore that collar around his neck. "Ah ah ah, not today." He teased, flexing his powers. All at once, Kang's weapons vanished from his hands as his tech short-circuited, detonations occurring across his armor as various ports and functions all failed simultaneously. Kang fell to his knees just as Spider-Man fired a web and yanked the final hard drive out of the ARC reactor controls.
"NOOOOO!" Kang roared as a stream of chronal energy plucked him from the present with one more flash of light.
The heroes recovered from the blinding flash, discovering they alone remained. "So, did we win?" Thing wondered. Iron Man approached the group, taking them all in one by one.
"Huh. New Avengers. That actually worked…" He murmured.
Later that day…
With order restored and the day saved, Spider-Man convened with Iron Man, Captain America and Thor atop a roof near Stark Tower. "Well, Kang's gone, who knows where. Or when." The webhead was saying, "and you guys are all alive. We pretty much saved the world… although I think Luke Cage is sending you a bill." He added.
"Uh, yeah, I already got it." Iron Man said, sounding none-too-pleased.
"So that's… that's pretty much that." Spider-Man mused, stretching as he spoke. "I guess I can get back to chasing muggers and, uh…"
"Spider-Man, you did good. All of you did." Iron Man interjected, withdrawing something from his armor. "The world needs heroes. Everyone agreed, even if it's only as a reserve member, we want you as an Avenger." He offered, holding out a fresh Avengers ID card with Spider-Man's face on it. The webhead was stunned, accepting the card with wide eyes and he stared at the big red Avengers 'A' on the card, right next to his portrait.
"I-I-I… Wow. I don't know what to say." He sputtered in reply. "Thanks!" Holding it up to the light, he felt proud to carry this. But also excited to be properly recognized by the big guns of the wider superhero community. "So does this get me a discount anywhere?" He wondered.
Iron Man exchanged looks with Cap and Thor. "Are we sure about this?" He asked them.
Elsewhere in the city, a similar conversation was unfolding on the roof of the Byrd residence. Sitting with Hawkeye, Wasp and Black Panther, White Tiger was all prepared to ease back into civilian life with her adopted family when the Avengers came calling. As it stood, they had a surprise for her.
"Are you guys serious?" She asked, holding her very own Avengers ID card in hand.
"Indeed." Black Panther affirmed. "You performed admirably and helped save the world. You have more than earned this privilege."
"We'll still save the world every other Tuesday. But if we need you, we'll call." Hawkeye added.
"You give these out to the other guys too?" Ava wondered offhand.
"Thing's got the FF, Wolverine's not interested, Luke and Fist would rather get paid, and War Machine would rather watch Stark's back than the world's." The archer explained. "Although he's making an offer to the webhead right now."
"Don't let that slow you down. I heard you did great." Wasp cheerily told her. "You've come a long way from Flag-Smasher and his ULTIMATUM goons. You're the real McCoy, Ava, perfect hero material." She described, beaming despite being only a few inches tall. "So… whaddya think?" She wondered. Ava looked up and, despite her White Tiger mask, Wasp could tell she was smiling.
"I think my uncle would be proud. Especially that his legacy has hit the big leagues." She answered.
In a different corner of the city, Connor Peterson sat on a park bench near the waterfront, deep in conversation. "…so that's why I came to you. Figured you might be able to make heads or tails of this."
"I wish I could." Dayna McCree replied, looking over the tiny little dart he had given her. It was the same one that attempted to prick Connor's neck the day he and Wasp took down the Living Bombs. The Pink Kree studied the dart for a few moments longer before loosing a sigh. "Sorry, Connor, but I've never seen anything like this before." She said, turning the dart back over to him. "No idea who could've made it either. I don't think there's enough Kree tech on the planet to whip up something like that, let alone a large enough understanding of it."
"Well, thanks anyways. At least that narrows my options." The technopath replied, pocketing the dart. "So, now that we got my thing out of the way, you said you wanted to chat about something?" He asked.
"Oh! Yeah! See, I've got all this saved up time off from work burning away and I need to use it before schedules reset. I was wondering if you might wanna do something while I take two weeks off?" Dayna asked, tucking a lock of blue hair behind her ear.
"Sure, I don't see why not." Connor affirmed with a shrug. "Although I'll have to check with the team. Pretty sure they all want a break after this Kang incident, so someone's gonna wind up stuck doing monitor duty."
"Just keep me posted then. I promise I won't do anything fun until you're around." Dayna teased, nudging him with her elbow. "But, man, I'd say you deserve a break. From what you told me you all died and came back to life."
"Just teleported to different places in time, really." Connor answered. "Twenty-ninety-nine is a weird year."
"You can tell me all about it next time we grab pizza." Dayna mused, shifting to face him. "Hey… be honest with me; you ever get scared doing this hero work?"
"Sure I do. But I'd be more concerned if I wasn't afraid about doing it. It's kinda healthy to be scared. Keeps you alive when times get tough." Connor replied, shifting to face her. Dayna snickered.
"That your approach to every scary situation?" She wondered.
"Mm, it can be. Try it sometime. Embrace the fear of the unknown." He proffered.
"Yeah… maybe I will…" Dayna leaned in a little closer. "So… there was something else I wanted to tell you." She added quietly, taking a moment to wet her lips.
"Yeah?" Connor wondered. Dayna opened her mouth to speak again…
And suddenly disappeared, fading away like a ghost without any warning.
Startled, Connor jumped up from the bench. He looked around, spinning all the way around to scan for any sign of the blue-haired Pink Kree. But he could see no one. "Dayna? He questioned aloud, incredibly perplexed. "What happened…? Where'd she go?"
Connor's answer lay in a dark room as Dayna rematerialized and stumbled forward. Straightening up, she looked around her darkened surroundings and tried to make sense of it. Then soft white lights flickered on, revealing metallic walls and a sloping ceiling… and Dayna's eyes widened in horror upon recognizing the room.
A nearby door slid open and a figure clad in uniform entered. His markings were that of a lieutenant… of the Kree Science Navy. "Agent Day-Narr," he greeted, voice as cold and as crisp as his blue skin, "you've been reneging on your reports."