Upon seeing the massive, as well as a furious, blue and red giant that was Hagen throw his fist downward, it was enough to shock all thirty-five of Earth's heroes to quickly move out of the way, with one half, being the Avengers and Fantastic Four, quickly moving the left. The other half, the X-Men, dashed to the right side to avoid it, all except for the Hulk, who took the punch head-on and was pinned down by Hagen's giant fist as it made an impact on the ground and caused a slight tremor. It wasn't until the dust cleared that Hagen felt like he hit something big and moving, and as he looked down, he could see that it was the momentarily dazed Hulk. Before the Jade Giant could recover, Hagen grabbed hold of Hulk and picked him up like a child, picking up an action figure.

On the ground, Cap had just regained his bearings, along with the rest of his fellow Avengers. As he looked straight ahead and spotted the gigantic Hagen with the Hulk in his hand, he quickly stepped forward and raised his hands to try to get Hagen's attention. "Wait!" Steve called out loudly and succeeded in getting Hagen to look at him. We're not here to harm you, soldier! We're here to help!"

Thor took a step forward to support Steve in trying to calm Hagen down. "The Captain speaks the truth, Warrior! We have come to aid you against the foul curs that have enslaved your world!"

Hagen couldn't help but look at Thor in bewilderment. For one thing, he found Thunder God's manner of speaking to be too hoaky, and it reminded him of the old dialect of the old Athain's, those who used magic before technology was developed and were often portrayed in plays that the giant viewed once and, admittedly, fell asleep from boredom. But it was Thor's promise to help that caused Hagen to let out a sarcastic scoff as he addressed Thor and his fellow heroes. "Aid us?" Funny, that's precisely what Doom said when he and his friends first showed up!" As Hagen continued, his cynicism soon turned into seething rage as he remembered what came next. "Right before they took over every city in Athia and either enslaved or killed many innocent people in doing it! Many of them were friends of mine! All killed by Doom's minions, who call themselves Hydra, when they took over my homeland of Amia! So, as far as whatever 'aid' you and your fellow soulless Ultimates wish to provide, we're not interested!"

This fiery reply from Hagen confused the heroes, especially Tony, who looked at Athain with a confused expression behind his faceplate as he went on to ask about the name he had just given him and his comrades. "Ultimates? What are you talking about?"

Hagen's anger only increased upon hearing Tony's question, seeing the Armored Avenger's 'feign ignorance' as an insult. "Don't play dumb with me, you-!" Suddenly, Hagen is brought out of his anger when he feels something trying to pry his hand open. Something small but also strong. This surprised the Athain giant enough to make him look down and see that it was the Hulk, who had just now regained consciousness and was trying to escape Hagen's grip. All of which prompted Hagen to close his hand to keep the Hulk from moving, but with this green-skinned outsider's immense power, it was like trying to hold a small tornado. "Hey! Knock it off, or I'm going squash you like a bug!"

As Hulk felt Hagen's grip grow tighter, it only increased his anger, which in turn caused his already mighty might to increase as well! It didn't take long for Hulk to push Hagen's fingers out, then leaped out of his palm, grabbed hold of the giant's neck, and squeezed tightly.

Naturally, this caught Hagen by surprise as he gasped for air, then fell on his back, with the impact causing the island itself to tremble briefly.

For the heroes, dealing with the Hulk's temper was bad enough, but now that he was attacking an Athain that was not only the size of a building but also one of many of the planet's inhabitants that they had to convince him that they were here to help them, something that was the last thing the heroes wanted to happen, with a troubled Steve Rogers being chief among them. "Hulk, stand down!" Steve sternly commanded as he ran towards the Jade Giant who choking the life out of the fallen behemoth. It didn't take long for the rest of the heroes to follow the Super Soldier, with the flyers taking to the air and the rest running towards the Hulk, all of whom were reluctant to try and pry the rage-filled Hulk from the Athian giant who mistook them for people in league with the villains who took over his home planet.

But before any of the heroes could reach the Green Goliath and try to pry him off Hagen's enlarged throat, things immediately went from bad to worse. For thirty-three, circular white portals appeared out of nowhere and surrounded the heroes, leaving them in a state of shock and confusion.

One of the heroes was Peter, who, while just as bewildered as his comrades, was also annoyed. Not only did the team's first contact with one of the Athia's inhabitants not go as planned and was made worse by the Hulk attacking him, but they now had to deal with these new portals that obviously appeared in Hagen's defense. "Oh, well, this makes everything SO much better!" Peter sarcastically thought to himself as he looked up at the portals but was alerted by the tingling of his spider-sense, indicating that further danger was close. It made the young hero roll his eyes in aggravation before turning to the portal located on his right side.

Sure enough, something did come shooting out of the portal like a rocket. Or, more accurately, someone! Specifically, a thin, fair-skinned, and attractive young Athain woman, roughly around Peter's age, with short red hair and standing glowing white bangs to match the aura around her body. Like the soldiers of Ava, she wore a gold long-sleeved shirt underneath her white face plate, white fingerless gloves, and gold pants with white boots. She shot out of the portal feet first, with the white energy around her feet glowing brighter and in the shape of a large arrowhead. It was an unusual but still deadly attack, one that helped the red-headed girl take down many Ultamen that came her way, and this time, she planned to use it to cut the legs from underneath the seemingly unsuspecting Peter literally.

Fortunately for Peter, however, this was the attack that alerted his spider-sense. By pure instinct, he jumped and flipped in a corkscrew motion, causing the red-headed girl to pass underneath him and ended up sliding and cutting through the ground underneath her instead, and in the process, caused her white aura to disappear and her bangs to drop down and change from white to yellow as the hanged down the sides of her face. Upon landing safely on his feet, Peter turned to face his red-headed attacker while getting in a readied stance, and as he watched her stand back up and get into a fighting stance of her own, he couldn't help but be captivated by her alluring appearance. "Whoa, okay, she's cute, despite wanting to kill me," Peter thought admittingly but then narrowed his eyes at her more intently. "But…why does she look familiar?" Suddenly, the curious Peter's train of thought was interrupted when he once again felt the intense tingling of his spider-sense.

This time, the source was that of the platinum blonde, Anara Ularona, in her gold and white attire and shooting out of the portal headfirst, with her right hand already formed into an energy dagger and, upon getting close enough, pulls it over her left shoulder and goes for a back-handed slash to take Peter's head right off his shoulders. He would have succeeded if Peter had not heeded his spider-sense and immediately ducked, causing Anara to slice nothing but air and fly right over his head. However, instead of falling face-first into the ground, Anara controlled her fall by rolling on the ground, stopping, and kneeling on the left side next to the red-headed girl.

Moments after saving his head from getting sliced off his shoulders, Peter stood straight up. Upon seeing Anara pop back up and turn to face him, he immediately bent his knees and stood ready to jump and leap into the air if needed, but decided to try and reason with them first and assure them that he and his fellow heroes meant no harm.

However, before Peter could open his mouth, the red-headed girl noticed Anara through the corner of her left eye and rolled both eyes in annoyance. "I have this handled, Anara!"

Anara was just as annoyed with the red-headed girl's bold and careless tactic to charge into battle without thinking, so much so that she found it difficult to keep herself composed. Thus, before answering, Anara breathed in through her nose and out of her before giving the girl this stern reply. "If I may remind you, Your Highness, that as part of a strike force, you face the danger WITH your teammates so they can help you! Not charge in by yourself and get yourself killed before they can help you!"

Peter couldn't help but feel dumbfounded upon hearing what Anara had just referred to the red-headed girl who nearly took his head off. "Your Highness?" The now curious Peter turned his attention to his previous crimson-haired attacker and narrowed his eyes at her as if she looked familiar. But upon looking at the gold parts of her uniform, Peter's eyes grew wide with realization as he remembered the last time he saw her. It was back in the Beyonder's Throne Room, where he, along with the rest of the heroes and villains, all saw the 'mystic broadcast' of…

AVA

…or, more accurately, Ava City during the passing of the titles ceremony. What caught Peter's eye was that of the red-headed High Princess, Marrion Jonas, and they couldn't help but be amazed by her attractive looks. Taking away the fact that she wasn't an Earthling and the Beyonder had planned her home to be a place for battle between himself, his fellow heroes, and the villains, Peter only further resented his ever-present lousy luck that followed him everywhere he went. Including…

PLANET ATHIA (NEW ALANDRA ISLAND)

…where the stunned Peter found himself facing the red-headed girl whom he knew for sure was the other Princess from that day but still had to confirm. "Wait, 'Your Highness!?'" Peter exclaimed, flabbergasted, which earned him taken-aback stares from the red-headed girl and Anara. Okay, I know there's a 'Princess Ava'. So, what, that makes you…her sister?!"

The red-headed Marrion continued to look at Peter dumbfounded. Many of the outworldly villains that she and the rest of her people knew as 'Ultimates' knew who she was, and while she knew that some of them were stupid, she'd never thought that they were THIS stupid. This is the reason why Marrion considers Peter's confusion to be a poor attempt at playing mind games. "Well, aren't you observant?!" The sarcastic Marrion retorted, then conjured up her white aura once more, resulting in her yellow bangs once again pointing upward and glowing white. With Anara by her side, she formed her left hand in a knife edge position, then channeled her energy down her arm and formed a glowing white energy dagger around her hand to perform a slash attack.

Through her left eye, Anara noticed the young Marrion forming her dagger and knew that this was a signal to perform a two-person maneuver that she and the young high princess would often use whenever they were on missions together. And so, despite still feeling annoyed by Marrion's overeagerness to jump into battle, Anara nonetheless followed suit by conjuring up her aura and channeling her energy into forming an energy dagger of her own, but this time, with her right hand. With both Athian women now with their mystic 'weapons,' Anara and Marrion made their way by both charging towards Peter and, in the process, pulled their glowing hands backward as they attempted to take Peter's head off once more.

Peter saw this attack coming his way, but before he could make any move to avoid it, he was surprised when he felt something grab hold of his waist and suddenly make him feel just a little bit lighter.

That something was actually 'someone' from the X-Men, Kitty Pryde, who decided to step in and help Peter by using her ability to turn her body, as well as whoever she was maintaining physical contact with, completely intangible. A tactic that saved her and her teammates in the past, and in this case, saved both Peter and herself as it caused Marrion and Anara's mystic daggers to pass right through their necks instead of decapitating them, and thus causing the two Athian women to tumble to the ground but quickly roll forward and kneeling to stop themselves. Moments later, Kitty stopped concentrating, turning both herself and Peter solid once more, and upon letting her fellow hero go, instinctively turned around to face Anara and Marrion, who by now were back on their feet and facing them.

Peter instinctively also turned around to face his female attackers, and though grateful that Kitty saved his life, he was still a bit shaken up by how she did it. "Uh, thanks."

"Thank me by not getting killed!" Kitty replied as she instinctively got into a fighting stance once she spotted Marrion and Anara reigniting their energy daggers and charged towards them.

"That I can do!" Peter enthusiastically replied as he got into a readied stance himself once he spotted the two Athian women charging towards them. As Kitty once again made body intangible and allowed Anara's dagger to phase through her, Peter, in turn, leaned all the way back to avoid Marrion's slash and keep his head attached. And as he looked at Marrion masterfully stopped herself once again from an upside-down angle, the young Web-Slinger couldn't help but be a little bit worried on just how pretty, but skilled opponent that he was up against. "Or at least I hope I can."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey guys! I know that this chapter is short, and it was meant to be longer. But given that I've been gone for so long for a variety of reasons, I figured I'd post this to let you all know that I'm still here and still writing. What other Athians will the Heroes of Earth be forced to fight? Where are Doom and the villains? And why did Hagen call Cap and the other's 'Ultimates"? Stay tuned to find out!