AUTHOR'S NOTE: WELL, THE REPOSTING OF THIS STORY HAS BEGUN, BUT AS I SAID ON MY PROFILE, I'LL BE GIVING IT A 'TUNE-UP' FOR A BETTER READ. IF THERE ARE ANY OTHER IMPROVEMENTS I CAN MAKE, PLEASE LET ME KNOW VIA PRIVATE MESSAGING OR IN THE REVIEWS. UNTIL THEN, ENJOY! ;)
DISCLAIMER: CHARACTERS SUCH AS THE AVENGERS, THE X-MEN, ETC. ARE ALL COPYRIGHT PROPERTY OF MARVEL COMICS AND BASED ON THE SHOWS 'AVENGERS: EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES' AND 'WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN.' BOTH OF WHICH WERE WRITTEN BY CHRISTOPHER YOST. NO PROFIT IS MADE FROM THIS STORY, AND ITS PURPOSE IS FOR ENTERTAINMENT ONLY. IN OTHER WORDS…PLEASE DON'T SUE.
UNKNOWN LOCATION
Inside a large throne made entirely of white marble, one man sat on the throne, looking at a large crystal ball in front of him. He appeared to be a light-skinned, handsome man who appeared to be in his mid-thirties. He possessed a broad physique, curly black hair, and eyes that glowed in a bright yellow light comparable to a sun. This mysterious man dressed in a white suit with matching white shoes. Underneath his jacket was no shirt, and thus showed a large chest with black hair. Though he appeared to be a man, he was anything but that. He was a mighty deity who, if he wanted to, reshape any matter to his will, no matter how big or small. Few people knew of him, and those who did refer to him as simply 'The Beyonder.'
At that moment, this all-powerful being focused on the image inside the crystal ball, one of a blue planet primarily due to its vast oceans. It contained one large continent and an island located above it.
And the sight of this beautiful planet brought a somewhat sinister smile to the Beyonder's face. "Yes, this world will do quite nicely!" The Beyonder said to himself, pleased and in a soothing but almost echoing voice. "Now, time to bring in the players." With that said, the Beyonder pointed his left hand at the crystal ball across from him, and with a bit of concentration, he caused the ball to glow into a bright, white light then and transform into a giant glowing platform on the wall. The Beyonder did not stop there, however, for he channeled more of his willpower, and with a split second, the glowing platform flashed in the same blinding light that consumed the entire room…
PLANET EARTH: NEW YORK
It was a dark and rainy night in Manhattan. A city that, just one year ago, was nearly destroyed when a world-eating cosmic being known as Galactus almost consumed the entire planet! For the people outside on the street and not inside the buildings or inside cars that made up the traffic lines, they tried to keep themselves dry in different ways. From using umbrellas or covering the top of their heads with magazines, newspapers, or anything they had their hands on to try and keep their heads dry, albeit with minimal success. Inside the Baskin apartment complex, many residents watched the rain through the windows of their apartments, many of whom felt sad or annoyed as they had plans for the night and the storm had ruined it.
One of the residents watching the rain was a depressed Peter Parker, a lean, fair-skinned young man from Queens who had brown hair and hazel eyes and appeared to be eighteen years of age. He also wore a blue sweater, blue jeans, and white, worn-out tennis shoes. He watched the storm from a studio apartment that was so small and cramped up it would be confused as a single room to those who walked into it.
Despite the cramped living conditions, Peter tried to make the most of it. For one thing, he had at least four books on top of the small table next to his messy bed. All of these fields of science, engineering, and physics enticed Peter ever since he was eleven years old. This passion helped him excel in all of them and graduate from Midtown High School, which was enough to get accepted into Empire State University. Though Peter saw ESU as a great place of learning, it was the location of that faithful senior field trip. As he and his classmates visited the campus lab, he received a bite from an escaped genetically altered spider, and he became a man with a double life. And through the corner of his left eye, Peter could see something that was part of that life.
It was a newspaper article pinned to the wall where the photo showed Peter himself, but dressed in a red and blue spandex body suit with a full head mask and swinging above the city streets via web-like lines that she shot from out of his wrists. The red portions of the costume, from his mask, chest, gloves, and boots, have a black web pattern, and the mask has white eye lenses with pointy black rims. Completing the costume were two spider symbols. The first was a small black spider symbol on the chest, while the other was a large red circular one on his back. By donning this costume, Peter uses the abilities given to him by the spider bite to fight crime and save innocent lives as New York's Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. He did this as a promise to his dear departed uncle, Ben Parker, who taught him that 'with great power comes great responsibility.'
This photograph, in particular, was taken by Peter himself via a camera he strategically placed and set to flash a picture every five seconds. He took this photo and many more and sold them to J. Jonah Jameson, the editor of the Daily Bugle. But instead of phrasing Spider-Man for his heroics, the man saw people like Spider-Man and all superheroes who wear masks as careless vigilantes and people who were just as many menaces as the villains they fought. As a result, the people's opinion of Spider-Man was mixed at best, with a majority of people believing Jonah that Spider-Man should be hated and feared. In contrast, some of them, notably the people that Peter saved, chose to ignore the pig-headed editor and saw Spider-Man as a true hero.
Peter admitted that this method of earning money wasn't the most honest one and that Ben would disapprove of it. But it was during a time when his aunt, May Parker, struggled with the bills to their home and felt that this was the only way to help keep a roof over their heads. Luckily, though, by the time Peter graduated from Midtown High School, May had already taken a job at a homeless shelter known for providing Food, Emergency Aid, and Shelter Training. Hence the abbreviated name, 'F.E.A.S.T.'
With May now working, Peter used money from the Bugle to focus on paying the rent for his apartment and buying expensive materials for his 'Spider-Man' gear. Not only that but over time, his expertise in computers helped him get another position on the Daily Bugle's website. He would often use the Bugle's resources to research whatever criminal he was facing and trying to bring down. Not only that, but Peter also used his photography skills to take pictures for reporter and co-worker Betty Brant on whatever story she chased. Peter felt these two new tasks were more honest than, as he would put it, taking 'over glorified selfies' of him risking his life in fighting superpowered villains or saving people from whatever life-threatening emergency would come up.
Recently, however, Peter felt he strayed away from these teachings since he discovered and donned 'new clothes.' Namely, a costume that made him feel like a new person. A new reckless, arrogant, aggressive person. So much so that it proved Jameson right, saying that Spider-Man was indeed a danger to New York and its people. Though he got rid of the clothes that influenced him to do such careless things, the majority of the city now turned their backs on him, and Peter knew that the only person he could blame for how things turned out was himself. At one moment, the saddened Peter turned to the right to look out the window, and a brief glimpse of his reflection…but wearing said suit, which was all black with wide white eyes, two prominent white spider symbols that connected to his chest and back, and two white squares on top of his hands. Naturally, this startled Peter intensely, enough to make him tumble backward and fall on his backside to the floor. After a few short, anxious breaths, Peter barely managed to calm himself. As he slowly got back up, he saw his reflection in the window had returned to normal, leading Peter to think that maybe it was a hallucination, given that the young man hadn't had much sleep lately due to all the guilt he felt from all the things he said in did while wearing the black suit.
Now calm, Peter briefly turned back to the newspaper photo. Once he was reminded of the hero he used to be and ultimately failed to be, Peter's sadness turned into rage as he reached over, yanked the picture off the wall, and bitterly crumbled it into a ball. The furious Peter then turned and threw the crushed photo across the room, and moments later, he noticed something that caused his heart to shatter again.
It was another photograph that sat on his small work desk, which had a laptop with a broken screen, and another science book that Peter rented from the ESU library. This one was on college-level biology to use to help him study for an upcoming exam. The picture was of Peter, who was just seven years old, in the family garage holding down measuring tape. All to help the grey-haired, portly, middle-aged man named Ben Parker measure a table the jolly man was trying to fix. Though usually, seeing his uncle smiling happily and proudly that day would be enough to brighten Peter's day, it worsened his depression, as he feels that Uncle Ben must not be so proud of him due to the current circumstances. "I'm so sorry that I let you down, Uncle Ben,"the shame consumed Peter thought to himself as he stared at the image of his smiling uncle. "I made a promise to you that I'd use my powers responsibly."Moments later, Peter felt his anger return as he remembered the 'new clothes' that helped him create the mess he had made. "But instead, I let that…THING take control of my body and let it mess with my head! Let it turn me into an arrogant jerk who nearly got people killed and, worse, said things that hurt the people closest to me and made them not want to have anything to do with me. Especially Aunt May. I honestly don't know how I'll be able to rebuild the bridges I made with everyone."
As Peter turned to the left, he walked over to his bed, where he had his Spider-Man costume and three other metal items he used on the field. The first two accessories were silver steel bracelets with metal springs with buttons at the end, and these 'Web-Shooters' were used to fire synthetic webbing of his creation to use in various ways. Be it swinging around the city, apprehending crooks, or whatever task he needed to keep the people of New York safe. The third was that of a steel belt that contained cartridges of his synthetic webs and a red light on the buckle, which flashed a symbol that looked like his mask.
Though this was not the costume that caused this whole mess, Peter still looked at the outfit with pure disdain. It represents how he let 'Spider-Man take so much from him, even before tonight. Namely, being a superhero forced him to miss out on time with friends, May, and even a date with Liz Allen, another former classmate from Midtown High who was now attending ESU alongside him. These frequent disappearances caused them to think that Peter was forgetful, insensitive, and unreliable. And thanks to the attitude change that came with the 'new suit,' they were now offended and even scared of him.
It was these sad instances that, as far as Peter was concerned, were brought by Spider-Man, no matter what the costume. For whatever life he saved or villain he stopped as the superhero, his relationships with people he cared about suffered, something which he now wanted no part of. "But there is one thing I do know. Spider-Man has caused a lot of pain lately! And it stops tonight!" With his decision made, Peter bent down and picked up a cardboard box, which he originally used to help move into this apartment when he got accepted into ECU, but he never got to dispose of it, primarily due to swinging around the city fighting crime or saving lives. A task which, as of now, he was going to leave to both the police and to other heroes as well, such as the Avengers, the worldwide superhero team whom Peter once fought alongside, including during the Galactus event. Sadly, they were also among the many people who lost all trust in him, which further convinced Peter that what he was about to do was the right thing.
After taking a moment to look at the costume one last time in disgust, Peter began to pick up the costume one piece at a time. Once the suit, belt, and web shooters were in the box, Peter immediately closed and was about to walk out and use what cash he had left to hail a cab and travel to the Hudson River. There, he would throw the box into the water and say goodbye to 'Spider-Man' once and for all. But once Peter picked up the box and took two steps away from the bed, he was stopped dead in his tracks by the sounds of loud banging on his door and the raised voice of an older man with a thick Ukrainian accent.
"PARKER, YOU'RE RENT IS DUE!"
At that moment, Peter closed his eyes and cursed himself. He forgot that today was the day to pay his rent, mainly due to being so caught up in his inner turmoil that he forgot all about it. The only money that Peter had left was for cab fare, which was not nearly enough to pay the angry landlord outside. As such, the panicky Peter began to think of an excuse for why he didn't have the money and prayed that it would be convincing enough to wait just a little bit longer and not throw him out of the street. "Oh, uh, Mr. Barno!" Peter replied nervously. "Listen, I'm afraid I, I-!" While struggling to come up with his story, Peter suddenly witnessed something strange that made his eyes grow in shock and horror.
A strange white light suddenly covered Peter's right hand, scaring the young man enough to make him drop the box on the floor. This peculiar new light then moved up the bewildered Peter's hand like water and covered his entire arm until his whole body was finally glowing. "W-What?! What's going-?!" Those were the last words the frantic Peter exclaimed before the light that covered his body suddenly flashed and consumed the entire apartment. After a few seconds, the light dimmed down, and Peter himself was now missing. Oddly enough, Peter's disappearance was the only strange and abnormal occurrence. Another one was taking place on Earth, but one in the form of a battle located on…
ZODIAC ISLAND
On a small island, which was initially occupied by the terrorist organization known as HYDRA, a battle between two groups of costumed people occurred in what appeared to be a large, metallic hanger. Though some were trained in hand-to-hand combat, many of them possessed powers that made them more formidable and this battle more intense.
The first team was that of the terrorist organization called the Zodiac, whose members wore costumes designed to pay homage to the astrological signs they were named after, and now used the island as their base, albeit first disguising it as island bought by a millionaire tycoon. And the second was the team regarded by people worldwide as Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the Avengers. On this night, the Zodiac attempted to open a portal to another dimension and raise an army of creatures to take over the planet. A plan that would've destroyed the human race, that is, if the Avengers had yet to pinpoint their location and arrived at their hideout to stop them.
Amongst the chaos of this battle royale was a one-on-one match-up between two of the factions' leaders. The first was that of Scorpio, an African American man in a red plastic mask dressed in a red and orange armored body suit with a red hood over his head. It was he who secretly bought the rights to the island under the name of 'Daniel Wells' and used it as the faction's headquarters. As to how he fought his opponent, he did so by using the Zodiac Key, an ancient artifact of great power that the holder could use in many ways. One of its most prominent ways is opening dimensional portals, a method that Scorpio intended to use for world domination. He brought a few of them to this world before the Avengers showed up and prevented him from bringing in more. With a team of heroes and a peacekeeping organization outside fighting what creatures he brought in and putting his plans to a screeching halt, Scorpio instead used the key as a weapon as he channeled his willpower into the key, causing it to glow with green energy and fire a massive blast at his opponent.
That opponent was a man clad in a red armor suit with a muscular, almost organic exoskeleton-like appearance, so much so that it could be mistaken for a one-piece body suit if looked at from a far distance. Two of its most distinguishing features are a gold faceplate with glowing blue eye lenses and a triangular glowing blue light located in the center of the chest, the Ironheart. Both the wearer and creator of this advanced suit were that billionaire inventor and philanthropist Anthony Edward Stark, though he preferred to be called Tony. But on this night, wearing his latest of many armors, he operated as a Co-Leader of the Avengers under the name given to him by the press long ago, Iron Man.
As Iron Man, Tony found himself in the path of Scorpio's energy blast by firing an energy blast of his own through the palm of his left gauntlet, known affectionately as his 'repulsor blast,' which collided head-on with Scorpio's blast and thus engaged with the terrorist in a beam struggle to try and overpower him. "Gotta say, Scorpy, I'm a little disappointed," Tony said with a strained but light-hearted tone as he pushed his blast forward against Scorpio's. "I mean, the firewall you used to protect your computer files, namely those of transactions to the black market to help fund your little club here, it's as about as effective as the one the Pentagon used when I hacked into it back in high school…on a dare! So, speaking as a leader myself, you're not exactly doing your group here any favors, pal!"
From Tony's obnoxious, snarky comments to the Avengers ruining the Zodiac's night of triumph that he spent so long planning for, Scorpio couldn't help but allow his anger to overtake him. "My brother may have the patience to deal with you, Stark, but I don't!" Scorpio spat bat as he struggled to maintain the strength of the beam. "And I'll show him that he needs to work on his judge of character…when I send him your charred corpse!" With the desire to eradicate the insufferable billionaire that stood in front of him, Scorpio poured all his anger and hate into the key, which caused it to glow brighter, increase the strength of his beam, and push through Tony's.
At this point, Tony couldn't help but be a little taken aback, both from the sheer power that Scorpio possessed to still trying to process the fact that he was the younger brother of Nick Fury, his greatest albeit reluctant ally and director of the peacekeeping organization known as the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division, or as it was commonly called, S.H.I.E.L.D. And it was this organization that was just outside the layer fighting that with a few interdimensional creatures outside. One would think that Scorpio would share his brother's ideals of keeping the world and its people safe. However, as Tony learned a long time ago, ideals change. Sometimes, for the better, or in this case, the worst. Unfortunately, it was Scorpio's dark and twisted thinking that strengthened the blast, which overpowered Tony's repulsor blast and was now heading straight toward the inventor-turned-hero.
Oddly enough, this rash act of rage was what Tony was waiting for, as this was the opportunity to show what his current armor, which he called the Mark L, could do. Namely, it was composed of nanotechnology that covered his entire body. Thanks to the nanites covering his head, he can send off a mental command to the nanites that made up his left gauntlet to stop firing his repulsor blast and allow Scorpio's blast to speed his way. With a confident smirk behind his faceplate, Tony sent out another mental command that caused his left gauntlet's color to change from red to silver and began to flow inward like water and turn his hand into a giant round fluid-like ball. Moments later, the ball grew large until it formed into a red six-foot, triangular shape shield with what looked like a circular dish in the center.
It didn't take long for the blast to hit the shield, and though it did its job in protecting Tony, the pressure was so immense that Tony felt like he was trying to hold back a title wave and struggled to stay on his feet. Not only that, the dish in the center of the shield soon started to do its job, in that it absorbed energy and had it flow through his arm and into the triangle-shaped light in the center of Tony's chest plate, causing it and both of his eyepieces glow even brighter.
This was enough to make Scorpio cease firing his blast and look at Tony's shield, completely bewildered. "What the hell?"
Once Tony stopped feeling the massive pressure, he sent another mental command, and his shield's color to silver once again, then shrunk down and formed into his left hand, all while struggling to keep the energy he just absorbed contained. "Nanotech. Nice, huh?" Tony remarked with a strained voice as the color on his left gauntlet changed back to red. Along the way, he saw Scorpio's expression change from confused to aggravated, then looked over the terrorist's shoulder to see something else coming in. All of which caused his smirk to return. "Actually, don't answer that; I can tell you don't care. But if you weren't too crazy about MY shield, then you're definitely going to hate the one that's coming up behind you."
Naturally, this remark caused Scorpio's confusion to return, and as he turned around to see what Tony was talking about, what he saw caused his eyes to grow large with shock, namely that of a disc-shaped, two-and-a-half-foot-long shield flying through the air and heading straight toward his masked face. The shield was painted the colors of the American flag, with red and white rings and a blue circle with a white star in the middle. But what Scorpio was most concerned with was the edge of the shield, which was the part that hit and bounced off the top section of his mask that covered his forehead. Though the mask protected Scorpio's skull, the blow was powerful enough to knock him off his feet and land hard on the floor.
As for the shield itself, it ended up back in the open right hand of Steve Rogers, a fair-skinned, blue-eyed masked man with an athletic physique and large upper body. He wore in a blue full-bodysuit with red gloves and boots, a black utility belt around his waist, his mid-torso containing red and white stripes, and a large white star on the chest. As for his mask, which covered everything except his eyes, ears, and mouth, it showed a large white 'A' on the forehead and two white wings just above his ears. When donning this uniform, he was the hero known throughout the United States and the entire world as Captain America, the Sentinel of Liberty, and Co-leader of the Avengers.
Sadly, Steve was also a man out of time, as he fought in World War II against HYDRA so many years ago, and thanks to an already launched rocket that he helped destroy to save the United States, he ended up falling and freezing in the Antarctic, until he was discovered by the Avengers years later. Since then, he has been using his skills in battle tactics and hand-to-hand combat to aid the team in battles against villains and even trained some members in various martial arts. Including Tony, to which Steve gave him a stern, somewhat unsatisfied look, given how long his fight with Scorpio was going and felt that it should've ended much sooner. "You sure are taking your sweet time, Tony."
"Yeah, well, I took out the Ringmaster when we butted heads with the Circus of Crime last week, so I figured I'd be a sport and let you have the leader this time," Tony responded with his usual wit, despite feeling the immense pressure of trying to keep the Zodiac Key's energy in his armor and feeling like he could explode at any moment.
An emergency that alerted Tony's trusted Artificial Intelligence, which he affectionally named 'Just A Really Very Intelligent System,' or simply 'J.A.R.V.I.S.' "Well, generosity aside, sir," said J.A.R.V.I.S. in a male voice with a proper British accent. "The energy from the Zodiac key already has the Ironheart at full capacity and is quickly becoming unstable. I suggest you find a way to release it before it damages the Ironheart beyond repair."
Before Tony could answer, he noticed through the corner of his eye, which surprised him enough to make him use all the energy in his body to duck quickly. All so he could avoid being tackled by two behemoths coming his way and allow them to fly over his head.
One of these giants was a giant, green-skinned humanoid with black hair, dark green eyes, and a massive muscular body comparable to a tank. His only piece of clothing was a pair of purple spandex shorts, which were made of unstable molecules to prevent them from tearing due to the monster's size. At one point, he was a timid, physically weak scientist named Dr. Bruce Banner, but upon being exposed to Gamma radiation in a freak accident, he became known as the Incredible Hulk, a monster who for a long time was thought to be a rage-filled creature of pure destruction. However, that seemed to change when he became a founding member of the Avengers, and though he left the team on a few occasions, Hulk still came back because, at the end of the day, they were the few people that he considered friends. Thanks to helping the team defeat Galactus and his heralds, many people began to see Hulk as Steve, the only Avenger who fully believed in him, and saw the Green Goliath as a hero.
And just like how Hulk used his raw, incredible strength to help save the Earth from the world-eating entity, he now matched his brawn against another giant like himself. This Zodiac member dressed in a brown suit and a helmet resembling a bull's horn head, all to look like the constellation of Taurus the bull.
It was here that Hulk tackled Taurus while he jumped in the air, forcing both of them to fly over Tony's head and stop when Taurus' back hit and left a significant dent against the steel wall. Now, with the advantage, Hulk used his massive left hand to keep Taurus pinned up against the wall, all so he could wind his right fist back and throw a straight punch, with the target being the Zodiac member's horned head.
However, Taurus proved to be as quick as well as strong as he moved his head sideways to the left, successfully avoiding the punch and causing Hulk to ram his fist through the wall instead. Moments later, he fought back by taking his right knee and driving it into Hulk's abdomen, which knocked the wind out of the green giant and forced him to take a step back. Not only did this create space between the two giants, but it also gave Taurus enough space to get up off the wall and throw a hard left uppercut, which connected to Hulk's large jaw.
Though the blow stunned Hulk and caused him to stagger backward a few steps, it still wasn't enough to knock him off his feet.
This left Taurus frustrated, as he wanted to show everyone, from his teammates to the entire world, that he was indeed the strongest being there was! Thus, he decided to wipe out the competition the old-fashioned way by charging toward the dazed Hulk to ram his left horn into his green opponent's torso.
Luckily for Hulk, though, he was brought out of his daze by both hearing and feeling the rapid footsteps of his horned attacker. As he looked straight ahead, the Jade Giant was consumed by rage, an emotion which, thanks to the gamma radiation coursing through his body, increased his speed, reflexes, and already massive strength. So much so, that it made Hulk almost unstoppable, as he proved when he grabbed Taurus' horns, stopping the terrorist in his tracks.
Taurus struggled to get his head free, but it was no use. The Hulk's grip was far too strong, and he gets further proof of this when he felt the Hulk lift him off the floor with his massive horns. His frustration soon turned to fright when he saw the green goliath's seething face. "P-Please don't smash me."
The Hulk let out an angry snort, clearly disgusted by how a supposed tough guy like Taurus could cower so quickly. "Fine. Won't smash," The Hulk responded with disdain but allowed a slow smile to appear on his face for what he just thought of. "Instead, Hulk spin."
This remark left the nervous Taurus completely baffled. "Wait, what?"
Rather than tell the confused Taurus what he meant, the Hulk chose to show him by spinning him around at high speeds comparable to that of a typhoon. Moments later, Hulk released his firm grip on Taurus' horns and threw the Zodiac powerhouse into the air like a ball and chain. An act that made the big and intimidating Taurus let out a girlish shriek that, even in a battle as chaotic as this, was loud enough to hear.
One of those people who heard the high-pitched squeal was Tony, who looked up at the airborne Taurus and smirked behind his faceplate as he saw him as a way to get rid of this energy stored in the Ironheart. "Way ahead of you, J.A.R.V.I.S.," Tony replied with his usual confident wit, then pointed both of his hands upward, sent a mental command, and turned both of his hands into what appeared to be large red barrels. Afterward, he commanded the Ironheart to release all of the Zodiac Key's energy, and it did so by allowing it to flow through Tony's arms and out of the barrels, creating two blue beams of blue light. It didn't take long for the beams to hit Taurus in the chest and send him through the steel ceiling and into the sky outside.
After dealing with the muscle-bound Taurus and saving the Ironheart from overloading, Tony reverted the barrels back into his hands. "Okay, that's two down," said the self-assured Tony as he looked around for his next opponent. "Now, let's see who else can help me see what the Ironheart can-!" Suddenly, Tony got his answer of what threat he would face next when what appeared to be a giant wave of water came in and completely consumed him.
While Tony struggled inside the watery trap he found himself in, the top of the blob soon began to take shape and take the form of the upper torso of a pale-skinned, square-jawed man dressed in a blue shirt with black gloves and mask that covered everything but his mouth. Born Darren Bentley, he was once a former C.I.A. operative but was dismissed due to using questionable methods. As such, he joined the Zodiac and, in the process, allowed them to experiment on his body, which turned him into a being composed of water. Because of this, he was given the nickname Aquarius.
For Steve, seeing this man composed of water didn't surprise him all that much, as he remembered facing similar creatures created by Baron Heinrich Zemo, former leader and scientist of HYDRA, with whom he constantly clashed during the war. But it was the sight of Tony, a fellow teammate and, more specifically, one who was the son of one of his oldest friends, Howard Stark, being trapped within the belly of a water-based terrorist that made the Super Soldier's eyes light up with concern. "Tony!" The worried Steve exclaimed, then ran to try and free his fellow Avenger.
However, the safety of Tony's safety took Steve's focus away from Scorpio, who soon regained full consciousness thanks to his now cracked mask absorbing the force of Steve's shield. With a clear and still throbbing head, Scorpio used his left leg to trip Steve, causing him to tumble over.
Fortunately for Steve, he managed to control his fall by rolling forward and popping back up on his feet. As he spun around and got into a readied fighting stance, he saw that Scorpio had gotten back up on his feet and, at that moment, pulled the mask off his face, which crumbled into pieces.
The maskless Scorpio then pulled the hood off his head, revealing the bald head and angry grimace of the African American male named Jacob Fury. "Oh, you'll have to do better than throw in order to put me down, old timer!" Jacob spat angrily, then pointed the Zodiac at Steve and fired another blast, with the target being the soldier's masked head.
With lightning-quick reflexes, Steve pulled his shield in front of him and successfully blocked the blast. From seeing Tony trapped within a water man's body to the brother of his ally and friend attacking him, the frustrated Steve couldn't say that the situation he was in wasn't a favorable one.
Meanwhile, Tony could not move inside Aquarius' liquid-based body, mainly because he felt intense pressure. Though the armor did have an emergency oxygen system, it was limited to only a few minutes, which meant he had to figure out a way to escape quickly.
Though Aquarius struggled, he kept Tony inside his body by utilizing his atmospheric pressure. He knew that that armor would prevent the playboy from drowning. He thus felt crushing him to death would be the best option, and already smiled with sadistic delight, as he knew that killing the world-famous Iron Man would give him enough street credit within not just his teammates within the Zodiac but with other villains as well. But before Aquarius could bask in his own glory, he suddenly felt an intense sharp pain in his face from a strange invisible force. One that felt like he was being pierced with a red-hot poker and with strength comparable to being hit with a sledgehammer. All of which hurt him enough to inadvertently stop increasing the pressure in his body and allow Tony some level of movement. As to what this mysterious force caused Aquarius, this pain that now lingered in his face, he soon got his answer when he saw something appear to grow right in front of his face and to the size of a fist-winged insect.
The 'insect' was a pale-skinned, auburn-haired, attractive young woman named Janet Van Dyne, known worldwide as The Wasp. A codename she received due to her ability to shrink her body to insect or microscopic size and sprout bio-mechanical wings from her back, which allowed her to fly and, in this case, hover at face level with the dumbfounded Aquarius. As for her attire, she wore a pair of headphones that resembled antennae, yellow gloves and boots, and a full black body suit with a yellow symbol that resembled a wasp. Unlike her previous attire, which was that of a black and yellow dress, the suit had hidden armor for much better protection and was tight enough to reveal her shapely figure. At that moment, Jan looked at the surprised Aquarius with her hands still glowing from firing her Wasp Sting blasts at his face and with a somewhat offended expression. "Uh, HELLO! Did you forget that you were fighting ME earlier? Rude!"
Aquarius' confusion turned to annoyance at the sight of Jan, and he was just about to try to swat her like the insect she was named after. But before he could lift his hand up, he suddenly felt something strong burst out of the lower part of his body like a missile.
It was revealed to be Tony, who, once he no longer felt the pressure crushing him, used the boosters at the bottom of his boots to blast out of Aquarius' body. After his escape, Tony showed mastery of his armor by mentally depowering his boosters and landing on his feet. "Okay, don't want to go through that again," said Tony as he spun around and pointed both of his opened hands at Aquarius, who filled in the hold Tony made in his liquid frame.
The water-composed criminal did not stop there, however. With a simple thought, Aquarius instantly changed the shape of his lower body from an orb to two massive legs. It didn't take long for him to enlarge his upper body and head to match his huge lower body, then form his giant hands into watery mallets.
Jan quickly flew next to Tony, and though she was glad he was okay, she was now more concerned about the liquid-based monster that stood before them. "Uh, Tony," said the nervous Jan. "I'm really hoping you got something that can handle this guy because all my Sting blasts did was tick him off!"
"Way ahead of you, Jan!" Tony replied, with his faceplate still hiding a confident smirk, then immediately clenched his hands into fists. At that same time, he sent two mental commands. The first was for the nanites that made up his gauntlets to form two small barrels on top of his hands. The second was for the Ironheart to launch two small discs from its sides, which moved down his arms and shot out of the barrels.
The discs then pierced through Aquarius' waist and floated within his midsection, making the terrorist laugh as he barely felt it at all. "Really, rich boy? That's the best you can do?"
Jan's eyes and worries grew larger at the sight of Tony's discs doing nothing to hurt the water giant they were now facing. "Tony…!"
Despite the dire situation, Tony still smiled as the disc failed to stop the now chuckling Aquarius, which is what he wanted the terrorist to think. "Give it a minute."
Suddenly, the discs sprayed two sets of liquid chemicals, one blue and the other white, within Aquarius' watery body. Once the substances made contact, they revealed their true purpose: once they mixed in water, they created an instant cold and immediately froze Aqurius's massive liquid frame. By the time Aquarius figured it out, it was too late; his body was now entirely turned into ice, and the terrorist was nothing more than a giant ice statue with a shocked expression on his face.
This left Jan baffled but impressed. "Okay, it's official. We should all get armor with cool gadgets."
Upon hearing that suggestion, Tony seemed to briefly cringe, as it reminded him of the time the president of a cartoon company visited him and showed a pilot episode of a show based on him and his teammates, but all of them wore armor, as Jan suggested. But given how cheesy it was, Tony could only give him this lie as a reply before never contacting him again. A lie which he, as much as it pained him, gave to Jan. "Yeah, uh, let me think about it."
However, as uncomfortable as that situation was for Tony, two more of his teammates found themselves in more pressing situations. One of the said teammates was a fair-skinned man with a lean but muscular body and clad in a purple costume that consisted of a V-shaped mask and a scaled armor-like top, with a quiver filled with his arrows on his back. His left arm was covered in a sleeve, whereas his right had a purple band around his right bicep, but he wore dark purple fingerless gloves on both hands. His lower body was clothed in dark purple pants and light purple boots on his feet. Such was the attire of Clint Barton, a former member of S.H.I.E.L.D. and now served with the Avengers as their talented but overly confident archer, Hawkeye. And though Clint did use his bow, he did not do so in the way it was designed. Instead, he used it as a staff to block incoming strikes from his opponent.
It was another Zodiac member, one who was a pale-skinned masked man with a body type similar to Clint's but with brown hair, a red body suit and gloves, boots, and a domino mask colored grey. This member took on the name Sagittarius, and though he had a grey bow and a quiver on his back, he chose to use said bow as a staff against Clint at close quarters.
Quickly tired of being on defense, Clint ducks underneath one bow strike from Sagittarius, then past underneath the terrorist to create some distance so he can use one of his trick arrows.
But instead of tumbling over, Sagittarius took a few steps forward, spun around, pulled an arrow from out of his quiver, and pointed the tip of his sharp arrowhead at the back of Clint's head.
As for Clint, he also stopped and instinctively pulled out one of his flat-headed trick arrows. The archer then spun around, quickly placed the arrow's nock in the middle of the bowstring, pulled it back, and stood ready to fire at Sagittarius, who also stood ready to shoot his arrow. The sight of the Zodiac's archer having his bow drawn caused Hawkeye to smirk, as he viewed this as an exciting challenge. "Really, pal? You wanna try to 'out archer' the best archer in the world?"
"Funny," Sagittarius retorted with a cocky smirk of his own. "I was about to ask you the same thing!"
Clint's smile remained as he couldn't wait to take the Zodiac member down a peg. "That a fact? All right then, let's see who's worthy of the title on the count of three!" Both archers tightened their grip on their weapons as Hawkeye began the countdown. "One…two…THREE!" And just like that, the archers of their respective teams fired their arrows, but oddly, Clint quickly covered his eyes, which confused Sagittarius greatly.
It didn't take long for the two arrows to make contact with one another, but when the sharp arrowhead touched the flat top of Clint's arrow, it caused a blinding white light flash occurred, revealing that it was a makeshift light grenade as it blinded Sagittarius and caused to scream in pain as he dropped his bow and held his eyes.
As for Clint, he lifted his head, and as he opened his eyes, he smirked when he saw Sagittarius holding his hands over his eyes and staggering backward aimlessly. Something which pleased Hawkeye greatly, as he knew that the trick arrow he fired did its job. With expert reflexes and speed, the Avengers' archer pulled out and fired another arrow, and as the flattop hit and stuck to Sagittarius' chest, it admitted an electric shock, which was powerful enough to make him fall to the floor out cold.
Now the clear winner, the smirking Clint looked down at the smoking and unconscious Zodiac member on the floor and had only this to say to him. "Sucker."
Meanwhile, the second and final teammate was engaged in a just as intense fight, almost like fighting a wild animal. In this case, it was something that he was used to, given the uniform that he wore, a full black body suit with a mask that resembled a panther's head with yellow eye lenses. Such was the attire of the Black Panther, a title given to the king of the African country of Wakanda and worn by its current king, T'Challa.
And squaring off with the warrior king was another member of the Zodiac who took the name of Leo and wore a cat costume of his own, but on that was in the shape of a brownish gold lion! Like the Black Panther uniform, the lion suit had a mask that resembled a lion's head, complete with a main that ran down his back and an open mouth that showed his face covered his face in a black lycra material. As for his gloves, they were fingerless, but on top of his knuckles were four talon-shaped daggers. Weapons that he tried to plunge into T'Challa's face via fierce jabs and hooks.
Fortunately for T'Challa, with his years of hand-to-hand combat training and the enhancing properties of his country's heart-shaped herbs, he can avoid the blows with great speed and expert timing. Upon spotting an incoming left hook, T'Challa used his left hand to block the punch and retaliated through a right-legged front kick, with the target being Leo's abdomen.
However, Leo saw the kick coming and proved to be as fast as he used his right hand to stop T'Challa's kick by catching him by the ankle. With that same speed, Leo pulled his left hand back, grabbed hold of T'Challa's foot, and, with the strength to match the animal he dressed as, threw T'Challa up into the air.
Thanks to his agility, T'Challa controlled his fall by flipping backward and landing safely on all fours. He then slowly stood back up, keeping an eye on Leo the whole time, and stood ready to fight again.
Something which made Leo smile big behind his lycra mask, as he always loved a good fight, and so far, the legendary King of Wakanda was meeting his standards. "You're as fast as people say you are," said the satisfied Leo, then used the tips of his middle fingers, pressed two buttons concealed in his gloves, and made the talon daggers pop out to a longer length. "But you're gonna have to do more that move fast to prove you're the true Alpha Male!" With that declaration, Leo charged forward, pulled his right fist back, and threw a left hook, with the plan of using the talons to decapitate the warrior king that stood before him.
But T'Challa had just the thing to defend himself from this sort of attack, namely the claws located at the end of each finger in his gloves. These claws were made of Vibrainium, a rare but indestructible metal found in Wakanda and used by its people in many ways. And he proved pretty formidable in combat, at T'Challa proved when he threw a right-handed claw strike, and not only did he intercept Leo's attack, but his claws shattered the Zodiac member's talons like they were nothing. After taking away one of Leo's weapons and still, in momentum, T'Challa stayed in control of the fight by turning and throwing a left-legged back kick that successfully connected to Leo's jaw, leaving the lion-dressed terrorist dazed but still on his feet. T'Challa knew that he had to end this fight quickly to help his teammates, so once he stopped spinning and found himself facing the disoriented Leo, T'Challa used twenty percent of his enhanced lower body strength in throwing a right-legged front kick and nailed Leo in his abdomen, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to go down on his left knee.
With the first half of his plan to end this fight out of the way, T'Challa enacted the second half in that he ran in, placed his left foot on top of then stepped off Leo's raised right knee and swung his right leg in a right kick motion with the same amount of strength as the last kick, which resulted in the Wakandan King's shin hitting the side of Leo's masked but unprotected face, sending him down to the floor hard. Upon safely landing on his feet, T'Challa looked down at the fallen Leo with a stern expression behind his mask. "Will that suffice?" T'Challa asked with a firm tone, all while feeling a small amount of pity for the Zodiac member whose fighting skill and mindset did the animal he dressed himself as a disservice.
Despite his now throbbing headache, Leo barely lifted his head so he could address T'Challa and let him know that he was just getting warmed up. However, the force of the Black Panther's kick proved too much for the terrorist, as his head began to spin. All that was left for him was to roll his eyes back and pass out.
A sight that made T'Challa look at the unconscious extremist with disappointment. "I shall take that as a yes."
Meanwhile, Jacob is now in complete control of his fight as he moves closer to Steve while firing a blast from the Zodiac Key. Though Steve still blocked the blast with his shield, the beam became more intense when Jacob got closer to him and thus went down on one knee. Jacob could only smile with sadistic glee as he had Steve pinned down and relished at the thought that he would hurt his brother and the American people by killing their symbol by pressing the blast against the shield and making it crush the super soldier flat.
But before the unmasked Zodiac leader can achieve such a sick triumph, he is stopped when the pixie-sized Wasp flies in and fires a sting blast right between Jacob's eyes, causing him to yelp in pain and stop concentration, thus halting the beam.
Though Steve was briefly confused about why he no longer felt the intense pressure from the blast, he shook off such curiosity and took advantage of this moment of freedom from the energy blast. Namely, he stood up and, holding on tightly to the leather straps at the back of his shield, threw a rising backhand and rammed the shield into the left side of Jacob's jaw, knocking him down hard on the floor and making him inadvertently toss the Zodiac Key to the right.
As the battle-hardened Steve looked down at Jacob, who held his face in pain, he noticed Jan hover next to him. He instantly knew that she was the one who saved him from crushing to death and thus gave her both a small smile and a nod. "Much appreciated, ma'am," said the grateful Steve, both in how he would thank a fellow Hallowing Commando who saved his life in the line of fire during the war and how he was taught to act around a lady during his time.
Before answering, Jan blew away the smoke from her hands and turned to Steve, giving the legendary hero a returning smile and a wink. "Hey, I aim to please," she told Steve in a somewhat playful tone, but she still held him in high regard.
Meanwhile, despite feeling like he was hit with a sledgehammer and having a broken jaw to prove it, Jacob still refused to surrender for the glory of the Zodiac. As such, he briefly looked around with his eyes to find the key, and once he located it, Jacob rolled on his stomach and used what strength he could muster to crawl toward it so he could make two more portals. One that would bring more creatures to slaughter the Avengers as both an act of defiance and revenge for ruining his plans. The other would lead to his safe house, where he could not only escape and recover but make a new plan to dominate the planet with a new Zodiac team. But just as Jacob was literally inches away from the key, a red-armored boot came right in between him and the weapon and nearly stomped and broke his fingers.
As Jacob looked up, he saw that that boot belonged to Tony, who by now pointed his right hand at him with a glowing circle in his palm, indicating that he was ready to fire a repulsor blast if he needed to. "Yeah, 'fraid this is the part where you give up now, pal," Tony told the fallen Jacob in a tone that was still witty but at the same time serious, helping illustrate that this battle was indeed over.
At that moment, the rest of the Avengers arrived and surrounded the fallen Jacob. From Clint drawing and aiming one of his taser arrows, T'Challa presenting his claws, and the Hulk pounding his fists together. The desperate Jacob looked the other way to find another way to escape but instead found the remaining two Avengers in the building.
The first was Jan, who held her glowing hands at him and was ready to fire.
The second was a determined Steve glaring down at him, mostly out of pity for him for how he could let his pride and anger take control and make him betray not just his brother but his country. "I don't always see eye to eye with Iron Man, Jacob," said the Super Soldier. "But this time, he has a point."
With no weapon and no teammates to help him escape, Jacob had no choice but to let out a frustrated grunt. He allowed his head to drop to the floor and reluctantly held up his hands in surrender.
Now that the fight was over, Iron Man sent another mental command to the nanites that made his helmet activate his commlink system. The person he wanted to contact was a fellow Avenger and close friend, James 'Rhodey' Rhodes, otherwise known as War Machine, all so she could contact their 'expert' in magic on dealing with the Zodiac Key, as it was a mystical item. "Rhodey, we got the key; tell Strange to get in here." Though Tony was glad to hear Rhodey reply that the man named Strange would be there soon, what he heard next left him both confused and concerned. "What do you mean we have another problem?" Upon hearing his friend's answer, Tony's eyes grew wide behind his eye lenses. "Flying pyramids?!" Tony exclaimed, then placed his armored hand over his faceplate as he let out a breath of frustration. "One weird catastrophe at a time! Geez, what else can happen?" Suddenly, Tony received the answer to this question when a white glow covered his right hand and moved up his arm, naturally surprising the armored billionaire. "What the hell?!"
It didn't take long for the light to consume Tony's body, and even more surprisingly, it soon started to consume Steve and Jan, until finally, the entire team itself, leaving Jacob stunned and confused. As the Avengers stood utterly flabbergasted at what was happening to them, the white light flashed and encompassed the entire hanger.