Revamped!

[Yes, that is a new cover. Come fight me].


Chapter 107: All Together Part Eight

Manhattan - Time Frozen

James looks over his shoulder and sees Xavier in the middle of a fist-fight but his arm is about to be sliced off by a skeleton sneaking up on him from behind. James zips over at top speed and, once he's close enough, he grows back to his normal size and pushes Xavier out of the way. The two men fall to the ground together as the skeletons take each other out. Xavier hops back up on his feet and extends a hand to James. In response, James yawns with one hand because he's both tired and bored and blasts at a random skeleton with the other because he's still in a battle.

"Merida," Emily says, pointing to her bicep as she silences a notification coming from her suit. "You're bleeding."

Merida looks at the wound on her bicep and her expression lightens as little almost as if she was shocked to see that there. She seems like she would've never noticed that if Emily hadn't pointed that out. Merida shrugs it off which astounds Emily like when Xavier didn't even think twice about his mild internal bleeding.

"I'll survive," Merida tells her.

Elsewhere, Angela gets toppled on top of a car by a skeleton. When it gets on top of her and the sharp blade of its axe is right on her neck, pushing against the surface of her skin. Angela takes a quick breath as she grips on the forearms of the skeleton and kicks it over her head. Angela takes the axe and squints her eyes a little as she stands up and surveys the area around her.

She holds the axe at the end of its handle, at the start of the blade. Angela charges at a skeleton, using the axe as a choking grip. She exerts all her strength and ignores the scratching marks she's getting in return from the struggling skeleton in her arms. Once the head pops off, Angela sighs out of relief as she takes the skeleton head and puts a grenade in it. She pulls out the key and throws the head right at the portal.

"Grenade!" Angela exclaims as it explodes.

Meanwhile, Apollo swings his axe like a whirlpool, creating a rippling wind effect at top speed. Skeletons struggle to make it towards him, some even flying back and crashing into nearby infrastructure. Once he figures that's enough, he summons lightning to electrify his axe as he throws it through the crowds, sparking them up to the best that he can.

Xavier stands on his two feet, shifting his weight from one side of his body to the other. He whips his shield like a frisbee as he kicks over a skeleton. Xavier leaps and spins, kicking over some more as if they were nothing (which is what he believed this entire battle to be: nothing). When a spear gets thrown at him, Xavier catches it right above his shoulder and chucks it back. His head perks up when he hears a sound that isn't his team talking, bones being crushed, or something being blasted.

Everyone hears that unfamiliar sound of a rickety motor running.

They look over their shoulders and see Daniel riding an old motorcycle towards them. He parks it in the middle of the chaos and hops off, kicking down the kickstand and walks out in observance of what's happening. The others approach him, noticing that he's only wearing torn pants, covered completely in sand and dust, and has noticeably green eyes since his glasses went missing somewhere.

"Everyone relax, I'm here to save the world," Daniel says as he still looks around to see what's happening. A part of him wishes he was back in the desert with Sigyn since he didn't want to deal with these skeletons again.

Emily lands on the ground as evicts herself from her suit. She runs over and jumps to hug him, grateful that he's finally back with her and is safe (if here is considered safe).

"Where were you?!" Emily asks as she wraps his head in her arms and kisses him.

Daniel shrugs. "Somewhere with Sigyn. She's still in her limbo but she seems to be all over to the place up here." Daniel taps on the side of his head. "She had The Serpent Crown on her."

This whole day has been centred on the group learning that Sigyn was coming for them and the fact that Daniel was with Sigyn is important. The information he could've discovered is powerful because it will help them to uncover patterns and in turn use their minds productively and efficiently for whatever could happen next.

"Why?" Apollo asks rushed. "That crown doesn't come with good tidings based on what I vaguely remember which isn't much."

"She said that it was helping her do a good thing but I couldn't bring it in me to believe her. We don't always make the right choices even when we're adults and supposedly know better."

"How can we know what she's up to?" Angela asks. "We can't know the answer without asking. Did you ask her?"

Daniel shakes his head. "She was too neurotic to stay on one topic."

"She has changed so much," Xavier says.

"That's not a good enough word," Daniel argues with a small laugh in his voice. "Typically, we should say that she improved over time but I'd say she evolved."

Emily clears her throat. "Sigyn's not a shitty person but I think she's about to do a shitty thing."

Merida clears her throat. "I'd hate to be the bringer of bad tidings but we still have all those to deal with."

She uses an arrow to point at the ongoing flood of skeletons. Everyone rearms after that brief conversation with Daniel. They look at him to suit up and he just stares at all the skeletons with a petrified look on his face.

"After being with Sigyn, my brain is warped," Daniel tells them. "I'm losing my shit!"

"Shit's overrated," James replies. "Lose it."

Daniel looks at James and takes in his words seriously. He just saw Sigyn about to go ballistic in the middle of nowhere, time is still frozen, he's surrounded by armoured skeletons that what to slice him in half, and his eyes are already transformed into his Hulk so there is really no point in staying human when there's work to be done.

Everyone circles around as Daniel turns back into his Hulk, roaring boldly. Once the transformation is complete. He slams his large fists into the ground and the concrete rips apart, demolishing whatever skeletons were coming their way. By his side, Merida raises her loaded bow, Angela reloads both of her guns, Emily holds up prepared repulsor beams in her hands and arc reactor to blast, Iqadi unleashes her claws, Xavier raises his shield, James lights up his hands, and Apollo swings his axe. Now, they were ready for this.

"Call it, Xavier," Emily prompts with a small smirk on her face.

"Sigyn is apparently coming for us so we'll keep fighting until she shows up," Xavier says. "She might be crazy but she's true to her word. Until then, we need to figure out what to do and that consists of us being more united than ever. With that in mind, there's no turning back and no freezing because if that happens, we'll die. Understood?"

Everyone nods at him and James finds the need to salute. Xavier takes that gesture to heart, especially since James will possibly but most definitely be his future brother-in-law (the probability of that being true sometimes giving him terrors). Then, they disperse into the skeletons.

Emily soars in the air and launches miniature missiles at every corner of this battle to help her friends. She then flies back to the ground, flying just above street level to swipe and blast at whatever skeleton she could.

Merida aims an arrow and shoots it at the ground. The arrowhead splits open and a hefty amount of oil spills out of it. The stampede of skeletons slips and falls, their armours clanging into one another. Merida runs into the oil spill, purposely sliding through on her thigh. She spins and fires an arrow into the air. It explodes into a net and traps another herd of skeletons. Then, Merida stands and turns her head, immediately ducking when she sees a skeleton being thrown at her. She throws a glare at the Hulk who doesn't seem to care.

The Hulk roars again and continues to pick up skeletons, some being crushed in his hands, others stomped on, and for fun, being unintentionally thrown at the others. Angela would step to the side, Iqadi would claw right through it, James would shrink to have it soar over him, Apollo would swing at it like a baseball, Xavier would bash it with his shield, Emily would blast it to pieces, and Merida would give the Hulk the finger.

"These skeletons are never-ending," Angela pants. "If we keep fighting, we'll become skeletons."

Iqadi glances up at the portal and a small smile approaches her face.

"Then let's take them all back to where the came from," Iqadi says.

"What?" Apollo asks.

"Find something to hold on to."

Iqadi lifts her arms and summons the winds to her fingertips. The others all stand their ground, holding onto whatever they can that won't get them to fly off. Iqadi uses her hands to swirl the wind and screams brutally as she increases her power. The winds form a tornado and suddenly, all the skeletons are swirling around in it. Iqadi pushes an arm forwards, aiming back towards the portal. Fighting against the intense winds, Apollo lifts his axe and summons lightning, shooting it towards the heart of the storm.

Then, unexpectedly, the storm takes control of its own. The skeletons dissipate and disappear as well as the portal but the tornado remains. Iqadi lowers her arms and Apollo his axe as they step back. The tornado swirls into a cyclone of bright green magic.

"That seems bad!" James exclaims.

The tornado instantly drops and standing in the middle of it is Sigyn. Everyone is silent with their eyes nearly bulging out of their heads as they stare at her, needing to pinch themselves to make sure they're not dreaming.

Nobody moves as Sigyn takes a step closer to them. Her heels click on the ground as she inhaled deeply. Her magic flows all around her, extending from her fingertips to where she walks with every step. Everything about her glows, especially her hair which is even more golden now with The Serpent Crown and its illuminating eyes almost shining brighter than her. That crown burns with danger and her eyes burn with victory.

"That seems worse," Merida quickly mutters in a scared exhale.

They don't want to try to hurt her, let alone fight her. Their weapons aren't drawn in fright. It's hard to see the evil in someone until you've been placed on the receiving end and that's where they believe they're now.


[I just had to throw in some Avengers nostalgia].