WELCOME EVERYONE! Redvit here!
As you can guest, this is a MCU x Halo fanfic and I'm very excited to begin this journey with you all!
Just like my other fic, this one is also a crossover between two beloved franchises of mine. And just like the other one, let me list a few things before we start:
-1: This will follow MCU lore as closely as possible, HOWEVER there are a few minor changes I will make, like one or two recasts, a detail or two about a couple of characters' backstories, etc. There won't be major changes unless it's like a Ms. Marvel situation. Telling you all right now, if she does appear here, she will be an Inhuman.
-2: There will be NO X-Men or Fantastic Four. I have no plans for them. "Deadpool & Wolverine" and "The Fantastic Four" MAY change that when I watch them, but as of yet, they are not included in any of my plans here.
-3: Any and all characters introduced or referenced in the MCU will be here. Whether they appeared in a movie (Marvel Studios), a show (Disney+, Netflix, ABC, Freeform) or even a canon tie-in comic. Everything EXCEPT "Helstrom". I have done extensive research through the whole saga for this story. There'll be only VERY FEW non-MCU characters in this. You'll see what I'm talking about.
-4: Halo canon will be a mix between the actual canon, the old canon (like the Fall of Reach comics) and some stuff from Halo 4 and 5 (Not a lot though).
I listed more rules for the Marvel side because it's the more complicated one here.
Well, with all of that said, I hope you all enjoy and as always, leave a comment for me to know how you all feel about this one or if I missed or got anything wrong!
LET'S START!
"Time, Space, Reality… It's more than a linear path. It's a prism of endless possibility, where a single change can branch out into infinite realities, creating alternate worlds from the one you know."
"But what happens when two realities that shouldn't meet, cross paths with one another? How will those universes, and the multiverse, be affected by those changes? by their conflicts?"
"Let's find out, shall we?"
CHAPTER 1: Meeting of the Century
- March 14, 2016 -
- Avengers Headquarters -
It has been fairly eventful months since Earth last saw its mightiest defenders, otherwise known as The Avengers, in full on action. The superhero team formed in New York in 2012 due to an imminent alien invasion led by the brother of one of its core members. Since then, the team of extraordinary individuals has grown and its roster has changed over the years.
Right now, in their new fancy headquarters in Upstate New York, some of the current team members are doing an exercise to increase morale, strengthen their bonds, train their strategic minds and build teamwork.
-"UNO!" Exclaimed a red-haired woman.
-"REALLY?", questioned the long brown-haired young woman with an accent next to her.
-"HOW?! We started like, two minutes ago! I swear you two are cheating.", said a dark skinned man with short trimmed hair across from her.
-"HAHA, Hey Sam, you just need to learn how to work with your hand man.", spoke the older bald dark skinned man sitting next to him.
-"Bullshit Rhodey!" The first dark skinned man, Sam, pointed a finger at the red-haired woman by his right: -"Nat's a spy, I bet you two have been exchanging cards for the whole game."
Natasha gasped in fake surprise. -"Accusing ME, your co-leader of cheating in a game?" she rhetorically asks.
-"What- No, that's not- Come on Wanda, back me up here!" Sam pleaded.
The brown-haired woman known as Wanda put her hands up: -"Don't look at me! I don't even have a +2 to play."
-"Don't announce your cards like that!" Sam groaned out loud.
-"Sorry…" Wanda said sheepishly, but with a smile.
The door to the room they were in swung open, and from it came the leader of the team, a blonde man with a strong build. He was Steve Rogers, otherwise known as the out-of-time super soldier Captain America.
He approached the team at the table with a tablet in hand: -"Good afternoon everyone."
-"How you doing Cap?" asked Rhodey.
-"Just fine Rhodey, thanks. Seems like I missed a fun gaming session though." He said, smiling a little while looking at the cards.
Wanda dropped her cards: -"Yeah, well it was more fun for Natasha, after winning almost every round." she said with a smirk. Sam groaned again.
-"What's that for, Steve?" Natasha asked while pointing at the tablet on his hand.
He brought the tablet up -"I'm waiting for Tony's report. He said that F.R.I.D.A.Y. had seen some leaked suspicious messages on private servers regarding a meeting of some kind. Possibly to exchange powerful technology."
Sam turned his chair to face Steve -"Are we going to bust their party?"
Before Steve could answer, the tablet blipped, signifying a message. He read through it fast and said: -"We're about to find out. Tony's coming and he wants us in the meeting room in 10 minutes. I'll warn Vision."
Cap was already heading out of the room when they all got up and organized the table.
Natasha smirked and looked at Sam -"Looks like we'll need to finish this game later."
Sam could only roll his eyes at her jab -"Yeah, yeah, don't push it Nat, I'll win next time!"
-"Sure you will, Wilson." She said, trying not to laugh.
- Conference Room -
Tony Stark, also known to the world as the Iron Man, is many things. Genius, Playboy, Billionaire, Philanthropist, etc. But the word to best describe him after the many incidents since his "rebirth" as a hero, is prepared.
Since he was captured by terrorists and left stranded in the desert 8 years ago, he has come up with contingency plans for almost any occasion he or his teammates on The Avengers encounter, though not always successful. From Artificial Intelligence to Hulk-busting armors. And that includes keeping track of every piece of technology and criminal organization they know.
So when F.R.I.D.A.Y. , his personal AI, picked up a faint signal coming from the old Strucker Castle Base in Sokovia, he just had to see what it was. Some would call that paranoia, but if it pays off, then he would not lose the chance to be smug about it.
And with that attitude, he entered the meeting room of the Avengers HQ. An average sized room with a long wooden table in the middle, housing seven chairs facing a screen. The whole team was present.
The first to greet him was Steve, -"Tony."
They shook hands, -"Cap."
-"What do you got for us?"
-"Straight to the point as always." He walked to the front of the table and connected his device to the large screen. -"I left F.R.I.D.A.Y. monitoring communications on old HYDRA or other criminal bases to see if there was any activity happening. Maybe to try to find the rest of ex-HYDRA agents we've been having trouble with."
While no longer a full time team member that goes on missions, Tony was still a consultant, and old habits die hard, so no one got bothered by him putting himself as part of the main team.
-"So what did you find?" asked Natasha.
He brought his hand up to the screen and connected it to his network, -"This."
The display image was replaced by two texts, saying:
-"My partner wishes to talk to your boss. He has a very interesting business proposition to make sure you succeed in all your goals and more. Call this number within 3 hours if you think you are ready to talk."
-"And if you think this is a joke, just look at the photo below."
After giving a few seconds for the team to read it, Tony put down his phone and continued to address the situation: -"If you're wondering who sent this, why and to whom… Well, I don't have the answer to any of those questions yet, but what's interesting is that these messages were sent not to just one person, but to multiple encrypted devices across the country, and some in other places of the world. And each was a little different than the other and had a different photo attached to them."
The screen then showed a map of the world with multiple small areas being highlighted in red with their names showing, including New York City, San Francisco, New Orleans, Saint Petersburg, Lagos, a large area in South Africa and a smaller one in China.
Tony spoke again: -"I was only able to triangulate their general position, with New York having the largest area of search and also the strongest signal, which makes me think this guy contacted a lot more people from there. And before you ask, I couldn't figure out what the photos were, our guy destroyed the server he was using before I could decrypt them… all except for one, which brings us to the final part of my little presentation…"
The screen changed again, to show a blurry picture of a man in heavy black armor, with a chest painted like two bones crossing each other, and big gauntlets on his arms. The photo was clearly taken from afar at night, with the man running away from a truck on fire.
The Avengers all stiffened when they saw just who was the target of this mysterious man recruiting criminals.
-"Rumlow.", Sam said grimly. He very clearly remembered fighting the ex-HYDRA agent like it was yesterday, even if it was two years ago. After all, he had to drop a building on him to actually win that fight.
-"Yup, he was the first one he tried to contact with these messages, that's why F.R.I.D.A.Y. was able to get only this photo. After that, he basically went offline. The guy's a ghost now."
-"And where did they send these from?" asked the man with a red face, also known as Vision.
Tony clenched his jaw and looked at the group with some guilt before answering: -"Strucker's old castle… in Sokovia."
The room immediately gained a lot of tension. Nobody liked bringing Sokovia up as all of them felt responsible for the destruction of the city, especially Tony. He was the one who created the monster who destroyed it in the first place.
Steve was the first to break the silence and try to keep on the subject -"So we must go there first."
-"Can't." Tony interrupted. He put a satellite recording on the screen, showing Strucker's castle, -"They blew it up." The video then showed the castle being leveled to the ground by a series of internal explosions.
-"Probably didn't want anyone risking the chance of finding their plans, even if they erased it from all computers." reasoned Natasha.
-"Did you try calling that number they sent?" Wanda asked.
-"I did, but that three hour time limit was very on point. By the time F.R.I.D.A.Y. was able to crack the encryption on that message they had just shut the number down." He explained -"But even then, I doubt we could get anything from it. With so many potential partners called, they most likely knew every number that was about to call them and made sure nobody could track it to their main server."
All the Avengers thought about the situation at hand. Cap was especially worried about the whole thing. Someone was planning something big and they needed to stop them.
-"Well, where do we go from now?" asked Sam.
Tony gave them a little smirk, -"Luckly, I was able to intercept a final message from our mysterious person. An address and a time." the screen changed again to a marker on a map. A large warehouse in the northern side of Queens, in New York, alongside a time stamp, 8 PM. There was also a message that said "Don't be late."
Steve looked at it with conviction and called out to his team: -"Then let's get ready. We only have a couple of hours before sundown."
Before the team could get up from the table, Tony spoke, -"Wait a second everyone! Cap!"
Steve and the others looked at him, -"Everything okay, Tony?" the blonde man asked.
-"We don't know how many of these guys are coming to this secret meeting. As far as we can tell, the heads of every major criminal organization in New York and maybe even in the states could be there. I don't think you guys will be able to handle all of them alone."
-"Are you… volunteering to go on a mission?" Natasha asked with uncertainty in her voice, but also holding out a quiet laugh.
-"Hey, I may not be part of the main team anymore, but that doesn't mean I don't care about you all."
Everyone was a bit uncertain, but then Rhodey spoke, -"I think he're right. And having one more Avenger there could help."
That settled it for Cap -"Alright, suit up Tony."
The Iron Man smiled.
- A Few Hours Later -
- Secret Base in the United States -
In another part of the country, there was another organization that had found out about the same meeting just in time. Unlike the Avengers, this organization, S.H.I.E.L.D., was more akin to a special division within the government to deal with threats that the usual police or army couldn't handle.
A man waited inside his office of the underground secret base he was currently in with a tablet in hand. The information on it was interesting to everyone there and he was waiting for his friends to come to share it with them.
The man had short, trimmed down hair with a receding hairline and was wearing a casual jacket. It looked as if he was wearing a glove on his left hand, but if one were to look closer, they would see that his hand actually just looked like that.
The door opened and from it came a woman of asian descent with long black hair, a tall blonde woman, a half-chinese short-haired brunette, a large bald black man and a shorter white man.
-"What do you have for us, Coulson?" the black-haired woman asked.
The man now known as Coulson touched his tablet and brought up information on the large screen in his office, -"One of our little spies has reported back some very unusual activity regarding HYDRA."
Everyone there knew what that meant. While their efforts were great, HYDRA still lived as a threat to the world and it was their job to put an end to it.
-"Coulson, it's HYDRA. They're always unusual about their plans." The brunette said, sarcastically.
-"True." He admitted, -"But this time it's unexpected." He pointed to the information on the screen, -"Our undercover agent trying to get within the remaining HYDRA ranks sent us that there'll be a meeting happening tonight with a lot of important individuals."
-"What kind of individuals?" asked the large black man.
-"Don't know exactly, but the security is tight. Our man couldn't even get much details. But there was a rumor."
-"Well, rumors can be anything." said the blonde woman.
-"Stop playing around Coulson, just tell us. I'm getting impatient here." The short man said, with an English accent.
-"The rumor is that Gideon himself will be at this meeting." Coulson finally revealed.
They all paid more attention to what Coulson was saying. Gideon Malick was the man S.H.I.E.L.D. was searching for more than a month since they destroyed his last base and ruined his entire plan and operation.
Gideon was the last main head of HYDRA they knew about and catching him was the most important task at the moment.
-"Are you sure that rumor can be trusted?" The large man asked with caution.
-"Even if he doesn't personally show up, there could be a good chance somebody there has information about him or his whereabouts. It's worth sending a team to listen in at least."
-"Alright, I'm assuming you want us." said the black-haired woman next to him.
He nodded to her and brought up his tablet again, modifying the screen, -"Once there, you'll infiltrate the facility and listen to the meeting from as far away as you can." He then turned to the black-haired woman, -"May, I'll leave you in charge. If you see that there's not many people there, you take the shot. Maybe we can have a few prisoners to interrogate."
-"What if there's too many people for just the five of us?" the short man asked.
-"Joey will be going in with you as well, but if that's what troubles you, you'll wait in a safe place and call in for reinforcements. I want confirmation that Gideon is there before we send everyone in."
-"Don't worry Hunter, I'm sure Bobbi will be thrilled to protect you tonight." The short-haired woman joked. The others, especially the blonde one, Bobbi, laughed.
-"Oh ha ha." He mocked a laugh, -"Couldn't help notice you're not coming with us, boss. Any reason?"
Coulson frowned a little, -"As much as I'd like to see this for myself, I got a very important call this afternoon. The president wants to talk about our position in the government."
-"Great! We dive right into a shark nest while you get to chill in the bloody White House." Hunter said, sarcastically.
They all just looked at Hunter funny, with faces that said 'Are you serious?'. Though some of them were almost holding back laughs.
Coulson responded before anyone could say anything, -"It was just a call, I'm not going there tonight. He clearly wants secrecy as much as we do. But we'll be waiting on Zephyr One high above with a team just in case."
-"Just make sure you guys are ready to go if we call for backup." The large man said.
-"Always, Mack." Coulson smiled.
-"Sir." the short-haired one called out, -"Are you sure you don't want Lincoln on this mission with us?"
Coulson looked at everyone before looking her straight in the eyes, -"I'm sorry Daisy but he's still not fit for duty yet. The authorities are still looking for him and…"
He looked on into her eyes, making sure she understood the next part.
-"I don't want him or you getting distracted if anything goes wrong."
Daisy caught on to what he was saying. It pained her to do so, but it was not without reason. Daisy and Lincoln were currently having a relationship behind the scenes. Their friends and colleagues knew it, but nobody had touched on that subject yet. Not to her at least.
Coulson continued, -"But as soon as we come back, May will continue his training until he's fit for this kind of field duty."
She nodded and kept quiet. It was for the best.
He nodded as well, -"That's all everyone, go prepare."
They all went out of the room, except for May, who stayed to talk to him, "Are you sure you don't want Lincoln going?" She asked.
-"I trust Daisy to keep track of Joey and the mission. I don't know if she can do both with Lincoln there. Especially if she has to stop him from killing anyone we might need."
-"I know that he's prone to these outbursts, but you have to trust him. You have to trust both of them. They're stronger together."
Coulson smiled at her words. It reminded him of him and May when they were a bit younger, -"I will. Just give it time."
-"And also…" She touched his shoulder, -"Make sure you're not losing the focus of the mission. I know why catching Gideon is important to you, but don't let that let you make bad decisions, Director."
He gave a quiet chuckle, -"I won't. I promise."
She nodded and left the room. Coulson turned back to the screen that had a picture of Malick with every connection he knew the man had. -'Let's see how this goes.'
- Hours Later -
- Queens, New York -
Making sure their approach went unnoticed to the public, most Avengers entered quietly into a building close to the warehouse where the meeting was going to take place. They set up a position for a lookout to see if anybody was coming in or out of the facility.
Tony and Rhodey were waiting in a building far enough away so that no one heard their battlesuits walking or saw them flying too close.
Everyone was putting their suits on and checking if everything was okay. Steve was dressed in his signature Captain America uniform. Dark blue torso and arms, red and white striped pattern on the belly, brown boots and gloves and a specialized dark blue helmet with straps and an 'A' on the forehead. He was leaning on the wall, thinking about what was about to go down.
Next to him was the ever thoughtful Vision. The red-faced android had his greenish suit and yellow cybernetic cape on. It wasn't really a suit as he could just conjour it and shape his body at will to make it appear.
Observing the robot from afar was Wanda Maximoff. The Sokovian woman wore a red corset vest and red overcoat jacket to match the color of her power. She also wore a pair of red leather gloves, alongside black pants and leather boots.
Sam was looking after scans on his gauntlet. His costume was mostly gray. The centerpiece was made to resemble a pair of red wings. His shoulder pads had red outlines and he didn't wear anything on his forearms. His boots were reinforced for combat. He also wore a pair of red tech-lenses.
While everyone else put their suits on and prepared for a fight, Natasha went to the window that overlooked the warehouse to see if there was any movement on it. She wore her black reinforced suit and her electric wrist bracelets.
-"Looks like we arrived early enough." She commented to the others.
-"Are you sure this place is abandoned?" Sam asked her.
-"Yes, Sam, I'm sure." She said, annoyed, -"No one's living here for a few months."
-"I just wanna make sure no one would get hurt if they see us and start shooting from there." He said, also annoyed.
-"What are you complaining about, Wilson? If that building gets destroyed, it's not you that has to pay for it." Tony commented over the radio.
-"He's right, Sam. Don't you trust your teammates?" They could hear the chuckle in Rhodey's voice as he asked.
-"Shut up, Rhodey!" He quietly yelled through the comms, -"What is up with you all ganging up on me today?"
-"I believe they are trying to… soften up the mood." Vision answered.
-"It was rhetorical, but thanks still, Vision."
-"Oh." The android realized, -"You're welcome, Mr. Wilson."
-"You can just call me Sam, you know. Don't have to keep calling me by my last name. Makes me feel old."
-"Let him be, Sam. That's just the way Vision talks to people." Wanda came to Vision's defense, -"Maybe you should try to be more respectful like him." She said with a smile that she new was going to annoy him.
-"See?! Everyone's taking shots at me today."
Steve was just chuckling at the entire exchange from the corner of the room. These were the moments that made him feel like he wasn't almost 100 years old at this point and more like home.
-"Well, be prepared to have more people taking shots at you, because some of our guests have arrived." Natasha moved out of the window for the group to see.
Steve came up to her side and looked through. He could see a few cars moving into the warehouse. Some looked different from the others.
-"Everyone ready?" Cap asked, his serious face now on.
-"Waiting on your signal, Cap." said Sam.
-"Then let's go. Quietly." He strapped his iconic shield on his back and walked out of the room with the rest of the team following right behind him.
-"Time to bust this party." Tony said.
At the same time, another team was making their way to the meeting, but this time from their cloaked Quinjet that landed just outside the fence, away from the opening of the warehouse, so no one could see it.
May landed the jet, -"We're good. Bobbi, your turn."
-"We'll wait on your signal." Mack said. Hunter, Joey and Daisy gave her nods of encouragement.
Bobbi Morse walked out of the ramp wearing her usual SHIELD stealth uniform. She was the one tasked to go in and place a bug close to the meeting, to make sure everyone on the Quinjet and on the Zephyr could hear it.
Walking past the abandoned parking lot, making sure nobody was even looking in her general direction, the blonde spy approached just far enough from the perimeter to see the 'defenses' they had set up.
She went for her radio -"I'm right at the backdoor, but there's four guards watching it. And that's just on the outside."
May's voice came through -"Can you take them out by yourself?"
She was about to give her a mouth-ful for doubting her abilities when Coulson jumped in, -"No, it could alert the others, we don't know how long we'll be here. Fitz!" He called out.
Leopold Fitz, the resident genius at SHIELD. There wasn't an invention in the base that didn't pass through his hand and alterations first.
Currently he was accessing SHIELD's satellites to try to find an opening for his teammate.
A few seconds passed before the new voice spoke, -"There's a broken skylight on the rooftop."
Bobbi resisted the urge to roll her eyes, -"I don't have climbing equipment, brainiac."
-"Oh, right." He sounded apologetically -"Sorry."
She ignored him for a minute since she spotted something that could help, -"Hold on."
Circling around the door, she saw that there was a small broken opening in one of the warehouse's windows that led to an inner office. She climbed through, making sure to make no sound while at it.
-"Okay, I'm inside. Going closer to hide."
-"Copy that." May's voice came from the radio.
-"Be careful." said Hunter.
-"When am I not?" She joked to him.
When the Avengers stopped right before exiting the building, Sam immediately activated his 'partner', the useful red drone that Tony developed for him as a way to spy on groups of criminals or scout locations without the danger of actually being there. He called it Redwing.
Reaching for his specialized gauntlet, Sam controlled the drone through it. Spotting an opening in the ceiling, he moved Red Wing down and entered the warehouse.
-"Redwing's in. And I'm not liking what he's seeing."
The drone sported a camera and a scanner vision with the ability to see through solid objects, buildings or vehicles. The visual and tactical data was being fed directly into Falcon's combat goggles.
Sam continued, -"There's at least 30 people there, and that's just the goons. This meeting must be important."
-"You got eyes on Rumlow?" Steve asked. He needed to be sure this wasn't a trap by that man to catch the Avengers off guard.
-"Nothing yet Cap, but the people here are very interesting. They're all dressed all differently as well."
And indeed, the meeting was a meeting place for the strangest of individuals. First in front of a group of parked cars, there was a large romanian man wearing a jacket, but you could see that he was missing his right hand. Then, in another group of cars, there was a white man in a tan suit, blue shirt and purple tie.
On his side stood a white woman with short red hair and black clothes. Interestingly enough, her bodyguards all looked more heavily trained than strong, and they had close-encounter weapons as well as guns.
Towards the wall, there was also a black woman with braided hair and highspec gear. She was eyeing everyone in the room alongside her security team, almost like she was expecting an attack.
There were other people as well, but they were keeping to themselves and didn't stand out as much.
The place was big so cars were parked almost at the front, while most of the goons were scattered around the place, only three of four being close to the people they're protecting.
-"What else can you tell us about the place?"
-"I see that there's a big round thing covered in sheets almost touching the wall to a couple of offices. There's a bunch of cables and machinery connected to it. In front of it, there's some table set up with sheets hiding something beneath them as well."
But then, Sam saw something that caught his eye. He moved Redwing closer to it while still keeping it hidden behind the steel beans that supported the roof.
-"Guys, there's someone spying on the meeting as well." He warned his team.
Steve called in his earpiece, -"Tony, did you call in the FBI as well?"
-"No! Why would I call them and not mention it to you?"
-"CIA?"
-"Nope. Whoever Sam is seeing got this address on their own."
That made Cap sit back a little and think about how to proceed. If this person was part of an organization that tracked down their targets here as well, then contacting them would be beneficial to taking down this whole operation without anyone getting hurt.
-"Sam, approach them and try to make contact without attracting attention to yourselves." Cap told his teammate, who just nodded and did as told.
Falcon began controlling the drone to make small movements towards where the figure was hiding without her freaking out. When he was close enough, he opened up a small mic that the drone possessed to speak to her.
-"Don't scream, just turn around and look at me."
Bobbi had years of training so she didn't jump at the sound of someone blowing her cover, but she almost did when instead of a human, there was a small bird-shaped drone in front of her.
-"I was just checking in to make sure nobody was snooping around." She tried to play it cool and act like she was part of the assembly there, while also making sure the people in the other line of her earpiece could hear her talk.
-"Well, I am. Don't worry, I won't snitch on you, just want to know if you're here to bust this meeting like we are. I'm Falcon, I'm with The Avengers."
The color of Bobbi's face was drained at that revelation, -"T-The Avengers?" she stuttered a little, it was definitely the most surprising thing of the day so far.
-"Bobbi, what did you say?" May heard and asked.
-"Yeah. Look, which agency are you from? Because me and my teammates are ready to storm in and take this whole thing down."
And that surprised her even more, -"Your team? The Avengers are here with you?" she asked to make sure.
-"Yes! The whole team, plus Iron Man. Now let's figure out how to do this so no one gets hurt and before they start talking or spot us." Sam tried to hurry her up.
-"Sir, The Avengers are here. Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow, they're all here to bust this meeting just like we are. What do we do?"
- Zephyr -
High in the air at the Zephyr, Coulson was almost having a meltdown. He couldn't even hear what the people beside him were arguing about. One because with The Avengers here helping them, Gideon's demise tonight was almost 100% certain and he didn't even need Fitz to make that calculation.
But on the other hand, having them figure out he's alive and having the public know about S.H.I.E.L.D. would generate a heated conversation with the president, other world leaders… and Fury. Cap and Tony would definitely not be happy if they found out what exactly Fury did to bring Coulson back to life. At least Thor wasn't on Earth, otherwise the conversation with the Norse God could end up being way worse.
But his priority was S.H.I.E.L.D. and the protection of the people, just like what The Avengers do. So he had to make a choice that would benefit everyone.
-"Did we just hear that right?" Fitz asked everyone at the ship, making sure he wasn't hallucinating.
-"That Earth's Mightiest Heroes are down here with us? Yup." was Hunter's response.
-"What should they do now?" asked Fitz. That was the question in everyone's minds.
Another scientist came close to Coulson. This was Jemma Simmons, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s best doctor and genius biochemist. She was also Fitz's partner, however they weren't on great terms right now. She could see Coulson's mind working overtime to think on what to do and decided to snap him out a little
-"Sir." said Simmons, calmly to his side, -"I know this must be hard, but we need to focus."
And thankfully she was successful as he looked into her eyes and recomposed himself, -"You're right." He went to talk to his agent in the field, -"Bobbi, tell Mr. Wilson to stay with you. If his team is confident, they'll go first." He then opened the channel so that his people on the Quinjet could hear as well, -"May, you take care of the perimeter and go in as soon as The Avengers enter as well, but not before then. You have your objective and they have theirs."
-"Got it."
- Abandoned Warehouse -
With both teams now briefed, it was a matter of working together and time before the night ended in a victory.
At the entrance of the warehouse, a heavy black SUV drove in fast and parked alongside the other cars. From it exited the one man here that made the Avengers all the more interested in the meeting.
-"Cap, it's Rumlow. And he's here in full gear."
Steve was both relieved and scared. Relieved at the thought that their hunt for the criminal could end today. Scared at what was so important about this meeting that had Rumlow coming out of his hiding place.
-"Alright!" Crossbones called out, -"Which one of you was the one that took that photo?" He readied his specialized hydraulic gauntlets, scaring some of the people there and making them flint for their guns, -"I'm ready to bash some skulls for making me do this trip!"
-"Calm down, agent Rumlow." a voice came from inside one of the lighted up rooms. -"I promise, your trip here was worth it."
From one of the back rooms came a well dressed smiling elderly man, with white hair, sporting a nice suit.
That surely caught the attention of the other faction infiltrating the meeting. -"Coulson, the rumors were true. I see Malick." Bobbi warned the rest of her team.
-"Blimey." was Hunter's response.
Back at the meeting, the rest of the people there were incredibly surprised that this was the man that called them. The man in the tan suit spoke first, perplexed at the man in front of him, -"Well, I'll be damned. Gideon Malick!"
-"Who?" asked one of the leaders there.
-"Former member of the World Security Council and a powerful businessman and political figure. Runs a bunch of companies here in the U.S. You don't get into this line of work without learning who he is. Whether it's his public persona or the business he does on the side."
-"Looks like someone did their homework, Mr. Burch." The HYDRA leader said, impressed and joyful to have his inflated ego reinforced a bit.
-"Well, if you wanna be the best, you have to learn from the best. Especially if you wanna surpass them. Might I say sir, I'm a big fan of your work."
-"I'm not." Rumlow interrupted, -"He ran the organization that left me for dead." he tightened his fists in anger.
-"If it's any consolation, I apologize about what happened in Washington, agent Rumlow." Gideon said, though it was doubtful whether he was being truthful or not.
Rumlow came closer, lining up with the other heads in front of Malick, -"I'm not an agent anymore." He snarled at the mention of his past 'job'.
-"Oh right, you prefer to go by… Crossbones, now. Isn't it?" Gideon mocked, -"Cute."
Rumlow narrowed his eyes at the elderly man, -"Just spit it out, why did you call us here?"
He looked around to everyone that gathered, a bit disappointed, -"I was hoping more people would come and that your bosses would actually be here."
One man of chinese descent told Malick with a fake nice smile, -"Mr. Scarborough would love to be here, but unfortunately as you may know, he's a very busy man."
-"Yes… I'm sure he is." Gideon tried to look nice.
-"You sent an invitation to a meeting with some of the most notorious criminal heads of the world, some of which most of us haven't even heard about, in New York City, and you expected them all to show up like we're all old friends?" Burch said, mocking Gideon's whole perspective, -"It's like inviting a rat to a house full of mouse traps."
-"While I don't appreciate Mr. Burch referring to us as rats, I do agree with the sentiment." the red-haired woman said -"You couldn't be stupid enough to think all of our leaders would show up tonight, right?"
-"No, but there's nothing wrong with hope. I needed a big location that I owned and that you all could see each other without thinking it would be a trap. There's also nobody around for a few blocks. I made sure of that." Gideon reassured them.
Oh, the irony of that statement…
-"I was waiting on someone very important to arrive, but it seems th-"
He was suddenly interrupted by another group of cars arriving at the facility, though they were a bit more run down than the others. One would guess that maybe it was to go incognito.
And that seemed to be true, as the man that came out of it was very known to many, including The Avengers watching.
Gideon smiled, -"Speak of the devil."
He was a caucasian male with a rugged beard and sporting something that someone would only wear to cross a heavy jungle. His gray hair was unkempt and accompanied by a glaring tattoo on the side of his head and a burn mark on his neck. But the most defining feature of his had to be his clearly advanced prosthetic left arm sticking out of the sleeve.
He spoke with a heavy accent and in an excited manner, -"Gideon, my man!" He went and forced the older man into a hug.
Clearly the other people there did not expect that action. For someone to do that to the man that called them all here and was clearly the most influential person in the room, you'd have to be either very stupid or very crazy.
And Ulysses Klaue was VERY crazy.
The man got close to Gideon's face and put a hand on his shoulder, -"You know, I thought you had forgotten about me! I gave you the goods and you never message me back. You treated me like one of your prostitutes! But I was so happy when you called."
It wasn't just the other heads at the building that were flabbergasted at how casual Ulysses was being, but The Avengers and SHIELD listening as well.
-"What is up with that guy?" Bobbi asked, almost intrigued by the man's antics, but mostly weirded out.
-"Yeah… I heard Tony's stories about him. He's crazy." said Sam.
-"That's underselling it." Tony butted in through the comms.
-"You know why he could be here?" She asked.
-"He's an arms dealer. A big one. The Avengers fought against him before." Sam revealed.
-"'Fought' is a strong word. He was just in our way when we were trying to get Ultron." Nat explained. The rest of the team didn't disagree, but Wanda did wince at the mention of the genocidal robot.
-"And it looks like he and Malick are close friends." Bobbi realized.
-"Can you tell us more about Malick?"
-"Gideon Malick. Like they said he was part of the World Security Council, but he's actually one of the heads of HYDRA. My team has been tracking him ever since we destroyed his base a couple of months ago." Bobbi told him, then came to a realization, -"He must be trying to rebuild HYDRA's strength using every contact he has."
-"Well, we can't let any kind of deal happen here or it'll be bad for everyone."
-"Agreed."
In the entrance of the building, where The Avengers were, Steve was… not well. He thought they had taken out most of the HYDRA members. He was aware that other agencies also encountered and dealt with HYDRA outside of them, especially the whole fight against one head known as Daniel Whitehall, but to know someone as influential as Gideon was part of the same organization that he had been fighting against for more than 70 years? It was taking a toll on his mind.
Rumlow was ex-HYDRA and he genuinely thought that Strucker was the last one he had to deal with. Sure, they had fought against some minor HYDRA cells after that, but nothing that the team, not even at full strength, wouldn't be able to easily handle.
Maybe HYDRA's old saying was true. 'Cut off one head, two more shall take its place'. If that was so, then Steve Rogers would still fight until he made sure every last head was down.
-"Sam, let me speak to her." He said to his friend. Falcon then had an idea and adjusted Redwing to pick up the comms of everyone on the team, -"Hello, this is Steve Rogers speaking. What's your name again, miss?"
-"Uhh, Barbara, sir. Barbara Morse. But most people call me Bobbi." she sounded a little awkward, possibly from getting to talk to Captain America out of nowhere.
Natasha recognized the name from her S.H.I.E.L.D. days, but decided to keep quiet for now.
The captain continued, -"Bobbi, is your team ready to go in?"
-"Yes, sir. They're just waiting for your signal."
-"As soon as we learn what this meeting is all about, we go in together and don't let anyone leave. Is your superior okay with that?"
A few seconds passed before she responded again, -"Yeah, he is. But we don't have the superpowers you do."
-"I understand, we'll watch each other's backs."
-"Got it, Cap."
Meanwhile on the Quinjet and high up on the Zephyr, people were having a field day with the conversation that just happened.
-"Did you just say, 'Got it, Cap'? said Hunter, not knowing whether he should be impressed or jealous.
-"Shut it." came the whispered response from his lover.
Daisy butted in, -"Don't mind Hunter, he's just jealous that you get to work with Captain America and he doesn't."
Lance could only puff annoyingly in return to the banter against him.
Everyone's attention was brought back to the meeting at hand when Rumlow brought his fist down on the table in front of him in anger and impatience, destroying it to show the strength of his new powerful gauntlets.
-"ENOUGH! Tell us now why we're here or I'll make sure nobody here comes out alive." He threatened.
Obviously the others got very tense with the thread and were preparing for a fight to break out already. Fortunately Gideon was there to make sure everyone would stay calm.
-"Alright, alright. Calm down, Rumlow. We have enough people already to start."
He called out to his men, which then closed the large entrance door to the warehouse. Gideon then walked back to the back of the building and traded a few words with some scientists he had there working on the thing behind the sheet.
-"Ladies and Gentlemen." He made sure everyone was listening, -"I called you all here today to offer what may perhaps be the best business opportunity of your lifes." Malick started walking back and forth, looking each of the people there in the eye. -"As of right now I'm in possession of a powerful machine that can send us all to a world of riches and power."
-"Can you be more specific please?" One of the heads there 'politely' asked.
Instead of answering the question right away, Gideon decided to gesture to what was underneath the sheet in front of them, -"This my friends, is a gateway to a whole nother world. A portal to another universe. One without any of the issues that plague our business. One that we can fully control if we work together."
-"Do you take us for fools or are you a lunatic?" The red-haired woman spoke, offended, -"How do you expect us to just believe you?"
He put up a devious smirk, -"I figured you would say that. That's why…" He gestured to his scientists, -"...a demonstration is in order."
-"What do you think he means?" Sam asked Bobbi.
-"I don't know… but coming from him, it can't be good." she responded, worried.
Two of his men grabbed the sheet and removed it, revealing a large machine in the shape of a ring that appeared to be some-what connected to an elevated part of the ground. It was mostly made of gray and dark purple parts, but also had some dark gray parts as well.
The men under Gideon's command started powering up the machine. Entering a code onto their computers and making sure everything was alright to proceed. Once they gave the green light to Malick, he ordered the activation.
Blue circuit lines started appearing on the base of the device, looking as if it was getting charged up. The viewers even back up a little, afraid of what could happen. But the result was beyond their expectations.
WhOoOoShHhH!
The portal turned on and opened. The immaterial black, blue and white swirl inside of it was hypnotic to everyone there, including the ones eavesdropping.
-"That… that's a portal." said Bobbi. She was perplexed at the feat.
-"Gideon built another one?" Hunter exclaimed, worried.
-"Does he have another monolith?" Fitz asked, unaware of Simmons sligh tremble at the mention of a portal being present and the possibility of another monolith existing.
-"No, this one's different. It's made by a machine and the event horizon looks more like swirling water than a puddle."
-"That thing is giving off WAY too much energy. I don't even know how to read it all. It's dangerous." said Falcon.
-"I agree with Mr. Wilson. Doesn't matter what it is or what its purpose is, right now we have to stop it." Coulson proclaimed to his team.
-"Copy that." She then turned to Redwing, -"We're ready to burst this party as soon as you give the signal, Falcon."
-"Alright, I'll just relay it all to Cap and then-"
Unfortunately, before he could finish, their conversation got interrupted by the lights in the warehouse suddenly being turned off. Only the portal was active, as it was ran by a separate powersource, giving the place a focused light.
Obviously, the guests were all taken back and scared. The leaders and goons called out to everyone they could still see.
-"The lights are down!"
-"I can't see anything!"
-"He tricked us!"
-"Do we know who did this?" Bobbi heard Cap asking through Red Wing.
-"It wasn't us." She said with caution.
-"This is our chance. Stay hidden until we storm in." said Cap to everyone, including her.
-"Got it." She responded and then made sure nobody was around as she watched Red Wing go back towards the ceiling, leaving her alone.
-"We're coming in too." May called out through the radio.
Suddenly, they heard a scream and shots were fired. There was one less guard protecting them.
-"AAAH-"
Another one. Couldn't even finish his scream before he fell to the ground, unconscious.
They all started to turn on their flashlights and point them everywhere to light up the whole warehouse.
-"No no… not today!" Gideon cried out in anger. Today HAD to be a success, everything hinged on it! He ordered his men to start dismantling and packing things as fast he they could.
Unfortunately, none of them noticed how the portal was starting to twitch and make strange noises.
Finally, Klaue and a few of his henchmen pointed their guns at the same place, and for a single second, found the source of the blackout. A lone figure, sitting on the support beams of the ceiling, positioning himself like a praying animal, a hunter.
He donned a full-black flexible armor. In its center, it looked like he was wearing a necklace made of silver teeth. On his hands were sharp silver claws, like that on a large animal, clinging to the beams. His helmet with eyes white lens and small ears on the back resembled that of an animal as well. A panther.
-"He's here." Klaue said with a crazy glee in his voice.
The panther figure then moved faster than their eyes could track. Even
Rumlow heard that and confronted him, almost threatening the man just with his voice, -"You knew someone was following you?" He grabbed Klaue by the shirt.
However, the man didn't seem particularly bothered by it, -"I wasn't exactly sure. Had to come here in a hurry and go back as fast as I could. The house is the safest place there is after all." He casually responded.
Crossbones merely grunted in anger and threw him to the side, -"Let's just kill this guy and be done with!"
All of his mercenaries started to look for the panther and shoot. Some of the other guests were merely trying to protect themselves from all the chaos, and so they stayed hidden inside their cars with bodyguards defending them.
However, there were a few people present that decided to take a more active role in making sure nobody would leave here alive. The large romanian man joined his henchmen in searching for the panther, scanning the large space with an angry expression.
And the black woman previously leaning on the wall had taken out her weapon and was sneaking around as a feather and searching the room for the intruder, unaware that she was about to stumble upon another person.
Hiding behind a few boxes was Bobbi Morse, preparing herself to the inevitable upcoming fight. She saw that the woman was closing in on her and kept quiet as a mouse.
The woman creeped around the box until she was close enough to take a shot at Bobbi. But luckly, the SHIELD agent was prepared and quickly disarmed her. The woman barely appeared surprised before launching a kick to Morse's stomach.
She grunted but didn't let that take her down. She was one of the most skilled spies in the world after all. Bobbi maneuvered and tried punching the woman several times, but she blocked each and every single one of her attempts. Clearly, that woman was not to be messed with.
Bobbi then used her knowledge of martial arts and was able to land a punch in the woman's face before throwing her gun far away. This gave her enough time to take out her favorite weapons, her battle staves. Two batons she trained heavily with and was an expert at.
She kept her attack against the woman, but seeing as she had been careless, the criminal became more relentless on her attack. Even with a weapon advantage, she still fell short in combat, and with multiple kicks and punches everywhere in her body, Bobbi finally went to the ground.
The woman quickly grabbed her weapon while her opponent was down, coming to point it at Bobbi. But before she could shoot the agent, the ceiling of the warehouse suddenly exploded.
And from it, came the two armored heroes.
-"Sorry to burst this party, but we'll be handling negotiations from here." said Iron Man, wearing his Mark XLVI gold and red armor with multiple miniature arc reactors.
-"And the only offer you all get is prison." spoke War Machine, in his bulky Mark III black and gray armor with his iconic shoulder cannon.
The criminals all started panicking at the situation in front of them, -"IT'S THE AVENGERS!" some of them screamed in fear.
A few of the crime heads and their security were already gunning for the exit, but stopped once something, or rather someone, phased through it.
-"I'm afraid this exit is closed, gentlemen." said the Vision, trying his best at doing battle quips.
-"Shoot him!" Some ordered. The goons fired at the Avenger, but their guns were as useless as anything else there since he just made his body as solid as possible, as he was made from one of the most versatile materials from the planet, the indestructible metal Vibranium.
The large garage door then exploded and the rest of the team walked him, right to fight.
If the thugs and crime lords weren't scared before, they certainly were now. Regardless of feelings, most thought that they could at least escape if they all attacked them at once, they did outnumber them after all.
Cap grabbed his signature white a red striped round vibranium shield with a star on it to defend himself against the oncoming fire, -"Everyone! Eyes on Rumlow, Gideon and Klaue! Don't let anyone escape!" He received a wave of 'Got it' and 'Understood'.
The woman fighting Bobbi was surprised and showed a hint of fear for a moment before refocusing on her opponent, who was just as perplexed by The Avengers' show of strength. She pointed her gun again, but was interrupted from shooting a second time. Though not by a superhero team, but by a friend of Bobbi. One who had a very useful power.
HUUUMMMZZZ!
A wave of literal strong vibration hit the woman and launched her afar. Bobbi knew exactly who it was that just arrived.
-"Are you okay?" Daisy asked her downed friend. She arrived with May, Hunter, Joey and Mack.
-"Yeah, just surprised at how crazy our evening is getting."
Daisy looked in awe at the Avengers all engaging in combat with the criminals there, -"You tell me…"
-"Focus, you two!" May called out while already shooting some of the people there, -"You can fangirl after the fight is over and Malick is in custody."
-"Copy." They both said in unison.
May then started giving the orders, -"Daisy and Joey, assist The Avengers in dealing with anyone with powers. Mack, Bobbi and Hunter with me. We'll go after Gideon ourselves."
-"This can't be happening…" Gideon muttered angrily. As soon as he saw Iron Man enter, he went to hide behind his waves of guards, who escorted him to a secure room in the back. Well, as secured as you can get when the Avengers are attacking you. Dealing with SHIELD was one thing, with The Avengers was another. But both together?... that would be his demise. He needed a plan to get rid of the intruders, fast. They would kill him if they learned he lost the portal to The Avengers, it was unacceptable!
Or maybe… it wasn't.
His mind went to a risky but almost guaranteed to work plan. The HYDRA leader turned to his scientists, -"Star charging up the self-destruct option."
They tried to argue, -"But, sir-"
-"Just do it!"
They instantly got to work and activated the method. Technology this precious could never fall onto the hands of anyone they didn't want falling into. When they were almost done, you could see the portal shaking more than usual as it was building up more energy than needed.
After a couple of minutes, his chief scientist warned him, -"Done. But the explosion will disintegrate more than just this warehouse, but maybe the whole pot and a few blocks."
-"Good. Did you do what I asked?"
-"Yes, sir." He handed him a small remote control device, -"Just keep pressing the button on this remote. When we're far enough you can release it and the portal will self-destruct."
Unfortunately he wouldn't get to act on it before he heard a shot coming from behind him. Two of his guards fell to the ground, and the woman responsible for it was pointing a gun at him.
-"Hands up, both of you!" said May.
-"How are you doing, Lil Gideon? Guess we missed your invitation." Hunter joked from the side. Mack and Bobbi were guarding the door.
-'Always with a sense of humor…' The HYDRA leader annoyingly thought, -"Agent May." He said in a mocking tone, -"Coulson sent you to do his dirty field work? I guess he wasn't man enough to do it himself."
Melinda May was a highly trained SHIELD agent, she wouldn't fall for such cheap tricks, -"Keep talking and I'll have a good reason to shoot you."
He smiled, -"You know you can't do that. Not after everything you heard today."
She knew he was right, they needed Gideon alive to tell them everything, but… -"I need you alive, not in one piece." She cocked her gun. Her look was fierce and determined. That made her words more true than ever.
His smile instantly dropped, -"I assumed you heard our little talk here."
-"Yes. You!" She pointed at the head scientist, -"You know how to deactivate the self-destruct?" She asked 'nicely'.
-"Only and him." He revealed.
Gideon looked at his subordinate with conviction and he instantly understood what he was meant to do.
But Hunter was confused, -"Why are you looking at each other like that?"
The scientist then quickly pulled his weapon and…
BANG!
…Shot himself in the head before either SHIELD agent could react. Everyone was stunned at the event.
Except for Malick, who just turned to them revealing he was already pressing the button, -"Well, looks like we're in a bit of a standoff." He smiled.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the giant warehouse, Cap found himself fighting against a few mercenaries and thugs, all enemies he took care of quite easily. But there was one man who wanted a piece of him…
BOOOMM
The resonating sound of Rumlow's gauntlet hitting Cap's shield at full strength echoed through the warehouse.
-"I've been waiting for this rematch for a long time." Crossbones said with glee and venom in his voice.
-"You should have just called sooner then." Steve said with a straight face, half-joking.
Brock went to hit him, but Cap was using his shield to block every attack. He could sense that that gauntlet packed a punch and he didn't want to test it out.
Rumlow activated a hidden blade on one of his gauntlets to try to cut the Captain, but Steve was faster than him and diverted the blade with his shield, making it stick to the wall. Then he twisted Rumlow's arm and broke off the blade.
The ex-HYDRA agent grunted in anger and tackled the Avenger, hitting his stomach hard. Cap winced in pain, but quickly jumped, recovered his ground, struck Rumlow's legs and pinned him to the ground. Cap then tried knocking the man out by hitting him in the head repeatedly.
However a couple of his mercenaries started shooting at him and Steve had to defend himself, making him let go of Rumlow.
The man recovered and used his gauntlet to send Cap flying backwards. Before he could properly recover, Crossbones was already mounting on his truck.
-"We'll see each other another day, Rogers!" he shouted before making his way out.
-"Tony! Sam! Rhodey! Rumlow is escaping!" He warned his teammates through the comms.
-"Kind of busy here at the moment, Cap!" Iron Man answered back.
-"I got it, Cap!" replied Sam, who took it to the air and flew outside the warehouse to chase the truck.
What Tony was referring to, was the technology of the portal still in place. The others were randling their fights really well, but as soon as he saw that the machine was shaking and seemed unstable, he just needed to make sure that it wasn't going to blow up on their faces. Rhodey was covering him so no idiot would think he's vulnerable.
His helmet retracted just so he could get a good look of it up close, -"Okay… what are you made of?" Tony muttered to himself, already tinkering with the large machine.
Trying to avoid the chaos, Klaue ran to his car, but was stopped as the intruder he brought in landed on the roof of it.
-"Klaue!" He shouted, -"You will pay for your crimes against my people!" He sounded pissed.
The crazy man put his hands up, though if there was less chaos going on right now, one would be able to hear a faint buzzing sound coming from one of them, almost as if it was charging up, -"I can't stay long boy, so why don't you just get off and let me be?"
-"You will come with me." The panther demanded.
-"Okay then, I'll go." He said with a sarcastic tone as if to surrender, -"But instead of my whole person…" He started moving his arm, aiming it at the panther and smiling, -"...how about I just give you my hand?" His prosthetic arm then opened up to reveal an advanced weapon inside.
Before the hero could react, he fired a powerful sonic burst from it, launching the panther several feet back towards the wall, almost destroying it in the process. Good thing his armor was made from vibranium, otherwise he would be dead right now.
Ulysses tried to go for his car, but a shield was thrown at him, stopping and dropping him on his tracks. Klaue really didn't want to deal with another hero today.
-"I don't know what you did to make him come after you…" Cap mentioned to the panther as he walked to where he laid, -"But it clearly wasn't something good."
-"Captain America! I'm a big fan!" He laughed sarcastically, -"Well, WAS. Before you disrupted my operation and your friend created the robot that cut my arm off." He suddenly switched his mood, -"How about I take yours to call it even?" Then he shot another powerful sonic burst at the Avenger, who only had time to block and be thrown off as well.
Outside the warehouse, already on the streets of the city, Falcon was pursuing Rumlow's truck as best as he could, but the man kept shooting at him, with either normal guns or the mounted gun on his custom-made armored vehicle with explosive ammunition.
-"Keep it steady! I can't shoot this bird out of the sky with this much movement." Crossbones angrily yelled.
Sam kept evading everything but it was getting a bit hard, especially with him having to make sure the civilians were safe from the rampage the truck was causing.
-'Come on… Come on!' Sam steadied himself.
Rumlow then got an idea, -"Maybe this will get you off our tail."
The man went inside and he and two of his men appeared on the windows with rocket launchers!
Sam widened his eyes, -"You've got to be joking!" He was already preparing himself to either block the shots or evade them.
But to his surprise, the mercenaries shot at the end of the street. Where innocent people were.
Falcon instantly realized what they were doing, -"NO!"
He flew as fast as he could and locked his aim at the missiles. Shooting small but fast missiles from his wing pack, he was able to intercept and blow up the first two, but the third one hit a building with a couple walking nearby.
He accelerated at his maximum and he grabbed both of them, saving them from the falling debris and landing them as safely as possible on the other road before they could even say something.
-"Are you two alright?" He asked worriedly. Obviously they were stunned, but regaining their senses they both nodded.
He sighed an air of relief, but looking back on the road he came from, Rumlow's convoy was nowhere to be seen. He had escaped.
On another side of the warehouse, the famous Black Widow was mopping up the less gifted criminals using her trusted electric batons and acrobatics. They were easy enough to deal with once Vision and Wanda put the fear in them just by showcasing their abilities.
Except for one man, who wasn't really afraid. The large Romanian tackled Natasha and punched her really hard in the stomach, -'Okay… I felt that.'
She didn't waste a second and went on the offensive again, but this time more prepared. She tried jumping and headlocking the man with her legs, but was only able to dose him for a bit before he slammed her to the ground.
The man took out his jacket revealing an amputated right arm with a metal end, in which he raised it and a metal blade came out of it. He tried to stab Natasha with it, but Wanda luckly saw it and stopped it from happening, using her powers to stop the arm's memento and throwing the large man to a car on the other side.
-"Thanks!" Nat called out with a friendly smile.
-"You're welcome!" Wanda responded smiling before creating a red transparent forcefield to stop incoming fire and engaging the rest of the criminals there.
As ordered, Daisy and Joey went to help round up the henchmen and anyone with abilities The Avengers couldn't handle. -'Though I doubt there's something they couldn't handle.' she thought.
She kept using her vibrational concussive blasts to knock down the thugs while Joey used his Inhuman power of melting and manipulating metal to make sure no bullets were hitting them and to literally melt their opponents' weapons.
But not every foe could be defeated this easily. The previously seen red-haired woman sneaked up on Daisy and punched her straight in the face, sending her to the ground.
As soon as Joey saw this, he tried to help her, but a few henchmen, he assumed from the woman, were keeping him busy with hand to hand combat, which he wasn't the best at.
The woman was clearly trained and was relentless on her attack against Daisy. -"Are you like a ninja or something?" She tried joking in the middle of the fight to distract her.
Joey meanwhile was having a hard time against the woman's henchmen as he wasn't really trained that well for this. His I.C.E.R. gun had been thrown out somewhere and they didn't give him much time to look before hitting him again. -'Mierda! I need to ask May for a good training session later.' he thought before coughing up some blood.
Some men then grabbed him from the ground and held him up to get more beaten up. But his guardian angel came in the form of a Russian Assassin beating up those holding him.
-"Hey boys." She said as a snarky remark to them. Then turned to the downed Joey and held out her hand, -"You okay?"
-"Yeah, I'm good." He responded with a wince of pain and wiping away more blood from his mouth, -"Thank you."
She kept her stance towards the thugs, -"We're not out of the woods yet."
He knew what she meant and readied himself for another close-quarters fight. He was lucky to have an expert on his side now.
The two fought as best as they could. Clearly these guys were heavily trained, but they still couldn't match the Black Widow with back-up.
Meanwhile, Daisy was still fighting the red-haired woman, but she was getting sick of being punched in the face. Just then on the ground, she locked eyes with Joey and gave him a signal. He understood and went to grab Natasha and get her out of the way. Daisy decided to not hold back as much and right when the woman was about to strike her again, she used her Inhuman power to send her flying right into her goons, all of which also went flying back, clearing the whole section.
Natasha could only look in awe at Daisy's feat, -"You're pretty good."
-"I try." She said between breaths.
Unfortunately, none of them paid attention to the one criminal that had gotten up and went to one of the tables set up with sheets hiding something. He was just trying to secure their safe escape from here, so he thought the best way to do it was to grab anything valuable.
Underneath the sheets were weapons. But not any kind of weapons. They were high-grad, specially designed weapons using technology from the aliens that invaded New York 4 years ago, the Chitauri.
He grabbed the one that called to him the most, tried to get it on and aimed at the Avenger and SHIELD agents. What he didn't know was that the energy emanating from the opened portal was affecting the gun.
The trio all saw him ready to fire at them, so Joey stepped up, -"I got this!" he said. Using his Inhuman power, he started melting the weapon down to the core. Little did he know that that would be a mistake.
BOOM!
The weapon malfunctioned and blew up in a flash of power and blue light right in the henchmen's hand, not only destroying IT, but the man himself and causing a huge ruckus that turned everyone's attention to it. His partners and his boss all saw that and took the opportunity to run away, as the heroes were preoccupied with it.
-"What happened?" Romanoff asked.
-"I don't know. May, we need help over here." Daisy called out on the radio.
The group about to arrest Gideon heard the large explosion and the call for help from their allies.
-"Maybe you'd want to help your friends out there?" Malick tried to argue.
-"And let you escape?" she rhetorically asked, -"No chance."
-"If I release my finger from this button, this whole warehouse and a few blocks all go up in flames." He threatened.
-"I know you won't do that."
-"Oh yeah? And why?"
-"Because you're not man enough to." He could see a small smirk pop up on her for a second.
And she was indeed right. When it came to in-person action and risks, he was a coward. Always has been. He remembered what he did to not get picked in the HYDRA meetings when he was a teenager. He was aware of the amount of people that had sacrificed themselves for his cause and HIS name, but he never bothered to actually learn their names or volunteer in their place. Heck, he had shown that lack of care just now with his head scientist.
But this was his chance to truly change things for the better, to make his perfect world. -"Maybe… but you can't take such a risk on the basis of that. This is bigger than you can imagine, Agent May. And if I go down, I'm taking your Inhumans and Avengers with me."
May thought about the situation. The only gun they had that would instantly knock out Gideon, an I.C.E.R., was with Joey as he was the newest agent, but she wasn't even sure she could press the button fast enough to not set off the self-destruct. She couldn't risk it.
-"Hunter, Bobbi, don't take your eyes off him." she ordered.
-"Got it, boss!" Barbara and Hunter responded in unison.
She then went with Mack to see what was going on.
After a bit of a fight against both Klaue and his mercenaries,
Klaue was getting in his car when he turned to the downed panther, -"Keep out of my business, kitty-cat. Or you'll regret it." He then drove off.
Steve got close to the panther, -"Are you okay?" He asked without taking his eyes off Klaue.
He grunted a bit, -"I did not ask nor need your help, Captain."
-"No need to ask. I'm here right now and we have a common enemy. That's all the reason I need. When this is over we can discuss how to deal with this." Steve was honest in his words.
The panther didn't like that last part, but after thinking for a bit, he reluctantly agreed with a nod -"Fair."
Just then, Iron Man tapped in on their comms, -"Cap, come here for a sec."
Steve pointed to the portal and the panther instantly understood and nodded. Then they both went to see the portal.
At this point, the warehouse was littered with the unconscious bodies of criminals and even some crime lords. The ones that weren't here had escaped in the midst of the chaos, some even disappeared without anyone looking.
Wanda and Vision were just rounding up the remaining thugs, making sure they couldn't escape and were down for the count.
Around the portal, stood the rest of the team along with Daisy and Joey.
Cap and the panther came close to Iron Man, -"Tony, status."
The helmet retracted again and the face Tony was making was worrying him. -"This thing here is putting off energy levels way bigger than anything I've seen. I can't turn it off anymore."
-"It's set to self-destruct." May came in to warn them.
-"What?" Daisy exclaimed.
-"Is there no way to turn it off?" Cap asked.
-"Gideon is pressing a remote connected to the portal in that room. As soon as his finger is out, this whole place is blown up by that. And he's willing to do it just to take us out." She pointed at the portal.
Steve thought for a moment what the best option would be. -"Alright, Tony, go see what you can do about that while all of us evacuate this whole warehouse."
-"I can help too." Mack said. Everyone looked at him as if waiting for another response, -"I'm a mechanic."
-"I like you already, muscles." Tony said, putting his helmet back on to analyze the machine more thoroughly.
Malick was not having a very good night indeed. But to be fair, neither were Hunter and Bobbi.
-"Why are you doing this, Malick? It can't just be for power or loyalty to HYDRA and that Ihuman thing on that planet." asked Bobbi.
-"You won't understand. This is bigger than any of us." He smiled like a crazy man.
And as if on point, an actual crazy man arrived through the backdoor. But not by walking in, but by crashing in with his car.
Ulysses' reinforced car crashed through the wall, taking down both SHIELD agents.
Klaue himself took a step out the door and shouted to Malick, -"You coming or not?"
The HYDRA leader smiled and got in the car, who tried to maneuver to get out of the wall.
Just as they were leaving, May, Joey and Daisy went in to try to take Malick outside. -"Bobbi!" Daisy called out. To their relief, both were showing vital signs.
-"Coulson." May called in on the radio, -"Gideon escaped."
She heard nothing from him for a few seconds before he answered in a more stern tone, -"We'll worry about that later. Get everyone out of there safely first."
-"Copy." She then gestured to Daisy, -"Me and Joey will take them to the Quinjet, you help the Avengers."
-"Are you sure?" Daisy asked, uncertain of what help she could be.
-"Yes, you have powers, now go!"
Tony and Mack quickly went into work to see what could be done so there wouldn't be a giant crater in Queens.
-"F.R.I.D.A.Y!" Tony called out to his personal onboard AI.
-"Yes, Mr. Stark?" it responded in a feminine voice.
-"What kind of energy is the machine producing?"
-"Unknown sir. Nothing matches our database."
This wasn't good, -"Can the cables powering it be cut off?" Mack asked.
-"Too risky. It could blow up if we do."
A thousand thoughts were racing through the inventor's mind. This machine was marvelous in every sense of the word, except in its destruction capabilities. A couple of minutes passed in them trying to figure out how exactly it even worked.
-"Maybe we can suppress the explosion then." Mack suggested.
-"And how would we suppress it, exactly?" Tony tried to argue back.
-"I can do it." said Daisy, -"I can create a forcefield around it."
-"I don't think we have the time for that." May came in, -"Gideon just escaped, we have to get out of here, now!" said shouted to everyone.
Luckly, all the criminals were already evacuated outside. The Avengers and SHIELD didn't want to just let the explosion happen, but no casualties was always better than some just to protect the buildings.
Unfortunately, none of them would think much of it because the explosion was activated, but not in the way anyone was expecting.
Instead of a bomb, it looked like a giant bubble of blue, black and white energy was slowly engulfing everything on its path. Everyone was already far from it, except Cap, the panther, Tony, Rhodey, Vision, Wanda and Daisy. They were caught in the radius and entered the bubble.
The last thing any of them heard before falling unconscious, was their team calling out to them.
- Unknown -
-"Ah!" Steve woke up, alerted. He scanned his surroundings to make sure no threat was lurking. He saw that he was in a forest, though he didn't recognize which one.
The last thing he remembered was being caught in the explosion. He didn't think this was the afterlife, it didn't look like it at least.
Just after making sure no one was around did he check his own body to see if he had any broken bones. Luckly, there was none, but he was still in pain.
He needed to find his team, so Steve checked the comms, -"Can anybody hear me? This is Steve Rogers. Sam? Tony? Nat?"
But no one answered. He was definitely worried now.
Then he heard a light groan to his side. Already putting his SHIELD up, he went to see who it was. Turns out he found the panther guy waking up and trying to stand.
-"Hey, hey." Steve tried to help.
But the panther rejected and stood up fast and right, -"I am fine, but thank you for your help, Captain."
-"No problem." They both looked at the forest, -"I can't contact anyone." Cap revealed, -"Can't see any civilization as well, must be a pretty long walk before we leave the forest."
The panther put his hand on where his human ear would be and spoke in a language Steve didn't understand, -"Usisi? Ngokubanzi?"
Confirming what the Captain had said, the panther gave a short annoyed sigh. -"I cannot contact anyone as well."
Steve could see that that was infuriating to him and decided the best course of action, -"Well, what can I call you? If we're going to work together until we can go our separate ways, I'd like to call you by a name instead of just the panther. It doesn't have to be your real one, a moniker or nickname will do just fine if you're not ready for that yet."
The animal vigilante thought about what that would mean to him and his people, but as soon as he looked up, he saw something that scared him and truly made him make a hard decision. -"I am known as the Black Panther, the protector of Wakanda." He then removed his helmet, revealing a black man in his 30s with a short beard and a kind but very clearly scared gaze, -"But you can call me T'Challa."
Steve was definitely surprised. The prince of a third-world country going out at night dressed as an animal fighting crime was the last thing he ever expected to see today. He hoped he wouldn't be able to top this any time soon. -"You could have just told me your title, you didn't have to show your face. Why?" He was genuinely curious.
-"Because I believe we will take much longer to get out of here than expected." He pointed to the horizon just beyond the lines where the treetops ended.
Steve saw and understood what he meant. Because an absurdent idea was presented in front of them now. In the sky, laid not one, but TWO moons. One of which was way bigger than Earth's.
-'I guess this tops…'
Just where in the universe did they land?
AND SCENE!
Welcome again everyone to my second ever written story. Make sure to leave a comment as I will respond to the ones that engage the most.
NOTE: I researched and Wakanda speaks the South African Xhosa language, so that's what he was saying. If you guys prefer subtitles to go along whenever these moments happen, I put them in as well.
If anything in the lore is wrong btw, just tell me, I want to get this right!
Don't expect updates to come as soon as my Ben 10: Heroverse fic, not because I don't care, but because this one takes longer to write.
Have a good day, week and month everyone! Stay safe!