Code Avengers: Cosmic

by lyokoMARVELanime

Sequel to Code Avengers. The Lyoko Avengers are back with all of their friends and allies, and this time, they're taking on new dangers, villains, and challenges, because after saving the universe from being destroyed, how can you really expect any less? Alien invasions, tests of trust, and more will await our heroes as they soar on to new levels of adventure like never before!

10. Avengers Recruit: The Mutant

Ms. Marvel: Well, that didn't take too long or anything. It's only been a month now, so...

AN: Look, I've got two jobs now, and finding time to write is not as easy as it once was for me. Cut me some slack already, will ya? I've already got enough heat coming at me from the casts of stories like Gundam War Online. I don't need all you other guys jumping down my throat too.

Janet: Sorry about her. She's still a little testy after how the last chapter had ended for her.

AN: Well I'm sure she'll feel a little better after this chapter is over. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the beginning of what I call, drum roll please...

[drum roll cues up]

..."The Avengers Recruitment Arc"!

Hawkeye: Avengers Recruitment Arc? Seriously? Don't you think the team is already big enough with just adding Ulrich and Aelita in along with all the guys who were on the team by the end of The Avengers Earth's Mightiest Heroes?

AN: Well maybe, but this is not the canon version of that series, and I honestly think that...well, you'll see a little bit of my reasoning for doing this arc when the story starts, and this chapter is the first one of this arc, so you'll see whether or not the recruiting attempts are successful. A little heads-up, each of the chapters in this arc will feature some special guest appearances, and this chapter's special guests are those misfit heroes, the students of the Xavier Institute, the one and only, that's right, give it up for the X-Men!

[classic X-Men 90's theme plays for a moment as this series' iteration of the X-Men appear]

And they'll be bringing along a few other familiar faces from the X-Men franchise, along with a few other characters as well. But I'll let you guys find out the full extent for yourselves, right after I answer a few reviews.

Hulk: You do know that we've only gotten two reviews since the last chapter was posted, right?

AN: And they deserve answering, Hulk. I'd feel like I was being rude otherwise. First off, in response to the reviewer "Dragon Rider 66", I honestly had not really considered you're suggested idea before, but as stated in the previous chapter, Tony's meeting with Fury had really shaken him up a bit, right to the point where Iron Man didn't know if he could trust anyone, and that likely included himself, so putting forward the idea that the Skrull could be Captain America, one of the most trustworthy men in all of the Marvel Universe, would've been a really bad idea. But then again, who's to say that you were really that far off in what you were thinking?

Aelita: What's that supposed to mean?

AN: Let's just say our friend gave me a little idea for something I could incorporate into the story later on down the line. You'll see what I mean soon enough. Also, to address the wider public, in regards to the Spider-Verse story arc, I have decided that I will indeed make it a separate story, since it is still a long ways away from our current point in this story, and it does not look like we will be reaching it any time fast. Of course, with all the stuff I've already got on my plate, both IRL and in my fanfiction work, I can't promise that said story will be posted any time soon, but still, keep your eyes open for that.

Finally, in answer to the latter part of the review from guest reviewer "Johnathen", whether or not Deadpool gets into this story is still to be determined at this time, (That is assuming I actually want to add that maniac into ANY of my stories), so I wouldn't hold my breath in the hopes of seeing him anytime soon, if I were you.

Well, with all of that out of the way, let's get this story arc started, and to start it off, a special little intro featuring our favorite, pinkette! Avengers, to the chapter!

I do not own anything from any of either of the Code Lyoko or MARVEL franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.

---

My name is Aelita Schaeffer, and I am the first of a secret team of heroes known as the Lyoko Warriors. After spending several years trapped on a virtual world run by a quantum supercomputer, I found new friends who were willing to do whatever it took to help me discover the secrets of my past and stop the monster that inhabited the supercomputer for years. We believed that we had successfully hunted down and destroyed the X.A.N.A. virus, but in doing so, my father had lost his life. Sadly, our beliefs were proven false when X.A.N.A. revealed himself to be alive several years later, and then murdered everyone that I knew and loved, save for my friend and adoptive brother Ulrich. Together with his help, I managed to put an end to X.A.N.A., but in doing so, we made it seem to our world that we had died along with the rest of our friends and family, when in reality, we had been sent to an alternate universe and given the ability to use our Lyoko Powers in the real world. Now, with the help of our newfound family, we hunt down supervillains of all kinds in order to keep our new world safe, and I will do whatever it takes to make sure that every wrong caused by any form of villain will be avenged by being the hero that I was born to be. I am...the Lyoko Avenger, Angel Guardian!

---

Chapter 10: Avengers Recruit: The Mutant

The first few days of the new Avengers team's run had not gone all that bad, but it still could have gone much better. The number of bad guys and crimes that they had managed to stop had gone down a little bit, and the fact that there was much more collateral damage now than there had been before was also a big problem. Then again, given that the team had lost so much in the way of fighting strength, if not in numbers, along with what they had now learned after Ulrich and Tony's recent run-in with Nick Fury and his Secret Warriors, it was not too much of a surprise that they were having a bit of a difficult time adjusting to how they worked as a team now. Saying that had convinced them to do a little more practicing in the Mansion's training room so that they could return to something close to their previous levels of teamwork, and so that everyone could adjust to Wasp's style of command a bit more easily, while also allowing the new leader to slide into her new role as the Avengers' leader just as easily, but after a particularly nasty encounter with the Serpent Society, it became clear to everyone on the team that they were still missing quite a few things that they had lost after the recent departures.

"Anyone ever noticed how we always seem to have such big revelations or problems like this after we deal with those overgrown snakes in one way or another," Hawkeye asked after the team had gathered in the Assembly Hall the night after said encounter.

"Not now, Clint," Ulrich grumbled, still feeling a little sore over the fact that Bushmaster had tried to swallow him whole again. "Honestly, I think it's a bad idea and a waste of time. We've just hit a little run of bad luck. That's all."

"This is a lot more than just a little run of bad luck, Ulrich. Every fight that you guys have gotten into could've been handled a lot better if we still had the support of Iron Man, Thor, Ms. Marvel, or even Black Panther," Hank argued. "Face facts: we need to recruit some new team members for the Avengers."

Hank may not have been the one to initially suggest this, but he was the one who was acting as the idea's strongest voice. After a couple of close calls that had taken place a few days ago, some of the team had started openly voicing a desire to bring in some new members for the group, while the rest were against it for a variety of reasons. At one point, Aelita was one of the strongest opposers to enlisting some new Avengers, but after their previous fight with the Serpent Society, she was now honestly considering it, unlike her adoptive brother. Needless to say, this was one of the few times that the two Lyoko Avengers were not able to agree on something, and no one was a big fan of the fact that they chose this topic to argue about.

"I understand that adding more troops to our ranks would help a great deal, Doctor Pym, but at the same time, the Skrulls could use this as an opportunity to slip in some reinforcements for the spy they have in our team," Captain America countered. If he were a lesser man, Ulrich would have stated that Cap was just saying this because it proves that he was a Skrull, but not only was he better than that, he also agreed with the super soldier. Having a recruitment drive for the team right now would likely do just that, and they could not afford to give the Skrull more of a foothold in the Avengers than they already had.

"Look, I'm not a fan of the idea either, but look at what we've got going for us right now," Clint pointed out. "We've now lost three of our biggest guns, four if you count the fact that Hank's officially passed on the Ant-Man mantle to someone else, which means he's passed on the mantle of Giant-Man as well when you think about it, and while the Hulk is definitely the strongest hero out there, and Janet has gotten better at turning into Giant-Woman, the rest of us just can't provide that kind of muscle or fire power."

"Well, Aelita probably could, thanks to her creativity, and besides, muscle and fire power aren't everything," Ulrich reminded. "There are plenty of times where my super speed actually helped to settle a fight, or even where it was just a matter of outthinking the other guy. You've even managed to save the entire team on a few occasions, as you had just pointed out the other day, and you're just a guy with a bow and arrow."

"Everyone here knows that, Ulrich, but most of the time when we had managed to outthink an enemy, it was Tony who did most of the work in that regard, if not all of it. Sure, strength and fire power aren't always as big a deal, but you can't deny that it does help quite a bit most of the time," Aelita pointed out.

"Can we please just decide one way or another? I'm starting to get annoyed with all this arguing about it," Hulk growled. To most of the others, this meant that he either did not care one way or the other about this, or that he was just as against this as Ulrich and Steve were for reasons that only he could know.

Despite Hulk's wishes, they still continued to argue on and on about whether or not they should start enlisting some new heroes, until finally, Janet cut in so that she could voice her own idea on how they should proceed with this. "Enough! Look, arguing in circles about this isn't going to help us decide anything. Both sides do make good points, but if we can't decide one way or the other about this now, we may never settle on a decision," Janet told everyone, her voice gaining a surprisingly authoritative tone that most of the team did not know she possessed until after she had taken to her role as team leader.

"So what do you suggest," Hank asked his girlfriend.

"I say we take a vote on this; majority rules. All those in favor of recruiting some new teammates, raise your hands," Janet stated, and a moment later, the hands of Hank, Hawkeye, Aelita, and Janet had all been raised, leaving only Ulrich, Steve, and Hulk in either opposing or neutral opinion on the matter. After looking around to confirm that a majority of the team was in favor of the idea, Janet said, "Alright then, I guess that settles it. The Avengers are having a recruitment drive, and I've got a few ideas on how we proceed. First off, we don't make it open to just anyone, but instead, we only visit heroes or people that we think have what it takes to be on the team in person. Second, we keep the teams that meet with these people as small as possible, with either Ulrich or Aelita on those teams."

"That's not a bad idea. Since those two can't be Skrulls, they're the only ones that can be trusted to make a truly honest judgment on whether or not the person they're meeting should be allowed to join," Hank agreed.

"Still, there are a lot of heroes out there that could fit the bill as Avengers. How are we supposed to decide who does or doesn't join up," Clint asked.

"Well, I think we should at least keep it simple and try to stick with heroes that we all know at least a little bit about, which actually brings me to the next thing that we'll need to do for this little drive: all suggestions have to be run by and approved by me, in private. That way, there's a less likely chance of the Skrull getting word ahead to their allies so that they could replace our possible recruit with an agent of their own," Wasp finished.

Ulrich and Aelita were both discreetly smirking at this, knowing what Janet was doing with that last decision. Since the suggestions would have to be pre-approved by her, and would have to be brought forward in private, there was a less likely chance that the Skrull would be able to get any of their own suggestions approved, and they would not be able to know who they were going to ask until after they had met with the person in question. Sure, that likely meant that Hawkeye's suggestions would not be taken, due to the fact that he was high up on Fury's list of Possible-Skrull-Suspects, but since the others now knew about the two's suspicions regarding Captain America, they did not have to worry as much about any suggestions he gave either.

That did not stop anyone from starting to give out some ideas right away though. After all, with the door for recruiting new teammates now open, it was only to be expected that some people would not be able to wait for long before giving out a suggestion. "If we're really going to do this, then maybe we should consider enlisting Wolverine to join the team," Captain America offered.

"What, you think he'll be able to sniff out an imposter or something," Clint sarcastically asked.

Ulrich would have joined in on the archer's jest had he not thought that he had a good point. "Actually, if there is a chance that Logan could sniff out a Skrull in disguise, we should at least consider bringing him in," the samurai stated.

"But if the Skrulls do have an agent in every major organization that could prove to be a threat to them, wouldn't that include the X-Men as well," Hank asked. "I mean, we probably would've heard something from them if they did find an alien imposter in their ranks."

"I doubt it. The X-Men have shown plenty of times in the past that they prefer to handle their problems themselves, and given how mutants are typically received by a lot of the rest of the world, you can't really blame them for that," Aelita reminded the Avengers' support specialist. "Still, you do have a good point."

"Okay, so Wolverine is a good starting choice. Does anyone else have a suggestion while we're here, because this will be only time I'll be taking them openly from everyone at once," Janet asked with a subtle warning at the end.

"I know this might seem a little hasty, but I think we should consider bringing my successor as Ant-Man into the fold," Hank offered.

"Are you sure, Hank? I mean, from what you've told us, he's only just starting out as a superhero. I don't think it's really too much of a good idea to bring in a total rookie," Aelita cautioned.

"Going by that logic, you and your brother probably shouldn't still be Avengers, even if you two are founding members, and you probably shouldn't have let T'Challa become one either since he had only just assumed the mantle of Black Panther by the time you met him. And let's not forget that we have no idea how much experience Carol even had before we met her during the Kree's invasion, because I'm pretty sure it wasn't that much, at least in the way of superhero stuff," Clint pointed out.

"T'Challa had been training to assume his mantle for almost his entire life, Carol's had previous training in combat and worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. before switching over to S.W.O.R.D., and Aelita and I were both working as secret heroes long before we had powers or came to this universe. We were all pretty ready by the time we each joined the Avengers," Ulrich reminded Clint.

"Well, the same could be easily said for the new Ant-Man. He's had a bit of experience in a variety of different fields before I entrusted him with the suit. Trust me, I wouldn't be suggesting this if I didn't think he was ready," Hank assured the others.

Janet nodded in concession of Hank's points and then offered up her own suggestion. "So, does anyone else think that maybe we should consider offering Spider-Man or White Tiger a chance to join the team?"

"No way! I had enough of that chatterbox the other day when he was here for Aelita's birthday party, or whenever he's just around to pick her up for a date, period," Clint immediately protested, earning a few murmurs of agreement from nearly everyone else in the room, while Aelita just glared at Clint, mentally promising to blast him later for his comment.

"I don't know. I think Janet does have a good point. Those two did help us quite a bit when the Masters of Evil first attacked us," Hank reminded everyone.

"Maybe, but they've both got their own things to deal with right now. Besides, I doubt Spidey would be able to help out all that much given everything that he already deals with on a daily basis," Ulrich countered. Of course, part of him was only going against the idea of adding Ava to the team because he did not want her to get dragged into the problems he deals with everyday with the Avengers and then get hurt as a result. Yes, he felt the same way about Peter, knowing what that would do to Aelita if she ever lost him, but the feeling was a little stronger in regards to his girlfriend. He then turned to the pinkette in question and asked, "What do you think, Sis?"

Aelita had to honestly pause for a moment to think this over, until she finally replied, "Peter and Ava would both make great Avengers, but right now may not be the best time to let them join. Not with everything we've got going on right now."

That seemed to settle the matter for everyone, and after not hearing anymore suggestions, Janet nodded and said, "Alright, then let's go ahead and send out someone to meet with our first two possible recruits. Aelita, you and Cap head out to the Xavier Institute to recruit Logan. Hank, tell Ulrich and Clint where to find your new protégé so that they can meet with him."

Everyone nodded in response, and with that, the meeting was adjourned so that they could all go their separate ways for the moment, with Aelita and Cap heading to the garage so they could collect Steve's motorcycle and head out to Westchester, while Ulrich and Clint followed Hank to his lab so that he could ensure that they would receive the information without anyone else overhearing.

---

After going out to the X-Mansion so many times, Aelita had started to think that the trips were starting to get a little shorter, but this time, she felt that they could not get there faster. Part of the reason was because she felt that they needed to get to the X-Men's home quickly, but the other reason was because right now, she did not feel all that comfortable working with Steve at the moment. This had been true ever since she and Ulrich had started feeling suspicious, but now that those suspicions were out in the open, there seemed to be this weight in the pit of her stomach that would not really go away whenever she was in the room with him. It was not fear, she was not afraid of the super soldier at all, assuming that he was the real thing, and while the fact that she was accusing one of the greatest American heroes ever of being an alien spy or just a falsehood period was a big deal that weighed on her mind, it was not that either. She was really just worried that she was right, while praying that there might even be a small, tiny chance that she was wrong.

Those concerns had to wait for now, because they had a more important job to take care of right now, and their destination was now coming into view at last. Surprisingly though, the gate remained shut even after they had pulled up and came to a stop, unlike the many other times that they had come to the X-Mansion, whether they were expected or not. They could have taken that to mean that Professor Xavier was not home for whatever reason, since he would sometimes go out to meet with possible new students in person, but given what happened the last time they had come here and were greeted with this situation, neither Steve nor Aelita were willing to relax just yet. Since she had chosen to fly to the X-Mansion on her own, Aelita saved Steve the trouble of getting off his bike, and hit the intercom to let someone know that they were at the gate and why they were here. Surprisingly, the person who responded was not only unexpected, but also sounded very panicked.

"Sorry Aelita, but now is really not a great time! Please, come back later," Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch stated over the intercom.

"Wanda, is everything okay? What's going on," Aelita asked, worriedly, while an equally worried look flashed across Steve's face from behind his helmet.

"X-Men stuff and it's really big. I can't ask you to get involved," was Wanda's short reply.

Aelita glanced over to Steve, and he did not hesitate to silently nod in reply, signaling that he was okay with what she had in mind. "Wanda, if it's that important, then we're going to get involved no matter what. Please, let us in," Aelita informed the daughter of Magneto.

It was another few minutes or so before the gates finally opened up again, and once they had, Steve and Aelita raced up to the main entrance of the mansion, through the door, and into the foyer where Wanda was already waiting for them, clad in her usual civilian attire of a sleeveless red vest, black pants, and crimson shoes. The minute she saw Steve, Wanda instantly raced over and embraced him in a tight hug, catching the super soldier off-guard, but he still returned it all the same. After allowing them a few minutes or so, Aelita let out a small cough to remind the two of their current situation, and Wanda stepped back so that she could fill them in on what was going on. Before she began, she lead the two to the sitting room, saying that it was going to be a long story, and she only paused to tell some students to get back to their regular class and to tell Laura to meet them there.

"This actually began a few years ago, before Laura and I had joined the X-Men, or even the school," Wanda began once everyone was seated comfortably. "It started when the professor's telepathic powers suddenly seemed to start going crazy, and he had gone to a colleague's on Muir Island to get help. That was when he found out that there was nothing wrong with him. In reality, someone was actually reaching out to him for help; someone from another planet."

"You're saying that the X-Men have encountered aliens before now," Steve asked in disbelief.

"They did a lot more than just encounter aliens," Laura stated. "The one that contacted the prof is known as Lilandra Neramani. She's the ruler of something known as the Shi'ar Empire, and she and Xavier are old, close friends. Really close friends, if you get my meaning."

"Wait, are you telling me that Professor Charles Xavier is involved in a long-distance relationship with an alien queen," Aelita gasped in awe.

"Something like that," Laura shrugged. "At least, that's what it sounded like to me from what I've heard."

"The thing is, Lilandra wasn't the empress when she contacted the X-Men. If anything, she was the princess and rightful heir to the throne, but her jealous brother had killed their parents and then started hunting her so that she wouldn't be able to take her throne back," Wanda picked up. "When she finally appeared before Xavier in person, the Shi'ar royal guard soon followed, and the X-Men ended up in a struggle just to survive. They got some unexpected help in the form of some space pirates, their words, not mine, but in the end…it was Jean who helped turn the tide. She became host to some sort of cosmic entity that gave her incredible powers while also strengthening the ones she already had, and with its help, she and the others were able to stop Lilandra's brother and restore her to the throne."

"The only downside is that playing host to that thing nearly killed her or worse, and if it weren't for Scott, and some Shi'ar doctors, Jean probably wouldn't be with us now. No one even wants to think about what would happen to Scott if he ever lost Jean, period, never mind if it was in that way," Laura piped in.

"If all of this happened years ago, what does it have to do with what's happened now," Aelita questioned, not entirely sure what it had to do with whatever had Wanda so worried.

"About a day ago, Lilandra sent out a telepathic call for help to Xavier," Wanda answered. "I don't really know the whole story, but I did hear enough to know that something's happened to her, and a minute later, the X-Men who were involved in the whole thing were suddenly teleported away. Scott, Bobby, Kitty, Jean, Logan, and all the rest of them, including the professor. Laura and I are the only staff members, or at least the closest thing to staff members left, not counting Jubilee and our other recent additions to the staff."

"Those being," Steve asked.

"Myself for one, Captain," a smooth, silky voice cut in, and the two Avengers immediately turned to see the white-clad form of Emma Frost stepping into the room. "Despite the circumstances, it is good to see you both again. I think we'll need all the help we can get if we want to rescue the other X-Men."

"Wait a minute. What're you doing here, Emma? The last I checked, you were living on Genosha, though under close observation due to your past relations in regards to both Magneto and Xavier," Aelita pointed out.

"Erik and Charles thought it would be a good idea to at least try and rebuild a few old bridges for the sake of a better future for all mutants, and I felt that a good way to start doing that would be if I joined the X-Men. Besides, I loved teaching students, mutant or otherwise. That has always been a great passion of mine from the moment I started teaching, and I wanted to do it again," Emma admitted.

"So who was this other person," Aelita asked.

"That'd be me," a deep, yet growling voice said from behind Aelita. Upon turning around though, Aelita let out a startled yelp and jumped about ten feet in the air before scrambling back from the newest arrival. The person in question appeared to be somewhere around either her or Peter's age, had messy, unkempt hair that was blonde with some red mixed in, and possessed fair pale skin, but the thing that had Aelita freak out in the way she did was the fact that he had a very wolf-like appearance to him, almost as though he were an actual werewolf. He even had the claws and fangs to go with it. His outfit consisted of a vest and torn pants, both of which were in the typical yellow and blue colors of the X-Men uniforms, along with the Celtic symbol for wolf on a silver necklace. "What? Got a problem," the wolf-like man snarled.

"Sorry, it's just…I've had bad experiences with wolves," Aelita panted in an attempt to calm down a bit. She did still keep a bit of distance between her and this new arrival though.

"Captain America, Angel Guardian, this is Lycan," X-23 introduced. "Former guard of Genosha, student of Sabertooth, and the one mutant who could probably be considered rougher around the edges than Logan. Don't let his wild behavior fool you; he's actually pretty nice once you get past his animal-like instinct to always expect danger to be around the corner."

Lycan's face turned a light shade of red at Laura's words, but it quickly narrowed angrily at that last bit, clearly showing he was somewhat offended by what she had said at the end. Though he seemed to be even more offended by Aelita's reaction to him if the fact that he continued to snarl at her as she sat back down while still throwing him hesitant, unsure glances was any indication. "Came here after Kang's invasion with Frost. Alpha Magneto wanted to try Xavier's way for once. Doubtful."

"Is there any way that we can get in touch with the X-Men," Steve asked.

"We've been trying for a while now," Wanda revealed. "Ever since they disappeared, Laura and I have been doing all that we can to try and at least locate them with the mansion's computers while Emma did the same with Cerebro. Neither one of those attempts have been successful so far."

"What about those pirates you mentioned? Do you think you know of a way to contact them to see if they'll help," Aelita asked, hoping to explore whatever options they could.

"The Starjammers? I doubt it. They've got their own things to deal with. I doubt they'd be likely to just show up and help us out any time soon," Laura scoffed.

"Actually, that's what I was just coming to tell you all about. Corsair is actually here, right at our doorstep, and he doesn't seem to be doing too well," Emma revealed.

Upon hearing that, everyone immediately leapt up from their seats and raced outside, with Emma leading the way, until they were all in the mansion's backyard, where they could see the remains of what could most likely be a shuttle, or at least, what was left of it. After taking a closer look, one could also see man in red and black, unconscious and clearly injured. "Why didn't you try to get him out," Wanda asked.

"I did, but even in my diamond form, I don't have enough strength, unlike those of us who can move objects with their mind," Emma replied.

Wanda seemed to accept that and then raised her hands forward. A second later, they became lit up with the glow of scarlet energy, and the wreckage started to noisily groan as it slowly came apart until there was enough of an opening for Laura to jump in and pull Corsair out. Once he was out, Aelita and Steve glanced over at Wanda in surprise, since last they checked, the daughter of Magneto could not do something like that before. Wanda noticed this and gave a slightly smug smirk as she explained, "I went through a secondary mutation a little while back, and got telekinetic powers as a result."

"Cool," Aelita smiled while Steve just smirked at his girlfriend, and the former then took a moment to look him over. After doing so, she could not help but note aloud, "Hey, is it just me, or does he look a little like Cyclops in a weird way?"

"It's not just you. This is Scott's father," Wanda revealed as she moved over to help start applying medical attention.

That surprised Aelita and Steve a little. Cyclops' dad was a space pirate?! How on Earth or any other planet in the galaxy did that happen, and why had he not come back home to his son sooner were just two of the questions that were racing through their minds right now, but the one question that they were finding more important was how did S.W.O.R.D. not take notice of this whole thing by now? Apparently, that question would have been asked a little too quickly, because mere seconds later, everyone heard the sound of a sonic boom, which was soon followed by the appearance of Ms. Marvel as she floated down to where she was hovering just a little ways above them, leaving the present X-Men a little in awe of her presence, since this was the first time they had ever seen her in person. When the blonde's gaze fell on Steve and Aelita, she seemed to tense up a little more than she already had been, but aside from that, she still somehow maintained an otherwise stoic, serious, and all-business visage. That did not mean that the air did not suddenly start to feel heavy with a weight of awkwardness though.

"Captain. Angel Guardian," Carol nodded, respectfully.

"Major Danvers," Steve replied with a nod, accompanied with a small frown.

"Hi Carol," Aelita happily waved. "How're things in space lately?"

The super soldier's response was something that Carol had half-expected, even if it did hurt a little, but Aelita's greeting had completely thrown her for a loop. Did the pinkette not remember how the blonde had threatened her teammate and family member just the other day, or was she just pretending to be nice as a courtesy? Then again, considering that this was Aelita we were talking about, Carol was pretty sure that it was not the latter. Still, that did not explain why one of the youngest founding Avengers was being so nice to her right now, given how they had left things, and that left Carol a bit baffled. She would have to think about it later, because right now she had a job to do, and she could not afford to be distracted by personal feelings.

"Things have been a little routine lately, until someone decided to crash an alien shuttle down here," Carol replied, throwing a look at the pilot the X-Men had just pulled out from the wreckage. "I'm going to have to ask that you hand the alien over to me so that I can bring him in for questioning at Damocles."

"First off, Corsair is not an alien; he's human same as you and me. And second, even if he wasn't, you'd have to get past us first if you want him," Wanda informed the blonde, her hands already coming ablaze with scarlet energy again, while Laura popped her claws, Emma raised a hand to her head, and Lycan snarled challengingly.

Carol looked like she was about to prepare for a fight when Aelita intervened and shouted, "Everyone calm down! Let's not jump right to letting fists and powers settle things." The pinkette then turned to the half-Kree blonde and explained, "Carol, this guy's a friend of the X-Men, and right now, we need his help to find out where most of them are at the moment, but none of us are going to get anything from him in the shape he's currently in so at least let us heal him first."

Carol's gaze shifted between her former teammate and the mutant group as she thought over her options. On the one hand, the man did appear to be human, but then again, Captain Marvel had appeared to be human when she first met him. The fact that the X-Men seemed to trust him also said something in his defense though, and she knew she was already on somewhat shaky ground with the Avengers as a whole, so the last thing she needed was to be in the same position in regards to the X-Men. After considering all of this for another few minutes, Carol finally stood down, landing lightly on the ground to signify that she intended no ill will for the moment, and then helped them move Corsair into the X-Mansion. Though she did warn them that if their story did not check out, she would have to bring him in for questioning as soon as they had patched him up.

---

Even after bandaging his wounds and making sure that they had healed as much of his other injuries as they could, it was still at least an hour or so before Corsair regained consciousness, so the two groups still had to wait a while before they could hear his tale. The entire time they were waiting though, every single X-Man present could feel the intense levels of awkwardness between their three guests, right to the point where Laura had to comment that she was not entirely sure that she or Logan would have been able to cut through it. None of the mutants could figure out what it was that was wrong, but at the moment, they were not sure if they could or even should get involved. Not when they had their own teammates to worry about. Things were not really that much better for the three X-Mansion guests either.

For Carol's part, she was not really sure how to approach Aelita or Steve, given how they had parted ways last, and as far as she knew, they probably did not even consider her an Avenger anymore. Sure, she still had her ID card, but that was mostly due to the fact that she had left before they could even ask for it back. In point of fact, she was expecting Steve or Aelita to demand that she hand it over at any second, and that thought honestly scared her a little. Every time she looked over at the two though, she was unable to really gauge what either of them were thinking. Steve just stared off into space as he waited patiently for whatever news they would receive from Corsair, and every time he glanced over at her, it was always with the same, neutral expression that Carol could only associate with the expression of an upset father. Aelita on the other hand was much more friendly, surprisingly, as every time the pinkette noticed the blonde's gaze on her, she would always give Carol a small smile and attempt to strike up a conversation with her, though as to why she would do that, Carol could not tell you. She figured that the Lyoko Avengers would have been the most hurt by what she had done the other day, so the fact that Aelita seemed like she was being this nice to her was perplexing, to say the least.

For Aelita's part, she was in fact trying her best to get Carol to open up to her and at least hear what she had been trying to tell the blonde the other night before she had rocketed away. This was something that Aelita had been trying to do for a while now, but every time she tried to contact Carol, the S.W.O.R.D. agent just would not answer any of her calls. Now though, the pinkette was faced with the problem of how to broach the subject at the moment, and that was leaving her more than slightly perplexed, hence the reason why she was trying to make a bit of small talk with Carol for the moment. Glancing over to Steve, Aelita could not really tell if the super soldier seemed to care one way or the other about whether or not they patched things up with Carol, and that left Aelita a little baffled. Sure, Steve was normally the type to try and let things simmer down before stepping up to resolve them, but he always seemed to honestly care at least a little bit. The fact that he went to the trouble of bringing her and Ulrich out to the X-Mansion along with Peter and Ava after the Avengers' first encounter with Kang could attest to that, so seeing him like this definitely sent up some warning flags for Aelita as a reason to suspect him as being a Skrull.

Those problems had to be set aside for after they had helped the X-Men out, and the first step in doing so was hearing what Corsair had to say. "It started with Lilandra's sister, Deathbird's latest scheme to steal away the throne from Lilandra," Corsair began weakly as he sat on the medical bed in the X-Mansion's infirmary. "She's been trying to take over for a while now, but this latest scheme seemed to be pretty solid because she somehow managed to get some extra help."

"From who," Emma questioned.

"I could hardly believe it, but it was a group of Ravagers lead by Yondu," Corsair replied. When he received nothing but blank gazes, he elaborated, "He's basically a prime example of the worst when it comes to real space pirates. Any of you guys heard of Star-Lord of the Guardians of the Galaxy?"

"Yeah," Aelita and Carol instantly replied, earning surprised looks from just about everyone else in the room. "We had a little run-in with the group a few weeks back," Aelita explained.

"Well, it's because of Yondu that the guy was taken from Earth and became the thief he used to be before forming the Guardians," Corsair stated, and he then returned to his story. "Lilandra reached out to me first, but it took everything I had just get her out of there in one piece before Deathbird could capture us both. Once we were able to reach a suitable communication station, Lilandra called Xavier and the X-Men, and brought them up to us. Under different circumstances, I would've been happy to see my son, but given what we were dealing with at the time, the reunion was soured quite a bit. The fact that Yondu and his crew ambushed us not two minutes later only soured it even more. Somehow, we managed to escape for a bit, but not without some of us getting captured, including Lilandra and Xavier. I was willing to go down fighting, but Scott…he had a different idea. He shoved me into that pod, programmed it to come here, and told me to get reinforcements from the rest of the X-Men. If I had known that there were more of you guys now, I'd probably have brought you up right from the start."

"That probably would've just resulted in all of us getting captured with no one left to save us at all," Wanda pointed out.

"Maybe, but I already had to lose my boys once, and to see so much as one of them get captured like that…I just…" Corsair was not able to finish what he was saying, but no one needed him to do so. They all got what he was trying to say.

"So how do we get back there," Carol asked, having heard enough to know that they had to go out and rescue the others.

"There's a Shi'ar transporter somewhere in the wreckage of my ship for emergencies, but if we increase the power, it should be able to get us onto Lilandra's ship. The only problem is that it'll only work if we're in your planet's orbit. If we try to use it from here on the surface, we might end up being dropped outside the hull of Lilandra's ship, and last I checked, none of us can breathe in outer space," Corsair explained.

"Wait. You mean, we have to go into space," Lycan asked with a hint of concern in his voice.

"If you want to help the other X-Men, then yeah, it's the only way," Corsair stated.

Lycan started to move away as he snarled menacingly. "What's wolf-boy's problem," Carol asked.

"He has a fear of heights, and he doesn't do too well in places with zero-gravity," Laura explained as she attempted to get Lycan to calm down, something she seemed to be better at doing than anyone else. She then glanced over at Corsair and stated, "Though I doubt that's the least of our concerns since none of us even know how to fix an alien spaceship."

"I know a few things," Carol stated, surprising everyone a bit. "What? I work with an organization that deals with aliens on a daily basis, and not only is our base a space station that was once used by Kang, but our top tech guy is also an alien that we liberated from the Kree. It'd be a little weird if I didn't pick up at least a few tricks on how to fix stuff like that."

"Well then, I guess that settles things," Wanda announced. "If Ms. Marvel can help that much, then she and Corsair should get to work on fixing the shuttle as quickly as possible while we get ready. Emma, I need you to call my father and ask him to send Pietro and Lorna over to keep an eye on things here at the mansion while we're gone." She then paused in thought for a minute before she added, "And tell him to also send Blink to keep an eye on Pietro."

"Consider it done," Emma nodded, and she immediately turned on her heal to do as asked.

"Laura, get Jubilee. We'll need her with us as well," Wanda stated.

"You've got it. Let's go Lycan," Laura ordered the wolf-like mutant, who immediately obeyed despite his growling response.

Seeing this prompted everyone who did not live at the X-Mansion to throw a confused look at those who did. Seeing this, Wanda could only smirk a little as she stated, "Lycan has a not-so-small crush on Laura, though she seems to be oblivious to it, or she pretends to be anyway."

"Knowing X-23 and who her father is, I'm guessing the latter is more likely," Aelita stated.

"Yep, and she actually goes by Talon now," Wanda replied.

"Good to know," Steve nodded, and he then left the room, earning him a small, concerned look from Wanda after he did.

"Is everything with Steve all right," Wanda asked.

"As far as I know, yeah. Why do you ask," Carol replied before Aelita had a chance to say anything.

"…No reason," Wanda replied, and she soon departed as well, no doubt going to change into her X-Men suit, leaving Carol, Aelita, and Corsair on their own. Now the term awkward could be applied here, but it could also be argued that things were just tense or uncomfortable. It really depended on who you asked. After a minute though, Aelita had to break the silence and try to approach the topic she had been hoping to talk to her friend about.

"Carol, about the other day…" the pinkette started to say, but that was as far as she got.

"I've got to get that ship back in working order. Corsair, if you're able to move, let's get working," Ms. Marvel stated, earning a quick nod from the space pirate a minute later, and the two were soon out of the room.

Aelita could only sigh in exasperation before reasoning that Carol was right to focus on business for the moment. Right now, rescuing the captured X-Men came first and foremost, and everything else could wait until later. So, she simply resolved to talk to Ms. Marvel about the matter later and headed out to do what she could to help the others get ready for the upcoming mission. It was not like she had to do anything in order to prepare. All the pinkette had to do was tap her wrist watch and she would be suited up and ready to go, so she might as well do something to help out.

---

Corsair proved to be extremely instrumental in getting the shuttle back in working order to the point they needed it at, and Carol's assistance definitely helped to shorten the amount of time it would have taken to get it done, but all the same, it did still take quite a bit of time to finish. In point of fact, it took enough time for everyone to change into their hero-attires, and for Aelita to take a moment to call the Mansion in order to let the other Avengers know that she and Cap were going to be taking a little longer with their mission than they had originally intended. She was glad that Janet did not ask her to go into further detail, but she was also glad that none of the Xavier Institute residents were around when she made said call. The pinkette was pretty sure that they would have felt a little offended if they heard Wasp say that no explanation was needed beyond Aelita saying that the X-Men were in trouble. Although, Aelita did get the chance to mention that Carol was with them before Janet hung up, and the size-changer did not hesitate in encouraging Aelita to continue her attempts to speak with Ms. Marvel. Unlike the repairs to the shuttle though, that was easier said than done.

Every time Aelita tried to approach Carol about the subject, she almost always found something else to do that was likely more important or just changed the subject before they could get more than two words into the matter. There were times when the blonde had even resorted to just leaving the room when she saw Aelita coming over to her, and Carol's efforts at dodging Aelita were turning out to be so well-executed and plentiful, that the pinkette was sure that her boyfriend probably would have been green with envy, or that he would have at least made a joke about how he was supposed to be the one who constantly dodged bullets. If it was the latter though, Aelita would have pointed out that she was not trying to throw anything like that at Carol. All she really wanted was to talk with the blonde about how things had gone down that night at Avengers Mansion, and Carol's continuing efforts to evade Aelita were starting to wear on the first Lyoko Warrior's nerves a little. Aelita had been hoping that she could focus on the matter of talking Carol above anything else, but right now, saving the X-Men and the Shi'ar came first.

While Corsair and Carol were fixing up the shuttle, the present X-Men took this time to carry out the assignments Wanda had given them while also changing into their uniforms, and from a single glance, one could tell that neither Scarlet Witch nor the former White Queen had changed their suits at all since the last time Aelita had seen them, save for the X-Men emblems that Emma now wore on her belt buckle and on the fastener for her cape. Lycan did not change at all, since he already seemed to be suited up, while Laura changed into the black, sleeveless shirt, gloves, and pants, knee length boots, and yellow belt that made up her own X-Men suit. All that remained of this group was a young woman that neither Aelita nor Steve had met yet, who they quickly reasoned to be this Jubilee person that Wanda mentioned earlier. The girl in question had lightly tanned skin and dark hair, and wore a pink shirt with a yellow X-Men symbol pinned on over the left side of her chest, blue short shorts, blue boots, and a yellow trench coat while pink sunglasses sat atop her head. Judging by her appearance, it was easy to tell that Jubilee was probably the youngest person in the room, but if Wanda wanted the girl with them on this, then she must be either very powerful or very skilled, so Aelita and Steve just let it slide for a moment. It did not stop the pinkette from softly chuckling when the girl had a little fan-freak-out after seeing her and Cap, though.

Despite the fact that the team was suited up by the time the ship was fully repaired, they were still not ready to move out, because Wanda insisted that they should not leave until Quicksilver, Polaris, and Blink had arrived to watch over the students and the X-Mansion while the only present instructors were gone. Even after said three had arrived from Genosha, it was still several minutes before they had finally departed due to Wanda going over every single detail of what she needed the three to do while they were gone, along with what they should do if they were gone for more than a few days at least. Of course, she was directing most of this at her brother, just to make sure he understood everything, and a lot of what she told Blink and Lorna was in reference to how much they needed to keep an eye on said brother while he was at the home of the X-Men. This was not because she did not trust him, but more because she knew how Pietro could be most of the time, especially when he was left in charge of such big responsibilities.

After putting up with listening to Wanda drilling them for so much, Pietro finally had to cut in and said, "Wanda, seriously, if the X-Men are in as much trouble as you say, just go already. We've got this."

"You'll excuse me if I want to make sure I'm perfectly clear on what needs to happen while we're gone, Pietro," Wanda frowned in reply. "Now do you understand everything that I've told you to do?"

"No worries, Wanda. We've got this," Lorna assured her sister with a wink.

Wanda threw a slightly withering gaze at her twin brother as she awaited his answer, and after a minute or so, Pietro finally smirked and said, "You know, I'm twelve minutes older than you."

The older Maximoff sister just smirked in reply with a small chuckle before she and the rest of the team heading into space boarded the shuttle. Although, Lycan did have to be pushed aboard by nearly the entire group, but once they were all on, they were blasting off into Earth's orbit. When Cap asked if S.W.O.R.D. would try to intercept them, Ms. Marvel instantly assured everyone that she had already cleared things up for them a few minutes before they had lifted off, and soon enough, they found themselves in position for their teleport attempt. It was at this point that everyone could feel a slight creeping nervousness building up in their guts, and Corsair could see it plain as day, so he informed them all that this was their last chance to back out if anyone wanted to. No one took said chance, and a minute later, they were all gathered around and preparing for their jump to the Shi'ar ship that the X-Men were being held aboard, with Corsair stating that they would most likely appear in the cargo bay that was closest to the holding cells the X-Men were likely being kept in.

Once they were all gathered up and ready, the group was encompassed by the shuttle's teleporter system, and in a flash of light, they found themselves in the middle of an alien ship that was nowhere near Earth, as they could tell from just a simple glance out a nearby window. They immediately tensed up, waiting for something or someone to jump out and attack them, but when no one came, they relaxed their guard, albeit slightly, save for Aelita, who was focusing her super hearing in case someone was watching them from the shadows and waiting for them to relax enough to be taken by surprise, with Emma doing the same with her telepathy. After a few more minutes of nothing happening, Corsair silently motioned for everyone to follow him, and they were soon on their way out of the cargo bay and to wherever he believed the X-Men were being held. Aside from quietly taking out a guard or two, the gathered heroes did not really encounter all that much resistance, but while some would say that they were just being dealt an incredible deal of luck, most of the group was only put further on edge by this.

You did not need Laura or even Lycan's enhanced sense of smell to know that something was seriously off, because they really should have encountered at least one major force of resistance by now, and yet, they had encountered nothing. No Imperial Guards, no soldiers, and not even any of these Ravagers that Corsair had warned them about. It was all just too convenient to be a coincidence, and everyone was able to recognize that, but still, they could not let that stop them. They had friends who were depending on them to rescue them, so if they were walking into a trap, they had no other choice but to spring it and hope for the best.

As they were going, Wanda glanced back at Aelita and Steve and decided to inquire as to why they had come to the X-Mansion in the hopes of speaking with Logan in the first place. When the two just said that they would explain later, she let it slide and decided to ask about another topic of interest to her. "Is there something going on between you guys and Ms. Marvel?"

"Well…kind of," Aelita admitted, sheepishly, knowing that Carol was likely able to hear what they were saying. "See, the other day, we were informed of something that caused the team to get seriously split, and well, Ms. Marvel was on the opposing side of the vast majority. Honestly though, I think that if we had all calmed down a bit and allowed cooler heads to prevail, we would have been able to see how we were all in the wrong on the…argument, if you would. Honestly, I'm sure Ms. Marvel thinks we probably kicked her out or something, but that just isn't the case. I just wish she would let me talk to her long enough so that can explain everything to her."

Carol did indeed overhear what Aelita was saying to Wanda, and it honestly gave her something to think about. Looking back on what had happened that night, she could see that maybe she had presumed a little too much before she left Avengers Mansion, but what else was she supposed to think? She had been trying to do her job as an agent of S.W.O.R.D., and she had ended up being the bad guy in the eyes of the other Avengers. Sure, maybe she had jumped the gun a little, but if Nick Fury thought that Hawkeye was a Skrull, then that should have been enough, right? After all, this was Nick Fury; the world's greatest, if not the super spy. Sure, he made some mistakes in the past, like with Graviton, but a lot of the time, he was not exactly wrong, especially when it came to something this serious. Of course, it was this line of thinking that had gotten her on the Avengers' bad sides in the first place, but Carol was not quite able to see that yet, and now was not the time for her to really think about it that much either, especially since it seemed that they had reached their destination.

"I'll need a minute to hack the lock so that we can get inside," Corsair said as he kneeled down at the electronic lock so that he could connect a device that would carry out the required task. Before he could start though, Aelita stepped up, raised both hands to the lock, and started humming her usual song for her creativity powers. A couple minutes or so later, the lock had released, and the door whooshed open with ease. "Or you could just do that. How did you do that?"

"Alien or not, it's still an electronic lock, and at the basic level, they all work the same, which means I can open them with one of my powers," Aelita shrugged, modestly, though to others, it did sound a bit like she was boasting.

"Angel Guardian impressive. Not like Alpha Magneto, but still impressive," Lycan admitted, startling the pinkette a little, since she had not heard him come up behind her.

"Please stop doing that," Aelita wearily requested as she joined the others in proceeding forward. Lycan just snarled in response, earning him a reproachful look from Wanda and Laura, but he shrugged it off a minute later and moved on with the others.

All irritation and weariness suddenly became replaced with concern when the group noticed Corsair started to look a little frantic after he checked a few of the cells. "Corsair, what's wrong," Wanda asked. "Are they not here?"

"No, some of them are here, but I can't find Scott, Xavier, Wolverine, Jean Grey, or Lilandra," Corsair reported. "I can understand maybe some of them, but why Scott and Wolverine?"

"Considering the types of things that Logan has escaped from in the past and what he's capable of, along with the fact that Scott's the X-Men's leader, it makes a lot more sense than you'd think," Emma shrugged.

"Who have you found so far," Captain America asked.

"Just Shadowcat, Beast, Gambit, and Rogue so far," Corsair reported.

"Hey, I've found Iceman over here," Jubilee reported from where she was.

That ended up being the last X-Man that they could find, leaving Colossus and Storm as the only other X-Men who were missing at the moment, and the group bewildered on where they could even look for them, including Corsair, who was even more worried when he did not find any of his crew among the current occupants of the ship's holding cells. Still, they were not going to leave any of the people they did find where they were, and Aelita quickly set to work opening up the cells with her powers. They then quickly set to work freeing the X-Men of their restraints, but that was when the trap was finally sprung, and every other door leading into the room burst open to reveal Shi'ar soldiers and a gang of aliens who seemed to be dressed in a fashion that was suitable to low-life thugs or pirates, who the heroes could only assume were the Ravagers. A minute later, an alien with blue skin, a red Mohawk, and decked out in a long brown trench coat stepped forward from the crowd of Ravagers laughing at the gathered heroes, and judging by how the Ravagers were willing to let him stroll past them without a care in the world, they could only assume this was Yondu.

"Well now, isn't this a fine thing," the blue alien said. "We set a trap to ensnare the mighty Corsair, and we get a bunch of Terran Heroes as well. A few new X-Terrans if I'm guessing right by the little emblems on them, some fella with a star, a Kree woman, and a…hmm, not sure how to describe the pink one, beyond interesting. Last time I saw a Terran I thought was interesting, I raised him to be a Ravager, only for him to betray me, steal my money, and then go off and play hero."

"Funny, the way I heard it, you actually abducted Star-Lord when he was just a kid," Aelita quipped in reply. "I'm guessing you're Yondu, right?"

"Oh, so you've heard of me, have you? Has Quill been tellin' you stories about me, or was it this sorry excuse for a pirate, Corsair," Yondu asked.

"Enough games, Yondu! What've you done with my crew," Corsair snarled as he pulled out his sword and pointed it at the blue Ravager.

"Oh don't worry. They're all fine. I let 'em leave in peace so long as they promised not to come back here unless it was with you in tow. I was sure they wouldn't do that though, right loyal lot you got there, I'll admit, but then again, I knew you was too soft to not come back and help the little Shi'ar girl and these other Terrans, so there was no reason to worry about whether they would or not," Yondu shrugged. He then let out a quick whistle, and an arrow suddenly whisked into view and begin spinning around the heroes in a threatening manner. "You lot on the other hand, won't be so lucky."

Despite the arrow in their faces, none of the heroes were worried. Instead, they were just preparing for a moment to jump into action, and the moment that they saw the X-Men that they had recently freed start to stir, they did just that. It started when Emma suddenly shifted into her diamond form, while Jubilee shouted for everyone to cover their eyes as her hands lit up with the energy of her fireworks, which she instantly threw at Emma once her body had completely turned to diamond. The minute the light blasts hit Emma's diamond form, everyone who was not shielding their eyes was completely blinded by an incredible explosion of light, leaving every Shi'ar soldier and Ravager disoriented, and giving the heroes a chance to strike back and take out anyone who was not with them. When the light had finally faded, all of the heroes were standing tall over their opponents, including the recently freed X-Men. Of course, that did nothing to stop the alarms that were currently blaring from going off, signaling not only that stealth was no longer an option, but that if they wanted to free Lilandra and the others, they had to move fast.

The team all scrambled for the nearest door that would lead further into the ship, knowing that it was the only direction they could go which would likely lead them to the others, and since Corsair said Deathbird would likely keep more important prisoners in a location that was in such a position, that made the decision all the more sound. Aelita and Carol immediately took to the air and let loose some covering fire, destroying any defense armatures that impeded their path, while Emma, Talon, Lycan, and Beast took point, due to the fact they had abilities that allowed them to sense incoming dangers better than the other. Captain America and Scarlet Witch brought up the rear, since they possessed the best defensive abilities to cover the group from any surprise attacks that came from behind, leaving everyone else in the middle and ready to act at a moment's notice. When they came to doors that would have proven too difficult to blast through, they were all insanely grateful that Shadowcat was there, because she simply phased through and opened it from the other side for them, removing the need for any hacking to be done by Corsair or Aelita. That did not mean they always took such simple routes, as there were times that they blasted their ways in, be it through the use of Gambit's powers, Ms. Marvel or Angel Guardian's energy blasts, or really some other way that was available to the group.

When they encountered more groups of Ravagers or Shi'ar soldiers, Beast, Rogue, and Iceman were happy to subdue them in a way that was relatively quick and painless, assuming they were able to get close enough before Gambit tossed some exploding cards at them, or before Laura and Lycan could sink their claws into them. This meant that there was quite the trail of enemies left frozen in ice, or just unconscious due to getting so much as a tiny tap from Rogue, or just being slashed apart by Talon or Lycan, but at this point, they were well beyond the point of caring. It was not like they did not already at least have an idea on where they were heading, so there was no point in not leaving a trail of defeated enemies in their wake. Unfortunately, no amount of brute strength or subtlety could have prepared them for what lay in waiting beyond the next door.

When they entered the next room, they were instantly greeted with the sight of Xavier, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Colossus, and Storm all locked up in chains, with a kind of collar around each of their necks, and held in some sort of device that was not likely to have any sort of friendly or safe purpose for the prisoners inside of it, and while there was still no sign of Lilandra, it was the woman who was present that had sent chills through everyone's bones. Despite the beauty of her fair skin and very impressive figure, the dark look in her eyes would cause any person to tremble a little in fear, and the impressive looking purple armor she wore only enhanced that fact, along with the large wings that extended out from her back. She seemed to carry a trident in one hand, while a type of crown similar to the one Wanda wore in her Scarlet Witch attire rested atop her head, and from the regal stance she held, one would think that she was either of royal blood or believed she was meant to rule. Of course, if you asked the woman in question, she would say that it was both. This was Deathbird herself, and she did not seem the least bit threatened by the heroes. If anything, she appeared more amused than anything else.

"So, this is your best attempt at saving the Terran heroes, Corsair. Pathetic," Deathbird chuckled. "The only one of them who could prove to even be the least bit of a threat would be the woman with powers of the Kree."

"Then I guess you won't mind if I show you how much of a threat I really am," Carol replied, and she then charged Deathbird at nearly her maximum speed, ignoring any warnings that Aelita or the others tried to shout out to her when she did. The blonde really should have listened to the others, because a moment later, she had slammed right into an energy barrier that sent her back a couple feet. This was not going to be a problem for Carol, since she could absorb energy, but before she could make another move, something suddenly stabbed her right in the neck, and afterwards, it felt like something was stabbing into several other weak points on her body, until she finally dropped to the ground, unconscious.

The entire group could only stare in horrified shock, even as an arrow suddenly whisked out of the last point that Carol had been stabbed and back over into the holster on Yondu's leg as the blue alien smirked at the group. "See now, the reason why Deathbird said the girl would have a chance was because I know from my time with Quill where all the soft spots on a Terran are, be they normal Terrans or ones who are part alien, even if the alien part is Kree," Yondu smirked as he strolled around to stand next to Deathbird. "Though I will admit, she was a bit more difficult to bring down than expected, hence why I hit just about all those soft spots."

That was the last straw in Aelita's book, hence the barrage of energy fields that were sent flying at both villains. Unfortunately, those energy fields were all dispersed once they hit the barrier that Carol had slammed into earlier, but that did not stop Aelita, as she simply charged her fists with energy fields and charged in to slam said fists into the barrier. This attempt was just as successful as her previous one, and it was not helped at all even when the others who were able to joined in, much to the amusement of the two villains before them. "Don't bother. The only chance of breaking through that shield is with a vast amount of kinetic energy, which only the Kree woman could utilize. None of you have the brute strength to break through it, and any energy blasts you use will only strengthen the field," Deathbird boasted. "Now then, if you fools will excuse me, I have an execution to attend to. Namely, the execution of my dear sister, Lilandra. Oh but don't worry, you'll all be joining her soon enough."

With that, Deathbird left after leaving Yondu to watch over the prisoners, some of which were still trying to break through the barrier, but with more desperation than before. After finally accepting that energy attacks would not work, everyone in the group with incredible, physical strength, such as Beast, Talon, Lycan, and even Captain America started trying to punch their way out. Even Emma started to pitch in by using her diamond form to break through once she realized that she would not be able to use her telepathy to convince their captors to release them, but they only succeeded in weakening the barrier for a short time, and never lasted long enough for it to matter, since it would always return to full strength soon after. While they were doing that, Corsair and Aelita set to work on freeing the X-Men who were still in chains, though they did require someone to carry Xavier, since they did not currently have anything to substitute for his wheelchair at the moment, and once they were done with that, Aelita turned her attention to the woman who Deathbird said would stand the best chance of freeing them.

Yondu had been not been lying when he said he was thorough in his efforts to subdue Carol, as nothing Aelita tried was able to rouse the half-Kree woman, and after a while, the pinkette was starting to become desperate and really worried. Ever since meeting Carol after she became Ms. Marvel, Aelita had never once seen her get knocked out at all, let alone like this, save for when the Kree had invaded. Sure she got thrown around and hit pretty hard, but she had always managed to shake it off and hit back just as hard, if not harder. The fact that she was able to match the Hulk in brute strength, and even threw him across a room just the other day could attest to how durable and strong Ms. Marvel normally was, and seeing her out like this was not only concerning, it was almost terrifying for Aelita. Apparently that feeling was shared by some of the others as well, if you were to judge by the looks on their faces as they either watched Aelita try to rouse the blonde or even tried to help out however they could.

When it started to look like Aelita would not be able to wake her up anytime soon, the team started to consider some other options for escaping. Xavier, Jean, and Emma all tried to persuade their captors to free them telepathically, but Yondu was able to prevent anyone they managed to reach from getting too close to the controls. When asked as to why their telepathic powers were not working, Xavier explained that the room was made with some sort of device that would either cancel out or severely weaken telepaths, so that option was quickly put aside. At one point, it was even suggested that Wanda try using her probability powers on the generators, but she stated that it was not likely to work since she did not know exactly where the generators were, and there was just as likely a chance she could end up making the barrier stronger. When they asked Aelita if she could attempt to disable the generators with her creativity, the pinkette gave the same negative response as Wanda. Corsair was quick to point out that Aelita had managed to disable a lock with her powers earlier, but Aelita immediately argued that even if it was of alien origin, at its most basic levels, an electronic lock on an alien ship was just the same as any other similar lock on Earth. The barrier generators were a different story, because she would need to know something a little more accurate about its basic designs, since it no doubt had a few differences compared to the ones that she had seen used on Earth, and if she was not careful, she could end up doing something that would be counterproductive or even something very harmful to everyone in the room. Plus, she also needed to have a direct line of sight to where the generators were placed, and since they could not see one, they put that option aside as well.

They kept going through different ideas one after another, until finally, Aelita came up with something that just might work after looking up from Carol to one particular X-Man in the room with them. "Rogue, you could do it. You could break us out of here," Aelita exclaimed.

"What? Ah think ya lost meh," the southern girl stated, and the others were immediately throwing expressions that said the same thing.

"Use your absorption powers on Ms. Marvel, and use her strength to break down the barrier and get us out of here," Aelita quietly ordered in explanation, making sure that Yondu and the guards could not hear her.

"What?! Are ya crazy," Rogue nearly shouted, though she somehow managed to keep her voice down to a low enough level so that they would not garner attention. "I may have used my powers on a large variety of different people before, but never someone who was half-alien! More to the point, if Ah use mah powers on someone even when they're at full strength, they would end up feeling seriously drained, and if Ah hold on for too long, they could end up in a coma at best, and in Ms. Marvel's current state, Ah don't think it would be safe to absorb her at all. She could end up being out for even longer than she would be if we left her alone, or I could put her in a coma that she might not ever wake up from, and that's the best case scenario!"

"We've already tried everything else that we can. This might be our only shot if we want to help Lilandra," Aelita argued.

Now Rogue was worried for several, rather conflicting reasons. She knew that Aelita had a point. Ms. Marvel's strength was the best chance they had of escaping at the moment, and the southern-born X-Man was the only one with the power to gain that kind of strength quickly enough without the use of energy powers. Still, that did not change the fact that if Rogue did use her powers on Ms. Marvel, there was a chance that if the blonde was hurt enough, she could put said blonde into an even worse condition. Was that the price they would have to pay for their freedom? Possibly rendering one of Earth's most powerful heroes comatose for a possibly indefinite amount of time at best, just so they could get free and stop one intergalactic threat? Rogue hated having to use her powers on others in general, even when the situation called for it, since she knew what happened to the people she used her powers on, but using them on someone who was in Ms. Marvel's condition was something she hated more than anything, to put it mildly. Looking around at the others, they could see that while some of her teammates understood how she felt, everyone else had a slightly pleading look behind that understanding that was begging her to do what was being asked right now, and that only served to make her even more worried.

Seeing her friend's distressed state, Wanda was soon next to the girl with two-toned hair, and placed a hand on her shoulder as she said, "Rogue, I get that you're not okay with using your powers on someone, especially when they're like this, and if it were possible for us to find another way, we probably would have by now. Plus, we may not have time to find any other way, given Lilandra could be dead at any minute, and if we take any more time trying to find another solution, who knows what that whistling toad might do to us. Just remember, we're all right here with you."

Rogue glanced between everyone around her that she could one last time before she finally nodded with a silent sigh, and she quickly pulled off one of her gloves before making her way over to Carol, who's head was now resting in Aelita's lap. Looking to the pinkette one last time to make certain that she was sure about this, Rogue received a confident yet still somewhat hesitant nod in response, indicating that Aelita was just as nervous about this as she was. Somehow, that made Rogue feel a little better about this, but not by that much, and that was why when she finally reached out to Carol's face, it was still at a slow, worried pace. When Rogue's bare fingers finally made contact with Ms. Marvel's skin, Rogue could feel the sudden rush she always felt when she was using her powers flow over her, but there was something different this time. Not only was she feeling energy flow into her, but it was energy unlike any she had ever felt before, and it felt a bit intoxicating to her. It was not like a drug or anything, but more like a favorite food or drink that you just could not get enough of, but still, Rogue knew that she had to let go at some point if they wanted a chance for Carol to eventually wake up later on. Right when she reached the point when she felt like it was enough and started to pull back though, something unexpected happened.

It must have been clear that there was something wrong to the others as well, because Aelita noticed that Carol was becoming unnaturally pale, and it was no doubt due to the fact that Rogue had not let go yet. "Rogue, that's enough! Let go," Aelita told the mutant.

"Ah…Ah can't," Rogue exclaimed. "Ah don't know what's wrong, but Ah can't let go! It's lahke mah hand's glued on or something!"

If you had not been looking at Rogue, or if you just did not know her at all, you would think that she was lying about that because of the rush that her absorption powers were giving her. Luckily the X-Men did know Rogue, and Aelita was looking right at her, so she could see that the southern girl was trying with all her might to get her hand off of Carol's face, right to the point that she was pulling back on her arm with her free hand. Seeing this prompted Aelita to start helping Rogue separate herself from Carol by pulling on Rogue's arm while she held the blonde in place, but even then, it did not seem the mutant's hand was going to budge any time soon. Wanda soon joined the attempts to separate the two women from one another, followed by Lycan, Talon, and even Logan, who was now fully conscious again. When Cap jumped in to help as well, one could not help but think that this was a very dark twist on what would normally be the cause for wanting to pry two people off of each other. Finally, after one last, hard pull, they managed to free Carol from Rogue's grasp, sending both sides of the little tug-of-war tumbling back a little as a result.

Logan, Wanda, and a majority of the other X-Men who were able to were all immediately next to their teammate while Steve and Aelita checked over Carol, and while she did seem a little woozy, Beast confirmed that Rogue would indeed be all right. Rogue on the other hand, was more concerned about the other woman that had been involved in that excitement than she was herself. "How is she," Rogue asked, praying with all of her heart that she had not been forced to hold on for too long.

Neither Avenger spoke for a minute, mainly because they were checking over Carol in any way that they could to make sure she was at least alive, but their silence only served to make the mutant heroes and Corsair all the more nervous. Another minute of silence passed until Aelita finally looked up and said, "She's okay. She's definitely still alive, but she's definitely not going to wake up any time soon. I won't know anything else for sure until we've gotten her to an actual doctor with proper medical facilities."

"Perhaps I can assist with that," Beast offered as he came over and started his own examination of the blonde. Knowing that Hank McCoy did have a great deal of medical training, Aelita had no qualms about letting him check out her friend, but the expression on his face after he had checked her over did not give her any good feelings about Carol's status. "From what I can tell…it seems that she's comatose. That's really all I can say for the moment, but as to whether or not it's long-lasting or not is something that we'll only know for sure once we've returned to Earth or brought her to a medical facility here."

Aelita's heart sank deep into the pit that had already formed in her stomach after hearing the first part of Hank's explanation. She was glad that Carol was not dead, but hearing that she was in a coma was not really much better news, especially since they did not know to how great of an extent said coma was. Knowing what she did about such things, Aelita knew very well that there was a chance that Carol might not wake up ever again, especially if they did not get her medical treatment soon, and upon glancing in Rogue's direction, the pinkette could see that the X-Woman was just as distressed by this news as she was. Another glance in a different direction allowed her to see that Captain America did not seem affected by this news at all, and she knew that it had nothing to do with his training or experiences as a soldier, because she had seen him react to friends being hurt at least a little bit before during past missions. In her eyes, this would have probably confirmed that Steve was indeed the Skrull who had infiltrated the Avengers, and she likely would have blasted him right then and there out of anger, but right now, they had more important things to worry about, starting with their escape from the force field that they were trapped in.

Turning her gaze towards the barrier, Rogue's eyes narrowed in both anger and concentration before she raced forward and slammed her fist into the barrier. The results of said blow sent out a kind of shockwave that they were sure had been felt by everyone on the ship, but when they saw that the barrier had been weakened far more than it had been by everything else that they had thrown at it just from that one punch, not one of the heroes saw any reason to care, and Rogue took that as a reason to strike it again, and again, and again. In point of fact, she continued hitting it as much as she could, barely paying any mind to when Yondu rolled his eyes and tried telling her to give it a rest as she did, until finally, the sound of shattering glass exploded throughout the room, and caused a massive explosion to fill the whole room with smoke, blinding the Ravagers and Shi'ar soldiers.

While Yondu and his men were completely blind to what was going on, the X-Men and their allies had an advantage over them, and that was the fact that they had three telepaths to help direct their attacks. With that in mind, it was no surprise that the heroes were able to knock out all of the opposing Shi'ar and Ravager forces thanks to directions from Jean Grey, Emma Frost, and Professor X, and Yondu could tell that they were all being taken out just from the pained grunts and groans all around him. When the smoke started to clear up, Yondu started to catch sight of a faint ally that he knew had to be one of the Terran heroes, but just as he was about to whistle at his arrow, a soft singing voice reached his ears, and a minute later, he found his mouth tapped shut. Yondu instantly tried to pry said tape off of his mouth, but it did not matter how hard he pulled, because said tape just refused to budge. His attempts were soon halted when he registered that someone was standing over him, and he instantly glanced up to see the pink haired Avenger from earlier, glaring down at him.

"You know, in my opinion, a weapon that only works if you can whistle at it is really not a bright idea," Angel Guardian remarked to the blue alien, and that was the last thing that Yondu heard before he was knocked out by Aelita.

---

Deathbird had actually been enjoying herself a moment ago. There was just something about watching her sister's slow, agonizing execution that gave her chills of excitement, and it was only made more enjoyable when Lilandra finally could not suppress the urge to scream in pain. Sadly, her fun soon came to an end, but it did not come in a way she had expected nor approved of. She did not need the ship's alarms to start blaring to know that something was wrong, not when the ship had suddenly shook under the force of an explosion that could only have come from somewhere onboard the vessel, and given their recent guests, she had a pretty good idea as to what the cause was. Then again, it should not have been possible for the Earth heroes to have broken free of their prison without aid from the half-Kree woman, Yondu had promised her that, so she did have to wonder if there was indeed another reason for all of this, or if the Ravager had simply played her for a fool. She did not like the idea of being tricked by some low-life, and she liked the fact that Yondu and her men were not responding to her calls even less than that.

"What the hell is going on down there?! Yondu?! Guards?! Someone answer me, right now," Deathbird shouted into her communicator, only to receive nothing but static in response.

It was not until she was about to try and call someone once again that she did get a response, only it came in the form of the door being blown open, drawing everyone's attention towards it. The minute the smoke cleared, Deathbird, Lilandra, and everyone else in the room had a clear view of Angel Guardian, Captain America, Corsair, and all of the X-Men standing tall and ready for whatever action that was thrown at them, while Professor Xavier simply rolled in on a hover chair that the group had found while they were making their way up. Further study of the group would have allowed one to see that Ms. Marvel was currently resting on Aelita's back, but Deathbird was too infuriated at both the heroes' sudden intrusion and the fact that they were freed from their previous confinement to really care. All it took was a simple command, and the Shi'ar soldiers were instantly charging the Earth heroes, while said heroes scattered to counterattack and get someone over to Lilandra. Jean handled a majority of the defensive matters for the group by throwing up a telekinetic shield wherever she could, and when she could not do that, Iceman easily created a wall of ice as an easy substitute, leaving everyone with long-range abilities to fight back without much worry. As for everyone who only fought up close, they were quick to follow Wolverine, Talon, and Lycan in just charging in, mostly because the three were able to subdue anyone who was either brave or stupid enough to try and fight the three head-on, and anyone that was left was easily knocked out by Shadowcat, Beast, Gambit, Corsair, Captain America, and Rogue, who surprisingly still had the strength boost she gained from Ms. Marvel earlier. Despite whatever advantages and abilities that the heroes had at their disposal though, it did not seem to matter all that much.

Every time one of them got close to approaching Lilandra, they were quickly forced back by a barrage of laser blasts or a sudden swarm of soldiers. Some of the heroes could not help but wonder where all these alien soldiers were coming from, but that was only a small minority given the fact that they were clearly running out of time to get to Lilandra so that they could free her. Cyclops and Captain America were both doing their best to formulate an effective plan that would get them through to save Lilandra and stop Deathbird, but every idea they came up with always seemed to crash and burn at some point for some reason. Then again, it was not like it was easy to think of an effective strategy when you were right in the middle of a very intense battle, and when Deathbird finally joined in on the fighting, it did not become any easier. Not only did she hold an advantage over most of the team by being able to fly, but she also proved to be a very efficient and deadly combatant with and without the spears that she carried, leaving very few openings for any of the heroes to take advantage of, including Aelita, who was the only one who ever got closest to dealing any kind of blow to the villainous sister of Lilandra. Aelita probably could have done more to help, but she was a little too busy trying to make sure that Carol did not slip off her back to really put all of her focus on the fight.

That soon changed, because at one point during the fight, Aelita had to spin through the air in a way that caused Carol to finally fall from her back, and right into the line of fire from some stray energy blasts, much to Aelita's horror. When the energy blasts hit Ms. Marvel though, they only caused an aura of energy to light up around her before they were absorbed into her body, and the blonde simply landed a few feet away from Aelita. Seeing this, Aelita could only stare for a moment, looking between the shooters and Ms. Marvel's unconscious form, until finally she slapped her forehead and muttered, "I can't believe I didn't think of that sooner. And I used to call Odd a dumbbell."

Anyone who had heard the winged Lyoko Avenger could not help but pause for a minute to shoot her a confused look for one reason or another, and their confusion soon became replaced with shock when Aelita formed a massive energy field in her hand and threw it not at any of her current enemies, but at Ms. Marvel! When the energy field struck, it seemed to be absorbed into Carol as well, and Aelita then threw a second, similarly sized energy field at the blonde, which was also absorbed. It was at that point that Lycan and Wanda finally stepped in and managed to stop Aelita before she threw any more attacks at her teammate. "What are you doing? You crazy," Lycan growled.

"I thought she was your friend, Angel! Why are you attacking her, and while she's unconscious for that matter," Wanda demanded.

Aelita's only response, aside from a barely suppressed shiver at Lycan coming out of nowhere like he had again, was to simply smirk at the two and say, "Wait for it."

A second later, a bright, yellow glow suddenly lit up the room, putting all the fights on pause as everyone directed their attention to it, and they were all shocked to see that Ms. Marvel was now wide awake and floating up into the air with her whole body blazing with energy, while her eyes were narrowed viciously at any and all Shi'ar in the room who were not Lilandra. When her eyes finally found Deathbird, Carol shouted, "I said I would show you just how much of a threat I am, and I intend to follow through on that promise, bitch."

An instant later, Ms. Marvel had blasted forward and knocked Deathbird through the wall on the other side of the room before anyone could even blink, leaving only the Shi'ar soldiers in the heroes' way of freeing Lilandra. The soldiers were much easier to deal with now that their leader was distracted, and it was not long before Xavier, Lycan, and Logan had managed to free Lilandra from her imprisonment, for which she was very grateful, and shortly after, Deathbird had fallen from the air, battered and bruised while Ms. Marvel stood triumphantly over her. You would think that would be the cue that Deathbird needed to concede defeat, but in reality, it only spurned her on, and she was soon shoving Carol aside with both her wings and the closest one of her spears she could grab hold of. Seeing that prompted all of the heroes to attack and focus solely on Deathbird, until only Ms. Marvel and Rogue ended up being the only ones left to hit her, and they both did so by leaping right at the winged, alien villainess, and hitting her with everything they had with a single punch each. Before Deathbird could hit the ground though, Aelita and Cap had blasted her into a wall with an energy field and an energy shield, respectively, putting an end to the treacherous sister of Lilandra. Of course, everyone else was a bit more focused on something else at the moment: the fact that Rogue had not come down after her recent jump attack, and was now floating in the air alongside Ms. Marvel!

"Uh…this is new," Rogue commented in surprise.

Ms. Marvel on the other hand glanced between the mutant heroine and everyone else in the room before she finally asked, "What did I miss while I was out?"

"It's a long story Ms. Marvel," Aelita said as she spread her own wings and then flew up to Carol so that she could wrap her in as tight a hug as she could manage. Carol was a bit shocked at first by the gesture, but still smiled nonetheless and returned the pinkette's hug with a strong one of her own, bringing smiles to everyone's faces.

The moment was soon killed though when a hole was suddenly blasted into the wall, revealing the Guardians of the Galaxy on the other side of it, ready for action. "Someone call about a problem in the Shi'ar leadership," Star-Lord quipped with an element blaster at the ready.

Everyone in the room who could just shot the Guardians a deadpan look until Captain America said, "You're a little late."

"No kidding. Where the hell were you guys," Corsair demanded with a cross look.

"Uh…we had a little engine trouble," Nova simply replied while throwing a look at Rocket along with the rest of his teammates.

As the gun-toting rodent started protesting about how it was not his fault, the others simply shrugged things off and decided that they would be better off just helping Lilandra set things back in order before they finally went back home.

---

Getting things back in order for the Shi'ar was a simple matter with the X-Men, the Guardians, Corsair, and the three present Avengers lending a hand, though no one could help but notice how at one point Lilandra and Xavier had "conveniently" disappeared for a moment. Aside from that, the only other notable things that really slowed their progress by that much was how Corsair and Cyclops had decided to take a moment to catch up, and the fact that Star-Lord seemed intent on flirting with Kitty whenever he could. No one could really fault the former two for what they did, after all, it had been who-knows-how-long since Scott and his father had last seen each other, but in the case of the latter two…well, let's just say that Bobby made his displeasure at Quill's actions very well-known to the half-Spartaxian. Kitty on the other hand did not seem to mind it that much, and could not help but shoot Bobby a mildly annoyed look every time he tried to start a fight. By the time they had finished up, Scott and his dad had felt sufficiently caught up with one another, while Quill had given Kitty a communications device she could use to call him in case she wanted to stay in touch, earning him both a small smile and a wave from Kitty as the Earth heroes teleported out.

That was a few hours ago, and needless to say, Aelita and Steve were glad to see that they had only been gone long enough for night to have fallen on Earth. Of course, they were also glad that they could finally get down to business on the matter that had brought them to the X-Mansion in the first place, which they did as soon as they had a chance to talk to both Logan and Professor Xavier, with Ms. Marvel sitting off to the side as a neutral observer. The head of the Xavier Institute had insisted on being present for said meeting since Logan was both one of his X-Men and one of the school's staff members, but Aelita had a feeling that he had wanted to be there because he knew why she and the super soldier had come looking for Wolverine, and he was curious as to how Logan would reply. When Aelita and Steve had finished telling Logan about their offer, the feral mutant was silent for a few moments, making the two think that they had likely surprised Wolverine for the first time in what was probably a very long time by offering him membership in the Avengers. After a few more minutes of silence, Logan finally gave the two his answer, but it was not one that they had expected from him.

"I appreciate the offer you two, but I'm gonna have to say no," Logan said. "If these Skrulls really are invading and replacing people in every major group out there, then I think I'll be better off here with the X-Men. Besides, we're kinda dealing with a few problems of our own regarding Sinister, and I don't want to bail on the others right now when they might need me."

"We understand, Logan," Aelita nodded. She did not like that Logan was saying no, but she did indeed understand his reasons for doing so. Seeing him so dedicated both to his teammates and the students at this school was actually rather admirable, so she could not fault him for going with the choice he made.

Steve nodded to Logan as well to show that he was in the same boat as Aelita, and Logan took that as his cue to leave, leaving the two Avengers to turn to the blonde agent of S.W.O.R.D. "Look, before you two say anything, I just want you to know that if you do want me to turn in my Avengers ID card, I will do so without any argument," Carol pre-empted the two.

"Now why would we do that to someone who's part of the team," Aelita asked, surprising Carol when she did. "Ms. Marvel, despite what had happened the other night, none of us wanted to kick you off the team, and we didn't want you to leave either…Well, maybe Hawkeye, but he did have his reasons at the time. You're still an Avenger, and we'd all like it if you came back. Like you said, the other night was supposed to be your welcome party."

Carol could not believe what she had just heard. Aelita had basically just told her that despite how hot tempers had run, she was still considered as part of the Avengers. That did not mean she was not going to argue at least one or two points with the pinkette. "You do remember that I'm obligated to bring Hawkeye in for questioning since he's a suspected Skrull, right?"

"The only one who suspects Hawkeye of being a Skrull is Nick Fury, and at the moment, all we really have in regards to that is a bit of hearsay," Aelita pointed out. "That's what Janet, Ulrich, and I were all trying to tell you the other night. You can't just arrest him by going on the suspicions of one man alone, even if it is Nick Fury. He has been wrong before you know."

Carol had to admit that Aelita did have a point there, but she could tell that the younger woman had something else to say, and the only reason she was not saying it was because of a certain person in their present company, given how she kept throwing small side glances to Captain America from time to time throughout the meeting. Carol just nodded in acceptance of that, but before she could argue another point, Aelita pressed on. "Besides that, what better way to root out whoever this Skrull imposter is than by having everyone we know that we can trust in our corner. We know that the Skrull have an agent in the Avengers now, and he knows that means we'll be keeping our guard up. Please, Carol. We need you with us."

Hearing all of this, Carol could not do anything other than smile as she said, "Okay. We'll play it your way, Aelita. But are you sure that everyone will be okay with me coming back to Avengers Mansion after what happened?"

"Hey, if anyone's got a problem with it, they'll have to take it up with either me or Wasp, especially seeing as Jan's the team's new leader," Aelita shrugged.

"Janet Van Dyne, leader of Earth's mightiest heroes? Now that's something I would never have expected," Carol chuckled with a humorous smile, earning a few laughs from almost everyone else in the room.

Captain America was the only one who did not see the humor, apparently, because he had another question he wanted to ask Xavier. "How's Rogue holding up? Has anything changed for her?"

The mood in the room suddenly became a little heavy as Xavier answered the captain's question. "No, nothing has changed. We've long reached and passed the point where the powers Rogue had absorbed from Ms. Marvel would have faded out of her, and yet, she still retains the abilities of flight and super strength that she had gained. Perhaps not to the same extent as Ms. Marvel, but they are still there. Rogue's powers have always left something of an imprint on her over the years, be it by steadily making her stronger or by leaving a kind of faint ghost of the mind of a person she had absorbed in her own mind, but this is the first time this has ever occurred. Beast believes that these new powers of hers may be permanent."

"I'm not sure if I should apologize for that or not," Carol admitted. She knew that if she had not been reckless in trying to free herself and the others back on the Shi'ar ship, then Rogue probably would not have had to use her powers in the way that she had, but at the same time, she also knew just what Rogue was capable of from she had seen in a few different videos of the X-Men in action over the years.

"Well I would say that you shouldn't for now. Rogue actually seems quite excited about having these new powers," Xavier revealed, surprising everyone a little. "You see, despite how valuable a teammate she has been, Rogue has always felt as though she were not contributing enough to the X-Men because of the nature of her powers. With this new change, I'm sure that she will be more than happy to know that she'll be doing a great deal more in helping the team when they're on a mission. That's something I've always tried to teach my students; that change is always something that occurs, great or small, and that no matter what it may bring, we should always try to accept and live with it. Rogue has had the hardest time accepting the change her powers brought on to her, but I think that this most recent adventure might make things a little easier for her."

Everyone was happy to hear that, and the three Avengers likely would have commented on it had a sudden knock at the door not caught their attention. A minute later, Wanda stepped into the room with a determined, yet still somewhat nervous look on her face, indicating that whatever reason she was here for was likely important. "I couldn't help but overhear the offer you all gave to Wolverine, and I was wondering if I could ask you about something," Wanda admitted. She then paused to let someone answer, and when no one said anything in protest of this, she took a deep breath and asked, "Is there any chance that I could accept in his place?"

That was not something that any of them had expected. Sure, there was no denying that Wanda was indeed a powerful hero, and she had shown that quite a few times back on the Shi'ar ship, and in previous situations that the Avengers had gotten into, but they had not expected her to ask anything like this. "Wanda, are you sure about this," Steve asked, being the first one to come out of his shock.

The Scarlet Witch just met her boyfriend's gaze with a determined one of her own before she replied, "Yes. If this Skrull threat really is as big as you say it is, then I want to be able to do anything I can to help with it. Besides that, part of me has always felt like I was something of an outsider here with the X-Men. Don't get me wrong, I do believe in Xavier's cause, but I always felt like I could do more for the world, and I think that a good place to start would be by joining you and your team. So please, will you let me join the Avengers?"

No one said a word at first. Hearing that small speech alone would have been enough to give all of them pause, but it was the passion and determination in Wanda's voice as she spoke that had really rendered them all speechless. They could tell that no matter what they said now, Wanda was not likely to change her mind, and would take every opportunity she could to join Earth's mightiest heroes in the future if they said no now, because if they did give her a negative response, she would likely take that as a reason to keep training and improving herself until she felt that she was ready to ask them to let her join again. After another minute of silence or so, and after studying Wanda for a minute, only to see no hesitation in her at all, Aelita finally stepped towards the former daughter of Magneto, smiled, and extended her hand to her as she said, "Wanda…you're in. Welcome to the Avengers."

Wanda could only beam in excitement as she accepted the offered handshake, earning bright smiles from everyone else in the room due to this new development. When the excitement had died down a little, Captain America and Xavier excused themselves so that they could help Wanda get a start on packing her things for the journey to Avengers Mansion, leaving the three women on their own for the moment, and freeing them up enough to discuss another matter in private. "I do have another reason for wanting to join. Something is definitely wrong with Steve, and I think you know what it is," Wanda revealed to Aelita.

"You're right. We think that Captain America is the Skrull spy," Aelita admitted.

"Please tell me you're joking," Carol begged Aelita. She may technically outrank Steve if he was still an active soldier, and she may have been in a different division of the U.S. Armed Forces before so much as joining S.H.I.E.L.D., but Captain America was still a huge inspiration for her ever since she was a kid. Hell, he was part of the reason why she wanted to enlist when she was starting to think about it.

"I wish," Aelita replied. She then went on to reveal everything that she and Ulrich had to the other Avengers, and by the time she was finished, she could see the gears turning in both Wanda and Carol's heads. "I know it's not really much to go on, but it's definitely a lot more against Cap than what we have to say that Hawkeye is the Skrull."

"But you still don't want to jump the gun and have him arrested," Carol finished for Aelita, knowing exactly why she felt that way. It was one thing to so much as accuse Captain America of being a traitor to so much as a team he was on, never mind the entire planet, but it was another thing to arrest him for the same thing. There was no doubt that such an action would cause a serious uproar all across the world if they did that.

"Well then, I guess it's all the better that I'm joining the team," Wanda stated, earning her a pair of questioning looks from the other two women. "Hey, who do you think would know Steve better than the woman who's in love with him? I noticed that something was wrong with him the minute that you two arrived on our doorstep. That should tell you something on its own."

"She has a point," Carol admitted, earning a shrug from Aelita in response, and with that, Wanda's membership into the Avengers was further cemented.

The rest of the time that the three women had was spent in the way that three girls would normally spend it when they had the chance, until Logan arrived to tell Wanda that she needed to help out with packing whatever she was going to take with her to Avengers Mansion, and a little while later, it was time for the three Avengers and their newest teammate to head out. Xavier, the students, and the X-Men had all assembled to give Wanda a proper send-off when it was time for them to leave, and the Scarlet Witch could not help but shed at least a few tears of joy at seeing all these people cared enough to do something like that. Even Pietro, Lorna, and Blink were there, since they had decided to stick around for just a bit longer after the heroes had returned from space, just in case something else happened, giving Quicksilver the chance to give the Avengers a friendly warning about what would happen if they let anything happen to his sister. After Wanda had exchanged one final hug with her self-made family, she climbed onto the back of Steve's bike, and prepared herself for when they raced off back to New York.

Just as she had spread her wings so that she could follow along with Carol and the two on the motorcycle, Aelita spared one last look at Xavier and said, "You do know that there may still be a Skrull here in the X-Mansion, right? One who may very well be able to hide himself from even you?"

Xavier just nodded to Aelita and then informed her, "I feel a great swell of pity for the poor soul who comes to my school looking for trouble."

Aelita accepted that with a smile, and then joined the rest of her teammates, old and new in their return trip to Avengers Mansion, knowing that Charles Xavier would be more than able to back up those words without any problem at all.

---

AN: Well there you have it. The Avengers have begun expanding their ranks, and while their initial recruit had said no, they did still get a new teammate: Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch! And yes, she does now have the same powers she had in the MCU, and that won't be the only thing from said series that she'll be getting, as you will soon see come next chapter.

Aelita: Wait, I don't remember ever hearing about an X-Man by the name of Lycan before.

AN: Ah yes, well that was actually an OC donated to me by long-time follower "twilightnite13". Give it up for him.

[audience applause]

Yeah, great story, this is now the second OC that "twilightnite13" has lent to me, the first being the Decepticon Quicksilver, who you can see in action over in the Gundam SEED Prime Trilogy, but enough about that, let's get on with some other details. Yeah, a lot of things have changed since we last visited the X-Mansion, such as Emma Frost joining the X-Men, X-23 changing her codename to Talon, and the official addition of Jubilee to the X-Men's line-up. I'm sure all serious X-Men fans know who Jubilee is, and yes, I have her sporting her iconic look that we all saw in X-Men The Animated Series, the one from the 90's, just so we're clear. Plus we also got appearances from Corsair, Lilandra, the Shi'ar, and Deathbird. And look at that, the Guardians of the Galaxy showed up for a brief cameo, basically becoming like the cops in just about any action anything in the sense that they showed up too late to really help, while their old pal Yondu got to have more of an impact on the story.

Ms. Marvel: Speaking of impacts on a story, it looks like Rogue's finally got her iconic power set from me, and thankfully, I'm not comatose because of it.

AN: Yes, that was something that had occurred to me early on in the development of this series as a whole: how to get Rogue the powers she's most well-known for having and keep Ms. Marvel from dropping into a coma afterwards, or at least keep her from doing so for very long. The solution was simple: Carol can absorb multiple forms of energy, as we have seen in the past, Aelita throws around energy fields of multiple sizes like a ball, so Aelita hits Carol with a sufficiently charged energy field, and bam! Instant solution.

Hank: Does anyone else feel like that's a bit of a cheap solution though?

AN: No! It's a stroke of brilliance, and it makes sense! I mean come on! If Carol could absorb energy and become more powerful, it makes sense that absorbing a sufficient amount of energy would be able to pull her out of the coma that Rogue's powers would have put her in after the two's initial meeting. Moving on, I also payed a little homage to the whole Star-Lord&Kitty Pryde pairing we've recently seen in the comics, which eventually lead to the two getting engaged, I might add, something that I've also paid some attention to in my other story Avenging Normandy, for those of you who don't know. I know a lot of fans are really crazy about the whole Star-Lord&Gamora pairing, but there's just something about Peter Quill being paired up with Shadowcat that really interests me, ya know?

And speaking of homages that were paid, did anyone else catch the little references to Marvel movies that were made this chapter? One was from Avengers: Age of Ultron, and the other was from X-Men Apocalypse, in case you weren't paying attention.

Wanda: I'm just excited about the fact that I've now joined the Avengers. Though I have to admit, part of me can't help but feel like this was going to happen pretty soon eventually anyways.

AN: Well, you were a major member of the Avengers at several points in Marvel Comics history, so not having you on the Avengers team in this series would've been a little odd for my tastes.

Aelita: Quick question, are Ulrich and I really going to be on all of these recruitment missions?

AN: Yes, we will be seeing one Lyoko Avenger or the other in each chapter of this arc, so in a way, you'll be looking at the wider Marvel universe of this story alongside Ulrich and Aelita both as these missions go on. Pretty exciting, huh? Speaking of exciting, check out who we're going to be on a recruitment run for next time. Onto the Preview!...

We turn our attention to the adventure Ulrich and Hawkeye experienced while Aelita and Captain America were in space: the mission to recruit the new Ant-Man. What Ulrich doesn't expect is that Hank's successor is actually someone that Hawkeye knows from his past, and the new Ant-Man is not someone that Clint holds in very high regard at all. The rest of the day is filled with even more surprise visits to Hawkeye's past as the two and their potential Avenger are faced with an entire show-stopper of trouble. Prepare to enter the worst kind of big top next time in…Chapter 11: Avengers Recruit: The Protégé.

Yeah, in case it wasn't obvious, our boy Scott Lang's finally going to make his Code Avengers debut next chapter, along with a few other faces that come from Hawkeye's past. If you know enough about Clint Barton's history, then I'm sure you can guess who we'll see next time.

Please read and review, and I'll see ya next time, fellow true believers!