AN: Ladies and gentlemen, and all other varieties of creatures in existence...I LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE! And I'm back with the next, long-awaited chapter of Code Avengers: Cosmic!
Hawkeye: Which is more than a little overdue. I mean, you haven't updated this thing since what, last November?
AN: No one likes a smart-ass, Clint. Anyways, if you guys have been keeping up with all of my stories, then you know that I've been busy working on each of them as well, be it Justice Marvel, Hearts of Avengers, or even the recently completed Kingdom Hearts Dual Keys. There are other titles in that list, of course, but you're not tuning in to hear me talk about all of those. No, you want to see what happens in the newest installment of this grand tale. And I will let you do so, but first, let's answer a review or two.
Deadpool: BOOOOOO! NO REVIEW ANSWERS! WE'RE SICK OF WAITING! We want our money back! We want our money back! We want...[gets blasted several times over with every weapon imaginable by anyone, man, beast, or otherwise]
AN: I'm not even going to dignify him with the flaw in his logic, because let's face it, Deadpool never had any logic to begin with.
[audience laugh]
Anyways, first a general response to reviews, I appreciate the thought many of you have put in to the story suggestions you put forth, but as of this moment, I am not, I repeat NOT taking on any new story requests at this time. Hearts of Avengers was the last story challenge I plan to be taking on for a while, and until further notice, I do not plan to take on any more new ones, no matter how interesting they may or may not be. Sorry guys, but that's just the way it is right now.
Next up, in another general response, I have been thinking about one or two things on how I could deal with the Surtur story arc that went unfinished in Avengers EMH, but as we've all seen now, we have not really gone into serious detail regarding that in this story. That's partly because we have not really taken things over to Thor's point of view in this story, and also partly because it does not really have much of a place here at the moment. To be honest, if I were to include Surtur in here somehow, it would likely be very brief like Thor's battle against the guy in Thor: Ragnarok, which was a great move by the way, in case I did not already mention that before here. This is something that will be on the back burner for the moment, but still has a strong likelihood of coming about later on.
Finally, in answer to the guest reviewer "Sonic", I normally don't give away big spoilers like this, but I will go ahead and tell you now, yes, Aelita and Peter are going to have a kid some day. It's not going to happen any time soon in this story, and it will certainly be a while, but it will happen, and we'll get to see what said kid is like in the sequel to this story, assuming that I don't post Enter the Spider-Verse: A Code Avengers Story sometime before that.
Oh, and to all you folks wondering when Odd's going to show up and how that will happen, don't worry, that's coming very soon...Or maybe, it already has happened, and some folks just haven't realized it yet.
Ulrich: Well, that's not ominous or a dead giveaway about a few details or anything.
AN: Yeah, I suppose. Well, no point and making you all wait any longer, so on with the story, and the newest version of the Code Avengers intro sequence! 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.
And there came a day unlike any other, when Earth's mightiest heroes found themselves united against a common threat. On that day, they became the Avengers: the invincible, armored Iron Man; Hawkeye, the world's greatest archer; the Wakandan King, Black Panther; Thor, Prince of Thunder; the Wasp, size-changing extraordinaire; Ms. Marvel, kree-energy-infused defender of Earth; the Hulk, strongest hero there is; Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch; Ulrich Stern and Aelita Schaeffer, alias Sprint Samurai and Angel Guardian, the last Lyoko Warriors; and Captain America, the First Avenger. Assembled, they are strong, and forever, they fight as one. Avengers, assemble!
Chapter 12: Avengers Recruit: The Devil
The days that had followed Ms. Marvel's return to the Avengers and Scarlet Witch's addition to the team were rather interesting to say the least, and it was not because of something that happened here in the Avengers' world. Once again, they had found themselves teaming up with the Justice League that they had encountered just before the whole Skrull matter had been brought to their attention, only this time, the Avengers were helping to save the League's dimension. It was a bit of an experience, seeing as it allowed the League to meet the Avengers' Captain America at last, while the Avengers also got the chance to meet Superman and Batman, but considering that it was another round with Kang the Conqueror, some of them did feel like it was a little dull compared to their last team-up. Then again, the League's Kang did manage to practically overrun nearly the entire planet while forcing the heroes of that Earth to form as much of a resistance force as they could with Superman and Batman in charge, so they had to give him that at least. Ultimately, the Avengers were able to give the heroes of another dimension just the help that was needed to defeat Kang, and after a brief celebration with the League, the Avengers had quickly returned home so that they could get back to business as usual.
Today, that business involved locating and inviting another new member to the Avengers, and they were really hoping that this hopeful recruit would say yes, because so far, their attempts to add to their ranks had only managed to get them Scarlet Witch. Sure, they had only made two attempts at recruiting, while Wanda had volunteered on her own, but considering that both their original, mutant recruit and Hank's successor as Ant-Man had both said no, the Avengers were really hoping to get a win from this one. Their drive to get this next choice of a new Avenger to join was only reinforced by the fact that he was apparently just as good of a fighter as Black Panther and had a sensory ability that put Spider-Man's sixth sense to shame, according to the Web-Head himself at least. Still, that drive did not really do too much to ease Janet's nerves as she and Aelita walked down the street to their destination.
"Do we really have to come here," Janet questioned again, her nervousness showing in every word.
"For the last time, Jan, yes, we do. Peter said that this is the only way to get in touch with this guy, and that it's better if we go talk to him in person," Aelita reminded her while discreetly rolling her eyes. She had to endure the Wasp asking that same question several times now even before they had arrived in this part of New York, and even though she could understand Janet's worries, she was starting to get a little annoyed with her constantly asking that same question and sounding like a scared child.
"But still, of all places in New York, why did the guy have to be based in Hell's Kitchen," Janet questioned.
"Well, considering what he calls himself, and what people called him when he first started out, it does make a certain bit of sense that he would be based here," Aelita pointed out as they rounded another street corner.
Indeed, the two female founding Avengers were currently trekking through Hell's Kitchen, the roughest, most dangerous part of New York, all in the hopes of locating a hero that Peter had told Aelita about when he learned that the Avengers were looking for new members. He was a little upset that Aelita had been one of the first to object to bringing him in, but that quickly passed after she explained her reasoning to him. At least, Aelita was fairly sure that he had forgiven her, and if the make-out session that they had later that same day along with what followed afterwards was any indication, she would say that hunch was good. Still, no matter how good she had felt at that time, there was very little she could do to help Janet get over her worries about being in the one part of New York that even Spidey did not regularly patrol for crimes-in-progress.
"I just wish we could've come in costume or something," Janet stated, gesturing to her very fashionable, civilian attire. Sure, it was not that much different from the outfit she normally wore when she was not sporting her Wasp suit, but given Janet's skill as a fashion designer, and the fact that the girl was stunning enough to model her own clothes, Aelita could confidently say that Janet made the simple blue jeans and yellow top look fabulous.
"You're the one who decided it would be better to tell the others we were going out for a girls' day with just the two of us instead of telling them what we were actually doing so that we could keep the Skrull spy from finding out," Aelita reminded her. "Besides, be glad that you actually can go to this in regular civilian attire."
Aelita was of course referring to the fact that she was wearing her civilian uniform instead of actual casual clothes. Sure, it might have been a give-away to some that she and Janet were Avengers, but most people did not even bat an eye at her appearance, probably assuming that she was a big fan of the team or something. Even so, despite the fact that she liked her dark pink and purple ensemble, she still would have liked to wear an outfit that would count as casual clothing, even if it did have the chance of making them bigger targets for any criminals that hung around in Hell's Kitchen.
Janet gave her a shrug in acceptance of that, and then fell silent for the next few minutes, until she finally asked something that had been bothering her ever since Aelita told her about their potential new teammate. "So how does Peter know this guy again? I don't think you really explained that."
"He didn't really go too far into details when I asked him," Aelita shrugged in admittance. "He just said that he ran into some legal trouble as Peter Parker a while back, and apparently, it was enough for an anonymous benefactor to hire the guy to represent Peter as his lawyer. While things were unfolding, he later met the guy's vigilante friend as both Peter and as Spidey, and afterwards, they had a few more team-ups to try and find some evidence that would help to expose Wilson Fisk as the Kingpin, and before that, L. Thompson Lincoln as the Big Man of Crime."
"A lawyer who's friends with a vigilante," Janet mused aloud. She then shrugged her shoulders and said, "Well, it's not like we haven't heard of or seen weirder things."
"Yeah, no kidding. Next thing you know, we'll be meeting another Hulk with a law degree," Aelita joked.
"Funny you should mention that," Janet started to say, only to glance up when she realized that they had arrived at their destination. "Oh, hey, we're here. The office of Nelson & Murdock Law Firm, at long last."
"Well, let's get inside before you die of a heart attack, brought on by an overlord of jitters," Aelita joked as she walked into the building, making a mental note to ask Janet to continue where she had left off with that last comment later. That, or to ask Hulk if he knew anything about it when they got back to the mansion.
Walking into the rather modest building, they quickly came what could be counted as a small reception area, and spotted a blonde woman in business casual attire seated at the desk rapidly typing away on a computer while she looked through a few different notes, barely letting her eyes wander from her work for very long. To be honest, neither of the two Avengers were sure if she had even noticed them coming in, and it certainly seemed that way when she did not even look up at them when they got up to the desk. It was not until Janet let out a small cough to get her attention that the woman finally spoke to them. "Can I help you," she asked.
"We're here to speak with Matt Murdock," Janet requested.
"Do you have an appointment," the blonde questioned.
Aelita and Janet looked at each other in disbelief before the former looked back and said, "Seriously?"
"Seriously," the blonde nodded.
"Okay…We don't have an appointment, but we need to speak with Matt Murdock right away," Janet stated as simply as possible.
"I'm sorry, but Mister Murdock has a few different cases that he needs to sort through at the moment," the woman replied. "You'll need to make an appointment and come back at another time."
Janet could feel her eye twitching irritably at that point, but Aelita was quick to step forward and slap her hand down on the blonde's desk before sliding something towards her. When the pinkette pulled her hand back, Janet saw her Avengers ID card sitting there, and had to smirk a little at the fact that Aelita was basically pulling a badge on the rather rude secretary. "It's very urgent that we speak with Mister Murdock now. Avengers business," Aelita then stated to help drive the point further home.
When the blonde glanced over at where Aelita's hand had just been and saw the ID card, the two saw her pause in her work before slowly raising her head to better look at the two with wide eyes. The two Avengers both started to slowly countdown in their heads, and right when they had reached one, the girl finally regained her voice. "Oh my god. You're the…like the actual…you're Wasp and Angel Guardian of the Avengers," the woman finally gasped.
"Yeah, that's us. We'll get you an autograph later, but first, would you mind," Janet asked, reminding the woman why they were there.
"Oh! Of course, right away," the woman nodded. She then hurried over to one of the other doors, knocked on it, and called out, "Matt, there's someone here that needs to see you right away. Says its urgent."
"Could you ask them to wait, Karen," a male voice questioned.
"I'm not sure if I can. They're the Avengers," Karen replied.
The person on the other side of the door was quiet for a minute before he finally said, "Tell them to wait a couple of minutes and then send them in when I buzz you."
Karen nodded in reply before turning back to the two so she could repeat the message from her boss, but Janet raised a hand to say that it was unnecessary and quickly moved to take a seat in one of the chairs that was resting against the wall. Aelita would have done the same, but found herself stopped when Karen asked if she could take a quick selfie or two with her. Aelita certainly did not mind, and by the time she and Karen had finished, Matt had buzzed Karen like he said he would, and the two Avengers were allowed into the office, with Aelita retrieving her ID card as they went past Karen's desk. When they stepped into the office, they were greeted to the sight of a man in a smart business suit that was typical of all lawyers and neat, well combed hair, but the most surprising thing about him, was the cane resting at the side of his desk, and the heavily tinted glasses that he wore over his eyes, which indicated something that neither woman was expecting.
"You're Matt Murdock," Janet asked in disbelief.
"You sound surprised," the lawyer smirked in response as his hands continued to run over the documents in front of him.
"Well it's just that…well I mean, I don't think either of us have ever met a lawyer who was…"
"Blind," Matt finished for the size-changer, his smile not faltering at all. "Well, I've never met one of Earth's mightiest heroes before, so I guess that makes us even. Or I suppose I should be saying two of Earth's mightiest heroes."
"How'd you know that there were two of us," Aelita asked.
"There's actually a great deal of truth in what they say about how your other senses become stronger after one of them is lost to you," Matt easily said. "Anyways, normally this would be the part where I would introduce myself, but you both clearly already know who I am."
Janet managed to recompose herself again, and held her hand out to their host as she said, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mister Murdock. I'm Janet Van Dyne, the Wasp, current leader of the Avengers."
Matt paused in his browsing of the brail documents before he smirked again and asked, "She's holding her hand out for me to shake or something, isn't she?"
Wasp immediately started to turn sheepish while Aelita noted, "You seem a little more amused by that than I would expect."
"You get used to that kind of thing after a while," Matt chuckled in good nature, and he then extended hand as he searched for Janet's. When he finally brushed her fingertips, Janet helped him the rest of the way by moving her palm into his hand. "You have surprisingly soft hands for a crime fighter, Ms Van Dyne."
Janet could not help but blush a little at that comment, and then said, "I use a very good moisturizer."
"You shake hands with many crime fighters, Mister Murdock," Aelita asked.
"Many more than you think, Miss…"
"Angel Guardian," Aelita filled in as she moved to take Matt's hand after Janet.
Matt's grin seemed to fade a little as he noted, "The youngest of the founding Avengers?"
"My brother and I are actually the same age, save for a few months difference, but yeah, I'm one of the youngest," Aelita confirmed. Her eyes narrowed a little bit as she added, "Is that a problem?"
"No, I'm always glad to see someone willing to stand up and fight the good fight, but taking on that kind of fight at such a young age is…well, I was blinded when I was just a boy, so I know very well what life-changing experiences can do to someone Miss Guardian," Matt explained.
That answer seemed satisfactory for Aelita, because she eventually smiled in return and said, "Just call me Angel, Mister Murdock."
"Of course," Matt nodded, and he then gestured for the two to have a seat so they could get down to business. "So, what can I do for the Avengers? I certainly hope you're not in the midst of some kind of legal trouble."
"Sorry, but it's nothing like that," Janet half joked. To be honest, she was a little surprised that the Avengers had not gotten into that kind of thing throughout the entirety of the time that they had been a team. Then again, the only ones who really seemed to oppose their being around was about half of S.H.I.E.L.D., so it was not like they ever really needed to as far as she knew. "Our team's actually in the process of recruiting new members and we were told you could help us out with that."
"Well, I'm flattered, but unless you plan on extending your battles to the courtroom, I'm afraid I'm not going to be much of a big help," Matt joked.
"While we wouldn't mind knowing that you'd be able to help us, we're not actually here for you," Aelita clarified. "My boyfriend said that you could get us in touch with the person we're hoping to recruit."
"And your boyfriend is…" Matt inquired, honestly curious about this information. It was not every day that you got confirmation about who a famous person was dating without going through some gossip vine.
"Spider-Man," Aelita replied.
Matt stilled for a moment and then lost his smile completely, indicating that he had just gotten much more serious as he commented, "Ah, you're looking for my friend Daredevil."
"And from what Spidey told us, you can tell us where to find him," Wasp finished, giving Matt all the cue he could need to provide said information.
Matt scratched his chin for a moment, making the two girls think he was trying to figure out how to reply to their request. They would admit that they might have been a little blunt in their approach to all of this, and this is without accounting for the fact that they did not know the full extent of Murdock's relationship with the man without fear, but given how serious the Skrull threat was, along with everything else that the Avengers were currently dealing with, they did not have time to beat around the bush. Finding Daredevil and adding him to their ranks was a serious priority for them, and they were not going to fail in that objective.
After another moment of silence, Murdock finally said, "I'm afraid I can't tell you where Daredevil hangs his club." The two girls both nearly let out a moan of misery when they heard that, but they managed to hold it in and maintain their professional appearances. Which was a good thing, because otherwise, they probably would have missed the last part of Murdock's sentence. "But I can tell you where he's going to be."
That did brighten up the two's spirits, but they knew that it could not have been that simple. Murdock would have told them that information right off the bat if it was, so the fact that he had not meant that this information had to come with a price. "What's the catch," Janet inquired.
"Just this: I want to know why you want to recruit Daredevil," Murdock replied.
"A good number of the members on our team are powerhouses, and while we do have guys like Hawkeye and Captain America who are more about skill and finesse than muscle, we still don't have enough of the latter to really say that its balanced out, for one thing. After Black Panther left, we've really needed someone who could fill the gap that was created there, and from what we hear, Daredevil could do that and more. Besides, from what Spidey told us, he could also help us to pick up on things that others would miss, and that's something that we have ended up needing a lot more times than we care to remember," Wasp admitted.
"But it's more than that. Daredevil is often considered a street level hero, and while the Avengers do handle a lot of the bigger things, people often think that we either forget or ignore the things that happen down on the ground. There's no such thing as a problem that's too small for the Avengers to handle, and Daredevil could help us show that we are serious about looking out for all dangerous problems, not just the alien invasions, time-traveling conquerors, and other major things like that," Aelita added. That may not have been a big reason in the eyes of the others, but for her, it definitely played a part in the decision.
Murdock mused this over for a moment, until he finally nodded, seeming satisfied with that answer, and told them what he knew. "Last time I heard from Daredevil, he was following a lead on the recent upsurge in gang activity on the streets. Ever since Fisk was ousted as the Kingpin, a power vacuum had been left open, and it seemed like several small time crime bosses would have made a power play for his position. That did happen for a short time at first, but then suddenly, it all just stopped. Aside from a suspicion that there might be a new player in the whole thing that's somehow managed to seize control, I don't really know more than that, but Daredevil does," Murdock explained, as he slid a card and pen over to them so they could write down what he was about to tell them about. "If you go to the industrial district on the far side of Hell's Kitchen, you'll find him on a rooftop, being ready to scope out a possible location for someone that he thinks may have some inside information on this new player."
Janet quickly scribbled down what Matt said, along with an address that was a little more specific than a random rooftop after she had asked Murdock for one, and the two then departed from the law firm office with a quick goodbye to both the blind lawyer and his secretary. It was just after they had both left that Matt's partner Foggy Nelson actually walked in, and he could not help but glance between his best friend and the two that had just left. "Did I just see two of the Avengers walking out of here," Foggy questioned.
"Yes, you did," Matt confirmed for his friend.
"They didn't figure out that you're…" Foggy started to ask, leaving the end of his sentence hanging for his friend's sake in case they were still close enough to hear, or in case Karen overheard them.
"No, but they were looking for Daredevil," Matt reassured him. He knew that Foggy was not too fond of the fact that he went out and put his life in danger to protect Hell's Kitchen as Daredevil, but he was sure that Foggy understood why he had to do it. After all, when you have hearing as good as Matt's, its really hard to ignore all the people crying and pleading for help, especially when you live in Hell's Kitchen.
After Matt had explained what the two Avengers wanted, Foggy was stunned silent, and he felt that he had to ask, "So are you going to accept? I mean, this is a big thing, and who knows what it could do to your career if you add Avengers membership to what you already do as Daredevil?"
Murdock knew that Foggy was right, but at the moment, he was not quite ready to answer his friend just yet. He was going to let his final decision rest on what happened later tonight when he and the two Avengers confronted the newest small time crime boss that many on the streets only knew as the Hood.
Several hours later, night had fallen over the city, and Wasp and Angel Guardian were both awaiting Daredevil's arrival atop the rooftop that Murdock had told them about. Since they had a feeling that they were going to be diving right into some action, they had both come fully suited up and prepared for some hero action, so all that was really left for them was to meet with the man of the hour himself. They just wished that Murdock had given them a more specific time to expect their prospective Avenger, because they had been waiting at the specified location for more than a few hours now, and there was still no sign of Daredevil.
"This is why I don't think I could ever handle doing stakeouts," Wasp sighed as she gazed down at what was supposedly Daredevil's target. "All this waiting is killing me."
"Why do you think you always see cops bringing along boxes of doughnuts in movies and such for these things? Got to have something to do while you wait," Aelita informed her older sister figure.
That got Janet to turn her attention to the pinkette, and she could only stare in disbelief when she saw that Aelita had a pair of ear buds on while in her hand was her Lyoko Cell, which was running a program that Janet assumed was some kind of sound editing program. Janet immediately quirked her eyebrow at this sight, and commented, "Are you actually doing what I think you're doing?"
"Well that depends on what you think I'm doing," Aelita easily replied.
"I'm thinking that you're working on some of your DJ mixes right now," Janet admitted.
"And you would be right," Aelita confirmed, her fingers dancing away across the touch screen while she bobbed her head in time with the rhythms that were playing through her headphones. Occasionally, she would shake her head in dissatisfaction, showing she did not like the sound of something, and then rework it to something else, and all the while, Janet just kept staring at her in disbelief. "Hey, as great as being an Avenger is, it doesn't exactly come with any financial benefits. Can't exactly rely on you or Tony to foot the bills for everything for the rest of my life, you know. Well, mostly you now, since Tony…"
"Yeah," Janet nodded, not needing Aelita to finish her sentence. It may have been some time now since Iron Man had quit and decided to try and disband the team, but his departure still left something of a sour note for a lot of the Avengers, both these two being chief among them. "So then, does that mean you're trying to actually get a job or something?"
"My brother wasn't exaggerating when he said that talent scouts were trying to sign me on after I performed onstage as an opening act for the Subdigitals, especially when I was nearing the end of High School. I may have been slightly out of practice on account of everything that had been happening in the past year, but I've still got that same talent, so why not get back to where I was before," Aelita explained, and from the way she was working over the sound editing program on her phone, Janet could tell that the young woman was very serious about this. Aelita's eyes then zeroed in on the program she was running, and softly said, "All I really need is one big break to get my name out there again."
"Admirable dedication," a new, male voice complimented, and the girls both spun around to see that the vigilante they had come to Hell's Kitchen for had finally arrived. His suit left him covered from head to toe in what looked like dark red and black body armor, save for the lower half of his face, while on one side was a holster for his infamous billy club, and the red lenses of his mask seemed to be incredibly tinted to the point that they figured it would be a miracle if anyone could see through them at all. "I should warn you though, trying to juggle this life with a profession that would be for an average person is not the easiest thing."
"You sound like you know that quite well," Aelita noted, pocketing her Lyoko Cell and ear buds. Frankly, she was a little surprised that she did not hear him coming until just now, because even with her ear buds in, Aelita would have been able to pick up on any strange sounds around her thanks to her super hearing. The fact that this guy had slipped past her notice somehow definitely proved just how good he was at stealth, since the only other person who had ever managed to pull off that feat was Black Panther.
"Let's just say I had a rough time figuring out how to balance things at the start," Daredevil shrugged, shortly. "More importantly, I hear you two were looking for me in the hopes of getting me to join your little superhero club."
Wasp bristled a little, not being too much of a fan of hearing people calling the Avengers things like that, but she buried it for the moment. The last thing they needed right now was to drive off a new recruit by getting upset over such little things. "Yeah, we need to expand our ranks, and from what we've heard, you'd be a great fit."
"No thanks. I'm not what you would call a joiner," Daredevil immediately replied in a snap.
"Well don't take some time to think about it or anything," Aelita remarked, sarcastically.
"It's nothing personal, but I don't think that my methods would be up to the same standards as the rest of your team's, or even yours, and besides, I prefer being down on the streets over heading out into Space to fight alien gangs and supervillain warlords," Daredevil explained.
"It's really more of the other way around, and we don't go into Space that much," Janet pointed out. "Look, we're all for helping everyone in the world as much as we can, but given how many larger threats there are out there, it's a little hard for us to just come back down to street level sometimes."
"And you think having someone like me on board is going to help you with that, right," Daredevil finished. When both girls nodded in reply, he turned towards the group of warehouses that were just ahead of them and said, "Well if you're serious, then you'll help me with this case I'm working on regarding a small time crime boss who goes by the handle The Hood."
"The Hood," Janet questioned in disbelief. The unasked question was obvious to everyone: did the guy think all the good villain names were taken, or was he just not that creative?
"It's more of a given title than a chosen one," Daredevil confessed with a small smirk to show that he found it just as humorous as the two Avengers probably did. "His real name is Parker Robbins, and he was just another small time crook that used to work for Fisk before he was ousted as the Kingpin. After Fisk's fall from grace, his criminal empire had been left in a power vacuum that several different gangs should have been going to war over, and yet, none of them did. There's only one way that could have been prevented."
Aelita had been nodding along to what Daredevil was saying, knowing that it was all true. Being Spider-Man's girlfriend, she was well aware of how the gangs were much quieter than they should have been in the months that had followed Fisk being exposed as the Kingpin of Crime, both from hearing Peter talk about his day and from joining him on his patrols every now and then. As such, she and Peter had come to the same conclusion that Daredevil was leading them towards. "Someone else has already taken over, and it's likely someone who figured out how to bring down Fisk without him realizing it. Either as an inside job or from so deep in the shadows that barely anyone would have known that they were there."
"Exactly," Daredevil confirmed. "Murdock and I have been trying to find something that could tell us who this new Kingpin is so we can expose him and have him face justice for the crimes he's gotten involved in, but so far, we've had little to no luck. Whoever it is that's now sitting in Fisk's old chair, he's practically a ghost with no trail that can lead back to him. Until Robbins that is. Almost a month after Fisk's fall from grace, Parker Robbins suddenly made a bigger name for himself when he showed up and took over the entirety of the drug running operations in Hell's Kitchen, followed by several other criminal rings, all while decked out in a crimson cloak and hood, while flying around using some form of hover boots or something similar. While he has ended up in prison on the rare occasion or two, he's always received bail or avoided prosecution before even going to court, but if we catch him now, we can not only expose him, but open up a trail that may help to expose some small scrap of information that will tell us who the new Kingpin is."
It made sense to each of the girls, and if they did help Daredevil with this, they would be taking a dangerous criminal off the streets while crippling the operations of a criminal empire that should have fallen ages ago after Fisk went down. There was just one thing that bugged Janet. "So what you're saying is that if we help you with this, you'll reconsider joining us?"
"I'm saying that I'll consider possibly taking a…part-time position if you're willing to accept that," Daredevil informed her.
Janet mused that over for a minute before she finally shrugged, "I'll take that. It's better than getting turned down completely."
"So regarding the Hood, what else would we be dealing with beyond the fact that he has a hood, jet boots, and likely an army of thugs that are probably heavily armed," Aelita questioned.
"There's only two other things that have been going around on the streets about him. The first is that his guns are supposed to be specially customized to cause much more serious injury or damage to anyone they hit," Daredevil explained. "The other is that he can supposedly teleport."
"So he's a possible mutant, then," Aelita asked.
"If that were the case, someone from the X-Men, Genosha, or even the MRD would've been on him by now," Janet disputed.
"While I am doubtful about that last one, given the MRD's success rate in containing or capturing certain mutants and mutant groups in the past, and there are other groups that would be interested in a new mutant, you are right in saying that he's not likely a mutant. It's more likely he has access to some form of cutting edge tech that he gave an extra dramatic flair with his cloak," Daredevil admitted. "I did suspect that magic might be involved, but frankly, I'm hoping that's not the case. After all, it's a little hard to believe that a small-time crook like Robbins could get his hands on some magical artifact."
"You'd be surprised what some people can get their hands on," Aelita muttered under her breath, her mind already going to how it seemed like every other HYDRA or AIM group they encountered had gotten their hands on research for ways to hurt either her or Ulrich when she said that.
"Either way, busting him here and now, tonight will bring at least a little light on what he's been doing, if only in Hell's Kitchen if nothing else," Daredevil finally finished.
"So I guess that just leaves one question: when do we move in and start kicking both Robbins and his cronies' asses," Janet asked.
Daredevil turned towards the nearby warehouse, remaining silent for a few minutes, until he finally said, "Right after the passengers in the car that's about to pull into the warehouse have climbed out. Robbins is with them, casually sitting in the back."
Janet and Aelita both turned to where the red-clad vigilante was facing, unable to see anything at all, given how dark the streets currently were, until they saw an unmarked, sleek car pulling into the warehouse, just like Daredevil said it would. "How did you know that car was coming? More importantly, how are you so sure that Robbins is even in it," Janet asked. "What do you have some kind of supervision or something?"
"No, vision is the one sense I have that was not enhanced. If anything, it was just the opposite," Daredevil replied, earning him confused stares from the girls. "Let's just say that old saying about your other senses being enhanced after losing one is especially true in my case, to a whole new extreme."
"You're…you mean…Wow, first a blind lawyer, and now a blind superhero. What next? A blind supervillain," Janet questioned.
"Well, the guy who trained me how to fight was also blind, and his senses weren't enhanced to the same level as mine were when he lost his sight," Daredevil revealed with a smirk.
Neither one of the girls were sure how to take that, so they just focused on the task at hand. While Janet could only stare at the warehouse after the car disappeared inside though, Aelita was still able to hear what was going on inside thanks to her super hearing. From the sounds of guns being cocked or checked over, to the heavy footfalls of boots on the ground, Aelita could hear just about all of it, and she also picked up on the sound of rustling cloth that was clearly more than just a long coat. "Yeah, Hood's in there, and I'm guessing he just got out of the car from the sounds of how his cloak is billowing," the pinkette reported.
"He has, and he's checking over the merchandise, silently," Daredevil confirmed. "Taking his time in doing so as well, but he hasn't said anything about what it is they're moving here. It's not just guns though, I can tell from the scent, but what the other items could be, I'm not so sure."
"Well, I know a fun way to find out," Janet smirked, shrinking down and extending her wings as she did.
Robbins was ecstatic over the most recent load. Not only were all the armaments that his boss requested now here, but so was a certain specimen that had been alluding them for some time. It had taken quite a long time to find this particular creepy crawly, and cost him quite a few men, but if this thing really was as valuable as the new Kingpin said it was, then Robbins was sure that the payoff would make it all worth it. Looking into the glass container, Hood still found it hard to believe that this black tar could have been what his boss said it once was, but he figured that it was more impressive when it was attached to somebody like it had been a couple years ago when everyone thought that Peter Parker kid was Spider-Man. Sure, it would make a certain sense that the kid could be the web-head, but come on! A little nerd like that being the one superhero that every criminal in New York knew and loathed? Yeah right. It was more likely that Captain America was some kind of sleeper agent for HYDRA or some alien race, or that the youngest of the Avengers were actually alien time-travelers from the future. Whatever the case, none of that really mattered to Hood so long as he got paid for getting his boss the blasted thing.
The only downside was that the thing did not even appear to be alive, and the new Kingpin was explicit in his instructions that it be captured as such. No matter what they did to the thing, it did not seem to have any effect. They had tried banging on the glass of the case it was in, they tried zapping it with a few jolts of electricity, and they had even gone so far as to attempt shooting it. Looking back, that last one was probably the worst idea, especially considering that shooting the thing had not been of much help in attempting to find and capture it, but then again, Hood was no scientist, so how was he really supposed to know whether or not this thing was dead or alive. He did not even know what they needed to do in order to keep this weird gunk alive. All that really mattered to him now was that they had finally caught a break and contained the thing, and there was no way that it was going to get out of that containment unit before it got back to the boss.
Parker was eventually stirred from his thoughts when one of his men came over, bearing a rifle that was already locked and loaded just in case any cops or superheroes showed up. He was not so stupid to think that they would not, seeing as it was the costumed freaks that managed to bring down both Fisk and Tombstone, and that was why he made sure that his men always came to any operation he was running in person or otherwise armed for such interference. The only downside was that even with a bit of firepower, idiots would still be idiots, and this particular gunman was about to prove that.
"Yo, Parker," the crook called out, and a minute later, he was hoisted up into the air by his throat as Robbins strangled him.
"I've told you to never call me that. The name is Hood," Robbins snarled.
"Right, sorry, sir. Won't happen again," the crook coughed as best as he could, and that was enough to get his cloaked boss to drop him. Once he had gotten his breath back, he said, "I just thought you should know that the rest of the boys have finished looking over the merchandise."
"Well don't pause for suspense. Is it good or not," Hood prompted, the growl in his voice indicating that he expected an answer he would find satisfactory.
"Oh yeah, it's all good," the crook smirked in reply. "Everything that the new Kingpin promised us is here, and everything that we could get for him is good as well. With this much firepower, taking over the city should be a breeze."
That would be good if New York was any other city, but Hood knew better, and he knew that there was one thing that could still keep them from taking this city. "Does that include ordinance for handling the superheroes?"
"You bet, Boss," the crook nodded. "Even if those high and mighty Avengers were to come down from fighting big bads and aliens, we'd be able to handle them."
Hood smirked when he heard that, seeing as that was just the answer he was hoping to hear, but his mood would quickly change when the next voice he heard rang out into the warehouse. "So you think you can take us on just because you've got a few new fancy toys," a distinctly female voice questioned in amusement.
"Hey, that's street crooks for you these days, Wasp. They get some fancy toys, and all of a sudden, they think that they're big time threats," another woman added just as Hood and his henchman looked up to see both Wasp and Angel Guardian hovering above them with smug grins on their faces, the latter of which being the one who had just now spoken. "Besides, this is a guy who thinks that 'The Hood' is a good bad guy name or even a threatening one. You'll have to excuse him for any lack of brains amongst him or his boys."
"Yeah, I guess you do have a point," Wasp shrugged with a teasing smile. "And don't even get me started on his outfit. I mean, that shade of red so doesn't go with the rest of his outfit. Seriously, it's like bad guys have no fashion sense these days, and that's a crime on its own. Maybe I should talk to Hank about helping me to start a focus group for the supervillains we've captured that's focused on helping them improve in that area."
"Oh, you two think you're cute, huh," Hood demanded.
"Hoodie boy, we're adorable, and you know it," Aelita quipped in return. Yes, that may have been something that Spider-Man would say, but you have to remember that Aelita is dating the web-head, so she was bound to pick up on one or two of his habits. Or you could just blame it on being around Odd for so many years like Aelita often would before insisting that Spidey actually helped her improve her repertoire of one-liners and quips.
"What I know is that in a minute you're going to be dead," Hood snarled, spinning out a pair of pistols. The little show of drawing his weapons seemed to be the silent signal for his men to come out of the shadows and aim weapons at the two Avenger girls, because a moment later, every crook in the warehouse was surrounding stepping forward with a large variety of guns at the ready.
"Aw, that's just precious," Wasp cooed, sounding like she was talking to a cute little baby when she spoke, and further irritating Hood and his men right to the point where they finally opened fire on the two.
A moment later, the girls were racing and spinning through the air as they avoided bullets, lasers, and even some other, odder projectiles that released a quick-solidifying, gooey substance when it struck any surface. There were also some more explosive weapons being unleashed on them, but the girls were more concerned with avoiding the goo-bombs than anything else. You would think that would be crazy, but considering that Wasp saw a few of the bad guys get caught up in the gunk due to friendly fire and were then unable to get out again, neither Avenger was too eager to get caught in such a state, knowing what would soon follow if they did. Thankfully, they did not have to worry about getting hit by the thugs too much. Their aim was about as good as a Stormtrooper's, but they did make it a point to avoid getting hit by any shots that Hood fired. Given what Daredevil told them about what Hood's pistols could do, neither girl wanted to get hit by his shots.
Speaking of Daredevil, the vigilante of Hell's Kitchen had actually joined in on the fight after crashing through a window shortly after the gunfire started. Since there were so many guys shooting at the two Avengers, Daredevil's rather loud entrance went widely unnoticed until after several guys started dropping due to the blind hero performing a few silent takedowns from the shadows. When the gunfire finally died down enough for the others to take notice, it had already been too late, because that was the moment when Daredevil had officially joined the fight in a full-frontal attack. As a result, the two girls were left staring in awe as they watched Daredevil take down multiple foes with both his billy club and his bare hands. Once or twice, they thought that they had to warn him of an attack coming from behind, but they soon discovered that it was not necessary, because Daredevil had already seen it coming, in a manner of speaking, and was thus able to counterattack with little problems. He was spinning, flipping, punching, and kicking every which way that Aelita and Janet honestly felt like they were watching a blind Black Panther fighting these guys.
Eventually, they became more concerned when Hood finally managed to snag Daredevil with one of those goo-shooters. Thankfully, he had only been caught in the leg, but that was still going to be enough to render Daredevil unable to really put up much defense against any other foes. He did not have to worry too much, as Aelita quickly used her creativity to form a protective barrier around him until he could get free, and with a little extra assistance from Wasp, that task was not difficult at all. Soon enough, the three heroes had managed to subdue nearly everyone in the warehouse, while Hood was backed into a corner. That did not keep Parker from snarling at the three heroes though, indicating that he was not going to let them take him down without a fight.
"Time to fess up, Robbins. Who's the new Kingpin," Daredevil demanded.
"You really think I'm gonna sell him out just cause you think you've got me beat," Hood asked in disbelief.
"You've got nowhere to run, all of your guys have been knocked out, and all it's going to take to make your merchandise go up in smoke is a little blast from either me or Angel Guardian. How exactly do we not have you beat," Wasp questioned, her smile looking rather smug as she heard Hank confirm that the police were already on the way to make the arrests.
Daredevil did not wait for an answer, but instead just marched up and slammed his billy club into Robbins as he switched over to strong arm tactics. "Who is he?!"
"Screw you," Hood snarled, spitting in Daredevil's face afterwards.
Daredevil just punched him again, and the girls both saw blood come after that blow, making them both more than a little concerned. "Hey, what're you doing," Aelita demanded, grabbing Daredevil's arm before he could seriously hurt the guy.
"Sometimes, the only way you can get answers from punks like him is by breaking a few bones, at minimum," Daredevil replied.
"So basically, you think that we need to sink to their level," Aelita questioned. "We're supposed to be better than that."
"Speak for yourself," Daredevil retorted.
"Daredevil, this isn't the right way to do this. We can figure out who the new Kingpin is without resorting to torturing bad guys that are already down for the count," Wasp pleaded. She was all for putting the hurt on bad guys when they were actually doing something bad, but not when they were already beat like this. She had to wonder though if it was this kind of thing that Hank had once feared that the Avengers would one day sink to whenever he expressed his views on how to handle crime fighting and treating the supervillains that they fought, and that idea actually scared her a little.
Daredevil seemed to be mulling that over in his head for a minute, but unfortunately, that also caused him to drop his guard enough for Hood to find a way to escape from his hold. The next thing that the blind hero knew, he had been shot in the gut by Hood, and was forced to back off, giving Hood enough space to teleport away from the heroes. When he rematerialized again, it was right next to the containment case that he had been examining earlier, and he immediately grabbed it before looking back at the three and saying, "You want to find out who the new Kingpin is so bad, then find out for yourselves, because no one's going to sell him out to anyone so easily, be it you hero-types or anyone else."
With his piece said, Hood teleported away again, this time leaving with his prize, and that was the end of that. Wasp and Aelita would have tried to go after him, but there were two problems with that. One was the fact that he was a teleporter, so they had no idea of where he could have gone, assuming he did not have a specific range to said ability, but it was the second fact that was more important. The fact that Daredevil needed medical treatment took greater precedence over anything else right now, and Wasp was immediately calling for Hank to send a Quinjet to their location so that they could get the red clad vigilante back to Avengers Mansion for said treatment.
Getting Daredevil back to the Mansion and into the medical room was easy enough, but treating his injuries was an entirely different matter. The minute they tried to make apply any kind of treatment, Daredevil had brushed them off, and even seemed as though he would attack them if they tried, despite his injuries. It was not until Aelita finally promised him that they would not attempt to unmask him that they finally managed to get him to settle down enough for Hank and Jane to treat him. Of course, the anesthetic that Hank managed to inject into the vigilante while Wasp, Hawkeye, Ulrich, and Cap held him down helped quite a bit too.
When Daredevil finally woke up again, he was not too happy about being knocked out, to say the least, but he was still thankful for the medical treatment that the Avengers provided. For that reason and that reason alone, he allowed Wasp and Aelita to show him around the mansion so he could get a look at the kind of facilities and equipment the Avengers had access to. He had a feeling that it was partly because the two girls had not mentioned their little recruiting mission to the rest of their team, but he kept quiet about it, figuring that they had their reasons for that. Besides, how often does one get a full tour of Avengers Mansion without breaking into the place or getting stuck with the stuff that only tourists or the paparazzi would get if they were ever allowed into the place? By the time they had finished, they had come to the Assembly Room, and Daredevil could no longer deny that the Avengers had a very impressive set-up that he could greatly benefit from.
When the vigilante admitted that fact aloud to them, Wasp took the initiative and asked, "So does that mean we can consider you our newest teammate?"
Daredevil looked between the current leader of the Avengers and her young friend for a minute in silence, making them both a little nervous about how he would respond, until he finally said, "Like I said before, I'm not a joiner, and I don't think I'm up for handling some of the world-ending crises that you all normally deal with." He then paused for a minute, letting the two think that he was saying no, before he finally smirked and finished, "But I am more than happy to take a part-time position and see where it goes from there."
Both girls smiled at that response, and Aelita took that as all the prompting needed to approach the red-clad vigilante with an ID card ready for him, as she said, "Well part-time or otherwise, we might as well make it official and give you this. Welcome to the Avengers, Daredevil."
Daredevil took the card from Aelita and immediately slid it into his belt, silently confirming his acceptance of the welcome, but he quickly turned serious again. "There's still the matter of Hood and the item he got away with. Not to mention we still don't know the identity of the new Kingpin."
"Maybe not, but several of Hood's men are now in lock-up, and even if they don't know anything, they're bound to know something that could provide a clue or two to the guy's identity," Wasp pointed out, becoming just as serious as Daredevil had. "As for Hood, there will always be another day to capture him, and next time…"
"We'll do it in a way that suits heroes," Daredevil finished with a promise, earning smiles from both girls. Today had been a good day for the Avengers. Sure, they had not been able to capture the lead bad guy or get any information about the new Kingpin of Crime, but they did get Daredevil on the team, even if it was only as a part-timer, and from the look of things, he was willing to try and not be so hostile towards the criminals he apprehended in the future for answers. They were not going to kid themselves into thinking that he would still be a little brutal, but knowing that he was not going to be as much so as before was definitely something, so the girls were willing to take that. All the same, they still had to wonder just what it was that Hood had gone to so much trouble for, and why it seemed like the new Kingpin wanted it so badly. It may be a problem for another day, but somehow, Aelita had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach that said they were not going to like the answer when they finally found out.
As angry as he was about how Daredevil and the Avengers had interfered in his business, Hood was much more worried about how his current boss would react to the news. Sure, he had secured the main prize, but they had also lost a lot of good men and several of the weapons and products that they were shipping in were now held in evidence lock-up. That was a very large amount of money wasted, and no doubt the Kingpin was going to be upset. Hood just had to hope that showing he brought the main item that the boss had requested was going to be enough to quell whatever anger he would have about their loss. That did not keep him from trembling a little when he finally received permission to enter one of the many offices that once belonged to Wilson Fisk before his fall from grace. After all, who would be crazy enough to not be afraid of this particular individual, besides Spider-Man that is?
"The shipment was a bust. Daredevil and two Avengers ambushed us and got all of my men caught, along with all of the merchandise in the warehouse. I was able to save the item that you wanted, but everything else is now a lost cause," Hood reported when he was commanded to speak, showing the containment unit that was holding the black tar. When he did, he could not help but notice how it was suddenly becoming much more active than before, but his attention remained focused on the people in front of him.
Standing to the side, was none other than the multi-armed scientist, Otto Octavius, alias Doctor Octopus, and while his expression remained impassive about the loss of their merchandise, he was still studying the containment unit with barely concealed glee. While the doctor did give Hood some concerns, given what he had seen the doctor working on in some of his labs, it was Ock's boss that he was more focused on. Said boss being none other than the green and purple clad form of the new Kingpin of Crime, who was grinning widely at the sight of the black tar, and how it was clearly very much alive. "It doesn't matter," Green Goblin snickered. "You did well to bring this to me, Hood. You'll be compensated for the losses you suffered tonight, of course, but for now, I'm just happy that you managed to bring us the very thing that Otto and I need." He then looked over to Doc Ock and asked, "Assuming that it is what it appears to be."
Doc Ock took that as his cue to finally approach and take the containment unit from Hood using one of his metal tentacles, and after bringing it closer so he could examine its contents with a critical eye, and some special scanning equipment he had on hand, he was soon sporting a grin that was nearly identical to Goblin's, and confirmed, "This is it, Goblin. The very thing that brought about the creation of Venom, and nearly saw an end to the arachnid once and for all: the symbiote. It's weak of course, having gone so long without a host, but there's still enough here for me to be able to create something much more powerful than Venom had ever been."
"Perfect," Green Goblin smirked, and he then waved for Hood to leave them. Once Robbins was gone, he felt it necessary to voice his excitement aloud while going into slightly more details about their plans. "With this and your research, Otto, we'll not only have something that will end Spider-Man for good, but also allow us to reap glorious carnage afterwards."
"On no, my friend. We won't be unleashing carnage, though that does give me a few ideas for another future project," Octavius corrected. "This will be something that can purge all the disease from the world, be it the arachnid, or those wretched imbeciles that the people look up to as heroes. If anything, this will be our Anti-Venom."
"Oooh! I like the sound of that even better," Green Goblin admitted, and soon enough, his mad cackling had begun to echo throughout the room, and nearly the entire building. Thankfully, the room was soundproof, or someone might have realized that Green Goblin was back and planning something very sinister indeed.
Around the same time as the meeting at the new Kingpin's stronghold, Captain America, or rather, the Skrull Pitt'o Nili had arrived in the warehouse he normally called his allies from, and he was soon graced by the presence of the Skrull Queen herself. When said queen had shed the appearance of Mockingbird to reveal her true form, Pitt'o dropped to one knee in a respectful bow before giving her his report. "I'm afraid that things may not be going as smoothly as we hoped, My Queen," the fake Captain America revealed. "The Avengers are trying to expand their ranks. Already, they've brought the half-Kree scum, Ms. Marvel back into their fold, along with the mutant known as Scarlet Witch. And just today, Wasp and Angel Guardian have convinced the one called Daredevil to join them as a 'part-timer.' I did what I could to prevent them from taking this route, but unfortunately, it was not enough."
"It doesn't matter," the Skrull Queen waved off. "One or two more Avengers are of no consequence to our plans, and no matter who they attempt to bring into their fold, they cannot hope to be as much of a threat as they once were. Earth will still be ours, despite the Avengers' best efforts. There's nothing that anyone can do about it."
"With all due respect, My Queen, I'm not so sure about that," a new voice spoke up, and the two immediately turned to see S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Grant Ward stepping into the light, his human features slowly melting away into those of yet another Skrull's. "Given how powerful some of their newest members are, the Avengers could prove to be a much greater risk if we allow them to continue expanding their ranks. More than that, you know that Fury is trying to have his people weaponize the energy that Sprint Samurai and Angel Guardian give off so that they have a stronger defense against us."
"Yes, you have a point there," Veranke admitted. "We may need to consider taking one of these greater threats off the board, even if only for a moment."
"Then might I suggest the two children? After all, they are the greatest threat to our efforts," Pitt'o offered.
"No, if anything were to target them so suddenly, they will quickly suspect our involvement, and do everything in their power to stop it. Targeting the Lyoko Avengers is no longer an option for us," Veranke disputed. She paused for a moment, and eventually started to smirk as she said, "But that's not to say that there's not at least one Avenger who would be an easy target to remove from the team."
Both of the two Skrull spies smirked, knowing exactly which Avenger she was referring to, and by the time they had left the warehouse again, they had managed to finalize how they would put things in motion to ensure that when the invasion began, they would have much less to worry about. After all, without one of their strongest heroes, how could any of the humans ever hope to have a chance at stopping them?
AN: Yeah, this one's pretty short. Much shorter than I had been expecting it to be, but then again, I did the best that I could with this, and somehow managed to tie it into some of the other major and sub-plots of this story. So, we got a look at this continuity's version of Daredevil, who in case you haven't noticed yet, takes quite a bit of inspiration from the Netfilx series, and not only that, but we got a look at a few other things as well, including the villianous Hood, and a few other surprises and faces that we haven't really seen in the Code Avengers universe in a while.
Aelita: Hang on. Time out a minute. "The Hood"? Seriously? Are you sure you didn't make this guy up?
AN: Nope. He is in fact a real Marvel villain. He was in the comic version of Secret Wars, and had a major part in a storyline for one of the New Avengers comics. Namely one of the ones from the Dark Reign era of Marvel Comics.
Wasp: Bigger mystery is why did you have me and Aelita go after Daredevil? I would've thought this would be a moment for Ulrich to get some action in.
AN: I'm trying to pattern these stories so that we have one chapter where it's Aelita and an Avenger, then the next chapter is Ulrich and another Avenger, and then back to Aelita and...you get the idea. That, and I feel like it's been a while since we saw Aelita and Wasp really doing that much together for more than a few paragraphs. I mean, these two have a sister-like relationship, and yet we don't really get to see them really spending that much time together before having to meet up with someone else for the rest of the adventure. Sure, that's what happened here, but they were running center stage for quite a bit in this chapter.
Deadpool: Hey, how about you talk about something that you think is "important", like the return of the Goblin, that little scene at the end, or even how I'm gonna be doing something awesome later on in this story that makes every girl in this story what to take a ride on the Deadpool train!
AN: [hits controls and has multiple weapons fire on Deadpool once again] Seriously, I should just have these things set on automatic when it comes to that guy. Anyways, yeah, Green Goblin and Doc Ock have returned, and I can promise you that at least one if not both of them will be appearing again later on, because they will have a bigger role in the story this time around. It's not that much of a bigger role, but it's still significant enough to be noticeable. I'm sure you probably figured that out by the fact that they've now got the Venom symbiote, and that whole Anti-Venom thing that was mentioned at the end. Plus, we alluded to a possible thing with Carnage that would happen later, so you can look forward to that.
As for that last scene at the end with the Skrull meeting, that's just a little something to suggest that they had a bit more to do with the whole Red Hulk incident than just having Skrull-Cap talk Hulk into surrendering himself to the Hulkbuster Unit. I mean, it makes sense if that were to happen, because really, what are the chances that such a thing would happen right before the Skrulls finally launch their big invasion? Plus, we've also confirmed another Skrull spy is in an Earth organization, this one being of Grant Ward. Jeez, that guy just can't seem to escape being made into a bad guy somehow, huh? Except during that one arc in Season Four of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., that was one moment when he did escape from being a bad guy, so good for him.
Ulrich: Question. Why make Daredevil a part-time memeber?
AN: Well, part of me was considering having Daredevil say no, but then again, we've already had quite a few negative responses in this arc, and it wouldn't really be much of a successful recruitment drive if nearly everyone said no, save for one or two people. Sure, we've still got a couple more chapters of this arc to go, but I felt that I needed to give the Avengers a few more additions besides just Wanda. At least, she's the only one so far. I can confirm that at least one other person will be joining the team, and they will be doing so full-time. I changed things up so that Daredevil would be a part-time member so that it would not be a total loss, but he's not a full-time Avenger either. Kinda like Batman with the Justice League, if you will.
Iron Man: Here's something I'm starting to wonder. Are we ever going to give Deadpool a break? I mean, he did just recently have a big movie come out, you know.
AN:...Wow, now my own cast is turning against me on this. Look, I do not ever plan to give Deadpool a break, okay? And if you want to talk big movies, let me remind you of the fact that the Avengers have a big movie that just came out as well. You know, a little something by the name of Avengers Infinity War? And let me just say, that bad boy lives up to all the hype! WOO! That was so EPIC! I mean, there were one or two things I wasn't a big fan of, but I just had to remind myself that this was still part one of the story, and part two comes out next year, so that makes everything better. Either way, best Avengers movie to date, right there baby! Deadpool got nothing on Infinity War. Nothing! Zilch! Nadda! Zero! That little joke against Deathstroke/Wolverine wannabe/Spider-Man cosplayer has got absolutely nothing on Infinity War.
Aelita: You just had to set him off on that.
Ulrich: Has he even seen Deadpool 2?
Captain America (real one, not the Skrull): Do you really think someone who hates Deadpool as much as he does would ever go to see a movie about said character?
Ulrich: [looks to see that AN is still ranting about the same topic] Good point.
Iron Man: Maybe we should just run the preview before he goes too far into things.
AN: [pausing in said rant] Good idea! Onto the Preview!...
Ulrich and Hulk team-up for another recruitment mission and this one takes them out to Hulk's birth-place: Vista Verde. Upon arriving there, Ulrich quickly comes face-to-face with another hero who's related to a teammate of theirs, and suddenly Hulk's insistence at being on this mission becomes that much more clear. Of course, that doesn't mean that they're going to relax after said meeting, because somehow, every one of these recruitment missions so far has resulted in much more action and excitement than they should, and of course, this time is no different. The amount of gamma powered smashing is about to double next time in…Chapter 13: Avengers Recruit: The Giantess.
In case I did not make it clear, next chapter is in fact going to have us meeting another Hulk, and this one is much more favorable over the first meeting with Red Hulk. If you want to know the villain that they'll be dealing with, you'll have to tune in next chapter and see for yourself. Until then though...
Please read and review, and I'll see ya next time, fellow true believers!
[returns to his rant about why Avengers Infinity War is better than Deadpool 2, and with very good reason]