New York City
July 4, 14:00 EDT
It was just an ordinary day like any other in Great Apple; today was special. While waiting outside a massive mansion, Tony Stark, a.k.a. Ironman, was wearing armour as if he were waiting for someone.
Tony was your average man in his 30s, but he was a multibillionaire and was currently wearing a bright red and gold suit of armour.
"FF.R.I.D.A.Y. am I too early, or is everyone late?" Tony asked.
"No, once you are on time," said a synthetic voice.
FF.R.I.D.A. , in fact, his artificial intelligence, who not only visited him but also helped manage his company.
"What do you mean for once?" Tony asked.
"I mean, you're hardly on time for anything," said FF.R.I.D.A. .
Before Tony could argue any further, he heard something about hitting the concrete in front of the mansion. He instantly knew who caused the commotion, and standing right in front of him was the Hulk.
Hulk was a 7-foot-tall green-skinned giant wearing only a pair of elasticated purple pants.
"Hulk, nice of you to finally show up," said Tony. "Considering you don't have a watch, I say you made perfect timing."
Hulk huffed. "We're here, aren't we?"
Stepping out behind Hulk was a six-foot-tall young man with blue armoured skin.
"Hey, Tony," he waved.
"A-Bomb, glad you could make it there were just waiting on the others," said Tony.
"So I am late!" said a voice above them.
They looked up and saw a young man swinging towards them in a red and blue skintight outfit with a web motif. Everyone recognised him as Spider-Man, and he swung towards them from building to building, using webs that shot up his hands.
He quickly landed on the ground, doing a perfect somersault in the process, looking slightly exhausted. "Am I the last one here?" he asked.
"No, still waiting on four more," said Tony, looking slightly impatient. "I would afford it. At least they would short one time."
They then heard the sound of a motorbike and watched as it parked in front of them. Its occupants contained two men wearing blue and white uniforms, and both had shields sporting the American colours. The driver's shield was circular with a single star in the centre, and they all recognised him as Steve Rogers, a.k.a. Captain America.
"Sorry, Tony, we lost track of time during training," Captain America apologised.
"Cap, I would have thought you, of all people, would understand the necessity of punctuality," said Tony.
"You can blame it on the Ironman," said Captain America's passenger.
He was about the same age as Spider-Man and was African-American, and his shield resembled a traditional mediaeval shield.
"Don't worry, Patriot, as long as everyone is here, it doesn't matter," Tony assured him, though he sounded a little agitated. "Though I am starting to question if that is ever going to happen."
They then heard the sound of an aircraft approaching and looked up to see a futuristic car flying towards them, which had a large blue number 4 painted on it. Then, exiting the flying vehicle was a flaming fireball at first glance, but in fact, it was a person.
It was none other than Johnny Storm, the Human Torch of the Fantastic Four. "Ah, man! I told you we'll be the last ones here."
Then, exiting the Fantastic Car was a haired man roughly the same age as Tony, who suddenly stretched his entire body until he landed on the ground. He was none other than Reed Richards, a.k.a. Mister Fantastic, the leader of the Fantastic Four and possibly the smartest man on the planet.
"Sorry we're late, Tony, but I got caught up in some research on the Negative Zone," he explained.
"Well, I'm glad you were able to pull away from your marvellous discovery, but there is a reason why we brought everyone here," Tony pointed out. He then opened the main gates to the mansion and looked at the young heroes that gathered. "Welcome to Avengers Mansion."
Tony and the other adult heroes began to lead them inside.
Captain America looked at Patriot. "Ready to see the inner sanctum?"
"Born that way," said Patriot.
"I've been inside a few times but never got to hang out with those closer to my age," said Johnny.
"You do realise you're the oldest one among us," Spider-Man pointed out.
"Only a few years," said Johnny. "I'm just relieved to be no longer treated like a little kid."
When they entered the mansion, they came face-to-face with another Avenger, none other than the android Vision. He stood proud and strong with a red cape hanging from his shoulders and a red gem stuck on his forehead.
Once inside, Tony looked at the young heroes. "You guys now have unlimited access to the gym, our fully stocked galley and, of course, our library. So please make yourselves at home."
Johnny frowned as the others entered the lounge and began to relax. He then noticed that the Avengers and Reed had gathered in the corner.
"Okay, let's do a quick debrief," said Captain America and then looked at the young heroes. "We won't be long."
They then made their way towards the elevator door, which immediately began to stand each and every one of them.
"Recognised… Iron Man 02… Hulk 05… Captain America 06… Mister fantastic F01… Vision 016," said F.R.I.D.A.Y.
The elevator door then opened, and they began to enter, but Johnny quickly marched up to them.
"That's it?" he said annoyed. "You promised us a full tour of the Mansion, not a backstage pass."
"Not everyone has full access to the Mansion's upper levels," Hulk pointed out.
"But I've already seen the Mansion's upper levels!" Johnny reminded.
"Johnny, you need to calm down; these things take time," said Reed.
"I thought I would finally get some respect," Johnny glared and then looked to the others. "They're treating us like kids! Worse like sidekicks! We deserve better than this!"
"Touch, we didn't exactly expect to become Avengers right away," said Patriot.
"I'm not looking to be an Avenger," said Johnny.
"You're not helping your cause here, son," said Captain America.
Johnny then turned to Reed. "Reed, please tell me you don't agree with this."
"I'm sorry, Johnny, but this is their house. There are rules," said Reed gently. "And the Avengers feel as if all of you still have much to learn."
Johnny scoffed. "Patriot and A-Bomb, I could understand, but Spider-Man and I are different. I'm part of the greatest exploration team in history, and Spidey has been fighting on his own since he got his powers; he even had his own archenemies. You can't honestly say that we still aren't ready."
They were suddenly interrupted when an image of Carol Danvers, a.k.a. Ms Marvel, appeared on a screen. "Ms Marvel here. There's been an explosion, Scipro-Genesis; it's on fire."
"Black Widow has had suspicions about that place," said Captain America. "This does present the perfect opportunity to…"
"Doctor Strange to Avengers," said a voice and appearing on screen was a man roughly Reed's age wearing a wet red cape. It was none other than the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth, Doctor Strange. "Baron Mordo is planning to open a gateway to the Dark Dimension. Requesting full Avengers response."
Captain America looked at Ms Marvel. "Carol?"
"It's a small fire; local authorities have it under control," she said.
"Then Scipro-Genesis can wait," he said, reaching for his I.D. card. "Avengers Assemble at Doctor Strange's coordinates, Captain America out."
Iron Man looked at Reed. "Sorry, Reed, but I would have to put a hold on those calculations. You can wait in the lab until we get back."
"I do have a few experiments to work on, Tony," said Reed.
"What about us?" Spider-Man asked.
"Stay put," Captain America ordered.
"What?" said Patriot. "Why?"
"This is an Avengers mission," said Hulk.
"You're not trained," said Iron Man.
"Since when?" A-Bomb asked.
"I mean, you're not trained to work as part of this team."
"There will be other missions when you're ready," Captain America assured. "Until then, stay put."
Johnny looked at Reed. "Reed…"
"I'll talk to them when they get back," Reed promised. He accessed the elevator and made his way down to the sub-levels.
The other Avengers made their way to the hangar bay, leaving young heroes alone in the lounge.
"And I'm starting to think that Touch's right," said A-Bomb frustratingly. "How are we ever supposed to be ready when they treat us like numbs?"
"I thought Cap trusted me," said Patriot.
"I've been working on my own for years, and they think I can handle big missions because I'm still in high school," said Spider-Man.
"Now you know why I don't want to join the Avengers," Johnny muttered. "The makes you wonder what else they are hiding."
"What is Scipro-Genesis?" Patriot asked.
"Don't know, but I can find out," said Spider-Man. He then began to access a nearby computer console.
"Access denied," said the computer.
"Oh, I don't think so," said Spider-Man, smiling, then inserted a USB drive into the console and immediately gained access.
"Whoa, how are you doing that?" Rick asked.
"I'm not just a pretty face, or should that the mask," said Spider-Man. "I'm using the hacking algorithm I designed."
"Access granted," said the computer.
Spider-Man then brought up the information on Scipro-Genesis. "Let's see, according to this Scipro-Genesis, it's a genetics lab located here in Manhattan, but that's as far as my access goes."
"Well, if Black Widow has had suspicions, then maybe it's worth investigating," Johnny suggested.
"Solve their case before they do," said Patriot, and a small smile appeared on his face. "It would be poetic justice."
"They did tell us to stay put," Spider-Man pointed out.
"For blotting out the sun mission, not this," said Johnny.
"If you guys are suggesting going to Scipro-Genesis, then I'm in," said A-Bomb.
"As a solo hero, I don't really need to follow the Avengers," said Spider-Man.
They all then turned to Patriot
"Cap always suggested that I use my initiative," he said.
"I would advise against this course of action," said a voice.
They turned around, and standing there was a well-dressed old man; it was Jarvis Iron Man's butler.
"Uh, this is not what it looks like," said Spider-Man.
"It looks like you're disobeying the Avengers and Master Richards, and you plan to investigate a genetics lab that is currently under investigation," he said.
"Then I guess that is exactly what it looks like," said Spider-Man awkwardly.
"Are you going to stop us?" Patriot asked.
"I'm not your parents. I can't tell you what to do, and I can see that you're all frustrated by being treated," he said. "However, I would ask you to reconsider."
"Sorry, Jarvis, but we need to do this," said A-Bomb.
"Then I won't stop you," Jarvis sighed.
"Let's go before he changes his mind," said Johnny.
They immediately made their way to the front door, passing Jarvis as they went out.
At Scipro-Genesis, firefighters were trying to put out the flames, but two scientists were trapped on the top floor.
"Stay put. We will get you out!" the fire chief assured them.
Then suddenly, an explosion knocked the scientists out of the window. Fortunately for them, Johnny rocketed to their rescue and grabbed them before they hit the ground, gently putting them on the ground.
"It's the Human Torch!" said the fire chief.
The others arrived just a few moments later.
"Always showing off," said Spider-Man.
"Does he always charge in without thinking?" Patriot asked.
"Why do you think Reed Richards is the one in charge of the Fantastic Four?"
"Enough talk, let's get this done," said A-Bomb, running towards the building.
He then jumped past the fireman and entered the open window, followed closely by Johnny.
"We better go after them," said Spider-Man and grabbed Patriot. "Hold on tight."
He then fired some webbing and swung towards the open window. Once they got inside, they found A-Bomb and Johnny, who were already investigating the office.
"Thanks for waiting," said Patriot.
"What, you guys were slow?" said Johnny.
"Now that we're here, let's do a little investigating," said Spider-Man as he sat down at the nearest computer and began accessing it.
Patriot began to wander to the corridor when he heard the sound of an elevator. He turned around and saw the shadow of something with horns in the elevator as the doors closed. A split second later, the others joined him.
"There was something in the—" he frowned.
"Shouldn't the elevators be locked down?" A-Bomb asked.
"And that's a high-speed express elevator," said Spider-Man. "This doesn't belong on a two-storey building."
"Neither does what I saw," Patriot added.
A-Bomb walked up and pried the doors open, and in the elevator shaft, they saw that it had gone down for miles.
"Guess that's why they need an express elevator," said Spider-Man.
He then fired some webbing at the top of the elevator and lowered himself. Johnny flew down while the others grabbed hold of Spider-Man's webbing and slid down it.
Spider-Man stopped at Sublevel 26 and jumped over to the elevator door.
"Shouldn't we go further down?" Johnny asked, hovering next to him.
"We got no idea what the layout of this building we are supposed to investigate is," said Spider-Man as Patriot and A-Bomb arrived.
Spider-Man began to access the terminal. "I'm bypassing the security… there go!"
A-Bomb and pried the doors open.
When they entered the floor, they saw a number of corridors; Johnny didn't waste any time and immediately took off.
"Johnny, wait!" Spider-Man yelled.
Johnny heard some large footsteps and saw giant behemoth creatures walking straight towards him when he turned around the corner. But we would have been flattened if Spider-Man hadn't fired some webbing and pulled him back.
"Thanks, Webs," said Johnny, relieved.
"Next time, don't rush off ahead," said Patriot.
The fourth then watched as the giant creatures walked by, and they noticed that there was a small gnome-like creature on one of the creature's heads. The small creature looked down at the minute horns began to glow.
"No, nothing going on here," said Spider-Man sarcastically.
Elsewhere in the building, a grey-haired scientist was working on an experiment. His name was Miles Warren, and he was more or less in charge of Scipro-Genesis.
Then, entering the lab was a man wearing a yellow and black line outfit and two massive metal gauntlets. His name was Herman Schultz, but he also went by the name of Shocker.
"Professor Warren," he said as he entered the lab with one of those strange gnome-like creatures on his shoulder.
"Tell me, Shocker, what part of no interruptions did you not understand?" Warren asked as he stored his latest chemical.
"A Genomorph on sublevel 26 reports four intruders?" Shocker reported.
Warren sighed. "Did I miss a promoter breach alert?"
Shocker narrowed his eyes. "No."
"Then the G-gnome is confused," said Warren. "Whatever might occur in our fake lab above ground, the real Scipro-Genesis is the most secure facility in New York."
"My job to keep it that way."
"Fine, take a squad," Warren relented.
Shocker was about to leave when he came face-to-face with a humanoid creature with two large horns sticking out of its forehead.
"Might I recommend that Shocker leave his G-Gnome behind," the creature suggested. "If violence were to occur…"
"The little guy would be in my way," Shocker agreed.
"No!" said Warren strongly and began to rub the chin of a G-Gnome on his desk. "The advantage of instant telepathic communication outweighs other concerns."
The G-Gnome's horns began to glow, as did the horns on the G-Gnome on Shocker's shoulder.
"I need my G-Gnome with me at all times," said Shocker, leaving the lab.
Meanwhile, the young heroes managed to infiltrate another section of the sublevel and were shocked to discover what was inside it.
"Okay, didn't expect to see this," said Spider-Man.
Inside, they could see several insect-like creatures admitting electricity in containers.
"Are these things producing electricity," said A-Bomb.
"No wonder they've been able to keep this massive underground facility a secret from the world," said Patriot. "The real Scipro-Genesis isn't on the grid; it would generate its own power. They must create these creatures for this purpose."
"But what are these things?" Johnny asked.
"They're called Genomorphs," said Spider-Man as he accessed the computer terminal. "Just check the stats on these things: superstrength, telepathy, razor claws. These are living weapons."
"They're engineering an army, but for who?" Patriot asked.
"I found something else," said Spider-Man. "Project: Inhuman… the file is triple encrypted. I can't—" Then suddenly, his spidey sense buzzed. "Uh, guys, we're in trouble."
"Don't move!" said a voice.
They quickly turned around and saw Shocker had just arrived with a squad of creatures with razor-sharp claws. Spider-Man recognised them as G-Elves from the files he just read.
"Shocker?" Spider-Man gasped.
"Spider-Man!" Shocker glared. "Well, I didn't expect to see you in these parts."
"You know this dude?" A-Bomb asked.
"Herman Schultz, a.k.a. the Shocker," said Patriot as he raised his shield. "He's one of Spidey's baddies, a mercenary for hire."
"Yeah, and my current job is head of security for Scipro-Genesis, and you guys are intruding," he said as he raised his gauntlets.
"Move!" Spider-Man yelled quickly, jumping out of the way.
Shocker then fired a powerful blast from his gauntlets. Patriot was able to roll out of the way, but Johnny and A-Bomb failed to get out of the way in time and were sent backwards.
"Take them down, no mercy!" Shocker ordered the creatures.
The creatures immediately moved in, swiping their claws at them. Patriot quickly raised his shield, blocking one of them before kicking it back. Then, he tossed his shield at the second one, which spun back to him.
Spider-Man landed on the wall and quickly jumped at Shocker just as he tried to blast him. With enough force, he knocked onto the ground, quickly jumped off of him, and fired some webbing at him.
Johnny had managed to get back up, ignited himself, and unleashed a burst of flames from the creatures.
"Gangway!" A-Bomb yelled as he rolled into a ball and rolled towards the creatures, knocking them down like Skittles.
"Let's move it!" Spider-Man yelled as they made their way back to the elevator.
When they got to the elevator, Spider-Man had to hack the terminal to open it.
"Torch, think you can buy some time?" Patriot asked.
"You got it!" said Johnny and created a burst of flames, creating a wall of fire.
Spider-Man managed to open the elevator, and they quickly got inside. The doors then closed, and Patriot hit one of the buttons, and that's when they noticed that they were going down.
"We're heading down?" Spider-Man questioned.
"Dude out is up," A-Bomb pointed out.
"Why do you want us to go deeper?" Johnny asked.
"Because our mission tells us to continue investigating," said Patriot simply. "The Avengers may not get another chance, so we need to gather as much information as we can. That means we need to find out what Project Inhuman needs, and that is on sublevel 52."
"This is getting a little out of hand," said Spider-Man. "Perhaps we should contact the Avengers."
They soon reached sublevel 52, and the doors opened.
The walls looked as if they were organic, and there were glowing orbs in the walls.
"We are already here," said Johnny, looking at Spider-Man.
"We've come this far," A-Bomb shrugged.
The two of them then ran off ahead after Patriot. Spider-Man sighed and reluctantly followed them until they reached a fork in the road.
"Which way?" Spider-Man asked.
"Yeah, bizarre-looking hallway number one or bazaar-looking hallway two?" said Johnny.
Spider-Man spidey sense then tingled. "Spidey sense is buzzing!"
"And I think that's the reason why," said A-Bomb, pointing ahead of them.
Ahead of them, they saw a humanoid horned creature that Spider-Man recognised from the files as a G-Goblin.
"Hold!" he said, blocking their path.
His horns glowed as he lifted several containers and sent them straight at them, showing that he had telekinesis. They quickly ducked, and the containers flew overhead and exploded the wall behind them.
"Looks like we're taking bazaar-looking hallway two," said Spider-Man.
"Number two sounds good to me," said A-Bomb.
Before then quickly ran down the said hallway as the G-Goblin tossed a few more containers their way. A few seconds later, Shocker exited the elevator with some G-Elves.
"They're headed for Project: Inhuman!" he said.
Shocker and his squad ran down the hallway.
Johnny took off ahead of the others and turned around just in time for the security doors to open. A scientist exited from this room, and the doors began to close behind her. Johnny quickly turned off his claims and then skidded across the floor, knocking her off her feet in the process.
He looked at the security doors and saw the words Project: Inhuman on them. He could also see they were closing. He looked ahead and saw the other just turned round the corner, but there was no way they could make it in time before the doors closed. He quickly grabbed a container, placed it between the doors, and stopped them.
"Hurray!" he yelled.
They quickly jumped through the door just as Shocker and his squad turned round the corner. A-Bomb then kicks the container away, and the door slammed shut.
Spider-Man quickly accessed the computer terminal and locked the doors. "I disabled the door; they can't get in, but…"
"…we can't get out," Patriot finished.
"You mean which wrapped in here?" A-Bomb moaned.
"Uh, guys," said Johnny. "You might want to see this."
He pressed down on the terminal in front of him, turning the lights on, and what they saw shocked them more than anything they had encountered so far. A beautiful blonde-haired girl, roughly Spider-Man's age, was Trapped in a capsule, wearing a yellow costume with black stripes.
"Whoa," said Spider-Man.
"She's beautiful," said Johnny and looked at Spider-Man. "She's as hot as the girls you hang out with, Webs."
"Thanks, Johnny," said Spider-Man as Patriot and A-Bomb looked at him blankly. "Thanks for showing my social life with everyone."
"Wait, you've got multiple girlfriends and your science nerd?" said A-Bomb.
Spider-Man narrowed his eyes. "I resent the word nerd, and I don't have multiple girlfriends. I just got a lot of girls into me."
"It is a really important conversation right now?" Patriot asked. "In case you forgot, we got a girl in a test tube over there and a bunch of bad guys knocking on our front door. Now, can you find out who she is?"
"Right, sorry," said Spider-Man and began to hack the terminal. "According to this, she was found in a crash site somewhere out in the desert. When they approached her, she lashed out, unleashing forms of elemental attacks, wind, water, fire."
"Is she a mutant?" Patriot asked. "I've heard there are organisations that research and experiment on mutants."
"She doesn't possess an X-gene, and she's not a mutated human either," Spider-Man informed them. "She does possess human D.N.A., but it seemed to be merged with another unknown D.N.A. strand. Also, according to this, the ship she was on was of unknown origin, but it was highly speculated that it was extraterrestrial."
"You're saying she's an alien, but she looks human?" Johnny frowned.
"Uh, I don't exactly look human myself, Touch," A-Bomb pointed out. "And the same could be said for your buddy Ben Grimm."
"Point taken," said Johnny.
"Are they running some sort of experiment on her?" Patriot asked.
"They've taken samples of her DD.N.A., and it looked as if it uses a template to create those Genemorphs," said Spider-Man.
"Is she all right?" Johnny asked, looking at the girl.
"Medically, she's all right, but they kept her under sedation ever since they were brought here," Spider-Man informed them. "I guess they needed to stay alive to continuously take a life strain of D.N.A. so they can improve their Genomorphs program, but I still have no idea what they want to use this army for."
"Maybe now would be a good time to call the Avengers," A-Bomb suggested.
Patriot nodded and reached for his radio, but all he got was static. The others did the same, but they were only able to get static.
"No signal," said Patriot.
"We're into deep, literally," said Johnny.
On the other side of the door, Shocker was attempting to break in. He had a scientist with him to hack the door controls but did not have much success.
Professor Warren then arrived, not looking too pleased. "They're still in there? With the subject?"
"We can't get the door open," said Shocker. "I've even tried using gauntlets to break it down."
Warren then turned to the G-Goblin. "Use your telekinesis!"
"I have tried to no avail," he said.
"Useless!" he roared and marched up to Shocker. "This is a debacle; get some G-Trolls down here to muscle the door open now!"
"They're already on their way," said Shocker. "But even if we break through, you know, taking them down won't be easy. I've tangled with Spider-Man more times than I can count, and now he's got backup."
"I would rather handle them on the Board of Directors," said Warren. "Speaking of which, I need to inform you of this situation if they don't know about it already. To be updated on the situation."
Meanwhile, inside the lab, the heroes were looking at one another.
"We can't just leave her in there," said Johnny.
"And he's not just saying that because she's super hot," said A-Bomb.
"Even if we escape, we may not get another chance to rescue her," said Spider-Man.
Patriot nodded. "Set her free."
Spider-Man then began to deactivate the status chamber, and moments later, it opened.
Johnny wasted no time and approached her. "Come on, beautiful. Time to rise and shine."
The girl opened her eyes and immediately screamed, and then she fired a powerful gust of wind that sent Johnny flying across the room.
"Ow!" he groaned.
"Who are you?" the girl asked terrified. "What do you want with me?"
Patriot held his hands out. "We don't mean you any harm; in fact, we're here to rescue you."
The girl looked at them suspiciously and still clearly terrified.
"What's the last thing you remember?" Patriot asked gently.
"I-I can't remember," she said.
"Can you remember your name?" Spider-Man asked.
"Cr-Crystal, I think," she said.
"That's a beautiful name," said Johnny as he rose to his feet.
"Torch, now is not the time for flirting," said Patriot.
"Is anyone going to explain what's going on here?" Crystal asked.
"Well, we came to investigate this genetics lab, only to discover that it is breeding an army of genetic clones; we came down to the basement, found you here and discovered that they were using you as a template for their cloning experiments. Now trying to break through the doors to capture us and no doubt experiment on us before killing us," said A-Bomb.
"What?" Crystal stared.
Spider-Man then approached her. "Look, I know you have no reason to trust us, but we are here to help."
"Spidey's right, we won't let anything happen to you," Johnny promised.
They then heard banging against the security doors, indicating that something large was attempting to break through.
"You better not make promises we can't keep, Johnny," said Spider-Man. "Because whatever is behind that door, it is making my Spidey sense buzz like crazy."
"So, how do you plan on rescuing me?" Crystal asked. "Because to me, it looks like you're the ones who need rescuing."
They all looked at one another, not quite sure how to answer that, and then they heard another bang against the security doors.
Reed Richards led a team comprised of his fiancée Susan Storm, his younger brother Jonathan Storm, and his best friend Benjamin Grimm into space in 2007 to study a form of cosmic radiation.
However, Victor Von Doom sabotaged the shield he had designed to protect them from the radiation. As a result of their exposure to cosmic radiation, they underwent dramatic changes, becoming Mister Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, and The Thing.
Shortly after, they formed the Fantastic Four and decided to use their powers to protect the planet.
The Avengers were formed in 2008 when Thor's adopted brother, Loki, led an alien army called the Chitauri. However, Thor, Iron Man, Wasp, a.k.a. Janet Van Dyne, Ant-Man a.k.a. Henry 'Hank' Pym, who was now known as Yellowjacket, and Hulk arrived to stop the invasion and then soon form the Avengers to help defend the planet.