Avengers: Age of Remnant

by free man writer

There's always a story to be told. A story of heroism overcoming the most daunting of odds and challenges. A tale we've seen before and one that needs to be told to its end. The beginning of a new tale. A new age. An Age where Remnants paved the way for heroes. Reboot of Avenging Remnant, co-written/created with Jebest4781 and BulletStormX.

5. We're Gonna Need Time To Adjust

Let's keep the ball rolling in this New Year.

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.

Avengers Age of Remnant Chapter 5: We're gonna need time to adjust

She had been alone in her throne room for some time now.

The Queen of the Grimmlands and ruler of the Grimm sat at the head of her table with a large, decrepit book that she had been reading over for some time now.

Salem has been over this book a number of times and yet still, in her many centuries of immortality has yet to fully grasp all that resides within the pages of this ancient tome.

It was a Remnant of a time long passed before the God of Darkness wiped out humanity all those years ago.

She was a different woman back then or maybe, she was lying to herself.

Maybe Salem was always the woman seated here. She just never had the chance to bring this side of her out.

…Or, and a big or, it was probably that dip into the pool of Grimm in the realm of the Dark God after she swam through this world's fountain of apparent youth.

Yeah, it was probably that.

Madness comes in threes.

First the love of her life, then immortality and finally her final attempt at suicide.

Strange eternal life she has.

Now, here she was, deep in her studies with the book in her hands.

Whilst she had been around for multiple centuries, in terms of lifetime, this tome was a recent addition to her collection.

It actually came with her advisor Agatha when the witch first arrived here in her domain.

When Salem first encountered the wanderer, she had initially intended on interrogating her as to how she got to her realm before killing her.

Imagine the Queen's surprise when she discovered this newcomer was capable of using magic, an ability long believed to have vanished from Remnant.

She was extraordinarily gifted and skilled, being able to put up quite a challenge for Salem.

But eventually, she was overwhelmed by Salem's raw strength and continued existence; which exhausted the intruder after quite the amount of time trying to kill her.

After their battle subsided, she opted to question this newcomer and discovered a litany of fascinating discoveries.

For starters, Agatha came from a world not of her own called Earth.

That tidbit was just one of many surprising revelations.

Learning about life outside of Remnant was one thing…

But for Agatha to come from a Coven of witches named after her yet having nothing to do with her?

This had to be more than a simple coincidence.

So many questions and thankfully, they had all the time in the world being that Agatha was apparently also one of longevity.

With this new witch, she brought with her a book of ancient and vast knowledge from her homeworld that shockingly had deeper rooted connections with Remnant than she realized.

"Reading once again, Mistress?"

Salem was snapped out of deep thoughts as she looked up to see Agatha entering the throne room.

"There is still much left to learn in this book, Harkness." Salem remarked conversationally, shutting the large tome shut. "You yourself admit to your lack of understanding of the Necronomicon."

Agatha only hummed to herself, fingers trailing over the back of each chair before seating herself right next to her Mistress and sliding the book to herself.

"My master never elaborated on its knowledge, only reading off what was allowed at the time." Agatha said with a small shrug of her shoulders. "No matter. Everything here will eventually be ours to use once the time comes."

"And how many more decades or centuries do you intend that to be?" Salem asked in a dry voice.

"How many are you willing to spare?" She lightly inquired in return.

Salem narrowed her eyes at the woman yet found her lip twitching upwards.

"Did you always talk like that to your coven mother, Harkness or is it just me?"

"Oh, always." Agatha answered with no hesitation. "It's funny when people say how the more things change, the more they stay the same. Several hundred years of walking multiple lifetimes and some things remain consistent."

"And what would that be?"

"Humanity and their want for struggle. Their own want for self-destruction in the pursuit of meaningless power."

"And what of that which does incite change?"

Agatha was silent momentarily, slightly unsure as to what Salem was speaking of until realization dawned upon her face.

"You speak of those troublesome individuals that halted Cinder in her attempt at the Fall Maiden, yes?"

"I am. Actually something happened recently pertaining to them."

Harkness tilted her head, leaning upon the table now. "Go on."

"I received word from our informant in Haven."

Agatha scoffed. "What does that coward Leonardo has to tell us that we don't already know?"

Salem arched a brow at her before continuing on. "There has been a new development and those people who stopped Cinder and her team are a part of it."

Her advisor blinked at this unexpected news. "Truly?"

"Yes, and it appears they are not alone." Salem revealed. "From what Leonardo has told me, there were two others with them when they had apparently met with Ozpin. Five in total from what he told me."

"Anything else?" Agatha asked, now greatly intrigued by this development.

"Not much else other than then the prospect of there perhaps being two other individuals associated with these five on Remnant."

"Then we'll be needing to look out for them as well." The Witch was clearly not one for such tasks. "Lovely. Anything else he told us?"

Salem shook her head. "It was only a barebones sort of information. But it's enough that we need to be alert for the time being. Five of these individuals have already fallen into the hands of Ozpin. We will have to watch them all carefully given what Cinder and her subordinates told us of the two in particular that stopped them. If their apparent companions are anything like them…"

"Say no more. This will clearly get the others more things to work with."

"Perhaps…"

Agatha raised a brow at Salem's response.

"Are you expecting something else?"

"What I expect is Ozpin has a sudden and foolish belief that he has an advantage over us."

"Unless he somehow found something stronger than those brother gods; good luck with that."

That actually irked the Grimm queen, making her shoot a murderous glare towards Agatha who had the decency to look away from her blood red eyes.

"What? I'm just saying…"

"I know. Still don't like bringing them up no matter how long it's been."

"Alright, alright." Agatha said in a pacifying manner. "Apologies, Mistress. I overstepped myself."

"See that you don't next time." Salem said in a tone indicating she wished to be left alone.

Sensing this, Agatha quickly stood from her seat and deftly walked away, leaving her Mistress to herself.

Salem was silent, interlacing her fingers whilst propping her elbows upon the table, listening to the heels of Agatha's shoes get further and further away until she was left with ambient silence.

She had closed her eyes, her mind a whirl with activity.

She had long given up hope of there being any other means of her true death. Only the brothers may do so and had plans on making it happen.

Until then, all she could do was play the metaphysical chessboard for all these years with her adversary.

The Grimm queen's eyes opened, a deadly glint in them. "I await your move, Ozma."

-Scene Cut-

"If you eat all those cookies, you do realize you're gonna have a cavity in every other tooth, right?"

The answer she got was one of a muffled protest.

"Chew before you swallow, sis."

*GULP* *FWAAA~~*

"Oh please~ No matter how many years I've eaten these sweet deliciousness, I've never gotten one at all."

"You think milk protects you from these sweet deviants?"

"It is what makes me grow and be strong."

The young cookie eater flexed in a dramatic fashion, a ray of light from seemingly nowhere shining down upon her.

Her older critic simply laughed and flipped the hood she wore over her eyes.

"Whatever you say, Rubes."

"Yang~~" Ruby Rose whined aloud, tossing her head back to get the hood off. "I just washed, dried and combed my hair."

"Which you're gonna have in a mess as soon as you wake up." Yang Xiao-Long retorted with a cheeky smile in place.

"Not like we're gonna be going anywhere." Ruby said with an annoyed huff, giving her older sister a stink eye.

"Wha- then why complain about your hair? We're not going anywhere so who would even see it?"

"Hypocrite!" Rose proclaimed, tossing her pillow at her sister's face. "You who spend hours on end fawning over her hair have no right to speak of my beautiful follicles."

"Nobody calls hair follicles, Ruby." Yang said with a dry laugh.

"Girls." Came a stern voice from outside Yang's room. "Are you two goofing off or doing your homework like you're supposed to be doing."

"We are dad." Yang shouted back.

It was the weekend and as much as the sisters wanted to go out and about, they were confined to their rooms.

Reason being their father caught them in the act getting home late the other night and had essentially grounded them.

In order to pass the time, the sisters needed to finish up whatever homework they had from Signal, the academy they presently went to.

Well not for long.

In the coming school year, Yang will be attending Beacon Academy while Ruby will join her… in a few years.

"Uh huh." Was the disbelieving response of Taiyang. "Don't make me come in there and search your room for any games. And I don't want you on your scrolls the entire time."

"But what if we need to call someone?" Ruby innocently asked.

"Then you would be running it by me first."

"That's lame dad." Yang said.

"It's what you get for coming in late, young lady."

The blond brawler only huffed, blowing a strand of her hair out her face as she gazed down at her homework that was almost complete.

Lying on her bed, Yang looked to the side to gaze at the Achieve Men boy band poster.

She really wanted to play some of their songs right now, let alone any songs in general. But all of her music was on her scroll and if she played anything, then their father would take it away.

"Hey Yang."

"Hmmm?"

"You never explained to me what happened that night with that boy?"

Yang had a coy, mischievous smile that appeared suddenly. "Ooooh~~ is my little sister in the mood for some gossip?"

"No you dingus." Ruby said with a roll of her eyes. "I just wanted to know the whole story. You just told me he was your "clubbing" buddy for the night."

"You just want to waste time instead of doing your homework."

"I'm already done with mine."

"You are? Can you help me with mine then?"

"Yang." Ruby said with a puff of her cheeks.

Her older sister laughed at her plight, placing her hands behind her head as she kicked her feet up and stretched out.

"Well~ it was kind of an accident how we met. Or… coincidence? Happenstance? It wasn't planned, is what I'm saying."

"Oh, that I believe."

Yang's head shot up slightly with an angled brow. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"That you throw a punch first before you think." Was Ruby's simple and sufficient response.

Rather than get peeved, the blond snorted, leaning her head back down.

"Yeah, that sounds about right."

"So about him…"

"What about him?"

"Well, who was he?" Ruby asked, gaining stars in her eyes. "And what was that suit of his? I can tell it was lined with tech from top to bottom!"

"How can ya tell? It was a onesie."

"It was far more than a onesie Yang." Ruby proclaimed. "I can smell the tech off of him."

"You could smell it?" Yang snorted. "Ew, sis."

"You know what I mean. But in all seriousness, who was he?"

"Just some guy I met and fought with."

"Wha- that's it? That can't be it."

"What? It was." Yang said defensively. "He was apparently raised to be a "Gentlemen"-"

"So he helped you in a bar fight?" Ruby said in confusion. "How is that making him a gentleman?"

"It's called chivalry Rubes." The older sister remarked. "Apparently, there are still signs of it in this crazy world."

Not that she would voice it, just so she wouldn't get teased by her sister, but she really liked her time with him. There was this sense of thrill with him. More than she perhaps never felt before. It may have been with him swinging her around most of Vale to get away from the authorities to get her back to her beloved Bumblebee.

Or just having him fight by her side while being abnormally entertaining to be around. On top of being a gentleman in giving her what's hers; not that it really wasn't.

And the fact that his first words to her were about her beauty added brownie points in her mind.

Good of him to recognize it when he sees it.

"So what's his name?"

"What, did ya forget already? It's Peter Parker, remember?"

Ruby blanked for a moment before she recalled the night from before. "Oh yeah… kinda forgot… with us being grounded and all."

Yang shook her head with an amused smile. "You're so weird sometimes, sis."

Her little sister only pulled on her left eyelid whilst sticking her tongue out.

The blond only laughed at this, feeling herself relaxed as she adjusted herself on her bed.

"Wonder if I'll see him again." Yang said aloud. "He was real fun to be around."

"Maybe you'll run into him again in Vale." Ruby said chipperly. "Or he could wind up going to Beacon like you."

Yang's shoulders shifted up and down. "Maybe. He sure knew how to fight. Wouldn't be surprised to see him there."

As the two sisters continued conversing, they were unaware of their father Taiyang standing outside the room.

He had a small smile on his face as he listened to his two daughters talk animatedly.

Though he couldn't help but feel a spike of fatherly concern upon hearing about this "Peter Parker" that Yang had taken an interest in.

It was clear for the father to hear from the way she spoke of this boy and immediately, it sent him on edge.

It didn't help that Ruby appeared equally as interested in this boy though thankfully, it was for far more innocent reasons, one relaying her interests in weapons.

Still, if Yang indeed has any interests with his boy, he would want to meet him and have words with him.

After dusting off his shotgun kept in the closet.

No daughter of his would be seeing anyone that wouldn't meet his standards. His… womanizing standards… ok, maybe he wouldn't be too hard on the kid but dammit if he wasn't going to do his job as a dad.

For now though, it was time to feed their dog Zwei and take him out on a walk.

The little corgi had trotted up to him and sat down, leash in mouth and stared up at his owner expectantly.

"Alright boy." Taiyang said softly, taking the leash out of his mouth. "Come on."

-Scene Cut-

"Any luck?"

"Nada, haven't been able to contact Tony or Sam."

"We've only been at this for several days, you know."

"And in that time, we managed to get back together."

"That was a lucky coincidence really."

"So what, our luck ran out?"

"I don't think us winding up on another world accidentally counts as luck."

The five Avengers that resided within Beacon sat around a circular table, having lunch together at this time.

They were seated in the currently empty cafeteria of this apparent prestigious academy wherein the institution trains and teaches the future protectors of this world.

It was bizarre to say the least in being on another world where the food that they had on Earth was the same here.

Makes one wonder whether this was a cosmic coincidence or something far more deeper that they had yet to see.

Still, it was a strange comfort to have such familiar foods for them to eat. As if a piece of home had followed them here.

It had been only a number of days since their arrival and it's currently the weekend.

There were a few academy students still on campus as the rest are either visiting the nearby city, in their dorm rooms for homework or out on missions.

The Avengers themselves were in the process of devising a plan.

That plan being simply to find Tony and Sam and figuring out what to do next. Ozpin had told them a great deal in regards to this Salem who was apparently someone who was an immortal and hellbent on the destruction of the world.

So… a usual sort of threat that the Avengers have faced off before.

HYDRA, Loki, Ultron and that was just in team settings.

Though dealing with a threat that had been around for thousands of years with no apparent means of killing them was a slightly new one to them.

Regardless, if this Salem were to rear her head in their direction and come after them, they would be ready.

Granted that was likely a reality since they had stopped one of her subordinates from acquiring an objective of hers so they were really just waiting for the most part.

"Alright, so, what's the plan Cap?" Clint asked, arms crossed and looking over at the leader of the Avengers. "You usually have one off the top of your head."

"Well dealing with us being scattered on a world that isn't Earth is a new one." Steve wryly stated.

"Doesn't waking up 70 years in the future count as one?" Pietro remarked, wolfing down food in one to two bites. Speedy metabolisms garner large appetites.

"That sounds more like a technicality, honestly." Peter commented, fiddling with his web shooters. "It's still Earth in the end."

"And stop eating with your mouth full, Pietro." Wanda admonished with an unamused look, having used her telekinetic powers to catch crumbs flying out from her brother's mouth.

He had the decency to look sheepish as he wiped his mouth and finished what he was chewing on.

"We need to first find our wayward teammates." Steve said firmly. "With all seven of us, we'll at least have some idea of what all of us can do in finding a way home."

"Gonna place the whole process on Tony?" Pietro asked with a knowing grin.

"Well if he claims to be a genius billionaire, it's high time he lives up to that moniker in a positive manner."

"Yeah, cause as it stands, he's one for one." Clint tacked on. "His suits, good. Ultron? Bad. Needs a good tally mark to break the tie."

"Don't I count as a good deed?" Peter innocently asked.

"You were already doing hero work before meeting us, Peter." Wanda kindly said. "You don't count."

Peter found himself smiling bashfully at the praise.

"Ok, so that aside, we gotta start figuring out where they could be." Clint spoke up.

Pulling out a phone similar to Tony's, the archer flicked it open and waved it forward.

A holographic screen appeared that displayed a map of the recently scanned planet of Remnant.

Four regions were highlighted, signifying the four Kingdoms of this world.

"Alright so we're here in Vale." Barton started off, pointing to the country they resided in at this time. "We've got Vacuo, Haven and Atlas as our other prominent places to explore."

"What about all the frontier colonies and villages?" Peter asked.

"The what?"

"I read about them last night." Parker said, his finger trailing across a number of areas that weren't within the four kingdom territories. "There's a lot of them out there so…"

"They could have also wound up there." Steve said with a frown.

"God forbid they wound up in the Grimmlands." Wanda said with a disturbed look. "Don't know what may happen if-"

"Let's not think about it." Steve said with a shake of his head.

"But what if-"

"Thinking like that won't get us anywhere." Rogers declared. "We just need to hold out and hope that they're both alright."

"Another question we haven't considered, did they appear here together or separately?" Clint asked.

"I think they could be together." Pietro stated.

"What makes ya say that?"

"Aside from you, didn't all of us wind up in pairs?" The silver haired twin pointed out. "So maybe that's what happened with Stark and Wilson."

"Fingers crossed."

"And if separated?"

"They can handle themselves." Steve said with confidence. "Sam's a seasoned soldier before he was an Avenger. And if Stark can make a suit in a cave with a box of scraps…"

"Maybe we should just wait for some kind of loud noise and destruction." Wanda suggested. "That's usually not far behind from when we work."

"That's not depressing to hear at all." Peter said with his shoulders sagging. "Do we really cause that much collateral?"

"It's usually cause of stuff that wants to blow everything up." Clint retorted. "Don't let it get to ya, kid."

Steve cleared his throat, making them turn to him as he was gazing at Remnants map intently.

"Ok, where should we start?" Rogers asked the team. "Ozpin mentioned this CCT network that is able to connect the Four Kingdoms and send out messages to the four corners of Remnant."

"Their version of the internet." Pietro idly said.

"Maybe we can send them a message through this network and Tony or his AI Friday can pick up on it." Clint suggested.

"That's a great idea." Peter cheerfully said. "Mr. Stark and Friday can definitely find us on the CCT."

"Would need to perhaps make the message such a way for either of them to pick up on that it's us." Wanda said, humming in thought as the idea held promise.

This world had tech similar to their own home so perhaps finding their lost comrades wouldn't be as difficult as initially believed.

Before they were able to speak any further, they heard the sound of a man clearing his throat from nearby.

The five of them looked over to see a middle-aged man standing close by with an amicable smile.

He had brown hair with light green eyes behind a pair of glasses he wore. His clothing was simple with a white button up shirt, striped tie, brown vest, blue jeans and brown shoes. The only unique aesthetic to his wardrobe were the golden lines that accented his jeans and vest.

"Never seen you folks around here before. You must be new around here." He said politely.

"We are. Steve Rogers." Cap said.

The rest of the team quickly introduced themselves in rapid succession, a look of slight recognition dawning upon the brown haired man.

"Ah, so you must be these Avengers Ozpin has told me about." The man said with a bright smile.

"Yeah, that's us." Steve said politely. "And you are?"

"Newt Featherington." He introduced himself, hand outstretched. "I'm the smith here at Beacon academy. Weapon creation, upkeep and tech designs all around."

"Pleasure to meet you." Steve said. "But if you don't mind me asking, can we do something for you?"

"You already have to a degree." Newt stated. "Your rescue of Amber, the Fall Maiden, was of a great relief to hear."

"So you're in Oz's little circle." Clint said factually then suggestively.

"For some time now, yes." He confirmed with a nod. "He said it was the… twins was it?"

"That's us." Pietro said, thumbing to himself and Wanda.

"So I don't count?" Barton sarcastically asked.

"Well, we did do most of the heavy lifting." The Speedster said with a smug grin and flex of his arm.

Clint and Wanda simply rolled their eyes at the same time, the latter looking at Newt.

"Since you spoke of her, how is Amber?" The telepath asked.

"I'm glad you asked." Newt said with a bright smile. "Care to come and see for yourselves?"

"We'll hang back." Clint stated. "Still gotta figure things out on our end. Pietro, Wanda, why don't you two go. She could use some familiar faces."

"Sure thing." Pietro said. "Wanted to see how she was doing anyway."

"This way you two." Newt gestured for them to follow. "And it was nice meeting you all. Perhaps we can help one another in the future."

"Maybe." Steve said, waving goodbye as the twins followed after the Beacon Professor.

The twins walked behind the newly met acquaintance with Pietro speaking up first.

"So Newt…"

"Hmmm?"

"How is Amber right now? Sucks that we didn't get to her in time and all when I say this but last we checked on her, she took an arrow to her back. Like her spinal area." The speedy Avenger said, arm subconsciously reaching for his own back.

Wanda grimaced at that. "That can be dangerous, yeah? Was there any… serious and permanent damage?"

Newt let out a sigh, hand running through his hair. "Have to admit when I saw Amber's condition, I had my work cut out for me. The arrowhead narrowly missed her spinal cord. And I mean by mere centimeters."

The duo shivered as they were led into the medical wing by Newt and the first person they saw was Amber laid out in a bed on the furthest corner of the room.

Both twins quickly rushed over to the Maidens' side.

"Easy now." Newt said gently. "She's not going anywhere."

"She's been here all this time?" Wanda asked, looking back at Featherington who approached the foot of the bed.

"Yes, since Qrow brought her in." Newt said. "Stand back, if you would. It is actually time for her healing session."

They acquiesced, watching as the Professor walked around the bed to a metallic compartment on the wall.

He pulled out a cylinder that he pressed down upon and it sprouted out three separate mechanical limbs.

"Whoa." Pietro blinked at the strange device. "What's that supposed to be?"

"One of my darling creations." Newt said with a bright smile. "A device I made to supplement aura that can't heal more serious injuries like our deal Fall Maiden here had suffered from."

"What is it?"

"I call it Luminous." He said, placing the device over Ambers chest, the three limbs closing around her body.

"Why Lumi-"

Before Pietro was able to finish his question, a bright green glowing dome appeared around Amber's body and in an instant, the look of pain she had disappeared into a calm expression.

"Whoa~" Was the speedster's response. "That's amazing."

"Thank you." Newt said with a proud smile. "Took me a while to get it right but after some trial and error, this little darlin has saved more lives than I can count."

"Shame Parker didn't come with us or Stark isn't here." Wanda commented. "They love stuff like this."

"Oh? Are they tech savvy like yours truly?" Featherington asked with great interest. "Saw that young boy working on devices of some kind on his wrist at the cafeteria."

"Like you wouldn't believe." Pietro said with an amused shake of his head. "When we find Stark, you're gonna fall in love with his suit the moment you see it."

Newt's grin widened considerably at the prospect of seeing something technologically new and advanced.

"I can't wait. It's been a while since I conversed with someone of that field of caliber."

Wanda only hummed at his words, eyeing the Fall Maiden within the green healing dome.

"How long is she going to be like this?" She softly asked, making Newt's grin fall with a grim look now taking its place.

"Well, aside from the arrow itself, there was something else I found within the injury she had sustained."

"What?"

"A sort of residue, if I could describe it, of Grimm." Newt said with a disturbed expression.

"Residue of Grimm?" Pietro parroted with a slightly squeamish face. "What does that mean?"

"You have faced the creatures of Grimm, yes?" The twins nodded. "They're made of a substance that can't be identified or understood entirely unless you are the one in control of it."

"So Salem then."

"Exactly. She knows how to use both her creatures and the essence in which they are composed of in methods we have yet to encounter. No matter how long one studies them, their substance literally goes up in smoke before having a proper chance to fully analyze them."

"So this… Grimm essence was in the arrow that struck Amber?" Wanda inquired.

"A means of disabling her and preventing her retaliation for that nefarious act which almost occurred." Said Newt with clear disgust in his voice. "Regardless, she'll unfortunately be confined in this until she's fully healed. After that, physical therapy will be needed to help her relearn how to walk. How long that may be, long perhaps but her being a Maiden coupled with my device should hopefully speed up the process."

The twins were silent as they watched the healing process when they heard a soft moan come from the Maiden and saw her shift about slightly.

"Amber?" The Silver haired Maximoff said quietly, kneeling down to be on her eye level.

The Fall Maiden let out a soft groan, head shifting slightly to turn to the source of the voice.

She slowly opened her eyes with her vision blurry at first until the hazy figure before her became more clear.

"P-Pietro?" Amber asked in a weak voice. "Is.. that you?"

Pietro smiled sadly at the Maiden, reaching forward to grasp her hand gently. "Yeah, I'm here. And so is Wanda."

Amber groaned slightly again as she turned her hand around to hold Pietro's hand. "She is?"

"Right here."

Seeing the Maiden's gaze on her, Wanda gave out a small wave of "hello".

"How you doing?" She heard the twin brother ask.

"Tired and I can't exactly feel…"

"Don't worry. You'll be fine before you know it." Newt spoke up with an assuring tone. "It'll take some time since the damage was close to your spinal cord so it'll be a delicate process. But if you're worried about walking, don't worry, you'll be running around in no time."

"That's… good…'' Amber murmured.

"Need anything?" Pietro asked.

"Just…" The Fall Maiden was unable to finish as she had drifted back into unconsciousness, dozing off in front of them.

Pietro's expression fell slightly, something his sister caught sight of.

"What's wrong, brother?" She said, lightly flicking his temple.

He didn't even register the small strike as his eyes stayed on Amber.

"Say we do manage to find a way home." He suddenly said. "What about Amber? Are we just gonna leave her here?"

Wanda was a bit surprised by such a question.

"What do you mean?"

Her brother's head shifted from side to side with a conflicted look clear to see.

"I dunno," He said with an unsure tone. "We helped save her, right? Doesn't that make her our responsibility?"

His twin was certainly surprised by this question, a teasing smile making its way onto her face.

She leaned over, bumping her shoulder up against her brothers.

"If Clint would have heard you now." Wanda said with a coy smile.

Pietro clamped up, an embarrassed shade of red that matched his sister's garments.

Hearing Newt chortle at his expression didn't help.

"Sh-Shut up." He muttered, looking away from both of them.

-Scene Cut-

Tony grunted, shifting about slightly in the bed he currently laid upon, tossing and turning about.

"What's the matter Stark? Bed not comfy enough for your standards?"

"And what standards would that be, Wilson?" Tony retorted. "A Malibu bed, winter forest floor or middle eastern rock cave? Pick your poison."

"Well a rock bed is at least familiar." Sam remarked from his own bed which was currently occupied by his wingsuit. "How long are we even staying here?"

"Until room service dips below three stars." Tony said, lifting up his platter of food that was delivered to their room a short while ago.

The duo had found this motel courtesy of Mr. Coal pointed it out to them as being one of the best in Mantle, being one that was "untouched" so to speak.

It was easy for them to deduce that there were shadier things going on in Mantle and from what Friday had gathered in terms of police reports…

"Can someone explain this to me." Sam suddenly spoke up, breaking Tony out of his stupor.

"What was that?" He asked, just as he was about to take a bite out of his meal.

"How in the hell did we end up on a world with humans, some having animal features, similar means of living, similar foods and similar architecture."

"Pretty sure we don't have any floating ci- Intentionally floating cities." Tony pointed out before he paused in thought. "That we know of. Unless there's a Miyazaki fan on this world that we don't know of."

"Well unless they call themselves Howl, Atlas seems to be the only place with a floating city." Sam said, walking over to the window of their motel room and gazed up upon said city.

"Maybe there's one back home." Stark said with a shrug. "Wouldn't put it past our home turf to be hiding a city that can float in the sky or do some other stuff we have yet to see."

"Had you said that five years ago, I would've called you crazy." The bird-themed Avenger quipped. The man let out a sigh a moment later as his gaze wandered down to the streets below.

"Any luck on seeing if our friends are somewhere here?"

"Friday's been scouring this CCT network of theirs for the past few days." Tony said, a hint of confidence in his tone. "If they do access their network, we should be able to detect it."

Sam really hoped it could be soon. He was beginning to get stir crazy. Not just for his friends and fellow Avengers, but the goings and happenings back home.

God knows how his sister would be right now. And that's just him.

Tony has Pepper, Clint has a family, their newest recruit has an aunt whilst the others…

He needs to ask if Rhodey is seeing anyone and maybe take up Nat's idea of getting Steve a girlfriend.

His buddy needed to get out more.

"What's the matter?" Wilson blinked upon hearing Tony's voice. "Feeling clipped here."

"I don't exactly have much of a problem if I had something to work with my hands. Usually it would be me working on my cars or on a new project. But I don't have either."

"And what of what you found?"

"Can only look over schematics for so long without handling it personally." Tony rolled his eyes slightly, popping up out of his bed.

"Come on, let's stretch our legs a bit." He stated as he placed on his glasses. "Don't wanna be cooped up all day and just wait for something to happen."

"So you'd rather run towards a problem?" Sam wryly asked.

"It's the only way I know how." Stark plainly admitted. "That and there's always a one hundred percent likely chance of it just coming right towards us."

Sam couldn't really deny that. "Comes with the territory."

Tony grabbed a red and gold suitcase whilst Sam's wingsuit shrank back down into a backpack before they went out and wandered Mantle's streets once more.

They passed by a number of shops and establishments with some clusters of people here and there.

"Quaint." Tony commented, looking over at a cafe that caught his eye.

"Not the word I would use to describe this place." Sam stated eyeing a less than ideal looking building.

It wasn't the only one as he saw a number of them during their little stroll through this city under Atlas.

"So what, crime lords, crime bosses galore run this place?" Tony asked though it was clear that it wasn't really a question.

"Makes me wonder what caused this." Sam said, a deep frown in place. "I mean come on, the divide here is almost too literal."

"Yeah, can't deny that." Stark remarked, head tilting up to Atlas. "Just… could you have made it any more obvious?"

"Hard not to, but I just didn't want to conclude that."

The two were silent for a moment, quietly walking alongside one another.

"Where do you think they got the name Atlas?" Tony abruptly asked. "Ain't that from our world?"

"One question after the other with this place." Sam said, thinking over something the two of them had discussed since coming here.

The striking similarities Remnant shared with Earth.

It couldn't be a coincidence, right?

Thor and his people sort of made sense since they were within the same Cosmic neighborhood so to speak.

Did that mean that Remnant could also be-

*BOOOOM*

Their little stroll came to a rather climactic end upon hearing a set of explosions going off in the distance.

"Huh." Was Tony's response, slowly looking over to Wilson. "So…"

Sam grimaced and rolled his shoulders. In an instant, his wingsuit materialized around him whilst Tony held up his suitcase up to his chest.

Pressing a switch, the metallic container opened up and began reconfiguring around Tony's form. In a matter of moments, his armor unfurled and locked into place with the faceplate eventually sliding into place.

The duo took to the skies, ignoring several onlookers who saw this, flying straight towards the commotion and burning buildings.

They watched as multiple people fled for their lives from the destruction and flew down to see a number of individuals standing in the middle of a demolished store shouting at each other.

"-at crazy bitch! She blew the whole load up! What the fuck is the matter with her?!"

"Why did she even come along? Who the fuck decided on that?"

"Who do you think?"

"Ah fucking dammit. Why does the boss man force her to come with us? She ruins everything."

"Where even is she?"

"Huh?"

"She's gone."

"That bitch! Why in the fuck does Sil-"

"Excuse me gentlemen."

The collection of armed and dangerous men and women halted in their arguing when they turned over to see-

"Up here."

Their heads craned up to see a man in red and gold armor with another in red and silver wingsuit floating above them.

"So then." The Invincible Iron Man said conversationally. "Who wants to go to jail first?"

"Enforcers!"

"Avengers." Tony corrected, holding one of his hands up with his repulsor center whirring up with energy.

"Don't care. Get-"

One of them was sent flying away from a repulsor blast.

"They never learn, do they?"

"They've never met us before, remember?" Sam said, throwing his hands up and his machine guns expanded into his palms. "This is our opening act."

"Oh yeah, good point." Tony then jolted to the side as a missile flew by. "Whoa! That's a bit extreme."

Stark retaliated quickly by firing off another blast from his repulsors that sent the rocketeer hurtling back.

Neither Avenger didn't want any unnecessary damage to appear around this city. Though with those missiles going around may make that rather difficult.

With the one man down, Tony fired off a missile of his own to destroy the one flying past him. An explosion soon went off as the Iron Avenger went off to take care of some other thugs.

"Honestly don't know how Peter does this sort of thing on his own."

"You just don't do things conventionally."

"And you do?"

The duo made short work of the criminal bombers, taking out one at a time with practiced ease.

As another was shot down by Tony, Friday notified one trying to escape the scene.

"We got a runner." He said aloud, Falcon being in the air at the moment.

Sam wordlessly deployed redwing which flew straight after the fleeing criminal.

The small bird-like drone zipped past the crook and halted right in front of him.

The man let out a yelp, stumbling to a halt just as Redwing shot out a small disk that latched itself onto his head and electrocuted him into unconsciousness.

It was all over in a matter of seconds, the two Avengers bringing together the group of criminals. Tony bound them together with metal he picked up and welded around them to keep them in place.

"How long do you think that'll hold them?" Sam asked with a chortle. "Ten, fifteen years?"

"Well…" Tony patted the metal that was keeping the criminals in place. "Give or take several years or two."

Wilson shook his head, smirk in place as he turned to face the destroyed establishments and buildings that were just blown up.

"God damn psychopaths." He murmured angrily under his breath, turning back to glare at the criminals.

He tried to spot any that were conscious but all appeared to be thoroughly knocked out.

Maybe he and Tony should have kept one awake for interrogation.

All of this was an extreme method in trying to… what were they even here for? Robbery? Extortion? Threats?

This is one hell of a threat.

"What's with the monkey drawing?" Tony's question made Sam snap out of his thought process.

"What monkey drawing?"

"The poor piece of graffiti here, Wilson." Iron Man said, pointing to a glowing neon drawing plastered on a nearby wall.

"That's a monkey?"

"A coked up one from the looks of it." Tony murmured, helmet flipping back as he stared at it. "A calling card, perhaps."

"Hell of a calling card."

Sirens were soon in the air, signaling the arrival of a number of the local law enforcement.

"And look who finally arrived."

The vehicles came to a halt with their occupants coming out with their weapons trained at the two Avengers.

"Hands where we can see 'em!" Shouted the head officer.

"Hello officers." Tony greeted in a grandiose manner, gesturing to the bound criminals. "Took care of these men for you. You're welcome by the way."

"I said hands where I can see them!"

"That's not generic of a response at all." Sam said, sighing as he felt as though they may have another fight on their hands.

"Look boys, can we sort this out like gentlemen?" Stark put on his most business-like and personable tone. "We're on the same side here. Stopping bad guys, kicking ass, taking names. Pretty sure we can help out with repairs here too."

It appears that the lead officer wasn't having any of it with a visible look of anger rising on his face.

"This is your last warning. Refusal to comply-

One of the enforcers came up to the other and whispered into their ear.

"Wait, sir, aren't these the two General Ironwood told us to look out for?"

In an instant, the man's rage dissipated into uncertainty. "Wait, what? How can you be so sure?"

"I was looking over the file with my partner earlier today." The younger officer quickly said. "They match the wing and red suits descriptions."

The lead Enforcer was then shown the images taken from a few days ago of two individuals with suits that gave them the ability to not only fly but also evade their Bullheads and sensors.

Were these really the two that Ironwood had told them to look out for?

He narrowed his eyes at them both who were looking back at him with a surprising amount of patience.

Clearing his throat, he cautiously stepped closer towards them.

"We would need you two to come with us."

The two Avengers shared a look before focusing their attention at the one enforcer.

"And what if we say no?" Tony idly asked.

The officer now glared. "Then there will be violence."

"Violence huh?" Iron Man casually glanced back at the men they had just caught. "Yeah… sure, you really wanna go down that path?"

"Only if you poke us the wrong way."

"And that would be… what? Doing your jobs for you?" Sam rhetorically asked, a challenging look directed at the Enforcer.

The officer's brow twitched, lip curling up into a snarl as he opened his mouth to retort when another Enforcer jogged up to his side and quickly whispered something into his ears.

He blinked upon hearing this, gaze becoming infuriated.

"Are you kidding me?" He hissed.

The Enforcer shook his head. "I'm not sir. He's on the other line right now."

It was clear to see that this aged veteran of the Atlas police force did not like what he was about to say.

"General James Ironwood formally invites you both to come to Atlas Academy." The lead Officer said through gritted teeth.

"A general, huh?" Tony mused aloud. "Sounds promising."

"Tony, don't."

"What?"

"Even if I'm not Rhodey, I know how you're with the military. So whatever you have in mind…"

"Yeah, well then you should also know about my amazing reputation I have with them."

"Sleeping with every female officer under the sun doesn't count as reputation."

"Credibility."

"That's the same thing."

"Are you two coming or not?" The Officer snapped impatiently.

"Yes, we'll come."

-Scene Cut-

"So then… who wants to start us off?"

"Rhodey… just… not now."

Natasha Romanoff, otherwise known as the Black Widow, sat at the head of the table in the meeting room within the Avengers HQ.

"You know as much as I do we've held this off long enough." War Machine stated, eliciting a sigh from the former SHIELD agent.

"Yeah and we still have no clue as to what happened to them or if they're even alive." Nat said with a bitter tone.

"I would rather have it if we were not so pessimistic, Natasha." Said the synthetic Avenger. "They have people to go back home to. They're clearly worried-"

"I know. You do not need to remind me."

Nat clearly thought of Laura. She had gotten a call from her when Clint didn't reach out to her when he was out on assignment. The Black Widow had done her best to assure things were fine, despite things clearly being the opposite.

Laura even threatened to call Fury to figure out what's happening. And it was there she would need to come clean to her best friend's wife and family soon or else everything may fall apart.

"So who should go where?" Rhodey asked with a grim look.

"I got Clint's family." Nat said without hesitation. "Better be it from someone they trust."

"I'll handle Pepper and Sam's family." Rhodey declared. "Less liable to get thrown something at me."

"Who does that leave me with then?" Vision inquired curiously.

"Uh…" Nat quickly swiped through several files before settling upon the last one involving the team's roster. "Peter Parker's aunt."

Vision's brows furrowed and tilted his head.

"Why me exactly?" He asked.

"Only one left really." Rhodey plainly stated. "That and we figure your voice can keep her calm."

"Would it?"

Natasha's head shifted left and right. "Yeah, I can see it working. Very soothing."

Vision hummed thoughtfully at this endorsing compliment.

"How should I go about this then?"

"For starters, you gotta make sure to gently ease her into it." Rhodey instructed. "And please don't scare her."

Vision looked at them both in bewilderment. "Why would I scare her?"

Rhodey and Natasha shared a look.

"Do you want to tell him or should I?"

"Tell me what?"

"Your… appearance."

Vision blinked as he regarded his physical features.

"Ah, yes, my features would be difficult." The Cape wearing Avenger murmured. "But clearly Mr. Parker told his aunt about me, yes?"

"Yeah. And another thing. Don't phase through the walls just to meet up with her." Nat said in an almost motherly fashion. "Knock first and foremost."

Vision actually looked bashful at being given such instructions. "...I've been told by Mr. Rogers and Ms. Maximoff to withhold doing such actions."

"And yet…"

Viz coughed into his hand. "If my appearance would cause a rather frightened reaction for Ms. Parker…"

A yellow glow appeared around his body. In mere moments, his body started to shift and change.

What was once a synthetic man with magenta skin with circuitry markings now stood a Caucasian man with blonde hair.

Both of his Avenger teammates stared at their synthetic comrade with looks of astonishment.

"Since when could you do that?" Rhodey stammered out.

"Recently, I believe." Vision plainly admitted. "It's taken some practice but thankfully it seems to have paid-"

In an instant, there was a yellow flash and he was back to his usual look.

"It appears I still need some more practice to keep the visage up." Viz said to himself, looking at his hands.

Nat let out an amused laugh, shaking her head at this sudden revelation.

"Well kids, we have our "objectives". So let's head out and get it over with."

Both Rhodey and Vision wordlessly nodded and the trio began their preparations to meet with the people they had been assigned to in breaking the news of the disappearance of the Avenger they are closely associated with.

Vision and Rhodey simply flew off given that they had the coordinates locked into their systems via suit or supercomputer brain.

Widow had the quinjet on once getting in and the three went their separate ways.

It didn't take long in the red headed Avenger to get to Clint's family homestead, having placed the quinjet down in a secluded location and taking a car to get the rest of the way there.

Entering into the secluded farmland in Missouri, Natasha pulled her car to a stop. Romanoff stared out at the farmhouse for a number of minutes until she forced herself to finally get out of the car. Stepping out, she took several calm breaths as she walked along the dirt path leading to the homestead.

Before she was able to even get to the front door, it swung open to reveal a familiar and friendly face smiling at the former SHIELD agent.

"Natasha, good to see you." Laura Barton, wife of Clint Barton, said with a warm smile as she walked down the porch steps to her friend. "Saw you through the window."

Nat only smiled in return, the two hugging one another once reaching each other. "Hey, Laura. How are ya? Are the kids home?"

The mother and wife shook her head. "Asides from Nathaniel sleeping upstairs, no. You came just in time actually. Just made a fresh pot of tea."

"That sounds wonderful." Nat said with a tired sigh. "Can really use one actually."

"Come on, come on." Her friend ushered her in, the pair walking into Barton's house and seating themselves at the kitchen.

"So Natasha, what's with the surprise visit?" Laura inquired. "Is Clint still busy with Pietro and Wanda? I know they have their parole and all but-"

"It's… It's not that." Nat interrupted, a strained look visible for her friend to see.

Laura frowned, setting her cup down slowly as she picked up on a level of distress coming from Romanoff.

"Is… is everything alright with you?" She hesitantly asked.

"Physically? Yeah, yeah, I'm good, I'm all there. Mentally and emotionally on the other hand… could be doing better."

It was now that her best friend's wife became far more alarmed and alert, eyes drilling into the redhead now.

"Nat, what's going on?"

Her fists were clenched tightly now as she struggled to speak for a moment. "Something I should've told you earlier…"

"Nat…"

"Fury knows, but he told me I had to tell you myself. Vision and Rhodey are doing the same on-"

"Nat, where's my husband?"

The Black Widow cupped the mug and tightened her grip around it.

"I… don't know." She said after a few seconds of silence.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Laura asked, a worried but also angry edge to her voice.

"That's just it." Romanoff said, a genuinely miserable look coming over her. "Neither of us know. Our last mission at a HYDRA base…"

Laura swallowed a nervous lump in her throat.

"Nat… please… is he…"

"We don't know if he's dead. But we also don't know if they're alive. All we do know is that they fell into something we don't understand and are trying to figure out if we can get them back out."

She silently reached forward to gently take hold of her friend's hand, squeezing it lightly.

"I'm beyond worried about him too, Laura. I owe him everything. And I plan on paying it back every way I can." Nat said, Mrs. Barton knowing full well she meant it. "We're gonna do everything we can to find them."

Laura closed her eyes, trying to keep herself from breaking though Nat was able to feel the woman trembling.

Romanoff wordlessly moved her seat closer to her and draped her arms around the woman with her wrapping her arms around Natasha in turn.

"It's… it's not just him?"

"Steve, Pietro, Wanda, Tony, Sam and our newest recruit."

"The kid?" Laura asked, Nat nodding in confirmation. "Wasn't he only 14?"

"15." Nat corrected.

"God, I don't know how his parents-"

"He only has an aunt. She's his only family in the world."

"Then she must be having it worse than I am."

Speaking of…

In Queens, New York, Vision seemed to have a better time on his little assignment-

*CRASH*

Or maybe not.

"Ma'am please, throwing around your fine China won't do you good." Vision calmly said, catching a dish thrown through the air.

He stared at the slightly frightening image of a very furious Aunt May Parker with a glare that would have been able to melt Vibranium if she were able to.

"You're telling me," May seethed, tears threatening to spill from the corner of her eyes. "That my nephew, my boy, who I entrusted to you heroes could be dead and gone?! And you didn't have the decency to tell me sooner?!"

Vision watched as she grabbed a stack of plates and flung it at him.

He quickly caught them all in rapid succession though he missed a surprise one May managed to throw off that broke apart upon striking his face.

"Ms. Parker." Vision spoke as calmly as possible. "I understand what you are going through-"

"Tell me, how could you even come close to understanding what I'm experiencing right now?" May raged, now openly weeping. "That's my boy. He's mine. I raised him with Ben. And I've already lost my husband. Now you're telling me…"

She only let out a strangle, choked breath as she practically collapsed onto her couch and simply sobbed aloud.

Vision could only gaze upon the woman with a conflicted expression as he wasn't entirely sure as to how to proceed here.

He quietly walked over to her, standing next to her now as she paid him no attention.

"You lost your husband?" Vision softly asked as he sat down beside the distraught Aunt.

The Queen's native nodded tearfully, lip trembling whilst dabbing a tissue at her eyes to dry them.

"I'm sorry." He said. He hesitated for a moment before he placed his hand upon her shoulder.

She jolted from the touch for a second but didn't pull away as she continued crying into her hands.

"I… I wish I knew or fully understood what you are going through, Ms. Parker." Vision suddenly said. "Truly, I do. I wish to understand what it means to be human having only been alive really for a few months. I haven't had the chance truthfully to form such close bonds as you have with your nephew and husband."

"Then why are you here?" May bitterly asked.

"To let you know the truth. He is your nephew whom you raised. It is well within decency to let you know what has transpired."

May scoffed, letting out a humorless laugh. "Decency he says."

She looked up at one of the shelves in her apartment, eyes falling upon a framed picture of herself with two other people with her, smiling and laughing together.

The Aunt stood from her couch and walked over to the picture, taking it into her hands as a pained smile came over her.

"This was our last picture together." May quietly said, gripping the portrait tightly. "Before Ben died that night. Now with Peter gone… I have no one left in the world."

"He's not gone." Vision quietly and firmly said.

"How can you say that after what you just told me?" May snapped at him, expression rageful once more. "How can you even believe such a thing?!"

Vision stared at her for a few seconds until slowly getting up to his feet once more and walking over to stand in front of her.

Instead of looking at her, he had his eyes upon the picture, staring at the two men standing with Ms. Parker.

"I have a thing called… hope."

May blinked upon hearing this, clearly in disbelief as to what Vision just said. "Hope?"

"Hope that my friends and comrades are alive out there… somewhere. Hope that we'll find a way to bring them back home. All we can do now is hope." Vision stated, placing one hand over hers whilst also taking the picture from her and placing it back where it stood. "Your nephew is alive, Ms. Parker. Of that I am completely confident in. And we will find him and bring him back to you. That, I promise you."

May gave him a hard stare, trying to find any hints of deception or falsehoods in the android's eyes but found none.

She released a shaky breath, pulling away from him as she walked elsewhere in her home.

Her eyes scanned the place as she could picture her sweet nephew still there, despite this travesty in her life.

"I want him back here." May said through a broken voice. "I want my son back."

Even if her nephew wasn't her own flesh and blood, she deeply thought of him as her son in all but name.

"We will bring him back, Ms. Parker." Vision assured her. "After all these months since I became… me, I've come to understand that hope is something which helps light us through our darkest moments. Don't lose sight of hope for your nephew. Just like I won't for the rest of the Avengers."

May let out another sigh before looking back at the Vibranium made Avenger with a weak smile.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you, Mr. Vision."

"Just Vision will do." Viz said with a kind smile.

"Vision." She said with a shaky laugh. "And also for throwing those dishes. And thank you for catching them to, I was-"

"It's alright, Ms. Parker, you-"

"May." The New Yorker cut him off. "For what you did, you can call me May."

Vision was surprised but found himself smiling pleasantly at this.

"May." He said as if testing the name for himself. "Think nothing of what I've done for you today."

It will be a long while for her to work through this new sense of grief hitting her. She already went through it once years ago when Peter's parents died as she had Ben with her. Then, again, when her husband had left this world, Peter was with her to mourn the loss.

Now… Now it will be difficult with just herself.

"If need be, you can come to our headquarters at any given time." Vision declared. "Our doors will always be open to you."

All May could do was give a pained but kind look at the Vibranium Avengers' words. "Maybe… Thanks… But for now… I'd like to be alone now."

"I understand. If you need anything, do not hesitate in reaching out to us."

"Thank you, Vision."

Elsewhere…

Rhodey exhaled, feeling a feeling of mounting dread as he drew closer to the door to Tony's home.

He had already spoken with Sam's sister, Sarah, earlier and boy was she worried like no tomorrow.

And that was just one person.

"Why did I agree to do two?" War Machine berated himself. "We should've tackled this one as a team. God dammit Tony, why'd you have to be my best friend?"

Knocking on the door, he waited for several moments for someone to answer before ringing the doorbell. After what felt longer than it should, the front door opened to reveal Happy.

"Rhodey." He said with a friendly tone.

"Hey. Can I come in?" James said in a tired fashion.

Happy arched a brow at the request as he stepped aside for the Colonel. "Yeah."

Stepping through the door, Rhodey saw Happy close the door and escorted him inside.

From what the colonel knew, Happy primarily lives at a condo in New York. But in the past several days, he's been bunking at the residence shared by Tony and Pepper.

Coming into the living room, Rhodey saw the present CEO of Stark Industries sitting on her couch, in pajamas while drinking a bunch of orange juice.

"About time you answered or came on by." Pepper Potts said in a loud, frustrated voice, setting down whatever it was she was looking at to walk right over to the Avenger and give him a quick hug.

He was a bit startled by the force in which she delivered it but hugged her back all the same.

"Sorry about her, she's been all over the place lately." Said the bodyguard.

"I can't imagine why." Rhodey wryly said as Pepper pulled away from him. "Sorry for not reaching out to you sooner. Things have been… hectic at HQ to say the least."

"You better explain to me why you or Tony haven't returned any of our calls." Pepper all but demanded with her arms crossed. "I've been worried sick."

"You look sick actually."

"She hasn't been feeling well." Happy remarked with a sympathetic gaze at the overworked and stressed CEO of Stark Industries.

"Speaking of, I got something weird actually from or really about you, Pepper." Rhodey rolled his eyes at what he just said. "Well, not as weird as what happened to Tony and the others, rambling, sorry. What I was saying was I got some kind of news report and notifications that you fainted at a board meeting two days ago and threw up the day before that."

"Rhodey… I love and care for you, but you're sidetracking and dragging."

"Pepper, I-"

Happy crossed his arms and gave the colonel the same look Pepper presently wore. "I agree with her. What's going on?"

Time to rip off the bandage.

"Guys… Aside from Vision, Nat and I, the Avengers have all disappeared."

He was met with silence from his two friends as they both gazed at him with bewilderment.

"...Excuse me?"

"Our last mission, raiding a HYDRA base… it went sideways. Neither of us was prepared for what happened and-"

Happy started to understand what was being implied. Yet whatever he tried to comment on was halted. All due to something he saw out of the corner of his eye that being his friend not taking this news so well.

In more ways than one.

"Uh… Pep? You ok there? You're looking a little pale."

"I…I-I-I'm…" Pepper stammered, a cold sweat coming over her now.

She began to heavily breathe as she started to lose focus.

Before she knew it, darkness overcame her as she fainted.

The last thing she saw and heard were her friends rushing over to her, calling out to her.

Well now, another chapter and the first one to ring in the New Year.

Save for the one on the first though… Does that count? Fuck it then, second chapter of the New year.

Let's hope 2022 will be a lot better than the shit storms of 2020 and 2021.

Jebest4781: New Year's resolutions? Just trying to survive this hectic world is a primary focus. Second, just trying to not get too crazy with what's going on. Still survive and endure my 40+ hour/week warehouse job. And what else… just trying to write a reasonable amount of chapters without a bad burnout.

FMW: Oh yeah, holding onto sanity honestly is the one resolution most everyone is going for, I can imagine. But Anywho, glad to see the reviews remain optimistic for what is to come but I do understand some reservations I have seen with the inclusion of other elements such as the characters from Arcane. Let's just say that Jeb, Bullet and I have long since understood that if we are to incorporate multiple franchises into crossovers, I can say that we have a sort of focus, so to speak. We pick aspects from other franchises that would "fit" into the story we are trying to tell, that would work within the world and narrative that we have. We still make sure to keep the focus on the main two crossovers that we're focusing on, we made sure of that when we outlined our stories. But for the most part, if we see something that can work within our stories without it bogging it down or cluttering it, we're gonna use it. It's all about the context in whether or not it fits. So don't worry, we're not gonna go insane with dumping a bunch of League of Legends stuff cause the three of us barely know what it is outside our knowledge of the show Arcane and the few clips and cinematics we have seen and characters that have caught our eyes. We will still remain focused on the Avengers and RWBY crossover that this is, the Arcane bits just add more flavor and spice to this story.

Also, that new character Newt? You can go on my DeviantArt account to see what he looks like.

So then, other than that, thanks again for joining us here on this new journey.

Things are picking up and getting started now with lots of insanity to come.

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.