Loki had been having something of a good day. He had signed himself up with an organization that was at least semi aligned with his intentions, he had made a pretty solid friendship with Tony Stark and he had encountered Thor and the two of them weren't trying to kill each other; In fact, they were on somewhat friendly, if uneasy terms.

That good mood had vanished the moment he had teleported himself into the office of one General Ross. The man had been out at the time, but he would come back sooner or later... Either way, it was long enough to disable or remove the various methods that the man could use to call for help or even alert those around him that something was possibly wrong. Taking a seat in the chair in front of the General's desk, Loki faded from normal view and merely decided to wait.

Gamma Base, the name was appropriate. They had almost as many high tech gizmos than S.H.I.E.L.D. All of it firmly in the hands of the US-Military not some coalition of powers from across the world. Ross was a patriot unlike Fury, his country came first and foremost. S.H.I.E.L.D would be powerless if nation turned against nation, they'd rather watch America burn than intervene because their precious council would probably advise against it. Right now though, all his forces were pointed in one direction in particular. The Hulk.

The biggest threat to the United States and her interests, he wasn't about to let it get away. Not to mention if he could find out how to replicate it he'd have control of the strongest weapon to ever exist. That was something he was very interested in, see what Fury could do about that with his little fleet of heli-carriers. Having just dispatched a recon unit to a hospital where a Doctor Crawford was claiming to have seen Banner (Only for Banner to have escaped) he returned to his office to let the Pentagon know that despite S.H.I.E.L.Ds attempts to keep him from his target he was closing in.

Walking round behind his desk he lifted his phone, hitting three on speed-dial to take him straight to the Secretary of Defense.

The phone wasn't going to be dialing out to anyone.

As Loki faded into existence, the look on his face was cold and hard as his eyes seemed like they would be able to pierce the flesh and gaze right into a man's soul. With a tone of voice that screamed cold hearted professionalism, Loki merely muttered "Hello Mr Ross. I think it is time for us to have a bit of a chat."

Phone was dead. Then as the face appeared that pretty much indicated why, it also meant that any of the other forms of communication in the room already would likely be blocked. Still, he had his own panic button on him and he was armed. Though he had to give it to this Loki character. He had a pair on him.

"Actually it's General, I've worked hard for that title so it's going to get used. Now I'm a busy man so why don't you get to the point?"

Loki shrugged a little at the statement that Ross made. Where others might have been impressed by the bravado that the man possessed, Loki merely found it... tiresome. "You mean you still have that title? Considering how you screwed up what happened at the New York docks I'm surprised you've still got an office with your name on the door."

Placing his hands together under his chin with his index fingers pressed together to make a 'diamond' shape, Loki got to the point. "I wish to discuss Bruce Banner with you General and I want you to hear me out before you say anything." Taking a moment to make sure that his message was received, Loki got started.

"I want you to stop hunting Bruce. Instead, I want you to work with shield in order to set up a lab somewhere on US soil that is far away from anything else so that we can house him there and let him have run of the place. He gets to work on his own on whatever projects happen to take his fancy... in return, you'll have access to the results of anything he discovers or makes, as well as knowing exactly where he is and not having to worry about the Hulk randomly appearing somewhere. Would this be acceptable to you?"

Ross just laughed as he leaned back in his chair. "The only place he's going is a jail cell below the Earth with walls so thick air won't get in if we don't want it too. That's where he's going, not to some cushy lab. He's destroyed millions of dollars in property, killed good men and on a personal note-" Ross leaned in closing the distance between the two of them. "-He's hurt the person who I care about the most." He leaned back in his seat.

"So no he won't be getting a lab, he'll be getting a prison sentence. If you're here to try and force me out of it then I'm afraid you're going to have a tough time living on this planet too, cause I'm sure as hell not going to take orders from an alien. Mine come from the Pentagon and the White house, nowhere else." Ross shrugged in his seat. "Those are the only conditions you're getting, though I am curious. What's your stake in all of this? Why do you care what happens to the beast?"

Loki's face showed absolutely no amusement what-so-ever at the response that Ross gave his very reasonable request. Those who were more magically aware might have noticed a slight shift in the world, through it was highly doubtful that Ross was one such person. Leaning back in his chair to make himself somewhat more at home, Loki tilted his head to the side a little as he gave the General his full attention. "You know, when I originally made the decision to attempt reasoning with you, I strongly suspected that I would be wasting my time. After all, the kind of military man who willingly ordered his men into a populated city armed to kill humans to engage someone that was trying to vacate the city with a minimum of fuss with weapons that wouldn't do anything more then provoke him to defend himself isn't going to let such little things like logic or reason get in the way of his petty, personal crusade, now is he?"

Turning his attention away from Ross and raising his left hand, Loki turned it this way and that in the classic 'I've got nothing in my hand' manner of magicians. "Ross, you're far to close to the situation to make professional judgements and your actions have gotten people needlessly killed. You are so blinded by your rage and pride that you're refusing to acknowledge that there are other solutions to the situation. Consider this a chance to do the honorable thing that is best for yourself, those under your command and those that you care about and step back from the situation and let someone else take over your duties in relation to Banner."

Ross just chuckled. "We went in with non-lethals, we kept civilians out of the line of fire. It wasn't my men that caused all that devastation, it waas some of you so called heroes. I hear one of them is currently in hiding after nearly killing Tony Stark. Tell me, who has the moral high ground now?"

Ross was visibly growing fed up of this, he had other things to attend to without his morals and reasons being questioned by someone that wasn't even from this planet. "This conversations now over, unless you have anything of use to tell me such as the Hulks whereabouts or want to do the right thing and use those magic powers of yours to teleport him right into a cell." Just then there was a knock on the door as a private poked his head in.

"General, it's Banner. He's contacted your daughter, we've got a rough location."

Ross just smirked and looked at Loki. "Get the Hulkbuster units ready, unless our friend here decideds to make that unnecessary."

Loki's expression was neutral as he turned to look at the private that had poked his head through the door. Loki's hand twitched a little as a little bit of magic was used to ensure that the Private wouldn't recall General Ross speaking to anyone but thin air. He certainly wouldn't recall Loki answering "Well Mr Ross, it would seem that my attempt to do things the hard way has failed. Goodbye General."

With nothing else to say, Loki disappeared; Most likely teleported but could anyone truly be sure?

Something under the General's desk moved on feet designed to move softly, but for now it seemed content to wait.

Tony let out a sigh as he got out of the helicopter, and made Willy Lumpkins leave for the day before he hears another word of the overly excited PR agent who just got told his idea is a go. He was happy for the four of them, as he did genuinely think that it was going to be a big success. Plus he made sure to point Reed to the direction of his personal lawyers to get the patent rolling for his 'unstable molecules'. Even through a video call Tony was very impressed with the substance. It got his mind working towards the next Iron Man suit. Even if he wasn't completely sold on the idea yet, talking about being a superhero did get him a little back on board with the concept of giving things another try.

Thor hadn't found himself in New York City in quite some time, not since the Great Depression if memory served him right. It was amazing to see the changes made to the city since then. Midgardians were moving at a pace that could only be thought of as both impressive and somewhat worrying. Still his mind was far from that, as he glanced up at the Stark Tech building. Standing across the street from it as he stared up at the top, where he could feel a presence that was familiar but very comforting to feel. It's been a long time since his had Mjolnir in his grasp, and right now it was going to be his key to the dream he had for a long long time.

Strolling towards the building and across the street Thor thought back to the amount of times he had to walk amongst people pretending to be no one. The former prince of Asgard had to make due with not being special. Not actually being the God of thunder he was. He had to run, hide, and be ordinary when he shouldn't have to be. Now though, he had a chance to finally be himself again. Subtly was never his strongest suit, and as far as he was concerned it was time to be Thor again.

“Uh hello?” Thor awkwardly approached the front desk, the security guard having not seen him yet. “I was uh, looking to speak to Mr. Stark if that's at all possible. He has something that is mine.” The security guard start to pull down his newspaper to look at Thor. “Uh sir unless you have an appointment with Mr. Stark I just can't......” He glanced at, then up at Thor who tried to give him a polite smile. “You uh... what were you looking for?” The security guard asked suddenly quite scared.

“Uh, its call Mjolnir? Large hammer, Tarene had it eariler today?”

That was all the security guard needed to start pounding on the silent alarm button. With a large swarm of guards suddenly circling Thor as he looked around confused. “Was it... something I said?” Thor asked.

Eventually a phone call to Loki later Tony Stark came down to the main floor where Thor was being grilled on what he was doing there. “Relax guys, its alright.” Tony told the guards who all finally started to back away. “Thank you, I assume you're Mr. Stark? Loki was telling me about you, Thor Odinson.” Thor offered a hand to shake which Tony took. Only Thor's hand easily clasped over Tony's and the grip could only be described as a vice grip on steroids. Causing Tony to yell in pain, pulling his hand away and shake it. The guards put their guns back up at Thor before Tony waved them off. “Chill guys chill. Jesus I hired trigger happy nutcases for security...” Tony sighed before directing Thor to his elevator.

“Sorry about earlier, Tarene's little visit still has everyone rattled.” Tony mentioned as they both were in the elevator, and Tony was left to realize that Thor was a giant of a man. How him and Loki were related was well beyond him.

“I do apologize for her actions. I knew her quite well, and while she had a temper I couldn't imagine she'd be capable of such cruelty.” Thor mentioned awkwardly scratching the back of his head and looking away. “She was much nicer when I knew her, but that was eons ago unfortunately.”

“Eh don't worry about it, nothing a little healing magic couldn't fix.” Tony noted as they arrived at the top floor.

Thor quietly had his attention completely taken away as he stepped out of the elevator slowly. Fixated on the hammer that still stood at the center of the reception area. “Did anyone try to claim it?” Was the first thing Thor could think to say.

“Not as far as I know...” Tony remarked thinking about it.

”No seriously James just pull on me and I'll try to pick it up!”

“GghhHhhhhhaaaaaaa!”

“Why won't this stupid thing lift?!”

“Just pull harder Pepper!”

“Hmm... Thor paused, finally and calmly he held out a hand. “Mjolnir, come to me.” He called. At first nothing happened, the hammer remained where it was, and Tony was left wondering if Loki maybe got the wrong guy or something. Thor himself began to have a moment of worry. Had it been too long? Were his past guilt enough to make him no longer worthy? A small bead of sweat slid down Thor's forehead as he continued to hold his hand out for the mythical hammer.

Finally though, the hammer moved, slowly and almost unnoticeable at first. But soon Mjolnir seemingly lifted up into the air, and with sudden force flew right into Thor's grasp. Who finally left out an exhale as he glanced around, awkwardly chuckling. Though soon he felt the wonderful warmth of power start to course through his veins again. Smiling Thor calmly started to go out to the helipad. Tony having to follow in confusion.

As Thor arrived outside he glanced up to the heavens. He held his hands out, Mjolnir staying put in his firmly gripped right hand. The skies above him darkened ever so much. Rumbling of power as Thor opened his eyes and suddenly a giant bolt of lightning struck down on him with enough force to knock Tony off his feet. As the thunder clapped loudly, Thor was still standing, and now clad in the gear only befitting Asgard's greatest warrior. He turned back to Tony who was just getting up, his ears ringing and the shocked look on his face not subsiding yet. “Thank you Mr. Stark.” Thor said nodding to Tony. “Now if you excuse me, I have a lot of catching up to do.” With that Thor let the toughened leather strap of Mjolnir spin in his wrist, finally with an almost effortless looking swing Thor took off like a rocket into the sky.

Tony looked on in a daze before quietly going over to his desk. “Could you get my limo ready at the private garage? Yeah just... fuck today I'm going home.”

A blond-haired man slipped into a Christian chapel that was located in the Bible Belt on this one fateful Wednesday afternoon. Other than the fact that he continued to wear his dark sunglasses into the house of God, the man did not look that much out of place. He wore a pair of khaki pants along with blue dress shirt and a sports jacket of a darker hue of blue. The mysterious man took a seat in one of the rear pews, so that he would not attract any unwanted attention.

In just the last couple weeks, there were reports that the pastor from this church had been performing miracles that would have rivaled those that accounted in the Bible. One man claimed that the pastor had somehow restored his ability to walk. A woman, who came to this chapel, left cured of her breast cancer. Another man, elderly in age, even discovered that the pains of his arthritis had disappeared. However, there was something fishy about all these incidents. Even with people like the Valkyrie being around, things like this do not occur on a daily basis.

The man waited in the chapel as the pastor run through the usual Wednesday service until she asked anyone who was suffering some kind of illness or condition to come up to be healed. Before the man stood up from his pew, he looked down at his watch, or at least what appeared to be a watch, and saw that it had a green ring around the glass. Although he was unable to reach the pastor first, the man was able to acquire the second spot in line. When it was his turn for his chance at being healed, the pastor asked what illness or condition troubled him and reassured him that the love of God will free him of that pain.

“Your existence.” The man bluntly said after he glanced down again at his watch, which now had a red ring instead of the green one. The entire chapel immediately became silent. You could have heard a pen drop in that room. All the parishioners, along with the pastor, were astonished at what the man said, not knowing what he meant by that.

“Excuse me?” The pastor asked the blond-haired man after she took a step back from him.

“I am truly sorry about what I must do, but I am sure that your loved ones would rather remember you as how you are instead of what you would have become”.

Before anyone else in the room could do anything, the mysterious man held up his hand towards the pastor, as if he was holding a non-existent gun. However, suddenly the man’s watch morphed into what appeared to been some kind of futuristic, or extraterrestrial, firearm. Gripping the weapon, the man shot a green orb through the torso of the pastor, burning a circular hole in her body where the wound would have been.

Once the others in the room realized what had happened, they all started to dash towards the door. However, they discovered the doors were locked, even though the switch that locked the doors was not turned.

“Don’t be alarmed, everyone.” The man in the blue suit declared calmly, especially for having killed someone just a few seconds ago. “My name is Walter Lawson, an agent of the Sentient World Observation and Response Department, or S.W.O.R.D. for short. I will be scanning all of you today for any Brood infections and eliminating these risks. Fortunately, you all will not remember a single moment of this encounter.”

Agent Lawson pulled a small device from a pocket on the inside of his dark blue sports coat. It appeared like a nice quality pen or some other type of metallic, thin cylinder. He held out the device and pressed the only button on it. A bright flash was generated from the device. Once the light had disappeared, all the people in the chapel, except for Agent Lawson, had a blank expression on each of their faces. Now that everyone was ‘cooperating’, the agent of S.W.O.R.D. went about his business.

Sure America Chavez had expected to be thrust into a training. Hell, she had even been informed that it would happen seconds before entering the room. However she had at least expected to have had some time for some sort of meet and greet with her new comrades. Maybe just a few introductions, handshakes, that sort of thing. Instead she had found herself tumbling into the floor after having her stomach blasted by Hyperion’s cyclops-beams. Luckily the hit hadn’t been too damaging as America managed to lift herself from the crater she had created with ease. Glancing downwards however, she saw that he t-shirt hadn’t been all too lucky, with a scorch mark covering the lower half of it.

“That was my favourite shirt, chico” she grimaced cracking her knuckles in the classic superhero manner.

Despite wanting to dive straight in however, America hesitated. She thought back to the other day during her encounter with the Hulk. Then she had engaged without thinking, and she knew full well where that had gotten her. Sure this situation was slightly different; as far as she was aware, Hyperion wasn't going to get angrier and stronger the more he was hit, but still America knew she must be careful. No, this time she had to fight smart. She had to come up with some sort of plan. But what?

Then, as if by some divine power, her question was answered. The door to the simulation room slid open with a hiss to the group's left, causing all eyes in the room to turn towards it, as another of the team's new members made his appearance.

“I guess you can call me truant for this shindig.”

The heroes attempt at a joke caused America to stop in her tracks for a second. Honestly looking at this guy, she had no idea who he was. She took note of the red and black costume, as well as the mechanical looking costume upon his head. Due to the oddly specific pun he had made, America could only assume that the guy's abilities were insect related. However that didn't really matter now, as regardless of his abilities, he had already made an astonishing distraction.

America burst forward through the air, rocketing towards Hyperion, swinging her fist wildly towards him as she did so. All she could hope was that his attention was on the new arrival, as if not, this could prove to be highly embarrassing!

Certainly not expecting the gunfire himself Quicksilver flinched and started quickly looking around for the gun fire as well. “The fuck I thought I did too!” Quicksilver frantically tried to find the rifle but couldn't for the life of him figure out who had it and where. He didn't have to worry about the guards much. He was moving too fast for any of them to hit him. Any ones who were close enough to also got a barrage of fists and elbows from Quicksilver for their trouble.

“Bobby what the Hell are you talking abo...” Off guard Quicksilver suddenly caught a arm of red and blue slammed into his throat. Hitting him so hard it flipped before landing on the small of the back of his neck. “ACK!” All Quicksilver could do for a moment was cough small trickles of blood before he got swarmed by guards who all quickly were on him to keep him down and subdued. If his throat wasn't sore, Quicksilver would've happily started into a vicious cycle of swear words.

Bruce walked past yet another police car on his way to the bus station. The original plan had been to get a bus out of town but as time went on that was looking like a less and less viable option. He stopped in his tracks as he went into a small diner, sitting at the far away corner. He had to double take as, for a moment, he thought he saw Hulk instead of his own reflection in the mirror. Shaking his head he marked it down as fatigue. "... in other news the mysterious four individuals who were seen in action in Las Vegas have finally been identified. Reed Richards, Susan Storm, Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm were all seen exhibiting amazing powers after an experiment supposedly went wrong..." Bruces head perked up and looked at the screen as he heard that report.

Reed Richards? The Reed Richards? That boy was a prodigy. While he himself was the foremost expert in the field of well, anything to do with radiation, another set of eyes on the problem wouldn't be the biggest hindrance in the world after all. Before he had been going to Osborne, in the hopes that he'd find a way to care Banner and would be less likely to aggravate him than Tony Stark... also prior to the companies change in focus he would have been the least likely to try and sell the Hulk as a weapon. At least Tony had a one up on him in that department now. The real question was how was he going to get to New York? The easiest way to get past the authorities was probably to find a way to let the Hulk out. Though there was no telling how much destruction that would cause or where he would even end up. If only he had a way to contact that Loki guy. He could teleport that would get him into New York no problems.

Though it wasn't as if a God carried a technological means of communication...



Looking at the fight begin Sam nodded to himself. This would be a good pacing for the team. He had to admit he wasn't entirely happy with how Fury had went over his head. More of these team members were from alternate realities or realms than there were from Earth. Earths mightiest Heroes was the sales pitch. Agent Parr- Valkyrie. He reminded himself counted as a earthling, as did Hank Pym. Tony Stark wasn't really a member of the team yet, just a consultant. Hopefully to remain that way and he was from Earth. That left one multiverse traveling person, one super powered being who was essentially a God saved as his reality was destroyed (Or something like that) and one actual god from Norse Legend.

Which reminded him. Pulling out a communicator card, the team had all been given one. Gave an ID and any important information, clearance to related areas of S.H.I.E.L.D and acted as communicators over vast distances. He pressed the button to activate his. When prompted he spoke the name of the being he wanted to speak to and waited for them to answer. When the Gods face appeared on the screen Sam spoke. "Loki, where are you? Trainings already started. I heard what you want to do for Banner, but first you have to be a member of the team. That means taking part in training. I expect to see a poof of green smoke, or however it is you teleport, any minute now. Wilson, out."

“It’s in bad taste”

“Piss off Freddy-boy, it was months ago!"

“Yeah Freds, I’m sure Herman will find it funny! Sure as hell I do!”

“I still think it’s in bad taste” Fred Myers mumbled.

His eyes moved away from the custom-decorated Spider-Man cake in his teammate’s hands and up towards Riker’s main entrance. He wasn’t keen to be back here, having only been out for a month or two, although luckily this time it was only to collect someone; Herman Schultz, the notorious Shocker, as well as Fred’s former cellmate. The two had bonded during their time together, with the two having similar stories to tell as to how they ended up there, both of which involved Spider-Man. Yes, that’s right; Fred was a supervillain too. He was The Boomerang.

It was through Herman that Fred was introduced to the two gentlemen who were currently stood beside him. Morris Bench was Hydro-Man, a stupid name for a guy with a stupid power. The guy was essentially made of water, which in itself doesn’t sound too impressive. Apparently he had fallen in the ocean while a powerful experimental generator was being lowered into the ocean for testing. That origin story was nearly as unimpressive as his abilities. It was almost as stupidly convenient as suggesting that Spider-Man gained his powers after being bit by some radioactive spider. As if!

The jittery guy with the Spider-Man cake was James Sanders, and no, zero relation to the Colonel. This guy had superhuman speed. Calls himself Speed Demon. Pretty menacing name for a guy who spent most of his time foolishly stumbling around after women. Despite James’ annoyance, Fred still found him useful. With legs like that, he was a key asset to any robbery. Still, it still didn’t stop Fred from wanting to punch him one.

Fred had been rubbing his temple in frustration while Morris and James argued next to him about the best flavour of cake when the door opened in front of them. The three all looked up in unison to find Herman, a scowl covering his face. That wasn’t the only thing however. Scars covered most of his left cheek, with a few others around his lip. This was nothing new to Fred, who had seen most of them before he had gotten out, although they came as a huge surprise to both James and Morris.

“Dude… What the fuck happened to your face, man?” James asked walking forward, still brandishing the Spider-Man cake in front of him.

The scowl on Herman’s face grew even worse as he laid eyes on the cake. Fred watched as the man took in a deep breath, evidently attempting to calm himself down.

“That Spider-Prick, Okay James?” Herman declared loudly, suddenly letting go of his self-restraint. “That fucking Spider-Prick!”

Herman lashed out, slamming his hand down onto the cake, knocking it out of James' hands. It splattered onto the floor into a pile of red and black. All Fred could do was stand there and laugh as James began to cry out in annoyance, while Herman in response began stamping on the cake's remains. He had forgotten how huge Herman's vendetta against Spider-Man. Sure he knew it was there; the hero had savagely attacked him a few months ago so he had a good reason to be peeved. But this rage was something else. Fred liked it.

Before anyone could do anything to calm the man down, Fred stepped forward, pushing past James and his cake and heading towards his newly-freed friend. Putting an arm around his shoulder, he shot Herman a smile.

“Use that anger, Herman. Embrace it!” He instructed with a charistmatic cheer. “Because you’re going to need it!”

“Wha…what the hell are you talking about?” Herman spluttered, his rage now completely gone.

“Herman, my old friend. We’re going to rob the Owl!”

Brooklyn, NY, 12:07 pm...

Northstar was out for some air, as the mountain air back home left something to be desired when surrounded by the ocean. He had just passed the Ferris wheel at Coney Island when Piledriver came down out of nowhere. Louis didn't think about flying lower making him more vulnerable. The heavy handed villain went through a couple of food stands as the mutant hero skipped on the ground after making impact. Northstar landed in the sand on the beach just a few feet from the now busted up boardwalk. There was that ocean water again. There wasn't nearly as many people out now as there were in the beginning of the summer, but there were still dozens around trying to avoid danger while others tried getting pics or video on their smart phones.

"Get your game face on..." he thought picking himself up, vibrating the molecules on the outside of his face to hide his identity.

The speed didn't matter right now. The light emitting from his eyes when he stood to his feet and then floated above the sand was blinding enough. Even the whiter parts of his costume had more of a brightness to them. Piledriver came crashing through along with Bulldozer while Wrecker went for more of a grand final entrance with a slower pace. Gripping his crowbar he started to give the order, but Bulldozer had more of a personal ax to grind after Northstar took him down several weeks earlier and charged ahead.

"Damnit Dozer!" Wrecker screamed but already knew what was coming, "COVER YOUR EY-- AAAAAAARGH!!"

Louis put his right had forward and used a blinding flash to do just that. The thuggish villains wouldn't regain their sight for at least an hour or two even powered by an enchanted crowbar. The proper authorities showed sometime after and Northstar helped restrain the bulky criminals. This light power definitely had it's advantages.

12:36 pm...

Northstar flew back home in another flash of light and changed clothes and walked down at a normal speed to the lobby to check his mail. key in hand he approached the boxes and Tabitha could see him from outside by the pool. She ran in with her flipflops on and a towel around her waist.

"Really... I've heard of lame villains ACTUALLY existing in the real world, but a group of guys powered by an enchanted crowbar is the dumbest thing I've ever heard of. At least Bulldozer has that kinda Juggernaut look going for him. After I take this mail back upstairs I'm gonna go grab a bagel and..." Louis thought while unlocking his mailbox to find a check he'd been waiting for, "Helloooo gorgeous.." he said grinning to the check and turning around to find Tabitha with her towel and bikini.

"Oh.. hey!" Louis said in surprise.

"I heard you calling a girl gorgeous, it's okay." she said in her southern accent smiling back as she could tell he was a little embarrassed, "I just got invited to a party down at O'Malley's Pub and they said bring a +1. You doing anything later?"

"They probably want the +1 to be another pretty girl." Louis commented stepping out of the mail room.

"All the girls I know up here're bitches. Besides'... I haven't seen you drunk yet... pleeeease Louis." she asked batting her eyelashes after taking off her big sunglasses.

"I'll go, but just so you don't get thrown out of a bar." Louis said with a sigh walking towards the stairs.

"You mean another bar ha HA!" she laughed walking back to the pool entrance door.

__________

2:11 pm...

On the armored superhuman criminal transport vehicle the 'Crew were in restrains and all cursing at the floor. Bulldozer looked up, his helmet had been removed. It along with the enchanted crowbar were in another vehicle altogether.

"Dirk... what do you suppose happened to Thunderball?" he asked.

"Last I heard somebody said he got pinched by this 3D Man running around looking like something out of a 70's flick. You remember those glasses, Calusky?" Wrecker asked.

"Yeah, I would've liked to hung around Brooklyn a bit longer. Now it's back to Rikers. Maybe we'll see T-Ball there..."

Somewhere in space, just outside of the Milky Way Galaxy...

A green hand came from the jaw or Thunderball, who was still in his suit, his weapon of choice in another containment field several feet away.

"I believe we have probed your mind of all of your knowledge on gamma bombs. The ball and chain will go into the arsenal." a Skrull scientist proclaimed nodding to a nearby soldier.

"Take him back into the cage with the others. It's about time to give them their weekly protein. Have any of them died or killed one another yet?" the scientist asked.

"None that I know of, sir." the soldier answered restraining the beaten and bloodied Thunderball.

"@$#*(& I lost fifty units to the ship captain."

~KL~

While he continued to try to hold back the two cages in which Angelica and Kurt were being held, Peter watched as his doppelganger sucker punched Quicksilver. This spectacle took Peter by surprise, since he thought that someone of Quicksilver’s talents could easily dodge an attack like that. Peter could even tell from where he was clinging to the wall that this doppelganger probably did not have the physical talent that Peter had, or rather was given by that fateful spider- bite.

“What’s the matter, Speedy?” Peter called down to Quicksilver, who was not being swarmed by the guards, “Are you just going to let them do that to you? And I was under the impression that you were the fastest man alive.”

As Peter struggled at keeping the cages from moving, he turned his attention up towards Cyclops. “A little help here, Cyke? Can’t you just blast the cables and call it a day?”

“They’re too high up. We can’t risk the danger from a fall from that height. However, I do have an idea. Quicksilver, you might want to get off the ground right about now. And Iceman, I will need a little assist here.”

Even though he did not need to use the switch on his visor since he had a trigger attached to his gloves, Cyclops sent a ruby-colored blast the bottom of the giant, glass vat that contained the liquid that Herbert Landon had formulated to destroy humans with the x-gene. Normally, such an action would have flooded the floor below with the liquid, which would have proved to be quite dangerous to mutant and human alike. However, a green colored slush poured out instead as a result of Iceman’s mutant abilities. While this lethal ‘snow’ would eventually melt, at least at the moment it would still remain together instead of flooding the room.

Now that Firestar and Nightcrawler were no longer in endangered from that liquid, Cyclops waited until the pulleys had lowered their cages down to a height where the fall would not endanger his teammates. Once the cages were at that point, Cyclops unleashed a second and third optic blast that severed the steel ropes that held the cages suspended above the ground.

Once the cages had landed in the now empty vat, Peter immediately leapt from the wall and dashed towards the giant, glass cylinder. After climbing up the glass walls, he jumped onto the top of one of the cages, now no longer electrified. Then, from the top of the cage, Peter began to pull apart two of the bars so that the occupant of the cage could slip through them. Once he had rescued Nightcrawler and set him down beside Iceman outside of the vat, Peter returned for Angelica.

“I knew you would come for us.” Angelica smiled at her best friend while he carried her out of the cage in his arms.

“Hey, if I didn’t come, wouldn’t that make me a lousy friend?” Peter then leapt out of the glass cylinder and landed where the two other X-Men were standing. When they landed, Peter almost tried to pull off the shackles and the collar that had been placed on Kurt and Angelica’s wrists and necks, but he was dissuaded from taking that course of action, thinking that he did not know whether these devices were armed to explode if forcefully removed.

“Quicksilver, you didn’t happen to swipe a key from one of the guards, did you?”

It was one thing to take a sucker punch from someone, it was quite another to hear the chuckles and comments from your peers over it. Simply letting a growl of frustration out as he got up, letting out a cough that left green and red on the ground. “Fucking dammit...” Was all he could let out in a meek tone, as his throat felt like it got stomped on by a herd of elephants. Little smart ass web boy was going to get his when he didn’t suspect it.

Still it was good to see the mission was looking pretty good so far. Both Angelica and Kurt were out of the cages and the goopy substance was for the moment nothing but harmless snow. When Cyclops asked him about a key Quicksilver patted his pockets not recalling one. “Hmm hold on...” He let out in a raspy tone, his throat still sore from the surprise. Darting around the room Quicksilver checked each of the guards one by one until he finally got to Herbert Landon, who not only had the key but suddenly had his pants fall to the ground. Quicksilver just couldn’t resist, after all how many mutants can say they panted an anti-mutant piece of shit?

“Here...” Quicksilver coughed as he casually tossed the key over to Spider-Man to let him do the honors. As he himself was still coughing up a storm and little bits of blood. Hopefully Jean wasn’t going to make working a little longer tonight... or isn’t still pissed about his actions in Boston.

Reed Richards was taking his time admiring himself in the bathroom as he had on what was the team's newest uniforms. Susan had years of cosplay costume design under her belt but even Reed didn't realize just how awesome the suits were going to look. It admittedly left him almost drunk with excitement! The suits, the press conference later today, everything that they had worked on for the last two weeks was becoming something now. It was hard for even Reed to get swept up in the commotion. Even though in the two weeks he hasn't quite figured out how to get Harvey back to normal. He did feel like he had a good idea where to go with it. Just a matter of the details as was usually the case with difficult science.

The biggest thing in the two weeks though hasn't even really been the creation of the Fantastic Four. Since everyone agreed the Baxter Building should become the home base of operations Reed and Ben both had to move in. Reed had to put some work into it but he was able to talk Susan's dad into being able to move into Susan's room with her. He still isn't quite sure how he did it, unless Susan just gave him another harsh speaking too like she did before.

As Reed was all grins he stepped out of the bathroom and back into their bedroom, doing a pose he was sure was suppose to look sexy. All the while doing the little bit of will it took to make his butt grow out a decent bit bigger. Reed had naturally been very proactive in practicing with his powers even down to figuring out how to do stupid silly little things like making his own rear end large. Still, it was all good practice, and there was something weirdly fun about becoming some kind of human cartoon character.

"Hey Susan, does this make my butt look big?" Reed jokingly asked trying to sound what he thought sexy sounded like. It was not very sexy.

Sue waited on the bed impatiently, she couldn't wait to see him in the new suit she'd made for him. She giggled at the sight as he asked her the ridiculous question. She covered her mouth, trying hard to fight back harder laughter. "N-not at all dear!" She joked like a mid sixties house wife, putting on a British accent with it.

"In all seriousness. No, it looks great. Just put your... butt back in!" She chuckled. "My turn!" She hopped up and grabbed her suit that hung from her closet door. She was still a little shy dressing in front of her now boyfriend. She hoped their new found romance would not ruin their long term friendship.

But as she undressed in the bathroom with the door slightly ajar, she turned back to see that Reed was peeking.

"Hey. No peeking..." She playfully smirked and faded her uncovered body.

Reed giggled and let his butt deflate back to normal as he let Susan put her suit on. Again it even surprised Reed a bit that everything has caused him to loosen up so to speak. It could be contributed to the powers, the feeling of all these exciting new things happening. Normally Reed would be too tepid, maybe intimidated to make a silly joke about having a big inflated butt. Of course being around Susan was a plus as well.

As Reed took a seat on their bed and waited on Susan to get her costume on. Peering over to the bathroom she realized the door was opened just a bit. Peeking over he quickly got the light scolding from Sue. Which made Reed cheekily grin and shrug almost like he was channeling Johnny's reaction to getting caught doing something bad.

Instead Reed just continued to sit upright on the side of the bed. It was at that moment he started thinking about THAT topic with his relationship. Him and Susan had never been closer but they well... They haven't done 'that' yet. Reed wasn't against it, far from it. He was concerned about when Susan would feel comfortable with it. More so however he was thinking about the possibilities of what would happen if they conceived. Would their kid have powers like them? Would they even be able to have kids? As much as Reed had been working overtime on learning everyone's powers to a very high degree. He still didn't know that much about them, and that frustrate him slightly.

Sue emerged from the bathroom with arms open. "Well?" She gave him a little twirl, the suit clung to her feminine figure well. "It's not too slutty is it? I want to give women a good rep, so I want to be covered head to toe but I still feel it's a little...clingy I don't know." Sue shrugged and became insecure about herself again. She never thought of her herself as sexy as she was modest and gave more time to academics than social peer pressure.

She knew Reed would just say what she wanted to hear though and pouted. "Be honest." She told him as she folded her arms.

Standing up as Susan came back in Reed wanted to give her an honest answer. He looked down at his own suit first. "Well I mean all of our suits are a bit clingy. Look at mine it doesn't leave a lot to the imagination." Reed noted looking over himself. "So I wouldn't be too worried, plus you could wear a pink moo-moo and I'd still find you hot." Reed said with a grin that showed his honesty hopefully, as he came up to Susan. "Still the idea, and I think remember this..." Reed gently began to stretch his arms up and down Susan's body, his hands just barely touching her against her suit. "We're all wearing the same look, we're a team. So if you look slutty we all look slutty, and I don't feel very slutty right now." Reed quietly told her, "I mean I did just inflate my own ass but still... wouldn't mind doing it again if you want by the way. You know... just in case." Reed chuckled with a warm smile.

Reed's warm embrace encourage Susan and she nodded at him. "I can live with that." She chuckled back and planted a small kiss on his lips. "Let's go introduce ourselves to the world then, my sexy elastic man." She winked at him playfully. She just hoped that the public liked them...

Reed returned the kiss in kind, once again he puffed up his rear end again as Sue's hands went over it. Along with his entire body bulking up a bit more muscular. Reed couldn't help it, and frankly he just enjoyed doing it as it didn't require a lot of effort. "I couldn't agree more my pretty little... invisible... I can't make it work quite as well." Reed said laughing a little as he let go of Susan but kept an arm on her shoulder as they walked out of the bedroom.

"I know we haven't had much of a chance to talk about everything how crazy the last two weeks have been." Reed started, wanting to address what he felt like was an elephant in the room so to speak. "But you're sure you're okay with all this? I know Johnny is ecstatic to an almost scary degree, and Ben has been okay about it. You on the other hand I've not really been able to gauge how you're feeling about everything." Reed asked Susan, since the biggest concern he had about the four of them going forward as a superhero team was making sure everything was manageable for them. He knew celebrity life is crazy enough, but also going into dangerous situations on top of that makes the idea intimidating no matter how exciting the possibilities were.

Susan stopped their advance mid walk. "Reed." She turned to look him in the eye. "With you by my side. I feel strong. Like I'm ready to take on the whole world. No matter what it throws as us. As long as I know you're sticking by me, through thick and thin....for better or worse...." She trailed off but stopped herself there with reddened cheeks. So many crazy things had happened all at once that the two had barely any time to talk about their relationship or personal feelings. "Just don't...neglect us in all this, okay? That is all I ask." Sue smiled after she divulged her reasonable condition. Although she wondered how much alone time they would really get from now on.

"Sue..." Reed noted as he smiled a bit as well from her request. "I couldn't neglect you or stop thinking about you if I tried..." Reed kissed her on the forehead before the two continued on to meet up with Johnny, Ben, and Tony Stark.

“Quicksilver, was that entirely necessary?” Cyclops chided the mutant speedster when he saw what Quicksilver had done to Herbert Landon. After he expressed his disapproval of Quicksilver’s actions, even though they were directed at a mutant-hating radical who probably deserved worse, Cyclops pressed the x-shaped communicator that was located on his chest. “Colossus, what’s your status?”

“Your path is clear, Cyclops.” Colossus’ voice echoed from the communicator, “I’ll be heading back your way momentarily.”

Meanwhile, Peter caught the key from Quicksilver. However, unlike most keys where you would insert it into a lock, this was an electronic key. He saw a small metallic circle on Firestar’s shackles and therefore held up the key against that spot. When it automatically deactivated the shackles, Peter immediately searched for the same spot on the collar that was attached to Firestar. After he freed Angelica, Peter turned to Nightcrawler and released him, too.

“So, Cyke. Is it time to go yet?” Peter hollered up to where the field commander of the X-Men was perched "We've freed Firestar and Nightcrawler, so it's probably a good time to skedaddle!".

“Um, I know that we were busy freeing Firestar and Nightcrawler, but didn’t we forget about your doppelgänger, Spidey?” Iceman pointed out as he looked around for whoever was trying to look like Peter. When he caught sight of the fake Spider-Man, Bobby’s jaw dropped when he saw that the doppelgänger was holding Firestar, or rather another Firestar, in a choke hold.

“Spidey, help!” The other Firestar squirmed under the doppelgänger’s hold on her, “Don’t fall for that imposter. I’m the real Firestar!”

“What?” The Firestar who was standing by Peter, Iceman, Nightcrawler, and Quicksilver replied back, “There is no way that could be me, right? This is just way too convenient to happen.”

“Well, at least we figured out which one is the real webhead!” Bobby blurred out, giving a smile and a thumbs up to the other X-Men and Peter, who were around him.

“Thanks, Einstein! Obviously it took an imposter having someone, who looks like Firestar, in a chokehold to clear that up. Let’s just ignore that fact that I have been helping out this whole time.” Peter just shook his head at his friend's comment, not knowing whether he seriously meant it or he was just cracking a joke.

Meanwhile, while Spider-Man and the X-Men were distracted by this spectacle, Herbert Landon, who now had his pants pulled back up, and his henchmen were trying to sneak out unnoticed. Landon already knew that they were outmatched by the present X-Men. Now that the experiment was all but a failure, he decided that he might as well cut his losses and try again at a later date.

Glancing over and listening to Cyclops continue to be a boy scout as per fucking usual. Quicksilver folded his arms and gave his field leader a shrug that made it clear how he could not really care about Herbert’s feelings. “You know I could of done much worse...” Quicksilver noted feeling a bit better in his throat. “Can’t even say thank you for showing restraint...” He added in a mutter looking away from the field leader.

Just then though things got weird as suddenly a Spider-Man was clinching a Firestar in a choke hold. Surprised a bit now that his suspicion about a clone running around was not only confirmed but double confirmed. Quicksilver quickly started realizing something was fishy about these clones and saw a possible test forming in his head.

Grabbing Bobby by the arm gently and pulling him over Quicksilver leaned to his ear. “Freeze both of the Firestars...” Quicksilver told him very quietly. Bobby went wide eyed at such a notion. “WHAT?!” He muttered back. “Look if we’re dealing with clones like we have in the past with that Mystique chick. Then if they can replicate their looks they can’t replicate their powers. So I’ll check with the Spider-Men, and you check with the Firestars alright?”

Bobby paused considering the notion before giving Quicksilver a nod. Separating and waiting a bit Quicksilver quickly went to the guards looking for something to throw and finding in one of all thing throwing knives. Pausing at the bizarre ideas the guy had for security and proper equipment for said security. Quicksilver motioned for Bobby to go, who true to the plan quickly shot ice at both of the Firestars while Quicksilver loaded up a pair of shots on both of the Spider-Men.

“HEY SPIDEY CATCH!” He called out launching an underhanded thrown knife at both of their legs. Quicksilver had heard once that Spidey supposedly had some power where he could sense incoming danger. Hopefully that was true, otherwise the lecture Cyclops is going to be giving him when they get back is going to be WAY worse.

“What, am I supposed to pat you on the back whenever you do something that you were already expected to do in the first place?” Cyclops reproached Quicksilver after the speedster’s little stunt with Herbert Landon. But the mutant speedster was lucky that Cyclops was not on the ground level because, after what Quicksilver had planned to do next, the leader of the X-Men would probably have given him an earful.

Suddenly, Peter’s spider-sense began to buzz in his head. After peering around for the danger and hearing Quicksilver shout out his name, Peter realized that Quicksilver had picked up some throwing knives from the stash of weapons that the mutant had lifted from the guards and the Maggia goons. Now, two separate throwing knives were darting towards both Peter and the doppelganger’s thighs. Peter had zero idea about what Quicksilver was doing; they had already established that he was the real Spider-Man.

Guessing that the doppelganger was only copying his own appearance, Peter decided he was going to try to deflect the knife. Even though his doppelganger was a villain, no one deserves getting struck by a knife in the leg, even at the risk of his own wellbeing. After unloading a round of web bullets, Peter was successful at knocking the knife out of its intended path so that it would safely fly past his doppelganger.

However, now Peter had a more pressing concern: the knife that was darting towards him. While he could have easily dodged the projectile if he had not taken care of the other throwing knife, the knife that was coming towards him was going to be a little more difficult to evade, especially since Quicksilver probably did not realize that he had put a little extra ‘zip’ onto his throw. Peter therefore attempted to sidestep the knife. Although fly past him, the blade of the knife still tasted his blood, cutting across his thigh.

“Holy shi…” Peter cried out in pain as he pressed his hands against the knife wound that Quicksilver had given him.

At the same time, Iceman tried to freeze both Firestars. The real Firestar, who had been standing next to them this whole time, instinctively used her own microwave-based powers to counteract Iceman’s power. The doppelganger, who had the ‘fake’ Firestar in his clutched, dove to the floor with his ‘hostage’ still in his arms, mainly as a subconscious reaction to doge the knife that had been flying towards him. However, it also allowed them to dodge Iceman’s attack.

“WHAT THE HELL, ICEMAN?” Angelica yelled at her teammate.

“We were just trying to make sure you were the real deal…” Iceman replied timidly, slowly backing away from Firestar.

“YOU COULD HAVE ASKED ME TO JUST ACTIVATE MY POWERS, NIMROD!” She continued to berate the ice-covered mutant. However, at this moment, she heard Peter yell in pain as the knife grazed the spider-themed superhero. Concern filled her mind as she looked back at Peter as he crotched to the ground with his hands trying to slow the bleeding. She then turned to see the perpetrator: Quicksilver.

“What the fucking hell, Quicksilver? Why the hell did you do that? We already knew this Spidey was the real one, you moron!” Angelica pointed towards the wounded Peter. Then, a yellow-orange glow began to irradiate around Firestar as she began to hover above the ground. “If you wanted to see whether we were legit because of our powers, then I will show you my powers!”

“Angel,” Peter muttered, still cringing at the pain in his leg, “He’s not worth it. I have all the confidence in the world that you could kick the ass of that sorry accuse of an X-Man, but now isn't the time.”

Firestar just levitated in the air after Peter spoke, glaring at Quicksilver because of what he had done. However, it was Cyclops who laid down the hammer.

“Quicksilver. LEAVE. Go home and wait for us to get back.” Cyclops pointed towards the exit that Colossus had made for their exit route. His voice was raised, but Cyclops tried to hold back from yelling, even though he would have had steaming pouring out of his ears if he was a cartoon character. Even before Quicksilver could complain, Cyclops already anticipated any complains, “I don’t want to see you. I don’t want to hear your voice. I want you out of my sight. NOW. And if the Professor hasn’t given you a mindful by the time we get back, you know damn well that I’ll give you an earful.”

A static rung is Clint’s ear. There was no response from headquarters. While there was a chance that some type of superhuman situation was happening back at the S.H.E.I.L.D. headquarters, the more likely explanation for the radio silence is that something, or rather someone, was interfering with the signal on their end.

“Base?” Hawkeye whispered into the communicator on his wrist, so that the purple ‘Dr. Manhattan’ did not realize that they were present, “Repeat. I did not copy.”

The static noise continued, even after Clint’s attempt to reach someone back at base. However, while he was preoccupied with the communication issues, Clint was not paying attention to the battle between the Rider and Simon Williams. Suddenly, a purple blast pierced through the upper portion of the column behind which they were hiding. Mockingbird, who noticed the danger before Clint could, yanked him toward herself. Since she was more concerned about making sure Clint was not squashed by the falling debris, Mockingbird’s actions put herself off balance, causing her to tumble backwards. Clint, too, since he was abruptly pulled in that direction, fell to the ground right on top of his ally.

“You know what?” Clint asked her, “I probably would crack a joke about being on top of you, but considering our situation, now is not the time.”

“You know that, by saying you wouldn’t, you in a way did.” Mockingbird rolled her eyes at the purple-garbed archer.

“But there wasn’t a joke!” Clint protested as he pulled himself off the ground. He then retrieved an arrow from his quiver and notched it onto his bow. He then pulled back on the bowstring while he aimed his arrow towards Simon Williams. He took care into making sure that he would not hit the Rider inadvertently. When he knew that his aim was true, released his grip on the bow string and allowed the purple-tinted arrow fly. When it struck Simon, it momentarily stunned him. However, the arrow began to disintegrate almost as soon as it made contact with his ionically-charged body.

“That’s definitely not good.” Hawkeye muttered to Mockingbird as he saw that the arrow did not do much to Simon Williams except for probably making him angrier.

Simon Williams then turned to face the direction where the arrow had originated, that is, where Hawkeye and Mockingbird were standing. The red in his eyes began to glow even deeper as anger filled the man. He furrowed his brow as he looked at the two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.

“So, Thomas has hired two more goons to stop me. Well, he might have stolen my company, but there is no one on this planet who can stop me now.”

While Simon was talking, the Rider took this opportunity to make another strike against the ionically-charged man. However, Simon merely brushed him off. He picked up the dark hooded man by his neck and tossed him towards Hawkeye and Mockingbird. However, before they could react, the Rider came barreling into the two S.H.I.L.E.D. agents, knocking them onto the ground.

“What’s this guy’s problem?” Clint muttered to himself as he rubbed the side of his head where he was feeling a little pain from where the Rider had collided with Clint. “So, what do we do now?”

After they had picked up Herman, Fred Myers had led the group straight to their local watering hole; The Bar with No Name. The place was a safe haven for members of the criminal underworld, with the bartender Deke often stating that the Bar With No Name is a sanctuary for those fleeing from the law. Tonight seemed to be a clear example of that, with the placed packed to the brim with unsavoury looking crooks and criminals. Despite how busy the place seemed, Frederick was loving it.

The ragtag bunch of supervillains were all currently sitting in their usual booth, drinking the night away. Every so often James Sanders, AKA Speed Demon, would dart away in a flash, in a half assed attempt to find his way into a girls pants. He always returned a quickly as he had left, his face bright red from where he had been slapped, as well as stating that the girl had been “Hot, So hot.” Morris Bench, AKA Hydro-Man, just sat mostly in silence, giving the occasional laugh when one of them cracked a joke, spending the rest of his time turning his fingers into water before dipping them into his beer. Herman Schultz, AKA Shocker, on the other hand was acting extremely loud and obnoxious. In other words, he was immensely drunk.

That had been when the conversation had turned towards Fred’s plans. Plans which involved robbing the Owl, one of Manhattan’s most fearsome crime bosses. As such, the rest of the group didn’t really seem too interested. Fred could only sit there and grimace. If this was going to work, he needed them. All of them. Sighing, the Australian took grabbed his glass and gulped down the rest of his pint. He may as well have some fun tonight?

It wasn’t long until the night grew slightly more interesting. It would seem that James’ attempts at banging every woman who entered the place had attracted the attention of his latest victim’s boyfriend; the humongous hippo-sized Hippo. Try saying that five times after downing several pints! Now due to James’ annoying personality, it wasn’t difficult to see when Hippo wanted to punch the guy in the face.

Hippo lashed out angrily, only for Speed Demon to step away cockily at superhuman speed, causing the giant to come crashing forward into a table.

“Nice job, Rhino!” The speedster jested, before taking another sip from his beer bottle.

“I am not a rhino!” Mr Not-A-Rhino roared loudly, as he lunged forward once more in another unsuccessful attempt at catching Speed Demon.

Fred simply sat and smirked from the booth as he watched the events take place. James really could be a tremendous dick sometimes. His smile faded however as his eyes caught sight of Hippo’s drinking mates from across the room, who were beginning to rise from their seats, their eyes fixated on the fight. Fred gulped. This was certainly going to get messy.

Deciding that the best course of action would be to get the hell out of there, Fred rose to his feet. On his way to the door, he stopped next to Speed Demon, who had just avoided another attack from Hippo whom was currently catching his breath.

“James, do me a favour, and hit him in the balls for me.” Fred said coolly, patting his friend supportively on the shoulder.

“Oh, will do Freddy-Boy!” The speedster replied with a sly smile, as he rubbed his hands together menacingly.

With that, Fred turned and headed towards the door, giving a short wave goodbye to the now panicking Deke behind the bar as he did so. Before he could leave however, a voice from across the room caught his attention.

“Where the hell are you going Myers?”

Fred turned to find that the voice belonged to none other than Desmond Charne, otherwise known as Mirage, otherwise known as the villain with the worst costume ever. Seriously, the guy wears a bright yellow spandex. Even his supervillain debut was lame; robbing weddings? Really? In this case he seemed to be a member of the Hippo’s crew. How that relationship came about, Fred had no idea. Reluctantly, Fred decided to pity the man with an answer.

“Thought I’d just go out for a smoke mate” He jeered. “Be back in to kick your ass shortly.”

The comment seemed somewhat funny to the pathetic villain, as Desmond seemed to laugh. “Real funny, you fucking coward!”

The C-Word caused Fred to stop in his tracks completely, with him having turned to leave once more. Coward, him? Sure that was kind of true, but he certainly could let everyone here think that. He had his reputation to think about! Jesus Christ, was he actually doing this?

Turning back around, Fred faced Desmond and the rest of the bar’s inhabitants, who had directed their attention from Hippo and Speed Demon to him. Smiling, he gave a shrug.

“Well, if you really insist I stay.”

At that, Fred reached to his pocket, from which he revealed a gleaming boomerang of razor-sharp white metal, launching it forward through the air in front of him.

A cruel smile crossed Zhib-Ran's face. He watched Miss America's body slam into the floor with enough force to rip the concrete from the very ground. Hyperion took his time floating toward Chavez, intent to continue beating the girl to within an inch of her life. If only. He'd have to hold back significantly if these insects had any hope of surviving this trivial encounter. Normally, Zhib-Ran didn't worry himself about keeping his enemies alive. But this was a special case. It was not yet time to reveal his true loyalties. So for now, Hyperion pulled his punches. "I must say, Miss, I expected more from you. Perhaps the good captain overestimated your abilities." Zhib-Ran jeered. He hoped his taunting would drive the girl to her feet. If she was as brutish as Hyperion suspected, the dimension-hopper would lose her cool and attack him out of spite. Anger was a powerful asset, but few knew how to control it. "Come now. You're not down and out after that, are you?"

The doors to the training room slid open. Zhib-Ran briefly turned toward the new arrival, and was mildly surprised to see the so-called Ant-Man standing in the doorway.

"I guess you can call me truant for this shindig."

O' gods. Hyperion internally grumbled. He makes ant puns. Kill me now. The absurdity of it all was uncanny. Zhib-Ran was an alien god. He was destined to lord over the entire Milky Way galaxy. He was only months away, perhaps weeks, from slaughtering every so called 'hero' on this backwater world and setting himself up as its sole ruler. And his primary adversary, the only people who had any sort of hope at stopping Hyperion's conquest, were these 'Avengers.'

And one of them made ant puns.

"Seriously?" Zhib-Ran muttered. This is ridiculous. Who in their right mind wou- In his moment of utter perplexity, Hyperion had neglected to mind his surrounding. He was totally unaware of Miss America's recovery and subsequent charge until she had struck him directly in the jaw. If he had been any of the six billion or so gnats that populated earth, Zhib-Ran's head would have promptly exited his shoulder at three digit speeds. But Hyperion was no fragile human. Miss America's strength, while greater than many of the mightiest warriors earth bred, was nothing compared to this particular alien. Zhib-Ran stumbled backwards a step. Surprise crossed his face for but a moment. "Ha!" He proclaimed as soon as he realized what had occurred. "Well done, my dear. You took advantage of my ineptitude. You struck when your enemy was at his weakest. Very well done indeed!" Hyperion caught Miss America's followup swing. He squeezed his larger hands around Chavez's fist, a look of pure adrenaline in his eyes. With his free hand, Hyperion launched a backhand toward the snared superhuman's cheek.

He estimated that the blow would be likely to land and turned his attention toward Pym. He fired off another pair of concussive energy beams at Ant-Man and chucked his compatriot (if she hadn't found a way to escape in that brief lapse of miliseconds, that is) at subsonic speeds right at him. "Where are the rest of you, by the way? I was told the entire team would be present. I was hoping to go a few rounds with the Norse gods and the armored one as well."

Quicksilver dashed out of the facility in a flash. Although he could not see him as he ran because of his supersonic speed, Cyclops knew that the son of Magneto probably did something to express his frustration, such as sticking his tongue or giving the leader of the X-Men the middle finger. While this move did make them short one man, there was no place for anyone on the X-Men who would endanger the lives of his teammates. Furthermore, Cyclops and Colossus were the ones initially assigned to this mission. Quicksilver was only sent as extra-help.

“Iceman. A little help up here.” Cyclops called out to Bobby Drake. In response, Iceman produced a stalagmite of ice that rose up to where Cyclops was standing. Once the stalagmite was stable, Cyclops took hold of the ice structure and slide down it, as if it was like a fireman’s pole. The stalagmite was slightly angled so that the field commander of the X-Men would not fall straight down to the ground.

While it seemed as if the X-Men were preoccupied by safely getting Cyclops down to the ground level, Spider-Man’s doppelganger retrieved a handgun from the Firestar impostor, revealing that this woman was the one who fired a bullet at Cyclops a few minutes ago. The man stood up and pointed the firearm in the direction of the X-Men. When the doppelganger had lined up the gun with Iceman, he was about ready to pull the trigger. However, a burst of red energy knocked the would-be assassin off his feet.

Even though he was descending on the ice stalagmite that Iceman had created, Cyclops still had a watchful eye. When he caught sight of what the doppelganger was about ready to do, Cyclops clicked the visor trigger that was located on his glove, since he could not press the one on his visor due to needing both hands to safely descend to the ground. This was the precise reason why Professor Xavier and Scott decided to add the glove triggers: only having an activation button on the visor would make his mutant powers useless if he could not press it.

“Nightcrawler!” Cyclops commanded as he pointed towards the two impostors, “Teleport them into one of the cages! And make sure they don’t have any other weapons on them.”

Almost as soon as Cyclops had finished speaking, the blue imp lunged into the air before disappearing into a purple and black puff of smoke that smelled of sulfur. One moment, Nightcrawler appeared next to the two doppelgangers. At the next, only a similar sulfur-smelling cloud of purple smoke remained, along with a single glock. When Nightcrawler reappeared beside his allies, the two impostors were lying down within one of the cages that had imprisoned Firestar and Nightcrawler.

“But who will bind the bars back into place? Spidey is injured!” Firestar asked Cyclops as she pointed towards the bars that Spider-Man had bent in order to release her and Nightcrawler from their respective cages. What go was it to put them in them if they could just squeeze through the bent bars.

“I can do that.” The X-Men heard a voice with a Russian accent from the far side of the room. Colossus had finally returned from making sure they had an escape route. And in his arms, the colossal X-Man carried Herbert Landon, who had tried to flee from the scene while the X-Men were busy with the two doppelgangers. “I discovered this little rat was trying to scramble away into his mouse hole”.

After he dropped Landon onto the ground with a thud, Colossus walked over to the cage that contained the two doppelgangers. The X-Men were not sure whether these two individuals were mutants or mutates, although it would not make sense for them to work for such a mutant-hating bigot like Landon if they were the former, they could change their appearances like chameleons.

“I was so close at finalizing my formula!” Landon shouted out in anger, “If it wasn’t for you and that pesky Spider-Man, I would have been famous. II would have been known as the man who solved the mutant crisis!”

“Wait, did he just unironically make a Scooby-Doo reference?” Peter winced as he covered the knife would on his leg with a coating of webbing.

“This game is over.” Cyclops responded to Landon’s cries of outrage, although he did ignore what Spider-Man had said, “We’re going to turn you over to the proper authorities and let them give your whatever justice you deserve.”

“Never!” Landon shouted back, “Anyways, who do you think they will believe? Me, a well-respected industrialist, or you colorful-costumed freaks? You’re the ones who broke into my facility!”

“And you kidnapped our friends.” Cyclops barked back.

“Did I ever…” Landon began to say, but when he began to stand up, he lost his balance on the floor that was slick because some of the frozen green liquid began to thaw. Landon fell backwards, sliding over the liquid-covered floor until he slammed into the pile of the “formula” snow. Even though only half of his body hit the snow, Landon nevertheless shrieked in pain. He almost immediately scrambled away from the semi-frozen substance, revealing that the half of his body that had made contact with the formula that he had created was turning green and hairless.

“The irony. A man so focused on trying to cure a so-called disease did not see how it would affect a regular human being.” Cyclops muttered out loud. Then he turned towards his team and Spider-Man. “I think our job is done here. We’ll make an anonymous tip on our way out. Also, need a ride, Spider-Man?”

Peter looked down at his thigh and then back at Cyclops. Although his accelerated healing factor was already repairing the wound, Peter thought that it would be better if he would allow it to heal completely. “You know what, I don’t want to kill myself trying to get home, so why the heck not.”

Herbert Landon would have protested even more, had he not succumbed to the pain that pierced the contaminated half of his body. As Spider-Man and the X-Men departed from the facility, making sure to call 9-1-1 once they have left, Landon collapsed to the ground, where the paramedics discovered him.