Chapter 19
The Kang Dynasty
War is not a pretty thing. In most movies and TV shows, they tend to make it out to look like fights for glory in which the heroes always come out on top. But the reality is that war is a horrible sight to behold and now the whole world is seeing the truth for themselves.
Kang the Conqueror, time traveling War Lord from the future. Had come back in time, bringing with him an army of nigh unstoppable war machines, intending to conquer the world and eliminate Ben Tennyson in order to save the world from an impending disaster in the near future. Unfortunately for him, the Avengers did not like those options and so began the war. And despite the overwhelming odds, the Heroes did have one advantage.
They have found Kang's command ship. Now it was time to take the fight to him.
Currently the Avengers had retreated back to the mansion in order to prepare for their confrontation with the Time traveling War Lord. The Team were on their way to the Quinjet hanger, riding in the dimly lit elevator, when they received a call on their communications.
"Fury to Iron Man." The Director of SHIELD spoke. "We're out of time. Kang's forces have taken over 3/4 of the planet, and for every city we're holding, four more fall."
"Are you calling just to give me a pep talk?" Iron Man quipped back, trying to keep up the visage to hide how nervous he really was.
Fury however was in no joking mood. "No, I'm calling to tell you that the base you found is on the move. My people are reading a massive energy build up. That thing is gonna fire. And I'm guessing that when it does, it's not gonna be pretty."
That news was enough to make everyone present nervous. The stakes were already high enough without adding a super weapon into the mix. Regardless the Superheroes were able to keep their cool as Iron Man responded.
"Understood, Fury. We're on it."
At that moment, the elevator stopped and the door opened, letting the light of the hanger flood in illuminating the newly outfitted Avengers.
When Iron Man reported that Kang's command ship was in space, the Avengers made the necessary preparations for a trip like that. Iron Man was wearing his Space Armor, a maroon coloured armor with silver on the upper arms, legs and faceplate. Standing behind him, each Avengers was wearing a similar coloured suit, only each one was specifically tailored to their original costume designs. Except for Hulk, since he did not need a suit to survive the vacuum of space, he simple wore a high-tech oxygen mask, which connected to an oxygen tank on his back. Ben wore a suit like the others, with an opening on the left wrist to allow him to access his Ultimatrix and with a black 10 present on his suits chest.
The Avengers marched together with clear determination on each of their faces as they made their way towards the Quinjet. As the marched, they passed by a squadron of six Ultron robots, who lined up evenly on either side of the platform like soldiers standing at attention for their superiors.
The Team quickly entered the Quinjet and took their seats. Iron Man sate in the pilot seat with Captain America sitting in the co-pilot. The Iron Avenger typed in the command code and the Jet lowered into the water and blasted out of the launch bay and out of the water into the sky towards the upper atmosphere. Behind it, the Ultron squadron flew alongside in a V formation, like a fighter escort.
The sound of the Quinjet rattling as it shot into the sky at incredible speeds was all that was heard as the Avengers sate quietly in their seats. Each of them lost in their own thoughts about the mission to say anything. Ben was nervously tapping the metal tips of his suits figures together as he sat in his seat. He thought after all the times he'd saved the world from alien invaders, he'd be used to the whole situation. But it was a feeling that would never go away for him, he knew the stakes and what was at risk should they fail. And even after all the things the Avengers had told him. Ben couldn't help but feel responsible for all this happening. The Teen Hero quickly shook those thoughts out of his mind. This was no time to play the blame game. He needed to focus on stopping Kang, he was the one threatening the world, not him.
After a few more minutes of flight, Captain America turned to Iron Man.
"How much time do we have?" He asked.
But before he could get a response the Super Soldier noticed a light shining out the windscreen in front of them. Soon the light became too intense, forcing the occupants inside the aircraft to shield their eyes as Iron Man swerved the Quinjet out of the way as four massive beams of green light shot down from the sky.
"Not enough." Iron Man stated as he looked at the light beams.
"What is it?" Wasp asked as she tried to blink the spots from her eyes.
Hawkeye, having recovered quicker, opened the window blind next to him so he could observe the light beams from his angle. To the Archers shock, he noticed the beams were tracing along the ground and converging on Avengers Mansion.
"It's a targeting beam like a laser sight. A really, really big one." Hawkeye reported.
It didn't take the Avengers long to realise that this must be the super weapon Fury warned them about earlier. Apparently, Kang was not wasting any time bringing out the heavy artillery.
"Can you tell where it's aimed, Tony?" Ben asked from his seat, even though in the back of his mind he had a pretty good idea what the target is.
"Uh, yeah, at us." Iron Man said, confirming the Teens suspicion.
Upon hearing that, Ant Mans eyes widened. "But we're right over the city. A blast that size will destroy everything."
Ben then turned his head towards the Size changing hero with a stern expression. "I don't think Kang cares about collateral damage, Pym. He wants us gone, no matter who pays the price."
Suddenly the Alien Avenger flinched as a powerful torrent of wind suddenly blasted him in the face along with the other occupants in the Jet. The Heroes all turned to see Thor standing in front of a open door, Mjolnir in hand.
"Nay." Was all the Asgardian said before he jumped out of the airlock, which quickly shut behind him, and in a few seconds, shot past the Quinjet at incredible speeds.
"Whoa," Iron Man gasped as his eyes widened behind his helmet. "I've never seen him fly that fast. What's he doing?"
"He's saving us all." Captain America stated as he watched the Thunder God rocket ahead of them faster than anything he'd ever seen before.
Thor flew with all his might, making sure that he was between his friends and the weapons aim. So long as there was still life in him, the Prince of Asgard would not allow any harm to come to this realm. Thor grabbed Mjolnir by the straps and spun the hammer, summoning lightning as he charged it up with mystic power. The Asgardian then looked above and noticed the faint glow of energy in the fare distance that was rapidly glowing brighter. The Asgardian quickly realised that Kang's super weapon had just fired. In response, Thor positioned his spinning hammer in front of him like a shield and flew at high speed to intercept the beam.
"For Midgard!" The God of Thunder cried out as he collided with the beam. And earthshattering shockwave erupted from the collision as for a moment a second sun glowed in the sky before quickly vanishing.
Out from the explosion a green bolt of energy launched back up into space. The projectile shot out of earth orbit before colliding with Damocles base. The entire war ship rocked as the Future ships shields were hit causing several machines to spark.
Back in Earth's atmosphere, an unconscious Thor was in a free-fall back to Earth. The Asgardian's suit was smoking from his collision with the energy beam, leaving a smoke trail behind him as he fell. The Quinjet narrowly avoided colliding with Thor as he continued his rapid descent.
Noticing that the Thunderer was not slowing down, Wasp turn to address the Iron Avenger. "He's still falling. We have to go back."
"We can't." Iron Man replied. "Thor bought us a chance. We have to keep going before Kang fires again."
Seeing how worried Wasp was about the condition of Thor, and also his own concern, Hank activated his communicator. "Ant-Man to Ultron's 1 and 4, break off and catch Thor."
Hearing the command, the robots immediately responded. Breaking off from the formation, the Ultron's shot down like two speeding missiles in pursued of the falling Thor.
Back in the Quinjet, Ben bowed his head with a crest fallen expression. Once again, another friend risked his life to save him and once again, got hurt in the process. "Thor." He said in a worried tone.
But before he could dig that hole any deeper, Hulk tapped the young hero in the shoulder, causing him to look up at the Green Giant, who gave the teen a gruff smile.
"Goldilocks is tough. He'll make it." Despite his hard demeanour, Ben could see that the Gamma Hero really cared for the Thunder God. While the two argued and fought on a daily basis, at the end of the day, the two were strong friends, brothers in arms. Ben gave a small smile back to the Green Bruiser.
Back in pilot seat, Iron Man looked back to the Insect themed hero. "Say something, Hank. Is he alive?"
Ant Man narrowed his eyes for a moment as he listened to his communicator. "The Ultron's have him. He's comatose, but he's alive."
A collective sigh of relief was heard from each Avengers from hearing the news. They haven't lost anyone. But the day was not over yet.
On the bridge of Damocles base, Kang gritted his teeth as the sight of the damage to his ship. Somehow, they had been hit by something powerful enough to rattle the shield and cause a massive overload of energy in his ships systems. The Conqueror did not expect this era to have any weapons capable of doing that. And yet…
"Report!" Kang barked to one of his officers.
The man in question, was frantically working at his console trying to make sense of the readings the terminal was giving him. "I… I don't understand. This era's technology isn't capable of…"
"What happened?" Kang cut off the babbling officer, in a dangerous tone.
The Officer stood from his station and nervously looked at this ruler. "Something deflected the Damocles weapon, sending it back at us. The weapon is offline."
Kang's eyes narrowed as he looked out at the viewing deck of the bridge. The screens locked on to an approaching vehicle and quickly zoomed in and enhanced the image. One it was clear, Kang immediately recognised the ship and scowled.
"The Avengers." He all but spat the words. "Launch Scarabs. Destroy them."
Upon his command, the bay doors running alongside the side of the ship opened up and dozens of Scarab fighters were deployed from them, all rushing to engage the Quinjet like an angry swarm of bees. Once they were in range the swarm opened fire of the Quinjet. The advanced aircraft immediately moved to avoid the energy blasts, with only a few stray shots impacting against the shields and while they did hold, they would not hold out for very long against the Scarabs superior weaponry.
Inside the jet, the Avengers held onto their seats of anything they could reach to keep themselves steady as the ship rocked from the energy impacts and Iron Mans flying.
"So, this seems like it's going bad." Wasp shouted over the loud rumbling of the aircraft.
Hawkeye grunted as the Quinjet jerked to one side to avoid another Scarab fighter. "Really, I don't want to backseat drive or anything, but you might want to consider shooting back."
In response, Iron Man pushed a button on the control panel. Immediately to the left of the Archers seat, the panel on the wall opened up and a small terminal deployed, with a small screen at the top which displayed what looked like a targeting system and top small joysticks popped up.
"Be my guest." The Iron Avenger responded, as he resumed his concentration on navigating the deadly swarm.
Hawkeye then turned his chair to face the terminal and grabbed into the joysticks, a small smirk on his face. "Cool."
Outside on the Quinjet's hull a four-barrelled energy cannon deployed in the roof of the aircraft. The turret moved in response to Hawkeyes commands with the joysticks and then at the pull of the triggers, the cannon unleashed a barrage of energy projectiles, each one hitting a Scarab fighter, destroying them in an explosion of fire and metal.
While the Quinjet continued to fire at the incoming drones, the Ultron robots did their part to protect the aircraft from as many Scarabs as they could. One Ultron managed to attach itself to the wing of one of the drones and using its robotic strength, it easily tore of the wing affecting its stabilisers causing it to fly out of control into another drone, destroying them both. However, the victory for the robot was short lived as it was blasted in the back by another Scarab fighter and swiftly destroyed.
The rest of the Ultron's were not doing so well either, despite their combat systems being fully unlocked and they superior manoeuvrability, the Scarabs outnumbered them a hundred to one. Another Ultron robot fired and energy beam from its mouth to cover the Quinjet as it advanced towards Kang's warship. But it was quickly taken out by a Scarabs energy blast.
"Only two Ultron's left." Ant Man reported.
"We're not gonna make it like this." Captain America stated. He'd been in enough combat situations to know a battle plan falling apart when he sees it. But before the Sentinel of Liberty could suggest a retreat, Iron Man stood up from his seat.
"Agreed. Take the controls." The Avengers Leader ordered as he walked to the back of the jet, while a set of flight controls deployed in front of Captain America, allowing the Super Soldier to take over flying the plane.
Iron Man then walked up to Ben and Wasp. "Let's go."
"Finally." Ben smirked as he stood up from his chair. Wasp however did not share the young hero's enthusiasm as a shocked look was plastered on her face.
"You mean Hulk, right?" The Size-changing heroine asked, gesturing to the Green Giant seated behind her. Even though she usually wants to be the first one through the door in a fight, even Wasp could see she wasn't very effective against those Scarab drones. Unless she could get in close to get a clear shot between the cracks of the armor, her stingers were ineffective against the War Bots.
However, it seemed that Iron Man wasn't taking 'No' for an answer as She, Ben and Iron Man where ejected from the Quinjet's airlock and silently floated in the vacuum of space. For a brief moment, Wasp looked around and saw the Giant Blue orb that was Earth. The Insect Heroine could not help but beam at the sight.
"I cannot believe I'm in space." She said in awe.
"Jan. Jan, focus." Bens voice suddenly called out over her helmets radio. The teen hero floated over to her using the thrusters in his suits boots. "I know it's a pretty sight, but can we save the sight seeing until where not in a massive space battle?"
Wasp mentally slapped herself, for getting so easily distracted. He was right, there is still a fight going on and she needs to bring her A game if they're going to win.
Iron Man then flew over to the pair. "Ben's right, Jan. You've got the space armor on. I designed it to work with your stingers." He explained to her. Then Iron Man addressed Ben. "I haven't had a lot of time to properly test the calibrations on your suit, Ben. So, I'm not sure what will happen when you transform."
"Its most likely gonna get wrecked." Ben simply replied. Any suit I wear over my normal clothes usually gets destroyed when I transform."
"Then it's probably a good idea that you get inside the ship before you run out of power." Wasp commented, with a slight hint of concern in her tone.
"Agreed." Iron Man said. "Now, we have to clear a path for the others."
Wasp and Ben nodded, clear on the plan. "Let's do this." The former said as she activated her jet boots and rocketed into the fray.
As Iron Man flew to join her, Ben held back for a moment and activated his Ultimatrix. After cycling through the playlist, Ben finally found the right alien for this situation and slammed down the dial. In a flash of green light, the Teen Hero turned into a humanoid pterodactyl like alien with a large yellow beak-like mouth, green eyes, red skin, black and green clothing on its shoulders and waist, green braces around it's wrists and ankles, and yellow bat-like wings which connected to a backpack like structure on its back. The Ultimatrix symbol was displayed on its chest.
"ASTRODACTYL!" The Alien cried out.
The new alien smirked as it looked at the incoming Scarab fighters as he spread his wings and the base of his backpack started to glow green before a burst of energy erupted from the natural jetpack, rocketing the Alien Avenger forward in an incredible burst of speed. It didn't take long for several Scarab fighters to move in to engage the alien hero. The drone fighters fired their energy cannons at Astrodactyl, but the dino- alien easily dodged the blasts with his superior speed. Once the Alien Avenger got close enough, he held out his arms and two green energy whips sprung out from the tops of his forearms. Astrodactyl then swung the energy whips at the Scarabs and sliced them apart as easily as hot butter. The Alien Avenger squawked in enthusiasm as he moved on to continue the battle.
Meanwhile, Wasp was flying through the vacuum, trying to avoid the Scarabs energy blasts left and right. She was half tempted to shrink down to her usual size in battle, but decided against it. If she shrunk down and something went wrong, she could end up drifting off into space and the others would be too busy in the fight to even see her. So instead she thought it was time to test the new stingers Iron Man mentioned. The Size changing heroine held out her hand and, much like her original suit, they glowed with yellow energy. She then fired a bolt off and watched it fly across the dark void before striking a Scarab drone, immediately destroying it. Wasps eyes widened in surprise at her new stingers effectiveness. When Hank had first designed them, he made it so that they could simply be used to stun opponents. After they joined the Avengers, Wasp begged hank to upgrade her stingers so she could fight the stronger opponents the team faced. But true to his pacifistic nature, he refused and she was forced to fight bad guys with her weak stingers. But now with these new upgraded versions, she could finally stand on equal grounds with her teammates in a fight.
The Insect Themed Heroine beamed as she charged her stingers up for the next wave. "Hehe, now we're talking." She said ecstatically as she fired more stingers at the Drone fighter, destroying several more as she did so. She was then joined by Iron Man and Astrodactyl, who floated by her and fired at the enemy forces. Repulsor blasts from Iron Mans gauntlets and green energy blasts from Astrodactyl's beak joined Wasps yellow stingers in a destructive display of colour.
Back in the Quinjet, Hawkeye smirked as he took down yet another Scarab with the cannons on the jet.
"Yeah, that clenches it. I'm a good shot with anything." The archer gloated from his seat.
"How about you find us a place to land this bird, Eagle Eye?" Captain America suggested as he flew the Jet towards Kang's war ship. With Iron Man, Wasp and Ben keeping the Fighters attention, the Super solider was able to easily pilot the aircraft until they were flying along the length of the massive spaceship.
After a while, Ant Man stood from his seat and pointed ahead of them. "There, an airlock." The Size Changing hero pointed out a large door like structure just ahead of them, most likely leading to a hanger of some kind.
"I'm guessing they're not going to just open the door for us, though." Ant Man added, sitting back down.
In response Hawkeye smirked and glanced back at the Muscle bound green giant sitting in the back. "Hulk, why don't you knock?"
Upon hearing the Archers request, a big grin spread across Hulks face. They were playing his song.
It didn't take long for Hulk to make it outside the Quinjet, the harsh environment of the vacuum of space, not having any effect on him at all. The Green Goliath then crouched low and leaped off the jet, launching himself towards the giant airlock. The gamma hero then raised his fists and smashed them into the doors, breaking them in half causing a massive burst of air to erupt from the vacuum sealed room. The force of the blast, pushed Hulk back, while also tearing the airlock doors off their hinges. Lucky for Hulk he was able to grab a hold of the Quinjet as it blasted its way inside the ship.
"Iron Man, Wasp, Ben, we're going in." Captain America reported over the radio as the Quinjet came in for a landing, the last two Ultron Robots in hot pursuit.
Back in the space battle, Iron Man and the others heard Captain Americas report over their own comms and proceeded to head to the hanger to regroup with the others. However, just before the trio could enter through the airlock, a massive purple energy shield, spread over the entrance completely sealing it shut from the outside. Due to the speed, he was traveling and the sudden appearance of the energy shield, Astrodactyl didn't have any time to stop himself from slamming right into the shield like a bug on a windscreen.
"Hey. Guys, we're cut off. A force field sealed the breach." Iron Man reported over the comms.
"Yeah, I noticed." Astrodactyl groaned in response from his awkward position.
"Hang on, we'll find a way to open it." Ant Man suggested, responding to Iron Man.
"No, stick with the plan." Iron Man ordered. He then turned to Astrodactyl. "Ben, go inside and help the others."
The Alien Hero gave the Avengers leader a confused look. "And leave you two out here alone?"
"You're the only one who can get through the shield. The others need all the help they can get. Plus, we don't know what kind of tricks Kang has in store for us. We're going to need you at your best." The Armored Hero stated.
As much as Astrodactyl wanted to argue with the Iron Hero, he knew he was right. Time was of the essence in this situation. Kang's advanced technology had been trouble for the Avengers in the past, and while Iron Man tried to study what little data he had managed to obtain from him in their first encounter, there was still no telling what other surprises the Time Traveling Conqueror had in story for them.
"Don't worry, we'll find another way in." Iron Man added, reassuring the young hero.
Astrodactyl nodded and he reached up and taps the Ultimatrix Symbol.
"GHOSTFREAK!" The ghost alien yelled after a flash of green light. The teen hero then turned intangible and phased through the shield and entered into the hanger with the others.
Once the Teen Hero had left, Wasp glanced to the Armored Hero and raised her eyebrow. "We will?" She asked, referring to his previous statement.
"I don't know. I'm just making this up as I go along." Iron Man answered slightly uneasy. Suddenly an energy beam shot right past Iron Man, narrowly missing his helmet. "We've got incoming."
"Nuts." Wasp grieved as she and Iron Man looked to see a squadron of Scarabs flying right towards them.
Meanwhile, within the hanger, the Avengers were exiting the Quinjet into the large room within the Kang's Warship. Hulk was already outside, along with the two Ultron Robots. With the Force field sealing the entrance to the hanger, the atmosphere within the room had stabilised, meaning it was safe to breath. But Hulk didn't even wait for the all clear from anyone as he just simply removed his mask and oxygen tank, while also stretching out his muscles.
"That was fun." The Green Giant said, with a small smile on his face.
Just then he noticed Ghostfreak float down to the floor and proceed to tape the Ultimatrix dial, turning himself back into Ben.
"Thought you guys could use some backup." He said cockily.
This earned a smirk from Hulk as he and Ben then walked over to join the rest of the Avengers.
"Okay, so what now?" Ant Man asked, though deep down he already knew the answer.
"We take down Kang." Captain America answered, confidently.
"That's right, I forgot. Violence first." Ant Man responded sarcastically.
Ben looked at the size changing hero with sympathy. "Believe me, dude. I wish we could convince Kang to settle this peacefully. But we've all seen that Kang isn't one to listen to reason. We have to fight him and maybe we can talk some sense into him later."
Ant Man didn't respond, he simply kept his disappointed look on him face and continued walking.
However, before anyone could react, a purple blur slammed onto Hawkeye, knocking the archer across the room and landing in a heap on the ground. Seeing his comrade under attack, Captain America got into a fighting stance to face the new enemy only for the same blur to strike him the same way, knocking the Super Soldier into the wall. The remaining heroes tensed up as they tried to follow the unknown blur as it dashed throughout the hanger, before they noticed it move up the Quinjet to its roof. The Avengers, plus two Ultron's, turned to see three individuals standing on top of the vehicle.
The first one was a man of average build in green armor with a green helmet on his head with a frill on the top and a glowing horizontal visor. He had a purple collar and gloves. He wore black boots on his feet, that went up to his knees. In his hand, he held a high-tech battle rifle.
The being standing next to him was a hulking brute, with a purple helmet with yellow spikes sprouting from it, as well as his shoulders. The front of the mask was open, revealing his grey stone like face with yellow eyes. He wore a black and purple suit and carried a large metal mace in his hands.
The third and final member of the trio, who was also the one who knocked down Cap and Hawkeye, was a short scrawny looking man wearing a full body purple and black suit that seemed to resemble a high-tech ninja suit. His face was completely covered by his mask with had black lenses over the eye holes. A long silver, double edged sword rested in his left hand as he crouched alongside his companions.
"Kang the Conqueror welcomes you to Damocles Base." The Gun wielding member of the trio announced to the Heroes as he aimed his weapon at them. "It will be your tomb."
The Leader of the group then fired his weapon as a green beam of energy blasted from the barrel causing the heroes to scatter. The other two members of Kang's Elite Guard then jumped off the Quinjet and moved to engage the Avengers, with the Mace wielder heading right for Ant Man and the Ultron's.
"Warning! Localized time flux in progress, engaging threat, engaging threat." The closest Ultron robot said as it prepared to fight the incoming enemy. However, before it could make any attempt to attack the Purple Ninja appeared behind the Machine in a burst of speed and swiftly slashed the robot in half with his sword like paper. The robots body fell to the floor in pieces with its head clattering a few paces away from it.
"This behavior is unacceptable." Was the last thing the robot was able to say before the Brute Guard crushed its head under his boot.
The last remaining Ultron robot then moved in front of its master to try and protect him, but much like its comrade before it, it was easily knocked away by the Brutes mace. However, it seems that it was not severely damaged from the attack as the previous one. The Brute then moved to crush Ant Man, but the size changer was able to shrink down before the blunt weapon hit him.
The Brute narrowed his eyes as if registering the abilities of his opponent, when suddenly he heard a load roar come from behind him. The Mace wielder turned to see Hulk bearing down on him, having leaped into the air with his giant green fists raised.
"HULK!" But before the Green giant could make contact, the Elite Brute vanished in a flash of green light, causing Hulk to collide into the ground, creating a large crater in the process.
"… Smash?" Hulk finished his signature catchphrase with a confused look on his face. Suddenly a green flash appeared behind Hulk and the Gamma Avenger turned around only to see the Brute hefting his mace behind has head. The Brute then swung he weapon, hitting Hulk with enough force to send him flying into the wall on the fare end of the hanger.
"Hulk!" Captain America called out in concern for his teammate only to immediately raise his shield to block an energy blast from the Rifleman's weapon. The Leader of the Elite Guard remained perched from his position on top of the Quinjet, using his advanced rifle to snip at the heroes from an elevated position. But with his attention seemingly focused on Captain America, it allowed the other sharpshooter in the room to take aim.
Pulling back the bowstring, Hawkeye aimed an explosive arrow at the Rifleman as he continued to fire on the Sentinel of Liberty. The Archer then released his grip and the trick arrow flew from the bow and directly at its target. However, just like the Brute did earlier, the Rifleman teleported away causing the arrow to miss its target and hit the roof, detonating from the collision.
Hawkeye then drew another arrow from his quiver, his senses on alert as he prepares for a sneak attack from the Rifleman. A pulsing noise behind him was the very indication he needed to swing around and draw back the arrow. However, instead of the Rifleman, The Purple Ninja was standing behind the Archer. Not wanting to waist his chance, Hawkeye took aim at the sword wielder. But the Ninja disappeared in a blur of impressive speed before Hawkeye could fire the arrow. The Archer then noticed his opponent out of the corner of his eye and tried to take aim again. But again, the Ninja dashed away before Hawkeye could even lock on to his target. Time and time again, just as Hawkeye thinks he has a bead on the speedster, he dashes off in the blink of an eye.
Hawkeye groaned as the Ninja ran off again. "Ugh, I hate speedsters."
"Then maybe it's time I slow him down." Ben said as he activated the Ultimatrix and cycled through his transformations. Once he found the one he was looking for, he slammed the dial down and his signature blinding green light, illuminated the area.
"XLR8!" The alien shouted before his visor deployed over his face and he speed off in a blur of blue and black.
The Ninja saw the speedy alien running towards him and he immediately took off with XLR8 hot in pursuit. The alien Hero smirked under the visor, not many people could match XLR8's blinding speeds, the only times he'd ever been tagged was due to his opponents having amazing reflexes or his own carelessness. But this time, the Transformed Teen was focused and closing in on the Purple Ninja.
"Gotcha now." He said, just as he reached out his clawed hand to grab the speedy swordsman.
But, just before he could make contact with him, the Ninja suddenly disappeared in a blur. Just before XLR8 could register what just happened, the Ninja circled around him and kicked him in the back, knocking the Alien Avenger off balance and send him tumbling into the wall.
XLR8 groaned as he rubbed his head from the impact. He looked up to see the Ninja dashing around the room again, knocking down his teammates as he did so. The Teen Hero looked on in confusion, how did he move so fast? Even XLR8's enhanced reflexes and perception couldn't see the Ninja's movements and both where moving faster than the naked eye could track.
Shaking his head to regain his focus, XLR8 took off again quickly catching up to the Ninja. The Speedster Swordsman looked back to see the Alien Hero was once again on his tail. This time the Ninja tried to strike Alien speedster with his blade, but XLR8 countered with his claws, easily blocking the blade. XLR8 then tried to attack him, but once again the Ninja vanishes in a blur and strikes the Alien Hero from behind, sending him tumbling into the wall again.
"Come on, Kid! Quit playing around! Hurry up and speed blitz these guys so we can get out of here!" Hawkeye yelled as he continued to try to get a clear shot of the Ninja.
XLR8 groaned as he groggily got to his feet. "I'm trying. But this guy is crazy fast."
Hawkeye then gave the Teen an incredulous look. "Come on, Ben. I've seen this guy move so fast you made it to New Jersey and back before I could even take a bite of my sandwich."
"I know, I know." XLR8 responded, slightly annoyed. "But this guy's moving so fast that even I couldn't see him coming. He's on a whole other level."
Hawkeye looked at the teen and could see the concern in his eyes. He could tell the young heroes confidence was a little shaken. Heck after everything that's been happening to him, he'd be surprised if he wasn't.
"Ok then, here's the plan. Well save him for last. Focus on the other two and we'll all take him on together." Hawkeye explained.
XLR8 looked up at the Archer and saw the confident look in the Marksman's eyes. The Teen Hero then mirrored his expression and nodded. He then faced the nearest opponent, which happened to be the Rifleman, and dashed towards him, intending to slam into the villain like a living battering ram.
At the same time, Hulk jumped at the Rifleman intending to smash him to the ground, while Captain America and Ant Man, in his shrunken size, both leaped towards the Brute.
Suddenly, before anyone could make contact with their opponents, each one suddenly moved at speeds only comparable to godlike, as the Rifleman disappeared in a blur, moving out of both Hulks and XLR8's path, while the Brute suddenly, slapped Ant Man out of the air, spun around, grabbed Captain American and tossed him towards the Green Giant and Alien Teen so fast, the Super Soldier wasn't even aware of the situation before he collided into the Hulk, knocking him off balance, only to then be rammed by XLR8 causing all three to be sent hurtling into the wall in a heap.
The three heroes groaned in pain in the jumbled pile. XLR8 shock his head again, now he was even more confused than before. He was just wrapping his head around the Ninja having superior speed to him, but now all three members of the Elite Guard where now faster than him? There was just no way that these guys could move that fast that even XLR8's processing speed couldn't track them. What kind of future tech did that Time Traveling Warlord give them?
That's when it hit him. Future tech, Time travel. It was so obvious; the Speedy alien could believe he didn't think of it sooner. The Alien Hero quickly untangled himself from Hulk and Cap and tapped the Ultimatrix dial.
Meanwhile, Hawkeye was on the ropes as the Purple Ninja delivered a series of rapid punches to his face, knocking him back. Hawkeye reeled back from the attack winching in pain. Then he heard the whipping sound of the Ninja as he dashed behind him. Reacting quickly, Hawkeye drew and arrow and fired it at the Swordsman. But no sooner had the arrow travelled several feet, the Ninja sliced the arrow in half with his sword, so fast the arrow flew a few more meters before falling apart and exploding.
Hawkeye then ran forward, firing arrow after arrow at his opponent. But, like his previous attempts, the Ninja easily dodged each attack with his blinding speed. Then when Hawkeye was about to draw his next arrow, his bow was suddenly knocked out of his hand and the Ninjas sword was inches from his neck, before he could notch the arrow.
Hawkeye froze as the Ninja glared at him through the eye sockets of his mask. The Archer then felt someone grip his arm and he glanced out of the corner of his eye to see the Rifleman standing behind him.
"The primate is trying to hit us with sticks." The rifleman mocked in a condescending tone.
"If that's to advanced for you. Maybe we should go back to the basics." And German sounding voice suddenly quipped from out of nowhere. Before either the Rifleman or Ninja could react, a golden blur smashed into both of them, knocking them down in a stunned heap.
Hawkeyes eyes widened at the sight as he looked to see that his saviour was…
Clockwork?
Hawkeye was so stunned and confused, he couldn't even find the words to comment on the situation. How did a large, bulky, hunk of metal, get the drop of two advanced soldiers from the future?
"What the… How did…?" Hawkeye babbled out, before the Rifleman and Ninja returned to their feet.
"Explanations will have to wait. Right now, we've got a fight to win." Clockwork stated.
Snapping out of his stupor, Hawkeye quickly grabbed his bow and notched his arrow. The Ninja drew his sword and looked like he was preparing to sprint off again with his incredible speed. But before he could, the key on top of Clockworks head started to spin and, before anyone could react, the large robotic alien dashed forward at speeds that should've been impossible for a being his size. The Alien Hero smashed his fist into the Ninjas face, before the speedster could move an inch, then backhanded the Rifleman just as fast. Both villains where knocked of balance, dazed from the attack that it was easy for Captain America to toss his shield into the Rifleman and Hulk to sucker punch the Ninja, knocking them both out.
Clockwork then dashed towards the Brute, who hand Ant Man pinned under his boot, and delivered a haymaker to the Mace wielder's face before the he could even react. This allowed Ant Man to reach his belt and activate his Pym Particles. The Brute rubbed his head to recover from the daze. But once he did, he noticed a large shadow looming over him. The Brute turned to see the Titanic form of Giant Man looming over him. The final member of the Elite Guard was to stunned to move when a giant fist came right at him, smashing him into the ground and rendering him unconscious.
With the battle won, the Avengers dragged the three Elite Guard Members together, removing their weapons and gear as they did so, and Hawkeye tied them up with his bola arrow.
Once that was done, the Archer then walked over to the Teen Hero, who had just turned back into Ben, and looked at him, confused.
"Ok, Kid. Spill. How the heck does a fat, lumbering, hunk of scrap metal, move like that?" The Archer questioned.
Ben looked at the Archer for a moment, then gestured to the unconscious Elite Guard. "Same way they did it."
This earned confused looks from not only Hawkeye, but the other Heroes as well.
Ben then continued. "Well first I thought that the Ninja guy, just had super speed, or some tech that made him move really fast. But when all three of them moved so fast that not even XLR8 could see it, I knew something was up."
"And what's that?" Captain America asked.
"They weren't moving fast, they were making all of us slow." Ben stated. This earned confused looks from Hulk, Cap and Hawkeye. Ant Man looks confused for a moment, but the scientist quickly put the pieces together of what Ben meant.
"They used Kang's time travel tech, to alter our perception of time and make them look like they have super speed. That's why, no matter how fast I moved as XLR8, I could never catch them, cause my perception of time was altered."
"So, you used, Clockworks abilities to manipulate time to cancel out the effects and fight them on equal footing." Hank concluded.
Ben nodded. "Yep pretty much."
The remaining heroes just looked at Ben stunned.
"Sometimes I wonder why you're even on this team. You could save the world by yourself." Hawkeye said in a sarcastic tone.
Ben smirked. "Well someone's gotta clean up after me." He quipped back. Causing Hawkeye to punch the Teens arm in a playful, brotherly manner.
Meanwhile outside the Warship, in the vacuum of space, Wasp and Iron Man where having a bit of trouble. So far, the pair had been unsuccessful in finding another passage inside the base. Currently the Iron Avenger had both hands grasping the handles of an airlock as he pulled with all the strength his armor could provide. But even with his armors maximum output, the doors remained tightly sealed.
Eventually Iron Man grunted as he let go of the door. "I could try my uni-beam." He though aloud.
"Or, we could pretend to be Girl Scouts? Everyone opens the door for Girl Scouts." Wasp then suggested with a cheeky smile on her face.
Iron Man however, was not amused by her joke. "You're not helping, Jan."
Wasp pouted at her partners lack of humour as she watched him continue to work on the locked door. She then turned around to face the beautiful view of space. At that moment, a few Scarab fighters flew into view, no doubt looking for them, and a small smirk spread across her face.
"Okay, you want help? Fine." She then activated her jet boots and took off into space.
"Jan? Jan!" Iron Man called out when he realised what Wasp was doing, but he was too late. The size Changing heroine had flown off and headed straight for the Scarab fighter squadron.
Once she got close, the Scarabs immediately detected her and started heading straight towards the size changer. As they got closer, instead of running away or preparing to fight. Wasp cocked her hip to the side, gave the Scarabs a cute smile and waves flirtatiously. "Hi."
Upon seeing that display, Iron Mans jaw dropped. A group of killer robots where about to vaporise her and she was acting like she was trying to pick them up in a bar.
"Great, on top of everything else I have to deal with Wasp going nuts." The Iron Avenger stated exasperated as he flew after her. However, he was so wrapped up in his criticism that he didn't notice Wasp flying back at him at high speed until she blasted right past him.
"Incoming!" She screamed, snapping Iron Man out of his thought just in time to see the three Scarab fighter screaming towards him, blasting energy bolts at full power.
The Iron Avengers quickly changed his course and rocketed up to avoid the incoming ships. Unfortunately for them, their manoeuvrability was not as effective as Iron Man or Wasp as the three ships then collided into the hull of the command ship. The resulting explosion tore through the outer armor of the advanced spaceship leaving a rather impressively sized hole. For a moment Iron Man and Wasp just floated in the void looking over the resulting destruction. The later, marvelled at her stroke of brilliance, while the former was awestruck at the effectiveness of a plan thought up by a woman who's only feat of engineering steps from sowing fabrics together.
"Wow, that was…." Iron Man tried to say before Wasp cut him off.
"Come on." She said as she rocketed towards the hull breach before any attempt to close it could be made. Iron Man quick got over his shock and pursued the Size changing heroine.
Meanwhile back inside the Hanger area. The Avengers had restrained Kang's Elite Guard, buy using the Mace of the Brute Which Hulk had bent into an effective bind, and where now gathering themselves before they press on. Hank stood with his remaining Ultron robot and was working on the circuits in its back as Captain America stood in front of the team.
"Let's move." The Super Soldier ordered. However, before they could do anything of the sort, Ant Man turned away from Ultron and walked over to him.
"Wait. We have to find Kang. If we find the station's time drive, we can end all of this right now. We destroy that, and this whole base, Kang included, disappear. The war is over."
"Okay, but how do we find it?" Captain America asked following the scientist's logic.
Ant Man then turned to his creation. "Ultron 5, scan for tachyon particles."
On his order, the mechanical being's eyes then started to glow as its head then started to swivel from side to side, indicating it had initiated its scan.
"The other drives were giving them off big time." Ant Man explained to the group as they waited. Just then Ultron's head stopped as its gaze drifted to the far end of the room.
"Tachyon source detected. Locating." The Machine stated as it marched of in the direction of the source, leading the way. It was then followed by Captain America, while Hulk, Hawkeye and Ben hung back for a second to watch the robot in action.
"Huh, useful toy." Hulk commented.
"Creepy-looking, though." Hawkeye added.
"I think it's the red eyes." Ben agreed.
"It's a not a toy, and it's not creepy. It's designed to look like an ant's head." Ant Man corrected in a condescending tone as he walked past the trio to follow Cap and Ultron. The three heroes glanced at each other for a moment, before shrugging and moving to catch up.
"Whatever you say, Pym." Hawkeye said in a sarcastic tone.
Elsewhere within the ventilation system on the ship Wasp, shrunken down to her usual hero form, was flying down the small corridors of the vents by herself. After the two had blasted their way into Kang's ship, their route to re-join the other hit a snag, when they came across a blocked passageway, no doubt cased in the explosion. Lucky for Wasp, there was an opening that was small enough for her to get through. But unfortunately, Iron Man was forced to search for an alternative route. She hadn't been flying for very long before Iron Man's voice sounded over her comms.
"You know, we were supposed to stay together." Iron Man stated, causing her to roll her eyes.
"I'm scouting, and you're too big. And, quite frankly, too slow." Wasp pointed out as she continued on her way. While she would've preferred to stay together, especially if she came across Kang himself. She knew that time was off the essence and they couldn't waist time.
"I'm going to find Kang." She announced with confidence.
Suddenly, just as she came to a junction in the vent, a powerful blast of air erupted from beneath her, forcing her up and shooting her out of the vent into a large open room. The size changing heroin shock off the sudden motion and straightened out her helmet. She then turned to explore the new environment, but froze the moment she turned around. Directly in front of her, only a few centimetres away, was a woman. She looked around mid-twenties, with light brown skin, flowing raven hair and wearing a silver and purple suit with a white crown like headdress upon her head. Her eyes where closed as she appeared to be floating in some sort of blue force field.
"Uh, hi." Wasp awkwardly said to the woman. There was no response, causing Wasp to raise an eyebrow in concern. "Are you okay?"
No sooner had the words left her mouth, the sound of blasters charging caused the Size changer to freeze in mid hover. Turning slowly, Wasp then came face to face with three of Kang's officers, all of whom were aiming blasters at her.
"Princess Ravonna is dying." The lead officer explained. "A victim of the destruction of her timeline. She is not okay. And neither are you."