ver wondered why New York City is often referred to as The Big Apple? It must have crossed everyone's mind at least once. A common joke answer to that question is the city is called that due to all the subway trains that run under the city as a reference to how apples are often infested by the railroad maggot. Whatever the real reason for the nicknames origin, it would have to be learned at a later time as the Avengers, consisting of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Wasp, Hawkeye and Ben, in the form of Swampfire, currently in the middle of a hostage situation in the middle of an underground subway station.
The Villains of this week, the Serpent Society. A group of Super Villains which, as the name suggest, all have snake themed powers, attributes or costumes. Members included their leader, King Cobra, a man who mutated himself to gain snake like powers and abilities and wears a green mask that resembled the head of a king cobra snake. It covers the top part of his face leaving his mouth exposed and fang like structures run down either side of his cheeks connecting them to the roof of his mouth. He has green skin and wears a purple armor like suit with a chest plate and metal gauntlets on both arms. His legs normally have purple boots on them, but currently King Cobra had sifted his legs into a long purple metallic tail that he was using to hold a frightened woman hostage.
The next member on his left was the Rattler, a rather large member of the Snake group with copper brown scaly skin with lighter brown patches on his chest and face. He wore brown, ripped pants and possessed a long tail with a very large rattler on the end, hence his name.
Next to him was Death Adder, snake man with light green scales, wearing a purple jumpsuit that covered most of his body. He had long talon like claws on his hands, which was not very snake like if the Alien Avengers was being honest. His face had no mouth, appearing to be covered by a mask and a large dorsal fin like structure grew from his head and went down his spine, stopping at the base of his long spike covered tail.
To King Cobra's right was a member named Bushmaster. By far the most snake like of all the members as he literally looked like a giant green snake, with a pair of silver metallic robotic arms attached to a silver metal harness. He had no legs and a long green tail that was constricting the other hostage that the Serpent Society had taken.
A burly woman named Anaconda was the fourth member of the villain team. A large muscular female about a head taller than Rattler, with a mane of straw coloured hair, she was wearing a green and gold armored suit with gold on her upper body, chest and arms and her shoulders, boots and belt were green.
The fifth and final member of the team was Constrictor a villain remembered all too well as the second bad guy he took out when first arrived in this universe. He was also the first villain he saved Wasp from when they first met. So in a way the Alien Hero kinda owed this guy. He made a note to knock him out quickly as a courtesy
The Heroes and Villains stared each other down in a standoff. Although, while the Villains appeared on edge and completely focused on the situation, the Avengers appeared calm, relaxed, almost nonchalant about the whole ordeal.
"Surrender!" King Cobra hissed at the heroes.
Almost immediately Iron Man dropped his fighting stance and casually waved his arms to his team.
"Ok, you heard him people. Everyone stand down. Cap, give him the keys to the Quinjet." The Avengers Leader said in a casual tone.
The Super Soldier gave Iron Man and incredulous look "You're not serious?"
"Not even close." He stated with a slight chuckle in his voice. "Because we're not surrendering to the Serpent Society. Avengers, pick a target."
On his order, Thor gripped his Hammer and prepared to throw it, Captain America did the same with his shield, Hawkeye took aim with his bow, Swampfire formed a fireball in his palms, Wasp charged up her stingers and Iron Man deployed a mini missile from his forearm as they lined up their respective targets. The Serpent Society readied their respective powers and weapons in response the tension rising as both sides prepared to engage.
With the hostages in the cross fire, this appeared to be a very risky. But either the Serpent Society didn't have any experience with hostage taking or they were not that bright. As King Cobra and Bushmaster held their hostages in front of them, their heads were completely exposed therefore not taking advantage of their living shields at all. One hit to the head from any of the heroes would stun them long enough to release the captives and get them to safety. An easy win for the Avengers.
"On my mark." Iron Man ordered as he aimed his arm missile at King Cobras head.
Suddenly a blue light illuminated right in the middle of the stand-off revealing Ant Man as he grew to his normal height, with his hands raised to either side in a calming gesture.
"Tony, wait! Everyone, just breathe. We can resolve this without resorting to violence, no one needs to get hurt." Ant Man called out to the group.
At this point practically everyone on the heroes side mentally groaned and clenched their jaws in annoyance. While it was no secret to any of them that the size changing scientist abhorred violence and wished to find more peaceful solutions. However, his strong pacifistic views tended to cloud his judgement on when and where to try the peaceful route. A bunch of crazy violent super powered individuals with hostages, wasn't really the best time for that.
"Hank?" Wasp started to say, but Ant Man cut her off.
"Cobra was one of my patients in the big house. Most of the Society was. Let me talk to them, Tony." He pleaded with the Avengers leader.
"Hank, move out of the way, now." Iron Man ordered, not lowering his arms for a moment.
The Size Channing scientist did no such thing as he turned to Cobra and locked eyes with him with his hands raised in a none threatening manner.
"Cobra, Klaus why don't you let the hostages go? You and I, we can talk this out. No one has to get hurt. We can work together and everyone can win." Ant Man said in a calm tone. Thou Swampfire could detect a subtle pleading tone in his words. It was like Hank was desperate for Cobra to take his offer and prove him right.
Cobra just smirked as he tightened his coils around his hostage, causing her to grunt in pain.
"Win? You have already lost, Avengers! Madame Viper is meeting us here with the full power of HYDRA at our back."
This caused most of the heroes to display confused expressions. Were these guys not aware that HYDRA was recently taken down? How could they have gotten a message, if their so-called allies are all locked up?
"You think he means the same Madame Viper that's in a SHIELD lockup? and the same HYDRA we just took down?" Hawkeye asked with a smirk on his face.
"Yeah, sorry Cobra, I am pretty sure you are on your own here." Iron Man added, mockingly.
"Hey, give the guy a break." Swampfire said to the Archer and Armored Hero, with his own childish grin on his face. "He probably started hibernating after getting that message and didn't realise what day it is."
Cobra hissed in anger at the Avengers constant mocking.
"You're wrong!" He snapped. "The message It was…"
"Hank, move!" Iron Man ordered again.
"For real, Hank. You have to get out of the way." Wasp warned the Size Changer.
She could see that Cobra was growing more agitated by the second and If the colour of his hostages' face was any indication, they needed to take these guys down before people got hurt.
Desperation filled Ant Man's body as he turned to Cobra once more. He couldn't let this go on. Now or never, he needed to prove that these situations could be solved peacefully, that these villains could be redeemed.
"Klaus, please let this people go. Take me instead. We can work this out." He said once more, practically begging at this point. One more plea and the Scientist would be on his knees.
Unfortunately, the Insect themed heroes' faith was misplaced as Cobra's eyes narrowed in anger. "No! You're lying! You are all lying! Adder!"
On his leaders command, Death Adder lunged forward, spinning in the air to whip his tail at Ant Man, who stood motionless in shock. But before the tail could strike the Size Changing Hero, Hawkeye rushed forward and shoved Ant Man out of the way, causing the powerful tail to strike him instead, sending the Archer flying back and landing in a heap.
Ant Man could only look at his fallen teammate in shock as Cobra and Bushmaster tossed their hostages aside, with the formers tail morphing into a pair of legs.
"Serpent Society, attack!" Cobra yelled as the Snake Villains charged the heroes.
Not taking any chances, Swampfire quickly threw several seeds over the charging villains which landed on the ground and quickly grew into large green vines. The Alien Hero mentally controlled the vines to grab the civilians and carry them to the nearest exit. With the innocent bystanders taken care of, the heroes could focus their full attention on the fight.
As the fight raged on, Ant Man ran over to check on Hawkeye. The Archer had a nasty looking cut on his arm, but it didn't appear to be broken.
"Take it easy Clint, you got hit pretty hard." Ant Man said as he tried to help the Archer up.
Hawkeye grunted in pain, but his sour expression was not due to his injury as he pushed Ant Man's hand away from him.
"Yeah, you're welcome." The Archer said sarcastically as he glared at the Scientist. "Now quit messing around and help take these guys out."
No sooner had he said that Death Adders tail shot out from behind him and wrapped around his neck. Hawkeye barely had time to gasp before the Snake villain dragged him away from Ant Man and down a manhole, leaving Ant Man in a surprised and stunned state.
Things just dissolved into a massive blur for the Scientist Hero. All around him was nothing but violence and chaos as the Avengers and Serpent Society clashed with each other. Fists colliding, weapons striking, people getting injured left and right. It was all too much for him, he didn't know what he should do. In the past he would normally go along with the fighting, but this was different. These where people he knew, people he worked with on both sides of the conflict. He knew the Serpent Society were villains, but he spent so much time talking to them in the Big House, getting to know them, trying to show them a better way, to cure them of their sickness. But all this, this wasn't helping anyone. All he could see was people hurting each other, for what reason? What did any of this accomplish?
It was in that moment that Hank noticed Wasp fighting Cobra out of the corner of his eye. She flew around the Serpent villain with skill and grace, zapping him with her stingers, keeping him off balance as he flailed around trying to hit her. He thought he had her cornered at the wall and tried to strike her with a right hook. But Wasp easily dodged him and his fist collided with the cement, cracking it. She then placed her hands on top of his fist and used it for a platform as she grew to her normal size, pivoting as she did so in order to land a kick, right into the side of Cobras head.
Seems all of those practice training sessions with Cap have been paying off. Hank had never seen her use her powers in a manner such as that. In fact, Hank has never seen her as happy as she is now, than when she was just helping him with his projects. She really seemed at home with the Avengers.
But his musings were cut short when Wasp suddenly got blasted by a beam of vibrational energy, fired from the tip of Rattlers tail. The size changing heroine cried out in pain as she slammed against the wall and fell to the ground, motionless.
In that moment Hanks blood boiled. He no longer saw a person that needed his help. He saw a cold blooded villain that hurt someone he cared about. That will not stand.
A flash of blue light was the only warning Rattler got as he turned around, just in time to see a giant fist, punch him into the subway platform, imbedding him several feet into the concrete.
With his Giant form, too big to be useful in his current surroundings, Hank quickly shrunk back to normal. Turning his attention to Cobra, who had recovered from Wasps attack and was now about to engage Iron Man. However, Ant Man quick got between them and activated his helmet.
Almost immediately Cobra felt something on his legs. Looking down, his eyes widened in shock at the sight of a swarm of ants crawling up his body, making their way under his suit to bite at his skin. The pain and shock of the sudden attack caused the Snake villain to panic and run away into the darkness of the subway tunnel, screaming.
Seeing their leader retreating, caused the other Serpent Society members to follow suit, leaving the Avengers in a slightly beat up state. Suddenly the manhole cover in front of them, flew off as Death Adder clawed his way to the surface. Only for a hand to reach up and grab him by his tail and pull him back down. A few seconds later, Hawkeye emerged from the hole, gasping for air, his suit ripped in several places, but otherwise very much, alive.
The other Avengers gathered, all looking a little beat up from the fight. Thor's armor was covered with soot, Captain Americas uniform was ripped and he was covered in Saliva after almost being eaten by Bushmaster, Iron Mans armor was dented in a few places, Swampfire was regrowing his right arm and parts of his torso and Wasp was nursing a headache.
Needless to say, this was not the Avengers finest moment.
"That could have gone better, team." Captain America stated, bluntly
"No kidding." Hawkeye replied, grunting as he clutched his injured arm.
"We just got our butts handed to us by a bunch of snake people. Can we just agree to never speak of this, ever?" Swampfire asked, feeling slightly embraced. He went toe to toe with the Masters of Evil and Kang the Conqueror and yet somehow he got blindsided by a bunch of C-List villains. If Rick or Peter ever hear about this, they'd never let him live it down.
Iron Man proceeded to stomp over to Hank as he stared solemnly down the dark tunnel.
"What were you thinking, Hank? We're trying to take the Serpent Society down, not have Sunday tea." He berated the Size Changing Hero.
Ant Man said nothing as if he didn't even hear Iron Mans words. Wasp then flew in front of his face causing him to look right into her disappointed face.
"Hawkeye got hurt because of you, Hank. I mean seriously they're super villains, you just hit them." She punctuated her point, but punching her fist into her hand.
Once again, Ant Man said nothing, but his mouth did drop as if shocked by her words.
"Wasp and Iron Man, speak truly." Thor added. "Animals like these, they cannot be talked to. They respond only to violence."
There it was. The key word. Violence.
Is that all they were capable of doing? Just jumping from one violent conflict to the next? This was not what the Size Changing Hero had signed up for. He didn't join this team to be a part of some violent crusade of fighting and pain. He never wanted this life. Yet, he attacked the Rattler. For no other reason than he wanted to hurt him for what he did to Janet. He didn't restrain him, or knock him out, or even draw him away. He attacked him.
He used violence.
Without even looking at the team, Ant Man lowered his head and said something none of them expected before shrinking out of site.
"I quit."
To say the other heroes were shocked was an understatement. They have all been a team for a while now. Fighting alongside each other, saving the world multiple times. So, hearing that one of their own was quitting the team was quite the surprise.
Janet took it the worst, by far. Practically begging the team to help her look for him and convince him to come back with them. But that was quickly made irrelevant when JARVIS reported that Hank had returned to the mansion. Something the other heroes where grateful for. After their fight with the Serpent Society, they were all pretty tired and just wanted to go home and rest up.
Down in the Mansions sub levels, the Size Changing Hero walked around his lab, packing up all his equipment. Despite the fact that the entire lab itself can be shrunken down and transported in his pocket, it's better to secure all loose items and sensitive equipment so that nothing gets damaged during the move. Hank couldn't count all the times he was in a rush and forgot to secure some of his experiments before moving his lab.
As he packed, he paused for a moment to look at his Ant Man helmet. Looking at his own reflection in the shiny metal headgear, he felt a little disgusted by the sight. He was a man of science. He built this equipment to further the development of humanity, learn more about the universe, discover revolutionary ways to save lives and make the world a better place.
But like every great mind before him, the world took what he created and turned it into a weapon of violence. Because of this, the world now saw Hank Pym as a costumed vigilante. Not as a scientist.
"I just can't do it anymore." He said aloud, turning to his prize creation, Ultron. The Robot stood motionless as it received a system update from the terminal it was hooked up to.
The Size Changing Scientist continued to speak to the robot as he placed the helmet into a box "I never wanted this. This life of violence fighting day in and day out. There has to be a better solution than this. Humanity has come so far, but more and more it seems like we're failing as a species. Like we're wasting all of our promise."
The Scientist leaned on the table as he hung his head in shame.
"Humanity is inherently flawed." Ultron stated in his monotonic voice. "Observation and analysis, suggests that humanity is encoded with chaotic and violent tendencies. That cannot be overcome."
Finally hearing someone else agree with him, even if it was only his own creation, brought a small smile to Hanks face. He walked over and placed a hand on the cold metallic shoulder of his robot.
"You might be right, Ultron. This isn't exactly the peace and order that I programmed you to try and achieve is it?"
With that, Hank returned to his work as Ultron's eyes glowed as if contemplating his creators words.
"No… It is not."
Meanwhile in the Assembly hall. Iron Man stood at the war table with Thor leaning against it on the opposite side with his back to him. Ben sat between the two at the table to Iron Mans left, quietly deep in thought.
Currently the Avengers Leader was in the middle of a conversation with the most stubborn and annoying person he has ever met. And given his life, that's saying something.
"Just let her look at you Hawkeye, she's a Paramedic. It's Thor's friend." Tony said to the holographic video screen in front of him. His faceplate is retracted allowing the Archer to see his annoyed expression.
"I'm fine!" Came Hawkeyes stubborn response.
Tony sighed from sheer annoyance at the Archers defiance. At this rate, the way his blood was boiling he would have to consider upgrading his arc reactor before Hawkeye shorts it out.
"Cap, knock him out if you have to. Or even if you just want to." He ordered.
"Understood." Captain America acknowledged before the call cut out.
Iron Man pinched the bridge of his nose as he breathed through the migraine. Sometimes being in charge is more trouble than its worth.
"Hawkeye possesses the spirit of a true warrior." Thor stated with an amused grin on his face.
"Yeah, he's something." Tony responded dryly. With one problem taken care of, Iron Man switched over to more pressing matters.
"JARVIS, bring me up everything you got on the Serpent Society."
"Very well, sir." The A.I responded. As the table illuminated and started displaying images and data on all members of the Serpent Society, both past and present, the longer a group like this is on the run, the harder it will be to take them down. As heroes, their top priority should be to stay on them before the trail goes cold.
Unfortunately, not all the heroes had the same train of thought.
"Hey, can we get back to Hank please? We're not just going to let him quit, are we?" Janet said as she flew up to Tony's face, blocking his view.
The Armored Billionaire looked at Wasp with a raised eyebrow. "What do you want me to do? He's an adult, we can't force him to stay."
"Sure, we can!" Janet responded casually. "He's a founding member of the team. He saved all our lives. We can't just let him…"
"Jan." Tony said, interrupting the Insect Heroines rant. "He's only ever been here because of you. You know, that right? He's a scientist first and foremost. On top of that he's a pacifist. He's never liked all this, and he doesn't want to do it anymore. I say let him go."
He was right, it was no secret that Hank did not like fighting. He made that point very clear as he constantly preached his views of nonviolence and redemption, which constantly got on the nerves of the other heroes. If the Scientist no longer wanted to be a part of the Team, they had no right to stop him.
Janet however narrowed her eyes at the armored billionaire before flying right up to his face, hovering inches from it, causing him to tentatively lean back. "Some team leader you are, Tony Stark."
Even though her fists weren't glowing. Tony could feel the faint bio energy from her. Like a static shock coursing across his nose. After a moment, Wasp flew away from him and over to Ben. Who, until this point, sat quietly on his side of the table, only partially listening to the conversation along with his own thoughts.
"Come on, Ben. I know you don't want Hank to leave right?" She asked the young hero, her eyes pleading with him to back her up.
But while Ben would normally support the size changing heroine without a second thought. He couldn't help but think. Had it been any other member of the team, he would've been up in arms about them suddenly resigning. He had come to consider each member of the Avengers as family. But if he was being honest, Hank was the exception. The Young Avenger just didn't feel as connected with Hank as he did with the others. While Ben did agree with his ideals to a certain extent, he couldn't agree with his methods. Especially when said methods gets people injured. Granted Hawkeye's injury was minor, even though he insists that its nothing, the other civilians that the villains had taken hostage could have been seriously hurt due to the Size Changers actions.
Despite that, he knew Hank was a good man. All the times he fought alongside him were proof of that. But any positive feelings he had towards the guy, was mainly influenced by Janet.
Regretfully, Ben turned his head away from Janet. "I'm sorry, Jan. But this is Hanks choice. If he wants to go, then we should let him."
Ben was glad he wasn't looking at her in that moment. Otherwise, he would've seen the look of betrayal, firmly displayed on her face.
"If you are not going to do anything, then I will!" She screamed at them before shooting past Bens shoulder and out of the room.
"Remind me never to incur her wrath." Thor commented in a cautious tone.
"Yeah, tell me about it." Ben sighed, slightly gasping as he just realised, he was instinctively holding his breath in that tense moment. Ben hadn't felt that kind of tension since his mother gave him the 'Mom Look'. Had Janet not left, he would've most likely caved and gone with her. But while he didn't give into the pressure, he still felt affected by it. He needed to clear his head and there was only one remedy for that.
"I'm gonna go out and get some smoothies." The Young Hero announced, standing up from the table and preparing to walk out.
"You know you could get a smoothie machine here? Then you wouldn't have to go out to get one." Tony suggested.
Ben chuckled. "That's why I don't. If I had a smoothie machine in my room, I'd never leave. Gives me an excuse to get out of the house."
With that, the Teen exited the meeting room and headed for the garage. Leaving the remaining heroes to continue reflecting over their last battle.
After combing through the data for a few more seconds, Tony found something that piqued his interest.
"Hey, remember what King Cobra said before everything went south? About Viper sending him a message? If she didn't send it, then who did? Although, I guess it could have been faked." He pondered aloud, trying to make sense of the situation. As he did, the table started displaying a holographic image of a series of coding, most likely trying to locate the supposed message that Viper had used to contact the Serpent Society.
In the midst of Tony's ramblings, Thor turned to look up at the series of codes floating across the air and narrowed his eyes.
"Technology." The Asgardian spoke in a low tone.
That was all it took for Iron Man to automatically sigh at the Prince of Thunders reaction.
"You're going to give me a hard time about this again? After everything we've been through?"
It really was getting to the Armored Heroes last nerve. Despite it all the Asgardian still had an aversion to technology. After everything they went through with Malekith, Tony thought that they had move passed this petty argument. Granted he himself still thought magic was bogus, he at least had enough respect for Thor to keep those comments to himself. But apparently the feeling wasn't mutual.
"I apologise, Iron Man. That was not my intent." Thor suddenly said, turning his head away, as if ashamed.
Tony blinked. Did he really just hear that right.
"Wait, wait, wait. Did you just apologise?"
Thor took a moment to take a deep breath. "As you know I have been barred from my home. Nothing I have tried, has broken down the magical barrier, between Earth and Asgard."
He then locked eyes with Iron Man, so the billionaire could see the seriousness in his eyes.
"So, I must ask you. That is, I need your help. Could your technology aid me in returning to Asgard?"
The two stood motionless for what felt like an hour but was only a few seconds. Things must be really serious for Thor to actually reach out for human technology, something that in the past, the God of Thunder considered beneath him. To be able to swallow his pride and admit that he needed help….
It took all of Tony's restraint, not to burst out laughing at this point. He barely managed to hold back a cocky smirk.
"Sorry, I'm trying real hard not to enjoy this." He finally said. He really couldn't resist gloating. He quickly composed himself as he gave Thor a compassionate look.
"Of course, I'll help." He promised his Magical teammate, causing the Prince of Thunder to smile.
The touching moment was immediate interrupted when Hulk, literally kicked down the door of the meeting room, catching the attention of the two Avengers as the thick metal doors clanged across the room.
In the now destroyed doorway stood Hulk and Panther and what appeared to be four monkeys in their arms. Actually, more specifically it was one gorilla, an orangutan, a baboon and a balding man in a puffy red coat. All of which were unconscious and Hulk tossed their limb bodies into the room where they comedically slid across the floor to the table.
"Called themselves the 'Super Apes'." Hulk said, referring to the primates before him. "Didn't seem so super to me."
Iron Man looked at the scene, slack jawed. But it wasn't the unconscious super villains that caused this reaction.
"Why would you do that? The doors open automatically." He berated as he mentally groaned at yet another repair job taking a bite out of his wallet.
"Well done, Hulk." Thor complemented, completely disregarding Tony's frustration. "It is surprising how many monkeys we face in battle."
"Where's Ben? Wanted to show him these guys. He woulda loved smashing them." Hulk asked, looking around for the Young Hero.
"Young Ben left to acquire one of his frozen beverages. He shan't be long." Thor explained to the disappointment of the Gamma Giant.
Black Panther then stepped forward, holding a tablet as he typed away at it. "The Hulk and I intercepted the Red Ghost. Attempting to attack the Fantastic Four. To his dismay he discovered they were not home."
"Shocker." Tony said in a sarcastic tone. The way the Fantastic Four are constantly off on their adventures, it's a wonder why they still need a tower. Then again, Reed Richards did love his lab more than life itself. He recalled how during his last visit to the Baxter Building, the Armored Billionaire damaged one of Reeds devices. Had it not been for his stretching powers, Tony was certain the vein in his head would've popped from the way he reacted.
Tony was pulled from his musings when Panther handed him the tablet he was holding.
"But the Red Ghost had schematics and security codes for the Baxter Building. He claimed he received them in an anonymous transmission. A message." The Wakandan King explained.
Alarm bells immediate sounded in the Armored Heroes mind. First the Serpent Society and now the Red Ghost and his Super Apes? The odds of two different group of villains, receiving messages from unknown parties within the span of a day seem all too suspicious.
"That's a pretty big coincidence." Iron Man commented.
"Indeed." Panther conquered.
It would seem that there is someone out there, communicating with these villains and organising them. Could the Masters of Evil be looking to expand their ranks? Or could some other force be at work here? Whatever the case, villains being organised spelled bad news for the Avengers. They needed to find the source of these transmissions and put a stop to them.
Meanwhile in Hanks lab, Wasp flew through the open door and grew to her normal size. She saw Hank sitting on his computer, while Ultron stood a few feet behind him, part of its chest was open as wires hooked the robot up to some equipment that Hank seemed to be working on. Its left arm was raised parallel to its shoulder while it was hooked up. Janet felt a chill run up her spine as she felt the Robots eyes were watching her as she approached the Size Changing Scientist. She always did find that thing creepy.
Shaking off her discomfort, she walked past it and focused on her main objective.
"Hank I came to tell you that you can't quit." She said in a calm, but quite bossy tone.
"But I already did." Hank casually stated as he continued to type on his computer. He didn't even turn around as he addressed her.
"Well, un-quit." Janet ordered, her growing frustration becoming apparent in her voice.
Still Hank did not turn around. Which continued to frustrate the Insect Themed Heroine. After everything they've been through together, she thought things would finally be different. That Hank would finally be able to see her as more than his assistant or partner. Despite what everyone says about him, she always saw the man Hank Pym really was. The way his eyes lit up when he made a new discovery or how he made a cute little humming sound, when he invested in his work. All just because he wanted to help people, to make the world a better place. It's one of the reasons that drew her to him.
"I had hoped that the Avengers would be better than SHIELD, but they're not." Hank said in a disappointed tone as Janet stood behind his chair and gently placed her hands on top of the backrest.
"They're just part of a system of violence. And I don't want to be part of that system anymore."
Those words stung Janet on the same level as her own stingers. How could he say things like that? To her? After all, she was the one who named the Avengers and she's been an active team member ever since. Hearing Hank say those things, it felt like they were aimed directly at her.
"But what about all the good we've done?" She argued as she tried to turn Hanks chair so he'd be forced to look at her. But, to her dismay, Hanks eyes remained on the computer screen. Not even faltering for a second.
"We saved the world, Hank… A lot!" She said, raising her voice. Practically pleading with him. Desperate for him to just look at her, so that he could see what this was doing to her. Maybe if he saw, then he would reconsider, or maybe talk to her, something, anything. Just to see the man that she…
"I'm not arguing that." Hank responded, shoving Janet's hands off him and straightening his chair, allowing him to get back to work. "I just want to find a better way."
Janet's heart sank as she held her right arm with her left. The harshness in Hanks voice, hurt more than anything the villains did to her. For a brief moment, she almost believed that this could really be the end….
No. She wasn't going to give up this easy, she was not about to let this go without a fight.
"Hank, the Avengers are… The Avengers…" A familiar chill raced up the Heroines spin as she turned to see Ultron's red eyes, glaring down at her as its head had turned to face her, as if listening to her conversation.
Grunting in frustration Janet finally had enough and placed her hand over the Robots eyes to keep it from looking at her, while she glared at Hank with a stern expression.
"Your creepy robot is looking at me again. Will you stop playing with it and talk to me? ", she demanded.
"The whole point of my creepy robot was to help rehabilitate super villains. I joined the Avengers to help people, including the villains." He answered her in an annoyed tone. He then finally turned around and looked her in the eyes and she finally saw the intensity in his eyes.
"But I think you like fighting them. You actually enjoy all of this madness," He said accusingly.
Janet took a step back from the blow of his words. Her lower lip quivering, she turned her head down, closing her eyes as she fought back tears.
"The avengers mean a lot to me," She said with a slight crack in her voice. "I thought they meant something to you to."
With that she turned around and walked out of the lab. Not even bothering to shrink down to fly out. Flying was something she did to feel happy. Right now, that was the furthest thing from her mind.
Hank stood up and watched her leave. For a brief moment he actually felt guilty. He knew that Janet would not take him leaving well. But she just didn't understand how much this was all affecting him. Sure, he enjoyed spending more time with her. She was always the bright spot in his life and her smile was always the perfect motivator to keep him working on his projects. But he couldn't stay by her side, while he was miserable.
Letting out a sigh, the Size changing Scientist walked over to his robotic creation and placed a hand on its cool, metallic shoulder.
"You may be the only one that gets it." He said to the Machine.
Suddenly Ultron turned his head to look at Hank. Its red eyes started glowing brighter as Hanks own eyes widened with shock. Before he could even think of moving a surge or energy burst from Ultron's eyes.
Outside the Lab, Janet had only just walked a few meters from the lab, before a red light, flashed from behind her, followed by Hank screaming from within the lab. Panic pulsed into the Heroines veins as she rushed back to the lab, entering through the door, where she scanned the room for Hank.
Her eyes quickly settled on him, lying, unmoving, among a pile of boxes.
"No," Janet said in shock as she swiftly shrunk down to her hero form and flew over to him. Her instincts kicking into overdrive as she started to check him for any wounds. Fortunately, there didn't seem to be any and Hank was still breathing. This allowed her to calm down a little, but there was still the question of what did this to him.
Unfortunately, Wasp was so occupied by her worry for Hank, that she failed to notice the shadow that washed over her. By the time she did see it and turn around to face the mystery attacker. All she saw was a large, silver hand enveloping her field of vision. Then everything went dark.
Back in the Meeting Room, Iron Man and Thor were analysing the data that Panther had provided from the tablet from Red Ghost. The aforementioned Wakandan and Hulk had left a while ago to prep Red Ghost and his Monkeys to be transported to Prison 42, leaving the Genius Billionaire and God of Thunder to study the code. Well, Tony was the one studying, while Thor stood by wondering how any of this is supposed to make sense.
Before this Tony didn't have anything to go on with the Serpent Society's mystery messenger. But this time, he had an actual trail of bread crumbs to follow that would lead him all the way back to this Master Minds, gingerbread house.
"JARVIS, stop. Stop the code." He suddenly ordered as the A.I immediately froze the code in place.
Going back over what he just saw, the Iron Billionaires eyes widened in shock. He'd hoped he was just seeing things, but there was no doubt now. The evidence was as clear as day. He never expected the crumbs to lead him to this particular house.
"The message. The one the Red Ghost received. It came from us. It came from inside the mansion." He explained to Thor, who's expression matched his as Iron Man highlighted the particular code in red, which displayed the Avengers Address.
"JARVIS, locate…" Tony started to say, when suddenly an alarm started blaring in the room at such a high pitch, that both Tony and Thor had to cover their ears in pain from the sound.
Safe to say they were on the right track.
Iron Man quickly hit a button on the tables console to deactivate the alarm, but as he tried to run a diagnostic. The terminal seemed completely unresponsive. So the Tech Genius decided to go with the hands on approach and proceeded to rip the terminal out of the table, exposing the wires and data ports underneath and deployed a computer interface from his armor's wrist and plugged into the computer. Hopefully he can use his armor's systems to find the source of these disturbances.
"You seem vexed." Thor commented, noting the look of distress the Armored Hero had on his face.
In response, Iron Man closed the faceplate of his helmet to hide his expression. "No, the mansion systems are all online, there's just a little static. No problem."
No sooner had he said that, his heads up display started to glitch with the images getting fuzzy with static, before turning off completely.
"Ok, that's a problem." Iron Man said as his worries grew. "JARVIS, I need an update on…"
He was interrupted by more static as his armors systems continued to act up. He couldn't seem to access his connection to JARVIS or any of his armors systems. Something was clearly up, but he had no idea what was causing it.
"Thor, I think something is…" Iron Man started to say to the Asgardian when, for some reason, he went completely silent. His body freezing up like a metal statue.
"Something is what?" Thor asked, raising an eyebrow as the Billionaires sudden silence. When no answer came, Thor approached the Armored Genius and waved his hand in front of his face as if to wake him out of a stupor. "Iron Man? Are you well? Did your armor fail you? Perhaps you need…"
Thor's train of thought trailed off when a blue glow illuminated from under his gaze. His gasp of surprise was muffled by his cry of pain as Iron Man fired his Unibeam.
Meanwhile in the Main Hanger, Hulk and Black Panther stood at the base of one of the Quinjets loading ramp. The pair had loaded Red Ghost and his Super Apes into stasis pods, so they can be transported to Prison 42. Panther had just finished sealing Red Ghosts pod as Hulk carried two of the Apes pods over each shoulder and was walking up the ramp into the ship, when the lights started to flicker, catching the heroes attention.
"Cheap lights." Hulk grunted.
Panther, on the other hand, looked up at the flickering light sources and narrowed his eyes. "No, we are under attack." He warned.
"Nobody is dumb enough to attack us here. Not after what we did to the Masters of Evil." Hulk stated, casually.
But the moment he finished his claim, the Quinjets ramp, suddenly retracted. Trapping the Hulk inside as the Aircraft's engines, hummed to life. Panther only had a brief moment to dive to the ground as the jet rocketed over him and dove down to the exit and launch from the Bay area at Mach speeds, heading straight for the upper atmosphere, taking a very confused Hulk with it.
Panther, still reeling from the events that transpired, quickly composed himself as the second Quinjet hovered over him, its weapons deployed and aimed right at him. The Cat Themed Hero, quickly ran for cover as the Jet opened fire.
Down in the Mansions garage, Ben exited the elevator and started making his way towards his car. Course he had to make the long trek, passing every one of Tony's expensive, flashy cars. Some of which he recognised from various car adds, he saw on billboards around the city or on TV. But there were some that looked like Tony actually build himself. Looking about as high tech as his armor.
As he walked, Ben continued to think about Hank and Janet. Sure, he didn't feel connected to Hank as he did with the others and didn't have the right for force him to stay with the Team. But then again, he should have at least supported Janet when she went to talk to him. He knew how she felt about the Scientist and while she has been very clear about her views on Carol, that didn't stop her from supporting him when he decided to pursue a relationship. He, at the very least, owed her that much.
Just as he stopped to go back to help her, the lights in the garage started to flicker. At first Ben thought Tony forgot to pay the electricity bill. But remembered that the mansion is powered by its own arc reactor, so there was no way for the power to be cut. An uneasy feeling creeped up the Teen Heroes spin as he instinctively reached for the Ultimatrix.
Suddenly a pair of missile turrets deployed from the ground a few meters from Ben and fired a salvo of high explosive projectiles at him.
The Teen quickly activated his watch and slammed it down. A bright flash of green light burst from the Young Hero, before it was engulfed by the explosions from the missiles. But as the smoke cleared, the light gleamed off the smooth surface of a wall of emerald diamonds, curtesy of Diamondhead.
"JARVIS, when I said that I wanted my training sessions to be unpredictable. This is not what a meant!" The crystal alien shouted as the missile launchers rearmed themselves and prepared to fire another volley.
But Diamondhead aimed one of his arms at the turrets and morphed his hand into a projectile launcher and fired several diamond shards that quickly destroyed the turrets with ease.
With the missile turrets destroyed a pair of laser cannons descended from the ceiling and fired a continuous barrage of energy bolts at the Alien Avenger. But they simply bounded off Diamondhead's durable body.
"Really? Come on, if someone gonna use the Mansions defences against me. At least make it a challenge." He quipped confidently as he fired another round of shards to rip apart the cannons.
While his behaviour appeared casual, the Young Hero was really concerned about the others. If he was being attacked, then the rest of the team are likely being attacked as well and Diamondhead couldn't help but wonder who could be behind this. First suspects would be the Masters of Evil, but after their initial attack, there's no way they would try something like that again. Especially since he helped Tony and T'Challa upgrade the Mansions security after the Masters and even Kang's attacks on the Avengers. So, who could be behind this?
While he continued to ponder, another hatch in the ceiling opened up and deployed a device that looked like a mix between an AMP speaker and a cannon. The Alien Hero didn't need to question what that device was, when it fired a concussive soundwave at him. Blasting him off his feet and sending him flying to the opposite end of the garage, cracks appeared on his diamond body from the frequency of the soundwaves.
"Ok… That was pretty good." Diamondhead painfully quipped. He pushed himself to his feet and raised his head to face the sonic cannon as it charged up to fire again.
Moving fast, Diamondhead raised his arm and a wall of diamonds, sprang from the ground, a few feet in front of him. The moment the soundwaves hit the barrier, cracks immediately started to appear all over it. Focusing his abilities, several more barriers sprang up and reinforced the wall to hold of the vibrations. But even with the added layers, the crystal hero could still feel the vibrations through his crystals.
Time to come up with a plan B.
The doors of the Avengers Training room opened as Hawkeye walked through, his expression reaching a whole new level of annoyed as he rotated his injured shoulder. Course at this point he'd gladly loose the arm if it meant he'd get some peace and quiet from the crazy paramedic that wouldn't leave him alone.
Despite his protests, Iron Man asked Jane Foster to come in to treat his arm. Something the Archer thought was completely unnecessary as he has suffered injuries that were way more serious than the one he had suffered from today's fight. It's not because he was simply trying to seem tough in front of the other heroes. He had been on enough field missions and applied his own first aid enough times to know the difference between a serious injury and simple sprain.
It annoyed him to no end that his team mates still didn't trust his judgment and brought in Thor's lady friend.
"I've treated children more mature than you." Jane sighed in frustrated tone, as she and Captain America followed him into the training room. "Now take off your shirt or whatever that is." She requested referring to his uniform.
"Just let her examine you, Clint." Captain America politely ordered. Much like the Angry Archer, Cap didn't think Clint needed this medical attention either.
As a trained soldier, he learned basic first aid and how to assess injuries in the field. Even having to patch himself up a few times as despite his enhanced physiology, the Super Solider was not bullet proof. In case the Shield wasn't proof enough. But there was no harm in just letting the paramedic have a quick look to simply satisfy Iron Man.
"What are you two, the team den mothers? Maybe Thor needs a nurse, but I don't." Hawkeye snapped back at the pair, while rubbing his shoulder. Perhaps giving them a demonstration during a training session will get them off his back.
Captain America then heard the sound of several machines moving behind him. He turned to see the doors to the training room closing. No one had initiated the training program yet, so why would the doors be closing now?
The Super Soldier ran to try and intercept the sliding doors, but he was too late as the metal walls came together, locking them inside.
"We're in trouble." Cap said ominously. His training kicking in as he started to scan the room for any ambushes.
However, Hawkeye was oblivious to the situation turned around to point an accusing finger at the War Hero. "That's right you are. Cause I'm not…"
"Training room safety protocols disengaged." A voice suddenly announced over the speaker system.
"That wasn't JARVIS." Hawkeye stated, quickly putting the pieces together.
What was that about safety?" Jane asked in a worried tone as all around them, panels slid open and deployed several weapons systems.
The weapons immediately opened fire, raining down a hail of lasers and missiles at the two Avengers and Paramedic. Captain America dashed in front of Jane to shield her from several missiles as Hawkeye drew his bow and notched an arrow. Only for the ground he is standing on to rise, revealing a tall, cylindrical, tower like structure, with cannon turrets positioned along it.
Hawkeye only had moments to get out of the way as the cannons opened fire.