Justice Avengers Universe

Victor Sage - SHIELD HQ to Stark Towers.

"With all respect, Princess, you don't know us humans" he began then pointed at Agent Hill and Booster "because that's how we fight, we're sneaky, we get clever, we get dirty. Its the key to our survival. That Kang is like us; came bearing weapons, he committed an act of war, meant to spark horror and he talks of peace of prosperity. He just did the mistake to be too blunt. He probably would've fared better with pure diplomacy. Luckily for me, he only proves my point, showed his true colours on the first impression, like a cocky idiot. If blowing up the representation of human unity in this planet is him knocking the door, him moving into the house is going to be absolutely dreadful."

He gave a look to Booster, "Hey, Mr. Candidate! here's a pitch from a concerned voter, you do this, and we win? You just became the man who sacrificed himself for the sake of victory, a bona fide modern martyr! How's that for a slogan?!" he called out, then talked back to Ghiata as he stepped towards the portal, taking off his mask, his voice taking that eerie ethereal again. "If you don't want to join us its your prerogative, I understand you don't want anything to do in this mess, just cheer us from the sidelines" He looks back before crossing "This earth, as it is, as we know it? it stands, it does while I live in it" He crossed and eyed the heroes there reunited, so many potential there gathered "well I'll be damned, we may have a chance" he muses out loud.

Sapphire Ghia'ta- Stark Tower

"You misunderstand. The politics of this planet aren't my concern. I care not for who is king or queen in your world." The alien princess crossed her arms.

"But your lives and your precious love is a concern to me. Your love is worth a thousand worlds. I shall join you in your quest," she replied to the question as she followed him.

"I simply refuse to believe people are beyond redemption or pure evil. Even this Kang must have the spark or love inside his heart."

She would then aproach the legionaries. " I desire to speak with Kang. Could you make it possible? I beg of you"

edited 8th May '17 7:12:11 PM by FallenLegend

Stark Tower

Suddenly Robbie felt very small among the group of heroes- and not because he was, currently, a living puppet. Suzie didn't fare much better, and she was currently as big as She-Hulk.

It was the whole atmosphere of the situation; The menace of Kang, the destruction of the United Nations building, the presence of heroes like iron Man and the Fantastic Four- and now some pink spacewoman suddenly appeared and starting an argument. They felt so- lost, and honestly, could not help but wonder how useful The Hero Duo would be this time...

Xavier's office wasn't huge and should have felt crowded, but somehow there was room for everyone to stand. Paige waved to several of the New Mutants she'd befriended and smiled at new faces. Despite the apparent gravity of the situation, she felt optimistic. 'We're united here. No matter what the rest of the world thinks of mutants, we're willing to stand together against some evil jerk from the future. What's his name, Krang?'

Mr. Summers looked pretty grim, so Paige settled in to hear him speak. A small part of her mind wondered where that new student had gone-the one Kurt had mentioned.

Thorn, X-Mansion

This was boring. Flower girl was asleep in the back of her head, and, though she didn't snore, she wasn't exactly quiet. She was restless. Unfortunately, you can't tranquillise alternate personalities. Or tase them.There was a quiet buzz of life from the plants outside, and not much inside.

She never got her room key. That's annoying, at least for Rose. Less for her. Thorn had always been more nocturnal. She swaggered through the corridors, loudly, and looked down at herself, shaking her head disapprovingly. "You never change, Rose. Drab and boring. Maybe I'll go shopping later."

"Speak with Kang?" said one incredulously.

The legionnaires looked between each other, uncertain, until Cosmic Boy replied, "Communicating with him ourselves could jeopardise our cover. But, if your heart is set on appealing to whatever humanity Kang might have, we could try and arrange an independent signal to call him through. Mister Stark...?"

"Yeah, hold on a second, kinda wanna get a roll call goin' here," said Tony, "Okay, so, we've got three quarters of the Fantastic Four over there, Hero Duo, Supergirl, Question, Pink Lady and...you guys are who exactly."

"We're the Legion of Superheroes. My name is Cosmic Boy, and this is Phantom Girl and Marvel Boy."

"Sir. Majestic, Superman, She-Hulk and an unknown flying hero are inbound. I also have Ms Grey on video call."

"Put her through."

The TV screen lit up, showing Ms Grey in some study room on the other side, alongside a few other Legionaires. "Stark, it's Ms Grey. I'm here with three members of the Legion of Superheroes."

"Same here, with the addition of half the damn superheroes on the continent. All right, people, let's get organised here!"

The New Mutants assembled in the study, as did half the school faculty. The door was left slightly ajar, allowing any eavesdropper a good vantage point. Husk, Cannonball, Storm and company stood on one side, while Bobby Drake and Warren Worthington stood either side of Prof Xavier's desk. Mr Summers sat at the edge of the desk, and sighed as he geared up for an announcement.

"...I don't have to tell you all how grim things seem right now. Imminent doom hanging over our heads, the world itself in grievous danger. Out there, right now, the armies and superheroes of the world are getting ready to combat this 'Kang', but they're going to need all the help they can get. Now, the New Mutants club was created to promote team-building and strategy, and of course, has become something of a vehicle for acts of derring-do and heroism. Now, of course, it might be considered dangerous, exceedingly reckless even, for us to send teenagers into the line of fire, especially considering what we're up against." Some of the other teachers shot Mister Summers a humbling glance. "...but, as my colleagues have reminded me time and again, I should keep more faith in you and your abilities. Because we ourselves...weren't much older...when we'd been where you are now."

The New Mutants looked amongst themselves, confused.

"It is time for full disclosure," said Professor X, and opened a desk drawer, withdrawing a framed photo and placing it on the table, for all to see.◊ "Before this school was the institution you know today, it served as a home for young mutants who were ostracised by humanity, but still wished to help the world in any way they could. In time, it became clear that humans and mutants alike face threats to their existence from every direction, so with my guidance, they began coordinating in secret to battle crime and villainy."

"At first," said Mr Worthington, "We were only teenagers battling fairly minor criminals, banding together when the occasional belligerent mutant attacked. But in time, we began earning the discreet approval and gratitude from people in high places. Military, corporate, even government officials decided they wanted to repay our services with favours, resources, transport and technology."

Mr Drake chimed in, "Before long, we had so many wonderful toys at our fingertips that our little do-gooder kid's club evolved into a grassroots black ops strike force!"

"They became..." said Professor X, "The 'X-Men'. But of course, all things must come to an end. The threats to the world were relatively subsided, the allies gained along the way drifted apart, and we decided it was time for our venture to settle down. Our resources were stored in the sub-basements, and the Xavier Institute became a full-time school for the gifted."

Drake continued, "Some of us hoped things would stay that way. We would just be super-powered civilians, teaching super-powered children to lead super-powered civilian lives. But, like all of you've proven, power like ours tends to breed a need to do something with it, for better or worse, and the criminals of the world aren't going away anytime soon."

"So," said Worthington, "Instead of stifling your drive to make the world a better place, we provided you with training, coordinating, and a pre-built team to fall back upon, in case some day would come when world needed a team of exceptional mutants to hold the line. We just...hoped it wouldn't come quite so soon." He shared a meaningful look with his fellow staff members.

"We want to be abundantly clear," said Mr Summers, "This isn't your fight if you don't want it to be. If you don't feel you're ready to take on something of this magnitude, head back to your rooms, read your study books, and wait for the all-clear. But if you think you're prepared, and you want to do everything in your power to help those heroes already out there, then we'll take you to the sub-basement, equip you for the task at hand, and we'll be there fighting with you, every step of the way."

"We're sorry to thrust all this on you at once," said Professor X, "But I don't have to tell you that time is against us. New Mutants, are you ready...to become the New X-Men?"

edited 17th May '17 2:55:09 AM by LizardOfAus

Thorn, X-Mansion

In her wanderings, Thorn had come back to the office where she had begun. Well, not literally. That would be about three years ago, and several kilometres away. But something was happening, and she so wanted to know what it was. So she listened. This was interesting. The history of the X-Men. Nope, she was wrong. This was monotonic. This was boring.

Thorn may be a murderer, but she wasn't rude. So she waited till the old fart was done. As soon as the words "the New X-Men?" were uttered, the people inside would hear the starting strains of a rather distinctive song. When the singer begun, Thorn burst through the doors, before silencing the music coming from her phone. "It would be like Rose to have the censored version, wouldn't it? HELLO PEONS! I, THE BEST, HAVE COME TO CRITICISE YOUR NAMING SCHEME. Really, it sucks. The New X-Men? That's almost as bad as Justice Avengers. Too many syllables. You need something with panache, with style. Hmm..."

During her entire speech, Thorn had moved further into the study, and was now sitting on the desk, legs crossed over one another, hand on her chin, looking very serious.

edited 18th May '17 7:24:19 PM by secretlyasuperhero

Paige had been about to reply in the affirmative to Xavier's speech when a strange girl burst in on the heels of some kind of music. The young lady perched herself on the Professor's desk and began to criticize what he was saying!

Now, Ms. Guthrie had never been called gracious, or polite, or an example of good manners, but even she knew that just butting into a meeting and insulting the people there was pretty damned rude! She settled back into her seat, folding her arms across her old Soundgarden T-shirt and waited for Mr. Summers to toss this inconsiderate gal out on her butt so they could get back to the serious business.

edited 19th May '17 2:11:08 PM by Booky

X-Mansion

There was one person in the study of the X-Mansion who was not exactly one of the New Mutants since she was not really into the superhero business. Certainly, some of the things she had experienced had been a bit too much for her to handle. However, a huge spaceship appearing out of nowhere was something that very much needed a more proactive approach. Rogue had come along with the New Mutants to listen to Professor Xavier's speech.

"I've seen so many things in just this past year that would make anyone doubt their sanity," Rogue breathed quickly as she gathered up her thoughts. "Given how huge this crisis seems to be, I think we do need the X-Men again."

"Also I came up with the name Justice Avengers and I like the name New X-Men,' Rogue said to Thorn, crossing her arms. "The name stays, at least for now."

Stark Tower

Eventually, a certain Tamaranean princess landed at the base of Stark Tower, arms crossed and looking fairly grim. Much like Mary Marvel, she had left the X-Mansion to assume her superherorine guise as Starfire and head to Stark Tower.

"Is there where the party is at?" Starfire asked and looked around the general. "I must admit that Mr. Stark's technology is impressive for a native of this planet."

Starfire gave a glance over at Star Sapphire Ghia'ta, recognizing her as both a Star Sapphire and a Zamaron.

Xavier cocked an eyebrow, and smiled bemusedly. "You must be Thorn," he remarked. "Our newest arrival... Your 'sibling', Rose Canton, mentioned you'd be stopping by."

"This is a private discussion, Ms Canton." Mr Summers stepped up over to loom over Thorn, expression stern and ruby shades glinting. "It doesn't concern any eavesdroppers, and especially not any new students. I suggest you be on your way. We'll discuss the length of your detention at a later date."

"I dunno," muttered Sunspot, "Lotta other stuff you could do with the 'X' part. X-Force, X-Static, X-"

"Don't matter what you're called," said a voice from the doorway, "Long as you think you've got the chops." Pushing the door open lightly, a stocky, grizzled Canadian leant on the door frame, eliciting a light smirk from Mister Worthington, and a bulging-eyed gasp from Mister Drake.

"Logan?!" he cried, practically vaulting over the desk to clap hands on Logan's shoulders, "Holy crap, when the hell'd you get back in town, man?!"

"'bout an hour ago," Logan replied. "The Prof got a heads up on this 'Kang' shitstorm, so he called me down to give you knuckleheads a hand."

"Well don't just stand there, man, come in, come in!" Drake herded Logan into the room, while Summers exchanged a curt nod with the man.

The Professor explained, "Logan here is one of our aforementioned allies of old. He'll be joining the fight, and helping to ensure your safety."

"Startin' to feel a bit mollycoddled here, prof," said Sunspot. "If the babysitt-"

"BOBBY!" cried Storm suddenly, startling the boy into silence. "Did you not see what we're up against here?! Kang blew up the UN, for god's sake! With one hand!"

Magma was starting to curl up, and seemed to be having trouble breathing. "I can't...I don't think I can..."

"Woah woah woah, easy, easy," Cannonball put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "We're all scared too, here, 'mara. Whole dang planet's in over it's head right 'bout now... But we're tougher than most, right? Alla us, we've knocked down the baddest o' the bad, and when they tried knockin' us, we bounced right back up at 'em. We're all gonna be fightin' here, kids and teachers...and we're all gonna be lookin' out for one another..." He gave Paige a meaningful glance at that point. "Don't know what the future's gonna bring, but ol' Kang ain't gonna like it, 'cause I'm in."

"Took the words outta my mouth, Sam," said Sunspot. "Count me in."

"And me," said Storm and Karma, virtually at once.

Thorn|X-Mansion Study

Thorn turned her head to look at the Professor. "She did?! She would," Thorn said, eyes going from wide in surprise to narrowed in annoyance. "Flower girl and her rules. They ruin everything." As Mr Summers approached, Thorn just looked up at him, smiling petulantly. She wasn't going anywhere. And detention? Ha! Rose would probably be the one doing it.

Thorn crossed her arms and shook her head. "Nope. I'm boooooored." she whined in a manner befitting a five-year old. She stuck her tongue out at Rogue from behind Mr Summers' back, before uncrossing her arms and crossing them again. "It’s still a terrible name." She pointed to Sunspot in a "see? He gets it" gesture, before pouting.

Oooo so that's what was going on. A guy blew up the UN one-handedly. Well, they hadn't introduced free ice cream as a policy yet, so they had it coming. "Can I join tooo? Pwetty pwease?" Thorn put on her best baby voice and fluttered her eyelashes.

Stark Tower

Steel landed. Indeed, nothing dramatic about that at all. He seemed still as a statue when his feet touched the grounds. Calm and poised, really. What was going on inside his head?

'*screaming internally*'

Nnnneat.

In the air

"I don't think he's going to listen to me," Superman observed. "Steel and I will go on ahead to Stark Mansion if you think you can handle Majestic, She-Hulk. We'll try to formulate whatever the Game Plan is. If you can't reason with Majestic, at least... hold him down long enough that he doesn't attack a time-travelling warship singlehandedly."

Meanwhile, Maejstic barreled toward the Damocles with both fists out and murder in his glowing red eyes. They didn't need a plan. They didn't need Superman. He was strong enough to handle this by himself.

Stark Mansion

"Uh, 'scuse me," a voice said, followed by a tap-tap-tap at one of the large windows. It was Spider-Man, who waved with his free hand while clinging to the window with his other hand and feet. "Someone wanna open a window?" There was another knock at one of the ground level windows and Squirrel Girl and her two friends also waved◊.

"Hey there," a red and yellow blur said, followed by a white and red blur, as Flash and Impulse squeezed their way into the room. "We're the JA from JC. We're happy to help. Looks like quite a party."

"You guys got any snacks?" Impulse asked, already eating Tony's chex mix. There was a clap of thunder as Captain Marvel descended from the sky, hovering in front of one of the windows. "That is so crash."

"I am Captain Marvel," the Captain declared, "I am the Galaxy's Guardian and its mightiest mortal. I'm here to help."

Ooooh, the Guardians are gonna be maaaaad.

Do you see any of them around? Besides, I thought it sounded cool...

SHIELD HQ

"Y'know, you coulda led with that!" Booster called over his shoulder as the SHIELD agents dragged him away. "Instead of making me think I was getting thrown to the time-travelling wolves!" He sighed and muttered under his breath. "Can't believe she's leading SHIELD in five years. Uhhh..." he looked back and forth between the SHIELD agents. "Forget you heard that." Still, he supposed the Question had a good point. How could he possibly lose the election after he'd saved the earth? Godfrey doesn't become President, bad future averted, he double saves the Earth.

She-Hulk, Above New York

She-Hulk jumped out of Superman's grip, launching herself towards Majestic. She body-slammed into him, knocking him off-course and pinning his arms to his sides in a bear-hug.

"Whatever you're doing, it's not gonna stop Kang and it's not gonna bring Kara back. If you want to accomplish something beyond getting yourself killed, you'll get to Stark Tower so we can come up with a real plan."

Halo, Stark Tower

She was distracted by the inside of the tower. It was like nothing she had ever seen before: sleek, shiny, full of little devices and impeccable in terms of interior design.

And then she was distracted by all the people. All different sizes and shapes and colors. It was thrilling, even if it was a shame that everyone was only here to fight Kang.

But they were going to win. Of that she was certain. And Victor agreed.

She let herself float through, taking in all the newcomers and waving at some of them.

Paige rolled her eyes at the new girl's (Rose) words, but sat up straighter when Mr. Summers spoke. Things were heating up. While she hadn't come to the school planning on using her powers in public or becoming some sort of hero, she knew herself well enough that the idea wasn't repugnant.

Ms. Guthrie nearly jumped out of her seat when the strange man came into the room. "Wolverine?" Everyone seemed to treat the hairy little man with some respect and affection. Well, everyone but Mr. Summers. There's a story between those two, she thought. What would he be able to do against Kang, though? What could any of them really do?

"Out of the question, Ms Canton," Summers snapped. "To even entertain the notion of sending a young girl, on her first day of school, up against an army-"

"Scott!" Drake interrupted, "Scott, I get where you're comin' from, but we do kinda need all the help we can get here."

"Oh, well, if that's the case, why not make the entire student body into our own personal army?!"

For a moment, Drake seemed to be considering the question. Before Summers' blood pressure could rise, Logan stepped into the debate.

"How 'bout this: kid hangs riiight at the back, maybe doin' some long distance work, maybe just clockin' out already dizzy Kang goons. Either way, I'll keep half an eye on the little brat, because- and I'm just guessing here -if you flat out tell her no, then she's probably gonna head along anyways."

Drake smirked. "That is kind of how every kid in this room got where they are right now."

"Plus," said Worthington, "She and Logan can bond over mutual anti-social immaturity."

Logan cocked an eyebrow. "Watch it, feathers."

"Look," said Summers, "You don't even know what powers this girl has, and she certainly hasn't had any time to train them."

"No time like the present, then." Logan turned to Thorn, "So, kiddo, what can you do?"

Jarvis popped open a window at the top, to let Spidey and Captain Marvel on through, and beckoned Steel, Squirrel Girl and company to the elevator down below. Tony meanwhile, was still trying to count everybody off. "All righty, so that's Flash, Impulse, Captain Marbles, Spid-heyheyhey who told you you could it my Chex mix?"

A sudden loud whistle filled the room, and a certain fuzzy tailed mercenary clambered onto a table in the middle. "Awright, awright, settle down, you lot! Now, we all now why we're 'ere, all right? There's a massive flarkoff spaceship 'overing over our 'eads, and not one of us can take it on without all o' the others. Now, what we gotta do now, is put all our 'eads together, and figure out a real plan of attack."

Booster, meanwhile, was busy being lead by grim-faced agents to the rendezvous point. Well, mostly grim-faced anyway. At least one of them heard his comment on Maria's future career, and was looking considerably blanched. In any case, the five of them headed down the sloping stairs into an underground parking lot and into a waiting black van. Booster was loaded into the spacious back with a couple of agents, and from there, it was a fairly short rid of awkward silence, broken up by the occasional codeword filled gibberish over the radio.

Thorn, X-Mansion, It's Fun To Play A Psycho

Thorn stuck her tongue out at Mr Summers, before turning to Wolverine. She seemed to weigh the options of what he was suggesting, before nodding and flipping half the room the bird. She looked at Mr Worthington when he made his joke, and pouted. "I am not immature! And here I was, not going to skin you and use you as a wall-hanging. Though it would upset Flower Girl. And probably jeopardize her enrollment. Might be worth it, though."

She seemed to actively consider Wolverine's question, swingng her legs as they thumped against the desk. "I can talk to plants. And control them. They like me, you see. I water them and keep them company, and give them human bodies as fertilizers and help them grow. I can make them grow how I like, where I like. The weak, cute me can do it too, but she’s not nearly as strong or as pretty as I am. She has more friends though. Impaling people with rose thorns is not the way to make them like you."

Stark Tower

"Ohmygosh Squirrel Girl!!" Suzie gasped, and almost ran over to ask her questions such as, Is your tail real? Can you really talk to squirrels? But then remembered she currently looked and sounded like an adult woman, and it would come across as very awkward.

Robbie, conversely, was lost in thought. Something wasn't quite adding up here.

With some difficulty -he was currently a living puppet after all- he managed to make it up a table, then he addressed the crowd. In particular, the Legionnaires:

"I have some questions" he said, pointing at the teens from the future. "You're acting like Kang is this huge menace that will require us to stop it. So, why did you arrive now, without us having enough time for preparations? Is time travel that unpredictable?'

"As for Kang. What does he gain from conquering different eras? Isn't he effectively undoing his previous conquests every time?"

"Also, why is he asking *us*, the people of the 21st Century, to find those persons for him? Why can't he do it himself? More importantly, why those people in particular?"

"Finally, do you in fact have *any* plan, or at least knowledge of a weakness Kang and his army might have? Or are you just hoping we will come up with something?"

Rogue, X-Mansion

"Eh, we can come up with a better name later," Rogue shrugged at Sunspot's comment, before looking at Logan when he entered the room. He looked to be an impressively powerful man, and seemed older than their teachers. Rogue turned to try to comfort Magma, but it seemed like the rest of the New Mutants did it as well. However, when Thorn made her comments, Rogue crossed her arms and looked incredulously at here.

"I hope you're jokin' about most of that, but if you think you can effectively fight by growin' plants, then grab some seedlings and join us," Rogue looked at the Professors and Logan. "At least if the professors are okay with it."

"So let's see what we've got in the sub-basements," Rogue crossed her arms. She still wasn't quite used to more active, blatant superheroism, but an active, blatant threat needed an active, blatant hero. "I'm gonna guess Stark's already been informed of what's happenin' over here... If there's gonna be any mass superhero meetup, it's gonna be at his place."

Rogue checked to make sure she had her Justice Avengers communicator on her. She figured that it would be needed to patch in whatever communication devices are in the sub-basement, at least if they are to coordinate with the other superheroes against Kang and his timeship that was armed to the teeth.

"Ms Grey is on a call to Stark Tower in the next room," the Professor replied. "You can join her if you wish, but I'm sure she will inform you all of any major developments." The teachers looked from one to the other. Mr Summers still seemed uncomfortable with Thorn's presence, but gave a determined nod. "And now," said Xavier, "If you're ready...we will proceed to the equipment."

The group was lead out into the main hall to the elevator at the centre, and the Professor pushed a button for the door. Suddenly, small portions of the wooden walls beside the Kitchen entrance and the Ante Room entrance opened up, revealing cylindrical metal spaces inside, no bigger than broom closets. "High speed transportation is now in operation," said Mr Summers. "If you hit the second to lowest button inside, you'll be taken to the dorms on the first sub-basement, and find uniforms in a variety of sizes to test. Girls to the left tube, boys to the right. Be warned, the transport's a bit of a shock at first try."

"There'll be a teacher waiting in the corridor outside when you're finished," said the Professor, as he and the other three teachers entered the elevator. "If you'd rather not try a uniform, press the lowest button and join us in the war room."

Those who used the high speed transport, one at a time of course, would hit the button and have the door slam shut in front of them, a sudden rush of air, the brief sensation of dropping down a waterslide, then a surprisingly soft landing, before the door opened up again to reveal the stainless steel walls of the sub-basements. In the dorms were row after row of bunk beds, with each of the bottom bunks having a different size yellow and black uniform◊ folded neatly on top. The sub-basement below that, might have been familiar to users of the Danger Room. Said room was behind a wall over to the right, while to the left was a large, spacious area, with an array of screens on the back wall, and a large circular table that Xavier, Summers and Worthington would be taking their seats around.

From the screen to the X-Mansion, one of the Legionnaires present spoke up. "Kang monitors the chronological stream closely, picking up on any deviations from time-travel. If we'd contacted you and made our presence felt too early, the course of events would have shifted far enough for Kang to discover us, and either mount an offence we weren't prepared for, or avoid the version with our presence entirely."

"Chronopolis." This sudden voice came from the window, as a silver-haired girl◊ drifted in through the window, followed by an assortment of◊others.◊ "When Kang claims a world, he choses a capital city for it, then erects gateway walls around the place, linking the city to others like it. Together, they form Chronopolis, a mega-city in a time all of its own, and a nexus to any version of history he has claimed. If he ever wants to go back to a time and place, all he has to do is enter a conquered 'borough' and walk out the front door."

Cosmic Boy said "Dream Girl has prophetic visions in her sleep. She's the reason we know over half of what we know about Kang."

"Seems to be a power-play," said Cosmic Boy. "I'd wager it gives him more pleasure to hold a gun to the head and ask politely for your wallet, rather than shoot you and take it immediately. As for the persons in question... She-Bat is a mystery, but Zarrko and Booster Gold are time travellers who- each in their own way -have affected the shape of events for the past few of your months. Perhaps Kang saw those changes as a threat to his future somehow."

This time, one of the new arrivals- a young man with a bionic arm and lightning-shaped scar on his eye -fielded the question. "Cosmy worked out a plan for knocking out Kang's armies. But that kinda depends on him actually using his army, rather than sitting around on his nass in the sky like a sprockin-"

"This is a message to the people of America," boomed the voice outside the window. "It may interest you to know that in the space of an hour, the nations of Genosha, Russia and Bagalia have already agreed to accept my aid, and the latter two have pledged to expand their borders in my honour. Even now, my resources are being employed to deliver aid to their countries. In that same span of time, however, North Korea, Kahndaq and Sokovia have soundly rejected my offer, and worse, threatened retaliation. Now this nations pay the penalty for their disgraces."

The screens in the sky appeared again, only now their showed the cities of the aforementioned countries, and golden saucers appearing in their skies. To the left, Moscow and Baglia City had strange men in purple cowled suits◊ giving food to the dirty and starving, a blond cyborg discussing blueprints with army types, and what looked like a lizard man shaking hands with a prominent politician or two. To the right, the buildings of Novi Grad and Pyongyang were punctured by machines falling from the sky, military bases were ripped asunder by mechanical atrocities, and missiles were shot from the sky by golden fighter planes.◊

"Please, do not take this as a cause for hurry. The twenty-four hour deadline for global surrender still stands. I merely wished to grant some perspective. Consider your position with all due care. After all, as the current largest superpower on earth, whatever decision you take...the world will surely follow. This transmission ends."

The screens vanished from the air, and the bionic-armed boy gritted his teeth. "Real class act, that guy. 'Grant some perspective' my nass, he's toying with everyone!"

"Easy, Lightning Lad," said Marvel Boy. "We can't go charging in half-cocked here."

"Well, we gotta do SOME thin'," said Thing. "Once he's done creamin' Korea, how long before we're next?"

Tony's mind was already turning gears. "Not the biggest fan of some of those countries, but really don't wanna leave them hanging...It'd take me five hours at most getting to Khandaq alone..."

"You won't have to," said a voice from the window as Saturn Girl and company joined the party. "We believe there's a chronal tether stored in Damocles base, letting him pull his army through time with him. If we destroy that, his machines should just vanish back to the far future."

"Roight..." Rocket tapped his fingers together, a cunning smirk on his face. "Tactical strike, maybe? Small team, in an' out, smash the ship from insoide and cripple his whole army at once?"

"Sounds like a plan to me," said Dr Richards, "Or at least, the start of one."

Meanwhile, Booster's van arrived in the shadow of Kang's first attack, and the 'guest of honour' was taken out of the van, and into the spot where the plaza might have been. A moment or two later, a light shimmered in the air, and a man appeared flanked by two purple-cowled foot soldiers. Curiously, this man's attire didn't really indicate a man from the future, but a far more...old fashioned◊ manner of uniform.

"I am here as representative of Kang the Conqueror," he said in a strong German accent. "Is the prisoner ready for transferral?"

edited 13th Jun '17 1:37:25 PM by LizardOfAus

Skies of New York

"I don't need anyone's help!" Majestic insisted as he pushed She-Hulk away brusquely. "Especially not Superman's! I can do this on my own!" He didn't mean it, of course, and he didn't realize what he had said, but his temper was on him now. His cousin had already betrayed him. Was his girlfriend next on the list?

UN Ruins

"Jeez," Booster muttered as he eyed the old man curiously, "What bottle of cryopreserves did Kang scoop you out of? Do you know that you're literally two thousand years older than me?"

Stark Tower

What was that about not seeing any Guardians around?

Now's not the time, Phyla

"If I may make a suggestion," Captain Marvel said in a sonorous, calming voice. "The Wisdom of Solomon dictates that not all of us assembled here have the ability to engage Kang's forces in a full frontal assault of the Damocles. However, when Kang retaliates against our attack, as we have already seen him do, the civilian population will be put in danger. Therefore, I would suggest, to add onto Mr. Rocket's own idea, that we split into two groups. A strike force of our most powerful members assembled to take the fight to Kang, while the rest stay here to protect the civilians. Not to brag," Captain Marvel added, "But I nominate myself for the former group."

"It's not a bad idea," boomed Superman's voice as he and Steel walked into the room. "There's just one problem. What's going to happen to all those other countries already getting attacked by Kang while the rest of us bash our heads against 40th Century tech?" Captain Marvel eyed Superman curiously as Flash, Impulse, Spider-Man, and Squirrel Girl's gang gawked at him.

"Oh... my gosh," Flash muttered under his breath.

"This is so crash!" Impulse whispered excitedly.

"I'm sorry," Captain Marvel said, "I'm new to Earth. Who are you?" Superman held out his hand and smiled.

"I'm Superman," he explained, "And I'm a friend." Captain Marvel looked down at Superman's hand before shaking it and smiling back.

Hey, Phyla! Check it out! He's got the symbol of the house of El!

What? No way! Krypton was destroyed almost half a millennium ago.

Hobby Lantern (Robbie) spoke again. "Yes, disabling that space station seems vital. But, we must not underestimate Kang's technology. Even our strongest allies might not be able to get past the defenses it surely has. What we need"

He hesitated to continue, as if the prospect he was considering annoyed him.

"is Magic" he finally said. "Stuff science just cannot understand, by definition. "Anyone here has magic abilities? Or knows someone who does? Besides me- all I can do is minor tricks, to be honest."

Stark Tower At the mention of magic being call to action Question felt the need to step up "I believe my expertise might be of use here" Said the faceless man in a scholarly, almost smug manner "Greetings, the name is Victor Sage, and I've dedicated a good half of my life to the study of the occult and the magical, and while I am not a powerful mage myself... skilled yes but I digress... I have artefacts I could use in this occasion and I've called upon a couple of allies of mine, more old colleagues really." He said smiling a tad to himself as magical energies accumulated around himself

"Once, we were the vanguards of the unknown" He continued as a runic circle formed around his feet, a string of said glowing runes branching off into a separate circle formed on the air near the first "Now, I put our knowledge and experience to this cause" filling the circle was some purplish energy and out of it stepped a man, white haired, with a dark blue hat, suit and cloak. Beside Question in a poof of blood red smoke appeared a youthful looking woman, clad in a red suit, and sporting short blue hair under her hood.

"Ladies and Gents, here at your service, the Trinity of Sin" He said with a discreet gesture.

"Lilith" Said Philip to Pandora as the portal closed behind him.

"hey Phil." said Pandora with a quick wave.

"Good to see ya Vic" said Pandora, in a good peppy mood, and throwing a duffel bag at his feet "brought you your laundry"

"Laund... what?" Asked Vic a bit confused

"I presume she means your gear" said The Stranger, as Question knelt down to rummage "I didn't know this was a reunion" he notes, still irritated

"Sorry about that, it was easier that way, people may still know the name" Explained away Question in an offhanded manner

"We haven't used it in years" Pointed out The Stranger.

"all the more reason to bring it back" Said Question, as Stranger remembered the reasons they stopped working together.

Thorn, X-Mansion

Thorn ignored Rogue. "I'm not a uniform person, Thorn said, stepping into the left tube, and pressing the lowest button. "And I'm sure it would clash with my hair." A small whoop of enjoyment escaped her lips when the transport started, before she stepped out in the bottom basement.

"Can I do that again?"

She-Hulk

The more Majestic tried to shake her off, the more She-Hulk tightened her hold on him.

"This is not about Superman, this about you and your apparent death wish! What you're doing is nothing less than suicide!"

Halo

She floated towards Vic (no, Victor) and his colleagues - Lilith and Phil, they had called each other.

Nervousness held her back, though, and she remained among the crowd. The three of them were the only ones who could figure out how to stop Kang; they didn't need her to bother them.

"What's laundry?" she asked the small wooden person holding a lantern.