Justice Avengers Universe

Robbie looked at the attractive glowing girl addressing him. She... didn't know what laundry was?

"Umm, you know, clothing? That has to washed? Or has been washed."

His gaze went back to the... Trio of Sin? He knew about The Question, hard not the recognize the one "Faceless Hero". But he drew a blank on the other two. They did certainly look creepy, though- which was probably proof they were magical. Hopefully, whoever they were, they would be what was needed now.

edited 13th Jun '17 9:40:17 PM by Sijo

Domestic Struggle

"I don't have a death wish!"' Majestic insisted as he tried to push She-Hulk off of him. "I can handle this! Why are you against me?!"

Stark Tower

"Dang," Spider-Man muttered as the Trinity of Sin made their appearance. "Mysterio needs to up his production values."

"I was gifted my powers," Captain Marvel explained, "By the Wizard Shaz-" He stopped and furrowed his brow, as if in a deep, existential argument.

No! Stop it!

What are you talking about?

Then, without warning, Captain Marvel glowed in a white light and suddenly burst apart into two people. A woman in her mid-twenties in a red-and-blue bodysuit with a breathing apparatus and a young man in his early teens with a robotic exoskeleton.

"No, Freddy! Stop it! This isn't a game! You're all insane! There's no such thing as magic!" Phyla-Vell insisted hotly.

"What do you call those guys?" Freddy asked as he gestured at the Trinity of Sin and the talking puppet.

"Extradimensional beings! My grandfather is not a wizard!"

Paige had suffered a minor bout of confusion when she examined the offered costumes. Her power seemed to require that she pull off her skin. How to do that when she was fully covered? Then a picture she'd seen in an upstairs hallway flashed into her mind-that of a big, handsome fellow who had clearly been a veteran X-Man. Why not carry on his snazzy look?

A few moments later, she emerged from the changing area. Her face, bare arms and lower legs gleamed with a sheen of steel. Paige flexed and grinned at herself in one of the mirrors before marching down the hall to join the Professor and Mr. Summers.

Stark Tower

"No such thing then?" Said Question, for the moment keeping a barrage of questions about the splitting person to himself, he looked to Phil "You want to take this one?" Phil just glared "ok, ok, I'll take it"

The faceless man picked up Galio's Lens from his duffel and strode through to Phyla-Vell and Freddie, the components of Captain Marvel. "Now listen to me, I normally don't sweat you non-believers... but right now, there isn't space for doubt." and with that he took Phyla-Vell's hand and placed it on his... face. made her feel it "feel that? this is where my eye used to be, and my nose and my mouth" his face would feel... truncated to her touch, bones and muscle beneath smooth skin. "And yet, I see, I hear, I breathe" He pulled up galio's lens before his face, revealing the enchantments his face bore, like geometric, polygonal growths over each sensory organ. "Magic is real, kid, and you better get used to that," he said, with his eerie voice

"That's nice," said Tony, "Now are we gonna address the fact that Captain Marbles over there just poofed into a woman and a teenage boy?"

"Hold on a second..." Chameleon boy crept closer to the bickering couple, like Indiana Jones creeping up on some ancient artefact. "...Wisdom of Solomon...Wizard Shaz...lightning-based transformation- oh my god, you're one of the Shazam wielders, aren't you? I mean, technically two of them but holy grife-"

"Wait, so you know these two?"

"Know 'em?!...Well, no. But just last week, we recruited their great, great, great, great, great, great, great..."

Saturn Girl interjected. "All throughout history, there's been different wielders of the power of Shazam. It's said that in this time period, two wise men- one of science, one of sorcery -collaborated to each produce their own champion from the same basic power."

"Huh," said Tony, "Sooo, which one does that make Pearl and Amethyst over here?"

"You've already met the magic-based champion. She's a 'Marvel' all of her own."

"...great, great, great, great descendant!" finished Chameleon Boy.

"Miss Canton, Miss Guthrie, please take your seats," said the Professor, as Mr Worthington brought up a few images on the wide screen. Behind Thorn and Husk, the rest of the young mutants popped out one by one. Unlike the two girls, most of them had elected to suit up in the snazzy yellow and black outfits, and were looking as ready for combat as they'd ever be.

Up on the screen, several windows cropped up. A map of the world, a looped video of Damocles, and finally a Skype call, which soon connected to the call with Ms Grey, the legionnaires beside her, and the current party gathered at Stark Tower.

"Mr Stark," said Xavier, "This is Professor X, and joining me are the members of...the X-Men."

"I am an Anachronaut," explained the German. "One of many fighters throughout the whole of history, who were challenged and bested by Kang in single combat. Now, I serve at the conquerer's leisure, as his guardsman, his operative, and in this case, his emissary." He looked back to the agents. "Is this prisoner the only offering?"

"She-Bat and Zarrko are being escorted in police custody," said one of the agents. "They should be an hour out at mos-"

"Um, sir?" said another agent from the van. He gestured over to the first, and they grouped together, muttering in hushed tones that turned to barely-audible yelling. After a moment of uncomfortable silence, the first agent timidly stepped back over.

"Erm..." he said, "I regret to inform you...I've just received word...that...Zarrko has escaped from custody."

Rogue, X-Mansion

Much like most of the others, Rogue chose to get dressed in the yellow and black uniform. She was thankful that it came with gloves that she could wear as well. She sat with the rest of the New Mutants, or well... X-Men. Rogue smiled a bit meekly at Tony and nodded to him, letting him know she was letting Professor X take the lead here without interrupting him.

Starfire, Stark Tower

Starfire remained mostly silent, only grabbing a mustard bottle that Stark had to drink from. She actually noted just how many offworlders were here in the room. Captain Marvel appeared to be one, and there was certainly a Halfworlder here as well. And... Well if she did not see it with her own eyes, she would not have believed it. It was someone who wore the symbol of the House of El She steeled herself at the sheer number of aliens, legendary or otherwise here.

"Does them being magical or not really matter right now?" Starfire asked as she approached Phyla-Vell. "So long as they have the power to do something about Kang, I would not sweat the small details."

Thorn, Conference Room

Thorn sat on the table. Because she's a rebel. She waved cheerily at the screen. "Hello Mr Stark! I'm a big fan of your work! Like being responsible for the deaths of a thousand people, easily, and being a shining example of rampant alcoholism! You're a great role model," she said, completely sincerely.

edited 28th Jun '17 9:16:34 PM by secretlyasuperhero

Up In The Sky

She-Hulk was about to snap that if she was really against Majestic, she would let him go on this suicide mission, but by now, she had realized the more she tried to get him to stop, the more it convinced him this was the best course of action to take.

"You know what? I'll let you go, but only if you take me with you. There's strength in numbers, y'know."

Halo, Stark Tower

She nodded at the wooden boy's explanation. Her face was red; he must have thought she was stupid.

"Oh. Yes. That makes sense."

She watched with wide eyes as Captain Marvel separated into two people. Based on Iron Man's reaction, that wasn't normal, but nobody else seemed to find it particularly strange, so she didn't say anything - until Thorn started talking.

"Mister Stark is responsible for the deaths of thousands of people?" she said.

edited 28th Jun '17 8:32:08 AM by emilyorthoclase

Rogue, X-Mansion

"Just ignore her," Rogue said to the people in Stark Tower, covering for Thorn's comment. "She likes to rile people up."

edited 28th Jun '17 9:19:50 PM by GameGuruGG

"Yeah, so..." Tony adjusted his collar, "Gonna...pretend I didn't hear the brat, aaaand back on topic we go."

One hurried recap later, and the X-Mansion fellows were up to speed on the situation.

"So it's decided, then," said Cosmic Boy at last, "We stage an assault on the exterior of the Damocles, while a small team, including our magic-wielders, find their way aboard and catch him by surprise."

"We have our own air-borne transport at our disposal," said Professor X, "With camouflage capabilities that could allow our insurgency team to get close to Damocles."

"Saves having our fliers carry the team over one at a time," said Tony.

"I could go with the infiltrators!" said Chameleon Boy, "Oh, and maybe puppet guy could come with! He's small enough."

"Let's get our teams assigned and get ready to move," said Cosmic Boy. "The longer we wait, the less world there'll be to save."

"The name is Hobby Lantern" Robbie cleared up to the alien shape-shifter, somewhat miffed.

"Hey, what about me?" Suzie asked.

"Well, you are mainly a powerhouse, right?" Robbie asked back. "You should wait until those are needed. As has been explained, we need stealth rather than raw power right now."

Suzie mumbled something under her breath, obviously unhappy. I'm so teaming up with She-Hulk if given the chance, she then thought.

Paige was about to roll her eyes and pitch the weirdo off the table (and possibly down the hall) when it occurred to her that throwing one of her "teammmates" out of the room might look bad in the face of impeding doom.

While she was trying to decide how to put a muzzle on Peony or whatever he name was, a question occurred to her: if this Kang guy was a time traveler, wouldn't he already know they were coming? Mr. Stark was pretty smart, so he'd probably have a plan, but it wouldn't hurt to ask. But she could just imagine THAT conversation. So..um...if this guy is a time traveler, what's the plan? Build a big blue box?

Then the Metal Mustache explained, and it all seemed clearer. She wasn't sure why magic would be so effective, but hey-she was pretty new at this. And maybe Miss Green Thumb Psycho would accidentally fall off the ship or be transported back to dinosaur time and become a baobab or something.

edited 5th Jul '17 7:55:42 AM by Booky

Rogue, X-Mansion

"Sounds good," Rogue nodded to the people in Stark Tower. "Let's just get this thing started."

Thorn, X-Briefing Room

Thorn pouted as Tony ignored her teasing. "Aww..." she said quietly. She sat through the briefing with her tongue out. "Well, let's get it started."

Thorn, X-Briefing Room

Thorn pouted as Tony ignored her teasing. "Aww..." she said quietly. She sat through the briefing with her tongue out. "Well, let's get it started."

"All right, then," said Tony, "No more screwing around."

"Let's get out there and twat 'em!" cried Rocket triumphantly, raising his gun in the air, and accidentally shooting a small chunk of plaster from the ceiling.

"...Sometimes I feel like you people take advantage of my deep pockets."

Far above Manhattan, the ship of Damocles continued to loom. But now, if anyone chanced to look up, they might find some brave souls rising up to meet them. Iron Man, Superman, Captain Marvel, ten legionnaires and any who joined them, flew in formation at the head of the pack. Behind them, the X-Men's Blackbird jet took off from the roof of Stark Tower, freshly loaded with the Trinity of Sin, Hobby Lantern, seven legionnaires with powers deemed more 'passive' than others, and whoever else volunteered for Team Stealth. The plane had barely gone twenty feet higher than the skyline when its SHIELD-level cloaking kicked in, and it abruptly faded into thin air. All that left was

Inside the Blackbird, the air was thick with tension as the Damocles loomed ever closer in the sky. After a moment or two, Chameleon Boy glanced at Hobby Lantern with a strange, knowing smile. He shuffled closer. Then closer again. Finally, he decided to break the ice. "Y'know, Hobby...I've read a lot about the old superheroes of the day. Read a lot about the Supers, the Spiders, the Bats, and aaaall the Lanterns. You guys left a lotta legacy, y'know. Heck, one of you got a whole civilisation centred around him. But I never heard tell of a 'Hobby Lantern', or a 'Maxima'am' before. Which makes me think...you and her...you wouldn't know anything about an H-Dial, would y-?"

"Superhumans," said a sudden booming voice outside the craft. "You are in violation of Kang airspace. Any further intrusion will be treated as an act of war. Turn back, or there will be consequences."

"Hold steady, kids," said Tony, "It's showtime."

"Superhumans. This is your second warning. There will not be a third." One by one, a series of golden flying saucers materialised in shimmers of light. "Turn back, or you...and your city...will pay the price."

The Anachronaut hadn't been happy to know that Zarrko had somehow managed to spring free on the ride over, and assured the SHIELD agents that his master would be even less satisfied. Nevertheless, the current package wasn't going anywhere, so Booster was frogmarched over to his captors, and side by side, the four of them vanished.

One flash of light later, and Booster found himself in a great semi-spherical chamber, on top of a purple glowing pad between three arched spires and an assortment of other machinery. The walls around were a metal of bluish silver, with various strange lines and patterns decorating them, and a hexagonal window off to the side displaying nothing but stars. Many purple suited men like the german's flunkies busied themselves about the room, adjusting machinery on the wall, or just pacing about reading checklists off holographic screens floating on their wrists.

Over on the far end, a portion of the wall parted in segmented layers to reveal a doorway, and in a hovering golden throne◊ sat the very same man who'd just threatened the entire world. All the workers immediately stopped what they were doing and saluted, as Kang's chair floated all the way over to the teleporter pad, keeping his eyes on Booster with a grimace that could sharpen steel. Kang disembarked from his chair, and with noticeable effort made a welcoming smile that strained beneath the weight of a Kubrick stare. "Michael Jon Carter," said Kang, "Welcome to Damocles. I trust your journey was without incident?"

edited 18th Jul '17 11:55:33 AM by LizardOfAus

Robbie Reed was nervous. The current mission was the most dangerous he had yet to participate in- they were going to fight in a freaking war!- and the stupid dial had given him the powers of a magical puppet. Just great.

And then one of the heroes from the future- the one with orange skin, pointy ears and antennas- started talking to him out of the blue, asking suspicious questions, until he finally hinted that he knew about the Hero Dial!

Robbie almost gasped! But then he realized, it made sense: if he truly was from the future, then the device's existence might be public some day. He might even know what it is and where it came from! Should he ask him? Or would that be a paradox?

And then the warnings came. The questions would have to wait.

edited 18th Jul '17 5:10:17 PM by Sijo

Wonder Woman-Manhattan

Above one of the many tall buildings that made up New York City, the already disturbed sky twisted with an unnatural energy. Unlike Kang’s entrance, this was a much more localized event. The air sparked, and then an area about the size of a large doorway grew distorted. A split second later, it tore open to reveal what looked like a very small wormhole. It rumbled and spat out bolts of energy before a red and blue blur shot out at high speed.

It hit the nearest high-rise's rooftop with enough force to leave cracks as it bounced a few times and skidded to a stop, drawing a few bystanders’ attention. After a moment of silence, Diana pulled herself out of her own person-shaped crater, sore and confused, but alive. She noticed her bracelets still crackling purple from where Circe had struck them, and shook her wrists out as she stood up. Diana looked up just in time to see the wormhole collapse on itself again, leaving nothing behind.

“Hm. It seems dodging is better than blocking strange spells…” she said, frowning. She should have known better, but Circe had caught her off guard and her arms had moved instinctively to protect herself. And now she was… somewhere different. It looked like New York City at first, but there were little differences that didn't match up with her memories of it. Something was definitely off here.

The next thing that grabbed Diana's attention was the massive sword-like aircraft floating far above her. That definitely didn't belong here, and the loud echoing voice making threats only encouraged her investigate it. Temporarily shelving her personal problems, Diana kicked off the rooftop and flew towards the futuristic warship.

As she got closer to it, she also noticed the colorful group of human looking figures approaching from a different direction. A possible resistance force? As much as Diana wanted to fly directly towards what she perceived as the enemy, but it’d be stubborn even for her standards to go in with no information at all. They would at least know a little more about the situation than she did, so she reigned herself in and changed course to meet up with the formation of strangers.

edited 18th Jul '17 5:15:10 PM by ScorpioRat

Skies of New York

"Hold on," Majestic muttered as he put She-Hulk on his back. "I'm going to fly fast." Then he did exactly that, hurtling past the other heroes in a straight line directly toward the underbelly of Damocles. Thinking of all the things that had brought him anger over the course of the day, Majestic bellowed in fury as red beams of death burst forth from his eyes, ripping upwards toward the underside of the ship.

Who the heck is that guy?

Dunno. But it looks like our cue!

"Light 'im up!" Captain Marvel cried as she brought her hands forward and fired full power energy beams from her hands. Superman followed suit with a blast of his own heat vision, the three heroes focusing their blasts on a single entry point toward the bottom of the ship, trying to overload its defenses to let them inside. On the streets below, Spider-Man and the others were waiting for the backlash. Inside the Blackbird, Flash and Impulse were feeling... cramped.

Inside Damocles

"Eh," Booster said with a shrug as he tried his best to remain ambivalent and not focus too much on the fact that he was currently shackled and trapped, alone, surrounded by enemy combatants and a man whose technology left him as hopelessly outclassed as his suit left just about everyone else in the twenty-first century. "Coulda used some peanuts. So what's the gimmick here, I traveled back in time, thereby disrupting the timestream, causing some part of your future to no longer exist, so you're gonna erase me from the timeline for my transgressions? Because, hey, not to mess with your monologue or anything but I'm not just gonna stand here and let you zap me. So how about you take these things off me and we settle this futureman to futureman?" His best shot, he knew, was to appeal to Kang's vanity.

"A tempting proposition. One that might best be served in the proper arena," Kang signalled to his cronies as his chair turned in place, and Booster soon found himself frogmarched behind Kang, lead down the twisting halls of the Damocles. "If you were to be wiped from the timeline, Mr Carter, it would be done long before I arrived. You have been an exceptional nuisance, after all, casting not so much ripples as writhing splashes, and there are forces in this universe, far beyond your reckoning, who have a vested interest in keeping the timeline pruned and orderly. They would have struck you from time the day you arrived, were it not for the fact that you served a purpose to them...something you are yet to have already done. It is up to you if you perform this act. Then, and only then, will I take relish in deciding your fate."

Suddenly, alarm bells sounded all around as Majestic made his presence felt below. The guards were looked around in confusion, as Kang snarled and thumped his armrest. "Take Carter to the brig. Do NOT let him out of your sight!" he snapped, before hitting a button on his chair and teleporting away.

The great loudspeaker spoke again. "Superhumans," it said. "Your failure to change course has made your intentions clear. The consequences will follow immediately." Suddenly, strange pods began spewing from the many saucers, clockwise in rapid fire, and rained down over the metropolis. Half the pods continued on their path, and punctured the streets and the skyscrapers down below, some even punching straight through buildings on their way to the ground. The streets were soon filled with civilians, already frightened, scattering in blind panic, with no real direction in mind so long as it was away from the smoking craters. Those pillars of smoke soon parted, and mechanical skull-like monsters lurched from the craters. Sharp-clawed, self repairing, and with but two directives in mind: strike fear into the citizens of New York, and crush anyone who rises against them.

Up above, the other half of the pods fired abruptly stalled, and turned in mid air. Sprouting wings from their sides, the new fighter jets soon formed a sort of patchwork formation, spread far and wide in midair, before closing in and beginning their assault. The air was peppered with bolts of laser fire, but somehow the flying heroes were managing to weave between and make their attacks. Lightning Lad one bolt after another, chaining attacks between fighter jets. Marvel Boy swept a single arm, and one jet lurched headlong into another, both bursting into flame in midair. This put him in the crosshairs of several ships, but fortunately Cosmic Boy was on hand to catch those ships from behind.

"All right, you've got your orders, kids," said Iron Man between repulser blasts. "Time to give 'em hell. Jarvis? Launch the Iron Legion."

Far below, a rapid succession of lights went up from Stark tower, as many men of metal swept their way across the New York skyline and above. Nor were they the only cavalry on hand. First came two jet fighters, marked with the Shield insignia, sweeping the assault team left and right. Next, something swept into the sky and briefly blotted out the sun, making it look like a yellow circle around a bat,◊ before that same plane came down with a hail of machine gun fire in its wake. Third of all, there came a mere flicker in the air beside the window of the X-Men's jet, before a voice in the head of all present went Hi guys! Sorry I'm late.

Megan! replied the mental voice of Jean Grey.

Tony caught me up on the plan. Well, by caught me up I mean he told me half and I wound up accidentally skimming the rest from his memories- anyway! I['m tailing you guys in my bioship, ready to provide support for the stealth op.

Well, all right. Our objective is the Damocles hull. Punch your way through if you must, just get inside without being detected at all costs.

And only a hundred flying robots between us and them. Go team!

Suddenly, there was a flash from the hull of Damocles, as Majestic punched his way through. Inside, the momentary rush of air was canceled out by an exterior forcefield taking effect, shortly followed by purple cowled cyborgs filing into the room with blaster guns at the ready.

What was that?! cried Megan.

Our signal. Full speed ahead!

Back outside, several fighter planes turned in mid air and rushed back to the protect the Damocles. The heroes kept pace as best they could, trying to whittle their numbers before Majestic found himself in real trouble. Meanwhile he blackbird and bioship streaked through the raging dogfight straight for the flash of light, as all around them, the battle for the future had quite literally begun.

edited 27th Jul '17 2:00:36 AM by LizardOfAus

"Sorcerers!" Hobby Lantern suddenly shouted, "Get ready! The station's defenses are focused on the vehicles and the heroes outside. Now's the chance to spell our way inside and confuse Kang and his minions as much as we can!" And hopefully take him down, he left unsaid.

"Hey, what do I do?" Maxima'am asked.

"Stay here and wait for a chance to get inside and punch- something" Robbie answered.

Suzie growled something under her breath, as did her Pet Eagle.

Skies of Manhattan

She-Hulk launched herself through the hole in the ship that Majestic had created.

"C'mon. Let's see if Kang can back up his big talk."

Elsewhere, the glowing amnesiac flew with the rest of the heroes of New York. She was near the front. She was glowing too brightly for anything approaching stealth, after all.

She stayed in the middle. Best to watch and learn from the others rather than make a mistake. Too much was at stake for that.

She was somewhat frightened when an unfamiliar voice started talking in her head, but she was admittedly somewhat relieved that somebody knew what they were doing.

Glowing orange, she fired a continuous blast at the first wave of robots.

Above Manhattan

Before she could even reach the other group of heroes, Wonder Woman was forced to stop short and dodge one of the many pods now raining down on the city. She watched as they crashed to the ground, causing building and street damage even before they opened up into robotic monsters. Another set of pods turned into what she recognized as jet fighters and began firing on anyone near the huge ship. A massive dogfight broke out in the sky as more ships and robots arrived to counterattack, and she was a a loss of where to go now. The city below, or the invading warship in front of her? A burst of light from the ship's bottom caught her attention as a hole was forcefully made, and she decided that the fight was well handled up here.

It was the people below that were most vulnerable now, and even if she could not drive the robots back on her own, she could occupy as many as possible.

Manhattan Streets

Wonder Woman increased her speed as she dove down, and then leveled out in time to slam a fist into one of the scarab fighters, knocking it away from its pursuit of the terrified citizens. With a yell, she turned around in midair and kicked the robot in the chest with both legs, trying to push it over entirely.

On reaching the end of the room, She-Hulk and Majestic found the door sliding up, only to reveal a line of cowled minions, blasters in hand. "Stop right where you are!" cried one, "Don't. Move. A muscle."

The flying machines soon took notice of Halo. One came swinging by from the right, guns blazing, while another came down from above.

The great machine stumbled over backwards, claws scraping the concrete in a failed attempt to catch itself. The citizens slowed down, taking note of their saviour. Over the sounds of crashing, one could almost here a little voice going "Daddy, look! It's Wonder Woman!"

Pushing up from the ground, the scarab fighter did an impressive backwards flip to right itself. A couple of its colleagues came stomping over, while the current opponent stretched a mighty arm, then suddenly span its top around, swinging the sharp limb like a flail.

Trinity of Sin

"ok-ok-ok no preptime, uncertain destination... portals? no, Jaunt? no risky... long distance blink!" Said Victor thinking outloud on double-time "We've done it before!" he said turning to his colleagues.

"Yes" conceded Phil "but that was between buildings and in our prime, besides where would you take us through?"

"I'm still in my prime, and you... well sorcerers only get stronger... come on we can do this, the other option is bust through and we do not have the firepower-"

"Phil has a point though, where do we go through?" Chimed in Lilith "We can't use the dark-world or the brimstone dimension anymore"

"We NEVER go back there! which is why we use Limbo" clarified Victor, sounding smug

"No, bad idea, that's almost as bad as going through Brimstone" declare Phil

"It is safer" pointed Victor "and we have no time for preparing any other way... I just need you to help me" he said extending a hand.

"You'll be the death of me I swear" grumbled the Stranger as he took it. Question nods.

"Alright! Everybody come in, huddle up, it won't be a nice ride, but it'll do!" As soon they were ready, Question, Pandora, and the stranger began chanting and in a golden flash they would be gone, to reappear through a rift in Kang's ship.