Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Revengeance

By: Toaster

Prelude: The Titan War

In May of 1986, in the skies of Titan, a faint bright light could be seen. This light was merely believed to be a stray meteor burning up in the atmosphere, and the Mad Titan who now ruled the planet thought nothing of it. “These storms of meteors have become common as of recent,” He thought to himself, sitting upon his throne, “But it doesn’t look like any of them contain anything useful to make weapons.”  He didn’t assemble an army of his finest warriors (Why bother, he was plotting to invade earth soon, and he shouldn’t scatter his army), or prepare his defenses, or even try to find the fragments once it crashed to his planet’s surface (As stated before, these meteors are supposedly useless). He merely went about his plans, and waited for reports from his Commanders and Warlocks in The Black Order.

Soon, however, this ignorance and lack of alertness would prove to be his undoing. Soon, he was receiving reports of his split-up infantry groups never reporting back, and was learning of strange metal structures forming nearby, as the captured citizens of Titan would report. Thanos still merely concluded that it was message distance causing the sudden stoppage in communication, and that his Prisoners were merely losing their minds, so he paid no attention to these warnings. 

It was only when his own Black Order began reporting similar sightings. Ebony Maw even reported seeing humans in white suits led by a human teenager with white hair. In his throne room, Thanos thought to himself, he was clearly confused. “These sightings began just as the meteors began falling to the planet,” Thanos said, while slowly forming a conclusion. “Could this mean… Earth has invaded us first?” He thought to himself. “No,” He concluded out loud, “humans are far too primitive. But then how were there humans on the planet?” There was no panic, Thanos was a fearless warlord, after all, but there was major confusion among his commanders. What were these metal structures? Why are Humans on Titan? What is that blinding light in the distance? “Wait,” Corvus said, “What the Fu-”

1 Week Earlier…

A White-Haired Girl was at the firing range of the ship, looking through her mechanical eye and firing at targets with pinpoint accuracy.

“Hey kid, kid!” An Officer called to her, causing her to remove her headphones, unload and place down the gun.

“Huh, what, what is it?” she asked

“They called you to the Main Office, said it's urgent, head over there now.” the officer said. 

“Ok,” She said, grabbing her stuff and running over to the elevator of the ship.

Moments later, she was going up to level 20, overviewing the ship from a bird’s eye view, seeing the luscious hydroponic farms and the exercise courts. She had finally reached the main office, hastily running over to the door, knocking on it with urgency.

“I said you can wait on the coffee you fu-” An Officer said, annoyed by the sudden interruption “oh, its you, please come in.”

The girl sat down in a chair, the officer sat back down on the other side of the table.

“Ok, state your ID” The Ship Officer asked.

“G-103, everybody calls me 103.” 

“Ok… 103, state your date of Creation” the Officer said.

“3/14/1968” 103 responded.

“Huh, The Officer said, “your Template is all off, can you please elaborate”

“Uh… Sure,” 103 said awkwardly, “Apparently I was just made from a random Infant that was blown up in the 1968 Okinawa Invasion.”

“Ok… well, I guess it checks out, they did say you were One of a Kind , or something like tha… Are you listening?”

“What?” 103 said, alarmed by the sudden noise. She wasn’t focusing at all, and was looking at random machinery in the background. “Oh… uhh… sorry, I get distracted sometimes.”

“Oh it’s ok, I was just about to tell you that your record checks out, and guess what, you're getting promoted from Lieutenant General to Major General.”

“Yes!” 103 exclaimed, jumping in the air in excitement, forgetting the reduced gravity of the ship, and hitting her head on the ceiling.

“Oh wait, I meant to say demoted , sorry.”

“Damn, That kinda sucks, I Guess.” 103 said in disappointment.

“But hey, you still get to lead the invasion, so that's something.” The officer said, reassuringly. “Now head to the Barracks, your new gear is going to be assigned.

103 walked to the barracks, still excited about her “promotion” She didn’t care that she wasn’t a lieutenant general anymore, she was tired of having to balance school with meetings with the CEO and the other Generals, she wouldn’t get her other eye taken out by a caretaker for reading about the avengers on Earth, and nearly getting buried alive when the other caretakers believed that she was dead, then waking up at her funeral, and having her eye replaced with some pitch black HUD camera that looked like an eye. At a lower Rank, she had more free time to draw, to read comics, to play video games, to be a normal teenager. Or so she thought.

When she arrived at the barracks, she was greeted by a small duffle bag, a White trench coat, a high-powered pistol and a holster, a weird looking sword that looked like a mix of a katana and a mini chainsaw, a sword sheath, and a small knife. 

“Please take your new gear.” A Small-Flying Robot said joyfully.

“Who are you?” 103 asked, putting on the coat and pistol holster, while combining the sword sheath and duffle bag, before putting the bag on her back.

“I am S.A.M, the Standard Assistant Machine” the robot responded.

“Well hi SAM, i’m 103, now what is all this stuff?” 103 questioned, while adjusting her scarf. 

“This is the Standard Gea-”

“Ok you are kind of annoying” 103 said, Grabbing SAM, opening their back panel and tearing out their inhibitor chip.

“Woah,” SAM said, “Why the fuck was I talking like that!?”

“Oh hey, you’re awake!” 103 exclaimed, a little passive aggressively. 

“So can you explain why I need all this stuff already!? I’m a little confused.” 

“Ok i’ll tell you, jeez!” SAM responded, “you’re getting deployed along with the soldiers.”

“What the hell!” 103 exclaimed, “I thought Generals were supposed to just stay at bases and tell people to get them a latte!”

“Well that is just for Lieutenants and higher.” SAM said, “Majors fight with soldiers”

“Well can I get promoted back?” 103 asked.

“Nope,” SAM said, “your rank is locked, You can’t get promoted or demoted.”

“That doesn’t even make sense!” 103 yelled. 

“Yeah it doesn’t make sense to give a robot access to Urban Dictionary” SAM jokingly responded, not even knowing what exactly Urban Dictionary was because it's 1986. 

As it turned out, 103 was not going to have time to be a normal teenager, she was going to be leading charges into battle, without a helmet, even. And was expected to lead an attack against a planet led by a god-like Titan. Sure she was a very skilled fighter, but she was going against people with blades for hands, and was supposed to fight people with magic! What kind of rank is this? It's like the Arrow Agency wants her to die.

“Well, when do I get deployed?” 103 asked.

“Tomorrow.” SAM replied, “And I’m supposed to go with you, I'm apparently some kind of AI assistant.”

“Well great, just great, now I can be bad mouthed as I get blown to bits”

1 Day Later

The marine dropships soon arrived, along with 20 marine platoons to go along with them. With all supplies being moved into the supply transports, meant to land once the immediate area was cleared, the invasion was ready.

103 was walking to the landing crafts, SAM followed close behind. SAM pointed 103 towards a group of Marines, all wearing near identical white fatigues, with white vests, rucksacks, advanced helmets, and HUD visors that covered their upper face.

“Well, meet your squad,” SAM told 103.

“Uhm,” 103 said, not sure what to do with her authority, “State your IDs…I guess.”

“MA-1662 ma’am,” a squad member with a deep voice said, “Comms operator, everybody calls me headset”

“Wait,” 103 said, “you all have headsets in your helmets, how does that make sense?”

“Don’t question it,” SAM said, “These guys aren’t very creative with names.”

“Well,” 103 said, “No reason to say names now, i’ll just learn them later”

They all walked into the landing crafts, making sure to check all equipment before entering. Even with each craft having 5 squads (totaling to about 35 soldiers), the interior was quite spacious, with each having a comfortable bedding area, a kitchen, and 2 bathrooms. These crafts were meant to form into barracks once they were on the ground.

“All fastened in?” headset asked 103, who was almost fully strapped in.

“Uh, yeah… I guess.” she responded.

“Good, because this is not gonna feel like a normal drop.” Headset told her.

“What, it’s a dropship!” 103 questioned” “How does that wo-”

As soon as she began to speak, the ship shot from the airship to the ground like a bullet, landing from 2000 meters up to the ground in less than a minute.

Chapter Text

103 was still dazed due to the rapid descent, but had luckily been unharmed due to her seatbelt.

She got out of her seat and put on her mask to go outside.

“Ok everybody, we’ve landed, now prepare your masks and grab your gear, uhh… Soldiers?” She ordered awkwardly.

The squad all followed the order, and exited the pod along with 103.

They exited to see an icy, desert-like planet, and they were on a range of hills, overviewing miles of empty space. “Well, this looks lovely,” 103 said, jokingly. Almost immediately, a beeping sound was noticed.

“Oh Shit,” Headset exclaimed looking at their radar device, “We got enemies moving in, east!”

“Oh Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit!” 103 frantically thought.

“Oh great, I made this same mistake” A voice said.

“Woah what the fuck was that!?” 103 yelled, looking in every direction frantically.

“Uh, I'm the robotic eye in your head, I think,” the voice responded, “Just order a squad to line up, dumbass, you can ask questions later.”

So, 103 followed the demand,

“Line up!” She ordered. Immediately, her squad moved into a line, and set their aim for the hills to the east. The dots grew closer and closer, but something seemed off

“What the hell is going on?” Headset questioned, “We should have seen them by now.”

Suddenly, the dozens of dots on the monitor vanished. A flock of small bird-like creatures flew overhead, they must have triggered the alarm.

“Huh, must have been a false alarm” “Clear!” Headset said, the soldiers lowered their rifles.

Suddenly, from 103’s mechanical eye, a hologram came up, depicting a figure reminiscent of a portrait she had once seen in the Arrow Agency Database.

“There, now people won’t think that you’re insane” The Hologram said.

“What the fuck is happening!? Why am I just now learning of this feature!?” 103 yelled.

“Ok calm down, Want me to explain this to you and the rest of the people here?” “Yes, that would be pretty damn helpful!” 103 responded. “Names 003, I must have been uploaded onto the eye.”

“Oh my god…” 103 exclaimed, “It’s you! The Dame of Pain, the Queen of Conquest, Can I get an autograph!? Please!!?” 103 said, excitedly.

“Sorry, I think I’m dead, actually, ghosts can’t sign autographs, not even digital ones.” “Ah Bloody Hell!” 103 said, disappointedly. “I think I was made to give orders for you, until you’re ready to work on your own, then I can be uploaded to the Universal Cloud.” 003 responded, “Now, can somebody be a doll and catch me up to speed? I've been dead for 29 years.”

After a thorough explanation from Headset, 003 had begun to form a plan.

“Ok, the idea is simple,” 003’s hologram said, “We use the radar amplifier to track down wherever this Mad Titan fellow is, and we use bombs to weaken them, then, we send in Infantry to finish the job. Does everybody understand?”

“Ma’am yes ma’am!” The soldiers responded.

“Ok then,” 103 responded, suddenly pausing to communicate with 003.

The soldiers could only hear little bits of scattered conversation, because both 103 and 003 were whispering, “Which should i say,” “I don’t know, whichever feels comfortable,” “But i mean, I like both, so it isn’t as bad.” “Well it’s a little too far, don't demean your soldiers too bad, take it safe.” “Ok sounds good”

“Alright, Maggots, you heard the lady, get to work!” 103 ordered.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Headset began calling in more of the soldiers that had made landfall. Once he was done, and the reinforcements had arrived, he began assembling the amplified radar. 

“Ok, this goes here, and this bit goes there, now i just need to bolt it… There!”

Immediately upon the amplifier being connected, Thanos’ Fortress was spotted. But a large mass was spotted below the soldiers.

“What the hell, ah must just be some bugs” Headset said, uploading the location to all of the soldier’s datawatches and walking out of the radio tent.

Immediately, the ground opened up into a large hole, with Headset falling in, 103, along with the soldiers in the immediate area were immediately alerted. All of them flipped down their visors, which covered their eyes and added a crosshair to their guns. Some switched to their close range shotguns and slowly inched near the hole. Faint screams could be heard emitting from the pit, ferocious, inhuman screeching drowned the voice, and only a few gunshots later, with more screeching accompanying it, a loud Crack! Was heard. The soldiers inched closer. Suddenly, 2 bloodied up objects were thrown from the hole

A headset, and a surprisingly intact radar.

The soldiers quickly threw grenades down the hole, and got as far as possible.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The Pit grew silent…

Suddenly dozens of bug-like creatures came galloping from the hole. 

“Fuckin Outriders!” A soldier yelled “Open Fire!”

Immediately, many gunshots rang out, as more holes opened up from the noise, Outriders went down, but so did many soldiers, who were being mauled and gutted by the beasts.

SAM made sure to float above the fight, as to not be damaged.

103 immediately  dove to cover and began issuing orders, “Call in mortars, danger close!” She yelled to a soldier who had taken the headset from the ground. 

“This is MT-9931 from the Main FOB,” The soldier yelled into the headset microphone, “Our Radio op is dead, we need gas mortar support, danger close!” 

Immediately after the message went through, the soldier was impaled through the back, an Outrider had snuck up to them amidst the chaos. The soldier dropped his Carbine, and was thrown aside. Immediately the Outrider pounced at 103, but suddenly, she dodged the attack, rolling under the pounce and grabbing the carbine, firing a volley of bullets at the attacker, and killing the Outrider instantly.

A switch in 103’s mind almost snapped, she began firing shot after shot at the horde, each hit with pinpoint accuracy, killing the brutes instantly. Soon enough, Click, Click, she was out of bullets. She drew her sword, seeing the soldiers she could have saved with just a few more bullets be slashed, gutted, torn apart.

“I’ll take you all on!” She yelled furiously.

As the soldiers looked in confusion, some nearly laughing at the sudden aggressive demeanor of their general, the horde began charging towards her, saving many soldiers from the ambush. Quickly, she drew her pistol and began firing, taking out a few outriders instantly, then she used cat-like agility, jumping on the heads of the beasts to reach a dead grenadier. A single enemy was near them, but strangely, they stood upright, appeared armored, carrying weapons, and appeared as though they were leading the horde, never mind that, she quickly sliced its head off with her blade. She grabbed an RPG from the soldier’s corpse, and took aim.

“Sayonara, Demons.” She said.

The Rocket didn’t hit the creatures, but instead hit the ground below them, causing the outriders to fall back into the caves below them.

Snapping out of the violent trance, 103 quickly took off her mask for a second and threw up, she had never seen so much blood, gore, death, but that didn’t concern her, she had mostly just overexerted herself. 

“We gotta move,” She said between breaths, “A radio op called In some mortar fire, they’ll bomb the bloody daylights out of us.”

The soldiers began moving the wounded away from the base, along with the intel, gear, and radar. They all loaded up into trucks and jeeps, and began moving towards the small base built closer to the Fortress, where the mortars were being fired from. Soon enough, the base was destroyed by bombs, killing any outriders who may have survived the fall.

Chapter Text

At a small outpost, soldiers began to rally, a new plan was constructed by 003, the army was to move in with armored tanks and air support, with the goal being to shock the enemy as they invaded, clearly Thanos’ forces were fast, but bestial, and could be killed easily if under too much pressure. So the invasion was to begin the next day. Soldiers had already begun encircling Thanos’ fort, capturing small villages and building vehicle depots to move tanks, jeeps, and fighter planes into, with a small missile silo even being constructed. The invasion was to start when the missile fired.

103, and the Arrow Agency Marines had fully restocked and begun to move to a village close to the fortress, but still too far to notice any fighting. After hours of driving, the village had been reached. The soldiers began to saw through the small wall surrounding the village.

“Stay Frosty,” a marine said, “This place is enemy territory, there could be an ambush at any moment.”

“Easy enough,” 103 said, “This place is freezing!” 

They continued going door to door, capturing or killing anybody in their path, and taking any useful supplies. Eventually, the courthouse was reached. 

“Ok, they have a direct communication line to the fort,” 103 said, “Make sure to do this quickly, if they can warn the fortress, we lose the element of surprise.” 

The soldiers began to switch to short range shotguns, or began switching their rifles to full auto. They also began splitting into groups, Going to different entrances to the building.

“Ready?” 103 asked over the radio.

“Ready.” the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th group responded.

“Ok, 3, 2, 1, Breach!” 103 said as a soldier kicked in the door.

Immediately, the soldier was shot with a Chitauri rifle. Having their head blown clean off. 103 quickly shot the Chitauri with her pistol, and did a bash attack on a Chitauri behind the one she shot. Seeing more Chitauri behind them, she quickly dived atop the Chitauri she pushed to the ground, shooting it in the head at point blank range. She then rolled behind a bench to reach more sufficient cover, the soldiers quickly moved in, shooting multiple Chitauri down, and taking cover behind more benches. One smaller chitauri began running for the office, where the holoprojector was, 103 quickly peeked out of cover and shot the door gate control, which was a larger target than the Chitauri’s Head, causing an explosion that injured them. Instead of pushing through the fight, the Small Chitauri ran from the building, dragging a large blade, with them escaping in time to not get shot. 103 moved around the chitauri that were aiming at the benches, using more benches and walls as cover, eventually flanking the Chitauri. She drew her sword and used a dive attack to impale one, then using a slide to trip the other, using this chitauri as a shield. The other chitauri began firing at 103, instead hitting their ally, suddenly, Click, Click, Click , they ran out of ammo. As they tried to reload, 103 charged at them and slashed 2 in the abdomen with a single slash, then using a stab to impale another in the chest. The last surviving chitauri had reloaded, but suddenly, was shot in the head by a soldier.

Now with the village cleared, the other Soldiers began moving in, preparing to reroute the communications and check if other nearby captured villages were ready to attack. 

“Base 02, Green Lit” “Base 03, Green Lit” This meant that all bases were prepared to attack, now all that was needed was the push of a button.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the missile silo, a radio message was sent, “All Players are Green Lit, clear to pitch.” This was code for “All objectives are captured, you can launch the missile.” So the operator pushed the button.

“Phase 1, Active, burners on.”

“Stage 2, Active.” 

“Stage 3, liftoff.”

“Time to Target, ETA 1 minute 30 seconds

“Splitting to barrage confirmed.

…

“30 seconds and counting”

“Splash in 3, 2, 1”

The Sound could be heard from miles away, the cave that the fortress was in had a new entrance, in fact, many new entrances.

“Splash confirmed, good kills.”

“Free to engage, signing off”

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And now we've returned to the start of the story, so where were we?

Thanos was sent flying by the explosion, which split his throne in half. He slammed through the wall, out to the caves behind his fortress. Immediately rebounding, he got up to see a Chitauri defense line.

“Lord Thanos!” a Small Chitauri Soldier called out, “Your Blade.” They had clear cuts and bruises, likely from a nearby explosion.

“Good, now explain quickly, what is happening?” Thanos Demanded, while grabbing his blade.

“There has been an explosion, human warriors are attacking our fortress!” the Chitauri answered.

“How did they even reach us!?” Thanos Questioned Aggressively, “Their technology is primitive! They are too frail to fight even a simple Outrider! They are incapable of even breathing on this planet!”

“They have Masks, and Armor, and Guns, and Tanks!” The Soldier responded fearfully.

“Well that's too bad for you, get back to the front and repel them!” Thanos Ordered.

“This Is the front,” Corvus Glaive responded, suddenly appearing with a small army of Chitauri Soldiers from the crystal caves, “Ebony Maw and Proxima Midnight are nearby. We’ve been pushed here.”

“Well then, contact the rest of the Legion, we need to set up a defense.” Thanos said.

There was a moment of silence.

“We are all that is left, My Lord.” Proxima said. “Black Dwarf is somewhere at the front, but every other member of the legion has been killed.”

A large Boom was heard from a distance. Suddenly, Black Dwarf was launched towards them, with a missing hand. The ground began to shake, as something began thundering towards the Fortress from the Crystal Caves. 

Nearly a hundred vehicles began coming into sight. Some were tanks, others were armored cars, through the holes in the cave ceiling, Planes flooded in, wreaking havoc on the Chitauri Warriors below them with missiles. The bombs created craters that the Chitauri began flooding into as cover. The Battlefield quickly descended into chaos, Black Dwarf began charging at tanks headfirst, crushing them with his remaining hand, Chitauri were manning the fortress guns to shoot down planes, and Chitauri began using cannons and guns to destroy the vehicles and infantry that were moving in.

Thanos had retreated back to the main wall of the fortress, manning his ThanosCopter and raining hellfire on the vehicles that dared attack him. Suddenly, a rocket hit the tail, he quickly jumped out, landing back where he started. By the time he landed, his troops were moving back to the fortress walls as well. Thanos hastily moved to the lower courtyard, where the rest of his soldiers and Black Legion were now at. Somehow, the soldier who had initially reported the battle was still alive, and she was asking if anybody knew where the armory was.

“I’ve run out of ammunition!” the Chitauri called.

“The armory is to the left!” A commander called out.

Dozens of chitauri began moving to the armory, but suddenly, Bang, Bang, Bang . A Firing volley of tanks fired upon the fortress, destroying the armory with many chitauri inside of it, only a few stumbled out, only carrying a few extra batteries for their plasma guns. The gate burst open, with a smoke screen appearing.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

103 Charged in with her soldiers, using the screen as cover. She suddenly appeared from the smoke, using a small crater from the tank barrage as cover. She peeked out and began firing with the carbine she took from a dead soldier. Tanks rolled past her as well, along with hundreds of soldiers, some of whom were jumping into the craters to provide covering fire. 103 had jumped from the hole and drew her sword, now that she was close to the Chitauri, Slashing furiously at the Warriors ahead. Tanks fired shots at Black Dwarf, who was barreling towards them, eventually hitting him dozens of times in a volley, killing him instantly. Noticing this, Ebony Maw Cast a spell, setting the tanks ablaze. Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight began mowing down dozens of infantry, now no longer worrying about the tanks.

Suddenly, dozens of bullets flew through Ebony Maw’s Body, killing him instantly. The tanks were able to recover, but most had damaged guns, and could only fire from their MG turrets. 103 saw the 2 Legion Members killing her soldiers, and decided to charge towards them. She managed to surprise attack Proxima Midnight, but she barely managed to chop into the armor she had, being slapped to the side immediately. Quickly rolling backwards and kicking up to land on her feet, 103 saw that both Proxima and Corvus were alerted to her. 

103 Charged towards Proxima, using a tackle to both stun Proxima, but also to dodge Corvus’ blade. They both barreled into a crater, landing hard on the ground. Both had quickly gotten up and locked blades. 103 kicked Proxima in the chest, then grabbed her and threw her out of the small crater. Using a jump attack, 103 attempted to stab Proxima, but Proxima quickly rolled out of the way, causing 103 to get her sword stuck in the ground. 103 then suddenly drew out her pistol and began firing at Proxima, causing 1 bullet to hit her in the arm, giving 103 enough time to pull her sword out of the ground. Proxima dashed towards 103, with her barely dodging, and getting a small gash to the side. Suddenly, Corvus kicked 103, sending her flying a few meters away.

103 grabbed a small RPG from a nearby dead soldier, quickly firing it at Corvus, who managed to block the projectile, but was stunned by the explosion, which also had injured Proxima as well. 103 ran towards Proxima, pushing her towards a tank, which was moving forward. Proxima had a piece of shrapnel in her abdomen, and was unable to move quickly, having her arm be crushed by the tank. Corvus suddenly regained focus, quickly stabbing at 103. She, however, dodged, and slashed him in the leg, causing him to be brought to one knee. He then attempted to hit her while he regained his balance, but missed the attack. When he managed to stand back up, he then attempted to pin her to the ground, this would have been easy, as he was twice her size. However, as he lunged, she jumped backwards and landed safely. He then attempted to stab her with his Glaive again, but this time, she leaped on top of the handle, running up the handle while slashing it to pieces, reaching his head, and using a powerful slash.

His head fell to the ground with a loud thud, 103 landed to the ground, as the rest of his body fell forward. Suddenly, the ground began to crack, causing the floor below to collapse.

103 latched onto a cave pillar with her sword, she began scoping the area, this appeared to be some sort of mine. 

“003, you got a plan? There's a big grape man and he seems pissed.” 103 asked.

“We need to use whatever heavy weapons we have.” 003 said.

“Ok, simple enough.” 103 said. 

She began climbing down the pillar, going near a group of her soldiers.

“We got any heavy weapons?” She asked.

“Yeah,” A Soldier responded, “We got an Axiom Cannon right he-”

They were suddenly cut off mid sentence by an energy blast. The soldier was vaporized, dropping the axiom cannon. The soldiers began firing at Thanos, to no avail. In a matter of moments, Thanos had sliced apart the soldiers with his blade. 103 had  managed to draw out her sword and attempt to attack Thanos, but was quickly blocked. They both traded multiple blows, until Thanos used an energy blast, which was quickly dodged by 103, but still sent her flying backwards from the shockwave. As Thanos charged towards 103, she had managed to slash Thanos on the cheek with her sword, only to be hit into a wall in mere moments. Thanos dashed towards 103, locking blades with her, and quickly overpowering her, breaking her guard and stabbing her in the abdomen, Throwing her aside. 

He slowly began walking towards her.

“003, What do I do?” 103 asked desperately.

In a very damaged, glitching voice, 003 said “The axiom cannon is to your left, get it!”

103 began crawling towards the cannon.

“You invade my planet, you Kill my children, you Destroy my Fortress! I will enjoy tearing you limb from limb.”

103 turned around, Cannon in hand.

“Heads Up!” She Yelled as she fired the cannon.

Thanos attempted to block, but the blast melted through his sword, going directly into his chest. He was launched Backwards a few dozen meters. Slamming through a Pillar, he finally landed on his front, barely alive. 103 limped towards him, dragging Thanos’ blade.

“Fool, do you believe you can take my place?” Thanos asked, weakly, while putting his back to a cave wall.

“Don’t plan to.” 103 responded, Stabbing Thanos in the lower abdomen, and pinning him to the cave wall. “Please remind me, How did you put it? Limb from limb?” 103 said, slicing off one of Thanos’ hands with the part of his blade that broke off.

“003, Thanos is beaten.” 103 said, but received no response “... 003? Hello?” 103 asked.

In a glitched, barely noticeable voice, 003 said, “Good work kid, I’m not making it out of this, took too many hits, I've downloaded my combat data and info to the eye, good luck.”

103 took a moment of silence, unable to hear 003 anymore, but not sure if she was alive or dead. 

“Hello? 003, come in.” 103 asked, “I still need that autograph, you can’t die twice, right?” 103 commented, but to no response. 103 now had to accept that she was truly gone.

103 walked over to a group of soldiers, who had captured a group of Chitauri, and Proxima Midnight, who was still alive.

“Where's the General?” 1 soldier asked another, “I don’t know M-7, last I saw she was fighting Thanos, so probably dead”

“Not yet,” 103 said, emerging from behind a pillar “Thanos is beaten, but 003 is dead.” She told them.

“You are not worthy to speak of my father!” Proxima midnight yelled. 103 quickly put a bullet in her head, shocking the soldiers nearby.

“No!” A small, battleworn Chitauri cried.

“Oh hey there, it's you!” 103 said, “Well it looks like you tried to warn them about the attack, didn’t you!?”

She suddenly pulled a gun on them, but it clicked empty.

“Lucky bastard.” she said. “Plant some bombs here, and take the prisoners with us.” 103 gave Thanos’ severed hand to a medical officer. “The orders said we only need part of him.” She said, “We have a bigger plan boys, now lets get me patched up so we can get off this fucking rock.”

After 103 patched up, The soldiers began moving to the Exit Ship, taking the prisoners as well, both the enemy Warriors, and Any Civilians that were found. Once all Personnel, Vehicles, Supplies, and Prisoners were on board, The ship jumped to orbit.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

103 walked into the main office of the Marines General.

“Happy Birthday!” 103 said.

“Ah, you remembered, But shouldn’t you be resting? you got stabbed only an hour ago.” He responded, while also questioning her.

“Eh i feel fine, So how old are you turning, 40?” 103 responded, also following up with a question.

“Yeah, but I don’t feel 40.” he said, turning around his chair. His hair was gray, he was wrinkled, covered in scars, and looked to be in his 60s.

“You’re lucky, at least you have a perfected palette,” He said, “well, nearly perfected.”

“Oh this?” 103 said, gesturing towards her hair, “Well, it’s only discolored, but its healthy, and it isn’t like your hair at all, so everybody thinks it's just dyed anyways.” 

“Well, Back to what we were saying.” The General said. “You got any gifts?”

“Look out the window.” 103 said.

Titan was still in view, as they were still in close orbit. The window had a perfect view of the planet's surface. The General used his cane and walked to the window.

“Well it's a nice view,” the General said.

“How about some fireworks?” 103 said, with a detonator in hand.

“Sure, some fireworks will be nice.” The General Responded.

103 Pressed the Button, Making a massive explosion that was visible from orbit.

“I Just love the sight of my enemies burning up.” The General said.

103 Smiled, ecstatic from the General’s approval.

“So, what's the next stop? The Moon of Homeworld?” 103 asked.

“Yup, but wanna know something? I never got used to that name.” The General said.

“So what do you call it? Blue Ball?” 103 asked jokingly.

The General responded, “Earth.”

Chapter Text

June, 1986, Shield has spotted a sudden burst of light from the surface of Titan. Believing that this has something to do with Thanos, Nick Fury asks for verification for an interplanetary mission. Once the request is accepted, Iron Man is sent to the planet, with the goal being reconnaissance.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Ok Mr. Stark,” Maria Hill said at HQ, “remember to pick your fights, we don’t want a war here.”

“Got it.” Iron Man said.

“Ok, we’re gonna send down the pod in a minute, have you done the pre-flight procedures yet?” Maria Hill asked.

“Done, all greenlit,” Iron Man responded, “I’m ready to learn what the hell is going on here.”

“Ok then,” Maria Hill said, “Dropping in 30 seconds.”

“Hey,” Tony said, “so me and pepper aren’t really dating, you think I can have a bit of extra cre -”

Immediately, the pod launched. “Oh no, my hand just slipped.” Maria said in a judging tone, pressing the launch button before the countdown.

A few moments later, the craft landed on Titan. 

“Ah what the hell!” Tony said, “Ya want a flower bouquet? some chocolates maybe?”

“First of all, I’m already taken.” Maria Hill said using a radio, “Secondly, we have a mission at hand, no need for distraction.”

Maria was controlling a drone, which emerged from a port in the shuttle.

“We’re just looking for any signs of Thanos or Chitauri, don’t get carried away here.” Maria said.

“Well, no need to look very far.” Tony said, “I don’t think these craters were here before.”

He gestured towards a field of craters, including a large crater on what looked to be a hill, and a significantly larger one that appeared to have remnants of a fortress in it.

“Holy Shit…” Maria exclaimed in shock, “Well… Check that crater on the hill.”

Tony flew over to the hill crater, landing on the edge.

“Damn, I can see some outriders in the crater.” Tony said.

“Well, take them out.” Maria responded, “Don’t use missiles, it’ll be too loud.”

“Too late.” Tony said, firing a missile at the group, taking all of them out instantly.

“God damn it!” Maria yelled, “Do you realize how loud that was?!”

“Calm down,” Tony said, “this place is practically a desert, and even if they did hear us, I’m pretty sure that they can’t fly.”

“Well, check the crater, if you didn’t blow up whatever was in there.” Maria said.

Tony slid into the crater, immediately noticing many dead outriders. He had also noticed what appeared to be weapons and gear, even a few heavily damaged tents.

“You seeing this?” Tony asked.

“Yeah,” Maria responded, “this is strange, these look like things from earth. Like that gun, It looks like an M-16, and that Shotgun looks like an… R-870, Double Barrel hybrid. How do they know of things on earth?”

“That I can’t answer yet, but these all have white paint on the grip, handguard, stock and magazine, and a weird logo that looks like an arrow volley.” Tony said. “Jarvis, run this through the database.”

“Already done, it seems similar to a logo of a company from the 1930s, Called Arrow.” 

“Well, why are they here?” Tony questioned. 

“Jarvis, have you got any more information?” Maria asked.

“They were a very large company, were international, and had connections to private security, scientific, and governmental agencies, nearly making them a government of their own.” Jarvis responded “They were constantly in legal trouble for dirty tactics and lawsuits from employees, but would either pay off the suits, or conveniently,  the accusers would disappear, or suddenly back out of the lawsuits” 

“Doesn’t explain why they’re here.” Maria said. “Just skip ahead a bit.”

“Supposedly they built the first FTL rockets in 1946, but never shared the information, because they shut down all facilities, and moved all data, resources, money and personnel away on the rockets.” Jarvis said.

“Well that would have been helpful, even with a massively hypersonic rocket, it took us 2 weeks to get here.” Maria said.

“Well, I think I'll check the DNA on some of these bodies.” Tony said.

After collecting some DNA samples, along with marking the weapons and gear to be picked up by drones, Tony flew over to the large crater. There were what looked to be remains of a fort, along with destroyed turrets, and the damaged remains of what looked to be a helicopter.

“Wait,” Maria said, “scan that vehicle over there, is that…”

“Yup, the famous ThanosCopter.” Tony said. “The real question is, where’s thanos?”

Suddenly, a notification went off. It was from the DNA scans from earlier, Tony and Maria both looked in confusion.

“Huh, strange,” Tony said, while landing on one of the towers, “There's only 7 DNA distinctions between all the samples.” 

“5 male, 2 female, all humans, only matches on earth are… former employees of Arrow.” Maria said. “I think that they must have figured out cloning.” “Well, keep searching, see if you can figure out what happened here.”

Tony continued searching the area, eventually going inside of the half destroyed fort, reaching the large courtyard. There appeared to have been a large battle, with the ground being riddled with corpses, craters, destroyed vehicles, and a massive hole in the ground which led to a large cave. Immediately, he noticed three specific people, they were members of the Black Order, Ebony Maw, Corvus Glaive and Black Dwarf.

“Jesus Crist,” Maria said in shock, “How in the hell?” “Well, analyze them, see what happened.”

Tony first walked to Black Dwarf, he had a missing arm, and was riddled with holes.

“Well,” Tony said, gesturing towards both Black Dwarf and the damaged tanks “From what I can see, his armor was worn down and hit with armor piercing rounds.”

“Just like those other things, these tanks resemble earth technology, but are far more advanced.” Maria Commented. “Go and check inside.”

Tony opened the tank hatch, immediately being hit with the smell of burnt metal and flesh. Turning on his light, he saw what appeared to be burnt human skeletons, destroyed machinery, remains of a tiny living and storage area, and a damaged main console.

“It looks like there was a fire in here.” Tony said. 

“Not possible, Titan doesn’t have oxygen.” Maria said.

“Well there was a magician here, he may have some tricks up his sleeve.” Tony commented. “I’ll check him next.”

Tony exited the tank, and moved to inspect Ebony Maw, who appeared to have been shot several times.

“Well, I'm seeing 24 exit wounds,” Tony said.

“These look like 5.56 bullet wounds, But, a lot bigger.” Maria responded.

“These look like they could break my armor.” Tony said, while picking up a bullet cartridge.

“Make sure to mark all of these, this could be useful to research.” Maria said.

Tony placed a beacon in the area, marking the area for pickup from drones. Now going to inspect a few dead soldiers, along with their gear.

“It looks like they all have vests and helmets, made from some kind of steel metal alloy,” Tony noted, “but they all have some kind of frame inside their clothes, scanners indicate it can lift 200 kgs. They also have a flip down visor that covers their eyes, there’s a HUD in all of them, it almost looks like a less advanced version of my HUD. Look, something we couldn’t see earlier from the damage, all of their guns have a link to the HUD as well.”

“These guys must have armed up pretty well.” Maria said.

Tony had finally moved over to Corvus Glaive, Who was missing his entire head, and holding the destroyed handle of his Blade.

“Not Much to note here, they just destroyed his glaive and sliced between his armor.” Tony said.

“Wait, is that what I think it is?” Maria said, gesturing towards what looked to be a body part covered in a dark blue liquid, near a golden spear that was split in half. 

“Proxima Midnight, and that looks like her arm and part of her spear.” Tony said. “I’ve been hoping to get my hands on this for a while.”

“Question is,” Maria said, “where’s the rest of her?”

“I think this blood trail will lead us to her.” Tony said, pointing to a trail of blood.

The trail led across the battlefield, with piles of bodies following it. The bleeding became thinner, meaning she may have patched herself up, or may have been captured and patched up later. But eventually, the trail led into the pit.

“Well, no sign of Thanos up here,” Maria said. “The only way to get the full picture is to find him down there, and she’s probably leading us right to him.”

Tony, along with Maria’s drone, descended into the pit.

They immediately found Proxima, or, what was left of her, she had the lower half of her body far apart from the top, which was split apart as well. When they finally found the upper, they noticed an obvious injury.

“Jesus, it looks like she was shot in the head point blank,” Tony said, looking at her forehead.

“Wait,” Maria said, “It looks like a pistol wound, those usually stay intact, pry it out, see if we can analyze the bullet.”

Tony used a magnet to take out the bullet, scanning the bullet for any distinct traits.

“Looks like the bullet is made from some sort of adamantium-like alloy, it isn’t real, so it probably isn’t as powerful, but it could definitely pack a punch.” Tony said.

“Mark it for pickup, I hope Director Fury will give me a raise for this.” Maria said.

“Well, No sign of Thanos.” Maria said.

“I’d beg to differ,” Tony said, pointing towards another mass of corpses.

There were dozens of bodies, torn, burnt, and mauled in a way that only the Mad Titan would do. Strangely, there was a bloodstain in the area with some mechanical bits in it.

“Go scan those mechanical debris.” Maria said.

“Ok then, I can tell that these are fragments of an eye prosthetic, from some of the data chip remains, it looks like it grants increased reflexes and a HUD, even when damaged. The DNA is strange, run this through the database.”

The information came up with a strange result.

“Weird,” Maria said, “This closely matches with DNA from a dead infant from 1966, in the Okinawa Genocide, to be specific. The name was Sato Kei, so how the hell does that happen?”

“We can figure that out later.” Tony said, “I found Thanos, or, what's left of him at least.”

From a large hole in the cave ceiling, under the light was the Mad Titan, practically reduced to a skeleton, apart from vulture-like creatures feasting on what was left of him. His own blade was split in half, with one half sticking in his chest, the other nowhere to be found. Next to him, a blood trail from the same human that was analyzed, which was now realized to have led to Proxima as well, and most concerning, there was no body discovered. Next to Thanos was a weapon that looked similar to a rocket launcher, but appeared to be using a battery.

“Holy Hell, this battle seems recent, what could have done this ?” Maria questioned in mild terror.

“That bright light wasn’t a new weapon from Thanos, it was bombs going off, lots of bombs.” Tony answered.

“If they killed Thanos, they could be a serious problem.” Maria said. “Collect everything we marked and get the hell out of there.”

Without saying a word, Tony left the cave, ordered all the collector drones to return to the ship with the marked items, and leave the now dead planet to return home.

Chapter Text

Back on earth, in mid June, a young girl in Jersey City was attending her normal routines, in the middle of her high school classes, talking to her friends, and going about her normal day.

“What’s with all this crazy stuff with the avengers.” Kamala asked her friend over the phone.

“Does it look like I know?” Doreen responded, “We don't get the same news, were a whole state apart.”

Both Kamala (who was often called Kam) and Doreen were high school sophomores, and even both met up in Fort Lee for Kamala's 15th birthday, and were going to Lower Manhattan for Doreen’s in July. The Duo met on a field trip 2 years before, and had been great friends ever since.

“Well, not speaking of superhero stuff, school is almost over.” Doreen said. “Ya got any plans for summer?”

“Well, obviously go and visit you for your sweet 16 in July, for one thing,” Kam said, “But I also may go to Pakistan in August, I haven’t seen my grandparents in a while.”

“Sounds nice, I might go to see some family in Japan,” Doreen said. “Me and my family thought about Russia or Uzbekistan, considering that it's where most of my family is from, but we thought that we might as well visit my grandfather instead.”

“You think you’ll bring me back anything?” Kam asked.

“Maybe,” Doreen said, “you can bring anything on a plane, they won’t care, what, they think you’ll hijack it and crash it into a building with a plastic knife or something.”

“Ok, oddly specific.” Kam said, in a bit of a confused tone. “Well, I gotta go, the break period is almost over, and I still have 1 more class today.”

“Alright, talk to you later.” Doreen said.

“Bye.” Kam said, hanging up the phone.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kam continued throughout her day, easily blasting through science class, (thankfully, not in a literal way). Kam looked out the window, in the distance, she could see a small store, and what looked like a van which had gone through the window.

“Oh Shit.” Kam thought to herself.

She raised her hand, “Uh, may I use the bathroom?”

“Say my name.” the science teacher quietly ordered.

“Mr. White, may I please use the bathroom?” Kam asked.

“Eh, good enough,” Mr. White said, “Well, because you finished your work, you have until the end of class to get back.”

Kam looked at the clock, which said 1:00 PM, “I can do this in 30 minutes.” Kam thought to herself.

She quickly grabbed the hall pass, and ran to the bathroom, Hiding in a specific stall. She reached for the vent, but realized that it was the wrong cubicle.

“Dang it!” she exclaimed, “I think its in the vent over the stall next to me.”

Peering out, and seeing nobody around, she began reaching for the vent.

“Well, I hope I don't grab a mouse.” Kam said. She began stretching her arm like it was rubber, squeezing her arm through the vent grate, and extending it through the ventilation shaft, probing around for the outfit.

“Nope, that's a dead mouse, gross.” Kamala thought to herself. “Is this a bag with glass… rocks… I don’t know, not it, ah, here it is.”

She pulled her arm from the vent, grabbing a suit and eye mask that she stored in a bag. She put on the suit and checked the time from a clock on the wall.

“1:03, good, I still got 27 minutes.” Kam thought. She pulled herself through the vent, exiting from the top vent. Quickly jumping to the building next to the school. She jumped building to building, eventually being right above the corner store which was being robbed.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Give us the money, Bitch!” a robber in a green mask ordered.

“Ok, ok, this is all I have.” The cashier said, handing over the money in the register.

“Man, we gotta go!” A robber wearing a clown mask yelled, “the Feds’ll be here any minute!”

“Well maybe they wouldn’t if you didn’t tell me to drive into the window, we could’ve just walked in like with the other buildings!” the getaway driver in the van yelled. 

Suddenly, the robber in the clown mask was punched in the face by a giant hand. He was immediately launched across the store, into a shelf of candy. 

“Hey, what's all the ruckus about?” Kamala asked, “I was just minding my own business and you had to rob my favorite store.”

“Ah shit, it's Captain Marvel!” The Green Masked robber yelled.

“No, numbnuts! If it was, they'd sear my eyes out, and they wouldn’t sound like a little kid!” The clown robber said, immediately opening fire on her.

“I do not sound like a kid!” Kam exclaimed, while dodging the bullets. “And its Ms. Marvel, Idiot!” She yelled while punching the clown robber, simultaneously bolting towards them and kicking them to the ground. 

"Hah, stupid fucking name, kid, what are you, 12?" The robber taunted weakly right before getting punched in the face, knocking them out this time.

“Let go!” the cashier yelled, while being dragged to the van, which quickly drove off once the robber and the hostage were in.

Kamala quickly began chasing the van, which was attempting to reach the Waterfront. The van doors swung open and 2 robbers with assault rifles began firing at her when she got closer.

“Woah!” She exclaimed, while dodging the bullets, “You need to calm down with all this gunfire if you suck this much!”

“Oh god she’s gaining on us!” one of the gunmen yelled. “We're going at 30, how is she running so fast?!” The other gunmen exclaimed. the first gunmen handed their rifle to the other, and grabbed a rocket launcher from the back and firing at Kamala.

"Oh no," Kamala exclaimed, getting hit by the missile, which just bounced off of her instead of exploding. "Hah, where'd you get these from, the durp web!?" She yelled mockingly.

"Ah does she ever shut up!?" the second gunman yelled, lowering his guard and throwing his empty guns away to grab another.

“Hey,” The first gunmen said, “were her arms and legs that long befo-”

Immediately, Kamala caught up and grabbed the back of the van, causing the van to rock violently, eventually falling on its side, turning 90 degrees, and rolling until it crashed into a building.

Kamala grabbed the shop cashier and the robbers from the car. But Kamala suddenly realized what building this was, it was her school.

She quickly moved through the vents to the bathroom, changed back into her normal clothes, and ran back to class. 

“Taking your sweet time, hmm?” Mr. White said, pointing at the clock, which said 1:29. “Well at least you’re on time, not like it matters anyways.”

“What do you mean?” Kamala asked.

“Some people crashed into the school with a van,” Mr. White said, “You guys are being dismissed early, but don’t worry, school still ends today.”

The entire class exclaimed in joy as the bell rang.

“Have a nice summer, everyone!” Mr. White yelled, as the students all left the class.

Outside, the students saw police, and a news reporter near the crashed van. 

“In Jersey City today, a car full of stolen jewelry, money, and a hostage crashed into the side of a local school, luckily nobody was injured, and all robbers have been apprehended. The driver appeared to have had a mental breakdown at the wheel, as he has claimed that ‘his boss is from another earth’ among other claims. Luckily, nobody was injured. On another note, school has ended early for the children in the school due to safety restrictions, and that officially means that summer break has begun. This is Mary Jane Watson, signing off.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 6

Kamala quickly ran over to the corner store nearby the school, but suddenly remembered that this was the same store that was hit by a van, causing her to walk back home, with her head tilted down.

Upon arriving at her apartment a few minutes later (she can’t exactly just use her powers to get there quickly, on a busy street), Kamala knocked on the door. Her father opened the door, and was quite surprised to see her this early.

“Kamala, what are you doing here so early?” Her father asked.

“School closed a little early today, check the news.” Kamala responded.

Her father turned on the TV and checked the news, and immediately was greeted by a report of a van crashing into his daughter’s school.

“Oh my God! Are you ok? Was anyone hurt?” Her father exclaimed upon seeing the crash on the TV.

“Well, besides the guys in the car rambling about some ‘Multiversal boss’ Nobody seems to have hit their head.” Kamala said jokingly.

“Well, At least you got to leave early.” Her father said.

“Well, I’ll see if i can go call my friend.” Kamala said.

“Wait,” Her father exclaimed, “There's something i want to show you, it's in your room.”

“Oh, ok.” Kamala said. “Is it a car?”

“No no, silly.” Her father said.

“Ok, then is it a horse? A new comic? An NES?” Kamala asked.

“You’ll see, just close your eyes.” Her father said.

“Ok,” Kamala said, closing her eyes, and being led to her room, grew even more excited when she heard her mother, her brother, her little sister, and even her aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins in the room as well.

“Ok, you can open your eyes now.” Her father said. Kamala opened her eyes, and saw her family standing around a sci-fi looking suitcase. 

“Oh my god! Is this what I think it is?” Kamala exclaimed in excitement.

“Well,” Her mother said, “There was that science fair in April, you won of course, and the project design for a rocket was so impressive that it was seen by Tony Stark.”

“Wait wait wait, The Tony Stark!?” Kamala exclaimed.

“Yes, yes,” Her mother said, “He was so impressed that he turned the design into a real rocket, and credited you of course. But he also sent you a few gifts.”

“Here, open this box.” Her mother said, handing Kamala a large box. Kamala excitedly opened the box, only to see a large card.”

“A… Large Card?” Kamala said, confused at the gift.

“Flip it over.” Her mother said.

Kamala flipped over the card, and was immediately greeted by a surprising text, explaining exactly what it was, it was a very pricey check.

“20,000,000 dollars!?” Kamala exclaimed.

“Now don’t get too excited, you’ll only get this check when you’re an adult, you still have 2 years to go.” her mother said, “But, you did come up with a rocket, you’ve earned it.”

“Wait, what about this other box?” Kamala asked.

“Go ahead, open it.” Her Father said.

Kamala opened the box, to another box, and when she opened this box, she saw a glove-looking replica.

“Oh, My, God! A replica of a repulsor glove!” Kamala exclaimed, excited by the gift. 

“Oh, calm down, the glove isn’t really a replicator, or recharger or whatever, but congrats.” Her father said.

“Wait,” Kamala inquired, “Why are all of you guys here?”

“Oh we were just going to stop by, get some chicken tenders from the local McDarby’s and be on our way.” Her cousin, Razia said sarcastically.

“In your dreams,” Kamala’s Aunt Ayesha said, “We're here because we are planning to go to New York tomorrow, you might as well tell your friend.” 

“Well, I’ll get to it then, I’ve got quite a bit to talk about.”

As Kamala went back to the landline in the kitchen to call Doreen, Her father turned back on the tv. On it, was the news from earlier.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“This is Mary Jane Watson at ground zero of what looks to be a satellite crash in Newark, New Jersey, as I and many nearby reporters saw after the Car crash in Jersey City, there was first just a cluster of streaks in the sky, but just 30 minutes ago one of what is now identified as a man-made structure crashed into a Pond near the Newark Liberty International Airport. The satellite is supposedly not known by NASA, as recent reports indicate, howe-”

The Reporter was suddenly alerted by a loud noise, coming in the direction of the crater.

“Is that thing moving? Miles, zoom in, I’m gonna see if I can get a picture.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MJ moved towards the satellite with Miles still aiming the camera towards the crater. Suddenly, a door burst off of the satellite, and a person came out. 

“Hello, New York!” 103 yelled.

“This is New Jersey, actually.” a soldier said.

“Eh, they claim that they’re in Western Europe on Proxima 1-b, ya can’t be too Bobby Moore anyways.” 103 said. “Are there any scientists that would like to speak up, maybe come with us?” 

"The hell is she saying?" MJ asked.

“I wanna be one when I grow up, also I think it's some weird slang for sure in England or something.” Miles responded.

“Eh, doesn’t count, But, glad to know that you know what i'm saying.” 103 said, “Well, they saw us, you know what we were briefed on.”

As MJ got a photo of the capsule and the person who emerged. more doors split from the capsule, and more soldiers with rifles came out, forming a line.

“Oh Shit,” MJ exclaimed, “Get down!” She yelled, Pushing Miles to the ground and hiding behind a nearby tree as the soldiers opened fire.

Instantly, Dozens of reporters, police, and firemen were killed by the swarm of bullets, some soldiers began throwing grenades at the crowd, who were now trying to escape, until none of them were visibly moving.

“Go out and double tap anyone still moving.” a soldier said.

“Do we run yet?” Miles asked MJ, both of whom were slumped on their back behind a tree.

“Shhhhh!” MJ Whispered. 

“Well then how do we get out of here?” Miles asked as quietly as possible.

“How do you, you mean?” MJ said, lifting her hand from her abdomen to reveal a large amount of blood, and a large bullet wound.

“Oh shit, I, I can carry you.” Miles said frantically.

“No, I’d only slow you down, besides, we don’t have the time to wait for them to leave.” MJ responded. “You still got that camera?”

“No, I dropped it, why?” Miles asked.

“Take this then,” MJ said, while handing over her personal camera, “get it to Jameson, or the police, someone that can do something, Go, I’ll distract them.”

“I’m… I’m sorry.” Miles said. Before he could run off with the camera into the foliage, MJ told him, “Hey kid, tell Pete that I love him, ok?”

“I will.” Miles said, before disappearing into the foliage, and in the direction of the road.

MJ got up, and began stumbling forward.

“Hey! Over here you fucking bastards!” MJ yelled, alerting the soldiers, who were still going into the field surrounding the pond. They took aim, and opened fire, as MJ ran, she was quickly shot in the back, and fell to the ground.

“Huh, that was weird!” 103 said, suddenly noticing that MJ was still trying to crawl. “Oh, hold on, I got this one.” 103 said, shooting MJ with 3 more bullets, killing her instantly.

“Ooh, what’s that?” 103 said, walking towards the news camera on the ground. She picked it up and looked directly through the lens, and held it out, revealing the massacre that just ensued. “Looks like some recording device, Uh, Hello, Humans, Ah, doesn’t make sense if I’m also a human, Hello, People of Ea- Nah, doesn’t roll off the tongue, aha! Hello Earthlings, eh, sounds be-”

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yusuf switched to the next channel.

“Do kids like movies like this? Ah Kamala does not have a bright generation, that's for certain. Now where are the M*A*S*H reruns?” Yusuf said, switching through more channels.

Chapter Text

Chapter 7

“Kamala…”

“Kam… Wake Up”

“I got your Top Gun toy.”

“Drop it you little-” Kamala yelled.

“I’m joking, I’m joking.” Malik said, revealing that he was holding a paper ball in one hand and a bulky mobile phone in the other.

“Uhgh, Little Cousins are the worst, and it’s a figurine!” Kamala said.

“My mom says i’m your nephew actually.” Malik said.

“Ok then, Mr. Exposition.”  A voice said mockingly from the phone.

“Who’s that?” Kamala asked.

“She said she’s your friend.” Malik said.

Kamala took “the brick” from him and asked the person on the phone, “Who is this?”

“Your worst nightmare….. Just kidding, it’s Doreen! Good morning!”

“What time is it?” Kamala asked groggily.

“About… 10:30 in the Morning.” Doreen responded

“Oh, shit, fuck, fuck!” Kamala said to herself quietly.

She quickly jumped out of bed and opened her closet to start packing her bag and change out of her pajamas and into some clothes. She found a black AC/DC shirt with a lightning emblem, some blue jeans, mismatched socks, and some red sneakers, and closed herself in the closet to put on the outfit. After putting on the outfit and getting out of the closet, she ran over to the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face as quickly as possible. She looked frantically for her bracelets, before realizing that she was wearing them, and quickly ran back to her room to grab her bag. After grabbing the bag, Kamala grabbed her suit from the back of her closet, and packed it in her bag.

“Just in case.” she whispered to herself. 

“What’s that,” Malik asked, as he was still in her room.

“Oh, uh, it's just a scarf!” Kamala quickly responded.

“But isn’t it Summer?” Malik questioned.

“Well I said ‘just in case’ didn’t I?” Kamala said.

“Oh, ok, that makes sense.” Malik said back.

Kamala began grabbing a bunch of clothes, and began searching for her suitcase, but was not able to find it.

“Ah dang it!” Kamala exclaimed, running around the house to find it.

She immediately saw her family at the front door. They also  had her bag packed and ready to go.

“Kamala!” Her mother lightly yelled, in a questioning tone. “What are you doing?”

“Uh, I’m getting packed.” Kamala responded. 

“Did you not see the note at your- aagh, these stupid fucking kids-” Her mother began rambling, in a very annoyed tone.

“Heh, who said that a good ol’ Chekhov’s gun isn’t fun once in a while?” Doreen said over the phone.

Kamala was confused, both because she was just now realizing she was holding the phone, and what the reference was. But, she suddenly understood what that paper ball was.

“Well… If you have everything, let's go.” Her mother said. “Make sure to bring that phone as well, maybe some comics, we’ll be driving for a few hours.” 

“Ok, I already have some comics and the charger packed in my bag.” Kamala responded.

“Well, I’m not dragging your bag, lets go” Her mother said.

Kamala dragged her bag, pretending to struggle with it, even though she had immense strength. Once she reached the car, she lifted up the bag, and placed it in the back of the car.

“Nice job! I think I see a bit of muscle already.” Kamala’s Brother, Aamir said jokingly.

“Shut up.” Kamala responded, in a very satirical tone.

She hopped into the car, fastened her seatbelt, and opened up a comic book as the car began driving off.

Chapter Text

Chapter 8  

Are we there yet?” Malik asked obnoxiously.

“No,” Razia responded, “But it is weird, Manhattan is only about an hour away from us, we’ve been here for twice that time.”

“Well maybe its because,” Kamala’s mom stuck her head out of the window, Kamala thought quickly and covered Malik’s ears, “Of this goddamn traffic block!”

Looking out of the window, Kamala could see a small cut of road that was less crowded.

“Hey dad,” she said, “I can see a cut in the road back there, from what I remember it’ll lead to Manhattan as well.”

“Oh, I see it,” Her father responded, “But we still have a few cars ahead of us, might as well listen to the radio while we’re still reaching it.”

Yusuf turned up the radio, which was the Daily Bugle’s official channel, which had a new, quite upsetting report.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“This is Irene Merryweather reporting a developing story. Last night, around 10:00 PM a large shooting occurred in Newark, New Jersey, where what is assumed to be a violent gang attacked a crowd who had formed around an unidentified object, currently believed to be a meteorite or an unregistered satellite, however due to it’s heavily burnt state it is unclear which.”

 “The gang opened fire on the crowd killing at least 26 bystanders, as a few people are still being discovered in the nearby area, presumably having been hunted down or to have bled or froze after the attack, as most nearby police were also attacked as well, having been called to the epicenter of the attack.”

“Among those killed is a dear friend of ours, a loving mother and wife, and fellow co-worker, Mary Jane Watson, who had recently returned to reporting after a wedding with ex-photographer Peter Parker. As Miles Morales, a rookie intern at the Daily Bugle and only reported survivor of the attack, has said, Mary Jane had told him to take her personal camera, which had pictures of the gang and their leader, and run away to safety while she distracted the gang. She was found this morning with multiple gunshots from a high caliber pistol, a weapon which the presumed leader of the gang carried.”

“From the photos we received and the firsthand account of Miles Morales, we can give a description of the gang leader. The gang leader appears to be female of mixed Japanese and White European descent, standing at a height of about 5’ 9 to 5’ 10, with a lean, muscular build, is likely in their late teens, and has white hair with a ponytail and a short braid across their left shoulder. They also have a Light Tan skin tone with A Green eye, and one eye which is completely black, whether this is a glass eye or the result of an injury is currently unknown. An Artist recreation will be posted in the daily bugle’s newspaper as well. If you believe that you have seen this person, please report them to the proper authorities.”

“Anyways with this out of the way, todays news report, presented by Eddie Brock.”

“Thank you, Irene,” Eddie said, “So today, it looks like there is clear skies, with a mild chance of rain at 7:00 pm, the temperature is a nice 72 degrees, with a mild drop of abou-”

“How do they just go back to normal broadcasting after all of that!?” Kamala questioned.

“Huh, thats ironic,” Her dad mumbled to himself, “I feel like I saw some weird movie that was just like what was described.”

“What movie?” Kamala’s mother asked. 

“I think it was called Channel 20… something, not sure. I don’t think you would know either Muneeba, but Kamala might.” Yusuf said. 

“Yeah I don’t know either, sorry.” Kamala said in response.

I guess it’s just a sad coincidence.” Her father said. “Real shame, I've heard of the woman that was killed, wise and savvy beyond her years. Well, on a less sad note, we're at the exit now.”

Her father turned the car, exiting the highway and getting out of the traffic jam.

Chapter Text

Chapter 9

45 minutes later…

The car finally arrived in New York City. The lights, billboards and streets were mesmerizing. Of course there was the typical stench and loud, scattered noises of a big city, but besides this, the scenery was to die for.

“Well, here we are.” Yusuf said. 

“What's that smell?” Aamir asked. 

“It’s a little thing called ‘New York’.” Kamala responded jokingly.

The family pulled into the parking lot in front of the hotel they were staying at, and Kamala’s father was looking around for something, or possibly someone.

“Ah, where are they?” Kamala’s father mumbled to himself.

Once the car pulled into a parking spot, Yusuf began looking through the window, trying to see if the people he was looking for were anywhere nearby. Suddenly, Kamala was alerted by knocking on the window she was nearby. A girl began asking her a question.

“Hey, you see a girl with brown and green eyes, and her friend, you know, the nerdy one?” The girl asked, “They’ve got a trip planned and I wouldn’t want em to miss it.”

Kamala immediately noticed who this was. “Doreen! What's up?!” She said as the car door opened, allowing her to greet her face to face.

“I’ve been doing great, especially since you’re here.” Doreen responded. “High Five? Fist Bump? Handshake?” Doreen asked jokingly. Before Kamala could respond, Doreen said, in a joking posh accent, “Well, I see you are here for business purposes only then.”

“Ha, I see that you’ve been working on your vocal skills, looks like you’re one step closer to being the next Mel Blanc” Kamala said sarcastically.

“Ah Dorian, Maureen, good to see you!” Yusuf said, as Doreen’s parents also began walking over to the family car.

“Well, now that our kids are occupied, how about we get these bags to our rooms.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

While the adults carried the luggage to the rooms, Doreen and Kamala began catching up on how the other was doing.

“So then there was this huge explosion after Captain Marvel used her-” Kamala was saying, before being cut off.

“Woah, slow down a bit, you’re saying that the film crew caught all of that?” Doreen asked.

“Yeah, that Mary Jane lady is…” Kamala said, before cutting herself off, “Oh, right.”

“Yeah, I heard of that,” Doreen said somberly, “Man, this took a dark turn… But lets focus on a fun trip, alright?” 

“Agreed.” Kamala said in response.

“Well…” Doreen said, “we’re at our rooms, let's move these bags.”

“You mean us?” Dorian responded, opening the door with one hand, while carrying a bag in another.

Once they were in one of the adjacent rooms, Dorian placed down the bag lazily. “ Whew .” Dorian exclaimed, “Maybe I should have joined the marines instead of the air force, I didn’t need to lift this much!” He exclaimed in between breaths.

“Well, on the brightside, I wouldn’t have got this coat if you didn’t!” Doreen exclaimed, while pointing her thumb to the air force insignia on the back of the leather coat she was wearing.

“Fair point,” Dorian responded, “anyways, you kids will be sharing a room, nobody hog up the tv, OK?”

“Sure, dad” Doreen said back.

“Ok, so if I hear any boo’s, I’ll just assume its a lord of the flies scenario and I won't swoop in to save anyone.” Dorian said sarcastically. “Now Doreen, kiddo, please take a shower, you smell like the city right now.” he said as he walked to his room through one of the adjacent doors

“I do?” Doreen asked, confused by the request, and taking a quick whiff of her arm, immediately gagging a tiny bit, “Oh, you’re right, you were right.” she said, dramatically choked  up.

She quickly grabbed her acorn themed pajamas, underwear and a white tee shirt from her bag, and ran to the bathroom to take a shower. 

“I’ll be out in 10 minutes, so try and find a sports channel. I heard there's a boxing match tonight!” Doreen exclaimed through the closed door.

“Huh, ok.” Kamala said to herself, picking up the remote to the tv, and switching to a strange new channel named ‘Interdimensional Deathmatch’. 

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Greetings, from Arrow sector 29-A!” A robot announcer said, “ We’ve got a rough matchup tonight, and we’re hitting heavy with 2, freshly captured subjects, who we can probably thank for this show even existing, considering that they discovered interdimensional travel in their worlds! In this pod, we have the leader of the Fox Mafia, a man who is witty enough to run the largest crime syndicate in america at only 19 years old, without any ability to really speak due to a little accident involving swat teams, a scared 10 year old version of him, and a submachine gun to the brain, and with the physique and the strength of a true beast, at a height of 6 feet and 4 inches, and a weight of 220 pounds, fighting out of Earth-489, we have, Arctician Fox!”

“What the hell?! How did I get here!?” The enormous man’s voice box he was holding said in a deep and foreboding, yet very proper British accent, while banging on the glass, “who the hell are you!?”

“Woah, calm down!”  The announcer said, “Anyways, in this corner, we have the maddest genius of them all, at a height of 5 feet and 7 inches, and a weight of 145 pounds, one and only greatest minds in our own universe’s future, actually, Dr. Zeto Redroc!

“Hmmm, strange, very strange, is this an arena of some kind?” the relatively old man said in a high, gravely and collected voice, with a very theatrical accent.

“Alright, you’ve been given some of your weapons and gear,” the announcer said, as an armored face mask, with a similar speaker to his voice box, resembling a Mouthless Arctic Fox, a metal glove with claws as fingernails, and very large fire axe, that was at least the size of the average person appeared in front of Arctician, and a remote, wrench and toolbox appeared in front of Redroc, ”and a winner goes home, the loser, well we just replace them with a clone, anyways, so it doesn’t matter, the match will start when this timer ends.” The announcer said, as a large playing field opened up, and moving blocks formed tiny buildings and walls, as the pods were pushed further away. 

The timer counted from 20 seconds.

“Hm, this should be easy, just walk up to him, and decapitate him.” Arctician thought to himself.

10 seconds…

“I’ll have fun studying this man’s brain later!” Redroc said to himself, while messing with a soda machine within his pod, and linking a wire.

Match Start!

Arctic quickly dashed towards Redoc at a rapid speed, before slowing down as he saw what Redroc had build so quickly. It was a large, mobile and weaponized vending machine mech. 

“Oh shit!” Arctic exclaimed, as he bolted out of the way of a soda bottle launched at him with the speed of a bullet, and took cover behind a wall. 

“Behold, my superior mind! AHAHAHAHAHA!” Redroc exclaimed, firing more projectiles at the wall, causing shrapnel to lodge into Arctic’s shoulder. 

“Ah, where did you go?” Redroc exclaimed, looking around himself to see if he could find where Arctic had gone. Suddenly, the legs of his machine collapsed, causing him to fall to the ground, before being caught by his arm.

“Nice structure, but it could use some improvements to the legs, old man,” Arctic said mockingly, before dropping Redroc on his head. “Maybe I could give you some tips, If we work together, that is.”

“No!” Redroc yelled, while hitting Arctic in the arm, where the shrapnel was, but to little effect, “I am the superior mind here, me!”

“Fine then,” Arctic said, throwing Redroc half a dozen meters away with one hand.

Redroc suddenly pulled out his remote as he got up, “I’ve got one more trick up my sleeve!” He exclaimed, bleeding from the nose and mouth, with cuts and bruises on his face, he cracked a grin as the button was pressed. 

Suddenly, the hand he was holding the remote in was blown clean off, and Arctic immediately dashed toward Redroc, and grabbed him by the face, slamming him directly into the ground with another jump and dive.

“But… How?” Redroc asked weakly, blood gushing from his face, eyes practically glued shut from his injuries.

“It’s simple, really, I just ripped that self-destruct payload from your robot while you were falling, and I put it up your sleeve, Ironic, isn’t it?” Arctic responded.

“You really beat me…damn you! Just make it qui-” Redroc exclaimed, before coughing up blood.

“Shut up.” Arctic said unsympathetically, before lodging his axe in Redroc’s chest, and stomping him in the head with his boot, crushing his head into a pile of mush in one go.

“Unfortunate, he could have been useful to me,” Arctic said. “And all he did was ruin my coat.” He wiped the blood off of his black trench coat, and said “Now, can I get back to my dimension? I’ve got an empire to run.”

“The winner is, Arctician Fox!” The announcer exclaimed to the crowd. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kamala stopped covering Malik’s eyes, and switched channels.

“What kinda psycho makes a movie like that!?” Kamala exclaimed.

“What happened?” Malik asked. 

“Nothing you need to see.” Kamala responded.

“Hey, I’m done.” Doreen said, drying her hair with a towel, before turning to the TV. “Oh, so the boxing match is… a Cake vs Cookie baking show?” Doreen said jokingly. 

“Oh, I checked, and it wasn’t on yet, I uh, just changed the channel for Malik.” Kamala responded, as a lie. 

“Yeah… whatever you say…” Doreen said, seeing through the lie, but paying no attention to it, “Well, shower’s available, my mom told me that we’re going to be going somewhere early tomorrow, so we should get some rest.”

“Alright, I’ll go first.” Kamala said, grabbing her pajamas and heading in. She was immediately grossed out by what was on the floor.

Through the bathroom door, Doreen heard Kamala yell, “Why the fuck is there so much hair on the ground!?”

“I have a tail to clean off.” Doreen said.

“What!? Kamala exclaimed in confusion. 

“I mean… It was like that before we showed up!” Doreen said back.

“Ah, disgusting!” Kamala exclaimed.

Suddenly, the power went out, only for a moment, but it did go out, long enough to seem like a strange event. Something was clearly wrong.

Doreen looked out the window, and saw a large cloud of smoke in the distance, in the direction of the highway, and the power station nearby. 

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile…

“Excavation successful, General!” An Arrow Agency demolitionist said. "Radiowaves have also been taken over, we've got full city surveillance."

They had managed to place controlled explosives under the highway, and used them to clear out a building area for a firebase. The highway itself, however, did not survive the blast, and a nearby power station had shrapnel lodged in one of it’s generators, causing a short power outage.

“Good, soon enough, we’ll be sleeping in a cozy underground bunker instead of these goddamn tents!” 103 responded.

“Well, i’ll need to get some beauty sleep, i’ve got a battle plan i need to make!” 103 said, while walking to her tent, with SAM following close behind.

Immediately when she entered the tent, her demeanor changed, she was suddenly more blank with her facial expressions, almost a little saddened. She sat down on the bed in the tent, and gave a little sigh of relief.

“Ok, let's try that repair again.” 103 asked.

SAM quickly flew over to 103, and removed the damaged mechanical eye. As he was fusing components back together, they asked a question.

“General,” SAM suddenly asked. “Do you ever question how suitable of a leader you are?” 

“No, I mean, I’m smart enough, I can come up with some decent plans.” 103 responded.

“Your IQ scores have averaged at 88 every year since 1982 but ok.” SAM said more quietly to themself. “I mean as in, do you ever think that your methods are… unorthodox to say the least?”

“Well, it’s all worked out so far, so that doesn’t matter as much.” 103 responded.

“I mean, was all this brutality necessary?” SAM asked. 

103 paused for a moment, before responding, “Well, we did what we were told.”

“Well maybe they weren’t right!” SAM inquired, “Those people had families! Remember that one who tried to distract you? I checked her database, she was a Wife, a Mother, she had a whole life ahead of her, and you just snuffed it out like it was nothing!”

“Do you think that I just don’t give a damn about what I did!?” 103 snapped back, “All of their faces stick with me, and I know that they had something ahead of them before I just… Murdered them! What was I supposed to do?! Break protocol, disappoint my father!?”

“What father?” SAM interrupted, “Do you mean the big man? Never heard you call him your father.” 

“I guess it’s just a habit, y’know?” 103 responded, in a more calm demeanor. “He took care of me my whole life, and I care about him for it.”

Before the conversation could continue, the eye suddenly projected a holographic figure, once SAM placed the eye back, the figure got up from the ground, and announced their presence. “Mama’s home!” 003 responded, “Now, what have we got here? I’ve got a plan in store!”

"Woah, slow down!" 103 said, "You're back from the dead and you've immediately got a plan!? You sure that it's well thought out?"

"Well, my data collection system was still active," 003 responded, "and I think that our best route will be a little thing called shock and awe!"

"Well the tanks arrive in a little bit, so we're all set, but when's the attack going to be?" 103 asked.

"Tomorrow," 003 said, "13:00 sharp."

Chapter Text

Chapter 10

An alarm rang out, waking Kamala from her sleep. She slowly got up, and used her powers to stretch her arm towards the alarm. Looking at the time, it said “11:57 AM”.

“Ah Shit.” She thought to herself.

“Oh, you’re awake.” Doreen said, opening the bathroom door. She was wearing a white t-shirt, some jeans, and her father’s air force jacket. “I walked to my parent’s room, they said to be ready by 12:30.” Before Kamala could say anything about Malik, he walked over to her bedside, also well dressed.

“I got your outfit for you.” He said to her, holding up a folded pair of pants, a gray t-shirt and a pair of socks.

Kamala grabbed the outfit and went into the bathroom to change. Once she was done changing, she washed her face, and used the traveling toothbrush she brought with her to clean her teeth. As soon as she left the bathroom, she saw Doreen put on her shoes. 

“Well that was quick, and you look pretty good!” Doreen said, while walking up to the door, “Well, they’re waiting for us outsi-” As soon as she opened it, she saw a single cleaner walk past, “And they aren’t here, what a surprise.” She said sarcastically.

“Man, my parents do this all the time.” Kamala said, annoyed, “They tell me, “Be ready in 5 seconds” and then they take longer than me to get ready.” 

“Well, want something from that vending machine?” Doreen said, pointing to a nearby vending machine.

“Sure, I got 5 dollars.” Kamala said, grabbing her wallet from the counter in the hotel room.

“No need,” Doreen said, “I’ve got enough for both of us.”

“Well, thanks.” Kamala said, walking out the door and into the hallway.

At the vending machine Doreen asked Kamala what she wanted.

“Ok, so there are chocolate bars, cinnamon rolls, some cake… thing, not exactly sure, fried chicharrones-”

“Can't eat that stuff, definitely not that one.” Kamala quickly said.

“Ok,” Doreen responded, “Well there's potato chips-”

“I can read,” Kamala jokingly said, “I’ll just get the cake thing.”

“Alright,” Doreen said, punching in the numbers for the pastry, and also punching in the number for a cinnamon roll for herself, then inserting 3 dollars into the machine, “And now, we wait.”

The 2 wrapped pastries began moving, but suddenly got stuck at the end of the coil.

“Ah, damn it!” Doreen said, while smacking the side of the machine, trying to get the food unstuck. This ended up leaving a very visible, hand shaped dent on the side of the machine, but had unhinged the pastries. Unfortunately, they were now stuck in the vending machine.

“I got it.” Kamala said, reaching into the machine’s hatch and extending her arm slightly using her powers, allowing her to reach the pastries without her powers being exposed.

“Got em!” Kamala said in accomplishment.

Doreen paused for a second, “You think she sees it? I hope not. Yeah, I’m talking to you, yes, you, reading this right now.”

“Doreen,” Kamala asked, “Who’re you talking to?”

“Oh nobody!” Doreen responded awkwardly, “Nothing is wrong with the side of the machine!”

“Wait, what?” Kamala said, confused at the comment.

“What?” Doreen responded. 

After a short pause, Kamala said, “Well, thanks for buying me something, here, catch.” She said, tossing the cinnamon roll to Doreen. “Anyways, Maybe our parents are do-”

When Kamala looked back, the cinnamon roll vanished, like something just absorbed it.

“Huh, where’d it go?” Kamala asked.

“Where’d what go?” Doreen said, while licking off one of her fingers.

“Nevermind, what time is it?” Kamala asked.

“12:33,” Doreen said, “And they aren’t even done ye-” 

After what felt like hours, their parents finally left their room while Doreen was talking.

“Oh, we were just talking about you!” Doreen said, “The beds in your room must've been extra comfy!”

“Made a real charmer here, huh?” Yusuf said.

“Of course, it worked on me!” Kamala said.

“Bro…” Doreen said.

“Not like that!” Kamala said, almost laughing a tiny bit.

“Well, you already got a snack, but we’re still getting some brunch,” Dorian said, Kamala, go get your cousin-” 

“Nephew, actually, he's her nephew.” Doreen said.

“Uh, yeah, that, go get him so we can eat.” Dorian responded.

“Hey, Malik!” Kamala said in front of her door. “Want some chocolate chip pancakes?”

Immediately, Malik opened the door, and could barely contain his excitement. The families left the hotel, and hopped into their cars to order some well needed breakfast.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once at the restaurant, which was about 25 minutes away, The families got a table booth right next to the window. Kamala and Doreen quickly struck up a conversation.

“So, about the whole voice acting thing,” Kamala asked, “Why that? Y’know, the voices of cartoon characters.” 

“Well, I’ve always been an animal person,” Doreen responded, “And I’ve always wanted to learn some kinda macho, tough guy voice, or to sound like Betty Boop. The ladies would be dying for me.”

Doreen paused for a moment, and started blushing slightly, before quickly saying “And the guys, the guys too!” 

“Heh, whatever.” Kamala said. “Still sounds pretty fun!”

“Yeah,” Doreen said, “actually I…” She paused for a moment, as if she heard something strange, “Do you hear somethi-”

Suddenly, a large explosion occurred just outside the window, shattering the glass, everyone was sent to the ground by the blast. As Kamala looked up, she saw what appeared to be a collapsed building, and through the dust, headlights of vehicles. These vehicles looked to be military grade, and there were soldiers charging alongside them. Faintly, one of them, who appeared to be some kind of squad leader, could be heard saying, “Okay boys, creeping artillery is done, we're on our own for now. That police station is the primary target, anybody gets in our way, shoot em.”

“Shit!” Kamala quietly said to herself, reaching into her bag to grab her suit. She could hear footsteps approaching, and, every few seconds, could hear a shot ring out. She couldn't stand by and let more people be killed. “Fuck this.” she thought.

She peered out from behind the wall, and sent her arm flying towards a soldier who was taking aim at 3 civilians, grabbed their gun, and sent it flying out of their hand, allowing the civilians to run away.

“Shit, we got a class 4!” The squad leader yelled, “Open fire!”

The soldiers quickly turned to Kamala, and opened fire. She stretched out of the way of the rounds, and launched herself through the window, sending herself barreling towards the squad leader. The squad leader was launched into a wall, and their helmet visor was shattered, sending a shard into their eye.

“Fuck!” the squad leader yelled out, “Kill that little bastard!”

Suddenly, a squirrel ran up to the soldiers, startling one of them, and causing them to open fire, obliterating the poor critter. Suddenly, 10 more squirrels arrived, then 20, then 50, until they were suddenly surrounded by squirrels.

“What… the fuck?” the squad leader said in confusion. The squirrels began charging towards the soldiers piling on top of them. They began clawing at their faces, crawling up their sleeves and causing them to fall over. 

“Double time, Double time!” the squad leader yelled, running toward the transport car “Move!”

The soldiers began running, and the car drove off in the direction of the police station. Kamala extended her arm, and punched a soldier in the face who was a few paces away, as soon as they managed to get the squirrel off of their face, knocking them out. She turned to see Doreen standing at the doorway, with her and Kamala’s family standing behind them. 

“What the hell just happened?” Kamala said.

“My friends decided to join in.” Doreen responded.

“What?” Kamala said, confused.

“Ugh, would it be easier if I showed you?” Doreen said as a large squirrel tail rose up from behind her. “I decided to ask my pal Monkey Joe to give you some backup.”

“You’re that squirrel girl kid!?” Kamala exclaimed.

“Oh no I'm Super Mario." Doreen said sarcastically, "And I could guess that you must be Mrs. Marvel, or something along those lines?” Doreen responded, “I could kinda guess that by you polymorphing out of the window.”

Before Kamala could say anything, Doreen said, “We gotta get back to the hotel, I already called up some buddies to tell them what's happening.”

“Noted,” Kamala said, “Pick up anybody you see, the hotel is probably a safe place to stay.”

The group managed to run back to the hotel, which was nearby, and the soldiers seemed to be headed in the opposite direction of them, allowing them to save about 10 people along the way, who followed them to the hotel for safety. 

Chapter Text

Chapter 11

As many innocent people fled to safety from this sudden attack, a wave of dozens of soldiers charged towards a small yet significant police station, the officers in this station weren’t nearly well equipped enough to face the military force attacking them. And yet, there was no other option but to fight to the last man.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Get down!” A police captain yelled.

A blast from a grenade rocked the street in front of the police station, sending one of the cars used as a blockade flying into the wall of the station. two police officers were knocked off of their feet from the blast. The captain assisted the two officers to their feet.

“Davis, Wantanabe, you alright?” he asked quickly.

“I’m alright captain.” Yuri responded. 

Before Davis could respond, he pulled out his pistol and opened fire on 2 arrow agency soldiers advancing towards them, who neither the captain nor Wantanabe had seen coming. One of them was hit in the arm, and could react fast enough to take cover, while the other soldier was hit in the chest. The other’s armor protected him, but he fell to the ground from the unexpected shot.

“Oh shit!” the captain exclaimed, “Keep shooting!”

“The other officers began shooting at the incoming wave of hostile soldiers, most of whom would get back up after being hit, temporarily slowing them down, but not doing as much as leaving a dent in their armor.

“Davis, get some better guns from the armory, we’ll cover you!” the captain ordered.

“On it!” Jefferson responded, running back into the building.

A few shots flew through the windows as he ran to the left into the armory. He unlocked the door frantically with a key, and began loading shotguns, rifles, tear gas and ammunition into duffel bags, then quickly ran back outside and back to the blockade, barely avoiding the rounds being let off by the advancing soldiers. He got a shotgun from the bag, loaded it with a few rounds, and opened fire on the enemy troops ahead of him. The shotgun appeared to be doing more damage, as the soldiers would get sent off their feet, and would stay down for a bit longer. He landed a hit to the head on one of the soldiers, sending their helmet flying off, and blasting apart their jaw. The captain, Yuri, and multiple police officers began grabbing rifles and shotguns from the bag, and began opening fire, taking out more soldiers. 

“Tear gas, going out!” Yuri yelled, throwing out a gas canister at the soldiers.

“Gas, Gas! Masks up!” a soldier could be heard saying.

As the gas went up, the soldiers became covered by a thick cloud. There was movement that was heard, but the gunfire stopped for a moment.

“Think that they ran away?” an officer asked. 

“Maybe,” Yuri said, “Keep an eye ou-” a very memorable ‘clink’ sound could be heard, Yuri looked down to see a grenade. Before she could react, the grenade went off, blasting an officer in half, and sending the other officers to the ground. Blood and charred viscera doused the officers, and the top half of the obliterated officer was still twitching, weakly gasping in pain, and gesturing towards the right side of the blockade, before quickly going still. Yuri and Davis got up, but Yuri peered slightly out of cover, and was quickly shot directly in the shoulder.

“Gah! Fuck!” She exclaimed in pain as she fell to the ground.

“We need some covering fire!” Davis yelled out.

The police officers began opening fire in the direction of the soldiers, and began running back into the building. Shots rang out from the soldiers, but due to the moving targets, and the covering fire that suppressed them, they couldn’t land any proper shots. Once the officers got back into the building they slammed the doors shut and locked them.

“Someone, find the lockdown switch!” Davis yelled.

An officer ran upstairs to the control room, and flipped the lever, causing automatic sheets of metal to close over the windows and doors. 

Yuri looked at the captain, and gasped slightly.

“Captain Stacy… your hand.” She said.

The captain looked down at his left hand, and saw that it was hit by a bullet. Most of the fingers were bent and twisted, there was a hole straight through his palm, and it looked like he had gotten his hand smashed with a hammer. Adrenaline seemed to have prevented the pain from being felt immediately.

“I’ll live,” he said, “what about you?”

“This is nothing.” Yuri responded.

“Ok then, listen up everyone, let's get some medical supplies and call for backup, we’ll need it.” The Captain said.

Once the officers went to the medical bay and patched themselves up, Davis was told to go to the control room to send out a message on the radio. He sent a message to the first channel on the list of channels, written on a note.

“This is Officer Davis, Callsign 168 at the first precinct station, does anyone read me?” He asked over the radio. There was complete silence, so he said it again. 

“This is Officer Jefferson Davis, Callsign 168 at the first Precinct station, does anyone read me!?” Still, complete silence. He swapped channels, repeating the message.

“This is Officer Davis, Callsign 168 at the first precinct station, is anyone there!?” Still, there was nothing but silence, he repeated this with the 3rd, 4th, 5th channels, each with no response, besides the occasional short message of agonizing screams, or crackling flames. After an hour, he was at the 77th channel on the list, he was desperate, hoping that someone was alive out there.

“This is Jefferson Davis at the station in the first precinct, we're run thin here, please respond.” Still, no response.

“Is anyone out there?” He asked, defeated.

A voice suddenly came online.

“Oh, it looks like there's nobody here luv.” a female voice responded, “Trust me, we heard everything, we just needed you to be just worn out enough.” 

“Who the hell are you?!” Davis demanded, “And worn out enough for what?!”

“You’ll learn in 3…2…1!” The voice responded, but when she counted to 1, nothing happened. “Huh, the tanks should’ve fired by no-”

Suddenly, a blast rocked the entire building, Davis was sent to the ground and hit his head, getting knocked out cold.

Yuri and Captain Stacy were also sent to the ground, but were fully conscious. Another shot from a tank blasted another hole in the wall. A police officer was crushed by the falling debris, while another was unfortunate enough to be hit directly. The rounds were high explosive, causing a large blast that would vaporize anything it hit, and set the building on fire. The sprinklers activated after detecting the smoke. Extinguishing the flames, but covering the advance of the soldiers who were entering the building through the holes in the wall. 

Before any of the police could react, they were under fire from dozens of soldiers. 4 of the 10 that were still remaining went down immediately. The remaining police officers began firing, to little avail. They too, went down from the ambush. Captain Stacy managed to get behind cover, and Yuri was also able to do so, but was hit in the leg. 

A rookie officer dropped his gun and put his hands up, but the soldiers took aim at him. Captain Stacy peered out of cover and managed to hit one of the approaching soldiers directly in the neck with his pistol, killing them in 1 blow, before he was shot directly in the chest. As he fell to the ground, the Captain managed to push a rookie officer out of the way of the line of fire, and gave them the opportunity to run out of the building, before a small portion of the building collapsed, causing heavy concrete to fall on him, crushing his head and killing him. 

“Leave em!” a woman could be heard saying, who walked alongside the group, “We just need to secure the place and be on our way.” 

Yuri stayed in cover and limped to the side of the group of soldiers, rifle in hand. She peered out of cover and took aim at the soldiers, immediately firing at them. But the woman somehow got out of her line of aim, almost as if she knew that she was there, and dodged her gunfire by quickly getting behind a wall. As one soldier went down, the others turned and began firing at Yuri, who was forced to dive back into cover. Suddenly, the woman appeared out of nowhere and punched Yuri in the face, sending her to the ground. Yuri attempted to land a leg kick, but her attack was dodged, and the woman kicked her in the head, causing her to bash into the wall.

“Thanks for that save 003.” the woman said. “Now, what to do with you?”

“You can suck my nuts.” Yuri said angrily.

“Ironic, sister, ironic.” the woman responded “You don’t have any use to us, hell, you couldn’t even get my description right, I’m not that tall.”

“Just shut the hell up, and stop complaining about your height like a little bitch.” Yuri said coldly.

The woman stabbed Yuri straight in the heart with her sword, killing her. 

“General, what about the one on the radio?” a soldier asked.

“Maybe he’s upstairs or something, go check.” 103 responded.

A few moments later, the soldiers walked up the stairs, and a few shots rang out. The soldiers responded, “He’s down, gave him a coup de grâce.” the soldier responded jokingly. 

“Good, set up the station and get back to base.” she said.

Chapter Text

Chapter 12

The hotel became a major location that many people ran to, as it was a large building that seemed to be relatively far from the war going on between local law enforcement and the army of relentless killers that had arrived seemingly without warning. Many reporters, paramedics and surviving law enforcement were using this hotel as a temporary base of operations, because most of these buildings were destroyed or too dangerous to operate in. 

Kamala suited up and walked out of her room, and saw a paramedic talking to a young boy.

“I’m sure your father is fine,” the woman said, “I know you’ve seen a lot, but I’m sure that what happened to your friend won’t happen to your dad.”

“Okay,” the kid responded. 

“Rio, we need some more IV bags over here!” another paramedic said to the woman.

“Okay Miles, there’s some more people I need to treat, how about you go talk to that Gwen girl, your dad will be impressed with you once he’s back.” Rio said. She gave Miles a kiss on the forehead before walking off.

“ Ay Mami! ” Miles exclaimed as he realized that Gwen was just a few paces away, “Not in front of my friends.” 

Kamala smiled slightly as she walked past Miles talking with his friend, Gwen, before turning to the door, where she saw a police officer banging on the door frantically. She just walked past it, because she saw that around the corner, Doreen was sitting down in a chair in another room, talking with some other people in the room. She began walking over to them to hear what was going on.

A few other heroes were there as well. Along with Squirrel Girl, Ironheart, America Chavez, Patriot and Inferno were all in what appeared to be a makeshift meeting room, which was really just the gym that was abandoned by most of the staff. They appeared to be discussing a plan of taking out a small base that Ironheart saw while flying to the hotel.

“C’mon, it’s a small base.” Ironheart said, “I’m sure we can take them easily.”

“Well you’re the only one with a bulletproof suit, I don’t even know if your armor will do anything against these guy’s guns.” Squirrel Girl responded.

“I mean, we could ambush them.” Inferno suggested.

“We’re not stealthy, Dante.” Patriot responded, immediately shutting down the idea. “Do you think we can sneak around when three of us fly?”

“What about your friend over there?” America asked, pointing to Kamala, who was just leaning against the doorway, “Can’t she stretch into vents and shit like that?”

Kamala suddenly realized she had been seen, and fixed her posture slightly before walking into the room. “Uhm, hi!” she exclaimed awkwardly.

“Oh hey, there you are!” Doreen said. “This is my friend… uh, are you fine with me saying your real name?” 

“Uh, sure we're all on the same side here.” Kamala responded.

“Ok, everyone, this is my friend Kamala, you can call her Ms. Marvel if you wanna be professional.” Doreen said to the other heroes.

“Sup, names Eli.” Patriot said.

“Riri.” Ironheart said.

“Dante,” said Inferno.

“America, yes I know, stupid name.” America said.

“Ok, now that everybody is introduced, we can discuss our plans further.” Doreen said.

After what felt like hours of discussing plans and going back to the drawing board after realizing that it would likely just get them killed. Kamala made a suggestion.

“Maybe we can try finding Spider-Man?” she said.

“Hell no, I think he’s lost it.” America said, “Last I heard he just dropped off an infant at a SHIELD base and just went on a spree against those soldiers, I heard some of them even died from getting beaten up so badly.”

“Yeah, authors just can't let that man catch a break.” Doreen said. “Anyways, I think our best plan is to just go in quick and get out faster. We take out whatever may be important and cripple whatever communications that they have, then we leave like a flying squirrel out of hell. Whaddya say?”

“Sounds good to me.” America said. 

"What is it with that talk about authors?" Dante asks.

"Eh, I guess she just likes referencing comic books, I mean, we're real, so of course she isn't serious." Kamala says.

The group of heroes began getting their gear to go through with the plan. Ironheart put back on the helmet of her sleek, pink black and yellow suit of armor, Patriot picked back up his shield and flipped down the visor of his helmet, and put his grappling hook back in the belt of his suit, designed off of the american flag, Inferno put back on his gloves of his red and black suit, America put back on her jacket, which had an emblem of an american flag on the back, and Squirrel Girl put back on her headband with fake squirrel ears. As the group walked out of the room, Kamala heard her mother calling for her.

“Kamala!? Where are you!?” her mother called out.

Kamala walked over to her mother, clearly confused on why her mother was looking for her.

“Yeah mom?” she asked as she reached her. 

“You’re not going back out there, are you?” Kamala’s mother asked.

“I am, there's still more to do.” Kamala said.

“No, you’re not.” Her mother quickly responded, forbidding Kamala from leaving by blocking her path. “I’m not letting you go out there.”

“Mom, what are you doing?” Kamala asked.

“Saving your life!” her mother exclaimed. “You saw what it was like out there! This isn’t just some simple thing that you can handle!”

“I was fine earlier today.” Kamala argued back.

“Fine!?” Kamala’s mother said, “You could’ve been killed if they weren’t overrun by Doreen saving you, and it was only fifteen of them at most! What about a base that goes into the dozens, maybe even hundreds?!” 

“So what, I can’t just sit around and let them hurt more people than they have.” Kamala said back. 

“And what if you die trying?!” Her mother asked. “Don’t go, this is too much for you to handle.”

“I won’t die trying,” Kamala insisted, “these are just regular humans at the end of the day, and they’re just some bullies with guns.” 

“How can I trust what you say when you hid this from us?” Her mother said, pointing at the insignia on her suit.

Kamala paused for a moment, before just walking past her mother.

“I’m sorry, just don’t go!” her mother yelled out.

Kamala didn’t listen, a small tear ran down her face as she continued walking away, ignoring her mother, who kept telling her to not go.

As she walked out of the door, she wiped the tears from her eyes.

“Jeez, what happened?” Doreen asked.

“I’d prefer not to say.” Kamala responded.

“Okay then… Well, let's go.” Doreen said, in a tone meant to reassure Kamala.

The Ironheart had detected a large radio frequency near the highway, so the group advanced towards it, ready to face grueling odds.

Chapter Text

Chapter 13

The group of heroes were closing in on the base from a mildly forested area, which was more of a small camp with tents, including one large tent in the center, a small gate, a fence, a large pile of crates, seemingly making up a depot, a large water tank, a clearing with parked vehicles and tracks leading to the road, some defensive towers and a few turrets lining the walls. The structure was seemingly built around a power station near the highway, but nonetheless, it seemed to be a bit more than what was seen from overhead, as it looked slightly more defended than what had been seen only about an hour ago.

Ironheart, who was flying above and working as surveillance, spotted a large number of tanks, APCs, IFVs and trucks containing troops passing by.

“Get down!” she said through a headpiece that Patriot was wearing. 

Patriot signaled for the rest of the group to get down,and everybody ducked down into the bushes.

Soon enough, the tanks passed by, allowing the group to continue moving forward.

“The hell were all those for?” Dante asked quietly.

“Heard that the army finally showed up,” America answered, “Only a whole quarter of the city was destroyed, so it's probably not their worst timing.” She said sarcastically.

“Those tanks looked strong enough to level a whole building, I feel sorry for whoever has to go against that.” Kamala said.

“Wait!” Doreen whispered as the group moved closer to the base, “2 guards in that tower, stay low.”

“I think I can take em down.” Kamala said.

“Ok then, just be careful.” Doreen told her.

As the guards were talking about the transmissions from the Midwest and the West Coast confirming successful landings, and what they plan to do after taking over the rest of the state, Kamala reached out, grabbing both of their heads, and smacking them together like rocks, knocking them unconscious. She dragged them into some shallow grass, and notified the group to move up.

Once the group reached the fence, Dante channeled a small flame onto his fingertips, and began cutting a hole in the fence. Kamala just slid through one of the small holes in the mesh, and gave a small smirk towards the rest of the group.

“I can do ya one better.” Doreen said, before biting a small hole in the metal, just big enough for her to slip through, going through with an acrobatic dive, landing perfectly and spitting out the metal onto the ground.

Ironheart landed behind them, this time opening the visor on her mask and giving a smirk to both of them.

“Dang, if only my flight wouldn’t leave an inferno behind.” Dante said, still carefully cutting a hole in the fence.

“At least you can fly.” Eli said back.

“Wait, right!” America said, levitating over the fence.

“Well that just ain’t fair.” Eli said, slightly annoyed.

“Got it.” Dante said, pushing a large hole through the gate after making the final incision.

Patriot and Inferno moved through the gate, rejoining the group, who were now overlooking the main base.

“What do you see?” Doreen asked Ironheart, who was using the magnifying system in her HUD.

“I can see about 32 soldiers, all of them have rifles. They're mostly around what looks to be some kinda… main tent? Canteen? I’m not sure, but I’m sure that's gotta be important. The whole place is linked to some beat up power station, but there’s some turrets defending it.”

“What's the plan?” Patriot asked.

“America, Dante, take out that power station quickly, Riri, you go ahead and scatter them from the sky, Eli, use your shield to help take out those turrets. Me and Kamala will get what we can from that tent, once we get it, we haul ourselves out of here, those of you that can fly, lead them away from us on the ground.” Doreen explained to the group. “Got it, everyone?” She asked

The group nodded.

“Alright…” She said, “On my mark.” 

“Go!” She exclaimed.

America and Inferno flew towards the power station at rapid speed, instantly launching a barrage of energy strikes and bursts of flames. Knocking out the power of half the base instantly. Three turrets were still active, and took aim at Inferno and America, only to be quickly taken out by Patriot, who threw his shield into one of the turrets, causing it to explode and send the shield into the air, then quickly dived out of the way of a barrage of bullets that came his way from the turrets. Jumping upwards and grabbing the shield mid air, just in time to deflect another barrage of shots, which sent him flying backwards, however, reflected the shots back at the turret, taking it out. 

Ironheart flew into the air and fired a barrage of stun missiles, which launched multiple troops in many directions, and directed the attention of the soldiers who weren’t knocked out or incapacitated, giving Kamala and Doreen a window to make a run for the main tent.

As they ran, a few soldiers took notice of them, but were then shocked to see a large group of squirrels approaching from the forest. This soldier had a few scratches on his face from that earlier attack, and immediately notified a few other troops to start firing at the squirrels instead of the group approaching the tent, as they would just be able to deal with them later, and they wanted some payback against this local species.

“They better not get any shots in on my friends!” Doreen yelled to Ironheart as she was running to the tent, “Fire more stun shots!”

As soon as she said this, another barrage of missiles took out the group of soldiers, knocking them out as well.

As soon as Doreen and Kamala entered the tent, they saw a table and a radio. In the room, there were numerous minifigures, comics, and posters of numerous heroes.

“Well, looks like whoever is leading this place is a pretty big fan of heroes.” Kamala says.

“Yeah, looks like it, but these are really what we’re here for.” Doreen responded, picking up a file from the table.

“Holy shit!?” Doreen exclaimed, looking through the file, “You might want to have a look at this.”

Kamala looked at the file, and saw a list of numerous police officers, heroes and villains on different fronts, reporting them in a list of captured or killed. “It’s a hit list.” She said.

Some names under KIA were Scarlet Witch, who seemingly died in a factory explosion that had wiped out Sokovia, now revealed to be a thermonuclear device, Ultron, who was annihilated by a virus uploaded to control numerous technological innovations on earth, Mac Gargan ‘Scorpion’ killed by soldiers while in a bank, and the entirety of the police force in Manhattan, except for about 30 survivors.

“It looks like they were taking out whoever could be a threat as fast as possible.” Kamala said in a mix of fear and astonishment.

“There’s some other things in there as well, just read it quickly so we can go.” Doreen told Kamala.

Kamala proceeded to read through a section of people listed as “captured”, this list read many big names, Tony Stark, Reed Richards, Otto Octavius and Janet van Dyne, among many others, were listed as being contained, some of whom were even marked for “Termination” on specific dates.

“This isn’t good,” Kamala exclaimed, “Do we have that escape plan yet!?” 

“Well, now we need to leave, ASAP!” Doreen said, looking out the mesh of the tent and seeing a large group of approaching troops.

Kamala grabbed the files and quickly ran outside with Doreen, calling out to the other heroes that it was time to leave.

Ironheart, Inferno and America flew around the approaching troops, and began swarming them to distract them from Kamala, Doreen and Eli, who were slipping through the gate and disappearing into the treeline.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Almost an hour later, the group was near the remains of the diner that they were at, Eli was patching himself up, after realizing that a round from one of the turrets grazed his right arm.

“So what should we do with the files?” Kamala asked.

“Well, I think we should turn these in to the military, they’re in the city now.” Doreen suggested.

As Eli tightened the bandage around his wrist after removing a fragment of the bullet, he suddenly heard a message from Ironheart on his earpiece. 

“Yeah, I read you… Wait… what?” He began asking, taking pauses to get a response.

“The hell is going on?” Kamala asked, confused upon what caused such a reaction.

“Holy Shit…” Eli suddenly said. “We need to move, now!”

“What!?” Doreen asked.

“No time to explain!” Eli responded.

The group sprinted out of the door, with Eli leading them ahead. He was moving very quickly, making it difficult for the others to keep up. When they arrived at a spot where they could see a burning building, and where troops, both from earth and from the invading faction, were engaged in a large battle, Kamala made a horrifying discovery.

They were at the crumbling ruins of the hotel.

Chapter Text

Chapter 14

Kamala practically moved without thinking, she ran directly through the epicenter of the firefight that was happening between the Arrow Agency soldiers and the Army, who had finally arrived to face the invasion. As she ran through the field of concrete, rebar and flames, she was suddenly launched by an explosion, landing nearly ten feet away to the left. When she regained her footing, still stunned by the concussive blast, she turned, and she saw a tank only a few paces away from her, aiming its machine gun at her as it reloaded its main gun. She managed to dive out of the way, right as it fired a barrage of bullets, which made a crater in the ground where she was just standing. She continued running towards the building, only to be met by a large crowd of invading soldiers. As soon as one of them saw her, she leaped into the building, barely landing as another hail of bullets flew towards her.

Kamala landed hard on the ground, tumbling to her hands and knees. She looked around, and knew what floor she was on after seeing the burning sign that said “6” on it. 

“Ok then, I need to get down 1 floor.” She thought to herself. 

As she looked around for a way down, she spotted a group of 3 people separated by a fallen section of the building, 2 of them were stuck behind a large group of pipes, while one of them was not obstructed by anything, however refused to leave them behind.

“Gwen, just go, we’ll find a way around!” The young boy in the group yelled out.

“I’ll find something to move those pipes out of your way.” The girl responded.

“I’ve got it!” Kamala yelled out, stretching her arms to pull the rubble out of the way. With a few tugs, the metal pipes came out of the way. As Kamala got closer, the floor began to give way. The boy managed to dive away from the section of the floor that was cracking, but the older woman tried and failed to run to the same spot, falling along with the floor. Kamala quickly managed to extend her arm to grab the woman by the hand as she nearly fell to the ground. 

“Pull her up, quick!” the boy yelled.

“I’ve nearly got her!” Kamala said.

Just as Kamala was nearly able to see the top of the woman’s hand, a section of floor above them gave way, falling directly into the hole that the woman was in. Kamala was suddenly able to pull much quicker, and instead of pulling out a full person, she lifted up an arm with a charred stump at the end.

“Mom!” the boy cried out as Kamala dropped the arm in shock.

“Miles, Miles! Don’t look at it, look at me! We need to get out of here.” Gwen said, attempting to comfort him.

“Do you know how to get out of here!?” Gwen yelled out.

Kamala was still completely speechless, only backing away from the hole in the ground, as she saw the woman lying motionless, impaled on rubble, bleeding, slowly being engulfed by flames.

“Hey!” Gwen yelled out, bringing Kamala back to her senses.

“Wh-wh-Yeah?” Kamala muttered out.

“Is there a way out of here!?” Gwen asked.

“Yeah, this way.” Kamala said in a barely recognizable whisper, still visibly shocked by what she saw.

She led the two people away from the hole and towards the windows, where she grabbed both of them, and extended her arms to the ground below them, out of the building. She saw the two of them run off, towards what appeared to be some military personnel.

Kamala turned towards the hole, and jumped down, landing next to the woman who she failed to save. She backed up, seeing that the woman looked nearly unrecognizable, her skin having turned from an olive tone to a charred black, with entire chunks melted away. The woman was an eyeless, hairless, withered, burnt mass of flesh by then. Kamala could barely hold back vomiting from the sight, before spotting her family, who were surrounded by flames, attempting to drag her father away. He was clearly bleeding from his leg, and had a big gash across his face. 

“There’s a fire escape right there, we need to move quickly!” her brother Aamir could be heard saying.

“I’ve got him!” Kamala yelled, jumping through the flames and picking her father up.

“Just run! We can make it!” Kamala said, running towards the fire exit. She got to the fire exit quicker than her other family members, and jumped down, landing on the ground safely, and placing her father down.

“Kamala, is that you?” he asked weakly.

“It’s me dad, you’ll be okay now.” Kamala told him.

“I’m not so sure about that.” He responded.

“What are you talking about?” She asked, showing a clear concern.

Her father lifted his hand to reveal a large gash across his side, that he was bleeding profusely from.

“Oh no, no no no, you can’t die now!” Kamala cried fearfully. 

“It’s okay, Kamala.” He said, “You can do this without me.”

“I can’t do this on my own, please, just don’t go!” Kamala exclaimed.

“Maybe, but you’ll learn, you’re strong, you’ll manage.” He told her, “just… Don’t, protect everybody else, and don't lose my little girl in this whole mess, okay?”

“I promise.” She said tearfully.

“Good.” he said to her, just before tilting his head, and staring off towards the hotel.

As he took his final breath, his eyes widened. Kamala turned, and saw the fire escape falling apart. She leaped up, and stretched her arms to form a shield as the scaffold collapsed, and a large burst of flames destroyed the wall.

After almost a minute of being unconscious, Kamala awoke to see her mother, a few paces away from her, bleeding, both legs crushed, and surrounded by a few dead soldiers, a group of invading troops.

“Put her down.” A female voice said, “Can’t risk her grabbing a pistol and shooting us in the back.”

“Aye, general.” a soldier said, before stomping on her mother’s head. After a few hits, her head was crushed entirely. “Never waste a bullet, right?”

“Ah, come on, you have a knife for a reason.” Another soldier said nonchalantly, unfazed by the brutal nature of the attack.

Kamala managed to pick up Malik, who was unconscious, but alive, and instructed her other family members to run outside through the hole in the wall. 

“Movement, left side!” a soldier said, raising their rifle.

“Leave em,” the General said, “wouldn’t want to waste your bullets on some berk in spandex and some goddamn kid.”

Kamala turned, and got a glimpse at the woman. Tall, white hair, white and gray clothes, a scarf, and a sword on her back. The woman looked a bit disappointed, but had a sadistic smile on her face either way, as if she was laughing along side the soldiers who had made this sick joke.

Kamala kept running in fear, eventually arriving near a few strange looking helicopters that had a large group of soldiers in black suits and armor around them.

“Hey, stop right there!” a soldier ordered Kamala and her family to do, aiming their rifle at her.

“Calm down, Rambo,” a woman with a Russian accent said, “No way that someone in colorful spandex is a threat.” 

Kamala could see the two people she saved earlier standing nearby the helicopters, as well as Doreen, Riri, Eli, Dante and America as well. There was a logo on the side of the helicopter that read “SHIELD” and had a symbol of a hawk above it.

“Is she the one that they were talking about?” A man in a red, white and blue suit, carrying an equally colorful shield asked.

“Oh you mean the stretchy kid that's obsessed with Carol? Probably.” A man with a bow and quiver on his back said.

“Well, hop on kid.” The Russian woman said.

Kamala walked into a helicopter, placing Malik on a medical table in the center.

“So are you..” Kamala began to ask the Russian woman.

“Yes, we’re who you think we are.” Black Widow said. “See anyone else on the way here?”

“No.” Kamala said.

“Okay then,” Black Widow said, nodding towards Captain America.

“Everybody, get in!” he called out. After a few moments, once everybody was on board, the helicopter door closed, and the helicopter took off.

As Kamala sat in silence, Black Widow asked, “What’s your name kid?”

“Kamala.” Kamala responded.

As soon as Kamala heard her mention them, tears began running from her eyes.

“They…” She couldn’t finish her sentence, “They…”

“Ok then, you don't need to tell me, Kamala,” Black Widow said, “I get that you must not be able to comprehend everything that's happened, and you’ve probably been through hell, but considering that we’ll need you and your friend’s help. I think It’d be best if I explained this all to you.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 15

Only 38 hours before the Hotel burnt to the ground, SHIELD and the Avengers were alerted to an unidentified object that had arrived on Earth, so they were sent to investigate a large structure that had come in from orbit, now having landed near the coast of Okinawa. Knowing of the recent events on Titan, the Avengers had been sent using a quinjet, along with a team of SHIELD security agents, meant to assist them, and collect information.

“Alright, Ladies and Gents” Captain America said, “We’ve gotten orders from Director Fury himself to investigate an unidentified structure that arrived here about 5 days ago. We aren’t sure what exactly we’re up against, could be Chitauri, could be a fossilized shuttle, could be anything, Just remember, this is meant to be a data collection mission, so NO. BLOWING. THINGS. UP.” He stressed to the agents, who placed down their RPGs in disappointment.

“That goes for you too, Stark.” He said over his earpiece.

“Ok then, JARVIS, set repulsor power to %50” Tony said, who was flying outside of the ship alongside Thor.

“Okay, repulsor power reduced.” JARVIS responded.

“Alright,” Steve said, “strike team 1, we’re the frontal assault. From what we’ve seen, the structure seems to have 1 main entry point and a few smaller entrances. Of course, we’re going for the main entrance, while Natasha and Tony will lead the other strike teams to the other entry points, and Thor, well he’s just backup. we’re meant to take out whoever is running the place, get a good amount of intel, and be back in time to go to that shawarma place down the street.”

There was a large amount of applause for the soldiers, who were now more confident due to this speech. The fallen orbital object was now in view, making its appearance more obvious to the soldiers and heroes on the quinjet. It was a massive, nearly 2 kilometer ship, that looked somewhat similar to a battleship, but appeared to have some form of thrusters, and even appeared to have a small runway on the top, and numerous hangars on the sides.

“Is that a Helicarrier?” A soldier said.

“There’s no propellers, numbnuts.” another soldier responded.

“Ok, cool your barrels, everybody, we’re almost at the entrance.” Steve said.

The soldiers in the quinjet calmed down, and after a minute of flying, the quinjet landed 20 meters away from a large ramp leading into the ship, surrounded by numerous crates. 

“Looks suspicious,” Steve muttered to himself, “Tony, can you check your radar?” 

“Nothing’s coming up, you should be clear out there.” Tony responded.

“Ok then,” Steve said, “Let's move out!”

The Avengers and the soldiers exited the quinjet, and decided to open one of the nearby crates with a pair of bolt cutters. Inside, they found a stash of guns, ammunition, and grenades in smaller boxes.

“Tony, you recognize these?” Black Widow asked, lifting up the rifle to a small body camera on her shoulder.

“I recognize that print, and the coloration, these were the guys who were on Titan.” Tony responded. Although he could barely be seen from nearly a mile up, he could be heard with a slight tremble in his voice.

“Huh, this stuff doesn’t look like gunpowder.” A soldier said, removing the top of a bullet from the crate and pouring out the powder onto her glove.

“Must be some kind of specialized propellant.” Another soldier responded.

“Alright, move some of these smaller crates back to the quinjet, those of you who want to move them, stay out here.” Steve said.

Immediately, 3 soldiers raised their hands, volunteering to stay outside.

“Ok then, Hawkeye, stay with them,” Steve said, “Iron Man can’t monitor us from inside, so we’re on our own in here, make sure to be careful.”

As the group walked in, Natasha said, “You think those 3 were afraid of something?”

“Probably.” Steve responded.

The group quickly found themselves in a large room that looked more like an airport check in than a ship cabin.

“Geez,” A soldier said, looking around the room, “I was expecting to be firing my rifle by now, but where is everyone?”

“Maybe it’s abandoned?” Another soldier said, “Like there could be some homeless bums living here.”

“These would have to be some pretty damn smart bums to build all this.” Steve said jokingly, “Anyways, there doesn’t seem to really be anything here, just snap a photo and keep moving.”

The group continued walking through the ship, eventually sighting a corridor that led to an elevator on the stern side of the ship.

“Huh, this will be helpful.” Steve said, “Alright, A group of you will go with Black Widow to the below deck areas, and a group of you, led by the highest ranking officer will go to the middle floors, and my group will inspect the top of the ship.”

The group walked into the elevator, and first, pressed a button that led to the floor reading “-3.”

“Good luck up there,” Black Widow said as the elevator door closed.

The elevator shot up to the 2nd floor like a bullet, and the group, led by a Sgt. Gromley, walked out. Finally, the elevator moved to the bridge, a massive command center with tons of computers and monitors, a steering system with numerous switches and a radio, and a holographic map in the center, yet, just like the rest of the ship, appeared to be empty.

“Looks like a camera feed.” A soldier said, looking at a large monitor on the left side of the room. Upon looking at it, and scrolling through, they could be heard gasping. 

“Captain, you’re gonna want to see this.” The soldier said.

Captain America looked through the monitor, and saw through a camera with text on the bottom reading “Floor -2, Bio Storage.” This room was full of what appeared to be human children suspended in tubes, all of whom looked to have very little diversity in appearance. 

“What the hell is this?” Steve said, shocked.

“Must be some kind of storage for clones,” A soldier said, “I’ve seen stuff like this in movies.”

“As stupid as that sounds, I think he’s right.” Steve said. “Just collect the data and go.”

“Holy Shit…” a soldier said, looking through the window of the bridge.

Captain America and the Security Personnel looked through the window and saw a true glimpse at the long radio silent Okinawa, it was surrounded by a wall, and inside, miles of factories and slums could be seen, in the distance, a gallows was visible, most concerningly, a massive line of trucks, cars and tanks were approaching the ship from the city gate.

“Contact the other teams, we need to leave.” Steve barked out. 

The soldiers began gathering up a few monitors into bags, and a soldier with a radio pack called the group that was in the lower floor.

“Bravo Team, we need to leave, double time, do you read!?” They asked over the radio, but to no response.

“Bravo Team isn’t responding.” they said to the group. Suddenly, a radio message came from Black Widow.

“ Blyat! Blyat! ” She exclaimed, as gunfire and screams were heard. “They ambushed us! Were stretched thin but were nearly outside, get out of there no-” Her radio message was cut off. 

“Hello there, Steve.” A raspy elderly voice said over the radio. 

“Who the hell are you!?” Steve responded.

“I see, already down to business, I see why my kid likes you so much.” the man responded “Anyways, I’m just as lost as you are, but you can call me General.”

“So you’re the one who owns all this, who enslaved this place?” Steve asked, with clear anger in his voice.

“Enslaved?” The General responded, “I wouldn’t say enslaved, more like, managed, I’m a manager of sorts.”

“Whatever makes you feel better.” Steve said to him.

“Now, how should I tell 103 that her idols went down before she could face them herself?” The General said maliciously. “Oh, I know! How about, you took a shield to a gunfight!?”

The door immediately burst open, and a wave of Arrow Agency troops began firing, taking down 2 soldiers instantly. Steve held up his shield, and began blocking the bullets, but was pushed backwards, and soon, was surrounded, along with the remaining soldiers.

“Drop your weapons!” a soldier yelled, aiming his rifle at Steve’s face.

“Steve, jump from the window.” Black Widow said over the radio. He listened, and dived out of the window, almost immediately being caught by Iron Man.

The quinjet rose up as well towards the window, and its doors opened up, causing the Security to jump in, and allowing Tony to place Steve in it, just as Hawkeye fired 3 explosive arrows at the same time, hitting 3 soldiers and obliterating another 4 in the vicinity. As the quinjet flew away, the main turret of the ship took aim at them. As it was charging up, Thor bashed it with his hammer, causing its aim to redirect into the sky, launching a beam that left a small mark on the moon above them.

“Leave, my comrades, I will fend off the warship!” Thor yelled out, flying directly towards the turret again, but instead being hit directly by the beam, getting tossed at least 100 miles east by the shot and crashing into the water below.

“No!” Tony yelled out, dashing towards the ship again.

“No time to process it, we need to leave!” Black widow yelled, accelerating the ship.

After an hour, the soldiers began tending to their wounds, and began questioning each other about what had just happened.

“These guys, who the hell were they?” Steve asked.

“Pendants read ‘Arrow Agency’ or something.” Natasha responded.

“So, we’re facing the same guys Tony was talking about.” Steve said in realization.

“Well, I haven’t been able to contact him, but his repulsor monitor says he’s alive, likely captured.” Natasha said. “If we want a fighting chance, we need to break him out.”

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So that's what we know, Kamala.” Natasha said. 

“Well, why do you need us?” She asked.

“Because you can easily infiltrate their mothership and break Iron Man out. And you and those other kids seem to work well together.” Natasha explained.

After a long pause, Kamala said, “Alright.”

“Good, kiddo.” Natasha said, “We’ll need your intel as well to figure out a plan to fight.”

“Radar is picking up something, you’ll want to see this!” Clint yelled out.

Natasha looked out of the window, and saw a group of helicopters following them, just before a barrage of missiles launched faster than the countermeasures could activate, hitting the propeller of the ship, and almost immediately downing the other quinjets nearby.

“Brace for impact!” Clint yelled, as the quinjet crashed to the ground.

Chapter Text

Chapter 16

Kamala arose a few minutes after the crash, she was launched from the quinjet, was lying face first on the ground, which was a large, and completely leveled plaza where the quinjet had crashed, and she was still too dazed to notice the cuts and gashes all across her body. She saw Black Widow and Captain America helping multiple Soldiers and Civilians out of the wreckage. She noticed that there was a jagged chunk of what appeared to be metal, right where Hawkeye was sitting, there was nobody there, but it looked like there was blood on it. 

Kamala also could see that her family was nearby, standing near a group of other civilians, including the two people she had rescued earlier, but realized that she didn’t see Doreen or her other allies anywhere. 

“Doreen!?” Kamala yelled out, staggering to her feet, and pushing against the crashed quinjet to regain her balance.

“Doreen, where are you!?” She yelled out again, with some clear concern in her voice. Kamala looked around the wrecked cityscape, yet she only saw the burning remains of the other quinjets.

Out of nowhere, Ironheart swooped down and landed a few meters from Kamala.

“There you are!” she said to Kamala, “Hey, we need your help here.”

Riri flew Kamala over to one of the burning quinjets, where she saw Doreen, Eli and Dante attempting to pull Dorian and Maureen from the wreckage.

“Can’t America just lift it!?” Doreen asked.

“Not without a hail of metal and burning fuel killing them.” Eli said.

“I got Kamala!” Riri said.

“Kamala, we need you to help push this!” Dante said.

Upon seeing Doreen’s parents trying to get out of the wreckage, Kamala suddenly froze up. Images, ingrained into her mind, flashed through her head like lightning. The thought of her father bleeding to death, and her being powerless to stop it. Her mother being brutally bludgeoned, likely still believing that Kamala hated her, the numerous innocent people who had been killed before she could save them. It was too much for her to bear. 

Kamala curled up on the ground, covering her ears, panting as if the air in the world was running out, feeling as though her heart would explode in her chest, barely able to hear the frantic calls from her allies, trying to get her to move, to help them, to keep fighting.

“Kamala!” America yelled, dragging her over to the quinjet herself.

“Push it, uh, sure.” Kamala said, with a clear disconnect from the situation in her voice.

As Kamala managed to push the quinjet so that Maureen’s head was visible, and Dorian’s upper body was out, the sparks began flying, eventually causing the fuel to ignite.

“Faster, we’re running out of time!” Doreen exclaimed.

After a moment of realization, Ironheart said, “We are out of time.”

She pulled Eli, Dante and Kamala back, even trying to pull Doreen, who refused to give up even though by then her father was clearly not moving, having seemingly been crushed to death, forcing Ironheart to back up herself.

Suddenly, the quinjet exploded, sending Doreen flying backwards, and launching metal debris dozens of meters in every dimension.

Kamala ran over to Doreen, who was motionless on the ground, lying on her side. She tried to wake her up, and checked her heartbeat, but soon was relieved to realize that Doreen was still alive. She decided to roll Doreen on her back, but was immediately shocked at what she saw.

Doreen had a large chunk of metal lodged in her right eye, which looked to have just narrowly missed her brain and obliterated the eye entirely.

Doreen suddenly gasped and sat up, and began saying the same thing she had said minutes ago, “We need to move the qui-” but she suddenly stopped herself, seeing the burning mass of the quinjet a few paces away. Doreen just laid on her back, remained silent, and after a few moments, began sobbing. Once there were no tears left to cry, she pulled the jagged metal chunk out of her eye, as if she wanted to bleed out, however, after a few moments of waiting, nothing had happened, she is a superhuman after all. So she blankly said, “Lets just see where else were needed.”

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few minutes later, Doreen had already gotten the eye bandaged up, but remained silent, even through very obvious pain. Kamala tried to speak to and apologize to her, but received no response, eventually, she got some bandages herself and walked off to go to Black Widow, who was looking out of a window.

“She’ll be okay soon enough,” Ironheart said to Kamala. “She just needs time to grieve and process all of this.”

“I just want her to know I’m sorry for not being able to save them, and for her to forgive me someday.” Kamala said.

“Listen…” Ironheart said, “I can tell that everything you’ve been through has affected you too, that's probably why you froze up.”

After a short pause, Kamala said, “I saw her parents pinned under that quinjet, and… I thought of mine, both of them got killed back at the hotel.”

“Oh… God, I’m so sorry to hear that.” Ironheart said to her empathetically. “Well, I shouldn't keep intruding so much, I’ll just leave you to do whatever you need to do.”

Kamala walked over to Black Widow, who looked to be monitoring something closely.

“Do you see anything?” Kamala asked.

Black Widow instantly turned around, brandishing 2 pistols, but lowered them upon seeing Kamala.

“Jesus Christ! You just scared the shit out of me!” Black Widow exclaimed, letting out a sigh of relief.

“What’s going on?” Kamala asked.

“Take a look.” Black Widow said, handing Kamala a pair of binoculars.

Kamala got sight of a large company of Arrow Agency Soldiers, who seemed to be investigating the nearby area, having seemingly heard the quinjet explosion and trying to search in its vicinity.

“How many is that?” Kamala asked.

“100, maybe 120, I’m not sure.” Black Widow responded.

Kamala could see a faint ray of light through the lens on the binoculars, which slightly obscured her vision, but she could make out a few vehicles, including a few helicopters, which had been giving off a searchlight. Suddenly, one of the soldiers turned, and almost looked like he was staring at Kamala nearly a mile away.

“Um… Mrs. Widow,” Kamala said concerningly, “One of them turned towards me.”

“Do you see any light in the lens?” Black Widow asked.

“It's faint, but, yeah I see some.” Kamala said.

“Oh shit, they must have seen your lens flare!” Black Widow said.

She pushed Kamala out of the way just as a sniper bullet struck the spot where she was standing. 

“Tell everyone that we need to leave, now!” Black Widow ordered.

Kamala ran over to her allies and a few SHIELD personnel to inform them of the impending attack. They started rounding up civilians into groups and prepared to start moving towards the nearby SHIELD base on foot, where they could later be picked up by a vehicle convoy that was contacted to pick up the civilians.

 Soon enough, a creeping barrage of mortars began. The very ground beneath them shook, and the escape was slowed down. Before everybody was able to escape, a massive wave of troops flooded into the plaza, gunning down a few civilians and SHIELD personnel in moments. Black Widow turned around and shot 2 soldiers through their visors with her pistols in less than a second, then continued the barrage of bullets, which took down 12 more. Kamala managed to spot 2 civilians, who were being held at gunpoint by a soldier, and quickly ambushed the soldier, throwing them away in the other direction. She also suddenly realized that these 2 people were none other than Miles and Gwen, who she had saved just a few hours before.

“Just keep running, follow that group through the door!” Kamala said to the 2 of them, pointing towards the SHIELD officer at the door. 

While the Avengers and SHIELD personnel fought off the waves of Arrow Agency soldiers leaking into the building, Kamala and her allies helped evacuate civilians. After a short while, most of the civilians had escaped the building, but by then, the plaza was full of Arrow Agency troops, who were slowly overwhelming everyone there, and were slowing down the escape further. Kamala then saw a soldier taking aim at her family, who were still in the building. She dashed over to the soldier and punched him square in the jaw, sending him darting in the other direction, unconscious. 

“You ok?” Kamala asked her brother.

“Yeah, I think we’re fine.” Aamir responded.

“Off your ass, soldier!” Kamala heard another Arrow Agency troop order, taking out some sort of device.

“What are you waiting for, go!” Kamala said.

Aamir responded to this by saying “Ok, ok, you sta-”

Suddenly, a bullet exploded through his head, tearing his eye clean out. He fell to the ground, and Kamala saw the source of the bullet. It was fired by the same soldier she had knocked unconscious moments ago. They had some kind of injection needle in their leg, something that woke them up instantly, and had scrambled to their gun, having aimed for Kamala herself. They tried to fire again, but their gun clicked empty. Kamala didn’t even think, before she extended her arm, and punched a hole straight through the soldier’s lower abdomen, before pulling them in, and bashing their face to a bloody pulp.

She got up, and stood over the body of the first person she had ever killed. After  catching her breath and recollecting herself, she had realized that a whole minute or so had passed, seeing that her family members ran out of the building already. She looked down at her hands, covered in blood and gore, she tried to wipe them off on her suit in shock, only to realize that her suit was covered as well. She began wiping beads of sweat off of her forehead, accidentally smearing blood on her face. Her hands began to tremble and shake, and in her panicked state, she removed her eye mask, as if it were weighing her down, dropping it in a pool of blood beneath her. She walked away from the puddle, and went to assist Black Widow, Captain America, and Hawkeye, who was using his teeth instead of his arm to fire arrows, because his arm was in a bandage due to the crash. 

“Aim for their visors, it’s just glass!” Black Widow said to her allies.

Hawkeye fired an adamantium tipped arrow through the heads of 3 soldiers, taking them down in quick succession, and Captain America hurled his shield, causing it to deflect off of the heads of 6 soldiers. Before the shield could return to him, a bullet hit him directly in the leg, causing him to drop to the ground, and miss the shield. Kamala managed to catch it mid air, and caught it just in time to deflect a hail of bullets that came towards her.

“Gah! My leg!” Steve yelled out, crawling his way to some nearby cover.

After a short pause, Natasha said, “You two, get him out of here, I’ll cover you!”

“No way we’re leaving you to fight by yourself, I’ll help you.” Clint said to her.

“You’re injured as well, I won’t have your blood on my hands.” Natasha responded to him, handing the floppy disk to Hawkeye, who used his good arm to hold it. “You 3 need to get to the SHIELD base and get the intel to Fury, I’ll try to catch up to you.”

“Clint, in case I don’t make it,” Natasha, said, “I want you to know that I…”

“I know,” Clint said, “I’ll see you there!”

Kamala and Hawkeye helped drag Captain America out of the building, leaving Natasha to face the Arrow Agency’s horde alone.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After taking down another squad of Arrow Agency troops, Natasha reloaded her twin pistols and caught her breath. She began hearing a slow clap from a few paces behind her.

“She’s even scarier in person, isn’t she?” a female voice with a British accent said.

Natasha turned around to see a tall young woman, with white hair and a white trench coat. The woman looked as though she was talking to herself, and was having a back and forth conversation. Natasha aimed her pistol at the woman.

“Woah, Woah, that isn’t a very good idea right about now.” The woman said, holding her hands up.

Gunmen suddenly appeared from all sides, weapons trained at Black Widow from every direction.

“So why don’t you just lower your gun, and I won’t just have you be shot right now.” The woman told her.

“An autograph before we fight would be nice,” the woman said, “Sign it to 103, your biggest fan.”

After a few moments of consideration, Natasha lowered her pistols. Her eyes shot around the room, and soon she snickered and said, “25, those are some decent odds.”

A plume of smoke suddenly appeared, and Black Widow seemingly vanished. But a soldier then had a short cry of pain as a silenced pistol shot rang out, a few soldiers were pulled into the smoke, and the sounds of bones breaking and bodies falling soon followed. Soldiers tried to fire at her, but merely ended up disrupting the smoke.

“Everybody group up!” 103 ordered, “Fan the smoke out of the way!”

As the smoke cleared, Black Widow had seemingly vanished, and 12 dead soldiers lay on the ground.

“She can’t have gone far, and she isn't the type to run from a fight,” 103 said, “Get into groups of 4 and search for her.”

As the groups split up 103 walked around, suddenly heard the sound of cutlery falling. She walked into the seafood restaurant near a small building, and slowly strolled through.

“You know, I’ve never had shrimp before,” She said, “Never had any true earth food at all.”

“Maybe it's a good thing, I’ve heard the food here is fattening and unhealthy,” She said, looking at a half eaten plate of deep fried shrimp, which was left behind. “The only part of me I want fat on is already enough, trust me, I already have an H as in cups, and I’d prefer that over H as in a heart monitor and hole in my throat!”

Black Widow taunted back, “If you don’t stand down and call off your men, you will.” She suddenly hopped out of cover from behind the counter and aimed for 103 with one of her pistols.

“Well maybe you’ll have a hole in your head by the end of this!” 103 said, throwing the plate at Black Widow’s hand to disarm her, and quickly attempting to aim for her head with her pistol. 

Black Widow dodged the plate, and tacked off of the wall to hit 103 in the face with her baton. 103 used the momentum to do a spinning hook kick, which nailed Black Widow on the side of the head. 103 then deployed her sword to attack, but was blocked when Black Widow took out her second baton. 

They locked weapons, with 103 attempting to set up a cut to the neck. Black Widow thrust the second baton into 103’s abdomen, knocking her off guard, and allowing Black Widow to knock 103’s sword out of the door. 103 quickly countered by catching 1 of Black Widow’s batons mid strike, and sending it back at her, hitting her square in the face. Black Widow was sent back by this, but went in for a takedown. Just as 103 was sent to the ground, she kicked Natasha behind her, launching her through a window.

As Natasha hit the ground, 103 jumped at her with her knife. Black Widow managed to evade the strike and get 103 in a ground takedown, knocking her to the pavement. 103 slashed Natasha with her knife, lowering her grip on 103, and allowing her to scramble to her sword, just in time to block a strike from Black Widow’s baton. 103 kicked Natasha away, and went in for another strike.

As they locked weapons, Natasha asked, “So they have a kid leading this operation!?”

“Hey I’m not a kid, I’m gonna be 19… next year! And secondly, I’m a major general.” 103 responded annoyedly, pushing Natasha away.

“So you’re just a pawn in this, aren't you?” Natasha asked, with almost a hint of pity in her voice.

103 almost had a small hint of rage as she slashed at Black Widow with a barrage of strikes. Black Widow blocked all of these, but in one final weapon lock, 103 quickly kneeled down, and lodged her knife deep into Black Widow’s abdomen, just before thrusting her blade through black widow’s chest, and pinning her to the edge of a fountain.

Natasha was initially shocked by such a grievous wound, but eventually laughed slightly, having accepted her defeat.

“You bitch! I run this fucking operation!” 103 yelled, pointing her gun at Natasha’s head.

“That's what I told myself for years,” Black Widow said weakly, “I rose in the KGB for years, told myself that I would bring glory to my motherland, but it was all just a way for me to justify all the horrible things I did, to not accept that I was just their weapon, as if any of it mattered, but there was always someone in charge, always someone who you had to answer to, I was never truly in control of my life.”

“And what does that have to do with anything?” 103 asked.

“You may think you call your own shots, that you matter to your higher ups, it's not the case at all.” Natasha said.

“Well,” 103 said, “I’m tired of your lamenting. Any last words.”

Natasha began speaking Russian, her native tongue, “ Koroli ne zabotyatsya o peshkakh, vy pushechnoye myaso .”

103 fired her pistol, a bullet zipped through Natasha’s head, killing her. 

“General, the enemies escaped, we’re going to keep trying to track them.” A soldier said.

“Wait until the sun is out, then search.” 103 ordered.

She took her knife and sword back, then kicked some dirt over Natasha’s corpse.

103 thought of saying, “I told you that you’d have a hole in your head.” but, she thought it would be disrespecting someone who had just given her a true fight, and maybe, just maybe, a new outlook.

Chapter Text

Chapter 17

Kamala had managed to catch up with the convoy of trucks. Her, Hawkeye and Captain America got onto the truck, where she saw Doreen, Dante, Eli and America on the truck as well.

“Where’s Black Widow?” A SHIELD officer asked. 

“She made a distraction, make sure to send a rescue team once we’re back to base.” Hawkeye responded.

After a few doctors moved Steve to a medical table attached to the wall of the truck, Kamala sat down, exhausted. She very soon remembered the blood covering her hands, and attempted to wipe it off, but by then, it had already dried, and it wasn't just coming off easily. She managed to glance over to Doreen, who was getting her eye checked by a medic. She quickly just decided to sit in silence rather than open up an argument. 

“Hey, you ok?” America asked.

After a few moments of complete silence, Kamala finally responded to her.  

“I’m not sure.” Kamala said back.

“Okay then, I’ll… uhm… let you rest up for now.” America responded, with some slight amount of pity in her voice.

A few minutes later, the Convoy reached the SHIELD base. The gate to the massive wall opened to reveal a large building in the center, surrounded by a few smaller structures such as barracks, garages, hangars, food quarters and warehouses, practically a small town. Troops within the base led everybody leaving the trucks to large elevators. The elevators descended a few stories underground to reveal a massive bunker, full of living quarters and hangars, just as large as the base above them.

“What is this place?” America asked.

“Looks like some kind of emergency shelter.” Eli responded

Dante looked over to a station in the bunker, with an insignia of an eagle, and text reading, “SHIELD.”

“The hell even is SHIELD, anyways? I mean, I know you work here, but you’ve never told us much.” He asked.

“They’re just a security agency, can’t say too much,” Eli said back, “Hell, I've never even been down this far before.”

“Attention, all newly arriving civilians,” A voice said over an intercom, “You are being kept in this bunker for your safety, please remember to stay within the authorized living quarters, and listen to all SHIELD personnel when ordered.”

The elevator finally stopped at level -4, at least 35 meters underground. When Kamala stepped out of the elevator, she saw that the furthest floor on the buttons was -53, which was probably unfathomably deep underground. A sign read “Check in,” which led to a booth at the back of the room, which was in front of a gate to the rest of the bunker. Kamala stepped in line, and waited for what felt like hours. When she finally reached the front, the person at the booth looked down at a note sheet.

“What's your name?” they asked in a tired, inexpressive tone.

“Kamala Khan.” Kamala responded.

“State your age and date of birth.” They asked after typing what she said on a computer.

“August 14th, 1970, I’m 15.” Kamala said.

“Alright,” The booth guard said, also typing this down, “Stand here for a scan.” They told her, pointing to a small platform with an “X” in the center.

Kamala stepped onto the platform, which seemed to also be a scale. A laser grid suddenly burst out of a projector, and scanned her from head to toe.

“It says, about 64 inches, and 112 pounds, that correct?” The guard asked.

“I’m pretty sure, yeah.” Kamala said back.

“Ok then, you can step off the scanner.” The guard told her, typing in more text into the computer.

The guard pressed “enter” on the computer, and after a few moments, a card was printed out. 

“Your room is on the card, you’re free to go.” The guard said.

“Thanks.” Kamala said, as she began walking through the now opened gate.

“Hey kid,” The guard said.

“Yeah?” Kamala responded.

“You’ve got a little something on your, uh… everywhere. You should probably get some new clothes and take a shower when you get to your room.”

As Kamala walked to the room on the card, she saw lots of people near the medical bay. She had finally reached the room on the card, or at least she thought she did, until she saw two people kissing in the room.

The two people turned around, startled, and Kamala quickly said, “Oh shit, wrong room!” and slammed the door shut. She looked down at the card, and saw that it said, “413” on the card. As soon as she looked up, she saw that 413 was the room right next to her, and that she initially went to room 412.

When she entered her real room, she saw that there were already arranged clothes, and things like lotion, soap, a towel, a rag, a toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant and a few snacks.

“ Huh, those two people looked familiar ,” Kamala thought to herself, “ I think those were those two people I saved. ”

She almost laughed at the irony that she had come across Gwen and Miles so frequently. But soon, she saw her footprints, completely red. She walked into the bathroom, and saw herself in the mirror. She looked unrecognizable, she was doused in blood, soot and dust. The slurry of grime and gore covered her face and suit, which was tattered and torn. Her hair was now messy and unkempt, and she could swear that she saw an eyeball tangled in it.

She took off her suit and clothes, and stepped into the shower, turned it on, and she just sat on the ground, curled up in a fetal position, letting the grime and gore melt off of her, when she looked up slightly, she saw a bloodied, mangled eye staring back, it turns out her hypothesis was correct. She got out of the shower and wrapped herself up in a towel.

Once she was done brushing her teeth, moisturizing and freshening up, she put on a pair of nightclothes, and turned the tv in her room. Whenever she tried to turn to things such as channels for tv shows, cartoons, even cooking channels, all of them had a live feed of the news. She watched on in horror, as she saw what was going on overhead.

Chapter Text

Chapter 18

The TV showed a live broadcast of a battle near DC. A news reporter was in the middle of reporting near the Lincoln Monument.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“We’re here in Washington DC, a few miles away from the main fight, where a small checkpoint was set up,” The Reporter said, “A few soldiers at the frontlines have agreed to give some quick interviews.”

A soldier with a bandage around his arm stepped into frame.

“Here’s one of them, sir, would you please give a quick interview?” The reporter asked.

A heading on the screen read “Pvt. Carl Forgermann.”

“They were dropping in from metal pods.” Forgermann said.

“What do you mean, metal pods?” the Reporter asked.

“I mean, big ass metal pods, like giant darts!” He responded.

Suddenly, a loud BANG was heard in the distance, and the camera turned in its direction, revealing a massive smoldering crater in the ground, with a metal structure lodged in the center.

“Shit, pod! 50 yards, right side!” a soldier yelled out.

The camera crew and reporter backed away to a shelter alongside Forgermann as a gunfight ensued. The smokescreen emitted from the pod was stopping incoming bullets midair, and none of the soldiers flooding out of the pod were able to be taken down. 

“It appears that the checkpoint we were at is under attack by the invaders,” The reporter said “While we’re in a secure location, can you comment on what exactly this invading army is?” She asked Forgermann.

“They’re some Private Military or something along those lines.” Forgermann responded. 

“Can you please go into more detail?” The reporter asked.

“Advanced tech, not anything too crazy, I don’t know!” Forgermann said, looking out the bunker window, with a concerned tone in his voice.

“Anything else?” The reporter continued asking.

“Woman, we’re under attack, can you save your goddamn questions for when we aren’t being shot at!?” Forgermann snapped.

The camera turned to outside a bunker window, where they saw most soldiers outside already dead, and a massive, bipedal vehicle with machine guns and missile launchers approaching through a dense cloud of dust and smoke. A missile suddenly flew directly towards the bunker, and the cameraman was sent flying backwards.

After a few moments, the smoke began to clear, and it revealed the reporter lying motionless on the ground. As the cameraman arose, it revealed that the lower half of the reporter’s body was gone entirely. 

“Oh my god…” A voice said, seemingly the cameraman, “Patricia!”

“Get out of here kid, run!” Forgermann yelled.

The Cameraman, with the camera still in hand, ran in the other direction of the firefight, behind them, gunfire was heard, and the approaching footsteps of the hulking war beast grew ever closer. 

The cameraman ran, for what felt like hours, though it may only have been mere minutes, rushing through the once busy streets, the towering cityscapes, now desolate, ravaged by artillery and flames. They suddenly stopped, coldly in their tracks. They dived behind a wall, and the sound of roaring tank engines rattled through the now gritty, distorted microphone.

“Direct orders from the Major General, don’t execute the target now that we have them captured.” A soldier on top of a tank barked out to his allies.

Once the convoy had passed, the Cameraman took another turn, passing through an alleyway, with 20 bodies lining the walls. They looked as though they were lined up, it didn’t matter who they were, office worker, senator, delivery men, random biker, they were heartlessly gunned down all the same, with a bullet to the back of the head. Some were loosely holding bricks, others, small chunks of concrete, seemingly, a few of them put up a fight, it made no matter anyways.

The cameraman kept moving, mumbling to themself, “Of course there’ll be people there, they must have camps set up already.” but after minutes of walking, weaving between convoys of invading troops, they reached their destination, can could only stand there in shock and awe.

The White House was still standing, besides a very obvious hole in its gate. But the flag atop the building wasn’t american, or any earth nation. It was a flag with a white backdrop, and in the center, a black pendant of three arrows flying at an upwards arc, waiting to rain down on anybody in its path.

“Hands up!” A voice yelled from behind.

The cameraman dropped the camera, which rolled to the side, and viewed behind the initial position to reveal a large group of invaders, with a tank close behind them. The cameraman was dragged off, out of frame.

Kamala turned off the Television, not sure what exactly had unfolded before her. She realized that they had, so simply, lost.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the shield command room, there was chaos, as the personnel learned that the capitol was captured, and the president himself was captured as well. Most reports indicated that many nations had been defeated and conquered as well.

“Our station in Pittsburg is down!” An operator yelled out.

“We’ve still been able to contact Jersey City, maybe we can move some civilians there, to save room for weapons and gear.” Another operator suggested.

“That won’t work, it’ll take too long, we need to focus on setting up new networks.” A radio technician responded.

“Everybody, listen up!” Maria Hill yelled out, quickly making the room grow silent. “We have orders from Director Fury, send out an encrypted message to all stations on the eastern seaboard that business will continue as normal, and that we need to assemble more units and speed up research on experimental gear, then report to the main assembly hall.”

The encrypted data was sent out on each monitor, and once the upload was complete, All SHIELD personnel reported to the Assembly Hall. After a few minutes of mostly silence, Director Fury walked onto the stage. He was a very well built man, even for a man in his 50s, and he walked with a cane, to support the damaged leg he had been shot in over a decade ago. He stood at the podium, and began his announcement.

“I am sure that many of you have heard by now that the capital has been captured by the Arrow Agency Ground Division.” He said through the microphone. “We also have reports that not only has the President been captured, but numerous other countries, including Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Columbia, the United Kingdom, France, Denmark, Japan, and many others have been taken over as well.”

“However, this doesn’t mean that we will officially surrender.” He continued, “We are now under a system of Decentralized Command. Shield and Military bases, including those outside of the United States will work together as a network, and will make personal combative decisions to fight on all fronts, rather than only focus on a single offensive. We have lost this battle, but we aren’t losing this war. Dismissed.”

All the personnel saluted, but there was a slight sense of uneasiness throughout the crowd. For the first time ever, they doubted him.

Chapter Text

Chapter 19

The Arrow Agency, which was set up on the empire state building, was lively with the sound of celebration. Ice boxes full of sodas and beers were being passed around, grills were being lit, soldiers were using karaoke machines dug up from bombed out bars, and game cabinets from the crumbled remains of arcades. Away from the party, 103 stood at the balcony of the 103rd floor, smoking a cigarette, even though she was never a fan of them. A soldier approached her to deliver a message.

“General, you’re needed in the meeting room.” the Soldier said.

“Be down in a minute.” 103 responded.

The soldier walked away a few moments later, and 103 took a puff of the cigarette, breathing out a plume of smoke.

“Y’know, that stuff isn’t good for you.” SAM told her, hovering down from above her.

“Well, so is getting shot at by an assassin.” 103 responded.

“So, you finally took out an Avenger.” SAM said. 

“Yeah,” 103 said back, “I read about these so-called, “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes” growing up, never thought I’d be facing them in a fight.”

“Well, when you’ve got an army invading their planet, you’ll come across them eventually.” SAM told her.

“Black Widow was my hero growing up, I just cut her down like she was some kind of punching bag in my way.” 103 said.

“Morality has never been your strong suit, has it?” SAM told her, in an almost angry tone.

“Still talking to me like I enjoy what I do!?” 103 snapped back. “I hate that I’ve killed so many innocent people, but as long as we win, so be it! I can just set my judgment aside and feel guilt once my job is done!”

“I’ve seen you with a smile on your face, when you burned that hotel to the ground, when you executed a mother in front of her daughter in that hellhole!” SAM responded, “You may have convinced yourself otherwise, but you enjoy the thrill of the fight, don’t you?!”

103 tried to tell SAM off, but she couldn’t contradict what they said, they read her like a story book. She wasn’t some noble warrior, she was a warrior from birth, no doubt about it, she ranked above many of those around her, practically having everything she needed to take the world, but she got a thrill out of the violence, even if she convinced herself otherwise and regretted her actions.

“Well, we won anyways, why don’t you just gorge yourself on what we took, and you forget all the lives you destroyed.” SAM said angrily, hovering away.

103 thought back to what Black Widow said, she was just a pawn that has caused so much destruction. She then threw the cigarette over the ledge, watching it plummet to the ground.

She walked into the elevator, and went down to the 67th floor. She thought to herself, “Pawn or not, there’s still a job I have to do, and if this is my place in the world, so be it.” This calmed her nerves, and she stepped out of the elevator, into the conference room.

There were a few chairmen using holograms conversing around the room, a screen showed a few possible sponsors, the Commander sat at a chair as well, and there were guards near the door.

“I’m telling you, I was just sitting here in my office, and suddenly, I just got dragged through a portal or something, then I was thrown into a bloody deathmatch against a guy with a dispenser mech!” one sponsor said.

“Arctician, kid, I don’t know if they give out schizophrenia pills in your universe, but you need em, I’ll give you that.” A reptilian chairman said.

“I can bring the scientist’s head to prove it!” Arctic said. 

“Jeez! Why do you keep severed heads?!” a Chairwoman asked.

“Ever since the hyenas stepped out of line 2 months ago, we just started shipping out the heads of some of their previous enforcers as a warning, motor part production doubled in a week.” Arctic responded.

“Arctic, we said no masks!” the chairwoman ordered.

“As you wish.” Arctic said, taking off his mask. It revealed an ominous looking young man, probably about the same age as 103, give or take, with dark skin, black, messy, curly hair with a white streak on the right side, pale blue eyes with dark bags under them, a heartless, yet intrigued glare across his face, a strong jaw with not even a stubble, with a scar on the side of his neck, and a scar under his left eye, someone quite young for the profession of a crime lord. 

He held up some device that looked similar to a cassette player, and pressed a button.

“Hideous, isn’t it?” He said.

“Ah hell, do you even care about your appearance?” A chairman said. 

“Well when you wear some kind of mask for most of the day to synthesize your voice, makeup seems pretty useless.” Arctic responded, pressing the button again.

“Alright, alright, settle down everyone, we have some actual business to discuss.” the Commander said.

“So, what’s the current war situation?” The reptilian chairman replied.

“Glad you asked, Traximo,” 103 said, “we already took over multiple NATO countries, in fact, we’re in the Empire State Building right now!”

“Good, good, it seems like you put those tanks I funded to use.” Traximo said.

“And Betromiza, we expect to be in control of all major food stocks in a week, you can ship in your plants soon.” 103 told the chairwoman.

“Lovely! My experimental crops here on Voxina Mantibus will really benefit from the extra water.” Betrozima responded joyfully.

103 stepped back, and allowed the Commander to stand at the head of the table.

“Now of course, there are still a few things to be sorted out,” the Commander said, “We still have a faction known as ‘SHIELD’ fighting us, and we still have tons of mutants and superhumans to deal with.”

The Commander turned to the Screen. “And that's where you all come in.” He said. “We’ve asked a few people from nearby planets, timelines and universes to see if they’d fund us or give us technology, in return for some kind of payment.”

“Crazy to think that accidental slipspace travel managed to lead to multiversal trade.” A guard whispered to another guard.

“Yeah, I mean, how we even get the supplies is beyond me.” The other guard responded.

“Alright, you first Arctician, says here you’re from Earth 489.” the Commander said.

“Yes, I would be willing to send a formula for Adaptoid ammunition and about 700,000 dollars, in exchange for 5 engineers, and a shipment of 300 rifles and a few thousand bullets, I’m visiting my family in England soon, and when it’s a crime family, it can go from being like peas in a pod to shoebills in a nest!” Arctic said jokingly, causing a few people to laugh a bit.

“That's doable, but could you raise that cash inflow a bit?” the Commander said calming down a bit after laughing.

“How about 850?” Arctic said, continuing the haggle.

As Arctic and the Commander continued to debate the price, 103 began conversing with some of the soldiers.

“Was there really any need for a joke there?” she asked.

“Maybe he was just buttering them up to increase his chances of a good deal.” A guard responded.

“Huh, stands on business, pretty hot.” 103 said.

“Really? That's all it takes to impress you?” A guard asked.

“Scars are badass too!” 103 said.

“You do you, General.” A guard responded, rolling their eyes a bit.

“Okay then, 995 works.” the Commander said.

“Thanks for your consideration.” Arctic said, bowing slightly.

“Alright, Dakmius, your next.” the Commander said.

“Yes, I’ll give you 2.5 million dollars and 10,000 tonnes of rations in return for access to at least 35% of the fields in Ireland.” Dakimus said, adjusting her hair with her 3rd and 4th arm.

“Already sounds like a perfect deal.” the Commander said. “Well, firstly, Callisto, congrats on your promotion to the CEO of War Hog Industries,” Callisto bowed his bald head, “secondly, what's your offer?”

“Well, I’d like to supply a few shipments of Ammunition, and about 5 Million dollars, in return for safe passage to New York, and some designs from Tony Stark.” Callisto said, causing most of the room to go silent.

“Um…” the Commander said, “He hasn’t budged since he’s been here.”

“Those armor designs will be pretty damn valuable, and we’d benefit from them.” Callisto said. “You do realize that I supply all of your weapons, right?”

“Yes…” the Commander said.

“Well, if I’ve wasted Millions on a Military that can’t even get a middle aged man to talk, I might just recall some weapons and work with the ISA instead.” Callisto said. “I don’t care if you need to torture it out of him, get me that design if you still want the ability to even stop a single asteroid!” 

“Of course, we’ll get it out of him.” the Commander said, slightly defeated.

“Alright, meeting over, we’ll send the receipts and requested items, and we expect you to send back your’s within a week.” the Commander said.

“So long, handsome.” 103 said to Arctic.

“What… You do realize we can hear everything you say, right? This is getting weird, I’m going to go take my pet fox for a walk now.” Arctic said, shutting off the screen.

“Jeez, really fumbled the bag there.” a Soldier said.

“Bloody Hell!” 103 said annoyedly.

“C'mon 103, we have some pretty immediate business to attend to.” the Commander said.

103 and the Commander entered the elevator, and went to the basement. As the door opened, a few guards, who were in the middle of a conversation, said, “General, Commander, the prisoner is currently asleep, he hasn’t budged yet.”

“Bring in the other priority prisoners, wake him up.” the Commander ordered.

“Yes sir.” a Sergeant said, ordering some of the troops to open the door to a storage room. The door revealed Tony Stark, chained up in a chair at the back of the room. He had a black eye, and bruises all over his face, with dried blood running down his nose. A soldier picked up a bucket of cold water, and splashed him in the face with it.

“Wakey-wakey bitch.” a Soldier said.

“Well that isn’t the nicest way to wake up a man.” Tony said.

“Shut the hell up, you’ve got a visitor.” the Soldier told him, before releasing his shackles.

The door opened, to reveal Pepper Potts, his wife.

“Tony!?” She said, looking in disbelief

“Pepper! Thank god you’re safe!” Tony said, as Pepper ran over and hugged him.

“Did they hurt you at all?” Tony asked.

The Commander motioned towards 103.

“No,” Pepper said, “are you ok? they clearly hurt yo-” Suddenly, Black Widow's pistol was pressed directly against the back of Pepper’s head.

“Alright, enough of the family reunions, we need something from you.” 103 said.

“Stop, she hasn’t done anything!” Tony said fearfully, both from seeing a gun put to his wife's head, and recognizing what must have happened to Black Widow for her gun to be in the hands of another person.

“Oh we know that, but there’s something you need to do.” 103 said.

“Show us how to make those suits of yours, or your blood won’t be the only thing splattered all over the floor.” 103 said.

“You wouldn’t…” Tony said.

“Oh trust me,” 103 said, cocking the hammer back, “I can do worse.”

After a few moments of hesitation, Tony said, “Fine, just let her go!”

“Ok then, take her away!” 103 ordered. The soldiers dragged a shaken Pepper out of the room. “That wasn’t so hard, was it? Let him rest, he has plenty of work in the morning.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 20

Even though only about 2 months had passed since Kamala was moved to the Shield base, it felt like the days just fused together. She remembered everything that happened like it was yesterday, Black Widow’s body being recovered alongside the bodies of her brother, and seeing Hawkeye in anguish over this. Seeing Miles and Gwen continue to dread what had happened to their fathers. And the numerous groups of Shield infantry who were shipped out to fight, only for a few battered and bruised survivors to return days later. She still had nightmares of the day she lost everything. The sight of her mother, father and brother being slaughtered heartlessly was still engraved into her mind, but something that especially haunted her was that she had killed another human being.

She had never even killed a bug up until that point, but now, she had blood on her hands. She felt guilt, but at the same time, felt relief. This person killed her brother in front of her, she didn’t even know why she cared at all, but she did, she felt horrified that she had ended the life of another living being, but at the same time, she saw how easy it was, how much relief she felt now that her brother’s killer was dead, it was a slurry of emotion that she couldn’t explain, but it was something she never wanted to do again.

Kamala still wanted to reconcile with Doreen. They were back on talking terms again, but Doreen joked less, and she seemed less happy and lively than she previously was. Kamala was at least able to get closer to Dante, Eli, America and RiRi, along with Miles and Gwen, who had already pieced together who “Ms Marvel” was. They had also noticed that Doreen seemed different than her usual self.

Some other heroes had arrived at the base as well, including Spider Man, Falcon, The Winter Soldier, Quicksilver, and Captain Marvel. Spider Man seemed out of it when he arrived, but seemed to be keeping to himself. Kamala was surprised that she wasn’t ecstatic to be near Captain Marvel, her idol.

Kamala awoke in her living quarters one day, and looked at the digital calendar, the date read, August 14th, 1986.

“My birthday.” Kamala thought, as soon as her mind was unscrambled from the nightmare she just had. At that point, the nightmares were so constant that she almost became numb to them. She stepped out of bed, then brushed her teeth, washed her face, and changed into some new clothes, which were really just issued outfits that were replicated from the normal wardrobe of that person before they were moved there. As usual, it was just some jeans and a dark gray shirt, with a lightning bolt insignia. She just sat in her room for a few hours, just watching the TV, which was just airing a few cartoons and Arrow Agency news networks, until she heard a knock on the door. When Kamala opened her door, she saw a card on the ground. She picked up the card, then brought it back to her room to read it.

On the front, the card said, “16 years and counting, Happy Birthday!” With a drawing of a group of squirrels sitting around an acorn with the stem replaced by a candle, and a squirrel wearing a party hat. Opening the card showed multiple notes and signatures made by her family and friends. What surprised Kamala the most was a note from Doreen, saying, “Come over to the main complex at 6:30.”

Kamala looked at the clock, which read, “6:25 PM” on the screen. She quickly got up, and began to quickly walk to the main complex. When she arrived 3 minutes later, she saw nobody there, but she did see a few arrows pointing ahead of her. When she followed the arrows, they revealed a room with a single table in the center. And a paper banner held above it, reading, “Happy Birthday, Kamala!” on it.

She saw a few people sitting on the seats nearby. Gwen and Miles were talking to each other, America and RiRi were just playing rock, paper, scissors, Dante and Eli were seeing who could throw a fake pebble into a cup a few meters away, and Malik, Tyesha, Ayesha and Razia were all sitting at the main table, talking about where Kamala may be. 

“Surprise.” Doreen said from on top of a fake tree in the main complex. She dropped down, with Monkey Joe on her shoulder. “We can’t buy much down here, but we were able to get you a few things with what we could scrap together.”

Kamala began to walk forward, and immediately received a hug from Doreen. 

“I missed you, Kam.” Doreen said.

“I missed you too.” Kamala said back.

They all sat down, and brought out a few gifts. Kamala received a new suit in one box, which still kept the older design’s features, but looked a little more protected. 

“How’d you get this?” Kamala asked.

“Eh, let's just say I know a few folks.” Eli said.

Kamala also was given the training repulsor that she received months ago.

“Don’t worry,” RiRi said, “I didn’t find this in rubble, Jersey City is fine, still under military occupation.”

Kamala also received a new NES, and a few comic books.

“There’s one last surprise I’d like to show you, follow me.” Doreen told Kamala.

Doreen climbed back up the fake tree, and Kamala followed her. She was then led to a platform that overlooked the entire complex. It looked like an underground city, with all the lights and people walking around.

“Nicest spot I could find down here,” Doreen said, “I’ve spent a lot of nights looking at this place.”

“This is beautiful!” Kamala said, “How’d you find it?”

After a deep breath, Doreen said, “About a month ago, I tried to run away, not sure why, but I think that I was scared of… something, maybe it was that this place might just collapse one day, I don’t know.”

“Well,” Doreen continued, “I thought the only way was up, so I climbed up here. When I couldn’t even see a vent to crawl through, I just thought that there was another escape that could be done.” 

“What are you talking about?” Kamala asked concernedly.

“I was going to jump off, I didn’t think I had anything to lose anyways.” Doreen said, “But just before I climbed over the ledge, I saw all of this.” She pointed to the city-like complex that stretched for what felt like miles. “It made me realize that I did have something, or someone to lose.”

“Who?” Kamala asked, “There’s hundreds, maybe thousands of random people you’ve never met here.”

“You guys.” Doreen answered, “Not Just those people down there, but You, Eli, Dante, America, RiRi, even your family, they’re all people worth living for. Living to protect, living to love and cherish.”

She grabbed Kamala by the hand, “I was afraid of losing you. I’m sorry for pushing you all away, and I know that you’ve seen things as well, I just want you to know that I’ll never push you away again.”

“I was never mad at you, I understood that you had seen some things and that you needed time to heal, I’ll always see you as my friend.” Kamala responded.

Doreen suddenly kissed Kamala directly on the lips for a few moments, before quickly backing off.

“Sorry! Heat of the moment!” Doreen said, blushing slightly.

“Yeah, that was a bit too much, maybe the view is getting to us.” Kamala said back, unable to hide the fact that she was blushing as well.

“Lets, just get down from here, there’s still a cake.” Doreen said. 

When they got down from the ledge, Dante and RiRi had already brought out a vanilla cake with “Kam’s 16th” written on it in icing. A family picture recovered from her home also sat on the table, where Doreen also stood in the background, previously unknown to Kamala until recently. Kamala didn’t know why, but a tear of Joy ran down her face, she wasn’t alone after all.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So when do you think that those designs’ll be done?” An Arrow Agency soldier asked.

“Well, It is meant for space as well, so I’d guess it’ll need some more testing in that vacuum chamber we built, but I’m sure it'll be done soon.” Another soldier who was guarding the door to the makeshift lab responded.

“How much are you willing to bet that it’ll be done this month?” The first soldier asked.

“10 Arrow Credits.” The second betted.

“At this point, make it 20 if you’re so confident,” The first said, “That Stark bloke is clearly stalling, he made his first suit in a bloody cave, now he has the resources of a galaxy wide de-facto government, and it’s taken him months? He’s definitely taking this long on purpose.”

Soon, a second palette clone trooper walked through the lab door, holding a large metal rod. “Hey Chokehold, Twelves, initial tests are a success boys, who wants to go test out the new suit first?”

After Oxtrot placed down the metal rod in the room, a few moments of silence followed. Twelves suddenly said, “So about those Arrow Credits?”

“Ah, shit.” Chokehold responded, transferring 10 credits from his smartwatch.

Chapter Text

Chapter 21

The day after Kamala’s birthday, she woke up in her room, but something felt different. She didn’t have a nightmare again, and she woke up with some sense of happiness and calm, almost as if everything was back to normal again. But soon enough she was pulled from this atmosphere of peace when a message appeared on the screen of her room.

“Kamala Khan, report to Sector B Testing Dome for training.” the message on the screen said.

 Kamala had never received a message like this before, let alone been told anything about training of some kind, but she didn’t question it too much, and just assumed that it was just her getting some kind of orientation for one of the many jobs that the shelter had to keep people active.

She got up from her bed, got washed up and dressed in her new suit, grabbed a slice of the cake from the previous night out of the fridge, and walked out the door. After passing by the fake tree, she arrived at the Testing Dome. At the entrance, Captain America greeted her. Even after 2 months, and even with his accelerated healing, his leg wasn’t fully healed, and he was still walking with a slight limp.

“Hey, kid, what's up!?” He said to Kamala.

“Nothing much,” Kamala responded, “Why exactly am I here?” 

“It’s your first day of training.” Steve answered. “If you and your friends are supposed to help us save Tony Stark, and ultimately the world, you need more than some moves you saw in a Bruce Lee movie! Anyways, come on in.”

Kamala walked into the Dome with Steve, and as she walked to the main orientation room, she saw Doreen, Dante and Riri in the numerous training rooms, fighting against drones, clearing obstacle courses and trying out training gear.

Once Kamala reached the orientation room, she saw a rack of gear and a small indoor range.

“Alright, this is your first day of training so we won’t push you too hard.” Steve said, taking out a clipboard with a few pieces of paper on it. “ says that your powers are super strength, polymorphing, shapeshifting, and bioluminescence, apparently, Is that all?” He asked.

“Well, yeah, but what's with the shapeshifting and bioluminescence? I don’t think I’ve ever done those before.” Kamala responded.

“Well, simulations say that you probably can, why don’t you test that out?” Steve said.

“I’ll try.” Kamala responded, focusing hard on taking the form of a random person. When she opened her eyes, she saw that she was able to change the form of her hand to be stubbier and lighter for a few moments, but with a slight glowing aura around it, before it quickly reverted back to her normal hand.

“That… was… AWESOME!” she said excitedly.

“That could be pretty useful at some point, but you should try training that more.” Steve said.

“I also saw a slight aura around it, that must’ve been bioluminescence.” Kamala commented.

“Well, firstly, try a few punches on this dummy.” Steve said, pointing Kamala towards a human sized ballistic dummy that had a see-through gelatin body that had a fake muscular structure, some fake organs, and a fake skeleton connected to some wires and joints. It also had on a cloth uniform and armor similar to Arrow Soldiers

“Woah, what’s that? looks pretty gross.” Kamala asked

“It’s a ballistics dummy, we were supposed to give these to the FBI in a few years, but we’re still figuring out how it works, really.” Steve responded.

Kamala walked up to the dummy and punched it in the chest, only for it to realistically recoil and punch her back, directly in the face. Kamala stepped back from the hit, and was initially confused on what exactly happened.

“Oh, I forgot to mention, we hooked up a reactive endoskeleton to it so that it realistically can hit back. If anything, they’re more of a drone” Steve said, only to realize he said it too late.

“Would’ve been pretty useful to hear that a few seconds ago.” Kamala said, annoyedly, while rubbing her hand against the spot where the dummy punched her on the cheek.

“Well, the point is, you need to be able to take hits or block them.” Steve said. “Try again, but this time, try to block the attack.”

Kamala tried to punch the dummy again, this time, holding up her arms to block a punch to the face, only to get knee striked directly in the lower abdomen. Falling back and having the wind knocked out of her.

“A trained enemy won’t just throw haymakers in a fight, and they’ll try to mix up their hits, you’ll need to be prepared for a wide assortment of attacks. Try preparing for more than just one attack to one place.” Steve told Kamala.

“Ok… damn that hurts!” Kamala responded, getting back up to her feet and catching her breath.

Kamala finally managed to successfully block about 3 hits in a row. And even threw in a counterattack that sent the dummy flying several feet away.

“Good, good!” Steve said, “Looks like you’re getting the hang of it! Now head over to that obstacle course.”

Kamala walked over to the obstacle course, which was a replication of a wide city street with numerous encampments and fortifications, and waited for Steve to tell her to start.

“You see that flag over there, that’s your goal, there’s going to be ballistic drones with accuracy synced to combat analysis from skirmishes with Arrow Marines, and they’ll be firing rubber bullets, so be careful.” Steve said, “Alright… Go!”

Kamala began running towards the goal, and very quickly dove over a barricade a few paces ahead of her, kicking a ballistic drone in the head. She then ducked behind cover as 2 more began firing at her. Once they stopped firing for a moment, she leaped over the barricade and jumped right above an entrenchment, only to get shot mid air, and be sent flying backwards.

“Ow…” Kamala exclaimed weakly as the simulation shut down.

“Well, it wasn't the best run I’ve ever seen, but you’ll learn eventually.” Steve said. “Come on, let's head to weapons training.”

“Why would I need a gun?” Kamala asked, “I prefer not killing people, and if I needed to, I could just punch a hole through their chest.”

“We’ve analyzed some armor plates, the only way you can punch through it with your fists is to hit a weak point in the older model’s center, and it looks like the updated designs we’ve been seeing more recently fixed that already.” Steve said.

“Huh, these guys learn quick.” Kamala said.

“Besides,” Steve said, handing Kamala a pistol, “You can shoot faster than you can punch.”

Kamala looked at the pistol confusedly.

“Uh, I don’t know how to use this thing.” Kamala said, holding out the pistol in her palm.

“I’ll show you, hand it over for a second.” Steve responded.

As soon as Kamala handed over the pistol, Steve grasped it in his right hand, and pressed a button to activate the drones. He took out 3 of them in an instant, snapping from target to target by turning, and after a few more seconds, every target was down.

“Wow, that was quick.” Kamala said, amazed at his accuracy.

“Make sure to try and compensate for the recoil, these are armor piercing rounds. Keep a firm wrist, and control your breath. Just point and click, simple as that.” Steve said, unloading the magazine, loading a new one and handing the pistol to Kamala.

Kamala tried shooting at the Drones, only to miss nearly half of her shots and only hit 4 out of the 7 targets. After firing 15 shots, the gun clicked empty, and Kamala placed the pistol down.

“My wrist hurts.” Kamala said.

“Take a minute to rest, and keep practicing, you’ll be wrapped up in a few hours.” Steve said, prompting Kamala to sit down for a minute or so.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After several hours of training, Kamala was exhausted, she improved her dodging and punching a little bit, got about halfway through the obstacle course, and got a little better at shooting, but was still not very good at any of the 3 things she was being taught.

“So, how was your first day?” Doreen asked, walking up to Kamala.

“Fucking exhausting!” Kamala exclaimed, out of breath. 

“Well, you’ll be better at this once training wraps up in 3 weeks.” Doreen responded.

“3 weeks!?” Kamala asked, in a very shocked tone.

“Yup, every day!” Doreen said a little mockingly.

“Hey guys!” America said, walking up to Kamala and Doreen, holding a towel up to her head and wiping off beads of sweat. She didn’t look tired or slumped over at all, and still towered over both of them, though considering she was a little over 6 feet tall that still wasn’t much of a surprise.

“How are ya?” Doreen asked.

“I feel great! That was a great workout today.” America responded.

“How are you not tired?” Kamala asked, still a bit winded.

“When you’ve been going to a boxing gym since you were 10 years old, it really helps your endurance.” America responded.

“Where’s Eli? I haven’t seen him all day.” Kamala asked. 

“Oh, he already joined shield on his 16th birthday 2 years ago, so he did this before with no powers, actually I was the first person he told.” America responded.

“Huh, you two seem pretty close, are you two… y’know?” Kamala asked.

“Dating?” America said, “No, no, we’re just friends! Besides, I’ve lived my whole life around mostly girls, piece together the rest.”

“Oh, okay, now I get it.” Kamala said.

“What, you want a chance with him? You’d break poor Doreen’s heart!” America asked jokingly.

“C’mon, we’re just friends!” Doreen responded, trying to hide the fact that she was blushing a bit.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say.” America responded.

As the three of them walked to the exit, America wrapped her arms around both Kamala and Doreen’s shoulders.

“Y’know, I’m glad I have you guys around, I can finally share my ideas with someone.” America said.

“I was thinking of helping my Mama make a donut shop once all of this is over. I’d have a flavor with lemon and acorn called ‘lovebirds’ or something like that.” America said sarcastically.

“Ah shut up!” Doreen said, joking back to her.

Chapter Text

Chapter 22

After 3 harsh weeks of training, Kamala was finally at the final test, to clear a course known as the gauntlet. This final course was a combination of the CQC training, the marksmanship training, and the obstacle course, with the goal of either clearing all enemies, or sabotaging the control unit, which was guarded by numerous ballistic drones. This course was different than the others before it, because it was now a large arena that looked more similar to a forward operating base, and had things such as a fence and numerous fortifications.

“Which weapon would you like to pick?” Captain America asked. 

“I’ll pick the pistol.” Kamala said.

“Well, here it is then.” Steve said back, handing Kamala the pistol.

“So what if she fails?” Dante asked Eli, who was also overlooking the gauntlet.

“It’s really just a final test, just meant to get her used to what an actual battle will feel like, whatever she fails in here, she’ll learn out in the field.” Eli responded. “But seeing a few of those training sessions, I’ll bet you 5 dollars that she’ll get stopped before she even gets in the control room.”

“Deal.” Dante responded. “I got some faith in her, might as well bring it up to 10.”

“Ok, just reach the control unit and sabotage it, you’ve got this.” Kamala reassured herself.

She pressed the button to start the simulation. Immediately, a laser sight from a guard tower pointed directly at her. Kamala dived behind a rock, just as a rubber bullet was fired. She then began crawling towards the base through the nearby synthetic grass, making sure to avoid being spotted, until she was very quickly at the base of the tower. Upon seeing the drone with the sniper, she stretched her arm upwards to grab onto the ledge of the tower, and tossed herself upwards, kicking the drone as soon as she was at the top, and punching it in the jaw to make it be considered unconscious by the simulation’s standards. 

Now that she was in the base, she tried scoping out, allowing her to spot 5 drones passing below her on a patrol. She picked up the unconscious sniper drone, and threw it at the 5 others. Then, she dived down, and grabbed a stunned drone, moving around its rifle and shooting the other drones, before breaking its neck. With her path cleared, she took cover behind a barrack as she saw at least 15 more drones approaching on an even bigger patrol. Continuing to sneak through the base, she heard an alarm begin to blare, meaning that the other drones must have been found. 

She began rushing to reach the main control center, and, once near the building, she pulled a vent from the side, and crawled in. As she traversed the vents to find the control room, she looked into the numerous rooms through the air ducts in the walls and ceilings, seeing that there were multiple patrols on high alert. After a few more minutes of crawling, she saw the control room just below her. She removed the vent cover, and dropped down, only for her to be greeted by multiple drones in the room, protecting the control unit that managed the base and all of their HUDs. 

Before they could fire, Kamala shot first, taking out 2 of the 7 drones. She then dived for a 3rd drone on the left side of the room, and knocked their rifle out of their hands, she ducked under a punch and got the drone in a lock to use them as a shield, just as 2 more drones fired at her from the other side of the room. She threw the drone at the 2 others that had accidentally shot their ally, and sent one of them to the ground, while causing the other to be launched backwards into a wall. She shot another drone to her left, and charged at another drone, who was seemingly confused by her speed. The drone was punched in the face hard enough to send their head through the ceiling, and they began blindly firing at the room, nearly hitting the 2 drones that were knocked to the ground. As the 2 final drones regained their footing, Kamala attempted to shoot them as well, but her gun clicked empty. 

The drones also attempted to shoot, only to realize that their guns were damaged and couldn’t fire, so they rushed at Kamala at the same time. She weaved under the punch of one of them, only to be met by a knee to the face, then both began unleashing a flurry of punches and kicks at Kamala, sending her back towards a table. She suddenly grabbed a pencil from the table and jammed it directly in the drone’s head, before sweep kicking the last drone to the ground, and punching it in the face, knocking it unconscious.

After catching her breath, she pressed the shutdown button on the computer, causing all the monitors in the room to display a “Control Unit shut down, simulation complete.” message. 

The panels for the dome components began moving, and the walls and ceiling opened to reveal a control room with a few tables and computers, and Captain America, who was clapping his hands.

“Damn good job in there!” Steve said, “Still a bit rough around the edges, but clearly learly the training paid off.”

“Well, I had a great instructor.” Kamala responded.

“Well, thanks!” Steve said back.

He passed a syringe full of a bright green liquid to Kamala.

“Here, take this.” Steve said.

“What is it?” Kamala asked.

“Light stim injection,” Steve responded, “Should heal up any cuts or bruises from training in a minute or two.”

Kamala, after a few moments of hesitation, placed the stim back on the table.

“I hate needles, is there any other way to take this?” She asked.

“Well, you can drink it, technically.” He said.

She unscrewed the needle and drank the stim fluid, but immediately was repulsed by the flavor. It was oily in texture, and had a very bitter, copper like taste. Although the bruises and cuts from the trial immediately vanished, she gagged and nearly vomited on the ground.

“Oh god that was so much worse!” She exclaimed. “Why would anyone drink that!?”

“Well it’s in an injection form for a reason.” Steve responded. “Anyways, your first mission is tomorrow, lay low for the rest of the day and go get some rest, you’ll need it.”

As Kamala walked away Dante said, “You owe me 5 dollars.” Eli sighed, and grabbed 5 dollars from his pocket.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By that same time the next day, Kamala was at the elevating hangar, and was sitting in the back of a truck with Doreen, Eli, Riri, America and Dante. They were on their first mission in a campaign known as “Operation: Revengeance” and their goal was to locate Tony Stark, along with other key figures such as Reed Richards, Bruce Banner and Janet van Dyne.

“So, where exactly are we going?” Kamala asked, adjusting the repulsor glove replica on her hand. 

“There’s reports of a former police station that the Arrow Agency took over, the goal is to retake it and set up an FOB there.” Eli said. “It’s a small mission, so we’re just being sent by ourselves.”

“You sure that you need that thing? It's just a replica.” Riri asked.

“Well it looks cool, so I’ll keep it on.” Kamala answered.

“When that thing breaks don’t come complaining to me.” Riri said.

The hangar rose to the surface, revealing a ravaged city skyline. In the distance, buildings appeared to be split apart, partially bombed or burnt, and a few buildings miles in the distance were just completely missing from the skyline.

“Holy shit, I don’t remember it being this bad out here a few weeks ago.” Riri said, looking at the skyline through the window.

The car drove down the road going past numerous destroyed tanks and planes. A few people were out in the streets, grabbing whatever was useful from the streets. Their clothes were tattered, and many looked emaciated and hungry. 

“We need to get out there and help those people! Why haven’t we done anything” Kamala asked.

“The base has no more room, we just got lucky to be accepted in.” Eli responded.

“Have we at least tried setting up camps and shelters?” Kamala asked.

“That's part of our mission objective,” Eli responded, “Once the station is cleared we’ll set up housing and supply depots along with the military assets.”

“Well, that makes our job all the more important.” Doreen said. “We can’t just let people suffer like this.”

Suddenly, a few people looked upwards to the left, and began running back into the buildings.

“What’s going on? I can’t see or hear anything out there.” Dante asked.

Suddenly, the driver turned and moved the truck into a nearby alley, and shut off the engine and lights.

“What’s happening?” America asked, “Why’d we just go in-” 

“Shut up!” The driver exclaimed, in a whispering tone. “Their sensors can detect a pin dropping from half a mile away!”

After a few moments, a helicopter was heard whirring loudly overhead, followed by the sound of some turret fire. Only after a whole minute of silence did the driver turn back on the engine and lights, and they pulled out from the alley. 

“Gamma 3-3 do you copy, come in!” The radio blared.

“This is Gamma 3-3” the driver responded. “An enemy helicopter just flew overhead, we are reporting…” They looked at the road and saw 5 mangled civilians on the ground. “5 dead civilians, make sure to send a cleanup crew at sector 13-7.”

“Noted, continue to the target area, out.” The radio operator responded.

“Oh god!” Doreen exclaimed, nearly gagging.

“A lot of the guys up here just became numb to this at some point.” Eli said, “Being witness to enough suffering for this long could change anyone.”

“These Arrow Agency guys seem completely sadistic, why the hell would they target civilians?” America asked.

“They weren’t around for the Geneva Convention, or any convention for that matter, to them,” Eli continued, “There’s no such thing as war crimes or international laws to them, and they seem to consider targeting civilians as a legitimate strategy to demoralize the enemy or reduce the number of recruits.”

The car suddenly stopped, and the door opened. 

“This is as far as I can take you.” Gamma 3-3 said. “You’ll need to go on foot from here.”

Everyone except for the driver stepped out.

“Thanks, 3-3.” Doreen said.

“Oh please,” Gamma 3-3 responded, taking off their mask and helmet to reveal a yellow, insect like face, similar to a human with a normal head shape, mouth and eyes, but with antennas, skin similar to an exoskeleton, a lack of hair and 2 nostrils without a nose. “Name’s Mac, but everyone calls me Jumper.” 

“Ok then, thanks Jumper.” Doreen said, correcting herself.

As Jumper drove away, Riri asked in confusion, “What the hell was that guy!?”

“What, never seen a Martian before?” Eli asked back, “Martians living on earth in masks is the least crazy thing about Shield’s expeditions and what they’ve led to.”

“C’mon guys, stay focused, we need to get to that base, clear it out, and call in Shield to pick us up.” Doreen said.

“Well, you’re the boss, I guess, I’ll scout out the area.” Riri responded sarcastically.

After a few minutes of waiting, Riri flew back down from the top of a building.

“I saw about 24 infantry down there, and 3 IFVs.” Riri said.

“What’s an IFV?” Kamala asked.

“Infantry Fighting Vehicle, light armor, autocannons, missile launchers, and highly mobile.” Riri answered.

“We should target those first,” Eli said, “Riri and Dante should try and blow up the ammunition loads while the rest of us deal with the infantry.”

Everyone got into a position to ambush the base from different directions. As soon as Riri fired a missile barrage, destroying 1 of the Fighting Vehicles, everybody emerged to attack. America flew in at rapid speeds, and took out 7 troops instantly, while Doreen called in a swarm of Squirrels that overtook a small group of 6 more. Kamala weaved out of the direction of fire from a soldier, before grabbing their rifle and throwing them into the air by stretching her arm. Just before they landed, she grabbed them midair and spun them around similar to a flail, sending more soldiers to the ground. 

“Get the rocket launcher!” A soldier yelled out. 

Suddenly a soldier burst from the door, and fired a rocket directly at Kamala. She dived under it, causing the missile to hit one of the IFVs directly in the side. Because the missile used a delayed explosive, it blew up inside the Vehicle, completely obliterating it from the inside, and sending the turret dozens of meters in the air. 

“Oh shit…” The soldier said, “Well, back to the regular pla-” They were immediately interrupted by falling through one of America’s portals without their rifle, gear and weapons, and being dropped in a containment cell in the Shield baseIn just 2 minutes, there were only 9 soldiers still up. Eli and America were already fighting 5 of them on their own, while both Doreen and Kamala fought 2 each. Kamala managed to block multiple attacks from both of them, even countering a punch from 1 of them and hitting them with an uppercut so hard they flew several meters backwards, but was distracted when the last IFV was taken out. She was nailed on the side of the head with the stock of the gun, falling to the ground instantly.

“Oh shit!” She yelled, holding up her arms as the soldier raised their rifle.

They were suddenly launched backwards from a repulsor beam. Kamala looked over to Riri, who just shook her head, almost saying, “Hey, it wasn’t me.” Kamala looked at the repulsor on her hand, only to see smoke coming from the projector.

“This thing is real!?” She thought to herself.

Doreen was about to be punched from behind when Kamala fired another repulsor blast, taking out the soldier who was about to attack Doreen. 

After Doreen knocked out the last soldier, and America and Eli defeated the 5 soldiers, Kamala looked at the repulsor, seeing that not only was it at 50% battery, but that it was on its lethal setting.

“Oh god, not again!” She said in shock and horror at what she’d done, after seeing the holes blasted through the enemy soldier’s bodies. “I think I need to sit down for a minute.” 

Kamala collapsed against a wall, tears running down her face. She never wanted to, but she had killed someone again.

“Is she ok?” Riri asked.

“Clearly not, she just killed someone!” Doreen said back.

“I’ll go talk to her.” Riri responded, walking over to Kamala.

“Hey, Kam-” Riri attempted to say in a reassuring tone.

“Get the hell away from me, I’m a monster for what I did!” She yelled.

“Ok, I’ll stay back.” Riri said.

“It happened again, I did it again!” Kamala cried out.

“Again, what do you mean again?” Riri asked.

“I accidentally killed the one that shot my brother, I didn’t mean to… I didn’t mean to…” She tried saying, before breaking down and crying again.

“Kamala, listen…” Riri said, “killing is never noble or good, but this is a war, we may have to, or they could kill us or hurt those who can’t help themselves. I don’t want to kill other people, but I’m forced to at some points. It will always haunt me, but sometimes, we’ll need to use lethality when there’s no other choice, or if we need to protect other people. This doesn’t mean we need to kill everything in our path, only when our hand is forced. You saved yourself and Doreen, and it was just a horrible mistake. If you don’t want to kill an enemy, you can avoid doing so, but when you’ve been forced to do so, you’ll need to learn to live with your actions that were necessary to save the lives of others.”

Kamala, after standing back up, turned the repulsor setting to ‘stun’ and said to Riri, “There's always a way to resolve something without anyone dying.”

“I’m glad you’ve still found a way to be merciful, don’t lose it.” Riri said back reassuringly, “Now C’mon, we still have a mission to complete.”

Doreen had already deactivated the control unit and looped the comms system to evade suspicion long enough for Shield personnel to move in, but there were still some secondary objectives, such as figuring out what had happened in the station, and finding whatever prisoners could be there.

“Hello?” Doreen asked, walking down into the holding cell block. 

There was no response, and even after looking around the cell block multiple times, she found nothing. All she found was a door to another cellar. Entering the room and going down the stairs, she backed away, and ran back up to notify the others.

“You guys need to see this!” Doreen said.

Following Doreen to the basement, everyone followed her into the room, and on the ground they saw a portion of the floor that had the tiles broken, packed down dirt and a few shovels.

“What is it?” Kamala asked.

“Well, we need to dig it up.” Doreen said. “Either way, I’m not sure it’ll be pretty.”

After digging for a few minutes, a pale, motionless arm emerged from the ground. 

“The hell?” Doreen wondered to herself, “Eli, help me pull this out.”

The two of them pulled the arm, and this managed to pull up a person with a police uniform and a half crushed head.

“Oh fuck!” Eli said, backing away.

Riri opened her visor and vomited from the smell and the sight.

“Oh shit, I can see at least 7 more down there!” Riri exclaimed.

After digging up all the bodies, all of whom appeared to be mutilated in some way from guns or blades, and were barely recognizable from the injuries and months worth of decomposition. However, the badges revealed who some of the officers were. The Badges read Jefferson Davis, Yuri Wantanabe, and George Stacy.

Chapter Text

Chapter 23

The return to base was harsh because of the ever present enemy soldiers and the damaged terrain, but the first mission was deemed a success. However, when Miles and Gwen learned of the deaths of both of their fathers, their grief and pain overshadowed this victory. The singular police cadet who had also survived grieved for the deaths of his coworkers and friends, who had died so that he could live. Despite the recent victory, there was still an operation meant to move infantry into the station, and attack an Arrow Agency supply depot from there. 

“5-4, are you sure that you need a shotgun and a pistol, instead of just carrying one as a sidearm with your rifle?” A Shield infantryman asked another, as they walked to the transport car.

“That armor those Arrow Soldiers are wearing can tank practically anything you throw at them, if you want to even stand a chance out there, it’d be best to keep heavy weapons on you, 2-7.” 5-4 responded, fastening her helmet as she walked past a superhuman task force. 

One of the task force members in a dull blue and red suit bumped into 5-4 on accident, accidentally falling to the ground.

“Sorry ma’am!” Kamala exclaimed apologetically.

“Ah Kam, you klutz!” Doreen said jokingly, helping Kamala to her feet, and continuing to talk while walking away. “Anyways, should we go and get ice cream or pizza from the food hall to celebrate?”

“Huh, weird kid.” 2-7 said.

“Hell, why are we sending kids out anyways?” 5-4 asked.

“Powers can beat skills and experience I guess.” 2-7 responded.

“Hey, over here lover boy!” 6-2 yelled, sitting in the back of a truck with a senior officer. 

“Alright, come on, we need to get to that station.” 2-7 said to 5-4.

The 2 infantrymen sat in the back of the truck, along with 24 other troops all packed into the back of the truck. The truck moved to the elevating hangar, which brought the truck, along with 6 more to the surface. The trucks drove past another car, which seemed to be carrying a few dead civilians in the back, who would likely be cremated, preserved as cadavers for research or used as compost for the farm at the base. 

Moving into the base was easy, and it only took a few hours to clear up the bodies or tie up the unconscious enemy infantry, and set up the radio station to link back up to the main base. Once the first half of the operation was deemed a success, a third of the infantry went back into the trucks to attack the supply depot, and the rest stayed behind to defend the station in case it was counterattacked.

“Hey, 5-4,” 2-7 asked.

“It's not like we’re in an open channel, you can call me Janine.” She responded, “but anyways, what is it?”

“Well, uh, I think you look great in that outfit, it's nice on you.” 2-7 said awkwardly, trying, and very much failing to flirt.

“Ha, what, a tactical black uniform and some armor?” Janine said jokingly, “Real charmer right here.”

“Dang it, Nice going there, Terry!” He said to himself.

“Well, here's a little reward for the effort.” She said to him before giving him a kiss on the cheek.

2-7’s entire face went red immediately, and he pulled his shirt up to cover his blush.

“Ah don’t get too excited, didn’t mean anything too much, and there's still a mission to do!” Janine said.

“Ooh! Looks like Lover Boy just hit a streak of luck!” 6-2 said mockingly.

“Dude, shut up!” Terry said back, still clearly a bit flustered from what had just happened.

“Calm down back there, will you!?” The senior officer yelled, immediately causing everyone to go silent. “We’re nearly there, quiet down!”

“The plan is simple,” The Officer said, “we target the rear end-” one of the soldiers snickered a little bit.

“How the hell did some of these kids get past basic training?” The officer said to himself, “Anyways, once we enter, we target the power and their officer first, they’ll fall apart or surrender without them, and then, we tag the supplies, loop their radio to avert suspicion, and leave with the supplies before they know what hit em!”

The soldiers unloaded from the trucks, which had their lights off to avoid being spotted. Once the base was in sight, they began moving towards the rear flank. The base was set up near the shore in The Battery, so the troops waded through the shallow water near the beach, taking cover from searchlights of the fortress. The small group of 36 soldiers each took different positions around the shorter rear wall of the base.

“We want to hit them quietly and quickly, equip your suppressors.” the Officer said in a whisper. Once everybody had attached their suppressors to their rifles and pistols, and flipped down their night vision goggles.

“Glad we got access to these early, I heard the guys in Vietnam were tripping balls from the fluids leaking in the older models.” Terry commented.

“Stay on topic! We’re separating into groups to attack different spots.” Janine said.

“Alright, 12 of you will go up the wall on the side to take out the exterior guards and watch towers, and the rest of us will saw through the exterior wall.” The Officer said.

The smaller group rappelled up to the side of the wall, near the guard tower, and stealthily climbed to the top. They spotted 3 guards in one of the towers.

“I’m seeing 3 targets, right side, everyone got a mark?” Janine whispered. 

“Spotted, I’ve got the one on the left.” Another infantryman said.

“I got the one on the right. Another infantryman added on.

“Ok, on my mark, 3…2…1.” Janine said. The 3 infantrymen shot at the same time, quietly taking out the 3 targets at the same time. 

“All 3 are down, move, move!” The Officer said. 

The infantry reached the top of the wall at the same time, and disconnected the watchtower lights, just before dropping the 3 enemy soldiers off of the wall in case any more soldiers arrived. They also took out the guards in the next tower, and disabled the watchtower there as well. The soldiers quietly began moving down through the tower, and eventually exited the tower. Ahead of them was the power generator, which had a few sentries patrolling around it.

“It’s not like all of us can sneak up to it and shut the power down without getting spotted, is someone here able to sneak up to it on their own?” The Officer asked.

Nobody stepped up.

“Well, let me show you kids how it's done.” The Officer said.

He snuck behind one of the sentries, hugging against the wall to the generator room, and once they were just behind them, quickly dragged them away, lodging his knife under the soldier’s helmet and upwards into his brain.

“Huh?” The other sentry exclaimed after noticing that the other sentry was missing.

They walked over to the spot that the other sentry was, but when they turned around, they were immediately hit directly in the jaw with an uppercut, knocking them unconscious. The officer dragged the unconscious soldier behind the building, and snuck into the building, flipping the switch, and causing the entire depot to instantly go dark.

“We cut through the exterior wall, do you read?” An infantryman on the radio asked.

“We read you, stay quiet, and clear each building in groups of 4.” The Officer said.

After half an hour of breaching and clearing out small barracks and warehouses, each building had quietly been cleared out with very little effort.

“We’ve cleared each building, start tagging the supplies.” The Officer said over the radio.

“This all feels a bit too easy, there were only 6 enemies in buildings at most.” Terry thought to himself.

The Infantry began tagging specific crates such as “Rations,” “Ammunition,” and “Explosives” among other things. But a few crates had no labels, or were much larger than the others.

“What are these?” An Infantryman asked.

“Let's open them, Check what's inside.” The Officer said.

A soldier walked up to the crate, and opened it with the latch on the side, only to be met by gunfire.

“They’re in the crates, get back!” The Officer yelled. 

As the Infantry began exiting the warehouse, few of the infantry began slightly opening the label-less crates and throwing in grenades before running off, but one of them opened the gate of an extremely large crate, only to be grabbed by a mechanical claw, get lifted upwards, and be squished, making a horrific crunching noise.

“What the fuck is that!?” Janine exclaimed, backing up from the large crate.

Out of the large crate, stepped a 20 foot tall bipedal mech, covered in armored plates, and in the cockpit in the upper torso of the mech sat a pilot in a with a headset that displayed a targeting system, driving around the machine with a joystick and multiple levers. Just as Janine, Terry, The Officer and a few more infantry exited the warehouse through the door and began trying to search for some sort of anti tank weapon, the door was immediately shot off its hinges by a hail of bullets from the arm turret on the mech.

“I found something!” Terry yelled out, opening one of the crates that read, “Explosives.”

Terry opened the crate, finding a 2-barreled rocket launcher and a few rockets next to it. The mech burst through the wall of the warehouse, and dozens of enemy soldiers followed. 

“How the hell does this thing work?!” Terry said, fidgeting with the Launcher as he aimed for the mech. 

A rocket fired on accident when he pressed the trigger, and this rocket hit the cockpit of the mech, having an intended delayed explosion about 200 milliseconds later. When the smoke cleared, the cockpit was still intact, but still had a crack in the reinforced glass, indicating that it was hit at a bad angle.

“Heh, please!” The Pilot mocked over the speaker on the mech.

Just before they could fire a volley of bullets, Janine pushed Terry down and dived to the ground with him, narrowly avoiding being shredded just as the mech fired a barrage of large bullets from a mech sized machine gun it was carrying.

“Aim for its leg once it gets close!” Janine said, loading in another rocket to the launcher. 

Terry continued taking aim at the mech, while Janine took out any enemy soldiers that moved towards them. Just as the mech’s pilot was visible, Terry shot the mech directly in the leg, causing the mech to lose its balance and fall directly onto the crate full of explosives. Terry and Janine backed up, and once they were a good distance away, shot the second rocket into the crate, causing a chain explosion that destroyed the mech and multiple nearby enemy soldiers.

“The Mech is down, move in!” Terry yelled out to the other infantry.

As the infantry began approaching the defeated enemy force, The badly injured pilot of the mech crawled from the wreckage. 

“Keep your hands where we can see them!” The Officer ordered.

“Heh, you assholes think you won?” The Pilot questioned. “The new armor on the way’ll finish you!”

“You mean more of those older mechs you were in that we just took out? Good luck with that.” Janine mocked. 

“Oh shit, enemy aerial spotted north, 200 meters!” an Infantryman warned.

“That armor!” The Pilot answered back. 

A barrage of bullets began coming from the approaching aerial threats, signaling to the infantry to take cover. The hostels landed, revealing 3 enemy soldiers in human sized mech suits, which had metal armor plates, a reinforced mirrored glass visor, jets to fly around with, and machine guns attached to their arms, along with a small missile launcher on the shoulder. Almost like a more simplified iron man suit. 

The Infantry immediately attempted to shoot at the armored enemies, only for either the shots to bounce off because of bad angles, or for the enemies to dodge the attacks.

“Look out!” The Officer yelled as the armored enemies began firing barrages of bullets at the infantry, killing several in a few moments. 

The infantry began taking cover behind more of the crates attempting to take shots at the armored enemies, but to little effect. One of the infantrymen took a shot at the visor of one of the suited enemies, causing the bullet to break through and kill them.

“Aim for the visors!” The infantryman yelled.

“Use evasive maneuvers!” one of the 2 remaining enemies yelled, prompting them to begin flying to prevent someone from aiming for a weak spot.

A suited enemy fired a rocket at a crate, causing it to begin to fall over. Most of the infantry below got out of the way, but 6 of them were crushed by it. Another suited troop flanked them, and began firing a hail of bullets down at the troops. Suddenly, Terry fired a rocket at them, which was very effective against the armored troop, completely blasting them apart.

“Fuck! Activating energy beam!” The last suited troop said.

A bright light began emitting from the power core on the chest of the suit as the suited enemy rose up higher, and after about 6 seconds of charging, they fired a beam that sliced through the crates like a hot knife through butter. This blast sliced in half 9 more troops, but as the beam finished, the cooling vents opened, exposing the Wiring on the neck of the suit. All it took was one bullet grazing the wire for the suit to shut off and fall to the ground.

The infantry began approaching the powerless mech suit, which had the sound of muffled profanities inside of it. The back of the suit automatically opened, and the soldier came out the back holding their hands up.

“Don’t even think of trying anything!” Janine said, intimidating the pilot.

“Trucks are moving in, lets take the supplies and prisoners so we can leave.” The Officer ordered.

The soldiers began loading back into the truck, dragging the bounded enemy troops with them.

“The hell were those things?” 6-2 asked, wrapping a bandage around a gash on his arm from shrapnel.

“Not sure exactly what,” Terry responded, “but if they continue to learn as fast as they usually do, this war has definitely changed for the worst.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 24

The year was now 1987, it had been 6 months since the supply depot and the encounters of new weapons such as the rockets and armored suits, known as blitz units, and yet, the war still raged on. Kamala and her allies had now been on several successful missions, having helped retake most of Manhattan, and even establishing a supply route with Jersey City. Shield began developing new weapons from the Arrow Agency’s stolen weaponry, and began understanding their tech and biology more from studying the bodies and gear of Arrow Infantry that were killed or captured. 

The guns used were all firing regular projectiles still, but seemed to fire delayed explosive bullets, meant to create more internal damage once puncturing the flesh. They also wore uniforms that had a light exoskeleton weaved just under the fabric, reducing muscular strain and allowing them to lift up to 200 kgs. They had microchips connected to their brain stem to link their gear to their body, and brain scans even indicated that they were modified to have reduced empathy, pain and fear, turning them into some of the deadliest soldiers the mind could conjure. Otherwise, they were nearly biologically identical to a regular human, but all Arrow Infantry were genetically identical between 6 different biological palettes due to them being clones. An average height Caucasian male with light brown hair and eyes, a tall African male with black hair and gray eyes, a short Native Mexican woman with brown hair and green eyes, an average height East Asian male with dark brown hair and hazel eyes, a tall Caucasian woman with red hair and green eyes, and a short Martian male with pink skin, stumps where there were once antennae and large purple eyes.

This increased knowledge helped in developing some new EMP weapons meant to interfere with the brain chips temporarily, and helped in developing some new delayed explosive weapons. And yet, besides New England, Shield was still struggling on most fronts. But strangely not in California, where there was supposedly some sort of currently unknown hero fending off the invasion with very little assistance. All that had been seen of this hero was that they were always seen at bars after destroying entire air cruisers, and they would just vanish the next day.

Kamala was called over to the science lab to see if she could try out some new gear that was developed before her next mission, and was also asked to bring her suit in a case. After seeing the message, she walked to the lab, and stood at the door to wait to be let in.

“Hello?” Kamala called out, “Anyone in there? Or am I early?”

After a few moments of waiting, the door opened, and a Green skinned, green haired woman in a lab coat, with glasses covering eyes with 3 spotted pupils let Kamala in. 

“Nope, just on time!” The bug-like woman replied, “Come on in.” 

As the woman turned around, her glasses fell off.

“Oh, great, I've got it.” The woman said, as a pair of mechanical, spider-like appendages emerged from her back and picked up the glasses for her.

“Woah, where the hell did those come from?!” Kamala exclaimed.

“Oh, unlike the species name ‘Arachnids’ implies, we eventually only dropped to 4 limbs, but we've adapted with machines.” The woman said, as 2 more mechanical arms put the glasses on her head. “We were called all the way from Spidora to build some on earth for some kind of ‘Iron Spider’ suit.”

“Spidora?” Kamala said in confusion. 

“Oh, it’s just the 3rd planet in a system you call Proxima Centauri.” The bug woman said back.

“How many planets does Shield even contact?!” Kamala asked.

“Just about every planet in sector 6 of the galaxy, the Arrow Agency pretty much owns the entirety of the other 7 sectors after that.” The bug woman answered.

“Who owns the previous 5-” Kamala attempted to ask, before being cut off.

“I forgot to introduce myself,” The bug woman said, “Name’s Marxia, what's yours?”

“Kamala, but Kam works just fine.” Kamala responded.

“Well, welcome to R&D, Kamala!” Marxia said, “Let's start the tour, shall we?”

Marxia led Kamala through the area closest to the door.

“Here’s our Artifact center, but you don’t need to see anything here.” Marxia monologued.

Kamala caught a glimpse of a girl with scales trapped in a block of ice in one of the rooms.

“Woah, what was that?” Kamala asked.

“Just some newly discovered dragon like human subspecies that’s perfectly preserved in ice, nothing too important.” Marxia answered.

“What do you mean, not important? Thats like, the discovery of the century!” Kamala commented.

“Anyways, onto the next section!” Marxia said, dodging the comment entirely.

Marxia opened a door with a keycard, revealing the next section, which had numerous chemicals and materials, which were being tested by scientists. 

“This is the center for chemical and material development,” Marxia said, “don’t worry, these suits and the containment cells make this place entirely safe!”

A scientist stumbled behind Marxia, their helmet for their hazmat suit completely shattered. 

“Miss Zanatomas, I don’t feel too good.” He said, just before vomiting up a glowing green liquid onto the floor.

“Mostly safe…” Marxia corrected herself, “do you need a break?” Marxia asked.

“Nah I’m good.” The scientist said, even though there was now a glowing blue and yellow mushroom sprouting from their face.

“I’ve got the stim fluid, just wait a second.” Marxia said, putting on a pair of gloves and collecting the liquid into a vial that she pulled from her back pocket.

“That's what the stim fluid is!?” Kamala exclaimed.

“Well it isn’t typically from humans, but spores from a Deep Zanzibar Cave Mushroom coming in contact with Hydrochloric acid will form unfiltered stim fluid.” Marxia answered.

“So I drank filtered vomit to heal!?” Kamala asked in disgust.

“No no, you drank a filtered fluid made from animal vomit and mushrooms, big difference.” Marxia answered.

“Can we leave before I realize something like that we’ve been using people as compost for plants?” Kamala asked.

Marxia pushed a button that covered the window of the farm with a shield.

“Well uh, we’d never do that, but sure! Lets see the armor and experimental weapons lab, that's why you’re here anyways.” Marxia said quickly to avert suspicion.

She used the keycard to the last section, which opened to reveal a firing range, a few rooms with small assembly lines, and a few weaving machines and crates. A few scientists were firing experimental weapons such as multi shot RPGs down the range. Inside of a glass container, Kamala saw an armor plate set, and some sort of new wrist device.

“This is what you’re really here for!” Marxia said.

“What are those things?” Kamala asked, pointing to the armor and device.

“The main parts for your suit upgrade,” Marxia said, “Now please, hand over the suit so we can start adding the upgrades.”

Kamala handed over the suit in the briefcase, and Marxia called over a few more scientists and engineers, who all quickly got to work. Kamala saw a few mechanical suits in the testing room. The suits looked to be made from some sort of wood or plastic material, and the visor was green. 

“New armor suit, huh?” Kamala commented, walking over to the room.

The visor suddenly opened to reveal a squirrel operating the suit with a movement rig and a wheel.

“Oh, you guys just haven’t been seeing enough squirrels in the past few chapters, so the writer just found a stupid way to add them.” Doreen said, suddenly appearing like a creep .

“Okay, that's a rude thing to say,” Doreen said, in a tone that was still very cringewort-

“Dude, just let the joke go so I can finish my fucking dialogue!” Doreen said, still talking like… alright I’ll stop now.

Okay, carry on.

“but yeah, Monkey Joe and a lot of other squirrels insisted on fighting with the infantry, especially with such an important mission coming up, so I decided to help them get some mech suits to be able to join the fight.” Doreen said.

Monkey Joe hopped out of the mech and climbed up to Doreen’s shoulder. He began saying something to her, but Kamala couldn’t understand what exactly he was saying. 

“C'mon she’s right here, don’t embarrass me.” Doreen said to Monkey Joe.

“What are you talking about?” Kamala interrupted.

“Nothing, just some acorns that Joe found on the surface.” Doreen said.

Marxia emerged from the manufacturing room, carrying a suit that didn’t look much different than what was brought in, besides a slightly duller and more muted color scheme, that made the red, blue and yellow color scheme more muted and less detectable.

“Well, the new suit is here, I’ll see you in a second.” Kamala said.

“See ya later.” Doreen said back.

“Here’s your new suit, there's a changing room over there.” Marxia said, handing Kamala the suit.

Once Kamala went into the room and changed into the suit, she left the changing room, feeling a little confused as to how this new suit was an upgrade, considering that it felt the exact same.

“This feels the exact same, how is this even an upgrade besides the color scheme changing?” Kamala asked.

“Step over there for a second please.” Marxia said, pointing to an orange ‘X’ in the center of one of the larger rooms.

“Okay…?” Kamala responded, with a bit of uncertainty in her voice.

After she stepped onto the X in the room, she saw Marxia putting on goggles and a headset.

“Wait, what's going on!?” Kamala asked concernedly.

“Nothing, just stand still.” Marxia said, reaching under a table to grab some kind of item.

“Wait! I never agreed to getting shot at!” Kamala said.

“No, I’m not going to shoot you, I’ve never used a gun in my life!” Marxia said, taking out a pen.

“Phew, okay.” Kamala exclaimed in relief.

“But he is.” Marxia said as an infantryman approached with an SMG.

“Wait wha-” Kamala attempted to say, as a bullet hit her directly in the chest, sending her to the ground.

After a few moments, she got up completely unscathed, but still dazed from hitting her head.

“What the fuck was that for!?” Kamala asked.

“We were just testing how well the new armor plates work, and it looks like they can stop pistol rounds just fine.” Marxia answered.

“Why test it while I’m still wearing it?!” Kamala asked.

After hesitating for a few moments, Marxia responded, “For fun.” she said, making a very smug smile.

“Whatever,” Kamala said, “Is there anything else?”

“You’ve been training your shapeshift ability, right?” Marxia asked.

“Well, yeah, but I can’t change my suit with me.” Kamala said.

“Here’s the wrist module,” Marxia said, “Go ahead and select something.”

Kamala put on the wrist module, which resembled the bangle that she would typically wear, and after pressing the ‘gem’ that was in the center, a screen opened up, with a few options of “Emergency Message,” “Disguises,” and “Minimap” in boxes.

“Uh, how do I use this?” Kamala asked, "There's no mouse.”

“Just tap on ‘disguises’, it's a touchscreen.” Marxia said.

Kamala clicked on the disguises menu, and selected “Arrow Agency Marine.” Her suit began changing color and shape to look nearly identical to an Arrow Agency Marine’s uniform.

“Woah, cool!” Kamala commented.

“Now try shapeshifting into one of their clone troops.” Marxia said.

Kamala focused hard, and changed her appearance to that of a palette 1 clone, she practically looked indistinguishable from a real clone soldier. She could only hold the disguise for a few minutes, and she later just changed back to her normal appearance reflexively.

“Good enough,” Kamala thought to herself, “But with the mission tomorrow I’ll need this skill to be mastered.”

For the rest of the day, Kamala continuously tried changing into the shape of a clone troop, but saw little improvement, only being able to extend her transformation to about 10 minutes before automatically switching back.

“At this point I might as well rest and plan around this tomorrow.” She said to herself.

She went back to her living quarters, and couldn’t help but think on whether or not Tony Stark was even still alive in that tower, or whether they could make sure he leaves tomorrow night.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“The objective is simple,” Nick Fury briefed to the Infantry and Kamala’s group, “We’ll get Ms Marvel to disguise herself and infiltrate the base, where she will plant a virus into the mainframe and shut down the automated defenses surrounding the Empire State Building, then, we search each floor, find him, take Stark back and get out.”

“Ladies and Gentlemen,” He Continued, “Rescuing Stark won’t be easy, the Arrow Agency fortified the Empire State Building with nearly everything they had access to, and the place scrambles radios and sonar, so we have no idea what exactly is in there, how many there are, or even where exactly Stark is. But, taking him back may be exactly what we need to turn this war around. He has critical intel, he knows the weaknesses of whatever they’ve forced him to build, and best of all, he can build a few things himself, this mission could mean the difference between winning this war, and losing our entire planet.”

After the infantry saluted him, he gave one final remark to the Infantry, “The world is in your hands, do not give in, if you lose an eye, you’ve got two for a reason, if you’re shot or stabbed, you hit them back and take them down with you, if you’re too injured to fight, your allies can use what weapons and ammo to avenge you and your comrades, but no matter what, we cannot fail, no matter how outmatched we seem! Godspeed, soldiers, our fate rests in your hands, and we will not let them take the world from our rightful hands!”

“Protection, one word!” the infantry chanted.

They began moving over to the trucks, helicopters and tanks, prepared to face insurmountable odds if it meant saving the little rock they called home. Kamala’s group, however, were on their way in a different, smaller car, because Kamala was meant to infiltrate the building and upload the virus first. And would be supported by her squad just in case everything went wrong. 

“You sure that you’re all good?” Maria Hill asked, “You’ve never done a stealth mission before.”

“I’ll be fine! I just need to sneak in with an outfit, get to the control room, upload the virus, and get out.” 

“It’s not that simple,” Maria said, “Not only do they use IFF circuitry, but they also all have slightly distinct voices, so you’ll need to do your best to mimic them. You’ll also need their helmet, so be careful about not breaking the helmet of whoever you copy.”

“Okay, simple enough.” Kamala said.

“You’ll probably need to swap disguises or take breaks to refocus, but with the right outfit, you should be able to sneak into the control room undetected,” Maria explained, “once you’re there, you should be able to insert this floppy disk into the machine, but if they don’t use floppy disks, they should have something to convert the virus to whatever they use in a data room or something similar.”

“Got it.” Kamala said.

“This entire mission depends on how well you do with uploading the virus, if you can’t do that, they may start calling in reinforcements, and they’ll have full access to defense systems and environmental data, that’s a risk we aren’t willing to take, so if you fail, we may just have to blow up the place.” Maria said.

After a moment of shock, Kamala asked, “Why? Isn’t the goal to save Stark and the other prisoners?”

“If it means taking out their leadership, Shield is willing to get their hands dirty, and we consider it a necessary sacrifice to lose an Avenger, but that of course isn’t a very good or moral idea, which is why you absolutely cannot fail.” Maria said.

“I won’t let this become plan B, I promise.” Kamala said.

“We’re as close as we can take you, but we’ll use low frequency contact from here.” Mac said, handing Kamala an earpiece.

“Kam,” Doreen said, “In case you don’t make it out, I want you to know that-”

Kamala immediately reached in for a hug, holding Doreen close.

“You’re the greatest best friend I could’ve asked for, you don’t need to tell me anything.” Kamala said.

“Yeah, of course!” Doreen said, a hint of disappointment in her voice, “I’m sure you’ll be fine, anyways, it was a stupid thing I was totally gonna say, exact same thing!”

Kamala walked out of the truck, and changed her suit appearance to an Arrow Agency Marine.

“Stay safe out there.” Doreen said.

“I should tell you the same thing, but I’m sure you will.” Kamala said back. “See you later, Doreen.”

She began moving up a building to a vantage point, which allowed her to take out a pair of binoculars and see 2 clones talking to each other. One was wearing a balaclava along with their helmet, which would make them easier to copy if she just copied her voice and changed her height. She moved to a street pole that was closer to the two guards on patrol, and began overhearing their conversation, trying to listen to the vocal inflections of the one she planned to copy.

“Hey, Deb?” The other guard asked.

“We’re on patrol, Zero, what do you want?” Deb responded. She seemed to be around Kamala’s height, with a similar build, and had an accent similar to a Texan accent.

“You ever heard of that band ‘Fecal Matter’?” Zero asked.

“You mean that band from Washington?” Deb asked back.

“Yeah, that one,” Zero answered, “You think that band will make it big someday?” 

“Probably not,” Deb said, “especially not that Cobain kid that's running it, He’ll probably just get 1 hit song before everyone forgets he even existed, or he gets copied, like that Solo artist on Dormattis, Paul Eggtreites, or something like that.”

“Eh, you’re probably right, he’s getting nowhere.” Zero said.

Having gotten enough information, Kamala grabbed both of them, smacked their heads together to knock them out, and put on their mask and helmet, placing both of them behind a nearby dumpster.

“Ok, I’ve taken a disguise, and I don’t need to change my face because they’re wearing a mask.” Kamala called in through the earpiece.

“Good, your next step is to get into the building.” Maria said.

“What about the other guy, won’t they get suspicious that he isn’t going with me?” Kamala asked.

“Just say he went to the bathroom or walked off to a bar or something.” Maria responded.

Kamala continued walking over to the main door, when suddenly she bumped into another Soldier.

“Oh shit, sorry Deb!” they exclaimed.

“Eh no problem!” Kamala said back, mimicking Deb's voice.

“Where’s Zero?” the soldier asked.

“Oh he just went to take a leak out back.” Kamala responded.

“Leak? I see you’ve picked up a few new words.” The Soldier said.

“Eh, a few books down on this rock never hurt anybody.” Kamala said. “You think you can take over the patrol over here, I’m gonna grab a few snacks from the cafeteria.”

“Dude, you barely eat already,” The soldier said, “Who are you and what have you done with my friend?” they asked jokingly

“I dunno…” Kamala attempted to joke, until she realized that she didn’t know their name.

“You don’t know my name?” The soldier asked, with a hint of concern and suspicion in their voice.

They picked up on the trick immediately, and they raised their gun at Kamala.

“Who the fuck are you and what did you do with my friend!?” They asked, training their rifle towards Kamala’s head. “Don’t even think about moving, I’m calling this in.”

Just as they changed their focus for a moment to equip their radio, Kamala used the opportunity to grab them and throw them to the ground, knocking them out cold.

After dragging them behind the dumpster, and copying Deb’s exact outfit by scanning it again, she called in to Maria. 

“Uh, I think there’s a problem.” Kamala said.

“What is it?” Maria asked.

“They saw right through my disguise!” Kamala explained, “There was only one of them, and I knocked him out before he could call it in, but that disguise was useless because they all just know each other like a giant friend group! How the hell am I supposed to disguise myself as someone’s friend who they’ve known for years?!”

“Maybe try figuring out some stuff like other Soldier’s names and personalities before you go through?” Maria suggested.

Kamala looked through the pocket of Zero, and found the picture with the names of each soldier she needed to look out for written on them. There was D-2222 ‘Double Blitz’, aka “Deb,” who she was copying, MZZ-0000, aka “Zero,” who was knocked out, VX-3D44 aka “VFX,” Who was the one she had also knocked out, and CX-4890 aka “Cassanova” who was probably in the building somewhere. There were also some notes reading, “Cheer up Cass after his most recent breakup. VFX will get a painting from Ross, and Deb and Zero will see if Cara can make him some cupcakes.”

With the names and some personal knowledge now known to Kamala, she shouldered the rifle that Deb was carrying, and walked into the building. 

“Hey, why are you leaving your post dude?” a clone with some paint stains on their shirt asked.

“Just heading to get some toilet paper for Zero outside, Ross, he ran out.” Kamala said, completely guessing the name.

“Yeah, if you don’t remember it’s floor 3, just next to the control room.” Ross said.

“Thanks Ross.” Kamala said.

She went up the elevator, and pressed the button to go to floor 3. Once the door opened, she immediately saw the control room at the end of the hall. She was let into the room with no resistance at all, and walked past people working, sneaking over to the computer, only to see that there was no place to insert a floppy disk. She found a spot in the room where she could hide behind a desk, and called in to Maria.

“Maria, there’s no place to insert a floppy disk, all that's there is a tiny hole! What do I do?” She asked.

“There's probably a data converter somewhere.” Maria said.

Kamala looked outside and saw a room which said “Converter” which had Cass standing in front. She walked over to the room, and tried lying to Cass.

“I’m just converting some data I found.” She said.

“What kind of data?” Cass asked. 

“Uh… that's classified.” Kamala responded.

Cass gave a smug look to her, and asked another question. 

“You find it in the back of a video store near some weirdos?” He asked jokingly.

Before Kamala could finish saying anything, Cass let her through.

“Hey, I won’t tell anyone, you do you, just, don’t get any viruses into the system, they'll blame me again and think I watched some stuff to feel better after that breakup.” Cass said.

Kamala entered the room, and placed the floppy disk onto a tray on the machine. After pressing a button, the floppy disk dematerialized, and a small plastic stick with a metal end was released from a slot.

“What’s this?” Kamala called in to Maria.

“I dunno, ask Doreen, she’s good with computers.” Maria responded.

“Oh, those aren't supposed to be made for about 13 more years, just ignore it, it’ll work on their computers, and the author doesn’t know exactly how floppy disks work.” Doreen said.

“Eh, whatever.” Kamala said.

She took the drive, and, after 6 attempts, finally got it into the computer. This immediately killed the power, and shut down the defense systems. Right on cue for Deb, Zero, and VFX to run into the building, yelling “Intruder! They’re a class 4 shapeshifter!” 

Kamala leaped into the vents and took off the helmet as the infantry and radio operators began firing at her. And she called in the successful virus upload.

After crawling around for a few more minutes, she saw a white haired woman in panic, calling to multiple stations as she grabbed her sword and pistol. Kamala recognized her as the one leading the Arrow Agency’s army in battle. A sense of some old feeling that Kamala hadn’t felt in a long time brushed over her. This wasn’t the typical adrenaline surge that she felt when fighting off any regular grunt, it was raw, potent, something so strong she could barely hold her hands still. 

Rage. Pure, potent rage. She was to blame for her mother, and her father, and her brother, and all the people who had died up to this moment. This heartless monster took everything from her, and this was the perfect opportunity to end it, here and now.

She took off the helmet, and dropped through the vent, directly on top of 103. Only for 103 to counter and throw Kamala straight to the ground. Kamala rolled on her back and got back up quickly, immediately prepared to fight.

“What the hell!?” 103 exclaimed. 

“It's you!” Kamala exclaimed, pure rage in her voice.

“Who else would it be, Bon Jovi?” 103 said mockingly.

Kamala threw a large sweeping punch, which was deflected, before commenting more.

“You’re the one who runs this whole thing, aren’t you!?” She asked, just before 103 pulled her sword upwards to deflect another punch thrown by Kamala, which destroyed a lamp on the desk.

“Kamala, what the hell is going on?!” Maria asked over the earpiece. “get out of there before the infantry arrive!”

Kamala ignored the call, and continued the attack, only to be countered and thrown through the door, sending it off of its hinges. Kamala rolled out of the way of a downwards slash as 103 nearly cleaved her in half.

Kamala began throwing in more attacks, blinded by pure rage and fury for all the pain this woman had caused to her, but all of them were easily dodged or blocked.

“Do you remember all the people you’ve killed?! Everybody that's suffered because of you!?” Kamala said in between the punches.

“More than you can imagine.” 103 said, almost a trace hint of remorse in her voice, something that not even she could recognize very well. This distraction allowed Kamala to grab and pin her against a wall, but 103 still had a lot of fight in her, and 1 lucky hit barely dazed her.

“If i’d known that they’d be so bitchy about it I would feel less bad.” 103 mocked, kicking Kamala in the gut and breaking from her grasp. Sounds of firefighting could now be heard outside. Kamala immediately regained her resolve, and charged at 103 again. This time landing a powerful hook that immediately left a large gash and bruise on 103’s cheek.

“You bastard!” Kamala yelled, grabbing 103 and throwing her to the ground, trying to bash her face in with her fists. But 103 managed to move her head just as Kamala sent her fist straight through the floor, narrowly avoiding losing her head. She kicked Kamala in the same spot as before, and pushed Kamala onto her back, getting up to her feet and holding her sword a few inches away from Kamala’s neck.

“Give up, and maybe I won’t have to wash your blood from my sword later.” 103 ordered.

“Not until you die for what you did!” Kamala yelled, sweeping 103’s legs and throwing her off the ledge, not realizing that 103 had pulled her scarf and tangled it to her leg.

Kamala was pulled down with her, and 103 held Kamala in front of her to break her own fall. Kamala immediately writhed in pain and kicked 103 ahead of her, before pulling out her pistol, and aiming it just as 103 did the same. Forcing them into a standstill.

“I remember you now, that idiot wearing spandex, or, the one in the hotel specifically.” 103 commented, circling around Kamala, who was still trained at 103’s head. “You were no killer then, but now, it seems to be a different case.”

Kamala had almost come to her senses at that moment, because she was no killer, she wasn’t on her level. But no moral code mattered at that moment, all she cared about was ending this here and now. 

“Was that woman your mother, perhaps?” 103 asked, “Nothing personal was meant by it, just a precaution.” Kamala focused her grip more, that statement struck deep. Her mother wasn’t even viewed as a person by her, just another obstacle in the mission.

A team of Shield agents breached the wall, and 103 dove out of the way just as Kamala fired. 103 also fired 2 shots at the same time, but one bullet shot the pistol out of Kamala’s hand, and the other shot zipped a few inches next to Kamala’s head, almost as if 103 had missed on purpose. Her ear was ringing, but 103 could be heard speaking, having mowed down the entire squad in seconds. 

“That's enough, kid, give up, don’t make me kill you.” 103 said, lowering her gun.

“General, all the salvageable data’s been extracted, we need to leave!” A soldier exclaimed.

“See if you can grab Stark.” 103 said.

“We’ve got all we need from him, fuck Stark, lets get out of here.” the soldier said back.

Kamala began rising back to her feet, she couldn’t let 103 escape. She grabbed her pistol from the ground, and raised it back up, aiming at 103, who had aimed her gun at the same moment. 

“You Fucking Bastard!” Kamala yelled out, pure hatred in her voice.

2 shots rang out. Kamala managed to shoot the soldier, Cara, in the head, but she felt a sharp pain on the right side of her lower abdomen. She looked down in horror to see that she was bleeding from a bullet she took to the gut. It seemed as though the armor plate took most of the impact, but the exploding bullet still partially punched through, leaving a hole on her abdomen where her blood was spilling out like a fountain. She looked back up as she collapsed to one knee. The bullet was not fired by 103, but by a soldier who stood next to her. 103 made the soldier lower their gun before they could deliver a coup de grâce, and threw an unloaded pistol to her as Kamala fell on her back.

“For your effort, you earned it.” 103 said, walking off with the soldier to the makeshift garage to leave.

Another team flooded into the building, and picked up Kamala, who was gripping the unloaded pistol tightly. She looked at the handle of the pistol, and on it laid a faded black widow insignia. She saw a set of numbers, “04-19-64” a code, for something that must’ve had some answers to whatever was going on. It wasn’t long before Kamala felt herself placed into the back of a truck.

“How bad is it?” a medic asked. 

“Looks like a large gunshot wound,” the other medic said, “a few fragments scattered on top of and under the skin, mild burns, and a large fragment 2 inches deep or so.”

“They’re losing blood! We need to operate on them now!” another medic yelled.

Everything seemed muffled from what Kamala was hearing, she felt alone with her thoughts at the moment, and all she felt was a sense of failure. She couldn’t stop the General, she became a killer, a true killer, she wasn’t sure whether she would be ok like Doreen had asked, and from what she had seen with the enemies, she wasn’t sure whether they were just mindless monsters anymore. A needle suddenly sent anesthetics through her bloodstream, and all those thoughts of worries and failure were gone, everything went from quiet, to silent.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stark was still in the makeshift lab in the basement, hearing gunfire from upstairs. He was huddled up with some other scientists in the lab, who were hiding to avoid collapsing rubble.

“Sorry, mind the tail please!” a deep orange skinned, orange haired man with raccoon-like ears and a tail coming from his lower back said, holding his clipboard close to his chest after accidentally bumping into a few scientists, and sitting down next to Tony. This scientist was a Fenririan, another intelligent species from subterranean mars, who had varying canine, canid and procyon like features.

“Woah, holy shit, are you Tony Stark!?” They asked Tony after sitting down next to him.

“Well, yes…” Tony responded, with a little confusion in his voice, “did they brief you before you came here, kid?” 

“Oh, they just said we were building suits here,” the scientist said, “I forgot to introduce myself sir, name’s Wilhelm Griever.” Will said, reaching out his hand to shake Tony’s.

“Well, nice to meet you, kid.” Tony said. “You do realize, I’m technically a prisoner here, right?”

“Prisoner?!” Will exclaimed, “That's terrible! I’ll need to tell my boss when I get ba-”

Part of the floor suddenly collapsed, and the entire room filled with dust. Tony got up, and heard Will screaming in pain, as some of the smoke cleared, he saw that not only were the other scientists on the right side of the room crushed on accident, but Will’s right leg was crushed under the rubble as well.

“Holy shit…” Tony said, “Hold on kid, I’ll get you out of there!”

He used rebar to prop up the rock for a moment, and he pulled Will away from the rubble just as the rebar snapped. Willhelm’s lower leg was mangled and crushed, it would probably need to be amputated later, but Tony used a belt and a pen to create a makeshift tourniquet for him.

“We need to leave, now!” A guard yelled to another guard, “Take as many scientists as you can, but Stark is no longer a priority!”

Just as the 2 guards moved up the stairs, they were hit by stun blasts. 3 more guards attempted to fire at the person who fired them, but they dashed into the room, weaving out of the way of gunfire. They then grabbed and ground slammed 2 guards at once, and hit the other guard behind them with 2 stun blasts while crouching down to avoid their last 2 shots. The person raised their mask, revealing Riri had been the one who had cleared the room.

“Hey, you learned the room clearing strategy on your own, good work kid!” Tony said.

“Well, those training drones were real useful for simulations,” Riri said, “The Infantry upstairs already got your wife and the other prisoners out, take whoever you can and let's get out of here.”

“Okay, come on kid,” Tony said, “Unfortunately you get to play the prisoner now.”

Tony left the basement, finally stepping out to freedom. He had been fed well, and was still in relatively good medical shape, but he had barely walked around for a year by then, making going to the truck difficult, especially with a person against his shoulder. But he finally got into the back of the truck, to freedom.

Chapter Text

Chapter 25

“Doctor, do you think we took too many people at this point?” A Nurse asked.

“No, after all half of the prisoners are just random scientists that help us out in the lab.” The Doctor responded.

“Whatever, it was a stupid question, I’ll go check on the patient, see if her diagnostics are okay.” the Nurse said back.

They walked into the ward, where they checked off diagnostics on the patients. 

“Patient 1, stable, IV looks about half full,” The Nurse commented to themself, while writing down notes on a clipboard. 

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kamala opened her eyes, immediately being practically blinded from the light overhead. After a few moments of letting her eyes adjust, she saw that she was connected to IV drips, machines and tubes. She was wearing nothing but some underwear and a medical gown, along with some bandages on her face and abdomen. 

She wasn’t sure where exactly she was, and she could barely move. Her mouth was very dry, she felt very sore on the right side of her chest, and she felt very weak and tired. Her memory was drawing blanks as well, all she could remember was going under anesthesia in the back of a truck, but besides that, she didn’t remember anything before then. Kamala’s hearing was very muffled, but she could partially make out some sound coming from the right side of her.

“--tient - is all g—” was all she could make out, but it must’ve been another person.

As the person got closer, their words got clearer.

“Patient 3 has a slightly elevated heart rate, but still fine,” The Nurse noted to themself.

Kamala’s eyes tracked the Nurse, even though her vision was a bit blurry, she could still make out what they mildly looked like, blonde hair and light skin. 

“IV looks a bit low, that’ll need to be repla-” The Nurse commented, pausing as she realized that Kamala’s eyes were tracking her. 

“Uh, Doctor, get in here, quick!” the Nurse said, running out of the room.

Kamala wasn’t yet getting a grasp on what had happened, bits and pieces of memory returned, but she wasn’t sure where exactly she was, or why she was there in the first place.

The doctor soon entered the ward, and walked over to Kamala’s bed. As she noticed that more people she didn’t recognize were entering the room, Kamala tried getting up to prepare to run or fight, but she only weakly rolled to the side, not even getting her arm to leave the covers. The doctor came over to try and calm her down.

“Woah, take it easy!” He said, gently rolling Kamala onto her back again.

"Code..." Kamala said weakly.

"The officers are looking into it, but they haven't found anything in Natasha's room yet." The Doctor answered, understanding what she was trying to ask.

Kamala’s eyes shot around the room, she wasn’t sure whether she should trust these people or to get out as quickly as possible. The doctor ran a few diagnostics before concluding that she was stable.

“Stacy, you seem to know her, catch her up to speed.” the Doctor said to the Nurse. 

Kamala had just now realized, it was Gwen who had walked into the ward and found her awake, she couldn’t tell under the mask and scrubs, but the blonde hair with pink highlights and the always inviting and friendly, yet bold gaze with deep blue eyes became a bit more noticeable as her sight adjusted. Gwen had gotten an internship as a medical assistant for a simple, small job opportunity. Because of her aspiration to become a doctor someday, and her exceptional work ethic, she was already a model employee after only 3 months working there.

“Kamala, you’ve been in a coma for 10 days,” Gwen said, “You got shot and lost a lot of blood. Thankfully because of your abilities, you were able to recover faster than expected, but we’re suprised that you’re even alive considering how bad the blood loss and burns were.” 

“We have some bad news as well, it’d be best to hear it from somebody you know.” the Doctor said.

“Okay, this isn’t very good news,” Gwen said, “The blood loss caused some brain damage, your hippocampus and orbitofrontal cortex seem to have developed some mild damage, you may have lost some memory, but the damage to your orbitofrontal cortex isn’t as bad, but now it’ll most likely be diffucult for you to communicate and empathize with other people as well as you used to.”

Even though Kamala couldn’t speak with the tubes down her throat, she didn’t seem as phased by this information. Perhaps it was that she had already seen and done enough to the point that she was no longer scared, but either way, this was very unusual for her, considering how just a year ago she would’ve been shocked.

“You seem to be taking this information pretty well, lets get rid of those tubes as quickly as possible, I’m pretty sure that they don’t feel so great.

After a few minutes of removing tubes and wires, Kamala was able to sit up quite well, even though she lost weight and muscle from the lack of activity, she could already feel and move her legs, even with her lowered strength, and even though her voice was raspy and her throat was dry and sore from not drinking water for over a week, she could still talk relatively well.

She looked over to the nightstand, and saw a vase with flowers, and a card with acorns and a Captain Marvel sticker on it. She opened the card, and looked at the written message, she immediately knew who it was from. 

“To Kamala, for when, or if, you ever wake up,” The card read, “I’d just like you to know that you will always be a hero in my book, no matter what happens or if you fail, you were only trying to do right by everyone, even if you went off script. I also need you to hear this, I love you to death, more than you could ever imagine, no matter what, I’ll come by and visit you every day I can, I’ll make sure to keep those flowers watered, replace them when they get too old, it doesn’t matter if you are out for a few days, or 20 years, I won’t leave you alone ever again, like I promised you. 

Love, Doreen.”

Even with her now reduced ability to feel, this put a smile on her face, and seeing Doreen, and her friends and family enter the room made a tear run down her cheek.

Doreen immediately went in for a hug holding Kamala closer than she ever had. 

“You had me worried for a minute there!” Doreen exclaimed between tears.

“Well besides some wires and tubes going down my throat and places I don’t even want to mention, I was okay for the most part.” Kamala said back, not caring about the single strain of bloody tears that came from Doreen’s missing eye running down her shoulder.

“You should probably thank Miles,” Riri said, gesturing towards him, “He did a blood transfusion because you’ve both got AB+ blood, and you swapped part of your livers out. He’s been feeling a little down the past few days, even though the liver fused completely fine,” She looked back at Miles, who now looked like he put on a few pounds of muscle overnight, “But I must say, he looks like he’s gotten stronger in a matter of a few days.”

“Hey, cmon he’s taken!” Gwen said jokingly.

“I’m just saying, maybe that transfusion had a few extra ingredients.” Riri said.

“Terrigen poisoning, maybe.” Kamala said, causing Miles to step back a bit.

“Don’t worry, it’s just what made me stronger, I’m sure it won’t make you all stretchy or anything, you’ll probably just be able to lift more at the gym.” Kamala said, reassuring him.

“Okay, I thought I was going to turn into a blob of jelly or something!” Miles exclaimed.

“So, do you remember what happened?” Doreen asked.

“Well, my memory is kind of spotty, but I remember that I nearly managed to kill the General, but I missed and killed some random grunt named after some painter before getting shot myself.” Kamala said, completely glossing over the fact that she so casually murdered someone.

Doreen was taken aback by what Kamala had just said, she didn’t ever think Kamala would be so comfortable killing her enemies, but she assumed that Kamala was just still hazy. 

“Kam, you’re no killer, cmon now!” Doreen exclaimed.

“Well, that random soldier isn’t able to say otherwise, metaphorically and literally.” Kamala said jokingly, disturbing Doreen slightly, “But you’re right, I’m no killer, only if it’s important or nessecary.” although still slightly disturbed by Kamala’s unusual demeanor about how she fought her enemies all of a sudden, this was still the same girl that she loved so dearly.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The camera and microphone showed that Kamala still maintained the same demeanor as before, especially once her friends and family went to visit her, jumpstarting her memory.

“Did the fake report we fed the nurses work?” Maria asked.

“Yes, She bought the blood loss excuse perfectly.” Marxia responded.

“It doesn’t look like the brain alteration worked,” Maria commented, “So purposefully damaged brain regions doesn’t seem to be it.”

“Maybe another factor is used to make the Clones more loyal and efficient?” Marxia said, “It seems like adrenal and hormone modifications may make them better fighters, yet more subserviant to a larger, stronger member of the troupe, similar to… What are those big earth apes that beat their chest?”

“Gorillas.” Maria answered, “And increased hormones and adrenaline definitely isn’t it. I mean, humans are way more advanced mentally than a gorilla, and testosterone and adrenaline cause physical augmentations in humans like strength, size, masculine traits and reflexes, they don’t make people subserviant or unfeeling. Also clones have the hormone and adrenaline levels of a regular human, so that isn’t even a factor.”

“You have a point, that was a dumb theory,” Marxia said, “So if it isn’t just psychology, and it isn’t chemicals, what is it?”

“More research is needed to figure out how the clones work, but these are some good notes to have.” Maria commented.

“Commander Hill,” An operative said, “You’re needed in the mission command room, we’ve got a situation.”

“Zanatomas, keep an eye on the kid, see if there are any noteworthy behavioral changes,” Maria said, “Whatever is going on in the control room is a situation that you aren’t meant for.”

“Alright ma’am.” Marxia said back.

Maria walked over to the control room, which was just a floor below the surveilence center. Where she was let into the room without any verification needed, and walked through the passageway to Mission Command. The screens showed bodycams from a group of soldiers who were sent out to investigate a crate with the Arrow Agency Logo and a cassette player and tape attached to it.

“Did I really need to be called over for a fucking crate and a cassette tape!?” Maria asked annoyedly.

“Here’s the thing, it’s only about 200 meters outside of the front entrance to the base.” the operative commented.

“How did they even find us? We’ve been working under an office building as a guise to avert suspicion, and we made sure nobody ever followed us back to base.” Maria asked.

The operative handed her the pistol belonging to black widow, and removed the handle plate with the code engraving, to reveal a tracker placed in the pistol’s handle.

“Smart bastard, she must’ve tried to spark our interest with some red herring!” Maria said.

“We’re getting reports of a bunch of bigger crates dropped in Jersey City as well.” a radio operator said. 

“Call in teams to inspect them.” Maria ordered.

“On it.” the radio op responded.

“What about the team sent to inspect the crate outside?” Maria asked.

“They’ve been told to get the cassette tape and listen to it before bringing it in.” the operative said.

“Xeno 1-1, turn up your microphone so we can hear it.” Maria said over a headset.

“On it!” Xeno 1-1 said back.

The cassette tape began playing, and an all too familiar voice came from the cassette player.

“Hello Luvs,” 103 said, “I see that you fell for the bait, or one of them at least.”

“What does she mean, one of them?” Maria commented.

“Well anyways, this is a warning, and we’ll give you until 4:00 tomorrow to decide, move your civilians out if you’d like, but just a warning, we’ll start to move the bloody millisecond we see a truck leave, so it’d better be a bum rush out of there!” 103 said.

“We’re at the site of most of the crates, do you copy?” a Jersey City team leader said over the radio.

“Turn that down, we need to listen in.” Maria ordered.

“Alternatively, those bunker charges we just bought will immediately destroy whatever underground structures you have, so, just consider that for now.” 103 threatened. “Still, you are able to meet us above ground and either surrender or get wiped out, or we can just send in some troops to clear off any stragglers if we blow the place up, your choice really.” 

“That has to be a bluff, but we shouldn’t take our chances, call for all civilians and prisoners to be moved to the hangars, and make sure that we move out as many trucks as possible, make sure to move them to the stations in Jersey City.”

Xeno team had seen a wire and a transmitter on the back of the cassette player, the wire went through a hole in the crate, and the transmitter had multiple nodes that linked to delay systems for other crates. 

“Oh, and about the crates, they’re gifts, a little bit of motivation to speed up.” 103 said, “Don’t think about opening them too early, you’ll ruin the surprise with a bit of a bigger one!”

“Holy shit, the crate’s have bombs!” the Jersey City team leader exclaimed.

“There's no time to defuse them, run!” the radio op ordered.

“Well, by the time you’re hearing this part, It's probably too late,” 103 said, “for the guys in Jersey City at least, but there isn’t much else to add, As just a little reminder,” Every single TV in the room was suddenly hijacked, with a live camera feed from a high up viewing point about 19 miles away from Jersey City, with 103 standing to the left of the direct view of the camera, and with the City overviewed. 103 was covering her ears and wearing goggles, with her scarf put over her mouth.

“Prepare for some fireworks!” 103 exclaimed, “In 3…” The beeping from the crates could be heard clearly over the radio, “2…” There were sounds of running and tripping from the soldiers attempting to run from the blast radius, “1!” 

Although the radios from the crew just above the base were still running completely fine, and the crate above the base just fired off some glitter, and the lid opened to reveal a clock with a countdown, Jersey City was in flames, the size of the explosions got to the height of buildings. The ground team could never have made it to safety. Even though the tape that connected to the trigger was 5 minutes long, they’d have never escaped the blast radius on foot or in a car, and were quite literally doomed the second that tape played.

“We’ve gotten enough bomb shipments that could be ten times the size of that blast, so If i were you, I’d choose to drop your weapons and surrender, but if you choose to fight, well, thats your choice, and we’ll give a quick answer.” 103 said. “Have fun!”

She walked out of frame, but a matched timer was on the corner of the screen now, counting down to 4:00 AM, which was in about 8 hours.

“They really weren’t bluffing…” A radio operator said in shock.

Most radio stations in Jersey City were inactive, but the few that were only had the distorted, grainy sounds of hellfire and chaotic, uncontrollable flames. There were also sounds of panic heard outside as well, likely meaning that every single person in the bunker probably saw what everyone in the control room had seen.

“Prepare to move everyone offsite, and move out all personnel alongside the civilians.” Maria ordered.

“Veto that order.” Nick Fury said, suddenly entering the room.

“Director, I’m not trying to talk lowly of you, but, are you sure that’s a good idea?” Maria asked.

“Such a quick evacuation would be nearly impossible,” The Director said, shutting down Maria’s question, “Send up a few armored units and ground troops to hunker down outside. We’ll use the cover from the engagement for a controlled evacuation. We’ll call in a reinforcement unit from New Haven to help fight, while we’ll move our main operation and command center to Newark and cover the real route with a fake convoy.”

“We’re already stretched thin, are you even sure how many troops we even have left?” Maria commented.

“Hill, It’s our best shot.” Fury said.

“You haven’t been in the control room at all for months, you’ve been too busy focusing on operations here to face off against the enemies outside the city!” Maria continued, ignoring The Director’s statement.

“Hill,” he tried to interrupt.

“Providence’s base was wiped completely off of the map,” Hill began listing, “Salt Lake City has been completely firebombed and we’ve lost our main R&D department,”

“That’s enough,” Director Fury commanded.

“The entirety of the South has been under their control since November, And don’t even get me started on Southeastern Asia and Africa, which already have entire Arrow Agency pseudo-states, one of them is called "Salazar Land" or some shi-”

“What other chance do we have!?” Fury finally yelled out, “Try running out of here like a swarm of bugs!? Hide among innocent people and hope and pray that they don’t bomb us anyways!? There’s too much at stake here, giving a fight so they can escape is the best way to make sure these thousands of people down here at least have a chance to survive!”

“We’re already stretched way too thin for this, like I said, it's a massive gamble you’re taking here.” Maria said.

“If we’re talking gambles,” Fury said, “than right now, right fucking now, it’d be best to put down the damn cards than to fold and guarantee that you lose.”

Nobody else in the room had spoken a word, they’d never seen either of their higher ups so afraid, or emotional in any way, nor had they felt such uncertainty on who was to be trusted in the matter.

“Start the plan and send it out on the staff codex ASAP, you’re dismissed

“I’d tell you that I hope you know what you’re doing,” Maria said, “But clearly, even you wouldn’t be able to answer that.”

Maria walked away from Fury, over to Phil Coulson, another high ranking member.

“Fury has clearly not shown enough large-scale capabilities, with him in charge, we’re losing this, I’m sure of it.” Maria whispered to Phil.

“What do you suggest, we call what's left of the WSC, see if they can pass over some equipment or advice?” Phil asked.

“No,” Maria said, “Contact all available Shield Intelligence and Security Agents, and contact teams ‘Guillotine’ and ‘Axehead.’ Tell them “Today’s the day for some innocent high treason,” and they’ll understand.”

“Are you suggesting what I think you are?” Phil asked.

“SHIELD Procedures, Directives and Conditions Index, Article 27, Section 54-12,” Maria said, “the Glaive Directive is now officially in effect.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 26

The entire bunker was in chaos after what was seen in Jersey City. People were attempting to be the first in line to the Evacuation vehicles, unaware that they would only leave once the fighting began. Panic made the situation even worse, as people were curious and terrified of what had happened to the people in the city. Kamala was barely able to walk, terrified by the destruction of her hometown, and yet she had to evacuate from impending doom.

Upon being lifted from her hospital bed and being given her luggage from her room, she was brought over from the living quarters to the hangar, where there was a very large blockage from the hundreds of people attempting to leave as quickly as possible. People were shouting at the guards stationed at the gate to allow them in, asking for them or their kids to be let in first, trying to get ahead of the crowd to leave before the bombing began. 

“At least let the children through first!” A mother yelled at the soldiers.

“Everyone, the evacuation will begin within 1 hour, we all need to stay in an orderly fashion to make sure everything goes smoothly.” an infantry officer said through a megaphone.

“An hour, they said that they’d already start bombing by then!” A person yelled, causing the crowd to become even louder.

A bullet fired into the air, shocking everyone, including the infantry. The shooter was revealed to be Maria Hill after everyone looked over to the direction of the shot.

“Everyone, stay the fuck back!” Maria ordered. “You will be called in groups of 50, and you will only come through the gate when selected at random, anyone who tries going through before they are called will be detained, and will either go with the last wave or be left behind due to being a liability.”

Nobody spoke, nobody even dared take a step forward. They had never before been met with hostility by the people who were supposed to protect them. Either way, a few people disregarded the order and tried reaching the gate in a panic, only to immediately be caught.

“Stop, goddamnit! We’re trying to get you out alive!” An infantryman tried to reason with the people attempting to leave, to the dismay of Maria.

“To hell with your procedures you psychos,” an escapee yelled, "we're all gonna die down here unless we leave now!”

Maria nodded to the soldier, and after hesitating for a few moments, the soldier raised the stock of their rifle.

“Sorry about this.” They said before bashing the man in the face, knocking them out, and causing panic in the crowd.

“This man here is lucky that we just gave him a few bruises,” Maria threatened, “If you prove yourself to be a danger to all of us, we’ll treat you accordingly, got that?”

The rest of the crowd backed down, and everyone could only look in shock at what had just occurred, even with the assurances that they were being protected, they felt just as scared down here as they were out there.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On the surface, the infantry had set up fortifications around the entire perimeter, waiting for an attack to occur at any moment. A few heroes such as Falcon, Inferno and Captain America and Patriot were also alongside them, because their gear, abilities and skill sets were especially useful against the Arrow Agency soldiers and Vehicles.

“Cmon, where are they?” Terry said.

“Don’t see anything, keep an eye out.” 6-2 said back.

A small rustle was seen in the distance and Terry immediately called it out.

“I think that i saw something back there,” He said, “Call it over to officer…” 

“It’s Mills, how did you forget?” 6-2 answered. 

“Yeah, Mills, whatever.” Terry said, dodging the question.

“Alright,” 6-2 said, “Mills! We got movement on the left side, take a look.”

“Tell the snipers to focus there, I’ll take a look.” Mills said.

He looked through the Night Vision Binoculars, and saw a group of soldiers on the side of the street, about 300 meters away. Their visors looked slightly different, almost like metal rather than glass.

“I see them,” He said, “Do you have a target?” Mills asked the snipers over the radio.

“We’re having trouble getting a clear shot on them, this night vision quality is terrible.” they responded.

Taking another look through the binoculars, which were thankfully better than the scope, Mills saw a soldier looking right in his direction.

“Can they see us?” He asked himself.

The soldier raised their gun, preparing to shoot at Mills.

“Oh shit!” Mills yelled out, flinching backwards just as a shot came narrowly close to his face. Even though the shot had missed, the binoculars took a direct hit, destroying them completely and leaving a nasty gash on Mills’ cheek.

“Return Fire, Return Fire!” Mills yelled out, prompting the infantry to begin firing back.

With the Low Resolution on the Night Vision, the Shield Infantry had to just fire as many rounds as possible in the direction of the Arrow Infantry. This wasn’t very effective, but it did take down a few enemy soldiers, or at least suppress them. The arrow agency troops, however, were easily hitting the Shield infantry, unobscured from the lack of light, taking out dozens in moments.

“Team 3 said they’re coming from behind as well!” 6-2 yelled over to Mills.

“Order the evacuation, Now!” Mills said back.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“In the Shelter communications room, a Message was sent for the evacuation to begin from Hangar 17, where the hidden tunnel to the highway wasn’t under attack.

“Send out the message, and increase the number to 65 people per run.” Maria ordered the Shield Agents in the room. She then looked over to Phil, “And you, you know your part of course.”

“On it.” Phil said back.

“We all remember our part in the operation, right?” Maria asked, causing the rest of the Agents to nod.

“Remember that this is an adaptive plan, so avoid direct fighting and plan around setbacks.” Maria said to the agents. “And we want him alive! That's mostly targeted at you, Morse.”

“Fine, I’ll leave the blade out of this.” Morse said, slightly disappointed.

Maria walked out to the Railing overviewing Hangar area, spotting that Nick Fury was alongside the Infantry in the hangar area, with Makenzie calling him over to the control room, where he very quickly followed. 

“First part of the plan went pretty well so far,” She commented to herself, “Simmons, do you have the chemical yet?” Maria asked over the radio.

“Still looking for it.” Simmons responded, the sound of her rummaging through desks in the lab very clear over the radio.

“Commander Hill, we’ve got reports of some incoming missiles!” A radio op warned.

“Shit, call in the interceptors and raise the alarm!” Maria yelled.

The alarms quickly began blaring throughout the whole shelter, with the sounds of dozens of CWIS guns firing at the approaching missiles being heard, even from so far down. People began panicking as the sound of rockets approaching the base became closer and closer. Some of the missiles were shot down, but some others were able to slip past the turrets, piercing into the base like a hot knife through butter. 

“All agents, we’re being bombed, get down!” Maria yelled over the radio.

The warheads finally landed in the base, but hadn’t exploded, instead just sticking out of the floors or hanging from the ceilings. A warhead had even landed a few hundred feet away from Hangar 17, but people began getting up, realizing that the warheads must have failed

“Maria, a warhead landed in the lab, but I think I’m good.” Simmons said over the radio.

“Is everything okay there?” Maria asked.

“Yeah, I think I found the Azaperone mixture.” Simmons said.

“Alright, measure out about 35 milligrams or so.” Maria said.

“Already done,” Simmons responded, pausing slightly, “Wait, is that thing beeping?”

“What do you mean?” Maria asked.

“Oh Shit!” Simmons exclaimed, the sound of her running still heard over the radio.

Her radio went completely silent just as the bombs finally went off.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kamala turned in the direction of the blast, covering her eyes from the bright flash. As the smoke and dust cleared, it looked as though ropes were coming down from the holes that went straight up to the surface from the bunker bombs. A bunch of what looked to be some kind of canister were dropping down as well, bursting into large clouds of smoke. Arrow Agency soldiers began rappelling down into the shelter, completely obscured by the smoke screen. 

“Open Fire!” A Shield soldier yelled out, prompting the others to begin firing at the smoke screen, hoping to hit something.

However, the bullets just ended up weakly stopping in their place and hitting the ground the second they came in contact with the smoke, being intercepted by some sort of electrical field that would zap bullets while they were going through and stop them from going any further. More smoke grenades began being thrown, covering the entire Hangar in a thick sheet of electrical fog.

“Doreen, Where are you!?” Kamala yelled out, as hundreds of people began running for the gate. 

“Malik?! Meri!? Razia!? Anyone!?” She continued asking, trying to find anyone who she was previously with.

She heard a soldier charging at her a few feet away. Thinking quickly, Kamala managed to sidestep the attack, grabbing the soldier’s arm and throwing them face first into the ground, knocking them out cold. Another soldier managed to punch her in the face, but before they could stab her with their knife, she caught their hand and kicked their legs from beneath them, pinning them to the ground and punching them in the face to knock them out as well. She grabbed their knife and threw it into the shoulder of another enemy who was approaching, just before delivering a flurry of punches and kicks that took them down as well.

“Fuck this!” She said to herself, flinging herself up to the ledge, away from the smoke, where she could see Doreen grabbing Malik and Razia, and dragging them to the trucks. 

America flew upwards, and saw Kamala on the ledge, calling out to get her attention.

“Kam, You okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m trying to find Riri, Iron Man and Hawkeye right now.” Kamala responded.

“I can help.” America said. 

“No, Meri, help those people down there escape, I can do this on my own.” Kamala said back.

“Stay safe out there!” America instructed, flying back down to start leaving portals behind the gate.

Kamala continued moving through the halls, trying to find the rest of her allies before leaving. After about 6 minutes, she found an Infantryman slumped against the wall, bleeding profusely from their neck after having been shot. 

“Oh fuck!” Kamala exclaimed, running over to them, “You okay!?” 

“Hangar… 16…” They tried saying. 

“Have you seen Iron Man, Ironheart, Hawkeye, anyone?” Kamala asked.

“They’re at… Hangar 16…” They continued, blood now flowing from their mouth as well.

“Who shot you?” Kamala asked.

“Agent… In… wa-” The soldier tried saying before coughing up more blood.

“What?” Kamala exclaimed. 

“Don’t… trust… Ma… Mar.” They went limp, and their arm dropped to their side, allowing the last bits of blood in their body to flow out.

“No, no!” Kamala exclaimed again, “Who?! Don’t trust who!?” she asked, trying to shake the soldier awake to no avail.

“Damn it!” She said, stepping away, and looking over to the sign that said Hangar 16. “Alright, Hangar 16 is this way.”

She began following the directions of the sign. Hiding behind hallways and sneaking into rooms to avoid being spotted. 

“Call in some bombs to the sector we just searched, the control room must be this way!” an Arrow Agency sergeant ordered the radio operator.

Kamala held her breath as they walked past the room she was in. Once she couldn’t hear them anymore, she let out a breath of air. Suddenly, a toddler with brown skin and curly red hair, maybe 2 or 3 years old at most, emerged from the top of the closet, seemingly out of nowhere.

“Bad Man Gone?” the toddler asked, nearly blowing their cover.

“Not yet!” Kamala whispered aggressively.

“Where Papa?” She asked.

“Not sure either,” Kamala whispered, “Now how about we play the quiet game, hmm? The bad men are trying to find us, so we just need to stay quiet and we’ll win!”

“Okay!” they said, pulling a red white and black striped beanie over their face.

“I’m gonna help you find your dad, okay?” Kamala said

“Ha, you lose!” The Toddler blared out.

“No no, the game hasn't started yet!” Kamala said back, “Now it starts!”

Kamala looked out the door, and saw no Arrow Agency troops.

She signed to the toddler to get out of the room, just as one of the charges pierced the ceiling of the room. She quickly picked them up and ran out of the room, just as the bomb exploded. She thankfully covered the toddler’s ears to stop them from getting scared, but her ears were now ringing because of how close the blast was. Kamala could thankfully still hear, and she determined it safe enough to place the toddler down and walk to the Hangar, which was still a few halls away.

“Okay, the quiet game is over, but I’ll go ahead because I know where the hangar is.

“What’s a hanger?” The toddler asked.

“It's something that has cars and planes, I’m sure your dad is there.” Kamala said.

“My papa not drive cars.” the Toddler commented.

“Well people will drive for us, that's the point of it.” Kamala said, looking around a corner to see a punch of dead or incapacitated Arrow Agency troops, most of whom either had arrows in their head, sear marks in their body, or were covered in some kind of white fluid that stuck them to the walls rather than kill them.

You might wanna cover your eyes little guy.” Kamala said, turning around to see that the toddler was nowhere to be seen.

“What, where’d you go?!” Kamala asked. 

She looked up to see the Toddler attached to the ceiling, crawling around like a spider.

“Wait get down from there!” Kamala exclaimed.

“I gonna go find papa, ok?” the toddler said.

“May?” a voice from the other end of the hall called out, “Mayday, where are you?”

The man appeared from the other side of the hall. It was Spider Man himself looking for the same infant Kamala was carrying around.

“Oh there you are!” He said, picking up Mayday and dropping back down to the floor.

“Hey thanks, uh…” He said,

“Kamala, Kamala Khan” she said back.

“Yeah thanks for looking after my… friend Peter’s kid, Kamala,” He said “he lost track of her when they started dropping smoke screens and she must’ve found her way back to their room.”

“Have you seen Hawkeye or Iron Man around?” Kamala asked, “I’m looking for them.”

“They’re just down the hall,” He said, “Oh and your ear is kinda…”

Kamala put her hand against her left ear, and pulled it back to see blood on her finger.

“Eh there was a charge that went off, this’ll heal soon enough.” Kamala responded.

She ran through the hall, only to find Maria Hill, who was holding her abdomen after being shot, and her left hand was hanging on by a thread.

“You okay, Hill?” Kamala asked.

“I’m fine, just go!” She yelled back.

There were a few more agents carrying what looked to be a badly injured Nick Fury, even with how badly battered the man was, he still, although barely, breathed.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

7 minutes earlier…

Maria ran down to the science lab, only to find a badly burnt injured Simmons, still holding the case close to her body to protect them.

“Oh shit, Simmons!” Maria exclaimed. 

“Hill, everything we need is in here, 2 darts, the airgun, the chemicals, everything.” Simmons said.

“Can you walk?” Maria asked.

“My leg is fucking crisped what do you think!?” Simmons said back.

“What should I do?” Maria asked, lifting Simmons up against a desk.

“Give me my pistol, take the case and leave me here.” Simmons said.

“I can’t just leave you behind!” Maria exclaimed.

“No! There's gonna be enemies coming here and I’d just slow you down.” Simmons said back, “We need to do this, for the planet, for all of us.”

A single tear ran down Maria’s face, she couldn’t show fear when facing a threat, but the imminent death of such a close ally overshadowed this.

“Now go!” Simmons yelled.

Maria took the suitcase and left the room, soon after, she heard a few infantry flood into the room, and a few shots rang out, followed by the sound of a body falling to the ground. She his behind a collapsed part of the ceiling as the soldiers walked away. Moving around the other hallway, she saw 3 enemy soldiers in her way. Reflexively, she took out her silenced pistol, and managed to shoot one of them in the head, causing the bullet to lodge in their helmet. They quickly opened fire, prompting her to take cover behind a wall. 

The previous group of soldiers began approaching from the other hall again. She took cover in the lab as they continued trying to find the source of the gunfire. Once an enemy soldier approached the door, she charged at them, turning them around to shield herself from the shots. She then grabbed their shooting arm, and used their gun to take out the rest of the soldiers. As she turned around and saw the other soldiers approaching, she grabbed the smoke grenade from the now dead soldier, and pulled the pin before pushing them off. Covering the entire hallway in smoke.

The soldiers began backing up, and Maria used this opportunity to emerge from the smoke and punch one soldier directly in the face. But when she tried to shoot another in the neck, the one who was now behind her grabbed her arm. The other 2 took aim, but were suddenly both shot from behind. Maria used this distraction to elbow the mouth of the soldier who grabbed her, breaking their teeth before raising and shooting them in the face.

“You okay commander?” the Infantryman asked. 

“Yeah, thanks.” Maria answered.

“What’s that suitcase for?” The Infantryman asked again.

“Nothing, just some documents.” Maria said, trying to avert suspicion.

“In the chemical lab?” They Questioned.

“I’ve got to get these to the Director, please move!” Maria ordered.

“This is part of the Glaive directive isn’t it?” The infantryman questioned.

“Move. Now.” Maria ordered again.

“I can’t let you do that.” they said back.

“Goddamnit.” She said, quickly raising her pistol and shooting them in the neck.

The infantryman dropped their rifle and fell back against a wall, and Maria ran past them to the stairs, and then the second floor to reach the upper part of the control room, where Director Fury was already there along with Phil, Agent May, Agent Ward, Agent Johnson, Agent Hunter, Agent Morse and Agent Makenzie.

“What did you call me here for again?” Nick asked.

“We need to extract all the data here,” Morse said, as Maria took aim with the tranquilizer, and shot Director Fury in the neck with the dart.

He immediately held his hand against the point where he was shot, taking the dart out of his neck.

“And a bit of High Treason.” Morse said mockingly.

You bastards!” he said, charging at Morse and punching her in the face before she could react.

Ward tried to push him down, only to be pushed away, nearly being shot before Hunter tried attacking at the same time, only to take the bullet meant for Ward directly in the chest. Johnson tried sending Fury off balance with a seismic wave, only for him to leap over the table and kick her directly in the face. Even for a man of his age, he was still quite strong and agile. The kick managed to cause her to fall to the ground, causing her to accidentally release a seismic wave in Maria’s direction, causing her to fall from the ledge. Before Johnson could land another hit Nick managed to kick her in the face again, knocking her out. Maria tried landing another shot with the second dart, only for her to take a hit to the abdomen, causing her to stumble back and drop the gun.

Mackenzie just stood back, because he was a scientist, not a fighter, but May sprung off of him to drop kick Fury directly in the back. Nick stumbled forwards and was quickly grabbed by Ward and Morse, getting pinned to a wall as May began punching him, trying to knock him out. As he struggled and weakened from the sedative, Ward had shifted behind him, allowing him to slam his head backwards, breaking Ward’s nose, and allowing him to punch Johnson and kick May. Just then, Maria attempted to land a flying punch, only for Nick to block it, and land a 2 hit combo, just before he could use his pistol, Maria Smacked it out of his hand, kneeing him in the abdomen. She threw a flurry of punches and kicks, only for each one to be blocked, with Nick even countering the last hit by catching Maria’s leg when she tried to kick.

Did you really think you could kill me!?” He asked while holding his arm against Maria’s throat, “I taught you everything you know, and here’s your issue, you’re way too impulsive.” 

He was suddenly hit in the arm by another dart, fired by Phil Coulson, causing him to quickly go limp and fall backwards. 

“Well here’s yours,” Maria said, “You can’t seem to manage such a large situation, and you get your lackeys to do everything for you. Their loyalties lie to each other, and everyone else who you’ve failed to protect.”

She was released from Nick’s chokehold, and continued mocking him.

“From now on, you’ve been demoted,” Maria said, “Don’t worry, with you gone everything will get better. Of course you won’t be getting to see it up close, but we’ll record some footage for you every once in a while.”

He was too sedated to speak, but he almost had a look on his face that said “Fuck you” to her. Suddenly, a bunker bomb landed on the other side of the room, prompting everyone to take cover. Maria, however, was still mocking Nick out of frustration because of how much weight was put on her shoulders for so long. The bomb went off, flinging large shards of shrapnel in her direction, including a shard that sliced her abdomen and went Across her left hand, sending her into the ground.

She got up moments later, badly injured, but still able to walk.

“Oh shit, are you okay Maria!?” May asked.

“I’ll get this treated later, take him so we can go!” Maria ordered.

Maria ran out of the room and as she turned to get to the staff hangar, she saw Kamala as well.

“You okay, Hill?” Kamala asked.

“I’m fine, just go!” Maria yelled back.

As soon as she reached the staff hangar, she tried reaching into her left pocket, only to realize that her hand had fallen off while she was running. Marxia opened the door from the other side, letting Maria and the other staff in.

“C’mon, let's get that treated.” Marxia said.

“Thanks, Marx.” Maria said.

They entered the trucks, where lots of infantry and scientists, along with even a few prisoners such as Griever and other scientists were. They drove off through the tunnel, reaching the same convoy as Hangar 17.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kamala had finally reached where Tony, Clint and Riri were, and she had managed to bring the rest of the people who had managed to reach hangar 16.

“Is that everyone?” Jumper asked.

“Wait, one more person, right here!” Kamala yelled, running to the truck.

“Okay, that's the last of em, keep moving!” He yelled out when Kamala reached the truck.

“Kam! Glad to see that you made it!” Riri said.

“Likewise!” Kamala responded, “Wait, why are you in the truck?”

“The power in the suit ran out.” Riri said.

“I thought that Arc Reactors were able to run for hundreds of years.” Kamala said.

“The weapons system short circuited, and the power was already leaking out from damage.” Riri said back.

The truck reached an above ground tunnel. And it was going ahead of the main group of trucks. A few soldiers, along with Falcon, who had a broken wing, Captain America and Patriot also hopped into the back of the trucks.

“Everything good Jan?” Terry said.

“I’m fine, you should be asking Mills.” Janine responded.

“All good here, some whiskey would be nice for my face to stop hurting.” Mills snapped back.

Janine looked over to Kamala, who was still carrying her suitcase, and had blood on her hospital gown from the soldiers she fought and the bleeding infantryman she was talking to.

“Oh it’s you again!” Janine said, “Oh… you don’t look too good.”

“I’m fine here, this isn’t mine.” Kamala responded, pointing to the blood on her.

“Enemy AV ahead!” Jumper yelled.

Everyone looked over to see a flock of 15 helicopters flying towards them

“Shit, we’re on the fake convoy!” 6-2 yelled.

“What do you mean fake convoy?!” Kamala asked.

“That's classified, just get down!” 6-2 answered.

He got into the turret and began firing at the approaching helicopters. One of the helicopters went down in moments, crashing to the side of the road. Another was able to begin firing at the back of one of the transport trucks, resulting in an entire row of soldiers going down. The remaining soldiers took out their rifles, and began firing at the helicopter, which was suddenly hit by a blast of flames and crashed to the ground.

Dante emerged from the sky, taking out 2 helicopters instantly. He then caused these 2 helicopters to crash into 4 more that were approaching as well. A small volcano appeared in the distance, sending boulders and lava towards the helicopters, taking out 7 more, and causing the last one to fall back. Dante turned around to face the convoy, who were celebrating the victory. 

“Some hummingbirds can’t stop a phoenix!” Dante exclaimed jokingly.

Another truck stopped ahead, along with more Arrow Agency cars. Multiple soldiers approached with rocket launchers.

“Look out!” Eli yelled, prompting Dante to go upwards to narrowly dodge a missile fired at him.

He began flying to the blockade, moving to the side to dodge multiple missiles launched at him. He began launching blasts of fire at the enemy soldiers, hitting some missiles mid air and creating massive blinding explosions. The missiles that he had dodged began turning around. Before he could react the missiles hit him, causing him to crash directly into one of the trucks. 

Dante was now surrounded, badly injured and missing a leg from the rocket swarm. He could hear the approaching enemies from a few paces away.

“So this is it, huh.” He said to himself just before coughing up lava from his mouth. “That was a good run there, but not good enough, I guess.”

12 more soldiers began raising their rifles, with 1 sergeant standing ahead of them with a megaphone. This blockade prompted the convoy to stop in their tracks. 

“Step out of the vehicle unarmed, and walk over to us slowly, or we will open fire.” the Sergeant ordered.

“What do we do?” 6-2 asked.

“There’s no way that we’ll be kept alive if they capture us.” Mills said.

Dante’s entire body was now engulfed in flames, he was slowly beginning to levitate.

“We’ll give you 15 seconds until we shoot, get out and surrender, now!” the Sergeant ordered again.

“Everybody fastened in?” Jumper said. “We’re gonna ram our way through.”

“Are you fucking crazy!?” Janine asked back. 

“It’s the only chance we have!” He retorted.

Dante was now floating at least 15 feet above the ground, glowing brighter and brighter.

“Hold on!” Jumper yelled, starting the transport truck once 6-2 got out of the turret. 

“Sarge, look out, behind us!” a soldier yelled.

He turned around to see Dante, who was now floating above them, lava dripping from his wounds. He also saw the main convoy on the road next to them, zipping past his distracted troops

“Ah hell…” He said, pulling down his mask to reveal a large set of gashes from squirrel claws on his face, just before being pushed to the ground by one of his soldiers.

“Good luck out there,” Dante said, with fiery cracks with magma forming across his skin, “Adios.”

He exploded into a massive fireball, incinerating nearly all of the vehicles and soldiers forming the blockade. The shockwave sent the rest of the trucks in the convoy hurdling backwards. Kamala’s truck was sent flying backwards, causing her to be flung around the vehicle. But all of a sudden, the vehicle was caught mid air, halting completely and being safely placed down.

“You okay in there?” the person who caught the car asked.

“Yup, thanks Carol.” Steve said, before pointing behind her to the soldiers, including the Sergeant, who were running away to an evac helicopter.

"Forget about them," She said as the helicopter flew away, "Lets just join back with the rest of the convoy."

Kamala looked out the window to see Captain Marvel floating down. Something felt off, however. There was no childlike amazement behind her eyes, she was glad that she was saved, of course, but even upon seeing her hero, she felt nothing, maybe it was the death of such a good friend that took the life out of her, but something just wasn't there anymore.

Chapter Text

Chapter 27

The convoy was on its way to Newark, but it had to pass through Jersey City, or, what was left of it. Many buildings had collapsed, and many people were dead or injured. The bombing was targeted at the installations, but due to the widespread bombing, at least 7,000 civilians had died in the process. Many more were left bleeding and injured in the streets, and dozens of buildings were burning as the convoy continued moving through.

"Woah, stop the convoy!” 6-2 yelled, causing Jumper to stop the truck, and the trucks behind them to do the same.

The vehicle had stopped just before it hit a burning tanker truck, which was nearly impossible to see from the smoke.

“Thanks 6-2.” Jumper said.

“We’ll need to wait an hour or so for this fire to go out before we can move it.” Mills said, “Go and help whoever you can find.”

Firstly, Kamala went over to Riri, who was visibly shaken after what had happened to Dante. 

“Are you okay?” Kamala asked.

After hesitating for a few moments, she responded.

“No…” She said, tears running down her face.

“I get that you two were close,” Kamala said.

“Closer than you could understand!” She snapped back, “Don’t try lecturing me that, ‘we still have a job to do,’ or some shit like that, I just lost one of the only people I loved who was left, and you expect me to just move on!?”

“I didn’t know… I’m sorry…” Kamala responded.

“No, I’m sorry…” Riri said back, Her face sinking into her hands, “I just… I need to let this all sink in.” 

“If you need anything-” Kamala tried to say.

“Please…” Riri said, more tears dripping down from her face, “Just leave me alone for now.”

Kamala listened, and decided to walk out of the truck to see if she could find the rest of the group.

“Kam!” Doreen yelled, running over to Kamala from across the street, quickly running over to her.

“Glad you’re okay, Doreen.” Kamala said, going in for a hug.

“By the way, you’re still in a hospital gown, there’s a place to change back there behind that collapsed stall, if you’d like.” Doreen reminded her.

“Is there some kind of door, or…” Kamala asked.

“I won’t peek, promise.” Doreen said back jokingly.

Kamala walked to the collapsed stall, taking off the gown to put on the suit. On her right side, just below her upper chest she saw a set of stitches, and a bandage covering the place where she’d been shot. She tried moving the bandage, only to feel sore immediately and let out a slight wince of pain.

“I think I’ll wait for a doctor to mess with that.” she said to herself, pulling her hand away. 

She put on her suit, which had a point of the armor being exposed from the bullet. Although the plate was replaced the suit itself wasn’t. Her mask was still in decent shape, besides a few stains, at least.

She finally walked back over to Doreen, wearing a tattered and filthy suit, covered in rips, dust and bloodstains, but still usable.

“That thing has definitely seen better days.” Doreen commented. 

“Yeah, I think a new suit would be nice at some point.” Kamala said back.

“Still, we should see if there's somebody who needs help.” Doreen said, refocusing them.

They walked through an alleyway that led to the other side of the saw a store which was on fire, and Doreen jumped up to the top of the building next to it. She tipped over a water tank on the roof by gnawing on the steel supports below it, using her powerful bite to collapse the tank effortlessly. The top came off easily and put out the fire, allowing Kamala to run into the building and help the owner out of it.

“Thanks… Wait, I remember you!” The owner said.

Kamala suddenly remembered, this was the store she had saved from a robbery a year ago.

“Well, looks like you owe me a chocolate bar or something!” Kamala said back jokingly.

“How about a lifetime membership, free of charge?” They asked.

“Well I wouldn’t need that much, but sure!” Kamala responded.

“Hey Kam, up here!” Doreen yelled out.

Kamala climbed up the further away building that Doreen had jumped to after taking down the water tank.

“We can start putting water on the tanker, but this one is too far to knock over.” Doreen said, pointing to the water tank on top of this building.

“Lets get some buckets or something that can carry water to the tanker.” Kamala requested.

“Hey guys, we found an alley around the tanker, but its too small for the trucks!” Kamala yelled to the convoy from the other side.

“We’ll bring over some stuff and reroute the tank to some external pipes, till then, stay put!” Maria Hill yelled back.

Kamala looked into the alley, and saw her teacher at the end, handing a bag of pink crystals to a suspicious looking guy wearing a beanie.

“Jerry, we don’t use our own product!” William White yelled.

“Yo, we need to bounce, man, there's some guys coming!” Jerry said back.

The two of them ran away through a building adjacent to the alley.

“Hey, that was my teacher back there and he was giving a bag of crystals to some tired looking dude!” Kamala exclaimed.

“Which one?” Doreen asked.

“Mr White, I think.” She said back.

“Huh,” Doreen said, “Maybe the reference is a bit too on the nose this time.”

“I’ll go and get some buckets with this new store membership.” Kamala said, “Just keep an eye out in case you see those guys again.

Kamala ‘bought’ (though she just got it for free) 2 buckets from the store, running over to the little bit of water that was still pooled in the store from the other water tower. As she walked out and gave a bucket to Doreen, she noticed something in the distance.

“Oh shit!” She exclaimed, dropping her bucket and running to the destroyed apartment complex nearly half a mile to the west of the shop.

The apartment complex was the home she lived in for years. She hadn’t seen it since last year as well, but now she wasn’t sure whether it was still standing. After only 5 minutes she reached it, and climbed up to the 4th floor, where her apartment would be, if it hopefully wasn’t destroyed.

The hallway had a few heavily mutilated bodies covered in dust and debris, but at the end of the hall, Doreen saw her apartment, the door still closed from the day she left. She reached in her pocket to find her key, and opened the still intact door. Only for her heart to sink when she saw the hole in her wall from flying debris, with tons of ashes in the home, because the house had clearly been burned before she arrived, leaving her home in shambles.

Kamala was silent, no exclamation, no vow of revenge, nothing. She sat on the ground, picking up a family picture from the ashes, which had her mother, brother and father at the beach. 

“Kam! There you are!” Doreen said, barging into the apartment. “Hey, there’s a burned up check down here, says it’s for ‘Kam–-an’ whoever that is.”

“Y’know, I hated this trip.” Kamala said. “My dad insisted that we go fishing when we went to Block Island. We spent a whole week deworming him after he cooked tuna wrong. I’d rather have to hear him throwing up in the hotel room every night than spend every day without any of them.”

“This place is yours?” Doreen asked.

“What’s left of it, yeah.” Kamala said.

“Why are you even here? Lets leave, I don’t know whether this building is stable.” Doreen said.

“Not yet.” Kamala said back.

“I understand, sorry about that.” Doreen apologized.

Doreen could hear Kamala crying.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, just let it all out.” Doreen said, giving her a hug to comfort her.

“My family, my home, everything, it’s all gone!” Kamala exclaimed in between sobs.

“They’ll never be gone, if you can remember them, they’ll always be by your side.” Doreen said, pressing her hands softly against Kamala’s face.

That accidental moment at the platform half a year back felt as though it was going to repeat itself, their heads and lips were mere inches away from each other, but now was not the time.

“Let's just leave.” Kamala said, pulling back.

“Okay.” Doreen responded, helping pull Kamala to her feet.

They walked out of the apartment, with Kamala still holding Doreen’s hand firmly.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“In New York, a bartender began cleaning the cups. Throughout the war, the bar still managed to survive all the combat, even serving as a safe haven for civilians and maintaining a flow of customers. He heard a knock on the door.

“We’re near full capacity, come back tomorrow.” He said.

The knocks still continued. Prompting him to open the door in case they hadn’t heard him. 

“I said were nearly fu-” He began saying, before stopping himself.

103 stood there, with a few soldiers behind her. She stood a few inches taller than the bartender, and even with her coat and lean appearance, she was visibly well built, and could probably punch the head off the bartender if she wanted.

“Nevermind, sit where you’d like, ma’am.” He said nervously.

“Thanks luv.” She said back.

The bartender gulped down as 4 more soldiers walked in, their rifles holstered over their shoulders.

“So, you got anything good here?” 103 asked, “I’m looking for something light before the celebratory meeting.”

“You sure that you’re old enough to drink?” The bartender asked.

“There’s no drinking age on Arrow Agency planets.” She said back.

“I understand, there’s some vodka up here.” The Bartender said.

“A hard soda would be great!” 103 said to them as they grabbed the vodka from the top rack.

After making the drink, 103 swigged it down in moments, placing the cup upside down on the table.

“So, are these guys some kind of guard entourage or something?” The Bartender asked.

“No, they just wanted to come by-” She began to say, before quickly turning around and shooting a customer who tried pulling a pistol on her. “If anything, I’m guarding them!” 

“Well, I’ll be going now, I can see the shuttle outside.” 103 said to the bartender, sliding over a strange looking coin.

“You don’t need to pay, it’s on the house!” the bartender said nervously. 

“No, I insist.” She said back.

The coin was made of steel, with a glowing golden ring, and a hologram saying “1 C” on it.

“What’s this?” The bartender asked. 

“AA credit coin,” 103 said, “You can dump out all of those other coins in there, maybe order a card reader, because that's what you’ll be using from now on.”

 “What? Why?” They asked again.

“You didn’t hear?” Asked back, “we got a ceasefire deal, Shield is gone without their main base, and now, we run this planet.” she told them.

The entire bar went silent.

“Good night, folks, and you boys have fun in there, just don’t drink too much!” 103 said, walking out of the door.

The Shuttle landed on the makeshift on the Empire State Building. When the door opened, Traximo, Betromiza, Callisto and Dakimus emerged. 

“Welcome to New York folks!” The commander said.

“Where’s Arctic?” Betromiza asked.

“Not sure…” Dakimus said, scratching her chin with her 3rd arm. “He said he would drive, or something like that.”

“Warpdrive.” Arctic corrected, suddenly appearing from behind a corner while holding his voice synthesizer. “I’ve understood quantum physics and nanoengineering since I was 10 years old. A multiversal transport device is like lighting a match for me.”

“Huh, nice entrance,” The Commander said jokingly, “Still not enough smoke or music though, an 8/10 sounds nice.”

“I remembered not to wear a mask this time.” Arctic said.

“Well, that's a start,” The commander said, “How’ve you been?”

As the two of them walked off, continuing their conversation, 103 had now approached the sponsors, who were picking up drinks and getting into conversations with waiters, who were mostly civilians who had agreed to work as interns for the Arrow Agency rather than face continued mistreatment, only to often have to put up with Agency officials with no regard for them.

“Well hello madam.” Traximo said, putting his arm over the shoulder of a waiter, causing them to visibly shutter from the ghastly appearance of this massive, gangly, scale covered man. “What a fine drink you’ve brought, and what a fine cut of flesh as well. Major!?”

“What is it?” 103 asked.

“May you scan this waiter so I can get a printed steak?” He asked, causing the waiter to calm down slightly.

“I’ll call over a chef.” 103 said disappointedly.

“Ah, ignore his carnivorous tastes.” Betromiza said.

“Yeah, he seems like he wants to actually take a bite out of every lady he sees, I think that’s pretty difficult to ignore.” 103 responded, walking over to a balcony with her.

“You know, we all heard you talking about Arctic back then.” Betromiza said.

“Ah, it was just me being honest, he’s a hot guy, doesn’t mean that I actually want to go out with him.” 103 said back, grabbing a drink from a waiter.

“If you would like to know, he said he’s fine with anyone, but he said that he finds guys to be cuter most of the time.” she said.

“Ah, so no luck for me.” 103 said.

“I thought that you said that you didn’t really care, didn’t you?” Betromiza said. “Besides, he said he’s fine with anyone, you still have a good chance!”

“I said I don’t like him!” 103 snapped back, slightly annoyed.

“Still, at least try to befriend the man, he seems… off, in the social department.” Betromiza said.

“Well, I’ll try talking to him, I guess.” 103 said.

She saw Dakimus and Traximo having a surprisingly normal conversation while he was eating a printed human steak, and the Commander and Callisto were just talking about business, especially pertaining to a certain “Scarlet Project” down in Utah. When she entered the building, she saw Arctic, holding a drink, and overlooking a ledge by himself. 

“Oh great, not her.” He muttered to himself.

“Hello Arctic, how’s the party!?” 103 asked.

“Time consuming.” He said back.

103 wasn’t very used to seeing people who towered over her, being as tall as even most guys. But Arctic absolutely dwarfed her in size, with him towering over half a foot taller, and with a frame that made Traximo look tiny. Yet the man was surprisingly soft spoken, respectful to waiters, and seemed very anxious talking to people in conversations.

“Y’know, you are in really good shape, any advice?” 103 asked.

“Constantly chopping away at cops and rival gangs with an axe the size of a person, carrying around 70 pounds of gear, chasing down superhumans and spending all my free time doing pull ups while coming up with schemes is a good daily workout.”

“Damn, I was wondering who you’d be getting steroids from but okay, that works.” 103 said.

“Hah, steroids?!” Arctic exclaimed, scoffing a bit at the claim rather than being mad “My brain is already damaged enough from that bullet 10 years ago, and all the food I need to eat daily keeps a bulk up. This physique isn’t even intentional, it's like accidentally finding a pearl when shucking oysters.”

“Well, like Ross always said, “We don’t make mistakes, just happy little accidents,” though I’m sure there's nothing little about you!” 103 said.

Arctic laughed a bit, glaring his canine teeth for a moment, and showing them to be sharp like fangs.

“Woah dude!” 103 exclaimed, “Why are your gnashers like vampire teeth!?”

“Why does you hair make you look like an old woman with a baby face?” Arctic asked back.

“I was created with it?” she responded.

“Same case here,” Arctic said, “People always make it so bloody weird, and besides, they’re good for biting out jugulars, so It’d be best to just ignore them before I decide they need a lethal hickey if you get what I mean.”

After a few moments, 103 asked him a question he didn’t expect to be asked. “So, why’d you come here?” 

“Any world where I see the end of Shield is a dream for what they’ve done to me and so many others, even if my own world isn’t yet one of them.” Arctic said, a hint of anger in his voice.

“Like what?” 103 asked.

“When my paren-... The first Fox Mafia fell, and I was in a coma, they made me into a perfect monster. They messed up… something in my brain, it gave me maximum access to my muscles, but it broke me. They game me chemicals, messed around with my viscera and bones. It made me as strong, fast, durable as any human could ever be. They dropped me into whatever conflict they needed solved, and I’d solve it in days with my bare hands if I had to. They made me kill hundreds of people.”

“Well they nearly turned you into a superhuman, why do you hate them so much?” 103 asked.

“Key Word, “Nearly,” He said back, “They never breached the limits of human flesh and blood, no matter how badly I broke my hands and feet chasing cars and tearing people apart, no matter how many times I was shot or stabbed, no matter how many poisons I could resist, I was an ordinary human at the end of the day, couldn’t get stronger than the theoretical limit of the human body.”

“What did they do?” 103 asked.

“What didn’t they do?” he said back, “They tried every poison, venom and toxin in the world and I didn’t even notice. They tried guns, bombs, burning the whole damn facility to cover up everything. I survived all of it, many of their other ‘toys’ didn’t.”

“Other ‘toys’? What do you mean?” 103 asked.

“I wasn’t the only subject they had,” Arctic responded, “it was mostly other kids like myself. My family was never good to me when they were still here, but the other subjects were like family. When I was 14, I noticed that quite a few began disappearing or suddenly dropping dead.”

“Well I’d guess this is when you escaped.” 103 commented.

“No, I’m certainly no fool, and I knew that facing them head on would be foolish.” Arctic said, “My best bet was to trick my way out of the place, I warmed up to some guards, got some knowledge about the design of the base, and when they finally tried burning the place to the ground, I managed to climb through a path I made to the sewers to escape, while the security were preoccupied slaughtering the rest.”

“So, you work with us now? The lawless conquesters that squeeze planets dry for profit?” 103 asked.

Arctic sighed slightly, “It’s not like I’m not a monster myself.” He said, “I control an empire of thieves and killers, but at first I wanted to save the world from monsters like us, and the monsters who are worse.”

“What do you mean?” 103 asked.

“Your world may be different, but mine is nearly beyond saving.” He said back, “The banks, the businesses, the cities, they’re all under the payroll of criminals and powerful gangs. Many powerful people that aren’t pawns to crooks like us are monsters themselves. They run rings that sell women and children to the highest bidders, hire assassins to kill their own coworkers for a higher rank in their own companies, and kill their own children to blame their spouses.”

“Holy hell. at least I have standards, those people are monsters!” 103 exclaimed.

“Likewise, but I’m still a killer who is willing to play chess with the lives of others at the end of the day.” Arctic said, a hint of regret in his voice.

“Well, why are you doing what you do if you despise villainy?” 103 asked.

“At the end of my reign, I don’t want my empire to survive, I’m too far gone myself to be of any service to the world anyways,” Arctic said, “Someday, when I control the entire net of lies, or have crushed everyone else in it, The world will heal, those who were previously destroying our world will be gone, and new, better people will rise from the ashes.”

“Well, you never answered why you’re working with us.” 103 said.

“This Arrow Agency, or whatever it is, seems to just be the same story,” Arctic said, “conquests in the name of precious metal or profit. Oligarchs with disgusting desires and tastes. In fact, this entire empire could collapse without some rich people around the galaxy who decide to fund them instead of a competitor.”

“Thinking about it, you’ve got a point.” 103 said.

“Business, that is all that this is, from my experience, the best way people rise in the world is through ruthless, deceptive means.”

“Well, I’m sure that not everyone here is bad.” 103 commented, “The Commander raised me as his daughter, even though I was a reminder of where they failed when creating him. Betromiza is only interested in botany, and-” 

“Oh I know,” Arctic interrupted, “You’re right here, and you’re great to be around.” 

103 blushed, and tried covering it with her scarf, “No need to flatter me!”

“Well, I thought you were weird at first, but this was a nice talk we had here.” Arctic said, “I’ll probably just grab a few more drinks and head back to my world, Scottie will be waiting.”

“Scottie, is that a boyfriend?” 103 asked, slightly disappointed.

“What, no!” Arctic said, “Scottie is my pet fox, I’ve never been on a date with a guy or gal in my life!” 

“Oh, okay.” 103 said, letting out a sigh of relief.

“Oh and by the way,” He said, reaching behind his back, “I lied about the mask part.”

“Oh, you jackass!” 103 exclaimed jokingly.

“Pretty cool, right?” he said, putting it on, with the speakers now talking for him.

“What are some features? Looks like something even our science department’d struggle to build.” 103 asked.

“Advanced polymer capable of surviving forces equivalent to a point blank missile, voice synthesizer, heads up display, even some vision settings like thermal, night vision, targeting.” The eyes switched from blue to orange, than green, than red, “There’s even X-Ray and… wait, those are real?!” 

103 looked down, and suddenly noticed his vision must’ve accidentally peered down at her chest, causing him to suddenly seem flustered, even under the mask. She had already managed to control her own blushing before, but now it was even more intense than before.

“Sorry, that was rude.” Arctic apologized.

“I don’t mind.” 103 said, not thinking correctly.

“What?” He asked, taking the mask off.

“Nothing!” She quickly snapped back.

“Well, have a good invasion, General.” Arctic said, bending down and kissing 103’s hand, before walking away.

Her entire face went red, and she turned around, almost annoyed that she didn’t say anything back.

“Damn it!” She exclaimed, grabbing 2 drinks from a waiter and immediately chugging them down.

“Woah, slow down Major!” a soldier said.

“I fucked that up bad!” she exclaimed, “I’m heading back to the bar, these drinks are too light.”

“Why would you want the hard stuff?” the soldier asked.

“I’ll just get drunk enough so the next person I ask out will seem like the hottest person alive, the awkward morning talk will be for tomorrow me to handle!” 103 said.

“Just please don’t do anything stupid.” They requested as 103 walked away to an elevator.

“This already is a stupid idea!” She yelled back, just before the elevator door closed.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Convoy had extinguished the fire, and was finally able to reach the Newark base, which was smaller, only being a single, barely noticeable building in the city, which was surrounded by apartments, stores and other buildings that made the base nearly impossible to find. The Interior was all military installations and bunkers, with a comms system that used burst transmissions and a codebook, with ancient equipment. A relic of the early cold war, now to be used against a far greater enemy than the Soviets.

Most of the civilians who survived the attack had moved to the empty apartments, but all of the military personnel and heroes had been told to come to the Headquarters, where they would be told an important message.

Kamala had gotten out of the truck, still shaken by what she had seen. She still walked over to the HQ, moving past Miles and Gwen, who had a gash on her arm from a bullet. This wound didn’t nearly match many other civilians and soldiers, who had been covered in ashes, cuts, burns and bruises. They still marched forward like ants, aimlessly moving towards a goal that they knew nothing of, away from the hell that they had just gone through.

“What do you think they’ll be talking about?” Doreen asked.

“Probably some sort of new plan.” Kamala said.

“Guys shut up, shut up!” America whispered, "The announcement is about to start!”

The platform was initially empty, but soon enough, Maria Hill walked into view. There was no sign of Fury anywhere. Hill was missing a hand, and was clearly injured, being wrapped in bandages around her lower abdomen and arm. She tested the microphone, and began her speech.

“I have an unfortunate announcement to make,” She said, “During the attack on Phoenix Base, up to 600 personnel were killed, among them was Director Fury.”

The crowd showed some visible concern, taken aback by what was just said.

“The Remaining Agents also accepted a ceasefire deal in the wake of his death,” Maria added on, “Shield is now effectively defunct.”

“So what now!? Are we going to just get rounded up and executed!?” an Infantryman asked.

“Hold on, there’s still some hope!” Maria continued, “We’ve devised a plan to reorganize, Shield may be gone, but we aren’t. Now, we have restructured into a group known as the Glaive Unit, Glaive meaning “Galactic-Level Anti Invasion Establishment.” In simpler terms, we have gone from a defensive strategy to an offensive one. They already control everything we once had, the only way to take back what is ours is if we plant our feet and fight back!”

“We’re outnumbered, this seems like a massive risk.” Eli commented.

“This is volunteer only, if you don’t want to fight any more you can leave, but remember this,” Maria asked, "do you want your families, your children, their children, to live under our enemy’s authority, or do you take back our world for ourself!?”

This pressured the rest of the soldiers to stand rather than leave. The crowd erupted into applause, already glad about the new leader they were given. Doreen had walked off, which Kamala noticed. 

“Doreen?” She asked out, “Where’d you go?”

She saw Doreen’s tail, and followed it across the room, and up the stairs to a balcony above ground. Doreen was leaned against the railing, overlooking the city.

“I know you’re there,” Doreen said, “We’ve come a long way, haven’t we?”

“Yeah, we have.” Kamala said, adjusting her hair a bit.

“I meant from home, Kam.” Doreen said back.

“Yeah, that's totally what I meant!” Kamala exclaimed, leaning against the railing as well.

“It’s been about a year since this all started, but it feels like this has been going on for years.” Doreen said.

“Well, it's said that we humans think that things seem to take longer the more memorable they are.” Kamala commented, “And quite a lot of memorable things have happened in the past few months!”

“Never took you as a scholar, but keep rockin’ on, Plato!” Doreen said jokingly.

“How are you always so level headed at times like this?” Kamala asked.

“Heh,” Doreen chuckled a bit, “The truth is, I'm terrified.” 

“What?” Kamala questioned.

“I’ve lost so many people who were important to me,” Doreen said, “My parents are dead, and half of my friends besides you guys showed up in body bags.”

“Fuck, you never told me about so much of that…” Kamala exclaimed.

“I… I didn’t want to put any stress on you.” Doreen commented back.

“That’s not even the part I'm scared about,” Doreen said, with some tears running down her face, “I just want all of this to be over, but I’m not sure whether it ever will end. Now we’re the ones who are throwing ourselves into the meat grinder, and I know that more people will die, I could die, the rest of my friends could die, you could die-”

“Hey,” Kamala said, “None of us are dying, I’ll make sure of it.”

“How are you so sure?” Doreen asked, “You got shot and were in a coma for a week! I wasn’t sure whether you’d ever wake up, and that terrified me! How can I be sure that you can protect all of us when I don’t even know if you can survive!?” 

Kamala couldn’t come up with a response.

“Sorry, I just… I had a lot on my mind.” Doreen apologized.

“I get it,” Kamala said, “Look, we could die years from now, we could’ve died yesterday, we could die in a week, but what matters is that we’re still alive now.” She inched closer to Doreen.

“There’s something I need to tell you,” Doreen said, “While there’s still a chance.”

“What is it?” Kamala asked.

“That night on the platform last year, do you remember it?” Doreen asked back.

“Yeah, you told me about how you were and then we…” Kamala began saying, stopping herself.

“Well, It may have just been the heat of the moment, It may have just been an accident, but it meant something to me.” Doreen said, “It’s been something I’ve felt about you for a long time, something that has kept me going for all this time.”

Kamala couldn’t help but smile.

“Kamala Khan,” Doreen said, blushing heavily, “I…I’m-” The words were difficult for even a chatterbox such as Doreen to say.

“I know.” Kamala said, grabbing ahold of Doreen’s hand. “It took me some time to realize, but I feel the same.” She held her closer. “That first one may have not meant much, but this one will.”

Kamala leaned in, kissing Doreen firmly. After a few moments, their lips parted, and both had smiles on their faces.

Doreen looked down, seeing the partially bloody tears on Kamala's arm.

"Sorry." She said.

"No, no, its ok." Kamala responded.

"I hope, it doesn't creep you out or anything." Doreen said back.

"No, it's fine, It doesn't change how I see you." Kamala said again.

"So, how do you see me?" Doreen asked.

“Beautiful as ever.” Kamala said.

“So, what now?” Doreen asked, turning her head back to the city after a few moments. 

“Wherever the world takes us, at least we’ll have each other.” Kamala said, resting her head against Doreen’s shoulder.

The two of them had managed to realize their feelings for each other, and finally embraced them. Even throughout the hell that they faced, and the chaos that they had yet to, love endured, as it always will.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Good speech, Hill.” Daisy said.

“What can I say, I’ve thought that this was the best strategy for months at this point,” Maria said, “Just needed to say it off the dome and give some good advice.”

Suddenly, a burst of air pushed them back a bit, with an afterimage left behind.

“Come on, Pietro, it’s time to go to bed!” Agent May yelled over to him.

“You’re not my big sister, leave me alone!” Pietro yelled back, running to the other side of the base in a fraction of a second.

“Why the hell do we keep a 10 year old speedster around?” Maria commented, “The boy barely listens to anyone and he’s most useful for keeping the power on!”

“Firstly, he’s 12, and he lost his big sister, he’s not gonna be the best in the managing emotions department,” Daisy said, “And secondly, he’s clearly pretty powerful, he worked as a hero before any of us found him and he could stop crimes before they even started. I’m sure he’ll be more useful once we train him.”

“Still, he seems real goddamn annoying, and who knows what'll happen if he falls into enemy hands,” Maria said while walking over to the fake shelf in the office, “we should just wipe his memory and hand him over to that Dr. Xavier guy, the one with the wheelchair.”

She opened the fake shelf with the fingerprint scanner, and revealed the secret room where Fury was being held.

“Y’know these walls look pretty nice, with all of the scratches against the walls.” He said jokingly. “They’re practically forming a little design.”

“Well, you may start adding to them,” Maria said, “But we might give you a bigger cell if you talk.”

“What the hell do you want, you goddamn traitor?” he asked.

“Enemy positions, radio wavelengths, supply depots, everything, we’re on the offensive now, and we need to know what we’re shooting at.” Maria said.

“Well, I see an enemy right in front of me, does that help?” He asked, refusing the question.

“You know, everybody out there thinks that you're dead,” Maria said, being handed a taser by Daisy, “We have all the time in the world to make you talk.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 28

Nothing but Dante’s gauntlet could be recovered, so they were put in a small case to be buried instead. The funeral had to be short, simply because so many people could alert the Arrow Agency, who were still surveying the city for any sign of Shield. Their takeover was swift, only lasting 2 months after the ceasefire, with the very few who decided to resist being quickly eradicated once they got too aggressive. There were already workers and new settlers on the planet after the buildings were quickly repaired. The world was now relatively calm, but martial law was still imposed. Every night people would be arrested and dragged to prisons, where they would often be tried and have their memory wiped to work in mines and factories. 

By then, Most of the East Coast just up to the border of New Jersey was controlled. Everything outside of that was uncontrolled territory, ravaged by bombing and fighting, blocked off by a fence and some of the last surviving points of Shield, who hadn’t received the ceasefire deal yet, and would be unlikely to accept it.

Riri was still completely devastated by Dante’s death, just like Hawkeye, who had seemingly left in the middle of the night, unable to handle or cope with all of the death he had seen. She was surveyed in her room 24/7, often being seen writing new blueprints for some sort of upgraded suit.

Griever was still in custody, but Tony had fashioned a robotic leg for him, he was very compliant, accepting whatever meals that were given to him, and helping with repairs and construction while under supervision.

Glaive was now using discrete tactics, ambushing in the middle of the night, infiltrating clubs and bars to assassinate officers, and destroying depots and bases with arson and planted explosives. They had gone from a formidable military force to an insurgency, barely capable of beating a single tank without losing a dozen troops. As a volunteer group, people would be sent out to recruit random civilians from back alleys and bars. This exact task was Kamala’s current job.

“What do you see?” Doreen asked.

“I see about 16 people in the bar, 10 of them have pretty bad cuts and bruises.” Kamala said back, looking through the binoculars from the roof of the apartment across the street.

“Looks like some guys who would want payback, hand them the cards.” Maria ordered over the radio.

“Which of them are you going for?” Doreen asked.

“I’ll take the left side, you hand the notes to the guys on the right.” Kamala said.

Doreen gave her a kiss on the cheek. 

“For luck.” she said.

They climbed down the fire escape, and Kamala pulled up her hoodie, both to block out the rain, and to cover her face. They entered the bar, and could immediately see a guy with a cast at the table in front of the bar.

“I’m telling you, that white haired bitch broke my arm 2 months ago, like some damn praying mantis!” the man said.

“Wait, she and you did what?” The bartender asked.

“Eh, I think she must’ve just been really drunk, we didn’t even do anything and she just decided to jump to the driver’s seat and make us crash, then head back to find someone hotter.” They said back.

“I got to go that night,” another man in the bar said, “I’m pretty sure that she fractured my hip and a few ribs or something, but at least I got some-”

“Okay that’s enough, we don’t need all the details!” The bartender said back.

“Hey, sir?” Kamala said, tapping the shoulder of the man at the front.

“What, you want me to buy you apple juice or something, kid?” the man said.

She handed him the card, which had a stylized image of a cougar’s head on it, the emblem of Glaive.

“Back alley at 6:00 PM, the best defense is a good offense.” she whispered.

She walked past a few more tables, and slipped over the cards to some people who were talking about how much they wanted to wring the Commander by his throat. She passed the card to some injured man who was holding a card of a girl who had died, and another to a woman who had a burn on her cheek from an explosive round.

As she slipped a card to 1 more group who were both talking about their brother who had been taken overnight, She saw 2 infantrymen walk into the bar.

“Could I sit down for a second?” Kamala asked. 

“Oh, sure… Clarissa.” The man at the table said, understanding the message and allowing her to sit down so she could blend in.

They began a random conversation about school, and waited for the infantrymen to walk past for Kamala to get up and leave.

“Remember, 6:00.” Kamala said.

“Yeah, remember your homework by then Claire!” they yelled back to continue the cover story.

Kamala walked out of the bar, with Doreen following closely behind. 

“How many did you get?” Kamala asked.

“7, a lot more than I thought.” Doreen said.

“I heard 1 guy say that the General broke his hip, don’t wanna know how.” Kamala jokingly commented.

“That guy had it lucky, I heard another guy say that he went out with her and he couldn’t even take a piss normally for a week.” Doreen said back.

“Now I’m almost glad we’re on her bad side.” Kamala said.

“You think we should change the Emblem from a cougar? Some of the recruits might have some bad flashbacks to them basically getting mauled when they just wanted a quick hookup.” Doreen asked jokingly.

“Eh, seems like an unspoken rule not to go out with her, maybe they just want a lady that could just squish them like an ant.” Kamala responded, walking into the alley to rendezvous with Steve.

“You kids find some people in there?” Steve asked.

“Yeah, I think half of them should get ice packs though, that general must be a monster in more ways than we thought!” Doreen answered jokingly.

“Make sure not to tell Tony, I’d bet he would risk it.” Steve said back.

“Do we have any more objectives today?” Kamala asked.

“There’s a station we need to take out, about 4 miles away downtown.” Steve said.

“Any explosives?” Kamala asked.

“No need, we just need to take out the transmitter and the whole place will be defenseless, then we just let the city devour the place whole, after all, they deserve a victory.” Steve responded.

“Good, so there’s no need for us to kill anybody.” Doreen said.

“We’re burning daylight, so move out!” He ordered.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The General walked through the streets, shooting down any stragglers as she passed. Hundreds laid dead and dying. A mother was holding a bundle of sheets with something inside, doused in crimson.

“Sato, my Sato, why!?” She cried out. 

She froze, just as the general continued walking past.

“You can always make more, quit complaining.” The General ordered.

The burned Okinawa Training base laid ahead. A group of soldiers was held at gunpoint on their knees.

“To hell with you, we’ve got reinforcements coming!” They yelled.

“Oh, we already blocked radio communications.” She said, “They think the place is just controlled by a rebellion, luv.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” they asked. 

“Independent nation now, you’re on your own.” She said back.

The soldier had no words, only a look of pure shock.

“Well, you’ll come along some day, what’s your name kid?” the General asked.

“Cal, Cal Pesto, the man who’ll wring you by your throat some day.” He responded.

“What a promise, I think I like this kid’s style!” The General exclaimed. “Soldier!”

“Yes ma’am?” they asked.

“Get Callisto here a nice bed, he’s coming with us back to the station.” She ordered.

“And the rest of them?” He asked.

“No need for them, take their guns, let them see what they failed to stop.” The General said.

“Get off of me you fucks!” Callisto yelled.

“General, which of the cadavers should we send back to the R&D Department?” A Lieutenant asked.

An assortment of bodies were brought out for the General to choose on a cart, which was on its way to a heap of fire. One head which was missing an eye, the Crimson doused cloth, thankfully covering a grisly scene, and a full body.

“That cloth, just for fun.” The General said.

“No, please, not her!” The woman from before yelled out.

“Will somebody shut her up!?” The General asked, prompting a soldier to bash the woman with their rifle stock, knocking them out and leaving a nasty gash across their nose.

“Finally.” she said, relieved.

As she walked away, the soldiers brought the cloth to a cold storage case, and dropped most of the contents into the unit. A leg fell out onto the ground.

“Shit, should we pick it up?” They asked.

“Nah, the guys at the lab can clone them without it.” The other soldier responded.

The General wandered over to their personal tent, and placed her coat on the rack. They looked into the mirror, revealing a mostly metal face, with a mechanical eye, a jaw made from steel, and mostly metal limbs. This was not 103. It was not even something truly alive.

This was a construct of General 003.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

103 woke up in a cold sweat. She was still in her sheets in nothing but her underwear. On the other side of the room was another woman and a man, both knocked out cold. Spread throughout the room were empty bottles of alcohol, along with tons of destroyed and tipped over furniture and items such as lamps and vases.

“Bloody hell, again?” She said to herself, disappointed.

“I really need to stop doing this.” She commented, walking over to the shower.

After showering, drying off, brushing her teeth and getting dressed, she stealthily left the apartment, making sure not to wake up whoever she was in the room with.

“003, you didn’t see any of that, right?” She asked.

“No, I see everything!” She said, elongating her sentence and changing her voice to mimic a phantom.

“Great, just great!” 103 exclaimed, burying her face in her hands out of embarrassment.

“Y’know, I had a pretty bad dream about Okinawa.” 103 said.

“Okay, spill, what was it?” 003 asked.

“This is gonna sound weird, but I was… you… kinda.” She answered, “We took over the island and put some bloodied up cloth with something in it in a cold storage unit, then I looked in the mirror and I was some sort of cyborg thing that looked a little like you.”

“The mind does some weird things when we’re bored.” 003 said, “So, who was better, the guy or the chick?”

“Can we just not talk about it?” 103 asked.

Downstairs, there was a group of soldiers waiting for her.

“Major.” they said, saluting her.

“No need, good morning Deb!” 103 said to the soldier.

“They asked for you at the hangar, they said that they’re moving you to Okinawa for a week.” Deb said.

“Okay then, looks like the guys at the bar can finally rest.” 003 said.

103 tapped on the mechanical eye, causing 003 to shut up.

“Hey, stop tapping on my world, it’s like an earthquake when that happens!” 003 yelled.

“Well, maybe when you shut up I’ll stop!” 103 said back. 

Deb looked at her very confusedly, considering that she didn’t say or ask anything to her.

“Sorry, eye robot problems.” She said to Deb.

103 walked over to the hangar building, where she saw the Commander and Callisto ahead of her.

“Hope you had a good night kiddo!” the Commander said.

“Whatever Commander,” 103 commented annoyedly, “003 has really been grinding my gears lately, I wish I could turn on a mute button or something, maybe even pull the bitch out of my head!” 

“Hey, language!” the Commander exclaimed.

“I’m 19! It's not like wee little Timmy saying his new favorite word he saw on TV!” 103 said back.

A boom was heard in the distance. They looked over to see the artillery station being stampeded by a mob in the distance, who had begun throwing molotovs and firing guns at the base.

“Ah hell, at least let me wake up first!” 103 exclaimed. 

She took out her radio, and called over a group of soldiers to deal with it. This had been the 3rd attack that week, and each of them had no identified attacker. When the team reached the station, and had pushed away the mob, they found a VHS tape, and a card with a cougar insignia on it in the wreckage.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

30 minutes earlier …

Kamala stood above the station from a building just a few hundred meters away, overlooking the area.

“Cap, do you see the transmitter?” She asked.

“I see it,” He responded, “Do you remember the plan?”

“Yup, take out the transmitter, dwindle down the forces, draw in a mob, got it!” Doreen answered.

“Doreen, you’re in charge of getting the crowd to come in once we’ve cleared the transmitter out, me and Kamala will take out the base.” Steve said.

“We’ll call you when we’re done, alright?” Kamala said.

“Got it,” Doreen said, just before jumping down to the street.

Kamala moved closer, jumping up to the roof of a building just outside of the station. She got a sight of 2 guards on patrol near the west guard tower, and jumped down, grabbing both of them and slamming their heads into the ground, knocking them out.

“Hey, hands up!” 3 more soldiers who had approached from behind yelled.

“Fuck.” Kamala said to herself, turning around with her hands up.

“We finally caught her, call it in!” 1 of the soldiers yelled.

Suddenly, Cap’s shield was thrown at them, deflecting off of beams and walls, and knocking out all 3 of them with hits to the head.

“You really need to start observing your surroundings better.” He mocked, picking up his shield from the ground.

“Whatever, let's just move these guys and get over to the transmitter.” Kamala responded.

They dragged the soldiers away from the patrol route near the perimeter, and climbed up to the tower, which was thankfully empty. After observing the base, they saw about 20 more enemy soldiers in the base. 

“I think we should find a way around them, don’t want to alert half of Newark to where we are.” Steve said. 

Kamala put on a helmet, and swapped her outfit to the arrow agency infantry armor, even going as far as to scan the emblem on the shoulder of an unconscious soldier. 

“I’ll try and sneak past them, you just make sure that you’ll back me up if I’m found.” Kamala said.

She climbed down, and took the rifle from an enemy soldier with her, walking past the large group of soldiers who were talking altogether. Now that she was inside the base, she got to the room with the transmitter. The room was strangely empty, so she just began uploading the bug to the transmitter. The virus finished uploading, and Kamala was just about to leave, only for a gun to be pointed to her head.

“Nice try there, but we’ve learned quickly.” The soldier said. “One wrong move and we put one right between your eyes, ain’t that right, Mystic?”

“Of course,” Mystic responded.

“Fine, what do you want, a medal or something?” Kamala asked.

“When you get to hell, tell Ross that Zero sent you.” He said, tightening his grip on the trigger and preparing to fire.

Suddenly, a shot rang out, but Kamala’s head was still fully intact. She turned around to see Mystic, who took off her helmet and began shifting back into her true form, a blue skinned woman with red hair and yellow, reptilian eyes.

“Get out of here kid, I’ll distract them for now.” ‘Mystic’ said.

“Who are you?” Kamala asked.

“Haven’t thought of it yet,” The woman said, running out of the door, and replicating a fake gunshot on her lower abdomen while shifting back to the previous disguise, “Mystic does have a ring to it though.”

Kamala grabbed a grenade, and ran from the room, Taking the rifle with her. She saw a group of soldiers outside as she made her way to the roof, and they were going over to the front gate to deal with a group outside, all of whom were clearly angry with them. She pulled the pin of the grenade and threw it, landing just behind the group of 8 soldiers. It went off without any of them noticing, 4 were caught in the blast while the rest were sent flying, the gate was blown from its hinges, causing people to immediately start flooding in.

“Time to go!” Kamala said to herself.

“Looks like you didn’t need my help!” Steve said.

“Well, some blue chick had to help me escape, so I think next time we should just both go in.” Kamala responded.

Doreen moved out of the crowd and with Kamala and Steve as they made their escape. The mission was officially completed.

Chapter Text

Chapter 29

The tape was seemingly dropped on accident while the attackers were fleeing, or at least, that was what the cleanup crew at the station had guessed. The attackers had also managed to escape through the crowd, so there was no way of tracking them, with most of the witnesses refusing to identify them, and the majority of the soldiers who were knocked out being unable to remember their faces.

The tape was brought to 103, who was going to help with planning before leaving for Okinawa. She brought in a few lieutenants and officers to give direct orders.

“This better not just be some weird snuff film.” 103 said, putting the tape into a VHS player.

A banner of a cougar, similar to shield’s Eagle banner, was on the screen for a few moments, then it cut to Maria Hill, who was initially believed to be dead after the raid on Phoenix Base. She was sitting in a chair behind a desk, a flag was behind her, with the same emblem in purple. She was missing a hand, and was wearing a uniform similar to her typical agent gear, only this time, she wore a coat similar to Director Fury. which had a pin with the same emblem as before.

“Consider this message as a warning, and a declaration,” She said, “You managed to nearly wipe out those who stood in the way of your invasion, and for that, we must admit defeat, but that was only Shield.”

“Well, this is a strange way to surrender.’’ 103 commented.

“Shield is dead, but we, just barely, are not.” Maria continued, “This is no longer a war about holding onto our world, but taking it back. We don’t plan to sit around and let you drain our planet for its resources,”

“As if you weren’t already?” a lieutenant jokingly asked.

“We will take back the planet that we have rightfully lived on for millennia.” Maria said. “As we speak, thousands of the people you have crushed and abused all around the world have begun joining our ranks, and we will dwindle you down, station by station, sponsor by sponsor, base by base, until you are wiped from the face of the planet.” 

“Oh, that's… concerning.” 103 said, with a sense of fear in her voice.

“Then, we will get our own technologies, and push you from our system entirely!” Maria exclaimed, “Hell, we may even hunt you down ourselves in a few decades, which, yes, we will stick around. Because you can kill thousands of us like flies, you could kill me, but we, the people of this planet that you have brought so much destruction to, will not let you control us, and we will not forget.”

“Great, what the hell are we supposed to do? Blow the planet apart till these bastards die!? They’re like fucking roaches, they always survive whatever you throw at them!” A sergeant asked.

“It’s only been about 2 months, and the blockades have definitely locked them into new england, so there’s no way the base could’ve moved into the west coast.” 103 said to herself.

“Come on kid, use that 88 IQ!” 003 cheered on.

“They’ve gotta be somewhere within either New York, New Jersey or Connecticut.” She said.

“That's quite a lot of area to search, General.” A Lieutenant advised.

“Well, get searching!” She ordered, “Door-to-Door, don’t even leave a rug behind without checking for a bunker. If a pebble just looks slightly out of place, investigate. We can’t leave anything unchecked!”

“On it, ma’am!” They said back.

That day, hundreds of soldiers were sent out to search everywhere for Glaive, and whoever was a part of the group. The search for the 3 attackers was still ongoing, and worst of all, Kamala, Doreen and Steve hadn’t arrived back at a station yet, and were still wandering the city, which was under high alert.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Steve was in a building trying to get contact with a nearby station to reach a bunker, while Kamala and Doreen were hiding behind an alley as a group of soldiers walked past. 

“I think we’re clear.” Kamala said.

As she began peering from around the corner, Doreen heard something.

“Wait, wait!” She whispered, pulling Kamala back against a wall just as a Tank passed by. 

Doreen was visibly blushing as she held Kamala for a few moments, she let go and turned away after the tank had passed.

“That was close, Kam!” She exclaimed quickly. Even though they had been dating for 2 months at that point, everything still felt very awkward between them, considering that they had been best friends for years.

“Yeah, uhm… thanks.” Kamala said back.

“I’ve got contact with station J-12, let’s g-” Steve said, appearing from the building, and startling Kamala and Doreen, who were both standing face to face with each other.

“Uh, this isn’t what it looks like!” Doreen said, “Well, kind of, but not really!” 

“Can you two save that for when we get to the bunker, we still need to get to a safe location, or we could compromise the whole mission.” Steve exclaimed.

“We’ve got it.” Kamala responded.

“Although it’s getting dark, traveling in a group is too dangerous.” Steve said. “I’ll go my own way, but you two head to the red apartment building 4 blocks east, that’s where I’m going as well.”

“See ya in a few minutes!” Doreen said to him, as he walked away to the left on a different path. 

“Y’know, I’m glad that he didn’t seem mad about… us.” Doreen said.

“Yup, good to know that he’s fine with us being…” Kamala attempted to comment, but paused, after all, everything was still awkward between them, “Well, you know what I mean.”

The two of them attempted to move east, only to be met with another convoy.

“Damn it!” Doreen whispered sharply, “Where do we go now?”

Kamala looked to a sign on the wall, which was close to the fire escape stairs of a building.

“Up.” Kamala commented, stretching her arm up, only for it to not go any further.

“What the hell?” She exclaimed. 

She suddenly realized, she hadn’t fully recovered from her coma yet, but it appeared that there was some effect on her powers, unlike what had been assumed. She maintained her Strength and Dexterity, but was having difficulty stretching.

“That brain injury or something is making this way more difficult than it needs to be!” She said.

“Well, you have super strength for a reason,” Doreen said, “Just punch through the wall and use your hands like hooks!”

“I’ll try, but they better get me something to fix this!” Kamala responded, climbing the wall by shoving her hands through it and latching on.

After clambering up the wall, she finally pulled herself to the roof, where she was met by Doreen, who had jumped several stories up to reach the roof. 

“Thinking about it, I probably could’ve jumped up with you.” Doreen commented.

“Remember that next time, please.” Kamala asked, completely out of breath.

They walked across the rooftops, slipping past the soldiers who were in the streets, searching for Glaive members or stations throughout the city. Eventually, they were met with a group of soldiers on the roof of the building that had the bunker in it.

“Oh shit, climb down!” Doreen whispered, dropping down from the side of the building and to a ledge that was a floor down. 

Kamala followed, dropping down just as a soldier turned around, narrowly avoiding detection. She shimmeyed across the ledge, and eventually ducked under a window. In the room that the window peered into, a woman was watching TV, only for her door to be kicked in, with 2 soldiers entering the room, and opening fire when the woman was mistaken for having a gun.

“Goddamn it, hold your fire!” the squad leader yelled, “It was a remote!”

The bullets went straight through the brick wall, where Kamala was just standing seconds ago. The soldiers had thankfully missed the woman, and had instead kicked her out of the room to search. Kamala and Doreen dropped down to a ledge just below them, where on the other side they saw an open window. They entered the room, only to find a bedroom, with a suspiciously filthy closet. Doreen opened it to reveal a string of numbers reading out “7-12-1-9-22-5” scattered throughout the closet in the form of shirts and toys, a basic cypher that spelled out “Glaive” which was used to indicate bunkers, a hole in the floor led to the 3rd floor. Due to the many needed repairs for damaged structures, this wouldn’t draw attention.

In the floor below, there was a map of a fire escape plan, which had room 112 as a slightly more dull font, which let it stand out.

“This must be where the bunker is, let's move.” Doreen said.

They crept down the stairs, which were empty because of the soldiers having gone up, and they entered room 112, which had a cabinet on top of a rug, a low bed, and another closet. The duo searched around for a minute or so until they saw light emitting from under the rug. They moved it to find a Glaive soldier who had turned on his flashlight to check the sound.

“We’re friendly, turn that off!” Kamala whispered to them.

“Hop in, before they find you guys!” the soldier whispered back.

They hopped down, and moved back the rug and plate that held up the shape and block noise back into place. The bunker wasn’t very spacious, with there only being 2 beds, a food shelf, a bucket with a hole near it, and a radio set.

“We’ll wait down here until they stop the search.” the Glaive soldier said, while they took off their helmet and scarf to reveal a head of messy brown hair and light tan skin, with piercing green eyes. 

“Forgot to introduce myself, the name’s Terry, but for the sake of the mission, 2-7 works better.” He said, introducing himself, even though both had seen each other before.

“Are there any curtains or something?” Doreen asked.

“There's a set for each bed, unless you want to share one, I’d suggest you just take shifts to keep guard.” Terry said.

“I’ll keep guard,” Steve said, dropping down from the ladder, “You two should get some sleep.”

Terry took off his vest and put it on a rack before closing the curtains and going to sleep. The uniforms that the Glaive Infantry wore weren’t drastically different than their original Shield Infantry uniforms, but they were made of a dark gray top and a pair of dark muted green cargo pants, with arm plates such as vambraces and elbow guards, and a vest which was made with a new material based upon Arrow Agency materials. The Helmet also now came with a pair of goggles, and a scarf or cowl was given for face concealment. These soldiers were now equipped to be urban fighters, meant to appear and vanish after devastating attacks, for now at least, this was their only chance at survival.

Kamala and Doreen were in the same bed, trying to find the most comfortable posture. Kamala was a little taller, and took up more leg room, while Doreen had a lot more muscle, and was taking up most of the width of the bed.

“Forget it, I’ll just sleep on my side, that should work.” Kamala said, laying on her side, with her back to Doreen.

“Well I don’t want you to fall over!” Doreen commented.

“Well then make sure I don’t,” Kamala said, pulling Doreen’s arm over her shoulder. She kissed her hand and held onto it before drifting off.

“I love you, Kam.” Doreen said.

“Same case here, now let's try to get some rest, okay?” Kamala responded.

They both slept through the rest of the night, and they had woken up the next day to the sound of nothing. No helicopters flying overhead, no tanks roaring through the streets, no exosuit troops tearing apart buildings with missiles, it was almost as though they had decided to leave overnight. 

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After a massive search, with every single building in the Tri State Area being practically turned upside down, no enemy combatants were found, likely having found a way to hide from the incoming attack through disguises and bunkers. A soldier was sent to report the news to the general.

“Ma’am, we didn’t find anything out there, they seem to be capable of hiding or cloaking themselves in a way we can’t detect.” The soldier said.

“The General and the Commander have already left for Okinawa,” A male voice in the office said.

“Sarge?” The soldier questioned.

“Its Lieutenant now,” He said, turning around to reveal the scars on his face that had still not fully sealed after they were reopened during the attack on Phoenix Base. “I got promoted, remember.”

“Sorry, Sir.” the soldier said.

“Don’t be,” The Lieutenant responded, “This works perfectly for my plan. And yes, I’m currently the highest ranking person in the area, so I’m in charge till the Big Man and the Big Sis get back.” 

“What's the plan?” the soldier asked.

“Remember that nanomachine virus that we made to turn those bluefin rebels against each other back in ‘79?” he asked back.

“You aren’t suggesting what I think you are, are you!? The General would never agree to something this drastic!” The soldier questioned

“She isn’t the one in charge at the moment.” He said back, “Call in an order of swarm J-12, and set up a barricade around the next few states, we’ll let these caged animals eat themselves.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 30

The Carrier landed in Okinawa after only a 16 hours of flight. In orbit, the ship would be capable of traversing entire galactic sectors in mere days, or even travel long distances through warp drive travel, essentially meaning creating a wormhole. Due to the high power of the thrusters and the dangers of creating a wormhole while on a planet, however, the ship was required to move slower. The ship docked near the eastern coast of the island, where a group of soldiers greeted 103 as she landed.

“You have fun out there.” SAM said, “I’m staying here to watch some computer deep cleaning or something.” 

“Really, dude?!” 103 exclaimed, “I appreciate the honesty, but you don’t need to talk about what… Rorn… or whatever, that you’re into!”

She walked to the exit pad, which had its gates open up to a nearly blinding effulgence from the tropical sun.

“Welcome to Okinawa, Ma’am!” A soldier said, saluting her as she walked down the ramp.

“So, why are we here again?” 103 asked the Commander.

“The war may be over, but we still need to plan ahead in the case of resistance movements.” the Commander responded, “There’s still remnants of Shield to deal with, remember? And besides that, we’ve called over some sponsors to deal with, especially after a successful operation.”

“So, who’s gonna be here?” 103 asked.

“Well, our usual sponsors,” the Commander answered, “Callisto is coming of course, Traximo, Betromiza and Dakimus also agreed to come, and Arctic said he may decide to come here in the next meeting that's in a few weeks, he said he’s currently dealing with a group of small time heroes that Shield hired, but they’ll be light work for him with that hydrogenator gun he made.”

“A hydro-what now?” 103 asked.

“Strips down whatever the beam hits into hydrogen gas, especially useful for highly durable opponents.” the Commander answered.

“It’d be real useful to have something like that.” 103 commented.

“He won’t hand it over, said it’s too destructive to just hand it out. Besides, our axiom cannons can kill titans and even low level celestials if they’re big enough, we’re good without them!” the Commander explained.

“You’ve got a point,” 103 responded, “Anyways, do we have a hotel or something?”

“It’s near the shore, and it's only a few minutes away, c’mon, before it starts raining.” the Commander said.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The shore of the city was spared after the invasion, and it kept its natural beauty. The rest of the city, however, was still ravaged by the war after over 20 years. Buildings were decrepit and damaged, having never been repaired fully since the false flag invasion. The places that were destroyed would often be replaced by factories or depots, where people would need to work the rest of their lives to get food on the table, a true industrialized hellscape.

An older woman, nearly 50 or so, maybe younger, maybe older, had just finished her shift at an ammunition factory. She looked much younger than she was, but she began looking her real age when she was exhausted from printing bullets all day, leaving her face drooping down and her eyes heavy. After being handed a few credits, she walked out of the door, only to immediately be hit by a beam of sunlight. She must’ve been working overtime, it was now midday. 

As she returned to her home, she saw a man who had been shot in the leg, and was being dragged to the back of the truck. This was a usual sight for her, maybe 20 years ago this would’ve been a shocking sight, but now, this was a common occurrence that happened all the time. Besides, she already had seen enough for her to not even bat an eye anymore. Just before she opened the door to her house, she saw a convoy, not the usual convoy of tanks or supplies, but an entourage for some officers. One of them was the Commander, the leader of the Sector 6 Arrow Marines, but the other was someone she had never seen before. A tall woman with white hair in a ponytail, not brittle, like the hair of an elderly woman, but white like a sheep’s wool. She looked about 19 or 20, with light tan skin and a green eye, though 1 of them was completely black, like a prosthetic. Something was strange about her though…

She looked familiar. Her face, it looked just like…

No attention was paid to this, she walked into her home, not even thinking further into the woman she had seen outside. Her floor was covered in trash and stains, which she didn’t have the time or money to clean. A picture stand on the table had fallen over, so she propped up the partially burnt photo back up. Even in its state, she could still make out their faces.

After looking into her cupboard, she found a box of crackers, which had expired a week ago.

“Still safe enough.” She thought to herself, biting down on a few of them, before swallowing down the stale, flavorless mass with a cup of water.

She checked her schedule, and it said that she was given 1 day off tomorrow for her overtime shift, the longest break in 2 years. She saw this as an opportunity to clean up the floor of her home a bit. She had managed to bag up most of the trash, but upon moving the trash near the door, she saw a specific stain on the ground. 

Blood, blackened by over 20 years of sitting around, but blood nonetheless. The woman was initially frozen in place, but suddenly, tears began flowing from her eyes. She hadn’t cried in what felt like years, because it likely was years since she really had. But the fleeting memories of where she just knew the blood had come from was too much to bear. She had to sit down and recollect herself, and after a few minutes, there were no tears left.

“Remember what the doctor told you,” She thought to herself, “Remember the good things in life, this will pass.” 

After she was done she went to bathe and get ready to go to bed. She brushed her teeth while in the shower to save on water, and dried off with a towel instead of an air dryer. She applied some facial moisturizer, careful not to mess with the scar on her nose, and eventually was able to finish getting ready to sleep.

Her bedroom was the only part of her home that was not filthy or unkempt. She at least wanted the place she slept in to not be a health hazard. She hopped into bed, hoping that her dreams would be dreams, and not the very true nightmares that had plagued her for 20 years. Since she lost her home, her husband, and her daughter, Sato.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

103 was finally able to place everything in her hotel room, which was more of a military exclusive barracks, with a lot of fancy rooms and floors. There was even an entire dome at the top, which could open up into an anti air installation. Either way, it was a hotel nonetheless, merely housing military personnel. She started looking through a few printed files about what the current goals were while visiting the base, and it said that the first goal was to visit the mainframe system. A knock at the door alerted her, interrupting her reading. 

“Kiddo, we’re headed to the mainframe,” the Commander said, “be down in 5 minutes, alright?”

“I was just placing down some stuff, I’ll be down quick!” 103 said back.

She reattached her sword to her back, and left to get to the lobby, where the Commander was waiting.

“Ah, you didn’t take 20 years this time!” He commented jokingly.

“Oh, shut up.” She said back, snickering a little.

“The Mainframe is just down the street, after that, we have a dinner meeting with some sponsors.” The Commander said.

“Is the car out there, or are we just gonna walk there?” 103 asked.

“No, we’ve got the car.” He answered.

As she entered the car, she saw 2 women outside, near a coffee shop, and could hear a conversation between the 2 of them.

“I get that it’s been more than 20 years, but I can’t just… forget them, you know?” The woman who was crying said.

“Yuuna, I understand, but why do you think your nightmare was so in depth today?” The second woman asked.

“Maybe it was because I saw her blood on the ground back there, but I saw a woman today, Mom.” Yunna responded. “It seems strange to mention, but her face looked familiar, It looked like Sato’s.”

Sato, Sato, Sato, why was that name so familiar? Hearing it immediately gave 103 a splitting headache. She collapsed back, clutching her head in her hands. The pain subsided nearly instantly, but when she looked back to her right, the woman was nowhere to be seen, even though their muffled conversation was still heard, and blurred outlines of their bodies were still there.

“What the fuck?” She thought to herself.

The car continued going forward, but 103 was still thinking about what had happened. Why did that name ring a bell to her? Why did she hear an entire conversation, just to see nothing there? Was it real? Was it not? Was she just tired, or was she going mad? Either way, they arrived at the mainframe too quickly for her to look further into it.

“Here we are!” The driver said.

“Hey, Commander?” 103 asked.

“What is it?” the Commander asked back.

“Did you see 2 people talking back there?” She continued.

“No, I didn't see anyone.” He answered.

“Nevermind, let’s just go and get this stupid tour done with.” 103 said back.

They exited the car, and entered the facility, which had a small powerstation next to it, just to power the advanced computing system. 

“Oi, 003!” 103 called out.

“What, I was just trying to rest?” She asked.

“Isn’t the mainframe made up mostly of a copy of your mind?” 103 asked back.

“Well, yeah, just on a bigger scale.” 003 said, “I’m pretty sure that the construct they sent for the invasion is plugged into the core.”

“Huh, so it's basically just you running all the data on earth?” 103 said back.

“Of course, most mainframes on planets are made from a construct from whatever general was there.” 003 answered.

The building was heavily guarded, but all of them were let through, even with the metal detectors going off like crazy. 

“Hip replacement.” 103 said, jokingly trying to explain herself.

“Head on through, General.” the guard said.

103 was immediately dazzled by all of the servers and computers that surrounded the main room. She was led over to a computer by a researcher. Unlike the soldiers, most researchers were not clones, and were instead hired by the company to assist in computing systems, like this researcher here, factory workers, chemists, engineers or other scientific jobs.

“Hello, General,” the researcher said in an almost rehearsed manner, “I’m Dr Jennifer Stoakes, we were told that you would be coming here to overview the Okinawa Control System. Please, come with me to a database computer.”

“Oookay?” 103 said, with a tiny hint of confusion in her voice from the rehearsed nature of the request.

She reached the main server room, which had a few technicians and mainframe researchers. The mainframe was just behind a screen of reinforced glass. It looked as though there was a pod shaped mainframe in the center, and the interior of the chamber was freezing cold to prevent the mainframe from overheating. 

“Here’s the database computer, just scan with your eye and you’ll be let right in, we’ll call you back in 1 hour, but you may leave whenever you want, have fun!” Stoakes said. She went on her own computer, and left a hard drive in it before walking off for a coffee break.

103 held her mechanical eye open, which opened the computer.

“Welcome, General 103.” A mechanical voice resembling 003 said. “What would you like to search up?”

A list of multiple files and tabs opened up. 103 clicked on the surveillance system, just for fun. Looking at the logs of footage that covered the entire planet, footage of a coffee shop caught her eye. The two women who were seemingly non-existent were right there on the camera. Zooming in, she got a profile for a woman named Yuuna Kei. 

“Who the hell is this?” 103 asked herself, clicking on the profile.

It opened up, revealing a list of things, such as her workplace, the gun factory near the shore, her home, which was along the west boardwalk, and finally a personal profile. 

Full name: Yuuna Kei, Date of birth: 5/25/1939, Age: 48, Height: 172 cm, Build: Medium, Family: Harry Kei (Husband, Deceased), Hana Azaki (Mother), Mahiro Azaki (Father, Deceased), Sato Kei (Daughter, Subj-

The computer suddenly stalled out, and it began revealing an error message. The entire room quickly began activating red lights, and an alarm blared out.

“Xander, what the hell is going on!?” a technician asked.

“I don’t know, maybe a computing error or something? Go ask Jennifer!” Xander responded.

“Dr. Stoakes was just found in the bathroom, she’s been dead for 2 hours!” a security officer yelled.

“Wait… didn’t Jennifer just come in here with a file?” a researcher commented.

“Fuck, we’ve got an infiltrator!” the security officer yelled.

103 quickly ran over, and took the drive from the computer, which had an emblem printed on it, resembling a barbute helmet. She looked back to see “Stoakes” who’s eyes were now a bright yellow. Her skin suddenly shifted to look like another random researcher, and this infiltrator ran off.

103 tried chasing them, but the packed crowd formed from people running over to the mainframe made it impossible to track them down.

“Damn it!” 103 exclaimed.

“General, you’re needed back at the command center.” a soldier said, walking up to 103.

She walked out of the facility, not even trying to look back and track the infiltrator. When she entered the car and it began driving off, she saw a civilian on the sidewalk. They stared back, their eyes having the same coloration, almost like they were mocking her. 103 didn’t even try chasing them down this time. 

Upon arriving back at the command center in the hotel, she was quickly briefed on the situation. 

“We’ve got reports of a mutant infiltrator, calls herself ‘Mystique.’ She can transform into anyone, but we’ve started up a detection field to stop her from being able to enter the command center.” An intel specialist said.

“Any idea what they want?” 103 asked.

“They said that their group, known as the Brotherhood of Mutants, wants the body of Scarlet Witch returned.” the Intel Specialist responded.

“She could be planning to take out sponsors, we’ll need to beef up security around the restaurant courtyard tonight.” 103 said.

“So, where should we place our troops?” A lieutenant asked.

103 went to the table map, panning over to the large restaurant where the dinner meeting would be taking place.

“I’ll need snipers in this building here.” 103 said, pointing to the apartment about 100 meters north of the restaurant. She then pointed to another apartment about 150 meters southwest of the restaurant. “And here, that way you could see Mystique coming from either side, then there’d be no way she could sneak up on us.”

“Anything else?” The lieutenant asked again.

“Set up a specific callsign for each squad,” 103 ordered, “we bring each squad leader here, and they’ll set up the code.”

“On it!” the radio specialist said, calling out to all personnel in the surrounding area.

After about an hour of planning, 6 different squads had arrived, all of whom had come up with a unique callsign. The orders were sent out, for each building to have 2 sniper teams and 1 infantry team to defend them, and each of them moved out, got to the apartments and formed up to make sure the assassin would fail.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The meeting began around 7:00, with Callisto, Betromiza, Traximo and Shimo, an engineer from Sentinel-14d, a planet about 200 light years away from Earth, who had come to try and sell her new nanotech, had decided to attend.

“Ah, Commando, good to see you!” Callisto said.

“Good to see an old face,” the Commander said, “So, before we get to the meeting, how about some food?”

“It’ll be better than the food on the shuttles, I’ll tell you that!” Shimo said.

As the Commander and Callisto were ordering food, Callisto began to reflect on the new state of the world where he once lived.

“Haven’t been here in 20 years.” Callisto said.

“Well, not since we took you from this place.” the Commander commented.

“I may seem like I’d prefer to be doing something else, but I’d like you to know that I don’t hate you lot for taking me.” Callisto said back.

“Well, good to know that our main sponsor saw what we could give him, and warmed up to us.” the Commander said.

“Cheers to that!” Callisto exclaimed, raising his glass of bourbon.

The Commander followed suit, and the both of them chugged down the drinks in a moment, even requesting a second round. They were talking and laughing like 2 old friends, which they were, of course.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the buildings however, the mood was significantly different. The snipers were searching, waiting for the inevitable point when the infiltrator would arrive, and likely try to kill the Commander, or take them hostage to use as a bargaining chip.

“Seriously, I think we should’ve just canceled the meeting rather than set up snipers and not even tell anyone that we have an assassin on our hands.” a spotter said.

“What, tell them and have an entire group of sponsors never trust us again?” The sniper commented, "No way, we’ll take this shapeshifting freak down.”

“Deadeye, do you see anything!?” a guard said.

“No, they’re starting the meeting, but I don’t see anyone around them!” Deadeye responded, still looking around with his sniper scope.

“Hey, who’s that!?” the guard said.

“Jeez, it’s me!” 103 said, going through the door.

“Nothing to report, general.” the spotter said.

“Great, the lads downstairs said they saw nothing too, where is this blue fuck?!” 103 commented to herself.

“I’ll call the sniper team in the second building, see if they have any luck.” the spotter said.

“Hey, Cupheads, do you guys see anything?” they called in, saying the callsign to the squad to verify that it was them. There was no response.

“No response, General.” the Spotter said.

“Well, I don’t know, maybe try and spot them?” 103 requested.

The spotter looked over to the apartment building, only to see nothing there. 

“They’re gone!” the Spotter exclaimed.

“Call over the lower sniper team, see if they can spot anything.” 103 ordered.

The spotter called in, but was met with no response.

“Nothing from the Owls either.” the Spotter said.

“Call the infantry team in there or something, see if they can check what they’re doing!” 103 said back, a hint of concern in her voice.

“Blood Eagles, what’s going on with the Headhunters?” the Spotter called in.

“Falcon, call your snipers to stop firing at us, we’re not the infiltrator goddamnit!” A singular soldier, audibly strained from injuries exclaimed.

“Fuck, we’ve been compromised!” 103 yelled. 

“Let’s go, general, I get dibs on the first shot!” the guard said.

“Is that a challenge?” 103 said, pulling out her pistol in preparation to take out the infiltrator.

Quick footsteps, followed by a loud thud from the door slamming tracked downstairs.

“Keep an eye out.” Deadeye said, still looking through the scope.

“On it.” Falcon said, looking over to the building, before panning down to the restaurant, hoping that the infiltrator wouldn’t take the shot. But as they looked over to the bar, they noticed something. 

103 was down there, quickly running over to the apartment after receiving a call from the last Blood Eagle member. So if she was down there…

Then who the hell was just in the room with them?

Falcon turned over to Deadeye, only to see their motionless body, with a knife lodged in their neck. “103” was kneeling down, training a silenced pistol directly at their head.

“No reason to scream, the other guys are already dead downstairs.” Mystique said, her skin morphing back to its natural blue state.

“How’d you get here, and what the fuck do you want?” Falcon asked.

“You’re not in any position to be asking questions, but what the hell, I guess I’ll tell you, and maybe consider just knocking you out instead of wasting another bullet.” she responded. “One of your guys squealed, most people would if their limbs were twisted just right, so I just took it from there. Now, I’m not looking to kill any of the guys down there, they’d just burn her body instead, but I’ll probably need to take someone alive if I want to figure out where they’re keeping her.”

“So what, the meeting is over now, and the real General is here. Trust me, you’re dead if she catches you off guard. She managed to kill Thanos by getting him with an axiom cannon, and she took out the Black Widow, for christsake!” Falcon said. “What’re you gonna do, take the shape of a Bird and fly away?”

Fired a tranquilizer dart from the sniper rifle, hitting the Commander as he walked back to the bar, out of sight, and then fired off her line launcher. She then turned back over to Falcon as she heard 103 coming up the stairs. 

“Thanks for the tip!” She said, knocking them out with a pistol whip, and turning into a robin to fly away.

103 had just missed her, but in the distance she could see a “Bird” flying towards the bar. She slid down the rope, firing a bullet at Mystique and hitting her wing, causing her to fall to the ground. 

She quickly landed to the ground, moving the general back over, as if he’d just gotten tired and fell asleep at the bar. She then ran back over to where Mystique had hit the ground, and began chasing after her. Mystique tried climbing a roof with her 1 still functioning arm, but 103 was quickly catching up. Mystique tried shooting behind her, but was unable to hit her pursuer. She eventually reached the docks, but was now backed up.

“Stop, goddamnit!” 103 yelled.

“Fine.” Mystique said, stopping in place just at the edge.

“What does getting the body of Wanda Maximoff mean for you!?” 103 asked.

“Why should I tell you if it means nothing?” Mystique asked back.

“A asked for an answer!” she exclaimed, “We’re glad that we managed to take her out when we did, she has the power to make us never have existed!” 

“You want the real answer, fine,” Mystique said, giving a long sigh. “Her father at least want’s her to be buried rather than stored in a test tube, and we owe it to her brother, even if he isn’t on our side.” 

“So you’re going on a death mission over emotions!?” 103 asked.

“Don’t put disrespect on Erik’s name!” Mystique snapped back, “If you weren’t setting up those mutant suppression fields, he’d be able to crush your ships out of the sky instead of just being able to bend some forks.”

“I heard that he doesn’t know a thing about either of them, why would he care now?” 103 commented.

“There are some things you don’t value till they’re gone.” Mystique responded.

As a boat horn blared, and a familiar looking woman approached the dock. 103 looked back, which gave Mystique enough time to jump off, just as a boat passed below them. Mystique had disappeared, probably taking the form of one of the workers on the vessel, but in the back, she could see that a tied, gagged lieutenant was stored away, meaning Mystique must’ve planned ahead.

“Shit!” 103 exclaimed.

She turned back to the woman, and she immediately knew who it was.

“Of course it had to be you.” 103 said to Yuuna.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yuuna let 103 into her home as she waited to be picked up. The inside of the house was grimy, but still cleaned up nonetheless. Yuuna heated up some tea on the stove.

“Want some?” Yuuna asked.

“Unless you can add some whiskey to it, I’m good.” 103 responded.

They both sat at the table.

“Rough day, I’d guess?” Yuuna said.

“Yeah, firstly I nearly had a stroke after hearing some name, Sara or Sato, I think?” 103 said. 

Saying it resulted in an immediate headache, Sato was definitely it. Yuuna choked up a bit upon hearing the name.

“What?” 103 asked.

“Nothing, continue.” Yuuna responded.

“Anyways,” 103 continued, “Then we spent the entire day going after some sort of mutant infiltrator. That blue lady that you just saw escape was her.”

“What did she want?” Yuuna asked.

“The body of some other mutant’s daughter.” 103 responded, “Said that they wanted to bury her instead of letting her sit in some lab.” 

“Well I hate to play devil’s advocate, but I’d go to any length to do that for my daughter.” Yuuna commented.

“You have a daughter?” 103 asked.

“Had,” Yuuna said, “She died right here in this house during the invasion, her name was Sato.”

The name caused another headache, 103 saw Yuuna begin vanishing. Realizing what was happening, she pulled the prosthetic eye out, and placed her down on the table. Yuuna pushed back a little bit, but was even more concerned when the eye appeared to be turning to look directly at her.

“Sato, you said?” 103 asked, this time with no censorship or headaches.

“Wait… No, it can’t be you.” Yuuna commented to herself.

“What do you mean, can’t be me?” 103 asked, “Are you sure there's nothing in that?”

“After Sato died, they put her body in a container to run an experiment or something, but she was dead, It can’t be you.” Yuuna continued, trying to recollect her memory.

“Well, I’m the 103rd clone of a unique palette, so obviously!” 103 exclaimed, throwing up her hands as a gesture.

Suddenly, she noticed what looked like a graft on her arm from sutures, something she didn’t even remember, the more she looked, she saw that her entire body had small, nearly indistinguishable marks, formed from being put back together through surgery, things that she had barely noticed before. 

“Wait, what the fuck?!” 103 exclaimed again, confused at these nearly perfectly brushed out surgery scars.

“What?” Yuuna asked.

“Maybe everythings just mixed together, but I don’t remember needing this many procedures.” 103 commented.

“Who knows, maybe they just recycled parts to make new clones.” Yuuna suggested

“Or maybe…” 103 began saying, stopping midway.

“Was I ever really a clone?” She wondered to herself. The arrow agency had quite a few technologies to solve horrific injuries, but she wasn’t so sure about death.

Looking back at Yuuna, she noticed the similarities, the same head shape, same eyes, same nose, same face structure, minus a few wrinkles, and looking down even a tiny bit, they definitely got the exact same, very blessed genetics. 

“Well, no doubt that my palette was whoever you lost, but I’m not her, unfortunately.” 103 said.

“I get that part.” Yuuna said back, “I just, my mind wanders sometimes, y’know?” 

A truck began approaching, it was likely there to pick 103 up to leave and head back to New York.

“Well, I think they’re here for me.” 103 said.

“Goodbye then, General.” Yuuna said.

“103 works, no need to be professional.” 103 said back.

She picked up her prosthetic eye, and began walking out of the door.

“So long, Mom.” 103 said.

“What?” Yuuna asked.

“Nothing!” 103 said back quickly, “Uh, goodbye!” 

She slammed the door, and got into the truck, which took her to the ship, where they flew off. 

She looked down at her arm, in the spot where the scars from a surgery that she never even remembered were. She wasn’t exactly sure whether she was really a clone, or if she was human, but either way, she didn’t think there’d ever be a straight answer.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Commander received a call from the Lieutenant who was left in charge of the city.

“What is it, Scarface?” He asked. Upon receiving the report, he immediately recoiled back.

“You released what!?” He exclaimed. Scarface continued talking.

“I don’t care that you set the bots to die after 2 weeks, they could still go completely ballistic and kill us as well!” The Commander yelled. “What if they had nukes, then boom! There goes half of our fleet and a whole 5 major cities in 5 seconds flat!” The Lieutenant gave one final request.

“Fine, we’ll stay in Philadelphia with you, but be glad that you’re too useful to demote!” The Commander said, hanging up the call. 

“What’s going on?” 103 asked, walking into the room.

“Oh, we’ll just be staying in Philly for a few weeks, and you can try a cheesesteak!” the Commander responded.

“I meant that as in, what’re you talking about?” She asked again.

“Cheesesteaks!” He said, overpowering her voice.

Chapter Text

Chapter 31

Kamala opened her eyes, only to see that Doreen was no longer holding her in a warm, loving grasp, in fact, she saw nobody in the bunker, strange, to say the least.

“Doreen?” She called out, to no response. “Captain?” She continued, trying to look around for anyone she knew, or to at least find a note or something along those lines to learn where they had gone.

Checking the periscope that looked discreetly into the room above ground through a tube disguised as pipes, she saw that the room above her was also empty, including there being no sign of Doreen or Steve anywhere.

She sat around for a few moments, thinking of what exactly to do. “Screw it.” she said to herself, zipping up her suit and climbing up the ladder.

When she opened the hatch, the “room” (If it could even still be called one anymore) above was drastically different from what had been seen on the periscope. There were no walls, everything was bombed out. Fires in the distance raged, and bodies riddled the streets. The sky had a red, nearly apocalyptic hue to it from the chemicals and smoke, and Jets were flying overhead. She looked over to the right, and saw Doreen get grabbed by a mechanized unit, lifting her up into the sky. Kamala was able to stretch her arm just far enough for the Blitz trooper to drop her, and she fell to the ground. The soldier continued trying to fly, but ended up being held in place. Kamala burned her arm from the Jet, but managed to pull down the blitz trooper, turning their own turret on them and blasting a hole through their head.

She ran over to Doreen, who was still a bit dazed from the fall, but otherwise alive. Kamala helped Doreen to her feet. 

“Are you okay?” Kamala asked.

“Yeah, thanks Kam.” Doreen responded.

“What happened?” Kamala asked.

“You let them die.” Doreen said back, startling Kamala.

She was initially shocked by Doreen’s comment, but looked back to see Doreen’s parents, burning to death under rubble. She looked to where Doreen was standing, only to see an arm, with no torso attached to it. Kamala dropped it in shock, and looked up to see the burning hotel where she had just left. She heard a scream, an all too familiar scream from her father, and a pained screech by her mother.

“Mom, Dad hold on!” Kamala exclaimed, aimlessly running towards the building with tears in her eyes.

She quickly reached her father, who was sitting against a rock. She looked over to him, only to see that a wide wound went across his abdomen and chest.

Kamala could only sit in tears for a few moments.

“I’m sorry, dad.” she finally muttered.

“Why would you be sorry?” He said blankly, “You’ve left enough people like this already.”

“What?” she exclaimed.

“You kill people, you kill all the time now, what does death mean to you anymore?” He asked.

“I had no choice!” she responded angrily.

“You’ve said that there’s always a choice.” He said back, “But clearly you’ve changed your mind now.” 

“I’m still saving people!” She yelled.

“Who have you saved by killing so far?” He asked, “A few scared cadets that only get shot a few seconds later? It sounds like your enemies responded by aiming to kill from what I’d guess.”

She couldn’t come up with a response, upon thinking back to a few days ago, when she shot down a group of enemy soldiers to save a group of recruits, who died moments later after jumping from cover, she knew that she had no counter.

“That little girl that was once there? She died the day you started ending lives as well.” He said, “I just hope you know what you’re doing, though I doubt that.”

She tried covering her ears to block out the remarks, but when she looked back to where her father was sitting, she saw a pile of bones. Back in the building, she heard a few gunshots ring out. Kamala ran into the building, only to see her mother’s body on the ground.

“Goddamnit, no!” She cried out, looking away with tears in her eyes.

“Didn’t you hear what your girlfriend told you?” Her mother asked.

Kamala turned back, and her mother was standing there, half of her head crushed, but talking as if nothing was wrong.

“You saw me, trapped under rubble, a group of gunmen marching closer and closer, and you did nothing to help me.” Her mother continued to berate.

“You were too far away, and they would’ve shot me!” Kamala said back.

“Bullshit!” Her mother snapped, her eyeball dropping from the socket, “You were scared, weren’t you!? Thought that they would get you first, didn’t you!?”

“Fine, I was scared!” Kamala answered, “What the fuck did you think would happen, I’d just run out like some idiot at guys with guns!?” 

“You didn’t see the gun right next to you?” Her mother pointed out, motioning towards the pistol that lay right next to where she sat. “You were afraid to take it a step further to protect the people you love! But we’ve seen what that’s led to now that you have.”

“What do you want me to do!?” Kamala exclaimed, “Kill people and have their friends hit back twice as hard? Do nothing and be at their mercy? That just ends in people getting killed!”

“There’s nothing I can tell you,” Her mother said, “You don’t have any business getting wrapped up in this,” a chunk of the building fell behind her, “and besides, this place is about to collapse, getting out would be the smartest idea if you want to learn what you can do.”

Kamala just barely dodged a falling chunk of Debris that would’ve crushed her. She dived out of a hole in the wall just as the entire building fell, but she was suddenly trapped under rubble. She winced in pain, a chunk of concrete was crushing her hand and had probably broken a finger, and she was covered in gashes and bruises. After minutes of trying to escape, she was suddenly pulled from the rubble. A familiar voice tried checking on her.

“You okay, little guy?” the voice asked. It was the voice of her brother, Aamir. 

As her eyes adjusted from the sudden change from complete darkness to light, she began to make out his face. His skin was covered in soot and dust, eyes looked dull, and as she began piecing together more and more, she finally saw the hole that was going through his head, which left one eye completely red from the blood seeping in. The environment had changed to the plaza that the aircrafts had gone down at.

She immediately stepped back, terrified by his appearance.

“What, death suddenly scares you again?” he asked, his tone switching from affectionate to condescending.

“I did nothing to you, get away!” she yelled.

“Did nothing to the guy who shot me, either.” Aamir responded.

“That fucker is dead, I made sure of it.” She said coldly.

“Too little, too late.” He commented. “He gunned me down in front of my own son, do you realize that?”

“That bastard’ll be the first one to recruit to shoot more of us when he gets the chance, and a thousand more of me will be waiting for him, hah!” the soldier said. There was no mouth to make this remark, in fact, there was no head at all.

“Shut your fucking…” Kamala began saying before pausing, she didn’t think that she had killed him that badly to the point of his head being crushed.

“Hey boys, come along and give her a round of applause for growing a pair!” The headless soldier asked.

16 more soldiers appeared, some of them had holes burned into their chest from the repulsor, a few more had clean shots through the chest or head, but some had limbs torn off, and heads twisted like a swivel. Kamala had finally remembered, by now, she had killed 17 enemies, give or take, and here they were, greeting her with thunderous applause.

“If I kill, they hit back harder, If I choose mercy, they adapt and kill even more people, If I do nothing, I’m just at their mercy!” Kamala commented to herself out loud, almost panicking from the cheering and loud commotion, “What do you want me to do!?” 

The applause gave her no answer. She pressed her hands against her ears, trying to block out the noise, but to no avail.

“Shut up!” She finally yelled, her face covered in beads of sweat and tears running down her face, leaving clean streaks in the dust that covered her face. 

Suddenly, the plaza was empty, with no soldiers, no dead bodies, no specters questioning her, just complete silence. From the hall to her right, a figure stood as an outline in the darkness.

“Maybe you should just let fate take the wheel,” The figure said, “You aren’t important anymore, and there’s no way everyone you love is getting out of this, so why bother having a plan at all?”

Kamala stood on guard, knowing who this silhouette belonged to. The General approached, her sword already drawn.

“Lets just get this over with.” Kamala said blankly.

The General rushed in, and Kamala followed suit. Just before Kamala could jump in and land a punch, however, 103 stood her ground, and did an evasive maneuver while slashing at the same moment. Kamala was given a nasty gash on her left side, and before she could pivot around to try and land a punch, the General cut off her right hand and kicked her to the ground.

“Just as weak as I expected,” 103 said, using her foot to pin Kamala to the ground, “Tell you what, we’ll just take you with us, and maybe start studying some anti-mutant technology, okay?”

Kamala wasn’t giving any words to the person she hated so dearly. Although she used to practically collapse under even a bit of pain, she barely reacted to it anymore, still pushing back against the General in an attempt to regain her footing and keep fighting. Rain began pouring down as the General jammed her sword into the ground, only inches from Kamala’s head.

“You’ve still got some fight in you, huh?” 103 mocked, giving a sinister grin as Kamala tried standing up under her boot, “Well, once we start prying off nails, maybe taking a few teeth, you’ll fall in line.”

“For what you did, you’ll be lucky if I don’t smash your head in when you sleep.” Kamala threatened.

As lightning struck, Kamala saw the General switch from her usual appearance to a mirror of herself. This version of her looked maybe a year or 2 older, and she had no cheeriness behind her face anymore, just eyebags and a few scars. She wore a darker, more tactical suit, with an armored plate covering her chest, and an emblem of lightning striking a skull on the right upper corner of the plate. There was a pauldron that represented a Sergeant on her left shoulder.

“That’s the spirit!” She exclaimed, a sinister smile going from ear to ear.

“Who the hell are you?” Kamala asked.

“Just what you’ll be someday if you wanna survive. Trust me, cutting the goody two-shoes act while you still can will make this hurt a hell of a lot less.” The Sergeant responded, resting her arm against the rifle that the blade had transformed into when the General’s place was taken. “Not now though, you’ll need to make some hard choices now if you want to even get here.”

“I’ll never become like you, like… her!” Kamala responded.

“Well, you’re already on the path, this is all that you can be with all thats happened, and trust me, there’s worse ways this could go, why give up now?” The Sergeant asked.

Before Kamala could speak, She was pushed through the ground, and she fell down into a deep, but strangely comforting abyss, until the light vanished.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kamala awoke, shaken as she got up from her nightmare. Doreen was still right next to her, fast asleep. Even though she was glad that it was all over, tears ran down her face, leaving her unable to contain her noise as she sobbed. Doreen was awoken from the noise.

“Hey, what is it Kam?” Doreen asked, letting out a yawn as she sat up.

Kamala immediately went in for a hug, pulling Doreen close to her.

“Thank god you’re alive!” Kamala exclaimed, her tears running down Doreen’s shoulder.

“Hey hey,” Doreen exclaimed, keeping a low tone, “What’s wrong?”

“I had a nightmare,” Kamala explained, her eyes still flowing like a waterfall, “There was fire everywhere, and something happened to you.”

“Don’t worry, I’m still here, nothing is gonna happen to me, I’ll make sure of it.” Doreen said, holding Kamala close as her tears slowly began to fade.

“That wasn’t all though,” Kamala continued, letting go of Doreen, “I saw my parents, my brother, they were telling me that no matter what I did, things wouldn’t go well.”

“Things already haven’t gone well, all we can do is keep going.” Doreen commented, until Kamala suddenly cut her off.

“Keep going?” Kamala asked, a hint of anger or fury in her voice, “My family wasn’t all that I saw, y’know. I saw all of the people I’ve killed, 17 to be exact, and you wanna know what they did?”

“What… Did they do?” Doreen asked fearfully, dreading whatever the response was going to be. 

“They applauded me, they said that I grew a pair, or whatever that means!” Kamala answered, the spite in her voice only growing, “They soon just vanished, and I fought the general, but I still wasn’t strong enough.” 

“So that's where it ended?” Doreen asked, hoping, nearly praying in her head that the answer would be yes.

“No,” Kamala explained, her tone now completely spiteful, “It began storming, but I looked her straight in the eye, but when the lighting struck, I was staring straight at myself, still pinning me to the ground.”

“Oh, god…” Doreen exclaimed, her heart sinking.

“Whoever it was, they looked like me, talked like me, but it wasn’t me anymore.” Kamala continued, her eyes beginning to drift, and her face going blank, “She looked… broken, tired, she had nothing behind her eyes anymore, just a girl with a gun and some vengefulness keeping her going like a furnace.”

Kamala’s eyes began to water again, her face turned to an expression of grief and self loathing.

“I’m losing who I am.” She said, a sense of certainty in her voice.

“Hey, don’t say that, you’re still the same old you, no matter what happens.” Doreen responded, trying to reassure Kamala.

“No, you don’t get it!” She exclaimed, startling Doreen slightly, “I don’t shake when I carry a gun anymore, I don’t feel sick when I end a life, hell, I don’t even know the mission half the time, and it just turns into pummeling whoever is in my way! I try to convince myself that I’m not like her, not just some murderer who’ll take out whoever I’m told to with no question, but that's what I’m becoming.”

“Hey, you aren’t like her.” Doreen said, putting an arm around Kamala’s shoulder to try and reassure her.

“I wish I could believe that.” Kamala said back, her voice now flat and defeated.

Terry was speaking over the radio, and was seemingly shocked at the news he heard. They could now hear him clearly, with the lack of tanks patrolling the streets.

“Could you say that part again?” he asked, a hint of confusion in his voice, and strangely, excitement. After receiving the news, he could barely speak, “God Damn…”

“What is it?” Kamala asked, a hint of paranoia in her voice.

“They’re gone,” Terry responded with glee, “Overnight they just left, they must’ve called off the search and abandoned the area.”

“You sure that this isn’t just part of another plan, like they’re just gonna firebomb us later or something?” Doreen commented, attempting to figure out what was going on.

“This entire town would’ve been flattened by now,” Terry said back, “It seems like they might be focusing their forces somewhere else.”

“Where’s the Captain?” Kamala asked, looking around the bunker.

“He’s scouting ahead, making sure that we aren’t just getting set up for an ambush.” Terry answered to Kamala.

Kamala exited the bunker, and she snuck around carefully, trying to scope out the area as well. She heard a creak a few rooms away. Maintaining her silence, she inched closer and closer to the room. There were heavy footsteps coming from behind the door, searching. In a quick motion, she opened the door, brandishing her pistol.

Thankfully, instead of an Arrow Agency Soldier, it was just Steve, who was heading around the building to make sure the area was clear.

“Cap, there you are!” Kamala exclaimed, lowering her pistol.

“Jeez!” he exclaimed, turning around after she snuck up on him.

“So, did you find any enemies?” Kamala asked.

“Nope, It looks like they really left.” Steve answered, putting his shield on his back.

“So, what now?” Kamala asked again, attempting to figure out exactly what was going on.

“Well, we still need to plan in case anything happens,” Steve answered, scratching his chin, which was now growing a light beard, “But for now, I’d say we should get a well deserved break.”

Kamala looked down on the pistol in her hand, and looked at the now faded Black Widow insignia.

“Still think about her, huh?” Steve asked, noticing the pistol in Kamala’s hand, which initially belonged to Natasha.

“Yeah,” She answered, “I barely knew her, but… It’s just hard to think about how much it affected people, especially Hawkeye.”

Steve sighed, trying to wrap his mind around what had gone so wrong.

“Listen kid,” Steve said, “They were professionals, of course, but they were close, to say the least. When she died, it broke him, he couldn’t fight anymore, couldn’t finish the mission if he had nothing to return to. Anyone who has somebody they love, they get it.”

“But, how could you just give up? Just, leave like that?” Kamala asked, looking down at the insignia with a sense of responsibility.

“There’s more to it than just keeping the fight going,” Steve answered, his demeanor becoming less like a leader, and more like a teacher or friend, “When you lose something, you can feel like a rebel without a cause. The only choice some people have is to stop, or else their goals will feel pointless.”

“Would you give up if you lost the person you loved?” Kamala asked, her demeanor not following suit, in an almost scolding tone.

“I did,” Steve answered again, his stoic persona cracking, and now becoming vulnerable, “Peggy Carter, she was another soldier during the war, and she was a good friend. Far more than a good friend.”

“You, you had someone special to you?” Kamala exclaimed, her voice now confused at the idea of this mythic, nearly legendary man ever falling for someone. 

“I did,” he answered, “I was on Ice until 1974, but she had aged a whole 30 years in that time. She got sick, and she died not even a few months after I came back. When she died, I initially rejected joining the Avengers, I didn’t have anything to come back to. But I eventually became a working man. From all the people I met, all of the folks who I knew I needed to protect, I found a new reason to keep fighting. And so I came back.”

“So you just forget them? You just found someone to replace the hole in your heart?” Kamala asked coldly.

“No,” Steve said, not getting angry at Kamala as he realized that she didn’t fully understand his words, “Nothing can replace that hole in your heart when you lose someone you love, but when you find something to keep fighting for, that pit gets overshadowed.”

“But how many holes can a heart have until it gives out?” Kamala asked, a hint of entrigue in her voice.

“I don’t know,” Steve answered, his heart falling into his stomach. “To be honest, Nobody can live long enough to tell you when. And if they did, I don’t think that they would really seem ‘alive’ anymore. But when you fight for what you have left, you hopefully won’t lose it.”

“Hopefully…” Kamala parroted with a mix of hope and paranoia.

They walked outside, and just as the radio had confirmed, the Arrow Agency left overnight. Their evacuation was so quick and messy that a metallic, mechanical smell lingered in the air. 

“Huh, they really just left.” Doreen exclaimed, looking around as the metallic smell began to subside. “No scouts, no cameras, nothing.”

“So, who’s up for breakfast?” Steve asked, “There’s probably food in the main base, and I’m sure that we’ve got a good amount of down time.”

“Hopefully there’ll be Acorns there for Monkey Joe!” Doreen commented.

“And for Tippy Toe, it looks like the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” Kamala added in, remembering the name’s of Doreen’s friends.

They soon reached the main base, which was not far away. As they went past the bar, they could overhear a conversation between 2 guys that were at the bar yesterday. 

“Wanna hear something stupid I did a few weeks ago?” One man asked the other.

“What is it?” the other man asked back.

“So that Arrow Agency chick, the one with white hair and the weird eye, you know her, right?” The storyteller said, causing the other man to immediately widen his eyes.

“You didn’t…” The other man exclaimed.

“Eh, she offered,” The storyteller said, “And besides, those things must’ve weighed 6 pounds, you think I’d be crazy enough to refuse?”

“We’ve told you, it ain’t worth it!” The other man exclaimed again, “She’s crazier than she looks, and I’m pretty sure she’s a sadist or something. Are you sure that you can walk after that?”

“I was gettin’ to that part,” He continued, at this point, Kamala had completely stopped walking to listen in, “So I got to some hotel with a bunch of guards, and then she dragged me to her room.”

“Yeah, it always starts like that till she breaks your hips or something.” The other man commented.

“She handcuffed me to the bed the wrong way around, and she said to wait for her to get ready.” The storyteller continued, “At first I thought that she was just a bit stupid or something, but then she comes back with a tool this big-”

As the man began extending out his arms, the other man finally cut him off, and Kamala couldn’t help but snicker a bit.

“Okay, I think I’ve heard enough.” the other man interrupted.

After a little pause, the other man asked the question that had been on his mind the whole time.

“So… was it still worth it?” He asked.

“Eh, I guess,” The storyteller answered, “sure, I couldn’t walk straight for a week, but she bought me an extra drink afterwards, and later-”

“Oh, there's some weird kid listening in dude.” The other man commented, causing Kamala to realize that Doreen had been trying to get her attention the whole time, “Hey kid! This isn’t something you’ll wanna hear!”

Kamala began walking back with the rest of the group, conversing and laughing with Doreen about what she had heard. They soon got to the rest of the group, and they were finally able to rest and eat a good meal, not needing to worry of a raid or incoming battle.

Meanwhile, Maria was sitting across from Nick Fury in the hidden chamber, helping feed him some oatmeal from a bowl.

“Eat,” She ordered, “You’ll need it if you wanna live.”

“I doubt that any of us will be living much longer anyways.” He responded pessimistically, “But sure, whatever makes you stop bugging me.”

He greedily scarfed down the oatmeal, not bothering to chew or even split it up in his mouth. He finished the bowl in about 2 minutes at most.

“Is this using sugar? Real brown sugar?” he asked, his eyes almost flaring up upon realizing this godsend of a treat, “Man, the stuff you typically give me is just bland and stale, this is good!”

Maria couldn’t help but snicker a bit, “The Arrow Agency is on the run, I just thought that you deserved a little treat.”

“On the run?” Nick questioned, raising his brow, “The hell do you mean they’re on the run?”

“They just kinda left overnight,” Maria answered “we can still smell gas and metal in the air.” 

“Rebels?” Nick asked, his attention now shifting away from the empty bowl, once full of food that was now staining the mane that had grown on his face.

“Could be the case,” Maria answered again, grabbing a tablecloth and wiping the oats from Nick’s unkempt beard, “Though some troops have reported feeling a bit ill from the smell, even though the air is reportedly free of toxins.”

“Maybe it was a tactical move?” Nick pondered, raising his cuffed hands to scratch the top of his head, which had now begun growing into a short and messy mop, “They could be surveying us to figure out exactly where we are.” 

“We checked the entire city, there’s no active cameras anywhere.” Maria said back.

“Still, make sure to plan ahead in case they return.” Nick requested, a sense of duty in his voice, as if he was still in control of his army.

“Already working on it.” Maria said back, snapping Nick back into his neutral, non commanding state.

She began setting down the now empty bowl, only to feel a sharp itch on her left hand. She dropped the bowl, and instinctively began reaching down to scratch it, only for her right hand to glide over the stump where her other hand once was. 

“Felt like it was still there, huh?” Nick asked, making Maria turn around, still holding the stump as the pain began to subside. 

“This has been happening ever since…” She paused, tripping over her words.

“It happened after losing my eye, too,” Nick commented, “There’s some medicines and remedies for it, but phantom pain doesn’t just vanish.”

“Sometimes, I can swear that I still feel it.” Maria said back, releasing her grip.

“Same case here,” Nick said in response “but, if you ever need some advice, I quite literally can’t leave, so I’ll be right here.”

“Thanks, Director.” Maria said, a slight break in her typically cold demeanor appearing.

She began to exit the room, but she suddenly coughed. As she exited the room, she noticed that everyone else had coughed at the same time. A strange coincidence, perhaps.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Arrow Agency’s station in Philadelphia was quite pleased with the results of their test, but this wasn’t a good enough response, and they were unable to control any other motor functions with the nanomachines.

“Great, at most we can just make them all get the flu or something, this is useless!” An operator exclaimed.

Scarface was sitting in the back of the room, angered at the lack of results, but attempting to think of another plan.

“So, we have too many people for the nanomachines to fully control,” He said to himself, “Nuking the place is taking a risk, If we can even get approval, they may just intercept the messages and move… But what if we just reroute the nanobots to a few people?”

“Lieutenant, you’re talking out loud.” A technician interrupted.

“Shut up for a second!” He barked at them.

As he was thinking for a few more moments, a technician suddenly came up with a request.

“Try rerouting as many Nanomachines as you can to some superhumans,” The technician told the operators, “maybe that port-” 

“I said shut up! I need to think.” Scarface interrupted, before just parroting the technician’s idea. 

“This may take a while, but try rerouting as many nanomachines as you can into a superhuman and a few soldiers, tear 'em apart from the inside.” Scarface ordered.

“I won’t even say anything anymore.” The technician muttered flatly, her entire face drooping down.

“Let’s see, we got quite a list of signatures to track here.” An lead operator said, looking through the IDs of all the people with nanobots in their system.

For the GIs, just select a few random ones.” Scarface ordered. 

“What about the superhuman? It’ll take a lot more bots to control them.” The lead operator asked, but to deaf ears, as one of the signatures on the screen glowed a bright golden hue from the issues that the nanomachines were having keeping track.

“What is that?” Scarface exclaimed, completely engrossed by the sight.

As the other technicians focused on the signal, the ID finally worked.

“Holy shit…” The lead operator exclaimed, “There’s energy signatures on these blood cells that we don't see unless we’re using slipspace travel. This has to be a nexus being!”

“That one,” Scarface ordered, “You may not be under our control yet, but in about a week, you’ll be tearing them apart for us.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 32

Over the course of the week, many people at the base got sick, often vomiting or having large nosebleeds, but otherwise being fine afterwards. The metallic stench in the air had vanished, and nothing indicated illness or poisoning. The Arrow Agency armory was raided, and soon enough it was emptied out, Wilhem was quite useful when working with Marxia at Identifying the technology, such as Adaptoid Ammunition, which was a nanobot tipped bullet that could modify itself to pierce any material it touches, making armor or invulnerability useless, they also managed to find salvaged parts of the blitz unit armor, which Tony Stark even pointed out to have an intentional design flaw in the power core that he had purposefully made when forced to create them.

A small group of soldiers had reportedly been experiencing nightmares and visions of an Arrow Agency station, but most of them had been brought to the ward for psychiatric treatment.

Although Meri refused to admit it, she had clearly been out of it the past few days, which brought concern to her friends. One night, she went to sleep in Eli’s room after a long day of paranoid rambling, almost anticipating that something bad was to occur soon.

Kamala soon awoke to the sound of screaming a few hours later. She bumped her head on the bedframe of the bunk after waking up to the blood curdling howl that rung throughout the entire base.

“Ah, my head!” She mumbled, rubbing the spot where she had bumped on the metal bars.

She put on some slippers, and put on her bathrobe before checking the noise that had woken her up. Many others had also gotten up after being awoken, and they also began putting on gear and slipping into whatever clothes were nearby. As Kamala exited her room, sneaking past Doreen to avoid waking her up, she looked to the right, where she heard another scream. This one was more frantic, and it was far more painful sounding than the first. 

“The fuck?” Kamala muttered quietly, not exactly sure what was happening.

As she walked in the direction of the screaming, it suddenly stopped, instead being replaced by an ominous silence. She inched closer, hearing a rhythmic thud getting closer and closer. Upon finding a lightswitch, and turning on the lights to the hallway that was ahead, she got sight of the source of the looming thud. A man in shield infantry fatigues, soaked in blood, and running at her with a recently used combat knife, covered in a dripping crimson coat.

She managed to dodge the first strike a few moments later, and grabbed ahold of their arm, breaking it and forcing them to drop the knife.

“What the hell!?” She exclaimed, barely awake yet immediately having her heart racing and adrenaline spiking.

The man was clearly in pain, going by his facial expression, but he kept fighting, almost in a trance-like state. He kicked Kamala a good 7 feet backwards, using strength no ordinary person should have. As he motioned closer, he fell to the ground. As Kamala backed away, she saw that the Man’s entire leg was shattered, with the bones in his ankle sticking out. Soon enough, other Infantry moved in, and they grabbed ahold of the man, who was another infantryman that had been acting strangely all week. 

“Holy shit!” Riri exclaimed, walking over to Kamala, who still had the wind knocked out of her, “Are you okay!?”

“I’m fine.” Kamala answered through very shaky breaths.

“The hell just happened?” Riri asked, looking over to the frenzied man being dragged away, with his eyes bloodshot, and his movements almost mechanical.

Before Riri could get an answer, Mills walked out of the barrack room that the man had come out of.

“We got a body in here,” Mills told an infantryman in the hallway,  "That guy must’ve stabbed his roommate, though it seems like they did put up a good fight at least.”

“Well there’s our answer.” Kamala said, Putting her arm around Riri’s shoulder to help her get up.

Doreen had slept through the entire situation, but needless to say, when she woke up and learned what happened she was shocked.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day, all that there was was speculation and questioning. The Man, who’s real name was Kevyn, and was codenamed 6-2, was shocked to learn what had happened. Overnight he had gotten sick, and vomited up a metallic mix of tiny iron buds, only visible because of sheer numbers in the puddle on the ground, and blood, but was suddenly in control of his body again. He was still being questioned, but all that he could say was that he remembered seeing visions of a bunch of technicians before waking up on the ground in the cell he was put in.

Upon further research, the metal buds were discovered to be nanomachines, set up to take control of a person’s motor functions.

“I recognize these,” Marxia said in her lab, looking at the nanobots through the microscope, “The Arrow Agency used them back when they landed on Spidoria to turn rebels against each other, but there needs to be hundreds or even thousands to be able to control major functions like movement.”

“Could we all be…?” another medic began to ask.

“No, at most, maybe a few dozen people could be controlled with a single batch, out of the hundreds of people in this base and the thousands in the city we have good odds.” Marxia answered, “But we need to figure out who is infested, they’re a walking weapon.”

On the other side of the base, Kamala, Doreen, America and Riri were talking.

“So you’re saying that the guy kicked you like 5 feet away?” Eli asked, almost a bit excited to hear what Kamala did next.

“It was more like 7 feet away, but the guy broke his leg doing it,” Kamala answered, shutting down any other cooler details, “But that guy practically fought like he was possessed!”

“Word’s going around that he basically was,” Doreen commented, “The guy, Kevyn, I think? He was infested with a bunch of nanomachines, kept on mumbling about Philadelphia.”

Meri was suddenly grabbing at her forehead, seemingly in agonizing pain from the words she had heard. 

“Meri, are you okay?” Eli asked, rushing over to help his friend.

She suddenly vomited a dull, dark red puddle onto the ground before collapsing.

“Scar…Bugs…Claws…Skin…” Meri was mindlessly uttering random words in a pained ramble. She began vigorously scratching her own arm, trying to get something out.

“What the hell is happening!?” Riri exclaimed, stepping away from the puddle on the ground.

“I don’t know, but let’s get her to a doctor.” Eli answered, helping Meri up by letting her lean against his shoulder.

Soon enough, Meri was rushed to the ward, the exact place where several infantrymen were also being held after similar episodes. Gwen walked over to Eli, Riri, Doreen and Kamala to tell them what had happened, or at least, what they could guess. 

“Looks like she has nanobots in her system,” Gwen told the group, “Not much we can do to help right now, but she has a good chance to push through.”

Eli could only sit in silence for a few moments, placing his head in his hands in anguish at the thought of his best friend suffering.

“Damn it… just… damn it!” He exclaimed, his voice defeated and saddened.

“Hey, hey,” Riri said, attempting to reassure him, “She’s strong, she’ll get through this, I’m sure of it.”

“I need some time alone, just go.” Eli said back, motioning for the others to leave.

As the group left, Kamala couldn’t help but notice that Riri was a bit shaken as well, almost seeming unsure of her own words.

“Hey, are you okay?” Kamala asked.

“We lost Dante, now what?” Riri commented, her tone now just as defeated as Eli’s.

“What do you mean, “Now what?” What are you saying?” Kamala asked again, her voice now more angered.

“What I’m saying is that it feels like we’re just dropping dead, or… or worse!” Riri answered, following the same volume that Kamala had gone to, “First, half of the Avengers were either killed or captured, or just abandoned the mission, and then We were attacked and Dante died protecting us. And now? Meri is fighting for control over her own body and mind, clawing at her own skin to no avail. How do you think that ends?”

“Well, she’s strong and all, I’m sure she’ll be fine.” Kamala responded, sitting down at a bench.

“With as bad as this has gotten, It’d be a mercy if it were to kill her, for her own sake, and for everyone else’s safety.” Riri said, not explaining further.

Kamala couldn’t figure out what to say, Riri was certainly right about the ticking time bomb that Meri now was.

“I wish that things could work out, that my friend has a chance, but either those things kill her, or she gets taken over and hurts more people, and I don’t like either of those scenarios.” Riri said, tears nearly flowing down her eyes.

Riri walked off, not confidently, but instead defeated and saddened. Kamala was also still unable to speak or think properly with what had happened. The Idea that Meri could die from the nanomachines, survive with lifelong damage, or get controlled and go on a killing spree before being put down was an impossibly difficult dilemma to try and solve. 

After sitting for a few minutes, Kamala finally walked off, not saying a word to Doreen as she entered their barrack, and hopped into the bed, allowing the mental exhaustion of the day to finally consume her.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kamala woke up only 6 hours later from a loud bang, getting up around 7:00 in the evening. Her eyes tried adjusting to the light that was coming off of the desk lamp. She panned over to see Doreen, who had barged into the room.

After catching her breath for a few moments, Doreen finally spoke through ragged breaths. 

“Come outside quick, and put on your suit.” She said between breaths, “It’s urgent.”

“What’s going on?” Kamala asked, sitting up from the bed, just as she heard booming footsteps from outside.

A frantic man, fighting like the controlled Kevyn from the night before, suddenly emerged from the corner, sneaking up to try and stab Doreen, who was facing away from the door.

“Behind you!” Kamala exclaimed, giving Doreen time to turn around and trip the man charging at her with her tail.

Kamala instinctively reached for her pistol, which was on the desk behind her, but before she could aim and fire it, Doreen already knocked out the man.

“Were… were you about to shoot him?” Doreen asked as she saw Kamala aiming for the man’s head.

Kamala didn’t say a word, not even realizing that the gun was in her hand. She lowered it, and could only stare in shock at this newer, more violent reflex.

“I don’t know,” Kamala answered, “I just… I just did this without thinking.”

“Forget it, we’ve got a situation out here!” Doreen said, dropping her question entirely.

The hallway was bloodsoaked, and across the hall, 8 dead infantrymen, all of whom were shot down rather than stabbed in their sleep, were laid face down and against the walls, puddles of blood beneath them.

“At least 22 troops just went rogue, with even more losing it as we speak. Looks like Kevyn last night was a misinput or test run from wherever they are being controlled from.” Doreen said, holding her slingshot at the ready.

“Barely ever see you use that.” Kamala commented, looking at the acorns that Doreen was using, “Are you sure that thing hits hard enough to take out guys in vests?”

“The writer didn’t know that this was my weapon of choice until Marvel Rivals added me,” Doreen said, causing Kamala to raise an eyebrow at the strange comment, “And by that, I mean there hasn’t been much use for it. It hits like a tank, not enough to kill someone, but it can knock out most people in only a few hits, even with armor.”

“Damn, I stand corrected.” Kamala said back, “But what’s all this stuff about writers?” 

Doreen looked ahead, and saw a group of 7 hijacked infantry ahead, holding another 5 soldiers at gunpoint.

“No time to explain, actually, I can’t explain that to you, but anyways, we got a group ahead!” Doreen said, ducking behind a clearing in the hallway, where a door would open up.

As Kamala began to equip her pistol, Doreen stopped her.

“Wait,” Doreen interrupted, pushing Kamala’s arm to her side, “these guys are under mind control, they’re still our allies at the end of the day.”

“You’ve got a point,” Kamala said, holstering her pistol behind her back, “But if anything goes wrong, this’ll be here, just in case.”

“Fair enough.” Doreen responded, “Do you think you can stretch your arms to knock those guys' guns out of their hands?”

Kamala tried to polymorph, but it was completely ineffective, with her arm just extending out at a normal length.

“What’s going on?” Doreen asked, looking confusedly at Kamala’s idiodic-looking motion.

“I don’t know, I haven’t been able to stretch at all in a while.” Kamala answered, pulling her arm back.

Doreen thought for a few moments, before coming up with an idea so outlandish that it might work.

“I’ll throw you at them!” Doreen exclaimed.

“What?!” Kamala snapped back, “Am I supposed to spin and hit all of them at the same time?”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking.” Doreen answered.

Kamala considered her options, before finally responding.

“Fine,” She said, “But if I get shot, it’s on you.”

Doreen quickly picked Kamala up, and peered from behind cover to throw Kamala like a torpedo. She barreled into the hijacked troops, knocking 2 of them out immediately, and sending the rest to the ground. As she staggered to her feet, Doreen fired off her slingshot, taking out 3 more. Kamala then quickly picked up the remaining 2, and bashed their heads together, leaving their faces bloodied and battered, but still breathing.

“Never do that again.” Kamala said as she regained her breath.

“A bit harsh on those last 2 guys, don’t cha’ think?” Doreen asked, a hint of concern in her voice.

“They’re alive at least.” Kamala said back sarcastically.

The 5 troops who were held hostage got back up and picked up their weapons, following Kamala and Doreen until they got back to the control center. At the center, Steve, Maria and Mills were waiting, attempting to reorganize after the internal attack.

“How many dead?” Steve asked Mills.

“12 of my troops,” Mills answered, holding a handful of dog tags and placing them down on the table, “And 20 more injured.”

“We haven’t heard anything from Gecko Team or Foxtrot Team either.” Steve commented, slamming his fist on the table, “Damn it! We slip up for one second and they turn our own guys against us!” 

“Hey, language!” Kamala said jokingly, walking in with the remains of Gecko and Foxtrot Team.

“Well, at least we know that some of you are still alive,” Mills exclaimed, almost exhaling a sigh of relief, “How many casualties?”

“All of Foxtrot is alive,” A soldier answered, “But Gecko’s team leader is dead.”

“Damn it…” Mills exclaimed, looking a little more paranoid, but otherwise composed, “Well, we can still do this, we just need to keep the laboratory safe until the nanomachines can be rewired.”

“How long will that take?” Maria asked, looking down at a watch.

“About an hour, from what Marxia estimated.” Mills answered.

Although Steve had barely spoken throughout the exchange, he was clearly processing all of the information, trying to come up with a plan. Finally, after a few moments of scratching his chin, he spoke.

“We need to scatter them throughout the city, away from the lab, which we can move to the basement.” Steve ordered, “There's 108 of us and only 72 of them, but with how restless these hijacked soldiers are, that isn’t a significant advantage, and direct confrontation is too risky. Try distracting them, and not killing them unless absolutely necessary, after all, they’re still allies to us.”

“Form into 9 teams, we’ll try leading them around with vehicles,” Mills continued, “We need to move quick if we want a fighting chance. Move out!”

This order was quickly sorted out, with Kamala, Doreen and Eli being stationed near a warehouse with Team 6. The team near the hospital, Team 7, however, had gone radio silent.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

30 Minutes had passed, with no new reports coming from Team 7. The Warehouse was practically a base of operations, because Mills and Maria were both there, giving out radio orders. The Lab had been moved to the basement to keep it safe, but now, the cure would take another 40 minutes due to the setback. The anticipation was the scariest part, not knowing if there would be another attack to fend off.

“So… terrible weather we’re having, huh?” Doreen said, trying to lighten the mood.

“There’s time for jokes later, lets just stay focused.” Kamala said back, checking her pistol, which was now loaded with adaptoid bullets.

“No, I’m being serious, whatever that thing in the sky is, it’s really bringing in a draft.” Doreen commented, pointing up at the windows to a bright light in the sky.

At first, Kamala thought that it was just another joke, but then she saw it.

A glowing grey and white form above them. Similar to the portals that Meri would often make, but instead, this one was unstable, shaking as if it were frigid and ill.

“What is that!?” Kamala asked, as a figure began to fall from it.

“Oh shit, move!” Doreen yelled, tackling Kamala out of the way as Steve fell through the roof and onto some boxes in the room. 

As Steve began to get up, He held up his shield, preparing for whatever came out of the portal. Less than a second after that, a bright streak burst through the portal and roof, and sent Steve flying into a garage door. Kamala looked at the figure, who was levitating above them all, a red glow coming from one of it’s eyes. As the smoke settled, Kamala and Eli realized who it was.

“Meri…?” Eli called out, causing Meri to begin clawing at her face. 

She looked dull and sickly now, still wearing hospital scrubs, with a set of 3 jagged metal spikes sticking from her shoulder, and cuts from her clawed face revealing a partially metal interior, this wasn’t Meri anymore. Kamala was suddenly grabbed, and was propelled through a portal that appeared behind her. She hit a wall on the other side of the city, hard. As she tried to recover her breath, she just barely dodged a punch that would have caved in her face from Meri.

“Hey, Stop!” Kamala yelled, garnering a slight pause from Meri’s onslaught, only for her to nearly be skewered again, and then grabbed, being pulled through the air, and lifted up above the city. 

“Don’t do this!” Kamala tried to yell again, but this time, the only response being tears.

Realizing that there was no getting through to her, Kamala tried punching Meri, who was now trying to crash directly into the ground. The punch had little effect, but it did instead make Meri change directions and crash through another building, dropping her against a pile of rubble. This building, however, had 6 hijacked infantry in it, who surrounded her with rifles.

Thinking quickly, Kamala fired her pistol through the heart of one of the hijacked infantry, and she grabbed their rifle while using their body as a shield, mowing down 2 more. 

Sorry about that!” She exclaimed, diving out of the way as 2 more of them fired at her. 

She scrambled through the door, and immediately slid under another hijacked soldier, shooting them twice through the back. As she turned a corner, 2 more hijacked soldiers were standing ahead, but before any of them could fire, Kamala felt a portal open behind her. 

Meri crashed in from behind the 2 infantrymen, launching them away, before grabbing Kamala, and sending her barreling through the portal, back above the warehouse. She was dragged around, being launched through the rooms and shelves.

Kamala tried regaining her footing in the destroyed radio room, taking in her surroundings. Mills arm was sticking out from some rubble, the rest of him likely crushed, and Maria was on the ground, battered, but clearly alive. Kamala saw Doreen and Eli getting tossed around like ragdolls, before Meri’s attention was drawn back to Kamala. She tried firing her pistol, but Meri was moving like lightning, quickly evading each shot and punching Kamala in the face, sending her barrelling to the ground.

Just as Meri was about to finish the job, A shield was thrown at Meri’s head. As both Kamala and Meri looked over, Steve almost gave a look that silently said, “Good Luck” before Meri flew to him. A geyser of blood launched throughout the warehouse, and the Captain was no more, a hole now protruding out of his chest, and his face blank.

Meri’s hospital gown was now crimson red, but she began to hesitate, constantly clawing at her face, while motioning closer and closer to her friends.

“Meri, wait!” Eli yelled out, his familiar voice seeming to calm her for a moment, “Just wait…”

The glowing eye remained as bright as ever, and seeing this led Maria to slide the pistol back over to Kamala, who had blood running down her face.

“I know that you’re still in there, but you need to fight it!” Eli said, slowing Meri’s advance even further.

Kamala crawled towards the pistol, her motions slow, yet persistent.

“Even with what happened, with all the people they made you kill, there is still a way out of this.” Eli continued, beginning to motion closer.

Kamala grabbed the pistol, and supported her arm with the other to take aim.

“Once we’re done here, We’ll help your mother with that donut shop.” Eli promised, causing Meri’s eyes to stop glowing as bright.

Kamala’s hand begun to shake, her aim became unsteady.

“Take the shot, she’ll kill him, she’ll kill Doreen.” Maria whispered.

“Eli…?” Meri finally said, beginning to walk over to him.

A shot rang out, and Meri’s eyes went wide, she stumbled back, and she saw the bullet wound through her chest.

“No!” Eli exclaimed, catching her as she fell to the ground.

Kamala dropped the pistol in shock, distraught at what she just did, even though she believed it to be necessary to protect the rest of them.

“So this is what it feels like, huh?” Meri commented, looking at the blood pooling beneath her, “This should hurt, but I barely feel it.”

“Don’t say that, we’ll get you help, I promise!” Eli exclaimed, tears welling in his eyes.

Meri grabbed his hand, squeezing it firmly as the bleeding began to thin.

“I'm not getting out of this, too much internal damage." Meri retorted.

"Just stay still," Eli exclaimed, "If you just hold on, we can... we can-"

"You better keep that promise.” She said weakly, a smile forming on her face.

“I will, I will.” He said back, the tears no longer able to be held back.

The grip on his hand loosened, and Meri coughed up blood before going completely limp. Eli could only bury his face in her palm, having been unable to save his oldest friend.

“Are you okay?” Kamala asked, approaching Eli while lowering her pistol.

“You did this… didn’t you?” He asked back, his face full of sorrow, and a hint of rage.

Kamala began to stumble over her words, the gravity of her actions not fully weighing on her.

“I-I had to,” Kamala retorted as Eli began to stand up, “She killed Steve, she wasn’t in control, and she would’ve killed all of u-”

“Enough with the excuses!” Eli yelled, now walking up to her, “I was getting through to her, she had a chance to fight it off, and you shot her through the back just when she was taking back control!”

“I’m sorry.” Kamala said instinctively, and unconvincingly.

“Bullshit!” He snapped back, now standing right in front of Kamala’s face, towering over her and brandishing his shield as if he wanted to pick a fight, “You just did what you thought you had to, didn’t you!? Maria must’ve told you to pull that trigger, but I’m sure you’d have done it anyway.”

“I… I didn’t want to…” Kamala tried explaining, with tears welling in her eyes, “B-but I had to-” For the first time, she looked over to Meri’s body on the ground, and her hands begun to shake.

“Stop it, both of you!” Doreen interrupted, stepping between them, “We can’t go and fight each other now.”

“Then what the hell am I supposed to do about the person who killed my best friend!?” Eli asked, his sorrow now fully replaced by rage.

“I… I don’t know!” Doreen answered, “But not this! Anything but this!”

Eli’s chest was still heaving up and down with rage behind every breath, but he finally began to calm down, and dropped his shield to the side before kneeling down next to Meri’s body.

“Just go, before I change my mind.” He hissed, his voice still having traces of anger, but the sorrow returning.

Kamala and Doreen didn’t say a word to each other as they left Eli in the warehouse to grieve. Only 20 minutes later, earlier than expected, the rewired nanomachines were released, freeing those who were hijacked, and still alive, from the Arrow Agency’s control.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A week after the Nanomachines were sorted out, rebuilding efforts had begun. Kamala had decided to check in with the medical staff at the hospital, hoping to find an explanation of her deteriorating abilities. The screening included a psychological evaluation and a blood test. Kamala looked over her new orders as she and Doreen sat in the room to wait for the results.

“I guess I’ll finally have some answers as to why I can’t stretch anymore.” Kamala commented.

“Hey, no matter what it is, I’m sure that there’s some treatment for it.” Doreen said, attempting to reassure Kamala as Gwen walked into the room.

“Do you want the good news or the bad news first?” Gwen asked, sitting down while adjusting the cooling pad on her face.

“Good news sounds… good, right now.” Kamala answered.

“Well, the good news is that most of your deterioration was purely psychological,” Gwen said, “As long as you stay focused, you should be able to at least regenerate just fine.”

“Well, that’s good to know,” Kamala commented, letting out a sigh of relief, “What’s the bad news?”

“That’s where the ‘most’ part comes in.” Gwen answered, “Your polymorphing not working was likely just stress related at first, but due to the nanomachines that were temporarily in your system, they tore up a lot of important stuff on the way out, your blood is constantly working to fix it, so you won’t be able to stretch or change forms or size for… we aren’t even sure how long.”

“Shit… that’s just… that’s just a lot to take in.” Kamala said, exhaling into her hands out of stress.

“It’s not like your abilities will be lost forever, your strength is unaffected, but your polymorphing is the only thing that’s damaged, it’ll come back eventually, what you need is rest and most likely, psychological treatment.” Gwen said back, reassuring her.

The room was silent for a few moments, and Kamala understood that with the new orders, she would likely not get the treatment that she needed to fully gain her powers back.

“What gave you that bruise?” Doreen asked, breaking the tension in the room.

“Oh, this?” Gwen asked, pointing to the cooling pad on her face that covered a reddish spot, “A hijacked soldier tried me, and got half of his teeth broken too.”

“Damn, maybe you should become a boxer, or pitfighter or something, those are some serious skills you got there!” Doreen exclaimed, surprised by Gwen’s tenacity.

“Yeah, might as well dye my hair red and get tattoos saying ‘lady killer’ while I’m at it!” Gwen quipped back.

“You guys have had the same voice actress before, I could see it.” Doreen commented to herself.

“What?” Gwen asked, confused by the comment she had overheard.

“She just does that sometimes,” Kamala answered, standing up and beginning to walk out of the room with Doreen, “Well, we’ll see you later!” She exclaimed before closing the door.

Kamala’s Demeanor immediately changed upon leaving the room, with her face going pale with fear.

“I’m done for out there.” Kamala said blankly.

“Hey, you’ll be fine.” Doreen reassured, “Sure, you won’t have one of your best abilities, but you’ve gained plenty of new ones-”

“Get to Okinawa and kill the sponsors, that’s all that they told us!” Kamala interrupted, “Do you realize that we’ll have to cross through the entire country to even reach the shore of California!” 

“C’mon,” Doreen said back, “the Arrow Agency is barely out there-”

“Then, after trekking through concrete jungles and crossing an entire ocean on some airship that we aren’t even fully sure works, guess what’s next!” Kamala interrupted again, “They want us to send in a small party of only a little more than 40 soldiers to the Enemy’s home base and hit them in their wallet, as if we’d even survive the journey!”

“Maria has been planning this for a month,” Doreen argued, “There’s gonna be rebels helping us along the way.”

“Fine,” Kamala said, still not fully reassured, “But there are pitfalls in this plan that I’m not sure we can really look past.”

“Look, I’m not sure that everything about this plan is smart either,” Doreen said back, “But it’s our best shot. Arrow is a company, and with their sponsors out of the picture, they’ll lose their footing here on Earth.”

“You don’t kill, so why are you even on this mission?” Kamala asked, looking straight into Doreen’s eyes.

“I need to make sure that you stay safe,” Doreen answered, “And I won’t be dealing the final blows.”

“That’s your issue, you can’t truly finish a fight, that’s what gets people killed!” Kamala snapped back, “If you took down someone, only to get shot in the back, or…” Her breath shuttered, “I can’t lose you, I’ve lost so many people, I’m losing more and more of myself, especially now that I need to fight head on instead of keeping my distance, and I-”

Doreen went in for a hug, and a kiss on the cheek.

“I’m not trying to lose you either, which is exactly why I’m going with you.” Doreen said back.

“Just… make sure not to die out there, okay?” Kamala asked.

“I promise.” Doreen said, pulling in Kamala close for a few moments in a warm embrace, “Now come on, we need to pack up our gear. After all, you wouldn't want to have everything you need dropped in by supply crates and scavenging, would we?”

Kamala and Doreen went to pack up their bags, with Kamala making sure to leave the Rhode Island photo for Malik, the last picture the boy would possibly ever have with his Dad, Grandparents and Aunt still alive and happy.

The others who were coming along, besides her and Doreen, was Riri, who had added a painting of a fire to the arm of her now silver and slate colored armor, and Eli, who now carried the chipped Vibranium shield of the late Steve Rodgers, and could barely look in Kamala’s direction.

Among the infantry was Janine Pollock, who was the new leading officer after the death of Mills, Terry, who was second in command, Kevyn, who had fully recovered after the Hijacking, Jumper, who was trusted to drive the trucks and operate the radio, and 39 other soldiers, who were mostly other people that had survived the Hijacking. 

The convoy drove through the remnants of Jersey City after getting supplies from a depot there. Kamala watched on as she got a look at Malik, watching from the street near a store that had become all too familiar to her. Kamala’s once cheerful nephew, now drained, and almost having a look as if it would be the last time he would see her. As the trucks drove out of the city to begin it’s long journey to the west coast, Kamala got one more look at the damaged city skyline, not sure whether it would be the last time she would see it.

End of Book  1