Deployment
While the lost Avengers were busy fighting battles in the Clone Wars, the Avengers on Earth were having their first outing, building bonds with each other, and most importantly, getting closer to bring their wayward friends home. In fact, with the return of Wanda Maximoff and Vision, their journey home would become all the more possible.
-An excerpt from The Fight For Justice, by Luke Skywalker
“Avengers Assemble!”
Everyone dived out of the Quinjet and plummeted towards the freighter below. Tony and Carol broke off from the others and came into the mercenaries’ sight.
“Sir, it’s Stark and someone else.”
Rumlow grinned behind his mask.
“Get those choppers in the air!” he ordered.
Several mercenaries scrambled to get in the choppers as their engines lit up and the blades spun. They took off and flew right for the pair of Avengers.
“Alright, Danvers, I’m gonna get them to fly away from the boat. As soon as they’re clear, just fly straight through them.”
“You got it.”
She stopped moving and hovered in the air. Iron Man flew closer to the helicopters.
“Hey, come and get me, goons!”
They all fired missiles, causing him to turn around and fire flares and repulsor blasts at them.
The rest of the team pulled their parachutes (or just used their wings or ant if you were the shrinkers) and after some time gently landed at the back of the ship.
“Everyone remembers what to do?” Hawkeye asked the group.
They nodded.
“Okay. Let’s give ‘em hell.”
A mercenary walked through the piles of shipping containers when something collided with their gun and sent it to the floor. He looked around to see what it was when he suddenly was struck in the jaw. He collided with a shipping container and fell to the deck unconscious.
Two other goons saw this, raised their rifles and fired in that direction. Bullet shells fell to the deck. One of the shells suddenly grew and slammed into them both, knocking them out.
More mercenaries came in and started shooting at the area. One of them was grabbed by an invisible force and flung towards the others. He slammed into them and they all hit a container.
From the spot where that guy was emerged Ant-Man.
The remaining guards stared in disbelief at what they were seeing.
“Hi, I’m Scott! Meet my girlfriend, Hope!”
The Wasp grew from behind them and fired her blasters at them. They went down easily.
“Nice going with those guys right there,” he praised.
“Not as good as using their own ammo against them,” she said, returning the praise.
“Ant-Man and the Wasp, teaming up,” he said fondly.
“The cargo is secure,” Hope reported to the group.
Spider-Man walked through the halls to the engine room.
“Copy that. I’m almost in the engine room. No sign of bad guys yet. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”
“I wanna say good, but that probably means there are more guys where you’re heading,” he heard Scott say.
“Terrific,” sarcasm clear in the teen’s voice.
He turned a corner to see a door to the engine room. Before he could get closer, his Spider-Sense flared in his head. He quickly hid behind the wall.
Peter pressed a button on his wrist and scrolled through the ong list of his suit’s functions.
“Damnit, why are so many of these blocked! Wait, a drone? Okay.”
He selected it and the spider emblem on his suit detached, hovering in the air. It sent a live feed to his HUD and he directed it towards the engine room.
“Huh. It’s smaller than I thought it’d be. Ten guys in there. No. Eighteen. So, what am I gonna do?”
Parker took notice of a fire extinguisher right next to him.
“…So, she was talkin’ to me, saying that I work too much and need to be home more,” one of the mercenaries in the engine room said. “So, then I said to her-”
He was cut off by a very loud fire extinguisher colliding with his head, hitting a few more guys afterwards, and it crashed into the middle of the room. There was a hole in it, making it move as it did and fog up the room.
“Whoa, whoa! What the hell!”
He was suddenly punched in the face.
“Huh? What’s going-”
He was pulled up to the ceiling.
The others raised their guns. Two of them were struck with some sort of white substance and got dragged away.
“Open fire!” one of the goons yelled.
They unleashed bullets all around them as they screamed in rage and fear.
Then several blasts of the white substance began to rain down on them from above. They were practically covered in it.
The fog cleared up to reveal Spider-Man hanging by a stand of webbing from the ceiling.
“Gotta hand it to you guys, the way you responded was pretty cinematic,” he quipped.
Peter then got down, walked to the controls, and shut off the engines.
“This is Spider-Man. We are officially dead in the water,” he announced on the comms.
“Good to know,” Clint said simply as he kicked down the door to the bridge and fired an arrow at the controls.
The mercenaries in the room pulled out their guns, but fell to the floor. It was either by choice or because they were hit by tranquilizer darts from Hawkeye’s first arrow.
The Avenger Notched and fired two more arrows that turned into nets that trapped the other goons.
He pressed a button on his bow and electricity coursed through the nets and incapacitated his enemies.
“The bridge is clear.”
Iron Man blasted the last of the missiles.
“Good job, team. Danvers, have at it.”
Carol nodded and flew right for the choppers.
The mercenaries’ eyes widened.
“Is that a flying woman?”
“Who cares?! Just shoot her!”
They all fired their missiles at the blonde, creating a massive ball of fire.
“That wasn’t so hard.”
Captain Marvel flew out of the explosion and crashed right into the helicopters. Each one burst into flames as she came out the other end. Whatever choppers she missed were hit by photon blasts. They all crashed like Icarus into the sea.
Rumlow growled.
“What the fuck is going on!”
He grabbed one of his men by the shirt.
“Where’s Rogers?!”
“How am I supposed-”
Crossbones punched him so hard his chest caved in.
He threw the goon’s lifeless body across the deck.
“Remember me?”
Brock froze. He turned around slowly to see someone he did not expect, and whose presence shook him to his core.
Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier was standing a few yards away.
And he looked pissed .
Not knowing what else to do, he charged right for the former assassin and extended the blades from his gauntlets.
Crossbones moved to stab him, but the Avenger caught his arms and moved the blades away from him.
The ex-HYDRA agent head butted Bucky, making him stagger and release him.
He kept swinging his blades at his opponent.
Bucky dodged each swipe but found himself pressed against a shipping container.
Using this opportunity, Rumlow pushed his left arm forward. Barnes moved out of the way and the blade stabbed into the metal box.
The Avenger brought his metal arm down on Crossbones’ and there was a sickening crunch.
The terrorist howled in pain. He tried to punch Bucky with his right arm, but he caught it and ripped it off.
The WW2 veteran grabbed him by the collar and threw him across the deck. Rumlow coughed as he tried to get up, but received a metal punch to the face.
Bucky let his rage out and just kept punching him over, and over, and over until his helmet cracked in half.
Brock's scared face was exposed.
Barnes then took hold of his neck and squeezed.
The terrorist clawed at the metal arm, but it was no use. His neck would be broken at this rate.
The look in the Winter Soldier’s eyes sent shivers down his spine.
He was about to finish him off when he heard a voice call out ahead of him.
“Barnes.”
He looked up to see Tony looking at him with an arm raised placatingly.
“We need him alive.”
Realizing this would be a mistake, he let go.
Rumlow took large heaving breaths.
The rest of the team soon came over and looked at their prisoner.
“Wow man. You’re reeling trying to get the part for Voldemort over here,” Peter quipped.
Brock just chuckled.
“I think I look pretty good, all things considered.”
“Who’s your buyer?” Bucky interrogated.
“You know, I was expecting Rogers. Or Romanov. Even that Pigeon guy. Not this mess,” he responded, gesturing to the group.
James grabbed him by the collar.
“Who? Don’t make me ask again.”
“Alright. I’ll talk. But do me a favor. Tell Rogers, when you go, you gotta go. And you’re coming with me!”
Crossbones surprised them all by pulling out a detonator.
He pressed the button.
However, just as the fire emerged from his suit, he shrunk down and lit up like a firecracker.
The group blinked before turning to the Wasp. Her blaster was pointed right where Rumlow stood.
Spider-Man pulled off his mask and sighed in relief.
“Thanks a lot, Hope.”
She retracted her helmet and smiled at the teen.
“Any time kid.”
Tony whisted.
“Okay~. I’ll let Damage Control know their boat is safe. FRIDAY, call down the Quinjet. We’re heading home.
Obi Wan stared at the results from the blood test he took from Wanda.
15,000 Midichlorians
It was higher than him and less than Yoda. But that wasn’t what really caught his attention.
“Her Midichlorians are multiplying rapidly, Master.”
“Certain of this you are, Master Kenobi?” the hologram of Grandmaster asked.
He nodded.
“This is the third test I have taken today, and they have already increased by a few hundred ,” he stressed. “And from what she told me, she didn’t even notice the Force until arriving in this galaxy.”
“Hmm. Curious this is. A weaker presence perhaps the Force has on Earth. A small amount of Force Sensitivity she has always had, but not a strong one until swimming in its presence here,” Yoda theorized.
Kenobi rubbed his beard.
“And now her strength is only growing. But this connection she has…it’s unique , Master Yoda. I sense there is something more at work here.”
Hmm. Yes. Bring her to the Temple. Speak with her I must. And this Vision as well. Avengers they are. Friends they are. But warned of the dangers from the Dark Side they need be .”
Obi wan bowed in respect.
“Yes, Master.”
Peter stood on a balcony overlooking a city.
“I hope there wasn’t too much damage,” he said.
“Nothing we can’t handle,” a red headed woman to his left told him with a shrug. She then turned to face him. “You saved a lot of our people, today.”
“I wasn’t that helpful…”
“Yes you were,” she stressed. “And this wasn’t the first time. We… I owe you. For so much.” She placed a hand on his shoulder. “You never gave up on me. You always saw that I could be more than this.” She gestured to her armor. “Thank you, Spider.”
The vigilante thought for a moment before suddenly taking off his mask, and showing his face to her for the first time.
The red head’s eyes widened.
“Peter. My real name is Peter.”
She smiled. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Well then, Peter. On behalf of my people and my clan, please accept this reward.”
The teenager was unceremoniously woken up by a bucket full of water.
The soaked hero looked up to see Tony holding a now empty bucket.
“What the hell?!”
“How did the FBI finally lock up Al Capone?”
“What are you-Wait, are you copying Talladega Nights right now?”
“Yes,” he said before pouring another bucket on him.
Parker began to wipe the water off his face.
“How did they get him?”
“They-they-they uh-they got him for tax evasion! Tax evasion!”
Stark nodded.
“That’s right.”
Then he emptied another bucket on Peter.
“What was that for?!”
“I filled up three.”
The young man rubbed his head.
“I was having a good dream.”
The Iron Avenger raised his hands.
“Whoa~. I do not need to hear about what goes on in your hormone driven mind.”
“It wasn’t that kind of dream.”
“Was there a girl?”
“…Yes.”
“Uh huh. We’re her arms around your neck?”
“…Also yes.”
“Then it was about to be that kind of dream.”
“What’s with the test?”
“Simple, Underoos. It’s to remind you that sometimes the best way to stop the bad guy is to just outsmart them. So, if I can get you to stop abusing your brain by not using it, then you’ll go somewhere. Now clean yourself up and come have breakfast.”
Meanwhile…
“For the last time, Barnes. I’m not saying Frank Sinatra is bad. He was great. One of the best to ever live. But he’s not the best singer of all time,” Scott said before drinking his coffee.
“Alright, then who?” Bucky challenged.
“Freddy Mercury or Elton John.”
The ex-assassin shrugged.
“They’re fine.”
“ Fine ? That’s all you have to say?Fine?”
Hope rolled her eyes at her boyfriend and teammate’s argument.
“If you two are finished, we have to clean up around here. We’re having some guests today.”
“Who?”
“Erik Selvig, Darcy Lewis, and Jane Foster,” Carol answered, stepping into the kitchen.
The two men sat up straight.
“So, we might be able to reach the others soon?”
“Maybe.”
“It’s gonna be sooner than you think,” Scott said, looking out the window.
“Why?” his girlfriend asked.
“Cause they’re here.”
It was true. Outside were the three scientists usually associated with Thor. They walked in and were soon heard down the hall.
“Gosh, would you look at this place?! It’s so much bigger than the lab in New Mexico,” Darcy, undoubtedly.
“Hey! I thought you loved our lab,” Jane responded.
“I do, but come on Jane. Look at this place!”
Selvig just chuckled as the trio entered the room.
“Hi, Dr. Jane Foster,” she introduced, offering her hand.
Hope shook it.
“Hope Van Dyne. This is my boyfriend, Scott. And my teammates Bucky and Carol.” The three of them waved. “Clint, Stark and his intern should be here soon.”
“Look, I appreciate movie references as much as the next person, but you did not have to pour three buckets of cold water on me!” they heard Peter complain from the hall.
“Oh please. You know it was funny,” Tony said.
“You have to send me a recording of that!” Barton laughed.
They entered the room and stopped upon seeing their guests. Tony and Clint offered casual smiles since they knew them already.
Peter couldn’t be any different. The moment his eyes landed on Jane, he loudly sucked in a breath and froze.
Foster tilted her head.
“Is he okay?”
The teen shook his head and started stuttering.
“Y-y-you’re D-d-doctor Jane Foster! Oh my god, this is happening! Hi! I’m Peter Parker! I’ve read your book and all your papers! I’m a big fan of your work!”
The astro-physisist blinked before an amused smile grew on her face.
“Thank you.” She shook his hand. “It’s nice to meet someone who appreciates me for my work and not that I dated Thor.”
“Are you the intern?” Darcy asked.
“Yes.”
“Cool. I was Jane’s intern before I got my degree.”
“Nice. Oh, and I love that you chose New Mexico for your lab. It’s supposed to be like Oppenheimer, right? Physics and New Mexico.”
“Wait, you know that quote?”
“Who doesn’t?”
“Most people,” Bucky answered.
Jane and Erik shared a pondering look.
“What else have you read?”
“All of Dr. Banner’s papers as well as Mr. Stark’s. And a lot of other scientists.”
“Are you in any science clubs?”
“Robotics.”
“How old are you?”
“Fourteen.”
She whirled on Stark.
“Where the hell did you find this kid?!”
“Queens,” he answered with a smirk. “And you can’t have him.”
Jane pouted, causing the vigilante to blink.
“We’re getting off track,” Carol cut in. “Do you already know why you’re here?”
Darcy nodded.
“Erik told us what happened at Damage Control.”
“So, what do you think? Can you call Thor and help us find our friends?” Tony asked with a rarely serious look.
Foster bit her lip while her colleagues frowned.
“That’s…gonna be hard.”
“How come?” Clint asked.
“We…broke up.”
“…Oh.”
The room was silent for a minute.
“But there has to be something you can do?” Bucky pleaded.
She thought for a moment.
“Well…there is a chance that if we made a signal loud and strong enough, then Heimdall might hear it.”
“Whatever funding you need, let me know,” Stark said.
“I can get started right away. I just need you to at least share one more thing,” she said, pointedly looking at Peter.
Stark sighed.
“Fine. But don’t hog him.”
“No promises. Come on kid, help us get set up,” she ordered as she marched away.
Parker instantly followed with a wide grin.
“So let me get this straight, Anakin. You risked the mission, all your men, even your Padawan to save a droid?” Obi Wan asked incredulously on his end of the transmission. Next to him were Pietro, Wanda, and Vision.
Anakin and Ahsoka stood with the newly rescued R2 on the Twilight . The holograms of Steve, Natasha, Sam, Rhodey, and Padme were also present.
“R2 found the listening post, and he saved our lives. We couldn’t just leave him there, Obi Wan,” Anakin argued.
“Oh, Anakin. One day…”
“I think we can close the book on this, Obi Wan,” Steve said. He looked to his newly found teammates with relieved smiles. “It’s good to see you both are safe.”
“You too, Steve,” she smiled back.
“As am I,” Vision stated. “Though I must ask, what is the progress on returning home.”
Everyone looked at each other.
“Well,” Rhodey began. “I was gonna share this the next time we saw each other, which I guess is now. FRIDAY and I have been working on a way back.”
“You have?” Sam asked.
Rhodey shrugged.
“It’s not like I have a lot to do since Dooku fried my suit.”
“Huh/I beg your pardon?,” Wanda and Vision said at the same time.
“Story for later,” the Colonel waved off. “So, our first thought was to try and see if there was anything like the Tesseract energy in this galaxy. Nothing. Then we thought about a conventional way to travel through the void, and came up with this.” He pulled out his phone and paired it with the comms. Next thing to happen was a hologram of a large spacecraft being displayed in the middle of the room.
“Is that a hyperspace ring?” Ahsoka asked.
Rhodey nodded.
“Large enough to carry an entire Star Destroyer. The size is kinda circumstantial because of how many engine cores it’ll need.”
“This can take us home?” Romanov asked.
He responded with an “iffy” hand motion.
“Theoretically. The fact is that we can’t do this without knowing the hyperspace route. And I don’t think we’re gonna figure that out anytime soon-”
“I believe I can,” Vision said, gaining everyone’s attention.
“You can?” Pietro asked in disbelief.
The android nodded.
“I memorized the star charts back on Earth the moment I saw them.” He turned to Anakin. “Could you perhaps provide me with a map of the Galaxy?”
“Sure.”
The Jedi Knight pressed a few buttons and the display of the hyperspace ring was replaced by a galactic map.
“If I could have the planets each of us arrived on highlighted, it would allow me to solve this puzzle. To start us off, Wanda and I landed on Orto Plutonia.”
“I ended up on Hypori,” Steve said.
“Tatooine,” Natasha answered.
“Illum,” Pietro answered.
“Dantooine,” Sam added.
“Muunilinst,” Rhodey finished.
All the planets were highlighted on the map.
Vision nodded.
“I have solved it.”
“Already?” Kenobi asked, intrigued by this mysterious being’s skills.
“Yes. From what I can clearly tell, we all branched off from one another at some point. And I believe that point was the Pantoran System. Mr. Skywalker, if you could please add in some connecting lines…”
The lines were added from each of the other planets to all converge at the Pantoran System.
“The Pantoran System is clearly the point we must jump from, since it lies on the edge of the Galaxy. As for the destination…”
Vision placed his finger to the console on his end of the transmission. Suddenly another galaxy was added to the display, but it was far, far away…
Then a line was added from Pantora to what was supposed to be Earth.
The group stared at the display in disbelief.
“Is this really happening? Are we actually about to go home?” Pietro asked.
“Well, we need the parts to build it in the first place,” Rhodey said.
“Oh, I have no doubt the Republic will be more than willing to supply you with them. Especially after what Natasha helped me and Senator Farr do,” Padme smirked.
“What’s that?” Falcon asked.
“We caught Gunray,” Romanov answered.
“What!” the present Jedi exclaimed.
“This is a pivotal victory in the Clone Wars,” Obi Wan stated.
“Wait, Senator Amidala, you didn’t see combat, did you?” Anakin asked his secret wife, worried about her and their unborn child.
She froze for a second.
“I only acted in self defense. Nat actually did most of the work.”
Skywalker relaxed in his seat.
Natasha’s eyes flickered between the two.
“Wait,” Ahsoka began. “When you guys leave, you’ll come back, right?”
The four natives of the Galaxy turned to the Avengers, slightly worried about their answer. They had done so much for the Republic in such a short time, and losing them would be a colossal blow.
The team from Earth shared a long look with each other.
Rogers was the one to speak.
“We’ve thought about this for a while. You need to understand that Earth is our number one priority.”
The Jedi and Senator’s shoulders sagged at hearing that.
“However, there are a lot of problems here. Problems like these Sith, who are trying to take over everything and will get a lot of innocent people killed. It would be wrong of us to leave knowing we could help.”
Their new friends smiled brightly at this statement.
“Thank you, all of you. You have no idea what this means to me,” Padme said.
“I think we do,” the Black Widow said, discreetly looking at the pregnant woman’s belly.
“Besides, what are we gonna do, not take some of your convenient as hell technology back to Earth on occasion,” Pietro said.
“It also might be good to have some of you Jedi back home,” Sam mentioned. “I know we’ve saved our planet a few times now, but I’m getting the feeling some extra help is gonna be needed.”
Kenobi rubbed his beard in thought.
“Perhaps a Jedi expedition and possibly building a Temple on your planet would be beneficial.”
“Do you think your world would be interested in joining the Republic?” Padme inquired.
The Avengers said nothing.
“You’re talking to the wrong people. That’s not really our place to decide,” Steve answered after a while.
Anakin frowned as he remembered something.
“Steve, we ran into Grievous on our mission.”
The Captain’s face darkened as his mood dropped.
“I’m listening.”
“Ahsoka fought him before he managed to escape. I think he’s heading for his lair.”
Rogers was silent before nodding.
“Alright. I’ll inform Master Fisto that it’s time.”
Cap’s hologram flickered out.
“Who or what is Grievous?” Wanda asked. “I’ve never seen Steve like that. It was…unsettling.”
Viz’s expression indicates that he had the same question.
Sam sighed.
“A lot of us arrived in places where we could win. Steve wasn’t as lucky.”
“The Battle of Hypori was a massacre for our forces. Only one percent survived,” Obi Wan continued.
“Steve found himself among the survivors and helped them for as long as he could,” Anakin said.
“In the end though it didn’t mean much. General Grievous, the one leading the Separatists, came in and tore through them like they were butter,” Pietro added.
“I think it was the first time in a while that he felt useless. That cyborg managed to wound him badly and nearly killed the only three Jedi that lived. He thinks it’s his fault they died. And he hasn’t forgiven himself for it,” Natasha finished.
Viz bowed his head and Wanda covered her mouth.
“Oh my god.”
“To him he needs to beat this guy,” Sam said. “It’s the only way he can ever rest after that.”