Earth-717: Avengers Vol 1

Chapter 11: Destiny

As the Rogue One slammed against the floor of the hangar, it crushed a large Mekkan soldier and sent his pulse rifle flying into the air. The ship slid along the metallic floor, severely scraping the armour on the underside. Once the ship came to a halt, Carol opened the back ramp, and the heroes all rushed out.

There were a handful of Skrulls inside of the hangar, but they were quickly shot down by projectile attacks from Tasha, Carol and Johnny. Bruce, having taken off his clothes aside from his purple shorts, transformed into the Hulk. Herbie then floated out of the ship and started scanning the damage.

“Oh, no no no no!” said Herbie. “It appears that the Rogue One has suffered from at least moderate levels of damage from the crash.”

“Doesn't change what we have to do,” said Steve.

“But I believe that the Repair-Bots and I can render the ship fully functional, so long as we are assisted by Doctor Richards!” said Herbie, bouncing in the air. “I will just require some time to work.”

“You will have it, tiny floating automaton,” said Thor. “We have a villain to defeat.”

“I'll help Herbie,” said Reed. “Make sure the Rogue One's ready for when you all get back. But you've got two objectives here. You have to destroy the ship and also retrieve the Infinity Gem, which will deactivate the Pariahs. But Veranke and the ship's reactor aren't in the same place.”

Tasha shrugged.

“Yeah, sure. No big deal.”

“Anybody got a map?” asked Carol.

“I do, I do!” shouted Herbie.

Herbie then flew up to Tasha and turned upside down.

“Performing wireless data transfer!” A three-dimensional map of the Exile's Intent appeared inside of Tasha's heads-up display.

“Huh,” said Tasha. “Nice work, Tic Tac.”

“If we have two objectives, then we need two teams,” said Steve. “Who's going where?”

“Suzie and I know where the throne room is,” said Ben. “So that's where we're headin'.”

Hulk punched Ben in the back of the shoulder.

“Grimm isn't going anywhere without me,” said Hulk.

“I've got the map,” said Tasha. “Guess I'm heading for the reactor.”

Tasha then turned to Thor.

“And, since we have a professional reactor core engineer with us in Thor, might as well bring him along.”

Thor held Mjolnir above his head.

“It will be my honour to crush that reactor!”

“Oh, I definitely need to see that!” said Johnny.

“We don't know what Veranke has in store for us,” said Steve. “Carol, come with us?”

“Don't even need to ask,” said Carol.

Ben then spotted a large pulse rifle on the ground. Picking it up, he then tossed it to Reed. Reed caught it with both hands and looked it over.

“Just in case,” said Ben.

“Then we all know where we're going,” said Steve. “Team One with me, Team Two with Tasha.

Move out!”

The two teams rushed out of opposite sides of the hangar. The Repair-Bots then floated out of their compartment on Herbie's main body, and began surveying the Rogue One.

* * * *

Veranke's eyes bulged as she heard the news.

“WHAT?!” “As I said, one of the ships managed to board us,” said a Skrull officer. “It appears to be the

Fantastic Four, and another group of humans. They're already here!”

Veranke looked out at the space battle for a moment, and watched as another Pariah was destroyed. She then turned back to the hologram of the officer.

“Do whatever it takes to stop them,” she said. “If nothing else, delay them. I have something I need to prepare.”

* * * *

“IT'S CLOBBERIN' . . . .”

“HULK SMASH!”

Ben glared at Hulk as he punched away one of the Skrulls.

“Hey!” said Ben. “Ya interrupted my tagline! I've been robbed!”

Steve, Carol, Hulk, Susan and Ben were tearing their way through the halls of the Exile's Intent, with Susan making sure that they were going in the right direction. Steve kicked one of the Skrulls in the chest before bashing another one with his shield. Another Skrull tried to slash him with an energy dagger, but he jumped into the air and smashed her face with a shield swing as he simultaneously kicked another in the ribs.

Susan was behind Steve, providing cover for the team as best she could. She launched multiple barriers in various directions, smashing them into the Skrulls and crushing their bodies against the walls. She then saw that a Mekkan was about to fire a missile at Ben, whose back was turned. Susan quickly formed an invisible shield behind him, absorbing the missile's explosion.

Without missing a beat, Susan then formed two smaller spherical barriers around each of her fists. Using them like boxing gloves, she then started physically fighting a squad of Mekkans in close quarters. With her barriers around her fists, she was able to smash apart the metallic humanoids without damaging herself.

Carol was repeatedly firing energy blasts from her hands, blowing away enemy after enemy. The Skrulls and Mekkans tried to shoot her down, but their energy blasts only granted her further power. Soon her body was glowing with golden energy, and she shouted as she unleashed it in a full- sized power beam that incinerated a whole squad.

Hulk and Ben were next to each other, and they were tearing into the Skrull and Mekkan forces with wild abandon. Hulk grabbed a Skrull before slamming his body against the wall, at the same time that Ben used a haymaker to completely obliterate one of the Mekkans. Another Skrull fired at Ben with her laser rifle, but she couldn't pierce his skin.

Laughing, Ben then backhanded her and sent her flying away. He then turned to look down another hall, where an enemy squad was setting up a defensive position with a mounted laser cannon.

“Hey, Jade Jaws!”

Hulk turned to Ben as he slammed another Skrull against the ground.

“Help me with this?” asked Ben.

Hulk grinned. Hulk and Ben then placed their shoulders side to side before they charged at the squad setting up the laser cannon. The Skrull on the cannon opened fire on them, but it wasn't enough to halt their advance. Soon enough the two behemoths bowled over the squad, tearing the mounted laser apart and crushing all of the enemies in their path.

Steve threw his shield sideways, and it bounced back and forth across the hall in a zigzag pattern, bashing through half a dozen Skrulls. Susan then surrounded the shield with a force field bubble and pulled it back before letting the bubble disappear. Steve caught the shield as it flew through the air, before giving Susan a brief nod.

“Thanks,” he said.

“Happy to help.”

Once the entire area was cleared, Susan pointed down one of the halls, and the team of heroes made their way further into Veranke's fortress.

* * * * On a lower level of the Exile's Intent, the other team were also facing off against a significant number of Skrull soldiers. Tasha, Thor and Johnny blasted their way into one of the engineering decks.

Similarly to the Dark Revenant, the engineering levels were expansive and filled with multiple levels of platforms that were connected by columns.

Johnny soared into the open air, performing a quick somersault as he did so.

“Wahoo! Let's heat this place up!”

Johnny then flew along the side of one of the nearby platforms, releasing a wave of flame from his right hand. The Skrulls on the platform were forced to scramble away from the fire, where they were easy targets for Tasha's repulsors. Thor laughed as he bashed a large Mekkan away with his hammer before turning around and elbowing a Skrull in the face.

Tasha and Johnny then flew side by side as they prepared to tackle another squad.

“So,” said Johnny. “What are you doing after this?”

“Not you, kid,” said Tasha.

Johnny frowned as Tasha chuckled to herself.

“Don't worry, Torch,” she said. “I'm sure a blonde wonder like you can find plenty of girls your own age to 'flame on' with.”

Johnny groaned as he looked at Tasha, meaning that he was not paying attention when a Skrull on a nearby platform shot at him with his laser pistol. Tasha reacted instantly, activating her energy shield and boosting in front of Johnny, absorbing the shot. She then flew downwards and landed a powered punch on the Skrull's jaw.

Tasha then looked up at a dumbfounded Johnny.

“I know I'm distracting, kid, but try to stay focused, alright? Just Google me when this is done and you can ogle all you like.”

The team resumed their battle, jumping once more into the fray as more enemy soldiers attacked by the dozens. Thor shouted as he swung his hammer around, but even he was starting to become overwhelmed by the constant barrage of attacks. Tasha and Johnny flew circles around the Thunder

God, firing off as many energy blasts and fireballs as they could, but the waves of soldiers just kept on coming.

* * * *

Back in the hangar, Herbie and the Repair-Bots were hard at work, moving around the ship and working as fast as they could to fix as much damage as possible. While the repairs were coming along fairly nicely, they were soon interrupted by Skrull and Mekkan troops attempting to retake the hangar.

Soon enough, laser fire was coming in from multiple sides.

However, Reed was ready. Holding the large Mekkan pulse rifle, he took aim at the incoming troopers and opened fire. The rifle fired off a rapid stream of energy blasts, cutting through the incoming troops. While normally the rifle required the strength and mass of someone like a large

Mekkan to control it, Reed's heavily dextrous body allowed him to use the rifle with relative ease.

“Doctor Richards! More incoming from the other side! I would prefer to try and not lose my own functionality whilst I regain functionality for the Rogue One!”

Reed quickly stretched his back around so that he was facing the other hangar entrance.

Ducking low under multiple laser blasts, Reed then squeezed the trigger again and held it down.

Spraying side to side, he gunned down another squad of soldiers.

“Doctor Richards! Other side again!”

Reed exhaled.

“I certainly hope they start running out of reinforcements soon . . . .”

* * * *

“. . . . not careful, we might run out of reinforcements!”

Rhomann cringed as he watched a Pariah destroy another Nova cruiser. While the battle had started in the fleet's favour, the Skrulls were now counterattacking with greater and greater efficiency.

Skrull support ships were using their ion cannons to halt the fleet's advance, giving breathing room for the Pariahs to fire their lasers from further distances.

Several Kree support vessels were cut off from the main fleet, and were surrounded by a group of three Pariahs that had been directed by General De'Lila. The Kree ships unleashed all of the weapons they had, trying desperately to punch a hole through the massive machines. While they damaged the

Pariahs, it was not enough for them to avoid being slaughtered.

“We're taking heavy losses!” shouted Mar-Vell.

Skrull bombers were swarming the front ranks of the Nova warships, and the sheer number of them made it difficult for the Kree and Nova fighters to protect the larger, more vulnerable ships. A heavy barrage from the Valiant destroyed another Pariah, but two more were starting to close in.

Rhomann turned his back and looked at Nova Prime.

“We won't be able to hold for much longer,” said Rhomann.

Nova Prime gulped as she looked at the Exile's Intent in the distance.

“Then let us pray that they get to Veranke in time.”

* * * *

Steve's team arrived at a large and open room that had multiple levels and had a giant silver statue of Veranke at the centre. Once the team was inside, Hulk and Ben both looked up at the statue.

“Sheesh!” said Ben. “This joint definitely needs a new decorator.”

“The throne room should be the next one over,” said Susan.

The room suddenly went dark. The heroes all looked around as a raspy voice spoke, seemingly coming from everywhere at once.

“Unfortunately for you, you will never survive long enough to see it.”

Kl'rt then lit his entire body on fire, revealing his location. He was floating several metres above the team, and formed both of his hands into a single, rocky hammerfist. Slamming it down at the centre of the group, all five heroes were blasted away by the sudden attack, with Ben crashing through the statue and toppling it over. As Steve got to his feet, Criti leaped out of the shadows with her blades at the ready. She jammed them into his shoulders, and Steve shouted in pain. Throwing his weight forward, Steve heaved Criti over his body, pulling the blades out of his flesh. Criti flipped in the air and landed on her feet before she charged at him again.

Carol was about to fire an energy blast at Criti's side when she was suddenly seized around the waist. Looking behind her, she saw Titannus standing there, picking her up with his right hand.

Titannus roared before spinning around and slamming Carol against the nearby wall with all of his immense strength.

Carol coughed up blood as she fired beams from both hands, but they were deflected by

Titannus' armour. Susan was about to throw a barrier at Titannus when Kl'rt wrapped his right arm around her throat and squeezed.

“Not so fast, Miss Storm,” said Kl'rt.

Kl'rt lifted Susan upwards and whipped her around before she could react. He threw her into the air before releasing a massive fireball from his free hand. Despite being disoriented and off balance,

Susan still formed a force field just in time to shield herself from the fireball. She then created a force disc under her feet and regained control of her aerial movement.

Having since recovered, Hulk charged towards Kl'rt with his fists pulled back. Kl'rt stretched outwards to avoid Hulk's clumsy charge, before forming a force shield to use as a weapon. He bashed the force shield against Hulk's back, sending him tumbling into the opposite wall. By now, Susan had flown back down to Kl'rt's position, once again forming her boxing glove spheres around her hands.

She started punching repeatedly at Kl'rt, who blocked her blows.

Ben headed for Criti, who was still duelling with Steve. Criti swung one blade horizontally and another vertically, with her second blade cutting at his chest. Steve performed a backflip before throwing his shield at the ground. It bounced off the floor and travelled upwards, aiming for Criti's jaw.

However, the Skrull assassin pulled her head back, dodging the attack. Ben then tried to slam his fist down on Criti, who jumped over his arm. While in the air, she used her momentum to wrap her legs around his face before twisting them. Ben was sent crashing to the ground as Criti leaped away from him. Having since retrieved his shield, Steve pounced at Criti with his shield held in front of him, smashing into her back with it.

Criti still managed to get on her feet again, and Steve prepared for another round with her.

However, Steve was then taken off guard by a blue laser blast in the side, toppling him over. Torgo then moved into the room, propelled by his shoulder boosters. Steve jumped up and blocked Torgo's next hand blast with his shield, and soon he was fighting Torgo and Criti at the same time.

Carol threw another punch at Titannus, but she only managed to crack his armour rather than damage him. Unfazed, Titannus followed up with a punch of his own, sending her flying into the wall and creating a large indent. He then pounded both of his fists against his chest before slamming his body against her, crushing her against the wall.

Carol groaned as she flopped to the floor, bloodied and bruised. Because Titannus did not use any energy attacks, she was feeling physically drained by the encounter. Titannus was about to stomp his foot on the back of her head when Hulk tackled him.

“RAAAAAAARGH!”

Pulling Titannus away, Hulk started punching at the massive Skrull with both fists. Titannus was staggered at first, but then he caught one of Hulk's hands. Titannus then brought up his knee against

Hulk's chest before dealing a crushing elbow drop to the back of Hulk's head. Before Titannus could deliver another blow, Ben rushed up and bashed Titannus in the face with a double fist attack.

“Nobody clobbers the Hulk but me!”

Titannus growled as he was forced back by Ben's attack. Hulk then burst up, and both he and

Ben started beating Titannus against the ground. Despite being attacked by two powerful foes at once,

Titannus refused to go down. He savagely roared at the top of his lungs before leaping up and seizing both Hulk and Ben by their throats. He then slammed them both on the floor and pinned them. Carol got off the ground as she saw Susan still struggling with Kl'rt. She fired off a quick energy blast at the Skrull from the side, but he blocked it with a barrier. He then threw the barrier sideways, knocking Carol back. Susan broke out of Kl'rt's grip and formed a full force field to protect herself as he unleashed a massive heat wave.

After Criti got the upper hand on Steve and forced him to get on the defensive, Torgo switched targets and shot at Susan from the other side, putting immense pressure on her barrier. Susan struggled to maintain her shield as she was hit by energy attacks from multiple directions. Carol tried again to get up, but she was exhausted from the exertion and her beating from Titannus.

Ben tried to shove away from Titannus and help Susan, but the huge Skrull forced him down again, keeping him pinned to the floor. Ben reached out as he watched Susan fall to her knees, her force field barely holding.

“Torgo!” yelled Ben. “Don't do this!”

Torgo briefly glanced at Ben before he resumed firing his laser blast at Susan. Ben continued to struggle against Titannus as he spoke.

“Torgo! Come on! I saw your face, ugh . . . . I saw your face when Veranke said she'd kill

Anelle! Ya don't agree with her, I know it! She's evil! Ya don't gotta serve her anymore! Anelle's with us, now! Torgo! TORGO!”

After another few tense seconds, Torgo stopped firing his laser. He then aimed both hands at

Kl'rt, who widened his eyes in shock. Torgo activated both of his hand blasters at once, and struck Kl'rt in the chest. He was sent flying backwards and crashed through the nearby wall, landing on the floor in an unconscious heap.

The pressure off of her, Susan then let go of her barrier. Turning to Titannus, she formed a solid sphere around his head, making it impossible for him to breathe. Panicked, Titannus let go of Ben and

Hulk, and gripped at the bubble with both hands. As he was disoriented, Hulk yelled and threw a haymaker at his face just as Susan let the bubble dissipate. Titannus' neck snapped from the force of Hulk's attack, and his body slammed against the ground. Everyone then turned to where Steve and Criti were still fighting. Steve deflected more slashes from Criti's blades, before backing up and performing a spinning kick. Knocking Criti to the floor,

Steve then lifted his shield and brought it down on her, piercing her skin and severing her spine.

Steve took a few laboured breaths as everyone else approached him. Wiping blood off of his face, Steve then stood back up.

“Time to finish this.”

Steve, Carol, Hulk, Ben, Susan and Torgo then all marched into the throne room. As the space battle continued to rage outside, Veranke stood alone. She was in front of her chair, and looked up at the heroes as they entered the room. Veranke sneered as she looked at Torgo.

“I should have known you would turn traitor. You never did believe in me.”

“It's over, Veranke,” said Steve. “All of your crimes against the people of Earth, and everyone else in this galaxy, come to an end now. There's nowhere left for you to run. You have one chance to surrender. Stand down!”

Veranke scoffed as she pulled out a small device that looked like a detonator.

“I think not.”

Veranke pushed the button on the device, and a golden column lowered out of the ceiling. It was thin and translucent, and stood between the heroes and Veranke. The column was a mechanical apparatus, and at the centre was the Keystone. The heroes all looked at it with surprise as the Keystone then fired out five beams of green energy.

Steve held up his shield, but was still forced back by one of the beams. Susan formed a force field around herself and Torgo, but the power of the beam strained her abilities to their limit. One energy beam each struck Hulk, Ben and Carol, causing them to fall to their knees from the sheer power that was now rippling through them.

Veranke grinned as all of the heroes seemed to be incapacitated by her device. Steve, Hulk, Ben and Susan all yelled in pain as they fought desperately to stay alive amidst the overwhelming cosmic energy that was trying to destroy them. However, one person was not trying to stay alive. Carol was trying to stay focused.

Veranke's grin faded as she watched Carol get up to her feet. While she was in incredible pain from the Keystone's energy beam, Carol was still able to channel some of it to give herself enough strength to fight back. Each step was a struggle, but she refused to give in to the pain. Veranke's jaw dropped as Carol trudged up to the Keystone.

Shouting with fury, Carol then punched through the apparatus and seized the Keystone with her right hand. Carol then closed her eyes and pointed her face into the sky as she screamed in agony. The green energy created a rippling whirlwind around her body, and the beams that were attacking the other heroes dissipated.

While Steve, Hulk, Ben, Susan and Torgo were all exhausted, they still looked up at Carol in awe. Veranke looked at her in horror. After a full minute of straining, Carol then managed to contain the energy, and glared directly at Veranke as her eyes became pure viridescent. Veranke fell to her knees as tears fell out of her eyes.

“It can't be!” said Veranke, trembling and holding her hands out in front of her. “It can't! The prophecy foretold that only I could wield the Keystone! You can't contain its power! It's mine by divine right! I was to rule this galaxy! It was foretold! It was written! It was my destiny!”

Carol furrowed her brow.

“Tell me . . . .”

Veranke gulped.

“Did your prophecy say anything about . . . . the Avengers?”

Veranke's eyes widened with terror as Carol then fired a green energy beam from her left hand.

The Skrull Queen screamed as she was blasted through the back wall of the throne room and out of sight. Wincing in pain, Carol then threw the Keystone away, and her body reverted to its normal state. Susan created a force field bubble around the Keystone, holding it suspended in the air.

“Got it!”

Steve looked back at the exit.

“Double time, people!”

* * * *

On the engineering level, Tasha used a unibeam to blast three Skrulls off of one of the platforms. Johnny melted the rifles in the hands of some of the enemy soldiers. Thor, meanwhile, had managed to fight his way to the reactor core, and looked up at it with a smile. He then jumped forward, holding his hammer over his head with both hands.

“FOR MIDGARD!!!!”

Thor slammed Mjolnir against the reactor core, shattering it completely. The entire ship lurched as the power systems started to overload. Tasha, Thor and Johnny then rocketed into the air, moving as fast as they could to escape as the ship started to implode on itself.