Earth-717: Vol 1

Chapter 2: Assembling a Team

“It's her! Open fire!”

Tasha rolled her eyes and let out a groan as the Risk Control troopers trained their weapons on her. Activating her kinetic barriers, Tasha flew upwards from her hiding behind a stack of crates and aimed her repulsors forward. There were over a dozen Risk Control troopers inside of the warehouse, and they were all focused on killing Tasha.

Tasha, meanwhile, felt like she was just killing time.

Tasha blasted two of the troopers with her repulsors before boosting sideways to avoid an armour-piercing shot from a Risk Control sniper. She then aimed and launched a wrist rocket at the sniper, blasting her into fleshy chunks that splattered on the wall. Tasha then flew downwards and kicked one of the Risk Control troopers in the chest before spinning around and punching another one away.

Tasha then stood still as the remaining troopers all fired at her, their bullets bouncing harmlessly off of her kinetic barriers. She waited for half a minute, tapping her foot a few times. The Risk Control troopers then stopped firing, looking at her with confusion as she stayed still. Clicking her tongue,

Tasha then quickly aimed and fired another wrist rocket, killing all of the remaining troopers with one single attack.

Lowering her arm and sighing, Tasha then retracted her face plate as she looked around the room. She activated the scanning feature of her helmet, which quickly fed her data about all of the technology inside the crates. The scan came back negative for any further intel.

“Awesome,” said Tasha. “Another empty New York warehouse. Just what I wanted for

Christmas.”

An alarm indicator sounded off inside Tasha's helmet. She blinked in surprise, since this was the first time since she had started hunting down AIM that she had received a call. “Hello?”

“Tasha, it's . . . .”

“Told you not to call me on this line unless it was an emergency, .”

“It's an emergency.”

Tasha scoffed.

“I'll tell you what's an emergency. Going three weeks without getting one good scrap of intel on

AIM. I've just been blowing up bargain bin warehouses! I bet even Sunset's accountants don't know about these places, that's how unimportant they are.”

Tasha grumbled and kicked the corpse of one of the Risk Control troopers.

“So, unless you've got something good for me, I don't know how . . . .”

“Aliens are invading.”

Tasha blinked in surprise yet again.

“You're jo. . . .”

Tasha paused, taking a second to think.

“Right,” she said. “You don't joke about anything.”

Tasha then took in a deep breath.

“Alright,” she said. “On my way.”

Tasha closed her face plate and rocketed into the sky, blasting a hole clean through the roof of the warehouse.

* * * *

“You're gonna be okay. Okay?”

The patient on the stretcher nodded as she was rushed down the hallway. Jane then looked up to see one of the doctors approaching her.

“Doctor!”

“I'll take it from here,” said the doctor. “Room's ready to go. Good work.” Jane nodded. The woman on the stretcher looked at her as the doctor and another aide moved her into the room. While the woman couldn't speak, her eyes made it clear to Jane that she was thankful. Jane softly smiled as the door to the operating room closed. Taking a deep breath, Jane closed her eyes for a moment before turning around and walking back the way she came.

Arriving in the lobby of the hospital, Jane rubbed the back of her neck. She then gave a short wave to the receptionist, who didn't respond because she was looking away from her. Blinking, Jane then noticed that everyone in the lobby was staring at the television screen attached to the wall. She walked closer to get a better look.

It was a live news broadcast showing a gigantic alien war mech landing in the water next to the island of Manhattan.

After a couple seconds of surprised terror, Jane then pulled out a small stone from her pocket and started to squeeze on it.

* * * *

“Tend to your family. The Einherjar will ensure that everyone is granted enough supplies.”

The dwarf bowed in gratitude at , before ushering his wife and his two sons into one of the hundreds of makeshift tents that littered the fields. Thousands of dwarf civilians and refugees were moving about the camp, trying to reunite with loved ones and recovering from injuries. Dwarf soldiers in full combat armour were stationed around the perimeter of the camp, their ranks bolstered by patrols of Asgardian warriors.

The camp was in one of the forested provinces of Nidavellir, the homeworld of the .

Many of the incredibly tall and rocky mountains that the realm was famous for could be seen in the distance. This was a refugee camp for one of the settlements in the province that had been completely destroyed by troll invaders.

Thor walked past several of the tents before he found , who was wearing her full battle armour and holding her sword. She smirked upon seeing the God of Thunder approach her. “The Mighty Thor,” she said. “Champion of the dwarves.”

Thor chuckled.

“Have I any reason to treat them ill?”

“I would say not, given that they will likely sing songs about how you saved them for the rest of their days.”

Thor and Sif continued their conversation as they started to walk together towards the edge of the camp.

“We haven't saved them yet,” said Thor. “'s forces will return. The raids will continue.”

“I've no doubt of that,” replied Sif. “But we will match the trolls in kind. They've never defeated us before, and they will not now.”

“Won't stop them from trying. I . . . .”

Thor stopped in his tracks and went silent. He then looked up into the sky. Sif turned to him and raised an eyebrow.

“What is it?”

“The Calling Stone.”

“What? What Calling Stone?”

Thor turned back to Sif.

“The Calling Stone I gave when I returned her to Midgard. She has used it. She calls for aid.”

Sif inhaled.

“Thor, I don't . . . .”

“I must go to her. Immediately. I told her to only use it if she were in danger. She needs my help.”

“Thor, we have been charged a task by . The Dwarves need our help! King cannot fight this war alone.” “He won't have to,” said Thor. “I will go to Jane and help her. You and the Einherjar will stay with the Dwarves. Who better to leave them with than the God of War?”

“Thor . . . .”

“Sif, please. I cannot abandon her.”

Sif frowned for a moment, and made a gesture as if she were going to protest again. But she stayed silent, and after a few seconds, she nodded and took a step back. Thor then held his hammer up to the sky.

“! Portal!”

A brilliant beam of white light shot down from the clouds, striking Thor directly. Within seconds, he was gone, and Sif just looked into the sky as Thor was teleported across the cosmos.

* * * *

Jane looked down at the stone in her hand as she squeezed it. It started to glow red in her hand.

After another minute, a loud cracking noise was heard, and everyone turned to look outside. The white light from Bifrost's beam dissipated after a second, and then Thor could be seen standing in the parking lot next to the hospital.

Stuffing the Calling Stone back in her pocket, Jane then rushed out through the hospital doors and ran towards him.

“Jane, what is . . . .”

Jane grabbed Thor's hand and tried to tug him into the hospital, but her meagre strength made it impossible to move him. Luckily for her, he started walking with her as she led him inside.

“Look at this!”

Once they were in the lobby, Jane pointed at the television screen. Thor watched it for a moment before he realized what was happening.

“Can you help?” asked Jane.

“Where is this happening?” “New York.”

“I will take care of it.”

Thor started to turn away before Jane piped up again.

“Hey!”

Thor stopped, and Jane then jumped up and quickly kissed him on the cheek. She then awkwardly smiled and put her hands in her pockets.

“For, uh . . . . you know, for luck, or whatever. Now go save the world for me, okay?”

Thor and Jane shared a smile for several seconds. He then turned away and marched out of the hospital. Spinning his hammer for a moment, Thor then launched himself into the sky, with Jane watching as he soared off to a new adventure.

* * * *

“I got this one, Cap.”

Carol flew into the sky without hesitation, and Steve could only watch in amazement as she started to fire yellow energy blasts from her hands at the Pariah. The blasts did not seem to have any impact against the machine's armour, but it still turned to aim its laser at her. Firing a gigantic red beam, the Pariah barely missed Carol, who flew sideways to dodge the attack.

A Quinjet then flew in overhead, moving towards Steve. The voice of filtered in through the earpiece that had given him.

“We're getting you out of here, Cap.”

“What about Carol?” asked Steve. “She needs help!”

“Help's on the way, but my orders are to get you back to the .”

The Quinjet landed next to him and lowered its ramp. He hesitated for only a moment before running over to it and getting inside. May lifted off and flew away from the Pariah. Another Quinjet then flew past, headed straight for the alien mech.

“Huxley, talk to me,” said May. The voice of a SHIELD agent named Horatio Huxley filtered in through the Quinjet's speakers.

“Got a package ready for that thing. One big, green airdrop comin' up.”

May rolled her eyes.

“Great.”

Huxley's Quinjet flew high above the Pariah, which was still trying to shoot Carol down. The back ramp opened, and Bruce Banner, in his form, leaped out. Holding both of his fists high above his head, Bruce roared as he plummeted towards the Pariah. When he collided with the front end, he slammed both of his fists downward.

The resulting shockwave sounded like a clap of thunder. The Pariah was staggered for a moment, but its armour refused to buckle. Bruce gritted his teeth as he held on to one of the Pariah's metal plates. He then started to repeatedly pound his right fist against the frame. Carol then flew straight towards one of the leg joints, bashing it with a shoulder charge.

The Pariah was almost knocked off balance, but it managed to recover its footing and stay upright. Just as it was about to fire its laser again, the SHIELD helicarrier deactivated its cloak, revealing itself to be above and behind it. A set of heavy cannons unfurled from the helicarrier's underbelly, all of them taking aim at the Pariah.

May flew her Quinjet towards the helicarrier, and landed on the top end as the cannons opened fire at the back of the Pariah. Bruce roared again as he tried to hang on to the gargantuan machine, which was struggling to turn around due to the surprise attack. His grip loosened and he started to fall towards the water, but Carol bolted towards him and used both hands to grab him around the left wrist.

“Gotcha!”

Bruce looked up in amazement as he realized that Carol was carrying his weight with minimal effort.

“You're pretty strong,” he said.

“Yeah,” said Carol. “Been getting that a lot lately.” Carol then gasped as she saw Tasha rocketing towards her.

“Comin' through!”

Tasha soared past Carol and armed rocket launchers on both shoulders and both wrists. She fired them all at once, causing a string of explosions along the Pariah's front end. While the Pariah was being pounded with cannon shots and missiles from multiple angles, it still refused to go down. It then sounded its horn before firing a laser at Tasha, who blasted herself upwards to avoid the beam.

“Aye, yai yai!”

Having managed to dodge the main laser, Tasha retaliated by unleashing her unibeam. The sustained blue laser smashed against the front end of the Pariah, and the armour plating started to break apart from taking so many shots. Still, the Pariah was strong enough to turn around and aim its laser directly at the helicarrier.

Everyone's hearts skipped a beat as the Pariah sounded its horn again.

“FOR MIDGARD!!!!”

Out of nowhere, Thor descended from the skies. He swung his hammer downward as a lightning blast was channelled through it. struck the laser of the Pariah, and the force of the impact coupled with the lightning strike delivered a crushing blow that snapped the chamber in half. The gigantic machine then toppled over, landing in the water.

Steve, Tasha, Carol and Bruce all looked at Thor in awe.

* * * *

Fury was standing on the central control hub in the helicarrier's command centre. He then turned around when he heard a familiar voice calling his name.

“Yo, Fury!”

Fury turned around to see an armoured Tasha walking into the room, with her helmet retracted.

She smirked upon making eye contact with him.

“Where's your Russkie sexpot at?” Steve, Thor, Carol and May followed Tasha in, along with Bruce in his human form. Fury put his hands behind his back.

“Agent Romanova is on another assignment,” said Fury.

“Another assignment? I'd say evil alien robots sorta take precedence.”

Fury looked over Tasha's blue and white armour.

“New armour?”

“Yeah. Cooked it up when I started the AIM hunt. Mark Four. Codename: Lapis Lazuli.”

“Director, sir,” said May. “Captain Rogers is safe.”

“Thank you, Agent May. Report back to the security office.”

May nodded and then turned away to leave the room. Tasha then looked over at Steve.

“Captain Freakin' America,” said Tasha. “Crazy the things you find just lying around, Nick.”

Steve looked around at the other people who were present, trying to take everything in at once.

While Thor looked all around the room, Fury trained his eye directly on him.

“I wasn't expecting to see you here,” said Fury.

“Me?” asked Thor.

“Yes. You.”

“Ah, well . . . . Jane Foster alerted me to the gravity of your situation. I came as fast as I could.”

“Jane Foster,” said Fury. “Right. The paramedic. She told us about you and your realm after she returned from your little adventure.”

“So this really is the guy you were telling me about?” asked Tasha, pointing at Thor. “Looks like you pulled him out of a convention. I mean, sure, he's built like a Buick, but come on! Who wears that sort of thing?”

“Buick?” asked Thor. “I do not understand. Is that some sort of Midgardian wildlife?”

“Can we focus on the task at hand, please?” asked Carol. “ are invading!”

“Skrulls?” asked Bruce. “You know what these things are?” “Yes,” said Carol. “I saw one of those giant mechs when I was in space. It's called a . . . .”

Carol was interrupted by a voice that no one was expecting.

“It's called a Pariah.”

Everyone turned to look at the right side of the room, to see where the voice was coming from.

Suddenly, stepped out of the shadows.

“YOU!”

Tasha aimed both of her repulsors forward. Carol clenched her fists. Bruce put a hand on his chest. Steve blinked. Thor tilted his head to the side. Fury held up his hand.

“Wait, stop! He's not here to fight!”

“Of course he is!” shouted Tasha. “He's Doctor Doom!”

“I see you've upgraded your armour, Miss Stark,” said Doom, as he calmly walked forward. “In response to your last pitiful attempt to combat me, I'm certain. Do you really wish to have a repeat of that unfortunate display?”

Fury took a step towards Tasha as he glared at her.

“Stand down, Stark! NOW!”

Tasha narrowed her eyes, but did not lower her hands. Doom stayed absolutely still. Steve looked back and forth between the two armoured individuals. After a few more tense seconds, Tasha finally lowered her hands.

“A wise decision, Miss Stark.”

“Don't push me, Doom.”

“Are people in metal suits common on Midgard?”

Both Tasha and Doom looked at Thor for a moment, but neither of them answered his question.

Steve stayed silent as he watched the strange altercation. Fury then stood next to Doom.

“Doctor Doom is here on my authority,” said Fury. “I invited him, after he contacted me and revealed that he had valuable intel on an imminent alien invasion. Didn't realize it was going to start later that day.”

“I did say it was imminent, Director.”

“I don't understand,” said Bruce. “Why do you want to help us?”

“Because this world is mine to rule, and mine alone,” replied Doom. “I will not allow these wretched aliens to take what is mine.”

“Really?” asked Carol. “This is the guy you're trusting, Fury?”

Fury glared at Doom for a moment.

“I don't trust him,” said Fury. “But I understand him. We're all his enemies . . . . but to him, the

Skrulls are the bigger threat. He'll work with us. For now.”

Tasha scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“So what have you found?” asked Tasha.

Doom turned towards the command centre's holographic display.

“Observe.”

Doom tapped a button on his wrist module, and a screen full of data and diagrams about the

Skrulls appeared on the display. There were biological scans, Pariah schematics and lists of

Skrull agents.

“Where did you get all this?” asked Carol.

“I first learned of the Skrulls a year ago, when I captured one who was impersonating Henry

Gyrich, an aide to President Ellis. The Skrulls have the ability to shapeshift, but I developed a detection device that allowed me to reveal them on a biological level. I've used it to find and kill eleven Skrull agents that had been stationed on Earth.”

Doom then pressed another button on his wrist module, and the screen flipped to a profile of

Queen Veranke.

“I knew they were planning an invasion, but I needed more information. So I captured certain

Skrulls and performed interrogations. I learned about their , Queen Veranke. She has access to something called an Gem, and it gave her the power she needed to construct an armada of Pariahs. I also learned that they will be building what they refer to as the Cyberex Device: a shield generator stationed in London that will provide an impenetrable force field for Veranke's flagship, the

Exile's Intent, which will be stationed in Earth's orbit. The Cyberex Device is critical to their invasion strategy.”

“So we blow it up, along with any Pariahs in our way,” said Tasha.

“It's not that simple, Stark,” said Doom. “My defenses have destroyed the Pariah that was sent to , and your Thunder God managed to destroy another, but it will not be that easy. You won't always have the SHIELD helicarrier to aid you. Veranke has dozens of Pariahs, possibly hundreds, and a full army of millions of soldiers as reinforcements. This is one fight that humanity will not win without help.”

“So, what are you proposing?” asked Bruce.

Doom turned to look at Thor.

“The Asgardian. You seek to aid us. Do you speak for your people as well?”

Thor exhaled and looked down.

“My people are already fighting another war,” admitted Thor. “I abandoned my post to come here to help. I will mostly likely face grave consequences for what I've already done. I will defend

Earth however I can, but I cannot ask any of my fellow brethren to follow in my footsteps.”

“Oh, well that's just great,” said Tasha. “Who are we supposed to call now? The Ghostbusters?”

“What about the ?” asked Bruce.

“They left on their space exploration mission this morning,” said Fury. “I have some other metahumans I could call in, but . . . . I don't think it'll be enough.”

Carol stepped forward.

“I know.”

Everyone turned to look at Carol. “The Corps.”

“Who?” asked Tasha.

“They're an interstellar police force,” answered Carol. “They've been at war with the Skrulls for centuries. Same as the , Captain Mar-Vell's people. When I defeated , Mar-Vell told me that the Nova Corps promised me a favour in return. I think it's time to call it in.”

“You really think they'll help?” asked Fury.

Carol sighed.

“I don't think we have much choice.”

“Don't suppose you got them on speed dial?” asked Tasha.

“No, but I know how we could contact them,” said Carol. “SHIELD just finished building a second prototype space fighter. You know, to replace the one I blew up. The warp core that Reed

Richards built has just been installed. It's ready to go.”

Carol then reached into her pocket and pulled out a small blue data drive.

“But the best part is that Mar-Vell gave me this data drive. Has interstellar coordinates for multiple important planets and a communication frequency, just in case I ever needed to get in contact.

Looks like his forward thinking is gonna pay off.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” said Bruce, holding out his hands in front of him. “Space? You want us to go into space?”

“I could go,” said Carol. “Get help. Maybe I can bring back . . . . I don't know. But I could try.”

“You can't do it alone,” said Fury. “You'll need help.”

Fury turned away from the group and walked towards the railing that denoted the edge of the command centre. He leaned against it with both hands.

“I put together an Initiative. Profiles on the most powerful metahumans. Something of a team, I suppose. I did it in case there was ever a battle I knew we couldn't win.”

Steve folded his arms as Fury stood back up and turned around. “This is it,” he said. “This is that fight. And you're the team.”

Fury exhaled as he looked at the group before him.

Captain America. Iron Maiden. Thor. The Hulk. Ms. Marvel.

“I know each of you will do whatever you can to save the world,” said Fury. “Carol has a plan.

Go with her. Find the Nova Corps. Get them to help us. Do whatever it takes. And if you don't get back in time to save Earth . . . . make damn sure you avenge it.”

The heroes started to exchange glances amongst themselves.

“I guess there's only one last question,” said Fury. “Captain?”

Steve looked at Fury.

“Are you ready to get back in the fight?”

* * * *

Carol put on her Ms. Marvel costume and steeled herself for the journey ahead. Bruce said goodbye to Betty, who understood why he had to leave, but still wished he wouldn't. Thor looked into the sky, knowing that in his heart, he was doing the right thing. Tasha locked in her helmet and promised herself that she would not give up on trying to find Obadiah once she returned.

Steve, meanwhile, found himself staring at his costume. It had been reconstructed for him, and placed with his indestructible shield in his room on the helicarrier. He hesitated for a few moments, still struggling to rationalize everything that was happening at that moment. Within no time at all, everything he knew about the world had changed.

But it was still his duty to protect it.

The other heroes watched as Steve marched towards them, wearing his costume and with his shield strapped to his back. They all approached the space fighter, which Carol had affectionately named the One. They all went inside it, and Carol took the pilot's seat. She closed the back ramp before lifting off of the top of the helicarrier and flying towards the atmosphere.

Fury watched from his command centre as the Rogue One headed into space. Doom had already left, having used his personal teleportation device to return to Latveria. Hill then approached Fury and stood at his side.

“Do you honestly think they can pull this off?”

“They have to.”

“Sir . . . . you didn't tell them about Sunset Bain.”

Fury sighed.

“I told them what they needed to know.”