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.