Ixenco, Mexico--2023
Five years following The Decimation/ Three weeks following The Restoration
It was only a small part of town, but it was important to the citizens.
As the sun rose on a brand new day, do did it bring about the horrors of what happened during the night. Rubble was scattered as far as the eye could see.
His eye. Fury's eye.
The Head Director of SHIELD parked the SUV not but a few minutes ago at the edge of the destroyed town, and now he was standing at the center of all the calmed chaos. Before a statue, it's body ripped in half, the man contemplated those very few citizens who had returned to the desolated town to get their belongings. He knew they wouldn't be gone forever--time would bid them back to rebuild what nature had stolen from them, and then the town would be the same again. If what happened five years ago could be undone, then fixing the aftermath of this would be no problem.
He didn't turn to the footsteps behind him, but he knew who they were. Time and paranoia led him to understand and memorize the steps of most of his subordinates. And of the many, he recognized the footsteps of Coulson and Hill the most. The latter was the first to speak. "Sir, this is a tragedy...but I am curious as to what we're doing here."
"We didn't have much better to do," Coulson remarked. " No world-ending threats...well, maybe except the current ruler of New Asgard."
"He hasn't been trying anything."
"Yet."
"I doubt King Reindeer Games is up to anything, for the sake of his brother's legacy and ideals." Fury finally turned around and still didn't meet the gaze of his right hand people, instead scanning his surroundings again. "The locals said they saw a face in the cyclone."
Hill grimaced a little in disbelief. "People see things when they're scared."
"It's not often they see a face in the middle of a storm."
Coulson shrugged. "After all we've been through and seen, I don't doubt anything. But even this is a sign of something...the cyclone is gone by now, isn't it? What else could there be here?"
Fury had an answer, but he didn't get a chance to offer it. Instead, the ground shifted and quaked repeatedly, in a rhythmic pause and repeat fashion. The three of them braced themselves steadily as each thud against the earth threatened to crack the ground apart and send tall building remnants crashing down on them. A nearby collection of drainage water rippled with each loud noise, and Nick seeing it reminded him of something from an old film. And then it hit him. These were footsteps.
At a roaring noise, the three of them looked up and witnessed a zipping ball of green smoke smash into the ground behind them. When the smoke disappeared, a figure stood up from impact and fixed them all with a confused look. Disheveled brown hair sat atop a grim bearded expression, while the sun glinted off the sauve mahogany and green outfit. His golden gauntlets were riddled with runes and symbols that the world had never seen, and a cape that likened him to Thor billowed in the air despite there not being a breeze in the area. Fury watched him hover in the air almost majestically, still eyeing up each of the Agents.
"That's not Dr.Strange, is it?" Coulson already had his gun prepared, glancing at either of his allies for confirmation.
Maria rolled her eyes, but kept her own gun leveled. "You've seen Dr.Strange, "
The certainly mysterious man frowned. "Who the hell are you?"
Yet again, Fury was denied the chance to answer--whirling around when an inhuman roar vibrated the air and shook dust debris from the few things left standing A towering figure blotted out the sun and growled down at them, spreading it's terrible wings in an intimidating display to those beneath it's marvelous height. The reptilian biped was likely one hundred feet tall; one hundred feet of ancient dark green scales embedded with a sort of living rock material for the belly scales--these colored a lighter green. Glowing red eyes outlined the shape of it's box-like head against the darkening glare of the sun's light, and even it's white razor teeth seemed to pronounce themselves from it's giant maw without trouble. The stone-born dinosaurian creature whipped it's tail in the air behind it angrily and stomped on the ground with enough force to shake them all.
Coulson once again glanced at his allies. "A dragon?!"
"Not like our friends." Fury frowned. They were gonna need a bigger gun than the tiny pistols they had in their hands.
"Fin Fang Foom, " The Mystery Man announced from behind them, flying off a little ways into the sky with a blast of green smoke. The three on the ground watched in awe when the man's actions drew the attention of the devastating creature up from them. It growled dangerously as it eyes locked onto him, but the man's expression seemed even more dangerous. He raised his hands as they began to glow bright green with untapped electrical energy, making his fingers almost blinding to look at even in the scorching daylight.
"You don't want any part of this."
Mid-Town High School--Queens New York
2023, Eight months following The Blip
"🎶You, my darling you, hmmmm~🎶..."
"🎶Bittersweet meeeemories~...That is all I'm taking with meeee~🎶..."
A black screen presented itself on the TV, without a single shape in sight. Seconds of awkward silence ensues as the song continues it's saddening tune, carrying on for longer than likely intended. Then finally, two singular words in bold and Italic comic sans fade into the center of the Television screen--preluding a slideshow of images.
In Memoriam:
"--anD IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII--ee--AAAAAAAAAAAAUGH WILL ALWAYS LOOOOOOOVE YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO--AAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOO!!!"
"anD IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII--ee--AAAAAAAAAAAAUGH WILL ALWAYS LOOOOOOOVE YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO--AAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOO!!!"
"anD IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII--ee--AAAAAAAAAAAAUGH WILL ALWAYS LOOOOOOOVE YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO--AAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOO!!!"
With the line of photos having gone through as the maker intended, the video's somber attitude dissolved into a live video feed of the high school news room. At a large desk sat three particular high school students; a boy, a blonde girl and a very disinterested redheaded girl. The blonde nodded enthusiastically to the tribute video that played before them, though the movements seemed forced and faux. "Now that...was a very heart touching tribute video, wouldn't you agree Watson?"
Mary J. Watson winced and shrugged at he question Betty gave her. "Yeeeeah. Almost...cried?"
"It be like that, where you wanna cry, but you stay strong so you don't wet the shirt." Jason agreed with a nod, despite the fact that he was reaching for tissue to dab his eyes with as he spoke. "Gone. But not forgotten. Thanks to Kenneth Lim and Vihaan Ramamurthy for their help with that touching video tribute."
Mary Jane held up a finger soon after. "We understand we have missed a few individuals in that presentation. Feel free to blame the principal for our short allotted time."
Betty glanced at her in surprise, but then quietly agreed with a shrug. "Anywho, we've finally reached the end after some long, unnecessarily complicated months. Needless to say, This year has been nothing short of--"
" [BLEEP] is crazy, yo. It's like insane."
"Jason! No swearing!"
"Yeah, it's like the last day of school, we're good."
Betty sighed as she continued her message. "Historic. Over five years ago, half of all life in the universe, including our own Midtown High was wiped from the very fabric of existence by the space warlord Thanos." As she spoke, the screen offered a view from someone's camera of a school assembly five years ago. In an instant, several attendants of the school assembly crumbled away into dust and ashes, sending the rest of the school into a chaotic panic. " But then eight months ago, a band of brave heroes brought us back and gave their lives in an ensuing battlee to bring back what was once lost. They called it... the Blip."
A video montage of people suddenly reappearing played, and then a picture of one midtown student was put up on the screen--with a five years aged image next to it showing no differences. Secondly, a young man who looked to be around eleven years old was shown on screen--only for the picture next to it to place him at around 16 years old. "Those of us who died came back at the same age. But our classmates that didn't die grew five years older."
Jason pouted visibly. "Yeah, like my little brother is now older than me."
Mary brushed back her red hair in thought. "My baby brother is...well, he's still younger than me, but now he can talk."
"Yeah, it's math." Betty groaned in annoyance. " And even though we died halfway through the school year and have already taken midterms, the school made us start the whole year over...from the beginning."
Mary smiled. "Again, thanks to the principal for that."
The closing music for their last day of school special started to play as Betty spoke again. "Well, Midtown Tigers...It's been a long, dramatic...somewhat confusing road. As we draw this school year to a close, it's time to move on to a new phase of our lives and take one more step towards our college futures.
"Yeah, and pray nothing tries to kill us all again because are the Avengers even a thing anymore?" Jason worriedly asked. "Does anyone even have a plan?!"
Peter Parker grinned and nodded. "Yeah, I have a plan!"
Ned Leeds' eyebrows raised in interest. "Ooh, finally!"
Peter glanced at the other member of their trio talk, and his grin briefly vanished. "What?"
"Nothing. I just expected you to take eight more months to plan this out, " Were the skeptical words of Humberto Lopez, the one kid unfortunate enough to wind up moving to Midtown in the last three months of school. As athletic as he was, five years of staying with cave-digging uncle left him a nerd when it came to Paleontology and Dinosaurs and subjects like that--he even had the fossil necklace to prove as much. As such, his place on the totem pole of social status...ness positioned him in friendship with the secret hero and his secret guy in the chair. "But don't mind me, go on."
Peter brushed off his sarcasm as easily as swatting away a pesky fly. "Okay, first, I sit next to MJ on the flight. Second, I’m gonna use the dual headphone adapter I bought and watch movies with her the whole time we're in the air. I'm thinking maybe murder mysteries, detective stuff. Three, when we go to Venice, Venice is super famous for making stuff out of glass, you know? So, I’m gonna buy her a Black Dahlia necklace, because her favorite flower is the Black Dahlia, because of, well...
"The murder." Ned finished knowingly.
Humberto frowned as he blinked at them both. "The murder. What is with that girl and murders?"
Peter would have answered, but he wanted to finish up his explanation of the plan. "Right, The murder. She'll totally like it. Four, when we go to Paris, I’m gonna take her to the top of the Eiffel Tower, give her the necklace...And then five, I’m gonna tell her how I feel about her..." He inhaled a sharp breath and finally released the last sentence of detail. "And then six, hopefully, she tells me she feels the same way. Wishful thinking, I guess."
Humberto surprisingly smiled and nodded. "It's kinda like a romantic staircase going up. I think you're gonna murder it, no pun intended. I may have to steal...er, take inspiration from it in the future."
Peter laughed with him. "Right, sure. Just remember to credit me. Ned?"
"It's great, but don’t forget step seven."
The superpowered teen flinched; of course, he would go and forget the last step of his ultra important process. He made the whole plan and then he had to forget the whole ending. "Ah, man! Step seven....uh...Step...seven..."
"Yeah, step seven: Don't do any of that."
Peter narrowed his eyes at him, almost betrayed. "Really? Why?"
Ned elbowed him with a cheeky grin. "Because we’re gonna be bachelors in Europe, Peter! Look, I may not know much, but I do know this: Europeans love Americans bachelors. And more than half of them are women!"
Humberto raised an eyebrow. "...so...The sole purpose of us being bachelors in Europe is to then not be bachelors in Europe?"
"...uh, yeah. What other reason would there be?" Ned looked back at Peter. "Besides, I thought you liked the other MJ? The one with red hair?"
"I did like her...do like...Ugh, there's just something about Michelle that just...I really like her, man. Okay? She’s awesome, she’s funny...in a sort of dark comedy way, and really beautiful and..." Peter dodged the knowing expressions of his friends and rubbed the back of his head. "Sometimes I catch her looking at me, and I like...I feel like I've not had the chance to see it before...besides, I thought you liked Red-J, Ned?"
Leeds waved off his implication and shook his head, completely comfortable in his answer. "Pfft. Yeah. And that'll get me into a relationship with her? This isn't a Disney movie. We don't work for Disney. "
Humberto snorted dismissvely at his claim. "Magic still exists though, so anything is possible, right Peter?"
Peter couldn't fathom how a usually optimistic guy like Ned could doubt himself having a chance with anyone. Sure, Mary Jane and Ned hadn't talked very much and her conversations were mostly meant to get to Peter himself, but the teen hero had large talking horses for company at one point in his life--anything should be possible for his best friend. "Yeah, you just need a plan like I have for Michelle...Wait. Dude, she’s coming now! Just don’t say anything..."
And just like that Michelle Jones showed up. The sight of the girl, seemingly barely interested in them, was enough to make Peter's throat run dry. "What up, dorks? Excited about the science trip?
Peter decided to be the first to answer. " Hey, uh, yeah. We’re just talking about the trip."
"Yeah, and Peter’s plan." Ned agreed.
Michelle raised an eyebrow as Peter glared daggers from the corner of his eye. "You have a plan?
Parker grinned a little too hard in her direction. "I don’t--I don't have a plan."
Humberto slapped a hand on his shoulder and smiled at the same intensity. "That's right, you don't have a plan. No, he’s just going to collect tiny spoons while we’re traveling to other countries."
"...Like a grandmother?
Peter was turning pink in the cheeks " I’m not collecting tiny spoons. They are collecting tiny spoons. I'm just...going...to be watching....them."
"Oh. Okay, well...that sounds like a real roller coaster."
"Mmhmm..."
"....well, by the way, travel tip: You should probably download a VPN on your phone, just so that the government can’t track you while we’re abroad." Michelle adjusted her heavy looking backpack with an aloof expression. "Ironically, this time MJ told me that one instead of...you know, the other way around?"
"That's smart, Michel--MJ. Mj. Will do." Peter agreed, despite the fact that he wouldn't do it and would definitely regret it later.
Michelle gave her signature awkward wave and left, leading to Peter's grin deflating instantly. His so called friends didn't stop smiling and instead turned their embarrassing and completely unhelpful attention to him.
"Dude, I think that went really great!"
"You'll find her a nice Black Dahlia spoon, won't you?"
"You mean a murder weapon spoon?"
Peter let his face hit the desk and didn't pull it up from the hard wooden surface, despite the fact that it did nothing to drown out the unhelpful two on either side of him. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he idly wondered if Mr.Stark had better friends that pushed him to Pepper Potts.
Heck, he would bet the ponies' friends didn't stuff like this.
Author's Note
Longer chapters to come!
