Chapter 37: Avengers Assemble! Part 2

"Two more minutes," Donnie said, his fingers tapping keys faster than a woodpecker pecks a tree.

"In two more minutes, we'll all be dead!" Hank Pym shouted, tossing a energy disruptor at one of the Doombots. The disrupter exploded, sending an electric shock through the robot's system. This slowed it down, but didn't take it out.

"This isn't like hacking just any system," Donnie shot back. "Even with Shuri's passcodes, I've never even seen defenses like this. The firewalls are iron-strong, and multi-layered. I'm cutting through them as fast as possible."

"Do it faster," Nakia yelled. She was holding a Doombot down in an armlock, and used her ring blade to slice between the gap in the robot's neck armor plating, beheading it.

Donnie exhaled sharply, shaking his head. "Wish I'd had more time to learn to read Xosha," he muttered.

"If this doesn't work, what next?" asked Ant-Man.

"There is no what next," Nakia said ominously.

"Here goes nothing," Donnie said, tapping the last sequence on the keyboard. The screen lit up as a victorious chime was heard. "Success!" he whooped. "I'm in."

The lights flickered and went off. "We just hacked the power grid, but they still have auxiliary," said Nakia.

"Not anymore," Donnie corrected her, adding several more sequences into the computer. Nobody noticed as he slid a small USB device into an open port on the control panel before declaring: "Total power shutdown, in fifteen seconds."

The energy disruptors in the power coils began to fizzle and spark as the system went offline, quickly spreading throughout the city. Lights flickered and went off, televisions and radio sets shut off, and anything plugged in to an outlet shorted out. The Doombots, who were also connected to power system remotely, grew sluggish abruptly. Some began to shake, others ran in circles. Then, suddenly, they all stopped moving completely.

The heroes stared in frozen surprise. When the Doombots stayed motionless, Ant-Man grew to regular size and pushed one of them. Like a wobbly statue, it fell over.

Donnie's lips spread in a gap-toothed grin. "Score one for turtle power!" he whooped.

"We can celebrate later," Nakia said. "Let's move. We have to find Shuri."

Doctor Octopus stalked across Shuri's laboratory on his four robotic legs. He had taken these past few months to learn all he could about Wakanda's technological advancements, and had incorporated many elements of their tech into his own projects. At the moment, he was working on upgrades for his supervillain team, the Sinister Six. They were still in Australia, making sure things stayed relatively calm there while he harvested what information and technology he could from Wakanda.

For all Doom's foresight, his grip on the planet was crumbling. And Doctor Octopus knew that if the Sinister Six wanted to stay on top when the ensuing fallout hit, they would need serious firepower on their side. Wakanda's decades-ahead technology would help immensely with that. He had been designing upgrades for each one of his team members. Currently he was working on a suit harness for Max Dillon, the supervillain who went by Electro. The man was insane, but he was the kind of insane Octavius preferred to have working for him rather than against him. Electro's dream was to evolve into his "final form" by transforming himself into pure, living energy. Octavius was using Wakandan tech to create a capacitor suit out of energy, which—if it worked the way he thought it would—would allow any voltage over A1 to become complete energy, and reduce voltage below A2 to transform back into solid matter, keeping Electro in a perpetual state of "living lightning" when the suit's capacitors were activated.

Meanwhile, the screen in front of him was filled with three other images, as the rest of the Masters of Evil held their conference call. And, as was usual lately, things were less than agreeable.

"Let me be the one to state the obvious," said Doctor Octopus. "Magneto: in hiding beyond our reach after betraying us all. Red Skull: kidnapped by Magneto and likely dead by his hand. HYDRA: control over the United States crumbled. We've all got a slice of the planet under our control and enough manpower to individually run our territories. I say we cash in, and everyone leaves the table a winner."

An amused look flickered over Loki's face. "The mortal does have a point—"

"No." Doom brought down a fist on the arm of the chair in which he sat. "The territory means nothing in the time I'd have left to rule it! Octavius! Loki! You shall proceed with our plan. Or, you will find you've made an enemy of me."

Doom's eyes glared daggers through the screen at Doctor Octopus. "Octavius, I need an update on the nanobot situation."

An OctoBot crawled forward on its eight legs and handed Doctor Octopus a manifest, which he picked up with a tentacle arm and read from. "Of the subjects who called in sick to work, they were all summoned to a mandatory health screening. Samples of the nanobots taken from each patient revealed all but two subjects to be in perfect functioning condition. Furthermore, nanobot testing run on patients found that nanobot malfunctions have no health affects on their host."

"So it's as I thought—this all was a ruse," Doom mused. "Very well. They will soon find that two can play this game. Have all of those who called in sick notified of a public execution for which attendance is mandatory. And spread the word throughout the city." His voice dropped in tone and grew more sinister. "Almost thirty minutes ago, the Wakandan princess Shuri was captured by my DoomBots in Ramonda's quarters."

"So she survived," Loki said. "Impressive."

"I will execute her in front of any Wakandans who dared to stand against the Masters of Evil, on a worldwide broadcast for the globe to watch," Doom said. "And the people will know this—these are new times. You will fall in line, or you will be destroyed. Now go." He leaned forward, ending the transmission. Now it was just Doctor Octopus and Loki on the screen.

Loki raised an eyebrow at the doctor. "You had to push him, didn't you?"

"Drop it," Doctor Octopus growled, turning back to his work on Electro's capacitor suit.

But Loki wasn't finished. "What were you thinking?"

"We are all rulers," Doc Ock said. "Kings of our own lands. So why are we wasting our time on small-fry heroes?"

"I have seen your work, Octavius," Loki said. "You are a professional. And professionals see the job to the end. Or until Doom dies. Whichever comes first. Either way, we win."

Shredder walked after Doom through the halls of the Citadel, towards the prison level where Shuri and Ramonda had been taken. "The money and power is not important to me," Shredder said. "You promised me the turtles."

"I know, Saki," Doom said. He stopped and turned to face the Shredder. Even in his new suit of armor, which left him a few inches taller than Doom, Shredder felt intimidated by the man's gaze. "Never fear," Doom went on. "I will make good on that promise. Trust me. I have plans within plans."

But as they continued to walk down the corridor, Shredder knew that Doctor Octopus had been right. Their ranks were thinning. And whatever Doom's plan with this vibranium was, it was far from finished.

Shredder's thoughts were interrupted by a Royal Guardsman, who ran up breathless towards both of them from down the hall. "Honored leaders! Honored leaders!" the man panted, out of breath from his sprint. "There is an alert from state security! T'Challa's Royal Talon fighter has landed at the eastern border!"

"So soon?" Doom mused. "Very well. Alert all stations. Scramble fighter wings one and seven, and initiate the National Defense Response system. If T'Challa or any other puts one foot into this city, kill them. Deal with T'Challa's rebellion attempt as you would any pest infestation."

T'Challa stood at the bottom of the ramp of his Royal Talon fighter, on the edge of the Amanzi River. Across the river, grassland fields surrounded the Golden City from all sides. The blue shimmering energy field that usually surrounded the city had vanished, which meant that Shuri and her team had been successful in their strike. In front of him stood the first wave of their attack: all the fighting men that belonged to the Jabari Tribe. Wearing grass skirts, leather armor, and gorilla fur wraps, and carrying various wooden melee weapons, at first sight they seemed wholly unprepared for the upcoming battle. But T'Challa knew just how dangerous the Jabari fighters really were.

In the grassy fields around the outskirts of the city, creatures of darkness and death amassed. T'Challa recognized them as the alien warriors led by Loki. Dark Elves, rock trolls, Frost Giants, and Fire Demons. The aliens began to charge with barely restrained fury, running across the fields towards the Wakandan warriors on the other side of the Amanzi. In the city beyond, Dark Elf Harrow ships lifted up from constructed landing pads and flew towards them.

T'Challa shut his eyes and muttered a prayer to Bast, the panther goddess. He prayed for his people, for the wisdom to lead them through this battle, for the strength to crush their enemies, and for the souls of those among them who he knew would not live to see the dawn. As he ended his prayer, his kimoyo bracelet lit up, showing a hologram of Donatello. "All power to Wakanda is officially wiped out, Your Highness," the purple turtle said. "All the city's automatic defenses are down, and anything within a five-mile radius that even remotely resembled a Doombot has been rendered utterly useless."

"My king, Shuri was captured," said Nakia. "But we are on our way to rescuing her, then we will join you in battle."

"No," said T'Challa. "My sister's safety is priority. Get her out of harm's way."

"There's one other thing, Your Highness," said Donnie. "Dark Elf ships aren't grounded, even though the Doombots are. They've just deployed and they're headed your way, along with a good chunk of the alien army!"

T'Challa looked up from the holoprojection of Donatello hovering over his kimoyo beads. Things were about to heat up very soon for them. "Loki's ships are airborne, and their troops still outnumber us a hundred to one," he called to M'Baku.

M'Baku just smiled. "Then we have them right where we want them, my king," he said. Turning to the fighters, he barked at them to take cover as the Harrow Ships flew in, using their enormous blade-like extensions to rip up the group as they dove down on the Wakandan forces. Jabari tribesmen went flying through the air, and when the ships were done with their strafing run the men reassembled on the bank, hurriedly carrying the wounded or few dead out of the way.

From across the river, T'Challa watched as the army of evil-looking aliens charged through the grasslands towards them before turning to face the brave warriors who stood behind him. "We've been down this road before, my brothers," he said. "Countless times over the years has an army massed outside our city, looking to subjugate us. Looking to pillage our resources or wipe us from the face of the earth. We see their weapons in our museums. We dredge up their bones when we till our fields. They are but ghosts, while Wakanda remains."

He pointed behind him, across the field at the incoming alien forces. "Now a new army has arrived, unlike any other we have ever faced. They are led by deceivers and murderers, and have crossed the very stars to come here, raping a thousand worlds along the way. And here is where they will die. A hundred years from now, when our grandchildren till these same fields, and they dredge up the strange shattered bones of these Dark Elves, or Frost Giants, they will remember the stories of this day and the names of all who fought here. Who bled here. So that Wakanda might endure. Regardless of what you were yesterday—miner, shepherd, farmer—today, you are all soldiers of Bast. Today we are all the Black Panther! And today, we will fight as one!"

The soldiers cheered, raising their shields, swords, and spears to the skies, shouting, "Wakanda forever!" in a single voice that seemed to make the very air vibrate.

And then T'Challa began his chant. "Yibambe!" he shouted, and the warriors shouted it back.

"Yibambe! Yibambe! Yibambe! Yibambe!" The chant rose into the mid-afternoon air as the ground began to shake and rumble as the alien army ran forward, charging at the Wakandans with unmeasurable ferocity.

But the Wakandans did not move, nor did they flinch, even as the aliens reached the banks of the river and began to wade through it. So preoccupied were the alien forces in their thirst for blood, they didn't notice the water begin to boil and bubble around them.

Suddenly without warning massive hippos broke the surface of the river, having surrounded the aliens in the river by surprise. These were the war hippos bred by the River Tribe for combat. Each was about sixteen feet long and five feet tall at the shoulder, and weighed around 9,000 pounds, much larger than the average hippo. Each hippo also wore a protective shell of armor that completely covered them from above but left their sides exposed to prevent them from being weighed down in the water. The armor was attached by leather straps that wound down around the hippos' legs. The hippos wore an armored face covering with holes for their eyes and nostrils, with two ornamental vibranium tusks attacked to the side of each lower jaw for extra deadliness. The hippos bore saddles on their backs, and in those saddles sat River Tribe warriors, dressed in crocodile skins and leather and some wearing jade lip plates.

The River Tribe's surprise attack worked perfectly; the aliens had crossed over three-quarters of the river's width and were caught completely off guard. The hippos waded through their ranks, tossing them left and right with their large snouts, jaws open wide before clamping down on some unfortunate Dark Elf or Frost Giant. The air was filled with the chuffs and roars of the angry hippos and the screams of the panicking alien army.

"Wakanda forever!" T'Challa shouted, activating his Panther Habit as he charged into the river. The soldiers behind him yelled wildly and followed, wading into the shallow waters of the river to engage the aliens there in hand-to-hand combat.

The battle was fierce and brutal, both sides having trained their whole lives for this sort of mass hand-to-hand combat. River tribesmen ran their spears through frost giant and dark elf alike, and rock trolls and frost giants retaliated with studded clubs and icy bludgeons. The Jabari were also excellent archers, and M'Baku had ordered a team of his finest archers to take their positions in the trees along the bank flanking the clearing. Now the archers rained down fire on the enemies in the river. But the aliens were tough, and no mere arrow could kill them. T'Challa watched as a larger frost giant picked up one of the River Tribe war hippos, roaring, with the stubs of at least seven arrows sticking out of its torso. He ran forward and used his suit's kinetic energy to knock the Frost Giant to the sky, rolling out of the way as the hippo dropped back into the river.

But they had never meant to wage the full battle here; they had too few numbers, and the alien army would overwhelm them soon if they didn't act fast. T'Challa found himself back-to-back with M'Baku, as they became surrounded by a group of rock trolls. "M'Baku!" T'Challa shouted. "Go now!"

"I don't like this, T'Challa!" M'Baku yelled back. "We should call for reinforcements, at least one or two of the supers, or—"

"We have to stick to the plan!" T'Challa interrupted him, leaping forward at one of the rock trolls and knocking it to the ground.

M'Baku gritted his teeth, clubbing another rock troll's head into pebbles with his knobkerrie. "You and your plans," he muttered. "This had better work, my king, or you are in big trouble." He swung his wooden weapon over his head, emitting the Jabari war cry. "Maafa!"

"Yah hoo hoo!" the Jabari warriors responded to their leader's call. The tactical retreat began, as the hippos swam off up the river and the Wakandan fighters climbed out of the river and charged off along the south bank, drawing the alien army after them.

"If this doesn't work, my friend," T'Challa said softly, "then we are all in big trouble." He stayed behind, covering the escape of the other Jabari warriors before he also turned tail and ran after them, the alien army hot on his heels.

"Well, here we are, together at last," Doom said. "The famous Queen Ramonda and Princess Shuri." He spoke coldly, but elegantly, as though he were a politician and not some hegemonic dictator. "Please do excuse the mess, Your Highnesses. But, you know, your associates did disable the entire city's power grid. I apologize for not being able to arrange a more formal greeting for dignitaries of your stature. I'm afraid this will have to do."

Shuri's vision became clearer, and she looked around at her surroundings. She was outside, on some sort of gallows platform, in the courtyard in front of Doom's massive garrison. The courtyard was filled with Wakandans, who eyed her and her mother with a mixture of fear and sadness. Shuri knew several of the faces in the crowd. She and Ramonda were suspended in the air, their arms bound by shackles hanging from the top of the gallows, and their legs dangling beneath them, a few feet above a table covered in various knives and blades. One of the Wakandan Royal Guard members was perusing over the blades, examining them. Shuri recognized the man immediately: it was Jakarra, a captain within the Royal Guard. He picked up a blade to examine it, and the crowd flinched visibly.

Royal Guardsmen flanked the platform, and the Masters of Evil stood at the rear, each seated in throne-like chairs, watching the proceeding. Loki was there, as was Doctor Octopus, and a man Shrui didn't recognize wearing a suit of samurai armor that looked to be made out of vibranium. Impressive, she thought begrudgingly.

Shuri struggled violently against her restraints as Doom walked in front of her. "You dare hurt my mother and I'll—"

"Hurt her?" Doom spread his arms wide. "My dear princess, I will have your mother beaten until she is no longer recognizable as a vertebrate. Unless you do exactly as I say." He began to pace in circles around the table, circling his prisoners as he spoke. "Understand, I am not a butcher. We are not here to annihilate your people. This invasion was completed long ago. Your planet already belongs to the Masters of Evil. The sooner you accept that, the sooner we can move forward."

"You'll never win," Shuri spat.

Doom paused in front of her. "Haven't you been listening to anything I said? Maybe you think because America managed to pull off a semi-successful revolution, that there's hope for you and your people. I can assure you, there is not. I have studied the conquering of more worlds than I remember, Princess Shuri. I know how these things play out." He turned back to face the crowd. "You and your countrymen can resist and at best make a nuisance of yourselves for a while. But in the end that only means that you'll all be killed."

Pointing at Shuri and Ramonda, Doom shouted out to the onlookers, "Look at your queen-mother! Look at your princess! They hang here suspended, powerless, as helpless as newborns." He walked back over to Shuri and held her chin in his metal gauntlet, forcing her to stare into his eyes. "You have no more options. Accept that you have lost. Tell your people to stand down."

It was then that Ramonda spoke. Head hanging, eyes shut, she spoke only to Shuri and said: "Tell them to go to hell, daughter."

Shuri stared back into Doom's eyes, a mixture of anger and mischievous pride glittering in her own, as she obeyed her mother. "Go to hell, you bastards."

Doom sighed and let go of Shuri's chin, walking back behind his hanging captives towards his seat on the gallows platform. "I understand," he said. "You are of royal blood. You come from a long line of kings. Your pride will not let you give in, despite the hopelessness of your situation. Do not worry, though. I have beaten the pride out of greater kings than you."

He raised an armored hand as he sat down, prompting the Royal Guardsmen on the platform to form a line in front of the table bearing all of the weapons. Jakarra handed each of the soldiers some form of blunt club, some of them studded, without so much as a glance at Shuri or Ramonda. They steeled themselves, trying to find it in them to do what they were about to do.

It took a few moments to notice then the figure walking slowly through the crowd in a brown traveling cloak with the hood pulled up over his head. He made his way through the people gathered, and as he walked the crowd grew quieter and quieter. Doom noticed this, and raised a hand, saving the Royal Guardsmen from having to beat their previous rulers in front of Wakanda.

"Kill him," Doom said, gesturing at the figure.

The figure started running towards the podium. Loki started to rise from his seat, clutching at his golden Chitauri staff, but Doom threw his arm out and held him back. One of the Royal Guardsmen ran forward, spear raised. The figure threw his arm out, tossing two ninja stars which buried themselves in the guardsman's shoulder, just shy of the armor. The attack didn't kill the man, but he gave a cry in pain and stumbled backwards.

One of the other guardsmen got a swipe off at the figure with his spear. The figure moved with lightning reflexes, dodging the guardsman's attack and throwing a punch into the man's midsection, which turned into a grab as he lifted the guardsman up and threw him off the podium to the ground behind him. Now the figure leapt into the air, doing a backflip that put him between Shuri and Ramonda and the Masters of Evil. His cloak fell off as he jumped, and the Wakandan crowd was shocked to see standing before them an anthropomorphic turtle-human hybrid, wearing a purple eye mask and holding a wooden staff.

Donnie turned and looked over his shoulder at the Masters of Evil, grinning slyly. The other Royal Guardsmen circled around him with their spears as Ant-Man and Wasp appeared on either side of him, de-shrinking themselves to normal size. The three of them did battle with the guards, using nonlethal attacks to stun or beat down the Guardsmen. No one noticed Hank Pym riding on the back of a safari ant—this one a wingless female—leading a charge of the swarming ants up onto the gallows and across the scaffolding to the captives. Some of the ants climbed up the legs of the guards, delivering painful stings and bites as the others worked to push the bolts out of the chains that kept Shuri and Ramonda hanging in the air.

As the two Wakandan rulers fell to the wooden deck, Nakia burst through the crowd, running up onto the gallows and tossing Shuri her vibro-gauntlets. The heroes lined up, circling around Ramonda and shielding her as the Royal Guardsmen surrounded them, spears leveled.

"And so, the broken queen and the upstart regent return," Doom said, clapping slowly in sarcasm. "You were unwilling to risk your own hides to defend your nation and now you come to spill the blood of your own people?"

"We are not at war with Wakanda," said Nakia, her voice fiercely cold. "Not the army, not the state militia, and not the people. Our war is with the criminals who have stolen this land. Our war is with you." She nodded at Shuri, who turned to face the citizens who still stood watching the display unfold before them.

Shuri raised her voice, speaking directly to the remaining crowd. "I speak now to the people of Wakanda," she said. "I am your princess regent, by right of combat and by the blessing of the Panther God. What I have to say, I say to those who have sided with the enemy, but I want all Wakanda to bear witness." She turned back to the Royal Guard, staring directly at Jakarra as she spoke. "The takeover of the Wakandan government is a criminal act. We offer you one chance to stand down and avoid bloodshed. One chance. If you disarm and stand down, I offer clemency and justice at the hand of my brother, King T'Challa. We will allow those of you who sided with Doom and his tyranny to participate in our security force, to have a voice in Wakanda. But you will relinquish all control within Wakanda immediately. My brother, your king, the queen Nakia, and I have come to reclaim that which is ours by right and by law. Take our offer. Avoid bloodshed."

The Royal Guardsmen wavered, their weapons lowering ever so slightly as they considered what Shuri had said. Several of them looked to Jakarra, who had paled visibly.

Doom spread his arms, a deep rumbling laugh coming from behind his mask. "The Royal Guard is dedicated to the protection of Wakanda," he said. "And they know as well as you that to protect Wakanda, they must side with me. Or I turn Wakanda's streets into an ocean of blood. You dare come and threaten the people of Wakanda? What will you do? Slaughter innocents in the street to try and take back the throne you couldn't be bothered to hold?"

"You did not listen," Shuri said, her voice shaking with rage as she stared Doom down, unflinching. "We are not speaking to the people of Wakanda. We are speaking to the traitors. And to you."

"You are not Wakanda," Nakia spat. "We are."

The ground rumbled as if a stampeded of wild buffalo was coming. The Wakandan citizens who were still watching screamed and ran as ants charged through the streets and up over the podium. The ants were huge, almost the size of a small pony, having been enlarged thanks to Hank Pym's Pym Particle technology. The ants trampled over the Wakandan Royal Guardsmen, and the heroes hopped aboard the nearest ones as they were swept away in the tide of oversized insects. Hank Pym led the charge, using his earpiece to control the ants' movements and direct some of them to attack the Masters of Evil back on the platform.

Doctor Octopus stabbed an ant into the deck with one of his robotic arms before whirling on Doom. "Mobilize our forces!" he yelled. "They are getting away!"

"No," Doom said. "This is a simple trick, meant to draw us out of the city where we are vulnerable. They did not come alone, and their numbers are likely great." He turned, facing the others. "Loki, raise the Ship of the Dead and all of your alien forces. You and Shredder must draw the heroes to this city by any means necessary. Kill the civilian population if you must. But I want them here." He turned back to Doctor Octopus. "As for you, Otto, we shall retreat to the vault. It seems the time to test your technical prowess has come upon us at last."

Okoye stood on the shoreline of Warrior Falls, flanked by her Dora Milaje warriors and speaking with T'Challa using her kimoyo bead bracelet. "The aliens won't wait forever, my king," she said. "Once they realize that they've been ambushed and that no reinforcements are ever coming, they'll retreat back to the city."

"Move against them first," T'Challa's holoimage told her. "I want a hit-and-run fight. Battle scenario Eight-Five-Three-Umbuso. You need to wipe them out, Okoye, no matter what the cost. Buy us time, or we will all be dead."

Okoye saluted by crossing her arms over her chest as she hung up the call. In the distance, she heard two short bellows from a war horn. It was W'Kabi, signalling their approach. The joint pincer maneuver between the River Tribe's hippos and the Border Tribe's rhinos was corralling the aliens into this basin, where they would face the spears of the Dora Milaje.

Steeling herself for the upcoming battle, Okoye turned to face the brave women behind her. "Sisters!" she shouted. "We have been given a sacred duty by our king. That the one hundred of us must hold this line against the two thousand alien invaders who pollute our soil and desecrate our land. History tells of men who have fought such odds. Heroes whose names echo in the Halls of Ancestors. They fought as men, and died as men. But we, we are the Dora Milaje. The daughters of the six tribes of Wakanda. We are the teeth of Bast. Out of ten thousand years of sweat and bloodshed and battle are we born. We are the women of this ancient land, and deadliest of the species. And our time has come!"

She raised her spear and the Dora Milaje mimicked her move, shouting a cry. As the cry died down, April and Karai appeared at the back of the crowd, approaching Okoye at the front. "Mind if we tag along?" asked Karai. "I got bored waiting for the boys to catch up."

Okoye smiled. "Two fierce fighters such as yourselves are always welcome beside us."

There was no more time for talk, as the alien forces charged through the valley into the waterfall basin, with unnatural, unearthly howls of pain, fear, and maniacal energy. They had been corralled by the Border Tribe's War Rhinos straight into the spears of the Dora Milaje, who were ready and waiting. The battle was a slaughter from the start, by far the most intense fight Karai had ever been in. All around her, explosions went off. Dora Milaje spears stabbed through frost giants, and Dark Elf blasters cut down Wakandan warriors. Rock trolls exploded. Dora Milaje members' legs fell out from under them.

But the thrill of battle, and her time of hiding underground, fueled her movements. She came alive with a fire that was almost unfamiliar, hacking and slashing through the aliens, moving with the grace of some exotic predator. She caught herself laughing once or twice, and it was a crazy laugh that almost scared her as much as it scared those she was fighting. She was vaguely aware of the Border Tribe's war rhinos charging through the mix, disrupting every attempt by the enemy to rally.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed before the Dora Milaje turned and pulled back, about fifty left alive out of the original one hundred. "General!" one of the warriors called to Okoye. "We've disabled hundreds of them, but they keep coming. There are not enough of us left. We've lost!"

"No, my sisters," Okoye said, gripping her spear and turning to face the enemy. "We've won. The hour asked of us has come and gone."

"We're outnumbered twenty to one!" April said. "We should pull back."

Okoye turned and raised an eyebrow. "Twenty to one? Then we will have more than enough bones to build our tombs."

Loki stood on the deck of the Ship of the Dead as it hovered over the grasslands outside the Golden City. The figures filling the field below seemed like ants because of how high up he was. Every able-bodied Dark Elf, rock troll, and Frost Giant had fallen into formation. Although, because of the attack on Wakanda's armory thanks to the team that had infiltrated the city, the only weapons they'd been able to scrounge up were simple blades and bludgeons, aside from the Dark Elf energy rifles and black hole grenades. Primitive weaponry, but it would do with the numbers they had: two hundred thousand strong. The initial charge against T'Challa had been merely a feint, designed to test the opposition's strength. This massive show of force was their true strength.

Standing over his army, Loki felt a surge of pride swell in his veins. Here on Earth was where he was meant to be. Where he had been meant to be all this time. Here. Not Asgard. For here he was respected as a leader. Here he was feared. And rightfully so, because of the power he held. And he wouldn't let anyone take that away from him, especially not a ragtag team of heroes assembled in some final stand.

"You all know what we fight for here today!" he yelled, his voice amplified so that each of his soldiers below could hear. "You all know the prophecies! You know that if we lose this battle, there is no going home! For there is no home left for us to go back to! This is where we make our final stand! But I am not asking you to fight for a prophecy here today! I am asking you to fight for the one next to you, as he will fight for you!"

He strode across the ship's deck and gestured with his scepter at the trees, where T'Challa had once again emerged with all of the Wakandan forces at his disposal: Jabari Tribesmen, Border Tribe riders and their war rhinos, River Tribe waders on their hippos. Shuri stood on his right, and Nakia and M'Baku on his left. "You see this man?" Loki screamed. "You see how he mocks you! How he mocks an army that has laid to waste a thousand worlds! This one puny Midgardian!"

He turned back to his army and raised his arms. "Bring me his head so we might toast our conquer with a drink from his skull! Without their arrogant king, the rest of these Wakandans will fall in line like the weak little Earthlings they are! Kill the Black Panther, and the day is ours!"

"Uh, my liege," Malekith said from behind him, "that might not be as simple as it sounds."

Loki turned to see his chief lieutenant staring over the railing back at the jungle's edge, where the Wakandan rebellion forces had amassed. But now others started to appear alongside them. Iron Man and War Machine flew over the treetops of the jungle and landed on the front lines of the Wakandan forces. Spider-Man swung in on a line of webbing from the trees, landing gracefully between Iron Man and War Machine. Hulk walked from the jungle's edge behind the rest of the army, followed closely by the Fantastic Four. Wolverine and Jean Grey walked out side by side, tailed by Colossus as Storm dropped down from the sky beside them. The X-Men mutants were followed by the Mighty Mutanimals: Spike, Doctor Rockwell, Pigeon Pete, and Muckman. The Heroes for Hire, Power Man and Iron Fist, were there too, as well as Daredevil, Punisher, and Jessica Jones. The Winter Guard stepped forward, and Blade came out of the jungle as well. To his right stood Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, Ant-Man, Wasp, Hank Pym, and Bucky Barnes. Okoye led the remainder of the Dora Milaje to the front of their ranks, with April and Karai amongst them. And in the middle of all of the heroes stood the ninja turtles, Casey Jones, Renet the time traveler, the rebuilt Metalhead, and Splinter.

Then the unthinkable happened. The sound of music filled their ears. "I know that song," Iron Man said, turning his head.

"'Fortunate Son'?" asked Wolverine.

It was, indeed, "Fortunate Son" by the band Creedence Clearwater Revival. And it was being played by the Milano, which was diving down through the skies towards the battle, coming in for a landing. As they all looked up to the skies, they could see more ships far above them in the atmosphere. Ravagers ships. Salamandrian cruisers and fighters. Then the sky split with a streak of rainbow, as the Bifrost opened up in the field in front of the heroes. They all shielded their eyes from the intense light and heat, and when it cleared they could see about a hundred of Asgard's finest Einherjar warriors, led by none other than-

"Thor!" Leo shouted. "Thor, is that really you?"

"It is good to see you both again, my friends," said Thor, smiling.

"But wait," Donnie asked. "I thought there was an intergalactic off-limits order on the Earth."

"There was," Thor said. "There still is. But the Earth is hiding a fugitive. An Asgardian fugitive." He pointed at the Ship of the Dead hovering over the city in front of them.

"Loki?" asked Leo.

"Yes." Thor was grinning now. "And because he is a fugitive of Asgard, he remains Asgard's problem to deal with. And, since I am the new king of Asgard, that makes him my problem."

"And the intergalactic treaty appears to allow for the formation of a posse to recover any fugitives, should they be exceptionally dangerous," said Lady Sif, walking up beside Thor. "So we brought some help." She gestured in the sky at the Ravager and Salamandrian ships.

"I don't believe it!" Donnie laughed.

"Believe it," said Star-Lord, walking up with the other Guardians of the Galaxy. "Besides, as Rocket would not stop reminding me for the entire trip here, Thor still owes us for the last job."

Another aircraft came in for a landing to their left, a heavily modified Globemaster III cargo plane. The landing ramp lowered as the plane touched down, and down the ramp walked Captain America, now without his beard but still sporting his trademark uniform and shield. "Everybody present?" he asked, glancing around. "Good. Backup's here."

Mikey stared starstruck at Cap. "Captain America?"

"And friends," chimed in Falcon, flying out of the jet's landing bay towards the others and followed by Vision, Black Widow, and the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Coulson immediately walked over to Nick Fury and shook his boss's hand. "Director."

"You're the only Director here, Coulson," Fury said, stepping back to look at the man. "Gotta say, you keep pretty well for a dead man."

"Well, we got your message and figured we'd come lend a hand," said Coulson.

"What message?" asked Fury.

"Oh, uhm," Donnie piped up. "Before we shut down the Wakandan power grid I took the liberty of uploading a message using their advanced communication network. It was like a call for help for any superheroes who might have survived that we didn't pick up."

"I got the message too," came a voice. Donnie and Leo turned to see Shinigami appear from seemingly out of nowhere, using her witch powers to teleport to their location. "How rude," she said to Karai. "You were having a big fight and didn't tell me."

A blue flash in the jungle caught their attention, and they all balked at the sight of Devil Dinosaur stomping through the trees with Moon Boy and Beast on his back. "We received your message, Donatello," said Beast. "I managed to reconfigure the teleporter to bring us here, and with an ample amount of force."

Ka-Zar, Shanna, and Zabu came out from the tree line, leading a group of Savage Land natives armed with spears and bow and arrow. "Ka-Zar?" asked April. "What are you doing here?"

"Lending my aid," said Ka-Zar simply. "I would be a poor ruler to deny my neighbors aid in their time of need. And all of us are ready and willing."

Devil Dinosaur let out an ear-splitting roar, and as it cut off another streak of light flew through the atmosphere faster than any ship or meteorite. It was a lone figure. The figure landed in front of them, a woman in a red and blue outfit with long blonde hair. No one knew who she was. No one, that is, except Nick Fury, who broke into a wide grin. "Hey, Colonel," he said. "You still flying around space?"

"Little bit," said Captain Marvel, smiling at the sight of her old friend. "You still playing superspy?"

"Little bit," Fury said. "How's Captain Rambeau?"

"She's good," Captain Marvel shot back. "How's your eye?"

Fury laughed. "You going to stand here and insult me, or you wanna lend a hand?" As she took her place among the other heroes, Fury turned to face the crowd of superheroes.

But not just heroes, he realized. No, these were men and women of hope. Of courage. Of marvels.

"We're Earth's last line of defense, people," Fury said. "Win or lose, we go out together."

"Then together it shall be!" Thor yelled. His yell was infectious, and it caught on quickly, until all present were yelling at the top of their lungs, in one single statement of defiance against the alien invaders, against the Masters of Evil, against fascism and tyranny and dictatorship. They were those who dared stand in the way of evil, in the way of death and destruction.

But Loki, standing on the deck of Naglfar, was unbothered even at the sight of all these reinforcements. For even with their backup, his forces still outnumbered the heroes a thousand to one. "Fine, then," he said simply, hearing the distant roars of the heroes as they steeled themselves for battle. "Kill them all and let my sister Hela sort them out."

Captain America raised his shield and shouted to everyone present: "Avengers assemble!"

And then both lines began their charge, running through the tall grass of the fields towards each other with long undetermined strides.

But wait, you may be asking. So many heroes, and we're still missing a factor! An X-factor, if you will! Where's everybody's favorite Merc with a Mouth, Deadpool?

Well, hold on while I put down one of those horizontal lines to separate the story from my little spiel.

Alright, maintenance: check. So, who do ya think is narrating the story, dingbat? Ooh, wait, am I allowed to use the word "bat"? Not sure if that's a cancelled word, what with the whole C-Virus and all. Anyway, yeah, it's me. Deadpool. I'm the narrator. I was going to be an actual character in the book, but the author changed his mind because I was "too hard to write about."

Whaaaat? He said no? That was our chance to be in our own fanfiction!

Pfft. Like some dingus word-writer would even know better than me how to show how amazing I am.

"Amazing" is more Spider-Man's thing, really.

Yeah, right. What's so amazing about that geek?

Well, superhuman strength and reflexes, extra-sensory perception, genius level intellect, the ability to stick to any surface-

Boooring! Hey, reader! Meet the voices in my head. The guy in italics is my inner monologue. He doesn't have a name yet, although since I guess he's me, his name should be Wade. Nah, I'll call him Rodney. He does the thoughts for the characters in the story cause he's great with voices. If you get a chance, ask him about his de Niro impression. Classic!

Hey, reader! High five!

No high fives. We're voices in our head.

And the guy in bold is Madcap. I'm not gonna bore you with his backstory, it's pretty long and complicated. Kinda like my dingaling! Heh.

Haha! Dingaling! What comedy.

Ugh.

Anyways, he's in charge of reading all the chapter titles and the author's notes, because those are the most boring parts of the story. Blah blah blah, sorry for being inactive, insert excuse for being a lazy heinie, et cetera . . .

Hmmm. Not sure if the reader understands our thinking yet.

Hey, reader, just go with it. I'm about to change your f***ing life. Wait a minute. I said, change your f***ing life. Wait, why can't I say f***?

It's the rating, remember? The story is rated K+.

Awe, f***!

Laaaaame!

It's in the Rules & Guidelines. "Suitable for more mature childen, 9 years and older, with minor action violence without serious injury. May contain mild coarse language. Should not contain any adult themes."

Hah, ain't that a kick in the nuts. The list of conducts is such a big stickler for spell checking and proofreading, but they can't even spell their own friggin' guidelines right. Besides, who even reads those? You just scroll and hit "Accept".

I never read the Rules & Guidelines.

You can't read.

Yes I can!

I only use WattPad to write.

So, yeah. We're not in the MCU, so since the fic is called "TMNTxMCU", we're not allowed to be in it. Doesn't make a lot of sense, and there are tons of inconsistencies with the other Marvel people in the story, like the OTHER X-Men, but whatever. Blame the author for starting the dang things with no explanation five years ago and then having his future self pick up his slack.

But we don't get to have anyone from our universe in the fic either! Not Domino, or even Cable!

We haven't seen him since Deadpool 2.

I love reunions! But he's such a Debbie Downer. Never here ten seconds before he starts boring us with his dire warning-from-the-future crap!

Meh, I prefer these fourth wall breaks anyway! And since I'm the narrator, I've got all kinds of power! I can give readers hints about what's going to happen in later chapters. For example:

"Hey, Raph," Mikey said, as they ran alongside the others towards the battle. "Did you know that the Wakandans are going to have a big parade in three chapters as celebration for beating Doom and saving the world? The author doesn't really know how to describe the way the music sounds, but the readers can listen to the Grasslands Groove song from Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze to get an idea for how it's supposed to sound."

Raph stared at Mikey in utter confusion. "Dude, what the heck are you talking about?"

Mikey almost stopped running as shock hit his brain. "Woah, I don't even remember, bro! It's like my mind got taken over by a mind-munching virus or something. Like Pizza Face!"

Yeah? See? I can do that. Pretty cool. I don't like to mess with the characters too much, though. Kinda messes things up. I might make an exception for Karai, though. The turtles' older sister. She's over eighteen, right?

No.

D***it!

We could always turn this into one of those smutty lemon fanfics where everybody in a kids' show is weirdly over eighteen for some reason. But nahhh. You didn't come here for lemons, you came here for an awesome story! Also, before I go, I just have to acknowledge the fans. Or maybe it's just one fan using a bunch of different accounts. All the reviews sound the same. But anyways, fan mail time!

Dear Moore98Luke: Thanks for being the story's first reviewer and the first real public fan! Hope you love the story as much as we love you!

Dear 10speed12: Thanks for pointing out the first of many many inconsistencies that the author still is trying to go back and fix.

Dear Althea Sirius: Are you single? What's your sign? Just kidding. Why would anybody wanna date someone with my face? I sure as hell don't. Why do you think I wear a g*****n mask? Jeez, these censorships are getting real annoying.

Dear Guest: Relax with the copy-paste. But thanks for reading and reviewing!

Wow, I really gotta go through all nine pages of reviews? Okay, for all the rest of you, big thank you from the author and from me for putting up with this crazy fanfiction! The author says to tell you he loves all the ideas, and that the Thanos and Shredder Gauntlet thing is probably going to be a separate story because this one is already wayyyy too long. But I got some ideas.

What did you have in mind?

Besides you two schmucks, not a thing! Oh, and to the fake Deadpool impersonator in the reviews, I see you. I hear you. I'll find out where you live and cuddle you while you sleep. May or may not be clothed during the process. Or I might just mix some C4 with a bean burrito and leave it in your toilet the next time you need to poo or pee. What's your gimmick, anyway? Did I go to high school with you?

We have stans now?

Of course we have stans! We've had stans for years! They keep shipping us with Spider-Man.

Spider-Geek? The internet is a weirdddd place.

You're telling me. Oh, one more thing for the readers: stay tuned for "Avengers Assemble! Part 4." It's gonna be a real tear-jerker. And speaking of jerking, it's high time I got a little private time. So until next time, this is your favorite Merc With a Mouth, saying sayonara and signing off!