-Strucker Castle-
Strucker on the PA: "All personnel. Report to the stations immediately! We are under Attack!! I repeat. We are Under ATTACK!"
Wanda and Pietro looked at each other. Fear and anxiousness almost made them succumb but they braced through…they had braced through all of the tortures the Hydra organization had thrown on them.
Wanda held Pietro's hand, hesitance in releasing it as she feared they would be split from each other again. On the twin's neck, a small collar was forced onto them, each of them would be responsible for the lives of the others.
"Pietro." Wanda said with a shaky voice and glassy eyes. Her chin quivered slightly and Pietro knew his sister was doing all she could to prevent herself from crying.
They couldn't even resist the order as Baron Strucker would kill the other one for disobedience.
"Wanda. It'll be okay. I am sure of it." Pietro said as he hugged his younger sister. Both of the twins were barely 20 years old this year. After their parents died, they only have each other and have survived with only the two of them until they were 15 years old.
"Mr. Knight is an Avengers. He may be working with the vile Tony Stark, but you know what kind of person he is right?" Pietro said comfortingly, cracking a smile to ease his sister in the dire situation.
Wanda nodded slowly and released Pietro from his embrace. "I do."
The distant explosion and footsteps of the soldiers running could be heard from all over the castle. Before Wanda and Pietro left, Wanda glanced at the sceptre used to change her…or where the sceptre used to be.
Countless Chitauri technology could be seen inside the castle grounds, even a leviathan hanging mid-air at Strucker's warehouse. And the ones' fighting outside the castle? Of course it's the rag-tag group of superheroes that banded together to try to make the world a better place.
[The Avenger theme song is playing.]
-15 minutes before the battle.-
"Where are the Maximoff twins?" Zemo asked in a cold tone. He was sure that the Avengers would attack his castle first, so all of the Hydra's forces converged over there.
"S-Strucker said…he needed protection too. That's why the twins will stay with him." Dr List, one of Strucker's confidants and right hand man, conveyed his master's wishes. Zemo suddenly grabbed Dr. List by his throat using his right hand and raise the man's up. On the other hand, Loki's sceptre.
"(Struggling to breathe) You…Need me…" Dr. List said with gritted teeth and veins popping out of his forehead from the lack of oxygen. Zemo calmed down and released the man from his grip.
Dr. List coughed and coughed until he could finally catch his breath. He held his neck and stared hatefully at Zemo.
"Let's go." Zemo said nonchalantly, as if he wasn't choking the life of Dr. List before this. The latter was still needed as Zemo needed him to run the mass enhancement process.
-Inside the Avenjet-
"Where is Cap and Sam?" Barton asked while holding a new shiny bow that Ryan had made for him.
Tony was scanning the battlefield at that time and couldn't hear what Barton said. "These guys are using advanced technology. Some of them could fly using the Chitauri hover tech." He mumbled to himself.
"Tony!" Rhodes called out as Tony was in his own zone at the moment.
"Oh. Yeah sorry. The battle is going to be harder than I thought." Tony said. "Natasha has regrouped with Cap's team and they will attack Zemo's place from the west side."
He pulled out the satellite scans of the castle and showed it to the team.
"We need to split up. Some of us will go to Struckers." Tony added.
"Hulk. Thor. We need you here as the heavy hitters. Ayala and Barton would try to infiltrate them from the east side and shut down their defences. They are expecting Natasha to do it so we have the element of surprise there."
"Rhodes and…you, the Black Panther.." Tony said as he pointed toward the shadowy area of the Avengers Jet. Suddenly, a man with a black panther mask in an all black suit walked out of the area.
"Jeezus. Since when is he here!?" Barton asked, greatly surprised by the new addition to the team. "Who are you?" Barton asked.
"The Black Panther. Ryan vouched for him." Tony said quickly. In actual truth, the BP had created a deal with Ryan as he saw something terrible happening in Wakanda after he went back a few weeks ago.
"Wait. I changed my clothes there." Ayala said and widened her eyes. Then, she narrowed her eyes at the Black Panther.
"I…closed my eyes." Black Panther said, still in a calm voice. He did close his eyes – at the last 2 seconds before Ayala finished changing so he wasn't lying.
"You son of a b-" Before White Tiger could curse, Barton pulled her away. "Calm down Kitty. Play nice."
CLAW ATTACK!
Barton was then rewarded with a scratch on his face for his untimely jokes.
"Only the two of us will go to Strucker? Is this the modern day workplace discrimination?" Rhodes said teasingly. He then saw the group becoming uncomfortable by his jokes. 'Ahh I miss Sam.' His brother would have understood the jokes immediately.
"No. There is another person who will go there. He didn't want me to say anything as it will be a surprise, but I want to avoid giving him satisfaction at all cost." Tony said with a smirk.
"Who?" Ayala asked.
"Who else? That freaking Kid-"
-On the periphery of Zemo's western part of his castle-
"Ryan will come here? Why?" Steve asked in great concern.
"Strucker has the kids of a friend of his mum. He goes there to bring them back." Natasha replied.
A few of her duplicates had been scattered along the forest, waiting for the time to attack. She knew she couldn't keep the secret of her ability much longer as Tony and Steve had been suspicious about her terrifying mission track records in the past month.
Kai told her to announce it on the battlefield. "That way, they will be focused on the battle where your secret comes second."
"Kai really won't come?" Steve asked, a bit disappointed by Kai's absences.
"He has a prior commitment. Something about an alien city and a Hydra monster." Natasha replied.
"What monster?" Sam asked, intrigued.
"I don't know yet." Natasha replied sadly. Suddenly, the trio's casual conversation was interrupted by Steve's communicator being rung.
"It's time." Steve asked.
-Inside Zemo's castle-
"All of you in position?" Zemo asked through the communication line.
"Yeah yeah. We're in position. If they come then tell us." Moonstone Karla Sofen said lazily and laid down on the giant rock inside the forest. Next to her sitting there was Songbird who still has a few bruises on her face and neck.
"You don't have to obey him completely. You know that right?" Karla asked Melissa in a chatty voice. Melissa turned her attention to Karla. She shook her head and said. "I don't have a choice. He is the only one who can lead me to my friends."
"Your friends from Wrestling. Who is she again…Ahh. Titania right?"
"Yes. She went missing a year ago. Zemo knows where she is but he will only tell me when I finish his job."
"Well you can give up now. He won't tell you that. Ever."
Melissa lowered her head as she thought the same way. Karla Sofen crawled toward Melissa in all fours and closed their faces together. Melissa gulped her saliva as Karla stared deeply into her eyes.
"What did you want to do when you met Titania?" Karla asked, still locking eyes with Melissa.
"I…want to… be friends again." Melissa replied, stuttering in her sentences. Karla was too pretty for someone like her to handle.
After studying Melissa's pupil dilation, Karla backed away, leaving Melissa confused by the situation there. She took out a smartphone and tried to show something to Melissa when she heard the Avenjet entering the airspace above through her super hearing.
After she lost the original Moonstone before this, she only had 3 more days to live before the Masters of Evil saved her from SHIELD. Zemo had prolonged her life by giving her the other half of the Moonstone that was kept with his family's heirloom as he knew the rarity of a compatibility with the moonstone. He had the stone with him for years but the stone had never once reacted when he held it.
Alpha Stone, Omega Stone, Bloodgem, Ka Stone, Power prism, Godstone and the Moonstone originated from the Lifestone Tree. After getting the bigger half of the Moonstone from Karla Sofen before – one that was studied by Dr Faustus before Karla Sofen stole it, Ryan had studied the stone intently and even researched about the compatibility issues of the stone.
Ryan: "The Moonstone owner was supposed to be a noble warrior, one that would protect the interest of the species she was guarding as the New Guardians of the Galaxy. But after the influence of the dark dimension, it opened up to people like Karla Sofen instead. People who wanted power without any of the responsibility that come along with it."
Back to Sokovia, Thor and Hulk were dropped off from the Avenjet from a high altitude.
"Losers have to spend all their allowance to buy burgers." Hulk suggested.
" Aye. The bet is set." Thor said as he swung Mjolnir toward the castle ground while Hulk was free falling.
However, Karla Sofen appeared mid-air and intercepted Thor's path. She created a wall using telekinesis to cancel Thor's momentum. Thor fell to the ground as Karla floated toward him slowly.
" Hello there, handsome. Where are you going?" Karla asked coquettishly.
"What are you doing Carol?" Thor asked, greatly confused by his own ally blocking his path. Although Carol's outfit in front of him was a bit different, for him it was Carol regardless.
Tony interjected urgently on the comms, "THOR THAT IS NOT-"
But before he could finish his words, the Moonstone had shot a photon blast from both her
palms toward Thor, flinging him into the forest.
Hulk landed on the ground, producing a web-like craters on his landing zone. In front of him was another green figure, the Radioactive Man.
"HULK SMASH!" Hulk jumped upward and tried to stomp the man in front of him. Hulk may be more docile now with his friends, but he has never shown mercy toward his enemies. ChenLu sidestepped to the left, dodging Hulk's attack easily.
"I heard you're a doctor. But now you're just a monster." ChenLu said in a sad tone before he raised his arm to Hulk's chest and shot out a hard radiation blast at almost a point blank distance! High temperature radiation slammed into Hulk's chest, pushing him backward a few metres.
Burn marks could be seen on Hulk's chest as ChenLu's energy had infiltrated his body. However, radiation was one of Hulk's strong suits. The burn marks quickly healed itself while Hulk grinned at ChenLu.
Both of them traded some blows, but their strength was on par with one another. ChenLu created a forcefield around his body that could take even a strike from Mjolnir, and he kept feeding energy into the forcefield to prevent Hulk's blows from passing through his defence.
Norbert Ebersol, the villain by the name Techno(At this time) was standing by at the northern side of the castle.
"Oh. I have visitors. I wonder which Avengers will it be." He said condescendingly as he took out his Tech-pac, a shape-shifting weapons arsenal that corresponded to his thoughts by a smart chip he implanted in his brain. The genius that was once a Hydra head scientist needed the stimulation in his boring life, that's why he turned to the dark side.
An arrow was shot into Norbert, but was blocked by the Tech-pac on his arm. "A kitty and a hawk! Bring me some REAL Avengers!!" Norbert yelled in madness after he saw his opponent in the battle.
In the sky, Tony received some unexpected block when a man in a beetle suit appeared out of knowhere and ambushed him before he could get to Zemo's castle.
"What kind of bug are you? A dung beetle?" Tony tried to instigate his opponent, but Beetle – Abner Jenkins, didn't respond to him and was still quiet as he always was.
Iron Man rolled in the air a few times to avoid the high particle beam from the Beetle. "Jarvis, Let Ultron take over." Tony ordered his AI. He planned to use the battle to grow his new AI – the peacekeeping artificial intelligence, Ultron.
The beetle was following Tony from behind when Sam appeared out of nowhere and attacked him.
"Thanks Sam." Tony said as he turned his direction to face the Beetle.
"You're welcome. Now, if you don't mind me. I have a date to catch." Sam said as he saw Songbird coming toward him at high speed.
Sam met with Songbird yet again, but this time Melissa couldn't let him go as she did before.
But then, Sam saw the bruises on her face and neck. "Who did that to you?" He asked as he knew the bruises didn't come from the battle with him.
Melissa knew now that Sam was part of the Avengers. She decided to not let him get into her head like he did before this. "Does it matter? I am a villain and you're a hero. So let's fight." Melissa said as she screamed toward Sam using her sonic scream ability, causing Sam to fly upward to dodge.
"Did Zemo do that to you?" Sam asked, his chest filled with a burning anger. Melissa didn't respond, but Sam got his answers.
"I am sorry about this. But I am going to knock you out now." Sam said, causing Melissa's eyes to drop. However, Sam's next word caused her to raise her head again.
"When the battle ends, I will make sure Zemo pays for what he has done to you."
As the Masters of Evil fought with the Avengers, Zemo entered the enhancement chamber with Dr. List and put the sceptre on the chambers' core. Inside the chamber, more than 1000 Hydra loyalists with eyes flashed with excitement as they would finally get to contribute to the Hydra's cause.
"Start the enhancement." Zemo ordered. Dr. List pulled the lever to open the container of the infinity stone, and his machine absorbed the energy from the mind stone greedily. The infinity stone energy quickly showered the Hydra loyalists, causing some of them to wince in pain, while a few of them lost their lives.
"Enhancement at 20%" Dr. List said with a fanatical look on his face.
Inside a SHIELD's base, Ryan was monitoring the battle on Sokovia and also the ghost rider battle at the same time.
"Hmmm. I guess I should make a move now." He said as he turned to look at the live footage of the Maximoff twins in front of Strucker's castle.