"Wait a minute," A-Train said, squinting at the screen. "How is this dude still alive? Wasn't he in World War II or something?"
"Cryogenic stasis," General Hale replied. "They freeze him after every mission. Only take him out when Hydra needs a high-value target eliminated. And… he's been brainwashed. I doubt he even remembers who he really is."
"We can fix the brainwashing," I said. "All we gotta do is catch him. Should be easy."
"I'd advise you not to underestimate him, Arsenal," Hale warned.
"I'm not," I said with a shrug. "But let's be real, one super soldier isn't taking down an alien… or me. Are they only sending him, or does he have backup?"
"No," Hale said. "They believe he's enough to handle her."
"Yeah… I highly doubt that. But good, it'll make it easier for us to capture him." I leaned back. "That all you've got to report?"
"Yes."
"Alright then, you're done here for now. Keep sending us whatever intel you dig up," I said before ending the call.
"Ed, I want to go on the mission to retrieve Bucky," Steve said immediately.
"Yeah, I figured you'd say that," I replied. "Granted. But you're not going alone, Anissa and Bang will be going with you, just in case. The attack's happening in two days. They already know Silent's patrol route, and I've got a pretty good guess where they're going to hit her. You four will get a full mission briefing later."
They all nodded.
"Now… onto the next problem," I said, clicking to the next slide.
Pictures of a grim-looking facility filled the screen."This place has been experimenting on mutants and selling some off as slaves. This is going to be a rescue/elimination mission, wipe out everyone running the operation, rescue every mutant inside. Any volunteers?"
"You can count me in," Lorna said.
"Us too," Pietro and Wanda chimed in together.
"Same here," Marco added.
"Good," I said. "Glad to have the death squad filled so quickly. You'll all get your mission details later."
I sighed, clicking again. "Now, for the next problem, yes, we have a lot of them."
More faces appeared on the screen, with a single word above them: PRIDE.
"PRIDE?" Peggy asked.
"Promoting Resilience, Independence, Dedication & Excellence," I explained. "Fancy name for a cult. They sacrifice runaways, or anyone who won't be missed, to resurrect some alien that gave them wealth and tech, making them who they are today."
Peggy narrowed her eyes. "Of all the weird crap you've brought to us, how did you even find this out?"
"Total accident," I admitted. "Escanor's been helping out these kids for months… turns out they're the children of PRIDE's leaders."
A-Train leaned forward. "So, what's our game plan?"
"Simple," I said. "Church already hacked their systems and dug up some very incriminating evidence. We're going to grab the alien while it's weak and toss it in our prison. Oh, and I'll be taking anything alien-tech-related that's even remotely useful."
"Now for the next problem," I said.
"Damn, we really do got a lot of problems," A-Train muttered.
Ed Clone 3 POV
I took a slow sip of coffee.
Firecracker glared at me. "So… you just gonna sit there drinking coffee all day, or actually say why you're here?"
"Hey, I've got a busy day. I'm taking my time with this small meeting of ours," I said.
"I'd rather not have you here all day."
"Why not? You literally can't do anything else but watch TV. You can't leave this apartment until it's time for you to join the Black Ops Team." I set my mug down. "But… I guess you're right. Let's get this over with."
I leaned forward."Here's the thing, you're racist, a bit of a pedophile, and an asshole."
Each word made her sink deeper into her chair.
"But lucky for you, I do believe in redemption. So I'm giving you a chance to prove you're not that person… and maybe even become something better."
She blinked, caught off guard.
I snapped my fingers and a neat stack of books materialized on the table.
"This is step one, fixing the racism thing. These books cover cultures and languages from all over the world. You're gonna read one a week, then write me a full report on what you learned and liked. If your reports are good, I'll give you a little freedom, say… a day out."
Her eyes lit up at that. "Okay."
"Good. Racism isn't something you're born with, it's taught. This will help you unlearn that ignorance."
I stood, opened a portal."Well, I've got places to be, people to meet. You know how it is… well, actually, you don't. Bye."
And I stepped through.
Jessie POV
I was sitting in the Ross family's living room, my nerves doing backflips. Mr. and Mrs. Ross sat across from me, and I knew exactly why we were here, because they found out I had powers. They have cameras everywhere, and apparently, they caught everything from that whole "monsters invasion" mess.
To be honest, I was scared. A lot of people don't like mutants… but I've known the Ross parents for years, and they've never shown any hatred toward us.
"Jessie, we can see you holding your breath. Calm down, you're not in any type of trouble. We're here to thank you," Christina said.
I let out a long sigh of relief. "Sorry. I was just… scared. Mutants aren't exactly treated well."
"We know," Morgan said gently. "And you don't have to worry about that from us. We're truly grateful you protected our family."
"Of course. Bertram and the kids… they're like family to me. I was always going to protect them," I said.
Christina smiled warmly. "And we see you as family as well, Jessie. Is there anything we can do for you? Just name it, we'll make it happen instantly."
"Weeeeell, there is one thing…" I began.
From the movie room, Luke's voice cut in. "If she asks for help with her acting career, don't do it, she's terrible!"
"LUKE!" all the kids shouted in unison.
"What? It's true," Luke said, completely unapologetic.
Ed POV
"And for the final problem, Tony Stark has gone missing," I said.
"What?!" Peggy shot up in her seat.
"Don't worry. I know where he is," I replied.
"Okay… so when are you going to rescue him?" she asked.
I paused.
"You are going to rescue him, right? He's basically my godson."
Her tone sharpened. She stood up, clearly furious.
"Okay, okay, don't be mad—" I started.
"You are going to rescue him, right?" she repeated, glaring.
"Please, just let me explain. Calm down."
She reluctantly sat back down, but her eyes still looked like they could set me on fire.
"You all know about my powers… and how I know things about the multiverse. The reason I'm not going to rescue Tony is because he's going to rescue himself. He's going to become a future hero, and I'm worried if I interfere now, I'll mess up the chain of events that turns him into one. This whole thing? It's what makes him shut down weapons manufacturing in his company. It's what makes him less arrogant."
She blinked, processing that.
"…Okay, I lied, he's still arrogant. But a nicer arrogant."
"Ed, this isn't a joking matter. We're talking about my godson's life," Peggy said firmly.
"I know, I know. That's why I've got one of my clones watching over him. In secret. Invisible. If Tony's life is truly in danger, he'll step in."
She still didn't look thrilled, but she finally exhaled. "Fine. But I want reports on him every single day."
"You got it," I said.
"Okay, now it's time for the other stuff—nothing too important, nothing life-threatening," I said.
The giant monitor flickered on, and a title card popped up: "Pick Your Sidekick!" I said it in my best video-game announcer voice.
The room went dead silent.
"Man… you guys really need to get a sense of humor," I said.
"We have one, you're just not funny," Starlight shot back.
"Hurtful," I muttered.
"Can you please explain this 'sidekick thing'?" Peggy asked.
"Right. So, thanks to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, the kids are fully trained now. They passed every test me and Vane threw at them. But I don't want them going solo yet, so I figured—each of us takes one as a sidekick, teach them the ropes, then they can fly solo later."
"I thought you didn't want them involved with us," Green Ghost said.
"I did at first, yeah. But they're all eighteen now, legally adults. So, I'm okay with them being seen with us."
"Uh-huh… and this doesn't have anything to do with the fact that Batman has a sidekick now?" All Might asked.
"What? Don't be ridiculous. I'm not that childish."
"Sure you're not," All Might said with a smirk. "And I'm guessing when you pick your sidekick, they're gonna be tagging along to that Batman meet, right?"
"That's… not important right now," I said quickly. "What is important is picking our sidekicks. So, who's calling first dibs?"
"Dibs on Ruby," Anissa said immediately.
We all turned to look at her.
"She's not even a hero," I said.
"No, but she's a warrior. When it's time for battle, I want her by my side. I can teach her many things," Anissa replied.
"Damn it, I should've said her name quicker," Battle Beast muttered.
"Alright—anybody else?" I asked.
The draft began.
Lorna picked Frankie (Magenta)
Marco picked Roberto (Sunspot)
All Might picked Samuel (Cannonball)
Green Ghost picked Tyrone (Cloak)
Starlight picked Tandy (Dagger)
Siegfried picked Illyana (Magik)
A-Train picked Rahne (Wolfsbane)
I picked Dani (Psyche)
"Alright, now that we've got all that settled, does anyone have anything to bring to the team?" I asked.
"I actually do," A-Train said. "I finally tracked down all the Green Light metas, they're being transferred to our base right now."
"That's good. I'm sure Wendy and Angela can handle it," I said.
"Harleen should be ready too," Steve added. "A lot of them are gonna need therapy."
"You're right about that. I should really find another therapist so Harleen doesn't get buried in work," I said.
"there's one thing I do want to know," Peggy said.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I want to know why you're building a giant robot."
Everyone turned to look at me.
"…How do you even know about that?" I asked.
"Wasn't hard to figure out," Peggy said. "You didn't exactly hide it. I was going through the systems for something else, saw a file labeled Jaeger, and, surprise, blueprints for giant robots. Multiple models. So… why?"
"Well, after that monster invasion a while back, I figured we should be ready in case something huge shows up and the heavy-hitters can't get there in time. That way, some of our weaker members, or really anyone, can pilot a Jaeger and beat the monster. Simple as that."
"Okay, good," Peggy said. "For a second I thought you were building them just for fun."
"Come on, Peggy. I'm thinking ahead here, not playing around," I said. "Anyone else?"
Steve raised his hand.
"Steve, you don't have to raise your hand. What is it?"
"You said you could give us powers. Can we choose the power, or is it random?"
"It's random," I said. "But I can make you bionic, I can make you Stronger, faster, smarter, you name it."
"Will it mess with my body in any way?" Steve asked.
"Nope. You'll be completely fine."
"Alright, then I'll talk to you later about what bionics I want."
"Don't wait, just head to the lab, one of my clones is in there. Tell him, and he'll do it," I said.
"Man, you've got clones everywhere, don't you?" Bang asked.
"Yes I do. Sadly, playtime's over. I've got to get everyone here stronger, myself included, and recruit as many people as I can. If that's all, meeting adjourned."
I let out a long sigh of relief. Finally, meeting over. Now I can move on to the fun part… summoning my summons.
Honestly, I should make a clone just to relax. I teleported out of the meeting room and into the training room. Lucky for me, it was empty, perfect.
"System, summon Agumon and Courage," I said.
A flash of bright light filled the room, and when it faded, I was staring at a small T-Rex-looking dinosaur and a trembling purple dog.
"Hey! Nice to meet you. I'm Agumon. I'm guessing you're the one who summoned me here?" Agumon asked cheerfully.
"You'd be correct. Nice to meet you too," I said.
Agumon grinned. Courage… just shook like a leaf and stared around like the walls might attack him.
"Courage, it's okay. You're safe here. No monsters are going to hurt you," I assured him.
"That's what you think," Courage muttered. "But monsters are everywhere. They always come out eventually."
"Well, if a monster does show up on my island, let me know. I'll blast it into outer space," I said.
He looked surprised at that… but still clung to his paranoia like a security blanket.
"Alright, you two, I'm going to summon a few more people soon. Some of them… are not exactly friendly. So I'm sending you both to my island. It's safe there. All I ask is you don't go into the city."
I opened a portal.
Agumon didn't hesitate, he bolted right through. Courage… well, he inched toward it like it was about to bite him, stopped twice, sighed like this was the end of him, and finally shuffled through.
The portal closed behind him.
"He'll be fine," I said to myself. "Nothing scary on my island."
Completely forgetting about the dinosaur, the dragon, Killer Croc, the talking cat… and the aliens.
"System, summon Johanna Constantine, Rocksteady, Bebop, Queen Maeve, Stars and Stripes, Stain, and Mahler Twin," I said.
A bright flash lit up the room, and just like before, it faded to reveal everyone I'd asked for, now standing in front of me, looking confused.
Rocksteady and Bebop noticed me first.
"Hey, you our new boss?" Bebop asked.
"In a way, yes, I'm your new boss," I said.
"Cool. Thanks for bringing us back from the dead," Bebop grinned.
"Yeah, dying sucks. You got any food?" Rocksteady added.
"I guess dying makes you hungry," Bebop said, and they both burst out laughing like they'd just invented comedy.
Everyone else just stared at them in confusion.
"I've got food," I said. "But… you're not curious what world you're in? Or what kind of dangers you're about to face?"
"Nah," Bebop shrugged. "Just point us and we smash. Way simpler."
"Yeah—don't overcomplicate it for us," Rocksteady agreed.
"…Okay, gotta admit, that's a first," I said. "You two might be the only ones I've ever met who came back from the dead, got dropped into a new world, and didn't care at all. But you know what? I kind of like it. You'll definitely have fun here—plenty of stuff to smash, plenty of people to hurt. And I pay very well."
"Oh hell yeah, you the man!" Bebop grinned.
"Sorry to cut the love fest," Stars and Stripes said, frowning, "but you do realize you just offered two obvious thugs money to hurt people, right? Doesn't sound very 'hero' to me."
I turned to her."That's what it might sound like—but I am a hero. The reason I summoned all of you is to join my hero team. I want you to help me make this world safer and better."
Stain scoffed. "A hero? You? Please. Those two don't have the hero spirit. You're probably just another fake."
I noticed his hand inch toward his sword. "There are multiple reasons you shouldn't do that," I said calmly.
"Oh really? And why shouldn't I eliminate you, fake?" Stain growled.
"Well, for starters, I'm way stronger than you. I could kill you easily. Second, if you attack me, I'll send you right back where you came from… which, I'm guessing, is the afterlife. And third…" I paused, watching his expression shift. "All Might would be very disappointed you didn't at least listen to my explanation."
Both Stars and Stripes and Stain froze, looking at me in genuine surprise.