Chapter 32: Undercurrents
Within a large ship moving on the sea, about four figures could be seen walking within a small room.
They included the speedster and newest member of Ultron's team, lightspeed and the Maximoff twins. The last figure, who was currently seated, was a middle aged man in a dirty brown shirt with a buzz cut.
He was known as Klaue , a notorious arms dealer and trafficker.
He instantly took out a gun, and fired a shot, however a figure flashed before him, disarmed him, took out the bullets from the gun and arranged it on a desk beside him. "Good." Lightspeed let out a small smile, seeing the finesse in the Pietro's movement. He had taken him as his student and had promised him to make him even faster than he currently was.
Wanda arrived beside him, as her fingers began to glow in a reddish miasma.
"The enhanced. Stryker's prized pupils. Want some candy?" He chuckled and said, as he picked up candy from his desk.
"And who are you in the robotic suit?" He asked, as he looked at lightspeed who looked extremely menacing at the moment.
"If you're trying to intimidate me with this piece of scrap, then sorry, I only deal with the man in charge." He said provokingly and stood up. "There is no man in charge." Suddenly, Ultron broke through the glass window, as he approached Klaue who had been sent flying.
"Let's talk business." Ultron squatted and picked up Klaue with one hand and said. The next second, Klaue shrugged Ultron's hand off him and walked to a nearby wall, before pressing a button, as the wall opened up, to a secret storeroom.
He walked inside and picked up a small cylindrical jar filled with a strange metal, before throwing it to Ultron. "On this rock, I'll build my church. Vibranium." Ultron looked like he was smiling and tossed it to Lightspeed who caught it and examined it.
"You know it came at a great personal cost.....billions." Klaue said, as he scratched the back of his neck.
"Awww, sorry you." Ultron laughed as he closed his eyes. Instantly, Klaue received a message on his phone, as he looked at it with surprise. "I always say, keep your friends rich, and your enemies rich and find out which is which." Ultron said.
"Stark..." Klaue raised an eyebrow. "Sorry?" Ultron looked at him. "Tony Stark. He used to say that to me. You're one of his ." Klaue said.
"What?!" Ultron exclaimed and grabbed his arm. Instantly one of Klaue's bodyguards run to the room and picked out a gun, about to fire, however within a split second, his entire body was blasted into a bloody fog, as Lightspeed appeared and crossed his arm.
"You think I'm one of Starks? I mean do I look like one of his Halloween costumes? I am not?!" Ultron instantly raised his voice, and brutally ripped off Klaue's arm.
"Argh!" Klaue roared in pain. "Oh my God, I am so sorry." Ultron apologized. "I don't like when people compare me to Stark! He's a sickness, a disease that needs to be cured!" Ultron roared out in exasperation.
"Sigh. Junior, you're gonna break your old mans heart." Suddenly, a voice sounded out, as a man in an iron suit broke through the ceiling of the ship and appeared.
The next second, a group of figures appeared beside him, as they glared at Ultron. "If I have to." Ultron replied, as his team faced off against the newcomers; the Avengers. "Nobody has to break anything." Thor said, hammer in hand. "Clearly you've never had an omelette." Ultron replied with sass. "That beat me by one second!" Stark said with a small smile.
"Yes. I remember you." Suddenly Lightspeed who was quiet beside Ultron said, as he looked at Thor. "I know you, Asgardian...:Your brother, he stole the Space Infinity Stone from me." Lightspeed said, as Thor frowned.
"You will not leave here alive!" Lightspeed spoke, as Thor began to whirl his hammer.
"We dont have to fight!" Cap said, as Ultron turned to him. "Uggh. Captain America, Gods righteous man, pretending you could live without war. I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but that's what it feels like right now." Ultron said in disgust.
"Booomm!!" Thor was about to speak, when he felt a massive force smash into him, sending him flying, and instantly, the massive battle began.
Thor was dragged out of the main battlefield by Lightspeed, who was dragging him along at hypersonic speed, while unleashing multiple heavy punches onto the body of the God of Thunder.
Ultron and Stark clashed, as they flew outside the ship, unleashing energy blasts into one another.
"Shit! We got a uhhh speedy situation here." Cap roared and hurled his shield forward which smashed into a robot flying towards him. Pietro and Wanda also moved; Pietro sped up his perception, as everything began to slow down, and zoomed forward at supersonic speed, dodging Cap's shield, before delivering a nasty uppercut unto his face.
Wanda faced off with Nat, as the two beautiful ladies clashed, with Wanda using her telekinesis to throw objects at Nat which she dodged gracefully.
"Uughh guys we have another speedy situation here." Clint roared, as he fired several arrows which Pietro dodged with his super speed, as he unleashed multiple punches unto Clint's body.
"You didn't see that coming old man?" Pietro smugly said, as he blasted off, leaving Clint who was grunting on the floor in pain.
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Meanwhile, Thor and Lightspeed were going at it, unleashing fierce blows unto each other. Lightspeed was moving so fast, Thor could only see a blur. The next second, Lightspeed began to circle Thor, as he unleashed several punches unto the body of the God of Thunder.
"Aarrghhh!!!" Thor roared out, as he smashed Mjolnir unto the ground, creating a burst of lightning which sent Lightspeed flying, earning him a few moments to breathe.
"Who the hell are these guys?!" He roared out, as the others shrugged. "The one I'm fighting with seems a bit slower than Duke the day I fought him, but still stronger!" Thor roared, as he saw an extremely fast blur heading his way.
He instantly raised his hammer, before firing a concentrated beam of lightning towards Lightspeed who was blasted backwards. "You dare to harm a God?!" Lightspeed roared out, and began to vibrate his body intensely. The next second, a clone was instantly formed beside him, as Thor looked on in shock.
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Earth 616....
Within a small training room, Duke was fiercely hitting a punching bag before him bare knuckled, with every punch, causing massive ripples on the surface of the punching bag. After a few seconds of punching, he instantly switched to kicks, as he began to unleash multiple kicks, from spinning to back kicks to front kicks.
" I see you're strong huh." Suddenly he heard a voice, as he turned around and saw Hope dressed in a sweatsuit, and wearing gloves, and a provocative smirk on her face.
"What do you want?" Duke spared her a single glance, and went back to his exercise, before he began executing multiple kick punch combos unto the poor punching bag.
" Just want to spar a little. Hope you're not scared of a little girl." Hope said, as she threw a bunch of gloves at him. "Go away." Duke answered without turning around, as he continued his routine, however he immediately sidestepped and dodged a flying kick from Hope.
"What do you want?" He raised an eyebrow, before stopping and glaring at her.
"I just want to spar." She smiled and said, as she got into a taekwondo stance. "Sigh. But when I win, you'll stop bothering me." Duke said, as he walked forward and picked up the fingerless gloves and put them on.
He got into a Jeet Kune Do stance, inspired by Bruce Lee, as he kept his eyes on his opponent. "Oh and one more thing, don't use your power." She said expressionlessly before she closed the distance between them and executed another flying kick which Duke sidestepped and dodged.
She followed up with quick well timed punches, as Duke deflected all of them, before he executed a spinning back kick, which she blocked with her arms crossed, followed by a sweep which instantly took her off her feet.
"I win." He smiled and aimed a punch at her, as she rolled her eyes and stood up.
"Not bad at all kid." Duke said expressionlessly before walking off, leaving her with a blank look on her face.
"There you are. I've been searching for you." Duke walked out to meet Dr. Hank with who looked a bit disheveled at the moment.
"What for?" He asked. "It's a surprise, follow me." He smiled and led him to a room.
"A new suit?" Duke walked to new reddish suit, as he checked it out with a smile, and touched it.
"What material is this?" He asked, feeling the light yet tough metallic outer suit which looked like giant network of mettalic lattice.
"It's called micro lattice. I discovered it in the Quantum realm. It's light, friction proof, and it's durability is on the level of adamantium." Dr. Hank smiled, as Duke nodded. The overall design of the suit resembled the previous one with the retractable helmet, chin strap and even the lightning logo. The only difference was the outer suit which looked even cooler than the one from before.
"That's not the only thing. The inner suit is made partially from Pym particles, meaning, you can shrink and enlarge it at will. He smiled, as he pressed on a button on the suit, which caused it to shrink considerably to the size of ant.
"Cool." Duke smiled and looked at the suit, like a kid who had just been bought his favorite toy. "Thank you very much. I don't know what to say." Duke smiled, as the man patted his shoulder.
"Anyway uhhh I've been thinking about something Dr. Hank. I've been getting a really bad feeling since yesterday." Duke and Dr. Hank walked into the study and sat, as he said with a frown.
"Why don't you tell me about it." Dr. Hank said. " You said you guys had defeated the avatar of the Phoenix Force right? But what happened to it afterwards?" He asked.
"Well uhhh, the Phoenix is an immortal cosmic force, and its known to harbor grudges, so if we killed her avatar, we might've caused an apocalypse for the multiverse." Dr. Hank sighed and said. "Due to that, the members of the Illuminati came up with a plan to trap her in a cage where only the Illuminati have access to. " He said.
"But if the Phoenix is still alive, does it mean it can sense my presence, since I'm the avatar of the Speed Force?" Duke asked as Dr. Hank immediately widened his eyes in shock.
"If the members of the Illuminati find out that I am the avatar of the Speed Force, from her, it's going to be a full blown fight isn't it?" Duke rubbed his temples in exasperation.
"Shit!" Dr. Hank instantly took out his phone and dialed a number before walking out of the room.
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....Atlantis...
Deep within the waters of the mighty Poseidon, a massive city stood in all its glory. The fabled city of Atlantis, which several men had searched for stood alone in the waters, with technological advancements far beyond the outside world.
Deep within the palace of Atlantis, in a massive dungeon, guarded by a spell cast by the sorcerer supreme himself, a beautiful red haired woman was bound by heavy chains which had purplish tunes on it.
"Thud!" Suddenly, the massive door of the dungeon opened itself, as a man wearing winged sandals and Olympian inspired robes walked in with a tray of food.
"I can't believe you still bringing me food Namor. Why not just kill me?" Suddenly, her eyes snapped open as she glared at the man before her. "Your powers have been sealed Jean. The Phoenix might be a cosmic force, but you're just a regular human." The man said, as he dropped the tray before her.
"Besides, you're more useful to us alive than dead." Namor said with a smile. "You plan on manipulating me?" Jean replied, with a small laugh.
"I never believed the Illuminati would be so foolish. Did you think the Phoenix Force would allow it's avatar to be manipulated by a bunch of foolish mortals?" She laughed once more, as Namor frowned.
"The avatar of another force is here, awaiting the perfect opportunity to rescue me. " She picked up the tray of food and bit on a small gray fruit which resembled a grape.
"And what do you mean by that?" Namor asked with a frown. "You heard me king of Altlantis! This universe was doomed the moment you went against the Phoenix Force and there's nothing you can do to stop it!" Jean spoke, and laughed frantically, as Namor rushed out at full speed...
A/N: Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Thank you guys for your support. Really appreciate. Stay tuned for more.
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