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Overtime

Bruce Banner began to wake as he felt like he’d been through a living nightmare. The feeling was all too familiar for him as he picked himself up, seeing his surroundings. He was inside a specialized holding cell made for the Hulk on the Helicarrier, still currently sitting in the middle of Asgard. The electrolyzed barrier kept him separate from the rest of the room where he could see two familiar faces waiting for him to wake up.

“Sam? Tony?” he asked, seeing both of his friends unmasked but still in costume. As everything started to come back he asked “Oh god… I didn’t kill anyone did I?”

“No, thankfully.” Tony replied. “We had some help this time. Some, odd, unusual, and in some cases furry help.”

Banner held his head and groaned before asking “What hit me?”

Sam answered “I’ll give you a hint: he’s blonde, a bit of a show boater and carries a hammer.”

He huffed a smile as he walked up to the doors of the cell, asking “Are you two planning to let me out or have we not reached an agreement about that yet?”

“Nothing personal, Bruce.” Tony began. “Like I said, we made some new friends. But your little tantrum hasn’t given the best of first impressions with some of them.”

“It wasn’t me this time, Tony.” Bruce deepened his tone to show how serious he was. “I’ve been keeping control for a while now. It was this…man. Or whatever he was. All dressed in black and breathing heavily. He did something to my mind. He drew on my emotions and forced them out. I…I don’t really know how best to explain it. It was like mind control but more like….like some ‘force’ pulling my unfriendly side out.”

“How’d they find you anyway?” Sam had asked.

It took Banner a moment to recall “Some anomaly, like a flash of thunder, it…it sent me somewhere. I was on some sort of planet. Before I knew what was happening I was knocked out. Thanos! I remember Thanos being there. And then when I woke up I was being shipped aboard that starship.” He then realized “Natasha!” Sam and Tony both perked with interest as he mentioned Black Widow, he then adding “She was on the ship with me! They captured her!”

Both Sam and Tony looked at each other and nodded before making their way out of the room, the latter calling back to Banner “Wait here! We’ll be back.”

He nodded before realizing the joke Tony had made, sighing “Good one…” afterwards.

Both Iron Man and Falcon had eventually reached the command deck of the Helicarrier where all of the heroes were assembled. Everyone brought together had basically spilt into smaller groups to either compare notes or discuss their own situations after the anomaly that had displaced them from their realities and times.

Among the groups Yoda was “reunited” with Ahsoka, eventually explaining he came from the future of their time. Thor, after meeting Elsa and the others from Arendelle, was a little cautious around the ice queen when finding out about her powers; thinking her a possible frost giant spawn. The Maximoff Twins had been brought back together with the other Avengers, those like Wasp, Vision and Ant-Man talking with them to ask what had happened after traveling to Latveria. Mulan spoke with Rey about being a Jedi like the two experiences ones she had been traveling with, Rey herself keeping a distance from Han Solo who was talking with Drax and Gamora. Jasmine and Merida were getting more acquainted with members of both the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Avengers. Spider-Man in fact was speaking with Violet and Hiro, all being some of the younger super-powered people in the assemblage. And in the middle of all the commotion Dash and Tinkerbell was zipping around amazed at all the crazily different heroes assembled in one place; the young speedster eventually stopping to marvel at Stitch of all things.

At the other end of the room Tony could see Captain America talking with Colonel Fury, Mr. and Mrs. Incredible, Aladdin, Obi-Wan, Star-Lord and Black Panther. They had been discussing everything that had happened to either themselves or the other groups of heroes they had met or picked up, including the run-ins with Loki and Ultron, the capture and rescue of Thawn, winding up on a different planet or reality, the message from the Grandmaster, and how their paths all eventually lead to Asgard via the missing Doctor Strange’s spell. To add to the bad news of losing the Infinity Stones there was also the issue of…

“Sparrow got away?” Cap asked Fury. “How?”

“Slipped away in all the commotion. Guy can sure keep himself quiet when he wants to.”

With a sigh Star-Lord commented “Well this just went from bad to ‘so bad why are we bothering to talk about it’.”

“Hold it. Hold it.” Mrs. Incredible stepped in. “We’re not just giving up, are we? I mean we have to try something.”

“How?” Obi-Wan had asked. “It seems a task easier said than done. We’ve no Infinity Stones. No working ships. A pirate on the run-”

“But we’re not out of the game yet.” Iron Man said, cutting them off as he and Falcon walked up to join the group. “Natasha’s on board that ship that took off. Which means wherever they’re going she’s going too.”

As he realized what it meant Cap explained to the others “If she still has her communicator we might be able to track it.”

“We tired that already.” Fury was quick to say. “One of the first things we tried but nothing. They probably frisked it off of her after they captured her.”

A wave of disheartened looks came over most of them when opportunity had come and gone. The mentioning of Black Widow made Fury glance over to Hawkeye, he still speaking with Merida about the assortment of trick bows he had compared to the average ones she fired in her home reality.

“Wait a minute.” Mrs. Incredible insisted. “Look at yourselves. You’re all just giving up like that? We’ve got to have some sort of plan.”

“Unfortunately I can’t think of anything short of a miracle to help us.” Obi-Wan admitted.

As if on cue suddenly Maria Hill, bursting into the room, had called “Director Fury, you’re going to want to hear this! We’re getting a message from that ship, sir!”

“From who?” Fury had asked as he and the others perked with interest.

“It’s…Sparrow, sir.” She admitted.

Hearing that brought more surprise before Fury ordered “Put it on speakers. I want to hear this for myself.”

As Maria Hill patched the message through onto the ship’s speakers everyone could hear it now. All the heroes stopped and looked up as Jack Sparrow’s voice came over the loudspeakers while making a few unfocused sounds to try and bring it through clearly.

“Oye *zzztt* is working?” he said. “Don’t know if you lot can hear me but I must admit I am finding this all a little hard to believe.”

“Sparrow!” Cap called. “Where are you?”

“On *zzztt* bloody ship. But *zzztt* how it can be a ship when *zzzttt* no sails and flies. It’s *zzzzttt*bloody magic! I found one of them tiny ear what-have-yous when you lot *zzztttt* fighting the big green man and snuck on board.”

“You knew where they were going?” Falcon asked.

“Actually *zzztttt* trying to save me own skin, mate.”

Some rolled their eyes at this before Cap then asked “Where’s the ship going? Have you heard anything about where their base is?”

“I have. It’s *zzzztttt* place called Star-Killer. Awful name for a port.”

“Impossible.” Everyone heard Rey suddenly say. “That base was destroyed. Or should be destroyed. But if that’s where they’re going then we in great danger. All of us!” When asked how she explained “It’s a battle station the size of a planet. When it’s charged it will fire a weapon that could destroy an entire star system.”

A lot of concerned murmurs went out among the crowd, even to Yoda saying “Mmmm. A powerful advancement of the Death Star it sounds.”

Despite all of that Cap called “Sparrow. Is there any way you can find-?”

“Sorry. Oh bugger! *zzztttt* Spotted me. Need *ZZZZZTTTTT*

“Sparrow? Sparrow!” Cap called before everything went dead.

“We lost connection.” Maria Hill stated. “But we’re still getting a feint enough signal to track.”

“Then that’s it then.” Iron Man realized. “We need to get to that base and put an end to all of this!”

Obi-Wan then pointed out “Not something we should charge into blindly.” Turning to Rey he asked “Is there any more you can tell us about this ‘Starkiller’ base?”

Before she could answer BB-8 beeped something to which she said “Oh right!” Turning back to everyone else she explained “BB-8 still has diagnostics from the first one. We can pull it up to have a better idea.”

With Maria Hill’s guidance BB-8 was able to plug himself into the command deck’s systems and projectors. Within a few moments a projection of the planet-sized Starkiller base was displayed for all to see. Many, especially those like Dash and Hiro, cooed at how cool it was while most of the others looked worried about the fact it was indeed the size of a planet with enough firepower to destroy a whole star system.

“Now that’s a battle station.” Ant-Man commented.

“It’s massive!” Han blurted out. “How the hell are we supposed to take on that thing? Throw another planet at it?”

Gamora, after taking a long enough look, realized “If this station’s as powerful as you say then it’s a safe bet that’s where Thanos will be. He never could resist something powerful enough to destroy nearly everything in sight.”

“Sounds like a charming guy.” Elsa sarcastically commented.

As Cap examined it he pointed out “That area must be the command center. Most likely where Thanos will be.”

Fury then pointed out “Along with Thawne, Ultron and whoever or whatever else he managed to get on his side.”

“And the First Order forces.” Rey pointed out. “Or Imperial. Whichever they are right now.”

Spidey gave a small whistle “Geez. Sounds like we’d be going up against an army.”

Thor then insisted “If Thanos already has his hands on the Infinity Stones then an army would be the least of our concerns. If all of them are brought together he could and will be unstoppable.”

A deep sigh came from Mulan as she said “Doesn’t sound like we have the best of options.”

“No. Just a lot of bad ones.” Star-Lord said with a smirk. “Never stopped me from trying. How about the rest of you guys?”

Some murmurs came from most of the others before Violet spoke up “Maybe if there’s a way we can get to the Stones before he uses them. Why not just go straight for the base’ commands?”

“Too well protected.” Ahsoka had pointed out. “Those readings show high shielding. So any attack from the sky wouldn’t do much good.”

After hearing all of that Wasp, still buzzing around with Tinkerbell, counted off “So we can’t take it head on. We can’t take it from above. “I doubt we could get underground if we tried. And we’d be going up against Thanos while he holds all the Infinity Stones. Which basically makes this being worse than up a creek without a paddle. We’ve got no boat and no lifejackets as well.”

Despite that Captain America replied “Well then it’s about time we all learned to swim then, Jan. Because one way or another we’re getting to that station and putting an end to this.”

“Wait a minute.” Mr. Incredible spoke up. “Why are you suddenly in charge?”

Chewbacca grunted something to which Han said “You’re right, Chewie. Have to agree with the guy in red spandex on this one.”

“Uh, hello!” Spidey said. “He’s Captain America!”

All three of them, as well as others not from the same universe as the superheroes, gave blank looks with Han shrugging “And?”

Realizing Spidey muttered to himself “Oh right. Forgot…”

“To be fair,” Obi-Wan began “I may be a general where I come from but from what I’ve seen the captain had proven himself a bold leader during that battle with the green monster. The ‘Hulk’ as you call him. I may not know him as well as most others but I do believe he’s more than capable.”

“Same here.” Jasmine added.

“Agreed.” Yoda nodded with a smirk.

Soon nearly everyone agreed. BB-8 beeped his agreement and Stitch gave a little alien noise of approval. Most of the others like Aladdin, Merida, and the Maximoff twins nodded their approval. Even when seeing he was outnumbered by his own family Mr. Incredible nodded his agreement. It all came down to Han who sighed and threw his hands up, saying he was in despite thinking everyone in the room was crazy.

After everyone’s approval Fury said “Alright, Cap. You’ve got the floor. So what’s the plan?”

Taking another look at the Starkiller map Cap surmised “Whatever Thanos has planned with the Stones he’s going to want an audience. Mainly us. People like him want to be seen winning, especially by their enemies. One of their best weakness.”

“Mine too sometimes.” Iron Man admitted, getting a few laughs from the crowd.

“If he has as large a force as we fear then we’ll need to draw them out.” He pointed as he continued to explain “We land a few yards out from the command center. That’ll draw out any ground forces he has. We send the main bulk of our strength to engage them. Meantime we’ll have a small contingent land on the other side. All their focus will be on the vanguard so whoever we send in will have a short amount of time before they realize what’s going on.”

“A hit with one hand and pickpocketing with the other.” Star-Lord pointed out. “I like it.”

“So who’re the idiots you pick for the sneak attack?” Rocket asked.

With that question Cap looked around and said “I’ll take whatever volunteers are willing. I won’t ask more than anyone is willing to do.”

“I’ll go.” Wasp raised her hand. “Not that I’m opposed to fighting, but if it’s stealth you’ll need then who better than someone only a few inches tall, right?” After that she looked to Ant-Man and asked “Scott?”

“If it’s all the same to you, Jan, I think they’ll need me on the front line.” He shrugged and added “Like Cap said, they’ll need all the heavy firepower we can get. And who’s heavier than a guy who can be 60 feet tall, right?”

“I’ll go too.” Violet spoke up again. “I can get in an out unseen easily.” As her parents were about to protest she insisted “Guys, I helped take down Underminer with both of my hands tied up. I think I can handle a stealth mission.”

“Then I’m going with you.” Mrs. Incredible insisted, Mr. Incredible disapproving. “Bob, please. I can do this. You and Dash play men of the house while me and Violet, you know, do our girl thing.”

After they agreed Cap had asked “Anyone else?”

BB-8 then beeped, Rey asking “Are you sure?” He beeped more before she nodded and said “We’ll go with you.”

“Oh good. A soccer beeping ball.” Mr. Incredible sarcastically pointe out. “That’ll help.”

“I’ll do it!” Anna then spoke up, raising her hand.

“What? No!” Elsa insisted. The two bickered for a moment with Elsa insisting “It’s too dangerous! I don’t want you out of my sight.”

“What? While you’re helping I’m just supposed to stand back and watch? You know that’s never an option with me, Elsa.”

“This isn’t me running away and putting a whole town into eternal winter. This is….I still don’t even fully know what! But you can’t risk yourself so easily.”

“It’s not like she’ll be going alone.” Cap said, quick to then back down while adding “I’m only saying.”

“I’ll be fine, Elsa.” Anna insisted.

“And how do you know that?” she asked.

“Because I will keep her safe.” Black Panther suddenly said, gaining all their attention. The crowd of heroes parted for him as he walked to Elsa, saying “You are of royalty like me. You are a queen. I am a king. In my culture we have an oath shared among the rulers of neighboring kingdoms.” He held his hand out for Elsa, which she eventually took by the forearm. As he grabbed hers with the other arm and hers came out of instinct he recited “By the blood of my forefathers, the spirit of my nation, and the love of my people, I promise no harm shall come to you sister. She will be under my protection.”

The way he spoke seemed to assure Elsa the more he promised, until she eventually nodded “Thank you, your highness.”

When they finished Cap also said “Thank you, T’Challa.” With the stealth team established he then looked to Fury and asked “How soon can we fix the helicarrier?”

“With enough hands within three hours.”

“You’ve got one.” Cap insisted before turning and asking “Thor? You think you can have your Asgardian workers fix this ship up?”

He nodded before adding “We shall make her fit for the battle ahead, Captain.”

He nodded before looking to both Quicksilver and Dash, who zipped up next to the mutant speedster, saying “We’re going to need as many fast hands as possible.”

“You got it, Cap.” Dash saluted before challenging “Bet I could fix up more of the ship than you, silver-dude.”

He smirked and said “Challenge accepted.” Before both were gone in the blink of an eye.

As Cap turned Iron Man was already walking off while saying “I know, Cap. Check the diagnostics and see whatever upgrades can be made to the systems. What do you think this is, high school tech class?” After that he called out “Could use some help into the systems the nice way instead of hacking through them, Nick.”

Fury rolled his eyes before nodding to Maria Hill “Come on. Before he winds up giving us a virus just to spite us.”

As all of them mobilized Cap, now looking to the rest, addressed “The rest of you: suit up. Moves whatever smaller ships we have into the helicarrier bunker. And be ready for war. We move out as soon as this bird’s ready to fly.”

**********

From the command center in Starkiller base Thanos, sitting on his Throne, smiled as the Star Destoryer ship carrying Darth Vader and the remaining Infinity Stones came into radar view. His monitors displayed this before he made sure it was shown on the largest screen possible for his guest to see.

“The game is mine, Grandmaster.” He said, turning to face him. “You’ve lost.”

“Not quite.” He pointed out. “The heroes still have a chance to turn this around. Besides, we both know it’ll still be time before your grand plan can truly be put into action.”

With a smirk Thanos replied “You they can stop me now? I’m about to become the most powerful being in all of reality. Any reality.”

“As you’ve said before. And yet you’ve failed just as many times.”

Thanos sneered and stood, looming over the Grandmaster for a moment, before huffing a smile and saying “Then let them come. Because this time I’m far from alone.”

He gestured to the screens so that the Grandmaster could see his assembled forces. From all across time and realities Thanos had assembled one of the largest armies conceived. Imperial Stormtroopers and Walkers. Ultron and his attack bots. Assorted villains like the Sinister Six, Doctor Doom and a small force of ‘Doombots’, the Abomination, and the Red Skull leading a squadron of HYDRA soldiers. The Separatist Droid Army. Syndrome and his Omnidroid. Even Thanos’ personal army of the Chitauri made up a good bulk of the forces.

While the Grandmaster was shocked by this Thanos only smiled “The board is set yet again. Only now we’re playing in my favor.” He eventually went back to his seat and, with a waiting anticipation, declared “Let the games begin.”