The energy within the stands had changed so much in such a small manner of time. The roaring cheers that goaded the would-be champions had fallen to a wave of gasps as a strange being emerged beyond the plane. Parents, teachers, and hero's, collectively watched with baited breaths in the event they needed to interfere. But once the threat had passed and relief swept across the onlookers, the question stood what would happen next? A temporary truce in play as the students decided amongst themselves how they would continue, as the audience's silence turned to hushed murmurs.
Dorian waited until everyone who didn't want to continue had cleared out. April and Andy seemed to want to continue the fight. With three Young Avengers wishing to continue as well, it left Dorian no choice but to aid his allies, his friends, in this Contest of Champions. He wanted this more than anyone, but even more so…he wanted this the
right way, one that could be called Heroic. This was it. The teams split amongst their sides of the arena once more, the tension palpable but different. The attitude each contest held had shifted, this was more than winning, it was about being true to one's self and a beacon to others. This was what heroes were made of, and where their legends began.
Dorian looked towards the Young Avengers with a smile.
”May the best Hero's win! Genosha knows we're all trying our hardest.” He looked towards the announcers box, nodding to let him know they were all ready to go now.
“ALRIGHT EVERYBODY! WE DO APOLOGIZE FOR THAT
BRIEF INTERRUPTION BUT NOW THAT THE COMMERCIALS ARE OVER WE CAN CONTINUE ON WITH THE FIGHT! TO THE LEFT EXCELSIORS CASCADE, POLTERGEIST, AAAAAND LUUUUUUNA MINOR! TO THE RIGHT THE YOUNG AVENGERS PATRIOT, AMERICA, AAAAND STATUUUUUURE!! SO WITHOUT FURTHER ADO LET THE FIGHT …
…
…
BEGIN!”
Dorian unsheathed his sword, wrapping it in telekinetic energy while attempting to manipulate it with his electromagnetism. A combination he'd never attempted before. His hope was a faster, more agile control over his sword at a range, and that was exactly what he'd gotten. He'd tossed his sword towards Patriot, purposely missing so that he could call it back and attack him by surprise, but the speed was too great, and the sword launched itself back quicker than Dorian could control. It felt like trying to catch a wet snake, slipping between his invisible grip every time he tried. The sword made its way back towards Dorian, past Excelsior, and into the stands inches away from Magneto who had held it by pure instinct alone.
“Do be more careful next time.” He chastised from the stands.
”Sorry Erik!”Andy smiled at April,
”Cascade, soak them.” April flushed slightly - before she nodded.
Get your head in the game! she chastised herself, before pulling from the barrels of water - her resource was starting to run low, only about 20% of it left at this point - and she blasted the Young Avengers with a veritable tidal wave.
“All yours, Andy!”Once the group was wet she went straight for America. Andy was quite happy with the idea of a 1v1, that was what she liked, what she was used to. Large group fights were too much to handle sometimes. She felt like she missed things. However, there were only six combatants left in the fight. This was something she could handle.
Andy darted forward, her fist still crackling with lighting, she punched America. Since America was soaked the lighting was conducted and it spread. America was reeling from it.
There was a mad grin on America’s face. She
loved a girl who could throw a punch. Could Andy take one? Another question entirely. An idea then popped into her head, one that her poor impulse control immediately signed off on. “Remember the time with the zombie rats?” she called out to her teammates.
“The ones who were trying to recreate Ratatouille? Hell yeah!” Patriot affirmed.
“On it!” Cassie agreed.
Boosted by Patriot’s praise, America punched open a portal to another universe. Cassie grabbed onto Dorian and threw him on through like a ragdoll.
“Sorry, had to help them out a bit there - but now you have my undivided attention - probably!” America apologized to Andy.
Dorian was too distracted by his accidental attempt at Erik's life, unable to quickly react to Cassie's attack as she threw him through one of America's star-shaped portals and into another universe. He was surrounded by what he could only describe as a Candy-Land nightmare. Rivers of chocolate rushed past him as mountains of chocolate chip cookies stood far ahead. The grass was made of green licorice-like material and the soil beneath oreo crumble.
”T'at's not fair!” Dorian huffed as he kicked a small round of rock candy.
”It's fine, it's fine. Every world touches t'e Astral, so all I need to do is enter it and navigate it back to my own…before t'e fight ends.” Dorian gripped his hair and scrame out into the void in frustration. He attempted to go ghost, something he'd done so many times before, but the candy called to him too greatly as his powers failed him. Making his way over to a chocolate bark tree, he snapped a branch off and began to eat it as he followed the path down river.
Andy looked at the spot where the portal had been. Great. Now their numbers were uneven. She wasn’t about to let that stand. Patriot was pretty messed up. He had been about ready to fall over, why he had been willing to stay in the fight was beyond her.
”You made the numbers uneven again. Tsk.” She darted over to Patriot and punched him. He was still standing! How the hell? People with self heal were cheating. She looked at America.
”Well I tried.” She shrugged,
”Guess our numbers are still uneven.” April eyed the battlefield. Her heart was thundering even faster now that Dorian was gone - but somehow that was not even the most stressful thing that had happened involving him today. America would bring him back. Right?
Right? So instead of freaking out, she saw an opportunity in front of her - and she pulled up the water from the ground, and had a tentacle dart out, whacking Patriot in the back of the head - and the Young Avenger’s leader fell unconscious, his body vanishing from the field.
“Now we’re even!”“Eli!” Cassie shouted, unable to stop from gasping as her beloved teammate was taken out. It was just her and America now. She had to even their odds, somehow.
Instead of attacking, she bounded forward, her gigantic feet leaving small craters in the ground - and she picked up the barrels of water, and drank them. No more water, no more mermaid problems.
“You don’t know bloodbending, right?” America said with a nervous chuckle. “And as promised - let’s see how well you can take it. I hope it’s half as good as you can give it!”
She then leaned back, and sucker punched Andy in the stomach. A solid hit, but Andy’s reflexes would allow her to stave off some of the impact.
As time passed by and the marvelous candied world encircled him, he realized something.
”What am I doin?! I can try and teleport!” Sure the Astral had failed him, but maybe if he pulled on his connection, his tether to their world, it would help guide him back. Dorian envisioned the arena back home, thinking about his friends, the victory, and how absolutely rude it was to think he was so easily removable. Blue energy swirled around him and with flash he was back on the field in time to hear America's question.
”She doesn't, but I do. Miss me?” He said with a devilish grin.
Andy coughed, trying to catch her breath. It was a good thing that Dorian came back at that time. How he got back was beyond Andy, but she didn’t care. He was back. And now the numbers were in their favor.
”Oh, now it is uneven in our favor.” Andy dove at America again. She felt a little like a ping pong ball with the movement. America and Andy fell back together - into a portal.
Andy landed and got to her feet; she looked around. The building was made of metal. The cool temperature of it felt familiar. A large portrait on the wall drew her attention. The portrait was of Magneto and his children. Including her. She smiled at it. There was Polaris and Wanda, even Peitro was in the painting, though he was toward the back partially hidden by his sisters. She had never met him, or Wanda. But she knew Polaris. It had been how Magneto had fought for Polaris that had made Andy want a family like that.
”Uh, can you take us back. I mean this world is sort of perfect.” She gestures to the portrait.
”But I’ve done a lot of fighting, literally, for where I am in my world.” At least this wasn’t a world where Selene was actively being her mom.
”Also I expect if we meet me from here she’s probably gonna be...weird.” Andy did not want to think about that.
Back in the main universe, April’s eyes widened as Dorian appeared again out of nowhere. She had absolutely no fucking idea how he did that! Had he gone astral and crawled his way through?
“Why the candy cane?” she blurted.
“Why a candy cane shiv? Um, anyways…” her thoughts raced.
“You can do stuff with electromagnetism now, right?”April did well in her science classes. But in the moment, she had no idea if her notion would work. If she held Cassie in place, could Dorian replicate what Andy had done?
“Or bloodbending works too!” She had no idea if she could do that.
The thought of it made her a little nauseous.
She needed to get some more water.
Her gaze darted into the stands.
Focusing on the cups sloshing with soda, with beer, with lotus energy drinks, with
water. And she pulled and pulled and pulled, as all the cups in the stadium went flying towards her.
She was going to Baja blast Stature.
Stature who - clearly unnerved by how quickly Dorian had returned and fully believing him about bloodbending - kicked at him, aiming to punt him through the open roof of the stadium.
She missed, and the sudden shift in momentum altered her balance, sending the giant tumbling to the floor. The seismic impact would nearly knock Dorian and April off of their feet.
And in the other realm, America nodded. “Yeah, I can take us back!” Andy hadn’t asked her the much more crucial question: would she take them back
now. America preferred fighting away from all the cameras anyways. And the palace backdrop? She loved it. It was more interesting than some boring old arena.
She swung a punch, one Andy would easily be able to duck underneath. “So what’s the deal with you and Magneto, huh?”
Dorian whipped his head to the side as Andy and America vanished from the fight. Of course America would take one of them out and away for a cage match. It was a good use of her powers, but annoying nonetheless. The ground shook beneath his feet as Stature went flying back.
”What's a matter Stature? You look like you've seen a ghost.” he chuckled.
”Not so much a shiv as much as t'at's what ‘appens when you ‘ave a long trek in anot'er world made of candy t'at you get abandoned to.” Dorian tried to reach out and use his powers to electrocute Stature. Originally he'd wanted to borrow the electricity off of Andy's fists to ease the ability to do so, but she was gone and he had little to work with. Static built up within his hands as he reached out and made Cassie's hair stand on ends.
”Shoulda done t'e bloodbendin’ “]
”On Genosha,” she explained.
”He adopted me.” There was a lot more to the story than just that. This was the first time she had really talked about Magneto with anyone outside her group of friends, and Dr. Whitehall.
Andy, was a trained MMA fighter, she had experience boxing and kickboxing prior to that. She enjoyed this type of fight and didn’t really care about going back immediately. As long as she
could go back. She smiled, punching America, lightning crackled when she did. America was still standing, but that probably stung more than a little bit. Andy wondered how much America fought like this. She was good so probably a lot.
”Everyone thought I was dead because I time traveled to the future seventeen years. But because of the Contest I’ve reconnected with my old friends. It’s been nice. Do you want to spar again sometime? This is fun.” Andy liked sparring with Leah, but it was not always safe. Last time she almost died. If she hadn’t still been an energy vampire she probably would have. Leah had sacrificed looking normal to save her. Andy did not understand what was going on there and didn’t like prying on people’s secrets. She hated it when people did it to her.
“Oh, wild! That’s so cool! I’ve been to a few Genoshas, honestly one of my
favorite mutant nation concepts - it pops up a few times across the multiverse, and the beach vibes are iconic,” America gushed. The tragic reality that Genosha here had been obliterated hadn’t quite registered to her, so she didn’t modulate her tone as may have been appropriate. She was just genuinely excited. “Do you find stuff weird and confusing? I’m from a lesbian utopia, so this place - well, not this place, but the place we just came from - is
weird sometimes, y’know? Like you go on green and not red? Insane.”
In the midst of that mini monologue, America feinted a punch - only to instead deliver a nasty roundhouse kick, connecting with Andy’s side. She was having a blast. It felt so good too to fight with someone who wouldn’t break.
And back in the main reality, April found herself
really wishing that Cassie would break already. With the disgusting current of fizzy sodas, backwash filled waters, and cheap beer swirling around her, she concentrated the stream as much as she could, ramping up the pressure. “I think you’d call this a Baja Blast!” she teased, riding a bit of the high of controlling that much water, and she shot it forward like a bullet. The water spray spread out as it traveled, the pressure dropping so that way it wouldn’t actually pierce Cassie’s skin - and the giant was sent tumbling, bashing her head against the jumbotron at the top of the arena as she fell.
Her arm shot out though, as she flailed - and she managed to grab April in her fist, holding onto her tightly - not enough to crush, but definitely enough to restrain. Cassie had noticed the way April needed to use her hands to use her powers. This ought to keep her locked down for now, allowing her to focus on Dorian - and to stall for America to come back.
Training took over for Andy. She grabbed America’s leg, and as she slammed her hand into the side of America’s knee she pulled back just a little and didn’t electrocute her. It was not a good noise that came from America’s knee and Andy winced. She hadn’t pulled back enough. But suddenly they fell through another portal. Landing, thankfully, back in the arena. Andy felt a little woozy with the portal hoping. She wondered if America ever ended up in a world just slightly different from the one she had been in. Did she notice? Or had inconsistencies become par for the course.
”Fuck, I am so sorry. Fuck. Are you okay?” She’d explain about how being out of time sucked later. America would probably be one of the people who would understand her better than anyone else now. America didn’t even seem to realize that Genosha here was destroyed. But it was nice to know someone else who had been there and seen a version of Genosha. Andy still held America’s leg.
Cassie was trying to lock down April, and Dorian wasn't about to let that slide. With Andy gone and them being the only ones left to fight Stature even without water or sword, they needed to stick together and stay creative. Dorian ran up towards Cassie's hand where she held April, placing his palms against her.
”Oh no you don't!” He was about to try and phase April out when Andy and America came barreling back, America's leg inside in her hand but most definitely not in any direction that it should be bending. His concentration broke as he let go of Cassie and clasped his hands over his mouth with a gasp.
”Oh my god t'at's disgustin’” Was all he could manage out before the sound of a small gag.
Cassie froze, still holding onto April like she was King Kong. She wasn’t squeamish she wasn’t squeamish she wasn’t squeamish - okay maybe she was a little bit squeamish and the way the bone was poking out and the blood being neon pink somehow made things worse and she felt so suddenly incredibly aware of her own bones and her own blood and gosh was the room swimming why did she feel so hot why did she feel so…
…
…
Cassie fainted.
Her massive body reappeared in medical - and April dropped to the ground.
America stared at her own wound. “Gross!!” she enthused, before poking at the bone and screaming in pain. She then considered poking it again. “I think that’s us then? Gg no heals?” she joked, before throwing up a peace sign, and surrendering.
April blinked.
America was gone.
But there was neon pink blood everywhere.
And no more Young Avengers.
They’d won.
They’d… won?
They’d fucking won!!!
Andy had seen dead bodies before. The sight of
pink(?) blood wasn’t something she hadn’t seen before. The bone sticking out had been unpleasant. She was a little green, but Cassie and America were off the field. The whole thing suddenly felt very surreal.
She spun around looking at April and Dorian.
”We won?” She was struggling not to vomit. But the adrenaline high was kicking in. The fight was over and she had nothing to spend it on. She pulled April and Dorian into a hug.
”We won!”Thank goodness the visual was pulled away before Dorian could spew, feeling Andy's tight grip around him and April as she pulled them in for a hug was enough to jostle him back to realize they'd actually won. The color of his…everything drained as he became translucent like a ghost. Still tangible enough to hug but thin enough to be seen through. It all snapped back into focus as his color returned and he let out a loud ‘Whooooooo’. His powers wrapping around all three of them as he jumped up into the air and made them all float from excitement.
”We won!!! We won!!!!!!!”April screamed, returning the hug as tightly as she possibly could, screaming her head off - it was probably for the best all of the water had been tossed around and used up, otherwise every bottle in the stadium would be liable to burst.
”WE FUCKING WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”“AND THERE YOU HAVE IT FOLKS! THE YOUNG AVENGERS REIGN OF CHAMPIONSHIP IS OVER! YOU HATE TO SEE IT, BUT WHAT A DARING DISPLAY OF COMRADERIE AND HEROISM FROM ALL THE CONTESTANTS! LETS HEAR IT FOR EXCELSIOR OUR NEW CHAMPIONS!”
The announcer placed their hand over the microphone and looked towards someone off to the right of where he was sitting. “Yeesh, we got about half the stands hurling at the sight. Can someone fetch a mystic janitor or something
pronto.”
From across the stands, Doctor Stephen Strange stared at Max.
I believe that would be you.Max nodded, sending a mystic card flying into the hands of Agatha Harkness. It read “Losers get to clean up. Enjoy.”
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