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mightymarvelite · 27 days ago

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Marvel: The Series ~ Season 1 ~

~:~ Chapter 1: A Video ~:~

Previous Chapter: Prologue

Word Count: 5,000(ish)

Summary: Five years after the events of A-Day, a now 10 year old Carter Johnson begins his adventure to reassemble the Avengers after finding an interesting piece of evidence.

Warning(s): Mentions of alcohol abuse/neglectful parenting.

Note(s): As mentioned, this fic is based on the Marvel Avengers game. If you're interested in reading the original version of this fic (which is highly different from this version), check out my Ao3 account (in bio).

Reminder: Don't be afraid to interact! Any and all likes, comments, and reblogs are welcome and appreciated!

"People are calling for the Avengers to face prosecution after the events of what is now being called A-Day. Many lives were lost and hundreds have been left mysterious sick as a result of the disaster."

"A Fallen Hero. Today, thousands flooded Heroes Park, here in New York, to watch the unveiling of the Captain America statue along with the Tablets of the Lost Souls. They are a memorial to all those who lost their lives during A-Day."

"Another hero is laid to rest here at Cypress Hills National Cemetery, here in Brooklyn New York, as the funeral of Captain Jack Johnson has just concluded. He gave his life evacuating civilians during A-Day, and is survived by his widow and young son. The Avengers have offered their condolences to the family."

"Doctor George Tarleton of A.I.M, Advanced Idea Mechanics, is stepping forward with development of a cure for the new Inhuman illness prevalent amongst attendees of A-Day. Tarleton, and his spokeswoman Monica Rappaccini, say A.I.M will not rest until a cure is found and the Avengers face justice."

"Breaking news! Today in this courthouse, right in the heart of New York City, Doctor Bruce Banner has confirmed he believes the Avengers are a danger to the public. This comment comes after intense questioning from all sides of the opposition."

"Stark Industries has been forced to liquidate and cease any and all operations. All assets have been acquired by A.I.M with Miss Rappaccini promising to put all the research and technology to good use in curing the nation. This truly marks the end of the Avengers era..."

5 years later...

The skyline of New York City has shifted dramatically with glowing holographic signs plastered to every second building, and lighting up the streets below. Some merely displayed the A.I.M logo and mission statement whilst others projected giant models of George Tarleton, spewing his claims of a cure and A.I.M's achievements. It was a view Carter had become used to staring at from his desk, a place he was often glued to during the evening as a way to avoid his mother.

His bedroom had changed in those five years. Avengers memorabilia still plastered every wall, shelves of comic books and action figures were still neatly displayed on either side of his closet doors. The boy was quietly fiddling with wires on some old computer circuit he had fished from the apartment dumpsters, all under the watchful eyes of TAS who had been sitting on the edge of his capsule.

The admiration Carter had for the fallen heroes hadn't waivered, which was often a point of contention between himself and his mother. Part of her blamed the Avengers for what had happened to her husband, but the other part wrongly blamed her son. A fact she had made clear many times to her son's face.

The ten year old sighed before setting his tools down. It was usually at this point in the night he'd be forced to listen to the thumps of his mother's obnoxiously loud music whilst she invited half the block to party into the early hours of the morning. However, she had partied to hard the night before and was still sleeping off her latest binge. He pushed himself out of his chair, tucked TAS into his pant pocket, and slowly ventured into the living room. The strong smell of booze struck his nose first, followed by rotting food caused by the chinese order left to fester on the coffee table.

Colour glass bottles and crumpled cans littered the floors and countertops whilst small piles of dirty laundry gathered at different corners of the couch. Any family pictures that had once decorated every inch of the small apartment were gone, stuffed in a cardboard box being used to hold his mother's bedroom door open. Unlike other nights, his mother managed to pass out on the couch instead of the floor or the bathtub. It was a small thing Carter was grateful for as he silently made his way across the living room to the coffee table. His green eyes glanced to his mom whilst his hands gathered up the chinese food containers. "Is she okay, TAS?"

The little hologram ferret emerged from his capsule, projecting himself to the arm of the chair and placing his tiny paw against Carter's mother's forehead. The woman stirred and mumbled before quieting down again. "Vitals are all steady. Just a high blood alcohol content, and a little bruising from her fall in the shower," TAS reported.

A-Day had taken a devastating tole on Lailah Johnson. Her whole world had crumbled and, as much as she wished she couldn't, she placed a lot of the blame on her son. So, she turned to alcohol and partying in an attempt to forget. All of this change had forced Carter to grow up a little quicker than most kids, household responsibilities falling on his shoulders to ensure they had a roof over their heads and groceries in the kitchen. The boy sighed, but nodded before gathering up the crushed beer cans to throw into the trash.

"She's lucky to have you," TAS reminded his creator.

"She'd rather not have me at all," Carter muttered whilst tying a knot in the full garage bag. He washed his hands and opened the fridge, removing the last of the milk from inside the door.

TAS' virtual ears flatted against his head. The boy was hurting, everyone in the apartment was hurting, but no one ever talked about how bad it was.

Carter carefully dragged a kitchen chair over to the counter and used it to get himself onto the counter. He opened the cabinet, retrieved the last of his favourite cereal, and climbed back down to the floor. The boy used the last clean bowl to make himself some cereal, a usual dinner for him nowadays. "Remind me to go to the store tomorrow," he told TAS in a whisper.

"Consider it noted," TAS responded. The AI perched himself on the boy's shoulder whilst Carter made his way back to his room. "You know, I believe your mother still loves you. She just doesn't know how to show it right now."

Carter placed his bowl down on his desk and let another sigh escape his lips. He stared down at the cereal, stirring it around with his spoon before his lips parted to respond to TAS. However, there was a quiet beep from his computer. Carter looked up, an encrypted communication window having appeared over top of the Resistance forums and blogs he had reading through earlier in the evening. "Huh? TinyDancer? Who is that?"

"I don't know. I can't seem to trace it back to one particularly place," TAS answered.

TinyDancer: Resistance?

Carter and TAS glanced between one and other. This was their first time making contact with anyone even talking about the resistance movement. "Did they reach us through that intercept I programmed into you?"

"It must have, but that doesn't mean we should trust it," TAS argued.

Carter sat down in his desk chair, rolling in front of his keyboard. "We've been looking into the Resistance for months, TAS. This could be a chance to make contact," Carter argued back.

WhizzKid: Yes.

There was a few moments of silence as the cursor just blinked at the boy.

TinyDancer: StarkIndustries/Chimera00A1 - SecurityCam/Control Deck/10/07

Carter looked at the link he had been sent and pressed his finger against the screen. "That date. That's A-Day," he whispered to himself before clicking on the link. He was greeted by a Stark Industries security wall and a password box that read: 'Greetings Mr Stark'.

"Stark Industries? That doesn't exist anymore," TAS commented whilst glancing up at Carter. "Yeah, A.I.M acquired all of Stark Industries and even parts of SHIELD, but this could be some obsolete server that A.I.M just wrote off as useless," the boy reasoned whilst pondering what the password could be. His first two attempts proved unsuccessful. "If I was Tony Stark, what would I make my password?"

Carter slowly spun around in his desk chair, his eyes scanning all the posters and stickers plastered to his walls when they landed on the Iron Man poster above his bed. In big bold letters was the phrase: "I Am Iron Man".

"There's no way," he whispered before typing the phrase into the password box. The box lit up green and a video window appeared on screen, but with no sound. It was footage from the command deck of the Chimera moments before it blew up due to the strange force in the bay that day. Captain America was in frame with George Tarleton, both men trying to stop whatever was happening to the reactor but failing. Carter watched Tarleton back up to the doors and leave, sealing Captain America inside just before the blast went off. "He lied," Carter managed to whisper through his shock.

"Cap was murdered, TAS. Tarleton sacrificed him to save himself," the boy managed to add in a shocked whisper to his companion. Carter carefully slotted TAS' built in USB into his computer, beginning a download of the video when bolts of pinkish purple electricity began to wrap around his computer and the lights of his room flickered. He quickly ripped TAS out of his PC, both confused and startled by whatever had just attacked his computer. His computer beeped again.

TinyDancer: Now you know.

Carter looked back to the messages from this mysterious source.

WhizzKid: Why did you show me this? What can I do?

TinyDancer: Heroes Park. 8pm. By the Cap statue, be there.

Carter glanced to his watch and took a note of the time. 7:45pm.

"Oh no. You can't seriously be considering going to meet this mystery internet person? Did you learn nothing from the online safety seminar at school?", TAS exclaimed with a quiet whirl of his circuits.

The boy wasn't paying too much attention to his AI's concern as he unhooked his backpack from the bedpost, loading in his laptop and hoverboard into it. The hoverboard was a creation of his own design, sort of a skateboard without the wheels and it would automatically lock to Carter's shoes so he wouldn't just tumble off the thing. "What about your mother?"

Carter sighed at the mention of his mom, his eyes glancing to his bedroom door as he shrugged a backpack strap over his shoulder. "TAS, my mom can't tell you where I am most of the time," he argued whilst slipping on the second strap. "Besides, we're just going to drop of this video. Then we can come home, easy," the boy added. Carter tucked TAS' capsule into his jacket pocket before dawning his lucky red ball cap, twisting it backwards like he always wore it.

Lastly, he slipped on a pair of black fingerless gloves that had been sitting on his desk. A blue light emitted from the palm, spreading along his fingers and down to his wrist. "And there is no better time to test out the grip gloves, right?"

"You always seem to find a positive, don't you?", TAS huffed from his pocket.

Carter slid open his window, using the fire esacpe to get to the roof of his building before hopping roof to roof until Heroes Park came into view. The streets were crawling with AIM patrol bots and drones, armoured trucks parked outside the entrance to Heroes Park with their bright yellow lights flashing. "What is going on? Why is there so many of them?"

"I have never seen a better reason to go home than that," TAS quipped.

Carter giggled quietly at his companion. "Plenty of other ways into the park, TAS," he said. He climbed back down to street level, carefully slipping across the street and pulling himself over a broken piece of the park wall. Heroes Park had fallen into a state of disrepair, and the only reason it was still standing was the memorial to those who lost their lives on A-Day and the immovable hammer planted at the base of Cap's statue.

The other statues of the former superheroes had been graffitied or broken. "I remember mom and dad would bring me here all the time in the summer," Carter mused out loud to himself. "We'd had picnics and Dad taught me how to play catch here," he added.

"They were good summers," TAS chipped in whilst peeking his head out of Carter's pocket.

The Cap statue was at the center of the park along with the memorial stones. The whole area was lit up by candles with flowers and other gifts neatly placed at the base of the statue and stones as people still paid their respects. The hammer was at the center of the base of the statue, Thor's tribute to a fallen friend.

Carter cautiously approached the statue and gazed up upon the stone face of his father's favourite hero. He saluted the statue, doing it just as his father had taught him, before letting his eyes wander to the stone slab bearing his father's name. Carter got closer to the stone and let his fingers brush against the name, a small sad smile tugging on his lips. "Hi dad," he whispered.

"He'd be very proud of you, Carter," TAS commented quietly causing the small sad smile to grow ever so slightly.

Carter quickly wiped his eyes and spun around when hearing laughter coming from one of the paths. A trio of teenage boys emerged from the overgrown shrubbery, the leader of which was twirling a can of spray paint around in his hand. They didn't seem to notice the little boy at first, but their movements slowly came to a stop when they did. "Well, what do we have here? A sympathiser? You expecting some divine wisdom from a dead soldier?", The oldest boy spat at Carter whilst roughly shoving the smaller boy.

"Captain America is hero," Carter snapped back. The teenagers only laughed, forming a circle around the smaller boy.

"They're all losers. They let all those people become sick freaks, sick freaks that still worship the ground they walk on," the leader snarled whilst roughly shoving Carter again.

"Yeah, are you a sick freak, kid?", One of the other teens laughed.

Carter felt his chest hammer against his chest, his fists clenching and unclenching in an attempt to keep him grounded. "Inhumans aren't sick or freaks, and neither are the Avengers," the boy stated whilst lifting his eyes to meet the leader of the trio.

The teenager scoffed and sharply jabbed Carter's shoulder with his fingers. "Oh yeah? Cause last I checked they got everybody sick."

Shove.

"They got my kid brother sick."

Shove.

"They got him taken away!"

Shove.

Carter fell onto the ground with a quiet grunt. "And you have the nerve to defend them!", The teen yelled before kicking Carter in the side.

The other two teens rushed over and grabbed their friend by his arms. "Easy, man. He's just a kid," one of them reminded, but it didn't seem to stop the leader from swinging his legs at Carter again.

The sudden beep of an alarm rang out over the park, spooking everyone, causing the teenagers to quickly disappear back into the shrubbery they had entered through. TAS projected himself onto the concrete, worriedly patting his creator's cheeks with his virtual paws. "Are you alright? Can you move?"

Carter pushed himself to his feet with a quiet groan. "Yeah, yeah. Come on, we gotta go," he muttered to his companion. The boy snuck through the park, using walls and barriers to sneak around the many AIM bots and drones that had suddenly flooded the park. He clutched the side he had been kicked as he squeezed through a gap in the fence at the north side of the park, wincing when he moved his body in certain directions.

He darted across the street, ducking into an alleyway before pressing himself against the cool stone wall. He took a quiet breath. Carter then turned and walked down the alleyway to the street on the other side. Two bright headlights suddenly shone down the alleyway, forcing Carter to raise his hands to shield his eyes. Cold metal hands clamped down on his wrists, and two AIM bots with slightly bulkier builds forced him towards the car's backseats.

TAS ducked back inside his creator's pocket as the car door opened, and Carter was forced into the backseat. Carter grunted, teeth gritted in pain before his eyes landed on Monica Rappaccini in the seat across from him. She had a tablet in her hands, a serious look pressed into her face, and her eyes trained on Carter. "Remarkable," she muttered to herself.

"Exposed to Terrigen, but with no outward signs of infection or any side effects at all. Perfectly immune," she added quietly.

Carter raised an eyebrow at her mutterings, glancing out the tinted windows to see the car aimlessly driving through the streets of New York. His eyes then shifted to the seat next to Monica where a raspy chuckle had emerged from the darkness that swallowed the seat. Carter's breath hitched when George Tarleton leaned forward into the light, his head ever so slightly swollen with little electrical nodes taped to his temples. He appeared frail with small blemishes to his skin.

"I know. My signs are a tad misleading," Tarleton joked before sputtering out a cough. He reached down for an oxygen mask and took a few deep inhales, before focusin his gaze back on Carter. "Carter, correct? I am truly sorry about your father. He gave his life for ours," Tarleton said.

Carter avoided Tarleton's gaze, his eyes sweeping the floor. "He was a good man," he said quietly.

"I don't doubt that. Good men make good sons, which is why Doctor Rappaccini and I wished to speak with you," Tarleton responded.

"You know stealing is a crime, don't you?", Monica suddenly interjected. Carter glanced up at her. "I just guessed some password on some random site, ma'am," he informed.

Tarleton raised his hand in front of Monica. "Monica. Not now."

He then turned to Carter with a smile stretched on his face. "Carter, you could be instrumental in saving the lives of thousands. Your immunity could be the breakthrough we need to cure all those Inhumans," Tarleton enthused excitedly.

"But Inhumans aren't sick, sir," the boy argued firmly.

Tarleton swallowed his anger and forced it into a twisted smile. "But imagine if you come with us and were the answer to our cure. You could be a hero, just like your father," he reasoned.

"Like I said, all I did was guess a password. I'm not looking to be a hero," Carter answered. "I just wanna get home to my mom," he added quietly.

Tarleton leaned forward a little more. "You're a smart boy, so make the right decision," he said whilst outstretching his hand towards the boy.

Carter needed a plan, and he needed one quickly. "Quick question, where are we?"

Monica looked at the boy with a skeptical expression, but entertained his question. "We are in Lower Manhattan."

The boy nodded slowly, hoping TAS had heard her and had an escape route mapped out. "Well, as much as I've enjoyed this chat, I think I'll take chances," Carter stated. The glove around his hand pulsed with energy as he punched through the window, black glass scattering everywhere. Carter pulled himself through the window and took off running in the direction of the arrow TAS was projecting himself as. He could hear Monica yells in the distance, AIM bots feet clanking off the concrete behind him and drones whizzing through the air.

His heart hammered against his chest, so much so he thought it might explode through. He quickly rummaged through his backpack after taking a second to breath, deploying his hoverboard. After shouldering his backpack again, Carter stepped onto the hoverboard and locked his sneakers into place. The board purred to life and quickly took off, bending and twisting through alleys and side streets until coming to a quiet rooftop with a covering to shield the boy from AIM's eyes.

Light droplets of rain began to fall down, Carter's heavy breathing filling the silence whilst his mind raced. "Good job, TAS," he managed to whisper before the AI beeped. The holographic ferret projected himself onto Carter's shoulder, a grumpy expression on his face. "You have a message from TinyDancer," he huffed.

Carter dug his laptop from his backpack, opening up the message from his mysterious source.

TinyDancer: Sorry.

WhizzKid: What do I do now? I can't go home, they'll look there.

Carter waited for a response. He couldn't put his mom in danger, not in the state she was currently in. The thoughts continued to race through his mind before hearing another beep.

TinyDancer: 38.2136°N, 109.9025°W.

Carter looked at TAS. "Can you get a location from those coordinates?"

"Already have. It is a desert region of Utah, fairly remote and almost impossible to find," TAS answered whilst shifting into a little map of the area TinyDancer had sent them.

"Sounds like the perfect place to hide a Resistance base," Carter added with a small smile. His adrenaline finally coming back down to normal. He gathered his belongings into his backpack and hopped across to the next roof. "Looks like we're getting a bus to Utah."

"What have we gotten ourselves into?", TAS wondered out loud.

"An adventure, TAS!"

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mightymarvelite · 1 month ago

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Marvel (The Series) ~ Season 1 ~

~:~ Prologue ~:~

Word Count: 5,046 (ish)

Summary: A day of celebration turns into a disaster when someone attacks the Avengers' Day event.

Warning(s): Mild disaster/violence, character death

Note(s): This is a fic I originally posted on Ao3, but this version has been tweaked and updated as the plot is heavily inspired by the Avengers game! This is also my first time posting a fic to Tumblr, so please bear with me if the formatting is a little off. Otherwise, enjoy!

Reminder: Don't be afraid to interact! Any and all likes, comments, and reblogs are welcome and appreciated!

The clear blue sky over San Francisco was lit up by colourful fireworks as the Avengers Day event began across the bay from the Golden Gate Bridge, right beside the Avengers West Coast Tower. A quinjet made its way across the bay, carrying the finalists of a comic book competition that Tony Stark had been persuaded into organising by the other members of the Avengers. Amongst these finalists was five year old Carter Johnson accompanied by his father, Jack Johnson. The small boy held the straps of his backpack tightly, nerves bundling up inside his stomach whilst his eyes observed the four other kids he was up against.

He quickly came to the conclusion that he was the youngest of the group by a rather large margin, only adding to the bundle of nerves twisting his stomach into knots. Jack, who had spent most of the flight napping, peeked open one eye and glanced down to his son. A small smile tugged at his lips before he dramatically faked a yawn and stretched out his arms, before wrapping them around his son to pull him close. "You know what your old man was dreaming about?"

The little boy giggled, "what, Daddy?"

"Finding some new pins for your backpack. Maybe even one special enough for that hat," Jack answered. He took two fingers and tapped the red baseball cap Carter wore everywhere with every outfit. It always had to be backwards too, mainly so the boy could see. "Maybe a Captain America one, huh?"

"I wanna get an Iron Man one too," Carter enthused with a bright smile across his freckled cheeks. His father let out a laugh. "Another one? How many is that gonna be? Like a hundred?"

Carter giggled at the exaggeration in his father's voice. His backpack was decorated in Avengers pins and stickers that his father had collected on his many trips around the globe with his job in the military. The boy's little green eyes glanced down to his copy of his comic book for a moment, before he lifted his head to look back at his father. "What if they didn't read it? It's not as good as the big kids' comics," Carter mumbled whilst watcing the older kids laugh and joke as they showed off their comics to each other.

"Why do you think that?"

"Cause they're all big and I'm not. They probably knew it was a little kid who made mine," Carter huffed in a defeated manner. Jack reached over with the arm not wrapped around his son's shoulders, gently taking the comic in it and admiring the front cover he had watched his son draw and colour in himself. He used his other arm to hug his son close to his side, offering him a reassuring smile. "You being little doesn't mean that your hard work in invalid."

Jack adjusted in his seat, turning himself slightly to properly look at his son. "The little guy can always become the biggest hero, right? Every Captain America was once just a kid from Brooklyn. You're just a kid from Harlem," Jack added with a little humour at the end to hopefully ease some of Carter's nerves. It seemed to work as a little smile tugged at Carter's lips just as the quinjet came into land at the entrance to the event.

The small boy sprung to his feet, one hand firmly wrapped around a strap of his backpack whilst the other tugged excitedly on his father's jacket sleeve. "Come on, Daddy! Come on!", Carter enthused.

It was moments like these that made the years Jack and his wife, Lailah, had tried for a child worth it. Between his many tours abroad and their fertility issues, the couple had resigned themselves to the idea they would be childless. Then, they were blessed with a miracle. An exceptionally gifted child that Jack knew would change the world one day. "I'm coming, buddy. I'm coming," he answered.

The check in desk was the end of a short corridor displaying giant hologram displays of each Avenger, each of them capturing Carter's attention as he walked along the corridor with his father a few paces behind him. The woman behind the desk greeted them with a smile, dressed in her Hulk shirt with vibrant green hair to match. "Name, please?", She asked in a sweet voice.

"Carter and Jack Johnson," the little boy answered excitedly. He bounced on the balls of his feet, barely able to contain his excitement. The woman turned to the laptop set up beside her and dragged her finger down the screen until it hit their names. "Ah, one of the comic book finalists. Well, congratulations! As one of our finalists, you are automatically entered into our comic book scavenger hunt which, upon completion, grants you access to our VIP balcony," the woman explained enthusiastically to the pair.

The boy immediately turned to his father with the biggest set of puppy dog eyes he could muster, even throwing in a few bats of his eyelashes for added effect. Jack laughed softly, accepting their passes from the receptionist before looking back to his son. "Don't you have enough comics?"

"But the VIP balcony," Carter batted those eyelashes one last time. Jack gently placed the pass lanyard around his son's neck, smiling at him whilst taking in the moment. "Alright. I'll be by the elevator doors, but TAS has to be on at all times," Jack negotiated. He straightened himself up as Carter bounced around excitedly, nodding his head at the same time. "You ready, TAS?"

There was a quiet buzz sound from inside Carter's pant pocket, like when someone would boot up their PC for the first time. A blue hologram ferret emerged from inside the boy's pocket and perched itself on the boy's shoulder. TAS was a creation of Carter's which had been cobbled together from different old computers and appliances, programmed to provide companionship and complete simple functions like internet browsing and 3D scans. "Ready as I'll ever be," the AI answered less than enthusiastically.

TAS had a habit of being dry and often sarcastic, something that made Carter giggle. The boy looked around from their starting point. To his left was the arcade filled with Avengers themed arcade cabinets and plenty of people hogging them to achieve the high scores. To his left was a virtual reality Black Widow themed shooter game like someone might see at a county fair except it was Widow Bite blasters instead of cork guns or water pistols.

The sounds coming from the arcade were just too good to pass up as their first stop. There was arcade cabinets for every hero imaginable, including the main five present at the day's festivities. The boy's eyes were wide and filled by the colourful blinking lights until they came to rest on the neon green of the Hulk Smash game in the corner of the arcade. "Hey, TAS, look. That one has a comic book dispenser," Carter pointed out.

"It contains the issue of the Incredible Hulk we need," TAS answered after quickly scanning the dispenser. Carter approached the game, slipping his hands into the big plastic Hulk hands hanging at either side of the game's center console. He raised his now massive fists with a quiet giggle before smashing them down on the big button on the center console with all the might he could muster. The game roared as the bar filled to the top and the dispenser spat out one of the Hulk comics. "Score!", Carter enthused whilst placing the plastic fists back in their holders and gathering up his first comic.

He tucked it away in his backpack before glancing to TAS. "Where to next, TAS?"

The hologram ferret paused movement for a split second before reanimating. "The Black Widow comic is being dispensed at the Black Widow shooter game, and the Thor comic is being dispensed at a Thor game in the center of the event," the AI reported. "Oh, there was also a dispenser inside the Iron Man exhibit which is just before the Thor game," he added with a small beep.

"Black Widow shooter is first," Carter declared as he wandered out of the arcade and back to the shooter game. "How cool is that! It's holographics in a virtual space that interacts with reality," the boy enthused to his AI.

"So, some very fancy technology?"

Carter giggled and nodded, "basically yeah."

He slipped his left hand into one of the shooter devices which were modelled after Black Widow's widow bite bracelets with a little score display projecting out the top of them. The targets were holograms shaped like people, colour coded red and green to distinguish the bad targets from the good ones. "So cool," the boy whispered to himself as he raised his hand to start shooting at the red coloured targets. He shot at twenty of them with his own sound effects included before the dispenser ejected one of the comics as his prize.

Once that comic was secured in his backpack, Carter placed the shooter device back on its stand and made his way further into the event. This meant having to cut through the Iron Man exhibit, not that Carter minded that of course as Tony Stark was his favourite of the Avengers. He was like a kid in a candy store surrounded by everything belonging to his favourite hero. As his eyes scanned the entire room, taking in every inch including the Mark 1 display, they came to rest on an empty comic dispenser under a shelf of toy model repulsor gloves.

The disappointment of the empty comic dispenser was quickly replaced by pure excitement as he picked up one of the small repulsor gloves, slipping it over his hand and forearm and flexing his fingers inside it. "Woah," he whispered himself. He held the piece of armour up to the light before pretending to blast different shelves of the exhibit. "Perhaps the Avengers will have an opening for you yet," TAS quipped from his perch on the boy's shoulder.

Carter giggled whilst shaking his head. "No one could ever beat the originals," he said with his eyes glued to the repulsor glove in amazement. Suddenly, there was a loud rumble of thunder despite the endless clear blue sky outside and a surge of lightning struck the exit doorway followed by a hearty laugh. Carter's jaw dropped when he saw the God of Thunder, Thor, proudly enter Iron Man's exhibit and fiddle with the keyrings with a look of confusion.

The God was so fixated on the trinkets, he hadn't noticed the small boy standing on the other side of the center stand with a shocked expression plastered to his tiny face. "You're Thor!"

Thor looked up from the keyring and deeply chuckled at the excitement of the boy. "Ah. Apologies. You are very small, and hard to see," he replied. "But there is no need to cower before a son of Odin, though you may be compelled to do so," the God added with a proud smile. Carter was star struck, unable to comprehend he was talking to a real Avenger. "What is your name?"

"Carter. Carter Johnson, sir," the boy answered after finally finding the words.

Thor nodded, his hands on his hips before gesturing to the repulsor on Carter's hand. "And what is that thing you are holding?"

Carter glanced down to the gauntlet and smiled even brighter. "It's a model 3 repulsor. One of the better designs Mr Stark created, in my opinion," the boy answered enthusiastically. Carter would talk about Avenger tech all day if he could. Carter even added in some sound effects of his own design to demonstrate for Thor.

"Odin's Beard. About as intimidating as the man himself, hm?", Thor mused sarcastically or as about as sarcastic as a Norse God could sound. This only made Carter giggle. "Your funny, Mr Thor."

Thor folded his arms against his chest in a relaxed manner, "yes, I am." He replied with a full seriousness and confidence. "Behold a true weapon that needs no improvement," Thor announced whilst holding his arm outstretched towards the exit he had entered through. In a matter of seconds, Thor's hammer whizzed across the event and into the God's hand with flecks of electricity coming from it. Thor spun it around before holding it out for the boy to properly look at.

Carter's eyes widened, filled with a pure wonder that only kids seemed to be able to capture when truly impressed by something. "Who so ever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor," the boy practically whispered. Thor laughed a little whilst giving his hammer another spin in his hand. "Indeed! The difference between Stark's trinkets and a God's might."

The boy's eyes wandered back to the glove over his hand. He flexed his fingers inside it once again before looking back at Thor. "I guess, but every hero has to start somewhere and it'd be pretty boring if every hero was the same, right?"

The God cleared his throat before nodding, caught a little off guard by how perceptive this child was. "Yes, yes, of course," he answered. "You are very wise for one so young," he added. Carter smiled proudly, "thanks. So are you."

Thor breathed out a small laugh, his eyes glancing to his hammer before meeting the boy's eyes again. "Carter Johnson. I will remember your name," the God assured with the corners of his lips pulling themselves into a smile before he walked outside to greet some of the other people attending the celebrations. Carter was grinning from ear to ear as he spun around in excitement. "Did you see that, TAS? I just met Thor!", Carter enthused with an excited squeal.

"I have to admit, that was rather impressive," TAS replied. Carter placed the repulsor glove back on the shelf before venturing out into the main hub of activities for the Avengers Day event. A small crowd had gathered around Thor at the side of the Iron Man exhibit and a few others were gathered in the Captain America exhibit or attempting the Mighty Thor challenge in the center of the area. Carter's eyes immediately spotted the comic dispenser beside the Thor challenge and happily bounded towards it, still on cloud nine from his encounter with the God himself.

A member of staff was stood beside the comic dispenser, motioning forward those who wanted to play when it was their turn. Carter stepped up to the fake hammer and wrapped both of his small hands around the handle, pulling as hard as he could causing lightning sound effects and blue sparks of some pyro special effect to go off before the wire holding the hammer in place forced it back to the floor. "Hey, being almost worthy counts too. Here's your comic," the staff member announced before handing over the Thor comic.

Carter thanked him before looking around at the event. "Where are we gonna get the Iron Man comic? The dispenser in the exhibit was empty," the boy asked his companion curiously. TAS was quiet for a moment, his scanner surveying the event before quietly beeping. "There is another dispenser, though it isn't tied to any exhibit. It's hidden in a backstage area just before the entrance to Chimera," TAS explained turning himself into an arrow to direct the boy.

The boy followed TAS arrow to a small backstage area with nothing but a few SHIELD branded crates and a comic dispenser. However, on the other side of some metal barricades was the entrance to the stage area. "Good job, TAS. What would I do without you, buddy?"

"Have very ordinary seating," TAS replied. He was smiling though, so it was all light hearted.

Carter giggled at him softly before hearing voices on the other side of the barricade. He ducked down behind the SHIELD crates, peeking out at the owners of the voices. Their faces had been plastered all over the event alongside Tony and Bruce's since they were all involved in the unveiling of this Terrigen reactor. George Tarleton was the meek scientist with rectangular shaped glasses, slightly hunched posture, and the loudest of the two voices as he complained about Tony Stark's involvement. He was talking to Monica Rappaccini, the broker of the relationship between George and Tony. She was also an accomplished biochemist with a long working relationship with Bruce Banner on the effects of gamma radiation.

"Don't let Stark's theatrics get to you," Monica urged. Tarleton grabbed her arm and pulled her slightly further away from the stage. "I'm gonna be sick," he muttered loudly. "Terrigen was meant for the people, not some toy for billionaires." The frustration dripped off each of his words.

Monica was calm, her voice never raising louder than her normal speaking voice. "It still can be. Stay focused on what matters," she reassured. "Our work is going to change the world, George," she added with a charming smile to help ease his concerns. Monica reached forward and gently grabbed onto Tarleton's arms, giving him a gentle shake. "I know you hate the pageantry, but it will all be worth it!"

Tarleton seemed to straighten up a little, his shoulders visibly relaxing. "He'll want control, and profit," he argued calmly.

"We won't let him. This is YOUR movement. With Stark's funding, and your mind, you'll be a hero to all those people," Monica enthused in an eeriely calm and corporate manner. "Can't you see we are so close?"

Another set of footsteps approached, drawing Carter's eyes in the direction of the stage where Doctor Banner had just entered from. "Here you are," Bruce said before greeting Monica with a soft peck to her cheek. "You disappeared this morning," he added in a softer voice as his lips left her cheek.

"There's always work to be done."

"I know... It's just..."

"What is it?"

Bruce seemed to get a little fidgety when she questioned him. "Nothing. It's some little thing... We're getting some strange readings off the uh..."

He paused before his body turned to focus on Tarleton. "The Reactor. George, maybe you were right," he declared whilst taking steps and approaching Tarleton. "Maybe we were too hasty to put this on public display," Bruce added. "Do you think we could run the numbers just one more time?"

Tarleton seemed to nod eagerly. "Yes, yes. Certainly," he answered as the trio walked towards the direction of the Chimera.

Carter stayed crouched behind the crates, he and TAS looking between each other to see if they had both witnessed the same thing. "That did not seem pleasant," TAS commented quietly.

"Which part?", Carter asked. He got a cold feeling from Monica, it wasn't something he had felt from anyone else ever in his short life. It was almost kind of scary in a way. "Any part really, you can take your pick," TAS answered with an edge of sass on his words.

Carter didn't want to dwell on it and was happy to just go back to the event, although the conversation was lingering deep in the back of his mind. He headed back in the direction of the Cap exhibit in search of his final comic. There was some interesting stuff on display in the exhibit like a prototype of Cap's iconic shield, the 40s style leather jacket he wore during the war, and the first edition of his shield. The sparkle returned to his eyes as he stared at the items on display, the search of the comic being pushed to the back of his mind for a brief moment just to admire what he was seeing.

Just below the display of Cap's first shield was the comic book dispenser with one last copy of the Captain America comic. "Yes! We did it, TAS," the boy enthused whilst picking up the comic from the dispenser. The excitement was short lived, however, as another one of the competition finalists snatched the comic right out of the small boy's hands. He was joined by two of the other finalists, all of them older and bigger than Carter was. "You must be the little finalist? They probably picked your comic out of pity, always gotta have one charity case," the older boy sneered before flipping through the comic he had just stolen.

"Do you really think they read your comic?", the girl finalist asked whilst waving her comic in Carter's face.

"It was a baby comic. Only babies read baby comics," the other boy finalist added causing all three of them to snicker.

Carter looked at the trio with a slightly puzzled look. "But they picked my comic. Just like they picked yours. My comic is just as good as your comic," he argued. The leader of the trio's nostrils flared a little before he marched up to Carter, roughly shoving his shoulder.

He towered over Carter. "The only competition your comic is winning is the world's worst comic. The Avengers want heroes, not kids who still wet the bed at night," he barked at the little boy.

Carter steadied himself on his feet and looked up at him. "Heroes don't usually pick on people, they help people. So, your Avengers must be pretty different from my Avengers," he stated firmly to the trio. He even took a step towards the leader, hoping to show he wasn't afraid of him. The leader scoffed. "Come on, lets just go," he muttered. The three turned and left the exhibit, but unfortunately with Carter's Captain America comic in hand. "Great, and they're out of comics," Carter sighed quietly.

"You know, for what it's worth, I thought that was pretty brave," a voice complimented from behind the boy as a hand appeared beside him holding another copy of the Cap comic. Carter glanced at the comic before turning slowly to see who was holding it, his eyes widening when they locked onto Captain America himself. His mouth opened to speak, but no words found their way out. This seemed to amuse the old soldier causing him to chuckle a little.

Carter finally found his words, "thanks," he managed to get out with the biggest smile on his face.

Steve offered a smile back to the boy, his gaze studying the pins and badges decorating his backpack. "That's quite the collection you have," he pointed out.

"Oh, uh, yeah! My daddy helps me collect them," Carter explained to Steve. "You're his favourite hero actually. That's why I have more Cap ones," he added before catching himself as he would end up rambling. Steve offered the comic to him again and the boy accepted sheepishly, still in silent disbelief. "Well, I'm honoured to be your dad's favourite hero. What's your name?"

"Carter, sir. Carter Johnson," the boy answered. The gears actively began turning in Steve's mind as he pondered where he had heard that name before. "Your story had the swamp monsters in the dark lagoon," Steve announced with a quiet snap of his fingers. This comment only caused Carter's smile to grow wider, to the point his cheeks were starting to hurt a little from it all. "You... You read my story?"

Steve nodded. "Every one submitted. Thor got a good kick out of yours," the old soldier added with a quiet chuckle.

"Hey Cap, we should head to the stage. Tarleton's about to lose his nerve," another voice interjected as Natasha approached Steve. She was so focused, she hadn't noticed the starstruck boy stood beside her.

Steve turned his attention to Natasha, "have you seen Thor? He should have been here by now." He asked her.

"I saw him. Over by the Iron Man exhibit," Carter chimed in excitedly, pointing in the direction of the Stark exhibit. Natasha raised an eyebrow at the small boy, though she did find him rather endearing with his excitement at being around them. "Who's the kid?" She quietly asked Steve.

Steve motioned to Carter with his hand. "Nat, this is Carter Johnson. Expert in all things swamp monster related," he replied whilst giving Carter a subtle wink. Natasha's expression softened further when it was clarified Carter was one of the comic book finalists. "Oh, right. Hey, that thing you had me do with the bicycle wheel? Pretty badass," she complimented whilst holding her fist out to the little boy.

Carter happily fist bumped Natasha. "I mean it's nothing compared to what happened between you and Madame Hydra. That was wild!"

Both Avengers gave the boy smiles before Natasha motioned in teh direction of the stage area. "We should head to the stage," she repeated. Steve nodded in agreement before patting Carter's shoulder. "It was nice meeting you, Carter."

"See you around, kid," Natasha said before the pair turned and walked away.

Carter was still in a silent state of disbelief, the world's biggest smile still on his lips as his eyes looked to TAS. "Daddy's never gonna believe that we met thee Captain America and Black Widow," the little boy enthused excitedly.

TAS, who had finally loosened up a little, chuckled. "Don't forget Thor," he added before let out a quiet beep. "Speaking of your father, we can now meet him at the elevator," the little AI reminded.

"Oh, yeah, right," Carter giggled. The elevator was on the Chimera itself, the Chimera being a version of a hellicarrier built to run on the new Terrigen reactor they were showing off at the event. Carter and TAS walked passed the reactor which contained a strange looking geode looking rock that was purple in colour with smaller fragments of the rock floating close to it. Nick Fury was stood by the reactor, giving a vague statement to the news crew on site.

Jack was stood by the elevator to the VIP balcony, quietly checking text messages from his wife who was inquiring about about their time at the event. He glanced up to see his son rushing towards him. "There you are. How'd your scavenger hunt go, buddy?"

"I got them all! But that's not even the best part, Daddy! You'll never guess who I met!" Carter enthused, bouncing up and down on the spot. Jack chuckled and squatted down to his son's height, "who, kiddo?"

"Well, first I met Thor! He was in the Iron Man exhibit and he even summoned his hammer right in front of me! Then these big kids took the last Cap comic that I needed, but then Captain America gave me another copy and he even said he read my story! Oh, and then, Black Widow showed up and gave me a fist bump!"

The little boy's excitement was contagious and Jack found himself getting just as excited despite not being the one to meet all these legendary heroes. "I think I might be talking to the next member of the Avengers," Jack poked his son's sides before scooping him up in his arms. "Now, how about we go see the view on your super fancy balcony?"

Carter nodded eagerly. Jack carried Carter onto the elevator and let him activate the button with his comic book barcode. They stepped out onto the balcony which had a great view of the stage. There was a podium with microphones which Cap was stood at. To the left of him was George Tarleton and Monica Rappaccini whilst on the right of him was Natasha, Thor, and Bruce. Carter was a little confused since he thought all the Avengers were supposed to be present.

Cap was giving a speech. He mentioned the contest before allowing the Terrigen to have it's moment to shine. He passed the podium onto George Tarleton to talk about Terrigen in more detail. He seemed really passionate, mentioning that he had found the Terrigen crystal right there in the San Francisco bay. However, suddenly loud rock music began playing over the speakers and the doors to the elevator of the balcony opened, revealing Tony Stark in all his Iron Man glory.

"Hello San Francisco! This city of fine people, good food, and no parking," Tony's voice echoed over the speakers as he walked along the balcony. "I'm working on the no parking thing," he added before looking directly at Carter who was still comfortable perched on his father's hip. "Nice bag," Tony pointed at the boy's backpack before pushing himself off the balcony and backflip fly through the air to land on the stage with an eruption of fireworks.

Suddenly, there was a rumble as plumes of smoke gathered on the Golden Gate Bridge. All eyes quickly moved to look at the grand bridge across the water, a slow growing sense of dread building amongst the crowd. Jack held his son a little tighter, sensing the shift in the air. "That doesn't look good. We gotta go, buddy," he muttered quietly.

Within what felt like seconds, panic had spread and people all hurried for the quinjets. Screams, explosions, and terrified faces assaulted Carter's senses as his father pushed through a thick purple mist starting to swell up from the grates on the ground. Jack placed his son in one of the seats of the quinjet and buckled him in. "Stay here, okay? Whatever happens, you stay here and get home to Mommy."

"Where are you going? You have to come home too," Carter whimpered.

Jack gently squeezed Carter's shoulders. "There might be people stuck or needing help. You always have to look out for the little guy, right?" Jack tried to reassure his son before pressing a gentle kiss against his forehead and wrapping his leather military jacket around his shoulders. "Be brave, my boy," he whispered before climbing off the quinjet and disappearing through the thick curtain of purple mist. The quinjet took off after a few minutes of waiting for any other attendees to board. The Chimera was hovering above the bay, a whirlpool opening up in the water with a strange energy drawing the Chimera towards it until...

The Chimera exploded, sinking beneath the waters of the San Francisco bay. The little boy sobbed quietly in his father's jacket, hugging it close to his face whilst TAS curled up against his cheek.

He was alone...

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