Being imprisoned was not ideal. In fact, it was much more difficult to accomplish his plan behind bars. He looked around himself, seeking a way out and elaborated a plan in his head.
"So, what do we do now?" Billy asked
"I guess we wait" Teddy answered.
"We can't do that, we have to escape, right Iron Lad?" Elijah asked
"Well, obviously we can't wait around for them to come back and confiscate our gear" he responded "But we have to be careful: we need to escape quickly but quietly"
"So, I guess you have a plan" Elijah suggested
"The Avengers said they have to be somewhere, so first we wait for them to leave"
"How do we know when that happens?" Billy asked
"They will probably shut down the facility. After all, they don't want anything to be stolen. I'm guessing a place like this one has protocols for shutting down, including alerts" Iron Lad explained
"Then what?" Elijah asked
"I'm pretty sure with all our abilities we can escape. Based on the technology they have; we can assume that this cell can neutralize your powers. In fact, we can test it now: Billy?"
Billy closed his eyes and concentrated for a few seconds before reopening them
"Nothing" he whispered
"What about you Teddy?"
"Same, I tried as soon as we entered the room"
"I won't be of much help as well; my suit is currently not working. There must be some sort of electromagnetic field that is shutting down my suit, probably an EMP. But I think I have located the source of the neutralizing devices and Patriot can destroy them with his shield. Once we do, there will be some alerts, that's why we have to wait for them to leave. Then, we can destroy the glass, although I do think it will take all three of us to do so. We also don't know how long they will be gone so we'll have to hurry. But first, we have to wait."
"You are really relying a lot on luck. What if they don't leave" Teddy asked.
"If they didn't have to leave, they wouldn't have put us into cells, we would have continued talking"
"What if they come back early, they can just recapture us." Teddy continued
"The way Captain America talked about their issue and the presence of that girl, that all indicates their problem is related to the multiverse. They're not going to be done in 10 minutes and even so, we could be gone by then according to my calculations. We really have great odds at escaping, believe me" Iron Lad explained.
"Why should we believe you? Or even trust you? We don't know anything about you! Not your name, not where you come from or why you decided to create this team. I thought you had good intentions, and I wanted to help you but the truth is that we can't follow you if we don't know you!" Teddy shouted
"I'm sorry Iron Lad. I'm sure you mean well, but Teddy is kinda right: we don't know anything about you and that makes it hard for us to trust you. So, please tell us who you are." Billy begged
"I guess you are right. I..." Iron Lad hesitated, "I am from the future"
"What? The future, like the actual future!" Teddy said in a shocked ton.
"Well, yeah. My name is Nathaniel Richards and I come from the 31st century."
Iron Lad went on explaining how he got sent to the past.
*************************************************
Nathaniel was a weird teenager. He had turned 16 a few days ago but he felt much older. He liked school and was quite gifted in subjects such as Mathematics, Mechanics or Artificial Intelligence. His parents had always treated him as a genius and Nathaniel felt that pressure. At school, he was hated by his classmates who viewed him as a teacher's pet. He was bullied every day and had few friends. He didn't really care because he knew he would succeed in life and that the people bullying him were just jealous of him.
Although he had few friends, one made him particularly happy. Her name was Ravonna Renslayer and she was the prettiest girl Nathaniel had ever seen. He couldn't believe that she talked to him every day as she was quite popular. She was very bright but she was also the nicest person Nathaniel had ever encountered. He was in love with her, but couldn't say anything because she was dating someone else.
One morning, he decided to share his feelings. He had thought about what to say for a long time and had finally found the words. So, he told her. As expected, she rejected him, but in the nicest way possible. Still, Nathaniel was devastated. He got up and ran away crying. Unfortunately, he bumped into something. He looked up and saw a man in a sort of suit, standing in front of him. Nathaniel recognized his face: it was very similar to his own. He didn't understand what was happening. Was this some relative of his?
"Excuse-me, do I know you? You look very familiar."
"You don't recognize me. I thought that you would since we are the same person" the stranger said.
"No, it's not possible, time travel doesn't exist"
"Not yet, I..., no you..., I mean, we have yet to invent it."
"So, I will invent time travel? Pretty cool! Then, why are you here? No, don't tell me. I don't really know the rules, but I'm pretty sure you shouldn't tell me about my future."
"I mean, I already have. I came here because, in a few minutes, Ravonna's boyfriend and some friends of his will beat you up"
"What! Why?"
"Well, obviously because he thinks you want to steal his girlfriend. Anyway, you end up in the hospital and stay there for a long time. This becomes a very traumatic experience for... us. So, I came here to change that. Here is a suit that I created that will help you fight them."
The future version of him handed him a bracelet. Nathaniel put it on and a suit materialized on his body.
"Thanks, I guess? I mean, thank you for the heads up and the gift but are you sure this won't change anything."
"Well, time travel is tricky but it doesn't work like in the movies that you might have seen. If you go back in time to change something, it creates a new timeline, basically a new universe. When I go back to my time, nothing will have changed for me, but I'll have the knowledge that what was done to me, us sorry, was rectified."
"Ok, cool then. One final question: are you happy in the future?"
"Oh, yes, I really am. I get to go back in time and change whatever I want. During my first time travel, I became the pharaoh, Rama Tut. That was fun for a while, but I got bored and decided to do something else. But I really liked the power. When I came back, I continued my researches on time travel and that was when I discovered the multiverse. Never ending possibilities, yet no order: that doesn't seem right, does it? I still don't know how to travel through different universes but once I do, I will restore order no matter what it takes."
"That doesn't sound like happiness. What about love?"
The future Nathaniel sighed. "Young people really are silly. I don't care about love and neither should you. Love makes you weak. The only thing worth the while is power and I intend to have as much as I can. And I want everyone to know how powerful I am. In fact, everywhere, people will know me as Kang the conqueror. They will learn to fear me and they will respect me because of that."
"That's awful. Why would you want that?"
"Isn't it what everyone wants? Power over everything."
"It's definitely not what I want!"
"Is that so? Well, I guess, I'm just gonna have to take back my suit. I thought young me was hungry for power but you clearly need to be beaten up to understand what is important. Guess I came here for nothing."
"I won't let you take over the multiverse"
"You don't have a choice. You can't stop me right now"
"You're right, I can't stop you right now. I suppose I'll have to do it at another time"
Nathaniel ran away with the suit on him. He inspected the buttons on his right arm (he was right-handed) and saw a promising blue button.
"Don't do anything stupid, it's just a prototype!" Kang shouted
Nathaniel pressed it and a portal opened. He went through it without looking back.
*************************************************
"I appeared in New York in the year 2023. I knew that the Avengers existed around that time so I went to their headquarters. Yet no one was there. Nobody could help me fight my evil future self. I also couldn't travel to another time, as my suit was malfunctioning since I got there. But I found a program created by Tony Stark that could find promising enhanced individuals or heroes. I ran it every month until I found at least four recruits. That's how I found you guys."
"Wow, that's ... a lot!" Billy admitted "Thanks for sharing, I'm sure it was difficult. And you know, we'll help..."
Billy was interrupted by the sound of an alarm.
"Initiating lockdown. Initiating lockdown"
"I guess this is it" Elijah said
"Yes, it's time to break out" Iron Lad confirmed.
YOU ARE READING
Young Avengers : Assembled
Action"The two individuals are engaging in hand-to-hand combat. The green one has just been thrown on the sidewalk and the grey monster prepares to give him another punch. What's happening? The monster has been thrown on the ground by a beam of energy, co...
