Avengers Academy

Chapter 4

"This is crazy." Sarah said, sounding both excited and terrified.

"Shush. It'll be alright." Kate said reassuringly as she finished fixing the back of her dress. A few more seconds now.

Suddenly, the music started playing and the doors opened. Sarah began her walk up the aisle and Kate followed her with the other bridesmaids. Then came the priest's speech and the vows.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today for the union of Sarah Jane Bishop and..."

Kate tuned it out, feeling her anxiety creep back in. She'd hoped she'd be able to survive one day without needing to turn to fighting to repress it, but apparently that was not the case. Then came Sarah's "I do" along with Charlie's "I do" and they kissed. Thank god, Kate thought. She couldn't wait to get out of here and actually do something. She felt horrible for thinking so, this was her sister's big day and all, but the pit in her stomach kept growing and if she couldn't find a way to distract herself it would devour her.

Still, she survived another 30 minutes and found herself in the ballroom sipping on a glass of soda while munching on a chicken leg. Sarah had gone through a lot of debating with her father to get her unconventional wedding feast ideas approved. Chicken legs, hamburgers, cakes... But the kids loved it and seeing the newlyweds toasting with champagne while munching on hamburgers was a bizzarely happy sight.

Then the feeling came again. Always at the wrong time. You're weak, easily broken. You don't deserve happiness like her. You'll never be as good as her. Why couldn't something happen to snap her out of it already? What she wouldn't give for a nice distraction.

The doors were kicked open and dozens of masked men with guns entered the ballroom, firing their guns in the air. "Nobody move! We're only here for your money, and for you, Mr Bishop!" The leader said, aiming his gun at Kate's father.

"Me? Why me?"

"Our client is interested in you. Something to do with your company." The leader replied as his men went over to grab him while the others began relieving the guests of their wallets and their jewelry. If only Kate could reach the cake knife without being seen...

Just then, the glass ceiling was shattered as a tall man smashed through it. He had muscles as thick as Kate's head and wore a black leather vest over a white t-shirt. He had a small earring in his left ear and honestly looked like a leftover from the 80's or 90's. All that was missing would be if his blonde hair was a mohawk or a mullet, but he'd at least had the sensibility to go with a more modern haircut. What truly made him stand out, though, was his skin. It was green.

The green-skinned man proceeded to punch the nearest thug, sending him flying into a wall and leaving a dent in the wall. All the other thugs grabbed a guest and held them as hostages, leaving the green man unable to do anything. Or so it seemed.

A bolt of lightning struck out of nowhere and zapped one of the thugs, sending him flying back into two of his comrades, who were also electrocuted by the charge he'd had in him. Following the direction the lightning had come from, Kate could see a kid around her age floating in the sky, wearing a red hoodie and with glowing blue eyes. Next to him was another floating teenager, a girl with green hair and glowing green eyes. That same green glow came from her hands as she moved them in a way similar to weaving a web. As she did, one of the masked men seemed to lose control of his hands as he began to shoot the feet of his fellows.

Then the room just descended into chaos as the doors were thrown open and a man wearing an Iron Man-like armor stood there and someone wearing what looked like a modified version of the old Bucky costume burst in, grabbing a rifle from one of the men and hurling it at the others.

Kate was backing towards the exit when a thug grabbed her from behind. No, no! Not again! She felt him press a gun against her back. Then she felt him slide his arm lower. I'll never be weak again!

With lightning reflexes, she turned around and snatched the gun from his hand and beat him so hard with it the mask cracked and he fell on the floor, leaving bloodied stains on the gun.

-

"What the hell was that, Hulkling? I had a plan!" Nathaniel shouted in the comms while Teddy fought off the men. Why were they so tough? He was hitting them with super-strength and yet they kept getting back up.

"Dude, I told you not to call me that."

"It suits you, Ted." Katrina said reassuringly as she tried her best to conjure up a force-field to separate the guests from their attackers.

"Ditto what Emerald said. That outfit doesn't work, though. It's 2019, for crying out loud!" Eli commented as he threw a plate with a cake in the face of a man before following up with a right hook. "What are these guys on, Iron Lad?"

"Gravedust." Billy said before Nathaniel could get the chance to answer. "I've seen it passed around in alleys near our school. Gives you temporary super-strength, healing and overall toughness. Also makes you highly aggressive after enough doses. The compound consists of high doses of..."

"Wiccan, I love that you're a genius at chemistry, but we really don't need to hear it right now." Teddy said as he'd finally managed to knock most of his attackers out.

"So is that all of them?" Eli asked before he heard a click right from behind him. He didn't need to turn around to know the gun was there.

"Patriot!" Kat shouted just as the shot rang out but surprisingly, it didn't hit him. Something had intercepted it. Half a second later the leader cried out from pain as a knife came flying and hit him in the hand, pinning it to the wall. Another knife lay on the floor with the bullet stuck in the blade.

They all stood dumbfounded for a second before they heard sirens.

"Okay, we need to go!" Nathaniel said and grabbed Eli and Teddy before blasting off through the shattered ceiling.

-

Kate just stood there, her heart beating. She'd hurled not one but two knives around the entire room with perfect aim.

As the police entered the building and started asking questions, she finally came to her senses and ran over to Sarah.

"Sarah, are you okay?!"

Sarah simply laughed and smiled, though the sweat and stress on her face was obvious. "Are you kidding? That was awesome! We just got to see some superheroes up close!" She then embraced Kate in a hug. "The question is, are YOU okay? I saw how you handled that creep. I'm so proud of you."

Kate didn't know what to say so she just smiled. And it was then that she realized that her anxiety was gone.

The police helped all the guests out before bringing the captured thugs out. As everyone got their bearings, Kate turned her attention to the police and noticed that one of the thugs they carried out on stretchers. This one didn't have his mask. It was the one she'd bludgeoned. She watched in horror as they put him in a body bag.