Bringing in the heavy Artillery

It was night in New York, and a small portion of the city had been attacked by a mutant crocodile of some kind: another one of the Inventor's experiments. Luckily, the threat was slowed down quickly by the heroes Ms. Marvel and Hulk, though the new hero, Artillery, is the one who truly brought the beast down, It was decided that an energy gate should be placed in front of the sewer entrance where the creature came from, and Artillery set to work installing the projectors into the sides of the concrete wall. Once that was done, he activated the shield fence, and it glowed to life. Then, Artillery flew out and landed next to Hulk and Ms. Marvel, who were waiting on the bridge above.

"The gate is installed and activated," he said, "Nothing will be coming out of there anytime soon."

"Good," Ms. Marvel said, breathing a sigh of relief, "You have no idea how annoying it has been for me to deal with that guy."

Artillery laughed: "Well, hopefully that shield should keep him and his little experiments in for a good long while, so you can rest easy for a bit."

"If monsters do get out," Hulk said, "Hulk can just smash them like Hulk did this time."

"That too." Anthony said. He and Ms. Marvel then shared a good laugh. Hulk then got a transmission on his earpiece.

"Cap says we're needed back at the tower."

"Alright," Artillery said, "I'll catch up, just give me a few minutes."

Hulk grunted in approval, then jumped off towards the tower.

"So, I didn't get to ask you earlier, but what do ya think of the new armor?" Artillery asked, retracting his helmet.

"It looks really cool if I'm being honest," Ms. Marvel replied, "You did a really good job. Though I'm honestly surprised you can still move around; it looks so bulky."

"Oh, yeah, I can still move around well enough; I just had defense and firepower in mind more when I started building."

"Oooohh, ok."

"So anyways, I was just thinkin…maybe sometime in the next few days…if we get time off from being heroes and all that…if you would like toooo…ya know…hang out, but outside of us being superheroes."

"You mean like a date?"

Artillery was really blushing now; he can bust villain heads 24/7, but asking a girl out was something completely different. All he managed to get out was: "Yeeaah."

Ms. Marvel chuckled; she liked how much of a bumbling idiot he could be when it came to these things.

"Sure. Where were you thinking?"

"Well, I was thinking like we could meet in the park and then figure it out from there."

"Deal. Just let me know when you are free."

"You too. I gotta go now so see you then."

Ms. Marvel leaned up and kissed him on the cheek: "See ya then."

Blushing, Artillery redonned his helmet and flew off back towards Avengers Tower. As he landed, he walked into the living room, he noticed the other Avengers sitting on the couches; it seems as if they had been waiting for him.

"Let me guess," his father, Tony Stark, asked, "you were trying to ask Kamala out again."

"I actually did this time," Artillery said, "And she actually agreed."

Tony smiled: "Hey, I'm proud of you. But we got something more important going on right now, and it involves you."

"Me?"

Captain America turned to the screen in the room, where Nick Fury's face was seen.

"Would you like to explain it to him, or should I?" he asked Fury.

"You go ahead," Fury replied.

Cap turned back to Artillery: "Recently S.H.I.E.L.D. discovered a new alien entity called Shade that arrived to Earth. When trying to speak with it, it attacked the agents and disappeared. Fury needs a hero team for the mission, but he's deciding to bring in new heroes for this mission, and you are one of them."

"Me?" Anthony asked, "But I've barely begun hero work."

"From what Stark showed me, you seem skilled enough." Fury said, "It's no minor feat knocking down a villain like Rhino with a single punch."

"Your suit is a worthy weapon against the enemy," Thor said, "It would please me greatly to see Asgardian steel used against a foe like Shade."

"So," Cap said, "Are you in?"

Artillery thought for a bit, then said, "Ah, what the heck. I knew this was gonna happen eventually. Count me in."

Fury nodded, "A jet will be waiting to pick you up in 15 minutes. Fury out." Then the screen went black. Tony looked at Artillery: "Well, Anthony," he said, "I suggest you get packing."

A few minutes later, Artillery was on the roof of the tower watching a S.H.I.E.L.D transport land on the pad. He turned to face the Avengers as they stood behind him. Captain America gave a salute: "Good luck, Anthony."

Anthony saluted back: "Thank you, Captain."

"Go kick some tail for me, okay kiddo?" Tony said.

"Okay, sure thing, Dad." Anthony said rolling his eyes. Just then, the back hatch opened as Fury leaned out: "Time to go, Stark." He said. Anthony turned and walked into the jet. As he did, Fury turned to Tony: "Something just appeared on our radars around Boston," he said, "We sent a few agents to check it out, but you should go with them. Apparently, it involves some kind of new tech."

Tony nodded: "I'll be in the air as soon as possible." Fury nodded back and ducked back into the jet. After the hatch closed, the jet took off. Artillery sat down, only to face two other figures who were clearly not agents; one was in a red and silver suit of armor, the other looked like a mad scientist with metal tentacles sticking out of her back.

"These two are other members of the team," Fury explained, "Though she was a bit of a tag-along."

"Crimson Crusader," the one in the armor said in a Russian accent, holding out his hand for Anthony to shake, "It is an honor to finally meet a Stark."

Anthon shook his hand: "No problem, and you are?" he asked the scientist girl.

"Elizabeth Octavius," the girl replied, "aka, Doc Ock 2.0."

"Don't worry," Crusader said, "Despite her name, she is no threat. She actually helped me defeat M.O.D.O.K."

Anthony raised his eyebrows in surprise: "Wow, really? That's no major feat, so nice job."

Crusader nodded, while Elizabeth only smirked back.

"So, do you guys have any idea what we're facing?" Anthony asked.

Crusader hands him a black datapad: "Here. This will tell you what you need to know."

Anthony took the pad and began flipping through it: "Welp," he said, "Looks like I've got a lot of reading to do."