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Chapter Text

Someone on the opposite wall of her cell was as noisy as could be. But, at least whoever it was had a sense of humor about it. For the first few days, she was moved to isolation cell number 11, isolation cell number 10 produced nothing but the light rhythmic bangs of something bouncing off the wall, but then it became more complex. It grew from random bangs to a symphony of bangs in a custom pattern, then it became the greatest hits of Britney Spears.

“Your toxic love, bah, da, duh, the taste of your poison…” sang Katie Bishop along to the bouncy ball melody. 

Then one day, the melody stopped and was replaced by gleeful laughter and a boy’s voice sayings from somewhere, “You guys are beyond fucked.”

The walls of her cell began to do the queerest thing. They weren’t made out of bricks or even cement. She didn’t know this, but their composition was an experimental plasticine alloy that was meant to hold in the likes of the Hulk. But she watched as sections of it vanished while turning into tiny brick-like structures. 

She met the gaze of a boy about her age, his eyes were glowing with red energy and a cloak around her body suit seemed to spread out like the wings of an angel. He looked down at her and made a dismissive noise like he’d seen a particularly disgusting insect. 

“You’re not Tommy,” he said before his eyes moved off of her. 

His eyes moved to the cell next to hers and then she watched as the walls of it peeled away. In the middle of it stood a boy in a grey jumpsuit who looked identical to the floating boy, save for the mess of white hair. He looked over at her and smiled, looking chipper as could be.

“Hey. I heard your voice through the walls,” he said. He then turned his attention up to his brother. “Can she come with us?”

He made a groan, “As you wish, but if she weighs us down, I’m asking Teddy to lose her in the ocean.”

She was looking at the white-haired boy, but in an instant, he was gone and then right beside her. He picked her up and rushed her out of her cell and into the great throng of chaos as a multitude of super-powered bastards of different stripes were allowed to cut loose and massacre the guards. She even thought she spotted a gorilla with a pair of revolvers picking off guards like it was nothing. Real old-fashioned cowboy shit. 

A gigantic bug-looking thing with skin a mottled grey shell and glowing shapes on its chest and forearms landed in front of the group and made a harsh growl. Katie Bishop only had vague memories of the first invasion of the Chitauri, she never thought she’d see one for real. 

“Hey baby,” said the dark-haired boy, offering it his hand. “Ready to get out of here?” 

“Yes,” hissed the Chitauri. 

“Wonderful,” he said. “Grab the girl and we’ll be underway.” 

Before she could protest, she was wrapped in the alien’s arms and watched as a massive set of insect wings grew from its back and produced a buzzing that made her stomach ache something fierce. Seconds passed and the four were airborne.

Chapter Text

The four of them landed a few miles away from a gas station just south of the Big House prison. They hit the ground running and had to keep going. Everyone was immediately outpaced by Tommy who’d become a blur of colors as he got up ahead of them before vanishing into the horizon. That son of a bitch, thought Katie. He’s abandoned us. She looked over at the boy’s brother who didn’t seem all too concerned that his twin had vanished into the middle distance. In a couple of seconds, they made it to the road, and sailing down it was an old white van. The kind of econoline shit that they tell you to stay away from when you’re seven. Piloting the heap was Tommy. 

“Hey strangers,” he said, smiling. “Need a lift?” 

The back door slid open and everyone jumbled in. It reeked of rotten McDonald’s food, despite being relatively clean. The black-haired twin climbed in the front seat and belted himself in. That left her seated in the back with “Teddy”. The Chitauri anxiously smacked his hands on his thighs making a rough clacking sound as they soared down the highway, going as fast as the van could manage. Which was not fast enough for Tommy. 

“I don’t think we’ve formally been introduced,” called Tommy over the roar of the engine. “Tommy and Billy Lehnsherr. That’s Teddy.”

“I’m Katie Bishop,” she returned in the same tone. 

“So what did they shove you in the Big House for, Katydid?” asked Tommy.

“My family and I were members of Hydra,” she shouted. 

“Wicked,” replied Tommy. “So what’s your deal? Are you a mutant? Magic? What’s your angle?” 

“I don’t have powers,” she said. 

“Damn,” he huffed. “They had you locked up in just about the worst cell block of the Big House for someone without powers. 

She saw Billy mouth the words, “Lez chow” in the mirror and she replied to that by accidentally kicking the back of his chair.

“Sorry about that,” she replied in her mildest of tones. 

Teddy hissed at her. 

“So what’s your deal?” she asked. 

“Mutants, we were small-time terrorists for a week before SHIELD scooped me up and locked me away in the Big House,” said Tommy. “I’m kind of a badass like that.”

“Anyone ever told you that you guys look like Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver?” asked Katie.

“We ought to,” said Tommy. “We’re their kids.” 

Katie paused, she was pretty sure that Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver had been siblings. Maybe she’d misheard them or he was speaking in metaphors. 

“Could you say that again? Do you mean in like a legacy way? Like you’re inspired by them?”

“No,” said Billy turning to face her, his face a mask of irritation. “We’re the spawn of two incestuous reprobates.”

“Oh get the hell over it,” shouted Tommy at his brother. He then pitched his voice up higher to make fun of his brother’s perceived voice. “We’re sullying the noble house of Lehnsherr and the legacy of Magneto. Our existence is an abomination! Cry me a fucking river.” 

“I didn’t know that…they were like that,” said Katie trying to not react to Tommy’s theatrics. 

“Good, nobody should know that,” said Billy turning back to looking out the window. “It’s something nobody should be proud of.” 

“Hey,” said Tommy. “I’m not proud of it, but what can you do about it? Fuck all, that’s what.”

The car ride was silent for the most part as they drove until they ended up at what looked to be a small helicarrier crashed in the desert, slowly being swamped by the vast sand that surrounded it. The van came to a stop and the twins and Teddy began walking inside, having seemingly forgotten her. She jumped out and followed after them. 

“Hey, wait a second,” she said. “What are you doing now?” 

“Just inside, to hide from satellites and the like,” said Tommy. “Just because I’m super fast doesn’t mean we don’t have eyes on us constantly.” 

“No I mean in a larger sense,” said Katie.

“Oh she’s philosophical,” griped Billy. 

“I think,” said Katie. “And hear me out…We need to have a revitalized public image.” 

“To…what end, exactly?” asked Billy. 

“Aren’t you two tired of running around and hiding from the authorities?” 

Teddy made a ‘so-so’ gesture with his mandible claws. 

“See, he gets it,” said Katie. “We need a complete public revamp. Do you know who the public likes? The public likes the Ultimates.” 

“Do they?” asked Billy, skeptical. 

“Kind of, they like them well enough,” said Katie. “So, I propose we become Ultimates…The Young Ultimates. That way we can do some reparations and win some social points.” 

“If we become public figures…Celebrities even,” pondered Billy. “We might become untouchable. People would notice if SHIELD vanished us off to some black site.” 

“Well if we’re going to be ultimates we need to emulate them as closely as possible. People like seeing the same thing over and over…You could be our Thor, maybe call you something like ‘Asgardian’.” said Katie.

“I think I’ll try something different,” said Billy with a downcast expression. “That sounds too much like ‘Ass Guardian’.” 

“And your alien boyfriend is kind of Hulk colored, maybe if he shapeshifts a bit to the left he could look more Hulk-like,” suggested Katie.

“I will not,” hissed Teddy.

“And pray-tell, what would you be little miss marketing executive? Captain America? Black Widow?” Billy made a dismissive snort-laugh. 

“No, I would be Hawkeye, obviously,” said Katie. 

“Why would you want to be Hawkeye?” asked Tommy, barely suppressing a giggling fit. “Hawkeye fucking sucks.” 

“No, he doesn’t, hawkeye’s cool. He’s a guy with a bow duking it out with super-powered beings. That’s rad,” said Katie.

“Whatever,” said Tommy. “Sure, you can be Hawkeye, but you need a bow…or like a gun.” 

“Whole universe of Ultimates and she chooses the boy with the bow, how fun,” sniped Billy. 

“Well I can’t exactly be Captain America, do I look roided out to you boys?” asked Katie.

Everyone, even Teddy, shrugged.

Chapter Text

Katie rested in the sand waste just outside of their little crash pad. Tommy had stolen a hunting bow from a sporting goods store in Albuquerque. She had a score of arrows that worked fantastically. She drew and fired off each one as quickly as she could manage, but she found that her speed was lacking. Occasionally, Tommy would blitz through and grab an arrow from the air just to show off that he could. Little prick , she’d think to herself each time he repeated the trick, though it was a right sight better than dealing with the boy’s twin.  

Billy sat on the highest peak of the helicarrier, his legs were crossed, and he had a red halo of impossible light dancing around his head. Katie would be worried about SHIELD seeing him from orbit and casting down a laser or something to destroy them, but she also figured they were busy dealing with other super-human threats to not consider the small gang of borderline college students hanging around the wastelands of New Mexico. 

When she was a student at Visions Academy, she never considered how vast the network of spies was until she and her family ended up imprisoned by it. She wondered about her parents and Misha and idly considered if they were alive. She didn’t let these thoughts consume her; that would be antithetical to living.  Getting lost in the past is the path to nostalgia, and nostalgia is death.  Instead, she turned her thoughts to their team’s makeup; right now, they were good. A nice solid 7/10, a passing grade. But they weren’t the whole deal just yet. 

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She laid this idea out to her compatriots, and they seemed nonplussed by everything. Save for Tommy and Teddy. Tommy seemed relentlessly optimistic, and it was difficult to get a read on what Teddy was feeling, seeing as he was a seven-foot-tall alien bug. 

“Why are you grading us like we’re school children?” asked Billy. 

Billy was seated on the couch with his legs crossed. 

“Because we need an idea of where we sit if we’re going to be the premier super-team. Right now we’re good, but we’re not great,” said Katie. “We need a little extra umph, y’know? We need a Captain America. Someone big and patriotic. Something we can slap a flag on and push hard.” 

“That feels a little cynical,” said Tommy. “But not wrong. As it stands, we’re just assholes with superpowers and a girl with a bow.” 

“Teddy and I don’t think we need a Captain America,” said Billy, hugging his alien boytoy. “He’s an asshole.” 

“That’s not the point, it’s about the team makeup. I think we should do a trial run. We need to find a big crime and we need to put it down,” said Katie. 

“That seems tricky,” said Tommy. 

“I think we have to go to one of the bigger cities on the coast and look around, surely there’s something,” said Katie. 

“That plan seems agreeable,” said Billy. He then turned his head to Teddy. “Babe, can you shapeshift into a person so we can blend in?” 

Tommy winced at the statement, and there was a sickening squelch as Teddy shifted his shape. He became an oversized blonde-haired boy with a bowl cut. Apparently, with that much existing mass, he couldn’t become smaller.

“Does this work?” asked Teddy in a more human-sounding voice.

“You look a bit bumpkin,” said Tommy. 

“What on earth does that even mean, Thomas? He looks wonderful,” said Billy.