11 Avengers Initiative

New York, three weeks later

" Swoosh!" In a flash, a figure appeared in front of a homeless people's home accompanied by yellow lightning streaks.

" It's been a while since I've been here." The figure, Duke smiled and walked into the shelter as a wave of nostalgia washed over him.

" Duke!!!" " How have you been kiddo." Soon, some of the men and kids rushed to him as they embraced him with joy. " It's been a while, how've you guys been." Duke ruffled the hair of the kids as he smiled at the men.

" We heard about the old man, it must have been hard on you." An elderly woman came and embraced him with tears in her eyes, as the others stood there with sorrow filled eyes. Everyone knew of the relationship between Duke and the old man. And if anyone would have it the worse it would be him.

"It's alright Nella, I'm uhhh managing." He tried his best to conceal the sorrow in his eyes, as he flashed a small smile.

" If you ever need a home and a family, you can always come back here, we would always be here waiting for you." The elderly woman named Nella said, as she embraced him even tightly. She was one who took care of his needs when he was still a baby. She even breastfed him at times, when they didn't have money to buy baby food for him.

To her, Duke was the son she could never have, and Duke loved her as much as she loved the old man. Duke finally let out his tears, as he embraced the woman tightly.

" So what brings you here kid?" After a few minutes, one of the men asked. "I missed you guys, so I came to visit." Duke smiled and said.

" Since you're here, why don't you stay for dinner?" Nella said as she held his arm. " I'm sorry, I can't stay today." Duke shook his head. " But here." He took out his wallet from his pocket, before blessing them with lots of dollar notes.

" You didn't have to." Nella smiled as she rubbed his hair lovingly. " Hey, what do you mean by that Nella, of course he had to." One middle aged man counted the lots of dollar notes in his hand as he let out a chuckle.

" Stinky old man." Nella rolled her eyes, as she walked out with Duke. " So when are we going to see you again?" She asked as they walked to a road. "I'll make sure to visit often." Duke rubbed his head and hugged her, before he walked away.

After walking a couple of meters, he zoomed away, accompanied by flashes of lightning.

.....

" Swoosh!" Duke arrived at his apartment, not forgetting to get three big burgers and a glass of milk on the way.

He instantly walked to the secret entrance as it opened and he entered, however just as it was about to close, a Ghost like figure entered before it shut.

" Welcome back Sir." Duke took off his jacket and sat on his seat, An he inboxed his burger and began to wolf it down.

" Call Wilson Fisk, T and P." He said in between as he ate.....

...

" What the hell war that secret entrance. It's good I decided to wait for him to show up." The Ghost like figure finally revealed herself. Natasha Romanoff, Black Widow. She smiled as she hid behind a wall and examined the room.

" Who the hell is this kid?" She saw the destroyed training room, and stealthily walked ahead, where she saw Duke sitting down in front of several computers, as he conversed with a figure on the screen.

' He's the kid I fought with at the Science Expo. He's still alive? I thought he run into the building before it exploded?" She thought as she stared at him.

' Wilson Fisk? Hell's kitchen?' She peeped from a corner and saw the person Duke was speaking to, a notorious boogeyman on SHIELD's wanted list. Wanting to listen to the conversation, she stealthily got closer and closer, until she could hear what they were talking about.

" Mr. Fisk, if you want me on this mission, you're going to have to do a lot of convincing." Duke smiled as he twirled on his chair. " You know Stark Industries isn't like Oscorp Industries, you know. And last time I heard, Tony Stark said he's iron man or whatever that is..." Duke smiled and added.

" I understand your concern Azazel.. but we need your expertise and skills on this mission. Without you, we have less than 3 percent of successfully completing the mission. And you don't need to worry, all the tools, gadgets and finances will be provided." Fisk spoke, as Duke smiled and Natasha's eyes widened in surprise.

' Azazel? I thought his name was Duke, and why does it sound so familiar.' She was lost in deep thought. 'Hold on, isn't Azazel the name on SHIELD's newest code red mission?' Surprise flashed through her eyes.

" Interesting proposition Mr. Fisk.... alright, I'll do this favor because you were close to the old man. Get your men ready in three days.' Duke sighed and ended the call swiftly.

" You can come out now, whoever you are." The moment he ended the call, the turned around on the chair and chuckled.

" I guess we meet again hotshot. How did you know I was here?" Natasha immediately walked out with two guns aimed at him as she chuckled.

" I actually just noticed you." Duke smiled and stood up, before stretching his back.

" Let's see you dodge this time." Natasha chuckled before firing rounds at Duke.

Immediately speeding up his perception, time around him instantly slowed, as the bullets came to seemed to crawl towards him.

The next instant, sparks started to appear, as yellow lightning streamed across his body and surroundings. Leaning forward, he stretched his right hand and instantly plucked all the bullets from the air, as if they were toys.

The next microsecond, he appeared before Natasha who seemed to be frozen in time and disarmed her, before walking back to his position.

The next second, time returned to its normal state, as Natasha looked at her missing guns and smiled in disbelief. "Fury told me you were fast, but I though it was an understatement." She said, before getting into a martial arts stance.

" Bang! Bang!!" She instantly reached Duke with her superior agility and unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks which he dodged gracefully, as if he was taking a walk in a park.

Suddenly, she bent her fists and fired out the same electrified needles she had used on him back at the expo.

He instantly sidestepped to the right, before he gently placed his palm on her abdomen and give it a slight push. " Bang!" She was sent flying as she crashed into a wall and puked blood.

Before she could realize, Duke appeared before her in a flash of lightning, as he let out a bunch of quick spinning kicks, which she wasn't able to react to, let alone block.

She was sent flying again, as she crashed into another wall and went unconscious.

" Sigh. It's annoying to fight while restraining yourself. It's like several thick chains have been placed on my shoulders." He sighed as walked to her and picked her up. With the momentum he generated while he run, he had to be careful when he was fighting with humans, otherwise, a single touch from him could blow up their bodies.

He instantly placed her on his seat and tied her up with immense speed. ....

......

" Ughhh ." A few seconds later, she awoke in a groggy state, as she raised her head and saw Duke sitting on another chair right before her.

" Hahahaha." A second later, she broke into laughter as she stared at him. " The irony of it all. Who would've thought that Azazel, the notorious mastermind and code red, that even SHIELD has a hard time finding is nothing but a little kid who hasn't even hit puberty." She said as she laughed.

" I mean the day I fought you at the Science expo, I knew you were Special, but not this special." She smiled and said. " You don't know anything about me Miss Romanoff, but I know a lot about you, so cut to the chase and tell me why Fury sent you here. Unlike you, I have a lot of things to do." Duke said as he picked up the other burger and began to wolf it down.

" How do you know me?" She asked, as she began to tear through the ropes that bound her hands.

" I've known you for a long time Miss Romanoff, even before the day we fought, and I wouldn't try that if I were you, because the next attack you unleash, would result in your permanent demise." Duke said, as lightning began to flicker all around, creating sparks in the air.

" Fine. Fury sent me here to invite you to join the Avengers initiative." She said with a straight face. " Pffttt! What SHIELD isn't satisfied with fighting aliens, now they want to start a band too? Terrible name by the way." Duke chuckled as he took a sip of his milk.

" The Avengers Initiative is a call to gather a group of people, heroes to be specific to combat extra terrestrial threats." She ignored his joke and continued. " Ummm, no. Heroes and groups, two words I don't want to associate myself with." Duke shook his head and stood up.

" It's funny that you lot want to form a a group of heroes to combat extraterrestrial threats, when you are the ones bringing them here." Duke chuckled and walked to his fridge and took out a bottle of water.

" Here." He then untied her and gave her the water. Since she wasn't here to assassinate him, then there was no need for violence.

" What do you mean by that?" She asked as she took the water and drank everything in one go. " The Space Infinity stone or what you guys call the uhhh Tesseract, which by the way, I didn't steal." Duke said and sat down.

" What?" She asked as she flexed her arms as Duke watched her with a smile.

" You don't know about the Infinity stones? You know, the Big Bang! aspect of the universe?" Duke asked as he rubbed his temples and sighed. " Anyway, I'm letting you go because, you didn't come here to kill me, if not we wouldn't be having this conversation. And tell Fury I appreciate the gesture but no." Duke said as he shooed her away from his seat. " You're letting me go? Aren't you scared I'm going to reveal your identity ?" She asked as she walked to exit.

" You can, but so what? If I wanted, SHIELD wouldn't exist by tomorrow, but what's the fun in that. Also tell Fury to get my name out of SHIELD's code red. The tesseract is with the Italian mafia or whatever..." He said after which he turned around and paid no heed to her.