Chapter 4

The next morning Sam woke to loud shouting coming from the common room. He stumbled out of bed, throwing on his wing-pack. What could it be? Could villains have broken into the Avengers Tower? Were they under attack?

But it was nothing of the sort. Sam arrived to find Quicksilver and Hawkeye involved in a screaming match.

“You better step back, archer. Don't forget you're talking to a hero with actual super powers, not just a bent stick with string on it.”

“Hero? Ha, that's a laugh. I've helped save the world. You're just a newbie with an attitude.”

“What's going on here?” Sam asked with genuine surprise as he stepped between the two angry Avengers. Amid the shouted insults, Sam pieced the story together. It turned out Sam's rotating schedule had them both using the training room that morning, and the two couldn't agree on which program to use, target practice or speed practice. The argument started small but quickly heated up to personal insults.

“Your practice schedule, that's what caused all this?” asked Falcon.

“I've got to keep up my skills,” said Hawkeye, waving his bow.

“You sure do. In fact, let's see how well you do without that thing,” said Quicksilver, zipping up at a blurring speed, yanking Hawkeye's bow away from him, and racing around the room with it.

“Hey, give me that!” shouted Hawkeye. “I may not be able to keep up with you, but I can aim more than an arrow!” He started throwing vases, lamps, and anything else he could get his hands on at Quicksilver.

“Stop it, both of you!” shouted Sam. “You're behaving like children!”

“Wait. . . . Do you hear something?” asked Quicksilver.

Sure enough, they all heard more shouting coming from the hallway, but this time it was female voices. Within seconds the door slammed open and in came Black Widow and the Scarlet Witch, yelling at each other.

“You're supposed to use your powers on the bad guys, Wanda. Not your allies. It's called teamwork. You might want to try it sometime!”

“Teamwork also means not blocking your partner's shots, I bet!”

“Now what?” Sam asked them.

Like the schedule said they should be, both Black Widow and the Scarlet Witch were out on patrol when the gang of villains known as the Wrecking Crew were spotted battling a few police officers. Widow and Scarlet Witch both responded, trying to help. The only problem? They both went after the Wrecking Crew's leader, Bulldozer. The Scarlet Witch threw a hex at Bulldozer, but it missed and hit the nearby Widow instead.

The Wrecking Crew were eventually caught, but according to Widow, the situation could have turned out much worse.

“Wanda wasn't watching out for me,” Widow complained to Sam. “I need teammates who have my back, not ones who shoot at my back!”

“It wasn't my fault!” shouted the Scarlet Witch. “Widow jumped in where she wasn't needed and crossed my line of fire!”

“Where she ‘wasn't needed’?” asked Hawkeye incredulously. “Black Widow's always needed in a fight,” he continued, clearly taking Widow's side.

“If my sister says it wasn't her fault, then it wasn't her fault,” shouted Quicksilver, sticking up for the Scarlet Witch.

Before long, Vision entered, watching the whole argument in confusion. It was clear that he didn't understand these very human conflicts.

Soon the argument turned into a four-way shouting fight, with Sam trying to calm everyone down—but he wasn't even able to make himself heard over everyone else!

Oh, man. . .What would Cap do in this situation? Sam asked himself.

But before he could figure it out, the Tower's alarm went off so loudly that everyone stopped and turned to check the wall screen.

“What's the situation, J.A.R.V.I.S.?” Sam asked the computer.

“I'm afraid it's a red alert, sir,” reported the disembodied voice of J.A.R.V.I.S. “Ultron is using his robot troops to attack somewhere in the city!”

Ultron? The evil robot bent on destroying all of mankind?

Oh, great . . .