Plot

[LOKI LAUFEYSON]

P L O T

"There's nothing more terrifying than miracles…"

The world at large thought it had ended. After the Battle of Alcatraz, which saw the Brotherhood decimated, and the Battle of New York, which stopped the Chitauri invasion, the people of the world thought it was truly over. A relative peace had settled. The Avengers Initiative had been created, the X-Men continued to monitor the mutant situation and strive for equal rights, while S.H.I.E.L.D. watched over them all, always prepared to protect those unable to protect themselves, human and mutant alike. It was the beginning an age of peace, an age of heroes.

Or so they thought.

Following the events of a hostile HYDRA takeover, S.H.I.E.L.D was dragged down, its loyal agents scattered, and HYDRA now stands in control. The world at large is not aware of this fact, and those that are have been branded traitors. Nick Fury is presumed dead, and the defenders of the world are now starting to realize they are serving under the very evil they fought so hard to defeat. And HYDRA's hold has only started to extend further in the wake of such devastation. In an effort to secure its control, it has been taking steps to ensure that S.H.I.E.L.D's remaining resources are cut off, the Avengers Initiative being their main target. For now Earth's Mightiest Heroes have set up base in unknown quarters, and have recently opened their ranks to new recruits, while HYDRA sets about assigning agents to various positions of power across the globe, planting seeds of doubt and concern where the soil is fertile. Utilizing situations such as the Chitauri Invasion of New York as well as the events of the Convergence that steeped London in chaos a few months previous, they are suggesting that more stringent laws be imposed upon the beings involved in these destructive affrays.

And as a result old prejudices have started to arise.

The original design of Robert Kelly's 'Mutant Registration Act' was once again brought forth, and readapted, forming the basis of the 'Superhuman Registration Act' to include all advanced beings. In the process, a divide was created amongst Earth's defenders, between those in favour, and those against the motion, pro-registration, and anti-registration. While they fight amongst themselves, HYDRA equips itself for the inevitable fallout, reassuming its old alliance with Advanced Idea Mechanics, and developing technology in preparation for a looming war. But there are others; others who look on, seeing an opportunity in the divide, waiting for an opening to take advantage of the chaos to come.

The world is not prepared for what is to come, and everything that has come before was just a prelude. Will the world succumb under pressure? Will the good give into the rising evil? Or will they unite once and for all and fight against the oncoming darkness? Will they believe in heroes once again?

"Indeed... there's nothing more terrifying than a miracle…"

'Believe in Heroes' is an X-Men/ Avengers crossover site, set in the year 2014, a couple of months after Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Our plot is based within the events of the movieverse, but welcoming of background information from the comics as well. While our primary focus is on the X-Men and Avengers, we also allow other marvel characters.

[NATASHA ROMANOFF]

ADDENDUM TO THE PLOT OF BELIEVE IN HEROES

To clarify a bit about the main story of Believe in Heroes, we start right after the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. We created a story that HYDRA is in control of S.H.I.E.L.D. and now are moving the pieces for their Endgame, which is total control, the creation of a Superhuman Registration Act and the elimination (a variant of Project Insight in the movie) of all their enemies in one big swoop.

The movies and events that are considered canon in this story are:

• X-men
• X-men: United
• X-men: The Last Stand
• Iron Man
• Captain America: First Avenger
• Thor
• Iron Man 2
• Avengers Assemble
• The Amazing Spiderman 1 and 2
• Thor: The Dark World
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

"Agents of SHIELD", the Origin movies, "First Class", "Days of Future Past", "Iron Man 3" and "Age of Ultron" are NOT canon in this story. That said, the characters in Agents of SHIELD -- with the exception of Phil Coulson because in the timeline he was killed in "Avengers Assemble" -- can be playable characters in Believe in Heroes so far as the characters and not the events in AoS are included, because as said, AoS is NOT canon in our story.

We follow movie verse mostly although we do allow for Comic Book backgrounds of the characters and possible stories spawning from some comic book story arcs, especially those characters that were not seen in the movies. But be realistic in what you use from comic books, following the timeline of the movies and the one provided in Believe in Heroes.

Other Characters of the massive Marvel Universe are welcomed, with a few exceptions. Check the Banned List for those characters that we feel would be hard to incorporate in our story or are deemed way too powerful to be allowed. We strive for a realistic movie-like feeling in the story and there are some characters that are very hard to realistically include. Also, we do have a nice Canon List with many characters still available and we encourage new and current members to let us know of a character that is not in the canon list but you think it would work in the story and we'll check it out. Example of this, characters in AoS.