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#1
JUL 09 |
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*The events depicted in this issue take place long after the final issue of Marvel’s Avengers #56 (Vol. 3) and in a two week period around the events of Marvel Anthology’s Avengers #1 leading into the official launch of Captain America, Force Works, Iron Man, Solo Avengers and Yellowjacket.
Tony Stark's Residence, California
“Let ‘er rip.”
A spiraling energy cascade emanated from his gauntlet, building in pressure as it pulsed. Finally the energy erupted free of the forcefield containing it and struck a shining metal wall fifty yards away. The metal visibly bulged inward at the impact and a low, keening wail was heard as the gauntlet cycled down and became inactive. The room was silent for several seconds.
“Analysis?” asked Tony Stark.
“ADAMANTIUM WALL VISIBLY DAMAGED. MOLECULAR DENSITY 98% OF PREVIOUS READING .”
“Energy consumption?”
“ONE THOUSAND TERAQUADS OF ELECTRICITY.”
Tony nodded. His new repulsor-based energy weapon had finally gotten to the point where it was destabilizing pure Adamantium as well as damaging it to a small degree, but the power usage was still too far off the charts to make it feasible to use in the field. Several months work done so far and more to come if these readings were true, which since he was the one programming the analysis system, they were.
“Reset the parameters and re-cycle the fusion generator. We’ll try again tomorrow.”
“YES, SIR,” said the building computer that was the hub of his personal laboratories, codenamed CAP: Computer Aided Prognosticator. He had yet to tell Captain America that he had an artificial intelligence named after him. He wasn’t sure how the old warhorse would take it but Tony would enjoy it anyway.
He removed his hand from the gauntlet that was resting on a harness platform designed to absorb the blowback from the firing of the new repulsor blaster. CAP went to work re-calibrating the system for tomorrow’s repeat. It took a full 24 hours to regenerate the fusion power generator after one of these cycles. He hated the slowness of it, but building something that could crush Ultron the second he reared his ugly head was something worth waiting on. Soon, he would have the destabilizing density reading down to less than 20%....then Ultron, or any other Adamantium-based ne’er do well, would be as threatening as a melted block of butter.
“Tony,” came a voice from the wall, “It’s Pepper. I have a call for you from King T’Challa of Wakanda.”
“Thanks Pepper,” said Tony. “Patch it through the holodesk in Lab 5.”
The desk several feet from Tony was a stylish mahogany that was covered in blueprints and flashdrives from the work he was continually doing to improve the Iron Man armor. A clear disc irised open and a hologram representation of T’Challa, King of Wakanda and the Avenger known as the Black Panther, appeared.
“Greetings, my friend,” said T’Challa. “I see Pepper is as stunning as always.”
“That she is,” said Tony. “What can I do for you today, T’Challa?”
“I was wondering if you had given any further thought to my invitation to the Wakanda Technology Symposium,” said T’Challa. “My Minister of Technology indicated he had not heard from you and I thought it best if I ask you personally.”
“I haven’t forgotten about it,” said Tony. “I just have been thinking of what I could offer that others aren’t already. Reed’s attending, Hank’s attending…with you added, I’m not much more than a sound bite for the media.”
“You are more than that, my friend,” said T’Challa. “You are an Avenger and the head of one of the most advanced technology corporations in the world. You do yourself a disservice by downplaying what you can bring. Leaping Forward can use you.”
“Well,” said Tony, “I--”
“I would be pleased if you would be our keynote speaker,” said T’Challa. “The floor of the technological and scientific world would focus on you. I have not asked Reed or Henry…only you.”
Tony shrugged. “Okay, I’m in. You’re a hard man to say no to, T’Challa.”
“I know,” said the Black Panther. “I have also given thought to your technology sharing proposal with your company you proposed.”
“And?” asked Tony.
“You, too, are a hard man to say no to, my friend.”
Tony smiled. “I’ll have my people call your people.”
“Congratulations, Tony,” said T’Challa. “I see this as a new path in the future for both of our respective organizations.”
“I agree,” said Tony.
“I’ll see you soon, my friend.”
“You, too,” said Tony as the holodesk link ended.
Tony walked with a hop and a skip to his step, knowing the implications of the conversation he just had. Better things for the Avengers, his company and more. He stopped in front of the harness holding his current Iron Man armor.
Leaping Forward was a literal meeting of the minds, where the world’s best and brightest would share ideas and concepts designed to make the world a better place, allowing advancement to ‘leap forward’. Tony was a futurist, always thinking multiple steps ahead of today’s society. Where would Stark, the man, be in twenty years? Stark, the company? Where would Iron Man be? Would there be an Iron Man? These were all things he thought about. Some, he already had plans in place for.
“Tony,” said Pepper over the comm.. “There’s a priority call for you. It’s the Pentagon.”
“The Pentagon? They’re not eavesdropping on my phone calls, are they?”
“Pardon?” asked Pepper.
“Nothing,” said Tony. “Please, patch it through.”
The voice of a gruff man came over the comm. “Mr. Stark, this is General Markson of the US Strategic Command.”
“How can I help you, General?” asked Tony.
“We require your…expertise,” said Markson. “A situation has come up that requires your particular set of skills.”
“Is this something the Avengers should be alerted to, General?” asked Tony.
“No,” said Markson. “More of a consultative role. I’d like you to the Pentagon as soon as possible. I have a jet standing by at LAX.”
“No need, General,” said Tony as he looked at his armor. He concentrated and the armor flew through the air in its component pieces, encompassing his body. The parts interlocked and polarized, turning him into the armored Avengers, Iron Man. “I can get there faster on my own.” He turned to leave the lab. “I’ll be there in two hours.”
“Very well,” said Markson. “We’ll be expecting you.” The line went dead.
Tony headed to a vertical access chute he had installed to allow easy comings and goings while suited up. “Pepper,” said Tony.
“Tony?” asked Pepper. “You sound different….are you in the armor?”
“I am,” said Tony. “I’m off to Virginia on an important meeting. Can I get you to call an emergency Board Meeting? I have some things to discuss that can’t wait until the end of the month. Telepresence is fine.”
“Okay,” said Pepper. “Anything I should know?”
“Just make sure the Perrier is chilled,” said Tony. “Bill hates it when it’s warm.”
“I know,” said Pepper. “Take care, Tony. I’ll patch you in when everyone’s online.”
“Thanks Pepper. I’ll talk to you later.” He looked up and fired his bootjets, rocketing through the chute and into the California sky above. He could make it to Washington faster if he went sub-orbital, but a little longer flight would allow him to update the Board as well as get him to Washington .
He flew through the sky and hit the afterburners, speeding towards the opposite side of the country with a crack of thunder in his wake.
Avengers Mansion, New York City
Hank Pym stood on the sidewalk looking at the scorched mansion grounds. The wall into the grounds had been blown wide open and rubble was scattered across the pavement outside and in. The rubble within the walls was still smouldering, the damage wasn’t exactly insurmountable to repair but it was frankly shocking.
The paparazzi were held back by a police line on the other side whilst the Avenger’s did what they needed to do. Hank often forgot that The Avengers were celebrities as much as they were heroes, and their pain and anger was just ammunition to sell the papers and, even worse, the glossy magazines.
He was no stranger to those damn columns himself. His history wasn’t exactly as gloried as some of the other Avengers. He had everything, powers, a genius mind, riches and respect, even had his own fan club at one point…and he had lost it all through mental illness. He had a nervous breakdown, amongst other problems and ended up attacking an unarmed Avenger’s foe who had given up the fight. He was dragged over the coals and suspended from the Avengers.
It was only the beginning as he became paranoid and violent and struck out. He had hit her once in total, but he regrets it more than any mistake in his life and realizes that ‘once’ is one time to many but the damn newspapers and articles never let him forget it. No one is even sure how it got out, yet everyone seemed to know…probably a member of the short-lived support staff at the mansion. Every time he ended up in a fight with the Avengers and he was forced into conflict with a woman there’d be the photos of that and some veiled comments. They discussed him on the View once; he’d thought about calling in but couldn’t bring himself to do it.
Hank had problems, that was clear to anyone who knew his history and spoke to him. He most often than not suffered wavers of confidence. This was exactly what he was going through now.
Jan had been in the mansion when whatever happened had happened, and there was no sign of her now. He briefly held out hope that she could have shrunk down but a quick preliminary scan showed no Pym Particle activity in several hours before the explosion.
He had hoped to talk to her as they had been getting along well recently. They had become friends again and now they were spending more and more time together, still just friends but he couldn’t help feel there was something more.
He stood there clenching his fist over and over again, a defence mechanism to make him feel better about everything that was going on. It wasn’t exactly working. “Can I do this?” he asked.
“Yes, you can.” Pym turned to see the team’s other Hank, the Beast, standing behind him. “Get a handle on yourself.”
“Excuse me?” Pym grunted.
“Look at yourself,” Beast grumbled. “I don’t have to be a telepath to see it in your eyes. You’re agonizing over Jan. About…I don’t know…being angst-y. Look at what’s happened, Hank: Simon and I were joined at the hip whenever we were together. Not only was Cap injured, but he lost Falcon too, probably the closest friend he’d had since Bucky. Then just take a look at Wanda; Jan was one of her best friends, the Vision is her ex-husband and she’s been dating Simon for three months.”
“Yes, Hank,” Pym replied. “I get your point. We’ve all lost someone.”
“Actually, no,” Beast said, “you don’t. I’m standing here ready to go to work. Wanda’s been on-site since the moment the engineers cleared it, an hour before Dane. I’d bet you money that Steve is sitting in his hospital bed right now, plotting exactly where he’s going, who he’s going to question and what he’s going to do with the information he needs once he has it. He’ll probably ignore every doctor’s recommendation about his activity. But what’s Hank Pym doing?”
“Standing at the edge of the attack site, wallowing in self pity,” Hank whispered. “Now I get it.”
“You’d better,” Beast replied with a nudge. “Now how about you stop wallowing in self-pity and let’s get to work?”
Hank was silent again for a moment. His hand tightened into a fist. He just needed some faith, some faith in himself, and he knew it. It seemed Beast had faith in him…even if he showed it via tough love. He was giving him a pep-talk in his own way. He just needed some faith in himself. He was a world class scientist, one of the best, he had been on the top 100 to watch several times and that was even before he became Ant-Man, his first superhero identity.
His mouth was dry and his stomach was churning away; he knew it was the effects of the Sympathetic Nervous System reacting to the situation, pumping adrenaline. He was a biochemist, that was basic stuff, but still it was hard to overcome the nervousness and fear which was coming with it. The Fight or Flight mechanism was very much pushing him in one direction and it was only the thought of Jan that was stopping him from allowing it.
He bent his knees and grabbed the briefcase next to him. Perception is reality, he thought to himself and with one final exhale he strode forward. “I need an area cleared. I’m going to set up a lab in the lower east corner of the grounds. This was an orchestrated and thorough attack, scans show no one who shouldn’t have been here was on the premises so we need to find this bomb and we need to find it now if were going to get anything from it.”
“Henry?” The Beast was walking on all fours along side Pym. Hank came to a stop and laid down the briefcase and lay his hands on the case allowing the Pym Particles which inhabited every cell of his body to flow into the case increasing the size and mass of the suitcase.
It took less than a minute till the briefcase was the size of a small porter cabin. It was only now that Beast noticed the tiny door that was next to one of the hinges. Hank Pym began to shrink down, stopped halfway and turned.
“You told me to do something, Hank, and I am. We’ve got Avengers…” He paused. He was a realist and pragmatist man, probably the most pragmatic man in the Avengers. The way his life was, the way his mind was, he couldn’t afford to do anything but call a spade a spade. He was a scientist not a man of faith and so he was trying to choose his words carefully “…missing, our friends and loved ones and unless we get some evidence to go on soon then we will possibly never known what happened. Time is always the biggest issue in these things. You told me to stop wallowing in my self-pity so now I’m doing something, so keep up or stay out of my way. We’ve got friends to save or friends to avenge.”
Beast nodded, a smile curled across his blue furry lips. “It’s good to have you onboard, Henry.” The blue furred Beast nodded and bounced away. Hank couldn’t bring himself to smile, not now, not when his friends were gone but he agreed mentally, it felt good to be back.
Cassie Lang stood on one of the high walls that overlooked the Avenger’s Mansion grounds. She had managed to climb up with her back against the wall and her feet against one of the massive oaks that lined the grounds. She was in no doubt that the defences would have tried to capture anyone else but she had clearance for the mansion.
Her dad was Scott Lang and though he was only a reservist at the minute he was an Avenger. The mansion had been his home and every weekend it had been hers. She had tried to gain access via the main gate and through the big hole in the wall but had been rebuffed both times. The first time had been by Iron Man and the second by her ‘uncle’, Hank Pym. He seemed deathly serious as he told her that it would be best if she didn’t come in.
She was used to seeing him as serious, he often was. He also often seemed a little sad, too, but this time was different. He looked concentrated, intense, almost like he was trying to look through every atom of the world around him for something. She didn’t know about Wasp, not then. She didn’t know that her ‘Aunt’ Jan, who was possibly her favorite Avenger just after her dad, was MIA and wouldn’t find out until nightfall when her dad came home.
Cassie didn’t know yet, but she suspected, that her dad was there now…maybe the other Avengers didn’t even know…searching through the rubble with a small army of ants, looking for some way to help.
She lowered herself and pressed her self into a seated position on the wall. She could just see parts of the mansion through some of the trees. The newest Avenger, Ultra-Girl, was shifting rubble as ordered by the Black Knight. Cassie liked her, she was cool. She had never spoken to her at all but she certainly looked cool.
She then saw her Uncle Hank, complete in his Yellowjacket costume oddly enough with a lab coat over the top of it, sifting through the rubble. He vanished before her eyes for a second or two. Cassie watched carefully…she knew what was going to happen next. The rubble where he had been standing shifted and then slid slowly out of the way as he resized to about ten feet. He was back to his normal six feet in height instantly and crouched in the rubble shifting through some chunks of metal.
His head moved up suddenly and looked at her where she sat. She was so shocked she almost fell off the wall. His face didn’t give away any emotion as he simply turned and continued to sift through the rubble. She had always liked her Uncle Hank, not just because he gave her dad Ant-Man powers and superhero identity (it killed at the career day in 5th grade) but because he was the Avenger she had spent the most time with.
Her dad and he had a standing ‘date’ every week. They would meet up to talk over all things about shrinking and ideas about being an ant-sized superhero. They also talked about other things at times…usually Cassie would be asked to go outside and play but she knew what they were talking about.
They would talk about her mom and Aunt Jan. The two Ant-Men had both been through divorces with their partners. Cassie was 14 now, she understood these things just like her dad had explained to her. He and her mom still loved each other, there’s no way they couldn’t, but they just couldn’t get along together. She had seen her parents happy together, miserable together and happy apart just seeing each other as friends, and knew what was best.
Uncle Hank and Aunt Jan, however, were different. Uncle Hank seemed sad sometimes, he had a glassy look in his eyes and the corners of his mouth seemed perpetually turned down…even when he was smiling. The worse times were when her dad described Hank as being in a ‘flat’ mood and said it was a symptom.
Hank was ill, Cassie knew that too. He’d been ill for a long time but not a proper medical illness but rather a mental illness. Her dad just described it as him getting confused easily and his moods changed a lot, sometimes he wouldn’t know what he felt like or what he should be thinking and so got really angry. It was something Cassie accepted; this was all explained to her years ago and she hadn’t really questioned it much since.
When Hank wasn’t like that, which was most of the time really, he was the best uncle in the world. When she was 10 he had given her an Elephant that could live on the palm of her hand. She only had it a week before he had to take it back but anyway you look at it that was damn cool. He was always full of fun quotes or doing really fun experiments that he would let her help out with.
That was why she was heading in the direction of Avenger’s mansion today. She had some chemistry project she needed help with. Her dad could probably do it but she hadn’t seen Uncle Hank in a few weeks and thought it would be nice to drop in on him. She had not expected any of this. She craned her neck and wondered where Aunt Jan was, as she was on the Avengers currently. She was probably at Wasp size somewhere…
“I’ve got it!” Hank’s voice boomed. There was a rumble as the rubble shifted and collapsed in on itself and the giant form of Yellowjacket peered over the trees with dust sliding off him in all different directions. He was holding some twisted metal in his hands which he held tightly to his chest as he carefully stepped clear of everyone before he started to shrink down. She leaned the other way and after a few seconds could see him running, normal height now…and shrinking…to what looked like a giant briefcase.
Elsewhere
“Dumbass,” sighed Yellowjacket. He shook his head in disdain at Hank Pym. The scientist had rushed back into the briefcase lab he had been working feverishly on the bomb wreckage since he got there.
He had so far plugged it up to a scanner that he designed and was trying to pick up on any programming or signature it had within itself. “Soon you’ll find the Gamma particles and then there’s that whole adventure to go.”
He laughed and shook his head, kicking his legs against the end of the test tube he was balanced on the edge of. “Come on, you pathetic excuse for a superhero, the particles are there…find them! I’m not going to tell you what’s going on.”
Yellowjacket shook his head and pushed himself away from the test tube to the table below. He landed silently with a roll.
Hank had removed his cowl now and was examining the finer parts of what he was almost sure was some kind of bomb. The circuits however were not like the thing that you would normally see in a bomb of any kind. His subatomic microscope was also working away categorising every nanometer of what he could find.
“Come on, Hank, you can do this.” He rubbed his fingers against his temples. “Just think, this isn’t a normal bomb…this isn’t a normal bombing. It’s a super-villain not just some terrorist. You can do this!”
“No, you can’t,” sang Yellowjacket in chorus with the shake of his head. He began to vibrate the fins on his costume to lift his body into the air. The tiny figure buzzed from the side table he had been resting on to the main counter where the larger Pym was sitting. His body slipped between some of the mechanical equipment and he moved across the desk silently listening to Pym try and talk himself into coming up with the answer. “You wonder why people think you’re crazy,” he sighed with a shake of his head.
He would have pitied Pym if he didn’t hate him so much. He was a pathetic loser, always had been and always would be. He was too worried about what everyone around him was doing, whether they were having more fun, whether they were better at this that and the other than he was. It all turned the tiny man’s stomach.
Yellowjacket’s core of confidence and id driven personality could do nothing but despair as he looked at Pym. Loser! just sprang to mind with every second. The little man walked around the edge of the spectral analyser and leaned against it, staring up at Pym’s slightly flabby face. He had been letting himself go, no doubt; you could see the years on his face. Pym’s eyes flicked to the edge of the spectral analyser and fixed on the tiny figure for a second.
Yellowjacket froze in place, afraid to move like a rabbit in the headlights. He had been sighted by the giant Pym…he was going to have to fight his way out of this. “Don’t,” Hank shook his head and rubbed his eyes before casting another glance at Yellowjacket. “Don’t do this now, now is not the time to start hallucinating. You need to be sharp…Jan needs you, keep your head in the game. You’re not there, you’re not there.”
Hank gritted his teeth and closed his eyes again. He had not hallucinated before but he was beginning to worry the stress was getting too much for him. It was not going to help him. He pushed his hands into his deep pockets and began to fish around for something. The little brown bottle rattled against his fingertips and he pulled it out flipping the lid open as he did so. He kept his eyes closed but carefully counted two pills into his hand and then popped them in his mouth and swallowed. He kept his eyes closed for a second more and then slowly opened them to look at the area where Yellowjacket had been standing. The area was empty.
That was too close, Yellowjacket thought, his back was pressed hard against the machinery he had managed to duck behind. I really don’t know how this loser managed to become an Avenger, first sign of something weird and he goes to blame himself…I don’t know how I stood it for all those years.
“Come on, there must be some sub-atomic signal. It must have been beamed or phased in, that should leave something…what is it?” Pym moved to a screen next to him and brought up a tiny screen from its corner. It was a wave length he recognized.
“He shoots…” smiled Yellowjacket to himself.
“Gamma Radiation! It’s Gamma!” Pym grabbed the print out from the computer and turned quickly to rush from the room. He needed to find Dane.
“…and he misses completely.” Yellowjacket laughed. Seeing Pym being so useless actually made him feel even better about himself. “I really, really don’t know how he did it all,” he sighed and shook his head. “Fought of an expanding galaxy threatening the world, fought an alien invasion, cured an incurable virus…the man is a loser!”
A figure appeared as if from nowhere next to Yellowjacket, he was dressed in the old Ant-Man costume. He had sized up from miniscule proportion to about an inch in height. The two glared at each other through narrowed eyes.
“I did it because my name is Hank Pym…I’ve saved this world and God knows how many others and I’m not going to let you put me down any more. I had my problems but this is where it all starts to change, this is where I finally live up to my role as a founding Avenger, where I get to be the man I always should have been…the man Jan and everyone else always deserved.”
“So this is where you want to finish this then? In the burned up husk of Avenger’s Mansion?” Yellowjacket tightened his fists and took a step back into a fighting position. He was always violent and too ready to launch into an attack.
Ant-Man kept his posture straight, his judo skill and size changing would stand him in good stead. “Like I said, it was the place it all started, seems poetic…maybe even ironic.” He flashed a bitter smile.
The two tiny men let out a scream of rage as they rushed at one another.
Pier A
Suzy Sherman spent most of her time wondering, ‘Why me?’. Even with Stark’s explanation, she wasn’t sure what made her special enough to be an Avenger?
“Kid, you need to wake up,” Clint Barton declared. Hawkeye stood across the room from her, his mask off, bow in hand.
“Don’t call me kid,” Suzy said with a smirk.
“Okay blondie,” Clint replied. He grinned and drew an arrow from his quiver. “Stop moping about how you don’t deserve this and get into this. Airborne, now.” Suzy followed the order quickly and began to hover above the ground. “I just want to train you a bit on evasion,” he said. “We don’t know you very well and, who knows, you might be great at it.”
“Running away?” Suzy asked. “Of course I am.” They both laughed and Clint raised his bow. “Wait a sec,” she said. “How did you know what I was thinking about?”
Clint lowered the bow and raised an eyebrow. “Suz…” Clint bit his lip and scratched the back of his head. “You’re talking to the original new kid right now. I’ve been an Avenger so long I’m practically a founder, but look at my intro to the world. I was replacing Thor, Iron Man and Pym. Not a pleasant set up for a new guy.”
“You? Feeling in adequate?”
“Didn’t say that,” he said, “but I felt… pressure. A lot of pressure.” He grinned. “As has every recruit for years. I don’t know any new Avenger who hasn’t felt it, except maybe Triathlon. He was just a jack-ass though.”
“I get it,“ she said. “I guess I feel worse because I’m coming after…you know.”
“Yeah,” Clint said, “I know. Come on, though.” He raised the bow.
“Yeah,“ she said. “I know. Back to work. The Avengers motto.”
“You know it,” Clint said, and fired.
The air crackled with an uneasy fervour, a small sudden lightning storm in an abandoned alley the source of the phenomenon as the once still air picked up into a gushing force, throwing scraps and leaves around into a rambling mess. For such an oddity, the experience was only seen by two homeless men, covered in battered blankets as they rested near a couple of empty barrels.
The wall a few feet away from them slowly came alive, an outline of a man slowly stretching from the brick structure. It motioned as if it were walking yet held back until the red color of the brick wall slowly peeled away from the figure, revealing a being rendering a purple and golden metallic appearance. It stood no bigger than a twelve-year-old boy in height; yet was broad as if it could hold much more mass then it appeared to maintain. The figure took a few steps toward the awestruck men, saying nothing as a soft green light shot from its eyes, analyzing the two soot-covered observers.
“Unit activation has been complete. Targets unknown. No available data. Threat level- minimal. Main objective: Location of Avengers.”
The two men remained silent, each of their jaws extended in disbelief while their eyes remained fixed on the man. They looked at each other as the figure turned, walking away from the two unharmed.
“Main function of unit is location and elimination of Avengers,” the figure said again, approaching the busy street as cars raced across its view. It began to analyze the area around it, eyeing multiple targets in its sensors then jumping to the next one, figuring out its next course of action. “Unable to locate Avengers in area. Calculating next course of action – objective disturbance.”
With a firm face, the metallic man walked slowly into the street avoiding the oncoming traffic until the horn of a car alerted everyone to its presence. With a crash, the front end of the car folded severely into the front windshield, leaving the driver unconscious at the wheel of the car. The figure moved unharmed, this time greater in size, pushing the damaged vehicle off of it like a paper weight. It stood unfazed as other people gathered around the scene. With steel like grip, it squeezed a nearby car, throwing it some distance as onlookers dispersed and screamed at the event. Its purpose was clear and its function even clearer…so was the course of the Growing Man.
Zero Room
For a man with immense power, Jack Hart knew that it came with a severe consequence. For him, it was the deadly silence and isolation needed to bear the name Jack of Hearts. Sitting on the only bench in the room, he held his head down as the sound of pressurizing air signalled he had made it to another day. He loathed the zero room, but knew of its necessity to drain off the excess power that he had acquired as youth for the safety of everyone, himself included.
He stepped out with a straight face as he knew he had to return to the unit. It was an ironic loop he experienced every day, dreading the beginning and the end yet enjoying the possibility of twisted fates encountered during his day. He heard the clock on the unit reset, not wanting to turn and look at the reminder of his eventual return. He stepped on the lift, transporting himself from the depths of the complex to the surface. Eventually stepping foot on the soil outside the entrance, Jack looked upward, closing his eyes, saying nothing as he enjoyed the momentary silence as the air mounted into a gentle breeze which struck his face. To him, it was freedom, something he only could hope to experience again while lasting fourteen hours in the zero room.
Jack slowly opened his eyes, seeing a rising pillar of smoke in the distance. The direction of the smoke was eerily close to that of Avengers Mansion. Jack’s brow wrinkled, his muscles tensing under the containment suit that also masqueraded as the symbol of his namesake. With a thought, an unleashed amount of zero energy propelled him skyward.
Staten Island
“Run!”
“Will someone help us?”
“Where are the Avengers?”
“Run!”
“Fantastic Four?”
Screams of many echoed through the city streets. Mass crowds fleeing simultaneously, yelling for help as the crowds became a raging riot seeking shelter.
“Janet,” a mother cried out as the masses separated her from the child who had been clinging to her hand. In a frantic manner, her head searched for her four-year-old daughter as the crowd carried her away.
“Mommy,” the girl cried out, her hand wiping her tears in fear. She stood still, as she was taught, hoping to find a police officer but her tears continued to flow as she could see none around. She let out a soft whimper, biting her lip in an attempt to show how brave she was. The sudden shadow that engulfed her position made her glance upwards, her eyes widening at the site of an airborne car headed in her direction. She turned away, clutching her doll Molly as her eyes tightened. She could hear the sound of a crash, her eyes opening to not feeling anything from the expected collision. She turned, a smile stretching across her face as a multi uniformed man stood between her and the fallen car.
“You,” she uttered, her eyes wide in amazement.
“We got to get you out of here kid,” Jack said, picking her up in her arms as he propelled upwards with the girl. He gently landed a few blocks away, handing the girl to the police officer he had spotted in the crowd.
“I know who you are,” the girl responded, tugging on Jack’s uniform breathlessly.
“Seriously?” Jack asked.
“You’re from Alice in Wonderland!” the girl smiled.
Jack momentarily gazed at the girl, shocked at the comparison, as he prepared to go back to the source of the commotion. “Whatever you say, kid.”
With a roar of unleashed zero energy, Jack headed back into the heart of the fray, wind gushing past him until his eyes saw the machine behind the destruction.
“Hey!” Jack shouted, landing a safe distance away from the stimuloid.
Garnering the attention of the now brute-sized android, the Growing Man looked toward Jack, analyzing his presence in the distance. “Subject identified. Target: Jack of Hearts. Affiliation – 44th member of Avengers. Reroute directive. Exterminate Jack of Hearts.”
Jack smirked. “Yeah that is going to be kind of tough…Holy…” Jack shouted, dodging the metal exterior of a car that raced across his vision. Jack could feel his heart pick up in speed at the sudden attack. He diverted his attention back toward the Growing Man, who was stomping toward Jack, crushing anything that got in his path. “Me and you need to have a serious talk regarding battle etiquette,” Jack barked, his hands charged with zero energy as the Growing Man approached.
The Hulk-like monstrosity threw a quick right jab that Jack managed to evade, but it was followed with a left hook which came closer to striking Jack’s head. Jack continued to dodge the stimuloid’s attack, unable to counter due to the creature’s size. “Damn your fast!” he exclaimed, throwing himself to the side of the creature, stumbling back onto his feet, finally getting a chance to unleash a zero blast into the creatures chest.
The Growing Man barely flinched, absorbing the blast in full as his size grew proportionately. He quickly gripped a car, slamming it towards the retreating Jack.
“Okay, maybe that wasn’t the best idea,” Jack said, noticing the increased size of the creature. Jack continued to stagger back, the force of a quick swat by the Growing Man sending him crashing through a brick wall. “Okay that definitely wasn’t a good idea,” Jack said once more as he brushed the debris off of him. He was amazed at the speed of the creature, his memory barely registering seeing the attack. “That thing takes by blast like it were rain.”
Jack could hear the machine approach, the crunching sounds of his path getting louder by the second. Jack finally peered out of the massive hole in the wall he had inadvertently created, calculating his next course of action. He knew a direct blast of energy would not work so his attention shifted to the ground underneath the creature. Unleashing a massive blast, Jack grimaced at his effort, his attack crumbling the asphalt beneath the Growing Man.
Jack ran toward the crater he’d made where the Growing Man had stood, looking for any presence of the machine. His eyes peered into the depths of the New York tunnels, not seeing anything left of his attacker. Jack could feel a soft rumble in the street as two massive hands broke through the ground, grabbing Jack by the feet and pulling him down to beneath the streets.
The street buckled back up as two figures reappeared, Jack hanging lifelessly in the grasp of the Growing Man, his body dangling freely as it carried Jack like a weightless doll. Jack could barely open his right eye, the direction of the Growing Man unknown as Jack’s vision slowly focused. Jack’s weight shifted, the Growing Man slamming Jack’s body onto a fallen bus repeatedly. Jack could taste the many fluids that fueled the bus, his body unable to defend itself from the repeated assault. Jack prepared for the final blow, knowing that soon would be the fatal finish but then the grasp of the Growing Man loosened, allowing Jack to fall to the asphalt street.
Jack struggled in a weak crawl, his left arm damaged and useless. He expected a blow to his spine or something crushing down on his skull but felt neither, instead hearing voices in the distance. He managed enough energy to pick his head up, blurry figures focusing in the distance.
“Please excuse our delay, Jack of Hearts. We shall surely deal with the Growing Man for such atrocities he has inflicted upon thee and the city.” The voice was distinct to Jack as he chuckled a hurtful laugh, his body falling freely, hoping for enough time for his body to heal itself. He turned slowly to see the battle rage on in the distance, a small smile revealing itself on Jack’s face as he perched his body up to watch. His eyes quickly widened in alarm, however, as he noticed a tear to his suit, knowing the catastrophic results of such a scenario.
Jack managed his way to his feet, stumbling weakly in his retreat. Everything around him seemed to move slowly, as the strength in his legs buckled underneath him. Falling to his knees, Jack’s right arm reached into his belt, retrieving a small object that he quickly injected into his thigh. Jack could feel a strange tingle run up his spine, his mind racing of the end result. With what strength he still had, Jack left the battle, headed back to the only place he knew would help his situation.
Dear Dwayne,
Hey, it’s Elvin, sorry it’s been so long since I’ve written. I know you’re probably pissed with me still for leaving and I’ve no doubt this email is going to result in you trying to get me to come back, but whatever, I need someone to talk to and you’re my best friend.
Anyway, I’m in Los Angeles, or at least near Los Angeles, as I’m currently in the cafeteria on Hydrobase, the marine scientific laboratory floating a few miles off the cost of LA. I’ve just woken up after a few hours sleep to recover from being involved in a fight under the ocean against the Master of the World and some zombie-Lava Men he’d created using the blood of the first Human Torch, the android one. Not Johnny Storm, I’m told.
How I got involved in that, I’m sure you’re asking, well that happened when the bar I was in got levelled by an explosion and Hercules and I responded to the scene of the crime. By Hercules, which I’m sure you’re saying in a questioning voice, I mean the REAL Hercules, demi-god and all around heavy drinker and ass-kicker, Lion of Olympus and Avenger himself. He bought me my first drink…well, drinks…and I couldn’t let him face those horrible burning things alone.
The fight was pretty hard, mainly because I didn’t have my costume at the time and fighting super-hot earthen creatures hand-to-hand pushed my invulnerability to the limits, though I could easily smash them with my strength. Hercules let me use his mace at one point, and I have GOT to get me one of those! It was totally pimpin’! Anyway, the USAgent helped me figure out a way to use fire extinguishers as bombs later, which helped a lot, and we managed to stop the invasion.
Yeah, USAgent helped and I gotta say, he’s a bit of a dick, really. Sorry for all the cursing, but this shit was already heavy and only getting worse. War Machine was there in the fight also, and did you know he was a black guy too? I thought that was awesome and he was really patient with me during our planning on how to save the Torch and Stingray, who’s also a black guy and really smart to boot. He and his foxy wife Diane built this Hydrobase (as well as the first one the Avengers destroyed in New York) and was captured trying to save Namorita.
Yeah, Nita’s here…and so is Kymaera. During the fight at the docks she got attacked underwater and buried in Lava Men and it set her off again. This Kymaera didn’t even recognize me and it took a long time for Nita’s mind to re-establish itself like before. She’s since calmed down and returned to just being Namorita, but she’s shaken pretty bad by what happened, though we have spoken this morning and she was more like herself. I’m worried about her, though.
The last person to arrive was this really hot British chick named Spitfire, who I think used to be on the Liberty Legion in WWII or something. She’s the one who told us about the Master’s plan and the Torch’s predicament. War Mach…er…Rhodey and USAgent came up with a pretty solid two-pronged attack and while Rhodey and his computer A.I. PLATO worked with Diane and Nita to rig up Hydrobase, Agent, Herc, Spitfire and I went down underground to attack the Master and try to save the Torch.
While Spitfire pulled Stingray out, Agent and Herc took the attack to the bad guys and I had to go try to save the Torch, who was opened up like that guy in the Operation game and was connected by a million wires to this alien technology, some race called Play-doh, or something. Rhodey and PLATO set me up some directions on how to disconnect him, but I was not doing so well and I could hear the fight outside was not going well.
What I didn’t know until later was the Master had immobilized Herc and was going toe-to-toe with USAgent! I don’t know if you know this Master, but he’s really smart and has some armor on the scale of Iron Man or Dr. Doom…and Agent stood up to him and held him off long enough for Herc to get free and Rhodey to bring the ocean crashing down on us, but he got the Christ kicked outta him. For a prejudiced white-boy from the South, I gotta give the man a lot of credit for bravery and balls. He is a real hero.
Anyway, Spitfire came back and helped me disconnect the Torch, who I think she’s a little in love with, but don’t tell her I said that. She kinda scares me and moves at super-speed…I never want her mad at me! We got the Torch packed up and met up with Herc and the Agent, and the five of us just barely made it out of the underworld while War Machine held open the tunnel for us before he destroyed it with rockets to seal it off and keep the ocean form flooding completely down the drain.
We had to swim back to Hydrobase a little but the Torch was wrapped in plastic and didn’t receive any additional damage, but Rhodey told me later he wasn’t sure if he could be fixed or not. USAgent’s gacked up on painkillers in the infirmary, and Herc’s been by his side since, claiming a fellow warrior needed to celebrate after a victory, even though USAgent has been mostly asleep since our return. Spitfire’s been sitting by the Torch’s side while Rhodey, PLATO and some S.H.I.E.L.D. techs work on him.
And that’s the real pickle…S.H.I.E.L.D.’s pissed at us. After Rhodey brought the ocean down, Nita came flying in and pulled the Master out and apparently beat the shit outta him on the LA docks until Stingray was able to calm her down long enough to stop her and help her revert back to her normal self. A loud S.H.I.E.L.D. guy named Dugan showed up with some men and wanted to know what was going on, and War Machine convinced them to come back with us to Hydrobase to sort it out.
I don’t know what that means, though I do know Nita said she was going down with some S.H.I.E.L.D. guys and War Machine to see if they can get safely back into the Master’s lair and obtain some of that alien tech to see if we can help the Torch. Dugan’s waiting to talk to USAgent and Stingray about all of us and what we did here yesterday and what we might do in the future. Hercules mentioned that it was good to be with Avengers again stopping villains…and I have to agree, Dwayne. I think I might get to be an Avenger again!
I remember how awesome it was during our times as New Warriors, but this is different. This is something I got into on my own and something that I think is where I need to be for now. I know you’re technically my parental guardian and I’m sure at some point someone will have to contact you about that since everyone knows I’m only 17 years old (my birthday was last month, thanks for the card, LOL), but I’m begging you to let me make up my mind this time. Plus, Nita needs a friendly face and I want to help her deal with this new development in her powers.
Anyway, I’m sure I’ll hear from you before long, one way or another. I hope you’re doing fine.
Elvin
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To Be Continued In:
· The Avengers, by Tony Thornley
· Iron Man, by Mike Hintze
· Solo Avengers, by Mike Hintze
· West Coast Avengers, by Clayton Tooley
· Yellowjacket, by Anthony Crute
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