"It ... was an accident!" is all Loki the Trickster can say. He and his fellow Avengers have assembled around their fallen foe-- Tony Stark lies in a hospital bed with all kinds of wires and tubes and softly-beeping equipment. The Black Knight puts an armored hand on the Trickster's shoulder, "At least Stark can now be exposed for the crimes he performed ... as the Iron Monger!"
***
What an opportune moment for Stark to butt in! The blaggart had been listening all along! He chuckles (as best he can) while telling the Black Knight how wrong he is-- the Trickster had used his transformation powers to magic the Iron Monger armor away! Sure, the Avengers found out his secret, that the armor was the only thing keeping him alive, but now there's no way the authorities can convict him of any crime! "Funny how important those smoking guns are," he coughs, then smiles.
The Hulk says he's about ready to cram that smile down his throat just so he can choke on it, but the Beetle stays his hand. She explains that the whole reason she became a hero was to help due process do its work. Besides, with Stark out of commission, and Thor returned to his home dimension of Asgard, all of the Masters of Evil have finally been defeated. Stark just winks at her and blows a kiss. "Anyone ever tell you you're awfully cute when you're dead wrong?"
The Avengers turn to leave, but the Trickster disagrees. He wants to stay behind. Just in case...
***
What an opportune moment for a cut scene! Cut to: a small contingent of US Army soldiers escorting prisoners in some brick-and-steel hallway. Well, we *think* there are prisoners. What's that a small sphere? Ah, it's what's INSIDE. A diminutive, costumed couple-- Yellowjacket and the Wasp! The group is stopped by a desk checkpoint, since from here a new group of soldiers will escort them further in. While the paperwork is being checked over, the current Commanding Officer asks if the new CO is sure he's ready. "Of course. We've got the 'other one' inside already." The current CO just reminds him, there's a reason that this Yellowjacket guy is on every Top 10 Wanted list from Interpol to NATO. He gives new meaning to the term 'superspy.'
Sounds ominous, huh? Well, not to the new CO. After he sets the sphere in place in a padded cell, he makes his final mistake-- he listens to Yellowjacket! The Wasp appears faint, and the villain explains that if they are trapped at insect-height for too long, they will die! The CO won't hear of it, but Yellowjacket explains. Among the equipment they confiscated were pills containing their growth formula! Besides, being forced to be stuck at this height was cruel and unusual, and when his lawyer finds out...!
Fine! But the CO thinks he's no dummy. He returns with the equipment in the palm of his hand (also shrunk, of course) and a contingent of soldiers. He removes just ONE pill with a pair of tweezers...
Nearby, the Phoenix broods in his own padded cell. Once again, he's been betrayed by the government he had once sworn to protect! But it was only a matter of time... HE wasn't some commodity they could dismiss as a whim! He was a powerful force! He would topple this government, indeed ALL the governments of the world! He was connected to the plight of the individual, the little guy! Once HE ruled the world, HE would get rid of this faceless, manipulative. bureaucratic...
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE KEE-RASH! The roof was literally ripped off his cell by two pairs of powerful hands. As their towering forms and mile-wide sneers could tell you, it seems those growth pills really did work for Yellowjacket and the Wasp! "Looks like we won't be needing Plan C, mon capitan!"
"Wait!" the Phoenix commanded. "Before we leave, there is a particular cellmate who I think may also be in need of rescue..."
***
Ricky Jones wasn't in his Hulked-out form, but the way he was packing away his "light snack" might make you think he'd get there through sheer blubber. Indeed, the whole dining area table was filled with sandwich stuff, salty snacks, and sugary sweets. Captain America sat at the other end of the table. He kept asking about the Hulk's exploits. Scratch that. He kept *grilling* Ricky on the foes the Hulk had encountered. What did it call itself? Was it related to that other? Where did it originate from? Was it capable of speech? Did it say anything cryptic? The Toad Men, Mongu, the Metal Master, Kurrgo, Spragg the Living Hill, what other ones were there?
Ricky's quintuple decker squirted all its contents out the back as he took another bite. "Aw, jeez!" He finally quits answering. "Why do you keep asking me these questions?"
The Captain's face, behind his mask, was unreadable. He stared for a second, then answered, "Research."
Ricky thinks it sounds too much like homework to him. "Why don't you grab a bite?" But the Captain refuses. Come to think of it, Ricky notices the Captain has never removed his mask while he's been an Avenger. Why not? The Captain, again unreadable and after a second, says simply that he has his reasons. The Captain also adds that although he's asking questions, he's not trying to pry into any of Ricky's secrets.
This makes Ricky do a double-take. "I ... don't think I have any," and it sounds like he's just as surprised as the Captain!
***
Speaking of double-takes (we were, weren't we?), Yellowjacket and the Wasp get to do one themselves. The Wasp remarks that the Phoenix's new 'friend' has some interesting toys ("and he's pretty cute, too!" To which YJ responds: "Don't start, Janet. Don't. Start.") All four have made their way into a long-abandoned laboratory, and Simon Williams, their new ally, explains--
Williams Industries had picked up several military contracts, but he was a scientist, never a businessman. Things started to go south, and there was nothing to do but embezzle a bit here and there, maybe for a little racketeering on the side. His own brother would rather run away than do what had to be done to save the family business. "Whatever it takes," that's what father always said. But it was too late. His racketeering somehow became linked to terrorist fund raising overseas, landing him in military custody and his life in ruins.
"Bored now," the Wasp yawns. That's when the Phoenix takes over. He heard of Simon's plight, and he recognized one of Williams Industries' tasks-- the dismantling of Nazi super-weaponry from World War II! Yes, here it is! With one mighty sweep of his hand, a draped cloth reveals a complicated and impressive array of machines! "Behold, Simon! You help us take advantage of your machines, and we help you gain more power than you've dreamed of! And together, we both take one step closer to revenge!"
***
Don't worry. The heroes have a laboratory, too! In fact, Ricky Jones has allowed Nathan Garrett to devote an entire floor of the Emerald Heights building for tinkering! He's in their now, hard at work, while his Black Knight armor stands motionless on its pedestal, should the call to action require it.
The Beetle enters, as she often does, with a few trinkets of her own to tinker with. But it seems pretext now, as she just watches Nathan for a while before asking, "Does it bother you?" Does what?
That Iron Monger, the Black Knight's archenemy, gets away scott-free! That's not supposed to happen. THEY are the heroes. THEY are justice. She put on the Beetle armor because just being a part of the police forensic team wasn't enough. What if being a costumed hero wasn't enough? Where was the hope, and why didn't it bother him?
Nathan looked up from his work and took Rita DeMara by the hand. Some things just can't be fixed like a broken cog wheel or rerouted mainframe. Sometimes the problem was deeper than that, and you just have to keep working to finally root it out. The only sure-fire way to keep a problem? If you DO give up.
They exited together, both failing to recognize that the Black Knight helmet was facing their direction. But, it wasn't facing that way before, was it?
***
Speaking of receptionist lobbies (we were, weren't we?), Whirlwind tries peeking his head into the HulkBoosters lobby whenever the door opens. There's a receptionist inside and an office worker leaning over her to help her. What's wrong with that? Nothing, on the face of it. He leans over, she asks a question, then the door closes again. But, watch what happens when Whirlwind pushes the door open and sneaks a peak again. THEY'RE AT THE SAME POSITION! He leans over, she asks a question, and the door closes again. Is it some kind of time loop? Have they been alien booby-snatched, I mean body-snatched? What is going on with the HulkBoosters?
That's when Whirlwind notices he's not alone. The letter carrier stands in the hall, awkwardly wondering whether he should approach or not. Whirlwind points and whispers loudly, "It's some kind of Twilight Zone in there!" The letter carrier sighs. He's seen this before, and just mutters, "Office drama. Sheesh."
He brings a package inside, and Whirlwind zooms in at super-speed to see how the Twilight Reception deals with it. Just like a Stepford Office, that's for sure. It's all smiles and package-for-Ricky-Jones and thank-yous. Whirlwind can't stand it. "I'll take it!" and he zooms in and out, snatching the package, leaving a signature, and turning the postman like a top. All in under 10 seconds. Too quick to hear the "Wait! No!" warning from the receptionist and the office worker in unison.
And perhaps it's his distractions with the HulkBoosters that keeps him off his guard. Inside the elevator on the way to the top, the box starts leaking ionic energy. Whirlwind drops the package and reels from its release. A gaudily-garbed villain stands before him! Yellowjacket did it! His size-changing particles charged with Nazi-powered ionic energy has given Simon Williams the gift of power over life and death! Now and forever, he is... the Grim Reaper! Ionic energy spews from his scythe-hand, and Whirlwind doesn't have a chance in such small quarters.
***
The Beetle and Nathan Garrett are waiting for the elevator. It's the moment of truth. You know that moment between friends as you start to get close, then there's that awkward silence? The kind of moment that could mean the difference between diving even deeper into a relationship or steering into a still-deep but different "friend zone?" One of those moments. "Rita, I--" Nathan starts, but then the elevator chimes. And the doors open. And a supervillain is inside. And he swipes at both of them with an ionically-charged backhanded scythe. FFSSHHZZ!
"Nathan!" the Beetle screams, since he's thrown across the room. Her armor handled the brunt of it, and she stayed rooted to floor. Her strength-enhanced uppercut didn't do much in response, though. The Grim Reaper's body is diamond-hard! With her suction-fingers, she tears off one of the elevator doors, using it as an additional shield to back away and check on Nathan. He's still breathing, thank goodness, but barely. Suddenly, the Reaper's blade pokes through the elevator door, missing the Beetle's faceplate by inches. The Reaper takes her makeshift shield with both "hands" and rips it in shreds right before her eyes. Forsaking the villain, the Beetle scoops up Nathan and tries to fly away, but the Reaper's ionic blast fells her mid-flight, and the two tumble to the ground. The Beetle's consciousness fades, but she hears Nathan's voice as she drops, saying "we... keep... trying..."
***
Captain America leaps into action as he heard the commotion. Ricky Jones didn't even have the chance to complete the rebuilding of his sandwich. "Don't I have to wait 20 minutes before brawling?" he feebly excuses.
The Captain is blown back inside before Ricky could even get up from the table. Then, the entire wall blows out! The dust reveals the Grim Reaper, recovering from his thrown punch. "Captain America!" he greets his foe, "The Masters of Evil have signed your death warrant, and the Grim Reaper has come to collect!" Ricky hulks-out and leaps into the fray, but the Reaper meets his attack fist-to-fist! BA-ROOM! The shockwaves overturn all the furniture, food, plates, chandelier, and everything. The Hulk and the Reaper are at it hand to hand, but neither can gain the advantage when each irresistible blow is met by immovable power. But the Reaper still has that darn scythe! He presses it against the Hulk's chest and jolts of ionic energy electrify the bestial hero! The Hulk is left standing, panting and giving off whiffs of smoke, and the Reaper does a leap-kick to toss him into the next room-- through the wall, of course.
Whirlwind returns, a little worse for wear, keeping the Reaper disorientated by spinning around and around and around him. His wake starts to lift the debris of the previous battles and he turns them into a barrage of annoyances, pelting his foe. "On my mark, Whirlwind," the Captain barks an order, and Whirlwind dodges aside. The Captain has brought his Liberty's Torch to the fore, and its blast of ionic fire actually causes the Reaper pain! "We've got him staggered!" the Captain yells, as Whirlwind and the Hulk fall in beside him. "It appears our Reaper has mastered ionic energy!" The Hulk is incredulous. Are you sure, he asks? How do you know? Captain America continues blasting with the ionic fire of the Liberty's Torch, but turns to the Hulk. "Because I have the Liberty's Torch," he says, as if it should be obvious.
The energies blur the whole area! The ionic fire coupled with the Reaper's own energies actually makes him appear little more than an bubbly outline within a raging inferno. Until... ultimately... the Liberty's Torch sputters, and dies! Now, it's the Reaper's turn. His swipe with his scythe sends the three Avengers tumbling backwards, even from across the room! The entire floor is smashed, and the heroes and a cascade of debris fall into darkness.
The Reaper stands, gloating, when another blow hits him from behind! That actually... hurt? It's the Black Knight, in full armor! "Stand down, villain, lest you feel the wrath of justice wronged!" The Reaper scoffs, what's that supposed to mean, and the Black Knight pops a sword tip from the back of his right hand, and it slices the Reaper's scythe at the tip! The Reaper responds with FFZZSSHMM! and POW! and BIFF! The Knight takes it each time, his Ebony Armor obviously able to withstand even the ionic-fueled fury of the Grim Reaper. He responds in kind, and every POW! BIFF! SMAK! releases more of the Reaper's own energy! The Knight's armor redirects and deflects energy. Too bad that's the very thing comprising the Reaper's source of power!
As before, the area is bathed in ionic energy! The Avengers assemble around the outer rim of the inferno, shielding their eyes and trying to get a good look at the bubbly, hazy figures dancing within. The Avengers are joined by the Beetle and ... Nathan Garrett? But then who...?
The inferno subsides almost immediately with the final KRAK! of the Knight's fist against the Reaper's face. The Ebony Armor stands astride the fallen form of the Grim Reaper... whose form does not move, nor appear to breathe. "What just happened here?" the Hulk asks. The Captain explains that just like his Liberty's Torch, the Reaper's energies must have simply burnt out, dissappating. Nathan Garrett stares at the Ebony Armor as it turns to look at him. "I don't think that is to which young Ricky was referring, Captain," he states.
***
Back at Williams Industries, Yellowjacket and the Wasp report from their monitors that the experiment was a failure-- the Grim Reaper didn't make it. But the Phoenix considers it a success nonetheless. He sat, staring at the ionic chamber. It DID do what the Nazi scientists claimed it would do, after all. And if it could bestow such power on an ordinary man, what would it do to a man who once served as America's only Super-Soldier? What if HE could have the power to finally achieve the revenge he sought for so passionately?
And the Phoenix continued staring at the ionic chamber, long into the night.
Cover and text by Danny Wall
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