West Coast Avengers #103
She didn't know what to do. She had just returned from the meeting*, and now she was almost alone. Iron Man had said he didn't want to vote, so a revote was taken later. Dane had changed his vote to keep the AWC. Feeling unappreciated, Wanda had left. Iron Man said he had to work stuff out. U.S. Agent took a leave of absence. It was up to Spider-Woman to re-organize the team, but who'd be interested?
(*-See AWC #102)
She supposed she should call the reservists.
"Hello Beast? It's Spider-Woman. You want to join the Avengers west? No? X-Business? I understand."
Hmm…who next?
"Hello, Quasar? It's Spider-Woman, from the Avengers West. We were wondering if
you wanted to join us."
There was no need to let him know she was the only current Avenger West until Hawkeye and U.S. Agent came back.
"You'll be in space too much? I understand. No, we'll make do."
Bad luck continued. She hadn't been able to reach Sandman, Mantis or the Moon Knight. Her next target, Avengers Mansion, NYC.
Finally some good luck. The Eackos were all together.
"Jarvis? Hi, it's Spider-Woman. Could you get me Cap? All in the conference room? Just hook me up to there, then."
She waited patiently.
"Eackos? That you? It's Spider-Woman. I was wondering if any of you wanted to come out west and be a Wacko for a while. Anyone?"
Meanwhile, Iron Man was busy at his new office in San Fransisco. Let's listen in, shall we?
"Let's see," muttered Iron Man, "I can't get any Avengers, but there aren't many good heroes that haven't been Avengers, either East or--that's it!"
He switched on his computer.
"Iron Man calling Great Lakes Avengers. Great Lakes Avengers, do you read me?"
Now, in NYC, the Black Knight, Sersi and Crystal were talking in one corner, the Swordsman, Magdelene and Giant-Man in another, and Captain America and the Black Widow were making idle chat with Spider-Woman, who was still connected from Palos Verdes.
"It would be nice to go out west. I'm going, and I hope you'll come too, Dane," said Crystal.
"I'd like to, but Serse and I are staying until we've dealt with Proctor."
"Giant-Man, what do you know about the Avengers West?" quizzed the Swordsman.
"Well, they've been around for a while. The Vision, under the influence of ISAAC, formed them and let Hawkeye lead them. You weren't at the meeting, but this could be a big break for you guys."
"No. We want to stay in New York, especially since we don't know this universe that well."
"Suit yourself, but I'm going."
"Well, we got Crystal and Hank joining you. Sorry, but that's all we can spare for now."
"No problem. Spider-Woman out."
Back in Palos Verdes, at the AWC compound…
"There's three. Three more and we'll be set."
Just then, someone walked behind Spider-Woman.
"Hiya Julia!"
"Simon! You ready to rejoin Avengers West?"
"Of course! And so is she!"
"Sh-oh! Tigra!"
"Hi Julia! You guys got two open spots?"
"Yeah. Just one more member we need."
"Who?"
"I don't know. We'll go with five for now. Let's wait until Hank and Crystal get here from NYC."
"Ooh. Three women and two men!"
"Bet you feel outnumbered, huh Wondy?"
"Not really. I have a bachelor's in calculus."
"I see…"
Two hours later, all the new Whackos were assembled in the conference room.
"Okay guys. You all know why you're here. You all want to be Avengers West. I've scheduled a press conference for 20 minutes from now, so we need to vote a leader. Just write the name of whoever you vote for on this slip of paper and put it into this box."
A couple minutes later, after all the votes had been placed in the hat, and Tigra had jokingly asked if she could vote for Tom Hanks…
"Okay," started Julia, "I'll go tally the votes. Just a reminder that whoever has the most votes has to leave the tribal council area-er…sorry, Rachel likes Survivor. Not me. I prefer ABC. Anyhow…one vote for me. One for Hank. One for Wonderman, and I think I see Tim Allen's name and John Wayne's name crossed out? One for Hank. One for Crystal. I guess Hank's the new chairman, if he wants to be. Do you?"
"Of course."
The press conference went smoothly, until a certain question came out…
"Hi, it's Tom Brokaw. Just what territory will you guys be covering?"
"Well, Mr. Brokaw, we'll cover the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas west. Of course the eastern Avengers will help us when we need help, and vice versa."
"Hi, Dan Rather here. Will you yell 'Avengers Assemble!'?"
"Well…" started Hank, "OK."
"AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!"
NEXT ISSUE: Now that the AWC have a lame call, what villains will they fight? Who will be their sixth member? How many Hollywood stars will Tigra meet? Find out!