AVENGERS
SPOTLIGHT
#47

starring

PHOTON

"What's in A Name?"
(This story takes place just prior to Avengers West Coast #110 )

Many years ago, before the gun, he had been Jason Dean, a simple man. The Maggia had been his life, and it was a good life. Then he received the gun, and his life changed. Some would say for the better, but most would say for the worst. All that had mattered to him, though, was that he had power. For the first time in his life, he had the power to determine life and death. He had relished that power. Then he battled the spider and the centurion and lost. To this day he still wonders how he lost. With the living-light power of his gun, he should have been unstoppable. One minute he was a God, the next, an angel fallen from the heights of heaven to the pits of hell. That hell was called Ryker's Island, a cesspool of a prison located off of Manhattan. He languished there for years, forgotten by the Maggia, the gun locked far away from him.

He waited patiently for his release, but it never came. The man he had been imprisoned for murdering had been an influential scientist, and his friends had put pressure on the parole board to deny him. So he sat in his cell day after day, formulating plans for revenge against those responsible for putting him behind bars. The names of his targets were Spider-Man and Nova.

Soon though, yet another target began to figure into his plots. A woman had taken his chosen name and began to sully his reputation. She had committed so many good deeds that the villainous roots of the name were all but forgotten. He couldn't tolerate that. He had worked for many years to give himself a reputation for discreet criminal activities. He wanted that reputation back, so he dreamed of revenge.

One day, though, a criminal organization with the odd name of Der Getrennte Kopf used its resources to free him. They also recovered his gun from the research lab that had been studying it. This organization wanted to know how his gun worked, so he'd paid his debt by staying in the remote Carnic Alps, one of the mountain ranges that separates Austria from Italy, in one of their secret labs, with assorted scientists for several months. They had worked long and hard and soon the power of the Photon gun was improved exponentially. Eventually, though, he had grown impatient with the scientists' slowness. He had stolen a prototype of the improved Photon Guan and returned to Manhattan to set his plans into motion.

While helping those scientists he'd had ample time to think about the form his revenge would take. His plan was simple, really. Before he had acquired the gun, he'd blown things up for the Maggia. And that was how he would lure her into his trap. He'd had no trouble finding a supplier. Everyone in the Underworld loved a little mayhem.

The place was easy to find. It was a publishing company with a large day-care center. There was nothing like threatened children to draw out one of the hero-types.

He had easily slipped into the building to plant the charges. After the charges were armed, he made his move.

The security guard inside the front lobby was the first to feel the power of the Photon gun. He was quickly knock unconscious. The Photon gun still worked. He saw no reason to attack anyone else yet. The next person to walk in, a stunning brunette holding a cute toddler, was spared. Instead, the man called Photon* took the child from her and told her his demands. Then the frightened woman was sent out to call the police. The trap was ready for the usurper.

(*If you don't remember this guy from Nova #12 & Amazing Spider-Man #171, then don't worry about it -- Long-Memory Lad.)

Monica Rambeau, the reserve Avenger known as Photon, was doing one of her favorite things--boating on the Mississippi--when the call came through her Avengers communicard. It seemed that a man calling himself Photon had taken over a large publishing firm on Madison Avenue and was threatening to blow up the building along with everyone in it unless she arrived surrendered herself to him within the next ten minutes.

She didn't hesitate to change into her "work" clothes and transform into her energy form. She was there long before the deadline, giving herself enough time to find and read his police record and check in with the police negotiater.

She tapped the man on the shoulder, and he spun around to see who was touching him. He broke into a broad smile and stuck out his hand when he saw her familiar white and black costume.

"I'm very glad to see you here so quickly, Captain Marvel! I'm Sergeant Charles Steen, the man in charge," the policeman said, knowing that he sounded almost pathetically grateful but not caring the least bit. Now that this super-hero was here, he had little doubt that the situation would be resolved.

Monica was surveying the building while she absently answered the man. "It's Photon now, Sergeant. I stopped using the name Captain Marvel a few months ago.* I believe that's how this mess came about.

(* She gave the name to Genis-Vell in Avengers Unplugged #5 - no comment)

"What's the situation now?"

The cop took off his hat and wiped the sweat from his bald head before answering. "He's still demanding you surrender to him, I guess. He said that if sees any other heroes then he would detonate a charge. You're to be at the main elevators by 9:15 a.m. If not, then he will destroy the entire building. The funny thing is, I'm not even sure that he's in there. There was a cellphone waiting at the main door that started ringing when we got here. I answered and was given his instructions, and then he hung up on me. Haven't heard a word from him since.

"He seemed perfectly sane and reasonable, so I doubt that he'll go through with the bombing just for the hell of it. Give him what he wants and he will go away."

Just then, the telephone rang again. Steen answered.

The gruff voice of the man on the other end of the line said, "Is the woman here yet?"

"She's here."

"Put her on, now!"

Steen handed the telephone to Photon and said, "He wants to talk to you."

She took the phone and said, "Photon here. What do you want from me?"

"First of all woman, don't ever call yourself that in my presence! No one but me can call themselves Photon! Secondly, you're running out of time. One minute until I start making a lot of noise. You'd better get in here!" With that, he hung up.

Monica handed the phone back to Steen and told him, "I've got to go in now. Do whatever you can to get those hostages out without him knowing about it. This situation could get explosive."

She heard Steen mutter "I shouldn't have listened to my wife. She said police work would be less dangerous than stunt work. I'd be safer jumping out of a car back in Hollywood" before she transformed into her light-energy form and flew into the building. She easily found the main elevators and stepped inside.

She was surprised when, instead of going up, the elevator began to descend. The villain's voice came from a loudspeaker installed inside the elevator. "This building is a former Secret Empire front. You are currently on your way to a sub-basement. Once there, you will walk outside of the elevator with your hands in the air. You will walk to the end of the corridor, where you will meet me. Then we will talk. That is all I want from you for now. No one needs to die. I will detonate charges only if I have no other recourse."

When the elevator stopped, Monica walked out and followed his directions. She was tense and expecting trouble, but she decided to follow his orders for the moment. She hoped that situation could be resolved peacefully. When she reached the end of the corridor, she was confronted by a man wearing a drab brown and green costume with a full mask over his head and a gun in its holster at his side. The room was full of expensive surveillance equipment and several other gadgets that she was unfamiliar with.

"Welcome, woman, to my temporary base of operations."

"Why did you go to all of this trouble just to talk to me?"

She wasn't sure, but she thought she saw a smile under the mask.

"How else can an escaped criminal arrange a meeting with a super-hero?"

Monica laughed and said, "True."

"You can put yours hands down. The reason I asked you here was to talk about your use of my chosen name. Are you aware of how hard I worked to earn the reputation that went with the name Photon?"

Monica shook her head and answered, "No, I didn't even know the name was being used. I just needed a new name and chose it. Someone with more of a right than myself to the name Captain Marvel came along, so I chose to him that name. I didn't even think that I could be using your name. I had never heard of you until the police report I read before I came here. Your interaction with heroes was limited to Spider-Man and Nova after you murdered Dr. Rakph Rider, and that happened years ago. Most of the heroic community is unaware of you existence, so I can't be blamed for not knowing either."

"You're right that you can't be blamed, because it was intentional that few heroes had heard of me. I chose to be very low-key in my work. I guess that I won't begin my revenge with you after all.

"I do want you to stop using my chosen name, though. A super-villain's name and the reputation that goes along with it are very important to us, and I'm ready to resume my career. Rider's influential friends can't stop me any longer. If you agree, then I'll give you this." He pulled a small black box from a nearby table. "The detonator to the explosive charges that are in this building."

Monica thought to herself, 'I should be bringing this man to justice, not talking to him like I'm at a church social. But for some reason, I like him. He may be a killer, but he's a charming killer. The name that I go by isn't as important to me as it is to him, so why shouldn't I give him what he wants before I return him to prison?'

Out loud she answered, "Okay, I'll stop using the name Photon."

He nodded and reached out to hand the detonator to her.

As Monica reached out to take it from him, the door of the elevator exploded outward and men dressed in old, patched-up Hydra and Sons of the Serpent uniforms came piling into the sub-basement from ropes they had used to repel down the elevator shaft.

Photon dropped the detonator and reached for his holstered gun. He aimed at one of the men and said, "Damn, I got distracted and forgot to check the surveillance monitors. I didn't expect them to find me so soon."

A stream of blinding light left the barrel of the gun and raced toward the first intruder. Monica watched as a globe of light formed around the man and he passed into unconsciousness. "I guess that's why you picked the name Photon! Who are these men, and what do they want?"

Photon kept blasting at the invaders, knocking one or two of them out with each beam before they could use their own Photon guns. "They want me! They're Head-hunters, shock troopers for an organization called Der Getrennte Kopf. That's the organization that busted me out of prison. I left them before they really wanted me to, and they want me back. Enough talking! Start fighting!"

Monica joined the battle, transforming herself into lightning and flying at the Head-hunters. Soon, the overpowered invaders were all defeated.

Another figure slid down a rope and entered the sub-basement. He was a tall, blond man, wearing a black leather costume, with what appeared to be a fireman's hatchet strapped to his back. He clapped and said, "Bravo, Jason! You've still got the talent! It's too bad you spurned us. This is your last chance to return to us."

Photon replied, "Hatchet-Man! Tell Otto to shove it up his butt! I'm never working for a criminal organization again! Too easily they ignore their captured members!"

Monica watched as the man apparently called Hatchet-Man reached into his pocked and pulled out an exact copy of Photon's detonator.

"Recognize this? I had it made after the munitions boys supplied you with the charges. We had a watch order out among our suppliers in case you tried to buy explosives from them. You did. You were being followed from the minute you took possession of the charges. This was all a plan to confront you and to eliminate you if you refused to return. The Count said that if you didn't agree to return, then to kill you. I figured this would be the simplest way to do it, and I can take one of the heroes out at the same time."

With those words, he pressed the detonator and Monica's world was consumed by blinding light and fire and smoke as the building lit up the sky in a tremendous explosion. She instinctively transformed into her light form when his finger tensed, and she flew up through the exploding building and toward Sergeant Steen.

She screamed at him, "Did you get everyone out!?!"

"There wasn't anyone in there! Just instructions that said they were in a warehouse in Hoboken! The Jersey cops confirmed there were a bunch of unconscious people there. The ones who were awake had no idea how they got there. They just remembered being herded together by a guy in a brown and green costume and then a flash of light and they were in Hoboken. We had already evacuated the surrounding buildings, so there should be no casualties. What happened to the guy?"

"I don't know for sure. Just before everything blew up, I saw a flash of light. Maybe he teleported. I don't know about him or the other guy. I'll file a report later. First I want to look for their bodies."

With that, she flew into the wreckage, barely glancing at the damage to other buildings.

She found no trace of either man.

Epilogue: One Day Later

Monica exited police headquarters after giving her statement. She transformed into her light-energy form and slowly flew home to Louisiana.

Along the way, she reflected on the last day. "I guess that I'll never know what happened to Photon. I found his costume and gun in the wreckage of the building and gave them to Sergeant Steen, but there was no trace of the man. There was no trace of Hatchet-Man or the Head-hunters either. I still have no idea who he was. Avengers files made no mention of either him or Der Getrennte Kopf. The same with S.H.I.E.L.D. They're both enigmas. The questions about the whole thing are going to bother me for a while. How did Hatchet-Man and the Head-hunters get in without the police knowing? Could they have gotten out the same way? Could Photon have teleported himself out like he apparently teleported the office workers? Oh well, there's little chance I'll know any of the answers."

"I've decided that I will honor my promise to Photon. A codename is just a convenience to me, something to protect my family and my way of my life. To Photon, it was much more. I wouldn't feel comfortable using the name anymore. If he would go to the lengths that he did this time, imagine what he could do in the future if he was still alive and I had kept his name. No thanks. It's all his."

"I have no idea what I will be called now, but it will be an identity no one else has ever had. This won't happen to me again."

Then, as she was passing low over New Orleans, she saw a little girl of 4 or 5 about to walk into a busy street, eyes on the puppy that had escaped its leash and somehow made it safely to the other side. In an instant, Monica was there the stop the girl, holding her tightly.

The girl immediately began to cry and struggle. "Easy, child, I won't hurt you, but those cars will! How about I help you cross the street and get your puppy?"

The girl looked at her for a moment, then sniffled and said, "'Kay."

Monica took hold of the girl's hand and led her to the intersection. "Now we wait for the light to change from red. That means it is safe to cross, AFTER looking both ways. And you should never cross a busy street without an adult."

After the light changed, they walked across the street. The puppy, who had miraculously stayed put, ran to his young mistress and began to lick her face.

"Now, girl, what's your name, and where's your mommy at?"

"Me name Mandy Belue" She pointed to a relieved looking woman running across the intersection toward them. "Mommy there."

Just then, the woman reached them and pulled Mandy into her arms. She was crying and saying, "I thought something bad was going to happen to you, naughty girl! Don't ever run away like that!"

She turned to Monica and said, "Thank you! I saw what you did! I knew I couldn't reach her before she walked into the street, and I was afraid I was going to lose her. Then you appeared out of nowhere and saved her. How can I ever repay you, Lady Merveille?"

A man in the crowd who had gathered to watch the scene said, "Are you stupid, lady? That's Captain Marvel!"

Another man interrupted him. "No, she goes by Photon now!"

Monica gave the woman a big smile and said, "Just love your daughter. That all you have to do to repay me. And Lady Merveille is fine. Better than fine, in fact!"

Then, as she transformed into her light-energy form and flew into the sky, the people around saw her still smiling and heard her say, "Lady Merveille. I like the sound of if!"

Elsewhere:

The man tumbles aimlessly, unable to stop himself. There is nothing to hold onto. He screams, but there is no one to hear him. He watches the endless panorama of energy and slowly begins to lose him mind.

Authors Notes: This is one of those stories that wrote itself (on the sixth re-write!) and turned out far differently from what I had initially intended. I know I left off with a lot of questions unanswered, but keep reading my work and those questions will be answered. The secret of Der Getrennte Kopf (along with the English translation of the name) and its mysterious leader Count Otto will be revealed in Marvel Team-Up #179-181 (the first issue, starring Wildstreak & Daredevil, is already up on the Marvel Knights branch). As for Monica Rambeau, she can be seen in Avengers West Coast #110 (where her new identity officially debuted) and onward, marvelously written by Mark Bousquet (Who I owe a special thanks to for allowing me to write this in the first place. Now you know who to blame. Just kidding, Mark! :) ).