Avengers #424

Dark Stirrings

by Scott Harris

As our tale opens other tales come to an end. Outside Avengers Mansion the Avengers (Captain America, Ms. Marvel, Vision, the Sub-Mariner, Yellowjacket and the Beast) are seeing off the reservists that came to their aid at the end of their battle against the Masters of Evil (seen in the already-classic Avengers #423 -- Astonished Scott). As Thor, Black Knight and the others fly off, we also see the end of another tale, as a high-security police vehicle pulls away from the Mansion, containing the person of Mr. Fear (who was captured in the truly Vantastic Avengers #422 -- Vannnnnntastic!). The van drives off and the Avengers return to the mansion for a debriefing and we see that the whole scene has been witnessed by a mysterious figure -- a bedraggled middle-aged man wearing a trench coat over a faded blue and yellow costume. A man who now watches the team and begins to tentatively move towards the mansion...

"I don't think I care for the tone of your voice, Captain." Namor says, staring Cap down. We're back inside the mansion, our mysterious visitor and his mysterious plans forgotten for the moment.

Cap responds to Namor by reiterating what he has just finished saying, namely that he is disgusted with the teams performance. Since they formed as a unit they've been involved in three potential battles: one Jarvis won without them even realizing there was a problem, in the second Yellowjacket defeated the whole team and the third time they were bushwacked by the Thunderbolts. Things came out for the best each time, but the next time they might not and Cap doesn't want there to be a next time. Especially galling is the fact that this is the most professional Avengers lineup ever, with every member having been extensively trained and acting as a full time hero for years. They aren't a rookie group but sure seem like it.

Ms. Marvel suggests that Cap should give them a little time to get used to working together and gel as a unit, but Cap curtly tells her that they may not have time for luxuries like that.

"We're all professionals and Avengers; I expect our performance to be greatly improved next time we are called upon, is that understood? In order to insure this takes place I've come up with a tentative training schedule..."

Ms. Marvel cuts in, saying they dont need any more training; they're all professionals, as Cap has said, and should be treated as such instead of as raw rookies. Cap responds that he'll treat them like rookies until they start acting otherwise, which draws an anry look from Ms. Marvel. Before another round of arguing can ensue, though, Jarvis interrupts with a message for the Vision: Wanda is on the phone. Vision excuses himself and Cap decides to adjourn the meeting and let things cool off.

While the Vision goes to speak with Wanda the rest of the team splits up to pursue their own interests. For Cap this means replaying survelance camera footage of their fight with the Thunderbolts; Hank excuses himself and goes to the main hall where the Wasp is just leaving for a meeting with Bill Foster (see Tales to Astonsih #482 for the scoop on their meeting -- Last-Month Scott). She's got her bags with her, as she's moving out of the mansion and back into an apartment now that Tony Stark has returned her stolen fortune. Hank tells her he just wanted to see her off and wish her luck with her new venture. She thanks him and gives him a hug, then turns to leave, but before she does he asks her if somethings bothering her.

"Actually, Hank -- there is. I didn't want to say anything, but...

"Go ahead, Jan, what's wrong?"

"Well...I'm just not comfortable with you wearing that Yellowjacket costume anymore. I guess...I guess every time I see you wearing it I think about the whole mess with your trial and the Masters of Evil and..."

"...and. I can guess and what. Look Jan, I'm sorry, i didn't realize. If you want I'll be happy to drop the costume, lord knows we know enough designers ready to provide me with a new one."

Jan tells him that's not neccessary and the two of them share a somewhat uncomfortable silence before Jan speaks up and tells him to keep wearing it and make it a costume to be proud of once again. He says he'll try and they hug; then she leaves and Hank wanders off down the hall alone with his thoughts...

...and he passes by the open door of a communications room where we see the Beast in the middle of his own conversation, with Cyclops. Cyclops is talking about the new wing they're building on the Mansion to house all the new students (What new students? Wait till you see New Mutants #200 a few months from now! -- Kang Plexico). Cyclops says there are other people who want to talk to him and he gives the screen over to Rogue.

"Howdy, Hank, ah've sure missed...uhm...excuse me, somthin's come up. Ah'll call you later." Rogue abruptly hangs up, leaving Hank to wonder why, but he doesn't wonder for more than a second before Ms. Marvel comes into the room.

"Who were you talking to, Hank?" She asks. Hank thinks for a second that Rogue must have had a 7th sense flash and hung up so she wouldn't see Ms. Marvel.

"Oh, uh, Slim and some of the other personna non gratas in the homo superior segment of our society. In other words, the X-Men." Carol nods but seems uninterested in the X-Men; rather, she wants to talk about the Avengers, specifically Cap coming down on their lack of success in the debriefing. Carol asks the Beast if he thought Cap was a bit out of line but Hank answers he was just being Cap, worrying about the little details so they could concentrate on the Avenging. Carol isn't so sure but she's worked with tough commanders before like Nick Fury so she decides to just ignore it and pass it off as Cap being a perfectionist.

"Up for some pool, furbag?" Beast grins and the two of them head off towards the recreation room...

Meanwhile, accross town, the high tech security van lumbers along towards the holding cell, Mr. Fear securely shackled in the back. Pulling to a stop at a red light, the van is suddenly attacked by a group of Ultimatum agents. Blasting the side of the van off the agents grab the confused looking Mr. Fear and begin hustling him down the street, but the security guards have other ideas; pulling out blasters supplied by the Vault they begin fighting the Ultimatum agents and a wild gunfight breaks out in the center of New York. While the battle rages on one of the guards grabs a radio and calls for the Avengers...

...while high above the battle a dark and mysterious figure watches and calmly opens a case to reveal a deadly sniper rifle...

...and in a secret location a man, hidden in shadow, watches the Ultimatum agents and Mr. Fear fight on one screen while he watches the rooftop sniper unlimber the rifle on another screen. The man in shadow steeples his fingers and whispers "Good...very nice."...

...and we cut back to Avengers Mansion. Whew, enough secret people with hidden agendas for you yet? Fear not! For very soon some secrets will be made clear, as outside Avengers Mansion our costume clad figure has finally decided to approach the front foor. He steps up and rings the doorbell....

...while inside the mansion the Vision has just finsihed talking to Wanda and is brooding about the conversation when Namor enters the room. He apologizes for interrupting Vision's thoughts but Vision assures him it is no problem and asks if he can help Namor with anything. Namor responds that it isn't himself that Vision might be able to help but rather Ms. Marvel. Vision is intrigued and Namor explains: Ms. Marvel and Vision have both been suffering from a very similar condition, i.e. they have complete memories of their past but no emoional connection to them. While Ms. Marvel is still suffering from this disconnection, though, Vision seems to have regained his emotional connection to his past. Now Namor is wondering if he can somehow help Ms. Marvel do the same.

Vision responds that he will be happy to try but isn't sure there is anything he can do. His theory is that when he was taken apart by the government (In the truly black days of Avengers West Coast #42 -- Sad Scott) the he, for all intents and purposes, died. His body lived on with the programmed memories in place but that certain something, a soul if you will, was cut loose of the body, or repressed, and while he showed flashes of regaining his emotions it wasn't until Onslaught that he truly became whole again. His theory is that wherever his soul was, when Franklin Richards was creating the HR world he somehow subconciously pulled Visions soul in and reattached it to his body. As strange and metaphusical as this sounds, Vision concludes, he has seen enough mystical happenings in his years with the Witch to make him believe it is certainly possible. And if it is true then he isn't sure if he can do anything for Ms. Marvel.

Still, he is willing to at least talk to her about it. Namor thanks him and they begin walking through the Mansion to find Ms. Marvel. As they walk, Namor reminds him of their conversation about the Invaders years ago (In Vision and the Scarlet Witch Vol. 2 #6. But I'm sure you knew that already. -- Thankful Van). At the time they assumed Vision was actually the Human Torch, but since then it appears he wasn't. Vision replies that he's not so sure about any of his supposed origins any longer due to some strange occurances he has been experiencing -- but before he can go into detail Namor interrupts.

"One moment -- it appears our good man Jarvis is having some difficulty." Jarvis is ahead at the front door trying to send someone away but isn't having much luck, so Namor and Vision walk up to find what's going on. It's our mysterious visitor; seeing Vision and Namor he becomes even more worked up.

"Namor -- Vision -- please, let me in! You've got to listen to me...this time, you have to...I need to talk to the Avengers!"

"My apologies, sirs, this man has been most insistant..." Jarvis says.

"What seems to be the problem, citizen?" Namor says. The man look relieved to finally be talking to an Avenger but suddenly a claxon rings out; the alarm. Namor and Vision turn and fly down the hallway.

"No! Wait, wait! I need to talk to you!"

"I'm sorry sir, you'll have to come back another time." Jarvis says, firmly closing the door on the man, who stands on the doorstep, almost in a panic as the Avengers zoom out of the Mansion overhead and fly out towards a distant part of the city.

"I can't let them get away from me...I wont! Not this time!" Turning, the man begins running down the street...

...and we cut to the battle in mid-town Manhattan. Several cars have been destroyed and lay flaming amid the rubble, and both guards and Ultimatum agents alike are wounded in the street; still the battle rages on. While the soldiers fight, though, a strange truck pulls up in a nearby alley. Rushing Mr. Fear to the truck amidst a barrge of shots, a group of Ultimatum agents manage to get himsafely to the truck. With a laugh he jumps in while the back hatch opens and several large and oddly familiar...robots?... exit; we don't get a good look at them, though, before the truck zooms away with Mr. Fear safely inside. The truck zips around a couple of corners, and as it turns each corner it undergoes a strange conversion; a cloaking device changes it at each intersection into a slightly different looking truck until, several blocks away, it appears to be a simple U-Haul truck. Thus disguised it drives sedatley underneath the Avengers who are flying at breakneak speed in the opposite direction, towards the battle.

"There's the skirmish ahead." Cap says over his shoulder to Hank, who is sharing a skycycle with him. "Hmmm...that's odd. I don't see any..." Cap is suddenly cut off as an energy blast from the alley frags the skycycle! Stunned, Cap falls but Hank, with his mutant healing factor, recovers almost instantly from the blast (shielded as he was by Cap) and grabs Cap in midair; using his amazing acrobatinc skills he tumbles them towards a building where he slingshots them oround a telephone pole and back up to a nearby rooftop where he lands with a graceful flourish while the other Avengers zoom past to attack their sudden, unexpected assailants...the Mandriods!

"Good lord...are those the Mandroids?" Yellowjacket says. "You're kidding. I haven't seen those things in years."

The four flying Avengers easliy dodge the Mandroid shots, except for Vision who lets them pass through him. Taking the point, Namor flies in and blasts a Mandoid in the chest with a mighty punch while Ms. Marvel unleashes a blast of star power at another one. "Vision, check if these things have people in them or if they're the fully automated verisons. I'll take care of the Ultimatum goons." Yellowjacket commands. Above them, on the rooftop, Cap is groggily coming to; shaking off the blast he gets to his feet and he and Beast head towards the sounds of battle...

...while on a nearby rooftop, all unnoticed, a dark figure with a high powered sniper rifle slowly takes aim at the Avengers in the street below...

...and we return to the Vision. Intangible, he was walked inside a Mandroid; the Mandriod, unable to comprehend what is going on, continued blasting uselessly at him while he phases inside. He briefly looks around inside the empty suit, then comes back out and informs the other Avengers that the suits are empty. That's all the others needed to hear; a moment later Namor, Ms. Marvel and Vision are tearing them apart while Cap and Beast help Yellowjacket round up the few remaining Ultimatum agents with ease. Thus winning the battle with ease, Yellowjacket quickly zooms around the area looking for any sign of Mr. Fear, but finds none, and returns to the others to report.

"This doesn't make any sense." Cap says. "If they already had Mr. Fear away safely, why leave these Mandriods here? Nobody could seriously think they'd give us a problem."

"It could just be a diversion to cover his escape" Namor suggests.

"Possibly. If so it seems to have worked. Still, there must be more to it. There are cheaper diversions than destroying a billion dollars worth of Mandroid..." Cap ponders...

...and on the rooftop above the dark figure slowly sqeezes the trigger...

...and a moment later a bullet zings past Cap's head smashing into the pavement next to him. In a flash the Avengers are airborne, with Namor carryingCap and Beast as they fly to the nearby rooftop where they are astnoished to find...

"The Assassin!" The Beast gasps. "Now I've seen it all. Where's Thunderboot?" The other Avengers are too surprised to react to Hank's humor though. The Assassin (You read Avengers #145-146, right? RIGHT?!? -- Assassvan) is lying unconcious on the ground, rifle broken, and standing above her is...

...our mysterious costumed man from the past few issues. Namor recognizes him from the conversation at the door and relates this to the other Avengers, leading Cap to ask "Alright, friend, who are you anyway?" The man looks almost joyous; he can't believe this opportunity is finally here. Pulling himself erect he briefly dusts off his tatttered overcoat and says in a faltering voice that strengthens as he talks...

"I..I'm...they call me Dr. Amazing and... I'm one of the founding Avengers!"

While our stunned heroes try to fathom this claim, we cut to the darkened room we visited earlier, where our shadowy man is watching the events on ihs two screens. He makes a comment about this getting interesting, then another person appears, stepping from off panel; it's Mentallo. Mentallo, clearly deferring to our mystery man, questions him about his schemes; he seems pleased even though his gambit with the Assassin failed, resulting in her capture as well as the destruction of the Mandroids and the capture of the Ultimatum agents. Also, Mr. Fear, though now rescued, failed in his mission as well. The man dismisses Mentallo's concerns.

"My dear Mentallo, for all your professed mental acumen you think in such a linear fashion. Mr. Fear and Assassin both had more than one objective and while I had hoped to take out an Avenger or two in the process they both succeeded admirably in thier primary aims. The Assassin can do me far more good on the inside of our prison system then she could on the outside, and as for Mr. Fear, I believe you will find he carries with him a number of key documents regarding the Avengers that he had time to pilfer during his brief stay there.

"The Mandoids and Ultimatum were just fodder; they served their purpose, I have no further need of them.

"Haste is the downfall of greatness, Mentallo, something I have learned to my regret in the past. This time I will make sure all the bases are covered. Yes, Mentallo, I think things are proceeding just fine...just fine indeed..." and he leans slightly out of the darkness, just enough to let us see an evil smile reflected in the light...and on his belt...could that be a capital N...?

Next Issue: Gasp at the astonishing revelations in this special triple sized 425th Anniversay issue! Who is Dr. Amazing? Find out the truly unbelievable facts in this look back at the past -- and secret past -- of Earth's Mightiest Heroes! Be there!

MIGHTY MARVEL CHECKLIST:

Tales To Astonish # 483 Starring Giant-Man and the Wasp! As Dr. Nemesis fights for life, Wasp leads a new group of Champions into battle against the Stilt-Man and his Horrible Puppets! Don't miss this (sort of) lead in to Champions #18!

Hulk # 29

Defenders # 176

Dr. Strange #398

Uncanny X-Men #374

Amazing Spider-Man #452 The unthinkable! Mary Jane taken Baby May and left for good -- only nobody knows where she has gone! Peter barely has time to deal with this tragedy before another strikes, though, this time in the guise of AIM!

Spectacular Spider-Man #274

Conan #299 Conan and Red Sonja battle side by side to seal the gates of hell itself! But even their combined power will be hard pressed to stop the horde of undead and their unbeatable commander...KULL!

Micronauts #92

Excalibur #139 Two-Gun vs. Zzzax, Lord of Lava in the heart of downtown London! If that wasn't enough, learn the shocking true identity of Meggan's new beau! It'll blow your ears off!

New Mutants #195 Arcade is dead but that's just the start of this warped tale: Warpath, Moonstar and Free Spirit have to try and save his worthless soul, but all roads to hell go through...the Badoon!

Heroes For Hire #29

Silver Surfer #157 Trying to regain his sense of purpose after the Herald War, Surfer responds to a distress call and discovers himself in the middle of a Badoon trap! Continued in Marvel Team-Up #177!

Moon Knight #125 Special double sized extravaganza! The mystic Night of the Three Moons finally arrives, with drastic consequences, as Moon Knight splits in three! Now Jake Locksley, Marc Spector and Steven Grant must fight it out...to the death!

Thunderbolts #34 The government has taken control of the Thunderbolts, intending to turn them into the US Alpha Flight. But when MACH-1 and Atlas meet their new commander, will they be forced to become villains once more? Who is "The Commander"?

Cable #72

Ghost Rider #113

Marvel-Two-In-One #102 The Thing opens his own bar, but when his first customer turns out to be the being called Entropy, the Thing has just one option..."Cry Crimebuster!"

Shadowcat #2 Can Shadowcat hope to thwart the latest of Thanos' mad schemes? Frankly, we don't think so. Still, you might want to find out what the In-Betweener has to say first...

Alpha Flight #159 Joto tries to come to terms with his new home, but as far as Diamond Lil is concerned Joto can burn; she wants to know what happened to her husband. And with Access missing, it looks like she'll have to take the answer out of Joto's hide...

Captain America #475

Iron Man #354

Thor #524

What If? #128

Fantastic Four #438

Hawkeye #2 Hawkeye! USAgent! Dr. Strange! All this plus the menace of Mephisto! Don't say we didn't warn you!

Marvel Team-Up #177

Wanda #1 of 8

JIM #2 of 12