AVENGERS

#444 - May, Year 4 - MV1

"Giant-Yellow-Ant-Jacket-Man"

written by Mark Bousquet

A mercenary hired by person unknown continued his surveillance of Avengers Mansion. For weeks he'd been camped out in this empty office on this empty floor of a high-rise office complex, watching the Avengers, gathering information, preparing himself to hit his target when the time came. Beside him on the carpeted floor was a long-range sniper rifle that he intended to use to hit his target. On the opposite side of his body was a wireless phone that began to ring.

"Go," the mercenary said.

"Today is the day," the voice on the phone said to him. "Eliminate the target."

"That won't be a problem."

"You had better hope your ego does not overextend your abilities. It would not be wise for you fail us, Deadpool. These are the Avengers, remember."

"Geez, how can I forget?" Deadpool clicked off the transmission and trained his binoculars on the front gate. "Oh look, the kooks are back," he noted as a group of protestors began walking with placards in front of the Mansion.

"Blast it, where are you, Ant-Man!"

Henry Pym was tired, ragged, nearing his breaking point. Sweat poured from his face and his lab coat and shirt were drenched from the hours of stress Henry was inflicting on his body. For the past fourteen hours - ever since Captain America and Dum Dum Dugan had retreated to a private room to talk - he'd sat in his locked laboratory, watching and re-watching every frame of coverage from C-SPAN and SCN about the Avengers appearance before the Senate's Committee on Super Human Affairs, desperately trying to find footage of Ant-Man buzzing around the heads of the Senators.

Nothing. He found nothing.

His mind raced with possibilities. Ant-Man was too small to be noticed. Ant-Man was always around the heads of the Senators that weren't speaking, so there'd be no guarantee the cameras caught him.

And then, of course, the possibility he always came back to - Ant-Man wasn't real. Ant-Man was a figment of his own imagination. He was going insane.

"No, no, no!" Henry cried, slamming his fists onto his workbench, sending tools flying.

Ever since Dr. Amazing's betrayal was revealed, Henry worried that this might come to pass, that his mind might somehow become unglued.

"Who's there?!?" Henry yelled, frantic.

A female voice came to him, "Dr. Pym, it's me, Dani Moonstar. Captain America asked that I check in on you. Are you okay? Have you been in there all night?"

Dani. The new girl. Thank God. "Y-yes!" Henry yelled, his throat dry. Running his hands through his blonde hair, Henry moved quickly across the room to open the door. He blinked twice at the beautiful young woman before him. "Dani, is it? How do you do? Yes, I remember you from my birthday party," he said quickly, trying to calm himself. "You can tell Captain America that I'm fine. Just tired, stressed out … long night of work. I won't bore you with the details."

"It's okay," Dani said, moving into the room. "They just wanted me out of their big morning meeting, anyway."

"Why is that?" Henry asked, watching her move to one of his workbenches.

"I've yet to be officially elected," Dani scoffed. "They act like I'm some damn rookie. Plus, they think the government forced me on the team, when in reality I'm here because Thor is supposed to nominate me for membership."

"He was? Why would he do that?" Henry pressed, running his hands through his hair again, trying to push it into some semblance of order.

"Couldn't tell you exactly," Dani shrugged, picking up random pieces of equipment off the bench. "I've been training with SHIELD for the past few months and he contacted me there. I hitched a ride up here with Dum Dum Dugan after he'd been reassigned to become your new government liaison." Dani looked at Pym with concern. "Sure you're okay? You like hell."

Henry forced a smile. "I'm fine. Really. Just tired. Now, if you'll excuse me I can clean up and get some rest."

Dani nodded, placing the equipment back on the bench. "Sure thing, Dr. Pym."

Henry waited by the door as Dani left, then quickly shut it behind her, locking it tight. Letting out a deep sigh, he turned around-

And saw Ant-Man standing on the back of a chair. "Is that, or is that not, the hottest woman you've ever laid eyes on, ya old pervert?"

"Good morning, Avengers," Dum Dum Dugan greeted as he entered the conference room. "Apologies for being late; I've been on the phone all morning. I hope everyone slept well. We have a very busy day ahead of us." Tossing a stack of folders on the desk, Dugan asked, "Where's Pym?"

"I've sent Dani to check on him," Cap replied.

Captain America, Ms. Marvel, Namor, and Vision sat around an oval, oak conference table. Some sipped on juice, coffee, or water, and they nibbled at the plate of muffins that Jarvis had prepared for them. All were in uniform, though Steve and Carol had removed their masks.

"Before we begin anything official, Dugan," Cap said, staring at the stuffed folders of paperwork with a sense of dread, "we need to discuss your role. Why did the government choose you? Are you temporary? Will Forge-"

"You can forget about Forge," Dugan answered him. "He's going to be laid up in a hospital for quite a while with the injuries he incurred at the hands of that Savage Land wannabe, Star Stalker.* I'm here for the foreseeable future, but we all know how politicians work. If you screw up, I'll get fired. If you perform well some high-ranking pol's nephew will be in here looking to jam a new member down your throats to fill some government quota."

"Isn't that what you're doing with Moonstar?" Ms. Marvel asked pointedly. "Or are we supposed to believe you're nominating her for some other reason?"

The answer came from an unexpected source as a loud, familiar voice boomed to them from the doorway. "'Tis not Dugan who nominated the lady Moonstar for membership, 'tis the mighty Thor!"

The Avengers turned, smiles blasting across their faces. Well, Dugan noted, smiles upon the faces of Cap, Ms. Marvel, and Vision, at least. Namor simply sat and scowled as his teammates greeted Thor with loud hellos and energetic handshakes.

"Verily, it doth make my heart sing to be amongst thee once again!" Thor proclaimed, taking a seat at the table. "Ho, friend Namor! How goes the Avenging Son of Atlantis!"

"Fine, Thor. Thank you," Namor said, rising to shake the Thunder God's hand. Dugan was impressed; Namor was at least making an attempt to be civil.

"Have you changed your mind, Thor?" Captain America asked. "Will you rejoin the team?"

Thor shook his head. "It pains me to let the Avengers down, but the God of Thunder cannot commit to full, active duty. Foul deeds stalk Asgard and it is to mine people that mine priorities must fall."

"We understand, Thor," Captain America said, disappointed.

"I have told Jarvis to prepare a room for me, however, and in truth I swear to fill these halls with mine presence as much as duty allows."

Ms. Marvel spoke up. "Wait a sec, Thor. You were going to nominate Moonstar? Why?"

"Vision informed me that thou were in need of competence and stability, and I could think of none finer to fill that role than the ex-Valkyrie, Moonstar."

"Would anyone like to raise an objection?" Steve asked. "No?" He turned to Dugan. "Let the official record show that on this date Thor returned to reserve duty, and Dani Moonstar was elected to provisionary status, pending a future evaluation."

"Yeah, yeah," Dugan groused, flipping through the massive amount of folders and paper before him. "I've got that form in here somewhere."

Namor scoffed. "Have you not heard of a laptop, Dugan?"

"Laptop?" Dugan scowled at the Sub-Mariner. "I don't trust computers. Present company excluded, of course."

"Of course," Vision replied, not bothered by the comment.

Dugan threw up his hands. "To heck with this. We can do that later. Right now I want to show you your newest toy. It's a joint venture between Stark, NYC, and the feds." Dugan reached for what looked like a rolled up map and unrolled it in the center of the table. "You're going to love this."

"Dr. Pym, I really think we should get the other Avengers," Dani Moonstar said, looking on with concern as the older man strapped a pair of large goggles over his eyes, while handing her an unmarked spray can. Almost immediately after she'd left the room he'd called her back with a panicked flourish.

"No time," Henry said, adjusting the dials on the side of the goggles. "We need to do this fast."

"Do what fast?" Dani asked, troubled and confused. 'These are the big boys?' she thought skeptically. 'This guy's nuttier than Cable.'

"I have reason to believe," Henry said, still adjusting the dials so the goggles would read the scene properly, "that there was an intruder in here using my Pym Particles. With these goggles I can find the traces of activated Particles."

"An intruder?" Dani asked. "Wouldn't the Mansion's security catch that?"

"Not if they were using Pym Particles," Henry explained. As the scientist worked Dani could see a noticeable change wash over the man. Far the from the haggard, semi-crazed man that greeted her at the door, Dr. Pym was now focused, confident. Whatever problems he was having - performance anxiety? Dani wondered, catching the freeze-frame of yesterday's Avengers testimony on a monitor on the far end of the lab - were gone now and he was attacking the problem head on. "See," Henry explained, "the Mansion's readings don't recognize Pym Particle usage as a foreign invader. Since Jan - the Wasp - and I often fly directly into the Mansion's vent systems to by-pass the front gate, it accepts anyone with activated Pym Particles as a non-threat."

"Isn't that risky?" Dani asked. "What if the Particles fell into the wrong hands?"

"Exactly," Pym nodded, searching a workbench carefully. "The sensors will search for body-type and equipment and the like to narrow the field. When the system is running perfectly, there shouldn't be a problem. However," he said, looking up, "we were infiltrated by a man called Mark Amazing. Long story short … mind control stuff, you can read all about it in the files once you're official. One of the results is that certain of the security systems have been tampered with in the process … a lot of the high-end behavorial evaluators that are supposed to catch people acting in a non-typical fashion are off - and we haven't had a chance to run a full evaluation of the systems." Excitedly, Henry made his way over to a large chair where Ant-Man had appeared only minutes ago. Leaning down, he placed his goggles only inches from the edge of the back of the chair, and began fine-tuning the dials on the side of the goggles. "I'm not overly concerned about Pym Particles getting in the wrong hands," he said, his enthusiasm growing. "There's only two people with direct access to the raw Particles - myself and Bill Foster. Janet Van Dyne and the current Ant-Man have treated Particles at their disposal for the costumes and equip- ah-ha! There was someone here!"

Dani watched as Pym began tapping his goggles, focusing tighter and tighter. "I'm isolating the readings I'm getting from these specific Particles," he explained. "Fascinating," he whispered.

"What do they tell you?" Dani asked, interested more than she could imagine she would have been.

Pym began to follow a trail of the Particles down the side of the chair and across the floor. "Like following bread crumbs out of a forest," he smiled to himself. "What they tell me," he answered as he got down on his knees and began crawling across the floor, "is that these are newly activated Particles, which means they're coming from raw samples. So whoever has been coming in here has either stolen the Particles from myself or Foster." Moving quickly now that he knew what he was looking for, Henry followed the trail directly to an air-vent in the floor. "Got you!" he whispered excitedly.

"You caught him?" Dani questioned, not seeing anything. But then, she wondered, how tall was Ant-Man anyway?

"I caught his trail," Henry said, rising to his feet and removing his goggles. "All I need to do is run a scan of the Mansion grounds for this new strain of Particles and we'll either be able to locate the intruder, or, if he's gone, see where he exited the grounds." He looked to Dani. "Get your gear on, we're going hunting for ants."

"What is it?" Vision asked as the Avengers gathered around the designs Dugan had laid out on the table.

"Avengers Harbor," Dugan replied with a smile. "Your new home away from home." He looked around the room, expecting smiles but noting frowns. "Aw, don't get yer panties in a bunch, ya ungrateful lot! You still get to keep Avengers Mansion."

"Then why do we need this complex?" Carol asked, looking at the design with distaste. It wasn't that the design wasn't nice - if she hadn't been told what it was for she would've said it was beautiful - it was just that, well, it wasn't the Mansion. It reeked of the government trying to get a tighter grip on the Avengers.

Dugan explained, "I understand you are all attached to the Mansion, and I understand how important tradition is to all of you. You like it here, you like what it represents to be living among the people." Dugan shook his head. "The truth is, this is a new day and age we're living in. It's more dangerous to the people of this neighborhood than ever for you to be here, and, to be honest, more of a hassle. Between the Quinjets and the space ships landing here at all hours of the night, not to mention the near constant repair work that's always taking place when one of the baddies come smashing through here."

"We’ve been through all of this before, Dugan," Cap reasoned. "We tried Hydrobase, remember?"

Dugan nodded. "We feel the new Avengers Harbor idea takes all of the problems with Hydrobase into account, Captain. Look, you get to stay here, at the Mansion. You want to live here, knock yourselves out. You want to hold yer meetings here, feel free. Monitor duty? No problem." Dugan folded his arms above his round stomach. "You want to take off in a Quinjet, however, you do it from the Harbor, where you've got plenty of room and no neighbors. You want to see my pretty face, you'll do it down there. It gives you some privacy here from my prying government eyes. Need to hold a prisoner? The Harbor. Treat this as your residence and Avengers Harbor as your base of operations. Look," he asked, "how many Quinjets can you hold here?"

"Two," Cap answered.

"At the Harbor you'll have room for five normal-sized Quinjets, plus a brand new A-Bird, a heavy duty cargo/transport jet. Not as fast as a Quinjet, but a heck of a lot easier to move people and equipment in. Plus a few attack copters, modified Black Hawks, and room for on-sight repairs for up to two Quinjets at a time. Stark's got a whole mess of brand new toys for you, but I'll let him spring it on you when the time comes."

Steve wasn't convinced. "How will we travel between here and there?"

"An underground tunnel," Dugan replied. "You'll have direct access from here to there."

"I don't know," Carol shook her head. "Don't get me wrong, the Harbor looks nice and all, but we've done fine from here."

"Do you not listen?" Dugan asked, throwing up his hands. "You can stay here. There's just some things you'll need to do at the Harbor." Dugan knew that winning the minds of the Avengers meant convincing Captain America, so he addressed his next point directly to him. "What you need to recognize is that what you're being given allows you to do your job better; it allows you to have a larger roster, it gives you better training facilities." Dugan looked pointedly at Cap and Carol both now. "You think you're going to live forever? Thor might. Vision might, but you're not. The Wasp isn't. Hawkeye, Black Widow, Stark, the Maximoff twins … none of them are. Pym … hell, we just celebrated the man's 50^th birthday party and, let's be frank, he's had a history of mental breakdowns already. How long can you count on him?"

"It just seems … unnecessary," Carol shrugged.

Dugan threw his hands up. "Only the Avengers could be handed a brand new multi-billion dollar compound and act ungrateful. Well, fine, you want to get serious, Ms. Marvel? You want a hardcore reason why the Harbor is a better place for your operations to originate from?"

The new government liaison reached into one of his folders and slapped a series of pictures down on the table, one thud after another, leaving only one image, its face held against his stomach, in his hand. The Avengers leaned in to look at the horrific images of mutilated bodies and burnt out buildings and buses. Dugan's voice was hard, revealing his lifetime of service in the military and SHIELD. "Those are images from Israel, Northern Ireland, Oklahoma City. Terrorist attacks. Specifically, suicide bombings."

He slapped the last image on the table, showing a bombed out Avengers Mansion. "That's a computer simulation of what would happen if a terrorist came and parked outside your front gates and hit you with a sizeable bomb. If they let this bomb off in the middle of the day, our best estimates put the death toll for civilians in the thousands. What this picture doesn't show you is the long-term effects from the biochemical gas that was included in the bomb."

Namor ended his silence with a disdainful reproach. "How many years have we been here, Dugan, without this scenario happening?"

Dugan placed both of his fat palms on the table. "Oh, did I forget to mention? SHIELD field agents are reporting that sometime in the next month a suicide bomber is going to hit your front gates."

"What?" the Avengers roared angrily.

"How long have you known this?" Cap asked, rising from his chair and pointing a finger at Dugan.

"A few weeks," Dugan replied, not backing down.

"Why weren't we notified?" Ms. Marvel asked, slamming the table.

"Because you were acting suspiciously," Dugan answered evenly. "Because of Nefaria. Because of Dr. Amazing. Whatever. You weren't acting like yourselves and you weren't around much anyway. Intel indicates that you're not going to get hit without at least some of you inside." Dugan put up his hands, imploring them to calm down. "We've got agents all over this case, including forty in the immediate area searching for the attacker. If he's out there waiting, we'll grab him."

"I don't like it," Cap answered, his anger speaking for all of them.

"Deal with it," Dugan replied, refusing to back down.

Dani Moonstar walked across the campus of Empire State University, following the trail of Pym Particles. She ignored the stares directed at her; Pym's goggles made her look strange - even on a college campus - but once they noted she was headed towards the Science Research Building, the students nodded, understanding she was supposed to be doing odd things.

Up the front steps and inside she moved.

"Everything good?" Yellowjacket asked, buzzing alongside her.

"Peachy," Dani replied. "Wait," she changed her mind. "The trail moves into the wall over there," she pointed.

"That's okay," Yellowjacket assured her. "I know where we need to go now. Bill Foster has been doing research here; he's got a lab in the basement."

Dani removed the goggles, letting them drop down around her neck. "If you knew he had a lab here, why go through all the hassle of the goggles?"

Yellowjacket smiled. "Two reasons. One, I'm a scientist. The last thing we ever think of is picking up a phone and asking someone something. Two," his grin widened and he cocked a thumb, pointing behind him, "I had no idea he was here until I saw his name listed in the directory."

Dani nodded, smiling. "Gotcha."

"Drop the sandwich, geek," Dani Moonstar ordered, her psychic bow drawn.

A young man in an Ant-Man costume froze, a PB&J sandwich only inches from his open mouth.

"Oh no, I told you guys we'd get caught!"

Yellowjacket enlarged to full-size, taking note of the sight that revealed itself before them: five college students caught red-handed. One wore the Ant-Man costume, and two others were working on a Yellowjacket outfit. On the table before them was a boot that would have fit Giant Man perfectly.

"Explain. Now," Yellowjacket ordered. "You!" he pointed to one of the two female students in the room, noting instantly that she looked to be the ringleader. "And for heaven's sake, 'Ant-Man,' put down the sandwich."

The girl, standing by the boot, looked to her friends and shrugged. "My name's Senna. We're students of Dr. Foster's. Advanced Cell Manipulation."

"That's a class?" Dani asked, keeping her bow drawn.

"That's the name we use when we're talking to dummies," Senna replied, unimpressed.

"Enough!" Yellowjacket snapped, though there was no real anger in his voice, only impatience. "Dani, undraw your bow." Dani hesitated, then did as ordered. "Continue, Senna."

"Like I said, Dr. Foster's our teacher. We've been studying your Pym Particles in class. Not bad," Senna complimented, "but there's flaws in the implementation. We've been improving on that, doing our own, extra-curricular research. Bill doesn't know anything," she added as an afterthought.

Henry rubbed his chin in his hands, walking over to stand at the workbench. "Relax," he said calmly to the two students nearest him. One, the young man who had whined about being caught, looked like he thought his life was over as Henry began to look over their notes. "Why the costume? Why come and harass me?"

The kid in the Ant-Man costume, a young white male, answered the question. "For kicks," he said, feeling a bit stupid. "I don’t know, it's hard to explain. Got this costume at a yard sale, believe it or not. My mom- er, I mean, my girlfriend," he said quickly to the disbelieving looks of those around him, "patched it up. I brought it in after we'd been working on the Particles for a bit, just as a gag. Thought it would be fun to put it on when we tested out the Particles on a human subject. The costume … it does something to you. There's a power in the anonymity that's just a major, major rush. I felt like … like I could do anything, and we were having such a tough time trying to work through some of our failed experiments that we thought it was worth trying to sneak a peak at your notes. I didn't mean to … to harass you, but you seemed to be thrown for such a loop and I … well, I enjoyed it." The young man looked dejected.

"And the Yellowjacket costume? The Giant Man boot?"

The second female, an Asian girl, stepped forward. "We thought it wasn't fair that Joey got to be the only one with a costume, so we … well, we figured we'd all make costumes."

Joey, Ant-Man, explained, "That's why I asked you why you only went with the ant and yellowjacket designs. I'm Ant-Man, Sam," he pointed to the scared kid, "is going to be Yellowjacket and Hailey," the Asian girl, "has got dibs on the Wasp. Tomas," he nodded to the tall German kid, "is Giant Man. Sam wanted to be Giant Man, but well …" Joey shrugged at the obvious size discrepancy. Tomas looked like a linebacker and Sam looked like an inert football would scare him.

"That means there's nothing for me," Senna folded her arms across her chest.

"We told you," Joey said exasperated. "Black Goliath. That was Dr. Foster's-"

"And I told you," Senna stepped forward, "you keep talking that Black Goliath stuff to me and you're mommy's going to have to do more than fix that costume."

"Not that it matters anymore," Sam shook his head, sweating profusely. "We're totally busted. Busted! We'll be kicked out for sure! I told you we were going to get caught."

"You're definitely caught," Yellowjacket said, pulling back his mask, "and there will be no more unsupervised experimentation. But this work," he tapped the notepad. "Interesting. I'll make you a deal," he said. "Let me talk to Dr. Foster and see if we can't work something out."

"You're not angry?" Sam asked hopefully.

"I'm furious," Henry said, frowning, "but I can't help but admire your drive." 'And I'm thrilled I'm not going nuts,' Henry thought to himself. "The superhero in me wants to put a stop to this, but the scientist in me would be a hypocrite if he didn't realize he'd done similar things when in college." Henry looked at the young, expectant faces. "Here's the deal. One, supervised experimentation by myself or Dr. Foster. We don't have to sit over your shoulder, but you've got to have a plan and that plan has to be approved. These Particles are dangerous and we need to know what you're working on. Agreed?"

The students nodded.

"Two," Henry continued. "You don't get to publish any of your research."

"What?" Senna exploded. "That's not fair! You know how important it is for us to be published!"

"Take it or leave it," Henry said flatly. "There's a reason only Bill and myself are licensed to have the raw Particles, and a reason why you see no mention of it in the mainstream academic press. Your work, if it merits it, will be seen by the right people. Trust me, if your work on this project is exemplary, you won't have any trouble finding grant money or employment. Agreed? It's a take it or leave it proposition."

"Agreed," Senna said and the other students followed her lead.

"And three, no costumes. This isn't a game. Dani," he pointed to the forgotten woman in the doorway, "is your age and she's been doing this, in one form or another, for ten years. She's been trained by some of the best. She's had a life that would put your RPG campaigns to shame." Henry made certain to look each one of them in the eye. "No costumes. Agreed?"

"Agreed," they replied, broad smiles adorning their fresh faces.

"Great," Henry said, smiling alongside them. "Now, get changed and take us out to dinner. You," he pointed to Joey, "owe me for the hell you've put me through, and it'll cost you more than your mom's peanut butter and jelly."

"I hate this part," Ms. Marvel groused as she walked out the front steps of the Mansion with Captain America and Vision, towards the protestors.

"It's part of the job," Captain America replied. "We have to show them we're willing to talk."

"If I punch one of them can I stay inside with Thor and Namor next time?" Carol asked, smiling.

"No," Cap answered, returning the smile.

They walked to the gate and stopped, looking at the protestors through the fence. "Let's see what we're doing wrong now," Ms. Marvel remarked, looking at the signs that read THE AVENGERS ARE NOT PATRIOTS!, AVENGERS = UN-AMERICAN!, and MUTANTS ARE NOT HEROES!

"Do we even have any mutants on the team right now?" Ms. Marvel asked. "Or do you just think she grabbed the wrong placard?"

Vision answered, "Namor is, technically, a mutant, though he is not often regarded as such by the mainstream press, and Dani Moonstar is a mutant."

Their presence had alerted the protestors, who now stopped their circular march to yell and scream at the gathered Avengers.

"Please, please, one at a time." Captain America tried to calm the crowd.

Deadpool watched Captain America, Ms. Marvel, and the Vision talking to the crowd of protestors.

"Gotcha," he said to himself. He dropped the binoculars to the ground and unsheathed two plasma guns from the holsters on his back. Taking a deep breath to right himself, the mercenary reached for the teleportation device on his belt and pushed it.

Two protestors - a middle-aged man and woman - pressed against the gates shouting expletives to Captain America, who took the insults and tried to engage the pair in dialogue. It wasn't working.

A burst of gas hit the air, and everyone's attention was drawn upwards, where Deadpool now stood. He looked down at Captain America, "Bunch of ingrates, ain't they? Never trust a hippie driving a Cadillac, my grandmommy always used to say."

Turning to the crowd, Deadpool fired two shots of concentrated plasma into the pair of protestors at the gate, causing an immediate panic. "Where'd you go?" he asked, searching the fleeing protestors. "There you are," he remarked, drawing a bead on a fleeing young woman. "Aaaargh!" he screamed as Captain America's shield flew up at him, slamming into his wrist. He watched in agony as the young woman fled around a corner. Before he could move, he watched in morbid fascination as the hand of the Vision moved through his chest.

"Do not run," the synthezoid said, "or else I will solidify my hand and you will die."

"Explain yourself," Cap ordered, as Vision pulled Deadpool to the ground.

"Did you get them?" Dum Dum Dugan asked Deadpool in a huff as he ran down the walkway. He pointed to the two downed bodies that the merc had hit. "Check on them," he ordered Ms. Marvel.

"Got two, missed the third," Deadpool shook his head. "Would've had her but Flag Man here broke my wrist. I thought you were going to tell them."

"Tell us what?" Cap asked, turning angrily on Dugan. "I don't like-"

"And again," Dugan shot back, "I don't care what you like. If we hadn't spent all morning arguing about the Harbor … if you hadn't come out here until you cleared it with me …" Dugan shook his head. "No time for that now. Deadpool was working for us. SHIELD hired him to watch the Mansion, looking for three individuals who were believed to be involved in the terrorist plot I was telling you about."

"You hired a mercenary?" Namor asked, coming to join them with Thor at his side.

Dugan looked to the gate where Ms. Marvel stood by the bodies. "What did you find?"

Ms. Marvel replied, "Explosives, strapped to their chest." She held up four green vials, "And these in their pockets."

Dugan locked eyes with Captain America. "The third woman, the one that got away? She'll be carrying the same weapons they were. If you want we can stand here and argue about my decision making abilities while the terrorist that got away hits her back-up target. Or we can go inside and get to work. Your call."

Captain America knew the choice wasn't a choice. "Ms. Marvel, Vision, try to hunt down that woman. Everyone else, inside. We've got a mission to accomplish."

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!

Mark Bousquet

24 May 2003

Northern Bear Productions