AVENGERS

# 450 – December, Year 4

Power Loss, Day Three: Come Back to Me

written by Mark Bousquet

original conception of PowerLoss by Scott Harris

MARVEL EARTH – THE DOCKS

SHIELD troops ushered hospital patients towards a fleet of Atlantean ships.

"Never thought I’d see the day when New York was glad to see these babies pulling up onto its shores," Dum Dum Dugan smiled to the Prince of Atlantis.

Namor brushed aside the compliment as a loud burst of sound and noise smashed the air above them. All eyes turned skyward and they could see, through the golden columns and honeycombs in the sky, a platform with a group of people floating towards the ground.

"PEOPLE OF EARTH! YOU WILL BOW BEFORE YOUR CONQUEROR OR YOU WILL PERISH! SUCH IS THE WORD OF KANG!"

"We should’ve known," Dugan spat, smashing his hand into his fist. "We need to raise Captain America on the-"

Dugan was knocked to the side as the Sub-Mariner took to the sky. Namor wove his way through a maze of golden columns, knowing that to touch any of them meant a drain on his powers. He wasn’t certain exactly what would happen if he did, and he had no desire to find out. Flying, at the very least, he believed, would be stolen from him.

What the Atlantean prince intended to find out was how the golden energy affected the power of Kang the Conqueror.

Namor slammed into the platform from below, sending the ten bodies sprawling.

"Who dares?" Kang yelled as the platform was destroyed. While the other members of the SSS fell to the ground, desperately trying to find out if they had flight powers, the former Atom 8’s power suit stabilized the Conqueror immediately.

Namor didn’t relent, arcing around to bear down on Kang a second time.

"Ah, the half-breed Prince!" Kang bellowed up at the charging Atlantean.

Namor gritted his teeth, failing to rise to Kang’s verbal bait. He lunged at Kang, who spun quickly away, and Namor realized – almost too late – that he was headed directly for the top of a golden column. Reacting with uncanny speed and precision, the Sub-Mariner rolled to the side, just grazing the top of the column with his shoulder.

Looking back in horror, Namor saw the golden tendrils reach out for him and he poured on the speed. It was no use – wherever he went the energy now had him. Tendrils snapped and cracked beneath him as he flew high and hard over the top of the honeycomb formation. He felt their sting lash into his skin, biting hard and deep and he could feel some of his power begin to leave him.

He needed to forget Kang for the moment, or he would be useless to the larger fight. His eyes scanned the horizon, looking for a pocket of open air in the honeycomb formation. It was open over the water, but was it close enough. "Rrrrrrrrrggggggg!" he screamed through gritted teeth.

He wasn’t going to make it.

There was only one other option.

Forcing every bit of energy he had, the Sub-Mariner shot straight up into the sky, daring the tendrils to follow him. Looking down just for a moment, he saw the tendrils continue to climb with him and somewhere, somehow he heard the laughter of Kang the Conqueror.

Namor turned his eyes heavenward and wondered just how close he could get to the death embrace of space.

EARTH 1000 – SECRET SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY HEADQUARTERS

Edison Bell groaned as his body coughed up more of the white energy that was at the root of Atom 8/Kang’s plan.

"Atom 8 tricked us all," Atom 7 spat.

"Doubtful," Deadpool replied. "Looked like most of the rest of your merry bunch was going along with him willingly." Deadpool scratched his head. "There’s something about this that’s bothering me. Why would Atom 8 go through all of this just to head over to my planet to take it over? Why not just take over my world?"

"He needed Edison’s mutant power," Atom 7 answered, leaning in towards the young man to check his condition. "Edison is the Alpha Mutant – the most powerful mutant our world has ever seen."

Deadpool shrugged, "Lady, on our world, the most powerful mutant we’ve ever seen shows us about once a year … Xavier, Magneto, Phoenix, Apocalypse, Cable, X-Man, Onslaught … though I guess Phoenix wasn’t technically only a mutant and-"

Edison coughed and blood spilled out of his body along with the white, cloudlike energy.

"What is his power exactly?" he asked. "I mean, I get that he could jump start the world or whatever, but, exactly, what do his powers do?"

Atom 7 shook her head. "I’m not sure exactly, but basically, he’s literally that – a jump starter. His power, by itself, isn’t supposed to do anything. That’s why all of this white stuff can float around us without worry. The power can only activate the potentiality of power. The monorails up top?" she asked, pointing to the ceiling. "He can’t do anything with them specifically, but he can tap into their ancient power cores and restart them."

"Then why did you need to break down the energy barriers in the State Computer?" Deadpool asked. "What does their power do that Edison’s power doesn’t?"

Atom 7 was given pause by the question. "I … I’m not sure. No, wait. Atom 8 must have needed the State’s energy to make the connection to the golden spheres on your world."

"I don’t know," Wade replied, shaking his head. "Perhaps it was just a diversion. You said your government used some forms of power for themselves, right? Maybe Atom 8 was worried they could mount some kind of defense and he needed them disabled." Deadpool was doing everything he could to remain calm and think clearly but he felt his anger start to boil over. "Think!" he chided himself. "Why did Atom 8 pick our Earth?"

"I’m not certain," Atom 7 replied quickly, trying to wrack her brain for the correct memory. "He brought this plan up to Atom 1 several years ago but One denied him, said that we couldn’t steal energy from another world just to save ours. Atom 1 would only agree to it if he could find an uninhabited world. Atom 8 told him he was a fool, that it had to be your Earth specifically because … because the time-space signatures were in perfect sequence for such a maneuver."

Deadpool snapped his finger. "Eureka!"

"What?"

"We’re looking at this all wrong," Deadpool said enthusiastically. "Look, all along we’ve been thinking that he needed our world to power this one, right? But when I was up top I noticed that people could only take so much power into their systems – and it was only certain people who could take any power at all. That’s why a kid got a blast of Hulk power, but then more of the Hulk power was floating around to run into someone else. And some people got only a little blast of Cyclops’ power, but then took a second blast of Ms. Marvel’s power."

"I’m not following," Atom 7 said.

"We’re backwards," Deadpool said, suddenly sure of himself. "Atom 8 didn’t need our world to save this one. He needed this one to damn mine. He came here and told you that this other world would work to power this one, but I think what he was really thinking was that this world would work to drain the power from mine. If he chose a world that already had a bunch of super-powers floating around, maybe he couldn’t drain it completely. Maybe he needed a world that was devoid of power."

"He used us!"

"Welcome to the party, sunshine."

"But the Tekree invasion?"

Deadpool looked around, "You got any deep space scanners in here?"

Atom 7’s eyes darted around the room. "I don’t think so, but I can sure as heck rig one up in no time."

"Do it," Deadpool said. "But I bet we find that there’s no invasion anywhere near Earth."

As Atom 7 went to work, Wade turned back to Edison wondering if there was any way the kid could be used to save Earth.

Either Earth.

MARVEL EARTH – PIER 4

Captain America was ushered into Reed’s first floor laboratory to find Reed, Ms. Marvel, Dani Moonstar, Henry Pym, and Doctor Strange standing around a large table. Paper was everywhere and mathematical and magical formulas were scribbled on the metallic walls in permanent ink.

"Tony’s work," Steve said, handing the papers to Reed, then turning to leave.

"Where are you going?" Carol asked.

"Outside," Steve replied without turning. "Kang’s behind all of this, and he’s arrived with a group of powered up lackeys. Tony thinks they contain powers from the super-humans on our world."

"Right," Ms. Marvel nodded. "We’re coming with you."

"No you’re not," Reed Richards interjected as he skimmed Tony’s notes. "From the information we’ve gathered, it appears that, at it’s root, this is a very simple device."

"A power transfer between two planets is simple?" Dani asked.

"More or less," Pym smiled at her.

"It appears to function just as you said it, Dani," Reed explained. "Theoretically, it’s no different than siphoning gasoline from one automobile to another. The difficult part is knowing the exact nature of how it functions, and then determining if the process can be reversed."

"Is that possible?" Dani asked.

"It’s possible," Reed answered. "But not likely. We should be able to get the power to come back to our world, but there’s no guarantee we can focus all of the energy back to its original location."

"You mean I might end up with the powers of someone else?" Dani asked.

"Exactly," Reed nodded.

Ms. Marvel felt Cap gently pulling away from her and she injected herself into the conversation. "And why does this mean we can’t go outside and help Captain America defeat Kang?"

Reed looked up. "Hmm? Oh, yes, that. You see, we need you. We’re going to send you across the multiverse and onto that distant world in order to attempt to reverse the process. Well, actually, I’m going to attempt to reverse the process. You’re going to serve as a bodyguard. Dani, too." Reed looked to Steve. "Captain, I would-"

"Ms. Marvel and Dani can handle it," he said, setting his jaw.

Reed nodded, and asked, "Can you get this information to Thor?" He handed Steve a piece of paper.

"I’ll get it to him."

"How are we going to get across?" Carol asked, giving Steve’s arm one last gentle squeeze.

"I believe I can cast a spell that will bring you safely to the other side," Dr. Strange said firmly.

Steve nodded. "Do it," he ordered, then exited the room without a look back.

OUTSIDE

Captain America exited Pier 4, his eyes searching for Kang.

They were met with a very different image than he expected. The golden columns were now nearly completely covering the city. It wasn’t the golden columns or the honeycombs or the golden spheres that had Steve’s attention, however. It was the sight on the ground.

Asgardians and Olympians ran wild in the streets of New York City, attacking Kang’s followers and helping the innocents. Fandral the Dashing rushed passed and Steve grabbed him, "What’s the status?!?"

"We just arrived! So did the Olympians!" Fandral yelled over the roar of the power drain. "Thor and Hercules are at Avengers Mansion coordinating the plan! Moscow is being hammered hard and there’s no one there to defend the city! We’re going to redeploy troops there as soon as-!"

BOOM!

The sidewalk exploded underneath their feet, sending Fandral and Captain America hurtling into the air in opposite directions.

"Kill everyone!"

Cap recovered to see the person that used to be Atom 12 and was now a horrific looking half-man, half-beast creature.

"Having fun, Captain?"

Steve’s eyes went skyward to see Kang hovering nearby. Cap noted without any disbelief that Kang seemed to be immune to the power drain. His head snapped to Atom 12. The question was … were Kang’s followers immune to the drain. "Fandral! Knock that thing into the golden column!"

Fandral nodded and Cap looked back to Kang to get the Conqueror’s reaction.

He was met by Kang’s boot in his face.

Kang towered over the fallen Avenger. "Here dies Captain America."

EARTH 1000 – NEW ARK, JERSEY

Reed, Moonstar, and Ms. Marvel arrived safely on Earth 1000, but were in immediate danger. The world was erupting in chaos around them. In the sky, a milky white cloud sent bursts of multi-colored lightning shooting towards the ground. Reed held aloft a scanner that whirred instantly to life. A thin grin spread across his face. "Thank you," he whispered to no one in particular, then turned to the two Avengers, "That’s the power from our Earth up there in the-"

"Move!" Dani yelled, pushing Reed to the ground as a blast of energy incinerated the spot they had been standing on. They turned to see a woman bearing down on them, blasting hot flames.

Ms. Marvel picked up a brick and hurled it at the fire-woman, and watched as it melted into nothingness before them. "Get Reed out of here! Go!"

Dani knew better than to argue. If there was one thing about the Avengers it was that when someone gave you an order, you followed it. Deadpool was having a hard time adjusting to the orders (as was evidenced by his earlier pestering of Captain America) but Dani had been used to taking orders she didn’t understand. That was seemingly her entire superhero life, it seemed … New Mutants, Valkyrie, X-Force, SHIELD, everywhere she went people were screaming orders at her.

It was time for her to do a little ordering of her own.

"Come on!" she shouted at Reed, pulling him onto his feet. "Where’s the target?"

"Half-mile that way!" he replied, pointing to the west.

"Let’s go!" she shouted and they took off across the chaos-filled city.

MARVEL EARTH – THE DOCKS

Captain America was able to turn just enough for Kang’s boot to slam into his shield. The Conqueror roared in equal parts rage and laughter. "You have no hope, Captain! Long have I planned this day!"

Cap swung his shield around, aiming for Kang’s knee, but he was ready for the move, jumping clear. "You are becoming predictable, Captain!"

Steve said nothing, waiting.

Kang laughed again, "I can see defeat in your eyes! The great Captain America is afraid to meet his superior in armed-ooooof!"

Namor the Sub-Mariner slammed his body into Kang, sending them both crashing into Pier 4. The Atlantean Prince was dizzy – he’d soared as high as he dared, high enough to be free of the tendrils, then arced wide, diving backwards down into one of the very few free and open areas left in New York City. That Kang was awaiting him at the bottom was an unexpected surprise that Namor was determined to take advantage of.

Refusing to relinquish any speed, Namor shot Kang through room after room of Pier 4, shredding Kang’s armor, before crashing through the other side, over the water. Without thinking fully of the consequences, the Sub-Mariner let Kang fall into the water.

"Help, you fool!" Kang screamed, but it was too late. The Conqueror’s body slammed into the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and his damaged suit began to spark on contact. The water around the Conqueror began to bubble and boil and the water-logged suit dragged him down to the bottom of the ocean.

EARTH 1000 – SECRET SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY HEADQUARTERS

Reed Richards entered the cavern that held the SSS machine that was the mechanical cause of everything that had transpired. "What are you doing?!" he screamed at Deadpool, who punched a control panel on the far wall.

"Um, trying to get it to work?"

"Stand clear!" Reed ordered.

"Do you know him?" Atom 7 asked.

"Yeah," Deadpool said, then moved to stand by the leader of the Fantastic Four. Without waiting to be asked, Deadpool gave Reed a full run down of everything that had happened and everything they had surmised about Edison and the machine. "Oh yeah, and there’s no Tekree invasion, and it’s likely Atom 8 made the whole thing up with the Shy-Ar."

"It’s Kang."

"Kang?"

"Atom 8 is Kang," Reed said quickly as his hands began dancing over the controls that surrounded Edison. "How important are the other machines in this room to the running of this primary machine?" he asked Atom 7.

"They’re monitoring devices," she said quickly, feeling betrayed by the SSS and wanting immediate revenge. "Not necessary for the operation of that machine at all."

Reed nodded, wishing he’d had his powers back. He was unaccustomed to having to move the center of his body to reach anything.

"What can we do?" Deadpool asked.

"Stand clear," Reed replied. They watched him work for several minutes and were soon joined by Carol and Dani. Finally, Reed stopped and turned to face them. "Here’s what you need to know. I’ve reversed the mechanisms of this machine; it should function as a backwash, sending all of the power stolen from our world back to our world. Each universe has separate and unique energy signature buried into everything; all we have to do is use this machine to scan for the correct energy signatures and return it back along the path it came."

Deadpool couldn’t help himself. "Yeah, right."

"I can give you the full and detailed explanation later," Reed snapped back. He turned and looked down at the unconscious Edison. "May God forgive me," he whispered, and sent the machine in motion.

The result was nearly instantaneous; the negative current blasted out into the world of Earth 1000 and re-energized the milky white storm cloud Edison had produced. energy began to siphon off the people of this world, drawn back into the cloud, then back across the void and into their home world.

Reed turned to Atom 7. "The machine should shut down on it’s own once all of our energy is gone. I’ve implanted a set of coordinates into the sub-systems for you to contact me if you need help. Good luck."

Atom 7 nodded, watching as Reed pulled out a medallion of Doctor Strange’s.

"Do I get a good-bye kiss?" Deadpool asked.

"Not in this lifetime," Atom 7 shot back. "Hey – what are you doing?"

Reed looked at her as his head reached down to grab Edison. "He’s coming with us."

"But-"

Atom 7’s words were cut off as the reverse spell on Strange’s medallion kicked in, sending the Earth heroes and Edison back across the void to home.

MARVEL EARTH – PIER 4 ROOF

Reed stood atop the roof of his family’s home, now reverted to a mere observer.

In the skies over New York City, a light-show the likes that had never been seen blitzed the sky, washing the city in a multi-colored bath of radiant energy. Thor stood in the center of the open sky, the honeycombs vanquished, twirling the mighty hammer Mjolnir around him. All of the energy that Kang had stolen away from this world swirled in a massive vortex around the Thunder God. Above him, Iron Man (one of the few heroes with their power fully restored since the energy needed to run the suit was not unique) held Edison Bell in his arms. The frightened, barely conscious twenty-year old held the fate of the heroes of this world in his hand.

Pushing through pain he’d never dreamt could exist, Edison reached out with his powers to touch the people of this world. His mutant power was to jump start the cells of power and he did this with all of the heroes. The mutants went first. Edison reached into their bodies and touched the core of their genetic code. The spark that he ignited served as a beacon home for the mutant power lost to Kang’s machines. Energy raced out of Thor’s vortex, shooting across the globe to return to its various masters.

The magicians were next. They didn’t need Edison to send the power back to them; they simply needed him to separate the magical energy out from the chaos of the the swirling vortex. Doctor Strange led the symphony of magical regression, as spells were sent back to their originators, or dissipated into the air if no master stepped forth to claim it.

The regular heroes Edison had saved for last because it was the trickiest of all. Ms. Marvel was one of the first to feel Edison’s power reaching into her body, searching for the energy signatures that once inhabited her. Edison would make note of the needed power and search the vortex for the power that belonged to each individual. It took eight hours to complete and, to a person, everyone was surprised he’d restored the power to the people of this world in less than a month.

When the job was done, Edison collapsed from exhaustion.

It was only then the world breathed a sigh of relief.