To combat those threats against which no hero could stand alone, Earth's Mightiest Heroes formed a covenant to unite in battle to protect all mankind. Now, from their second base of operations on America's West Coast, a new chapter in their legend is being written.

Stan Lee presents.......

The Untold Tales of the

Issue: 2   Author: Lonni Holland    Graphics: Kevin Newburn & Chris Luna

* world's mightiest recap of last issue - reiterative Lonni

In front of him a green blur appeared near the high walls surrounding the grounds. Quicksilver, a recent visitor, was responding to the alert. Suddenly Pietro was down. There appeared to no one near him, but he lay prone on the ground struggling to regain his senses. Hank was puzzled but he ran on.

The Scarlet Witch brought up the rear. She raced to her brother's side as Hank tried to find their attacker. He couldn't see anyone, but someone had felled Quicksilver and someone was making the grounds alarms go off. He tried to think of any villains who used invisibility but came up empty. Some sort of personal cloaking field perhaps?

As he drew out a tiny stun gun from his pocket to enlarge it, Hank felt a grip on his wrist. He looked down and was shocked to see that his hand no longer appeared to be attached to his arm. There was a gap between the two of them. He was dumbfounded for a moment until he realized that someone, or something, was holding his wrist and where they were touching was now invisible. As he grabbed at the void spot on his arm he was struck behind the ear and fell to his knees.

Back at the main house the noise had aroused the occupants of the infirmary. The door flew open and a tousled looking Wonderman emerged. He had quickly thrown on his costume, and was rubbing his still sleep filled eyes vigorously as he raced across the manicured lawn. He could see his companions were in trouble. Hank and Pietro were both down; Wanda was struggling with her cape, which was now wound tightly around her head and shoulders.

Simon could see no assailants but he headed for the apparent action at the gates anyway. Unable to locate an attacker he tried to make himself useful by freeing the Scarlet Witch from her entrapment.

In the infirmary Clint Barton pushed aside the nurse who had been hired to care for him and Simon. His mind was still blurred by the sedative he had been given, he only knew that the compound was under attack and he had to respond. He ripped the intravenous tube from his arm and stumbled towards the sounds of battle, blood running down the still silvery skin of his left arm, his right hand pressed tightly against his bruised ribs.

Barefoot, clad only in pajama bottoms, he struggled his way to the door and pushed it open. Outside he could barely make out his teammates, apparently defeated, but by whom? Groggy, he clung to the doorframe, haunted by the thought that something was terribly familiar. Again the nurse pulled at his arm and tried to get him back to bed and again he pushed her back. Stumbling into the compound he hoarsely mumbled at her over his shoulder "S... stay back. Th.. this is Avenger business and it c.. could get d... dangerous. I... I'm all right."

She reluctantly retreated and Hawkeye staggered farther out into the courtyard, adjusting the gain on his hearing aids to as high as possible. There was something... something.... Then he noticed Wonderman helping the Scarlet Witch and things started to fall into place in his muddled thoughts. It was someone Simon had fought first and he knew that sound. If he could just clear his head....

"W.. Wanda listen." The drugs were dragging him down and he battled to form the words and hold on to the thought. "It's the B... Blank, I'm sure it i... is. He has a f.. force field belt and I c... can hear the vibrations." Dropping to his knees he gasped out "H.. his power has changed s... somehow but it's m... mechanical, you c... can hex it..." The effort was finally too much and he slumped, unable to continue.

Wanda looked about, puzzled. "But, how can I hex what I can't see?"

Hank, who was now mostly recovered said, "Well, Hawkeye showed us the way, and now I can show us the enemy too." He reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a miniaturized net. He enlarged it as he threw it. "There Wanda, the hole in the net. That's our man. His field makes the mesh seem invisible."

Wanda wasn't quite sure who or what she was aiming or even if her powers would work * but she pointed her hands in the direction of the gap in the netting and willed her power towards it. A crackling sound and a puff of smoke preceded the appearance of a small, frightened looking man. Her brother sped forward and grasped him, yanking the still smoking belt from his waist.

* Wanda's powers have been erratic since her experiences with Immortus back in AWC 61-62 - back issue Lonni

In the background, a private airplane landed, and Bobbi Morse Barton emerged. Hank, who had just gotten a still shaky Clint on his feet and was now helping him stay upright, called out to her "Welcome Mockingbird. You just missed all the excitement. While Simon and Pietro lock this guy up why don't you and Wanda help me get your hubby back in bed and then maybe we can get to the bottom of all of this."

John Walker opened his eyes cautiously. His vision cleared slowly and he tried to figure out where he was without letting on that he was awake. He didn't know who had blind-sided him, and he didn't know if they were watching him, but he was going to make someone pay for his headache.

His eyes cracked the tiniest bit more; he surveyed the room. No bars on the windows, the door was open and he didn't see anyone around. He wasn't even tied. This was just too easy. These guys must be amateurs or else it was a setup. He rose and swung his legs to the floor, tensed for an attack at any moment. Nothing. He edged his way toward the door.

"Ahhh, Jack. Finally decided to rejoin us did you?"

The voice came from a speaker on the wall. Agent recognized it immediately. "Lew?? What the.....??? What are you guys up to??"

"Calm down Jackie, just sit down and relax. I'll be right down to talk to you."

"Don't call me Jackie!!" Even as he shouted it, John knew it was too late, The speaker was silent and presumably Lew was on his way. What the heck did the Commission want with him now? Shortly after that Lew walked in and pulled up a chair. He gave Agent a long. almost insulting look before he spoke.

"So Jackie, you must be slipping, letting yourself be taken out that easily. These high and mighty Avengers teaching you their bad habits now?"

"Look Lew, first, stop calling me Jackie, and second, if you want to talk to me why don't you just call me? I really don't appreciate being shanghaied out of my own home base. Makes me look bad and gave me a hell of a headache too."

"Us?" Lew looked shocked. "Why Jack, what on earth are you talking about? Matter of fact our agents were just outside the compound getting ready to pay a social call on you when they spotted you being hauled out like a sack of potatoes. They scared off your attackers and brought you here. You were out cold man. These Avengers of yours must have some lousy security."

"They're not my Avengers, damn it. So your guys never got a look at who got me? Shit!"

"Nope, but now that you're here I can tell you why we wanted to see you. Jack, we have a little job for you, if you're not getting too soft of course."

"Ungh!" Hawkeye grunted as Hank Pym reconnected an IV tube to his arm. "I keep telling you I'm okay, why do I have to be hooked up to this rubbish? All that's wrong with me is I'm groggy from the stuff you shot into me already and I got a couple of battered up ribs... Oww! Would you stop that?"

Hank ignored Clint's protestations and pushed him back to a reclining position on the bed. As he injected an additional sedative into the IV tubing he commented "Clint, I doubt you'll ever learn, but I'll explain it one last time. You were in shock when we brought you back here this morning. Maybe you think you're okay, but after a trauma like that your body needs recovery time, and I'm going to see that you get it, in spite of your bull headedness."

Clint glared at him, but the drug was already hitting his system and his eyes were beginning to droop. Mockingbird stifled a laugh and hoped he hadn't seen her. He was already in a rotten mood and she really needed him feeling a little more receptive when she broke her news to him.

Hank continued, "Bobbi? Do you want to stay here with him? I'm afraid our nurse has quit on us and I have to go and interrogate the new and improved Blank. Iron Man and the others are going to be back soon. I'd like to find out what's up with this attack so I don't really have time to baby-sit our over zealous bowslinger." Bobbi nodded and Hank continued "Just make sure he stays put. I've increased the sedative dosage so he shouldn't feel much like wandering about for at least the next ten hours, but I didn't think he'd come around before either. I'm going to go. See you later."

"Don't worry Hank, I think I can handle him. Bye." Bobbi turned her attention back to her estranged husband who was still vainly struggling to sit up. "Just give it up sport. Like it or not, you're going to sleep for a while." She pushed the hair back from his face and stroked his brow as his eyes lolled to the side. "But Clint? There's something we really need to talk about. You remember our attempted reconciliation when we were both with the Great Lakes crowd? Well something has... uhhhh.. Clint? Honey?" She held his hand and, as she looked at his sleeping face, she softly whispered "Oh, Clint... damn!"

"That bastard just used me and then he tried to kill me. I owe him nothing." Now stripped of his useless force field belt, the Blank was a small, pitiful figure. "Graviton threw me out to sea just like he did with two of you. * He didn't care if I lived or died, and I damn near did die. I saw Iron Man rescued your teammates, but no one rescued me. You all left me to drown!"

* immortalized in the West Coast Avengers Limited Series Issue 3 - nostalgic Lonni

Iron Man, along with the others, had returned to the estate just moments before having found no signs of the Grim Reaper. He remained silent. It had been Rhodey in the armor during those adventures not him. Tigra, however, spoke up. "But we looked for you. There was no sign of you anywhere, and the Shroud was injured. We had to leave. You can't blame us for that!"

"You just bet I can, just like I can blame Graviton for getting me mixed up in this whole thing." Instead of frightened, he looked belligerent now. "I've got a new partner, one who's a lot smarter than Graviton ever was. He won't betray me. You'll be sorry... all of you! Graviton will be too!" He sullenly turned his back on them.

Hank tried to question him further, but the Blank refused to speak. Finally he turned to the others. "I give up. Simon, can you lock him back up? I'll call the authorities to take him and we can swear out a complaint against him. It's obvious we aren't going to get anything more out of him now. Let's see how he feels after a couple of days in the cooler."

And so New Year's Day finally came to a close. It had started with a bang with a battle at the Rose Bowl parade, and ended in a whimper as the team turned over the Blank to the Los Angeles police. Mockingbird slept in a bed in the infirmary that was pulled close beside her husband's; US Agent had sullenly returned to the compound and, refusing to speak to anyone, headed straight for his quarters; Hank and the others had also turned in. Meanwhile, in a prison cell in New York, a slumped over man with long disheveled hair sat on his bunk... and laughed.

Hey Lonni!

Well, I read your storyline here, and I gotta tell you, I'm impressed! This was a great start to an Avengers story and I can't wait until I can read the rest!

TJB