Issue #1
by Shawn Goodspeed
Captain America
Scarlet Witch
Iron Man
Doctor Pym
Thor
Wonder Man
Justice
Firestar
Vision
The alarms suddenly went off. Captain America quickly summoned everyone to the conference room. When everyone arrived, he quickly got their attention.
"This is the fifth time this week. Hank and Tony have checked the systems over and over again and they can't find one thing wrong with them. So there is something that's triggering these alarms. Right now, I want everyone to search their assigned areas!"
With these words, all nine Avengers-including Henry Pym and Jarvis-rushed off to different areas of the mansion.
About a half an hour later, they all returned. Nobody found anything suspicious.
"Anyone have any theories?" asked Cap.
There was a brief silence. Iron Man stood up.
"There are a few villains that stick out in my mind, but I don't think any of them would wait to attack. They would have attacked the first time this happened. Or maybe even the second, but none of them would waste their time doing this five times in one week and not act."
Cap responded, "Good point. But it has to be someone..."
Before Cap could finish, Thor rushed into the room.
"Aye. There hast be someone. I believe it to be none other than Loki, the God of Mischief!"
As Justice heard the mention of Loki, mixed feelings arose. On one hand, it could be a chance for him to prove himself, but on the other hand, it could show how much of a wimp he truly was.
"What makes you think Loki would play with our alarm systems? And I thought all the Gods had vanished," inquired Iron Man.
The Gods did vanish for a while, but returned. None of them knew what had happened, or at least wouldn't admit to knowing. Thor sensed some secrecy when he talked with his fellow Asgardians about it. The Gods of Asgard had settled down after repairing Asgard just a few days ago. Thor explained all this to the Avengers.
Thor added, "I have received messages from Asgard warning me of trouble. These messages have appeared in my dreams and they warn me of Loki."
"Wait....what made you come here now? We didn't call you..." asked Firestar.
"I received another message. 'Twas different for I was not asleep. I felt it to be more urgent so I came with haste," Thor responded.
Dr. Pym thought, "I wonder if Thor's message came at the time of the alarms going off? hmm..."
"Why haven't you gone there sooner?" asked Iron Man.
Thor replied "I hast not know, but now we must take haste. Hie off we must! My belo'ed Asgard has need of me! My friends...I ask thee to journey with me to Asgard."
Captain America said, "We're with you wherever you need us. Take us to Asgard."
"I'm afraid that the Vision can't assist you in your journey. I need to monitor him more. He may be fine, but I don't want to take that chance," said Dr. Pym, before anyone can move.
Vision jumped up with objections. "Wait..."
"We don't want to take any chances either. So Vision, you will remain here with Jarvis and Hank. Remember, if there is any trouble while we are gone, there is a whole list of reserves just waiting to be called," Captain America said, interrupting the Vision.
Vision sighed and sat back down. Thor swung his great hammer and the room was filled with great winds. Thor had opened the portal to Midgard. He proceeded and the other Avengers followed him through. They found themselves on Asgard. They looked around, but they saw nobody. No damage seemed to be caused to any of the structures. After a long while of searching, they all met in Odin's Hall.
Thor said "Nary a soul in Asgard. Once more, The Mighty God of Thunder is left alone."
"Well, you make the calls big guy. You know this land better than any of us," said Captain America.
Thor nodded, but before he, or anyone else, could do anything, there was a brief, magnificent flash. When Captain America's vision and hearing returned, he saw only Iron Man. Iron Man was standing over him.
"Steve, you all right? Steve?" Iron Man repeated a few times.
"Yeah. I'm fine, but where are the others?" replied Captain America.
"I haven't the faintest idea. That flash didn't effect my senses due to my armor and I didn't see any of them leave," said Iron Man with a sigh.
Captain America checked all frequencies on the communicator, not finding anything. He told Iron Man to search outside and he would search inside. Iron Man nodded and flew out. Suddenly the Red Skull appeared in front of Cap.
Captain America said in amazement, "You?! How....?"
His mind was suddenly filled with all of the anger and all of the terrible memories that the Red Skull had been responsible for. Captain America charged at his old foe. He smashed into the wall behind the Red Skull's image, finding out it he was not real. He was not effected by the smash because of his shield. He turned around to see that the Red Skull was no longer there. Captain America was relieved, but at the same time disappointed. He didn't want to have to deal with the Skull, but would have liked to tore into him. When he composed himself, Loki came to his to mind, but he continued with his search.
Meanwhile, outside, Iron Man was searching all around the Hall in the sky. Suddenly a repulser blast was fired at him. It missed him and he turned to see War Machine hovering in the air. Iron Man was puzzled, but fired three repulser blasts at War Machine. The blasts went right through him as he disappeared. Loki's name came to Stark's mind.
A few minutes later, Captain America called Iron Man on the communicator and they exchanged stories.
"Loki wasn't able to make people disappear last time I checked. So either he has someone else working with him or it isn't him," stated Iron Man.
Captain America replied, "Well this is Asgard. And if there is any trouble in Asgard, it usually involves Loki. Plus, Red Skull and War Machine were the work of Loki. No doubt about that."
"True, but what do we do?"
"I have no idea. Just be prepared. Loki is probably watching us and will probably strike soon."
Captain America could hear his name being called in a distance. Iron Man heard it too, but only through the communicator. Captain America headed in the direction he heard the voice from. Iron Man asked him to wait for him, but Captain America felt that he couldn't. Someone could have been in serious danger. He came across a door that was locked shut. The voice was coming from in there. He used his shield to try to break through the chains. He succeeded and busted open the door. He saw Firestar strapped to a chair and nobody else in the room. Cap hurried over to her and began to untie her. Before he could, he got knocked against the wall by an explosion. Iron Man kept the communicator on the whole time and heard everything. He screamed out Cap's name a few times, but no response.
A mysterious voice came over the communicator. "Hahahaha! Your Captain America has been knocked senseless. You're the only one left! Bwahaha..."
Iron Man heard more laughter, then the transmission ended. Iron Man knew that that was not Loki. He could tell by the voice and his accent. Iron Man frantically searched the Hall. He finally found the room where Captain America was ambushed. He looked around and found no traces of anyone. All he found was Captain America's broken communicator. Just as Iron Man was about to leave the room, a hologram projection of Loki appeared in the doorway.
"Haha! Thou art having fun yet Iron Man?" Loki said with exciment
"Loki! What do you want? Where are the Avengers?!" Iron Man replied with anger.
"Revenge. Thy friend Thor hast ruined mine life," stated Loki.
Iron Man's anger grew. "You brought it all on yourself. Where are the Avengers?!"
Loki stood there for a minute. Iron Man's anger grew even greater.
Loki finally said, "Thy shall soon find your friends, and if thy art nice, thy shall be able to see them all alive. With the exception of mine dreaded half-brother of course. You must leave now and I shall give you Captain America, Wonder Man, Scarlet Witch, Justice, and Firestar, and I shall keep Thor. If thy refuse mine offer, you all die!"
Just before Iron Man could respond, a voice came through the communicator. Since Iron Man's communicator's in his helmet, Loki could not hear what was being said to him.
"Tony! Don't! We can save Cap! Can you hear me? Tony, I repeat, can you hear me?" said the voice.
Iron Man thought for a second and found that the voice belonged to the Scarlet Witch. He didn't want to let Loki know he could hear Wanda, but wanted to let Wanda know. So....
"Dost thou understand? Thy life is..." began Loki, impatiently.
"Yeah. I hear you Loki. Explain more about what you want me to do to ensure the Scarlet Witch's and the others' safety," Iron Man said, hoping Wanda would get that very subtle hint.
"Well, I dost not know what else to add. Accept now or perish!" Loki demanded!
"Tony! If you can hear me, give me a sign," Wanda said, worried.
Iron Man didn't know how to let Wanda know that he could hear her.
"I'm not sure if you can hear me, but don't accept the offer. If he could easily capture the others, he could have and would have captured you as well," said Wanda, hoping her long time friend hears her.
"No, Loki! Avengers do not abandon Avengers! Thor comes home with us!" exclaimed Iron Man.
"Fine! Thou art foolish, mortal! Now thou shall die at the hands of the God of Mischief!" exclaimed Loki, with anger.
Loki disappeared. Iron Man sighed and began to talk to Scarlet Witch.
"Wanda. You still there?"
"Yes, Tony. Where are you? I have Justice with me."
"I'm inside the Hall, but it would be easier to meet somewhere."
They set up a place to meet. Iron Man got there in about five minutes, but he waited another five for the other two to arrive.
"Loki believes that I am still alone..." began Iron Man.
"Wait. If he's monitoring us, then he would have to know by now that we have met up. Right?" Justice asked, not meaning to interrupt Iron Man and not realizing he did so.
Scarlet Witch rubbed her chin and gave her young companion credit for the good point.
"Damn. We might have had an upper hand on Loki, but if he is watching, then we would be wasting time and might fail by trying to trick him. We should just assume that he knows," stated Iron Man.
"Well if he is monitoring us, then how could we possibly devise a plan?" asked Scarlet Witch.
As the three Avengers talked, they were indeed being watched, but not by Loki.
Iron Man thought for a moment, then said, "Another good point. One that I don't think we could get past."
"Maybe...maybe we should just look for the others," suggested Justice.
"We can't. The search area is too vast for just the three of us. And if we split up, we would be more vulnerable," responded Iron Man.
"So what do we do?," Scarlet Witch asked, "We can't look for the other Avengers. We can't attack. We can't even make up a plan. And we definitely can't just sit here waiting for something to happen."
Iron Man came up with an idea. "Who says we can't attack? If he knows we're coming, then he knows. We can't change that and we have nothing better to do. It may be dangerous, but if we attack Loki, we may find the other Avengers."
Justice cautiously replied, "Ahm...I think there might be a problem with that Iron Man. We don't know where Loki is. Do we?"
"No, but I have an idea where he is," replied Iron Man.
Iron Man lead them to where he thought Loki was. On the way, Iron Man noticed that Justice had his pager with him.
"Justice. Is that your pager?" asked Iron Man.
Justice, a little startled, replied, "What? huh? Oh yeah. I guess I forgot to take it off. Why?"
"Just wondering. Nevermind."
Scarlet Witch questioned Justice about the pager. They began to talk, while Iron Man played around with his communicator and other devices built into his armor. Justice suddenly felt his pager vibrating, but before he could say anything, Iron Man grasped his mouth.
Iron Man whispered to Justice, "Just look at it."
Justice looked at his pager. It read, "We aren't going to find Loki. I have no clue where he is. I'm just pretending to, to throw Loki off and prepare for a battle. This will buy us some time. We may be able to find the others. Show this to Wanda and delete it immediately."
Justice laughed and showed the pager to Scarlet Witch. "Look at this. I can't believe it." She read it and Justice deleted the page. Iron Man took to the air and looked around. Justice and Scarlet Witch kept on walking, blindly following Iron Man. A few minutes later, Justice got knocked to the ground by a weak fire blast.
Justice jumped to his feet and yelled out, "What the...?!"
Scarlet Witch jumping to conclusions said, "We're being attacked!"
Iron Man landed next to Justice. Suddenly, Firestar and Wonder Man flew in front of them. Firestar and Wonder Man explained that Firestar only did that to test to see if Vance was real or if he was a hologram. Iron Man did his own check and decided that Firestar and Wonder Man were real. They shared their stories. Wonder Man's and Firestar's story was uneventful. They were greeted by a holographic projection of the Grim Reaper, Wonder Man's brother. After they found it was just a hologram, they began walking around looking for the others. Before they could start discussing a plan, Loki's image appeared in front of them.
"At last! Thou art all together. Now, thou shall meet thy final adversary!" Loki said with excitement.
A very large robot, about the size of a sentinel, but made out of pure metal, flew over to the Avengers.
"Meet Zeus! Like the name? Odin didn't!" exclaimed Loki with laughter.
"Zeus" fired one blast at Justice, which knocked him against a wall. Justice was out cold. Firestar, Iron Man, and Wonder Man took to the air. Scarlet Witch began summoning hexes.
Iron Man took the leadership job. "Simon, you protect Wanda for now. Wanda, use whatever hexes you can think of. Firestar, concentrate on certain areas at a time. It will make it easier to melt the metal."
Iron Man and Firestar began hovering around Zeus, shooting at him, concentrating on certain areas. Wonder Man stood guard by Scarlet Witch. Scarlet Witch summoned a hex that caused Zeus's legs to be immobilized. She became weak from the powerful hex. Zeus was firing aimlessly at Iron Man and Firestar. Both managed to avoid his blasts, but Zeus was unaffected by theirs. Loki was getting mad. His plan was not working. Zeus suddenly completely stopped. Iron Man and Firestar stopped firing. Zeus started to glow a bright red color. Wonder Man charged at Zeus. The other Avengers didn't know what they should do. Zeus grabbed Wonder Man and started squeezing. Iron Man and Firestar fired at the hand Zeus was holding Simon with, but Zeus didn't let go. Scarlet Witch, still very weak, casted a hex, causing Zeus to let go of Wonder Man. Scarlet Witch fainted and Wonder Man fell towards the ground. Iron Man was able to catch him and laid him safely on the ground. Loki's mood began to change. He began to think his creation could finally put an end to the Avengers. Firestar flew down to Scarlet Witch. As Firestar picked her up, Zeus fired a large beam at them. The beam hit Firestar in the back and knocked her forward about a dozen yards. Scarlet Witch wasn't hit directly, but got knocked up against a rock. Iron Man realized he is the only one left. Loki began to laugh and didn't stop.
"What's the matter with thee Iron Man?" Loki asked. "Art thou starting to rethink mine offer? Well thou art too late!"
Iron Man ignored Loki's comments and started charging his repulser rays. Zeus stood very still, not moving an inch, but still glowing. Iron Man released his repulser rays at Zeus's head. Zeus was barely affected. Zeus opened its mouth, unleashing a beam at Iron Man. The beam engulfed Iron Man's body, but did not hurt him. The beam just made Iron Man paralyzed and caused him to fall to the ground. Iron Man was very puzzled. He could move inside the armor, but could not make the armor move or even get out of the armor. So he just laid there, waiting.
Loki thought he just beat the Avengers once and for all. "YES! Now. For Captain America!"
Just before Loki disappeared, he heard someone yell out to him. "Loki!!!!" Loki vanished, knowing who was calling out to him. It was none other than the God of Thunder. He had been traveling about Asgard this whole time, looking for anyone. He was unlucky until he heard the noises of the battle. He rushed to where he heard the noises, but as he approached, he found it was too late. He landed next to the fallen Iron Man. He looked around at the other fallen Avengers. Anger filled him. He twirled his hammer and threw it through Zeus. Zeus just exploded, causing the Avengers, except Thor, to be thrown all over. The explosion also caused the nearby structures to collapse. Thor got knocked to his back. He slowly got up and held out his hand. He called out, "MJOLNIR!". Thor's hammer flew back into his hand. He walked around and gathered all of the Avengers together. He made sure they were all alive. After contemplating, Thor decided he must find Captain America and flew off, leaving the other Avengers all unconscious.
In Loki's dungeon, Captain America hung there, chained to a wall and his shield was in a box in another room. Captain America was almost asleep from wearing himself out by trying to escape. Loki rushed to Cap's cell.
"Wake up mortal! Thy friends art fools. They thought they could trick me and now they are all dead!"
Captain America, suddenly with a spout of energy, "WHAT?! You lie!"
"Nay! Thou would see for thyself, but instead I will just kill thee now. I must prepare for Thor, but my underling shall destroy you."
A man in a black cloak, about the same size of Loki walked into the cell with a large gun.
Captain America was surprised at the site of a gun. "A gun? Since when have people from Asgard used guns?"
The man charged the gun and stood there.
Loki was about to leave, but noticed his underling was not firing. "What art thou waiting for?! FIRE!"
The man turned around and dropped the gun. "No! I shall not betray Thor or Asgard! Kill me if thou wish!"
Loki became infuriated. He casted a spell and the man fell to the ground, dead.
Loki looked to Captain America. "Thy turn mortal!"
Just as Loki summoned the spell, Thor crashed through the wall. He tackled his half-brother.
"Thou shall not hurt another one of my friends!" exclaimed Thor.
"Blast!"
They struggled for a bit, but Loki didn't stand a chance. Loki got knocked out. Thor stood up and noticed a man dead at his feet.
Thor turned to Cap. "Captain America. Dost thou know what occurred?"
"He was sent to kill me, but did not want to. He chose to die at Loki's hands instead."
Thor let out a sigh and broke Captain America free. He locked Loki up in the cell next to him and crushed the gun. Captain America retrieved his shield.
"Come mine friend. I shall take thou to the others."
Thor grabbed Captain America and flew him to where he left the other Avengers. When they arrived, they saw Scarlet Witch and Justice standing there talking. Iron Man was hovering around, looking for Thor and Cap. He landed as Thor did.
"Now we find out what happened to the other Asgardians," said Captain America.
Thor replied quickly, "Nay. Thy problem, it is not. I shall stay here and search for answers myself. Thou also has comrades to care for."
"Thor, we will stay here and help you. We are Avengers and..." began Cap.
Thor interrupted, "The Avengers belong on Midgard helping its inhabitants. I belong here helping the inhabitants of Asgard or whatever is left of them."
They argued this for a few minutes, but Captain America gave in. Thor opened the portal back to Earth and Captain America, Scarlet Witch, Iron Man and Justice bring the others through it.
In the Avengers Mansion, Henry Pym was in his lab still studying Vision.
Jarvis was in the parlor with a guest. The Avengers arrived in the conference
room. Captain America called for the others. In just a few minutes Henry
Pym and Jarvis were in the conference room.
"Welcome back Cap. Where's Thor?" asked Dr. Pym.
Captain America explained the story as Firestar and Wonder Man slowly
began to wake up.
"Where's Vision?" Scarlet Witch asked Dr. Pym.
"He's still in my lab. You caught me in the middle of a test. He said
it would be all right for me to leave him there."
"We have a guest, sir," said Jarvis.
Captain America replied, "We have a guest and you just let me ramble?
Who is he?"
Jarvis walked out and quickly returned with Hawkeye.
Iron Man looked at Hawkeye in surprise. "Hawkeye. Are you...back?"
Next Issue: Hawkeye's future with the Avengers is decided. Justice's nervousness grows. Scarlet Witch and Wonder Man start to work things out, but somebody may not be too happy with it...DON'T MISS IT!
