Issue #2
by Shawn Goodspeed
Captain America
Scarlet Witch
Iron Man
Giant-Man
Hawkeye
Wonder Man
Justice
Firestar
Vision
"Hawkeye!" Iron Man exclaimed. "Are you...back?*"
[*Hawkeye left the Avengers back in MU's Avengers #9--Dino]
There was silence. Everyone's attention had turned to Captain America.
"It depends," Hawkeye said as he stared into Captain America's eyes. "I like being an Avenger, but I also like being in charge of my life. That's something that I may lose if I return."
Captain America decided that everyone should get some rest after their exhausting mission. The issue of Hawkeye being an Avenger would be settled the next day.
A few days past and Hawkeye kept avoiding Captain America whenever he brought up the issue. Well this day was a special day and Hawkeye could not find a way of avoiding Cap. It was Sunday, January 30th and of course that was the greatest day of the year for sports....
The score was 26 to 23. Only six seconds were left on the clock in the fourth quarter. The losing team had possession, but at the fifty.
The quarterback threw the ball. Along with millions of other football fans, six Avengers held their breaths. The ball was caught, but not by someone who was on the same team as the quarterback. Half of the Avengers broke out in cheers, while the rest broke out in tears. The Colts had just lost the Super Bowl!
"Okay big guy, pay up."
"Excuse me sir, but I believe you owe me some money."
"YES! And who says women don't know about football?!"
Steve Rogers (Captain America) handed fifty dollars to Clint Barton (Hawkeye). Wonder Man (Simon Williams) handed fifty dollars to Jarvis. Justice (Vance Astrovik) handed fifty dollars to Firestar (Angelica Jones).
"I can't believe you're actually making me pay up," Justice said.
"Hey, you're the one who challenged me in the first place," Firestar replied.
"I'm afraid I must attend to my duties now," Jarvis said as he walked out of the room.
"What about the other part of the bet, Clint?" asked Steve.
"I won't hold you to it," Clint replied. "The decision of me becoming a full-time Avenger again shouldn't depend on who wins the Super Bowl."
Just then, Wanda Maximoff walked into the room.
"Well do you want to become a full-time Avenger again, Clint?" she asked.
"I...don't know. I like it here and being an Avenger is fun, but I like being on my own too," Clint replied.
"As you know, we're now looking for an eigth member to take Thor's place*," Steve noted. "So..."
[*Thor left in the last issue--Dino]
"Fine," interrupted Clint as he hurried towards the doorway. "I'll be an Avenger until you can find Thor's replacement. Good! It's settled. Now I'm going to get some lunch."
"I meant..." Steve began, but stopped as he saw Clint had already left. "Why does he always have to do that? He can't let anyone finish talking to him."
"Oh, settle down, Cap," Wanda said, reassuringly. "He knew what you meant and I have a feeling he'll be here longer than he expects."
Wonder Man walked over to Wanda. He reached out for her shoulder, but she brushed his hand away. He frowned and left the room. He headed down the hall to Henry Pym's lab. He looked around and saw Vision's body in a chamber, inactive. Wonder Man stood there, staring at him. He put his head down and a tear ran from his eye. Steve Rogers soon walked into the lab. He headed over to Wonder Man standing there.
"Simon, are you okay? What Wanda did was a little cold."
Wonder Man quickly wiped away the tears. He walked over to Steve. Without saying a word, Wonder Man gave Steve the impression that he didn't want to talk about it. Steve nodded and walked out of the lab. Wonder Man headed to the exit, but gave one last look at Vision before leaving.
No sooner did the doors to the lab close, than they open again. Wanda walked and sat in a seat near the chamber with Vision and just stared at him, thinking.
Vance and Angel walked to the rec. room. There, Angel felt she could relieve some of Vance's stress. Angel set up the pool table, while Vance got the sticks.
"Man, I don't know how much longer I can stay here," Vance blurted out, hitting Angel by surprise.
"What are you talking about Vance?" she asked.
"Being an Avenger. I don't think I can cut it. I might...go back to the New Warriors."
"Oh no you don't!" Angel exclaimed as she prepared to take her first shot. "You aren't abandoning me Vance! I need you here!"
"Well then come with me," Vance said, watching Angel knock three balls into two pockets.
"Vance, I like being an Avenger."
"I don't. Look what happened in Asgard. That giant thing came and knocked me out right away.* I was of no use at all. I mean, I like being able to call myself 'an Avenger,' but there's too much damn pressure."
[*Last ish--Dino]
Just then, Clint Barton walked in. He was listening without the others knowing. Not noticing him, Vance took his shot, getting nothing in.
"Pressure?" Clint asked. "You wanna feel pressure? Try being left to lead a team of ex-villains.** And if you fail, you know you'll never live it down. That's pressure for ya, kid."
[**Hawkeye's been leading the Thunderbolts lately, a team who were once the Masters of Evil--Dino]
"Okay then," Angel began. "You must understand where he's coming from. You were a rookie once. And you know a lot about dealing with pressure."
"Yeah, I guess you're right. There is a lot of pressure for rookies. But how come you aren't freakin' out like him?"
"I'm nervous, but I know how to deal with things better than him," Angel replied, as if Vance was not present. "He's not very comfortable in new surroundings."
Clint put his hand on Vance's shoulder. "I'm gonna help ya here. Cap and the rest of 'em could make anyone nervous, but me, I'm just a regular guy. So you got nothing to be nervous about around me. I'm an Avenger now, well for a while anyway. And as long as I'm here, you'll have someone you can talk to."
"Well, I...have Angel," Vance replied. "She's always been there for me. But thanks, Clint."
"Then ya got two people you can talk to," Clint said as he walked out of the room. "You know where I am if ya need me. I'll leave you two alone now and let you get back to your game."
Vance and Angel gave each other a look and finished their game in silence.
Dr. Pym opened the door to his lab and saw Scarlet Witch sitting there staring at Vision.
"Wanda!" he said, with some shock. "Would you like me to leave you alone?"
"No thanks, Hank" Wanda said as she stood up. "I've had enough time to think."
"If you want, I could reactivate him. So you can talk."
"No," Wanda said as she headed out of the lab. "He isn't the same as he was before. I don't think I will be able to talk to him."
"Well I talked to Simon just a few minutes ago and he's waiting to talk. I think it would be a good idea if you two sit down and talk things over."
Wanda nodded to him as she left. She walked down the hall and saw Wonder Man sitting in the parlor, alone. She walked over to him and sat near him. There was a brief silence, but after Wanda broke the ice, they talked for hours.
Later on that day, Captain America got a call, requesting help. There was a problem just a few blocks from the mansion. It wasn't very serious, so Captain America contacted only two Avengers. Iron Man agreed to go.
As Captain America asked Hawkeye about it, Hawkeye replied, "I'd love to, but I think it might be a better idea if you send the new kid out with Iron Man."
Cap contacted Justice.
"Me? Alone?" Justice asked, uneasy about the mission.
"No. Iron Man is getting ready."
"What about Firestar?" Justice asked .
"What about her?" Cap replied. "She doesn't have to go. You are all suited up Vance, so just hurry. Iron Man may be waiting."
Justice kissed Angel and flew out to the front of the mansion. Just a few seconds later, Iron Man flew out as well. Iron Man instructed Justice to follow him. Iron Man took off and Justice followed. They arrived at a bank that was being held up. Iron Man lowered to talk to a police officer.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"There are four bank robbers. They're stuck in there. They managed to get seven hostages. Two shots have been fired. We don't know who, if anyone, was shot."
"Okay, thanks. We'll do what we can." He turned to the younger Avenger. "Justice, fly around the back and bust in a window when you get the signal."
Justice nodded and flew around to the other side of the bank. This might have been a good time for Justice to prove himself and he saw this as his opportunity.
Iron Man used his equipment to look into the bank. He spotted three men with guns all facing the main door. A fourth was holding a gun on the hostages. Iron Man counted and there were seven hostages and he saw no blood. Iron Man sent the signal to Justice. Justice flew in through a window and all four men turned their guns to him. Iron Man busted in through the front door. Two of the men quickly snapped around to him.
"Justice, protect the hostages!" instructed Iron Man.
Justice used his mutant powers to form a telekinetic shielf around the hostages as well as himself. Two of the robbers started shooting, but the psychic force field deflected all the bullets.
"Forget them!" one of the criminals yelled out. "Stop Shell-Head!"
Iron Man hit two of them with his weakest repulser blast to knock them out. One of the remaining men ran into the vault. Iron Man's blast knocked out the fourth man.
"Get them out of here! NOW!" yelled Iron Man.
Justice dropped his shield and instructed the hostages to get out as quick as possible.
All seven hostages ran toward the exit, but one stopped and turned around. She forgot her purse.
Meanwhile, the remaining robber ran out of the vault with a bomb strapped to his chest and was waving a gun around. The hostage ran to get her dropped purse.
"The name's Lenny! And you bozos will never forget it!"
The woman began to run out of the bank, but Lenny shot her in the leg. She fell to the floor and started crying. Iron Man turned to Justice.
"I thought you got them all out!"
"She ran back in...it wasn't my fault," replied Justice.
Lenny began to laugh and yelled out, "Hahaha! HELL! THAT'S WHERE WE'RE ALL GOING!! HAHAHA! HELL!"
Lenny started shooting frantically. Justice quickly put up a shield to protect him and the woman.
"JUSTICE! Do something!" yelled Iron Man, "I can shield her, but I can't deactivate the bomb! You can!"
Justice dropped his shield and was about to use his psychic powers to knock Lenny out, but when he heard Lenny counting down, he got frightened and didn't move.
"9...8...7..."
Iron Man jumped up. He raised a hand and aimed at Lenny.
"4...haha! Fool! That'll just make it go BOOOOOOOM!!!!! HAHA!"
Without even thinking, Justice created a large force field, forcing Iron Man and the woman out of the bank.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The explosion was not very large. It caused a few things to be blown back, but other than the bank, nothing was seriously damaged. The woman was put into an ambulance. The police make sure Iron Man is all right. He told them he's fine and flew up into the air to look for his fellow Avenger. Justice flew up behind Iron Man. He reached out to Iron Man's shoulder.
"Sorry."
Iron Man quickly turned around. "Sorry for what? You saved us."
"But I froze. I could have stopped the bomb from going off all together."
"Could have, should have, would have. Forget about it all. What's done is done. You did a good job. Now let's go on home."
They told the story to Captain America, Jarvis, Firestar and Hawkeye. Hawkeye motioned Justice aside.
"See," Hawkeye said. "You did good. Just a few more of those victories and you'll be set."
"I...guess so," Justice replied.
Hawkeye sighed. "You don't seem too convinced, but I don't think I can do much more."
Hawkeye walked over to Firestar and motions for her to talk to Vance. Firestar and Justice took a walk around the mansion.
"I froze. It should have ended easier. Nothing should have happened."
"Everything's fine. Nobody was hurt."
"Four men were killed. How can you say nobody was hurt?"
"Those four men were the ones who caused all the trouble and..." Firestar began.
"And what?" Justice interrupted. "They deserved to die? Don't tell me you believe that."
"Nobody deserves to die, but..." she began again.
"No buts! I screwed up and it cost four men their lives. Iron Man and an innocent woman were almost killed too."
"But they weren't. You saved them. And those four men wanted to die."
They walked by their room. Justice stopped and quickly went in and closed the door.
Well that was rude, she thought. He better let me in there later on. I'll give him time to think now.
Firestar continued on and walked by Wonder Man and Scarlet Witch. She noticed them laughing.
"If you don't mind me asking, you guys are cool now?" asked Firestar.
"Yes, we are 'cool,'" Wanda replied. "We settled everything."
"Cool," Firestar said, as she walked away.
Next Issue: An old "friend" resurfaces, but he is not exactly welcomed.... DON'T MISS IT!
