Avengers # 42

MARVEL 2000 PRESENTS...

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"REVENGE ALL AROUND"
Part I: "Style Clash"
by Brent Lambert

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T'Challa looked up into the night sky and then stared down at his watch. Tonight, was suppose to have been a night of relaxation for the team. No suits. No distress calls. Just enjoying each other's company. Too much had happened recently and they all could just simply use a break. Even the Avengers could burn out. Unfortunately, he wasn't doing too much relaxing at the moment. He was standing outside the entrance of Avengers Mansion with Steve Rogers, Jack Hart, and X-51 for company. They had received an urgent call from one of their allies and so now they had to wait.

"How long do you think she'll be?" Jack asked.

::Considering where her signal was coming from. I would say that Designate: Sersi is about 10 minutes away from us::

Jack sighed, "Great ten minutes. I really hate missing Lost."

"Good show," Steve said.

"Damn good show," Jack agreed.

"A friend in need is worth missing a show over."

::T'Challa is right. Sersi would not have called us unless the emergency was great::

"Then why aren't we out there meeting her? I know you and I could at least get up there," Jack said.

T'Challa cut his eyes at Jack, "She didn't say anything about being under attack. She just said she had someone who needed medical attention. You flying out there won't make things go any faster. We wait and we wait without complaint."

Jack was beginning to miss Thor more and more with every day that passed. T'Challa's regal arrogance was driving him up the wall and he was always talking down to people. As if the rest of the Avengers weren't good enough to him. The only ones he avoided talking to like that be Cap and Moondragon. Of course no one smarted off to Cap. Jack felt that if anybody should be leader that it should be Cap. What gave T'Challa the right to lead the Avengers? He had his own country to run. Why did he feel the need to be here? Despite his criticism of Thor it was undeniable that he had saved the entire planet. The attention of the Avengers couldn't be everywhere at once. It simply wasn't possible.

"I think we have an incoming," Steve said pointing up at a bright point in the sky that only seemed to be glowing brighter.

"X-51. Can you do something to soften their descent? I don't think Jarvis would be happy having to call someone else to fix the lawn again after the Tyrant incident."

The android, now gifted with Celestial technology, looked to Black Panther and nodded, ::Yes I can do something. All of you wait here::

X-51's purple metal "skin" began to change into a dark black and he launched himself into the air like a bottle rocket. He was out of sight within a matter of moments. Jack laughed, "Damn he moves fast."

"Too bad Pietro wasn't out here," Cap said returning the laughter.

"He's already been outraced once this year. I don't think he could stand a second time," Jack smiled having heard from Beast how the guy who called himself The Flash ultimately bested Pietro. Quicksilver hasn't stopped being red in the face since.

T'Challa remembered how he had been bested in the battle with the Justice League. Batman had simply outdone in every sense of the word. He had never met a man of such flawless skill. That day the King of Wakanda had been humbled severely. He would admit it to none, but his pride was still wounded from the encounter. Defeat wasn't a foreign face to T'Challa, but something about that defeat stung particularly hard.

"Jack go inside and retrieve Heather. We'll need her telepathy to keep the people who see this blazing ship calm. We don't need them thinking its yet another alien invasion," Panther ordered.

Jack's smile ceased at that point and turned to walk into the abode of Earth's Mightiest Heroes. When he was gone it was then that Cap asked the question he had needed to ask Panther for some time, "Did Batman really pull that big of a number on you?"

Panther's eyes snapped open, "That has nothing to do with this!"

"Look T'Challa I've always known you to be a guy on the edge, but ever since Batman got the better of you, you've been intense. We all lose some T'Challa, but if you're going to lead this team you're going to have to move past that," Steve advised.

Turning his attention to the sky, Panther said, "We'll discuss this later. Our guests have arrived."

X-51 was holding the nose of the egg shaped spaceship and he was bringing it down gently to the Avengers Mansion lawn. Heather and Jack were outside by the time Sersi had made her way out of the ship with her guest in tow. He was wrapped in tattered brown rags and he seemed to be mumbling inaudibly.

Jack was the first to move to Sersi and he pulled back the cloak of her passenger to see-

"Quoi? Is that you?" Jack asked hardly recognizing the once innocent face of the Celestial Messiah. His hair now stretched down to his shoulders and shifty eyes couldn't keep a solid lock on Jack.

"Pain and oppression. Oppression and pain. Oh what is there to gain?" Quoi mumbled under his breath.

"What it was wrong with him?" T'Challa asked harshly as he stepped in front of Jack. It was obvious to him now that Quoi needed medical attention, but not of the physical kind. He didn't like being deceived and Sersi had done just that.

Jack stepped back from T'Challa and turned to Moondragon, "Could he be any more of a jerk?"

"He is royalty. He believes his rights extend far beyond yours."

I like how you said yours and not ours, Jack thought.

"The war has wrought this upon Sequoia. When he went off to face War Dancer alone something awful happened. None of us even know if Dancer was defeated. All we know is that his forces pulled back and there is a tentative peace amongst the many races. One can only hope Quoi succeeded so his current condition would not have been in vain," Sersi said as she held tightly to the arm of Quoi. He walked a bit slumped over and drool dripped slightly from his mouth.

"So why bring him here?" T'Challa asked frankly.

Quoi grinned, "Here are friends. Here are enemies. Here comes safety."

"If there was any one place with the collection of minds capable of giving Sequoia his sanity I knew it would be on Earth," Sersi explained.

"Were my people involved in this war?" Jack asked fearful of the answer for some reason he couldn't explain. Lately, he had been having nightmares. Fire and screams filled the horrible illusions that plagued his sleep.

Sersi's lips trembled as she looked up to Jack and back at Quoi. Her eyes were downcast as she answered Jack, "Yes. Yes, they were. They fought alongside the War Dancer. Why we don't know, but they did suffer one of the greatest losses. Their home system was destroyed."

It took a minute for Sersi's words to sink in, but when they did Jack turned his back to his teammates and hurled up all the Lo Mein he had eaten.

"Sorry Jack. I had to make them go boom. Boom bad, but boom good," Quoi giggled.

The words of the Celestial Messiah sunk in slowly like quicksand. Jack couldn't believe what he heard. A man he called friend had ripped away part of his heart. Jack was half-human and half-Contraxian. Admittedly, he hadn't learned as much about the Contraxians as he should have, but that made losing them all the more painful. Their homeworld was gone. All the culture, history, and artifacts that could have helped Jack understand half of himself were now gone.

"You did what?!!" Jack yelled as he ran forward towards the still giggling Sequoia. Hart wasn't able to get very far because X-51 quickly moved in front of him and restrained the Avenger with a strong grip on both shoulders.

::Violence is not the answer here. Designate: Sequoia is obviously disturbed my friend::

"The Contraxians genetic capabilities were far too dangerous. The Celestial Messiah did what he had to do. I'm deeply sorry for your loss, but the Contraxians do survive. Their home system's destruction is hardly the worst that came from this war," Sersi said turning to Heather, "Thanos has returned and he's more powerful than ever before."

Heather laughed scoffing, "Thanos' return means nothing to me."

Suddenly an image flashed through her mind and it was Thanos choking the life out of her. Then she heard the Titan's voice, "But it should mean so much to you my dear. You have escaped my lover's embrace too many times. I will be coming to reunite the both of you."

"Lets go inside. We can discuss all this further, but right now we need to attend to Quoi," Cap ordered.

---

Red Skull walked up the red carpet and took his seat at the top of the giant skull shaped table. He ran his black glove across the red table and smiled, "Today my friends we begin the zerstörung of the schändlich Japan. Germany suffered too long because of the Japs betrayal. We shall all make them pay."

Seated next to Red Skull was a villain that had played his fair share of revenge driven games. Professor Anthony Power was a man that had plagued the lives of the X-Men, Defenders, Avengers, SHIELD, and an assortment of other heroes. His plans were to unite the world under one power. Now, he just wasn't quite as picky about where the power came from.

Across from Power was someone who had once been a pathetic shell of a man. His students had called him Mr. Rasputin and the old man had lost them when he began to teach of Tavi's return. Telling your students an ancient god would come down to step on them wasn't exactly a way to keep parents happy. Rasputin had considered himself a High Priest of Tavi and paid worship to the god. Eventually, he constructed the Tavistick, which was a weapon for his god. It provided him with limited mystical ability and he was soundly defeated. He had all but given up on the chance to attain true mystical might until Red Skull approached him. The Skull had provided him with a means to increase his abilities and become worthy of sitting at this table.

The Man without a Soul was next to Rasputin and it sickened him to be seated to such an oaf. Centurious considered himself to be in a far different arena than those present in this floating fortress that Red Skull had constructed. Unfortunately, Centurious owed his loyalty to Red Skull if he ever wanted to be truly alive again. Skull had resurrected Centurious with the combined power of the Cosmic Cube and some mystical means. For now that life could be easily taken away. If Centurious wanted his true life then he had to perform three tasks for Skull. This was among the first of them.

Damocles was across from Centurious and he was very much in the same predicament. Red Skull had bought him back to the land of the living. Eric Barlow was a confused man who was always searching for something in life. His younger brother, Bennet, cut that life short when Damocles had the life of Thor and others hanging in the balance. Eric had always hated his brother and cursed his name even with his last dying breath. Now he would have the chance to repay Bennet in kind, but he had to work for Red Skull first.

The last person seated at the table was Dr. Animal and he was at the far end directly across from Red Skull. Animal had been a creation of Zeneo Technologies and had worked under Diablo. One of his fellow creations had been Binary, Nicole Ridely, of the Avengers. Eventually, Animal left the employee of Zeneo Tech. Skull saw opportunity in his abilities and snatched him up.

A few feet away from the table there stood a large metallic monstrosity. Thermal Man had been a weapon created by the Chinese to be the destroyer of democracy. Times had changed a great deal since then and Thermal Man's purpose was now an obsolete one. Skull had not changed with the times though and Thermal Man's purpose was one that the Nazi took a great deal of interest in. The atomically powered robot had gone toe-to-toe with Thor and shrugged off blows from Mjolnir. He was not something to be trifled with.

"The Coalition will make the streets of Japan run red with their beschmutzen Sie und ordnen Sie Blut!" Red Skull exclaimed with a wicked smile.

Power fidgeted some in his seat. His large cybernetic frame made it a bit difficult to fit into the seat that Skull had placed for him. Large wires took the place of hair and tiny yellow wires stretched from his chin and covered where his neck would have been. Cybernetic hands gripped the handles of the chair and they were starting to give way under Power's tight grip.

"How are we going about conducting this plan of attack?" Power asked anxious to see exactly what it was that Red Skull had in mind. Anthony considered himself to be Skull's intellectual superior, but his many defeats over the years had left Power with little resources. Skull had the resources and sticking with him ensured Anthony an opportunity to rebuild his power.

Skull folded his arms across his chest and put a fist to his chin, "We'll be splitting up and each handling different tasks. Power I will leave Tokyo to you. Centurious will make the US Naval Base into rubble. Rasputin will take Thermal Man to Okinawa. The Tavistick shall make them scream. Kyoto belongs to Damocles and Dr. Animal will serve as back-up where necessary."

Old man Rasputin quivered under the task that had been assigned to him, "What of the heroes? I don't think I'm prepared to handle a team of them dropping on my head."

"The feeble one makes a point. As much as I have faith in my own power and your gifts Skull, I can't imagine having to fight off the likes of the Avengers," Centurious added.

Red Skull slammed his fists on the table and spit began to fly from his mouth as he screamed, "You fools! I have gifted all of you with incredible power. You will not betray me with your cowardice! I have worked too hard to assemble all of you. If I didn't have faith in your abilities I would have let the lot of you wherever you where. Do not disappoint me! And do not come to me with your weak fear!"

Rasputin had to fight the urge to piss himself. This wasn't what he was use to. He had accepted Skull and his gifts of power, but he wasn't ready for this. As much as he loved Tavi and doing his will this seemed like too much. Bearing the burden of High Priest was a difficult one, but having to bear that burden and work for Red Skull was overwhelming. Still he had faith that Tavi would guide him through all difficulties.

"Fear? That wasn't programmed into me," Dr. Animal smiled from across the raging Red Skull.

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BEGIN INTERLUDE

"Are you sure that this machine will work?" Mieko Ko asked as she walked alongside Thanatos.

Thanatos ignored Ko and continued walking. Belladona kept pace with Mieko and whispered, "I think your question went unheard."

"Don't play games with me Belladona. It's not too late for me to back out of all of this."

"Be patient Ko. Thanatos will fulfill his bargain to us," Belladona replied.

The two women finally caught up to Thanatos who was standing in front of a large pillar of purple energy that seemed to shoot right out of the space ship and into the blackness of space. There was no way energy moving that fast could be contained in one vessel. The time traveler wasn't in the least daunted by the energy. He was quite use to it. Chronal energy could be very dangerous if dealt with by unknowing hands, but Thanatos knew time.

"Will he honestly help us?" Mieko Ko asked from afar.

Thanatos looked back, "He will once he hears my-URRKKK!"

A large green hand had reached out from the energy and wrapped itself around Thanatos' throat with two fingers. The green behemoth stepped out from the energy and looked around. His eyes full of emerald rage made their way to Belladona and Mieko Ko.

"Who as bought me here?"

Thanatos could barely offer up an answer, "I did old friend."

"Old friend? I don't know you."

"Oh but you do Maestro," Thanatos said as he slipped off his helmet, "I'm Rick Jones."

END INTERLUDE

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Black Panther paced back and forth across the tan carpet. He had been repeating this action for the past three minutes. The King's face could not have been any more trapped in thought. Steve was watching T'Challa with a hint of curiosity. Cap had an idea what was bothering his friend, but it was useless to try and pull anything out of him. He was an aristocrat and they only spoke their mind when they were ready to. So Steve would continue to sit in his chair and watch T'Challa pace.

Finally, Black Panther came to a stop, "I don't want him here. He's too much of a liability."

"I can't wait to hear the explanation on this one," Captain America said folding his arms across his chest and stretching out his legs. Steve was seated up against the wall and above him was a picture of Hank Pym.

"You heard Sersi. Sequoia has destroyed worlds and was at the forefront of an intergalactic war. The last thing we need is a vengeful army coming to Earth for his head. Keeping him here endangers us all," Black Panther said in a surprisingly cool and collected tone. His gaze didn't waver from Steve. The two of them were giants in their own right so it was only inevitable they would bump heads.

"Sometimes I wonder why I let you talk me back into all of this, but now I know. It was because you were my friend. Friends don't abandon friends. Avengers don't abandon Avengers."

Panther huffed, "Steve be reasonable. He is a threat to the entire planet. Not just us. Keeping him here puts us all in harm's way. If he is to stay on Earth then it won't be here."

"That's where you're wrong Mr. Royalty. The government has deemed it entirely necessary and in their best interest to keep Sequoia here at Avengers Mansion," Everett Ross said as he rudely interrupted the conversation. He had a cell phone to his ear and with his other hand he was holding a Coke. The smug smile on the youthful man's face could turn even the ebony King of Wakanda a bright shade of red.

Steve rose out of his seat and put his hands behind his back to prevent himself from punching the most annoying government liaison since Henry Peter Gyrich. The long time Avenger would be lying if he said that Gyrich's current status didn't make him smile. He'd be a blessed man if the same fate could befall Ross.

"I've got one good guess who ratted Quoi out," Steve said to Panther. Ross closed his cell phone shut and sat down his Coke on the table. Steve wanted to string up Ross from the nearest ceiling fan. How Panther managed to hook up with this fool was a story best left untold.

"Neither one of you see Sequoia for what he is. He's an opportunity. It's my job to see what the rest of you can't. Any other person not wearing a skin-tight costume would know that someone who can blow up solar systems is a weapon damn worth keeping!"

Smacking the punk would have been Steve's preferred course of action, but he was a man of control. Captain America knew what it was like to be thought of as only a weapon. Everyone saw you as immaterial and not even a person. The syndrome would be far worse in the case of Sequoia who was possessed of truly god-like power.

Ross took a swig of his Coke, "Besides Panther, keeping him would be in your best interests. The government might think you don't want him here so you can't take him for yourself. With Magneto around the corner I'm sure you'd want a new weapon or two."

T'Challa's eyes narrowed, "You would accuse me of that!"

Ross laughed, "I didn't accuse anyone of anything. Just throwing out possibilities my friend."

"Leave. Now."

"Yea I'll go, but we'll talk more later. Bet on it," Ross said as he walked out of the room and breathed a sigh of relief. He had lied through his teeth about the government wanting to keep Quoi, but Steve wouldn't look into it because he wanted Quoi to stay. Panther wouldn't look into it because he was already walking on eggshells with the government. One wrong move and his leadership of the Avengers were gone. Ross knew that and he had taken it to his advantage. The government might not yet believe in the power of Quoi, but they would once they got to see him in action.

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(Today the Genoshan Government issued a statement detailing their plans to help alleviate poor countries burden of disposing waste materials. Ships have already left the docks of Genosha and are heading for countries as far away as Indonesia. Magneto says it is all part of creating a greater harmony between Genosha and the rest of the world.)

"I'm glad to see that my father seems to be calming down. Perhaps age is beginning to get to him," Quicksilver said as he watched the middle-aged Asian reporter continue to tell of Genosha's humanitarian efforts. Pietro thought he would never see the day when his father reached out his hand to help humans. It was an idea that damn near floored him, but it was a welcome change in his father. Maybe he could really make Genosha a respectable place after all.

"Yes, it seems he has," Sunfire said pensively, "I had only hoped that Exodus would have strayed away from your father. No offense intended, but he has never been the best of influences on Bennet."

"Exodus has long outgrown the need for my father to baby him. If anything I think Exodus might be the reason why my father has taken this kinder stance."

Sunfire nodded, "Perhaps. Exodus has a bit of a temper himself. So do you really think that Hammer is Zemo?"

Quicksilver sighed, "They say Zemo's body has been found, but I believe my father. As much bad blood as we've had between us throughout the years I believe him. This is too much for him to make up."

"Agreed and I think just about every Avenger in this mansion feels the same way, but the burden of proof is against us."

"Trust me. If there's any man that can handle his own problems it's my father. No worries there."

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Jack knocked on the door and walked into the medical room where Quoi was strapped down and Sersi was watching over him.

"He did what he did for a reason, Jack. He did it because to destroy lives he was saving lives. Sequoia is no monster. What he has done haunts him. What more proof do you need?" Sersi asked directing her arm to the writhing Quoi.

Jack shook his head and clenched his fists as he stared down at the ground, "It's not enough Sersi. He should suffer for all eternity. You defend him, but if he had annihilated your Eternals for the so-called greater good then you wouldn't be his biggest fan either."

Jack's words were slow and cold. Each one took its time in Sersi's head and dragged into the recesses of her memory. She knew Jack's anger and his hate were entirely justified, but she would not see harm come to Sequoia. By any hands…

"You don't know what we were facing out there," Sersi whispered.

"Who? Please tell me who? How can you justify what he did?"

Sersi looked up to Jack nearly in tears, "Proctor was out there Jack. He didn't find me. I was lucky for that, but Proctor destroyed an entire empire. If he did it once do you really think he would hesitate to do it again? It was killed or be killed Jack. I don't expect that to quell your anger, but if Quoi hadn't of stopped War Dancer then that tyrant would be on Earth's doorstep right now."

"I can't forgive it Sersi. I just can't."

Peeking his head into the room Ross looked around and said, "Remember Jacky boy. Don't even think about laying a finger to Quoi. He's government property!"

Before Jack had a chance to respond a blaring noise roared through the medical room and the rest of the Avengers Mansion. It was their call to assemble.

"Guess you guys have someone's ass to kick," Ross said.

---

Panther was at the forefront of the conference room. He was wearing his full uniform and had his arms folded across his chest as he began the briefing, "We have ourselves a very serious problem ladies and gentleman. It seems that Red Skull has assembled himself a team and he's struck out at Japan. Hard. He claims to be avenging the betrayal of Germany at the hands of Japan. We're going to go in and we're going to take his team out."

"I'm assuming some of us will be handling some of Red Skull's team solo then considering our numbers are about even?" Andromeda asked. She was anxious for the chance to prove herself worthy as an Avenger. Taking down one of Red Skull's flunkies by herself could easily do that.

"I got the answer to that question," Ross said making this his third interruption of the day, "That would be not no, but hell no. I've already been ordered to call in back-up and they'll be here very soon."

"We can handle this problem on our own!" Panther roared his patience getting as a thin as a violin string at the moment.

"The government has evaluated the Red Skull situation and to preserve their interests in Japan they've decided that the Avengers will come in packing basically. So if you got a problem with this I suggest you take it up with President Kelly," Ross snapped.

"Kelly's too busy trying to rack up mutants to hear a spoiled king whine," Binary said as she entered the room with a stare of death for T'Challa. He returned the favor.

"Who else is coming?" Captain America asked seeing the apparent anger that was begging to be freed from Black Panther.

"Already here Cap," Photon said as she strutted into the room in full uniform, "I could honestly use a break from New Orleans at the moment."

"Understood. Just glad to see you're okay Monica," Cap replied.

"Tigra, Scarlet Witch, Crystal, She-Hulk, and Quasar should be coming anytime now," Ross butted in.

Panther sat down to calm himself and began his briefing all over, "Fine. With increased numbers we can split up into groups. I'll be going with Sunfire, Tigra, and Binary to Tokyo. Moondragon, Andromeda, and Wanda will go to the naval base. Jack, X-51, Karnak, and Sersi will handle the pest control problem on the outskirts of Tokyo."

"Great I get to be pest control," Jack-of-Hearts grumbled.

"Quicksilver, She-Hulk and Photon will go to Okinawa. Crystal and Quasar will head to Kyoto," Black Panther finished.

Moondragon noticed someone was notably missing from the assignment list, "Where is Captain America going off to?"

"I'm taking the fight to Red Skull…by myself. We have unfinished business with each other and I think it's about time I finish it."

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NEXT ISSUE: Avengers vs. The Coalition. Be there!
 

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Author's Notes

Man this issue came out a whole ton better than I had thought it would. Coming back to Avengers after the amazing Avengers/JLA crossover was tough enough, but having to pick that first villain for the team to face post-crossover was even harder. Luckily, during an M2K chat Steve Crosby (great guy!) told me I should have Red Skull pop up in Avengers and it really got my wheels turning so much thanks to him for giving me that spark of juice I needed.

Also much thanks to Chris Munn who helped inform me of some continuity issues (yea that sounds crazy right? Mr. M2K Continuity needing to be reminded of something, but it does happen from time to time). Chris will continue to be a big help in the issues to come and I'm grateful to have him as a guide.

I've got about a good four arcs in my head at the moment and they'll all put the Avengers through the ringer. So keep reading and thanks.

-Brent Lambert

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