---

The triton of Andromeda glistened despite the dim lighting of the facility. Angel and her teammate, Gin Genie, knew that was the weapon they were about to face. Both women were confident that together they could dispose of Attuma’s daughter. Neither realized they were about to embark on a battle against a truly skilled Atlantean warrior. Honestly, neither would have probably cared. It was two-on-one and the odds were logically in their favor. Unfortunately, in a world of hidden cities, mutants, and demons the course of logic wasn’t always a feasible option.

Throwing back another beet Gin Genie wiped her mouth with the back of her glove and said, “Let’s get this done quick.”

Angel’s wings began to flap rapidly and she floated upward. Crossing her arms across her chest the young woman said, “As long as you don’t act completely drunk we shouldn’t have a problem.”

“Shucks didn’t think you had any confidence in me!” Gin exclaimed a she struggled to stay standing.

Andromeda shamefully shook her head at the two women’s bickering. In the midst of battle these allies were hurling insults at each other! This battle was already won if this was their best team effort. Sundragon’s rescue and Factor 3’s defeat were assured. Such reckless confidence allowed her to charge full force against Gin Genie.

The blonde rolled her eyes and said, ‘Yea…real smart. Just like you big time heroes. You honestly think I’m going to let you get near me with that thing?”

Gin immediately stopped her foot on the ground and sent a vibration through the earth powerful enough to create a miniature wave of dirt and concrete that moved towards Andromeda with surprising speed. The Atlantean woman continued her charge as she stabbed her triton into the wave and flipped over it like a pole vault champion. She landed only feet way from Gin Genie, but another vibrational wave had already been put into motion. The force knocked Andromeda flat on her back.

The doughy-shaped Angel quickly positioned herself above Andromeda and lobbed a ball of digestive, green acid from her mouth at the Atlantean. Andromeda rolled out of the way of the slimy guck and missed having her head burned off. She continued having to roll because Angel continued hacking up the acid like she was a machine gun. Eventually, after a few dozen holes had been burned into the ground, Andromeda jumped to her feet.

“You’re a terrible ass shot,” Gin Genie snapped as she finished downing another beer and slammed her foot on the ground. Instantly, a sinkhole formed underneath Andromeda’s feet and she was swallowed by it. Andromeda stabbed her triton into the side of the sinkhole to break her fall. She kept her feet pressed on one side of the hole and held on to her triton, which was embedded in the other side.

Genie walked up to the hole and looked back at Angel. “That’s how you take care of these bastards!”

Their gloating didn’t last long as a warning was shouted out to them. “LOOK OUT!”

Genie turned back and wasn’t able to dodge a flying Vivisector. His body slammed into both Angel and Genie knocking all three into the same hole that they had just used to entrap Andromeda in. The Atlantean woman quickly let go of her triton and kicked herself off of Angel’s falling body. She landed back on solid ground and saw who had given her the opportunity for freedom. She-Hulk had a large smile across her face.

“You did that?” Andromeda asked.

“You know it,” She-Hulk replied.

“Of course I would.”

---

 

Eric the Red dipped to the side and dodged a punch from X-51. With an open palm he slammed his hand into X-51’s stomach and sent the android scuttling across the ground. Taking no time for pause he jumped atop the robot and began to pummel him with punches. Eric’s uniform offered him an energy shield and he was able to add a little extra power to his punches because of it. Even that didn’t seem to be doing anything to the machine.

An elbow cracked Eric the Red across his chin and he went flying sideways off of X-51. The Celestial-enhanced android rose to his feet. ::Designate: Eric the Red, you should stop this madness. None can achieve peace through violence::

“You must have never heard of Pax Romana,” Eric the Red said as he charged forward and rammed into X-51. The two bodies fell to the ground and were interlocked with each other.

::I have seen hundreds of civilizations and none of them have ever achieved anything through the means you suggest::

“There’s a first time for everything.”

Eric the Red placed his hands on X-51’s temples and a surge of yellow energy flowed through his arms and into the android’s head. X-51 began to shake wildly and continued shaking as Eric the Red stepped away from him. It was a one-time trick that had thankfully worked for the Factor 3 leader. Vivisector had enhanced his suit with a powerful blast that would overload X-51’s systems with a massive virus. The professor wasn’t sure how long it would affect the robot, but it didn’t matter. The Avengers would already have fallen by then.

Sundown landed next to Eric and asked, “Is everything alright?”

“Yes. Now we need to help Sundragon. She’s about to take on the so-called Celestial Messiah. If he is as powerful as Vivisector suspects we need to remove him from the equation and fast,” Eric commanded.

---

 

Shoc’s body twisted unnaturally to avoid a shot of stellar energy from Binary. The Avenger’s first shot missed, but she moved in with enough speed to land a few well-placed punches to the head, gut, and lower back. Each blow seemed like it was cushioned somehow and wasn’t having the desired effect. It was like hitting Jell-O. Still, she didn’t let up the attack. She kept battering Shoc in the hopes that her blows were doing some damage.

“Keep this up much longer and I may actually have to hurt you,” Shoc warned as he dodged some of the blows, but others found their spot. Fields knew his containment suit ran the risk of taking on damage from hits on the level of someone like Binary. Vivisector had made adjustments to Shoc’s containment suit to make it more durable. He was thanking the man for that at the moment.

“Hurt me? Boi stop!” Binary laughed as she grabbed Shoc by the arm and flung him over her shoulder. Fields slammed into the ground and she planted a heel into his chest. “I think it’s obvious who’s in danger of getting hurt here.”

“The two of us fighting doesn’t make sense. We’re both working for the same goal,” Shoc said.

“I’ve taken shortcuts in my life, but they’ve never gotten me anywhere. You can’t shove peace down people’s throats,” Binary replied.

Black energy short forth from Shoc’s feet and he sent his shoulder flying into Binary’s midsection. While the wind was being knocked out of her he elongated one of his arms and wrapped it around her neck like a snake. He flew upwards into the air with Binary struggling to break free. With all the strength he could muster he flung her body into the direction of the roof.

Before she even hit it a blast of orange energy tore itself loose from her body and not only incinerated a large portion of the roof, but also knocked Shoc unconscious. Nicole quickly flew downward and caught Fields in her arms. She really didn’t want to unleash that kind of power, but she needed to help Moondragon against that big alien freak. He had her playing a game of tag because he was obviously superior in strength to her.

“Time to level the playing field,” Binary said. With a brief glance she Pietro in combat with a kid in a hoodie. He looked like he was in control of the situation, but Quicksilver had a knack for making something more difficult than it needed to be.

---

 

Quicksilver had Phat by the neck as he continued to run faster and faster in a circle. The mutant had tried to smother Pietro with his extra skin and the experience was nothing short of absolutely disgusting. Pietro didn’t take well to being put through disgusting experiences. It violated all of his strong sensibilities.

“You have some nerve to think you could ever lay a finger on my presence!” Pietro roared as he let go of the young man and his body went flying off wildly. It was like watching a big tennis ball smack into a concrete net.

Phat’s body exploded but in no way that was fatal to the mutant. His skin spread outward and wrapped itself around the concrete pole. Slowly, he sunk to the ground and reformed himself. He was a short, stocky young man who was not at all happy about being flung around like some rag doll. Luckily, he was packing a surprise for Pietro courtesy of Vivisector.

“You gotta do better than that if you want to hurt me slow poke!” Phat yelled as he taunted Pietro with the shaking of his ass.

The former X-Men leader’s face flushed red and he charged forward. Instead of running into Phat he ran right smack into an invisible energy field that surrounded the mutant’s body. Quicksilver was knocked flat on his back and slipped into unconsciousness. Phat laughed and put his sneaker on Pietro’s chest. “Hook, line and sinker. Man, Vivi was right about you. Just fire you up and you can be played into doing anything.”

Suddenly, a tap came on the young man’s shoulder and he turned around just in time to see a white fist collide with his face. Phat was thrown backwards and slammed into the ground unconscious. Binary stepped over to the mutant just to confirm that she had taken care of him and said, “Could you have been any easier?”

Captain America was stuck in Mondo’s trap and his shield wasn’t anywhere near him. He could easily break through the rock, but not before Mondo sent a bunch of rocky spikes straight through him. Still, Rogers had been in far worse situations than this one. He just kept telling himself that as he tried to strategize some way out of this trap.

Mondo had that smug ass look on his face that Cap would have no problem removing, but it seemed like he wouldn’t have to. As a smile crept up on Steve’s face the suspicious Mondo turned around just in time to receive a left hook from She-Hulk. The young man flew to the other side of the building and hit the metal wall with a smack.

Steve pushed his arms outward and shattered the rock trap he had been in. Rising to his feet he looked around and asked, “Jen, have you seen my shield.”

“Right here,” Andromeda said as she tossed the shield to Captain America. “And you owe me for having to pound through so much earth to get it.”

Steve winked at her. “I’ll let you skip a few training sessions after this.”

Andromeda huffed at the comment. “You insult me Captain America. I am a warrior and denying myself the chance to become a better one is not a favor.”

“Shaddup already and let’s wrap this up!” She-Hulk exclaimed as she pointed to the clash that was happening between the Celestial Messiah and Sundragon.

Captain America wasn’t really sure if he even wanted to interfere in that fight. The Celestial Messiah was a being of terrible power and trying to help might just end up hindering him. From what Steve knew of Sundragon she wasn’t a slouch in the power department either. It was probably best to let them duke it out and wrap up the remaining members of Factor 3.

That decision was made for the Avenger’s leader when an energy grenade was thrown in the midst of the three heroes. Steve lifted his shield up to his face before it blew and the force of the blast knocked him right atop Mondo’s body. Dazed and confused he wasn’t able to tell where She-Hulk and Andromeda had been flung. Nor was he able to see Eric the Red standing over him.

“You should have laid down your arms and joined me. We would have made such powerful partners, but your idealism is misdirected. It’s a shame really-

Cap swung his shield at Eric’s head and slammed his shoulder into his torso. The mutant was flung to the ground and Steve elbowed him in the nose. Ignoring the pain, Eric grabbed the attacking arm’s wrist and sent an electrical shock through Steve that was powerful enough to down whales. Writhing in pain, Steve still managed to crash his shield into Eric’s throat. An agonized wheezing came from Eric as the electrical shock stopped and he crawled away from Rogers, gripping his throat.

Still smoking, Captain America stood to his feet and said, “You are a pathetic man and I have every intention of turning you in.”

Vivisector tackled Captain America from the side and yelled, “Get away Eric! Go help Sundragon!”

---

 

A violent collage of rainbow energies swirled around Sequoia’s body along with the intense red glow coming from his eyes. He looked quite frightening, but Sundragon was under mind control. She wasn’t able to feel any fear against this cosmic powerhouse. So it was that she continued to attack him with telekinetic and telepathic energies.

“Don’t you understand? I absorb any and all energies. You are only making me more powerful so I would suggest you stop now.”

Quoi suddenly sensed another presence behind him and looked back to see the large alien Ry’lor with Moondragon over his shoulder. “She doesn’t know how to stop. And who’s to say what she’s doing is not exactly what we wanted to happen?”

“Huh?” Quoi asked clearly confused at what Ry’lor was trying to get at. Instead of waiting for him to answer the question, the alien hybrid struck out with a powerful psi-blast that covered Ry’lor’s entire body and he let loose another blast that covered Sundragon. His opponents squirmed uncontrollably as their minds were wracked with pure psychic pain. Every memory, every reflex was now a weapon of pain.

From this attack Sequoia was also able to discern Ry’lor’s intentions. He laughed once the thoughts had been made known to him. They had lined the building with devices that would disrupt his particular energy signal and make his powers supposedly inaccessible. With a wave of his hand Quoi made Moondragon disappear from Ry’lor’s shoulder and held the alien tightly in the air.

“You really have no comprehension of my powers. You were right on one thing. I do require energy but I can take that energy from anywhere and in any form. There was no way you could disrupt that,” Sequoia said as he laid a hand flat on Ry’lor’s chest and he began to shake wildly as his muscles were broken down. “See, I started a chemical reaction in your body and now simply absorb the energy created by that reaction.”

Eric the Red saw what was happening to his follower and knew it was time for things to end. Looking up at Quoi he said, “You monster! I’ll have your head another day!”

Then he tapped a button on his wrist that teleported not only him, but also all of Factor 3, away in a blaze of golden light. After they were gone Sundragon began to tumble to the ground, but was caught gracefully by the arms of Sequoia.

“You’re okay now. Just sleep,” Quoi said as he sent a cooling wave of energy throughout Pamela’s body that put her into a state of relaxation.

Binary flew up beside the Messiah and asked, “How were you able to hurt that big gray ass like that?”

“My powers are finally a bit more under my control. Energy is just what starts me off. What I can do with that energy is limitless. It’s like money I guess. It’s a basic unit that you can use to buy just about anything. The energy I absorb allows me to have any ability I desire. The more powerful the ability the more it costs me.”

“Celestial Messiah for Dummies,” Binary laughed as she flew off to check on Jack-of-Hearts and Quicksilver.

---

 

Above Avengers Mansion (An Hour Later)

“Jarvis can you prep the infirmary room for us? We have a couple of injured we need to have taken care of,” Captain America said over his communicator as he guided the Quinjet to the hangar.

The trusty butler’s voice buzzed in and replied, “I would sir, but someone else insists on doing it themselves.”

“Huh? What are you talking about Jarvis?”

“Master T’Challa and Miss Maximoff have awoken from their comas and eagerly await your arrival.”

Captain America looked back to Andromeda and She-Hulk with an angry scowl that they both shared with him. Finally, he replied, “We’ll be pulling in shortly. I know there’s a lot of explaining to do.”

Rogers’ anger could fill volumes in a library, but fortunately he made sure to store it all in a library closed for business. He was the Avengers’ leader and despite his anger with Black Panther he had to act like the leader everyone thought he was. Captain America had set a standard to follow in terms of Avengers leadership and he would not fall short of his own example.

“What are you going to do Cap?” She-Hulk asked hoping that the answer involved some sort of physical mistreatment.

“I’m going to let him talk and if I don’t like what I hear he might want to call the Justice League to see if they’ll give him membership.”

---

 

Location Unknown

“We should have kept at it! We could have beaten them!” an angered Mondo pleaded to Eric the Red, who was sitting in a chair giving the young man a sideward glance.

“Let’s be honest here. They mopped the floor with us and that wasn’t even exactly the most powerful group of Avengers ever,” Gin Genie said as she downed a bottle of beer.

“I’m inclined to agree with Gin. Besides, this was never meant to be anything of substance. I just wanted to test our mettle as a team and going up against the Avengers has shown me one thing.”

Shoc’s eyes narrowed at Eric’s statement. “And just what would that be?”

“We have a lot of work to do.”

---

 

Outer Space

The two massive beings stood on the edge of the starship overlooking the blue ball that was Earth. One looked over to his ashen skin companion and said, “There is much work to be done before we can snatch up the woman you seek.”

Thanos smiled at the comment and replied, “Not hardly as much as you think Imperiex. Things are already in motion that will help us in our task.”

“Is there something you’re not telling me Thanos?” Imperiex asked with venom in his voice. He didn’t like being played and he was extra paranoid being in a universe that was not his own.

“Yes there is something I haven’t told you Imperiex. Let us go somewhere so I can tell you of The Destiny Force.”

 

---

 

NEXT ISSUE: The march to issue 50 begins here with the first part of “FORCES OF DESTINY”. Be here as Captain America has it out with Black Panther and just what the hell is up with Wanda now?

 

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