Marc Spector fought to keep from blacking out as the gargantuan's hand tightened around his throat. Even with the steel fibers wove throughout the insulation of his costume, the Moon Knight could feel his throat being crushed with each passing second.

The monster that held him high above the ground, outstretched into the air by an arm locked at the elbow, tossed his head back to knock the hair from his face. He turned and smiled a row of yellowed, sharpened teeth at the Fist of Khonshu. The creature had introduced himself as Grotesk, and amidst the burning and frozen wasteland that had once been a major coastal city, he was akin to a god.

“Put him down,” Iron Man ordered as he slowly approached the giant subterranean, energy coursing through his suit to his palms, repulsor beams ready at the slightest notice.

“This land is mine by right of salvage, shelled-one,” Grotesk answered, his voice rough and gravelly, “and I shall lead an army across the surface of this world. Your time is over...the era of Grotesk has begun!”

The Moon Knight narrowed his eyes as he fought the oncoming darkness, the lack of oxygen causing his vision to blur and go grey. With the last remaining bit of strength, Spector reached behind his cape and grasped one of his last weapons: a dagger.

“Now, Avenger!” the Knight choked out as he stabbed the knife into the meat of Grotesk's shoulder, twisting and breaking it off in the monster's muscle. He immediately released his grasp on his hostage, allowing Spector to fall to the ground.

The eight-foot giant immediately went on the offensive, swinging his massive war-hammer with his uninjured arm. The Moon Knight rolled to his right, barely evading the spiked club that crashed against the ground where he had fallen. Grotesk howled a cry of anger and prepared to swing again, but was interrupted by a tap on his shoulder.

The subterranean behemoth swiveled his head, finding his face reflected back at him on the chrome metal of Iron Man's helmet. “You monster,” Stark said as he struck a thunderous punch across Grotesk's face, knocking the tunnel-dweller back. With space between them, Iron Man shot out a series of repulsor bursts into the villain's midsection, causing him to buckle and fall to his knees.

“You destroyed this city,” Iron Man said as he planted another iron-knuckled punch to Grotesk's face, “killed possibly hundreds of thousands of people, and you dare to crown yourself a king?”

“Enough, Iron Man,” the Moon Knight stated as he grabbed his former teammate's arm, stopping him from placing another punch, “no more.”

“No more?” Stark questioned, the blank expression of his faceplate masking the look of confusion on his face. “I find that hard to believe, coming from you.”

“You are a hero, Iron Man; an Avenger,” Spector replied and he moved in front of the beaten Grotesk, “and make no mistake, this creature must pay for his crimes. But that takes someone who is not a hero...it takes an agent of Vengeance. It takes a fist.”

Grotesk then began to laugh, staring up at the two men through bruised and battered eyes. “You are both fools,” he said between fits of laughter, “for did I not say I would lead an army onto your shores?”

Suddenly aware of the presence of others, both Moon Knight and Iron Man looked from left to right. On side emerged a collective of burning rock creatures called Lava Men...on the other came a pack of snarling, furred beasts known as the Cold People. The two men were surrounded by a virtual army of unnatural predators...

...and Grotesk continued to laugh.

"Thermodynamic"
Part Three of Three

Written by Chris Munn

This issue takes place before Avengers # 36-41 and Thunderbolts # 25-26

“Oh, that can't be good,” Darkhawk said as he peered out the windshield of the Quinjet, the vehicle quickly approaching the park that was serving as the epicenter of the city's destruction. The jet emerged from the cloud of ash and smoke into suddenly clear sky, the reflection off of the ice on the other side of the park illuminating the dark, giving the four assembled Avengers a clear view of what was transpiring below them.

“There's Iron Man,” Vagabond said as she joined Darkhawk, “who's the guy in white?”

“Moon Knight,” Henry Pym answered from his standing position behind the pilot, “but what's he doing here? New York is his usual stomping ground.”

“Looks t' me like they're in a heap of trouble down there,” Matt Hawk, the Two-Gun Kid, stated as he circled the jet around the park, “safe t' say we're gonna help ‘em?”

Pym touched a finger against a digital LED screen to the Kid's left. “Sensors are picking up both Lava Men and another group of unidentified creatures coming from the frozen side of the city. But we're also picking up another person going into the ice, away from the park.”

“And still no sign of Hawkeye and the others,” Priscilla said as she moved to the back of the Quinjet. “Set us down, Matt...not even Iron Man can do this alone.”

“No, I have a better idea,” Hank said as he took the co-pilot seat beside the gunfighter. “Vagabond and I are going after the person fleeing the scene. Two-Gun, I want you to let us out a few hundred feet away and then circle back and land, help out our two wayward allies.”

“Wait, what about me?” Darkhawk asked.

“You,” Pym answered with a smile, “are bailing out here...”

“You take the molten ones,” Moon Knight said to Stark, the two men back to back as the armies moved in against them, “the snow beasts are mine. I've already taken care of some of their number.”

“Fair enough,” Iron Man immediately agreed, the Uni-beam in his chest flaring to life. The beat plowed a path through the advancing Lava Men, knocking them aside with ease. Anthony Stark then took flight, gritting his teeth as he made his way through the path he'd carved with his laser blast.

The Lava Men, though slow-moving, still had the upper-hand simply through sheer force of numbers. Iron Man collided hard with one of the fire-beasts in his way, shattering the stone that made up the creature's body. Stark touched back down and immediately let loose with a volley of repulsor blasts, firing single bursts in as wide an arc as he could muster. It was imperative that he kept the Lava Men at a distance; the heat generated by their bodies was enough to eventually damage – even melt- his armor.

Toggling his on-board CPU with his chin control, Tony was sweating profusely as the Lava Men moved closer, too many to keep at bay by himself. His bootjets activated, lifting him into the sky and hopefully away from danger...until the hand of the closest creature grasped onto his ankle, halting his ascension.

Stark lowered his hand and fired a repulsor blast dead in the beast's face, damaging it enough to dislodge it from his leg...but it was too little, too late. More of the underground denizens had grabbed for him, pulling him back down to the ground even as he added more and more thrust to his jets.

Iron Man cursed under his breath as the Lava Men swarmed over him. If he didn't get help soon, things could possibly start to go very badly for him. He struggled against the creatures' stone arms, fighting valiantly to free himself...but then, unexpectedly, he found himself scooped up in unknown arms, pulled free and into the air in the span of a heartbeat.

“The almighty Iron Man in over his head,” Carol Danvers, Warbird, said with a cynical smirk on her face as she carried the smoldering and ash-covered Stark into the air, “thought I'd never see the day.”

It didn't matter that he couldn't see the full moon hanging in the night sky – the Moon Knight could still feel its presence. His strength enhanced to superhuman proportions, Spector snapped the neck of the first beast-man he approached, the animal falling to the ground in front of its peers.

“Haven't I killed enough of you already?” Marc asked as the Cold People moved around him, surrounding him in a complete circle. His weapons were gone or destroyed, and all the Moon Knight was left with was his own strength and skill...and that suited him just fine.

Spector leapt backward as the first mammoth creature lunged, raking claws across the moon emblem on the vigilante's chest. As the Fist of Khonshu jumped back his leg extended, cracking violently against the monster's jaw, shattering the dense bone. When the one monster fell, however, a throng of others took its place.

The Moon Knight cursed in his thoughts, knowing that even he wouldn't be able to fend off such a force. Then he heard the sound from above, his hooded head lifting to the sky to witness an answer to his silent prayers.

“Banzai!” the ebon-armored figure yelled as he fell from the sky like a missile. Darkhawk landed amidst the crowd of Cold People, his boots cracking the skull of the monster beneath him like an egg-shell. Upon touching down, the neophyte Avenger immediately activated the jewel that rested on his chest, black energy hitting a group of the beast-men with enough force to knock them off their feet.

“Moon Knight, right?” Chris Powell asked as he fought his way to the side of his fellow vigilante. Spector nodded affirmatively before slamming the palm of his hand into the bridge of an enemy's nose.

Grotesk stood atop the nearest hill, hands placed firmly on his hips and head cocked back in maniacal laughter. His army would soon destroy the interloping surface-dwellers, and he would be free to conquer every land his eyes surveyed. He paused his triumphant basking when he heard the strange clicking noise behind him.

“Don't you move, ugly,” the Two-Gun Kid said from behind (and slightly below, due to Grotesk's immense height), his revolver placed only centimeters from the back of the warlord's head. “Why don't you do the right thing and call off them critters of yours? I'd be mighty obliged...”

Grotesk snarled as his body twisted at the waist, hammer swinging above his head with plans to crush that insect daring to threaten him. The Two-Gun Kid stood calmly, taking the time to adjust his Stetson cowboy hat as he pulled the trigger on his gun with little hesitation. The bullet exploded from the barrel, striking the giant villain square in the face with enough force to cause his head to jerk backward, toppling him down the slope of the hill.

“Don't say I didn't warn you, hoss,” the western hero said as he slid down the hill after his downed foe, stopping when he reached Grotesk's unmoving body. Matt realized his mistake too late, unable to escape when Grotesk's hand reached out and grabbed him by the neck. As he stood, the warmonger slapped his other hand against Two-Gun's wrists, knocking the twin pistols from his grasp.

“My mental powers have grown in my years of seclusion, Avenger,” Grotesk said as he tossed the cowboy back to the ground, “and your bumbling thoughts were warning enough. I have withstood the immense pressures beneath the earth's crust, and you thought a mere bullet could kill me? I am Grotesk! I have plotted and planned the destruction of this city for months; I destroyed the mental blocks that controlled the Sorenson girl's mutant powers, I subtly guided Equinox to this location, and I made sure no terran gave him aid! Who else could have brought the lumbering Lava Men under submission? Who else could have tracked down the elusive Cold People, blinding them promises of their own land in my new kingdom?”

Stunned, but still conscious, Two-Gun rolled over onto his back, his eyes fighting to focus on the imposing gargantuan that stood over him. “All of ancient Lemuria shall whisper my name this night,” Grotesk said as he raised the war-club over his head to strike, “and all on this planet shall know my wrath.”

Grotesk failed to notice the thin shaft that flew toward his face until it struck, the head of the arrow exploding as it hit directly between his eyes. He stumbled backward, shaking his head to clear his vision of the smoke and spots of light that danced in front of his face. When his sight finally returned, he saw the Two-Gun Kid scrambling to his feet, running to meet the group of people that had come to his rescue.

“And here I thought for sure the Mole Man was behind this,” Hawkeye said with a smirk, another arrow nocked in his bow and ready to fire. Beside him crouched the Beast, ready to pounce at the Avenger chairman's order; the Wasp fluttered a few feet ahead, helping the injured Two-Gun behind them; and above hovered Warbird and the rescued Iron Man, energy pulsing in their palms. The missing Avengers had finally returned...and Grotesk tightened his grip on the war-hammer, readying himself for war.

Equinox, the self-named Thermodynamic Man, trudged through the frozen side of the park, the crystalline grass snapping and shattering under his footfalls. Cradled in his arms was the body of his daughter, Janet, who had died only hours previous, killed by her own mutant power of fiery combustion. It was he, Terence Sorenson, that was responsible for the destruction of San Francisco, but upon seeing the face of the monster that had guided and goaded him to act he did the first thing that entered his mind.

He ran.

Grotesk had spoken to him through telepathy and convinced him to take his pain and suffering out on the innocent people of the city. And now the Avengers were here to make him pay for what he had done. He could only hope that Grotesk would keep them occupied long enough for him and his daughter to make an escape.

“Stop!” a man's voice commanded from the southern exit of the park, awaiting the running Sorenson as he tried to leave. Equinox slowed into a walk, determined to kill whoever stood in his way.

Henry Pym, his hands shoved into the pockets of his oversized red coat, stood defiantly as the Thermodynamic Man approached. “I remember you now,” the former Avenger said as the villain stopped only a few feet away, “years ago you nearly killed me.”

“You dare to show your face,” Equinox said as he gently placed his daughter's corpse onto the frozen ground, carefully easing her head down as if she were still alive, “after you let my daughter die? I allowed a monster to transform my grief into destruction, Pym...I should have taken my pain out not on this city but on you !”

“I'm sorry for your loss, Terrence,” Henry said, still refusing to show any acts of aggression toward the grief-stricken villain, “and had you come to me earlier, before it was too late, I possibly could have found help for her. There's a school on the East Coast that helps mutants, I know the founder. But it doesn't do any good now, does it? I know how you feel...”

“You know nothing!” Equinox shouted, a blast of flame erupting from his hand, striking the ground just in front of Henry. Pym didn't move, not even a backward step.

“Month's ago,” Pym continued, “I was forced to kill a man that – for all intents and purposes – could have been considered my grandson. He'd gone mad with anger and frustration, much like you, and caused the deaths of too many innocent people, like you have today. I had to kill him, Terrence, and there's not a moment gone by that I don't wish I'd have died instead of him. The guilt has eaten at me; it made me abandon my friends and family, made me neglect the woman that I love more than life itself. That's what my grief over losing a “child” did to me, Equinox...so yes, I know exactly how you feel.”

Sorenson found himself unable to reply, his head lowering to stare at the body of his deceased daughter. “How...” he finally choked out, the fire that danced randomly about his body dying down to embers, “how do you cope with such pain, Dr. Pym? I can't stop my suffering, can I?”

“No,” Henry answered, walking across the distance between the two men, “I don't think so. But you can stop the suffering of all the people you put in jeopardy, Terrence. I know you've become a good man since we fought all those years ago...you raised a child. Think about all the parents who may be going through the same thing as you now because of what you've done.”

Pym placed a hand on the man's shoulder, ignoring the blistering cold from Equinox's body. The Thermodynamic Man nodded in pained agreement, and from behind him – ready to attack if things had gone awry – Vagabond could merely watch. She had been quick to question Hank Pym's heroism, but after hearing his impassioned speech she realized that maybe, just maybe, she had been wrong about him after all.

The park had quickly become a war zone after the appearance of the missing Avengers; the battles with Grotesk, the Lava Men, and the Cold People having merged into one fantastic melee. The two distinct armies were careful, despite their brutish natures, to keep within their determined boundaries. The Avengers fought across the line of demarcation that separated flame from ice, and amidst them all towered Grotesk, his laughter heard even over the din of battle.

“Warbird!” the Beast shouted as he ducked down, avoiding a swing of Grotesk's hammer, unaware that his teammate was approaching from behind. The stone club struck Carol Danvers across the face, sending her flailing above and away from the chaos.

“Mind telling me just where you've been?” Iron Man asked as he soared above the Cold People, littering the area with volleys of repulsor blasts, while the winsome Wasp flew just below, her own stings subduing a number of the creatures.

“We were on the south side of the city when the blast hit,” Janet answered as she flitted between two of the beasts, causing them to collide into one another as they lunged, “and had to fight our way north through the ice, stopping to help people along the way. Have any of you seen Hank? I couldn't get hold of him at the lab.”

“We picked him up,” Darkhawk answered from a few feet away, his claw-cable pinning several Lava Men together, “and he and Vags went to catch some guy that was running out of the park.”

“Equinox,” Iron Man stated as he turned to bear down on Grotesk, “he caused all this.”

“Is this all you have?” Grotesk shouted, raising his club into the sky to meet the oncoming Iron Man. The armored Avenger collided hard with the giant, driving him backward into a crowd of Lava Men, fiery stone exploding as the two titans pushed through.

“We're badly outnumbered, way outgunned,” Hawkeye said as he fired arrow after arrow, gas for the snow-beasts and explosive-tips for the fire-dwellers, “anybody got any ideas?”

“We have to defeat Grotesk,” the Moon Knight answered as he protected the archer's back, kicking his foot across the face of an attacker, “he is the key. Without his mental control, these others may simply return underground.”

Hawkeye's reply – and, truthfully, all comments by any of the battle's participants – was cut short as their attention was drawn skyward. Iron Man sailed over their heads, his dented armor sparking and shorting out across the numerous cracks in his plated shell. Then, unexpectedly, the Lava Men and Cold People all broke away from their fights, backing away from the huddled group of Avengers.

“Anybody see which way Shellhead fell?” Hawkeye asked as the heroes found themselves encircled in a ring of aggressors.

The circle of monsters parted, allowing the smugly confident Grotesk to stride through into the circle. “Not even the mighty stormbringer, Thor, could destroy me,” he taunted as the Avengers prepared to attack, “and as I said earlier, my mental powers have improved vastly since last we met.”

The giant employed his telepathic abilities, and the Avengers all fell, their minds burning with psionic fire. “Can you feel it, Avengers?” Grotesk asked as wave after wave of mental energy leapt from his mind to theirs, searing their thoughts with his unbridled power. “Can you feel your lives ending as I erase you, thought by thought? I would say for you to make peace with your god, heroes, but it would be a futile gesture...I am your only god now, and I know nothing of mercy.”

“Grotesk!” the voice boomed from behind him, causing the subterranean to turn in surprise. Towering sixty feet in the sky, a naked Henry Pym loomed over the park, his size multiplied exponentially by the Pym Particles that had bonded to his cellular structure. Before the murderous creature could act – before he could even think – Pym's massive hand slammed down, crushing Grotesk into the ground with enough force to split the earth beneath them. The Lava Men and Cold People fell and tumbled to the ground as the shockwave reached earthquake proportions, and the Avenger once called Giant-Man struck again with his fist, driving the warlord farther and farther into the crevice dug by the hero's momentum.

“Oh, man,” Hawkeye muttered as he regained his senses, unable to do anything but watch in shock as his friend and former teammate assaulted the enemy again and again.

“Hank!” Iron Man shouted as he flew toward his fellow founding Avenger, followed by Warbird. “That's enough!” he yelled as he and Carol pushed Pym back, and Stark refused to acknowledge the similarity to Henry's outburst and his own earlier. Finally, when it was clear that Grotesk was very much unconscious, Pym nodded and acquiesced to his friend's request.

“God damn you,” Hank Pym said to the fallen villain while shrinking back down to his normal height, “for making me do something I swore I'd never do again.”

“Your clothes, Dr. Pym,” Vagabond said as she handed the discarded uniform back to the man she had so casually dismissed only hours before.

“Uh, guys,” the Beast announced as he and his fellow Avengers returned to their feet, “we may have ourselves a problem.”

The throng of Lava Men and Cold People milled about the heroes, confused and agitated by the return of their facilities due to Grotesk's defeat. No longer were either race dominated by the monster's mental thrall, and they were very unhappy indeed. Growls began to come from the lips of the snow beasts, as each member of Grotesk's inhuman army attempted to decided whether or not to kill the human interlopers in their midst.

“Enough!” the voice of Equinox commanded as he stepped between the creatures and the Avengers, his body once again swirling with flame and cold. “We have done a grievous wrong to the people of this city, my brethren,” he spoke, mesmerizing the simple beings with the energy coursing across his frame, “and I ask you – beg you – to return to your kingdoms. Grotesk shall pay for what he has made us do this night...this I promise.”

Slowly, the two races began to back away, leaving the park to return to the tunnels through which they'd entered the city. The Avengers crowded around Equinox as the creatures departed, unsure of whether or not they would be faced with subduing a second villain. “Thank you, Terrence,” Pym said, stepping up to face the grief-stricken Sorenson, “you're doing the right thing...you're doing what Janet would've wanted her father to do.”

“Make sure my daughter is buried,” Equinox requested, “and before you arrest me, Avengers, please allow me to try and correct what I've done here.”

The Avengers each looked to Henry Pym, who nodded in acceptance of the Thermodynamic Man's request. Stepping back atop the hill he'd stood upon hours prior, Equinox raised his hands and closed his eyes, implementing the power that was his to command. Across the destroyed city of San Francisco , the fire that consumed half of the area was drawn away and blanketed in a pocket of extreme cold, putting out the blaze that had consumed so quickly. On the southern side of the city, and immense warmth pulsed across the frozen streets and buildings, melting the ice that had accumulated. After several agonizing moments, Terrence Sorenson fell to his knees, his task completed.

“S.H.I.E.L.D. are on their way, along with the National Guard stationed at the city's borders,” Iron Man said with a hand raised to the temple of his helmet, “they'll take Grotesk and Equinox into custody.”

“Jan,” Pym said as he took his ex-wife, the woman he loved, into his arms, “I've come to a decision tonight. I know I've been difficult to live with these past few months, but I promise things are going to change. If you want, I'd like you to rejoin the Avengers...be the hero that I can't be anymore.”

Janet Van Dyne looked into her man's eyes, smiling at the weight she could see had been taken from his shoulders. “If you'll have me,” she said to Hawkeye, who stood to the couple's left, “I'd be happy to come back.”

“Aw, like I could say no to you,” Clint replied with a smile of his own.

“We've got a lot of clean-up to do here over the coming weeks,” Iron Man said to the assembled heroes, “but we may have a bigger problem on our hands. We need to talk about Captain Marvel...”

Standing apart from her teammates, Priscilla Lyons wrapped her arms around her chest and stared at the people she called her friends. She hated herself at that moment, hated what she was doing to the men and women that had taken her in and accepted her. Unnoticed by her, however, was the Moon Knight, who also apart from the Avengers. His eyes narrowed as he stared at Vagabond, his thoughts known to no one but himself.

Next Issue: For months, Vagabond has been acting as a spy for Baron Zemo...so how will the Avengers react when her betrayal is discovered? Don't miss a story of secrets, lies, and desperate measures in my final issue as the regular AWC writer!