“Oh for the love of God.” Tony Stark, the Invincible Iron-Man, threw his hands in the air as he stepped onto the escalator and started down towards baggage claim of LAX.  “Get over it will you?”

“No. Goddamnit, a man’s salted peanuts are his life. Stealing them is as good as murder!” Clint Barton, Hawkeye, snapped, arms crossed beneath the wilting flower wreath he wore around his neck.  Stark looked back at him and pointed at the lei.

“I didn’t steal them. I stole one. One! And take that thing off. We’re not in Hawaii anymore.”

“You know, fat cat like you could probably buy salted peanuts in bulk. Why you got to steal from the small business man?”

“You were asleep! I didn’t think you’d notice.”

“I have cat-like senses.”

“He does. I’ve seen him hit a sunbeam for a nap at a dead sprint.” Janet Van Dyne, the Winsome Wasp, laughed as she squirmed past the two arguing men and hopped down the escalator stairs.

“Hey, no cuts!” Hawkeye barked.

“’Scuse me. Coming through. Full bladder.” Chris Powell, Darkhawk, clambered down the guardrail of the escalator, sliding towards the bottom. Stark tried to grab him as he slid past but missed.

“You should have used the toilet on the plane!”

“Airplane toilets freak me out!” Powell yelled back as he hopped to the ground and bolted for the nearest restroom. Stark rolled his eyes and turned as Clint tapped his shoulder.

“What?”

“You owe me a bag of salted peanuts.”

“They were my peanuts. It was my plane!”

“Give it up Tony. You know how stubborn he gets.” Janet called as she waited beside the baggage claim.  “Especially with trivialities.”

“Peanuts aren’t trivial.”

“I’ll buy you a bag before we get to the compound. Happy?” Tony asked, glaring at Barton. Clint grinned.

“You know I’m just trying to keep you honest.”

“I’m a Republican.”

“So too late then hunh?”

“Keep it up Barton and I’m going to shove that bow where the sun don-”

“Hey!” Janet yelled. The two men turned, eyes wide. Jan gestured at the pile of luggage she’d been steadily pulling off of the carousel. “Somebody going to help a lady with her bags?”

Clint looked at Tony. “I miss Jarvis.”

“I miss Jan.” Hank Pym said to himself. He blinked. Had he said that out loud? He shook his head. Working too hard, that was all. He stared at the thing on the table before him, wires and plastic tubing emenating from every limb and orifice as if it had exploded. Hank smiled slightly and brushed a speck of ash from the gleaming metal before him.

How long had it been?

Ten…fifteen years since he’d built the world’s first truly self aware AI?

Ultron.

The prodigal son. Hank shook his head. He didn’t want to think that way about it, but Ultron had no such reservations. It had made that clear over the years. A distorted, bastard shadow-child with an oedipal complex Freud would have orgasmed over.

Now there was an unpleasant thought.

Hank chuckled bitterly. Ultron. He’d made a lot of mistakes in his life. More than most. But Ultron was one that it was going to take some concentrated effort to make up for.  Of course, if anyone knew how he was planning on doing that they’d think he’d gone crazy.

Again.

“Is there a twelve-step program for mad scientists?” Hank sighed, leaning back in his chair, his back muscles growling in pain.

“No. But I can recommend a good therapist.”

Hank turned in his seat, eyes widening slightly as he took in the two forms that had slipped into his lab without so much as a whisper of sound. He didn’t wonder how they’d gotten in. Waste of time that, considering who they were.

Moon Knight nodded to Pym. “Pym.”

“Moon-Knight.” Hank glanced at Spector’s companion. “And Miss Drew if I’m not mistaken.”

“Hello Hank.” Spider-Woman smiled. Moon-Knight sat wearily on the table before Pym, pushing equipment carefully out of the way.

“Where are the others?”

“Hawaii. Why is that any of your business, might I ask?”

“Oh, on a little vacation are they? How delightful.”

“Sarcasm doesn’t answer the question.”

“But it makes me feel better.” Moon-Knight rubbed his head beneath his hood and glared at the ceiling.  Pym was silent. Spector sighed. “Fine. Serpent Society. Sound like Avengers business to you?”

“You’re dripping water on my sensitive electronics.”

“Good. One less distraction preventing you from calling up your buddies and getting them back here.”

“They’re on their way back now I believe. In fact, if my calculations are correct they just landed at LAX.  If you can wait that long.”

“I think I can manage it.”

“Cranky zombie.” Spider-Woman said as she leaned across the back of Pym’s chair. “Hank why is Ultron on your table?”

“It’s not Ultron. Or at least it won’t be. Zombie?”

“Him.” Drew gestured at Moon-Knight who threw his hands in the air and began to pace. “He’s a zombie.” Pym eyed him speculatively.

“I always suspected. Fast or slow?”

Hawaii had been a fun idea. Also, in Clint Barton’s inestimable opinion, stupid. They’d needed the relaxation after everything the team had been through lately, especially now with roughly a quarter of their strength cut from the roster.

But still…

He looked out the tinted window of the luxury limo Tony had snapped his fingers and seemingly conjured into existence as Los Angeles spread out around them and found his thoughts drifting towards San Francisco.

They should have done more.

Granted Tony was flinging cash at the problem like nobody’s business but they should have stayed. Made their presence felt. He felt a hand on his knee and he looked up as Jan smiled at him from where she was sitting across from him.

“Pensive is not a good look for you Clint. Trust me on this.”

“Comes with the territory Janey-baby. I guess I’m just eager to get back to work.”

“Strange as it sounds, so am I.” Jan frowned and leaned back in her seat. “Maybe I just miss Hank.”

“And what’s not to miss?” Clint grinned. Jan rolled her eyes.

What indeed? Her feelings for Hank were as confused as ever. And he wasn’t helping matters by burying himself in his lab, working on God knew what. At least he wasn’t still punishing himself over the Vision’s death. But his increasing isolation had her worried.

She loved Hank Pym. Not as much as she once had maybe, but more than she ought to all things considered. She loved him and worried in the back of her mind about his sanity. He’d never been stable. Not really. And now he was getting worse. She smiled weakly at Clint as he talked, not really listening to him.

Poor Clint. He wanted to be Captain America so badly. Not that he’d ever admit it. And now that he had a real chance, a second chance, it was all starting to slip away again. She smiled again and nodded, mouthing pleasantries.

Tony Stark sat beside her, only half listening to the conversation. He knew what was bothering Clint. Hard not to know really. Equinox had been one of the biggest disasters since Hurricane Katrina to befall an American city. They could have stopped him sooner. Or they could have failed to stop him at all. Shoulda, coulda, woulda. What might have been wasn’t as important in Stark’s opinion as what was going to happen next. And tying down every active West Coast member in guilt-assuaging clean-up efforts wasn’t going to re-write what had happened.

If it could, he’d do it in a heartbeat.

Subconsciously he rubbed his chest. He’d re-write a lot of things if he could. Tony sighed as Clint made Jan laugh. But they had to look toward the future. Especially where it concerned the ‘prophecies’ given to them by the being known as Sayge.

Had they already occurred?

If not, when?

And on top of that they had Genis-vell to deal with even if no one else wanted to admit it. Rick Jones had vanished as had the Eternals. And Genis knew why. That much Tony was sure of.

One way or another, they’d have to confront him again. How it went down was up to him.

Across from Tony, Chris Powell leaned against the door, his auburn head bouncing slightly against the window as he snored softly.  Sleep and pee. Two of the more important things he’d never been able to do on a plane. Even the classy private affair Stark had chartered. He was making up for lost time now though. 

Images of Lena Myers were swaying suggestively across his mindscape in various stages of undress when the old man appeared. No, not really old.

Bald though. Very bald. Nices robes though. Very…purple.

Hello Chris.

Um…hi. Nice robes.

I heard. Thank you.

So, um, yeah. Any reason you’re in my dream bald robed man?

Yes as a matter of fa-oh. Oh my.  I don’t believe a woman can actually do that young man. And I’ve been to a witches sabbat so I’ve seen my share of…things.

You’ve never watched porn have you bald robed man? Now stop ogling my girlfriend and tell me why you are interrupting this very special moment.

How did she manage to get that-never mind. This is a warning. A warning against the coming of C-

“Chris? Wake up kid. We’re home.” Clint shook Chris’ shoulder, jolting him awake. Chris blinked sleepily.

“Muh-wha? Hurm? Yes. Home. Cool.” He shook his head and looked suspiciously at Clint. “Do we know any bald men?”

“Yul Brynner.”

“Nope. Not him.” Chris sighed. “Forget it.”

“Hard to forget Yul Brynner. Man was a god.”

“Thor is a god. Yul Brynner was an actor.” Tony interjected, tossing Clint a bag of peanuts.

“Where’d you get these? I didn’t see you leave the limo.” Clint looked from the bag to Stark and back again. Stark smiled.

“Magic.”

“You know what’s even better than magic? A limo mini-bar.” Jan said as she slid out of the limo to join the three men in front of the Avengers West Compound. Clint blinked.

“We had a mini-bar in there?”

“Priorities please. My bags good sirs.” Jan gestured at the trunk of the limo which the driver was popping open.

“I’ll get those Jan. You four have more pressing matters to attend to.” Hank Pym said as he stepped out of the Compound’s front door, hiking his thumb over his shoulder. “We have guests.”

“What the hell are you still doing here?” Iron-Man barked, his voice harsh and metallic. Moon-Knight shrugged.

“Here in the grander sense or here in California?”

“Here on Stark property.” Iron-Man poked Spector in the chest with one armored digit. “If I recall correctly, you burned your Avengers ID card. Ergo you have no business here.”

“I go where I want…Tony.” Moon-Knight stared up into Stark’s featureless helm. “Once an Avenger, always an Avenger right? Or does that only apply to people you like?”

“You were never an Avenger. Not really.”

“Okay. Time out boys. Drain some of that testosterone.” Hawkeye hopped off of the table he’d been sitting on and stood between the two men. “Much as I like a good old fashioned Avengers brawl, we’ve had too much of that lately.” He turned to Moon-Knight. “Moony, why oh why have you decided to illuminate us with your oh so shiney presence?”

“Two words-San Francisco.” Moon-Knight held up two fingers. Then he unfolded two more. “Actually four. San Francisco. Serpent Society.”

“San Francisco is one word.” Hawkeye held up a hand. “But I get it. Bad guys doing stuff in a place we should have been in the first place.”

“Clint-” Iron-Man began but Hawkeye just nodded.

“Yeah I know Shellhead. If we get bogged down in San Fran, what happens when we’re needed elsewhere? Doesn’t change the fact some of us should’ve been there at least.”

“Actually I was going to say that San Francisco is two words.” Iron-Man pointed at Moon-Knight. “And that still doesn’t explain why HE decided to break in here again.”

“I didn’t break in. The security system still recognizes me.” Moon-Knight said pointedly. “And its not like you bunch are in the yellow pages.”

“Maybe we should be.” Darkhawk said. Chris had switched into his dark armored alter ego in preparation for trouble. “We could have a full page ad and everything.”

“Avengers-r-us. I can see it now.” Spider-Woman cut in, laughing. Hawkeye glanced at her.

“Us? You thinking of joining Drew?”

“What? I-”

“If we could get back to the matter at hand please.” Moon-Knight said. Hawkeye turned away from Drew and tugged on Spector’s hood.

“Sure Moony-tunes. Serpent Society. San Fran. Break it down for us.”

Moon-Knight related his recent activities in San Francisco for the assembled Avengers and finished up with his battle with the Society members. “I managed to snag a tracer on Asp just before they vanished. I know where they are but if their numbers are anything close to what they usually are there’s no way Spider-Woman and I can tackle them alone. And I’d just as soon get this over and done with as quickly as possible. There are other criminals than just the Society in San Francisco at the moment.” He glanced over at Drew.

“Did I forget anything?”

“Just about how you’re a zombie.”

“I’m not a zombie!”

“You’re not? I thought you were some sort of Egyptian mummy-zombie thing.” Hawkeye glared at Spector. “I thought that was your whole deal.”

“And here I just thought he was a pain in the ass.” Iron-Man mused.

“Be nice.” Pym said as he entered the conference room. He held out his hand to Jan. “Your luggage ma’am.” He opened his hand and allowed several tiny objects to fall into her open palm.

“Hank, while I appreciate the sentiment I did ask you to never shrink my luggage again.”

“Sorry. My chivalry only goes so far and getting a hernia lifting your make-up case is a line I refuse to cross.” Pym looked at Iron-Man. “Oh, and I finished that project you asked me about Tony.”

“Project?” Hawkeye looked back and forth between the two. “I didn’t know anything about a project.”

“I didn’t want to bother you with it if it didn’t pan out.” Stark said. He looked at Pym. “Does it work?”

“Of course.” Pym inclined his head in the general direction of his lab. “I’ve got a remote lock on him now.”

“Lock on who?” Hawkeye asked. Iron-Man smiled beneath his mask.

“Genis. I think it’s time we got some answers out of our newest Captain Marvel don’t you?”

“And what about the Society?” Moon-Knight barked. “You’d rather play hide-and-seek with a cosmic delinquent than stop a bunch of kidnappers?”

“Last time I checked you wanted nothing to do with us. I think that answers your question right there.” Iron-Man replied. Hawkeye shook his head as the two began to argue.

“Hey. Hey! Shut it! Both of you.” Hawkeye swept his gaze over the assembled individuals. “It’s pretty obvious what we’ve got to do here. From what Iron-Man has said, Genis is a loose cannon with more power than is good for him. Which means he’s going to be a problem in the future. And since he’s been sharing our pad for the past few months that makes him our problem. But-” He glanced at Moon-Knight. “Moony has never steered us wrong before, despite any differences of opinion we got going on. And from what Cap’s told me the Society aren’t anything to sneeze at either so I say we split up. Team A goes one way, team B t’other. Sound good?”

“You’re the boss Clint.” Stark stepped back, trying to hide the disappointment in his voice. Moon-Knight simply nodded.

“Good. Cause we ain’t a democracy so we were going to do it that way anyway.” Hawkeye grinned. “Okay, Shellhead, take Darkhawk and Hank with you. Follow up on Genis’ trail, see if you can bring him to heel. Everybody else, with me. We’re going to Fog City and stomp some snakes.”

“That sneaky son of a bitch.” The lithe woman who called herself Asp said admiringly as she examined the tiny sickle moon shaped device she’d plucked off her leg. “Half-dead and he still plants a tracer on me.” She tossed it to a cloaked and hooded figure who sat in a comfortable wingback leather chair nearby at the head of a green marble table  around which the other members of the Serpent Society sat.

A gloved hand reached out and grabbed the tracer from the air and the hooded face leaned forward and examined it in the light.

“No one ever said he wasn’t resourceful my sweet Cleo.” The hooded man said quietly. “I’d guess we’ll be seeing him quite soon.”

“Impossible. Roland pumped him full of poison Seth.” Rattler snapped. Seth Voelker, Sidewinder, laughed and tossed the tracer onto the table.

“That may be Gustav but you know as well as I that the only people who come back from the dead more often than actors in a Romero movie are the so-called super-heroes.” Sidewinder said. “Besides, the local news is curiously silent on the matter. Thus, we must conclude he in fact survived.”

“Obviously we must rectify that.” A heavily built man said. His copper colored armor glinted beneath the lights of the meeting room as he leaned forward and looked expectantly at Sidewinder.

“Sounds good to me.” Cottonmouth flashed his startling grin. “So who goes?”

“I think a show of hands is in order Quincy.” Sidewinder leaned back in his chair. “All those who would like to take part in this, raise your hands.”

Of the other individuals who clustered around the table six hands went up, including Cottonmouth’s. Sidewinder nodded.

“Excellent.” He said, steepling his fingers. “Excellent. Then ladies and gentlemen, I suggest we adjourn for the moment and prepare to go to work.”

“It’s time to earn our paycheck.”

Next Issue: Looks like the Society has decided to turn the tables on the Avengers West before the game is even started…be here in thirty for ‘FALSE TRAIL’!