“Oh, come ON!” Iron-Man said as his HUD flashed red and turned to static in his ears. The backup generators whined to life seconds later and his display cleared. “Not now, not now, not now, please, not NOW!” His boots dug into the street as the Big Wheel pressed down on him and his exoskeleton nearly buckled. It wasn’t the weight of the machine so much as the pressure it was exerting as it tried to move. Irresistible force meets less than immoveable object.

“Crap.” He issued a short command sequence, rerouting power to his stabilizers. “Think, Tony, think, think, think.” He could only hold it in place for so long. If he toppled it, he’d cause massive property damage. If he failed to hold it up, it’d crush him. He couldn’t lift it. So what was left?

“Drew? You still in there?”

“Yassuh, boss-man,” Jessica Drew, the spectacular Spider-Woman said. “Hanging tight.”

“Good to know. Look, I’m sending a pal up to you-”

“A pal?”

“Yeah, a PAL. Personal Artificial Liaison. I use them in the field to monitor my systems. Look, it’ll broadcast an image of the control systems directly to my HUD.”

“And then you’ll tell me what button to push, right?” Spider-Woman asked. “Sounds like a plan.”

“A good plan?”

“It’s a plan,” Spider-Woman said. “That’s all I care about.” She looked up as a steel sphere suddenly buzzed around her head. The PAL swooped through the cockpit of the Big Wheel. “Take good pictures, little buddy.”

On the street, Halifax of Wundagore, the newest member of the Avengers West, swung his sword up in two hands and brought it down atop the front of the armored motorcycle that spun towards him. The rider flew from his saddle and rolled across the street, unconscious. The tiger-man leaned on his sword, surveying the damage he’d done. A dozen destroyed super-cycles, a dozen unconscious riders.

A good day’s work.

He turned, looking for his fellow Avengers. His eyes narrowed as he saw their predicament. Nothing he could help with, he knew. It rankled.

Idly, he looked around, nose twitching. A sudden scent caught his attention and he turned, sword coming up. His lips wrinkled back from his fangs and he growled low. There was something-

“HiYA, Garfield,” Hawkeye said, crouching atop one of the destroyed cycles, his bow across his knees. He smiled. “I’m back.”

---

Doctor Anthony Luddgate Druid sat on the roof of the brownstone that had formerly belonged to the Serpent Society, but now belonged to the Avengers West Coast by right of ‘finders-keepers’.

His eyes closed, Druid let his mind grow and spread like a cloud of boiling smoke. The tendrils lengthened, searching.

He held little hope as to the results of that search, however. But he would never admit that. Not to his comrades in arms. Couldn’t admit that.

How many times had he betrayed them in the past? Three? Four?
Could he make up for it this time? Or was he doomed to failure once more? He frowned and opened his eyes.

“I know you’re there. Please step into the open, Mister Voelker.”

“Impressive,” Seth Voelker, Sidewinder, stepped from nowhere, his crimson cape snapping around his lean form. “Telepathy?”

“A parlor trick,” Druid said dismissively. He stood, head cocked. “May I inquire as to why you are here?”

“Of course,” Voelker said, smiling beneath his hideous mask. “Eviction.”

“Really?”

“Quite.”

“A reasonable action, in light of the previous ownership of this place,” Druid said, gesturing. Sidewinder inclined his head.

“Yes. We thought so.”

“I’m afraid I cannot let you do that, however,” Druid said, stetching his fingers.

“A pity, but we expected as much. Roland?”

Druid whirled as claws scraped the air near his head. His eyes widened slightly at the sight of the lean figure of Death Adder lunging for him again. Hastily he summoned a mystic shield and the mute assassin’s talons skittered across it.

“The stink of the Darkhold still lingers on you, beast.” Druid stepped back. “As it does on me.”

Death Adder didn’t reply. He crouched, claws flexing.

“We allowed Roland some personal time, but he’s back on the company clock, Doctor, I assure you,” Voelker said, standing off to the side, looking interested. “I thought he might be the best to confront you, due to his-ah-special connections, shall we say?”

“I was under the assumption he was dead,” Druid said. A shimmering bubble of energy surrounded him, deflecting yet another vicious attack. Sidewinder shrugged.

“Roland is hard to kill. It makes him quite an asset.”

“Indeed,” Druid said, then, suddenly, he sank through the roof, immaterial as a ghost. Sidewinder blinked, then smiled.

“Parlor tricks, he calls them,” he said, laughing slightly. He looked at Death Adder. “You know what to do.”

---

San Francisco. The Equinox Zone.

Ultron’s fingers flexed and it calculated the odds of regaining full movement in the next two minutes. The odds were not in its favor. So, instead, it watched the battle unfolding before it as it continued to test the molecular chain that bound it.

A few feet away, Darkhawk deftly avoided the outstretched talons of the Grey Gargoyle with easy grace. Turning slightly, he brought his heel up and smashed it into the back of the criminal’s head, knocking him to the ground.

“Did anyone see where Moon Knight went?” he said, looking around.

“I wouldn’t worry about him, boy,” the Gargoyle said, scrambling to his feet. “There are more than enough Emissaries to go around!”

“I don’t even know who half of you guys are,” Darkhawk complained, leaping backwards as the criminal pounced at him again. “Somebody fill me in?”

“Don’t let him touch you!” the Wasp said, swooping past, followed closely by the crimson-skinned villainess known as Dragonfly. Darkhawk jumped over the Gargoyle’s head and grabbed his coat, hauling the villain into the air and whipping him at the massive, armored form of the Cobalt Man.

“Got that part, thank you,” Darkhawk said.

“You’re welcome,” Joystick, the yellow-and-black-armored mercenary, said as she brought her staves down on the back of Darkhawk’s head. The hero staggered forward, directly into the path of a blow from Quicksand. Sand swallowed him and he began to struggle.

“Janet, help Darkhawk!” Pym barked, lashing out with one huge hand to swat Dragonfly from the air. “I’ll keep the others busy!”

“On it,” the Wasp said as she turned in mid-air and hurtled towards Quicksand. Energy crackled from her hands and struck the mutate, causing her to shriek. She staggered back, losing cohesion and releasing Darkhawk in the process.

“Head in the game, Chris,” the Wasp said, buzzing around Darkhawk’s head. “Up and at them. We’re outnumbered here!”

“Sorry, I-”

Even as Darkhawk staggered up, Bloodshed and Bison slammed into him, pounding him into the ground with brutal blows. The Wasp released a burst of energy into Bison’s unprotected face, causing him to stumble back, giving Darkhawk time to let loose a quick kick into Bloodshed’s knee. The super-strong thug grabbed instinctively for his leg and Darkhawk rolled onto his back and the gem on his chest crackled. An explosion of darkforce hammered up into Bloodshed’s face, knocking him end over end. He landed in a heap several feet away.

Pym stumbled through the brawl, his fourteen-foot form bound by chains of living sand. Gritting his teeth against the tendrils of sand that were trying to worm their way inside of him, he reared back, growing still larger…twenty feet…twenty-five…thirty…Quicksand grew with him, constricting tighter and tighter around his swelling form.

Pym brought his fists down, smashing the street and rupturing the newly repaired water pipes below. Water surged up in an a gushing explosion, knocking everyone from their feet. Pym began to shrink, on his hands and knees in the water.

“Smart move, Pym. Too bad I’m back in the game, though,” Aqueduct said, striding forward, water rising from the street at his gesture, combining into a globe that surrounded him. He reached out, grabbing Pym by the front of his jacket and pulled him into the globe. Pym struggled, drowning slowly in Aqueduct’s grip.

“No! Hank!” the Wasp said, rising to her feet. Aqueduct turned as she lunged for him, her fist plunging into the bubble. With a twitch of his head she was hurled backwards by a column of water, to slam into a wrecked car. She slumped, unconscious. Aqueduct smiled and globules of water slid away from the main mass, consuming both the Wasp and Darkhawk. They writhed, instinctively trying to claw their way to the surface of an ever-shifting bubble of filthy water.

“They say drowning is the easiest way to go,” Aqueduct said, looking down at Pym, who had sunk to his knees in the bubble. “What do you think?”

---

“Clint?”

“That’s my name, Shell-head.” Hawkeye rose smoothly to his feet and took aim with his bow. “Is that Big Wheel?”

“No, it’s another wheel-shaped weapon of mass-destruction,” Iron-Man barked. “Clint, where have you-“

“Questions later, Big Wheel first, maybe?” Hawkeye said.

Iron-Man’s HUD ping’d, alerting him to the PAL’s presence and he turned his attention to the remote camera. “Jen, hit the puce lever!”

“There isn’t a puce lever!” Spider-Woman shouted.

“By your hip!”

“Stop looking at my hip!”

“Pull the lever!”

“You mean the TAN lever?”

“Pull it!”

“Pulling,” Spider-Woman said. The Big Wheel gave a sudden groan and stabilizers shot from its hull, anchoring it firmly to the street. As the dust settled, she popped out of the hatch, the pilot slung over her shoulder.
“We win?”

“Looks like,” Hawkeye said, beaming up at her.

“Clint?”

“Why does everyone look so surprised to see me?”

“Because we thought an Elder God had eaten you!” Spider-Woman leapt smoothly to the street, depositing her burden as she landed. Sirens whined in the distance, closing fast. “Why didn’t the Elder God eat you?”

“Considering I wound up in Budapest, I figure he did. Any sign of DuBois?” Hawkeye looked at Iron-Man. Stark cocked his head.

“Budapest?”

“That’s what the sign said. And let me tell you, Hungarians-Hungarians don’t even blink when a guy in purple spandex pops up in the middle of the street. Awesome people.” Hawkeye leaned on his bow. “So no sign of Zelda, hunh?”

“Of neither of you until now,” Spider-Woman said.

“Damn.” Hawkeye looked sad for a moment. “We need to-”

”Discuss things later, maybe,” a voice from above said. The Avengers looked up at the hovering scythe shape of Angel-One and Moon Knight, who dangled from a cable. “Clint.”

“Moony-tunes!”

“We’ve got trouble…” Moon Knight continued, ignoring Hawkeye.

---

"How does it feel to have your lungs filling with water, Pym?” Aqueduct said softly, looking down at Pym with a benign smile on his face. “To know that you’ll soon be drifting off to whatever second-rate Valhalla guys like you got to?”

Pym didn’t-couldn’t-reply. He reached for Aqueduct, trying to get a hold of him, but the water prevented him, trapping him even as it drowned him.

“The irony is…this is ahead of schedule,” Aqueduct continued. “We weren’t planning to kill you for several weeks yet. Not until-”

“I think you spend waaaay too much time gloating, red,” Hawkeye interrupted from above, sighting down the length of an arrow. “But then, who am I to say somebody is talking too much?”

The archer released the arrow and Aqueduct gaped as it shot towards him. He stepped back, raising his hands, releasing Pym. The air hit the bubble of water and crackling arcs of electricity were released. Aqueduct screamed and fell backwards, smoke curling from his form.

“Non!” the Grey Gargoyle barked, pointing at Hawkeye. “Someone kill him!”

“My pleasure,” the Cobalt-Man rumbled, rising into the air. But before he could go on the attack, the red and gold form of Iron-Man slammed into him. Overhead, the Angel-One hove into view and Spider-Woman and Moon Knight dropped from its belly to the street.

“Nope. We just got him back,” Iron-Man said, reaching to tear off his opponent’s battery packs. Cobalt-Man screamed and tried to hurl Iron-Man away, but was too slow. With a despairing cry, he fell towards the street, landing heavily. As he tried to get to his feet, Halifax kicked his legs out from under him and laid the tip of his sword to the criminal’s throat.

“Yield,” the tiger-man growled. Iron-Man hovered overhead, looking down at the assembled villains.

“Now that we’ve gotten your attention-” he began.

A sudden emerald mist rose from the drenched streets, slithering up around the criminals, obscuring them from view for a few moments. Then, in the blink of an eye, they were clearly, suddenly, gone.

“-you’re under arrest,” Iron-Man finished lamely. “Damn.”

“Figures,” Hawkeye said. “I was just starting to warm up.”

“Clint?” the Wasp looked up through a dripping curtain of hair as Spider-Woman helped her to her feet. “Is that you?”

“Last time I looked, Jan,” Hawkeye said, smiling. “I-”

“Showed up out of nowhere, in the nick of time,” Spider-Woman said, interrupting. “Just like in the movies. The bad ones, I mean.”

“You implying something, Jess?” Hawkeye said, his grin still in place, if a bit strained.

Arms crossed, Iron-Man examined Hawkeye. “Nobody’s implying anything, but we’ve got a lot of questions, Clint.”

“So do I,” Hawkeye said, rising to his feet, bow across his shoulders. “Like, where the hell is Druid? And was that Ultron?”

“Ultron? Hank!” the Wasp whirled, pushing away from Spider-Woman, looking around wildly. “Hank!”

But Hank Pym and Ultron were gone. As if they had never existed.

---

Druid sank through the floors of the brownstone, one after the other. Since returning to life, his mind had become wonderfully cluttered with the detritus of life. Dreams, wonders, idle thoughts, all were his again. Now he was forced to put aside everything he had gained in order to preserve that new found life.

The auras of several individuals sought to intersect with his. The Serpent Society, obviously. It would have been foolish of Sidewinder and Death Adder to come alone. Thoughts of the mute killer flooded Druid’s under-mind…was the hand of Chthon still at work here? Still guiding that creature?

He touched down on the stairwell, returning to solidity. He had to warn the others. Let them know that-

“Tag, you’re it!” Asp said, lunging out of Sidewinder’s cloak to deliver a shocking blow to Druid’s spine. He screamed and stumbled, falling to his knees and rolling down the stairs. He slammed into the door at the bottom of the stairs, dazed and unable to move. Why hadn’t his mystic senses warned him? What was happening-

“M’Gula? Contain him, if you would,” Sidewinder said, gesturing.

Asp, Sidewinder and Rock Python started down the stairs, the latter tossing a metal sphere towards Druid. As he struggled to rise, the sphere hit his chest and exploded into a writhing web of tendrils that bound him tight.

“Gustav?” Sidewinder said. “Do the honors, please.”

“Ja,” Rattler said, stepping through the door and letting Druid fall backwards. His tail flashed up, then down.

Druid screamed…

---

TO BE CONTINUED…

 

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Next issue: So, Hawkeye’s back, right? Really? And so is the Society? On top of the Emissaries? And where did Hank and Ultron get to? Guess you have to stick around for two more issues because next issue, kids, is all about our whacky Hyborian pals as Hawkeye, Princess Python and Conan battle ‘THE SLITHERING SHADOWS’!

 

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