“Wake up,” a voice said.

Janet Van Dyne, the Wasp, opened her eyes slowly and tried to ignore the pounding in her skull. “Cl-Clint?” she said.

“Hey Jan. Good to see you’re awake,” Hawkeye said, leaning on his bow in front of her. She tried to move, but found herself unable to do so. She twisted her head, looking at the power-siphoning gauntlets that enclosed her hands and feet and held her strapped to a steel contraption. “SHIELD left a lot of crap behind when they evacuated San Francisco. The boss figured it would be put to good use this way,” he continued.

“Boss? Clint, what-”

“Jan, that’s not Clint,” Tony Stark, Iron-Man said, from across the room. His armor hung in sparking tatters from his muscular frame. He was bound in the same fashion as the Wasp. Over his head, perched on the top of his restraint structure, Spider-Woman leaned back, smiling.

“Of course he is, Tony. Don’t be an idiot. Walks like a duck, talks like a duck-” she began.

“Quiet,” a sibilant voice said. A tall, thin man of Asian extraction walked into the room. He wore a well-tailored business suit, and had an emerald and gold scarf hung nattily about his shoulders.

“You!” Stark said, jerking at his restraints. “Who the hell are you?”

“I am David Li-Pan, Mr. Stark. And you are Janet Van Dyne,” he said, turning to look at Jan. He gestured. “Your absent companion is called Halifax. One of the so-called New Men of Wundagore.”

“Where is he? Why isn’t he here with us,” Jan said, quietly. “What have you done with him?”

“He awoke quickly, despite my best efforts. I have since turned him over to others to deal with. But my master wishes to speak you both personally.” Li-Pan fiddled with his scarf.

---

Elsewhere.

Halifax of Wundagore stood in the center of a hastily assembled arena. Broken timbers, sheets of metal and rusty chains rose up around him, and atop them, men and Deviants looked down at him, whooping and cheering.

Halifax snarled. The cheering faded. He had woken up before either of his companions, and tried to escape. It had gotten bloody. He had killed several guards before a blow from behind had brought him down.

Now, he was here, alone and weaponless. He fell into a crouch, his tail lashing. If they wanted his hide, they would have to take it.

“Mesdames and Messieurs, we have quite the treat for you this evening,” someone shouted. Halifax looked up and growled as he caught sight of the Grey Gargoyle clinging to the chainlink ‘roof’ of the arena. “One of the fabled Knights of Wundagore, the last redoubt of chivalry, here in our arena for our entertainment to celebrate the glorious Revolution at hand!”

The roar of the crowd grew, and Halifax’s ear flattened against his skull. He considered leaping for the walls, but decided against it. They were doubtless prepared for such an action.

“Even better, he is an Avenger as well! It’s a two for one!” the Grey Gargoyle said, clapping his hands together. He dropped onto all fours, glaring down at Halifax.

“The Masters have given you to us as a reward for all our good service, beast-man. How do you want to die?”

“Preferably of old age,” Halifax rumbled.

“Wrong answer! But, since you are an honorable creature-” Jeers and catcalls echoed loudly. “-We shall give you a fighting chance! Not much of one, I admit, but any chance is better than none, oui?”

Halifax didn’t reply. He remained crouched, his muscles tensing. Whatever came, he would be ready. Even if it were death.

“So here’s the deal, Monsieur Tigre…you’re going to fight. And if you win, you secure your release. But if you lose…well.” The Grey Gargoyle smacked the chainlink with his hand, causing it to rattle. “As far as your opponents go…we’ll give you a sportsman’s shot and send them in one at a time! As soon as one falls, you’ll face the next. You, alone, versus the Emmisaries of Evil! Those are fine odds, non?”

“Get on with it!” Halifax roared.

“Fair enough.” The Gargoyle’s eyes blazed. “Let’s start the game off with a bang-your first opponent is…Joystick!”

The yellow and black armored woman bounded into the arena, laughing wildly as she bounced and spun towards the waiting Halifax. Her battle staves sizzled as they sliced the air in front of his snout, and he stepped back, snarling.

“Time for payback, kitty-cat!” Joystick crowed.

“Yes. It is. Have at thee!” Halifax said, hurling himself at her, claws bared.

---

Elsewhere.

Jan looked at Hawkeye.

“What have you done to our friends? And where’s Druid?”

“Safe, I assure you. And these are your friends. They have simply realized the true glories that await them in service to Him Whose Eyes Flash With Seven Thunders,” Li-Pan said, smiling.

Stark gave a bitter laugh. “The hell they have. They’re LMDs, Jan.”

“What?” Jan said, startled. Li-Pan swung around, frowning.

“And what makes you think that, Mr. Stark?”

“I would assume that he has known for some time, my servant,” someone said. Li-Pan flinched and stepped back as an inhumanly tall shape glided through the doorway. A chattering marmoset perched on one shoulder, and a face both saturnine and satanic gazed at the two helpless Avengers. “He is no fool, our Mr. Stark.”

“God,” Tony whispered, color draining from his face.

“Tony-what-” the Wasp began. Long fingers reached up from within voluminous sleeves and caressed her face.

“Allow me to introduce myself, my dear. I am…Dr. Fu Manchu. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance…”

---

San Francisco.

“That’s it.” Moon Knight gestured with his truncheon, his ragged cloak wrapped around him as he crouched on the edge of the slumping apartment building. Daredevil, perched nearby, cocked his head.

“What’s it?”

“How we’re getting in.”

“We’re getting in?” Daredevil stretched slightly. “Might be smarter to call SHIELD-”

“Not enough time, Murdock,” Moon Knight said, rising to his feet. Daredevil grabbed his shoulder.

“Plenty of time, Spector. Unless you know something I don’t.”

Moon Knight tensed, then sighed. He shook his head. “All the signs were there. I just couldn’t put them together fast enough.”

“Signs of what? You’re saying you knew this was going to happen?”

“Not this specifically, no. The Deviants took me by surprise, but-” He gestured helplessly. “I knew it was coming. The signs were all there. This was all-every bit of it-part of his plan.”

“Somebody planned this? Equinox-” Daredevil began. Moon Knight made a sharp gesture.

“No. But that was the precipatator. Equinox didn’t matter. It could have been Magneto, or Graviton or anyone with the power to tear up the city bad enough that it couldn’t be fixed quickly. But what happened after-” Moon Knight fell silent. “It was all him. He must have been waiting, just for something like this to happen.”

“Who?”

Moon Knight didn’t answer. Instead, cloak rippling, he threw himself off the edge of the building and glided towards the street. His boot soles connected with the skulls of two Deviant guards, sending them toppling. Moon Knight landed in a crouch, and whipped his truncheon at a third Deviant, catching him in the center of his face, dropping him.

Daredevil landed just behind Moon Knight, locking his billy club around the throat of the fourth and final Deviant, choking off any cry he might have made. The creature went limp, and Daredevil let him fall. He looked around. “I recognize this place. Isn’t this-”

“Yes,” Moon Knight said, retrieving his truncheon.

The building had once been a laundromat, at least on the outside. On the inside, and far below, it was SHIELD headquarters for West Coast. Or it had been before the devastation. Like most of the government facilities in the stricken city, it had been closed down and sealed tight. No one could penetrate it’s defenses.
Unless, of course, they came up from below.

“Natasha brought me here once,” Daredevil said. Moon Knight grunted and went to the door of the laundromat. He pressed against it, then checked the handle.

“It’s been through some changes since then,” he said. “Everything that’s happened lately…it can all be traced back here. Like tendrils of cancer, radiating outward. The Deviants are only the latest. I thought it was just Voelker and the Serpent Society, but now-” He stepped back and lashed out with a foot, kicking open the door. It slumped off of it hinges and he stepped inside.

Daredevil followed. “Now, you think it’s someone else.”

“Someone’s been collecting super-criminals the past few weeks. Including one or two that I gift-wrapped personally. I take offense at that.” Moon Knight looked around. “Someone hired the Society to raid tech caches in the city. AIM, Hydra, SHIELD, you name it, if it was here, it got looted. I thought it was just Voelker being opportunistic, but, I know better now. And this isn’t the end of it. He’s got something else planned.”

“The button is under the desk, beside the cash register,” Daredevil said. Moon Knight looked, then swatted the hidden button with his truncheon. The back wall began to slide away with a groan and the floor began to sink down. Daredevil bounded over the counter and joined Moon Knight on the suspension platform.

“You really have been here before,” Moon Knight said.

---

Stygia. City of a Thousand Shimmering Scales. Ancient Hyboria.

“What the hell is all this crap?” Princess Python said, kicking aside a smooth silver cylinder that sang strange, sad songs. Hawkeye watched it roll away and looked around the AIM base that had, up until a few hours ago, been disguised as a vegetable seller’s stall.

“The detritus of war,” Rama-Tut said, examining a Roman gladius imbedded in a stone inscribed with Celtic sigils. “Kang’s mad conflict with the End Machine-”

“The what?” Hawkeye stood from where he’d been squatting. There was something-

“The End Machine. It’s what the people of my native time-stream called Ultron.” Rama-Tut tried ineffectually to draw the sword then turned away from it. “Half god-half doomsday scenario. I was fascinated with it as a child. Kang’s battle with Ultron caused upheaval in the streams of time. Things-people even, perhaps-were uprooted and scattered all across the strands of time.” He sniffed and ran a hand over a set of bulky gray armor. Hawkeye glanced at it.

“Is that-”

“No. It’s a reproduction,” Rama-Tut said. “A collector’s item.”

“Ha.” Hawkeye shook his head. “Wouldn’t he be surprised.” He stood in the center of the smooth, cream colored square room and looked around at all the-as far as he could see-useless junk. There was somethingwas that humming?-whispering? “Why collect all of this crap?”

“Treasure and trash,” the Sphinx said. Hands clasped behind his back, he looked down at what had once been a cosmic cube, but was now black and oily looking. He turned, smiling. “Many individuals would pay greatly to own some of these items.”

“Witches things,” Conan murmured. He easily yanked the gladius Rama-Tut had been struggling with from its rock and swung it experimentally. “Good blade, though.”

“Ha! Trust that to catch your attention, Cimmerian!” Red Sonja said. She fiddled with an ornately re-curved bow, holding it up and testing it. “Hnh. Is this Bossonian?”

“No. It’s-hurhm,” Rama-Tut said, peering at it. Hawkeye reached past him and grabbed it from Red Sonja. The humming he’d been hearing abruptly stopped.

“It’s mine. Yoink.” Hawkeye flipped the bow up on his palms and peered down its length. Red Sonja started towards him, eyes narrowed, but Rama-Tut stopped her.

“Leave it. He is an archer, after all.” He looked at Hawkeye and shook his head. “Besides, it’s made its decision.”

“What-” Hawkeye glanced at him.

“Nothing. Regardless, we must prepare. If the agents of AIM did indeed fire off a distress signal, then we can certainly expect to receive visitors soonish.” Rama-Tut looked at the Sphinx. “Don’t you agree?”

“Ha, yes,” the Sphinx said, rubbing his chin. “Milady?”

“Who, me?” Princess Python looked around, then shook her head. She stroked her python’s broad skull and closed her eyes. A soft crimson light seemed to emenate from her. When she opened her eyes, they were solid red. “Rama-Tut. How will they come?”

“It depends. They may attempt to home in on the Mandroids’ signal, or they may simply head for their last recorded location. Or, they may not come at all-”

Hawkeye tuned them out and seated himself on the edge of a table that looked like it had come out of a Victorian parlor. He stroked the bow, admiring its curves and the gentle whorls that had been carved down its length. Strange letters seemed to glitter at the center of every whorl, like the center of strange flowers.

They drew his eyes and held them and as he plucked the string, a smooth harmony seemed to fill his head.

“God does provide,” he said, softly.

The bow seemed to shudder in his grip. A thrill of warning struck him, soul-first. Hawkeye threw himself off of the table and rolled across the floor as a lithe shape crashed down atop it, clawing at him. He rose to his feet, notching an arrow. His eyes widened.

“You!”

Death Adder flexed his grotesque claws and crouched on the table, his tail lashing angrily.

“You know this demon?” Red Sonja barked. Hawkeye cursed.

“Yeah, but he shouldn’t be here-” There was a burst of light and a half dozen more figures appeared. One blinked, then cursed.

“Barton!” Sidewinder spat. “What are you-”

“-Doing here?” Hawkeye snarled. “First AIM, now you schmucks! What is this, the Hyborian Days Inn?”

Behind Sidewinder, Asp, Puff Adder, Rock Python, Black Mamba, Copperhead and Coachwhip spread out, stepping away from their leader. Behind Hawkeye, Conan and Red Sonja stepped up, drawing their swords. “Well, Chuckles?” Hawkeye said, aiming an arrow at Sidewinder. “Spill.”

“Well, offhand, I’d say we’ve come to collect our property,” Sidewinder said. “We intercepted a certain AV signal and lo and behold, who did we see but our dear friend Zelda.” He held out a hand to Princess Python. “Come now, Zelda. Time to go home.”

“Home? With the people who sold me to a bunch of vampires?” Princess Python said. She cocked her head, her eyes flashing dangerously. “No. No, I think not.”

“Oh? That’s a shame. But it’s not really up for debate, my dear.” Voelker stepped back, drawing his cloak tight around him. “You’re coming with us, willingly or not! Serpent Society…STRIKE!”

---

 

TO BE CONTINUED…

 

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NEXT ISSUE: Only two issue to go and we’re not slowing down! Halifax battles alone against the EoE…or does he? What is Fu-Manchu’s ultimate goal? The Hyborian Avengers battle the Serpent Society in the streets of Stygia! Be here in thirty for ‘THE DAY THE EARTH DIED SCREAMING’!

 

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