All his life, Buddy McClintok had never fit in anywhere. As a child he had been ostracized from the other neighborhood children because of an early growth spurt. In high school, Buddy tried out for the football team, but failed miserably. He had dropped out of college within his first year.

His mother, Florence, hounded him constantly. “When will you get a girlfriend? Do something with your life, Buddy! Your brother isn’t going to loan you money forever!” she would always say.

It's not my fault I couldn't get a break before, Buddy thought as he polished his plasma rifle.

Last month, Buddy had finally gotten the break he had been waiting for. Someone had approached him, recognizing the potential he knew he had. Things would change now. He would show those stupid jocks from the Neil Gaiman High School football team he wasn’t a loser. Even those punks that refused to let him play hide-and-go-seek as a kid would soon know he was going places in the world.

“You about ready, 412? Meeting starts in a couple minutes,” said a man Buddy only knew as Agent 343. The green body armor 343 wore was just like every other person’s Buddy had met. If he hadn’t recognized the man’s unique chin under his helmet, he probably would have no idea who he was.

“Yeah, be right there.”

Buddy put down the rag he had been polishing the plasma rifle with. He had just been issued the weapon last week, and he wanted to keep it in mint condition. It wasn’t every day he was given an opportunity like this; he didn’t want to blow it.

Buddy McClintok, now known as Agent 412, followed the other man out of his quarters toward the large auditorium where the meeting was taking place. The instructions for his first major operation as part of the Protoclan would be music to his ears.

He was finally part of a team. 

 The next day…

“Okay, everyone. Remember that the purpose of this exercise is to enhance coordination in the field. Peru and Texas were total disasters compared to the level we should be at.”

The cyborg known as Deathlok stood in the center of the Heroes For Hire’s training facility, aptly named the Rubix Room. From his position, he could see Monica Rambeau, known to the world at large as Photon, preparing for her first trial at their headquarters in Chicago. Lynn Erickson, codename: Diamond Dust stood to her right. Danny Rand, codename: Iron Fist, stood to her left, ready for action.

“Luke and David not back from investigating that robbery yet?” Photon asked.

“No, but they’ll probably be back soon. I’ve dealt with that client before,” said Deathlok. “He’s…eccentric to say the least.”

“Ready when you are then.”

The Rubix Room was by far the largest room in the building. A perfect cube, the room spanned thirty yards in each dimension, bringing the total square footage to 81,000. A grid lined the walls, floor, and ceiling, sectioning off each square yard. The room was extremely versatile which helped in setting up different scenarios for the heroes to train in.

“Daniel’s objective is to reach the flag hanging from the ceiling. You and Lynn will be responsible for keeping the practice droids off him,” Deathlok said. “I’ll stop the aerial drones.”

“Wouldn’t it make more sense for him to fight the druids while I just fly up and grab the flag?” Photon asked.

“The point is not to get through the exercise as fast as you can. We need to learn to trust our teammates and rely on them in certain situations. You need to know Iron Fist can do what is necessary, and he needs to know you can back him up.”

“But how is he even going to get all the way up there? He can’t fly. We’re in a giant open space.”

Deathlok smirked, or at least as much of a smirk as a cybernetic human could muster. “Didn’t I tell you why this is called the Rubix Room?”

Suddenly, sections of the walls began to move. What looked like a grid to Monica along the walls started to separate in different places. The square yard sections extended out of the wall, shoving long, rectangular prisms across the room. It was like a giant imaginary hand had pulled out a square yard of the wall, stretching it out into the center of the room. More and more sections were “pulled” out of the walls until most of the open space was filled in a maze of plateaus connected to the sides of the room.

“Since joining up with you people, I’ve seen something new every day,” said Diamond Dust, now in her solidified phase.

Photon looked over at Iron Fist, who didn’t seem to be surprised in the least. Catching her eye out of the corner of his own, he said, “I did a couple run-throughs while you were taking care of some Avengers business last week. Beta testing, if you will. Just think of it as one giant puzzle, with all the pieces moving around.”

“So no holograms then?” questioned Diamond Dust. “Luke mentioned something about other heroes using holograms in their training rooms.”

Before Deathlok could answer, the heroes turned their attention to the far side of the room where a larger panel had slid back to reveal seven practice droids. He had set the session to start on a timer and their time to prepare was up. The robots were all six feet tall with shiny metal hides and each droid possessed a different method of attack. Photon could make out a large ax, some nunchucks, daggers, a few different styles of blasters, and some strange device that she had no idea about what it did. A pair of steel mittens was all she could compare it to.

Above them, another hatch slid back to reveal a chamber filled with little, silver, floating spheres. The orbs were no bigger than an average person’s head. They quickly zipped out of their hiding spot, and spread out across the room.

“We’ll cover you, Fist” said Photon, “I’ll take out the ones with long range attacks first, and DD will take out the close range bots. How are you going to get up to the ceiling?”

“Very carefully.”

The droids sprung to life, raising their assortment of weapons. The automatons wasted no time in charging the heroes.

The three with blasters attacked first, laying down suppression fire aimed at Iron Fist. In response, the martial artist dove for the floor, immediately bouncing up to the closest plateau using a handspring motion.

Deathlok grabbed a twin set of blasters from his side, and ran to find a better position from which he could target the aerial drones whizzing around the room.

Photon levitated in her energy form above Diamond Dust. “Give me your hand. I’ll launch you across the room.”

“You’ll do what?” said the new member of the H4H.

“We need to cover Iron Fist. You need to be on that side of the room, now.”

“Just…just watch the hair, okay?”

Not giving a response, Photon grabbed Diamond Dust’s extended hand, pulling her into the air. As fast as the extra weight she was carrying would allow, the energy Avenger shot across the practice room, weaving over and under the prisms jetting out of the walls.

Releasing her grip, Diamond Dust fell right on top of one of the practice droids. The diamond-like substance covering her entire body crushed against the metallic hide of the robot. When transforming into her solidified phase, Lynn was able to distort some of her features. She had used this power to create claws from her fingers. Those claws tore through the practice droid, leaving nothing but wires and a lifeless shell on the ground.

“Easy enough to absorb these energy blasts,” said Photon as she swept low to the ground in order to get a better bead on her targets. The three practice droids brandishing long-range weapons all now concentrated their fire on the flying Hero For Hire. With three quick blasts, Photon neutralized their threat.

Before she could savor her small victory, however, a surge of incredible power overtook her body, engulfing it in pain. She fell to the floor, her body cringing in muscle spasms.

Looking up from the floor, Photon saw the practice droid standing over her that was wearing the “steel mittens.” White electricity skimmed over the surface of the items, emitting crackling noises. The robot raised its arms, ready to strike another blow against the downed hero.

“Those are the craziest looking therapeutic gloves I’ve ever seen.” A white claw burst through the center of the droid, causing the light in its eyes to fade. Diamond Dust stood behind the robot as it fell to the floor, lifeless. “Need a hand?” she said.

Photon leaned over to see what her teammate’s claws had left behind of the other practice droids. It wasn’t much. To her far right, however, she saw one making its way onto a plateau near Iron Fist.

“Damn it! You let one get by you!” said Photon as she stood up, ignoring the offered hand.

The martial artist hadn’t gotten too close to the flag yet, but he was also far from the floor. The practice droid, wielding a large ax, was able to leap much higher than Iron Fist (even despite his impressive acrobatics), and as a result, was climbing faster. The robot would overtake Iron Fist within moments.

Flashes of light slammed against the ceiling as Deathlok took out the aerial drones. Even with his computer enhanced targeting, he was having trouble locking on to the little buggers. They moved fast and unpredictably. He had only destroyed about half of the swarm.

Almost in coordination with the practice droid that was quickly reaching Iron Fist, the aerial drones all changed their trajectories to head toward the droid’s target. Iron Fist, well aware of his predicament, decided to continue pushing toward the flag hanging from the ceiling.

He trusted his teammates. Even if his better judgment told him to flip back to the plateau below him and take out the droid himself, he knew that wasn’t his job. His teammates wouldn’t let him down. He had total confidence in them.

The droid leapt higher and closer, swinging the large ax. The aerial drones swooped in low over Iron Fist’s head. He was almost at the flag. Just one more vault would get him to the edge of the plateau right under it. He was seconds away from either succeeding or failing.

Photon, still woozy, flew as fast as she dared across the room. Deathlok bounded on top of the lowest plateau, guns drawn. Diamond Dust shouted out some kind of warning to Iron Fist.

Suddenly, the lights in the Rubix Room dramatically dimmed. A red light over the entrance flashed, casting crimson rays into the room. Alarms blared loudly, drowning out Lynn’s warnings. Both the practice droid and the aerial drones froze in their positions.

Mere feet away from accomplishing his goal, Iron Fist stopped and turned around to gaze down at his teammates. “Did we run out of time or something?” he yelled over the alarms.

Deathlok holstered his weapons and lifted one of his cybernetic arms. Pressing an almost invisible button in his wrist, the lights returned to normal and the alarms were silenced. “Trouble,” he said. “Training is over for today.”

“What’s going on?” Photon asked as she landed next to Deathlok and converted her body back to flesh and blood. Lynn quickly followed suit, shifting her body’s density to that of a regular human.

“I set the base’s sensors to keep track of certain energy signatures whenever they popped up. I won’t know exactly what is going on until I get to the War Room, but I would assume it has something to do with the Protoclan,” the cyborg replied. “I’m not really keeping track of anyone else.”

Iron Fist, now only fifteen feet above the floor, finished making his way to the gathered heroes. “The terrorists you’ve been investigating?”

“That would be them,” said Deathlok. He pivoted on one of his metallic feet and headed toward the training room’s door, prompting the rest of the team to follow. “Mind resetting the Rubix Room, Photon?” the cyborg called over his shoulder.

Photon flew up to the control station for the training room. Approaching the glass, she pushed her light form through the window and into the station. A few quick adjustments to a panel (which Deathlok had labeled), and the room started to reset itself to a large open space.

Eager to join her teammates, Photon turned around to exit the station and take the stairwell down to the War Room. She barely took one step before coming to an immediate stop.

“Misty! What are you do--”

Misty Knight’s bionic arm cut off the hero’s sentence. A quick uppercut sent Monica Rambeau to the floor, cradling her jaw. “I don’t care if you once led the Avengers or not. You think you’re better than me? Bitch, I may not wear shiny tights, but I can cut it in this line of work.”

“Look, Misty, I know what--”

“You know? Oh, you know, do you? Yeah, right. What do you know? You don’t know anything. Not about me, and not about him.”

Misty Knight backed up toward the exit of the control station. Her eyes watered slightly, and it was then that Photon noticed it looked like she had been crying. “Just stay away from me,” said Misty before leaving Monica alone in the room.

Photon, still rubbing her chin, slowly stood up. She waited a few moments before leaving the room herself. She decided to not mention this to any of her teammates, especially Iron Fist. She knew exactly why Misty had done what she had and she didn’t blame her at all. In fact, Monica thought she might have done the exact same thing in Misty’s situation.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Photon continued down to the War Room to meet the rest of her team. She had a mission to go on. Her team needed her to be focused. 

“I can’t believe that guy,” said Luke Cage, the original Hero For Hire.

“I’m new at this whole hero thing,” chimed in David, “but somehow I don’t think we’re supposed to be investigating stuff like that.”

The pair walked down a busy street in downtown Chicago. They had received the call from a client that had them on retainer barely an hour ago. Within minutes of arriving, the two heroes had turned on their heels and walked right back out the front door.

Cage, stepping out of the way of some obvious tourists admiring the buildings, sighed deeply. “When I get called in to check out a robbery, I expect an actual robbery to have taken place.”

“So I’m not the only one that thinks a business owner miscounting his diamond inventory doesn’t count as a felony?”

“He was ready to press charges against his managers, and for what? Because he can’t count without using his fingers?” Cage shook his head in disgust. “Third largest city in the country or not, I miss New York.”

At the end of the block awaited the two heroes’ transportation back to their headquarters. Luke Cage owned a sleek, black Dodge Charger. It was something he found a lot of pride in fixing up. He had driven it to his new city from his old one, savoring every mile of road the machine chewed up. It may have looked like any other car on the street, but under the hood, it was very unique indeed.

“This isn’t your first time in a team like this?” David asked, piling into the passenger seat. “I would have taken you for a loaner.”

“Me and Danny go way back. We tried to do the H4H thing a while ago, but our financial backer…umm…backed out. It’s a long story.”

“They always are.”

“Anyways,” Cage continued, bringing the car to life with the turn of a key, “after that I kind of went solo. Oh, wait…I was a Defender for about two days. Almost forgot about that.”

“Must not have been a good experience,” commented David.

Cage shook his head. “Hanging with Doc Strange isn’t always a barrel of monkeys, ya know? But enough about all that, I’m curious about you.”

“Not much to tell, really. I’m bonded with this demon I’m trying to get rid of. It’s hard to control sometimes, and I’m worried about lashing out. It happened once before a couple years ago. You see, I’m faster then anything else out there, but at the same time, I have to keep myself in check. If I relax too much, someone might get hurt.”

“Someone like Lynn?”

A slight smile crept onto David’s face at the mention of her name. Merely thinking about her seemed to ease the man’s soul. “Exactly. Lynn and I got married as soon as she was done with her doctorate. She’s the love of my life.”

“That girl has a doctorate? In what?” asked Cage as he merged onto the highway that would take them back to their headquarters.

“Biochemistry. She’s convinced she can find a cure for me that way.”

“Just exactly how long have you been bonded with this demon?”

Before David could answer, an alarm sounded off from both of their “watches.” What looked like normal, every day timepieces were actually GPS locators that Deathlok had provided. They were linked to the satellites he had in orbit and also served as an alert system when there was an emergency.

Placing the comlink in his ear, David said aloud, “Strider here; go ahead.”

The metallic sound of Deathlok’s voice emitted through the earpiece. {{Just got a bead on the Protoclan’s specific energy signature. They just teleported a ton of inanimate material into one of their bases I’ve been monitoring on the North side of the city. We’re mobilizing in one of the jets. Meet us at the coordinates I’m sending you.}}

“Acknowledged. We’re on our way,” said David, who then turned his attention to the man driving. “Take the next exit so we can turn around.”

“Strider? That your codename now?”

“What? Would you rather I call myself the Zipper?”

After a slight pause, Cage looked over to the passenger seat. “Strider works just fine.” 

One of the H4H’s aircraft silently hovered thirty feet above the ground and two hundred feet away from the group’s destination. A large warehouse with no light emitting from within sat in several of the ship’s viewing screens. There was still enough ambient light from the lowering sun that they could see the building without the aid of special equipment.

“Cage and David are pulling up now. Looks like they’re parking behind some dumpsters down the street,” said Diamond Dust after checking the onboard GPS tracker.

“Good. Get ready, team,” said Iron Fist. “Deathlok, lower the back hatch and we’ll meet up with them.”

As silent as the rest of the aircraft, a ramp lowered from the back covering half the distance to the ground. Iron Fist, Deathlok, and Diamond Dust each dropped the remaining fifteen feet while Photon gently flew out of the opening. Before long, Cage and Strider appeared beside them.

“One of the Protoclan’s bases is inside that warehouse,” said Iron Fist. “About an hour ago, Deathlok monitored a large amount of inanimate material being teleported in. A research station in Idaho reported being attacked around the same time. We know they’ve been concentrating their efforts in acquiring technology, so there’s a good chance it was them.”

“What if it’s not?” asked Photon.

“We shut down a known terrorist hideout anyway. Diamond Dust, Strider, and Photon, I want you on the West side of the building. Cage, Deathlok, and I will come in from the East. When you hear us breach the perimeter, be ready for a firefight. Radio silence, people.”

The selective teams broke apart, moving to their positions. The sun was almost below the horizon, but they could still make out each other from their separate locations before the objects they used for cover hid them completely. The man now called Strider crouched behind a bush before removing his long trenchcoat, revealing a sleek, black bodysuit with a stylized silver ‘S’ over the left breast.

“Two guards near that dock entrance,” said Photon as she crept up beside Strider. “Think you can silently take them down? That’s our entry point.”

“No problem,” replied Strider. He reached down into the folds of his discarded coat. “I’ve been wondering when I would get a chance to hit someone with these things.”

From within the coat, he pulled out a pair of silver gauntlets. “Reinforced vibranium. If I get enough momentum behind a punch, I’m sure I could shatter anything short of adamantium.” Strider slid his hands into the objects, which covered a good part of his forearms along with his wrists, only leaving the tips of his fingers uncovered. “I’ll only give those guards a little love-tap though.”

Before Photon or Diamond Dust could open their mouths to offer a response, Strider was gone. Both sets of eyes then immediately focused on the two guards blocking their entrance into the Protoclan’s base.

Twin streaks of silver glimmered in the setting sunlight as they blurred across the guard’s faces. Instead of slumping to the ground, however, both bodies went flying through the air and slammed against the wall.

Photon, in her energy form, shot over to Strider’s side almost as fast as he could have himself. “What the hell was that? You call that a love-tap?”

“Sorry. I think the vibranium in the gauntlets is offsetting my own vibrations a little bit. I honestly barely touched them,” Strider defended. “With practice I should be able to avoid breaking someone’s jaw unintentionally.”

Photon ignored the slight smile on her teammate’s face as she heard Diamond Dust approach from behind. “Seriously, Dave. Take it down a notch. We don’t want you to have an episode,” said the solidified woman.

“Yes, dear.”

“Don’t ‘Yes, dear’ me. I’ll--”

“Enough,” interrupted Photon. “Get inside the building. Be prepared for lots of opposition once we’re discovered. According to Deathlok, their numbers have been growing for quite some time.”

Strider lifted the large door so the team could enter. Closing it as silently as they could, the three heroes moved deeper into the warehouse. The section they had entered was a small loading zone that spilled out to a much larger expanse of the main room. Various boxes lined the walls of different shapes and sizes, their contents a mystery. No markings revealed what the Protoclan was storing.

“For a terrorist organization that has been acquiring technology,” Diamond Dust said, “they don’t have much in the way of security.”

“Would it be too cliché of me to say that it’s quiet,” chimed in Strider. “A little too quiet?”

“Take defensive positions near the entryways. Once the others make their presence known, scour the building and take down as many Protoclan troops as you can,” said Photon.

On the Eastern side of the building, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, and Deathlok looked for their own entry point. “How do you want to handle this, Danny?” asked Cage.

“I can’t imagine being able to snoop around for long without being detected,” the marital artist replied.

Cage smiled. “There’s no door here, but I could always make one.”

After a quick nod from the H4H field leader, Cage cocked back his fist and unleashed the majority of his great strength on the old brick wall. Rubble and mortar burst into the large main room. The loud noise echoed throughout the warehouse, surely alerting the inhabitants within.

“Just because this isn’t the main headquarters doesn’t mean they won’t be here in full force,” warned Deathlok as he withdrew his twin blasters from their place at his sides. “Take them down fast.”

The three heroes charged through the freshly made doorway and right into a squad of Protoclan soldiers that had come to investigate the noise. Iron Fist wasted no time in dispatching the first green-armored agent. Without breaking stride, Iron Fist rushed the soldier, springing up into the air at the last moment. He swiftly delivered a spin kick to the soldier’s face, knocking him to the floor.

“Move, heroes!” Iron Fist called out while chopping the back of another soldier’s neck, causing him to hit the floor beside the first to fall.

Even though his eyes were hidden behind his green helmet, Agent 127 still felt like the intruders could see his nervous blinking. However, he was in charge of this squad and it was his responsibility to take command and stop the so-called heroes. “Uh… fire at them, men! Shoot to, uh… kill!”

Several Protoclan members raised their plasma rifles to fire at the three Heroes For Hire, but not a single one was able to squeeze off a shot.

Deathlok fired into the squad, his targeting computer not missing a single mark. Cage slammed into a soldier so hard it tossed him back into three others, bowling them down like duckpins. Iron Fist displayed an impressive acrobatic sequence that not only moved him close to various soldiers, but leveled them upon landing as well. In less than three minutes, the entire squad was disabled and unconscious.

From the other side of the large expanse, several loud thuds emanated, drawing the heroes’ attention. The last sound had barely stopped bouncing off the walls before Strider ran up beside Iron Fist, moving fast enough to surprise the former resident of K’un Lun.

“Subtle entrance,” said Strider. “We rounded up as many as we could find. We have them piled up over yonder.”

“That was fast,” said Cage.

“Duh. Do we really need puns like that?” Strider paused and looked back over his shoulder before returning his attention back to Iron Fist. “There weren’t very many of them over there, so Photon said she was headed up to the next floor, and I think Lynn followed her. We should--”

A deafening noise that sounded like an explosion muffled the rest of Strider’s words. All save for Deathlok were forced to cover their ears, both in surprise and reflex.

“What the hell was that?” shouted Iron Fist.

“I think it came from somewhere above us,” answered Deathlok. “It wasn’t a bomb. My sensors aren’t reading any seismic disturbances. Might have been their teleporter, but if it made a noise like that, it couldn’t have been good.”

“Everyone get upstairs, now!” Iron Fist ordered. Strider sped away toward the nearest stairwell, while the remaining heroes moved as quickly as they could across the huge main room of the warehouse.

“Christmas. Why is it we never know exactly what’s going on when we’re on a mission? I should have joined the Avengers.”

“You could never make the cut, Luke” Iron Fist said with a smile on his face. Even though they were in the middle of an enemy’s base, with no idea what was happening above them, Danny Rand still felt able to poke fun at his longtime friend and partner.

“And you think they would let you wear your slippers to their meetings?”

Suddenly, a white figure crashed through the ceiling directly above where they were running. Debris fell through the air as the figure descended to the floor below. The body appeared limp, and Luke Cage doubted the person was even conscious.

“I got him!” cried out Cage as he doubled back to catch the falling figure.

The force at which the figure crashed into Cage’s arms was great enough to knock him off balance. The person’s body felt strange in his hands, though, as if it wasn’t completely solid.

Regaining his senses, Cage focused his eyes on whomever it was he had just caught. The figure was totally white, but the body looked as if it was melting into a plasmatic substance. Making out the soggy features on the person’s face, it finally donned on Luke who it was. “Lynn! Oh my God, what happened to you? Danny, get over here! She’s falling apart!”

Iron Fist and Deathlok were already by the street hero’s side looking down at their fallen teammate. “With her unique cellular structure, she must be unable to hold herself together, as it were, after whatever transpired upstairs,” said Deathlok.

Iron Fist looked up to the ceiling through the hole Diamond Dust had just created. It was large enough for him to see a giant, orange creature looking back at him. The mammoth creature let out a roar that rivaled that of the deafening noise from moments before just as it began to extend its arm into the building.

The humungous arm forced its way into the building through the hole Diamond Dust had created. The massive fingers were as big as tree trunks. The opening wasn’t quite large enough to allow admittance, however, and bits of the warehouse’s shell crumbled away. The steel girders making up the infrastructure bent with high-pitched squeals.

“We have got some big, big problems here. Grab her and let’s go!” Iron Fist yelled as the large creature shook the very foundations of the warehouse.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Author’s Notes

Yep, still no title for this space. ‘Author’s Notes’ just doesn’t feel right, but I’ve got nothing better just yet. Before I rant about the next issue, I want to address a letter that M2K’s very own Adnan Khan (author of Spider-Man) posted on the message board. So here goes:

Alright, I just finished reading Heroes 4 Hire's first two issues, and I must say I was impressed. I don't know if this is Dave's first attempt at fiction of any sort, but if it is, then it's a hell of a lot better than my first attempt. Anyways, I like the direction that the story is going, but I wanted to address a few issues. Before I get into that though, I wanted to say the writing itself is clean and flows well, and there was no problem with that as far as I could see.

Yep, this was my first shot at fan fiction. Ingram recruited me a few months ago, and Cory accepted my H4H proposal. I've had lots of things published before, as I minored in Journalism in college, but this was the first time I wrote something comic related (except for my Sentry one-shot in M2K's Marvel Fanfare).

What I did have issues was with the overuse of dialogue. I couldn't see any emotion on any of the characters. The narrative seems to go from a narration straight to some dialogue to the next scene. I don't know what the characters are thinking or how they feel, and when emotion is shown, it seems that they rush through it. Danny and Luke felt apprehension momentarily before joining H4H, but then they were in...see what I mean?

I admit, I have a lot of trouble with this. While I'm writing this team book, I try not to have any one character hog the spotlight. It's a fine balance I have to play with, and unfortunately, its something I'll only be able to master over time. I am trying though!

Also, the story could use more development. It seemed like the story jumped straight from forming the Heroes 4 Hire with an easy call from Deathlok to their first mission. Then as quickly as they were hired, it jumped straight into action, followed by them finding out what was going on, all in an issue and a quarter of another one. Maybe a detailed mission briefing scene next time? You seem to be quite capable as a writer and I'm sure you'll solve these two issues easily.

When I wrote out the arc synopsis, I tried to make each step of the story a logical extension of what came before it. Every team has to have a reason for coming together, but I didn't want my H4H to be stereotypical in the way they did it. How many times have we seen a massive threat pull characters together? How many times does a big villain come along to give cause for a new team? I wanted this incarnation of the H4H to be like "well...let's just give it another try and see what happens..."

Still though, I still liked the story itself and the writing was good too. I'm definitely going to continue reading this title, because I think Luke Cage is the shit. However, if you want to have readers feel something for the characters, try to bring in some emotion and or personal issues. I understand that it's only been 2 issues, but yeah.

Props to you man...I know this post seems negative, but when I write reviews, I want to jump straight into the negative so that the writer can find what to improve (and I hope people do that to me as well). If I didn't mention something, then it's definitely probably good and doesn't need fixing.

Luke Cage IS the shit. He's one of the reasons I read Bendis' New Avengers. Just wait until you see what I have planned for Cage (Danny is going to be put through the ringer as well). You want emotion? Be careful for what you wish for...*insert evil laugh here*

Thanks again for the review! I'm always up for some constructive criticism. BRING IT ON!

As for next issue: who the hell is that big orange guy? Is Diamond Dust okay? And don’t think I forgot about Photon’s little tiff with Misty. I’m promising a fairly cool scene with Deathlok next issue, too.

I need a catch phrase like Luke to end this section of the issue. Maybe…You’re Hired! That’s terrible…but maybe not a bad ‘title’ for this section. Hmm. 

-D.Golightly

4/19/06