#3 - "Visiting Hours"
Roll Call:
 Black Diamond |
 Enchantress |
 Firestar |
 Lightburst |
 Muskateer |
 Nightingale |
 Thing |
Three weeks had passed since Lord Evil and Lady Darkness had assumed command of the New York branch of DEMON. By now operations were proceeding smoothly. There was some trouble with the lack of discipline displayed by the agents of the base. Lord Darkness and Lady Zee had been weak rulers and it showed. But under the intense training of the new Demon Masters, the base was operating at peak efficiency. Any failure was dealt with harshly. The agents quickly learned that Lady Darkness had a sadistic streak and that she enjoyed inflicting pain, both physical and mental. They feared her and she seemed to enjoy that.
Inside their private quarters in the DEMON Base, the Morbanes were comparing notes. The chamber was elegantly furnished in Victorian splendor. Lord Evil was dressed, as always, to match the decor. Lady Darkness wore her impossibly form-fitting black latex body suit and carried a riding crop, which she was lightly smacking into her left hand.
"Our plans proceed on schedule, my love," Lord Evil said before taking a sip from his glass of wine. "Those fools may have gotten themselves captured at the Henderson Warehouse, but they did get what we needed. It will only be a matter of time before I have all the components I need to complete the portal device. Those lackies never had any clue that they were actually working for DEMON."
"Excellent! A toast then." Lady Darkness picked up her own glass and brought it to meet Lord Evil's. After taking a drink, she continued, "Soon I shall reclaim what is rightfully mine! First those responsible for my exile shall be punished. Then our plans for conquest can begin in earnest! "
A light rapping on the door to their chamber interrupted Lady Darkness. She appeared mildly annoyed, but said nothing.
"You may enter," Lord Evil commanded.
The featureless Chameleon entered the room, bowing to the DEMON Masters. "Forgive the interruption, milords, but I have news of great interest."
Lady Darkness didn't trust this Chameleon, but he was very good at what he did. Lord Thorne had installed this particular agent here personally. She did not wish to cross the Master of Demon. At least not yet. Not until her own power had significantly increased. Then he would either serve her, or be destroyed by her.
"I have infiltrated the local PRIMUS installation with ease," the Chameleon said after waiting for the Morbanes to say something, but they did not. "It is as you suspected. They possess the Stone Crown."
That got the duo's attention. The Stone Crown was an item of mystical power. According to legend, it was one of three crowns forged by the demon Krim in the distant past. Each crown bestowed great power to its wearer.
The Stone Crown was, until recently, possessed by the psionic called the Grandmaster. A group of magical students called the Circle had relieved him of it. The Iron Crown was another of these artifacts. It had changed a simple occultist into the fearsome Dark Seraph. The last of the trio was the Earth Crown and it was the source of the villain Earthmaster's power.
"I must have it!", Lady Darkness nearly shouted, knowing that her own natural psionic talents would be greatly enhanced by the magic item.
"Do they realize what they have?", Lord Evil asked. "Is it heavily guarded? I cannot believe how foolish the Circle was to hand it over to PRIMUS."
"It is secured in their vault. Retrieving the Crown will be difficult. The PRIMUS base is too heavily defended and manned for a direct assault."
"There are other ways," Lady Darkness replied.
"Indeed, madam," the Chameleon continued. "I have come up with a plan that I hope will meet with your approval."
"What do you propose?", Lord Evil asked.
"We give PRIMUS a bone to play with. Something to keep them busy. Make them re-assign their forces and weaken the defenses of their headquarters. I propose that we kidnap a hero and that I take his place. Using his identity, I will proceed to commit crimes-- blatantly rob and kill."
"I like it!", Lord Evil exclaimed. "PRIMUS will be so taken with this rogue hero, that they'll go after him and his teammates, effectively killing two birds with one stone. Leaving--
"Leaving the PRIMUS base lightly defended," Lady Darkness finished. "Easy pickings for our assault agents and giving me a new toy to play with. You have done well, Chameleon."
"I live only to serve DEMON."
"As do we all," Lord Evil added. Lady Darkness said nothing. "Let us finalize our plans..."
Roll Call:
Black Diamond |
Enchantress |
Firestar |
Lightburst |
Muskateer |
Nightingale |
Thing |
Linda Taylor quietly made her way through the halls of the VA Hospital as she had done so often in the last few weeks. The hospital was a small establishment located on the Fort Hamilton military base in the southwest Bronx. The staff paid her little attention as she passed, with an occasional stare by some male worker. Linda Taylor was a tall, attractive woman in or out of her heroine garb.
Rounding a corner, Linda made her way towards her goal: the hospital room where the man known to the world as the Hunter laid. To the staff, he was just Major Kirby, a retired army officer.
Unexpectedly, Linda's sixth sense mildly went off as she neared the door to Hunter's room. Her 'sixth sense', as she called it, was an offshoot of her mutant abilities. There were times that she'd become aware of things, predominately a sense of danger, that normal people couldn't detect. It came in very handy and had saved Black Diamond's skin on more than one occasion.
Linda looked around in an attempt to determine what her sixth sense was detecting. Her sense only revealed that something was amiss; Linda still had to find out what it was for herself. However, everything seemed normal. Puzzling.
The door to Major Kirby's room opened before Linda could grasp the handle. A nurse exited the room, only narrowly avoiding bumping into Linda.
"Sorry," the woman said. The woman was a full head shorter then Linda with short black hair.
"Excuse me," Linda replied and the nurse moved down the corridor. Upon entering the room, her sixth sense faded. "Must have been a collision warning," she thought to herself.
Inside the room seated near the bed was Helena Kirby, Hunter's only daughter. Helena was a very attractive young woman. She had been watching the near miss between Linda and the nurse. She rose and greeted Linda with a hug, the two having known each other informally for almost seven years.
"My, how she has grown," Linda thought to herself. Helena had been a teenager when they first met; she was now a woman. She was tall and almost eye level to Linda. Helena had the body of an athlete: muscular and highly toned. Not a big surprise considering just who her father was. However, it was Helena's intelligence that surprised most. She had graduated from Harvard Law School at an age when most were graduating college. Her reasoning and deductive abilities were quite formidable.
"Hi, Linda," Helena said, the bags under her eyes showing her deep concern for her father.
"You look terrible. You should get some rest."
"I can't-- not until this is over one way or another."
"Doing this to yourself won't help your father," Linda said, as the two released from the hug.
"I'm not a kid anymore."
"I know. Sorry, I wasn't trying to boss you around."
"It's all right. I'm just tired."
Helena went back to her seat near her father. Linda simply stared at the frail human being lying in the bed. Anyone would have been hard pressed to believe that it was the famous Hunter lying in that bed. The years had not been kind to him. Linda had never noticed it before. The Hunter had always been so full of life and vigor. The man before her did not have those traits.
Her thoughts went back to that fateful night. To the shock and revulsion she felt when she and Nightingale had returned to find the Mansion in flames. Directed by her friend, Linda dug through the rubble and located Hunter. The image of Hunter laying twisted in the debris would haunt her for a long time.
"Have you found them yet?", Helena asked after a time.
"No. I'm sorry."
"Then let me help. You know what I can do."
"That's not the issue," Linda stated. "The government is keeping this under wraps."
"That's a bunch of bull--"
"I don't like it any more then you, but those are my instructions. Believe me, I'm doing everything in my power to find those responsible. Your father is a good friend of mine. I won't let him-- or you-- down."
Linda moved behind Helena and placed her hand on the girl's shoulder. Neither spoke as they stared at the man on the bed. Black Diamond owed much to this man. He had taken her under his wing, invited her to join the original Avengers back when she was very young. He had the utmost confidence in her abilities. Linda did not disappoint him. Now she found herself in a similar position. She was now the experienced hero giving newcomers a break. She was in his debt, but helping Hunter recover was beyond the ability of Black Diamond.
That afternoon back at the Avengers Mansion, things were not quite as grim, for this was moving day! The final touches had been put on the refurbished mansion and those who planned on living there were moving in. The Thing helped out by carrying the belongings in huge batches up from the secured storage areas in the basement.
Firestar unexpectedly got a knock on her quarters' door.
"Hello?", she said questioningly.
The door opened and Lightburst looked in. "Anybody home?", he asked.
"Sure, come on in."
"I was in a chivalrous mood," Lightburst explained, "and I'd thought I would help a lady in distress."
"Really?" Firestar was very surprised. "You're going to help me unpack?"
Lightburst just looked at the young heroine, greatly admiring her fine figure. "Yeah, sure," he said, but that was not what he was thinking about.
Lightburst picked up one of the many boxes and glanced inside it. "Hey?", he said, "What's this?" Reaching in, 'Burst pulled out a romance novel. "Passion's Fire? You actually read this junk?"
"Yes I do!", Firestar stated, rather offended. "And it's not junk!"
"You don't have to get hostile about it."
"Then don't be putting down my reading preferences!"
"Fine! I won't put your 'reading preference' down, but I'm putting this box down!" Lightburst released the box and it hit the floor with a thud sending paperbacks flying across the floor. "I don't need this, girl. I'm outta here!"
Lightburst spun on his heel and exited Firestar's quarters, leaving behind one fuming heroine.
"Muskateer was right," she said to no one in particular, "that guy is a jerk!"
One floor above, the Enchantress strolled into the communications room. Nightingale was on monitor duty, perched in a chair before the console reading a book.
"Good afternoon, Enchantress," Nightingale said, startling her teammate.
"That's impressive," the sorceress in scarlet replied. "How did you know it was me?"
Nightingale shrugged. "I could sense your thoughts. It's awfully nice to come up and relieve me early."
"I was actually looking for Black Diamond," the Enchantress explained, "but she's out. So I figured I'd come up here and relieve you. I have my own place, so I don't have to do any moving."
"Thanks," Nightingale said while closing her book. She stood and stretched the kinks out. "I really appreciate this. It's rare that anyone ever shows up early for monitor duty."
"Think nothing of it. Please, you can call me Gwen in private."
"Thanks, Gwen. I'm Chris."
"That's a nice name. You really don't talk much, do you?"
Nightingale considered for a moment. There were parts of her past that she didn't want to talk about or even think about. 'Gale had locked these areas away in her mind and didn't let anyone else in. "No, I don't. It's safer that way."
"It can't be that bad," the Enchantress said, as she took Nightingale's seat.
"All right, I'll give you a Reader's Digest version of me. When I was twelve years old I was struck by lightning. It really scrambled my brain, unlocking psionic potential and shutting down other things. My regular hearing was one of them."
"But instead I could 'hear' other people's thoughts as if they were speaking. I later dubbed it 'communative, receptive telepathy'. In short I mind read what people think but I can't send back the same way."
"That doesn't sound all that terrible."
"You have no idea," Nightingale continued. "My mind is like a radio receiver and the minds of others are like stations constantly broadcasting signals. Except that at first I received signals on all stations at the same time. It overloaded my mind and nearly drove me insane."
"That's horrible! How did you survive the ordeal?"
"My parents had no idea what to do with me. That's when they were approached by a representative from a very special school: the Parapsychological Studies Institute."
"PSI!?"
"That's them. No one really knew much about them at that time. What they really were. My parents shipped me off to that-- place. That was the last time I ever saw them. I won't go into what they did to me, but I did learn how to better control my abilities. That's the only good thing I got out of that experienced."
"I'm sorry... I didn't mean pry."
"I know..." Nightingale turned and exited the room, leaving the Enchantress alone to her own thoughts.
Elsewhere, the patrons of O'Brian's located in Lower Manhattan were surprised when the Thing and Muskateer walked into their establishment. O'Brian's was a small, hole-in-the-wall pub. The two took a seat at a table as the entire place watched the Thing straddling two chairs that both creaked pitifully as they bore his great bulk.
"Clancy!", the Thing shouted. "A pizza with the works an' a pitcher of beer! And whatever junior here wants."
"Sounds good to me. Make it two."
The startled barkeeper quickly went to work behind the counter. "Right away, Ben."
"This is the first time I've ever gone out in public like this," Muskateer said. "Does everyone always stare at you this way?"
"Hey, I'm the blue-eyed idol of millions. I'm used ta it."
"I bet... So anyways, why did you ask me to come here? I mean, it sure beats a night of unpacking, but why me?"
"You're the only choice I had. Di's got too much on her mind right now. Lightbulb is too annoying."
"You can say that again," Muskateer interrupted.
"Fireplug isn't old enough. 'Tress seems so-- dignified. 'Gale is too spooky to take out in public. That leaves you."
Clancy arrived at the table with two pitchers of beer and one glass. One of the pitchers was normal looking, but the other one was made of metal and appeared to be dented in many places.
"Yeah, I get the feeling Nightingale is watching me. It's a little creepy with those powers of hers."
"She's a good egg. Just one that takes gettin' used too."
"You could say that about a lot of this group. Anyway, I'm flattered."
"Well, what better way to get to know someone then over a few brews?"
The Thing took the dented pitcher and promptly swallowed almost half of it in one gulp. This was followed by a rather loud belch. The bar actually shook.
"That explains the one glass and the funky pitcher."
"I'd just break it anyways," Ben explained.
"Makes sense, I guess. So what can you tell me about Di or any of the others? I feel a little outta place bein' the new kid on the block."
"That's unnerstandable. Guess they wanted some new blood. Di's got a lot o' problems right now. Go easy on her."
"She takes everything so seriously that I can't help it. I imagine that it's irritating, but superheroing is supposed to be fun."
"Give 'r time n' she'll lighten up. You got to remember she just lost some of her closest friends. An' I imagine that she's trying to avoid the mistakes she made as leader o' the Guardians. Di's puttin' a lot of pressure on herself to keep things runnin' smoothly."
"And I'm being the resident speed bump? But at least I got her to laugh once. I consider that a minor victory."
"Just pick yer moments more carefully."
Clancy returned once more with two large pizzas loaded down with almost a dozen toppings. The Thing took his pizza, folded it, and folded it again and shoved the entire pie into his mouth devouring it with a few chews. Muskateer just shook his head as this spectacle unfolded. Finally he picks up a slice and begins to eat.
"Great as usual, Clancy. Keep'm coming."
"You got it, Ben," Clancy said as he walked off with the empty pizza plate.
"I've been dying to see how New York pizza stacks up against ours in Chicago," Muskateer said, sampling his pizza. "Not bad. So, what's Lightbulb's problem anyway?"
"'Bulb's one of those people what brings out the worst from those around him. He and Di were an item once."
"You've gotta be kidding me!", Muskateer tried to say while choking on his pizza.
"If you ask me, she seems ta be attracted ta men that can do her no good."
"Too bad. She seems so together otherwise."
"She's just like most of us--"
"Screwed up?", Muskateer offered.
"--Just tryin' to find the right person."
"So, what about you? Has the Thing found the right person yet?"
"No, but I'm not exactly lookin' all that hard either. Most women are too fragile."
The Thing finished his pitcher of beer with a huge gulp. Clancy quickly replaced it with a filled one and another large pizza.
"I've been doin' most of the talkin', how about some details about yerself?", the Thing said devouring the second pizza.
"Well, getting my powers was no real big deal as far as origins go. I used to work for Kord Industries. One night, the place was broken into by some agents and next thing I know, there were explosions and what not. I figured I was dead, but when I woke up, I had changed physically. Guess I'm what they would call a 'mutate'. Seemed like bein' a hero was in the cards for me at this point. I designed my equipment and the rest is history."
"Well, there's something we have in common. 'Cept my transformation happened in outer space. Some kinda weird radiation hit my ship," the Thing explained. "You see the end result here at the table."
"I remember hearing about it on the news when I was in high school. Hey, I was just thinking, maybe we could get some Ranger tickets sometime."
"Sounds like a good idea, junior. Clancy! Anutter round!"
Later that evening Black Diamond glided to a landing on the Mansion's roof. She was tired and depressed. To have so much personal power and still not be able to help a man she greatly admired was humbling.
Diamond made her way to her personal office intent on checking whether she had any messages. Instead, she found a guest waiting for her.
"Gamble," Black Diamond said with a sigh. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"
"Just touching base to see how things are going," the NSC agent said as he puffed on his cigarette. "And to see what you've learned about your new recruits."
"At this point, I'm extremely confident that our fears were unfounded. We've uncovered no information whatsoever against either Muskateer or Firestar. In fact, they've proven to be competent and valuable teammates."
"I thought it risky to send Muskateer to the Chicoma Labs, but you proved me wrong," Gamble stated. (Editor's Note: See Muskateer #1)
"Muskateer may be many things, and quite annoying at times, but he's not an enemy agent. He's good at what he does."
"What of the girl?"
"It's not possible for her to have been at the Mansion on the night of the explosion. She was in St. Louis at the very same time. There are several eyewitness to collaborate this. Furthermore, her powers do not suggest that she had any other way to reach New York. In short, someone impersonated her. A red herring. Maybe it had something to do with that flaming figure that appeared in front of the mansion briefly."
"I'll trust your judgment," Agent Gamble hesitated for a moment, "...for now. Good evening."
Black Diamond just watched as he departed the office. "Why does that man make my skin crawl?", she thought to herself as she plopped down behind her desk.
Noticing a message on her answering machine, Diamond activated the device. The first few messages were not of immediate importance. But one was of paramount interest and immediately got Diamond's attention:
"You don't know me," a voice started out, "but I know you and your friends. They call me the Mechassassin and I'm just giving you a friendly warning. You see, I'm gonna kill Hunter tonight at midnight and there's nothing that you or your teammates can do about it!"
