April 11th, 1986, Evening...

In a deserted factory on the outskirts of Queens, four figures appeared seemingly out of thin air. Lady Darkness regarded their surroundings and found it to her liking. The group was in what had been a main assembly bay for the defunct factory. The bay was at least sixty feet wide, and more than twice as long. The 'A' framed roof peaked out some seventy feet overhead.

"This will do nicely, my love," she commented. As always, she wore her black latex body suit. The thing appeared to be very uncomfortable to wear just from looking at it. But Lady Darkness didn't seem to be in discomfort whatsoever. A full-length leather trench coat, undone, rounded out her clothing. Her jet-black hair fell past her shoulders. On her head sat the Stone Crown of Krim.

"Indeed," Lord Evil commented. The Morbane's attire was elegant and Victorian in style. "The Chameleon has chosen well." Lord Evil proceeded to give instructions to the remaining two men. One was the misshapen powerhouse called Ogre. The brute was placed off to one side of the bay, hidden by several welding screens.

The other man, Thermax, activated the bays lighting, but only one of the lamps mounted high overhead came to life. It illuminated an area near the middle of the bay, but cast the remainder of it into deep shadows. That task complete, the Master of Temperature was instructed to wait on a narrow catwalk, some twenty feet overhead.

Both men carried out their orders without question. In spite of appearing normal, neither man was no longer in control of themselves. Each now was little more than a puppet to the wearer of the Stone Crown.

Lord Evil surveyed his surroundings, seemingly satisfied. "We are ready."

"Then let us begin the next phase of our plans." Lady Darkness advanced to the outside of the lighted area. Reaching into the folds of her trench coat, she pulled out the remaining shard of the Crystal. Holding it in her gloved hands, she regarded the strange gem, her reflection distorted in its facets. "Unlike our predecessors, we are now prepared to deal with this Artifact."

"And the power that it holds," Lord Evil added in agreement. With the Stone Crown in the possession of his wife, and he with the strange Crystal, the two of them would be very powerful. A force that no one could dare ignore. Not only would Lady Darkness' empire be reclaimed, but it would be rapidly expanded upon.

"I will summon it." The DEMON Priestess concentrated, bringing the powers of her Stone Crown into play. Mental energy played about her head and then coalesced into a beam that struck the crystal shard. The shard drank in the energy and glowed in response.

Half a world away, a figure in a hooded robe moved through the streets of Hong Kong. It was early morning here, the flow of people was beginning to pick up. No one paid much attention to the odd figure in their midst, other than a few puzzled looks. The being's features were hidden in the shadows of its hood.

Whoever they were, they know longer knew. Such things no longer mattered. No thoughts whatsoever were currently in its mind. Other than its one, single goal. To bear its master. That was its sole reason for existing.

The figure stopped in mid-step. The master sensed what it had been waiting upon for so long-- the last piece of the puzzle. The final shard that would complete the Crystal. Finally it would be whole again. At last, its true mission could begin.

Had anyone been watching, they would have seen the gaunt figure standing there one moment, and simply gone the next.

The Crystal Bearer appeared in the bay of the factory without any fanfare. No flash of light, no display of power. They simply appeared. Reaching into its robes, the Bearer gathered its Master up into its hands. The Crystal throbbed with life. Patterns of light played inside it, patterns that the nearby, sixth shard mimicked. The Bearer approached.

"Not so fast, my friend," a female voice called out. Lady Darkness hated to wait for anyone or anything. She was relieved that the Crystal had finally arrived.

The Bearer stopped and looked up. Lady Darkness and Lord Evil stepped into the light. The shard lay between them and the Bearer.

"We have something you want," Lord Evil explained. "And we strongly suspect that you can give us what we want. I'm sure that a suitable arrangement can be reached."

The Crystal Bearer regarded the pair, as thoughtless as always, but what it saw and heard was relayed to its crystalline master. Slowly, with great effort, the Bearer spoke. "I... DO... NOT... NEGOTIATE..." As it did this, the Crystal tried to scan the two. They were well shielded, the female incredibly so. She wore a magical artifact from this dimension. The Crystal was not yet powerful enough to deal with them.

Lady Darkness used her Crown to probe the alien artifact. It was weak right now. The power used to transport it here had drained it considerably. Without the sixth shard, the gem was limited in its ability. But once whole that would be a much different story.

"We're all reasonable beings here," Lady Darkness stated. She knew she had the advantage and was eager to press it. "Surely we can come to a mutually satisfactory agreement?" The tapping of her foot failed to conceal her growing annoyance.

The Crystal continued to pulse with light. It scanned further and found two henchmen in hidden locations. But even more so, it sensed that others had arrived. Drawing upon the memories of those it had touched, the Crystal identified some of the arrivals. Other memories revealed just who were attempting to bargain with it. All it had to do was wait for the proper time.

Finally, the Crystal Bearer spoke once more. "WHAT... DO... YOU... WANT... LORD... EVIL... LADY... DARKNESS."

The Morbanes were momentarily taken aback. Each wondered just how the Crystal had identified them. They recovered quickly.

"Our demands are...", Lady Darkness started to say. Unexpectedly, the huge truck doors at the far end of the bay were thrown open. The Morbanes spun to find the Thing bursting through the opening, behind him were Muskateer and Nightingale.

"The Avengers!?", Lord Evil cursed in astonishment. "How?! Why?!"

"Ollie, Ollie, oxen free!" The Thing's surprising and unexpected forceful entrance drew the attention of all the villains present. Muskateer and Nightingale used their teammate's big entrance to rush into the factory bay and close with their targets.

Muskateer took aim with his sword at the male Morbane. "Avengers Attack!" Pushing a stud on the sword's hilt, Muskateer sent a burst of energy at Lord Evil. The attack took him full in the face and dropped him to the ground, stunned.

At the same time, Nightingale flew in on the left of the Thing and prepared to launch a solid mental bludgeon in Lady Darkness' direction. She was sensitive to mental energy and what she sensed from the female Morbane was beyond anything that she ever encountered before. A direct physical attack seemed most prudent in this instance.

The force ram began to form when Chris realized that something was horribly wrong! At the last instant, the energy reversed course and slammed hard into Nightingale! The Psionic Avenger went hurtling backwards through the opening they had just burst through. "Where the heck did that come from?", Muskateer asked, quizzically.

Lady Darkness perceived the truth, but decided to take credit for the attack. "I can take you all out just as easily as your precious Nightingale," Lady Darkness said with a chuckle. "You don't honestly believe that three of you alone can stop us."

"As a matter of fact, I do," Muskateer protested.

"Then I shall gladly make slaves of you all!" Energy began to build up around the Stone Crown. Suddenly, the upper windows burst in as the Enchantress and Firestar entered the high-ceilinged bay.

"Oh, there's more than just two of us left, in case ya hadn't noticed." To punctuate Muskateer's statement, the Enchantress fired a mystic bolt at the Morbanes. It erupted on the ground between them, but failed to do any real damage to them. Firestar followed with a fiery blast of her own and sent Lady Darkness sprawling.

Energy coalesced around the Stone Crown. "I'll rip their minds apart for this intrusion!"

"Cover us!", Lord Evil ordered looking back at Lady Darkness. The situation had rapidly deteriorated and the Morbanes were quickly on the defensive. He had hoped to avoid any combat until Lady Darkness was in full command of the Stone Crown. Who knew what sort of side effects the artifact might have on her?

Lady Darkness met eyes with her mate. She was fuming, eager to stomp these heroes who had dared to interfere with her plans. The Morbane considered ignoring the request, but ultimately complied. "You had better watch your step," Lady Darkness thought to herself. "Now that I have the Crown, your usefulness to me is limited!" The energy about the crown faded and a huge field of darkness engulfed the DEMON priests.

"It is mystical in nature," the Enchantress stated after a moment. "Lady Darkness must have created it to give themselves cover."

"Can you dispel it?", Muskateer asked.

"I shall try." While the Enchantress concentrated and began to weave the magical power, the bearer of the Crystal stepped back into the normal shadows, the missing shard in its hands. With all the attention afforded to the Morbanes, it had been virtually ignored. If any of the Avengers had been looking, they would have seem him simply disappear.

Seeing that the other Avengers had things mostly under control, the Thing went to check on Nightingale. He too had no idea what really happened to her. 'Gale had hit the pavement hard outside and was unconscious.

Ben reached Nightingale and did a quick visual examination. First aid had been part of his astronaut training. First Black Diamond and now Nightingale. That particular skill was being used far too much as of late.

In another part of the factory, the Crystal Bearer materialized. He stood on a observation deck overlooking the factory floor. The Bearer slowly inserted the sixth shard and it fused into the crystalline whole with a pulse of light.

The Bearer threw back his hood to reveal a thin man with a full, scraggly beard and mustache, but who was otherwise unremarkable. "At last! I am whole!", he screamed, but it was the words of the Crystal, not his own. Now it would set in motion the plan for which it had been created.

But first, the Crystal would need agents and servants. The Crystal pulsated with life. Energy played about the observation deck and leaped from the gem forming rough, humanoid outlines. All the beings the Crystal had absorbed into itself were still stored in there. Their knowledge was added to that of the Crystal. Now it was ready to release its charges. They would be the first to serve the Crystal...

The Huntress moved through the dark factory. She had located a side man-door and easily picked its lock. The building beyond was unusually cold and appeared to have been a combination minor-receiving bay and sandblast area. The Enchantress' report came over her open Comlink, but the Huntress did not reply. She silently made her way towards where the rest of the Avengers would be in moments. A few locked doors barred her way, but they presented no challenge to her lock picking abilities. "I just hope they save something for me!", the Huntress thought to herself. She had yet to go against superpowered foes and was eager to see how she fared against such competition.

Back inside the abandoned factory, the Enchantress replied, "I am sorry, Muskateer. It is too powerful for me to dispel." Backed by the Artifact of Krim, Lady Darkness' magic skill was now beyond that of Gwen. The shadowy dome remained intact.

Muskateer began to circle the darkness field and saw Ogre, still standing behind the welding screens. "Hey! What are you doing here?" Muskateer fired a beam of energy from his sword at the hulking brute, but all it seemed to do was annoy the bruiser.

"Hurh?!", the brute responded. In spite of his great size, Ogre was little more than a child mentally. "Ogre remember sword-man! Ogre smash sword-man!

"The Morbanes are still inside the darkness, Muskateer!", Firestar called out. The young mutant's vision extended into the infrared spectrum and picked up the heat signatures of the Morbanes. She then launched a large fireball into their midst.

The fire exploded around the Morbanes. Lord Evil had attempted to reach Lady Darkness, but the flaming attack now placed him on his back. His fine clothing was badly burned. "We must withdraw," he shouted to his mate.

"No! We can destroy the Avengers once and for all!" Lady Darkness wanted nothing more than to recruit more slaves with her crown. It was almost a need.

"And so we shall!", Lord Evil responded. "But at a time and place of our choosing, not theirs!" Evil began spell casting and vanished.

Lady Darkness knew he was right, no matter how much it galled her. She also cast the Spell of Transport and was gone.

Overhead, Firestar tried to determine the effectiveness of the explosion, when she suddenly screamed reflexively. A large pointed spear made from ice flew past her head and smashed straight through the roof of the factory. Looking around she could see Thermax standing on a catwalk about 20 feet off the ground. He was still lower than she was in the high-ceilinged room.

"Muskateer told me about you Thermax!" Firestar swooped in closer to the armored villain.

"Then he told you that I am the Master of Temperature," Thermax stated proudly. "Nothing can stand before my power."

"That's funny, he told me he kicked your butt." Firestar returned fire at Thermax, but he avoided the flaming energy. The railing of the catwalk next to Thermax began to sag and melt from the heat.

Meanwhile, the Ogre closed in on Muskateer. "This seem like deja vu to you too, big guy? Come to think of it you probably don't even know what deja vu is." Muskateer easily ducked under Ogre's powerful swipe.

"Ogre crush sword-man!"

"Talk about a one track mind!" Muskateer launches another beam of electricity at the Ogre. It hits him in the mid-section and sends him flying over 40 feet away. Ogre howls in pain as he arcs through the air and then crashes unceremoniously to the cement floor. "Now that's gotta hurt!"

The Enchantress was preparing her next spell when the dome of darkness unexpectedly dissolved to reveal that the DEMON Priests were gone. "The Morbanes have departed!"

Seeing that things are not going well and that his masters had fled, Thermax also decided that discretion was the better part of valor. "I refuse to be incarcerated again," he says simply. He then bursts another hole in the ceiling with an ice ram and flies up and out into the night air.

"Thermax is getting away!", Firestar reported, looking back to Muskateer to find out what to do.

"Oh great," Muskateer said in disgust. "'Tress? Are they invisible or anything? Firestar, you go after Thermax. I don't want him getting away."

"Will do." Firestar rocketed through the roof and took up the chase.

"The Morbanes are nowhere to be found, Muskateer," the Enchantress stated after a few moments. "However, the Crystal is still in the immediate area. I would estimate it is within 100 yards. Approximately in that direction." Gwen pointed further into the complex.

"Okay, good work. Go after Firestar and see if she needs any help with Thermax." The Enchantress accelerated forward in pursuit of Firestar and Thermax. Muskateer avoided a welding machine, which Ogre had launched at him, while giving his instructions. He turned to see the Thing reenter the bay, carrying Nightingale gently in his arms. "How is she, Ben?"

"She looks pretty banged up, Musky." The Thing set her down on the floor. "But she'll be okay." The Ogre roared his displeasure at having been ignored for the moment.

"Think you can take care of Grumpy over there?", Muskateer said to the Thing.

The Thing cracked his knuckles. "My pleasure."

As Muskateer headed for an interior door, Ogre leaped at the Thing, roaring as he covered the huge distance in a single leap. He slammed the Thing with a powerful two-handed smash. The force rocked the Thing, but he failed to even stumble.

"If that's the best ya got, Sweetums, then this here's gonna be a short brawl," Ben wisecracked. "As my dear ol' Aunt Petunia used ta say, 'It's Clobberin' Time'!" The Thing reached back and blasted the Ogre with a powerful right cross. Ogre was launched completely across the whole length of the bay and slammed into a far wall, denting it.

In the air above the factory complex, Firestar had quickly caught up to the slower Thermax. She was fast enough to literally fly circles around him. "Give it up, Thermax. You can't get away." Firestar fired another blast of heat at the villain, covering him in flames.

Thermax just laughed at the young heroine. "You cannot harm the Master of Temperature with his own power!" Thermax gestured and a block of ice began to form around the hovering Firestar. Before she could react, the ice had nearly encased her entire body and she began to plummet from the sky.

Watching the falling heroine, Thermax chortled, "That looks like that's going to hurt!" A moment later Firestar crashed through the roof of the structure and disappeared from view. "Yep. That definitely hurt."

Before Thermax could fly away, the Enchantress closed in. "Damn, I knew I shouldn't have lingered here so long," Thermax cursed under his breath.

"You will not escape me, villain," the Enchantress said, as she flew in closer. She fired a beam of energy at the villain, but it sailed over his head. She was still too far away to get a good shot at him.

"Not with an aim like that, toots." Thermax was considerably slower than the Enchantress however, and she managed to get another blast off before he could respond further. This one whizzed by, closer this time, but missed to his left.

"It worked once, so what the hey!" Thermax gestured again and much like his dealing with Firestar, a block of ice encircled the Enchantress. "This is way too easy," Thermax gloated, while the Enchantress dropped from the sky just as her teammate had mere moments ago. She too crashed through the roof of the factory complex. Thermax laughed to himself once more and scanned the sky for other followers. Seeing that no one else was chasing him, he disappeared into the night air.

Meanwhile, Muskateer met up again with the Huntress inside the factory complex. "I missed it?", the Huntress said, looking despondent. "I'm never going to get my first crack at a supervillain at this rate!"

"Don't sweat it. There's still some fighting left," Muskateer responded. "The Crystal got its final piece and is somewhere on the other side of the complex." Suddenly, a tremendous boom rang out.

"What was that?"

"Unless I miss my guess," Muskateer said, "that was Ben reacquainting himself with Ogre."

"Ogre? What's he doing here?"

"It's a long story from the looks of it." Muskateer ran down the corridor the Huntress had just come from. "Come on, don't just stand there!"

The Huntress let out a sigh and rushed after the sword-wielding hero, her cape billowing behind her as she ran.

Some moments later the two heroes reached another large bay at the other end of the complex. "The door's locked, Muskateer," the Huntress said. "Give me a second and I'll..." As she pulled her lock picks from her gadget belt, Muskateer stepped forward. Through the window he saw the Enchantress and Firestar encased in ice! Without pausing, he kicked the door open and stepped into the room. "...never mind."

"No time for the subtle approach," Muskateer said simply. Seeing both his teammates in ice, Muskateer assumed that Thermax must have gotten the best of them. It was hard to believe, but there wasn't any other logical explanation.

Firestar had just melted herself free of the ice as Muskateer and the Huntress rushed onto the scene. Before either of them could assist the Enchantress, Firestar was suddenly caught in the grip of a bright stream of energy.

Tracing the energy back to its source, Muskateer could see the Bearer of the Crystal standing on the observation deck in the center of this large building. Another stream of energy emanated from the Crystal and was directed towards the rear of the platform. Muskateer could only speculate what the purpose of this second beam was.

"Knock it off, ya Pet Rock reject!" Muskateer moved forward and using his sword deflected back the beam of energy that held Firestar. The beam slammed into the crystal bearer and it staggered back away from the edge of the platform out of sight.

"That kills one of my theories," the Huntress replied.

Grabbing the groggy Firestar, Muskateer checked to see whether she was okay. "You okay, kiddo? What happened?"

"Thermax caught both of us with his ice. He got away," Firestar said, hanging her head.

"Thermax is just small cheese," Muskateer replied, trying to cheer up his teammate. "The crystal is the big catch here anyway. You think you can melt Gwen's ice cube?"

"No problem, Musky." The young heroine advanced on the Enchantress' icy prison. With no way to move her arms to cast her spells, the Enchantress was basically helpless.

Muskateer looked back at the observation platform and moved beside the Huntress. A strange light was flickering up there, but was obscured from their sight. "You mention something about a theory?"

"Oh, since both Captain Valor and the Crystal vanished from the Avengers Mansion, my guess was that the Crystal was still in control of him. The videotape seemed to bear this out. I figured that if anyone was going to be around the Crystal, it would be our missing Avenger. But, that man is clearly not Valor."

"I'll have to take your word on that." Just then, movement at the platform caught the heroes' attention once again. This time four figures were standing at the edge of the platform.

"Looks like the Crystal has more friends," the Huntress remarked.

"Seems that way. Huntress, you work your way around the right hand side. I'll take the left," Muskateer suggested. "'Star, you keep working on getting Gwen out of there."

"I will, Musky," Firestar answered. "This might take me awhile, though. She's not impervious to fire, like I am."

Of the figures on the platform, two were women and two were men. One of the women looked almost ethereal. She wore an all white, form-fitting bodysuit with a hooded-cape. Only her white eye slits could be seen within the hood. The cape was torn and tattered, giving a very ragged appearance. A flaming bow appeared in her hand and she fired a barrage of flaming arrows at the heroes. Muskateer swatted two of the errant missiles aside, although none of them appeared on target.

"Take your time," Muskateer said, as he advanced through a large section of storage racks. "Huntress and I should be able to take care of these bozos." A bright flash of energy erupted behind Muskateer as he closed on the elevated platform.

The ethereal woman fired her bow again. This time, her aim was much truer. Muskateer struggled to deflect each of the four incoming missiles in turn. "Talk about a weird version of Ping-Pong." Each of the missiles arced back at their launcher. Muskateer's aim was just as good and he watched them fly towards their mark. Each of the flaming missiles hit their target and passed directly through it. "Hey! No fair!"

As the male newcomers descended the platform, each using a set of steps on the sides of the mezzanine, the other woman stepped forward. She was dressed in a dark blue flowing costume and had corn silk blonde hair. She was stunningly beautiful. "You look like a reasonable gentleman," she said, speaking to Muskateer. "Are you sure we can't come to some sort of reasonable arrangement? Join us and serve our master and you will find bliss." She batted her eyelashes seductively at the sword-wielding hero.

Muskateer sighed for a moment. She didn't really think he was that much of a sucker did she? "Sorry, Moody Blue. Your side started this." Muskateer touched a stud on the hilt of his sword and a burst of electrical energy lanced out at the black silhouette of the man closing in on him. The energy connected with the form and seemed to dissipate inside it. "Hey! You guys really don't play fair!"

While this was happening, the man in medieval-looking armor closed in on the Huntress. "Oh sure, give me the creepy looking guy," the Huntress said, as she nocked a flare-tipped quarrel on her crossbow. As the armored foe was still quite a distance away, the Huntress had time to fire.

The quarrel sailed over the head of her target and exploded in a bright flash against the side of the mezzanine. The armored combatant didn't say a word, or even seem to notice. It just kept coming closer, ominously brandishing a large double-bladed battle-axe. "Damn. You rushed that shot," the Huntress thought as she produced another quarrel and took aim again.

As the large armored figured reached the bottom of the stairs, it ripped a huge three inch thick wire cable from the wall and whipped it in the Huntress' direction. The unorthodox missile whistled as it shot through the air. "Holy....!", she screamed and leaped into the air. The Huntress tumbled in mid air, the strange missile passing beneath her, and landed in position to fire her next bolt.

Going down to one knee, the Huntress quickly aimed and fired. This time she connected squarely with her target. However, the razor-sharp bolt simply bounced off the advancing and still silent knight. "What's this guy made out of anyway?", the Huntress asked herself.

A few bays back, Firestar had freed the Enchantress' upper body from the block of ice. Her teeth chattering, Gwen said, "Thanks. I'm frozen to the bone."

Firestar was visibly tired. The effort to free herself had taken a great deal of energy and that strange attack the crystal launched hadn't helped matters. "Let me catch my breath. I'll have you out in a jiffy."

"Just get my hands free and I'll do the rest."

Back at the battle, the woman in blue disappeared in a flash of bluish, magical energy and reappeared a short distance away from Muskateer. "The Dreadknight is made from a metal unlike any you've ever seen," She said in response to the Huntress' query. "It serves our Master as do we all. If you will not willingly join us, then we shall use force."

"Well, isn't that special." Muskateer fired a taser beam at the blue-clad beauty. It coruscated along her force field and dissipated without much incident. "That trick just isn't working for me today."

"You would have been a worthy addition to our cause," she said. "Now you shall pay for your folly." The woman began to make gestures somewhat similar to what Gwen often did.

Muskateer moved in closer. Of those present, she was the one that worried him the most, since he believed spell casters to be more unpredictable. "Then you can consider this a down payment. I'm out of cash, so I'll have to charge it!" Touching the flat of his blade to the woman's arm, he discharged a jolt of electricity through his surprised foe.

Her hair stood out on end for a second, as the massive electrical charge overwhelmed her force field. With a spark, she was shot back through the air and landed some yards away.

"Now, that's no way to treat a lady, Muskateer," the Enchantress said as she flew in. Once Gwen's hands were free, she was able to magically escape her icy prison with ease. "Of course, she's not really much of a lady. I recognize most of these miscreants. That was Lady Zee, yet another Morbane."

"Seems like the Huntress' Demon angle was right on target," Muskateer responded, gaining more respect for the young heroine's deductive abilities.

"Perhaps there is some use for her after all," Gwen said, sarcastically. The Huntress might have been correct in this instance, but that didn't excuse her methods. She fired a beam of energy at the shadowy silhouette, but it failed to connect. "That's Lord Shadow and the armored suit is the Dreadknight, a magical construct. The woman in white is unfamiliar to me."

"Speaking of which, anybody see where she went?" Muskateer looked around, but the ethereal woman was nowhere to be seen. "I have the feeling she's nearby. Firestar! Can you get some altitude and see if you can locate her?"

Since the Enchantress was on the scene, Muskateer reasoned that Firestar was as well. However, he couldn't spot the young heroine. As Muskateer continued to look around, Lord Shadow moved in, swinging an ebony sword. Seeing the black blade slicing towards him, Muskateer intercepted the attack with his own sword. Sparks flew as the swords impacted on each other.

"Not bad with the sword, Shadow."

"One touch hero, and my sword shall drain the life away from you!"

"Thanks for the scouting report, Shaddie. Now I'll make sure you won't get close enough to do that!" The two exchanged a few parries, but Muskateer's blade was too quick. He blocked one attack and moved to an attack of his own. The blade smacked into Lord Shadow's side, downing him.

"I have not been having much luck with my attacks today," the Enchantress said, "but at least I can make sure the fallen opponents don't bother us any longer." Gwen gestured and Lady Zee was encircled by flickering bands of red energy.

"Good work, 'Tress." Suddenly a flaming sword and shield appeared nearby. They appeared to be hovering in mid-air. The sword swiped at Muskateer, but he was able to barely back away in time. "Yeow!"

"The ethereal one appears to have returned," the Enchantress observed.

"Who gave you the first clue?", Muskateer quipped. Deciding to take care of the stunned Lord Shadow, he stepped towards him and side kicked the Morbane right in the stomach. Lord Shadow sprawled backwards and landed flat on his back. However, a strange feeling of coldness shot up Muskateer's leg. "Hey? What gives?"

On the other side of the room, the Huntress was continuing to have little luck against the Dreadknight. A Thermite pellet didn't so much as even slow the Knight down. "I'm throwing my whole arsenal at this guy and he isn't even batting an eyelash!" The Huntress produced a gas pellet this time. She launched it at the Dreadknight's feet. Billowing white gas emerged and rose up around the armored figure. It didn't even notice.

"This thing is definitely not human!" The Dreadknight hefted a huge barrel over its head and flung it in the Huntress' direction. "I could use some help over here!", the Huntress shouted as she dodged this latest projectile.

Meanwhile, the Enchantress fired a mystic blast at the area where the woman in white should have been, but it passed harmlessly between the flaming sword and shield.

"You cannot hope to harm something that isn't really there," the ethereal woman said. "But Ghost Fire can certainly harm you." She swung her flaming sword once more, but Muskateer blocked it easily.

"Not with an attack as slow as that, Little White Riding Hood." Muskateer swept through the area that Ghost Fire should be standing in, but his sword seemingly passed harmlessly through her. "This is getting us nowhere. We could stand here not hurting each other all day. Time to trade opponents." Muskateer looked towards the Huntress, but she and her armored foe were quite a distance away.

"Enchantress, I need to get over there quickly." He pointed in the Huntress direction.

"I can teleport us." Gwen flew in next to Muskateer and landed. The swordsman was a frustrating target for Ghost Fire, but perhaps this woman in red would be an easier target. She swung her blade at the Enchantress, but the attack was off the mark. "How rude!" Gwen regarded the still invisible Ghost Fire with an indignant look. She turned back to Muskateer. "Hold on."

At that moment, the two Avengers saw the Dreadknight's blade slash towards the Huntress. She had managed to avoid the attacks up until now. Blood spurted from the wound, as the axe sliced into her mid-section. The Huntress let out a scream, from both surprise and pain as she crumpled to the ground.

"Huntress!!", Muskateer yelled. In a split second, the Enchantress had transported them across the chamber and directly behind the armored juggernaut. Muskateer's blood was boiling by now.

Letting out a primal scream, he slammed the Dreadknight with his sword. A loud clang of metal on metal echoed throughout the chamber as the Dreadknight was launched across the room. It landed with a metallic thud nearly sixty feet away.

Muskateer started running towards the fallen Dreadknight, when suddenly it disappeared. He skidded to a stop and looked around. "Where the hell'd it go?", he said, quite angry. He may not have been on the greatest of terms with the Huntress, but these villains weren't going to hurt any of HIS team.

Turning back to the other villains, he and the Enchantress could see each one wink out of existence. Lady Zee disappeared from the bonds the Enchantress had created. In moments, all that remained was the mysterious Crystal and its Bearer.

"The day is yours, Avengers," the Bearer replied, the Crystal pulsating in his hands. "Oppose me again and I will remove you as I did your comrades." The Crystal and its Bearer then winked out of existence.

"This has been a helluva a lousy day," Muskateer yelled in frustration. "We had the people responsible for everything that's been going on right in our hands and let them get away! Damn it!"

"The Huntress needs medical attention," Gwen stated, ignoring Muskateer's tirade. Her hand was over the wound, attempting to stem the bleeding.

"I thought you didn't like her much," Muskateer asked as he looked on.

"I may not agree with her methods, but that does not mean I wish to see her filleted either."

"She did get results," Muskateer noted. "Teleport her back to the Med Lab and get the bleeding under control. Then come back to pick up Ben and Nightingale. Lady Darkness blasted Chris right out of the building, so she's out of action as well. Ben should be able to stabilize them until we can get a doctor."

"Will do." The Enchantress cast her own Spell of Transport and both her and the Huntress disappeared with a flash of red light.

Now alone, Muskateer made his way back to where he had left Firestar. The young mutant was laying on the ground. Fearing the worst, Muskateer cried out, "Cassie!", and rushed to her side.

"I'm okay, Musky," Firestar responded as she tried to sit up. "I'm exhausted..."

"Come on, kiddo, let's get out of here." Muskateer helped Firestar up and the two began the trek back to the other side of the factory. He put his arm around Firestar to help support her. Slowly they walked along, Firestar nearly falling a few times.

Finally, Muskateer took Firestar up into his arms and cradled her close to his body. She drifted off to sleep, her head resting on his shoulder.

"Rest easy, hot stuff." Muskateer was greatly concerned inside. Avengers were dropping like flies as of late. How long before there weren't any left?