The computer would signal him visually and audibly when his quarry had arrived. He was beginning to think that this chase was becoming futile. Muskateer had already confined the log-in access for the Hunter's old codes to a safe area that had no accessibility options. Once the Huntress had signed in again, he could communicate with her and she with him, but that would be it. Her rampaging through her father's system had come to an end.
"The Huntress is now the hunted. But she doesn't seem to be willing to play," Muskateer thought to himself. He had already attempted to contact her through her secret identity, but she was not at work and calls to her Manhattan residence had gone unanswered. Muskateer had made his calls from a pay phone in Lower Manhattan earlier in the day, just to make sure she wouldn't get spooked by Avengers contact.
Not that this was official Avengers business. Worried about a confrontation between this unknown quantity that was the Huntress and his friend and teammate, Firestar, Muskateer decided to try and make a preemptive visit to the new heroine. He hadn't talked to Black Diamond about it yet. It was easier this way. They had already spoken about the situation and the changing of the computer access. Musky had just left out the part about hunting the Huntress. If everyone else knew, it wouldn't be a secret now would it?
"Besides, Di said it herself: she's not that good at cloak and dagger work," Muskateer rationalized to himself. "With me, I guess you would have to call it 'cloak and sword', though." As the time dragged on however, and no appearance by the Huntress was made, Muskateer's mind began to drift to other problems.
"This has been one heckuva interesting week." His mind traveled over the recent social events in his professional life. They were causing him concern. He had thought that he had solved his greatest dilemma: the Firestar situation. Things were much easier between them since then, at least for him. She hadn't seemed to notice his feelings for her and that was good, Muskateer thought. Everything even got friendly between him and his two biggest social difficulties: Black Diamond and Nightingale.
He was now on good terms with both of them, especially Diamond. He admired her and enjoyed their time together so far. There was a lot more to her than she originally let on. That intrigued Muskateer as well as worried him.
"Man, what were you thinking anyway?" Muskateer hadn't expected to hit it off so well with her. He also hadn't planned on flirting with her so much. "It just sorta happened. I mean, I like her and all, but..." He leaned back further in his chair. "I just think it's a big mistake to be more than friends with your boss. Maybe that's why I jumped at Glitter's offer so easily. 'Course, that's its own set of problems now."
Muskateer wasn't getting anywhere with either problem. He glanced at the clock on the wall and decided that he had done enough waiting. He activated a pre-set program which canceled completely the Huntress' access to the system. Her days of playing with and in the Avengers computer system were currently over.
Borrowing one of the Avengers vehicles from the garage, Muskateer made his way down the Hutchinson River Parkway in an inconspicuous van with tinted windows. He was on his way to the Westchester Hills area. His computer searches had told him that was the location of none other than the Kirby Manor. He was hoping that he would be able to locate this new mysterious Huntress before she went off half-cocked. From what Black Diamond had said, she could be headstrong, stubborn, and very determined. If she thought that Firestar had been responsible for killing her father, the Huntress could be a dangerous commodity. Muskateer was determined to ensure the safety of Cassie, regardless of what it took.
The Huntress' father, the late Hunter, had been the leader of the Avengers and designed the security system and computer network himself. Helena had to be using his personal access to enter the system. Muskateer reasoned that there must be some sort of base for the Hunter at the Estate. It would be a perfect place to house a mysterious hero... or heroine.
Suddenly, Muskateer's musings were powerfully interrupted. A fiery explosion erupted to the north of the highway. "Damn! What the hell was that?!", Muskateer said, as he slowed down to get a better look. The eruption happened some distance away. But another billowing cloud of fire followed the first one.
Muskateer steered the van onto the next off-ramp and negotiated his way towards the blasts. Three more explosions occurred before he had reached the general area.
"I don't know if it's a real accident or another one of these hero ambushes, but either way, I'll soon find out," Muskateer said, as he exited the van. The last explosion was about 100 yards away. He could see the top of the fiery blast over the intervening buildings. "I hope it's action, since I missed out on the last bit of fun in the subway. Better to be on the safe side though and sneak in. See what's goin' on."
Muskateer took to the rooftops, for a better view of the situation and to allow him to approach hopefully unseen, and closed in on the target location. He could see that most of the damage was happening in a parking lot in front of a large warehouse. "Sure enough. Bad guys." Muskateer could see a large, heavily muscled individual smashing his fists into various cars and shoving them into each other. "The Ogre, from the looks of it." Muskateer remembered the green and yellow garbed villain had just assaulted a hero in Boston a few days ago. Another armored figure, unrecognizable to Muskateer, was loosing blasts of fire at the vehicles. Another one exploded violently. The armored figure, metallic gray with red flame and blue ice patterns all over it, wrung his hands at the sight, as if he were enjoying himself.
"Looks like a set-up, if I ever saw one. Hope there's a bunch of bad guys. I could use a good fight." Muskateer crept closer reaching the edge of the building across the street from the warehouse, but the duo seemed oblivious of his presence. They were quite engrossed in their destructive play.
Descending from the roof, Muskateer made his way closer, using the remaining intact cars as cover. Ogre was tearing the roof from a Porsche. "What a waste of a great car," Muskateer thought. He positioned himself so that the armored figure couldn't see him and leveled his sword at Ogre, who was crushing the now-removed roof like tinfoil.
"I doubt the regular taser will hurt someone like Ogre. Better use the enhanced setting." Muskateer depressed the stud on the hilt of his blade and a red bolt of electrical energy shot out and slammed into the Ogre's chest. Ogre roared his disapprovable at the attack, as he looked around for the hidden attacker. Muskateer closed in, leaving his cover behind. He waved at Ogre, getting his attention and fired the same blast again. This one again hit him in the same place and Ogre was furious by now.
"No one hurt Ogre! No one!" The powerful villain hoisted the damaged sports car over his head and yelled again. "Ogre will crush you!"
"Why do I always get the double digit IQs?", Muskateer asked himself with a sigh. Then he saw Ogre launch the car in his direction. Trying to gauge where the hurtling massive missile was going to land, Muskateer's eyes grew wide for a second as he realized Ogre's aim was right on target. He wasn't sure if he had time to dive out of the way and instead resorted to desperation.
Gripping his sword with both hands, Muskateer waited until the last possible moment. Then he swung. His blade met the side of the Porsche with an incredibly loud rending sound. The car was split completely in two by the force of the blow and each mangled piece slammed to the pavement with a crash. Muskateer stood there for a second, the realization of what he had just done sinking in. He had actually cut a car in half with one blow! Ogre and the armored guy looked even more impressed than he was.
"Anyone care to give up now and save themselves the embarrassment?" Muskateer asked as he moved in further on Ogre. Ogre looked back at his ally for a moment, unsure of what to do. By then, Muskateer had completely closed the distance and electrified his blade. Smashing it into Ogre, the Avenger sent the villain crashing backwards into a Ford Bronco nearly twenty feet away.
"If you hadn't noticed hero, we have you outnumbered," the armored villain said, as he aimed his fists at Muskateer. "Feel the awesome power of Thermax, the Master of Temperature!" A blast of fiery energy powered out at Muskateer, but he deftly blocked it with his sword. The blast shot back at the surprised Thermax and crashed into him, sending him sprawling backwards.
"Do tell," Muskateer said, sarcastically. He turned back to Ogre, the more dangerous threat. Muskateer wasn't sure if Ogre was tough enough to withstand his sword blade and so decided not to try it. Ogre was beginning to weaken anyway.
"Ogre hurt bad man!" With another roar, the Ogre rushed forward trying to bodyslam the offending hero. Muskateer spun away from the attack at the last second, his cape swirling behind him. Ogre rushed past, grabbing only air.
"The Buffalo tried that stupid stunt a few weeks ago and it didn't work then either. Maybe you guys could get together and think up some new moves. You could always work on your dialog too." Muskateer moved up behind the confused Ogre and smashed him with the electrified blade again. Ogre crashed to the ground like a load of concrete blocks.
Hearing the discharge from Thermax's jetpack, Muskateer turned to see the armored villain flying towards him. He let loose another blast, this time a shower of ice, but Muskateer ducked under the attack. Returning fire of his own, Muskateer hit Thermax with his enhanced taser bolt. The bolt arced as it hit the metallic surface of the armor and Thermax slumped. His jetpack still held him aloft, moving him slowly towards Muskateer.
"Now there's an inviting target," Muskateer thought to himself. He swung his electrically charged blade at the villain, but missed. Thermax's jetpack kept him just out of reach. "As my buddy the Thing would say, what a revoltin' development."
Thermax shook his head, regaining his wits about him. A thick soupy fog suddenly started to form around him. As it expanded outwards, Muskateer lost track of his armored foe.
"Well, I'm not gonna just sit here like an easy target," Muskateer thought to himself. He ducked down and scrambled towards the Bronco that he had knocked Ogre into. Moving around behind it, he managed to pass out of the thick fog. Muskateer remained kneeling as he scanned the area for his opponent. He sighted Thermax quickly, as his foe apparently had simply flown straight up from his previous location. "Talk about a sitting duck."
Muskateer fired a beam of energy at the villain, but it just barely missed, zipping over the shoulder of the startled villain. Just then, Muskateer felt something thump him in the back. He turned to see a figure, half-man, half-machine, standing some distance away. His right gauntlet was smoking from having just been fired.
"You are in over your head, hero. Prepare to face my perfection and power." Muskateer hadn't felt the blast, but he could see that his back was still smoking from the attack. His armor absorbed the deadly bolt, but his cape wasn't so lucky.
"Hey! You know how much these things cost, Half-jerk?!", Muskateer said, waving his fist at the villain. Muskateer recognized him as Halfjack, a cyborg whose entire right side was now machinery.
Thermax used this distraction to follow up with an attack of his own. A concentrated blast of superheated air swallowed Muskateer. It was uncomfortable, but not much more.
"I'll deal with you in a sec, hot stuff. First, I owe you for the ambush, Halfie." Muskateer fired an energy beam from his sword at the cyborg, but Halfjack evaded the attack. Seeing Thermax readying another attack, Muskateer rolled away as an ice ram crashed into the ground where he had been standing. "I told you to wait! Sheesh, talk about impatient." Muskateer continued to concentrate on Halfjack. He was fresh to the fight and likely the most dangerous one now. He was also vulnerable to Muskateer's electrical attack.
"You don't know what you're dealing with, Avenger. We will easily overpower you." Halfjack's mechanical eye sighted in on his target and he fired again. Again, Muskateer's blade intercepted the incoming blast and redirected it back at its source. Halfjack was knocked to the ground by the force of his own re-directed attack.
"Not so smug this time, are we?", Muskateer responded. Glancing back over his shoulder to keep tabs on Ogre, Muskateer saw the green and yellow garbed muscle-bound villain on his feet. With a determined look, Ogre leapt at Muskateer, easily covering over 100 feet with his incredible bound. "Holy cow...!"
Muskateer avoided the powerful blow that Ogre swung, ducking under it. Halfjack used the attack as an opportunity to close the gap with his foe as well. No point in firing at the Avenger if he was just going to get hit by his own blasts, Halfjack reasoned.
With a powerful leap of his own Halfjack was alongside Ogre and smashed Muskateer with his powerful cyborg arm. "There are many ways to complete our objectives, hero. You are simply forcing us to use the cruder and more physical method," Halfjack stated.
"Ogre smash bad man!" This time Ogre was right. A powerful left fist connected square on Muskateer's jaw. The swordsman landed over 20 feet away.
Muskateer sat up holding his jaw. Fortunately, it wasn't broken. Muskateer was a little bit worried about this fight now, but he wasn't about to let it show. "If that's the best shot you guys got, you're in big trouble when I really cut loose!"
"Big talk, Avenger." Just then, Halfjack's attention was drawn to the air. Muskateer heard the crash too, and looked up to see that a woman in a blue and white costume had just taken out Thermax.
"Lady Blue!" Muskateer and Halfjack said the name at the same time, but Halfjack was clearly not as happy about it as Muskateer was. Lady Blue was a bit of a wildcard, something like a modern-day superpowered Robin Hood. She dabbled on both sides of the law and while she was not evil, Tara Lemick presented a shade of gray that some superheroes found uncomfortable to fight.
"The One! The Only!", Lady Blue announced with a flourish.
"Looks like the cavalry just arrived, Halfjerk," Muskateer added, as he regained his feet. He wasn't sure what Lady Blue's motivations were, but she seemed to be on his side in this fight. Ogre was still coming for him though. Ogre usually didn't know when to quit. He rushed at Muskateer again, and again the swordsman avoided the onrushing villain. Spinning around, Muskateer closed behind Ogre before he could react and slammed his electrified blade into the monstrous villain yet again. Ogre was down for the count.
"This has gotten completely out of hand," Halfjack said as he saw his two cronies were now laid out and Lady Blue was bearing down on him. Once again utilizing the awesome leaping ability of his cyborg limbs, Halfjack was gone in one quick bound. "We will meet again and Lady Blue, you will pay for all the trouble you've caused me!"
"Don't do me any favors," Muskateer called after him, but Halfjack was too far away to hear him. Turning to his unexpected benefactor, Muskateer added, "Hey, there, Blue, thanks for the assist." Lady Blue's costume was a deep blue bodysuit, with white thigh-high boots, high white gloves and a white mask. Her long blonde hair was tied in a braid.
"I just love throwing a monkey wrench into the plans of other villains. Halfjack just lost a whole bunch of points," Lady Blue said, quite pleased with herself. "He's sure to miss the cut now."
"Miss the cut? What cut?", Muskateer asked. "Is this some kinda audition or something?"
"But of course not, silly, it's a contest," Lady Blue responded. "One that cyborg is now guaranteed of not winning."
"Alright. How 'bout we go back a few steps," Muskateer suggested. "I know something weird with all these villains attacking heroes is going on, but what's this contest all about?"
"Oh, don't you know?", Lady Blue asked, innocently.
"Well, frankly, no," Muskateer answered. "Nearly all of the villains have been pretty closed mouth about the whole thing. Guess they like keeping the secret from the good guys."
"If more supervillians were like me, the world would be a much nicer place."
"No argument there, Blue," Muskateer said. "I seem to end up always fighting the big, dumb, ugly, stupid ones."
"They certainly have an extremely poor fashion sense, as well," Lady Blue said, changing the subject. "Now take me, I have a great sense of fashion. I even design my own line of clothing."
"Is that so?", Muskateer asked, slightly impatiently.
"Our motto is 'If you can't be a superbeing, at least you can look like one'," Lady Blue continued. "Looks like you're in need of a new costume yourself." She indicated Muskateer's shredded cape.
"Yeah, looks that way. I was thinking of changing the color anyway. I don't know why I ever went with purple."
"If you ask me, your accent color should be white," Lady Blue said. "It plays well against the blue, just like on my costume." She struck a pose to model the suggestion for Muskateer. "The orange in your costume would look brighter too."
"Thanks for the fashion suggestion, LB," Muskateer answered, "The Tigress just told me the same thing. But, back to this contest thingie you mentioned. What's the story behind it? What is the prize for winning? And who's playing anyway?"
"Ultimate power or some silly thing like that," Lady Blue was still sizing up Muskateer's costume for possible improvements. "Any villain can play. Have you thought of going with basic black? Maybe some red and white highlights?"
"Unfortunately, almost everybody in the Avengers wears black," Muskateer answered, trying to be polite, but much more interested in further info on the contest. "And so the villains progress by beating up and capturing heroes?"
"I can see your point," she said, responding to his first statement. "Yes, they gain points that way. They lose points by failing and other things I don't quite recall."
"You're not playing, I take it?"
"Even if I was interested in this foolish game, I was disqualified long ago," Lady Blue responded, with a chuckle. "Guess I just don't live up to the standards of true villainy."
"Do you know when this 'cut' is going to take place?"
"In a couple weeks, I think. The top eight move on to Phase Two of the contest."
"Great...", Muskateer said with a sigh. "That's means the attacks are likely to increase as the bad guys try to sneak in at the last moment." Muskateer and Lady Blue both looked about them at the growing crowd. Seeing that everything was safe, the media and autograph seekers were beginning to assemble.
"Ah, my adoring fans," Lady Blue said happily. She waded into the growing masses, answering questions and signing autographs.
Muskateer stood a short distance away, his hands on his hips, just watching the spectacle. "I don't know if I should be hurt for being ignored by everyone, or relieved." Seeing PRIMUS making its obligatory arrival, Muskateer decided that the situation didn't need his presence any longer. He returned to the van and sped away back into traffic.
Night had fallen by the time Muskateer pulled into the Westchester Hills area. Driving down the winding streets, he eased past the gated entrance to the Kirby Manor. He could see lights on in part of the building, so most likely the Huntress was here somewhere. The tinted windows concealed his identity from any prying eyes. Continuing further down the lane, Muskateer scouted the surrounding area, looking for a suitable approach to the Manor. He located a dark stretch of the road alongside a particularly large estate which bordered the one belonging to the Kirbys, and left the van parked along the side of the road. His cape was badly damaged in the fight, so he left it behind in the van.
Deciding to circumvent the security of this other estate as much as possible, rather than run the full gauntlet of Kirby Manor, Muskateer approached as close as he could to the main house. He then swung over the wall, landing beyond the proximity sensors along the ground near the base. From this point, he stealthily crept closer and closer, staying clear of the obvious paths and doing his best to avoid cameras, infrared laser detection devices, and the Estate outdoor lighting.
Approaching the main house, the security devices became more concealed and much tighter in their placement. "Probably would be best to avoid detection as long as possible. I don't even know how Helena is going to react to all this," Muskateer thought to himself. He managed to avoid a series of devices and was about to circle the last camera in the area, concealed in the bushes near the building. He slinked slowly around it and then he heard the voice.
"What do you think you're doing?" It was a woman's voice. Muskateer pulled his blade from his scabbard and peered around the intervening shrubs and saw a shadowy silhouette standing on the path. The woman was wearing a skin-tight costume and Muskateer could see she had a hand crossbow loaded and aimed at him.
"I was just coming by to see if you could come out and play," Muskateer quipped. He stepped out into the light himself and could see that it must be the Huntress. "Well, this wasn't how I had intended to get her attention, but what the hell, now she's here...", Muskateer thought as he regarded the magenta and navy clad heroine.
"Here I am. You do know that this is private property. You're trespassing," the Huntress stated bluntly. She continued to hold Muskateer in her crossbow's sight. "The grounds are properly posted as such."
"Not where I came in. But then you're not one to be talking about trespassing, my dear," Muskateer responded. "Rifling through the Avengers computer system without proper authority is a serious offense."
"What are you going to do? Arrest me?"
Muskateer was leery of what he considered a loose cannon, especially since he had found out that she was a lawyer. He didn't care much for lawyers, or the media for that matter. "That's up to the government. It's a moot point, now though, rugrat, the system's off limits."
"I see," the Huntress responded. "And you decided to come here personally to tell me this?"
"No. Actually, I came here to discuss the Firestar situation," answered Muskateer. He kept his blade pointed at the vigilante though.
"What's there to talk about? It all seems pretty clear cut to me," the Huntress stated.
"I know what you've seen in the Avengers files. I programmed a script file to shadow the Hunter access log whenever you signed in. Whatever conclusions you may have come to and however it may appear, Firestar didn't have anything to do with destroying Avengers Mansion and killing your father," Muskateer explained. "It was that crystal. Whether you believe me or not, I don't care. But if you try and touch one hair on Firestar's head, you have to go through me first."
"Is that a threat?", the Huntress said, sarcastically.
"Little girl, it's a fact." He sheathed his sword with a flourish and started to walk off.
A voice called out to him from behind, but it was a different one. "I am touched at your display of loyalty to a team member, Muskateer." The voice belonged to Black Diamond of all people. Half expecting some sort of trick, Muskateer turned and saw that it was indeed Linda standing there next to the Huntress. He wasn't sure just what was going on here now.
"Yeah, well, I believe in taking care of my friends." Muskateer said forcefully. "I woulda done the same for you."
"I would like to think we're all friends here, Muskateer," Diamond said, motioning towards the Huntress.
"And here I thought you came to play," the Huntress added disappointedly, while putting away her crossbow.
"What did you think I was gonna do: Come up here and wring your neck?", Muskateer asked.
The Huntress and Black Diamond exchanged glances at his comment. Helena laughed, having just had a similar conversation with Diamond earlier in the day. "I think I like this guy," she said to Black Diamond.
"That's why we keep him around," Diamond answered, with a grin. Muskateer folded his arms as he regarded the two women. He cocked his head warily.
"Anyway, your concerns are unwarranted," the Huntress explained. "Upon a complete examination of the evidence, I would tend to concur with your evaluation of the situation."
"Good. Then I don't have to wring your neck," Muskateer responded.
"I think we're clear that we won't be wringing any necks anytime soon," Black Diamond stated. "Actually it might be a good thing that you showed up. The Huntress, here, has uncovered some new facts that might interest you."
"Well, I guess I had enough fighting on the way over here anyway." He regarded the Huntress for a moment. After a pause, he said, "So, what do you have?"
"Come on inside and I'll show you," the Huntress responded, leading the two Avengers back inside the Manor.
Later that evening, after the Huntress had revealed her newly found information (see Huntress #7), Black Diamond and Muskateer were driving back into Manhattan. Muskateer considered the encounter with the Huntress. It hadn't exactly gone as expected. That was both good and bad, he decided.
He still didn't trust her very much. The Huntress was too much of an unknown commodity. She also seemed a little too sure of herself. He had really wanted an excuse to take her down a peg, but perhaps fortunately, that opportunity hadn't presented itself. At least Cassie was safe. That was what he had set out to accomplish in the first place.
The Huntress had added some facts to the bizarre situation, but they only served to reinforce what he and Black Diamond had already believed. They were no closer to solving the confusing puzzle. A light rain had started to fall, forcing Muskateer to use the windshield wipers. Diamond was curled up in the passenger seat.
"So what are your thoughts on the 'Firestar situation'?", Black Diamond asked, breaking the silence.
"It seems to me that the only way we're going to find anything definite out," Muskateer began, "would be from finding that hunk of crystal or at least the missing piece. I don't like the idea of just waiting to see what it will do next."
"I have to agree. Sounds like something up the Enchantress' alley," Diamond concluded.
"Shouldn't she be able to track the thing? She did say that it was very unique."
"We'll have to find out," Black Diamond answered. "I'm not totally sure what the limits may be on her abilities."
"If she can reproduce the energy, I may be able to come up with something to detect it as well. That might make our search a little easier, but it may not work at all," offered Muskateer. As Diamond pondered the situation, Muskateer added, "To top it all off, I found out some more info on the mysterious villain attacks."
"That's great!" Black Diamond looked over at the swordsman, expectantly. "What did you learn?"
"Well, to give you the Reader's Digest version, I walked into an ambush from Halfjack, Ogre and some clown calling himself Thermax. Lady Blue showed up to give me a hand and we ended up bagging Ogre and Thermax," Muskateer explained.
"Glad to hear they didn't get the best of you," Diamond offered.
"Hey, it's me we're talking about here," Muskateer bragged. "Anyway, Blue told me all about this contest that the villains are having. They get points for beating and capturing heroes. The cut to the next round is coming soon."
"We can expect the attacks to increase over that time then," Black Diamond concluded, much as Muskateer had earlier. "And did she tell you what they were competing for?"
"All she said was that it involved something about Ultimate Power."
"Just great," Black Diamond said with a bit of dread on her voice. "It's always something..."
