Avengers

"Another?"

Carol looked up at the bartender and nodded her head. Ginger ale wasn't her drink of choice but, as angry as she was, she was not going to fall into that pit again. But...one couldn't hurt, could it? No, of course not. She just needed one to relax anyway.

"Hey," Carol said, "make that a Daniels and water."

"Cancel that, barkeep," a voice said from behind her.

Carol felt chills shoot up her spine. He was the last person she expected to see around her tonight. Actually, he was the last person she wanted to see. Mister Immortal sat down next to her at the bar.

"But," he said with a grin, "you go ahead and put her tab on my tab."

"If you came here to give me sympathy," Carol said grimly, sipping the ginger ale, "then you know where you can cram it."

"We're teammates now, Carol," Mister Immortal said, slapping her back with enough force that made Carol choke on her drink. "I think we should get to know each other. I was here just celebrating my new job and, lo and behold, who should I find? My leader, enjoying the same atmosphere."

"You've been reading my file, Immortal?" Carol snarled bitterly.

"Please, call me Craig," Mister Immortal smiled, "and yes, I have been. I've been reading up on all the current members. I figured I should do my homework if I wanna stay on the varsity squad. So, yes, I do know about your little problem."

"That's all past...Craig." Carol still didn't look at him.

"Doesn't matter," Craig said simply. "Teammates watch each other's backs."

"I don't need you watching my back." Carol motioned at the bartender for another ginger ale.

"Yeah," Craig laughed, "you need me watching your glass."

"Hey!" Carol finally turned to him and wrung his collar. "Did you come here to just laugh at my problems? I have no qualms about kicking your ass, Hollis, or did you forget that already?"

"Oh, I still have the bruises from the Savage Land." Craig didn't seem fazed by her outburst. "But that hasn't stopped me yet. What makes you think that another ass-kicking will?"

Carol frowned at his arrogance but let's him go.

"Good." Craig straightened his collar. "Now, you did come here to relieve some stress, right? Well, if you're not getting that from our friends Daniels, Smirnoff and Beam, then I guess you better just dance with me."

"Excuse me?" Carol wasn't sure what she just heard.

Craig got up from his stool and stretched out his hand toward hers. Immediately, the jazz band on the other side of the room started to strike up a waltz. The lights went dim and suddenly there was a spotlight on Craig and every other patron in the bar was staring at the two of them.

"Allow me the pleasure?" Craig smiled slightly and his blonde hair shimmered in the spotlight.

Carol turned her face in a jolt and her eyes as wide as the lump in her throat. She looked down at her knees, trying to disguise how pink she knew her face had become. She hardly had control over herself when she put her hand in Craig's.

The Wrecker grabbed one of the orderlies that was walking around the Saint Vincent's Catholic Hospital Blood Bank. He brought his crowbar up to the man's neck.

"Now," the Wrecker sneered, "I'm gonna ask ya once to show me ta where ya keep all that blood I know ya got. And I expect you to act damn quick."

"Y-Y-Yes, s-s-sir," the orderly stuttered. "It's just back h-h-here. F-Follow me."

The orderly quickly started to shuffle off to the back of the bank. The Wrecker started to follow after him and, for the first time, the workers in the blood bank could see the small child that had her tiny hand swallowed in a grip with the Wrecker. She was very small and frail and couldn't have been any more than six, but in her obviously deteriorated condition she could have been well older. Her skin was pale and she moved very slowly despite her father's pulling.

"I'm scared," she said softly, tugging at the Wrecker's hand.

"It's alright, Sara," the Wrecker actually smiled as he looked over to her. "Just come on back here with me real quick and then we just need to stop by the hospital and everything will be alright."

"Well," Medusa looked up and through the majestic skylight that was the ceiling of the Inhumans' royal throne room. "It seems that your sister and the Silver Surfer were successful in their trial."

She turned behind her but saw that Quicksilver was already looking out the skylight as well. The view was that of the Earth. The Moon was now back to its original position before the madman Graviton had moved it half the distance closer to the Earth.

"Yes, that would be a reasonable assumption, your highness." Quicksilver's face quickly greeted Medusa's own. "As such, if you could please be quick with what you have called me here to discuss, I would like to meet my sister after a trying ordeal like this one."

If this were any other human, or even Inhuman, Medusa would have been thoroughly shocked that such a tone was used toward one of the royal family. But, this was Quicksilver…the man was a member of the Royal Family...even if it was in the vaguest of senses.

"I'm sure you've figured that the purpose of this meeting is to talk of your daughter, Luna." Medusa smiled and she took her seat in the throne next to her husband's.

"I believed as much." Quicksilver's demeanor did not change, nor did the frown on his face.

"Since we have been recovering from the recent events with Graviton, you haven't found the time to visit your daughter. I hope you do not feel...estranged from your daughter after these recent events," Medusa said, not intimidated by Quicksilver in the slightest. She had gotten used to him.

"Estranged?" Quicksilver repeated and his demeanor did change. His eyes got tighter and he appeared to shake only slightly.

"Yes." Medusa wasn't bothered by this change in him either. "Estranged."

"Your highness," Quicksilver talked very slow considering the fact he's the fastest man alive, "Luna is still my daughter. That fact will never change."

"Of course," Medusa said. "Thank you, Pietro. You are excused. Give my regards to your sister."

Quicksilver's eyes got wide for only a flash but his grimace lasted a little longer. Medusa had struck something in him and she knew it. But Quicksilver kept his composure and started to walk out the room, all the while Medusa watched him as he went. When Quicksilver almost reached the wide arch that leads out of the room, he turned back and walked at a quicker pace back to her.

"Yes, Pietro?" Medusa asked, curious as to his return.

"Exactly why did you ask me here, your highness?" Quicksilver was visibly mad.

"We've already discussed the matters that agitated me, Pietro," Medusa stayed cool. "You do not need to delve any further into it."

"I don't like being chided, Medusa," Quicksilver said. "Whether you are queen or not, whether you are my mother-in-law or not, do not speak to me about how to love a child. Through my life, I haven't been shown the love that a father would give a child. I've only had my sister and even then, it wasn't the same. I haven't had anyone in my life that I could possibly show real love to."

Medusa didn't stop Quicksilver from continuing but he stopped anyway and caught his breath.

"And finally there comes along a great woman, an amazing woman, who loves me just as much as I love her. She's beautiful and just as smart and as talented as I am, a rare feat. What's even better is that she loves through every single stupid thing I say or do. Or at least I thought. Now, it might be that she doesn't want anything to do with me. But even with that, I still had one soul that I could love as much as I knew she loved me. That was my daughter."

Quicksilver's face was red from desperation and his eyes even redder from denied tears. He was screaming and Medusa still didn't stop him.

"And now she's gone! Everything that I was looking forward to, everything that I wanted or could have had, is gone now! She doesn't need me! Crystal doesn't need me! But I still love them as much as I ever did! What the hell am I supposed to do now?!"

The answer to his question didn't come from Medusa. But, rather, it came from a voice behind him. A voice that penetrated through Quicksilver's thick rage and wrapped itself smoothly along his heart.

"Maybe," Crystal said, "that isn't a question you should have to answer by yourself."

The hospital orderly had just passed through the door to storage when a large window, one set high on the wall of the hospital, crashed inward. The Wrecker pulled the child that was in his hand into a bear hug and shielded her from flying debris.

When it had cleared, the Wrecker looked right up toward the window as the people in the hospital desperately ran from him and to the back exit of the hospital. He watched as a furry, orange ball rolled through the open window followed by a streak of red and blue. He recognized them too quickly.

"Dammit." he muttered under his breath.

As soon as Tigra was on the ground, the Wrecker lifted his crowbar with one hand, while keeping the girl steady in the other, and brought it crashing hard onto the ground. The impact wave hit Tigra as soon as she stood upright and threw her back toward the wall that she came through.

"Tigra!" Wonder Man yelled as he watched his teammate removed from battle so easily.

"Hey!" the Wrecker responded, "I didn't want you to be here! You brought this on yourself!

The Wrecker saw Wonder Man flying toward him and he immediately put down the child in his arms.

"Run, Sara!" he yelled over his shoulder as he turned back to Wonder Man.

"But--" Sara tried to contest.

"Get away from here!" the Wrecker yelled, not taking his eyes of Wonder Man's incoming form, but he did hear the little girl's footsteps tap away from where he was standing. Just in time too.

The Wrecker brought up his crowbar horizontally in his fists and met Wonder Man as the hero brought his own energy-imbued arms to meet the Wrecker. There was an intense flash of blue light as the two met and it was accompanied by a backlash that threw both of them flying backwards. They collided with the walls that had been behind them in a quick instant and a hard crash.

"Jack?"

Jack of Hearts had felt the Surfer's presence before Surfer had ever even thought to visit his old friend. Since his showdown with Graviton had left him without the mercy of his zero suit, Jack of Hearts had sat, stiff and motionless, trying to keep his rapidly intensifying zero energy in check. But even so, Jack still let off little splashes of zero energy into the air and they flowed throughout Attilan and beyond, continually covering the landscape of the Moon. Jack could feel everything moving on its surface, as if it were an extension of his own skin.

"Jack?" the Surfer repeated, not sure if it was the right idea to bother Jack at that time. The Surfer couldn't imagine the concentration that Jack had to be putting forth, but he could imagine the consequences if Jack didn't concentrate so hard. He decided to leave his friend alone.

"Surfer, wait." Jack's eyes burned wide.

The Surfer was actually shocked for a second when Jack finally stood and turned to him. Half of Jack's body, the half that wasn't scarred black, glowed with a dark pink hue. The mark of a heart over Jack's eye burned the brightest. The Surfer could feel the pulses of zero energy that emanated from Jack.

"I need to ask something of you," Jack said, his words almost garbled by the energy that surrounded him.

"Jack--" Surfer didn't want to know.

"No," Jack stopped him. "I can't take this much longer."

"Jack," Surfer looked his old friend straight in his eyes. "You are starting to feel delirium from your state. Let me tell you now, this is not anything that you--"

"No!" Jack interrupted him again. "This isn't like any other time. The energy is eating away at me, Surfer. I can feel it. Look at me! Can't you see what it's doing?"

"You need to calm yourself," the Surfer said in a confident voice.

"Calm myself?" Jack asked.

"Yes," the Surfer repeated. He floated, on his board, a little closer to console Jack.

But when he was just about to place his hand on Jack's shoulder, there was a flux of pink energy that flowed off Jack and shoved the Surfer back. The Surfer retracted his hand, not at the flux of energy, but at look of sheer anger and terror that made its way across Jack's face.

"I've been calm about this for too long, Surfer!" Jack yelled and his skin got a little bit darker. "I'm a living bomb! I could destroy everything here! If I were to let loose, I could destroy the entire world!"

Jack had become so bright that the Surfer could see the people in Attilan leave their homes and look up the brilliant sight that shined over their city. The Surfer looked back at Jack. This was not a good situation. Everything Jack had been yelling was absolutely true. No, this was not a good situation at all.

"Jack!" he yelled. "You must control yourself! Do not give into these urges! I know you are stronger than this!"

"I know I am, Surfer!" Jack yelled but he didn't calm himself the slightest. He just kept getting louder and brighter. "I'm stronger than anything! The energy is mine! I am power! I am--"

For all the energy that burned from Jack, as bright as he had become, as much as the people in Attilan were awed by the sight, it was nothing compared the quick blue blaze that came from the Silver Surfer. He threw his hands toward Jack and that was all. After the burst, Jack merely stood, naked and cold and no longer overflowing with zero energy. And when he dropped, the Surfer caught him.

"Jack?" the Surfer asked softly. "You're going to be alright, Jack."

"Surfer..." Jack mumbled, "my eyes..."

"What?" Surfer asked, leaning in to his friend to hear.

"My eyes...I'm so sorry..." Jack looked up at him. "It took my eyes. The energy...it stole my eyes..."

And it was true. The Surfer looked down at Jack of Hearts and Jack returned the stare with empty husks where his eyes had been.

Wonder Man and the Wrecker jumped up from their respective blows at exactly the same moment. And they started to run at one another with exactly the same intent.

But this time, when the two were about to touch, the Wrecker ducked.

Wonder Man was sent spiraling toward the wall that the Wrecker had just crashed into with his own girth, but this time, thanks to the weakened structure, Wonder Man was also sent spiraling right through the wall itself and into the outskirts of the street.

"Ow," Simon said as he skidded to a stop right outside in front of the police that had surrounded the hospital.

He stood up and shook his head, and then noticed the cops that were standing there with their guns drawn on him. He raised his hands slowly and smiled at them.

"Have no fear, citizens." Simon gave them a double thumbs-up. "The Avengers have the situation under control. He just got lucky that time."

Simon turned to reenter the hospital when he noticed, for the first time, the sign that stood big and wide next to the hospital, proclaiming it's name and function. What would the Wrecker be doing at a hospital? Simon was hurt with confusion.

When I...well...barged headlong into that window and the hospital, the Wrecker was...just standing there....with a girl...with a girl! That girl! She was so...pale...so small...she...

Wonder Man flew quickly back through the hole that he had crashed through.

Tigra shook her head and tried to shake out the cobwebs that had been forcefully injected into it by the Wrecker's crowbar only a few moments before. She stood up and saw the Wrecker walking calmly over the rubble that lay in front of a giant hole in the wall.
In two pounces, she was on his back.

"Ah!" the Wrecker yelled, trying to reach over his shoulder and grab his orange attacker, "What are you doin'? I don't want any trouble here! Dammit!"

"Wherever you go, Wrecker," Tigra held on with her arms wrapped tight around his neck, "trouble just seems to fall out of your pocket."

Wrecker finally caught hold of Tigra's arm and whipped her over his shoulder. He brought her close to his face.

"I'm tellin' you, I don't wanna fight ya!" he said. "I just want to help her! That's all!"

Tigra didn't wait any longer to hear an explanation. She lifted her feet up and smashed them straight into the Wrecker's nose. The Wrecker immediately dropped her from his grip and she bounded back a couple feet.

"That's it!" the Wrecker yelled, seeing his glove stained dark from the blood that shot from his nose. "I try to be reasonable and this is the thanks I get?!"

"Your welcome." Tigra leapt at him.

The Wrecker was quick to throw up his forearm though and Tigra instantly changed direction toward the large hole in the hospital wall when she impacted with it.

"This is a waste of my time!" the Wrecker said, stomping loudly toward the hole now, where Tigra lay.

"Wrecker!"

The Wrecker looked up from the fallen form of Tigra and out into the dark of the night that was peering in through the large hole in the wall. He saw Wonder Man, and he saw a small girl in his arms.

"Sara!" the Wrecker yelled and he started to march toward her.

"Stop!" Wonder Man called to him. "Don't come any further!"

"I tellin' you right now," the Wrecker yelled back, "if you don't put her down--"

"I think she's fine where she is!" Wonder Man said. "If I were you, I'd be worrying about where I was!"

The Wrecker looked around, saw the policemen standing with their guns drawn behind the open doors of their squad cars, and shook his crowbar at the Avenger.

"If you're trying to scare me or even bluff me," the Wrecker snarled, "you can forget it! I ain't afraid of these cops and I ain't afraid of you! I gotta help her and I'm gonna! Sara! Just stay there! I'm gonna get ya!"

"You really think this is how you can help her?" Wonder Man called. "By putting her into harm's way while you demolish the building over her head?"

"Daddy!" Sara pleaded, her soft, young voice ringing in the Wrecker's head. "Please! Stop! Let's go home!"

"She wants to go home, Dirk," Wonder Man said. "Why don't you let her?"

"You don't understand," the Wrecker breathed hard, almost crying his words to him. "Nobody's going to help her! The hospitals have tried, home doctors visited, and they just talk about lists and money and not about the fact that there is a child in their hands! I'm the only chance she's got!"

Simon was silent for a moment. He nodded his head slowly before he spoke again. The blue ionic energy that surrounded him dissipated until he was finally just Simon Williams again.

"Listen to me, Wrecker," he said and he started to take steps toward the Wrecker. "I run an organization, the Second Chances Foundation. I can help your daughter."

"What?" the Wrecker lowered his crowbar to his side and peered at the man holding his daughter.

"You have to promise me something though," Simon added quickly. "Turn yourself in. Go peacefully and I promise that I will help your daughter as best I can."

"You promise that?" the Wrecker asked. He was silent for a little while. He had no reason to trust this man in front of him. But...this was his daughter. If there was one thing to take a chance on, wasn't it her? When he really thought about it, this wasn't really a choice at all.

The Wrecker dropped his crowbar.

Steven Grant awoke to darkness. Complete darkness. A familiar darkness. A darkness that he was hoping he wouldn't have to experience ever again. But it makes sense now.

"Khonshu?" Grant asked into the darkness.

At the mere mention of the name, there was a brilliant flash of light that Steven expected, but was nonetheless shocked by. And then, a stone figure appeared. It was the same giant stone figure under whose shadow Steven Grant had died the first time. The same stone figure that brought him back to life and birthed him anew as the hero Moon Knight. It was Khonshu, the god of the moon.

"Khonshu!" Grant yelled at the emotionless stone in front of him, while the darkness seemed to swirl and rush around them. "Why have you called me again?"

Khonshu did not say anything but the thick stone arm of the statue raised until Grant could see a small swirling of light in front of him. The light twisted itself until it became a replay of Grant's exploding house.

"I remember! The bomber in my house!" Steven yelled again. "Why did he kill me?"

The tiny swirling of light in-between Khonshu and Steven kept swirling from the image of his house into shades of green and yellow until it morphed and contorted into a human form. And Marc recognized it.

"Loki!" Steven yelled.

Khonshu put his massive stone arm down and the image of the Norse god disappeared.

"What could he possibly be trying to accomplish? Why would he have to kill me to do it?" Steven asked the grim figure in front of him.

The light reappeared in front of Steven and now it was a brown color that moved and bent until finally, Steven could see that it was in the shape of an Egyptian temple.

"The Tomb of the Apep!" Steven yelled. "He can't possibly think he can awaken the Apep!"

The image began to fade again and this time the statue of Khonshu began to fade with it. Steven reached for the statue but it kept getting dimmer and dimmer.

"Wait!" Steven yelled as the statue returned to the darkness. "How can I expect to defeat him alone?"

And that's when Steven Grant woke up.

The End...

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