---

“The Scatter, you say?” USAgent asked Quasar.

“Yes, the Scatter.”

USAgent nodded for a second, as if processing this new information. “Ok then, sounds important, sorry we can’t help. Take care of yourself out there, Wendell.”

He then turned and walked away.

“JACK!” everyone other than Quasar said suddenly, causing him to stop.

He didn’t move for a second then turned and walked back. “Damned parasitic, microscopic bugs that take over other living creatures to spread themselves and conquer civilizations? That Scatter?”

“Yes!” Quasar said, surprised. “How did you –?”

“They fucking SUCK!” USAgent said loudly, striding forward and raising his hands. “Fighting them is like having Herpes and the Clap at the same time!”

War Machine looked at Hercules. “There’s only one way he knows that.”

Surprisingly it was Spitfire who said, “Tell me about it.”

“And what do you mean ‘how do I know’?” Jack asked. “You’re an Avenger, don’t you read the files? Force Works kicked their asses off of Earth years ago!”

“Force Works?” Namorita asked. “And I thought ‘New Warriors’ was a silly name.”

“Shhhhh!” Rage said, trying to keep the number of side conversations to a minimum. It was as if everyone here had a mutant ability to talk to everyone else all at once.

“Ah, well, after a few months in space I forgot to keep up my reading,” Wendell said. “I am pretty busy.”

“How could you even know about the Scatter then?” Jack asked, still creeped out. “Wanda, Century and I kicked their asses to the complete other end of the universe.” Quasar looked at him curiously for a second then began patting his chest, stomach and pants in a searching way, one that quickly got onto Jack’s nerves. “What the fuck are you looking for?!”

“My business card,” Wendell said, smiling. “You know, the one that says ‘Quasar: Protector of the UNIVERSE’ on it.”

“Oh, ha ha,” Jack said, rubbing his hands over his face. “Just tell me already.”

Quasar smiled a self-satisfied smile and then raised his hand and a projection of yellow light coalesced in front of them and a map of the universe took shape. The Milky Way, Pegasus and Andromeda Galaxies were highlighted, then the scope focused on one of the farthest areas on the map and a stream of text appeared above it reading ‘UDFj-39546284’ in floating text. “This is one of the most distant galaxies from the Milky Way that has no name used commonly here on Earth. The inhabitants have various names for it, but the planets in question have named it ‘Quinorium’. I call it Quin.”

“Creative,” said Josh Dugan, SHIELD Agent standing next to his uncle, Dum-Dum Dugan. “I see how you got your big job.”

“Quiet, you,” Jack said with a harsh glare. To Quasar he said, “Ok, so the Scatter are a long way away causing a ruckus. How’s that our problem?”

“They’re killing people, Agent, and could set off an interplanetary war between the Herone and the Shoiorbi, the two most populous and strongest civilizations in the Quin Galaxy. Think of what happened to the war between the Kree and Shi’ ar here in the Milky Way a few years ago and how ‘Operation: Galactic Storm’ affected Earth and the Avengers.”

Everyone else was silent for a moment, as most of them had not been involved in that conflict except for Hercules, whose entire demeanor changed. “What have these ‘Scatter’ done, friend Quasar?” he asked seriously.

Wendell turned to him and shrugged. “They’ve taken over the Shoiorbi homeworld and, using an advanced teleportational gate, have kidnapped the offspring of the Herone royal family…an offspring that their species spent 6,000 of our years genetically engineering for the very survival of their race, and a pair of children that cannot possibly be re-created before the end of all life on their planet.”

While confusing without knowledge of how that civilization worked, all those assembled gathered that this was a serious problem. Quasar, helpful as always, tried to make it clearer. “And, since they now believe they are going to die, the Herone have decided that the Scatter, and by extension the Shoiorbi, should die as well. And they have weapons that make our nuclear warheads look like matches by comparison.”

“Really?” Dum-Dum asked, surprised. “How do those work?”

Quasar stared at him then looked back at Jack. “I knew Fury was a dick, but him too?”

“You have no idea. Did we start this?” he asked.

“What do you mean?” Quasar asked.

“Force Works…me and Wanda and Julia and Tony and Century…did we send them to the Shoiorbi and start this madness?”

“I…” Wendell said, uncertain. “I don’t know, maybe. I don’t know how the Scatter came to be there, Jack. Maybe they came from somewhere else, maybe you guys sent them there, either way I don’t see how you could have known. I expect that if you had to do that then you had a reason, most likely the very survival of Earth, so what choice did you have, really? You didn’t do anything wrong here.”

“Maybe,” Jack said. “Probably, knowing me, but I still don’t like it,” Jack said pacing a little. Finally he stopped and looked Quasar in the eye. “Ok, let’s go.”

“Great!” Quasar said, turning around. “You will all be a big –”

“No, just me,” USAgent said firmly. “With Tony and Wanda unavailable, and Julia not to be involved, this is up to me. No one here has to deal with the Scatter to answer for our mistakes.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Spitfire said, scoffing.

“Indeed,” Hercules said, stepping forward. “It sounds as if these ‘Scatter’ deserve to be given the Gift!”

USAgent shook his head though his heart swelled a little in pride but, before it got to his head, Namorita said, “Oh, just give in already, we’ll never let you go alone. We don’t like you but we aren’t letting you die alone.”

“Why’d you have to say ‘die’?” War Machine asked. “Couldn’t you just say ‘Go alone’?”

“Shut up,” Dugan said, inserting himself into the conversation for the first time. “What is it you hope to achieve, Quasar? How can the West Coast Avengers and you stop this war?”

Quasar smiled at the name, the significance not lost on him, but focused on Dugan. “We need to rescue the offspring of the Herone royal family, get them safely home, and destroy the Scatter’s teleportation gate and any similar technology. They’ve decimated the Shoiorbi homeworld and killed or possessed 95% of their population…they are no longer a viable race. All we can do is try to prevent the Scatter from ever leaving that planet and keep the Herone from starting a war that will wipe out all races in the Quin Galaxy.”

A new voice spoke up then, surprising them all. “This sounds like a suicide mission. Elvin will not be attending.”

All heads turned to a darkened doorway into one of the maintenance bays of Hydrobase II where three colorful figures stepped forward. Night Thrasher, Silhouette and Turbo of previous New Warriors fame walked out onto the deck.

“Dwayne?” Rage, Elvin Holliday, asked in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

“Saving your life, apparently,” Night Thrasher said as he walked up to USAgent and stared up at him. “Elvin is my legal responsibility. Super-heroics are one thing, when they are on Earth…the far-end of the known Universe is a bit much to ask of a 17-year-old, don’t you think, Mr. Walker?”

“Why are you here, first of all?” Jack asked. “And how’d you get here, anyway?”

“Me,” Sillouette said, walking behind Hercules on her arm braces and melting into his shadow, reappearing behind Thrasher, leaning on his shoulder. “Cool, huh?”

Namorita walked over and hugged both Turbo and Sil, but only nodded at Thrasher, who was still looking at Jack. “I don’t suppose you mind if I go with my team, Dwayne?” she asked, smirking.

“You’re an adult I’m no longer responsible for, Nita. You may do as you wish.”

“Stop it,” Rage said, clenching his hands. “Just stop it, Dwayne!”

“What?” both Dwayne and Jack said, swiveling their heads.

“I’m part of a team, an Avenger again, just like when the Warriors were a team. We did what we had to then, we helped those that needed it, and it didn’t matter who they were. We did what was right and we did it together, and we did it whether or not anyone else thought we should or not. If you think you can stop me, then go ahead, but I’m not the boy I used to be. I’m going, Dwayne, just like you would’ve in my position had Chord tried to stop you.”

“Elvin,” Thrasher said, pulling his helmet off and revealing the dark-skinned face of Dwayne Taylor. “Angel just died…we…I…can’t lose any more of our family. Don’t do this.”

Elvin just smiled. “I have to. We do what is right…you taught me that.”

Dwayne thought about that a moment and then smiled a sly smile. “I suppose I did.” He put his helmet back on and then turned back to USAgent. “Let’s do this then.”

“Say what?

“He’s my responsibility, so if he goes then I do too. She’s my fiancé,” he said, gesturing toward Silhouette, “so I can’t imagine I can go without her, and Mickey’s been itching to beat on something since Angelica died and Vance shut us out, so we need this. Let us help.”

“Once he finally agrees to something he is actually very helpful,” Namorita said, smiling.

Having suffered through this nonsense long enough, Jack shrugged. “Hey, who cares, the more the merrier. We’re all gonna die anyway, right, Wendell? Let’s party!”

“He’s a real peach,” Turbo said to Elvin. “I see why you’d follow him into this.”

Rage could only offer a weak smile and shrug.

---

“I shall do no such thing, Wendell Vaughn!”

Hercules’s voice rattled the walls of the conference room and made Quasar, USAgent, Rage and Dum-Dum cover their ears. After a moment of silence, USAgent said, “Well, why the fuck not?”

Hercules stared at him like he had asked for a reach-around. “How dare you?!?!”

“Oh, grow up! We need power and you Greek Gods have plenty to spare. So suck it up and make the call!”

Hercules seethed, his vision red at the edges, but he looked to Quasar and remembered the story he’d just told, he remembered Operation: Galactic Storm, and then he looked to Rage and did not want the boy to die if it wasn’t necessary. Gritting his teeth he said, “Fine. Leave me.”

The others looked at each other and then nodded, walking out and closing the door. Hercules sighed and reached behind him into the small packet that hung off of the back of his belt, the one no one could really see unless they knew it was there or had access to magics stronger than those of his father, Zeus. His hand disappeared into a pocket dimension and what he was looking for automatically appeared in this hand, much as his mace or money for beer always did, and he retrieved it…a small item the size of a golf ball, only made of pure gold. He slammed it into the floor of the room where it began to glow.

“Ares…I call in my marker…”

“Oh, really?” asked a voice from behind him. He turned to see his ‘brother’ appearing out of nothingness, the same golden glow from the shattered ball coating him like an aura until he was fully present in the room. “It only took you 1,200 years to call this in…it had better be important, half-breed.”

“I suspect it is but, regardless, you can bite me,” Hercules said.

“Oh, Heracles, it’s so amusing when you act tough,” the Greek God of War said, smiling. “But what makes you think I’m going to do what you request of me?”

Thunder rolled above them on what had been a completely clear day.

“I think, and feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, that Father might have something to say about that,” Hercules said, smiling.

Ares seethed. “I’ll never in all my immortality understand why he favors you so.”

“Because I’m not a bottom-feeding douche who let the Sub-Mariner, of all people, beat him in his own land. I mean, he’s a born warrior…but he’s a human mutant, not a god. It could take another 500 years for you to live that down, at least.”

“Careful how you talk to me, Heracles,” Ares said, glowering. “You may have me honor-bound here but once this is over we are even, you understand. Never again should you turn your back to me, ‘brother’.”

“HA!” Hercules said, holding his stomach as he laughed. “As if I needed to be told that.”

“Fine,” Ares said, giving in. “I expect that, at the very least, we will be facing a worthy foe. Perhaps if they are worthy enough I shall even enjoy myself.”

“Of that, ‘brother’, I have no doubt,” Hercules said.

---

“So, Herc’s talking to Ares. What’ve you got?” USAgent asked Rhodey as he walked into his lab.

On the screen on the main wall was the War Machine armor in a 3D diagram that was spinning with dozens of lines shooting off of it. Rhodey was walking back and forth, tapping a pen against his lips and thinking, every now and then calling off items to PLATO, who was back at the Works making the modifications they were discussing. The normal War Machine armor was already an over-loaded tank of a beast of death and carnage…but the thing on the screen was a super-charged version of the standard armor that was terrifying to behold.

“We’re getting there,” Rhodey said, sighing. “From what I know of the Scatter, based on your old Force Works reports, mainly Tony’s technical specifications that he scanned, they are microscopic organisms that take over hosts to fight for them but it’s not as if they can take over living hosts, or so I hope.”

“What do you mean?” Jack asked.

“Well, I mean, Tony was protected and Century was perhaps too alien for them, but you, Julia and Wanda had no protection against them so if they were similar to an airborne virus or could infect you just with skin-to-skin contact then they’d have taken you, but you three were knee-deep in them and they didn’t take you. That means they’re more like zombies than a virus, and they need dead or nearly-dead bodies to infect and make their own. If that’s correct, we’re in better shape than I feared.”

“Why’s that? They are really fast, powerful zombies with energy weapons and strength that rivals my own,” Jack said. “They really sucked to fight, didn’t I mention that?”

“No doubt,” Rhodey said, nodding and making some modifications to his armor, “but when you landed a solid shot did the host body stay down?”

“Yes, if you did enough damage, not that we were trying to kill them, of course,” Jack said. “So?”

“Damage is the key,” Rhodey said. “I plan to take so much ordinance that what I did to the Lava Men will be like a light breeze in comparison. I’m going for total ‘shock and awe’ here, and hopefully I can draw as much fire at me as I can so you and Quasar and the others can save the kids and stop the war. If I can put enough holes in them the little microscopic fucks will have nowhere to go.”

Jack looked at the schematics and whistled. “Hey, what’s that glowing thing in the small of your back?”

Rhodey smiled. “That’s a neat trick I’m working on with Wendell. Do you really have any idea just what those Quantum Bands are capable of? I mean, really?” Jack shook his head. “Other than possibly Thor’s Mjolnir, Ronan’s Universal Weapon and Mar-Vell’s Nega-Bands, there are no more powerful weapons in existence, except perhaps the Cosmic Cube, the Infinity Gems or some other magical items we won’t discuss here. These are weapons that can change the face of the cosmos, the things that make him the Protector of the goddamned Universe. What I’ve got Wendell working on is a replicating ammo source, like a clip that never runs out.”

“Huh?”

“The constructs that Wendell makes don’t disappear until he wills them to, regardless of their complexity. If he thinks of it and gets it right, then it’s done, period. If he can get this right then I’ll have quantum energy bullets firing from a clip that will never run out. I’ll be able to blast through a planet full of the Scatter without breaking a sweat!”

“That’s…that’s brilliant, Rhodey!” Jack said, deeply impressed. “That’s the proverbial game changer indeed. And if Herc pulls in Ares, and with the New Warriors kids, we might have a shot at this…just one more thing to check on.”

“What’s that?” Rhodey asked.

“You’ll see.”

---

“Why aren’t we bringing the others?” Quasar asked as he lifted himself and USAgent into the edges of Earth’s atmosphere for a safer Quantum Jump.

“We won’t be gone long but I have a suspicion to check on,” USAgent said. “Just take us to where the Scatter invaded that world you mentioned.”

“Ok,” Wendell said, closing his eyes and making a stable Quantum Bubble around them to cushion the jump’s effect on Earth’s atmosphere and then pulled the trigger, grunting a little at the distance they travelled in the blink of an eye. They appeared overtop of a standing swirl of energy perhaps eight-feet tall that should not have existed on the face of a habitable planet, all blues and purples shining in the daylight.

As soon as they appeared USAgent saw what he’d been expecting and smiled. “Thought so,” he said.

Hearing his voice, a figure standing five feet from the opening of the portal looked up and the gray skin around his eyes and mouth crinkled a little and then a smile broke out. “Friend/Partner/Ally USAgent!” Century said, raising his staff, Parallax, into the air in a salute of honor. “Welcome to the battle against the Scatter! We will win/prevail/succeed against them one more time…or die with honor!”

USAgent looked at Quasar and smiled. “Maybe we won’t die after all,” he said, then dropped the smile. “Nah, probably not…”

“I hate you,” Quasar said.

---

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To Be Continued...

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