They were once called the Masters of Evil, a group of the most violent and heinous villains on Earth. Forged by the German born Baron Helmut Zemo, the Masters of Evil had managed to pull off the biggest scam the world of superheroics had ever seen. Posing as a group of heroes called the Thunderbolts, the villains were only a step away from total dominion over the planet. No one could stop Baron Zemo from implementing his evil plans...no one but the Thunderbolts themselves, villains who had finally experienced the flipside of their criminal life. With their inner heroism growing, the former Masters of Evil turned against their leader and foiled his plans, much to the surprise of Earth's population.
Life was not easy for the villains turned heroes, as they struggled to be accepted as a credible force for good. Met with distrust at every turn, it seemed as if no one was willing to give them the chance they all felt they deserved. One man, however, did believe the Thunderbolts...the Avenger named Hawkeye.
Frustrated with his recent stint among Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Clint Barton sought out the Thunderbolts and offered to take them under his wing in hopes of forging them into a team of true heroes. Reluctantly, the former villains accepted Hawkeye as their teacher, but the cost to the man was great indeed. He was a fugitive from the law, ostracized from his fellow Avengers by the actions he had taken, and the task he'd undertaken proved more difficult than he had imagined. When the opportunity presented itself, Hawkeye chose to leave the Thunderbolts, returning to the Avengers in time to take part in the hero team's greatest tragedy: the betrayal and death of their teammate, the Vision.
I am Uatu, called the Watcher, and it is my duty to view other realms, other versions of familiar tales. Among them is this, in which we learn...
Life was not easy for the villains turned heroes, as they struggled to be accepted as a credible force for good. Met with distrust at every turn, it seemed as if no one was willing to give them the chance they all felt they deserved. One man, however, did believe the Thunderbolts...the Avenger named Hawkeye.
Frustrated with his recent stint among Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Clint Barton sought out the Thunderbolts and offered to take them under his wing in hopes of forging them into a team of true heroes. Reluctantly, the former villains accepted Hawkeye as their teacher, but the cost to the man was great indeed. He was a fugitive from the law, ostracized from his fellow Avengers by the actions he had taken, and the task he'd undertaken proved more difficult than he had imagined. When the opportunity presented itself, Hawkeye chose to leave the Thunderbolts, returning to the Avengers in time to take part in the hero team's greatest tragedy: the betrayal and death of their teammate, the Vision.
I am Uatu, called the Watcher, and it is my duty to view other realms, other versions of familiar tales. Among them is this, in which we learn...
Back to GatefoldAnnual 2005 by Chris Munn
What If Hawkeye Had Not Abandoned the Thunderbolts? |
Hawkeye grimaced slightly as he walked through the empty halls of Mt. Charteris , the mountain compound that the Thunderbolts had taken for themselves. It had been less than an hour since he had faced the Avengers doppelgangers created by Baron Zemo, and it was with a heavy heart that Clint Barton returned to the place he now called home. Seeing his former friends, even if they were merely simulacrum, had brought on the pangs of loneliness. For the briefest of moments, he had considered making his way back to New York City , back to the stately mansion that housed the Avengers. They were his family, and he knew that most of them felt his decision to lead the Thunderbolts was a mistake.
The Avengers had also instilled a sense of honor in him, however, and he knew that he couldn't abandon the Thunderbolts so casually. Of course, he also hadn't expected to return to an empty headquarters, with no one to welcome him. Perhaps his team had thought he wasn't coming back, since he had left without telling them where he was going. Zemo had tricked him into accepting a priority summons from who he thought was the Avengers, and that fact made him feel as if he'd already betrayed the burgeoning heroes he'd taken under his wing. If he could leave so quickly for the chance to be reunited with the Avengers, did he truly have any chance with the Thunderbolts?
Standing in the communication bay of the Mount, Hawkeye ran his fingers over several electronic keys, bringing to life the massive information system. He'd programmed the computers to key into any sign of local disturbance in the West Coast, where the Mount was located, and the tell-tale signs of trouble blared to life the moment the screens were activated. An anchorwoman for WNBC sat behind her news desk, while images of his teammates played behind her. The Thunderbolts were in Tucson , Arizona , waging a pitched battle with the Living Laser.
“Well at least they aren't the ones robbing the bank,” he muttered to himself.
“Hawkeye?” a voice asked from behind him, the familiar voice of a young girl. Barton turned to find the surprised faces of Jolt and Charcoal staring at him from the door to the communications bay.
“You say that like you didn't expect me to come back, Hallie,” Clint said with a smile. “Don't tell me you guys don't have faith in me to take care of my kids.”
“Well, you kinda left without telling us where you were going,” Charcoal, the youngest member of the Thunderbolts, chimed in.
“Oh my god,” Jolt commented as she finally looked past Hawkeye, the events playing out in Tucson still displayed on the computer monitor, “is that happening now? We gotta go help the others, guys!”
“You took the words outta my mouth, kid,” Hawkeye replied, “let me just grab a fresh quiver, and then we're outta here.”
Suddenly, a proximity alarm flared, causing the two younger heroes to jump in surprise. Barton simply turned, his fingers again dancing over the keyboard. Security camera footage replaced the images of the Living Laser, but the new scene made Hawkeye's eyes narrow. “Looks like we have an uninvited guest,” he commented, his eyes locked onto the lithe female form of Citizen V.
# # # # # # # # # #
Crouched against a cropping of rocks at the base of Mt. Charteris , Dallas Riordan cursed beneath her silver mask. After having successfully evaded the search by the mysterious V-Battalion, the newest Citizen V couldn't understand how a lone archer had so easily boxed her into a corner. He had her on the run before she'd had a chance to explain, that she wasn't another despot like Zemo that had taken over the Citizen V mantle. With her sword gripped tightly in her hand, Dallas jumped up from her hiding place, ready to take on whatever was awaiting her. She stopped short when her eyes focused on the sharpened arrowhead that was awaiting her, positioned directly between her eyes from a scant ten feet away.
“Stop, wait,” Riordan said quickly, careful not to move an inch, “don't shoot. You don't understand what's going on, I'm not here to hurt you.”
“Pardon me for being cautious,” Hawkeye replied, closing one eye so as to focus better on his target, “but if there's one thing I've learned during my time with the Thunderbolts, it's that nothing is ever as it seems around here.”
“I'm not Baron Zemo!” she exclaimed, hoping to convince the archer through words.
Hawkeye merely smiled. “Yeah, Zemo doesn't have quite the bust size as you.”
“God damn you, Avenger,” the woman said through gritted teeth, “I want to help you and your team.”
Hawkeye said nothing, the arrow still targeted at the mysterious woman. Finally, he relaxed his grip on the bow, lowering it to the ground with a wicked smirk plastered on his face. “Good to know,” he stated, “whatta ya say, kids? Can we keep her?”
Dallas turned slowly, and yet another uttered curse escaped her lips. Hovering silently behind her were Jolt and Charcoal, their stances calm and confident with arms folded across their chests. “I think she's hot,” Charcoal said, his voice as abrasive as the smoldering stone that comprised his body. Jolt simply shrugged.
# # # # # # # # # #
“We'd better head back. Jolt and Charcoal will be wondering where we are, and I'm used to Hawkeye handling the press conferences.”
The Thunderbolts, accompanied by the She-Hulk, were slowly being surrounded by reporters and cameramen. Their battle with the Living Laser, who was eventually defeated and imprisoned, had attracted attention from the media, all wanting interviews with the heroes. Backed into a circle, the team slowly lifted from the ground via a sound platform produced by Songbird, all of them eager to return home with little harassment. “Hey, She-Hulk!” Songbird shouted to the green-skinned femme fatale. “The media's got it out for your cousin right now, maybe it'd be best if you disappear for a while.”
“She's six foot seven, six hundred and fifty pounds, and curses like a sailor,” a voice dripping with sarcasm said from above the heroes and the crowd of reporters, “how the heck can somebody like that disappear ?”
Sitting astride a modified Atomic Steed, Hawkeye slowly hovered downward, the smiles on everyone's faces forcing him to admit how much he enjoyed his lot in life. The Thunderbolts returned to the earth with him, and Barton immediately threw himself into the fray of the impromptu press conference.
“Hawkeye,” a female reporter began, her microphone shoved in the archer's face as she spoke, “why weren't you helping the Thunderbolts detain the Living Laser? There was speculation that perhaps you had left the team.”
“Listen, sweetie,” Clint answered, the words flowing from his mouth like honey, “you all saw how easily my team took out the Living Loser over there, without any help from me. If nothing else, you've all gotta admit that they can handle themselves in a super-brawl.”
“Well, they did have a little help,” the She-Hulk interjected, throwing a wink at her fellow former Avenger.
As quick as the eye could see, Hawkeye kicked his leg behind Jennifer Walters' knees, knocking her clumsily into his arms. In a move that surprised everyone in attendance, Barton placed a provocative kiss on the jade giantess' lips. A second later, he lifted his head, dropped the She-Hulk to the ground with a thud, and grabbed one of the free microphones from one of the slack-jawed reporters.
“I'm only gonna say this once, so you better listen well,” he said into the dozen cameras positioned in front of him. “The Thunderbolts are here to stay, and I guarantee that within six months, you'll all be expecting us to save the world instead of the Avengers.”
“Is that a fact, Cockeye?” the quite angry She-Hulk said from her position on the ground.
Hawkeye turned and smiled at her. “Trust me.”
# # # # # # # # # #
Clint Barton was true to his word, as the following months brought success after success for the Thunderbolts. In an act that surprised their detractors, the heroes stood as the only line of defense against the outbreak of villains at the Colorado Maximum Security Prison known as the Vault. Under the guidance of Hawkeye, the members of the Thunderbolts finally found the sparks of respect that they had fought so long and hard for.
With the new Citizen V in their ranks, the machinations of the evil Man-Beast was uncovered as he attempted to take control of the V-Battalion and the group's inner Penance Council. Saving the Penance Council – a tight-knit affiliation of World War II superheroes and their offspring – from their demise at the Man-Beast's hands, the Thunderbolts received something much more important than respect: they earned the V-Battalion's blessing. With backing from the clandestine organization that was purported to control governments behind the scenes, the Thunderbolts' public opinion began to skyrocket, and finally they were treated as the heroes they had aspired to become.
However, not even the Penance Council could anticipate what was brewing within the ranks of Hawkeye's former team, the Avengers. His programming altered by the evil Ultron, the synthetic Avenger known as the Vision had gone insane and, in an unprecedented move, attempted to take control of the Vibranium producing African nation of Wakanda. Without Hawkeye in their ranks, as he was in the story familiar to us all, the Avengers suffered heavy casualties during their first attempt to stop the Vision. While several of the heroes, such as Captain America , Iron Man, and the Scarlet Witch, were captured by the Vision's cyborg servants, one of the Avengers did not survive the opening onslaught. Dr. Henry Pym died while attempting to flee the Wakandan jungle, struck down by the Vision's servitors with nary a bit of hesitation.
Without Pym to escape back to the remaining Avengers with news of the Vision's plan, the rest of the heroes arrived in Wakanda much later...too late, in fact, to halt the Vision from wresting total control of the massive amounts of Vibranium infused in the country's soil. The Wasp's second team of Avengers fared little better against the newly empowered Vision, and were easily captured alongside their surviving teammates. When Hawkeye learned of the unfolding events, he knew he had little choice...the Thunderbolts entered Wakanda, determined to free the Avengers and stop the Vision.
# # # # # # # # # #
“Songbird, get up there and help Atlas! Jolt, you worry about freeing the Avengers, but you better hurry...we're gonna get our clocks cleaned here in about thirty seconds!”
Volley after volley of arrows had been launched at the monstrous Vibranium body of the man Hawkeye had once called his friend. The Vision's control of Wakanda had been overturned by a revolt of the country's people, led but their ruler, the Black Panther. Had it not been for them, Clint figured they probably wouldn't have made it past his cyborg Avenger doppelgangers after touching down in their jet. Despite this, however, things were still too bleak for words. The Vision was unstoppable, and he seemed to have become his inner sanctum, controlling every nook and cranny of it with his advancements in Vibranium. He'd watched Charcoal get busted into about a billion pieces when the kid foolishly tried to tangle with the Vision one-on-one, and Clint prayed that he hadn't just sent Songbird and Atlas to follow their youngest teammate through death's door.
But he had a plan, one he knew he needed after finding out about the Avengers' failed attempt at diffusing the situation. The V-Battalion troops were invading the country at that very moment, overrunning the crazed Vision's men alongside T'Challa's own rebel forces. The Vision himself was the main problem of the moment, and Clint knew that before the day was through he could very well be responsible for the death of more than one friend.
“I've bested the Avengers, children,” the Vision said as Atlas grew in size, towering above the battlefield in an attempt to gain an advantage, “you Masters of Evil don't even rate as cannon-fodder.”
“Shit!” Erik Josten yelled as the ceiling of the compound came to life, grabbing his giant form about the head and shoulders. Songbird turned her flight path, diverting attention away from their enemy in order to help rescue her teammate. Solid sound projections battered at the Vibranium laced stone, but found her power unable to affect a metal that absorbs vibrations of all kinds.
“Silence, girl,” the Vision commanded, a tendril of Vibranium shooting toward Melissa Gold. Wrapping itself around her throat, the elemental metal continued to snake its way around her head, choking her as it entered her throat.
Unseen by the Vision, Citizen V leapt behind him, her presence masked by the considerable amount of training she'd received from the V-Battalion. She lanced her steel sword forward, shoving it into the Vision's back and through his chest, prompting a strange grunt of frustration from the synthezoid. With a casual toss of his arm, he backhanded the costumed athlete, knocking her into the far wall of the building.
“Vizh!” Hawkeye shouted over the din of the battle, catching the attention of the maddened former hero. “Vision, it's me...its Hawkeye! C'mon, man, you gotta stop this shit!”
“I held no malice toward you, Clint,” the Vision responded in his emotionless robotic voice as he slowly stalked forward Hawkeye, “in fact, I almost found your success with the Thunderbolts to be quite admirable. But, I'm afraid you're all going to die, just like the rest of the Avengers.”
Backing away from the advancing Vision, Hawkeye felt his back hit the wall behind him. He narrowed his eyes as his old friend approached, stopping a hair's breadth from him. “Please, Vision, don't make me hurt you, man...”
“You can't hurt me, Barton,” the Vision replied, “but I can hurt you .”
Closing his eyes, Hawkeye realized that there was no turning back. “Moonstone, now!” he shouted, tensing every muscle in his body as he yelled. The Vision leered at the man's actions, but wasn't quick enough to escape the intangible wraith of a woman that entered through the wall behind Hawkeye, passing like a ghost through her leader's body. Moonstone passed through the Vision, solidifying as she went, ripping as much of the synthezoid's Vibranium innards away as she could.
“You're dreadfully boring, dear,” Karla Sofen commented as she shoved her intangible hand up through the Vision's skull. With a tremendous blast of energy, Moonstone incinerated the brain stem and processing CPU of the Avenger, annihilating into ash the one vulnerable part of the synthetic man's body. The remaining pieces of the Vision fell the ground, lifeless, and Hawkeye let out a held sigh of exhaustion and relief.
“Buck up, Clint,” Moonstone stated with her usual clinical detachment, “we just saved the world. I hope to get an Avenger to shine my boots after this torrid affair...”
# # # # # # # # # #
“Cap, you can't just quit the Avengers. They need you now, more than ever!”
In the cemetery for Avengers that had fallen in the line of duty, Hawkeye placed a firm hand on the shoulder of the one man he had thought of as his mentor. Steve Rogers, Captain America , had taken the events in Wakanda the hardest of any of them. The Avengers had never before faced such tragedy, with most of the team departing after returning to New York .
“You did what we couldn't, Clint,” the Captain said, his voice low and somber, “you and your Thunderbolts. You're national heroes now, you're on our level for the first time.”
“But we're not the Avengers , Steve!” Hawkeye said with more than a hint of hurt in his voice.
“The Avengers are gone,” Rogers replied, “at least for now. I'm the only active member, and I just...I can't recruit others just to lead them to their deaths. The Vision, Hank, Justice, Firestar...and those that survived are shattered and broken both morally and spiritually. Wanda and Simon left days ago, so did Tony and Jan. I'll never stop fighting, Clint, you know that. But I have to work through this on my own.”
“Me and you, Steve,” Hawkeye pleaded, “we can get the Avengers back on their feet.”
Captain America turned to his younger friend and extended his hand at waist level. Clint hesitated for a moment, then took Rogers ' hand with his own in a firm grasp. “The Thunderbolts need you more, Hawkeye. You're Earth's Mightiest Heroes now, and this world needs you.”
Both men fought back the tears that came so close to exploding from their eyes. Releasing Clint's hand, Captain America turned away from him and began walking toward the cars that sat at the entrance to the graveyard. Hawkeye stood static, disbelieving what his mentor had just said to him. Finally, he turned down to the tombstone that rested before him, and a scowl appeared on his face.
“Fuck you, Vision,” he said angrily at the grave beneath him, “this is all your god damn fault.”
# # # # # # # # # #
“I'm sorry, Clint. I'm leaving.”
In their private quarters deep within Mt. Charteris , Hawkeye took a seat on the king size bed in the corner of the room. Running a hand through his dirty blonde hair, the archer let out a sigh of frustration. Karla Sofen, Clint's lover and teammate, was usually dependable in her independence, and was the last person he'd expected to fold so easily under their newfound pressure.
“After everything we've worked for,” he began, lifting his eyes to look at the standing woman on the other side of the room, “you're just going to abandon us?”
“I'm not a hero, Clint,” she said while nervously crossing her arms across her chest, “and I was foolish to think I was. They may love us now that the Avengers are gone, but you know as well as I that they're going to turn on us again. I'm...I'm not saying it wasn't worth the effort. My sincerity isn't what's faltering...it's something else...”
“Then just level with me, Karla!” Barton demanded, standing quickly from the bed to face the woman he'd given his heart. “This ain't because you're scared, I know better than that.”
“I am scared, Clint,” Moonstone answered softly before turning away to walk out the door, “because there's security and peace of mind in knowing you're hated for what you are. Being loved for what you are not, however...”
And with those final words, Hawkeye was again left alone. His mentor had disappointed him and the woman he loved had abandoned him...what else was there for him?
Hours later, a fully-costumed Hawkeye stood in the Mt. Charteris communication bay while four somber individuals stared back at him. Songbird, Atlas, Citizen V, and Jolt were all that remained of the Thunderbolts, and Clint wondered if they would be enough to face the dark times he felt were coming.
“Okay guys, here's what's up,” he began, attempting to be as casual as possible, though unable to hide the hurt in his voice, “Karla left us tonight and she won't be coming back. I need to know...are the rest of you having any doubts at all about what we're doing here?”
“Of course we have doubts,” Erik Josten replied, though he felt ill at ease while doing so, “especially after the Avengers disbanded. Do you really think people like SHIELD or the Fantastic Four are gonna look to us now like they did the Avengers, no matter how much good we do?”
“I can't guarantee anything,” Hawkeye answered, “but this is what we fought so hard for. The dream is happening, gang, right in front of our eyes...all that's left to ask is if we have the guts to see it through to the end or not.”
“There is something that might help, Clint,” Songbird stated, “and we're all in agreement about it. If we're truly the heroes you think we're accepted as, then we need to work on getting Abe out of prison. We need him with us, especially after losing Charlie and Karla.”
Hawkeye's brow furrowed at the mention of Abner Jenkins' name. A former Thunderbolt, MACH-1 had been the only member to have committed murder during his time as a villain. At Hawkeye's urging, Jenkins had turned himself into the authorities and was serving out a prison sentence. However, with a false smile on his face, Barton decided to acquiesce to his team's demand.
“Face front, true believers,” he said as he pushed a button on the command terminal behind him, “no sooner said than done.”
A few tense moments later, the video screen displayed the face of Henry Peter Gyrich, the government agent currently in charge of the Vault, the prison in which Jenkins was being held. The sight of Hawkeye made Gyrich's permanent scowl deepen even further.
“Heya, Pete,” Clint greeted through the two-way video feed, “got a request for you. Seeing as how the Thunderbolts are now golden boys in the public's little eye, how about we have a little chat about getting our erstwhile teammate out of the slammer?”
“Jenkins, I assume?” Gyrich asked rhetorically, his scowl slowly changing to a smirk. “Wish I could help, but apparently you “heroes” don't pay attention to current events. The Beetle was released three weeks ago on a technicality found by some high-priced lawyer. Can't say I'm disappointed that he didn't hook back up with you...maybe his time in the Vault actually helped rehabilitate him a little.”
“He was released,” Songbird whispered from the back of the room, shocked at the news, “and didn't come back to us?”
“Doesn't it just break your heart?” Gyrich asked scornfully before disconnecting the call.
# # # # # # # # # #
Despite the tragedies that had ravaged them, the Thunderbolts walked on. With the former villains' moral sinking with each passing day, Hawkeye was met with the challenge of his life. How easy it had been to redeem the Thunderbolts in the eyes of the public, but it proved much harder to life up to the expectations of a hero. Nevertheless, the five continued doing good, assisting the Fantastic Four in an attack on the United States by the maniacal Doctor Doom and doing their best to quell an anti-mutant riot on the streets of Washington DC alongside their fellow heroic outlaws, the X-Men.
But with each victory seemed to come a personal defeat for the Thunderbolts. When the grandson of the original Citizen V, John Watkins III, emerged from a coma he demanded the return of his familial costumed identity. Unwilling to give up what she had earned, Dallas Riordan fought Watkins...and lost. However, due to their unwillingness to cooperate with the descendent of Citizen V, the V-Battalion pulled their financial and reputable support of the Thunderbolts, forcing the heroes to survive on their own once again. Unwilling to allow her teammates to suffer from her mistake, Riordan took up a new costumed identity, Vantage, and continued with the Thunderbolts.
With their funds depleted by the exhaustive events in their recent history, Hawkeye was at a loss as to what to do. It was then that an offer was extended to the Thunderbolts by way of a man that was to be trusted by no one...the criminal industrialist Justin Hammer. With claims that he had reformed his criminal ways, Hammer sent a communiqué to the Thunderbolts, offering to back them financially with no strings attached. Realizing that accepting would most likely result in a deal with the devil, Hawkeye and the other Thunderbolts agreed only to meet with Hammer in his New York industrial complex.
Unfortunately, Hawkeye had no idea how much Hammer truly had changed...
# # # # # # # # # #
“As you can clearly see,” the receptionist – a young girl whose name was Harley – chirped with an obviously fake smile, “Mr. Hammer's monetary contribution to the sciences is unparalleled. Only Tony Stark has matched him in the number of patents put out by a company, and you have to admit the impressiveness of that high a volume. This main operating column room, for instance, runs the vertical length of the 25 story building, allowing for what the designers have called an air-brace for the building.”
Following behind Harley but still several steps ahead of his Thunderbolts, Hawkeye managed a weak smile. Somehow he doubted her claims of Hammer's success in relation to Tony Stark, a man Barton knew as a close personal friend. “Look, this is all well and good,” Clint interrupted, “but we're hear to see the man himself, not be taken on a nickel tour.”
“I apologize for keeping you waiting,” a male voice, haggard and rough, said from behind the group, prompting everyone to turn around, “but money waits for no man.”
“Mr. Hammer, Sir,” Harley began, but found herself cut off again by a raise of the industrialist's hand.
“It pleases me to see that you're at least willing to hear me out, Hawkeye,” Hammer stated, taking the group along with him as he walked through the room, “as you are all personal heroes of mine. Though it could never be proven in court, I myself have dabbled in the criminal enterprises, but your group has shown that one can turn their villainous life around and be a boon to society. This is what I wish for myself, by becoming your benefactor.”
“Look, I know it may seem insane to you, but some things just have to be said face to face,” Hawkeye said, pointing a finger at the elderly man. “Maybe – just maybe – you're on the level, but it doesn't matter. The Thunderbolts aren't for sale, Hammer...end of story.”
Hammer sighed, but then seemed to smile. “I expected as much, Mr. Barton,” he responded, “and one should never be without a contingency plan.” Gracefully, Justin snapped his fingers, prompting all five Thunderbolts to immediately take a battle stance. As expected, an energy blast came from above, blowing a chunk out of the floor in front of Hawkeye. What they hadn't expected, they realized when they looked to the open second story of the large chamber, was just who was behind the opening attack.
Hammer's smile grew larger as he began to step back. “If I can't own the Thunderbolts,” he said with a laugh, “I'll just have you replaced.”
Five individuals touched down on the steel floor in front of the astonished Thunderbolts. Three of them – Blacklash, Boomerang, and Blizzard – were no surprise, as they were known employees of Hammer. The other two, however, brought disbelieving shakes of the head to the heroes, none of them willing to believe the betrayal they were witnessing. Flanked by the Hammer's three known operatives, Moonstone and MACH-1 stood, ready for battle.
“Karla, Abe,” Hawkeye began, the words almost dying in his throat, “what are you doing here? Don't tell me you've thrown in with Hammer!”
“You've got it all wrong, Clint;” Abe replied first, “Hammer really has reformed. He got me out of jail, and you know how much convincing I would have needed to work for him again.”
”He's going to change the world for the better,” Moonstone added, “and if you're not with us...”
“Screw this!” Vantage shouted, leaping forward with her sword drawn. None of her teammates could say just why Riordan attacked first, and she would have been at a loss to explain it herself. Nevertheless, her sword was thrust forward, catching Moonstone across her shoulder as Hammer's “new” Thunderbolts went on the defensive.
“Damn it, Vantage!” Hawkeye yelled, releasing the arrow he'd nocked in his bow at Boomerang, who had taken into the air.
Moonstone also took flight, but not before swatting Dallas away with the back of her hand. “Stop them, do whatever it takes,” she ordered, taking aim on the growing form of Atlas in the back of the spreading group of heroes. With a blast of golden energy, Moonstone assaulted her former teammate, knocking his large mass off balance with the ferocity of her power.
“Been lookin' forward to this for a while, yanks,” Boomerang stated as he tossed several razorrangs at Hawkeye and the recovering Vantage, “especially after you ruined that Masters of Evil thing I was involved in.”
“Less talk, more walk, Fred,” Blacklash said to his comrade as he uncoiled his whip. Cracking it forward, he caught hold of Jolt's wrist, causing her to yell in pain and surprise. With a yank of his wrist, the whip pulled the young girl closer to him, causing her to land hard on her side against the steel floor.
“Bad move,” she said, anger rising in her usually calm demeanor, “wrapping a metal conductor around my arm with you still on the other end.” Using her own formidable power, Jolt sent a large surge of electricity through Blacklash's whip, electrocuting the villain. Unknown to her, however, was that the whip contained its own electrical shock system, and its power instantly added to hers. Blacklash screamed in agony as his whip electrocuted him, and when he fell in a crumpled heap of smoking meat, he did not get up again.
“Omigod,” Jolt said, her hands covering her gasping mouth when she realized what she'd done, “I didn't...I didn't mean to kill him.”
Seeing what had occurred, Blizzard immediately began to run toward his fallen friend. Jolt, in her compassion, also ran toward the deceased Blacklash, a move that was misinterpreted by the grief-stricken Donnie Gill. “Get away from him!” he screamed, a blast of ice erupting from the cybernetic cold-producing circuitry in his costume. Jolt went numb the moment the ice shower struck her, causing her to fly backward uncontrollably.
Elsewhere on the battlefield, Melissa Gold and Abe Jenkins flew in circles around one another, neither one wanting to strike someone they loved more than they had realized before. “Abe, you have to stop this,” Songbird pleaded, attempting to trap her former lover in a box of solid sound energy, “before somebody gets hurt.”
“All you have to do is surrender, Missy,” the man in the MACH-2 armor replied as he easily evaded her trap. Rocketing faster around the corner of the square room, he locked his targeting system on Gold...but found himself unable to fire.
“Jesus wept, Abner,” Boomerang announced as he flew behind Songbird, “if you won't take Mimi down, I guess I'll have to do it meself.”
The screamerangs left his hand and began to swirl in repetitive circles around Songbird's body. Using her sonically produced wings, Melissa climbed higher into the expanse of the room, but found that the arrows followed her evasive maneuvers.
“If she gets hurt, Meyers,” MACH-2 said to his teammate as they watched Songbird's attempt at evasion, “I'll kill you.”
“Friends to the end then, eh mate?” Boomerang remarked, winking in Abe's direction.
Below them, Moonstone hovered over the toppled Atlas, her hands pulsing with destructive energy. “You really should join us, Erik,” she stated, knowing full well that her words were falling on deaf ears, “unless you truly want to die here today.”
“You were never one of us, Karla, not really,” Josten said his position on the floor, growing even more as he spoke, “so this isn't a hard choice at all for me.”
He lunged his massive fist into the air, confident that he was strong enough to knock even the resilient Moonstone into unconsciousness. However, he had forgotten about her powers of intangibility, and his eyes widened when his fist passed harmlessly through her. Unable to halt his powerful swing, his fist continued into the air, just as the unaware Boomerang passed in front of him. The fist – easily the size of a human body – slammed into Boomerang with all of Erik's considerable strength behind it, and Fred Meyers' spine snapped like a twig.
Worse, the force of Atlas' fist sent Boomerang's body flying through the air, colliding with MACH-2's armored form. Both men, one dead and one alive, crashed into the chamber's far wall with a ferocious impact. While his armor saved his life, Abe Jenkins was unable to remain consciousness as he landed inside the wall, suspended far above the floor in the crater his body had made.
“You made me do that!” Atlas bellowed at the wraith-like Moonstone, more swings of his arms proving just as ineffectual as the first attempted strike.
“Speak no ill of your betters, Josten,” Moonstone advised as she flew in close to the giant's face. She then unleashed a powerful blast of heat and light...straight into Erik Josten's eyes. Throwing his head back, the ionic powerhouse's scream caused the building to shake with intense tremors.
“Hands up, Blizzard,” Hawkeye said, oblivious to what was occurring elsewhere in the battle, though Atlas' scream worried him, “don't do anything stupid.”
Crouched over Blacklash's body, Blizzard raised his hands into the air, knowing the archer had him dead to rights. “I give up, Hawkeye,” he said, “Now...just, stop all of this. Please...”
“I'll do what I can,” Clint muttered, taking a look to the ceiling as he lowered his bow.
The screamerangs were taking their toll on Songbird's endurance, and nothing she did seemed to shake them. Their dizzying swirls around her were keeping her from concentrating her hard sound powers in an effective way to destroy them. It was all she could do to keep from colliding with them as she maneuvered around in the air...but then she heard the scream of her friend and teammate, Atlas.
Upon hearing Josten's cry, she immediately turned toward his direction, diverting her attention from her pursers. Stopping her flight in order to change direction, the two screamerangs bore down on her, both slamming full tilt into her body, knocking her like a rag doll through the air. Though she wasn't badly hurt, Melissa immediately realized something bad had happened. The sonic carapace that allowed her to create her hard sound objects – the carapace that allowed her to fly – was sparking, the result of bearing the brunt of the boomerangs' impact.
And then it just stopped working...and the pink solid sound wings that held Songbird aloft vanished, causing her to plummet to the ground far below.
“Songbird!” Hawkeye yelled from his spot on the ground, watching his teammate fall to her death. Within moments, a net-arrow was nocked in his bow and ready to fire...which is when he heard the click of a pistol being cocked sound directly behind him.
“Fire that arrow,” Justin Hammer stated, gun held directly at the base of Hawkeye's neck, “and you die.”
Hawkeye had no intention of letting Songbird die, his own death not a concern to the hero. As he released the arrow, however, something unpredictable happened. Still kneeling a short distance away, Blizzard spun on his heels and – with a passionate cry for Hammer to stop – blasted away with his ice powers. Though successfully knocking Hammer away, causing his gun to fire into the air, Blizzard's attempt at saving Hawkeye's life also knocked the archer off balance. When the arrow was released, it flew off in an unintended direction, sealing Melissa's fate.
Songbird watched the ground fly toward her, and her last though was of Abe, and how she wished they'd had more time together.
Not allowing himself a moment to watch his friend's demise, Hawkeye rolled as he hit the ground, spinning back toward the man that had held him at gunpoint. As he turned, he released an arrow, just as Hammer leveled and again fired his pistol.
The bullet struck Hawkeye in the side, just to the left of the Kevlar armor that protected his chest and neck. As he staggered backward, he whispered two words in complete and utter disbelief.
“I...missed?”
Standing with barely a scratch on him, Justin Hammer began to laugh manically over what he had done. As he laughed, he reached down to his belt buckle and pressed a hidden button, causing his image to blur and distort. A moment later, Hammer's face was replaced by a mask that caused every standing participant of the battle to scowl in hatred.
“Foolish Avenger,” the man who had been disguised as Hammer shouted, again leveling the pistol at the wounded hero, “no man can kill Baron Zemo!”
“Zemo...” Barton coughed. “I should'a known...”
“For months I have watched you from my position as Hammer,” Zemo gloated, “and how easy it was to convince your former comrades that I was who I claimed. You have failed, Hawkeye, and now you die...”
As Zemo tensed his finger on the trigger of his gun, he felt an odd sensation...and then looked down to see the end of a sword sticking through his chest. Turning on rapidly weakening legs, the Master of Evil sneered beneath his mask at the face of Dallas Riordan. “No man may be able to kill Baron Zemo,” she spat, “but a woman seems to have done the job fairly well.”
“Nein!” Zemo shouted, mustering enough strength to raise the gun again, blasting the pistol in Vantage's face, killing her instantly.
“Karla?” Hawkeye asked as he rolled his eyes back, seeing Moonstone crouched down behind him. “He's filled your head...with lies,” he told her, “be a hero...be a...hero...”
With Hawkeye taking his last breath, Moonstone grabbed an arrow out of the dying man's quiver. Striding over to the barely standing Baron Zemo, Moonstone gripped him by the fabric of his shirt, paying no mind to the sword still lodged through his body.
“No more will die by your hands,” she said coldly, and then rammed the arrow beneath Zemo's jaw, the explosive tip obliterating the Nazi's head while barely causing her to wince. Dropping the Baron's body to the ground, Karla looked a few feet away to find the newly-conscious Jolt watching.
“Clint, Melissa, and Blacklash are dead,” Moonstone stated, “Erik is maimed, by my hand. What are we going to do, Hallie?”
Cautiously, Jolt approached Karla and placed her hand on the woman's arms. “We do what was asked,” she answered, “we're going to be heroes...”
# # # # # # # # # #
With Hawkeye, Songbird, and Atlas gone, the Thunderbolts were at their lowest ebb. It was only through the will of the surviving Moonstone and Jolt that the team pushed forward, joined by MACH-2 and Blizzard in yet another permutation of the hero team that had ended so tragically. In the end, they were true to Hawkeye's dying wish...they became heroes and were recognized as such by all. None of them could forget, however, the terrible events that forged their newfound strength and determination...nor could they forget the effect one lone archer had made on their lives.
This, of course, is but one of many realities in the multiverse. And while it is the Watcher's duty to observe, I must ask this question: with one world ending in disaster for the Thunderbolts, do they have any chance of redemption in another? Or will the sequence of events seen here play out again under different circumstances?
I, as you, must simply watch...and discover.
THE END
# # # # # # # # # #
LIGHTNING STRIKES
Before anyone judges on the quality, I must preface by saying: I've never tried writing a What If style issue before, so if it sucks...yeah, that's why. But, I think this is a pretty fair representation on how events could have played out differently in the Marvel 2000 universe had Hawkeye stayed with the Thunderbolts instead of fucking off back to the Avengers. It's up to you readers to decide on whether or not it rings true or not. As always, any and all hate/love mail can be sent to me at the below address. Keep on the watch for the upcoming Thunderbolts # 25, though, which is gonna be a doozy of an issue that has nothing to do with Hawkeye OR alternate realities (thank jeebus for that)!
Chris Munn
01/06/05
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- This story diverges from events in Marvel Fanfare # 4 and Thunderbolts # 1.
The Avengers had also instilled a sense of honor in him, however, and he knew that he couldn't abandon the Thunderbolts so casually. Of course, he also hadn't expected to return to an empty headquarters, with no one to welcome him. Perhaps his team had thought he wasn't coming back, since he had left without telling them where he was going. Zemo had tricked him into accepting a priority summons from who he thought was the Avengers, and that fact made him feel as if he'd already betrayed the burgeoning heroes he'd taken under his wing. If he could leave so quickly for the chance to be reunited with the Avengers, did he truly have any chance with the Thunderbolts?
Standing in the communication bay of the Mount, Hawkeye ran his fingers over several electronic keys, bringing to life the massive information system. He'd programmed the computers to key into any sign of local disturbance in the West Coast, where the Mount was located, and the tell-tale signs of trouble blared to life the moment the screens were activated. An anchorwoman for WNBC sat behind her news desk, while images of his teammates played behind her. The Thunderbolts were in Tucson , Arizona , waging a pitched battle with the Living Laser.
“Well at least they aren't the ones robbing the bank,” he muttered to himself.
“Hawkeye?” a voice asked from behind him, the familiar voice of a young girl. Barton turned to find the surprised faces of Jolt and Charcoal staring at him from the door to the communications bay.
“You say that like you didn't expect me to come back, Hallie,” Clint said with a smile. “Don't tell me you guys don't have faith in me to take care of my kids.”
“Well, you kinda left without telling us where you were going,” Charcoal, the youngest member of the Thunderbolts, chimed in.
“Oh my god,” Jolt commented as she finally looked past Hawkeye, the events playing out in Tucson still displayed on the computer monitor, “is that happening now? We gotta go help the others, guys!”
“You took the words outta my mouth, kid,” Hawkeye replied, “let me just grab a fresh quiver, and then we're outta here.”
Suddenly, a proximity alarm flared, causing the two younger heroes to jump in surprise. Barton simply turned, his fingers again dancing over the keyboard. Security camera footage replaced the images of the Living Laser, but the new scene made Hawkeye's eyes narrow. “Looks like we have an uninvited guest,” he commented, his eyes locked onto the lithe female form of Citizen V.
# # # # # # # # # #
Crouched against a cropping of rocks at the base of Mt. Charteris , Dallas Riordan cursed beneath her silver mask. After having successfully evaded the search by the mysterious V-Battalion, the newest Citizen V couldn't understand how a lone archer had so easily boxed her into a corner. He had her on the run before she'd had a chance to explain, that she wasn't another despot like Zemo that had taken over the Citizen V mantle. With her sword gripped tightly in her hand, Dallas jumped up from her hiding place, ready to take on whatever was awaiting her. She stopped short when her eyes focused on the sharpened arrowhead that was awaiting her, positioned directly between her eyes from a scant ten feet away.
“Stop, wait,” Riordan said quickly, careful not to move an inch, “don't shoot. You don't understand what's going on, I'm not here to hurt you.”
“Pardon me for being cautious,” Hawkeye replied, closing one eye so as to focus better on his target, “but if there's one thing I've learned during my time with the Thunderbolts, it's that nothing is ever as it seems around here.”
“I'm not Baron Zemo!” she exclaimed, hoping to convince the archer through words.
Hawkeye merely smiled. “Yeah, Zemo doesn't have quite the bust size as you.”
“God damn you, Avenger,” the woman said through gritted teeth, “I want to help you and your team.”
Hawkeye said nothing, the arrow still targeted at the mysterious woman. Finally, he relaxed his grip on the bow, lowering it to the ground with a wicked smirk plastered on his face. “Good to know,” he stated, “whatta ya say, kids? Can we keep her?”
Dallas turned slowly, and yet another uttered curse escaped her lips. Hovering silently behind her were Jolt and Charcoal, their stances calm and confident with arms folded across their chests. “I think she's hot,” Charcoal said, his voice as abrasive as the smoldering stone that comprised his body. Jolt simply shrugged.
# # # # # # # # # #
“We'd better head back. Jolt and Charcoal will be wondering where we are, and I'm used to Hawkeye handling the press conferences.”
The Thunderbolts, accompanied by the She-Hulk, were slowly being surrounded by reporters and cameramen. Their battle with the Living Laser, who was eventually defeated and imprisoned, had attracted attention from the media, all wanting interviews with the heroes. Backed into a circle, the team slowly lifted from the ground via a sound platform produced by Songbird, all of them eager to return home with little harassment. “Hey, She-Hulk!” Songbird shouted to the green-skinned femme fatale. “The media's got it out for your cousin right now, maybe it'd be best if you disappear for a while.”
“She's six foot seven, six hundred and fifty pounds, and curses like a sailor,” a voice dripping with sarcasm said from above the heroes and the crowd of reporters, “how the heck can somebody like that disappear ?”
Sitting astride a modified Atomic Steed, Hawkeye slowly hovered downward, the smiles on everyone's faces forcing him to admit how much he enjoyed his lot in life. The Thunderbolts returned to the earth with him, and Barton immediately threw himself into the fray of the impromptu press conference.
“Hawkeye,” a female reporter began, her microphone shoved in the archer's face as she spoke, “why weren't you helping the Thunderbolts detain the Living Laser? There was speculation that perhaps you had left the team.”
“Listen, sweetie,” Clint answered, the words flowing from his mouth like honey, “you all saw how easily my team took out the Living Loser over there, without any help from me. If nothing else, you've all gotta admit that they can handle themselves in a super-brawl.”
“Well, they did have a little help,” the She-Hulk interjected, throwing a wink at her fellow former Avenger.
As quick as the eye could see, Hawkeye kicked his leg behind Jennifer Walters' knees, knocking her clumsily into his arms. In a move that surprised everyone in attendance, Barton placed a provocative kiss on the jade giantess' lips. A second later, he lifted his head, dropped the She-Hulk to the ground with a thud, and grabbed one of the free microphones from one of the slack-jawed reporters.
“I'm only gonna say this once, so you better listen well,” he said into the dozen cameras positioned in front of him. “The Thunderbolts are here to stay, and I guarantee that within six months, you'll all be expecting us to save the world instead of the Avengers.”
“Is that a fact, Cockeye?” the quite angry She-Hulk said from her position on the ground.
Hawkeye turned and smiled at her. “Trust me.”
# # # # # # # # # #
Clint Barton was true to his word, as the following months brought success after success for the Thunderbolts. In an act that surprised their detractors, the heroes stood as the only line of defense against the outbreak of villains at the Colorado Maximum Security Prison known as the Vault. Under the guidance of Hawkeye, the members of the Thunderbolts finally found the sparks of respect that they had fought so long and hard for.
With the new Citizen V in their ranks, the machinations of the evil Man-Beast was uncovered as he attempted to take control of the V-Battalion and the group's inner Penance Council. Saving the Penance Council – a tight-knit affiliation of World War II superheroes and their offspring – from their demise at the Man-Beast's hands, the Thunderbolts received something much more important than respect: they earned the V-Battalion's blessing. With backing from the clandestine organization that was purported to control governments behind the scenes, the Thunderbolts' public opinion began to skyrocket, and finally they were treated as the heroes they had aspired to become.
However, not even the Penance Council could anticipate what was brewing within the ranks of Hawkeye's former team, the Avengers. His programming altered by the evil Ultron, the synthetic Avenger known as the Vision had gone insane and, in an unprecedented move, attempted to take control of the Vibranium producing African nation of Wakanda. Without Hawkeye in their ranks, as he was in the story familiar to us all, the Avengers suffered heavy casualties during their first attempt to stop the Vision. While several of the heroes, such as Captain America , Iron Man, and the Scarlet Witch, were captured by the Vision's cyborg servants, one of the Avengers did not survive the opening onslaught. Dr. Henry Pym died while attempting to flee the Wakandan jungle, struck down by the Vision's servitors with nary a bit of hesitation.
Without Pym to escape back to the remaining Avengers with news of the Vision's plan, the rest of the heroes arrived in Wakanda much later...too late, in fact, to halt the Vision from wresting total control of the massive amounts of Vibranium infused in the country's soil. The Wasp's second team of Avengers fared little better against the newly empowered Vision, and were easily captured alongside their surviving teammates. When Hawkeye learned of the unfolding events, he knew he had little choice...the Thunderbolts entered Wakanda, determined to free the Avengers and stop the Vision.
# # # # # # # # # #
“Songbird, get up there and help Atlas! Jolt, you worry about freeing the Avengers, but you better hurry...we're gonna get our clocks cleaned here in about thirty seconds!”
Volley after volley of arrows had been launched at the monstrous Vibranium body of the man Hawkeye had once called his friend. The Vision's control of Wakanda had been overturned by a revolt of the country's people, led but their ruler, the Black Panther. Had it not been for them, Clint figured they probably wouldn't have made it past his cyborg Avenger doppelgangers after touching down in their jet. Despite this, however, things were still too bleak for words. The Vision was unstoppable, and he seemed to have become his inner sanctum, controlling every nook and cranny of it with his advancements in Vibranium. He'd watched Charcoal get busted into about a billion pieces when the kid foolishly tried to tangle with the Vision one-on-one, and Clint prayed that he hadn't just sent Songbird and Atlas to follow their youngest teammate through death's door.
But he had a plan, one he knew he needed after finding out about the Avengers' failed attempt at diffusing the situation. The V-Battalion troops were invading the country at that very moment, overrunning the crazed Vision's men alongside T'Challa's own rebel forces. The Vision himself was the main problem of the moment, and Clint knew that before the day was through he could very well be responsible for the death of more than one friend.
“I've bested the Avengers, children,” the Vision said as Atlas grew in size, towering above the battlefield in an attempt to gain an advantage, “you Masters of Evil don't even rate as cannon-fodder.”
“Shit!” Erik Josten yelled as the ceiling of the compound came to life, grabbing his giant form about the head and shoulders. Songbird turned her flight path, diverting attention away from their enemy in order to help rescue her teammate. Solid sound projections battered at the Vibranium laced stone, but found her power unable to affect a metal that absorbs vibrations of all kinds.
“Silence, girl,” the Vision commanded, a tendril of Vibranium shooting toward Melissa Gold. Wrapping itself around her throat, the elemental metal continued to snake its way around her head, choking her as it entered her throat.
Unseen by the Vision, Citizen V leapt behind him, her presence masked by the considerable amount of training she'd received from the V-Battalion. She lanced her steel sword forward, shoving it into the Vision's back and through his chest, prompting a strange grunt of frustration from the synthezoid. With a casual toss of his arm, he backhanded the costumed athlete, knocking her into the far wall of the building.
“Vizh!” Hawkeye shouted over the din of the battle, catching the attention of the maddened former hero. “Vision, it's me...its Hawkeye! C'mon, man, you gotta stop this shit!”
“I held no malice toward you, Clint,” the Vision responded in his emotionless robotic voice as he slowly stalked forward Hawkeye, “in fact, I almost found your success with the Thunderbolts to be quite admirable. But, I'm afraid you're all going to die, just like the rest of the Avengers.”
Backing away from the advancing Vision, Hawkeye felt his back hit the wall behind him. He narrowed his eyes as his old friend approached, stopping a hair's breadth from him. “Please, Vision, don't make me hurt you, man...”
“You can't hurt me, Barton,” the Vision replied, “but I can hurt you .”
Closing his eyes, Hawkeye realized that there was no turning back. “Moonstone, now!” he shouted, tensing every muscle in his body as he yelled. The Vision leered at the man's actions, but wasn't quick enough to escape the intangible wraith of a woman that entered through the wall behind Hawkeye, passing like a ghost through her leader's body. Moonstone passed through the Vision, solidifying as she went, ripping as much of the synthezoid's Vibranium innards away as she could.
“You're dreadfully boring, dear,” Karla Sofen commented as she shoved her intangible hand up through the Vision's skull. With a tremendous blast of energy, Moonstone incinerated the brain stem and processing CPU of the Avenger, annihilating into ash the one vulnerable part of the synthetic man's body. The remaining pieces of the Vision fell the ground, lifeless, and Hawkeye let out a held sigh of exhaustion and relief.
“Buck up, Clint,” Moonstone stated with her usual clinical detachment, “we just saved the world. I hope to get an Avenger to shine my boots after this torrid affair...”
# # # # # # # # # #
“Cap, you can't just quit the Avengers. They need you now, more than ever!”
In the cemetery for Avengers that had fallen in the line of duty, Hawkeye placed a firm hand on the shoulder of the one man he had thought of as his mentor. Steve Rogers, Captain America , had taken the events in Wakanda the hardest of any of them. The Avengers had never before faced such tragedy, with most of the team departing after returning to New York .
“You did what we couldn't, Clint,” the Captain said, his voice low and somber, “you and your Thunderbolts. You're national heroes now, you're on our level for the first time.”
“But we're not the Avengers , Steve!” Hawkeye said with more than a hint of hurt in his voice.
“The Avengers are gone,” Rogers replied, “at least for now. I'm the only active member, and I just...I can't recruit others just to lead them to their deaths. The Vision, Hank, Justice, Firestar...and those that survived are shattered and broken both morally and spiritually. Wanda and Simon left days ago, so did Tony and Jan. I'll never stop fighting, Clint, you know that. But I have to work through this on my own.”
“Me and you, Steve,” Hawkeye pleaded, “we can get the Avengers back on their feet.”
Captain America turned to his younger friend and extended his hand at waist level. Clint hesitated for a moment, then took Rogers ' hand with his own in a firm grasp. “The Thunderbolts need you more, Hawkeye. You're Earth's Mightiest Heroes now, and this world needs you.”
Both men fought back the tears that came so close to exploding from their eyes. Releasing Clint's hand, Captain America turned away from him and began walking toward the cars that sat at the entrance to the graveyard. Hawkeye stood static, disbelieving what his mentor had just said to him. Finally, he turned down to the tombstone that rested before him, and a scowl appeared on his face.
“Fuck you, Vision,” he said angrily at the grave beneath him, “this is all your god damn fault.”
# # # # # # # # # #
“I'm sorry, Clint. I'm leaving.”
In their private quarters deep within Mt. Charteris , Hawkeye took a seat on the king size bed in the corner of the room. Running a hand through his dirty blonde hair, the archer let out a sigh of frustration. Karla Sofen, Clint's lover and teammate, was usually dependable in her independence, and was the last person he'd expected to fold so easily under their newfound pressure.
“After everything we've worked for,” he began, lifting his eyes to look at the standing woman on the other side of the room, “you're just going to abandon us?”
“I'm not a hero, Clint,” she said while nervously crossing her arms across her chest, “and I was foolish to think I was. They may love us now that the Avengers are gone, but you know as well as I that they're going to turn on us again. I'm...I'm not saying it wasn't worth the effort. My sincerity isn't what's faltering...it's something else...”
“Then just level with me, Karla!” Barton demanded, standing quickly from the bed to face the woman he'd given his heart. “This ain't because you're scared, I know better than that.”
“I am scared, Clint,” Moonstone answered softly before turning away to walk out the door, “because there's security and peace of mind in knowing you're hated for what you are. Being loved for what you are not, however...”
And with those final words, Hawkeye was again left alone. His mentor had disappointed him and the woman he loved had abandoned him...what else was there for him?
Hours later, a fully-costumed Hawkeye stood in the Mt. Charteris communication bay while four somber individuals stared back at him. Songbird, Atlas, Citizen V, and Jolt were all that remained of the Thunderbolts, and Clint wondered if they would be enough to face the dark times he felt were coming.
“Okay guys, here's what's up,” he began, attempting to be as casual as possible, though unable to hide the hurt in his voice, “Karla left us tonight and she won't be coming back. I need to know...are the rest of you having any doubts at all about what we're doing here?”
“Of course we have doubts,” Erik Josten replied, though he felt ill at ease while doing so, “especially after the Avengers disbanded. Do you really think people like SHIELD or the Fantastic Four are gonna look to us now like they did the Avengers, no matter how much good we do?”
“I can't guarantee anything,” Hawkeye answered, “but this is what we fought so hard for. The dream is happening, gang, right in front of our eyes...all that's left to ask is if we have the guts to see it through to the end or not.”
“There is something that might help, Clint,” Songbird stated, “and we're all in agreement about it. If we're truly the heroes you think we're accepted as, then we need to work on getting Abe out of prison. We need him with us, especially after losing Charlie and Karla.”
Hawkeye's brow furrowed at the mention of Abner Jenkins' name. A former Thunderbolt, MACH-1 had been the only member to have committed murder during his time as a villain. At Hawkeye's urging, Jenkins had turned himself into the authorities and was serving out a prison sentence. However, with a false smile on his face, Barton decided to acquiesce to his team's demand.
“Face front, true believers,” he said as he pushed a button on the command terminal behind him, “no sooner said than done.”
A few tense moments later, the video screen displayed the face of Henry Peter Gyrich, the government agent currently in charge of the Vault, the prison in which Jenkins was being held. The sight of Hawkeye made Gyrich's permanent scowl deepen even further.
“Heya, Pete,” Clint greeted through the two-way video feed, “got a request for you. Seeing as how the Thunderbolts are now golden boys in the public's little eye, how about we have a little chat about getting our erstwhile teammate out of the slammer?”
“Jenkins, I assume?” Gyrich asked rhetorically, his scowl slowly changing to a smirk. “Wish I could help, but apparently you “heroes” don't pay attention to current events. The Beetle was released three weeks ago on a technicality found by some high-priced lawyer. Can't say I'm disappointed that he didn't hook back up with you...maybe his time in the Vault actually helped rehabilitate him a little.”
“He was released,” Songbird whispered from the back of the room, shocked at the news, “and didn't come back to us?”
“Doesn't it just break your heart?” Gyrich asked scornfully before disconnecting the call.
# # # # # # # # # #
Despite the tragedies that had ravaged them, the Thunderbolts walked on. With the former villains' moral sinking with each passing day, Hawkeye was met with the challenge of his life. How easy it had been to redeem the Thunderbolts in the eyes of the public, but it proved much harder to life up to the expectations of a hero. Nevertheless, the five continued doing good, assisting the Fantastic Four in an attack on the United States by the maniacal Doctor Doom and doing their best to quell an anti-mutant riot on the streets of Washington DC alongside their fellow heroic outlaws, the X-Men.
But with each victory seemed to come a personal defeat for the Thunderbolts. When the grandson of the original Citizen V, John Watkins III, emerged from a coma he demanded the return of his familial costumed identity. Unwilling to give up what she had earned, Dallas Riordan fought Watkins...and lost. However, due to their unwillingness to cooperate with the descendent of Citizen V, the V-Battalion pulled their financial and reputable support of the Thunderbolts, forcing the heroes to survive on their own once again. Unwilling to allow her teammates to suffer from her mistake, Riordan took up a new costumed identity, Vantage, and continued with the Thunderbolts.
With their funds depleted by the exhaustive events in their recent history, Hawkeye was at a loss as to what to do. It was then that an offer was extended to the Thunderbolts by way of a man that was to be trusted by no one...the criminal industrialist Justin Hammer. With claims that he had reformed his criminal ways, Hammer sent a communiqué to the Thunderbolts, offering to back them financially with no strings attached. Realizing that accepting would most likely result in a deal with the devil, Hawkeye and the other Thunderbolts agreed only to meet with Hammer in his New York industrial complex.
Unfortunately, Hawkeye had no idea how much Hammer truly had changed...
# # # # # # # # # #
“As you can clearly see,” the receptionist – a young girl whose name was Harley – chirped with an obviously fake smile, “Mr. Hammer's monetary contribution to the sciences is unparalleled. Only Tony Stark has matched him in the number of patents put out by a company, and you have to admit the impressiveness of that high a volume. This main operating column room, for instance, runs the vertical length of the 25 story building, allowing for what the designers have called an air-brace for the building.”
Following behind Harley but still several steps ahead of his Thunderbolts, Hawkeye managed a weak smile. Somehow he doubted her claims of Hammer's success in relation to Tony Stark, a man Barton knew as a close personal friend. “Look, this is all well and good,” Clint interrupted, “but we're hear to see the man himself, not be taken on a nickel tour.”
“I apologize for keeping you waiting,” a male voice, haggard and rough, said from behind the group, prompting everyone to turn around, “but money waits for no man.”
“Mr. Hammer, Sir,” Harley began, but found herself cut off again by a raise of the industrialist's hand.
“It pleases me to see that you're at least willing to hear me out, Hawkeye,” Hammer stated, taking the group along with him as he walked through the room, “as you are all personal heroes of mine. Though it could never be proven in court, I myself have dabbled in the criminal enterprises, but your group has shown that one can turn their villainous life around and be a boon to society. This is what I wish for myself, by becoming your benefactor.”
“Look, I know it may seem insane to you, but some things just have to be said face to face,” Hawkeye said, pointing a finger at the elderly man. “Maybe – just maybe – you're on the level, but it doesn't matter. The Thunderbolts aren't for sale, Hammer...end of story.”
Hammer sighed, but then seemed to smile. “I expected as much, Mr. Barton,” he responded, “and one should never be without a contingency plan.” Gracefully, Justin snapped his fingers, prompting all five Thunderbolts to immediately take a battle stance. As expected, an energy blast came from above, blowing a chunk out of the floor in front of Hawkeye. What they hadn't expected, they realized when they looked to the open second story of the large chamber, was just who was behind the opening attack.
Hammer's smile grew larger as he began to step back. “If I can't own the Thunderbolts,” he said with a laugh, “I'll just have you replaced.”
Five individuals touched down on the steel floor in front of the astonished Thunderbolts. Three of them – Blacklash, Boomerang, and Blizzard – were no surprise, as they were known employees of Hammer. The other two, however, brought disbelieving shakes of the head to the heroes, none of them willing to believe the betrayal they were witnessing. Flanked by the Hammer's three known operatives, Moonstone and MACH-1 stood, ready for battle.
“Karla, Abe,” Hawkeye began, the words almost dying in his throat, “what are you doing here? Don't tell me you've thrown in with Hammer!”
“You've got it all wrong, Clint;” Abe replied first, “Hammer really has reformed. He got me out of jail, and you know how much convincing I would have needed to work for him again.”
”He's going to change the world for the better,” Moonstone added, “and if you're not with us...”
“Screw this!” Vantage shouted, leaping forward with her sword drawn. None of her teammates could say just why Riordan attacked first, and she would have been at a loss to explain it herself. Nevertheless, her sword was thrust forward, catching Moonstone across her shoulder as Hammer's “new” Thunderbolts went on the defensive.
“Damn it, Vantage!” Hawkeye yelled, releasing the arrow he'd nocked in his bow at Boomerang, who had taken into the air.
Moonstone also took flight, but not before swatting Dallas away with the back of her hand. “Stop them, do whatever it takes,” she ordered, taking aim on the growing form of Atlas in the back of the spreading group of heroes. With a blast of golden energy, Moonstone assaulted her former teammate, knocking his large mass off balance with the ferocity of her power.
“Been lookin' forward to this for a while, yanks,” Boomerang stated as he tossed several razorrangs at Hawkeye and the recovering Vantage, “especially after you ruined that Masters of Evil thing I was involved in.”
“Less talk, more walk, Fred,” Blacklash said to his comrade as he uncoiled his whip. Cracking it forward, he caught hold of Jolt's wrist, causing her to yell in pain and surprise. With a yank of his wrist, the whip pulled the young girl closer to him, causing her to land hard on her side against the steel floor.
“Bad move,” she said, anger rising in her usually calm demeanor, “wrapping a metal conductor around my arm with you still on the other end.” Using her own formidable power, Jolt sent a large surge of electricity through Blacklash's whip, electrocuting the villain. Unknown to her, however, was that the whip contained its own electrical shock system, and its power instantly added to hers. Blacklash screamed in agony as his whip electrocuted him, and when he fell in a crumpled heap of smoking meat, he did not get up again.
“Omigod,” Jolt said, her hands covering her gasping mouth when she realized what she'd done, “I didn't...I didn't mean to kill him.”
Seeing what had occurred, Blizzard immediately began to run toward his fallen friend. Jolt, in her compassion, also ran toward the deceased Blacklash, a move that was misinterpreted by the grief-stricken Donnie Gill. “Get away from him!” he screamed, a blast of ice erupting from the cybernetic cold-producing circuitry in his costume. Jolt went numb the moment the ice shower struck her, causing her to fly backward uncontrollably.
Elsewhere on the battlefield, Melissa Gold and Abe Jenkins flew in circles around one another, neither one wanting to strike someone they loved more than they had realized before. “Abe, you have to stop this,” Songbird pleaded, attempting to trap her former lover in a box of solid sound energy, “before somebody gets hurt.”
“All you have to do is surrender, Missy,” the man in the MACH-2 armor replied as he easily evaded her trap. Rocketing faster around the corner of the square room, he locked his targeting system on Gold...but found himself unable to fire.
“Jesus wept, Abner,” Boomerang announced as he flew behind Songbird, “if you won't take Mimi down, I guess I'll have to do it meself.”
The screamerangs left his hand and began to swirl in repetitive circles around Songbird's body. Using her sonically produced wings, Melissa climbed higher into the expanse of the room, but found that the arrows followed her evasive maneuvers.
“If she gets hurt, Meyers,” MACH-2 said to his teammate as they watched Songbird's attempt at evasion, “I'll kill you.”
“Friends to the end then, eh mate?” Boomerang remarked, winking in Abe's direction.
Below them, Moonstone hovered over the toppled Atlas, her hands pulsing with destructive energy. “You really should join us, Erik,” she stated, knowing full well that her words were falling on deaf ears, “unless you truly want to die here today.”
“You were never one of us, Karla, not really,” Josten said his position on the floor, growing even more as he spoke, “so this isn't a hard choice at all for me.”
He lunged his massive fist into the air, confident that he was strong enough to knock even the resilient Moonstone into unconsciousness. However, he had forgotten about her powers of intangibility, and his eyes widened when his fist passed harmlessly through her. Unable to halt his powerful swing, his fist continued into the air, just as the unaware Boomerang passed in front of him. The fist – easily the size of a human body – slammed into Boomerang with all of Erik's considerable strength behind it, and Fred Meyers' spine snapped like a twig.
Worse, the force of Atlas' fist sent Boomerang's body flying through the air, colliding with MACH-2's armored form. Both men, one dead and one alive, crashed into the chamber's far wall with a ferocious impact. While his armor saved his life, Abe Jenkins was unable to remain consciousness as he landed inside the wall, suspended far above the floor in the crater his body had made.
“You made me do that!” Atlas bellowed at the wraith-like Moonstone, more swings of his arms proving just as ineffectual as the first attempted strike.
“Speak no ill of your betters, Josten,” Moonstone advised as she flew in close to the giant's face. She then unleashed a powerful blast of heat and light...straight into Erik Josten's eyes. Throwing his head back, the ionic powerhouse's scream caused the building to shake with intense tremors.
“Hands up, Blizzard,” Hawkeye said, oblivious to what was occurring elsewhere in the battle, though Atlas' scream worried him, “don't do anything stupid.”
Crouched over Blacklash's body, Blizzard raised his hands into the air, knowing the archer had him dead to rights. “I give up, Hawkeye,” he said, “Now...just, stop all of this. Please...”
“I'll do what I can,” Clint muttered, taking a look to the ceiling as he lowered his bow.
The screamerangs were taking their toll on Songbird's endurance, and nothing she did seemed to shake them. Their dizzying swirls around her were keeping her from concentrating her hard sound powers in an effective way to destroy them. It was all she could do to keep from colliding with them as she maneuvered around in the air...but then she heard the scream of her friend and teammate, Atlas.
Upon hearing Josten's cry, she immediately turned toward his direction, diverting her attention from her pursers. Stopping her flight in order to change direction, the two screamerangs bore down on her, both slamming full tilt into her body, knocking her like a rag doll through the air. Though she wasn't badly hurt, Melissa immediately realized something bad had happened. The sonic carapace that allowed her to create her hard sound objects – the carapace that allowed her to fly – was sparking, the result of bearing the brunt of the boomerangs' impact.
And then it just stopped working...and the pink solid sound wings that held Songbird aloft vanished, causing her to plummet to the ground far below.
“Songbird!” Hawkeye yelled from his spot on the ground, watching his teammate fall to her death. Within moments, a net-arrow was nocked in his bow and ready to fire...which is when he heard the click of a pistol being cocked sound directly behind him.
“Fire that arrow,” Justin Hammer stated, gun held directly at the base of Hawkeye's neck, “and you die.”
Hawkeye had no intention of letting Songbird die, his own death not a concern to the hero. As he released the arrow, however, something unpredictable happened. Still kneeling a short distance away, Blizzard spun on his heels and – with a passionate cry for Hammer to stop – blasted away with his ice powers. Though successfully knocking Hammer away, causing his gun to fire into the air, Blizzard's attempt at saving Hawkeye's life also knocked the archer off balance. When the arrow was released, it flew off in an unintended direction, sealing Melissa's fate.
Songbird watched the ground fly toward her, and her last though was of Abe, and how she wished they'd had more time together.
Not allowing himself a moment to watch his friend's demise, Hawkeye rolled as he hit the ground, spinning back toward the man that had held him at gunpoint. As he turned, he released an arrow, just as Hammer leveled and again fired his pistol.
The bullet struck Hawkeye in the side, just to the left of the Kevlar armor that protected his chest and neck. As he staggered backward, he whispered two words in complete and utter disbelief.
“I...missed?”
Standing with barely a scratch on him, Justin Hammer began to laugh manically over what he had done. As he laughed, he reached down to his belt buckle and pressed a hidden button, causing his image to blur and distort. A moment later, Hammer's face was replaced by a mask that caused every standing participant of the battle to scowl in hatred.
“Foolish Avenger,” the man who had been disguised as Hammer shouted, again leveling the pistol at the wounded hero, “no man can kill Baron Zemo!”
“Zemo...” Barton coughed. “I should'a known...”
“For months I have watched you from my position as Hammer,” Zemo gloated, “and how easy it was to convince your former comrades that I was who I claimed. You have failed, Hawkeye, and now you die...”
As Zemo tensed his finger on the trigger of his gun, he felt an odd sensation...and then looked down to see the end of a sword sticking through his chest. Turning on rapidly weakening legs, the Master of Evil sneered beneath his mask at the face of Dallas Riordan. “No man may be able to kill Baron Zemo,” she spat, “but a woman seems to have done the job fairly well.”
“Nein!” Zemo shouted, mustering enough strength to raise the gun again, blasting the pistol in Vantage's face, killing her instantly.
“Karla?” Hawkeye asked as he rolled his eyes back, seeing Moonstone crouched down behind him. “He's filled your head...with lies,” he told her, “be a hero...be a...hero...”
With Hawkeye taking his last breath, Moonstone grabbed an arrow out of the dying man's quiver. Striding over to the barely standing Baron Zemo, Moonstone gripped him by the fabric of his shirt, paying no mind to the sword still lodged through his body.
“No more will die by your hands,” she said coldly, and then rammed the arrow beneath Zemo's jaw, the explosive tip obliterating the Nazi's head while barely causing her to wince. Dropping the Baron's body to the ground, Karla looked a few feet away to find the newly-conscious Jolt watching.
“Clint, Melissa, and Blacklash are dead,” Moonstone stated, “Erik is maimed, by my hand. What are we going to do, Hallie?”
Cautiously, Jolt approached Karla and placed her hand on the woman's arms. “We do what was asked,” she answered, “we're going to be heroes...”
# # # # # # # # # #
With Hawkeye, Songbird, and Atlas gone, the Thunderbolts were at their lowest ebb. It was only through the will of the surviving Moonstone and Jolt that the team pushed forward, joined by MACH-2 and Blizzard in yet another permutation of the hero team that had ended so tragically. In the end, they were true to Hawkeye's dying wish...they became heroes and were recognized as such by all. None of them could forget, however, the terrible events that forged their newfound strength and determination...nor could they forget the effect one lone archer had made on their lives.
This, of course, is but one of many realities in the multiverse. And while it is the Watcher's duty to observe, I must ask this question: with one world ending in disaster for the Thunderbolts, do they have any chance of redemption in another? Or will the sequence of events seen here play out again under different circumstances?
I, as you, must simply watch...and discover.
THE END
# # # # # # # # # #
LIGHTNING STRIKES
Before anyone judges on the quality, I must preface by saying: I've never tried writing a What If style issue before, so if it sucks...yeah, that's why. But, I think this is a pretty fair representation on how events could have played out differently in the Marvel 2000 universe had Hawkeye stayed with the Thunderbolts instead of fucking off back to the Avengers. It's up to you readers to decide on whether or not it rings true or not. As always, any and all hate/love mail can be sent to me at the below address. Keep on the watch for the upcoming Thunderbolts # 25, though, which is gonna be a doozy of an issue that has nothing to do with Hawkeye OR alternate realities (thank jeebus for that)!
Chris Munn
01/06/05
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- This story diverges from events in Marvel Fanfare # 4 and Thunderbolts # 1.