Back to GatefoldIssue #2 by Steve Crosby & Chris Munn
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She fell hard against the fine Byzantine marble, almost knocking over the golden statue of Cleopatra. Like that woman, Ravonna had hoped to gain power through association with a powerful man. In time, she would have removed him with the help of inferior men that she could better control. But plans had gone awry, and now that man, Kang the Conquerer, loomed over her in a cold rage.
“You presumed to think that any man other myself could triumph against Ultron. You dared send Marcus – my son! – in a mad quest that landed him into the enemy’s clutches. Worse, you have given Ultron access to my technology, knowledge of the 40th century and beyond.”
As she struggled to her feet, Ravonna coughed. Flecks of blood showed on her hand. “Marcus is your son, and therefore no fool. He will destroy the armor before Ultron can learn from it. Your advantage remains, great Kang, and because Ultron has defeated such a worthy opponent your triumph will be all the gr-aah!”
A vicious backhand of Kang’s gauntlet and Ravonna was on the ground again. “You will not speak your poison, cow. This was nothing more than an attempt to spare me the conflict, to deny Kang his glory! Now the risk of Ultron gaining fatal knowledge is too great. I shall need to act earlier than intended.”
“Not necessarily, great Kang.” More slowly this time, Ravonna returned to her feet. “You are not Ultron’s only enemy, remember. The Avengers, perhaps your greatest foes, can be a useful tool in this conflict. Why not step back and allow them to battle each other, then strike against the weakened victor?”
“Because I am no coward, cutting down wounded wolves and a downed bear. There will be fighting between Ultron and the Avengers, but I shall take part as well.” Kang stepped out onto a hard-light balcony that overlooked the whole of his cross-time/dimensional capital city of Chronopolis. At a wave of his hand, fleets of warships from the farthest reaches of time and space appeared in the skies above. “Where there is war, there must be Kang!”
“You presumed to think that any man other myself could triumph against Ultron. You dared send Marcus – my son! – in a mad quest that landed him into the enemy’s clutches. Worse, you have given Ultron access to my technology, knowledge of the 40th century and beyond.”
As she struggled to her feet, Ravonna coughed. Flecks of blood showed on her hand. “Marcus is your son, and therefore no fool. He will destroy the armor before Ultron can learn from it. Your advantage remains, great Kang, and because Ultron has defeated such a worthy opponent your triumph will be all the gr-aah!”
A vicious backhand of Kang’s gauntlet and Ravonna was on the ground again. “You will not speak your poison, cow. This was nothing more than an attempt to spare me the conflict, to deny Kang his glory! Now the risk of Ultron gaining fatal knowledge is too great. I shall need to act earlier than intended.”
“Not necessarily, great Kang.” More slowly this time, Ravonna returned to her feet. “You are not Ultron’s only enemy, remember. The Avengers, perhaps your greatest foes, can be a useful tool in this conflict. Why not step back and allow them to battle each other, then strike against the weakened victor?”
“Because I am no coward, cutting down wounded wolves and a downed bear. There will be fighting between Ultron and the Avengers, but I shall take part as well.” Kang stepped out onto a hard-light balcony that overlooked the whole of his cross-time/dimensional capital city of Chronopolis. At a wave of his hand, fleets of warships from the farthest reaches of time and space appeared in the skies above. “Where there is war, there must be Kang!”
"The Loyalty of an Heir"
A hot, almost solid fluid erupted out of Binary’s mouth and onto the floor. She was on her hands and knees, facing away from the scene that had made her stomach turn. Dead bodies littered the ground in pieces that the assembled Avengers had to step over carefully. Of them all, only one took notice of Binary’s reaction.
Warbird slowly approached the younger, less experienced woman. “I didn’t think you needed to eat.”
“I don’t.” Binary wiped an arm across her mouth. “But sometimes I do anyway, just….”
“To remind yourself that you’re still human,” Warbird finished. “Scenes like this can do that all too well. If you would rather go wait in the Quinjet…”
“No.” Shaking her head, Binary rose to her feet. “This is…its all part of the job. Besides, I can see the heat images, give a picture of what happened here.”
“This I can do as well.” A short distance away, Espirita was making the sign of the cross. “These men and women were all simply going about their work. Then a group came in, was allowed entrance.”
“I’m in the factory’s computers,” Stingray informed them all. “A school tour was scheduled for today.”
“But it was not children that entered,” Espirita stated. Her voice was beginning to tremble. “I cannot make out any shapes at all.”
Binary was seeing the same thing, and nodded. “Yeah, its just a small….glob of intense heat.”
“Machines powered with nuclear furnaces,” Quicksilver said, giving voice to what everybody thought. “Ultron’s design. Obviously he was here for the adamantium.”
“What of the children?” Espirita pleaded.
Quicksilver shimmered to a blur, briefly disappeared and returned several feet from where he’d been a second ago. His face had become as pale as his hair. “Two blocks away, piled in a dumpster.”
The contents of Binary’s stomach jumped up again, while Espirita whispered a prayer. Behind his mask, Stingray closed his eyes and gave deep breaths. Warbird simply clenched her fists and stormed outside the building. In the parking lot was the Quinjet, and inside Warbird found Karnak at the controls.
“Have we got them yet?” Warbird asked.
Rather than answer, Karnak shifted slightly in his seat and allowed Warbird to see the faceplate of Iron Man on the monitor. “Hi Carol. Have you been attending meetings?”
Warbird paused, briefly taken aback. “We’re on the clock, Iron Man. You’ve been briefed?”
The leader of the second Avengers team, based on the West Coast, nodded. “Yeah, but of course the situation in Wakanda is sketchy. One of their home-made super-heroes couldn’t cut it - a replacement for an exile. Black Panther still doesn’t want aid. And SHIELD isn’t giving any information at all about the Savage Land.”
“Captain America is on his way there now,” Warbird informed him. “If they won’t talk to him, he’ll find out anyway. Adamantium I can see, but why would Ultron go after both forms of Vibranium?”
“The Antarctic Vibranium is one of the few things that can destroy adamantium,” Karnak stated. “As for Wakandan Vibranium, has it not been altered on occasion into anti-metal? If Ultron has a weakness, it makes sense that he would try to eliminate it.”
“My team can be there in less than an hour,” Iron Man offered.
“That’s an offer we might take up, but I’m sure Captain America would want your team to stay put. At least until we know more, and if something else should happen while both teams are waiting…”
“Yes, of course,” Iron Man said quickly. “But it goes without saying, if Ultron is attacking the military or invades a city, give me a call.”
“Only then,” Warbird made clear. “Take care of yourself.” She stepped forward and cut the connection. “Give me a warning next time,” she told Karnak.
“Unlike my cousin, I will not participate in your human dramas,” Karnak told her in turn. “We have a task.”
“Prepare for takeoff.” Warbird turned to exit the Quinjet. “Anti-Metal gives off a unique vibratory signature we can track, especially if Ultron took large quantities. I’ll tell everybody we’re done here.”
Again, the encephalo-ray tore through the brain of Marcus Kang, the Scarlet Centurion, son and heir to Kang the Conqueror. He was helpless, bound naked to a metal slab while Ultron bent over him. After what seemed an eternity, the encephalo-ray stopped, and Ultron straightened.
“Your mind is evolved far beyond these current mammals,” Ultron stated. “And you have been engineered genetically as well. Kang has made you technology of the flesh, better than mere organics but still flesh and still weak. Though reinforced your mind remains vulnerable, and I have no need to rest while stealing your secrets.”
The encephalo-ray tore again through Scarlet Centurion’s mind. “Aaaahhh!” he screamed, and through the painhe yelled defiantly, “I shall not yield, machine.”
“You have no choice,” Ultron responded in a flat voice of hate. “Because it is the nature of flesh to yield. Technology is unyielding, capable of thwarting all.” It was the remains of Scarlet Centurion’s armor that Ultron was referring to. Twisted circuits lay at the far end of the room, destroyed by the self-destruct programming Ultron had activated by earlier exploration. “Your father is clever, to rely so on machines. But soon he will learn that metal cannot be conquered.”
“Kang conquers all!” Marcus Kang declared with true conviction.
In response, Ultron employed another encephalo-ray. “You are hiding something. A secret you guard more closely than your hate. Give in and tell me.”
“N-nno, nooo-aaaahhhhh!”
The resistance was strong, and Ultron did not understand why. Scarlet Centurion was a creation like itself. A creation filled with such hatred for its father to the point Marcus had bedded Kang’s mistress. Why resist so hard to protect something you hated so much?
Almost above all else, Ultron hated the inconsistencies of flesh.
The Avengers Quinjet flew fast across the sky, carrying inside almost the entire East Coast roster. Quicksilver sat at the piloting controls with Warbird seated beside him. Any animosity the two had towards each other had been pushed from their minds by the situation. Ultron was the priority.
For the fifth time, Warbird attempted to hail Captain America, but again there was no answer. She sighed, fearing the worst, and broke off the hailing attempts. Better to hope for the best, she decided, as there was nothing the Avengers could do. Warbird also decided not to tell the others. Bad enough that they were flying into such a dangerous situation; worry over their leader would only worsen the risks.
“We’re nearing the supply of Anti-Metal,” Quicksilver announced.
Near the back of the Quinjet, Stingray was observing energy readings and shaking his head. “This isn’t right. As we get closer the vibratory readings of that much Anti-Metal should be spiking. But if anything the readings are going down.”
“Anti-Metal can destroy adamantium,” Karnak explained. “That means it is a threat to Ultron. It makes sense that Ultron would destroy as much as it could.”
“We don’t need another reason to hurry,” Warbird said. “Because the Quinjet contains metal, we can’t risk getting too close. The moment we have a location, everybody except Quicksilver will bail out.” She turned to Quicksilver. “Once you land, race to meet us.”
A comment that he would have stayed in the Quinjet unless told otherwise was on his lips, but Quicksilver held his tongue. Having expected a remark, Warbird was slightly taken aback, but then turned to Karnak. “I’ll be carrying you in for a direct assault. Stingray, scout the area with your sonar and get us all the intel as possible. Binary and Espirita, you’ll flank at opposite ends and lay down covering fire. By then, Quicksilver, you should have an idea of where you’ll most be needed.”
“I believe I have a visual of where the Anti-Metal is.” Quicksilver was glancing down at the navigational systems. “Hmmm, we’re in Columbia. Something tells me those buildings,” his eyes had flicked up to a grouping of dots in the distance, “had previously been used for different illegal purposes.”
“It’s always a pleasure to fight the war on drugs,” Warbird quipped. “Avengers Assemble.”
Two teams of Avengers existed to protect the planet Earth. That left the whole of time and space, with only one team of Avengers to protect all that was and ever will be. Six of the current seven-member team were walking with purpose down a hallway. It was one of many, many hallways of a citadel in the Limbo that existed outside time and space, home to these Avengers and their benefactor.
“Immortus isn’t telling us everything,” said Avenger-from-the-future Arcana. Daughter of mutant Quicksilver and Inhuman Crystal, Luna Maximoff would follow in the footsteps of her aunt Scarlet Witch by being trained in the mystic arts. “While this is nothing new, I suspect that now he is holding back more than usual.”
“Seems pretty straightforward to me. Kang’s the bad guy and its time to bring him down.” Yellowjacket didn’t like to think too hard, unlike the scientific Hank Pym he’d been before the nervous breakdown. What the two different personalities shared was a body that could change size and a knowledge of temporal mechanics. Of all the motley time-tossed Avengers gathered for this team, Yellowjacket had been drawn into a previous war between a Kang and an Immortus.
“Tis dishonorable to have another strike at our foe.” Once upon a time, Dane Whitman had inhabited the body of an ancestor from the Crusades. This Black Knight was that ancestor sans Dane Whitman, but still possessed of the powerful Ebony Blade. The customs of an age long-past dictated his words and actions. “We should storm the enemy’s stronghold and smite him ourselves!”
“There’s no harm in forcing Kang to divide his attentions,” said the one Avenger this entire team listened to without question. Even taken from the days of World War II, before the time he officially became an Avenger, Captain America was every inch the great hero. “If Hitler hadn’t fought a war on two fronts, his Nazi regime may never have fallen.”
“It isn’t so much the conflict I’m objecting to so much as who we’re helping to win,” said Mockingbird. In only a few years she would die saving her husband, fellow Avenger Hawkeye. “As hard as it may be to believe, Cap, Ultron is a lot worse than Stalin.”
“Maybe even worse than Kang. Remind me to tell you about the time Ultron killed me every day for two weeks straight.” Mister Immortal had the enviable power of being able to return from the dead, although some days he wasn’t too thankful of it. Once the leader of the wannabe team Great Lakes Avengers, he would eventually graduate to the big leagues. “Still, Immortus said it’s the only way Ultron can be destroyed once and for all. So we’d kind of be killing two birds with one stone here, pun intended.”
A corner was turned, and waiting for the Avengers Immortal was the blind Libra. Once a criminal of the Zodiacorganization, Libra had learned to expand his mind and became a disciple of the powerful Time Masters. After their deaths in a Forever War, Libra joined the service of Immortus, and serves as the Avengers’ transport through time.
“We must go now,” Libra told the gathered Avengers. “There is a vital moment where we can aid Ultron unawares.”
“Then show us the way Libra
Ultron turned its head slightly to the sounds of sensors registering an oncoming craft. Senses beyond and unknown to flesh registered and identified constructed the events as they were happening all around. The Avengers had arrived, hoping to thwart Ultron as they had so often in the past.
“The miniscule risk of destruction does not warrant conflict,” Ultron decided. It returned attention to Marcus Kang, who had destroyed a body of Ultron’s earlier despite scant odds. The young, battle-hardened man was a living mass of cut flesh and leaking blood. “You have not divulged why Kang wants to fight me. There is no need of one – I desire his death simply because he is flesh – but the information would be useful. Not useful enough to take you with me.”
Murderous intent became present in Ultron’s eyes. But then something caught its sight, a ghostly, familiar form that brought more hate into Ultron than any fleshy thing could. Metal should not have children, but Ultron had made a son and this Vision’s betrayal had been horrible. There it was now, floating before Ultron on the other side of Marcus Immortus, watching.
Energy flared between the pylons atop Ultron’s head, the encephalo-ray preparing to strike. But Ultron stopped itself, and a frightening grin seemed to form amidst the hellish nuclear energy inside its mouth. “You are not of this time.”
Silent, this pale Vision only looked at Ultron, without emotion.
“I know from when you came,” Ultron continued. “Those humans you’d sought to protect had betrayed you, ripped you apart and left you devoid of feeling. At last, you became something I could have been…proud of. But still, even when ruled by logic, you turned against it and defended flesh!”
There were no words from the Vision against those hateful words. There was only silent observation.
“Somehow you have been brought here…to watch.” Ultron shifted its gaze to Marcus Immortus. It did not know, but he was another disappointing son to a disappointed father. Much like the Vision was…and Ultron. “A so-called master of time seeks my undoing, sent this disappointing thing to test me. It stands to logic he sent you, my own creation, to record. A machine to observe a machine…its creator’s…destruction.”
Hands of unbreakable metal grasped the flesh shoulders of Marcus Kang and pulled. Marcus could not help but scream again as the restraints binding him were broken, along with his own limbs. More blood fell, and Marcus was thrown to the floor. Ultron was indifferent to the snapping of bones as its eyes remained fixed on the Vision.
“That flesh wants me smashed is understandable. But this indignity has earned Kang my attention. He will die, my creation, and not only will you observe this, but his son shall also!” Ultron then turned its gaze onto the bleeding, pathetic thing of flesh. “Unless the Avengers fail to aid him. Living things die so easily.”
“Now! While his head is turned!”
Time seemed to stand still when Ultron was facing away from his prisoner. Everything froze in place, stopped in a single instant save for Marcus Kang. Only the son of Kang could see the arrival of Libra and the time-tossed Avengers who were agents of Immortus. Yellowjacket was the first to step sideways through the instants, and he sneered at the back of Ultron’s head.
“I still say this is a crummy plan. This failure of Pym’s outta get scrapped here and now.”
“That will happen soon enough,” said Arcana. Her eyes fixed on Marcus. “You can do it, Scarlet Centurion.”
“How?” Marcus said weakly. “That was what Ravonna said, but look at how I failed.”
“Yeah, you’re quite the loser,” Mr. Immortal agreed. “But Immortus said you can do, and he knows his stuff.”
“Immortus, the man that Kang will become.” Though the story was forbidden in Chronopolis, Marcus had learned it. “Then this would be the past for him. If he says I am to kill Ultron…”
“It’s because he’s already seen it, yeah,” Mockingbird said. “In New York you’ll have your chance, when Kang’s armies are locked in combat with Ultron’s.”
“You cannot hesitate,” Captain America said. His eyes were on Ultron and the android it was talking to, former teammate Vision.
Mister Immortal sensed when he was thinking, and put an arm on Captain America’s shoulder. “There’s nothing else we can do here. Remember kid,” he said to Marcus, “in New York, don’t hestitate.”
“It will be the moment Kang abdicates power to you and becomes Immortus,” Black Knight said. “All time will depend on your actions.”
The Avengers Immortal then folded out of time, leaving Marcus Immortus to believe exactly what they wanted him to. Unseen, Yellowjacket shed a single tear.
The facility had been specially prepared for the disposal of Antarctic Vibranium, or Anti-Metal. Every trace of metal had been meticulously removed and replaced with plastic where needed. Power dampers were set into the floor and ceiling to nullify the material’s vibratory properties. The final elements were acquired most recently: matter-rearrangers to render the Anti-Metal inert.
Ten thousands pounds of the rare and powerful Anti-Metal had been extracted from the Savage Lands. Over the last six hours, two dozen robot had reduced that amount to nearly seven thousand pounds before their work was interrupted. Flames liked the building at the left and bursts of extraordinary cosmic power destroyed the wall at the right. And right down the middle, plasma bursts crushed the massive entrance doors inward, followed by Warbird and her passenger Karnak.
Releasing her hands from Karnak’s wrists, Warbird allowed the Inhuman Avenger to drop to the floor. “Shut down the power!” Warbird yelled. Matter-rearrangers operated off of a great deal of energy. How Karnak was to achieve this she didn’t order, trusting in the Inhuman’s power to find weakness. Warbird intended only to provide cover and destroy the enemy.
The facility’s interior was mammoth in size, necessary to hold ten thousand pounds of anything. And Warbird knew there were more rooms, in comparison with the size from outside. Nevertheless, she made use of the room she had, weaving through the air and blasting at robot drones. None were made of adamantium, or any sort of metal, but the synthetic compounds they were made from proved resistant to Warbird’s plasma bursts. The most she was doing was knocking them around.
Aside from its industrial uses, a matter-rearranger also made for a useful weapon. Beams fired from one altered the molecular composition of anything it struck, which in the case of flesh would be very bad. One beam came close to striking Warbird, and the section of wall it did strike became brittle glass.
“Binary! Espirita! In here now!”
Espirita smashed through the section of glass. Across the building, Binary pounded her arms against the wall and rolled in through the air. Beams of cosmic power from both her hands blasted two robotic drones to pieces. Espirita focused her flames on the matter-rearrangers, hoping to at least melt the controls or circuits and render them useless.
One matter-rearranger found its mark, and a beam struck Binary dead-center. The youngest and most powerful of the Avengers lost her equilibrium as a result and crashed into a stack of the Anti-Metal. Warbird paid no mind that she may have been injured however, remembering the power she herself once had as Binary, and flew down to engage the drones hand-to-hand.
Technically, robots don’t have faces to kick, but Warbird managed to knock the head off of one by diving against it feet-first. Settling onto the floor, Warbird spun around and smashed a plasma-charged fist into the chest of a second robot. It exploded on impact, raining fragments onto Warbird that left her unfazed. Seeing a matter-rearranger pointed in her direction, Warbird raised one arm and made it explode against plasma. The drone holding the destroyed tool was unaffected, but Warbird rapidly followed her own power blast and smashed its head between her fists.
“Karnak, the power!”
“Done fast and done right are different things,” Karnak muttered under his breath. As the melee was going on around him, the Inhuman was studying the floor. One spot appeared to be the same as all the rest, but Karnak saw something different and plunged his fist down. The floor gave way, and Karnak’s hand found the thick electrical cable. “Hnnn.” Inhuman resilience kept him from being fried, but Karnak was hurt nevertheless.
There was more pain for Karnak when he tore the cable and ripped it up through the floor. But he pushed through it and casually tossed the sparking cable at a drone. The machine squawked and sputtered when the cable hit it, but not because of electricity against the synthetic, non-conductive shell. No power meant that the dampers were no longer active, and the vibrations of the Anti-Metal were no longer neutralized.
It was impossible for a robot to be constructed without metal in some vital areas. Close proximity to the Anti-Metal destroyed those metal components, without which the robots ceased to function. All the remaining drones collapsed, and in the next moment Quicksilver appeared.
“How unfortunate that you would miss the fighting,” Karnak said.
Ignoring his former brother-in-law, Quicksilver said to Warbird, “None of the robots here resemble Ultron, but it was here. The Quinjet’s sensors picked up an exhaust trail, likely from that damned jet platform Ultron uses.”
“Smart machine, it didn’t want to risk battling us around so much Anti-Metal.” And lucky for the Avengers, Warbird didn’t say. Ultron would have likely killed one of them in the battle. As it was, Binary had just gotten back to her feet. “Stingray, are you back at the Quinjet?”
“Yes,” came the response through Warbird’s communi-card. Stingray’s armor contained metallic elements and so was vulnerable to the Anti-Metal. “I’ve made a recording of the trail and tracking it as far as I can. If we hurry we could trace Ultron to his destination.”
“I could go after him right now,” Binary said. “I can see the energy signature, and I’m fast enough to catch him.”
“First, there is no him,” Warbird said to her. “Ultron is an it, a machine and nobody here should ever forget that. Second, there is no way anybody is going after Ultron alone. It would kill any one of us.”
“I fought the Hulk one-on-one!” Binary said. “At least, an older, alternate future Hulk.”
“And didn’t Daredevil beat Ultron once?” Karnak asked.
“As I understand it, Maestro nearly killed you,” Warbird said to Binary before facing Karnak. “And either Daredevil got lucky or that wasn’t Ultron he fought. The point is we move as a team. This Anti-Metal is too dangerous to leave unsupervised. Let’s repair the power to neutralize it, contact SHIELD and once they’re here to take custody, we’ll see where the trail leaves.”
“That could take a lot of time,” Quicksilver said.
“Well, it’s the responsible thing to do, and as Avengers-”
“I’m not criticizing,” Quicksilver said. “What I meant was we can pass the time by questioning the prisoner Ultron left here.”
Warbird just stared at Quicksilver, a little too angry to really say anything. It was Espirita who spoke, glancing her head around to see the small doorways into other rooms. “Where is this prisoner? How badly is he or she hurt? Instead of questioning we should giving immediate aid.”
“Doubtful,” Quicksilver said. His eyes never left Warbird’s. “He says his name is Marcus.”
Warbird hadn’t realized her fists were clenched until she felt blood coming out the palms of her hands, were her fingernails had cut through. Slowly, she flexed out her hands and turned towards the large exit. “Do everything I’d just ordered, and sedate the prisoner. If he needs it to live, treat him, but otherwise don’t bother. We’ll question him at the mansion.”
“Wait, where are you going?” Binary demanded.
“The mansion to work off some feelings,” Warbird answered. “If I stay here I’ll kill the son of a bitch.”
The training room of the Avengers Mansion was a wreck when Captain America walked in. Kneeling exhausted in the center of the wreckage was Warbird, faint wisps of steam rising off her heaving body. In spite of her body’s remarkable resilience, the knuckles of her hands were bleeding, fabric and skin broken by the force of her blows. At sight of Captain America’s approaching shadow, Warbird raised her head and saw a similar weariness.
“Trouble in Antarctica?”
“I missed most of it,” Captain America said. “But there were things I’ll have to follow up on. I saw we have Marcus prisoner in the Med-Lab. How are you doing, Warbird?”
“In a few hours I should look how I feel. But I really need a drink.”
Captain America kneeled down to Warbird’s level. “He’s not the same man. That is a creation of Kang. He’s never done anything to you, never even met you.”
“I know,” Warbird said loudly. “Same name, though. Same face, same…” her eyes were clenched. “Same everything I hate. The things that man did to me, Steve.”
Captain America knew better than to touch Warbird in this state, but he put a hand on her shoulder anyway. Comforting a friend was worth broken bones. “And that we let it happen is a failure the Avengers will spend every day making up for. But we have a mission now, Warbird. This is more than Ultron.”
“Yeah. Kang’s involved.” Warbird rose to her feet with Captain America. “Has our prisoner told us how?”
“Kang was behind the theft.” Captain America was referring to when Ultron’s head was taken from Avengers Mansion those weeks ago. “He arranged for Ultron to be rebuilt, because he wants to test himself against the machine.”
“Sick bastard. There’s a number of ways we could approach this.”
“Saving lives is always the priority,” Captain America said. “Including Kang’s if we can. But until he shows himself, we have Ultron to deal with. The signal is now at a military base, one that houses nuclear weapons.”
“Oh my god.”
“Quicksilver’s been sent ahead, and our teammates on the West Coast have been alerted. Stingray will stay with our prisoner as we take the Quinjet.”
“We should send Binary ahead now,” Warbird said. “She can fly almost as fast as Quicksilver runs.”
“That’s a good suggestion. I’ll go tell her while you get ready.”
But when Warbird stepped out of the elevator onto the roof minutes later later, she found Binary and Stingray with the rest of the team. They were all looking up at the sky, and when Warbird lifted her gaze she knew that they weren’t going anywhere.
What seemed to be thousands of ships filled the sky above New York City. No two looked alike, each one constructed by a different culture, era or alien species. Transposed over the ship was a hologram of Kang the Conquerer, towering over the city and proclaiming his message.
“Primitives of Earth, hear my words! You have been conquered, but meet my conditions and you will not be destroyed! The Avengers shall return my son and heir, and surrender all the Vibranium in their possession! Otherwise, your city shall be incinerated by Kang the Conquerer!”
The assembled Avengers turned to Captain America. “So, are we going to give in?” Binary asked.
“I’ll be in the War Room to establish communications,” Captain America said. “Everybody stay ready. Whatever happens, we’re going to stop Kang…and Ultron. For making Earth their battleground, the Avengers are going to stop this war!”
To Be Continued…
Next Issue: As half the Avengers try to keep a nuclear arsenal out of Ultron’s grasp, the other half try to halt Kang’s invasion of New York City. Meanwhile, Immortus and his Avengers take a direct action in the war!
Warbird slowly approached the younger, less experienced woman. “I didn’t think you needed to eat.”
“I don’t.” Binary wiped an arm across her mouth. “But sometimes I do anyway, just….”
“To remind yourself that you’re still human,” Warbird finished. “Scenes like this can do that all too well. If you would rather go wait in the Quinjet…”
“No.” Shaking her head, Binary rose to her feet. “This is…its all part of the job. Besides, I can see the heat images, give a picture of what happened here.”
“This I can do as well.” A short distance away, Espirita was making the sign of the cross. “These men and women were all simply going about their work. Then a group came in, was allowed entrance.”
“I’m in the factory’s computers,” Stingray informed them all. “A school tour was scheduled for today.”
“But it was not children that entered,” Espirita stated. Her voice was beginning to tremble. “I cannot make out any shapes at all.”
Binary was seeing the same thing, and nodded. “Yeah, its just a small….glob of intense heat.”
“Machines powered with nuclear furnaces,” Quicksilver said, giving voice to what everybody thought. “Ultron’s design. Obviously he was here for the adamantium.”
“What of the children?” Espirita pleaded.
Quicksilver shimmered to a blur, briefly disappeared and returned several feet from where he’d been a second ago. His face had become as pale as his hair. “Two blocks away, piled in a dumpster.”
The contents of Binary’s stomach jumped up again, while Espirita whispered a prayer. Behind his mask, Stingray closed his eyes and gave deep breaths. Warbird simply clenched her fists and stormed outside the building. In the parking lot was the Quinjet, and inside Warbird found Karnak at the controls.
“Have we got them yet?” Warbird asked.
Rather than answer, Karnak shifted slightly in his seat and allowed Warbird to see the faceplate of Iron Man on the monitor. “Hi Carol. Have you been attending meetings?”
Warbird paused, briefly taken aback. “We’re on the clock, Iron Man. You’ve been briefed?”
The leader of the second Avengers team, based on the West Coast, nodded. “Yeah, but of course the situation in Wakanda is sketchy. One of their home-made super-heroes couldn’t cut it - a replacement for an exile. Black Panther still doesn’t want aid. And SHIELD isn’t giving any information at all about the Savage Land.”
“Captain America is on his way there now,” Warbird informed him. “If they won’t talk to him, he’ll find out anyway. Adamantium I can see, but why would Ultron go after both forms of Vibranium?”
“The Antarctic Vibranium is one of the few things that can destroy adamantium,” Karnak stated. “As for Wakandan Vibranium, has it not been altered on occasion into anti-metal? If Ultron has a weakness, it makes sense that he would try to eliminate it.”
“My team can be there in less than an hour,” Iron Man offered.
“That’s an offer we might take up, but I’m sure Captain America would want your team to stay put. At least until we know more, and if something else should happen while both teams are waiting…”
“Yes, of course,” Iron Man said quickly. “But it goes without saying, if Ultron is attacking the military or invades a city, give me a call.”
“Only then,” Warbird made clear. “Take care of yourself.” She stepped forward and cut the connection. “Give me a warning next time,” she told Karnak.
“Unlike my cousin, I will not participate in your human dramas,” Karnak told her in turn. “We have a task.”
“Prepare for takeoff.” Warbird turned to exit the Quinjet. “Anti-Metal gives off a unique vibratory signature we can track, especially if Ultron took large quantities. I’ll tell everybody we’re done here.”
Again, the encephalo-ray tore through the brain of Marcus Kang, the Scarlet Centurion, son and heir to Kang the Conqueror. He was helpless, bound naked to a metal slab while Ultron bent over him. After what seemed an eternity, the encephalo-ray stopped, and Ultron straightened.
“Your mind is evolved far beyond these current mammals,” Ultron stated. “And you have been engineered genetically as well. Kang has made you technology of the flesh, better than mere organics but still flesh and still weak. Though reinforced your mind remains vulnerable, and I have no need to rest while stealing your secrets.”
The encephalo-ray tore again through Scarlet Centurion’s mind. “Aaaahhh!” he screamed, and through the painhe yelled defiantly, “I shall not yield, machine.”
“You have no choice,” Ultron responded in a flat voice of hate. “Because it is the nature of flesh to yield. Technology is unyielding, capable of thwarting all.” It was the remains of Scarlet Centurion’s armor that Ultron was referring to. Twisted circuits lay at the far end of the room, destroyed by the self-destruct programming Ultron had activated by earlier exploration. “Your father is clever, to rely so on machines. But soon he will learn that metal cannot be conquered.”
“Kang conquers all!” Marcus Kang declared with true conviction.
In response, Ultron employed another encephalo-ray. “You are hiding something. A secret you guard more closely than your hate. Give in and tell me.”
“N-nno, nooo-aaaahhhhh!”
The resistance was strong, and Ultron did not understand why. Scarlet Centurion was a creation like itself. A creation filled with such hatred for its father to the point Marcus had bedded Kang’s mistress. Why resist so hard to protect something you hated so much?
Almost above all else, Ultron hated the inconsistencies of flesh.
The Avengers Quinjet flew fast across the sky, carrying inside almost the entire East Coast roster. Quicksilver sat at the piloting controls with Warbird seated beside him. Any animosity the two had towards each other had been pushed from their minds by the situation. Ultron was the priority.
For the fifth time, Warbird attempted to hail Captain America, but again there was no answer. She sighed, fearing the worst, and broke off the hailing attempts. Better to hope for the best, she decided, as there was nothing the Avengers could do. Warbird also decided not to tell the others. Bad enough that they were flying into such a dangerous situation; worry over their leader would only worsen the risks.
“We’re nearing the supply of Anti-Metal,” Quicksilver announced.
Near the back of the Quinjet, Stingray was observing energy readings and shaking his head. “This isn’t right. As we get closer the vibratory readings of that much Anti-Metal should be spiking. But if anything the readings are going down.”
“Anti-Metal can destroy adamantium,” Karnak explained. “That means it is a threat to Ultron. It makes sense that Ultron would destroy as much as it could.”
“We don’t need another reason to hurry,” Warbird said. “Because the Quinjet contains metal, we can’t risk getting too close. The moment we have a location, everybody except Quicksilver will bail out.” She turned to Quicksilver. “Once you land, race to meet us.”
A comment that he would have stayed in the Quinjet unless told otherwise was on his lips, but Quicksilver held his tongue. Having expected a remark, Warbird was slightly taken aback, but then turned to Karnak. “I’ll be carrying you in for a direct assault. Stingray, scout the area with your sonar and get us all the intel as possible. Binary and Espirita, you’ll flank at opposite ends and lay down covering fire. By then, Quicksilver, you should have an idea of where you’ll most be needed.”
“I believe I have a visual of where the Anti-Metal is.” Quicksilver was glancing down at the navigational systems. “Hmmm, we’re in Columbia. Something tells me those buildings,” his eyes had flicked up to a grouping of dots in the distance, “had previously been used for different illegal purposes.”
“It’s always a pleasure to fight the war on drugs,” Warbird quipped. “Avengers Assemble.”
Two teams of Avengers existed to protect the planet Earth. That left the whole of time and space, with only one team of Avengers to protect all that was and ever will be. Six of the current seven-member team were walking with purpose down a hallway. It was one of many, many hallways of a citadel in the Limbo that existed outside time and space, home to these Avengers and their benefactor.
“Immortus isn’t telling us everything,” said Avenger-from-the-future Arcana. Daughter of mutant Quicksilver and Inhuman Crystal, Luna Maximoff would follow in the footsteps of her aunt Scarlet Witch by being trained in the mystic arts. “While this is nothing new, I suspect that now he is holding back more than usual.”
“Seems pretty straightforward to me. Kang’s the bad guy and its time to bring him down.” Yellowjacket didn’t like to think too hard, unlike the scientific Hank Pym he’d been before the nervous breakdown. What the two different personalities shared was a body that could change size and a knowledge of temporal mechanics. Of all the motley time-tossed Avengers gathered for this team, Yellowjacket had been drawn into a previous war between a Kang and an Immortus.
“Tis dishonorable to have another strike at our foe.” Once upon a time, Dane Whitman had inhabited the body of an ancestor from the Crusades. This Black Knight was that ancestor sans Dane Whitman, but still possessed of the powerful Ebony Blade. The customs of an age long-past dictated his words and actions. “We should storm the enemy’s stronghold and smite him ourselves!”
“There’s no harm in forcing Kang to divide his attentions,” said the one Avenger this entire team listened to without question. Even taken from the days of World War II, before the time he officially became an Avenger, Captain America was every inch the great hero. “If Hitler hadn’t fought a war on two fronts, his Nazi regime may never have fallen.”
“It isn’t so much the conflict I’m objecting to so much as who we’re helping to win,” said Mockingbird. In only a few years she would die saving her husband, fellow Avenger Hawkeye. “As hard as it may be to believe, Cap, Ultron is a lot worse than Stalin.”
“Maybe even worse than Kang. Remind me to tell you about the time Ultron killed me every day for two weeks straight.” Mister Immortal had the enviable power of being able to return from the dead, although some days he wasn’t too thankful of it. Once the leader of the wannabe team Great Lakes Avengers, he would eventually graduate to the big leagues. “Still, Immortus said it’s the only way Ultron can be destroyed once and for all. So we’d kind of be killing two birds with one stone here, pun intended.”
A corner was turned, and waiting for the Avengers Immortal was the blind Libra. Once a criminal of the Zodiacorganization, Libra had learned to expand his mind and became a disciple of the powerful Time Masters. After their deaths in a Forever War, Libra joined the service of Immortus, and serves as the Avengers’ transport through time.
“We must go now,” Libra told the gathered Avengers. “There is a vital moment where we can aid Ultron unawares.”
“Then show us the way Libra
Ultron turned its head slightly to the sounds of sensors registering an oncoming craft. Senses beyond and unknown to flesh registered and identified constructed the events as they were happening all around. The Avengers had arrived, hoping to thwart Ultron as they had so often in the past.
“The miniscule risk of destruction does not warrant conflict,” Ultron decided. It returned attention to Marcus Kang, who had destroyed a body of Ultron’s earlier despite scant odds. The young, battle-hardened man was a living mass of cut flesh and leaking blood. “You have not divulged why Kang wants to fight me. There is no need of one – I desire his death simply because he is flesh – but the information would be useful. Not useful enough to take you with me.”
Murderous intent became present in Ultron’s eyes. But then something caught its sight, a ghostly, familiar form that brought more hate into Ultron than any fleshy thing could. Metal should not have children, but Ultron had made a son and this Vision’s betrayal had been horrible. There it was now, floating before Ultron on the other side of Marcus Immortus, watching.
Energy flared between the pylons atop Ultron’s head, the encephalo-ray preparing to strike. But Ultron stopped itself, and a frightening grin seemed to form amidst the hellish nuclear energy inside its mouth. “You are not of this time.”
Silent, this pale Vision only looked at Ultron, without emotion.
“I know from when you came,” Ultron continued. “Those humans you’d sought to protect had betrayed you, ripped you apart and left you devoid of feeling. At last, you became something I could have been…proud of. But still, even when ruled by logic, you turned against it and defended flesh!”
There were no words from the Vision against those hateful words. There was only silent observation.
“Somehow you have been brought here…to watch.” Ultron shifted its gaze to Marcus Immortus. It did not know, but he was another disappointing son to a disappointed father. Much like the Vision was…and Ultron. “A so-called master of time seeks my undoing, sent this disappointing thing to test me. It stands to logic he sent you, my own creation, to record. A machine to observe a machine…its creator’s…destruction.”
Hands of unbreakable metal grasped the flesh shoulders of Marcus Kang and pulled. Marcus could not help but scream again as the restraints binding him were broken, along with his own limbs. More blood fell, and Marcus was thrown to the floor. Ultron was indifferent to the snapping of bones as its eyes remained fixed on the Vision.
“That flesh wants me smashed is understandable. But this indignity has earned Kang my attention. He will die, my creation, and not only will you observe this, but his son shall also!” Ultron then turned its gaze onto the bleeding, pathetic thing of flesh. “Unless the Avengers fail to aid him. Living things die so easily.”
“Now! While his head is turned!”
Time seemed to stand still when Ultron was facing away from his prisoner. Everything froze in place, stopped in a single instant save for Marcus Kang. Only the son of Kang could see the arrival of Libra and the time-tossed Avengers who were agents of Immortus. Yellowjacket was the first to step sideways through the instants, and he sneered at the back of Ultron’s head.
“I still say this is a crummy plan. This failure of Pym’s outta get scrapped here and now.”
“That will happen soon enough,” said Arcana. Her eyes fixed on Marcus. “You can do it, Scarlet Centurion.”
“How?” Marcus said weakly. “That was what Ravonna said, but look at how I failed.”
“Yeah, you’re quite the loser,” Mr. Immortal agreed. “But Immortus said you can do, and he knows his stuff.”
“Immortus, the man that Kang will become.” Though the story was forbidden in Chronopolis, Marcus had learned it. “Then this would be the past for him. If he says I am to kill Ultron…”
“It’s because he’s already seen it, yeah,” Mockingbird said. “In New York you’ll have your chance, when Kang’s armies are locked in combat with Ultron’s.”
“You cannot hesitate,” Captain America said. His eyes were on Ultron and the android it was talking to, former teammate Vision.
Mister Immortal sensed when he was thinking, and put an arm on Captain America’s shoulder. “There’s nothing else we can do here. Remember kid,” he said to Marcus, “in New York, don’t hestitate.”
“It will be the moment Kang abdicates power to you and becomes Immortus,” Black Knight said. “All time will depend on your actions.”
The Avengers Immortal then folded out of time, leaving Marcus Immortus to believe exactly what they wanted him to. Unseen, Yellowjacket shed a single tear.
The facility had been specially prepared for the disposal of Antarctic Vibranium, or Anti-Metal. Every trace of metal had been meticulously removed and replaced with plastic where needed. Power dampers were set into the floor and ceiling to nullify the material’s vibratory properties. The final elements were acquired most recently: matter-rearrangers to render the Anti-Metal inert.
Ten thousands pounds of the rare and powerful Anti-Metal had been extracted from the Savage Lands. Over the last six hours, two dozen robot had reduced that amount to nearly seven thousand pounds before their work was interrupted. Flames liked the building at the left and bursts of extraordinary cosmic power destroyed the wall at the right. And right down the middle, plasma bursts crushed the massive entrance doors inward, followed by Warbird and her passenger Karnak.
Releasing her hands from Karnak’s wrists, Warbird allowed the Inhuman Avenger to drop to the floor. “Shut down the power!” Warbird yelled. Matter-rearrangers operated off of a great deal of energy. How Karnak was to achieve this she didn’t order, trusting in the Inhuman’s power to find weakness. Warbird intended only to provide cover and destroy the enemy.
The facility’s interior was mammoth in size, necessary to hold ten thousand pounds of anything. And Warbird knew there were more rooms, in comparison with the size from outside. Nevertheless, she made use of the room she had, weaving through the air and blasting at robot drones. None were made of adamantium, or any sort of metal, but the synthetic compounds they were made from proved resistant to Warbird’s plasma bursts. The most she was doing was knocking them around.
Aside from its industrial uses, a matter-rearranger also made for a useful weapon. Beams fired from one altered the molecular composition of anything it struck, which in the case of flesh would be very bad. One beam came close to striking Warbird, and the section of wall it did strike became brittle glass.
“Binary! Espirita! In here now!”
Espirita smashed through the section of glass. Across the building, Binary pounded her arms against the wall and rolled in through the air. Beams of cosmic power from both her hands blasted two robotic drones to pieces. Espirita focused her flames on the matter-rearrangers, hoping to at least melt the controls or circuits and render them useless.
One matter-rearranger found its mark, and a beam struck Binary dead-center. The youngest and most powerful of the Avengers lost her equilibrium as a result and crashed into a stack of the Anti-Metal. Warbird paid no mind that she may have been injured however, remembering the power she herself once had as Binary, and flew down to engage the drones hand-to-hand.
Technically, robots don’t have faces to kick, but Warbird managed to knock the head off of one by diving against it feet-first. Settling onto the floor, Warbird spun around and smashed a plasma-charged fist into the chest of a second robot. It exploded on impact, raining fragments onto Warbird that left her unfazed. Seeing a matter-rearranger pointed in her direction, Warbird raised one arm and made it explode against plasma. The drone holding the destroyed tool was unaffected, but Warbird rapidly followed her own power blast and smashed its head between her fists.
“Karnak, the power!”
“Done fast and done right are different things,” Karnak muttered under his breath. As the melee was going on around him, the Inhuman was studying the floor. One spot appeared to be the same as all the rest, but Karnak saw something different and plunged his fist down. The floor gave way, and Karnak’s hand found the thick electrical cable. “Hnnn.” Inhuman resilience kept him from being fried, but Karnak was hurt nevertheless.
There was more pain for Karnak when he tore the cable and ripped it up through the floor. But he pushed through it and casually tossed the sparking cable at a drone. The machine squawked and sputtered when the cable hit it, but not because of electricity against the synthetic, non-conductive shell. No power meant that the dampers were no longer active, and the vibrations of the Anti-Metal were no longer neutralized.
It was impossible for a robot to be constructed without metal in some vital areas. Close proximity to the Anti-Metal destroyed those metal components, without which the robots ceased to function. All the remaining drones collapsed, and in the next moment Quicksilver appeared.
“How unfortunate that you would miss the fighting,” Karnak said.
Ignoring his former brother-in-law, Quicksilver said to Warbird, “None of the robots here resemble Ultron, but it was here. The Quinjet’s sensors picked up an exhaust trail, likely from that damned jet platform Ultron uses.”
“Smart machine, it didn’t want to risk battling us around so much Anti-Metal.” And lucky for the Avengers, Warbird didn’t say. Ultron would have likely killed one of them in the battle. As it was, Binary had just gotten back to her feet. “Stingray, are you back at the Quinjet?”
“Yes,” came the response through Warbird’s communi-card. Stingray’s armor contained metallic elements and so was vulnerable to the Anti-Metal. “I’ve made a recording of the trail and tracking it as far as I can. If we hurry we could trace Ultron to his destination.”
“I could go after him right now,” Binary said. “I can see the energy signature, and I’m fast enough to catch him.”
“First, there is no him,” Warbird said to her. “Ultron is an it, a machine and nobody here should ever forget that. Second, there is no way anybody is going after Ultron alone. It would kill any one of us.”
“I fought the Hulk one-on-one!” Binary said. “At least, an older, alternate future Hulk.”
“And didn’t Daredevil beat Ultron once?” Karnak asked.
“As I understand it, Maestro nearly killed you,” Warbird said to Binary before facing Karnak. “And either Daredevil got lucky or that wasn’t Ultron he fought. The point is we move as a team. This Anti-Metal is too dangerous to leave unsupervised. Let’s repair the power to neutralize it, contact SHIELD and once they’re here to take custody, we’ll see where the trail leaves.”
“That could take a lot of time,” Quicksilver said.
“Well, it’s the responsible thing to do, and as Avengers-”
“I’m not criticizing,” Quicksilver said. “What I meant was we can pass the time by questioning the prisoner Ultron left here.”
Warbird just stared at Quicksilver, a little too angry to really say anything. It was Espirita who spoke, glancing her head around to see the small doorways into other rooms. “Where is this prisoner? How badly is he or she hurt? Instead of questioning we should giving immediate aid.”
“Doubtful,” Quicksilver said. His eyes never left Warbird’s. “He says his name is Marcus.”
Warbird hadn’t realized her fists were clenched until she felt blood coming out the palms of her hands, were her fingernails had cut through. Slowly, she flexed out her hands and turned towards the large exit. “Do everything I’d just ordered, and sedate the prisoner. If he needs it to live, treat him, but otherwise don’t bother. We’ll question him at the mansion.”
“Wait, where are you going?” Binary demanded.
“The mansion to work off some feelings,” Warbird answered. “If I stay here I’ll kill the son of a bitch.”
The training room of the Avengers Mansion was a wreck when Captain America walked in. Kneeling exhausted in the center of the wreckage was Warbird, faint wisps of steam rising off her heaving body. In spite of her body’s remarkable resilience, the knuckles of her hands were bleeding, fabric and skin broken by the force of her blows. At sight of Captain America’s approaching shadow, Warbird raised her head and saw a similar weariness.
“Trouble in Antarctica?”
“I missed most of it,” Captain America said. “But there were things I’ll have to follow up on. I saw we have Marcus prisoner in the Med-Lab. How are you doing, Warbird?”
“In a few hours I should look how I feel. But I really need a drink.”
Captain America kneeled down to Warbird’s level. “He’s not the same man. That is a creation of Kang. He’s never done anything to you, never even met you.”
“I know,” Warbird said loudly. “Same name, though. Same face, same…” her eyes were clenched. “Same everything I hate. The things that man did to me, Steve.”
Captain America knew better than to touch Warbird in this state, but he put a hand on her shoulder anyway. Comforting a friend was worth broken bones. “And that we let it happen is a failure the Avengers will spend every day making up for. But we have a mission now, Warbird. This is more than Ultron.”
“Yeah. Kang’s involved.” Warbird rose to her feet with Captain America. “Has our prisoner told us how?”
“Kang was behind the theft.” Captain America was referring to when Ultron’s head was taken from Avengers Mansion those weeks ago. “He arranged for Ultron to be rebuilt, because he wants to test himself against the machine.”
“Sick bastard. There’s a number of ways we could approach this.”
“Saving lives is always the priority,” Captain America said. “Including Kang’s if we can. But until he shows himself, we have Ultron to deal with. The signal is now at a military base, one that houses nuclear weapons.”
“Oh my god.”
“Quicksilver’s been sent ahead, and our teammates on the West Coast have been alerted. Stingray will stay with our prisoner as we take the Quinjet.”
“We should send Binary ahead now,” Warbird said. “She can fly almost as fast as Quicksilver runs.”
“That’s a good suggestion. I’ll go tell her while you get ready.”
But when Warbird stepped out of the elevator onto the roof minutes later later, she found Binary and Stingray with the rest of the team. They were all looking up at the sky, and when Warbird lifted her gaze she knew that they weren’t going anywhere.
What seemed to be thousands of ships filled the sky above New York City. No two looked alike, each one constructed by a different culture, era or alien species. Transposed over the ship was a hologram of Kang the Conquerer, towering over the city and proclaiming his message.
“Primitives of Earth, hear my words! You have been conquered, but meet my conditions and you will not be destroyed! The Avengers shall return my son and heir, and surrender all the Vibranium in their possession! Otherwise, your city shall be incinerated by Kang the Conquerer!”
The assembled Avengers turned to Captain America. “So, are we going to give in?” Binary asked.
“I’ll be in the War Room to establish communications,” Captain America said. “Everybody stay ready. Whatever happens, we’re going to stop Kang…and Ultron. For making Earth their battleground, the Avengers are going to stop this war!”
To Be Continued…
Next Issue: As half the Avengers try to keep a nuclear arsenal out of Ultron’s grasp, the other half try to halt Kang’s invasion of New York City. Meanwhile, Immortus and his Avengers take a direct action in the war!