Back to Gatefold
The young man, dressed in blue jeans, black boots, a blue flannel shirt, and a long brown duster approached the city limits of New York, staring at the city that was awaiting him. He had a cowboy hat that covered his shaggy blonde hair, and a red handkerchief that covered half of his face, leaving only his eyes visible.
This was the young man's first trip to the city, as he'd been living out in the country for as long as he could remember. But now, he had no choice but to come to the city. Within the city limits were some bad guys that needed to be brought to justice.
"I hope you're ready for me, New York," the young man said as he started walking down the road. New York was about to learn what the Rawhide Kid was made of.
This was the young man's first trip to the city, as he'd been living out in the country for as long as he could remember. But now, he had no choice but to come to the city. Within the city limits were some bad guys that needed to be brought to justice.
"I hope you're ready for me, New York," the young man said as he started walking down the road. New York was about to learn what the Rawhide Kid was made of.
Central Park
Andy was playing with his puppy in the park, playing frisbee with his pet, whose form used to be that of an immortal God. Now the puppy had forgotten all traces of his former life, now just content to be Andy Maguire's best friend.
"Good boy," Andy said as he hugged the tiny creature. "Who's a good boy?"
"How many times are you going to ask that question?" Valeria asked as she sat on the park bench with her laptop, trying to work on some computations in the hopes of tracking down her brother, who'd been lost thanks to an astral projection gone horribly wrong. "It's not like he can answer."
"He answers in kisses," Andy said as the puppy licked his face. "You should try this. You might start to loosen up and have some fun if you play with us."
"My brother is out in the universe somewhere, and all we have to go on is an alternate version of Franklin giving Josh a stupid crystal," Valeria reminded him. "A crystal we can't even use."
"You could if you used that interdimensional portal we used on our first adventure,*" Andy told her.
(*New Warriors #1-#6)
"My parents are too busy with my Uncle Ben returning to even notice that Franklin's gone," Valeria told him. "Besides, we can't take the entire team through time and space. We already lost Kittania."
"We didn't lose her, we know right where she's at," Andy reminded her. "She's on her new homeworld with Juston's heart, where she's repeatedly stabbing it with a sharp dagger."
Valeria looked at the time. "Oh, no, the try-outs are soon. We're going to be late. I don't get why we even need to add a new team member, we found four of the five missing team members, and we're working on a plan to find Franklin."
"Plan?" Andy asked as his mind went blank as he tried to think of how to get them back to headquarters in time.
Dental plan!
Lisa needs braces!
Dental plan!
Lisa needs braces!
Dental plan!
Lisa needs braces!
Dental plan!
Lisa needs braces!
Dental plan!
"Wait a minute," Andy said as he came to a realization. "I can fly!"
Andy shot up straight into the air, returning seconds later, holding a taxi over his head. He gently sat it down and climbed into the backseat.
"Quick, get in!"
# # # # #
New Warriors Headquarters
"Juston, are you okay? You seem kind of... out of it," Josh said as he noticed Juston walking around in his pajamas, his hair a mess. "You're going to watch the try-outs, right?"
"What's the point?" Juston asked as he walked into the kitchen area, grabbing a large box of ice cream. "We should just eat ice cream and lay down and die. That's all we're good for. Dying alone and miserable."
Josh just sighed as he stood up and punched Juston in the face, sending him to the ground.
"What the fuck, dude!?" Juston asked. "You above all people know what I'm going through."
"Why the hell do you think I punched you?" Josh asked. "I miss Franklin, yeah. But I refuse to let it stop me from living my life. I still have my brother and my friends here to watch after. And... someday Franklin's going to come back, just like Kittania will. You just have to stay strong until we reach the end of that tunnel. The loves of our lives are out there, Juston. And when they come home, they're damn sure not going to find someone broken and sitting in the corner, right? Franklin and Kittania are going to find two strong guys who've been holding their shit together because we know that their love is worth the wait."
"Jesus, Josh," Juston said as he stood up. "I knew you were into Franklin, but--"
"He's the only person on Earth that I can't control with my hypnotic singing," Josh admitted. "As far as I know. He kissed me, and I knew it was real and not just my powers. He's worth waiting for, and so is Kittania. Now go get dressed, we've got some new team members to choose."
# # # # #
Ms. Marvel and Spider-Girl arrived at New Warriors Headquarters, seeing the line that was already starting to get pretty long.
"Look at all of these heroes," Ms. Marvel said. "All of them are here to get a spot with the New Warriors? What chance to we have against... do any of these people look familiar?"
"I thought I recognized the guy in purple, but that's probably just a grape stain," Spider-Girl replied. "Come on, let's get in there before the spots are filled!"
# # # # #
Sam Guthrie and Johnny Storm were sitting in what was formerly a coffee shop as they waited for the next applicant.
"We've been doing this for forty-five minutes, and so far all we've got is a bunch of cosplayers thinking that this is just some kind of game," Sam said as put his head on the table.
"Relax, that just means that we're weeding out the weaker ones, and soon we'll get the ones who are serious about being a hero," Johnny said with his feet on the table, playing with his cell phone. "Let's bring in the next few, then Valeria and Andy can take over the next round."
The next few applicants walked in, one of them wearing dark blue tights with a red cape and an angry look on his face. There was a bloody red 'S' shield on his chest.
"Who are you?" Sam asked.
"Snyderman," the applicant said. "I'm the last survivor of a doomed planet, sent here by my father."
"And you use your powers to help mankind?" Johnny asked.
"Help? No no no," Snyderman said. "My powers are purely for destruction. It all started when my father told me to let a bus full of schoolkids drown, and now I just help destroy cities in the hopes of getting laid by this reporter from the Daily Boggle."
Johnny and Sam just looked at each other.
"Doesn't seem like a very good way to start a superhero franchise," Sam said. "Next!"
A man wearing a green suit with spikes on his back walked in, wearing a marijuana symbol of his chest.
"Name?"
"Chronic the Hemphog."
"Powers?"
"I can alter reality. Would you like to see?"
"I've was already exposed to your powers many years ago," Johnny said. "It ended with me naked on the subway."
"It was the church for me," Sam said as he stared down at the table in shame. "During Easter services. For some reason I got banned from ever going back after that."
"Sam Guthrie smoked pot?" Johnny asked.
"It was when I was younger, before I came out as a mutant," Sam told him. "It was a small town, not a lot to do. That's why I want to protect my little brother from things like this."
"The brother who went dimension hopping for weeks on end and is now in love with my nephew?"
"You can make anything sound bad if you use words. Next!"
# # # # #
Juston walked into the workshop where his Sentinel armor was in a glass case. Adam was standing at the table, working on a handheld device with the crystal that Josh had received from the alternate version of Franklin Richards.
"What are you working on?"
"I'm using that crystal that Josh got to create a tracking scanner," Adam told him. "Josh will still need to be the one holding this, but now when the crystal locates Franklin, this'll take the guesswork out of which direction to head in. Now when it picks up Franklin, we'll be able to find him faster."
"That's great," Juston said in an unsure tone.
"What's wrong? Just because I'm human now doesn't mean I don't know my tech."
"No, no, it's not that," Juston said. "It's just, well, say we do find Franklin's aura. Then what? We still don't have the package to put it in. We'll have the spirit, but not the flesh."
"That's true," Adam said. "And we have no idea who stole Franklin's body. He could be anywhere on Earth, and that's if we're lucky that someone didn't take him off-world. But let's focus right now on the parts of the puzzle that we can find."
# # # # #
Valeria and Alpha walked into the room as Johnny and Sam jumped up and rushed past them.
"Thank God," Johnny said. "Have fun, I can't take five more minutes of this. Let us know how it turns out!"
"Oh, boy, my first team try-out," Alpha said as he sat down. "I really hope I make the cut!"
Valeria just rubbed the bridge of her nose in frustration as the next applicants walked in.
"Names?"
"Spider-Girl."
"Ms. Marvel."
Alpha jumped up from his chair. "Spider-Man must have been bitten by a radioactive girl!"
"That's Alpha, ignore him, you'll stay saner that way," Valeria said. "I've heard about the two of you fighting crime in Queens together. What made you decide to try out?"
"Well, we both want to be a part of something bigger," Ms. Marvel said. "And we thought hanging out with other teen heroes might help us do that."
Alpha was looking through the other applications and gasped. "Snyderman was here! I could have asked him to burn my small scale model of New York that I made with popsicle sticks!"
"Given who else has tried out today, I think it's a safe bet that you two have a good shot at making the team," Valeria told them as she looked over at Alpha. "We might even be willing to cut some members to make room for you."
"That's no way to talk about your brother and uncle," Alpha told her.
"How's it going in here?" Cannonball asked as he walked in with Icarus. "Have many applicants pretending to be heroes have come through since you two have been in here?"
"Actually, I think we found two great choices," Valeria said. "Spider-Girl and Ms. Marvel are the only really impressive ones I've seen."
"Good, then we can end this farce and get to down to the business of finally looking for Franklin," Icarus said. "Adam thinks he's found a way to track him with that crystal."
# # # # #
"We'll need your father's interdimensional portal," Adam said as he explained the tracking device to everyone. "Beyond that, we still need to find Franklin's body."
"If Valeria's willing to help, I can put together a DNA tracker," Juston said. "One that should hopefully be powerful enough to take us right to Franklin's location, provided he's still on Earth."
"So, then we'll split into three teams," Johnny suggested.
"Three?" Valeria asked.
"One team to find Franklin's aura, one to find his body, and one to stay in New York and keep the peace while everyone's on the rescue effort," Johnny told her.
"That's... actually pretty smart," Valeria said in shock. "I can't believe you thought of it."
"Alright," Cannonball said. "H.E.R.B.I.E., Johhny and Valeria should go after Franklin's body. Before you say anything, Josh, you're on the rescue effort to find the aura, along with Ms. Marvel, Alpha, and me. Figure we should send the big guns on the dimension hopping mission in case something big and nasty is out there."
"That leaves me, Adam and Spider-Girl to protect the nest," Juston said. "Anyone have any objections?"
"A trip to another dimension on my first adventure?" Ms. Marvel asked. "I don't know..."
"Relax, girl, you got this," Spider-Girl assured her. "Be sure to text me if anything good happens."
"Come on, Juston, we can have that DNA tracker done by dinner if we start now," Valeria told him as they passed by Alpha. "Have fun going back to that clown world."
"We have to go back to that world?" Alpha asked, his voice trembling.
"Only if that's where the crystal takes us," Icarus assured him, patting Alpha on the back.
Before anyone could leave the room, the ground started to shake. Objects fell off the shelves and pictures fell off the wall as everyone tried to keep their balance.
"What's going on?" Johnny asked as a glowing green bubble started growing from under the floor, creating a clear dome. Within seconds it disappeared, leaving a crater in the floor, with Cannonball, Icarus, Valeria and Spider-Girl having disappeared.
"What the hell just happened?" Johnny asked as a view screen opened in front of the remaining team. Annihilus sat on his throne and smiled.
"Hello, Human Torch," Annihlus said. "We both have something that the other wants. And unless you return to me my Cosmic Control Rod to me within the next six hours, your friends will die."
TO BE CONTINUED...
Andy was playing with his puppy in the park, playing frisbee with his pet, whose form used to be that of an immortal God. Now the puppy had forgotten all traces of his former life, now just content to be Andy Maguire's best friend.
"Good boy," Andy said as he hugged the tiny creature. "Who's a good boy?"
"How many times are you going to ask that question?" Valeria asked as she sat on the park bench with her laptop, trying to work on some computations in the hopes of tracking down her brother, who'd been lost thanks to an astral projection gone horribly wrong. "It's not like he can answer."
"He answers in kisses," Andy said as the puppy licked his face. "You should try this. You might start to loosen up and have some fun if you play with us."
"My brother is out in the universe somewhere, and all we have to go on is an alternate version of Franklin giving Josh a stupid crystal," Valeria reminded him. "A crystal we can't even use."
"You could if you used that interdimensional portal we used on our first adventure,*" Andy told her.
(*New Warriors #1-#6)
"My parents are too busy with my Uncle Ben returning to even notice that Franklin's gone," Valeria told him. "Besides, we can't take the entire team through time and space. We already lost Kittania."
"We didn't lose her, we know right where she's at," Andy reminded her. "She's on her new homeworld with Juston's heart, where she's repeatedly stabbing it with a sharp dagger."
Valeria looked at the time. "Oh, no, the try-outs are soon. We're going to be late. I don't get why we even need to add a new team member, we found four of the five missing team members, and we're working on a plan to find Franklin."
"Plan?" Andy asked as his mind went blank as he tried to think of how to get them back to headquarters in time.
Dental plan!
Lisa needs braces!
Dental plan!
Lisa needs braces!
Dental plan!
Lisa needs braces!
Dental plan!
Lisa needs braces!
Dental plan!
"Wait a minute," Andy said as he came to a realization. "I can fly!"
Andy shot up straight into the air, returning seconds later, holding a taxi over his head. He gently sat it down and climbed into the backseat.
"Quick, get in!"
# # # # #
New Warriors Headquarters
"Juston, are you okay? You seem kind of... out of it," Josh said as he noticed Juston walking around in his pajamas, his hair a mess. "You're going to watch the try-outs, right?"
"What's the point?" Juston asked as he walked into the kitchen area, grabbing a large box of ice cream. "We should just eat ice cream and lay down and die. That's all we're good for. Dying alone and miserable."
Josh just sighed as he stood up and punched Juston in the face, sending him to the ground.
"What the fuck, dude!?" Juston asked. "You above all people know what I'm going through."
"Why the hell do you think I punched you?" Josh asked. "I miss Franklin, yeah. But I refuse to let it stop me from living my life. I still have my brother and my friends here to watch after. And... someday Franklin's going to come back, just like Kittania will. You just have to stay strong until we reach the end of that tunnel. The loves of our lives are out there, Juston. And when they come home, they're damn sure not going to find someone broken and sitting in the corner, right? Franklin and Kittania are going to find two strong guys who've been holding their shit together because we know that their love is worth the wait."
"Jesus, Josh," Juston said as he stood up. "I knew you were into Franklin, but--"
"He's the only person on Earth that I can't control with my hypnotic singing," Josh admitted. "As far as I know. He kissed me, and I knew it was real and not just my powers. He's worth waiting for, and so is Kittania. Now go get dressed, we've got some new team members to choose."
# # # # #
Ms. Marvel and Spider-Girl arrived at New Warriors Headquarters, seeing the line that was already starting to get pretty long.
"Look at all of these heroes," Ms. Marvel said. "All of them are here to get a spot with the New Warriors? What chance to we have against... do any of these people look familiar?"
"I thought I recognized the guy in purple, but that's probably just a grape stain," Spider-Girl replied. "Come on, let's get in there before the spots are filled!"
# # # # #
Sam Guthrie and Johnny Storm were sitting in what was formerly a coffee shop as they waited for the next applicant.
"We've been doing this for forty-five minutes, and so far all we've got is a bunch of cosplayers thinking that this is just some kind of game," Sam said as put his head on the table.
"Relax, that just means that we're weeding out the weaker ones, and soon we'll get the ones who are serious about being a hero," Johnny said with his feet on the table, playing with his cell phone. "Let's bring in the next few, then Valeria and Andy can take over the next round."
The next few applicants walked in, one of them wearing dark blue tights with a red cape and an angry look on his face. There was a bloody red 'S' shield on his chest.
"Who are you?" Sam asked.
"Snyderman," the applicant said. "I'm the last survivor of a doomed planet, sent here by my father."
"And you use your powers to help mankind?" Johnny asked.
"Help? No no no," Snyderman said. "My powers are purely for destruction. It all started when my father told me to let a bus full of schoolkids drown, and now I just help destroy cities in the hopes of getting laid by this reporter from the Daily Boggle."
Johnny and Sam just looked at each other.
"Doesn't seem like a very good way to start a superhero franchise," Sam said. "Next!"
A man wearing a green suit with spikes on his back walked in, wearing a marijuana symbol of his chest.
"Name?"
"Chronic the Hemphog."
"Powers?"
"I can alter reality. Would you like to see?"
"I've was already exposed to your powers many years ago," Johnny said. "It ended with me naked on the subway."
"It was the church for me," Sam said as he stared down at the table in shame. "During Easter services. For some reason I got banned from ever going back after that."
"Sam Guthrie smoked pot?" Johnny asked.
"It was when I was younger, before I came out as a mutant," Sam told him. "It was a small town, not a lot to do. That's why I want to protect my little brother from things like this."
"The brother who went dimension hopping for weeks on end and is now in love with my nephew?"
"You can make anything sound bad if you use words. Next!"
# # # # #
Juston walked into the workshop where his Sentinel armor was in a glass case. Adam was standing at the table, working on a handheld device with the crystal that Josh had received from the alternate version of Franklin Richards.
"What are you working on?"
"I'm using that crystal that Josh got to create a tracking scanner," Adam told him. "Josh will still need to be the one holding this, but now when the crystal locates Franklin, this'll take the guesswork out of which direction to head in. Now when it picks up Franklin, we'll be able to find him faster."
"That's great," Juston said in an unsure tone.
"What's wrong? Just because I'm human now doesn't mean I don't know my tech."
"No, no, it's not that," Juston said. "It's just, well, say we do find Franklin's aura. Then what? We still don't have the package to put it in. We'll have the spirit, but not the flesh."
"That's true," Adam said. "And we have no idea who stole Franklin's body. He could be anywhere on Earth, and that's if we're lucky that someone didn't take him off-world. But let's focus right now on the parts of the puzzle that we can find."
# # # # #
Valeria and Alpha walked into the room as Johnny and Sam jumped up and rushed past them.
"Thank God," Johnny said. "Have fun, I can't take five more minutes of this. Let us know how it turns out!"
"Oh, boy, my first team try-out," Alpha said as he sat down. "I really hope I make the cut!"
Valeria just rubbed the bridge of her nose in frustration as the next applicants walked in.
"Names?"
"Spider-Girl."
"Ms. Marvel."
Alpha jumped up from his chair. "Spider-Man must have been bitten by a radioactive girl!"
"That's Alpha, ignore him, you'll stay saner that way," Valeria said. "I've heard about the two of you fighting crime in Queens together. What made you decide to try out?"
"Well, we both want to be a part of something bigger," Ms. Marvel said. "And we thought hanging out with other teen heroes might help us do that."
Alpha was looking through the other applications and gasped. "Snyderman was here! I could have asked him to burn my small scale model of New York that I made with popsicle sticks!"
"Given who else has tried out today, I think it's a safe bet that you two have a good shot at making the team," Valeria told them as she looked over at Alpha. "We might even be willing to cut some members to make room for you."
"That's no way to talk about your brother and uncle," Alpha told her.
"How's it going in here?" Cannonball asked as he walked in with Icarus. "Have many applicants pretending to be heroes have come through since you two have been in here?"
"Actually, I think we found two great choices," Valeria said. "Spider-Girl and Ms. Marvel are the only really impressive ones I've seen."
"Good, then we can end this farce and get to down to the business of finally looking for Franklin," Icarus said. "Adam thinks he's found a way to track him with that crystal."
# # # # #
"We'll need your father's interdimensional portal," Adam said as he explained the tracking device to everyone. "Beyond that, we still need to find Franklin's body."
"If Valeria's willing to help, I can put together a DNA tracker," Juston said. "One that should hopefully be powerful enough to take us right to Franklin's location, provided he's still on Earth."
"So, then we'll split into three teams," Johnny suggested.
"Three?" Valeria asked.
"One team to find Franklin's aura, one to find his body, and one to stay in New York and keep the peace while everyone's on the rescue effort," Johnny told her.
"That's... actually pretty smart," Valeria said in shock. "I can't believe you thought of it."
"Alright," Cannonball said. "H.E.R.B.I.E., Johhny and Valeria should go after Franklin's body. Before you say anything, Josh, you're on the rescue effort to find the aura, along with Ms. Marvel, Alpha, and me. Figure we should send the big guns on the dimension hopping mission in case something big and nasty is out there."
"That leaves me, Adam and Spider-Girl to protect the nest," Juston said. "Anyone have any objections?"
"A trip to another dimension on my first adventure?" Ms. Marvel asked. "I don't know..."
"Relax, girl, you got this," Spider-Girl assured her. "Be sure to text me if anything good happens."
"Come on, Juston, we can have that DNA tracker done by dinner if we start now," Valeria told him as they passed by Alpha. "Have fun going back to that clown world."
"We have to go back to that world?" Alpha asked, his voice trembling.
"Only if that's where the crystal takes us," Icarus assured him, patting Alpha on the back.
Before anyone could leave the room, the ground started to shake. Objects fell off the shelves and pictures fell off the wall as everyone tried to keep their balance.
"What's going on?" Johnny asked as a glowing green bubble started growing from under the floor, creating a clear dome. Within seconds it disappeared, leaving a crater in the floor, with Cannonball, Icarus, Valeria and Spider-Girl having disappeared.
"What the hell just happened?" Johnny asked as a view screen opened in front of the remaining team. Annihilus sat on his throne and smiled.
"Hello, Human Torch," Annihlus said. "We both have something that the other wants. And unless you return to me my Cosmic Control Rod to me within the next six hours, your friends will die."
TO BE CONTINUED...