The creaking of the hatch opening was loud enough to make Hawkeye’s back teeth ache. Killeroo and The Beast threw their considerable combined muscle power against the circular three-foot thick metal hatch yet again and it opened wider. Hawkeye angled the powerful hand held halogen light so that he could peer over the shoulders of his partners and look into the corridor beyond.
“You want we should give ‘er another shove, Hawk?” Killeroo asked around the stump of the half-smoked Baccarat Belicoso cigar in his mouth. He cracked his knuckles, looking well pleased with himself.
“Nah, kid…that’s good enough. We just wanna get inside, have a quick look around and get back to report. Hank, I’m gonna want you to find the main computer. If there’s power you think you can download any info to your communicard?”
“If we can locate the command center, I can get you power.” The Beast bounded through the hatch and crouched in the center of the corridor, his wide nostrils flaring, massive head turning this way and that as his animal-like senses did their work, picking up sounds and smells. He let out a low growl that was not lost on Hawkeye.
“What’s the problem?”
The Beast turned his head to look at his fellow Avenger, glowing yellow eyes at once wary yet confused. “There are a lot of odors here. Mostly from decaying bodies and old blood but I’m also picking up the natural smells you’d expect to find in an installation like this…lubricants, gasoline…”
“Baby powder,” Killeroo said suddenly. Both Hawkeye and The Beast turned to look at him. Turned back to each other to swap mystified looks. Turned back to look at Killeroo. He removed the unlit cigar from his mouth and tapped his snout. “This here ain’t just fer show, mates. I got a pretty good sniffer meself.”
“I’m not even gonna ask,” Hawkeye muttered. “Hank, what else you picking up?”
“There’s a highly unusual odor…one that’s familiar but I can’t place it…but it seems as if I should.” The Beast stroked his chin with a talon. “Once I smell something I never forget the scent. I know this one.”
Hawkeye motioned for his companions to follow him. “When I’m trying to remember something, I try thinkin’ about something else. After awhile it comes back to me.” He directed the light into the corridor. The high ceiling curved over their heads and they could see splashes of dried blood on the cracked concrete floor and on the walls.
“The Abomination?” Killeroo gulped. “It did this?”
Hawkeye nodded slowly. “That would be my guess, kid.”
“You think anybody’s still alive down here?”
The Beast took it upon himself to answer that. “I don’t know about your nose, my young friend. But my ‘sniffer’ is sensitive enough that I can tell the difference between the living and the dead. And all I smell in here is death.”
“Let’s find the control center and do what we came here to do,” Hawkeye ordered. This place is giving me the major creeps.”
Since there was only one way for them to go, the three spread out and started down the corridor, Hawkeye slightly in front as he was the one with the light. The corridor quickly branched off into two similar ones. These also showed evidence of dried blood. Closed doors lined the corridors and Killeroo was quickly able to pry them open so that could make a quick inspection of what was inside. Living quarters. Mess hall. Laboratories. Recreation Room. Lounge. Nothing that any well equipped underwater A.I.M. base wouldn’t have. But all the rooms had the same thing in common: They were dark and devoid of any sign of bodies, either dead or alive.
“This doesn’t make any sense,” Hawkeye muttered as they stood in what was obviously a lounge, judging by the huge plasma HD television set, pool tables and computer consoles. “I’m seeing dried blood all over the place but no bodies. Where are all the bodies?”
“The only conclusion we can reach is that we are not alone in here, my friend.” The Beast was hanging upside down from pipes running near the ceiling. “That could have something to do with that odd odor I cannot identify.”
“How so?”
“A.I.M. had The Abomination down here. Who or what else did they have imprisoned? It could be that they escaped and they were keeping themselves alive on the bodies-“
“I get the point. Okay. Let’s stay sharp and alert. Killeroo, you stay near me and-“
The Inhuman suddenly let out a sharp yelp and bounded backwards with an agility that belied his muscular frame. “There’s somethin’ in the hall! It just poked its head in and ducked back out!”
The Beast easily back flipped to Killeroo’s side, taking the light from Hawkeye and training it on the door. “What did you see, Trevor?”
“I dunno! The light was pointed the wrong way. But it was a head! A big head!”
Hawkeye already had an arrow nocked and ready. “Okay, let’s take this nice and easy. Hank, give Trevor the light. Kid, you hang back and shine the light so we can see. Let me an’ Hank take the point.”
Killeroo gave no argument as he did as he was told. The bright light spilled into the hallway and Hawkeye and The Beast burst into the hallway. What was scurrying down the corridor away from them turned briefly to balefully hiss at them. Insectoid, perhaps 10 feet long from the hideously huge mouthful of needle-sharp overlapping teeth to the tips of the twin stingers at the end of its long tail. It moved on six legs with a speed that was both oddly graceful and deadly.
“Oh,” The Beast’s voice was horrified. “Sweet God in Heaven. Hawkeye, kill it. Quickly!”
Hawkeye did not hesitate. He released the arrow and it covered the distance between them and the creature in an eye blink. The shaft struck the creature in the side. The broadhead pierced the armor-like skin but seemed to have no real effect on the creature except to anger it. It hissed again at them and was gone, scuttling away into the dark.
“Jeezly,” Killeroo said in a shaking, quavering voice. “What the hell was THAT?”
“THAT is something we have to hunt down and make sure is dead. And then we have to search this base and make sure there are no others. This entire planet is in grave danger otherwise,” The Beast looked at his two companions. ‘I blame myself. I should have recognized that smell. But it’s been so long…I prayed I would never again smell that foul odor.”
“But what is it?” Hawkeye demanded.
“One of the deadliest enemies The X-Men ever faced. My dear friends, you’ve just had an encounter with a warrior drone of The Brood.”
“I’ve got three of the most brilliant minds on the planet sitting here in my office and not one of you can tell me what happened to The Infinity. A multi-billion dollar starship simply vanishes and I’m supposed to just sit back and tell The American public they’ve got to suck it up?” The President Of The United States glared at the three men sitting in comfortable chairs in The Oval Office. Many men would have been shaking like schoolboys caught writing graffiti on the bathroom wall under that glare. But these three men were as extraordinary as can be. They’d seen things a lot more fearsome than The President Of The United States and lived to tell about it. Not they weren’t respectful of his position and his anger. They just weren’t intimidated about it.
Although some thought his nickname of ‘Mr. Fantastic’ to be somewhat arrogantly juvenile there was no doubt at all that Reed Richards had earned it. Acknowledged to be the greatest intellect on Earth (some said maybe who ever lived) Reed Richards was renowned for his innovatively breathtaking mastery of many varied fields of science including space travel, time travel, robotics, computers, energy generation, physics, chemistry. And that was just what he worked on in his spare time. And if that wasn’t enough he was also the leader of The Fantastic Four, generally acknowledged as the world’s greatest super team. He calmly smoked his favorite meerschaum pipe while he waited for The President’s tirade to cease.
Peter Corbeau’s fields of expertise weren’t as diverse as Reed’s but his reputation was almost as great. Winner of two Nobel Prizes, his undisputed genius in solar physics and extraterrestrial life, his administratorship of Project Starcore and Starcore Station…all these made Peter Corbeau a man whose influence had helped shaped today’s world.
Tony Stark sighed heavily as if all this was just really too much to deal with. Tony had had too many meetings with too many Presidents and to him this was just one more who expected them to pull miracles out of their hats on a regular basis. Of course, the fact that between him, Peter and Reed they had pulled off their share of miracles was beside the point.
“Mr. President, nobody is suggesting that we just forget about The Infinity and hope she’ll come back on her own. But the fact of the matter is this: we have no idea of where to look for her.” Tony looked over at Peter. “You want to help me out here, Peter?”
“Tony’s right, Mr. President. Starcore Station had a sensor lock on the ship until the energy spike that happened right after the ships FTL drive engaged. Then it was simply gone.”
“What about The Shi’ar?” The President demanded. “Anything on their end?”
Reed Richards removed the pipe from his mouth and said calmly; “No, sir. Infinity never arrived at their destination.”
“I don’t suppose we could blame this on them?” The President looked hopeful. “I’ve been getting considerable heat from The European Union because The Shi’ar has petitioned to open an embassy here in The States. If I could blame this on them that would be a reason to deny their petition.”
Reed Richards spoke as slowly and as softly as if he were attempting to explain cold fusion to an infant. “Mr. President, The Shi’ar have absolutely no reason to want Infinity. As advanced as we consider Infinity to be, compared to the starships they use …well, let me put it this way; a Shi’ar starship is a Lamborghini and Infinity is a Ford Pinto.”
“Only because The Shi’ar won’t share their technology with us!”
“Hence the importance of having a Shi’ar embassy on Earth, sir,” Peter Corbeau said soothingly. “If we can establish diplomatic relations with them that will lead to further exchanges.”
The President looked unsatisfied with that but he did not press the matter. Instead he steered the discussion back to Infinity. “So how do you propose to find the American public’s ship, gentlemen?”
“We were hoping The Silver Surfer would help,” Reed sucked on the stem of his pipe thoughtfully. “I asked him as a personal favor.”
“And?”
“He said that the Infinity was ‘beyond the beyond’ got on his board and flew away.”
The President looked baffled. “And that’s it? What the hell does ‘beyond the beyond’ mean?”
“Mr. President…you must appreciate that The Silver Surfer, humanoid in appearance he may be is an alien. An alien imbued with The Power Cosmic bestowed upon him by Galactus. The Surfer has seen things that human minds cannot comprehend. Now, if The Infinity had been destroyed, I think The Surfer would have simply said so. I chose to interpret his statement that the ship is intact. Simply beyond our reach. Or even his.”
“I’m not going on national television and tell America that a multi-billion dollar spaceship is ‘beyond the beyond’, Dr. Richards.” The President turned to Tony. “You’re up, Stark.”
“My idea is quite simple: form a team of Avengers who have experience in matters dealing with intergalactic space. Ask The Shi’ar to lend us a ship as well as several members of their Imperial Guard and send them to look for Infinity.”
Peter Corbeau and Reed Richards were nodding in agreement. The President didn’t seem so agreeable. “Why Avengers? Why not The Fantastic Four? They’ve had more experience in space.”
“Because The Avengers have more members to spare. No disrespect to The Fantastic Four, Reed-“
“-and none taken, Tony. I think I know where you’re going with this,” Reed replied.
“The members I propose to send spend most of their time in space anyway, sir. They’re used to prolonged periods away from Earth. And there’s no telling how long this search will last. Can we afford to have Reed Richards off in space for months? Not to mention the rest of his team?”
Peter Corbeau spoke up. “Who would you send?”
Tony ticked off his fingers as he answered. “Moondragon. Starfox. Jack of Hearts. Quasar. And Beta Ray Bill. He’s not an Avenger but he considers Thor his brother and he’s always offered his services to The Avengers if we ever need him and if Thor is unavailable. I’d say this qualifies.”
“Why not just ask Thor?”
“He’s attending to personal matters on Asgard. Trust me when I say he’s needed badly there and I would not even consider asking him to leave on a mission that would take him away from his duties there.” Something in Tony’s inside jacket pocket bleeped for his attention. He reached in and fished out his Avengers communicard and frowned at it. “Hm.”
“Everything okay, Tony?” Reed asked.
“Yes. It’s just that I hadn’t expected the regenerative tank to have done its work this fast. I’ve been working on reconstructing The Vision since he was injured severely in that battle we had with Ultron.” The Vision hadn’t been the only casualty in that hellish fight. The Black Panther’s spine had been shattered, leaving him unable to walk or even move his arms without great difficulty. He had been taken back to Wakanda by his people and The Avengers had not seen or heard from him since. Privately, Tony feared that T’Challa was dead. Wonder Man had lost his powers and Tony himself had been badly injured. And Dr. Henry Pym had been killed by Ultron itself.
“How has Jan been since the funeral?” Peter asked.
“Soldiering on. I’m hoping I can talk her into taking a leave of absence. She could use it. So could I, to be honest. I’ve been working night and day on restoring The Vision and according to my computers back at Avengers Mansion; he’ll be fully active in two hours. I’d better get back.” Tony looked at The President. “That is, if we’re finished here?”
The President nodded. “I suppose there’s nothing else left to be done except for you to get your team together. I’ll leave it up to you, Stark.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll give you daily updates. Reed, Peter, I’m going to need all the data on the trajectory Infinity was on when she disappeared. That’s all we have to go on right now. Our team will just have to follow that trajectory and hope they can pick up her trail.”
“Slim hope, Tony.”
“I know, Reed. I know. But there are people out there that we sent. We owe it to them to do everything we can to bring them home.”
“Amen to that, Tony. Amen to that.”
Deep below Avengers Mansion was the secure section known as Sub-Basement Level Two. Comprised of a series of interconnected laboratories and workshops it had been constructed and used by Tony Stark’s father, the brilliantly eccentric Howard Stark who had used it for weapons research and testing as well as warehousing his experiments. Most of those storage areas had long ago been completely refurbished and upgraded by Tony for his own use. And it was one of these labs that contained the regenerative tank that contained the body of The Vision.
The regenerative tank was filled with a thick green fluid that had been created by Henry Pym and refined by Tony Stark. It was the final stage in any reconstruction of The Vision, which had been done at least three times in the past. Although The Vision was known as ‘The Android Avenger’ and was referred to as such, he actually was a ‘synthezoid’. In the simplest terms that meant he was an artificial being created with synthetic organs that duplicated the functions of true human organs. Oh, there was a considerable amount of biomechanical components in his body. But for the most part, The Vision was made up of synthetic analogs to human organs. The regenerative fluid was a nanotech soup that was busy reconstituting the fluids that served as The Vision’s ‘blood’ and rebuilt his brain cells.
The Vision floated in his liquid womb as calmly and as peacefully as any infant. An infant whose time had come to be born yet again.
“Finally!” Hawkeye’s sigh of relief was echoed by that of Killeroo. The Beast had no time for such sentiments as he bounded over their heads and landed in front on a large console. They’d finally found the control center after wandering around the darkened A.I.M. base for about forty minutes. During those forty minutes The Beast had informed them of just what they were up against and the desperate battles between The X-Men and The Brood. Needless to say, when he was finished, both Hawkeye and Killeroo expressed loudly and profanely their feverent wish to complete their mission and get the hell out of Dodge on the next thing smoking.
Hawkeye scanned the room as Killeroo sent the cone of white light about the spacious control center. Watchful as he was, Hawkeye couldn’t help but wonder if all control centers were constructed by the same company. He’d been doing this work a good number of years now and damn if every control center he’d ever been in all looked just about the same. Huge banks of consoles with a dizzying arraying of dials, levers, gauges, switches…it was all a mystery to him but The Beast went right to work, his furry face scrunched up in concentration as he went about his work.
“How we comin’ along with those lights, mate?” Killeroo asked. The young Inhuman sounded nervous and Hawkeye didn’t blame him one bit. He was on the jittery side himself.
“I’ll have them on in a minute. There’s a backup power system that should have kicked in automatically once the main power went out, but-“
The Brood Warrior Drones have a bad habit of hissing before they attack and that was all the warning The Beast needed and he propelled himself straight up into the air. The twin stingers lashed through the spot where The Beast had been standing and slammed into the console. Fat yellow sparks exploded from the console.
Killeroo swung the light full into the slitted orange eyes of the Warrior Drone who snarled, it’s impossibly wide mouth full of what seemed to be thousands of teeth.
Hawkeye loosed an explosive arrow and the Warrior Drone scuttled to the side. The arrow hit the ground and the explosion was damaging enough to blow a goodly sized crater in the floor. “Dammit, kid! Get that light back on it!” Hawkeye already had another arrow in his bow, ready to fire. “Maybe I can slow him down with a net arrow, give us time to bum rush him and-“
The Beast landed with a thump next to Killeroo and Hawkeye, both who turned on him as if he were Doctor Doom. “Hold it! Hold it! It’s me!” The Beast yowled, holding up his paws.
“You trying to get a shaft between your eyes?” Hawkeye demanded. “Trevor, find that thing and find it now!”
Killeroo swung the light this way and that, desperately hunting for the Warrior Drone. As he swung the light toward the door, a chair came flying out of the darkness to slam into his shoulder. Taken totally by surprise he dropped the light which fell to the concrete floor and the lens shattered.
The room went black as midnight at the bottom of a coal mine and three voices said simultaneously; “Oh, shit.”
Immediately Hawkeye, The Beast and Killeroo turned to stand back to back. The room was silent save for their breathing and the triumphant hissing of the Warrior Drone.
“It’s circling us,” Killeroo said softly.
“Anybody got any bright ideas, don’t keep ‘em to yourself,” Hawkeye said. “Hank?”
“Now would be a good time for prayer, I think.”
Hawkeye groaned. “Swell.”
The hissing grew louder and closer.
NEXT ISSUE: It’s The Beast, Hawkeye and Killeroo in a fight to the death against a blood-mad Warrior Drone of The Brood! And the moment you’ve been waiting for: the senses-shattering rebirth of THE VISION! And we guarantee that this is a Vision unlike any you’ve seen before and his return will change the life of one Avenger forever! All this and more in AVENGERS #13!