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| Issue #14 October 2008 |
“Attuma Knows Best” Part 1 Written By Derrick Ferguson |
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The morning sky over Manhattan is always a glorious sight no matter what the weather. But it’s even more breathtaking when it’s clear as mountain water and the sun is a magnificent orange ball of fire. Skyscrapers seem to shimmer with an inner glow as millions of windows are struck by the beautiful rays.
And then again, pedestrians can have an added treat as well: the sight of colorfully garbed bodies flying, swinging or leaping from rooftop to rooftop high over their heads. And one of these bodies was remarkable because of the sparkling golden trail that it left in its wake as it arced high over Manhattan.
Ms. Marvel breathed deeply off the early morning air. Nothing like a good night’s sleep and an early morning flight over the city. Once she availed herself of what would undoubtedly be a delicious breakfast at Avengers Mansion she would be ready to officially return to active status. Fortunately her assignment hadn’t taken as long as she thought it would. It had been a short but satisfying mission. And it was pleasure once in a while to use her powers for strictly diplomatic missions and not beating the hell out of a supervillain. Ms. Marvel smiled as Avengers Mansion came into view below her.
She landed on the front steps and stood still as the automatic detection and defensive sensors scanned her thirty-seven different ways and identified her in just less than eighteen seconds. The door unlocked automatically as she approached, activated by the Avengers communicard on her person.
Jarvis was walking through the foyer towards her. “Ms. Marvel! So good to see you again! And looking so well! I do wish you had waited until I properly admitted and received you into the mansion as befits your status.”
Ms. Marvel carelessly draped an arm around Jarvis’ shoulder and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “You’re sweet, Jarvis but you know you don’t have to do all that for me.”
“I take my duties seriously, madam, as you well know. Have you taken breakfast yet?”
“Saving my appetite until I got here, handsome.”
“Then please help yourself. I must beg your pardon for not escorting you to the dining room myself but I must prep a Quinjet for flight.”
“Avengers business?”
“Indeed. Dr. Jane Foster has agreed to return and serve as the official physician to The Avengers. I will be flying to Europe to pick her up.”
“Jane Foster! I’ll be damned! I haven’t seen her in I don’t know how long. It’ll be good to have her and Jan around to hang out with-“Ms. Marvel paused. When she had mentioned Janet Van Dyne an odd expression had shadowed the faithful butler’s face. “Has something happened to Jan, Jarvis?”
“I believe that is a matter I shall leave for Captain America to relate. He is in the dining room.” Jarvis cut off any further inquiries by turning sharply on a heel with military precision and walking away.
Her curiosity piqued, Ms. Marvel rapidly made her way to the dining room, removing her mask and tucking it away inside her bright crimson hip-hugging sash. The dining room was ablaze with the sunlight streaming in from the open windows, sparkling off of the crystal chandeliers. The mahogany table gleamed as if freshly polished that morning and knowing Jarvis it probably had been. As usual, five large silver urns filled the air with the aroma of five different blends of coffee and the sideboard was full of three different types of eggs, four different types of sausage. Bacon, oatmeal, hash browns, biscuits, toast, waffles…and that wasn’t even half of it. Carol’s stomach rumbled in greedy anticipation.
“Carol Danvers! When did you get here? Jarvis didn’t say a word!” Steve Rogers pushed back his large, high-backed chair and came around the table to give her a hug and kiss. Naturally he had on his Captain America costume but the cowl was pushed back to expose his handsome, honest face. The sky blue eyes twinkled with unashamed delight at seeing his friend and teammate again.
“I just got here, that’s why. Caught Jarvis on his way to pick up Jane Foster. You guys putting the support staff back together?” Carol went over to the sideboard to get herself some coffee while Steve returned to his breakfast of hash browns, sausage and a small mountain of scrambled eggs.
“Yes. Jarvis can manage fine when it’s just four or five Avengers. But with a full active team his hands are more than full. Jane’s been doing bio-research in Europe but she said that if we could guarantee she could continue her work here she’d sign up. And there’s been other developments going on which means that we could have a lot more Avengers showing up to stay for awhile.”
“I know. Somebody in The White House blabbed and The UN was all abuzz about the Infinity mission. But I really want you to bring me up to speed on what’s wrong with Janet. I mentioned her name to Jarvis and he looked like somebody had just poked him the wrong way.”
“Oh.” Steve waved a gloved hand at the chair next to him. “Bring your coffee and your food and have a seat. This is going to be a long story. And not a very nice one, I’m afraid…”
New York Harbor is used primarily as a general term to refer to the active ports of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx and Staten Island as well as Upper New York Bay, Lower New York Bay, The East River, The Narrows, Jamaica Bay and The Harlem River. This means there’s a lot of access to a lot of real estate.
The first signs of the attack were from the giant jellyfish that oozed out of the water and onto the land at nine or ten strategic shipping channels, anchorages and port facilities. Immense jellyfish, easily thirty feet in diameter, they undulated their way into the city streets, absorbing hapless citizens, cars, buses, anything in their path. The jellyfish were of a special genetic type bred for battle and they secreted a highly corrosive acid that dissolved anything and everything, leaving great trails of sizzling destruction in their path. The screams of the dying didn’t last long as their lungs were dissolved in mere seconds. The clear color of the giant jellyfish quickly turned to red as their bodies absorbed the blood of the humans too slow to get out of their way. Even apartment and business buildings were not immune to the acid and they melted like ice cream cakes left out in the summer sun.
The jellyfish attack was swiftly followed by dozens of Atlantean two-man patrol craft that burst from the waters and rapidly filled the skies over New York with frightening rapidity. But the speed and surety with which they attacked really wasn’t a surprise. After all, it wasn’t as if this was the first time Atlanteans had attacked New York.
“So that’s it,” Steve Rogers finished. “Jan’s with The West Coasters now. She’s refused any of my calls. Any calls from anybody, really. Except Jarvis. He’s spoken to her a couple of times. When I ask him what they spoke about Jarvis simply says that she asked him to keep their conversations in confidence.”
“As well he should.” Carol was getting herself another stack of waffles. “And I’m shocked you would ask him, Steve.”
“I’m just worried about her, that’s all.”
“Leave Jan be. She’s a grown woman. And she’ll be good working with The West Coasters for awhile. This situation isn’t as traumatic as you’re trying to make it out to be.”
Steve looked at Carol in disbelief. “Didn’t you hear a word I said?”
“Every single one.” Carol poured a generous amount of maple syrup on her stack of waffles.
“And you don’t think what Tony did was wrong?”
“Let me ask you a question, Steve,” Carol said around a mouthful of waffle. “How long have you known Tony Stark?”
“Ever since The Avengers found me. And that has been a long time.”
“Okay. In all that time you ever known Tony to be a liar?”
“No. He can be callous, manipulative, arrogant and insensitive to not only the feelings of others but his own feelings as well. But no, Tony’s no liar.”
“So then you’ve got no reason to doubt what he says about that gehooka he and Hank Pym invented. Since they’re the only two who knew what they were doing and we both agree that Tony’s no liar then who’s to say that he didn’t do what Hank would have wanted?”
Steve stroked his square chin with a red-gloved hand. “Well…when you put it that way…”
“And the rift between Tony and Jan is one you can’t fix and you shouldn’t even try. Let Jan alone. Time and distance heals a whole multitude of hurts. Both you and I know that.”
“And what about The Vision?”
Carol sighed. “What about him? Tony said that he just has Hank’s memories of the past five years, right?”
“That’s what he said.”
“Okay. From what I know about The Vision when he’s given somebody’s brain engrams his artificial brain uses them as a template to create a personality for him. Eventually over time The Vision develops a personality that’s uniquely his own. It happened with Wonder Man, right? After a few years, The Vision had a few superficial similarities to Simon, such as both of them liking jazz-“
“-and being in love with the same woman,” Steve reminded her.
“I get you, I get you...but do you get me? Give The Vision time to grow and he’ll develop a personality that might be somewhat similar to Hank Pym but it won’t be him.”
“And what happens if this Vision decides he’s in love with Jan this time around?”
“We’ll have to worry about that another time,” Tony Stark stuck his head into the dining room entrance. “Carol, you couldn’t have picked a better time to come home. We’ve got a situation. Steve, sound the charge and let’s meet in The Assembly Room.”
“What’s up, Tony?”
“Something I can’t figure out. Why, after sending us Andromeda to serve on the team would Namor send the Atlantean Army to invade New York?”
And now, the Mech-Crabs were crashing their way through Lower Manhattan, hell-bent on securing the Times Square area. These multi-legged vehicles could travel under the water and on the land with equal ease. In addition they were armed with several laser cannons. Cannons that the troops manning the Mech-Crabs were putting to good use, incinerating dozen of screaming Manhattanites desperately trying to flee and blasting buildings into rubble.
F-22 Raptors flew over Manhattan, just waiting for the GO signal from The Commander-In-Chief to start firing on the Atlantean hordes. In the meantime all they do was watch in frustration as American citizens were being slaughtered by the invading Atlantean hordes.
“Talk to me, Beast!” Captain America commanded as he and Ms. Marvel burst into The Assembly Room of Sub-Basement Level One. Tony followed as best he could, cursing his cane as he did so.
The Beast was sitting in front of the huge plasma communication screen which was split in two. On the left was the highly outraged President of The United States and on the right was the true Sub-Mariner himself, Prince Namor and he did outrage better than just about anybody on the planet. And he did so as soon as Captain America came into view. “At last! Someone with the comprehension to understand what I am saying! Captain America, will you inform your fool of a president that he has the word of The Sub-Mariner that Atlantis is in no way involved with this attack on New York?”
The President snarled; “You’ve attacked New York so many times that you’re still paying reparations from the last one! Captain, I’ve got fighter jets above New York and unless Namor pulls back his troops right now I’m going to blast them into sushi!”
“Pompous, overbearing, spineless-“
“They are not Prince Namor’s troops.”
Everybody turned to the doorway of The Assembly Room. Andromeda stood there in her full armor, her war trident held firmly in one hand.
“If not Namor’s then who?” The President howled.
“I would have thought that would have been simple to figure out. Those are the troops of my father. Attuma. “
“Attuma!” The name burst from everybody’s mouth, including the ones on the screen.
“Waitamminit, waitamminit…I think I’m beginning to understand what this is about,” Tony said. “Namor, did you even bother to tell Attuma that you were sending his daughter to join The Avengers?”
With his usual haughty disdain Namor replied; “I am the true Sub-Mariner. My subjects report to me, not the other way around.”
Tony shook his head in aggravation and turned to the others. “Don’t you see? Attuma probably has spies in Atlantis to inform him of what’s going on. But since Namor didn’t see fit to share that he sent Andromeda as his replacement to fill out our ranks, Attuma doesn’t know what to think. For all he knows we’re holding his daughter as our prisoner. The Avengers and Attuma have been major enemies for years.”
“You gotta be kidding!” Hawkeye, Nova and Killeroo came into The Assembly Room. “You mean after all this time, now Attuma wants to play concerned papa?” The Avenging Archer said.
Killeroo looked over at Andromeda. “Y’know, I realize I don’t know you all that well but I do recall hearing somewhere that you and your dad don’t like each other much.”
“There a great deal of difference in not liking one’s daughter and not caring about one’s daughter if her father believes her life to be in danger, my young friend.” The Beast said sagely. Andromeda smiled her thanks at him.
“So then it’s simple,” Captain America said. “We get Andromeda and Attuma together, she explains the situation to him, Attuma withdraws his troops-“
“Now hold on!” The President raged. “American citizens have been murdered on American soil! Attuma must be brought to stand trial for that crime! He didn’t kill soldiers! He murdered civilians! Non-combatants!”
“I say nay!” Namor thundered. “Attuma is an Atlantean subject and he will face my justice!”
“See here you pointy-eared, whale-blubber eating-“
“Miserable, land-crawling, mewling-“
Tony brought his cane down on the large round meeting table with the stylized, slanted giant letter A embossed into the surface with a resounding BANG! bringing shocked silence to the room. “Mr. President, Prince Namor! Can we maybe concentrate on preventing more lives being lost and decide later who gets to hang Attuma in the town square?”
“Agreed,” Captain America said. “Andromeda, your only job is to get to your father. Get him to stop his attack. The rest of us will pair off in teams and start pushing the army back.”
“Nova and I call The Bronx!” Ms. Marvel yelled.
“Hawkeye and I will cross the river and do our best to watch out for Brooklyn and Queens,”The Beast said.
“What about Staten Island?” The President wanted to know.
The Beast answered that; “According to telemetry, there’s a number of enemy craft surrounding Staten Island, effectively blockading it from any aid or assistance but no land troops. They seem content to simply cut it off from the rest of New York.”
“As if it wasn’t awreddy,” Hawkeye mumbled.
Captain America turned back to the screen. “Mr. President, we’ll need ground troops only as backup. Have them move in and start pushing Attuma’s troops back to New York Harbor. Hand-to-hand is the best way to contain them.”
“I’m also sending The Helicarrier Luxor as well.” The President said. “And I’m alerting Colonel Fury as well. He’s aboard the Samuel Sawyer and it’s over Parmistan right now.”
“And I shall assemble my troops and come to assist as well!” Namor roared. “I will drag Attuma back to Atlantis with my own hands!”
“You’ll stay right where you are, Namor,” Captain America said in that voice that commanded humans, superhumans, mutants and gods alike to follow his orders without question. “Assemble your troops and have them ready to move out at a moment’s notice but that’s all. We can’t have your troops engaging Attuma’s army with American soldiers as well. They have no way of telling who’s a friendly and who’s not. All it takes is for one of our boys to fire on one of yours and we’ll have three armies fighting and killing each other instead of two.”
It was a voice that had worked on Namor since the days of World War II and it worked now. Grudgingly he replied; “Very well, Captain. I will heed you words. For now.”
Captain America turned to Tony Stark. “You’ll co-ordinate from here?”
“Sure. You want The West Coasters in on this?”
“I’d rather not throw an army of Avengers at Attuma as I’m hoping Andromeda will get to him and stop this. Besides, I’m sure that by now the rest of New York’s superhuman population is out there on the streets. We’ll use them as support unless it gets really hairy out there. Put The West Coasters on standby alert for now. Use your discretion as to when to call ‘em in.” Captain America placed a hand on Killeroo’s broad, muscular chest. “Slow up there, youngster. Where do you think you’re going?”
“Though I’d tag along with Hawk an’ Hank and lend a hand, Cap’n, if that’s okay by you.”
“It’s not. This is Avengers business. You’ll stay here to assist Mr. Stark.”
“But, Cap’n, that just ain’t fair! I helped out against the Abomination and that Brood thingie in the A.I.M. base-“
“And your help is those situations are personally appreciated by me. But in the case of The Abomination, Hawkeye was short-handed and had no choice but to use you. And he certainly didn’t expect to run into an alien killing machine. This is an entirely different situation.” Captain America placed a hand on Killeroo’s shoulder. His voice was softer but still had that ring of authority as he continued:
“You’re here to learn and this is part of your learning experience. You can’t give orders unless you learn how to take them first, son. There’s a lot more to this business that putting fist to face.”
Hawkeye added; “Cap’s right, kid. And there’s another reason you’ve gotta stay behind. Attuma knows where Avengers Mansion is an’ I’d bet my quiver he’s sending special shock troops to assault the place. An’ if I am right you’ll be seein’ more than your share of the action, trust me.”
“Then there’s just one more thing I have to check on before we go.” Captain America turned and strode from The Assembly Room. “Give me three minutes.”
The door to the laboratory that had once belonged to Henry Pym hissed open and Captain America stepped inside. The low ceiling was one huge light and the entire lab seemed to be gleaming.
Bill Foster was standing in front of several computers, a lab coat over his Goliath costume. “Wonder how long it would take you to get here.”
“You’ve been monitoring the situation from here?”
Bill nodded. “Sure have. Nothing like Attuma and his army invading New York to jumpstart your day.” Bill’s silver gloved hands flew over the keyboard, inputting data.
“Bill, I need every Avenger I’ve got out there. You good?”
“Sure. I got enough sleep last night. No breakfast but then again, considering what’s going on I don’t have much of an appetite.”
Captain America nodded at the motionless form of The Vision lying on a diagnostic bed. “And how about him?”
“If you’re wondering if he’s ready to go into battle: well, in regards to his powers he appears to have the same abilities he’s always had. Density control, solar energy beams, superhuman durability, strength, reflexes, intelligence…in fact, according to the tests I’ve done he’s considerably more intelligent than he was previously.”
“Hank Pym level intelligence?”
“Yup.”
“I need to know his mental state before I take him out there, Bill.”
Bill sighed and cocked his head so that he could look Captain America square in the eye. “There’s a significant gap in his memory core. He doesn’t remember the fight with Ultron or being damaged by him. He knows who The Avengers are…he remembers all of us. He remembers everything before the fight. He’s just confused as to what has happened to him and why he looks slightly different.”
“Tony Stark, fashion designer strikes again,” Captain America muttered. He walked over to the diagnostic bed. “Hello, Vision.”
The Android Avenger smoothly sat up. “Captain America. Delighted to see you again. Bill has been relating events I scarcely am able to believe. But judging by my redesign-“The Vision waved a hand at himself. “And the gap in my memory I must accept that these events have indeed happened.”
Captain America was struggling to keep the surprise off his face. It was The Vision’s voice, yes. But there was a new quality to it. A quality of…dare he even think it?
A quality of humanity.
“Vision we have an emergency situation. Attuma has invaded New York with an army. Feel like helping your fellow Avengers show him to way back to Atlantis?”
The Vision slid off the bed and stood up straight and tall. He reached out a hand and Captain America took it in a power shake.
The Vision’s voice was firm as he said; “I believe it is time for The Avengers to Assemble, Captain.”
NEXT ISSUE: It’s all out war as The Avengers and The U.S. Army go toe-to-toe with The Hoards of Attuma! Andromeda must battle alone past her own father’s warriors to get to him! Meanwhile The President and Namor get to call each other some more nasty names! All this and more in AVENGERS #15!
