Avengers Spotlight #55
Quantum Bands No More
Featuring Quasar
By Gregg Epstein

Note: This story arc with Quasar and A.I.M. takes place immediately after Defenders #160 and 161 but during Year One.

The New York skyline was something really to behold in daytime or nighttime alike. The skyscrapers cast a brilliant shadow over the heart of the city. When the sunlight hits the windows from the ground to the top floors it reflects it and sometimes blinds the passerbys on the teeming streets below.

New York, the Big Apple, has it all, as the current mayor would attest to. Shops, theaters, plays, musicals, etc. A visitor from out of town or country or even a native could find something that is definitely them. But there is one attraction that New York that few other cities has; super heroes.

One such super hero, Quasar, the Cosmic Avenger, flies at nearly super sonic light speed, making a jaunt from outer space to the inner rim of the planet Earth. He is able to do this through the quantum bands on his wrists. He slows down flying at a much slower speed.

Usually, Quasar would be able to enjoy the flight but that would not be true given his career choice. Recently, his life had been turned upside down due to unfortunate circumstances. Now all he wanted most in the world was to forget his troubles and relax in his apartment. Recently, he moved from his suburban home with his parents but with his father's death and his troubles, he moved into the apartment not far from the Fantastic Four headquarters.

But before he could enter his pad, he had to make sure that the populace of the Big Apple did not know that it was Quasar entering the apartment of Wendell Vaughn. It wouldn't be good form. So he used his quantum bands to land in an alley way beside the entrance of the apartment building and change into Wendell Vaughn.

"That's done. now I can enter my pad as Wendell Vaughn and chill out." Wendell thought as he walked into the entrance of the apartment. With his job as cosmic protector of the universe, he was, if nothing else, dog tired. He planned to just relax, maybe watch some TV.

Minutes later, Wendell walked into his apartment, closing the door behind him, and prepared to settle in for the night. Like himself, the apartment was clean, spotless clean. No reason for him to be a slob.

He sat down on the couch and grabbed the clicker. He turned on the television. There were a few good movis on but nothing worthwhile. He had gotten out of touch with the real world, since he had become a super hero.

Suddenly, his quantum bands came to life. They were glowing and signalling a large energy signature in the downtown district. The bands weren't able to pinpoint the energy signature but he knew that he had to be there to stop the menace right away post haste. He changed into his costume by use of his quantum bands and then he quantum leaped out of there.

The trip was instantaneous and he hardly knew that he was gone. The quantum bands only could track down the energy signature and transported him there, as wearer of the bands.

Quasar looked around at his surroundings and saw that he was in a government facility of some sort. Government officials, soldiers and the like, were running down the hall, scared out of their wits from some new menace. It must have been superhuman because they could probably handle human threats.

He stopped one soldier and tried to calm him down. "Hey, mister, what is it? What's all the hullaballoo all about?"

The soldier had a rifle over his shoulder but he wasn't defending himself or firing it at the enemy, only running away in horror. "It's those guys with the yellow jump suits and the beehive masks. It's A.I.M. and their leader, MODOK. They have the entire base over run and they're killing everyone in sight until we bring them the Avengers or you."

"Great Scott,"Quasar said. "Get yourself to safety. I'll see what I can do."

"Yessir." The soldier saluted him and continued to run off.

What would A.I.M. and MODOK want with me? Quasar asked himself but he knew if he didn't get to the bottom of this, there would be answer to his unspoken question.

He rounded a corner, while the rest of the government agents made good their escape and came face to face with the A.I.M. forces, with Modok in the lead.

"So, Modok, I'm not that all that surprised to see you here," Quasar said, charging his quantum bands with cosmic energy. He knew that with his power he could kill them all with all his power within his quantum bands so it was up to him to hold back. "I read the Avengers' files on you and I heard that you tussled with the Defenders recently. If you were no amtch for them, then ditto goes for me."

"You know, Quasar, you talk too much," Modok said. "While you should deal with actions instead of words." Out of his headband, came a force blast that literally rocked Quasar's world. It broke the foundations out of the lead-lined walls and floor. Quasar evaded the blow with ease and knew instantly that there was no denying it any longer. To get his way out of this battle, he would have to fight. He detested fighting any villain if there was some avoiding it.

I hate to do this, Quasar thought, but it looks like I'm gonna have to beat the living tar out of Modok here. Then, Modok fired another blast at Quasar, while he circled the Cosmic Avenger on his chair. Quasar deflected the blast with a force field of his own design. This only angered Modok all the more. He fired blast after blast at the heart of Quasar, hoping against hope to break through the force field that he had erected and kill him outright.

But all the while, Quasar had his back turned to the A.I.M. agents, fighting Modok, not knowing that one agent had brandished a very powerful ray gun, firing it at his head. The ray run had a power dampener of some sort, broke through his force field, and knocked him unconscious.

* * *

Sunlight peered the clouds of the grey sky and hit Quasar squarely in the eyes, waking him from his dreams. He hadn't recognized his current surroundings. He was somewhere in the city, in an alley. He was clothed in his superhero uniform but something didn't seem right. It was a little off. It was different.

"Where's Modok?" he asked himself. Being a superhero, he was prone to talk to himself. "He must have beaten me, gotten through my cosmic force field somehow. But how is the operative word here. But I do remember being shot from behind."

He rubbed at the back of his head. He had a welt the size of a walnut on the top of his head.

"Ow. Didn't realize that happened. That must have hurt."

His first instinct was to fly. He raised his arms in the air and made an initial jump into the sky but nothing happened. He was still on the ground.

His quantum bands-

"Ohmygod, A.I.M. has stolen my quantum bands!!"

TO BE CONTINUED.