WEST COAST AVENGERS # 107
MV1 July, Year 3

"Can I Get a Roster In Here?"

Introducing new writer Mark Bousquet

DEDICATED TO STEVE ENGLEHART

Clint Barton, the Avenger known as Hawkeye, finished punching the commands into the central controlboard. He wanted to make certain that anything that came through this system: any emergency calls, something from the Avengers back east, a security problem inside their Compound … anything was routed right to the monitors in the central living room. He needed everybody present - not for long, he hoped, but he wasn’t taking chances.

He strolled out of the security room and headed for the assembled Avengers and guests who were supposed to be waiting for him. He’d hoped to have done this sooner, for his own peace of mind, if nothing else, but someone had busted into his New York apartment, leaving him a cryptic message and so he had to head to New York to check it out. Of course, it didn’t turn out to be a damsel in distress, but Shroud needing help with some of his former teammates in Night Shift. *

* See HAWKEYE # 10 for the full story - That was Lonni’s first issue, Mark

But back to the business at hand.

Clint had some decisions to make about who was going to stay and who was going to go. Sitting in the room waiting for him were: current West Coasters Tigra, Wonder Man, US Agent, the former T-Bolt and recent Avenger try-out Jolt, Avengers reservists Living Lightning, Swordsman II and Magdalene, the former Squadron Supreme member Shape and Avenger try-out and mystery man Variable.

How was he ever going to pare these nine folks down to a manageable number?

This was the part of leading a team that he hated: telling people they had to leave. He’d had it done to him in the past and it burned. It still burned, even to this day, that a government jerksuit could come into the Avengers family and say, "Hawkeye out. Falcon in."

Freakin’ Gyrich.*

* See the 180's issues of Avengers - Gyrich rocks

"Hey leader-man, what’s the word?" US Agent asked as Clint entered the room to face the nine heroes gathered before him.

"The word is we’re lucky we had as much help as we did during our fight with Crimson Cowl’s Masters of Evil," Hawkeye snapped. "We were taken like amateurs. Just look around at the Compound. We’ve got major repairs to do here, folks." *

* See the recent classic Avengers West Coast 104 - 106 - Misses Beezer Already Mark

"Get ready for the time-honored "we need teamwork" speech," Tigra smiled broadly as she stretched her limbs on the couch, but no one laughed.

"That’s enough, Tigra," Hawkeye ordered as he looked around at the gathered heroes, trying to read them as best he could. "First things first. I need to know if the three people who’ve agreed to be on this Avengers branch - Tigra, Agent and Wonder Man - are still with us."

"I’m here until you kick me out," Agent smiled. "Then after you do that, I’ll be right back to knock some sense into you, Bird-Man."

"I’m definitely still in," Tigra purred. "No way I’m giving up one of those bungalows."

Hawkeye shook his head and cursed Tigra under his breath. The last thing he wanted was folks sticking around just because the accommodations were comfortable. At the Mansion, space was limited, but here there was plenty of room. "Simon? How about you?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever," he sighed from his seat by the window, not bothering to turn around. He was physically in the room, visually looking out to the sea, but emotionally his thoughts were solely on Wanda, the Scarlet Witch, the woman he loved who didn’t love him. *

* See the Scarlet Witch limited series by Neil Gow, located at the Dark Lore Branch

"Okay then," Hawk frowned. Now came the hard part.

"Swordsman and Magdalene, as the most experienced Avengers left - not to mention the fact," he said under his breath as he eyed Tigra, Agent and Wondy, "that you’re relatively stable - I’m offering you permanent slots on the roster."

Swordsman and Magdalene looked at each other and smiled, then turned to Hawkeye. It was Magdalene that spoke, "No thank you, Hawkeye. We’ve done some thinking and decided that we need to do more thinking."

"If you ever need us," Swordsman said, standing and walking to Hawk, "just call. But right now we need some time alone."

"I understand," Hawkeye said, disappointed. These two weren’t big names that were going to add some public luster to the roster, but they were both solid, dependable Avengers allies that he wanted to get to know better. "Another time, perhaps?"

"Perhaps," Swordsman answered as he shook Clint’s hand. Magdalene nodded her head in Hawk’s direction as she headed outside. "We’ve still got some packing to do, but …mind if we borrow a Quinjet back east?" Swordsman asked.

"Go ahead," Hawk answered, smiling. "Just be home by ten, kids."

Swordsman smiled and then he, too, was gone.

"Alright," Hawkeye sighed, "who’s next?"

Downtown Los Angeles

"The rapture is coming!" shouted a man in a silver-grey costume as he slid from teller’s window to teller’s window inside a bank, taking whatever cash they had.

"Whoah, check this guy," one of the customers, a college kid, said to another.

"He’s sliding all over the place," his friend answered, watching half-interested. "Is this all he does?"

"You need to be ready for the rapture! Prepare yourselves to feel the embrace of tomorrow!"

The villain known as Slyde finished taking the money that was readily available to him and left. There was no need for a huge score that might result in his getting caught. His brothers needed money, but they needed brothers even more.

More brothers would be nice, too.

AVENGERS COMPOUND

"Living Lightning," Hawkeye began, "how ‘bout it? Ready to sign up for the long haul?"

"I’d love, too," Miguel Santos replied, causing Clint to smile. He was looking forward to working with some of the younger Avengers the way Cap used to work with him. "Being an Avenger is very important to me, but first I have to finish college."

Hawkeye wanted to slap his hands to his head. "Of course, Miguel, but with your powers …"

"I’m just moments away, even though I’m miles up the coast, right?" Miguel smiled. "If you really want me, Hawkeye, I can stay on as a reserve. I know I’m not that far away, but this Avenging business strikes me as a distraction from my studies. I couldn’t commit full-time and you need that from a younger member of the team. If I was older and had studied the case files enough so that I felt comfortable with folks we might run across, then I’d do it, but I fear that I’d be a hindrance to the Avengers."

"Well, geez, that’s pretty well thought out," Hawkeye smiled. "I guess I can’t dissuade, you. Consider yourself a reservist, then. Until you graduate. Then we get you full time." Clint smiled at the younger hero, who returned the gesture.

"That just leaves Jolt, Shape and Variable, then," Clint said as he turned to look at the three remaining try-outs. ‘Why do I feel the urge to start humming Eeenie-Meenie-Miny-Moe?’ he thought, rubbing his face.

Venice Beach

Samuel Guthrie, the mutant who was both a former member of the New Mutants, X-Force and X-Men, sat on the beach in shorts and a t-shirt, scratching his head.

He’d seen a lot in the days since he’d left his Kentucky Homestead, been to other planets even, but he doubted he had ever seen a sight more alien to him than Venice Beach.

There were weight-lifters here who made Bishop look like the Scarecrow. And the women … not that he really minded looking, of course. Just that he felt a little guilty about it.

That’s all, just a … little … guilt … y … he thought as his entire head moved of his own accord following a threesome of women stroll past him down the beach.

Sam sighed to himself, staring out at the water. It’d been a tough, well, bizarre couple of days, he figured. He’d see a lot of pain and even some death out at the Vault, but at least things turned out okay. For the most part, at least. *

* Curious? See the VAULT # 9 - 12 for the entire CORRUPTION storyline, coming soon! - Big Vault Fan Mark

He left the Vault, curious as to where fate would bring him next. He could go back to the X-Men, he supposed, but … he had to be honest, he never felt at home there. He felt at home with the New Mutants and X-Force, but he was "the rookie" with a team of veterans on the X-Men. He missed Bobby and Tabitha and James and Terry … and being with the X-Men just seemed like a reminder of who wasn’t there as opposed to those who were there.

"Heya, cutie, come here often?"

Broken out of his thoughts, Sam looked up into a pair of intoxicating green eyes. "Uh, first time, actually," he answered, trying hard to keep his gaze on her eyes and not let them drop … lower. ‘Ah miss Tab,’ his subconscious brought to the front of his mind. *

* Tab is Sam’s ex-girlfriend, a member of X-Force known as Meltdown.

"I figured as much," the cutie smiled, "your whiter than snow covered mountains." She arched her back, thrusting her chest forward in a relaxed, practiced manner. "Why don’t you take off that t-shirt and soak in the sun," she smiled down at him. "You’re not as big as those muscle-bound mutations over there lifting weights, but you definitely - definitely - work out. Whatcha doin’ in Sunshine Land, cornbread?"

"Ah’m on vaca-"

"Hey! Watch it!"

Sam was on his feet and looking for the person screaming for help before the woman had stopped screaming. Venice Beach had just gotten weirder.

"Uh, miss," he asked, not turning around, "who’s that guy in a silver suit sliding down the walkway? We don’t have super villains in Kentucky."

AVENGERS COMPOUND

"Right, then," Hawkeye started, hating that hopeful eyes were on him, but trying to smile through it, "what are we going to do with the three of you?" With himself, Agent, Simon and Tigra already committed, that was only four people on the roster. He had the room to add the three people in front of him, but he didn’t know them, and thus, he didn’t trust them. It wasn’t a knock on them, but a practical response. If he was the leader of a group of people that meant he was responsible for them, and that meant he had to be certain of the people on the team.

"Shape an Avenger!" Shape announced proudly. "Hawkman said so."

"Uh, yeah I did, kinda," Hawkeye mumbled, thinking back over the last couple of days. "And it’s Hawk-EYE, not Hawk-MAN, just for the record …"

"Shape reservist," Shape smiled, "just like Lightning Man." He smiled at Miguel who smiled back politely.

"Well," Hawkeye said gently, "you were going to go back to Project: Pegasus, right?"

"Shape no want to go back. Shape like sun!"

Hawkeye shook his head, "Sure. Why not? You can stay in a bungalow, if you’d like."

"Shape like Hawkman! Thank you Hawkman!"

"HawkEYE, Shape, HawkEYE," Clint mumbled.

"You can count me out," Variable announced. "I’m not ready for this."

"What?" Hawkeye said, somewhat surprised. "I thought you wanted to stay, and you showed some real initiative against the Masters of Evil, I thought." Clint wanted Variable to stay, if any of these three were going to. He figured he could play the mentor role to the guy and help him deal with his powers.

"Maybe I did, but that was … too much," he shook his head. "Look, I’m not saying I’m going to give up being a hero, but … I need some time to get better. That’s all."

With that, Variable stood up and walked out the door. *

* But not out of MV1. Stay tuned to the HAWKEYE solo series for future appearances of Variable! à Now written by Hawkeye’s # 1 fan Lonni Holland

"See you around. Don’t call us, we’ll call you," Agent scoffed.

"That’s enough, Agent," Hawkeye ordered.

"So that leaves me," Jolt said solidly. This was the person Clint didn’t want to deal with. She was a former Thunderbolt, for crying out loud. Sure, she helped the Avengers at the end, but still … she was a kid. Not just a rookie, but a kid. How could he make a kid an Avenger? It was too dangerous for someone that inexperienced.

Hawkeye looked at her closely, admiring the kid’s strong will, but not missing the fact that beneath the tough exterior, she was hurting. "I won’t make you an Avenger, Jolt," he said flatly.

"Fine," she stomped her foot. "I don’t need you, anyways. I don’t even know why I tried out for your stupid -"

"But I will give you a chance to earn it for yourself."

"Huh?"

"I’ll let you stay here, at the Compound, if you’d like. You can train with us and use our facilities, but you’re enrolling in school first."

"But I-"

"Hey, I don’t want to look out for a kid," Agent chimed in, and the rest of the people in the room all leaned in a closer. All except Wonder Man, who continued to stare out at the water.

"No buts," Hawkeye said, ignoring Agent. "That’s the deal. You’re enroll in school and you can stay. I’m not going to let you go out on missions with us for a good long time, but if you stay here and work at it, someday, maybe Avengers membership will be for you."

Jolt wanted to scream. There was no reason she couldn’t fight alongside these guys. She’d been in plenty of fights with the Thunderbolts and …

"Sure, Hawkeye, sounds great," she replied, hoping she didn’t sound too dejected.

"Great," Hawkeye beamed. This didn’t work out too bad, he told himself. Sure, a team of Hawkeye, US Agent, Tigra, Wonder Man with Living Lightning as a reserve and Jolt in-training - plus Shape, couldn’t forget Shape - wasn’t going to set the world on fire, but it was a team he felt good about. He wished he had more experience and a bigger name, but this was-

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

The large screen television in the room turned itself on, automatically selecting the Super Channel, and the team saw a news report. The Compound’s computers were programmed to make the team aware when a live broadcast featuring a possible emergency was taking place.

"—bizarre scene at Venice Beach featuring the minor super villain Slyde and an unknown man in a t-shirt …"

The Avengers were on their feet, watching the broadcast. Except for Wonder Man, who merely turned around.

"Anyone know Slyde?" Hawkeye asked.

Agent replied, dead serious, "He’s a minor Spider-Man foe from back east. He slides around, that’s his thing. Real hard to grab hold of. You’d know that, too, if you spent more time looking over all the files we have, Leader Bird."

"The hero is Cannonball," Hawkeye informed, ignoring Agent’s comment. He knew that Agent had access to government files the rest of them didn’t and didn’t want to get into it right here. "One of the X-Men, though apparently he’s not on the team … right … now." If the other members of the Whackos had been standing closer to the tv than Hawkeye, they could’ve seen the big smile that played across his face. "Fire up a Quinjet, folks, we’ve got superheroing to do."

"What?" Agent asked, making vocal the confused looks of all in the room. "This guy can handle a chump like Slyde."

But Hawkeye was already out the door.

Ten Minutes Later at Venice Beach …

Cannonball blasted through the air, tailing Slyde. He had tried to grab him a couple times, but his costume was superslick and he couldn’t hold him for long. He needed to find some way to get Slyde to stop. Maybe if he could grab a rope, he could tie up his feet or …

From nowhere, an arrow shot into Slyde’s path, five feet in front of him. The arrow hit the ground and a large net popped up. Slyde had no chance to move and the small-time villain was caught up in the net.

"No!" Slyde hollered.

Sam dropped out of the sky, landing next to Slyde. He was grateful for the help, but he didn’t know who had given it. For all he knew it could be another super villain looking for revenge. Putting himself between Slyde and the direction the arrow came in, Sam turned around. "Whoah. Avengers."

"That we are," Hawkeye beamed. "Folks behind me are Tigra, US Agent and Wonder Man. Welcome to California, Cannonball."

"Recognized me even without my costume, huh?" Sam asked, shaking Hawkeye’s hand. "Thanks for the help."

"Not a problem, I’m sure you woulda had him soon anyways."

"Yeah, but Hawkeye likes stealing the spotlight," Agent joked.

"So what’s an X-Man doing in California?" Hawkeye asked.

"Just sight-seeing, really. And ah’m not really with the X-Men these days," Cannonball admitted.

"That so?" Hawkeye smiled. "How’d you like to be an Avenger?"

"What?" Sam asked, stunned. He checked out the faces of the Avengers to see if they were kidding. They looked serious. This was … unexpected …

"We took a vote in the Quinjet on the way over," Hawkeye told him. "If you’d like to join the team, we’d love to have you."

"But … you don’t really even know me," Sam stammered.

"We know enough," Hawkeye answered seriously. "And, honestly, we’re a little short on man-power right now. All we have after the four of us are rookies. We could use a little experience to help out."

Sam’s head was spinning. Growing up in Kentucky, he didn’t know most of the superheroes he had run into. News on folks like Spider-Man and Daredevil never really filtered down that far - enough to know the name, but not the hero in a lot of cases. But the Avengers … everyone knew the Avengers. And to hear Hawkeye say that they wanted him because he was experienced … it made him feel good. And wanted. On some level, that made him feel especially good.

"Ah - Ah don’t know," he answered honestly. "This is a bit unexpected. Ah just came here to-"

"Come on back to the Compound then and think about it," Hawkeye answered seriously. "We don’t want to force you into anything, and to be fair, you can’t make a decision without seeing the set-up. But I can say this honestly, we’d like you to join the group. All of us. Just don’t ask Simon right now, he’s a bit grumpy." Hawkeye smiled.

Sam looked to Wonder Man who just sighed and shrugged.

"Yeah, enough with the sales pitch, Feather Head," Agent joked, poking Hawkeye in the ribs. "Show him the view and we won’t be able to turn him away. Look, kid, you’re the goods," Agent said to Sam. "We’ve been around long enough to know when a person’s got what it takes. You do. We all want you on the team for that reason and that reason only."

"Well, he’s got a nice butt, too," Tigra smiled, leaning on Agent’s shoulder.

"Yes, yes, we can’t forget the butt now, can we?" Hawkeye sighed, looking at Tigra. "Will you come back to the Compound with us and look things over?"

"Sure," Sam nodded, still a little stunned but warming to the idea. "But what do we do with this guy?" he asked, pointing to Slyde.

"Cops are coming now, they can handle him," Hawkeye answered. "Be good, Slyde."

"The end is coming," Slyde said calmly. "Be prepared for tomorrow. Only those truly enlightened will survive. Take this and join us. It will be the first day of the rest of your life." He slipped a card out of his pocket and tossed it to the ground.

Hawkeye picked it up and looked at what it said:

THE ENLIGHTENMENT FOUNDATION

Prepare for the End

"Cute," Hawkeye said. "You got a dental plan?"

Hawkeye slipped the card into one of his front pockets and turned to go. Tigra, Wonder Man, US Agent and Cannonball followed. ‘One thing Slyde said was right,’ Samuel Guthrie thought to himself, ‘today may well be the first day of the rest of my life.’

They entered the Quinjet and then the West Coast Avengers were gone.

END WCA 107

WEST COAST LINES

send comments to mariner2@tiac.net

Well, this was unexpected.

I hadn’t planned on taking over the writing chores on this title for a long time to come. But original MV1 AWC-writer Scott Chamberlain has stepped away from MV1. Don’t worry for Scott, he and his wife are awaiting the birth of their first child! Everyone at MV1 wishes you well, beezer, and we wish only the best for your family and hope you return to our writing ranks some day.

So the West Coast Avengers titles, this and HAWKEYE, have taken on new writers. I’ll be handling this title and Lonni Holland will be taking over HAWKEYE. For those who know Lonni, you know that she’s rather fond of the Avenging Archer and her presence writing that book has intimidated me to no end. Just check out HAWKEYE # 10 - her first issue as the new writer - to see what I mean.

My joy to be writing this title - West Coast Avengers was my favorite title growing up as a kid, first comic I ever got a letter printed in, too * - is tempered by beezer not being here. Our stories are bound to be different and no matter how good or bad my issues are, there will always be the question of "What If … beezer hadn’t left?"

* First person who can tell me what issue it was in gets an MV1 No Prize.

I hope you enjoy what I bring to this book. Scott was really starting to roll with this book and his presence is going to be missed. Like all my MV1 writings (Fantastic Four, All God’s Children, Tales to Astonish), I’ll try to bring something different to the Whackos. But it's going to take a few issues to find the groove on a team book again, especially when one is handed to you unexpectedly. Please bare with me. I've got what I think are a lot of truly great ideas lined up for the WCA and I only hope the stories can live up to them.

I’m sure a question you readers have is why the apparent shift in the line-up. There are two reasons for this. The foremost reason is that I don’t know Living Lightning, Magdalene or Swordsman II enough to write about them and ignoring that does a disservice to the characters and readership. Miguel is staying here as a reserve while I do some research on him, but I’ve let Swordsman and Magdalene go, both of which will soon surface in a Barry Reese project. There are more changes to come in the roster situation. Another writer has expressed interest in two of the folks still here and since I know he’s wanted one of them for a while and likes the other more than I do, I’ve given the okay for them to leave.

But I’m not saying who. You’ve got to keep reading for that. ;-) There will be additions to the roster as well, characters that, honestly, I have more of an interest in writing that the folks I’m letting go. I hope, as readers, you understand. The characters that I’ve gotten the chance to bring in are too good to pass up, I feel, and should lend to many classic Avenger tales. I'll be honest about the roster situation. I don't mind a flexible line-up. If you want to see the same seven characters here for the next 50 issues, you're going to be disappointed. I see being an AVENGER as a lifetime committment. No matter what your roster status, once an Avenger, always an Avenger. And I plan on using them all if I get the opportunity. But don't worry, there will be a core group as a centerpiece that will feature some long-time Avengers, some never before Avengers and some Avengers that never really got the chance to stick around.

As for what kinds of stories will you see here? Hey, this is an AVENGERS book. You'll get your mind-blowing epics, don't fear. But you're going to get stories that aren't often shown in AVENGERS, too. Scott Harris is cranking out epic after epic over in the main title, so I want to do things a little differently here. But just like Scott, I'm not going to shy away from making changes and shaking up the status-quo. My only goal is to tell good stories.

Thanks for listening everyone, and I’ll see you all Next Issue. Send any and all comments to the e-mail address above. Be sure to check out Lonni’s debut with HAWKEYE # 10 and try to drop beezer a line to thank him for his MV1 work and wish him and his family well.

In closing, I'd just like to say thanks, once again, to Van for starting MV1 up way back when (has it really been over a year?). I'd also just like to mention how much fun it's been so far working with Lonni. Beyond her love for Hawkeye, Lonni is an extremely talented writer, and one who is a joy to bounce ideas off of. We're working to make HAWKEYE and WCA as good as they possibly can be. One last thing before I go, when I mentioned up above that WCA was my favorite book as a kid, it was all because of the man this issue is dedicated to, Steve Englehart. And while it won't say it every issue, you can consider every issue of this series that I write to carry that same dedication tag.

-- Mark … 21.January.99

NEXT ISSUE: WEST COAST AVENGERS # 108 - CITIZEN'S ARREST - As Cannonball mulls over membership, US Agent gets a call from a friend in the US government that leads to a major drug bust. But all is not as it seems in the City of Angels and the Whackos find themselves wondering if they’ve done good … or if they’ve been used.

Also this month: HAWKEYE # 11 by Lonni Holland! See what happens when a few of the ladies from Clint's past make an unexpected appearance and bring about some unusual results. Check it out at the Avengers Branch!

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