CHAMPIONS #18

by Mark Beaulieu

An empty room is shown. A portal is closing as the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent is entering the room.

"Oh, my God, it's gone!!"

We now switch to a more relaxed setting. Sitting at a table in Four Freedoms Plaza are some of the greatest minds in the Marvel Universe. Hank Pym, Reed Richards, Tony Stark, Scott Lang, Bill Foster, T'Challa, and the ever lovable Blue eyed Beast, Hank McCoy.

"So then I pretended I didn't know he was standing there. Ben was muttering under his breath about holding this thing for over half an hour."

The whole groups starts to laugh.

"Reed, that thing weighs about a ton. That is so funny", says Scott Lang.

"Actually, it weighs a little over a ton", corrects Reed.

"Did I ever tell anyone about the time I dropped some Pym particles down Whirlwind's pants right before I sent him to jail?"

"Pymmy old boy, you have told that story so many times, I know it by heart. I still love it, but I know it by heart", Hank McCoy jokes.

Let's turn our attention elsewhere, shall we? It is a nice day in New York as a young woman approaches Avengers Mansion. Before she can knock on the door Jarvis greets her.

"Hello, Miss Jaurez. We haven't seen you in quite some time. What brings you to New York?"

"It is nice to see you, Jarvis. I was just here to see Hank Pym. Is he in?"

"Oh dear, he is at one of those meetings with the other scientists. They must be thinking of various ways to help the world. Would you like to wait?"

"If you don't mind? I just wanted to make sure he was ok. He has had some very rough times in his life and I was wondering if he needed to talk to anyone."

In the middle of New York, AIM agents start to surface from below the streets. They are also exiting from buildings. The buildings themselves begin to transform into gun towers and defensive barriers. As the AIM agents start to enter the streets, they begin to fire on any civilians in sight.

"This should bring the heroes. Remember the plan. When we have them where we want them, we release him", yells one of the squad leaders.

Back to our smarty pants friends at Four Freedoms Plaza.

"So then this guy says, is that a Vibranium molecule or are you in an excited state?"

Everyone laughs.

"T'Challa, that's such an old one. Even Pym knows that one", says Bill Foster.

"Hey!" responds Hank Pym.

An alarm goes off.

"Sorry to interrupt, high pockets, but we just got us an emergency downtown!" yells the Thing as he bursts into the room.

Elsewhere: A viewscreen shows most of New York's heroes converging on the AIM agents. The Avengers, the Fantastic Four, the Defenders, Heroes for Hire, Spider-Man, Daredevil, and more are showing up to stop AIM.

"Fixer, why would AIM be so open? This is mind-boggling."

"I don't know Zemo. They are up to something. I will try to figure it out."

In the S.H.E.I.L.D. Hellicarrier Nick Fury is arguing with Black Widow.

"I am going down, Nick!! There is no way we can allow them to kill innocent civilians in broad daylight!"

"Tasha, Tasha, Tasha. There ain't no such thing as an innocent New Yorker. Now sit pretty 'til we figure out how we want to approach this."

"Nick, I am going NOW! And if you ever patronize me again, I will make sure you stay dead after I get through with you."

Nick Fury glares after her.

Black Widow and a team of S.H.E.I.L.D. agents fly down from the Hellicarrier using jet packs. As they leave the Hellicarrier, the guns on the buildings start to fire on the Hellicarrier.

As the heroes start to break through the defensive barriers the AIM agents have set up, robots of various shapes and sizes fly out from everywhere to attack the heroes. The New Warriors are taken by complete surprise and are almost decimated if not for the quick thinking of Nova. Nova puts himself between his battered teammates and the robots to give his friends time to recover. In another area of the battle, Thor is just completely destroying these robots like they were made of tissue paper.

Switching back to Zemo and Fixer:

"I've figured it out. They are herding Thor, Hulk, Namor, the Invisible Woman, and Photon into one area."

"Why, Fixer? Tell me why!!"

"There can only be one reason. They have the..."

Back at the fight scene. Hercules and the Black Knight fight side by side to save some civilians who were trying to hide in their homes. Iron Fist and Luke Cage are trying to get wounded White Tiger out of the fight. Songbird is shown erecting a wall of sound between the gunmen and the crowd of innocents caught in the crossfire. Falcon, still seriously hurt from his fight with Zemo* is flying with Firebird to try to spot any stragglers. On a rooftop near the Falcon and Firebird is Batroc. He is watching the battle with a very curious eye. He is thinking about why AIM is herding certain heroes into one area of the battle.

[*See SVTU Annual #1-- Van-daid]

"Any minute now, and the heroes we need will be in place." The AIM squad leader is looking at a viewscreen. On the viewscreen is the Hulk, Thor, Namor, and the Invisible Woman along with the rest of the Fantastic Four.

"Get Photon over there soon. We are getting beaten badly," the squad leader yells into his microphone.

"We almost have her there, sir", a voice responds over the speakers.

Back to our other baddies: Fixer and Zemo are standing in a room while talking to the Red Skull on a viewscreen (boy are there a lot of these).

"Herr Skull. You told me that AIM would be more subtle now that you were in control. This is not what I would call subtle."

"Zemo, I am no longer giving the orders to AIM. Through my my financial backing I am still able to manipulate them, but I am no longer in direct control. I do, however, approve of the man they now have in charge. He agrees with our agenda--he wishes to keep wars going in the areas where we have started them. In fact, he plans to use AIM to start even more."

On the viewscreen, Batroc can be seen leaping from his hiding spot and towards Thor. Before he can reach the ground, Diamondback tackles him.

"Non, you eediot!!! I was going to stop them!! Now we are all doomed!!" Batroc screams.

Zemo asks "One more question, Skull. How did they steal..."

The Super Adaptoid bursts out of the ground right where Thor, Hulk, Namor, the Invisible Woman, and Photon are fighting. Before they can act, the Super Adaptoid has gained all of their powers.

A portal then opens. Out steps Ares.

"I have one final gift for you my friends. Say hello to NM-E!"

NM-E steps out of the portal and immediately begins to attack the heroes closest to the portal."

On the viewscreen in Fixer's lab, the heroes can be seen fighting AIM, the Super Adaptoid, and NM-E.

"Zemo, while I don't know anything about this new robot. They were brilliant when it came to their use of the Super Adaptoid. By gaining the Hulk's powers the Super Adaptoid has almost unlimited capacity for strength. By gaining Namor's powers he will get stronger when wet. Thor is the strongest of all and he can make it rain. He will start as strong as Thor, make it rain and get stronger than anything ever seen. There may be no limit to his strength."

"Not to mention, Fixer, he can also turn invisible and move at the speed of light."

To Be Continued...

Next Issue: The fight continues.