Champions #28

"Powerless? I Say Thee Nay!"

Part 5 of Cult of Personality

Previously: The Avengers and the Champions battled it out in Avengers Mansion. The Champions were mind-controlled by Count Nefaria and his lackeys in the Church of the Risen Son. After the Champions were released from the mind-control, both branches of the Avengers and the Champions came up with a game plan to stop the evil Count and his cult from removing the powers from all super-powered individuals. The three groups have been sent on separate missions to stop "power-loss bombs" from going off. Meanwhile, a mysterious figure has landed in California and is attempting to hitchhike his way to L.A. Fast Forward has been contacted by Hermes, the Greek God, and been informed to head out west in order to restore Fast Forward's memory. Did you get all of that? <Phew!>

South of Los Angeles:

Our mysterious stranger is riding in a car towards Los Angeles.  A man named Gary Alvarez picked him up about an hour ago and the conversation, so far, has been pleasant between the two strangers.

That is all about to change, however, and Gary will have a story to tell people for the rest of his life.

The Champions Aboard a Quinjet:

"Any ideas on how to handle the Super-Adaptoid, 'Tasha?" Scott Lang asks. "I don't think we should go in unprepared."

"I don't think so either, Scott, but to be honest, I'm not sure how to handle him. We don't know what powers he's absorbed yet. If he hasn't absorbed any powers, then I'm going to send in Batroc, Diamondback and myself to take him down. That way he can't…"

"Hold thy tongue woman!" Hercules roared. "I shall be a part of any battle in which we engage!"

"Will you let me finish?"

Hercules shrugs but Natasha can tell he doesn't care about what she'll say next.

"If he has no powers we don't want him absorbing Hercules' strength or Firebird's abilities. He'd be very difficult to stop if he did." Natasha knows that mentioning Hercules' strength will help win him over.

"Thou doth have a point. But the Lion of Mount Olympus can defeat any foe. Even a foe as strong as myself!" Hercules then drops back into his seat.

"We are zere! Prepare for ze battle!" Batroc lands the Quinjet.

Through the cockpit windows Batroc can see the Super-Adaptoid approach them. "Sacre bleu!"

The West Coast Avengers Aboard their Quinjet:

USAgent turns to Hawkeye. "I can't believe you let Cap snowball you into making us take this assignment! We should be going after the Adaptoid, not those Champions losers!"

"Shut up, loud-mouth! Natasha and Hercules are Avengers through and through. Don't bad mouth them or you'll have to answer to me! Got it!"

USAgent stares at Hawkeye and a smile spreads across his face. "Wouldn't want to have to beat the livin' tar out of you again, archer." As the Agent turns back in his seat he glances back at Hawkeye "Or is it simply that you still have the hots for the Widow?"

Hawkeye simply grumbles to himself. He isn't happy that Captain America sent them after the mercenaries either. It just seems below the Avengers to have to deal with regular Joes while the Super-Adaptoid is out there. "Damn it, how does he do that?"*

*Avengers #434 is where Cap talked Hawkeye into going after the Mercs.

South of Los Angeles:

While discussing baseball with his new passenger, a loud noise stops the conversation and Gary quickly notices that his front tire is flat. A.I.M. agents in their yellow uniforms come out of the woods. Firing laser blasts at the passenger of the truck.

"Get him before he can run!"

Gary Alvarez is completely ignored as he runs into the grass on the side of the road. The agents are only concerned with the passenger.

Back to the Champions:

"Batroc and I will move in first to determine the Adaptoid’s power levels.  Everyone else stays here.  Rachel, you’re our primary back-up.  Be ready.” The Black Widow and Batroc the Leaper, approach the Super-Adaptoid. Before they can take two steps they lose sight of him and within the blink of an eye he's on top of Hercules. "Oh no! He's got powers, and from the look of it, he's absorbed Nefaria's powers! This isn't good!"

Firebird shoots a blast of flame at the android that has tackled her teammate. The green monstrosity turns its head and she catches a glimpse of the goatee that Nefaria wears on the Super-Adaptoid's face. The next thing she sees are energy beams flying out of his eyes and aimed straight at her. Bonita tries to avoid the blasts but the beams of energy graze the side of her leg. She falls to the ground in agony.

Hercules takes advantage of the distraction caused by Firebird's attack and punches the Super-Adaptoid off of him. "Foul miscreant, thou shalt pay for joining in Nefaira's base scheme!" As the Prince of Power approaches the Super-Adaptoid, the android shimmers and two Super Adaptoids now stand before the Lion of Mount Olympus.

"Oh dear God!" Diamondback blurts out. "Two of them!"

The West Coast Avengers:

The Avengers land near an old decrepit warehouse. "Why do villains always use old abandoned warehouses?" Hawkeye jokes.

"And why do you always make that joke when we have to go into one?" USAgent jokes back.

"Can we quit with the male bonding and just find these mercs and get the hell out of here?" Tigra asks.

"Kitty needs some milk, Clint." USAgent says.

"Shut up, Jack!" Tigra snarls.

Wonder Man and Cannonball come back from the side of the warehouse. Simon points at the building. "It seems perfectly quiet in there. Something's not right or we're at the wrong place."

"This had better be the right place or we may not have the time to save the world." Cannonball states.

Living Lightning places his hand on Sam's shoulder. "You're getting almost as melodramatic as Captain America." USAgent laughs a little too hard. Hawkeye gives Jack a strange look.

"Simon and Tigra go into the warehouse and see if you can find any hidden rooms. The rest of us will check out the surrounding area and the roof."

As Wonder Man and Tigra open the door to go into the warehouse, men pop out of the surrounding buildings. "Looks like we're at the right place, big fella." Tigra says.

"Sam, Jack - take out these losers. Simon, cover Tigra! Lightning, you're with me!" Hawkeye shouts the orders and they are followed without question. It feels good to be in charge again. Clint thinks to himself while letting loose with one of his blast arrows so that he can take out more than one of these hired goons at one time.

The West Coast Avengers make short work of the mercenaries. "This can't be all he left to protect the bomb." Living Lightning adds. The others are all thinking the same thing when the ground starts to rumble. The ground rips open and four metallic monstrosities creep out of the hole. Each one has four arms and each arm carries a laser cannon.

The Champions:

The two green androids reach for Hercules. Before they can grab the Greek Demi-God, a diamond hits each of them. Both of them are entrapped in energy bonds. Hercules knows the bonds won't hold so he lands a blow to the head of the first Super-Adaptoid. The shot to the head knocks the android backwards and through the wall of a building nearby.

"Natasha, we're pretty much useless here." Scott Lang says.

"Not really. I want you to do something for me." Natahsa turns to Ant-Man and explains what she wants him to do.

The second Super-Adaptoid breaks free of his energy bonds and starts to shimmer. Before the duplicate can be created, Firebird lashes out with a blast of flame that distracts the android. The emerald android then flies towards Firebird. As the Super-Adaptoid approaches Bonita, she erects a wall of flame in front of her. The fire doesn't slow him down. However, unknown to the android, Firebird has been decreasing the temperature in his body slowly. His movements are becoming sluggish, but not slow enough for Miss Juarez. As she's about to be hit, a brown flash hits the side of the Super-Adaptoid. The three-headed guardian of Hades, Cerberus, has just saved Bonita.

Natasha looks away from Bonita now that she knows Bonita is safe and gasps as she sees three Super-Adaptoids leaving the building. "We're in big trouble!"

The West Coast Avengers:

"Ok team, this must be the big stuff Nefaria left behind to guard his bomb. Take them out!" Hawkeye pulls out an acid arrow in hopes of melting through to their circuits.

"I only hope this is the big stuff, and they aren't trying to wear us out before they bring in the big guns!" USAgent scowls as he runs straight into the first of the robots.

I hope so, too. Hawkeye thinks to himself.

A loud crashing sound can be heard when Cannonball slams directly into the midsection of one of the robots. Sam comes out of the other side of the robot, but the robot turns to fire. Both shots miss the flying mutant. Tigra lands on the midsection of the robot while he's distracted. She plants a small explosive arrowhead in the hole Sam created. She leaps aside as the arrowhead explodes. The Robot is down for the count. I'm glad I talked Hawkeye into letting me carry one of his arrowheads.

Wonder Man demolishes his robot with ease. His strength was much too much for the man-made robot.

USAgent and Living Lightning are having a tougher time with their opponent, but again the robot is overcome by their combined powers. The only robot left is scrambling around on its arms since Hawkeye knocked off both legs with a combination of acid and blast arrows. Simon Williams lands on the back of the partially disabled robot and reaches into the guts of the robot and yanks out wire after wire until the robot ceases to function.

"That was too easy." Hawkeye grumbles.

"You got that right, chief." USAgent scowls and wonders what's next.

South of Los Angeles:

Our mysterious stranger is staggered by one of the shots. He slumps to the ground behind the car. "I've got to get out of here. I don't want to be captured by these guys again and I'm still weak from my imprisonment."*

* He escaped from his prison in the desert when Hercules and Thor were engaged in their PPV fight in Champions #22

The figure shrouded in shadows flies off to the north with laser blasts filling the air. He's somehow able to dodge them in his weakened condition.

The Avengers:

Sprawled out on the grass of the park, Captain America sees that the other Avengers are down. The Vision, Ms. Marvel, Yellow Jacket, Dr. Amazing and even Namor are either in no condition to fight or simply unconscious. Scrambling to his feet, Captain America leaps for his shield. After reaching the shield, Cap focuses all of his thoughts on Nomad and throws his shield. Nomad easily dodges the shield, but as the shield starts its return arc, it lands smack dab in the middle of Mentallo's back. Captain America is now freed of the mental manipulations of Mentallo.

Seeing that Mentallo was hit, Nomad leaps at Captain America. Steve Rogers has been in more fights than probably any other hero on Earth, with the possible exceptions of Hercules and Thor and is able to dodge the leaping Nomad. As Nomad flies by, Captain America lands a two-fisted punch to the back of Nomad. He turns away from Nomad quickly and heads for his shield. Speed Demon runs up from behind, but the Sentinel of Liberty is able to dodge the blow directed at his legs.

Ducking under a swing by a blue baseball bat constructed by Dr. Spectrum, Captain America rolls and grabs his shield. The baseball bat comes down towards the shield, but Captain America rolls to the right and the bat swings into the head of Speed Demon. I've got to keep these guys busy until the others can wake up.

"Very impressive, Captain. Unfortunately, your display was all for naught." Like a flash of lightning, Nefaria grabs Captain America by the neck and strangles him into unconsciousness. Standing over the battlefield, Nefaria surveys the scene. He is standing there with the limp form of Captain America in his hands while the rest of the Avengers are sprawled all along the lawn. "Bah! Earth's Mightiest Heroes!" Each word shows his utter contempt for the Avengers.

Above the Earth:

The Silver Surfer sees the trail left behind by the man he's been following. "He seems to be headed towards California. I wonder what his scheme is this time." He turns towards Earth and considers how to handle the person he's been chasing.

The West Coast Avengers:

The team meets no further resistance as they go into the basement of the warehouse. The bomb is directly in front of them. "This is too good to be true folks. There's no way this was all they had set for us. Stay alert."

"I'll check for traps. I think I'm the only one here with any science background." Simon Williams approaches the bomb.

"I'll help you. I had some training on this type of thing when I was in the Commission." The USAgent follows carefully after Wonder Man.

After a few minutes of searching the area, they find no traps. Wonder Man takes the bomb. "What should we do with this thing?"

"Fly up into the atmosphere and throw it away. Unless you're certain you can disarm it." Hawkeye looks around for any other ideas.

"That's as good an idea as any." Simon Williams shrugs. "He takes off with the bomb."

Hawkeye has a gnawing feeling that something is wrong here. This was way too easy.

"Well maybe we should see if any of the other teams need help." Tigra continues to look around. She's also unsure about leaving just yet.

"I've got it! I know why it was too easy!" Hawkeye runs out of the room and searches through the robots. "Damn if I wasn't right!" He pulls a small round object out of the robot. "Here's the real bomb. I knew there was something wrong with this. They didn't care what we did to the robots. If we hit the bomb, we'd set it off. If we trashed the robots, we'd go searching for the bomb itself. Crafty little sucker."

A Phoenix Jail Cell:

Dr. Plexico and Dr. Bousquet are discussing their next scheme. "I say we create a giraffe with 8 arms and a grenade launcher on each arm!" Dr. Plexico smiles while doodling an eight-armed giraffe.

"Don't be ridiculous Dr. Plexico. You would only need 4 grenade launchers. It would improve the giraffe's offensive capability if the other four arms had gatling guns."

"Brilliant! I sometimes get so narrowed in on the initial idea that I forget about simple enhancements!"

"Dr. Plexico, that is why we make such a good team!" Both of the mad scientists laugh.

BOOM!!!!!!

A man stands behind the hole in wall that was caused by the explosion. "Good doctors! I'm here to get you out of jail!"

"Fabulous! Shall we leave Dr. Bousquet?"

"We've got the preliminary plan down pat, I say we take this gentleman up on his offer." Both doctors walk up to the man who engineered their escape. All three men are wearing lab coats. "May we have the name of the man who was kind enough to help us escape?" Dr. Bousquet asks.

"The name is Dr. Gow!"

"Oh this is splendid!" The two recently freed mad scientists exclaim in unison.

The Champions:

Exiting the building are three more Super-Adaptoids. Add in the Super-Adaptoid fighting with Cerberus and this scene just got real ugly for the Champions. How can Cerberus handle a Super-Adaptoid with Nefaria's power? Of course! They're getting weaker as they duplicate themselves. But they're still too powerful for all of us. Here's where I take a huge chance.

Natasha steps forward and yells to Bonita. "Help Hercules with the first Adaptoid! We'll handle the others!" I hope Scott isn't too much longer.

Firebird looks at Natasha and shrugs. "If you think this is the right thing to do, then I shall do it. But it doesn't make sense to me." She shoots a blast of flame at the original Super-Adaptoid. Hercules and the initial android are standing toe to toe trading blow after blow.

Batroc leaps onto the head of one of the other green androids. "Your mouztache lookz even worse zan zee real Nefaria's!" Batroc jumps off the Super-Adaptoid and just avoids a punch. The punch hits the android square in the side of the head. "Nice shot, mon ami!" Cerberus runs up and grabs the Adaptoid's left leg in one mouth, its right leg in another and third head latches onto the androids groin. "Remind me never to fight with you." Batroc jokes.

Diamondback continues to hurl diamond after diamond at the Super-Adaptoid approaching her. The ice, explosions and energy bonds slow the android down, but it continues to approach her. "Too bad Hermes didn't give me any thing to take out super bad-ass robots!"

Widow bite after Widow bite strikes the fourth Super-Adaptoid. The damage is minimal but she's just trying to keep it distracted until Hercules and Firebird can finish off the original one.

Hercules starts to knock the Super-Adaptoid backwards while Firebird continues to lash out with fire. The Super-Adaptoid sees that it's weakening. It starts to shimmer. This time it isn't distracted by Firebird's attacks like the second Adaptoid was. Another Adaptoid appears next to the original. Hercules lands a punch on the original while Firebird fires an even more powerful blast of fire. She's getting weaker. Between the fight with Quasar* and this fight, she's not sure how much longer she can last. Fortunately, she won't need to last much longer. By duplicating himself again, the Super-Adaptoid is now too weak to handle the strength of Hercules and is knocked backwards. Between the fire and Hercules' blows the Adaptoid is finished. The other duplicates disappear now that the original can't operate the Zodiac Key.

* See last issue

Scott Lang runs up with the bomb. "I've deactivated the bomb. Sorry it took so long."

"Good job Scott, I figured your ants would be able to find the bomb faster than we could. So even if we were defeated here, you'd have taken care of the bomb. Let's go see if the other groups need any help." Natasha takes out her Avengers communi-card and tries to contact the East Coast Avengers. No response from any of the cards. "Damn! That isn't good." She then tries to contact Hawkeye.

"Hawkeye here. You guys ok?"

"We're fine Hawkeye, but I'm a little worried about the Avengers." Natasha says.

"Normally I'd be offended that you didn't refer to them as the East Coast Avengers, but I'm too concerned about them myself right now. We'll meet you at the park." Hawkeye's image disappears.

Even when he's in the middle of something this big, his pride can still be wounded when he thinks we aren't giving his West Coast team enough credit. Maybe that's why I liked him so much. Natasha thinks to herself.

In the Midwest:

A figure runs across the highway. Why would Hermes need me to go to Los Angeles? How will this help me get my memory back? The same two thoughts have been going through his head since he left New York City. However a new line of thought has started to enter his mind since he got into America's Heartland. He wonders why this part of the country seems so familiar, yet so different.

Next Issue: Next issue our mysterious figure and the Silver Surfer finally meet and it isn't on friendly terms. A.I.M. steps up its efforts to get the mysterious stranger back. The identity of the mysterious figure is revealed. Wow! All that, and more, in one issue. Don't miss it.

Note to the Readers: The missing issue of Champions is finally done. The main reason for the delay was that I didn't have Scott's plot for this issue and Scott wasn't sure how things were going to play out until he had written some of the issues. I think it ended up better this way. I'm a much better writer now than when I would've written this. I must say that I'm very glad that Scott asked me to do this crossover. At the time I was pretty new to this thing and I wasn't particularly good. Writing issue #27 is the issue where I learned how to do fight scenes. So without this crossover, I don't think my fight scenes would've improved so quickly. This issue was a blast to write and I hope you enjoyed it. It's nice to revisit old friends.

I'd also like to thank Mark Bousquet for helping me improve this issue. His comments helped me make this issue better.

Mark Beaulieu

Ulysses and Pandora Productions