MS. MARVEL 38

THE MS. MARVEL GATEFOLD

Previously ...Ms. Marvel has decided to go to Texas to investigate the mystery of Frank Gianelli and the mysterious and cluttered package he sent to Carol.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

MS. MARVEL - CAROL DANVERS was accidentally irradiated by the Kree built Psyche-Magnitron, giving her powers and turning her into the heroine, MS. MARVEL! Now, after a lifetime that has seen her as a NASA security chief, writer, magazine editor, intelligence operative, Avenger and transformed into the cosmically powered heroine BINARY, Carol has regained her Ms. Marvel identity and powers and is the living embodiment of merged Kree/Human genetic potential.

PARAMOUR and VELVET - Little is known about the two femle assassins except that they wear the same costume, which includes a belt of tricks around their waist.

RED WOLF - Will Talltrees wears the ceremonial garb of the Red Wolf, a champion of the Cheyenne.

NORTHERN BEAR PRODUCTIONS

Paramour stood next to a figure in a large throne and watched on a scrying pool as her squire, Velvet, stood quietly in the center of a small cabin in Plexikaard, Norway. Her eyes were closed and sweat glistened on her tight, tan skin.

Paramour smiled, "Telepathy. All Grellian assassins are trained as low level psis, among other things." She smiled, making a point to walk in front of the person who had recently hired them.

"Yes, sah, we did it! We stopped AIM all bah ahselves!" Texas Twister shouted with joy as the United States army corralled the AIM troops that had come to raid this secret government installation. The night was hot, but Carol could feel a dampness in the air that felt wrong to her for such a night.

Ms. Marvel said nothing, letting the Twister and Shooting Star grandstand all they wanted to. She wasn't here to receive fair credit, she had come to Houston to find Frank Gianelli.

"Ms. Marvel helped," Shooting Star said to her partner, but he ignored her, making a point to be seen by as many of the army troops as he could be. Star sighed and rolled her eyes and turned to Ms. Marvel. "Thanks for your help."

"Not a problem," Carol replied, uneasy with the Army's insistence that they take the AIM troops as prisoner.

"Er, you'll all have to sign this," a young private said as he came over to stand by the three heroes. He was nervous, Carol could tell, though he tried to hide it. "It's a non-disclosure agreement to make sure that you don't-"

"Wait just a minute, son!" Texas Twister roared. "You mean to tell me that ah can't tell the world what it was that ah did here? Ludicrous!"

Carol shook her head, turned, and left, leaving the glory hound and the image conscious military to fight amongst themselves. She was tired and wanted sleep.

But on the ridge above the military installation, there was one figure who was determined that Ms. Marvel wouldn't be resting any time soon. His name was Red Wolf and he knew that what had just happened between AIM and the US military had nothing to do with anything.

Jeanne-Marie Beaubier screamed and screamed and screamed. She stood on a ledge high above the floor, somewhere in the labyrinths of the New York City underground and couldn't move. She was paralyzed with fear. If she stopped expelling her light, she was plunged into total and complete darkness.

And then she'd shine her light again, to help stave off the insanity that was already upon her.

She had no idea how she came to be here, or how to escape. Her mind was fractured into a million pieces.

Carol flew back to the outskirts of town, thinking the whole time. Did AIM have anything to do with Gianelli? What did NASA have to do with the dead Senator from New York? Why was Gianelli convinced that Senator Edmonds 17 straight anti-NASA votes would bring his death?

She landed in the dark, wanting to walk into town as Carol Danvers and not as Ms. Marvel.

"What?" she jumped up, reflexively turning to the sound of the voice. She couldn't see anything. "Who's there? It's been too long a past few days to put up with any more mysteries. I'm not in the mood."

"My apologies," came the low, honest voice as the figure stepped into a sliver of moonlight. "But what you have come for, you have not yet seen."

"You are a friend of the reporter, correct?" he asked, knowing full well she was. "Frank Gianelli?"

"Then you have not seen what you have come looking for." He turned to leave, "Come. I shall show you what the darkness sees in this desert." He paused. "And then I shall take you to Frank Gianelli."

"I see a bunch of military guys rounding up a bunch of AIM troops," Ms. Marvel said matter-of-factly. "Nothing here that wasn't here ten minutes ago."

"The time has not come, yet," Red Wolf answered, watching the outskirts of the circle fenced perimeter with interest. "But perhaps that will pique your interest." He pointed to the middle of the installation, in front of the small hangar, where General Kint was busy talking with the AIM leader. "That does nt look like your typical military interrogation."

"No," Carol frowned. "It doesn't." The General and the AIM leader talked casually, but their words could not be heard from the ridge. The AIM leader motioned to the distance and shortly a rumbling could be heard. It grew louder and louder until a small AIM helicopter descended from the sky. When it landed, military troops unloaded a crate from the back that was roughly the size of an oven. "Now, why is AIM delivering something to the US military? And why is General Kint handing over a briefcase to the AIM leader?" Her voice grew in intensity as she looked on with concern.

"As for the latter," Red Wolf answered, as Lobo walked up to stand beside them, "I would guess that it is because a money transfer, no matter how secretly done, still leaves a trail. But this hand-off is only seen by those who are here."

"We don't know that it is money inside the briefcase, but it's something," Ms. Marvel's voice grew angry. "Whatever it is, the United States military and AIM have just brokered a deal. I don't like it."

They stood in silence, watching the United States military allow AIM to depart without a fight.

The Grellian assassin-in-training made her way quietly through Carol's apartment, but there wasn't a lot to see. There was a couch, a coffee table and some personal effects, but that was it.

She moved into the bedroom area, but there was nothing in the room more than clothes and Carol's bed. Velvet looked through a box of clothes, but it was clear to her that Ms. Marvel was in the process of moving in or out.

She sat on the floor and let herself fall into a meditative trance. She would wait, maybe a day, maybe a week, maybe a month.

Carol and Red Wolf watched the military installation, but nothing happened. "It's getting late," Carol sighed, stretching. "What was it you wanted me to see?"

"The time is almost here," Red Wolf answered. "Every tenth day for the last four months things have happened here. I myself have only been witness to seven such occurrences, but your friend Gianelli had seen more as had … a former teammate of mine."

"Who? Texas Twister and Shooting Star?" Carol asked, knowing they were in the loosely-affiliated team called the Rangers. "Firebird?"

"No, the other. The Night Rider. He is aware of all things where the West was once supposedly wild." Red Wolf paused, contemplating, then decided to continue. "Texas Twister and Shooting Star have decided to take a path different from the one we originally started on. They are much more concerned with the fame of their accomplishments as opposed to their result."

"I noticed," Ms. Marvel nodded, "though it seemed to come more from Texas Twister than Shooting Star."

"She is in love with him," Red Wolf shrugged. "Wait - be silent and watch." He pointed back to the hangar. The main door opened a group of military personnel exited. Behind them walked General Kint, barking orders. The stillness of the night should have allowed for them to hear what he said, but a sudden, sharp wind kicked up, hiding his words.

The troops spent the next half hour laying out a series of mechanical devices. "My god," Carol shook with the realization, "they're putting together pieces of a roving lunar module." Bells went off in Carol's head about the NASA mentions in Gianelli's notes. "But why put it together outside? And the way they're doing it, one piece at a time, so slow, almost like they were teaching a class of privates how to- oh!"

Carol was knocked to the ground from behind and she turned in time to see a large foot dropping down on her. She rolled to the side, avoiding the blow, and jumped to her feet. The large figure swatted her with a tail, knocking Carol off to the side.

She picked her head up to see a ten foot orc stalking towards her. "What the hell?" she asked, but the only reply from the orc was another bellow of rage.

As she rose to her feet, she looked for Red Wolf and saw him lying on the ground, unconscious. "Roooaarrrr!" the orc yelled as it jumped at her.

"Yeah, heard you the first time," Carol cracked as she stepped to the side, avoiding his green, scaly hands. THWACK! But she didn't avoid the tail. "Oooph!" Again she was knocked to the ground, but this time she couldn't immediately get up. The world spun and she closed her eyes to regain her balance.

She could feel the ground shake as the orc walked towards her and prepared to push herself out of the way when it got close enough to strike at her. Struggling, she opened her eyes and saw Lobo, the wolf that was Red Wolf's companion, jump on the orc's back and tear into the scaly flesh with claws and teeth.

The orc howled in rage and tried desperately to remove the creature, but it did no good.

Lobo had bought Carol the time she needed. She flew hard at the orc and connected with his midsection, knocking him off his feet. Lobo scampered to the side, then jumped up onto the orc's chest to keep him occupied. Carol grabbed its tail and threw him into the distance.

Before the orc had landed, she was off after him. She lost sight of him when he fell off the edge of the ridge and Carol dove down hard, straight into -

- the United States military. A group of ten fired blasts of energy at the orc from futuristic looking guns and the orc screamed in pain, howling and kicking furiously. In five seconds, it was over.

"Thank you, Ms. Marvel," General Kint enthused as he came forward to shake her hand. "We were lucky that you were around to fight this hideous creature."

"Gamma irradiated creature, we believe," the General answered frankly. "A crackpot scientist was trying to recreate Banner's experiments. This thing," he pointed to the orc, "was once a Gila monster. Ugly bastard, isn't he?"

"He is," Carol answered, trying not to frown. She was certain the General was lying to her, but there was, of course, no way to prove it.

"We've been trying to draw him out into the open," the General continued. "We come out here every night and make slow, deliberate actions with shiny equipment. He appears to be attracted to such trinkets and the slow movements, we hoped, wouldn't frighten him off." He smiled, "Now we have him. And we are partly in your debt. Thank you, Ms. Marvel. Thank you ever so much."

"You're welcome," Carol answered and flew back up the ridge to see Red Wolf waiting for her.

"Of course she does," General Kint snapped. "We must contact the master and delay the plans. We can not risk this woman bringing her friends into this conflict. We must wait."

"I am afraid he is," Red Wolf answered. "Frank was a good man, trying to uncover a horrible truth."

"Do not be foolish, Paramour," her master sighed. "I have all the time in the world."

"I hated lying to her," a voice said from the darkness as Ms. Marvel's form vanished into the night.

"I know," Red Wolf nodded, turning to the figure. "Come, Frank Gianelli, the desert has many secrets left to uncover. This is a mystery that is far from over."

MV1 - AVENGERS	All Out MV1-Action with the Female Fury!

# 38 - MAY, Y2	NORTHERN BEAR PRODUCTIONS