MARVEL TRIPLE ACTION 49

#49
starring SANDMAN, STINGRAY & DEATHCRY
MV1 AVENGERS	NORTHERN BEAR PRODUCTIONS

Continuity Note - This story takes place around April, Year 4, concurrent with the events of INHUMANS: State of the Nation 3 of 12 and after the Kree/Shi'ar War.

"Come on, Sable," Sandman groused. "I got no place to go and you know it. I can't exactly hop on a plane and go to Cancun for a week."

"So sit and home and watch the Discovery Channel. You need some time off," Silver Sable said pointedly. Sandman knew there was no arguing with her, but it couldn't help to try.

"Sable, guy's like me, we don't get time off. I don't get to go home and unwind."

"I'm gonna sit in my apartment and go nuts all day, then end up at some bar all night. I'd rather just keep working."

Silver Sable stared at Sandman hard. He needed the time off and she was going to make certain he got it. She ran her hands through her thick silver hair.

Sandman stared out the window, resigned to his fate but not going to go down without a fight. "I'll work the week for free. You can take the money you were going to pay me and give it to charity. Maybe to that youth center over on Yancey Street."

Paul Gentry stood in the large stable of Viper's Vermont mansion his mouth agape, wondering if he was going to live until tomorrow morning. Viper had her mind set on creating a criminal organization that would one day rival HYDRA and AIM and an important part of her start up plans for the Menagerie was missing.

"Paul!" He nearly wet himself as he heard Viper approach. "How long does it take you to feed this big ani-"

"Then by all means do so," the cold voice of Viper answered. He felt so small, so intimidated by this amazing woman. She had done so much for him, giving him the means to avenge his father's death and kill the man responsible, Captain America.*

* Paul Gentry is the son of Alexander Gentry, the original Porcupine. Yeah, Viper didn't exactly tell him the entire truth.

"Uh … I came out here to feed him like I was supposed to and he was gone!" Paul blurted out as quickly as he could.

"Find him," Viper said before turning to leave the stables. "Or don't come back."

The last thing Deathcry remembered she was being held as a prisoner of Lilandra when some guys that were way out of her league showed up and stopped Lilandra cold.* They waved their hands and poof, she was back on Earth. But why'd she get sent here? And why was she deposited on the top of a building?

Heck, she didn't care. She was away from the Shi'ar Homeworld and away from Lilandra. Deathcry didn't care if she was on Earth or Titan or the middle of nowhere. 'Might as well hang on Earth for a bit,' she figured.

"Oooof!" Deathcry gasped as the air was forced from her lungs. She sprawled backwards across the rooftop. Shaking the cobwebs she looked up into the eyes of … the Griffin! The large beast pinned her arms to the ground, as it's drool threatened to drip down onto her face. "Not today," she mumbled, bringing her feet up hard and kicking the beast's underbelly.

But Deathcry moved him enough to roll out from under the beast's weight. Quickly, effortlessly, like the warrior-to-be she was trained for, Deathcry jumped to her feet. "What are you doing loose in the city?" she asked.

Knowing the attack was coming this time, Deathcry jumped out of the way. It was not as easy as she'd thought - the Griffin was amazingly fast. Before she could catch her breath, the mythological beast was leaping at her again. Barely reacting in time, Deathcry jumped straight into the air, the Griffin passing beneath her split legs.

Deathcry ached in every muscle in her body. The Kree/Shi'ar War had taken a lot out of her, as it had everyone involved. Her mind was tired, too, however, and she knew she had a lifetime left of awaiting Lilandra's retribution. The last thing she wanted to do was face down a creature that she didn’t even think she could take at full strength.

The Griffin growled as it approached slowly, cautiously, stalking Deathcry as it's prey.

"Griffin, I am not in the mood!" the purple woman cried. "I just got back from being involved in a War on the other end of the galaxy and all I want to do relax in peace! I didn't need to see your ugly butt first day back!"

It leapt again and Deathcry was too slow to avoid him. The Griffin tackled her over the side of the building. Deathcry hung on to it's large red mane for dear life. To survive she was going to have to ride the beast to safety.

Across the way, in the United Nations offices of Queen Medusalith, a young Inhuman watched the scene with great interest. His name was Kendar and along with his twin sister Kendra made up the Bodyguard Twins. They were charged with one duty, the protection of their Queen while she stayed in New York City as the Attilan Ambassador to the United Nations.*

* See the INHUMANS: State of the Nation limited series for Medusa in action! - Cross Promoting Biscuit …

Trying to keep himself from sighing in disgust as Deathcry and Griffin disappeared from out of his sight, Kendar turned his total focus back to his duty.

But there was something about the purple skinned Shi'ar woman that intrigued him greatly.

Sandman walked through the park, one of the few who could truly feel safe there at night. Who was going to pose a threat to him? The average mugger or street criminal wouldn't stand a chance against a man who's body was made of sand and who could control the sand with his mind.

The sun was just starting to fall below the horizon. It was a gorgeous night in the city, lazy and mellow and almost peaceful.

Sandman appreciated Sable's mandatory vacation, but it still didn't change the fact that he was going to be bored stiff for a week. He'd saved up a decent amount of money since starting to work for Silver Sable, but money could only do so much for a person.

He still lived in an apartment in a run down section of the city. No upscale building wanted a former criminal like the Sandman hanging around. He could stay in one of Sable's apartments, had a couple of times, in fact, but it never felt right to him. It felt like he was depending too much on her.

"Take this my friend," a young man said as he walked up to the Sandman, handing him a card. "If you are ready, we shall find you."

As the young man walked off, Sandman looked down at the business card he had been handed. It read:

He shook his head. Stupid crazies, probably thinking the world was gonna end. He pocketed the card and kept walking, not giving it another thought but to remind himself to give it to Sable tomorr-- next week, that is, he caught himself.

He liked living in the rundown place as odd as it sounded to others. It kept him real, he felt. It was a constant reminder of what he had done in his past as a criminal and how he could never truly outrun what he had done. A man was responsible for the whole of his life, he felt.

Too many people had taken a chance on him … the Thing, Silver Sable, even the Avengers let him hang around with them for a bit.

Who woulda ever thought that? Sometimes he wished he had got to stick around a little longer. Sometimes he was glad he was doing what he was doing.

He stopped in his tracks and looked to the sky. The city was beautiful when day turned to night. There were some who wanted the solitude of the country, but not Sandman. He needed the city, needed to feel asphalt under his feet, needed to be surrounded by concrete and steel.

Sandman swirled the sand molecules in his neck and shoulder around, easing the tension that had crept into him.

"What the hell?!?" Zooming across the darkening sky he saw … someone hanging onto the mane of Griffin for dear life.

"Then again," he said to himself, shifting his sand forward, "maybe this week won't be that boring. I can probably get more action just walking around this city than hanging with Sable, anyway." Sandman smiled to himself, there was nothing worse to an ex-con than having time on your hands.

Dr. Walter Newell looked down to the far end of the Pier and shook his head. Who would have ever figured that the Fantastic Four would be forced out of their own headquarters, Four Freedoms Plaza.*

Still, Newell thought, having a superhero headquarters on the water made an incredible amount of sense, especially versus having one in the middle of the city. Of course, Newell was biased and he'd be glad to admit it to anyone.

Dr. Walter Newell was also the sometime hero and former Avenger known as Stingray and had leased a part of his HydroBase to the Avengers when they were having trouble with the FAA a few years back.*

He was glad to see the Fantastic Four down here for another reason, too. Maybe the constant of having some of the most respected superheroes in the world would go a long way towards improving the waters around New York City. Too often cities saw the oceanic waters as a dumping ground.

Yeah, right. 'Tell that to the people in Boston,' Newell sighed. 'They've spent countless millions trying to clean up Boston Harbor. Out of sight, out of mind for only so long.'

Newell started, looking to the left to find the source of the sound. He so desperately wanted this to be a boring trip into the pier warehouse he kept for supplies. No such luck. At least this time it wasn't local thugs trying to hassle him. They were the reason that he now put on the Stingray costume when he came in.

That and since the FF moved in there was often tourists hanging around, hoping to catch a glimpse of Reed, Sue, Ben or Johnny. He hadn't ever signed more autographs than in the past couple of months. Most tourists didn't really care who it was that they saw as long as they could go back to Montana with a story about meeting a superhero.

Stingray cautiously advanced toward a warehouse 500 yards down the dock where the crash had happened. The caved in roof was sign enough.

Stingray was glad there didn't seem to be any star watchers out tonight. 'Probably a paparazzi or two hanging around trying to take pictures of the Torch and whatever lady he had taken out for the evening,' Stingray thought. 'In other words, nobody that would need to be saved.'

The side door was locked - 'In New York? Go figure.' - so he climbed up onto a dock crane to get a peak inside. The dropping sun shone through the dusty windows, but Stingray couldn't see anything.

Paul Gentry sat in the Communications Center sweating nervously. He had Viper's complete ComCenter working overtime to find anything - anything at all - on the Griffin's whereabouts. He scanned television and radio stations up and down the Eastern seaboards. Police bands were being automatically scanned for any mention of "Griffin", "beast" and "mythology". The internet "hotspots" were being watched at all the pages and chat rooms devoted to criminal activities.

Paul found it surprising that the Griffin had three whole separate pages devoted to him.

Paul spun to his left, the scanning had paid off. Punching buttons without even looking, he shut off everything except for the large screen that sat in the middle of the bank of televisions in front of him.

" … we repeat, there has been a sighting of the Griffin in the pier district of New York City. How the Griffin has escaped from the Vault, where he has been held since he was captured by the Fantastic Four and Thunderbolts* isn't known."**

** Want a hint about what Griffin did after he escaped during the CORRUPTION storyline? Go read VAULT # 17 -- Lander Fan Biscuit

The anchorwoman pressed her finger against the receiver in her ear, listening intently. "Ladies and gentlemen, the Super Channel Network's brand new eye-in-the-sky helicopter is now in position and we take you to a live feed of the Pier district where the Griffin has reportedly crashed. Vlade, can you hear me?"

"Yes, I can, Talia!" the copter pilot shouted over the roar of the copter's blades. "What you're seeing below you is a warehouse on the pier that has a hole in the roof! This is the building that the Griffin has apparently crashed into!"

"Can you clear up the question of just which heroine or villainess was battling the Griffin, Vlade?"

"We haven't been able to get a clear confirmation on that as of yet! What we do know is that the beast was seen in the city battling an unidentified woman and that their rampage has led them, as best as we can tell, to this warehouse below us!"

"Negative! Our information comes from a call made to the New York Police Department, apparently by a tourist who was trying to reach the Avengers Emergency Phone System! I didn't even know-"

The two television personalities continued their banter, but Paul Gentry had stopped listening once the feed from the chopper flashed onto the screen. He'd had the computer take the video image and lock into the coordinates on the one teleport belt they had in the Menagerie.

By the time the chopper pilot had mentioned the NYPD, Paul Gentry was already strapped into the Porcupine suit and teleporting to the pier district.

Sandman looked to the sky, cursing the SCN helicopter that hung over the warehouse.

'Jerks,' Sandman grumbled. 'Probably get themselves killed once Griffin sees them.'

Sandman reset his sand, again taking his full human form. Slowly he crept along the side of the warehouse, hoping to see anything that would give him an edge on the Griffin. He wished he knew who it was that the Griffin was battling. If he knew it was someone who could handle herself, he'd feel a lot better, but for all he knew it was one of those Generation X kids out to prove themselves.

'Talk about your radical changes,' he thought absently. 'All I did was go from hardened criminal to ally of Silver Sable, what the hell happened inside the White Queen's mind? Corsets and leather boots to training teenagers. That's crazy.'

A shadow crept over the Sandman and without thinking he spun his head up and around, relaxing his sand molecules so if anything pounced on him it would hit nothing but soft sand.

"I'll be … Stingray!" Sandman nodded, reforming his human form and extending the sand in his right arm up to the ledge ten feet above him to shake Stingray's hand. "How's it going?"

"Not bad," Stingray answered, shaking Sandman's hand. "Odd place for an Avengers reunion, isn't it?"

"Heh, yeah," Sandman smiled easily, retracting his arm. "Not exactly the line-up the public would think of if they heard the Avengers were on this case."

"No kidding. Wonder if they've seen us, yet," Stingray pointed above them to the SCN chopper.

"Aw, you're just upset they haven't done a feature on you for AVENGERS SPOTLIGHT, yet and they've done Cap four times already." Stingray smiled under his mask. "Heck, they've even done a show on me - STINGRAY: AVENGER ON THE HIGH SEAS!"

The two former Avengers smiled, the comedy a way to ease the tension of the grim situation at hand.

"From what I can tell," Stingray answered. "Haven't seen him, but I've heard him a few times. I was on my way in when I saw you."

"Let's get inside then," Sandman answered quickly, setting his face. "Griffin's not one to play around with."

'Not good,' he kicked himself. 'Two do-gooders. I wasn't certain about Sandman, but he seems awfully chummy with that Stingray guy. Times like this I don't mind all that studying Viper makes me do.' He watched Sandman and Stingray enter the building - Stingray through an open window and Sandman through a crack near the base of the warehouse.

He smiled under the mask despite the situation. 'Might as well let these losers do all the dirty work for me. Then when it looks like they've got it under control, all I've ever got to do is head in, grab ahold of Griffin and teleport back to Vermont.' Paul thought about his plan, this whole villain thing was new to him.

He was just a foot soldier at HYDRA when Viper approached him and told him about his father, the original Porcupine. Paul had grown up hating his old man for abandoning him, but he had no idea that his father was forced to leave the family because Stark International and the United States army stole his designs without paying him fairly.

And then, at the end when he was about to come into cash, Captain America hunted him down and caused his death by forcing his dad to turn on the Serpent Society.*

Paul decided to go inside and see what he could do in there. He owed it to Viper to get the Griffin back for filling in the gaps in his life. He owed it to Viper for building him the new and improved Porcupine costume. He owed it to Viper for giving him a purpose in his life and including him in her new criminal organization, the Menagerie.

Deathcry grabbed her left leg. She had wrenched her knee during the fall into the warehouse. 'Stupid move that turned out to be,' she scolded herself.

She hid behind a stack of crates, using the darkness to her advantage, hoping the Griffin had had enough. This was all going too bad, too fast. She still didn't know why she wasn't transported with the rest of the Avengers - she presumed they had all been sent to the same place - but she was just glad to be back on Earth.

Maybe she'd crash at Avengers Mansion for awhile if they'd let her. Heck, maybe she'd head out to the West Coast. Hawkeye had apparently got the … "Whackos" she believed they called themselves, back up and running.

Wooden boxes crashed down upon her. From somewhere above the Griffin roared. 'He must be dead set on my scent. Lucky me,' she groaned, trying to wiggle into a comfortable, but defensive oriented, position. She'd be ready for when the Griffin tore through the crates above.

She gagged as coffee beans spilled down onto her, free from their crates as the Griffin ransacked them above.

'Oh cut it out, this can't be happening,' Deathcry thought to herself as the coffee beans began filling up around her. She tried to move her legs, but the beans were everywhere. 'No way the Griffin has dropped this much onto me. What the heck is-?'

"AAAAAYYYYY!" The Griffin yelped in pain above her and she felt the pressure above her lessen.

"Time to get you out of here," a voice said in her ear as the crates around her were pushed aside, allowing her to crawl to freedom.

"Name's Sandman." Deathcry watched the "beans" that had surrounded her from below morph into the Sandman.

"Well, thanks, Sandman. Name's Deathcry, but we can get to know each other after we take care of the Griffin."

They moved to the right, following the sound of the Griffin's growling and machines and crates being tossed aside. "Who's with us?" Deathcry asked.

Sandman nodded, not prying. They rounded a corner, seeing the Griffin smashing through the debris on the floor, hunting for Stingray.

"Griffin is just a tough beast," Sandman shrugged. "Chances are we're not going to contain him with anything we've got here. Best scenario is we knock him unconscious. Most likely we just keep him contained until the word gets out he's loose and the FF or Avengers come in prepared to deal with him."

"Hey, think of something better, feel free to offer it up. I don't think hanging onto him while he drags us across the skyline is much of a plan, though."

Sandman didn't wait for a response as he shifted his sand molecules forward, skimming across the floor towards the Griffin's feet. He moved himself around the beast's hind left paw, running up it's leg and onto his back. Quickly he regained his human form and turned his hands solid, smashing down onto the Griffin's neck.

The Griffin roared, knocking the Sandman from his back, spinning around to see who it was that had attacked him.

He never turned his head all the way around because he caught the scent and sight of Deathcry. He growled low in his throat and leapt across the floor of the warehouse. He was halfway across when Stingray leapt onto his back from above.

Deathcry leapt to the side, avoiding the Griffin's claws, but not by much as she couldn't put much pressure on her injured leg.

The Griffin landed softly, growling the entire time. He turned sharply to reset Deathcry in his sights, when he felt sharp pain in his left side. He roared fiercely, knocking Stingray from his back.

"Time to go home, Griffin," came a voice that tried hard to sound confident. Sandman didn’t buy the act for a second. Whoever it was inside that Porcupine suit - 'Porcupine?' Sandman shook his head. 'Sheesh, there's a sequel for everyone.' - was scared out of his wits.

"Is that the Porcupine?" Stingray asked from his back, disbelieving his own eyes. "Who's next, Turner D. Century, Jr.?"

The three former Avengers watched as the Porcupine slowly advanced on the great beast. Griffin growled in anger at the approaching figure.

"He knows him," Sandman mentioned as he helped Deathcry to her feet, but Deathcry didn't care. Her knee ached. She just wanted to take a hot bath and curl up in a nice big bed. The Kree/Shi'ar War had drained her to begin with, but playing with the Griffin all night had her all but completely drained.

"Won't leap at me, will ya, you stupid animal," the Porcupine taunted. "Already know what it feels like to hit these quills like that, don'tcha?" He fired some quills from his suit, sticking into the Griffin's flanks. "Viper isn't going to be pleased with you, Griffin."

Griffin, apparently, had had enough of the taunting and leaped at the Porcupine anyway. The Porcupine screamed, firing another section of quills at the beast's underbelly, but the Griffin didn't show that he even felt them. He raked at the Porcupine's costume with his large claws, shredding the leg armor to pieces and leaving Paul Gentry's leg exposed.

The three former Avengers looked on, trying to decide what to do next. Sandman was the first to act, shifting his hands together and solidifying them into a large, sharp point. He charged at the Griffin, hitting the beast square in the left flank. The Griffin howled in pain and turned to face Sandman.

From behind the Griffin, Stingray ran up and grabbed his tail. Walter tugged hard, not moving the creature, but getting his attention. As the beast spun to face him, Deathcry summoned the last of her strength reserves to leap onto his back, smashing down with her fists onto the back of his neck. Sandman threw sand molecules into the Griffin's face, trying to choke the beast. Porcupine unloaded his quills at the Griffin, not caring that he was putting the Avengers in danger.

The Griffin roared up on his massive hind legs and thrashed his attackers away, sending Porcupine, Deathcry and Stingray flying. Sandman shifted quickly to loose grains of sand and remained where he was.

Sandman set his jaw. He knew it was up to him. Choking the beast was still the best way, he thought. Get in it's lungs and cut off his air.

"Such a pathetic sight to see four of you sprawled out across the warehouse floor while my pet stands by, ready for whatever pathetic strategies you try next."

"I own him, Sandman. That makes him my pet." Viper glanced scornfully at the fallen Porcupine. "I have many pets in the Menagerie."

She walked confidently to the Griffin, who had calmed at seeing Viper approach. "There, there, my wondrous beast, are you scared to be out here in the big city all alone? I didn't rescue you from the woods around the Vault to have you run off on me."

"We're not letting you leave here with him, Viper," Stingray said grimly, rising from the floor.

"Yeah, no chance," Deathcry added, grimacing as she put pressure on her injured leg.

Viper looked around the room and smiled. What little light there was in the warehouse seemed to be absorbed by her green costume. She took a look at the former Avengers, fearing none of them. "Stop me." She climbed up onto the Griffin's back, holding firm onto the beast's mane. She smiled down on them and the Griffin leapt into the air on it's back legs.

The Avengers reacted quickly, but they were too late - the Griffin's powerful legs had thrust him too high, too quickly. They looked up through the hole in the roof and saw the Griffin and Viper soar past the moon, like a demented version of ET riding in Elliott's bicycle.

"Porcupine." Sandman turned back towards the warehouse, in time to see the Porcupine teleport away.

DEATHCRY appears next in the INHUMANS: State of the Nation limited series. Check it out at the Cosmic Branch!

Keep your eyes peeled to WEST COAST AVENGERS for future appearances of both STINGRAY and SANDMAN and be prepared in the middle of Year 4 for a possible SANDMAN limited series from Northern Bear Productions!

There was a review from Kell about MTA 48, but I can't seem to find it. If I can dig it up, I'll put in next month's lettercol. You don't want to miss the next issue.