To combat those threats against which no hero could stand alone, Earth's Mightiest Heroes formed a covenant to unite in battle to protect all mankind. Now, from their second base of operations on America's West Coast, a new chapter in their legend is being written.

Stan Lee presents.......

The Untold Tales of the

Issue: 1	Author: Lonni Holland	Art: Kevin Newburn & Chris Luna

Hank Pym sat at a desk in the West Coast infirmary. He was busy writing notes when the sound of the door opening made him look up. Iron Man walked in, the afternoon sun gleaming off the back of his red and gold armor as he entered.

"So Doctor Pym, how are our two patients?" His voice was fuzzy through the filters in his helmet but Hank was still sure it sounded like Tony Stark * inside the tin suit.
* Tony won't reveal his identity to the team until AWC 72

"Well Shellhead, Simon should be okay in a day or two. All he really needs is some rest. He took quite a beating from the Grim Reaper." Hank laid his notes down and rose from the desk. He glanced towards the two occupied cubicles behind him. "On the other hand, I don't know about Clint. A couple more infra red treatments should get rid of the robotizing effects * but...." He shook his head.
* as chronicled in the Reaper and the Robot - AWC 65-68

"But what? He's going to be okay isn't he?" Iron Man walked back towards the bed where Hawkeye lay. "I thought he was just a bit knocked around. I mean, I know he was in pretty rough shape when I flew him back here, but there isn't really anything seriously wrong with him, is there?"

Hank shrugged. "Not that I can tell, but I have no idea what really happened to him. Simon said that Ultron and the Reaper were both trying to drain Hawk's life force at the same time. Neither of them could manage to do anything much to him because of the other one, but he's in a lot of pain. I've got him sedated. It's almost like his insides were taken apart and put back together again. No real damage except some badly bruised ribs where he was hit with that scythe, but his body is in shock and he's hurting. I've got a nurse coming to stay with both of them. She should be here within the hour. Then we can get on with our debriefing."

Iron Man stood, looking at his stricken teammates. He had spent too many days in hospitals himself in the past. He felt helpless now. All of his armament and power could do nothing for either of them. Simon was sleeping peacefully, his dark hair loosely curled against his forehead. Hawkeye was also sleeping, but he looked far from peaceful. His face was pale and beaded with sweat; there was still a hint of silver on the skin on his arms and neck, remnants from his robotizing at Ultron's hands. His forehead was drawn tightly into a frown and he tossed about restlessly.

"Damn it, Doctor, do whatever you can for him. Call in anyone you need. I... uh... that is, my employer will foot any bills necessary, just get the two of them back on their feet." Without another word he turned and left.

Hank shook his head and returned to the desk. That elitist attitude - it had to be Tony. He resumed writing his notes.

New Years day, just after sunset - most of the team was sitting outside on the patio. Soft evening breezes brought the salty tang of the ocean. Hank and Jan sat together in a garden swing. Wanda had gone to the infirmary to visit her teammates. At the debriefing US Agent had grumbled loudly about the two injured 'shirkers'. Now he had gone to the gym to work off his frustrations in private. Iron Man, Tigra and Quicksilver were relaxing near the pool. It had been a busy two days and they were all glad of the rest. Ultron and the Grim Reaper were secured in the Vault, there had miraculously been no injuries at the Rose Bowl parade, and, aside from the usual Los Angeles madness around holiday time, all seemed quiet on the west coast.

"Senor Pym?" One of the compound staff stepped out on the patio.

"Yes Manuel?"

"Telephone, senor. It is the head guardsman at the Vault."

Hank took the telephone from the houseboy's outstretched hand and walked away from the others . Behind him, the team watched his back anxiously, trying to overhear his side of the conversation, all of them tensed to leap into action if it was required. When he finished he slammed the antenna back down on the phone, handed it back to Manuel and returned to the swing, his face stormy.

"Hank, what 's wrong? There hasn't been another breakout has there?" Jan reached forward to touch his arm gently.

"Breakout! I wish it was that easy. No - there's been a let out. Some bureaucratic idiot signed a release for the Grim Reaper on the grounds that you can't imprison a dead man. Can you believe it?" He slammed his hand down hard on the arm of the swing, setting himself and the Wasp in motion. "There were pickets outside the state capital offices within hours of Eric's incarceration protesting our inhumane treatment of a corpse. Only in California...."

Jan leaned against his arm and hugged him. "I suppose this means we're back on alert status?"

"Sure does hon. Come on, maybe we'd better go get a reconnaissance schedule worked up. We're shorthanded and we have to be on the lookout for Eric. You have to figure he's going to be itching for revenge, especially against Simon."

Jan looked pensive. "Um... can someone else help you with that, Hank? I have something I really have to take care of first."

Hank nodded and Jan rose and went into the compound. He shrugged and motioned to Iron Man. The two of them headed for the compound computer complex leaving behind Pietro and Tigra, who sat together in uncomfortable silence amongst the softly swaying palms.

The following transcript was taken from the telephone logs of the so-called Great Lakes Avengers:

'Hello, Great Lakes Avengers headquarters.'

several moments of silence, muffled background noises

'Hi Jan, it's Bobbi. What's up? Nothing's wrong is it?'

an uncomfortable silence follows

' Jan, what is it? You're scaring me. It's Clint, isn't it? You told me about the robotizing but something else has happened. Is he all right? I didn't see him on the news broadcasts"

US Agent was lifting weights in the gym. There was little in here that could really challenge him, but if he tried not to let his enhanced strength kick in he could at least get a bit of a workout. Damn those stuck up fools anyway. All he really wanted to do was be a good Avenger and they never gave him a chance. The whole team was run with a total lack of discipline anyway, members coming and going as they pleased. And that blasted bowman.... Jack pushed harder at the weight bar and realized that he shouldn't have done it. The metal snapped in his hands and then the pieces of the bar and the weights went flying in all directions across the room.

Great, he thought, another thing for them to harp at me about. Barton gets slapped around a little and they make a big fuss and hover over him in the infirmary like he was made of glass and all I get is static. One of these days I'm going to settle things once and for all with that renegade archer. Stupid circus reject....

He let the thought trail off as he thought he detected a sound in the back of the gym. Probably one of his erstwhile teammates trying to sneak up on him. Well it would serve them right if he caught them and tossed them across the room like he had just scattered the weights. That would show them they couldn't catch US Agent off guard. He cautiously made his way to the darkened rear of the gymnasium. The noise he had heard was a faint memory by now. He peered into the dimly lit corners and listened carefully for any sound. To his credit, he did react to the soft swish of the metal bar that came down on the back of his head. Unfortunately for him, it was just a little too late.

From the personal diary of Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch:

I visited Clint and Simon in the infirmary this evening after the debriefing. It was really rather useless sitting with Hawkeye. Hank has him heavily sedated. I held his hand and talked to him for a few minutes but he never woke up, just moaned and thrashed around a bit. I hope he'll be all right. We've been friends for a long time and I hate to see him hurting, just like I hate to see him in such pain about his marriage. Oh well, he wouldn't thank me to interfere. He and Bobbi will have to work that out for themselves.

Now if I could just work out my own feelings about Simon. He woke up for a few minutes. We didn't really talk much, just sat there and looked at each other. Strange, that's what Vision and I used to do. Now if I only knew if I were attracted to Simon because he's Simon, or because he's my last connection to my husband. I asked how he was and he asked about Eric... and then, there was really nothing else to say. I'm going to have to make a decision about us soon. It isn't fair to either of us to pretend there is something there if there isn't.

I left shortly after that and returned to my bungalow. Now that I've made these notes I think I'll go to bed. Without my family here the rooms are just too empty. Perhaps I should move back to the main building, it might be less difficult.

Oh dear - so much for those plans. Hank has just called a meeting of all the team. It's almost midnight. I wonder what's wrong. I'll continue this tomorrow.

Hank dispatched his surveillance teams rapidly. He sent Iron Man to scan between the Vault and Los Angeles. Admittedly it was a large area but hopefully nothing would be missed. He had planned to send US Agent back to the tunnels where Ultron and the Reaper had been headquartered but Agent was no where to be found. Hank mused that John Walker was pretty good at complaining about the others' lack of discipline but not so good about disciplining himself. He hoped that Tigra would be able to do the job by herself. He had held Wanda, Pietro and himself back at the compound and sent Jan to the waterfront area that Eric had terrorized earlier. When the others tired he would send his backups in and hopefully Simon would have also recovered enough to be of some help. These twenty-four hour days weren't going to do much towards keeping the team sharp.

He mused that there hadn't been a real chairman appointed since Hawk had quit a long time ago, and wondered how it was that he had seemingly usurped the role. Leadership had never really been one of his dreams, but, now that he was finally happy in his hero role as just plain Dr. Pym, it had seemed a logical step. He realized that he was actually enjoying the role. He had unofficially led the Avengers team of himself, Jan and Clint years ago * but he hadn't relished the job and had been glad to have Steve back in his familiar role as chairman. But that was many years ago; this was a different team and he was a different Hank Pym.
* as noted in Avengers 50

His thoughts were interrupted by the high pitched wailing of the perimeter alarms. He leapt to his feet, slapped the recall button on the communications console and ran towards the front gate, all in one motion. Hoping that the absent members would respond quickly he mentally reviewed the weapons he carried shrunken in his pockets as he raced to face whatever menace awaited. A blur near the gates told him that Quicksilver had, naturally, beaten him to it. From the corners of his eyes he saw Wanda, emerging from her bungalow. Three of them then, to face who knew what?

And who is knocking at the gates of the Avengers West Coast? Is it the escaped Grim Reaper seeking vengeance on his brother Wonder Man... and, if so, will Simon wake up in time to greet him? Will Hawkeye recover, or should the team start ordering a lot more silver polish? And what has happened to US Agent?