Chapter Eleven

"Fury," Steve said into his com-link after they'd reached the surface and were standing outside the complex. "The Banner imposter is not a Skrull. It's a demon of some sort. You have to warn your men before--"

"It's too late, Cap," Fury replied. "The creature has already escaped our custody, leaving two of our top SHIELD agents dead. What about you, are you boys all right? Your ship dropped off our radar hours ago."

"We had an encounter with Mephisto. Seems he really is the one behind all of this. Nearly killed all of us... forced us to relive some of our worst memories."

"Damn. All right, son, we have to start taking this a little more seriously. I'm coming out there personally to pick you boys up. Just stay put, all right? Fury out."

Cap clicked his com-link shut. He turned back to his troops. "Everybody doing okay?"

He received a few mumbled replies from the rest of the team. Everyone was a bit shaken up, but they would be fine. The quietest one of the group at the moment was Danny, who was standing off by himself, facing away from the others. Cap walked over to him and gently put a hand on his shoulder.

"You doing okay, Danny?"

"I'm not too sure, Cap."

"Y'know, Danny, it was Nick Fury himself who hand-selected you for this mission. He told me I could pick anyone I wanted for this team, but he insisted that you be a part of it. That's quite an honor coming from him, there aren't many men that Fury puts that kind of faith in."

Danny laughed. "Faith," he repeated. "S'a funny word, isn't it? What does it mean to someone who doesn't believe in anything anymore? Someone who's lost everything, even hope?"

"Come on. That's no way for someone who just saved his teammates' lives to be talking. You're a hero."

"I'm a man with a curse. I'm a man whose soul is bonded to some kind of demon that I don't even understand. That's why Fury picked me, because he knew Mephisto was involved and he knew I might be useful. It had nothing to do with him having faith in me. You have a job to do, you pick the right tools for the job. Fury picking me was the same as a repair man picking out a socket wrench. It had nothing to do with faith."

Cap pulled his hand away. "Well, I have faith in you, Danny. When the chips were down, and all of us, Logan, Erik, Namor, Jamie, me, were all immobilized, you were the one who found the strength to fight back and free us all. All of us were going through our own personal versions of hell, and you were the only one who had the sheer force of will to fight through it. So because of that, I do have faith in you, and I would gladly put my life in your hands again if it came to it. If that counts for anything."

After a moment, he turned away, and started to walk back towards the group.

"Cap?" Danny called after him.

"Yes?"

"It does. And thanks."

Cap smiled. "Any time, soldier."

Before long, another ship touched down next to the complex. Nick Fury disembarked, chomping on a cigar.

"Say Nick, you got any more of those things?" Logan asked.

"Not now, Logan," Fury said. "Cap, give me a status report."

"Well sir, Mephisto told Danny that Banner isn't anywhere on Earth. So we have to find a way to get to Mephisto."

Fury took a long, slow drag off the cigar. "And how do you propose we do that?"

"I need you to put me in contact with Reed Richards," Steve said. "When I met with him earlier this week, he'd discovered a way to transport matter into the Negative Zone. I need to know if he can recalibrate that machine he's created."

"What exactly are you saying, Captain?" Fury asked.

"I'm saying," Steve replied, "that I need Reed Richards to send us to Hell."