The Lethal Legion Lasts

by grelber37

Do you know the Lethal Legion? If so, this Marvel Tale is for you. The story occurs in current times, but it is aimed at the longtime Marvel Maniac, active from the Bronze Age onward. Please note. The LL and associates are from a different era. They ain't the most p.c. art ever created. And, even their threads and words are a wee retro and goofy. I hope that you visit their tale.

4. Chap 4: Shakma, Mama?

Chapter 4: Shakma, Mama?

"Didn't I kick your ass once?" Patsy Walker asks her guest.

Mandrill examines the feet that Hellcat has on She-Hulk's desk. "You defeated me on a number of occasions. I admit," Mandrill admits, "Often, Ms. Walters' cousin assisted you."

She-Hulk snickers, "Good, we Hulks specialize in smashing supervillains." The heroine leans back in her big leather chair behind her oaken desk.

"Actually, the one time that we tangled, I hornswoggled you, She-Hulk [see She-Hulk #5]," Mandrill leans on in and winks

A gloating green grin abates a wee, "I hope—for your sake—you do not mean that you tried your female-controlling pheromones upon me."

The villain promptly grants, "I doubt that they would work. At least, they are not apparently working right now. You ladies do not seem enamored with me."

Jen snickers again, "Trust me. You are doing nothing for me, ugly."

Patsy breaks in, "Trust me too, you baboon. You have no sway on me. Thanks to Richmond Enterprises, I acquired a device long ago that halts your influence over me or any other woman [see Defenders #91] and that turns you impotent. Your sleazy powers do not work here."

Jen adds, "And, may I add. Your sleazy moniker is likewise lame. 'Man-drill' is a gross double-entendre, considering your abilities." The lawyer laughs hard at the hirsute cad.

Patsy laughs too, "Although you are kind of a d***!"

Morosely, Mandrill mutters, "I can't help who I am. These are just my mutant gifts." He really hates when women humiliate him. Normally, Mandrill is the one owning them.

A hulkish hand hammers the desk hard. The noise shocks the "monkey" to attention. Attorney Walters asks, "Anyway, what made you make an appointment, Mr. Beechman?"

"Besides that you wish for two Avengers to handle your outstanding warrants," Hellcat mocks.

The kitty is very curious why a wanted felon would bring himself into a Brooklyn building occupied by super-heroes. At 68 Jay Street, She-Hulk runs a law firm, and Hellcat is her legal investigator. At 68 Jay Street, Howard the Duck and Spider-Woman have private investigators offices down the hall. At 68 Jay Street, less-noted powered people assist the four famous superhumans mentioned. A former X-Man is the landlady. Captain America sometimes visits.

The current visitor points his sharp, hard fingernail at a file upon Jen Walters' desk. "You handle presently the Laslo Pevely probate," states Mandrill.

She-Hulk is impressed. Apparently, this baboon is not a jackanapes. "How did you know that?" she inquires, "Are you after some probate inheritance? Rest assured. The honorable Mr. Pevely utterly ignored the likes of you in his will."

"I am sure that the esteemed Terror did neglect an infamous terrorist," Mandrill reveals that he knows Pevely well, "I am sure that he left me no gift. But, I will deliver him one in the afterlife."

"Come again?" the solicitor solicits.

"I know who murdered your comrade," Mandrill clarifies.

"Laslo Pevely's death was a homicide," She-Hulk confirms, "His body washed ashore at Mystic, Connecticut, after someone cruelly impaled the elderly man through the torso before casting him into the water to die of a sucking chest wound."

"I know. It was I who brought him gently ashore after his fatal ordeal," Mandrill retrieves a file from his cape.

"Who killed him?" She-Hulk demands. Within her, a savage side stirs as it does when angry or outraged.

"The Grim Reaper," Mandrill answers. The misogynistic malcontent enjoys toying with the heroine for a mere moment. Of course, Death killed Pevely. Jerome Beechman smirks.

However, Jen Walters is a sharp gal. She asks, "Did the Lethal Legion do the deed? Is that what you are saying?"

Mandrill's smirk fades. "Yes," he answers.

Hellcat nimbly snatches the felon's file from him. She flips fast through the photos therein. "You surveilled the Lethal Legion," she says, "You photographed the murder. Afterward, you photographed the body on the beach."

She-Hulk eyes the death picture. Her gaze narrows, "Why would you photo poor Mr. Pevely afterwards?" The Jade Giantess abruptly stands.

"I needed as much evidence as possible that I was there," Mandrill answers, "I want to sic the Avengers on the Lethal Legion."

"What you did was obscene!" the irked Avenger growls,

A furious fist slugs furry fiend off the opposite wall. She-Hulk stomps toward Mandrill. Jen Walters will not have Laslo Pevely's memory desecrated by anyone, whether the Lethal Legion or the Mandrill. The Terror helped her save the world once, and Laslo came to her subsequently to set-up his postmortem legal needs. He was a good man and a distinguished champion. Advocate Walters is willing to avenge him for the smallest slight, especially in the absence of the real guilty parties Grim Reaper and his gang.

Mandrill rises wobbly. He angrily announces, "I could take-down both you bitches!"

Patsy scoffs, "Baboon, you could not take-out Howard the Duck who works down the hallway."

"Hey, Howard is a scrappy and capable little guy," notes Jen.

"Howard the Duck could defeat the Mandrill?" Mandrill chuckles. Mandrill mimics Man-Ape without even knowing it.

"Howard the Duck would make you his pet," She-Hulk pronounces.

The simian supervillain snarls back, "His goose would be cooked! Should we ever fight."

"Mandrill, Ms. Lion could lick you in a fight," She-Hulk sneers, "You are pathetic. You are nothing but an enslaver of women, which I can't stand, and a terrorist traitor to your country, which I can't stand, and an exploiter of the honored dead such as Laslo Pevely, which I can't stand."

"You can't stand women, the United States, and the Terror?" the criminal injudiciously wisecracks.

An angry finger pecks Mandrill's pectorals painfully, "Right now, you are only standing because I need a question answered."

"What's your question?" the umbraged ape asks the green gorilla.

"Do you know where the Lethal Legion went?" the amazon asks in return.

Mandrill details, "Through lenses, I observed them split-up after their dirty deed. And, oddly enough, my rival Grim Reaper decided to come toward me. After the murder, the undead ugly did a zombie walk off the pier into Long Island Sound, and he kept walking along the bottom toward the southeast. He walked past dear, departed Laslo and me as I held the august, assassinated adventurer in my arms underwater. I wanted to make sure that the grand guardian got a proper burial on shore instead of an unceremonious one at sea."

"Bulls***," attorney Avenger ineloquently retorts, "You just said that the body served other purposes."

Indignant ebon eyes glare into emerald ones one foot overhead. Master Mandrill will not have a female browbeat him. He squares his shoulders aggressively. Shulkie steps-back suddenly. She smashes Mandrill's mandible, his jaw. Jerome Beechman drops like a socked, shocked shakma—unconscious.

"Out of sight!" Patsy pipes, "I ever enjoy seeing a Hulk manhandle the Mandrill, especially a She-Hulk."

She-Hulk smacks five fervently, "We Lady Liberators aim to please the lasses."

Patsy shakes her stunned appendage. She suggests, "We need to split-up in pursuit of the four Lethal Legionnaires. With luck, Grim Reaper and Nekra will be on the lam together. However, M'Baku and Black Talon could be anywhere else."

"Black Talon will be in New Orleans. He is always in New Orleans. That is a big easy," She-Hulk states, "I have even fought him there once [see Sensational She-Hulk #34-35]."

"I would not mind the sleuthing being that simple," Hellcat states, "I would not mind taking Jubilee, from my Ideahive agency, down south to create some fireworks." The Ideahive is another name for the 68 Jay Street community.

Jennifer courtesy laughs at Patricia's pun. The lawyer is about to reply—when someone raps rapidly at the office door.

"Jen and Patsy," Jessica Drew calls, "Is everything okay in there? I heard a commotion like somebody hit a wall."

Immediately, She-Hulk opens the entrance for her ally. "Spider-Woman!" she calls her friend by name, "How would you like to help in an investigation and manhunt?"

Drew's digit points backward, "Well, I do have a p.i. bureau down the hall, so one supposes that I am in."

An hour later, Mandrill departs as the three women watch. Green-armored Guardsmen guide Mandrill in manacles to a transport that will soon take-off skyward for the Raft. The trio take-in the scene and smirk at their success at nabbing a wanted man. Mandrill stares back and, strangely, smiles back. Supervillains ever think that they have something up their sleeve for subsequent sorties. Perhaps, the manacled Mandrill does, and perhaps he does not.

In the vicinity, dead eyes observe the fink being taken to his fate. In a parked sedan, a cold hand strokes the two-foot steely scythe riding shotgun. The driver studies the three Avengers standing smugly as their enemy departs. He sees them, but they do not see him. He considers a surprise attack. He could quickly cut-down his bestial nemesis and, perhaps, even cleverly escape somehow. However, three Guardsmen and three Avengers is some sum of opposition to circumvent. So, the dead eyes decide to just watch for now and to make dark plans for later.

Back in the huddle, Jessica turns to Jen. "Oh, I almost forgot," she offers an envelope, "A mailing came to my office instead of yours."

Jen takes from Jessica. The envelope has a return address of the Daily Bugle, and its postmark is appropriately Midtown. The dispatch's addressee is Jessica Drew, who apparently opened it already. She-Hulk simply dumps the contents forth. There is no letter, only a photo. The Jade Giantess ganders and gasps.

"Do you know how ancient this is?!" Jen exclaims.

"I thought that that was you in the pic," detective Drew comments.

She-Hulk shows the print to her girlfriends. Both Jen and her cousin Bruce are in what must be a very dated snapshot. She shares, "This photo is so ancient that Bruce Banner had not even met Betty Ross yet. He had not even had his fateful mishap with Rick Jones. In fact, this photo is from slightly before all of that tale to astonish. In fact, it even slightly predates my good friends the Fantastic Four going into space."

"Who took the still?" Patsy Walker wonders.

Jen Walters flips the photo, "There is no inscription, and I forget who took it. I shall have to recollect that day at Santa Monica Beach."

Other investigation occupies She-Hulk and her amazing friends' mutual time in the immediate future. For example, Spider-Woman and her amazing friends research M'Baku's whereabouts. Wakanda seems a likely refuge and a good place to start. However, Wakandan security chief Princess Shuri states that M'Baku was last seen in the US, as Spider-Woman must know. In the United States, Drew's intelligencer Ben Urich checks his Manhattan contacts. However, neither superheroes such as Daredevil nor fellow journalists such as Peter Parker have encountered an at-large ape-man. They shall keep a lookout. Across the nation, Drew's legman Porcupine has underworld contacts. However, neither Grizzly nor Constrictor nor Spymaster has seen hide or hair of Man-Ape.

Spider-Woman and her people will have to keep hunting the huge, hairy heavy.

Meanwhile, Howard the Duck takes to the water where Mandrill reports last seeing Grim Reaper. He takes a shapeshifter named Tara Tam with him. At She-Hulk's insistence, reserve Avenger Stingray assists Howard and Tara. The Earth beneath the ocean is Stingray's environment, and he can search the seafloor much more quickly than even an alien duck can. (Plus, he is a worthier opponent versus Grim Reaper should the group find their foe). Stingray scrutinizes every sandy acre and sunken structure of Mason Neck in Long Island Sound, into which Grim Reaper moseyed. But, the aquatic Avenger reports back finding nothing.

Alter ego Dr. Walter Newell does have a message on his computer, however. On the night in question, SHIELD scientists detected sudden significant seismic activity in Block Island Sound, just off the tip of Long Island. Seemingly, a massive explosion occurred. Howard the Duck heads to SHIELD headquarters in Manhattan for more information. Tara Tam goes undercover at the Connecticut and Rhode Island border to see what she discovers. Stingray swims toward the affected area itself. Possibly, Mandrill needn't worry about his rival. Possibly, someone has blown Grim Reaper to hell already.

At the Ideahive, Hellcat suggests that she search for Black Talon in New Orleans. Hellcat feels that she has the right experience with weird ones, like Talon. She and ex-husband Daimon Hellstrom were paranormal detectives. The Defenders tackled occult matters routinely. To She-Hulk, Patsy proposes that Hellcat and Jubilee head on down Louisiana way. Maybe, fellow good guys Dr. Voodoo or Gambit will be down there to aid them.

At the Ideahive, She-Hulk researches Nekra's whereabouts, but she finds nearly naught in recent news. Her superhero sources—from New York to Los Angeles and beyond—have not seen Nekra.

Then, at the Ideahive, She-Hulk gets a visitor late one night. To her great surprise, she looks up from her Nekra notes, and a new person sits in the room with her. His mirrored shades capture her confused mien in the midnight hour. His visage is stolid, his posture stiff in his tan leather jacket, his holstered sidearm visible, his boots well-polished—and his hand extended in greeting.

"Hello, I am Louis Dawson, formerly of the NYPD SWAT unit," he removes his shades.

"Hi, as you must know, I am Jen Walters," She-Hulk shakes the man's hand. She is curious how he got into Jay Street after hours. But, she is willing to chat to find out. Jen might be a lone woman at night, but a monstrous powerhouse does not panic easily.

Dawson speaks across the desk, "I understand that you seek Nekra Sinclair, the Lethal Legion member." He points to Walters' notes.

Jen wonders how so many men are already privy to her files' contents upon entering this office. Mandrill had the same odd advantage. "How did you know that?" She-Hulk asks.

"Word on the street," Dawson answers.

"Do you know where Nekra is?" she asks.

"No, I don't," he answers, "But, I know who knows. Or rather, who probably knows."

She-Hulk sighs, "Tell me what you know." This Louis Dawson is kind of a riddle.

Louis informs Jen, "Nekra attempted to escape Connecticut after committing a hit. The hit was on one Laslo Pevely, a.k.a. the Terror, WWII-era vigilante."

"I know about the killing," Jen informs Louis. She is impressed that the mystery man knows about Laslo's secret identity. She will have to research Louis Dawson later.

"Nekra had criminal associate Black Talon drive her to Staten Island's southern tip," continues the visitor, "There operates a private airstrip owned by Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin of Crime."

"The Kingpin is involved in Pevely's assassination?" She-Hulk sounds surprised.

"Marginally," explains the man, "Kingpin seems to have simply provided escape transport to a criminal colleague as a professional courtesy."

"Plus, Nekra must have paid him well," She-Hulk speculates.

"My sources say that you are correct in your supposition," Dawson confirms, "For the money, Fisk provided his lieutenant Murray Bushbaum as pilot. I recorded the noted mobster and Nekra boarding for take-off." From his jacket, the creepy ex-cop produces prints, and he slides them across to his audience.

She-Hulk is amused to have another skulking spy (such as Mandrill was) in her office, and she takes the photos with a smile. The black-and-white images display black-and-white Nekra perfectly with her escape pilot near the numbers on an aircraft's tail.

Placing the pics aside, She-Hulk ponders her next move. She could leap her powerful legs across the city to Fisk Tower where she might force Fisk to answer a few questions. But, the heroine decides to look before she leaps into a villain's lair. An experienced superhero knows that even relatively low-level lowlifes such as Stilt-Man, Plantman, the Grappler, the Super-Apes, Red Ghost, Whirlwind, and Blizzard can offer big trouble. Each of those seven once caused She-Hulk embarrassing hassle, for example.

"Where might Murray be now?" inquires the wise woman warrior.

"I know that he is at Josie's Bar across the East River," definitively states Dawson.

Eyebrows rise, "Really? He is just over the Brooklyn Bridge at that place where Daredevil often fights his rogues?"

"Daredevil combats the Kingpin constantly. Kingpin's men hangout in Josie's Bar" the ex-cop states, "I observed Murray Bushbaum on a barstool over there before coming over here."

Shulkie says that she supposes that she should get over to Josie's. She stoops beneath her desk to get her tennis shoes on. Technically, nothing on a New York sidewalk can hurt impregnable feet, but powered people do many things from force of habit. When her head rises above the deskline, Louis Dawson is disappeared. She-Hulk is again surprised, and she wonders who the hell Dawson is. She-Hulk sprints the short distance westward.

Later, Jen finds out that Louis Dawson is the former SWAT member that he claims. And, he was damn good at his job until a fire took his beloved son Andy. In the wake of that loss, Dawson abandoned his career. Shortly thereafter, he had a conflict with Luke Cage and Iron Fist in a Harlem church (see Power Man and Iron Fist #109), but archived newspapers offer little detail about the incident. Perhaps, the press of the time gave the decorated policeman a break. Recently, Louis Dawson became the head of security for the Stark-Hayes Life Science Center in upstate New York. That Tony Stark employs this man is kind of an endorsement. A Freda Pfennigswert heads security in the Boston area. Freda's name seems familiar for some reason.

She-Hulk jogs into Josie's Bar, and many patrons—drunk as they are—run out. Murray is missing from them, so Shulkie lets them leave. Behind the bar, Josie nervously beholds the Jade Giantess. Turning, the Amazon asks about Murray. Josie juts a finger toward the bar's back. Before a bathroom door, a doltish bruiser stands awestruck over the Avenger's arrival.

Coming over, the creature commands curtly, "Move."

The goon Grotto grits his teeth anxiously, "I'm standin' guard while Turk takes care of his business." From within the washroom, one hears a hubbub as one man profanely and violently interrogates another.

"I need to get in there," She-Hulk announces.

"You can't go in there," Grotto wipes wet brow with his woolen cap.

She-Hulk grabs Grotto by the grimy tanktop, "Why can't I enter the men's room? Is it because I am a girl?"

She-Hulk bats the beefy buffoon aside. The incredible impact impels him through the air. Josie gasps, for she fears. Her wide window has often been broken by the Man Without Fear confronting a thug. However, Grotto only grazes the glass before hitting the ground. Relieved Josie figures that, somehow, someway, girls always stick together. She-Hulk is alright with her.

She-Hulk slams open the door to the men's room. Occupied, Turk Barrett takes no notice of her loud entrance. He shoves Murray against the exterior stall wall. Barret bellows, "Tell me where the f*** the f***ing plane is! God******, Murray, where is Kingpin's f***ing plane?! I will f*** you up! I will f*** you up, you f***ing motherf*****!"

Already, Turk has messed-up Murray quite a bit. Crimson blood stains the pilot's thick gray hair and yellow polo shirt. One eye is swelling shut. Murray breathes heavily through his bad teeth (some gaps newly made), and his shoes seem heavy under his wobbly legs.

Still, the mobster lobs a left at Turk, "I remember when you were just my delivery boy, boy." The punch misses.

"Yeah, I remember," Turk replies, "I used to move drugs for you [see Marvel Graphic Novel #24]. You're gonna wish you had some of those narcotics now!" Barrett brandishes a long switchblade.

Twirling Turk around, She-Hulk wallops the thug through the wooden divider into the stall. Barrett falls flaccid to the filthy floor. She-Hulk seizes Murray, and the seemingly savage seven-footer growls. She wants him willing to answer queries.

"Are you the Murray Bushbaum who pilots for Wilson Fisk?" she grills.

"I might be," says Murray.

"And, is your plane missing?" She-Hulk shakes scamp like a ragdoll.

"Yeah. And, I don't know where it went!" dizzy deviant declares. Manhandled Murray might pass-out.

"What happened when you transported Nekra?" the heroine hisses. The Jade Giantess stops jostling the half-kaput Kingpin crony.

"I didn't take Nekra nowhere to my knowledge," Murray surprises Jen with his answer—and his double-negative.

"Explain," She-Hulk releases her grip.

Kingpin's grunt conveys, "I remember Nekra arriving with Black Talon, and I remember packing this tote of cash that she had. But, I don't remember nothing after that except a shaggy-haired man sneaking up on me. He spun me around and then glared into my eyes. When I next blinked, the plane, the passenger, and the guy were all gone."

The conversation pauses momentarily. Then, She-Hulk proposes, "Do you think that the thief was Dr. Faustus?"

"Nah," states Murray, "Faustus is too well-groomed. I know him. He used to buy barbiturates from me regularly."

"Do you think that the mop-top could be the Mad Thinker?" theorizes the fantastic femme.

Murray scratches his unshaven stubble, "No, I think I know who that is, and it wasn't him. My guy had a cape."

"I wonder if Mole Man has kidnapped another bride," She-Hulk wonders aloud.

"No, I think I know who Mole Man is too," states Murray.

She-Hulk scratches her head, "Hmm, shaggy hair and a cape. We shall have to think about it."