"Siege by Stealth and Storm!" (Takes place during AVENGERS #159)

Terry Vance stood with his adopted father James Vance on the front yard of their Queens, New York home. His mother and his sister were taking turns looking into the sky over Manhattan with Terry's telescope. The neighbors were in their yards, looking in the same direction, staring at the unique sight of a three mile chunk of rock floating a quarter mile above Manhattan Island.

James Vance held a portable radio, playing the all-news radio station, 1010 WINS, just loud enough to be heard and turned up if there was an update.

"Look, Ma, we have that Grava-guy line up now!" Rowina Vance leaned down and peered at the figure flying above the United Nations building, posing in the insanely dramatic and self-important way that supervillains all seemed able to do.

"Are you sure we shouldn't be evacuating Terry?" James looked sideways at his 11-year-old son. "The radio says they are trying to evacuate Manhattan, in case that fool crushes the city. The Avengers went up there about 20 minutes ago, it doesn't look like they were able to do anything."

Terry tilted his head to the side, appearing deep in thought. "The roads are going to be blocked with everyone already trying to escape. We are far enough away that IF that floating rock drops, we shouldn't get much more than a huge dust cloud and a bit of an earthquake. We'd all be taking a bigger risk taking a chance with the mobs on the roads away from the city. Plus, the Avengers still have an ace up their sleeve. Thor hasn't shown up yet. He doesn't lose. Ever."

James nodded. "That's true. But THIS may be the first time. So are you ready to talk about what happened yesterday," referring to what the Daily Bugle had called MAD MONKEY FIRE FOUL-UP!

"Not really, dad, but I guess we should. I just can't believe they suspended me for two semesters. It's better than being banned for life… but I don't like it."

The radio replayed Dr. Franklin Hall's speech to the United Nations for the third time. "... unless the governments of Earth submit to my will, I shall destroy a major metropolis every hour, ON the hour! New York shall feel my wrath! Next… NEWARK, DELAWARE! I, GRAVITON have spoken!"

James Vance put a hand on his son's shoulder. "They had to crack down on you, don't take it personally. It wasn't long ago that their vice-chancellor turned out to be a super-villain. What did Professor Lansky call himself, Lightbulb?"

"Lightmaster. I liked Lansky too, I was as surprised as anybody when he went nuts. I'd hoped the university would let me take over his research project into force fields and "hard light." Now I can't even use the library archives anymore for a whole year."

The announcer over the radio was shouting now. "... the President has issued a statement that the United States does not negotiate with terrorists, but what about us, New York? Do we negotiate, do we run and hide? Do we FIGHT?! We have a whole CITY full of super-folks, someone must be able to save our town! Where is Spider-man, or Daredevil, where is that new kid Nova? Maybe The Punisher can get in a lucky shot, come ON Frank, you're a New Yorker, help us out!"

"So what do you want to do, son?" James asked quietly. "You could take a year off, come work with me at the shop. I know that the machines we design and build are a step down from making synthezoids and tinkering with physics. But I'd be glad to have you there more often." Vance Engineering had been in the business of making the machines that manufacturers needed for a decade, and Terry had been helping design and build industrial equipment since he developed as a young prodigy.

"Maybe. I have some ideas that we could go with. But I was really starting to feel like I was on the start of something big. Without all the University's resources, I won't be able to do nearly as much."

"So work with a company?" James turned his head to watch Darwin, the "MAD MONKEY" that caused all the trouble, playing on the lawn. "Your book is about to get published, and THAT thing is a brilliant idea. Figure out the whole "Horton cells equals robot flamethrower" problem, and you've cracked the way for anyone who can afford a car could have a home robot instead."

"Maybe," Terry admitted. "Disney seemed interested in getting involved until the "fire-breathing" issue came up. Right AFTER we made headlines, Hammer Industries sent a guy to talk to me, but they want to use my monkey helpers for military contracts."

"You told him to go ##### himself?" James asked.

"Of course."

"Good boy, proud of you," James said with a grin. "Maybe we can get Disney to take another look."

Thunder clapped, once, again, a third time. The clear blue sky became dark with storm clouds.

"THOR IS HERE!" Melanie squealed with joy. "I wish we had binoculars…" she growled at her big brother. "I wanna see him beat up that Grava-guy!"

"My telescope will have to do for now. I promise to get you a better look at super-fights soon," Terry said with a smile. "Let's just see where this goes as best we can from here."