ASTONISHING AVENGERS #10 By:Stephen Kelley Meanwhile, back near the Kal'thraky mothership the Avengers were doing all they could however luckily for Antman the giant killer robot had been brutally smashed and hacked to pieces by Skaar who looked satisfied, "that was a good fight, well for the robot anyway but ultimately like all things it cannot withstand my power and might just like you avengers or anyone else"he said staring at Antman "yeah yeah whatever you say there Kull the conqueror". "I see now why Beta Ray Bill wants to kill you so badly all your annoying little references grow tiresome with me as well, and you still owe me a head slice for what you did to me in the Savage lands" "I thought you said you let me win" O'Grady said twisting the knife however lucky for him a bunch of foot soldiers threw themselves at Skaar, "have fun big guy I know you can do it I believe in you"O'Grady said sarcastically as he shut the door behind him the last image was Skaar giving him a death stare. While most of the troops on the ship were looking for Eric and fighting Skaar, Eric managed to find what he hoped was the holding cells and in it he saw badly tortured and beaten cap and Tony "I don't mean to be rude but you guys look like s$%^" which got him a dirty look from Tony "hold on guys I'll have you out in a sec", Eric then picked the lock nearly effortlessly and helped Tony get his armor back and Steve his shield "Tony has a way to possibly disable the ship Eric, but we may need your help can you handle this" Cap said putting a hand on Eric's shoulder "yeah I can do it, but why do you need me"? As Eric found out he had to go "inside"the database computer and rewire the computer to self-destruct the ship "am I only useful to you guys when I have to crawl inside crap, do this and grab that etc." "Eric just shut up and keep crossing the wires I think I've almost got it"Tony said till finally the right sequence was put in place, and due to his impatience after the computer announced that it would take 2 minutes for the ship to blow up Eric crossed the wires and it only gave the team 30 seconds to get out "ERIC!" "ooooooopppppppssssss" Eric said as tony roughly snatched him up and gave the command for everybody to retreat. It was a beautiful sight for vision and Erica as they saw the mothership go down in a blaze of glory, "designation shock they actually did it" "there may be hope for Earth 616 yet vision"Erica said smiling warmly but still wondering about her father while meanwhile angry eyes locked on Avengers tower from the wreckage, "way to go hotshot we were gonna learn information about their plans where their captives were but instead you just wanted everything to go boom before we even had time to wipe our noses"Tony shouted angrily pacing back and forth in his armor while he and Eric went back and forth "that's pretty funny coming from the "former"director of shield whose tagline was register or be arrested or killed" "says the womanizing, immoral, sad sacked," "that's enough Tony"Steve snapped and the air went paper-thin with tension, "no it won't be enough I told you that when we were looking for new members Steve he was not to be on this list"Tony said pointing at Eric "but you said it was a package deal him and Melissa or not at all". Melissa then stared at Cap in disbelief "so wait a minute I was on the list but you wanted to attach Eric on or I wouldn't have been able to be put on this team so much for the so-called "honor and integrity"that you're known for I've seen a lot of selfish people but that by far is one the most lowliest moves I've ever seen and from a man of your standard" "does anybody in this room ever stop to think that the people like you or Eric Melissa need or deserve a second chance or maybe that little "push"in the right direction" "oh yeah you really gave Eric a push all right Steve, not only that but you let Clint of all people decide that he should be brought on" "you know what Tony I'm getting sick of your tired little childish vendettas against people just because they scorned you did you ever stop to think about what it's like to be madam masquerade and how much she wants you dead or to be Reed Richards and having to deal with Victor Von Doom of course you can't Tony because you're a selfish rich little snot who had everything handed to you your entire life but the one thing that you couldn't buy Tony was self respect, you already know my background Tony I don't need to tell you it and if I had to go through all of it again I gladly would too bad I can't say the same for you" "guys, guys let's stop with the Jerry Springer stuff and get to the bottom of the matter, we still have ships out there that possibly have captives from other worlds or even vision and Erica's home world so how about we stop playing Rochambeau with each other's personal lives and take that aggression and use it against the Kal'thraky sound good"DarkHawk said trying to play peacemaker and redirecting Steve and Tony's aggression. Tony glared at Chris "and you, you're not even an avenger why are you even here, nobody asked for your help and certainly we don't need to take lessons from some young punk in a piece of high-tech alien armor that he still can't even comprehend y" Tony didn't get to finish his sentence as Chris Powell's armored fist slammed into Tony's face dislocating his jaw "you done trying to Showboat stark, you think you're in control newsflash this is the avengers this is a team, but you know what you're right I'm not an avenger and maybe I don't need to be helping you guys seems like you guys are doing just fine without me after all Tony you seem to know everything, maybe me and all the other guys here can do this without you or maybe not so while you sit here with vision and Erica and pout like a little crybaby we're gonna do actual adult work and try to stop these aliens"dark Hawk said angrily as he then flew off the skylight of the tower "I'm afraid Iron Man I must agree with Christopher"Bill said "thou as become egotistical once more I pity you Stark for unlike my hammer brother Thor I will not soil my dignity to stand for this"Bill said whirling storm breaker and flying off behind dark Hawk. "Thank God we're breaking up" Skaar said relieved "not that it really mattered you would have been able to keep me prisoner anyhow"he said leaping off the tower Melissa shot Cap an angry glare "I can't believe you would selfishly deny me a spot on the avengers unless Eric came along, you know you and stark deserve each other your both egotistical and you love belittling those who have any actual dignity or integrity, don't try to contact me and don't try to find me as far as I'm concerned"Melissa said snapping her ID card in half and throwing it in caps face "I was never really part of this team"she snorted as she flew off. "I suppose you'll be next"Steve said looking at Black Panther" "No, I will stay with you but let them go" t'challa said "they will need time to process their mistake, I only hope that their rash decision will not cause us to fail" "not really that rash"Sam said with a hint of anger in his voice "Melissa has every right to be angry and while I didn't much care for her being on the team I don't like the revelation that you put a package deal on her and Antman like that that's messed up Steve, but despite that I'm with you to the end" "as angry as I am over these events I'm staying too" Firestar said but her gaze caught more at Tony then Steve, "despite Eric being a screw up Tony your the one who actually led to all these people being gone now, is being rich and using your tower to fund the avengers not enough you have to wrestle control from Cap you have to put on some big boy pants that you really don't have, Tony I wouldn't follow you if you made a deal with Mephisto and wanted to take it back, I wouldn't follow you if he had your mothers soul in his clutches, I wouldn't follow you"and the more fire star went down the list the higher her voice got and the higher her voice got the angrier she became and the more tears started coming out of her eyes only to evaporate till finally Steve broke the silence "it doesn't matter now Angelica everyone on earth better pray that we can stop these aliens because if not, this Earth will fall like all the other ones.