ASTONISHING AVENGERS #17
By: Stephen Kelley
The battle raged on as each individual Avenger held their own despite overwhelming odds, "I never thought I'd hear myself say this but I think we need him" Eric scuffed "what Hawkeye?, why do we need the archer" Skaar snorted "because that "archer" Melissa hissed at Skaar "is good at taking down long-range targets and making shots that none of us can even begin to comprehend how or why" "and don't forget the part about how I'm dashingly handsome" Clint interjected surprising everyone including the kal'thraky by performing a salmon ladder while hanging upside down on his sky-cycle hitting three separate groups with pinpoint accuracy using explosive tipped arrows.
"nice of you to join us Clint" Steve said with a smile "is that Vision? whoa" Clint said jerking himself upwards to realign the sky-cycle before crashing into the ship "that was a little too close for comfort" he sighed, a big massive wave including giant mutant golem looking creatures charged at the group and then the clouds immediately got dark and in a giant cyclone-like funnel sucked the majority of the kal'thraky Battalion into what look like an ionic storm "Bill that you're doing" "nay Steve Rogers that would not be my doing" "that would be him" Tony said smiling under his helmet "Anthem" Steve said cocking an eyebrow "you called Henry Hellrung in to help us" "of course he did" Henry jokingly winked "and I don't go by the name Anthem anymore, call me Ventus" "well I'm not one to judge or argue" Steve said "help is help" Henry shrugged "just point me in the general direction and I'll do the rest" Henry said losing his cheerful demeanor and putting on a serious face focused at the task at hand.
"well for starters" Sam flew by them as cap put up a shield as well as Tony putting up his personal shield generator "artillery batteries, that won't be a problem" Henry sadistically smiled as he cracked his knuckles and then worked his "magic" summoning a bright lightning bolt that all but completely decimated the artillery batteries of the alien ship, "bbbbaaaahhhhh storm breaker would've done just as much damage" Bill jealously said not liking that there was another team member of their "entourage" that could call down lightning and command the winds "oh come on Bill" Henry said rolling his eyes "it's not like I'm taking your gimmick", "you dare call my taking my hammer brother's place a "gimmick", why i should" "save it you two" Steve said breaking the two up "you can fight and try to kill each other after we save Manhattan" "aye" Bill said nodding agreeably "on that Steve Rogers we agree" "perhaps Bill you and Henry can provide some cover for us to get on the mothership".
"well two giant death bolts of lightning are better than one right Bill" "we shall see how destructive your lightning is compared to stormbreakers" Bill said triumphantly as both men flew and commanded the storms to unleash heavy torrents of lightning bartering the mothership, "my Queen they are doing massive damage to the mothership perhaps we should" "this mothership has held in many battles we will be fine, let these primitives throw their lightning at us they will fail in the end" "yeah well I hate to tell you lady but your kinda wrong and we're about to show you why" Darkhawk said his face all in the camera on one of the corridors of the mothership which then unsettled the Queen.
"how did they get in the ship and not set the sensors off" "hi do you have an alien pest problem, do they seem to want to destroy your dimension and your neighbors, hi I'm Antman and I'm here to tell you that you officially just f&*(ed up you are the weakest aliens to invade Earth, goodbye" Eric said flipping the bird before all the monitors on the mothership went off, "when I find that annoying little insect" the Queen gritted her teeth "I am going to pull all of his limbs off and I will thoroughly" then she saw something fly across the room and slammed into the side of her jaw ricocheting between the multiple people in the cockpit before Steve caught his shield, "you won't be pulling anybody's limbs or destroying anybody's dimension today", "yeah besides I have a spa treatment after this and than some Shawarma" "Tony we've had way too much Shawarma, I kinda want to try something different maybe Chinese takeout" "ah suits me" Tony shrugged before the rest of the Avengers all charged the remaining kal'thraky troops and the Queen.
"How is this possible, I was able to beat you before" "that's because last time we held back however this time, we're going all out to defend our dimension furthermore we found a couple of interesting "facts"about your species"Steve said quizzically "one of the biggest is that you haven't destroyed or even closed as many dimensions as you claim you have, furthermore the only way you were able to beat us last time is due to harmonic frequencies so low that they were inaudible to the human ear but see when we examined your little "brainwashing worms"that you generously planted on me and Tony we discovered that your tech was not alien at all but rather, Earth-based" "how cute you saw through the ruse and the ploy, but it still will not stop me from conquering this dimension like I did my own, like my father and his before him failed to do" "father"it took vision a couple of nano seconds to process the vocal tone and statement of the Queen and then the data analysis in conclusion caused even the android from Earth 612 to drop his jaw.
"But theoretically that is impossible I disabled your biometric quantum hyper battery, you should've ceased functioning", "oh but I did "father", but alas even your surgical precision and intelligence that you got from your father still could not stop me from obtaining a new body, one that's a little more personal"the Queen sadistically smiled and for the fourth time in his life Vision did something human, as his metallic face contorted in anger and his voice shook the entire room "you dared, you dared take the body of the one woman I loved and you twisted it into this monstrosity" "she was weak just like you are, after you had given her a "mercy kill", I decided that it would be politic justice that you took my body away from me so I would take hers an eye for an eye father how do you like that".
Visions whole body shook and everyone backed away from him not knowing how he was going to react and then before anybody could blink Vision flew at the Queen and wrapped his metallic hands around her techno-organic neck and slammed her through the control room of the mothership and down through the bottom screaming and wailing as bits of oil and moisture flew from his eyes a simulation of tears, "why Ultron, why would you do this I created you to help humanity on Earth 612 and instead you kill and enslave those that you could use as pawns" "humanity is weak and does not deserve all that it has squandered no matter which dimension"she said punching her father in the face and then going blow to blow with him as they started falling towards the center of central Park, "IT IS NOT YOUR DECISION TO MAKE, I KILLED YOU OUT OF LOVE, OUT OF MY FAILURE AS A PARENT, BUT NOW I SEE YOU AS THE MONSTER I CREATED, SO I GAVE YOU LIFE ULTRON AND NOW I WILL TAKE IT BACK" "then come and try"she taunted.
"Capt., should I assist Vision" Bill said looking at them "no"Steve earnestly stated "that fight is Visions, it's not for us to interfere" "I see, then may my hammer brother offer him strength and courage and the mighty Valkyries a safe trip to Valhalla"Bill prayed sincerely "oh I don't think he'll be going to the great warrior Hall in the sky"Clint quizzically joke "but the Queen on the other hand shall probably be sent to the nine realms version of hell" "nay, I do not think Clint Barton Hela herself would even take that witch" "oh wait that's right your hell is different from ours" Bill then chuckled "if you mean will Vision send her to Muspellheim, then that we are in agreements on perhaps the vile fire lord Surtur will think of an adequate punishment" "yeah right"Clint awkwardly scratched his head.
"So Tony, that USB drive about ready" "yes it is, but I'm scared to plug it in" "why" "because it's from deadpool" Steve interjected Clint's jaw drooped, "I'm sorry can we rewind that, did you just say dead pool as in Merc with the mouth deadpool" Steve just nodded his head, "well no wonder Tony's scared knowing Wadey Wilson he probably put trillions of megabytes of porn on it and not the fun kind"Clint almost mumbled receiving dirty looks from Erica Melissa and Angelica "what?" "Dude, I'm the team's resident pervert and even I wouldn't admit to a statement like that"Eric said jokingly putting a hand on Clint shoulder and pointing his left thumb in the direction of the ladies, "honestly Eric I would be surprised if you admit to anything truthfully"Angelica spat "hey I'm plenty truthful, most of the time" "yeah when you're busted"Angelica rolled her eyes "look ever since the whole deal with Carol and me being caught peeping on her showering now security cams are put in the women's shower room that have to be reviewed by female shield officers and my parole officer or rather his assistant and this and" "Eric"Melissa calmly said "yes" "shut up".
"Okay moment of truth"Tony said nervously sweating inside his helmet as inserted the USB drive and while it wasn't porn, it was something much more vile much more worse it was deadpool in an ali g like get up pretending to be a dub step DJ, "yo yo-yo, was happening dawgs and dawgetes d-pooly here and I'm about to kick this thang old school feel me" "hey if I accidentally shoot myself through the chin with my own arrow is that considered a suicide attempt"Clint morbidly joked before the entire mothership and the corresponding ships were broadcast it with the same loud DJ mix of dub step, "Avengers get to the Quinn jet"Steve shouted at the top of his lungs as the mothership and all the corresponding ships started falling all through Manhattan like dead flies.
In the aftermath they scoured for survivors unfortunately none were found and a badly damaged Vision was carrying Ultron by her hair, "Vision are you" "is there a portal generator nearby or one intact"he said talking over Steve giving a clear indication that he didn't feel like expressing his emotions "yeah I should have one in the lab let's get back to the tower"Tony said as he stayed behind secretly tossing a stark industries homing beacon for Jarvis to salvage the tech "whatever tech she had or had built it can probably be reverse engineered, Heck if there's anything intact I can probably build a factory or something"Tony mused to himself deciding to return to the tower but not before he scanned a faint life sign among all the other dead prisoners there was one and when Tony helped the feeble old man he got a weird pulsing sensation and then he realized that the old man was in fact magneto.
"Erica... where is my daughter"he said weakly "she's with us I can contact her if you" "no,... I do not want her... to see me this way... do me a favor... Stark... tell Charles... to..." "save your breathing" "no time... was barely alive... Anyway... take my helmet... and tell her... tell her... I"and then magneto stopped in mid sentence not breathing his heart stopping and his eyes wide open, Tony bowed his head and in one of the few times in his life that he felt like he failed to save someone Tony shed a tear looking at magneto the same way he remembered Yinsen's noble sacrifice, "don't worry Mags, I'm sure in time she'll think happily that you didn't suffer"Tony mumbled his voice slightly choking as two armored fingers closed his eyelids and gingerly took the helmet flying back to Avengers tower.
Everyone was already celebrating and one Tony flew back up everyone was overjoyed till they saw Tony's expression and Erica dropped her glass and fell to her knees when she saw the object in Tony's left arm, "Tony... please tell me"Tony couldn't even look her in the eye "he told me... He told me to give this to you and that you wanted me to also tell you that he loved you and was proud of you, and while it may not make you feel better now Erica, he didn't suffer for very long"though he tried to hide it tears streamed down Tony's face and Erica just fell to pieces while everyone else even Skaar bowed their heads, after Erica had settled down and he had recomposed himself Tony worked feverishly finding the coordinates for Earth 612 "I wonder what the different versions of us are like" "I'm not really in a particularly chatty or joking mood Eric" "who said I was joking"Tony noted the softness in Eric's tone as if something was on his mind, "something bothering you O'Grady" at first he sighed and seemed reluctant but then Eric slowly started to form the words "I've been doing a lot of thinking Stark I realize I joke around I'm vulgar I'm often times unreliable I'm a whiny little bitch, the whole song and dance routine but lately I don't know, I'm just in this weird funk I can't stop thinking that I have a child out there, a child that needs his father maybe more than that you know"Tony put down the socket wrench and looked Eric in the eyes "you're questioning yourself Eric you're wondering if the hero matches the man rather than the man matching the hero don't feel bad, often times I get that "complex"but I remind myself Eric of how I became the man I am true many people will compare you to Hank and Hank is a little bit smarter than you are"Eric then shot Tony a that's not helping look "but seriously Eric that nagging feeling your conscience is giving you follow that advice, I'll admit you come a long way you're not nearly as bad when you started and I know this whole womanizer thing, Steve sees a greatness in you as do i but I've been at the position Eric that you have granted I'm still a flirt, but at the same time I have to be responsible now".
"the world knows I'm Ironman I can't stop for even a second to think about having a private life, this... This is all I must now focus on as well as making the world a better place it's what being an Avenger is truly about Eric, willing to sacrifice yourself in order to save the world but at the end of the day being a responsible person, despite the fact that I crack on him I truly give Reed all the credit in the world it's not easy allegedly being the smartest man in the world and being able to raise a son who can warp reality and the daughter who can match you intellectually as well as verbally"Tony jested which made Eric chuckle slightly "yeah Tony I guess you're right I just, I just want more out of being an Avenger but at the same time being Antman and the legacy that I have to lead from both Hank and Scott is mortifying I mean I've been called "irredeemable" and "unethical", hell there's a picture of me hanging out the hulks nose when he brought his war bound like I was some kind of giant red insectoid booger, maybe maybe I need to leave the team for a while go on a journey maybe try to find myself or learn a thing or two" "I say go for it Eric hell I'm a genius and even I have to get out in the world every once in a while to understand what I have to change and make better".