Chapter 22: Battles, Betrayal, and Brygitka

He had a luxury apartment on the top floor of Starks Industries' Administration Building. 6 minutes away from the factory, he had a palatial home. It rested grandly on a multiple acre scenic masterpiece that snuggled with a good length of the North Shore. To the east, there was a man-made sandy beach that was the envy of any seaside resort. To the west, two goliath yachts boastfully stretched along two docks of the world's finest Brazilian Ipe wood and stainless steel. Each yacht held a helicopter. Their essentiality wasn't because Stark was often called off from the boats to attend meetings. The copters were there because some of his dates had a problem coping with the combination of alcohol and sea waves…. And Tony wasn't about to redecorate his yachts— his babies— with anyone's puke, no matter how stunning she looked. And as far as nature was concern, Suffolk County was gorgeous in the spring.

Still, if one had asked him, Tony Stark would've confessed that he liked it just where he was …. on top of the Manhattan exit of the Battery Tunnel. Here he appreciated the timely gusts of wind that brought up skirts (he also cursed the unknown designer who invented the secretarial straight skirt look).

Here the billionaire could make conference calls through his helmet to arrange a golf date with two different steel manufacturing tycoons. He could also check up on the latest FBI lead on the thief— Herman Schultz; keep in contact with his various plant managers; and pick up a Joe Franklyn radio program featuring the Best of Abbott and Costello. Most rewarding of all, he could do all this without asking Pepper Potts to set them up.

If there was something school-boyish about the Man of the World, Tony Stark, it was that he couldn't decide if seeing the lovely Pepper was a great joy or a terrible affliction.

Since the Battery Tunnel was situated so close to the court buildings, Tony mistakenly figured that the soda trucks with explosives would've made it their number one conduit. Explosions around the court house area would have been more persuasive in effecting the Thinker's release. Not that Tony was complaining about The Thinker's shoddy plan, of course. It allowed him to enjoy a sunny, peaceful day.

Stark went from sitting up to reclining. His perch overlooked the check-point station, but it was far enough to allow him to lift his face mask just enough to expose his mustached lips. One hand pillowed the back of his head and the other hand secured his cup of coffee against his stomach; HIS coffee, meaning the hour-ago imported Colombian beans, Irish Cream topping, and a good portion of 90 proof … eh, liquid.

Thinking about the other heroes who were stationed at different surveillance points , Tony asked himself, "I wonder if my partners are having problems staying awake."

CRAAASH! The vehicle metals screamed as the powerful stranger slammed an FBI car down on top of a police car. The FBI agents in that limo initially exhibited bravery by stopping it directly in front of the emotionless terror. They had gotten out and unloaded their pistols. But when the mighty figure lifted their car over his head, the same agents, understandably, ran for cover.

Curiously, after running off his opponents, the overall-attired stranger didn't continue walking towards the main intersection. He invested a few seconds to twist and wrap one vehicle onto the other. Car fluids poured onto the streets and appeared to have been running away from the frightening man-brute.

Seconds later, the mighty man's motives were clear. The stranger used the twisted metal mess as a bowling ball to stop the NYPD patrol cars that were speeding towards him from the north. The impact forced those squad cars into the air; some were rocketed to the sides, some bounced over the "bowling ball" and landed on their roofs.

A camera caught every incredible movement of the stranger. But it became evident that the extraordinary photographer now had to consider the financial worth of the snap shots a secondary concern. It appeared that the strong menace had a singular mind to make it to Second Avenue. With all the traffic there, it would have been easy for him to commandeer a car and ride it away.

Cop cars had jumped into the air due to the strong man's bowling talents. Some policemen could walk away; others had to be pulled out of their vehicles. Spider-man was relieved that there were no fatalities.

Well, that was impressive, Peter thought after witnessing the spectacle. But not so impressive as to make him hightail it out of there.

"All right, now where was I, before I was interrupted," Spider-man said to himself.

Again, from atop a lamppost, some 40 yards behind the stranger, the tender-footed Spider-man shot two web-lines. This time he was successful in snaring each of the strong man's wrists. The heroic youth had planned to pull him back towards the secluded bomb search area near the East River. To his surprise, the stranger raised his hands and then mightily pulled them down in front of him. With the extra effort that came from bending at the waist, he yanked Spider-man off of the lamppost in an incredible display of strength.

"Are you kidding me?" Spider-man fussed in the air. "Again? Stone-butt and this mutt must have the same fighting instructor."

The pull had forced the hero to sail across the almost half-length of a football field towards the back of his opponent.

Peter thought the guy was a fool, though. The silent man was actually helping Spider-man pounce on his foe from behind. Well, with this particular blindside attack, the youth wasn't going to suffer from a guilty conscience.

Spider-man's senses again erupted. Something wasn't right…. this wasn't going to play out as he had planned. No surprise— almost nothing in his life did.

A second after he became apprehensive, Spider-man shot a web to a lamppost in front of his foe and pulled. His body rose up just two yards away from the back of the stranger. Lucky he did— the man turned around with incredible speed and threw a round-house. His fist made a whizzing sound in the air to testify to the velocity of the punch. And considering the power behind it, Spider-man would have been laid out. But as the arched flight had worked to his advantage against the stone-man, it did so again. He flew over his opponent and landed behind the powerhouse…. on his toes… the pain caused by kicking the Gargoyle had not completely dissipated.

He crouched his body into a ball. He rolled himself towards Mighty Mutt (as Peter now called him) who had his back towards the hero. Spider-man upended the strong man in his own version of bowling. The next time Spider-man's hands hit the ground, he pushed up. With a straightened body, the spectacular hero sliced through the brisk air like a human javelin. Spider-man landed a good distance away.

There was no anger in the face of the stranger as he got up from the ground. Spider-man raced towards him for another clash. Oh, Thank God for his spider-senses—Peter applied a feet-first slide to stop his forward movement. He brought his knees to his chest again and re-enacted his body roll to distance himself from the man. At that point another hail of bullets ripped up the ground around the silent menace. The torso part of his body-length overalls seemed to dance in different directions under the punishing bullets.

The cops, Peter said to himself. Damn, they should give a guy warning.

From a safe distance, Peter took out his camera again. The photos that he took were fantastic, if he could say so himself. He got the north and west lines of gun-firing cops. He got the unflinching foe. He got the bullets' effect—the shredded upper part of the man's one piece workman's overalls that now hung only from one shoulder. He also captured a lamppost being ripped from the ground and snapped in two. The camera gave evidence that Mighty Mutt used both hands simultaneously to throw the two pieces of heavy metal at the two lines of uniformed shooters. The four cops to the north ran uptown, two of them were mowed down. The six officers to the west ducked behind their cars that took the hit of the lampost.

Mighty Mutt took a nearby abandoned cop car and, with one hand, tossed it in rainbow arc in the direction of the shelter-seeking policemen.

Peter knew that it would come down very close on the other side of the cars that they used for protection.

"Run," Peter yelled, "It's going to land on y—"

He didn't need to finish his warning. The officer saw the path of the vehicle and took off.

Spider-man again put his camera way. It was time for a showdown. The youth hesitated for a second. That distanst sound... Was it? Oh, come on, Peter scolded himself. When was the last time a tornado hit New York?

Spider-man leaped twice, the second time he shot his body horizontally. … BANG! He hit the powerful man's back with his two feet. Great— it didn't hurt as much as it did with Stone-butt.

The mighty stranger slid stomach-down across the black top. As Peter planned, the strong man was sliding towards the Bomb check point.

The man's travel stopped and he stood up. Spider-man again kicked him and sent him skimming the surface on his way towards the river. The combatants were close enough. The youth now had to conjure up a plan to stop him. Spider-man ran to where he lay. The youth grabbed the right ankle of the stranger. His scheme was to twirl the man around the incredibly powerful hero's body once. This should generate enough momentum to send his enemy head-first into the engine block of the same soda truck that he had destroyed.

" I mean," Peter reason, "you can't get a better K.O. than a head meeting the truck engine. Even the Hulk would have a king-sized headache."

Spider-man was so busy thinking about what he was GOING to do, while the foe was concentrating on the NOW. In the middle of the spin, Mighty Mutt bent his body to grab the hero's wrist. Amazingly, the menace hauled the hero into the air. The grip of the man was so strong and unexpected that it forced the young crusader to release his grip. Now the villain was holding him.

Sometimes having impressive strength isn't so beneficial. Spider-man's spin resulted in a build-up of speed that both bodies flew parallel to the ground for several yards in the direction of the abandoned bomb unit truck. The fact that both bodies were spinning like a jet-packed Merry-Go-Round in the air, made it more problematic to Peter. It was making him dizzy.

The strong man mightily slapped Peter's free hand away as the hero tried to grab his enemy's wrist with his other hand.

All of a sudden the menace let go. The powerhouse's feet and left hand were on the pavement trying to stop his spin. Peter, on the other hand, was heading straight to the side of the truck.

His feet hit the truck. He bent his knees to absorb the deadly impact. He straightened his legs to push off. The six ton truck rocked in the opposite direction, testifying to the great speed that the hero was traveling.

Spider-man shot back towards his foe. His foot pain was gone. There was only a minor discomfort on his knees and that disappeared under his adrenaline rush.

Peter was still set on a head-blow to finish off his opponent. Spider-man's hand-to-feet-to-hands horizontal lunges had the properties of a stalking panther's silence and a racing car's pace.

The menace had straightened up his body. Spider-man's last hand-push away from the street allowed the hero's chest to face skyward. The youth scissor-ed his legs around the stranger's head from behind. In one sixth of a second, his butt hit the mutt's back. The force of that impact shot both figures forward.

Working against his own momentum, the hero threw his upper body back. His hands hit the ground. His legs followed his backwards swing to raise his foe upward.

Immediately, the air vibrated with a load crash. The powerful man's head was rammed to the street floor with all the strained effort that could come from the amazing leg strength of a proportionately sized spider.

The black top was shatters into pieces; smaller pieces few everywhere, while larger chunks surrounded his foe's body. The stranger remained motionless on the ground, face-down. Long silence gripped the air.

"Hey, I got him. Aww right!" Peter cheered.

Peter got off two pictures when the tingle started again. In a blink of an eye, the prone figure shot to his knees and his hands scooped up the biggest chunk of the shattered black top. How he knew that Spider-man was standing on it was a mystery. Before the youth could react, the terror threw it and the hero behind his back. Again Spider-man was flying at a rapid pace, but not according to his design.

As Spider-man saw the mutt's body getting smaller to his eyes the only thing he could say was, "Aww damn."

The Unicorn faced away from the van. On her left, the first cop, whom Quicksilver rendered unconscious, was being dragged away from the battlefield by the second police man who the speedster had attacked. She would have helped, except that they were not in immediate danger right then. Instead, she turned to her right to face a very real and present threat.

The Unicorn saw a small, but violent cyclone develop in front of her. She didn't have to guess as to who was responsible.

Sand, dirt, and stray trash were whizzing around at a tremendous rate. The sparsely spaced trees shattered and surrendered their jagged limbs to the deadly portrait.

Whatever Quicksilver was planning, the Unicorn wanted to keep their battle away from the van. She lifted up in the air and moved away from the vehicle. The swirling winds did not follow her.

What a fool I am, Yolanda said to herself. He wanted me to overreact just as I did and separate myself from the girls."

She shot back to hover between the van and the cyclone.

Her peripheral vision caught another movement. The Unicorn was stunned to see the van begin to rise. During its ascension, the vehicle appeared to be trembling. Was this all Quicksilver's doing as well?

The Unicorn looked down to see that the girls had left the van. The younger girl was face down on the ground with her arms shielding her head. The older girl's face expressed a struggle, while her hands extended towards the van. At least now Yolanda knew why the mutant was after one of the teenage girls. As if Yolanda's eyes weren't wide enough, the heroine had just noticed that the older girl's hair turned green.

The van swung swiftly in her direction. The armored heroine ducked and the rear of the vehicle barely missed her. The Unicorn knew that the attack was meant for Quicksilver. Or, at least, the older girl was aiming for the 4-story cyclone hoping to make contact with her would-be abductor.

The green-haired teen put one hand to her mouth and arched her eyebrows as she discovered the near-hit on the wrong person. The van shook harder until the girl extended both hands.

"Knock it off," The Unicorn yelled, "What are you doing out of the van?"

They may have intended to help, but actually, they were INTERFERING! It was doubtful that the girls could hear the Unicorn as the small tornado cried out in a loud rage.

Suddenly, the Unicorn was forcefully vacuumed into the cyclone. The new heroine was struck hard from the left side. She went spinning in the air and out of the wind funnel. What could have hit her? She was 30 feet in the air? In the middle of her involuntary somersaults, she saw Quicksilver falling back to earth.

Her brilliant mind came to the conclusion that the 110-plus miles an hour wind had added to his incredible momentum. Together they allowed Quicksilver to leap up and assault her. And that same strong wind was working as a circular playground slide for his safe descent.

She would be a sitting duck up there if she stayed. But if she moved away, he was fast enough to snatch at least one of the girls.

The winds again seized her. He came up to attach again and again. Quicksilver was too fast for her to grab. All she saw was the soles of his feet connecting to her helmet and nearly detaching her head.

The Unicorn magnetized her head and neck to keep them from moving independently from her body. Now with her body as unbendable as a steel beam, those kicks had minimal effects.

The last time he had struck her, Quicksilver caused an uncontrollable backward spin of her body. Ironically, Quicksilver's attack moved her head away from the path of the fast moving van that whipped from left to right.

The Unicorn regained her flight stability control. She looked down to see the older girl looking scared and her fists were planted against the sides of her face. The wind was still howling, but Yolanda lip-read the older girl's mouth: "I'm sorry."

Yolanda angrily put up two fingers to indicate the times that the well-intending teen had almost struck her.

As much as he wanted, Quicksilver wasn't hurting the meddlesome metallic wench. As much as she craved, the Unicorn wasn't quick enough to catch the jack ass and twist his stupid head off of his shoulders. This was getting neither the white-haired militant mutant nor the white-haired armored heroine anywhere. And if she knew that, then so did that faster-than-eye-could-follow jerk.

The Unicorn took a stab at what a stalemate would mean to Quicksilver. He was probable going to take one girl and make a run for it.

The air-hovering heroine noticed that the older girl was looking away. Her line of vision shot under the van— the same van that blocked Yolanda's vision to her left. The girl's attention was divided between the Unicorn and whatever she was seeing.

Debris were shooting past Yolanda's eyes. She could only see the green-haired girl's lips giving the "g" and "m" sound. At first Yolanda surmised that the girl was talking about her beloved. But when the perceived "chew"—or was it "statue"?— then "tree" and finally an "n" word followed, Yolanda figured it was nervous gibberish. The Unicorn concentrated on protecting the young females.

She shot many repulsor blasts around the teenage girls. Yolanda hadn't practice on her accuracy that much, so she kept the blasts about ten feet away from the girls. The ground around them shot up from the battering force. Small craters encircled them.

Yolanda's hunch proved correct. The invisible Quicksilver suddenly appeared. He was hopelessly sliding away along the ground, spinning on his rear. The first visual she had of his helpless twirling was when the repulsors violently uprooted the ground closest to the prone girl. That meant that the speedster was planning to scoop up the youngest.

While his spinning was slowing down, Quicksilver buried his face in his hands. He was trying to recover from his dizziness. Yolanda noticed that whatever was left of the white-haired mutant's clothing was scorched. No doubt that was a result of the air friction that his blinding speed fought against. Underneath his street clothes was a green outfit with a ridiculously-looking diagonal white design. Yolanda thought that it was supposed to represent lighting.

The wind noise had died down. The Unicorn shouted for the girls to get back into the van. What she didn't make known (because her enemy would've heard) was that she intended to lift the vehicle and fly them out of there. Where? She wasn't sure. But before she left, she would search out Giant-man. She wasn't leaving her beloved behind.

The van came down to earth with a jolt. The green-haired girl got the younger female to her feet. They rushed towards the van.

The Unicorn looked around, but she didn't see Quicksilver. No doubt he was hiding somewhere in order to recover from wooziness, but what could the armored heroine do?

Suddenly, another vortex appeared. For the third time she found herself inside of it. But this time, things seemed different. She wasn't being pushed in one direction, but in many.

On the other side of the van without side-windows, Giant-man was on one knee before Wanda Maximoff. Henry Pym wasn't so proud that he couldn't take a submissive pose in front of the woman who could stop the crazy Quicksilver. They ignored a sudden unexplainable noise of gale-like winds. They continued talking above the noise. They talked about the future of the girls who she and her brother pursued.

These youngsters would not have the glorified life that her brother promised. Wanda knew that. Wanda MORE than knew that. She had to admit that her misplaced loyalty would force the two girls to partake of the poison inside of the promised shiny apple.

Hank was winning her over. He was so close to getting her on his side, and she appeared only a hair's width away from being open to joining the Avengers .

Then the police van behind him rose up in a teeter-totter fashion. Behind the rising vehicle was the source of the violent wind sound— a destructive dust tornado. Both man-sapian and woman-superior knew that the cyclone had nothing to do with the levitating van.

They both yelled out for the safety of the people in their hearts.

"Yolanda! Girls!" Giant-man yelled. "Pietro," the sister shouted in hopes of receiving a response.

The 18-foot Avenger's heart was stolen by the girl who was lying on the ground, covering her face in fear. His pity showered the taller girl who looked like she was either straining or her face was being distorted by panic. …. BUT HE DIDN'T SEE YOLANDA!

He had sworn to himself that he would never let her leave his sight. He was ready to die for her if the time came and now he failed in his first promise. His skyrocketing anger was aimed at himself and at the prospect that Yolanda was in danger inside of the vortex.

Still lightheaded due to dehydration, Giant-man turned to the Scarlet Witch. He had to quickly explain his intention to stop her brother. But he also had to find the right words that would convince her that he didn't want to hurt Pietro, though his actions perhaps would come across as contrary.

Suddenly something round and hard struck the back of Giant-man's knee. He fell backwards to the ground. He then found the jagged end of a tree under his chin. The trunk was as wide as a typewriter. The fact that there was a spiked end against his Adam's apple gave evidence that it was torn from its base by a powerful force. Holding the other end, the end with leafy branches, was the Grey Gargoyle. The villain shouted above the wind's roar.

"Aye don' know dzeez fa-rends of you-airs, nor do aye ca-air for you-air games. Aye come to you weez a szeerrr-ess pro-pear-szi-szi-own. Call fo-air Zsor and you live. Wha'z you-air anz-air?"

Shock, anger, frustration all reached a boil. Hank would never give up an ally. To expect him to fold under pressure was as insulting to him as it would have been to Big Sis Erica if she was likewise approached. And above all, he certainly had no intention of letting anyone sidetrack him from finding Yolanda.

Concerning the Gargoyle's proposition, Giant-man answered, "And I've one for you. Take this tree away from my neck and you won't be sent to the hospital to have it surgically removed from your a – s."

"Wrrrrong anz-air , Szwine."

"Okay," Giant-man replied. "Then I'll stick something else up there. But I hear doctors charge a fortune to remove heads from where nature never intended them to be."

The Gargoyle was so enraged that he forgot his plan to keep his opponent alive long enough for him to summon Thor.

Duval took one step forward and plunged the sharpen end into the crimson giant. But the Avenger had both hands gripping the trunk. The piercing end never got closer to his neck. Instead, all that the villain had accomplished was to push Giant-man along the sidewalk.

The Grey Gargoyle cried out in frustration and plowed the jagged end forward again.

The flaps on the Gargoyle's blue insulated gloves were not pulled back. Having no contact with his infectious palms, the tree had not been transformed into stone. It was heavy, but not as weighty as petrified wood. The Avenger thought to lift the Gargoyle's end of the tree and then increase his strength by doubling his size. A strong throw would send his attacker into the East River. There, the villain would be too preoccupied with hanging on to the tree and staying afloat to do any damage.

As Giant-man lifted the trunk, the tree snapped in half. The Grey Gargoyle's end fell back down. It was the Scarlet Witch's doing.

Wanda said, "I thought to save you, I didn't think that you were able…"

Giant-man nodded with understanding. He was more thankful than angry over her misconceived aid.

The Gargoyle's knees landed on the ground and his elbows were on top of the trunk. Looking at Wanda, Duval snarled, "Away weez you, baba-ling wench. Aye 'av no intee-ressst in kealing a cra-zzy woo-man."

Wanda was about to reply to his insult with a stretch of her hand, when Paul Duval yelled out in astonishment. His enormous opponent had magically disappeared. Wanda turned this way and that to discover the truth in his words.

The Gargoyle looked threateningly at the beauteous mutant. "You deez-tu-rrrack-ted me, so de cow-edd could flee. You wheel pay."

Wanda, herself, thought that Giant-man had abandoned the fight and left her to fend for herself even after she attempted to save him. Without the spineless Avenger there, she would have to cast a few spells in order to trip the Gargoyle up. She would backtrack to the small tornado and hopefully her brother would come to her side.

Wanda had waited too long and, in a blink of an eye, the villain closed the gap between them with quick leap. The Gargoyle lunged at her.

Suddenly, the stony menace shot up into the air. Only the wind caused by his swiping hand had reached the damsel's cheek.

Wanda's heart was in her throat as she saw that the Gargoyle was picked up from his heel. Giant-man had re-appeared behind him. Hank Pym had only a second, knowing that one touch from the Gargoyle's hand would transform him into an immovable statue.

Duval bent at his waist and reached for the giant's hand. Hank quickly flicked him away, barely missing his touch. Giant-man was frustrated. He knew that a hard pull-back-and-throw maneuver would have been better, but by the time he could move his arm forward, he'd have look like the statue of liberty and his enemy would have looked like the torch in her hand.

Worst yet, the Gargoyle had the strength to break off Giant-man's fingers to free himself. When Hank would revert to flesh 12 hours later, his hand would be gushing out of blood. That would have been serious even if he wasn't dehydrated. But now in his weakened condition …

What was done, was done. Now, the next best thing was to take the half-a-tree without the branches and play a little golf.

He swung and the Gargoyle flew through the air. Unfortunately, the presumptuous Hank turned his back on his attacker, thinking he had achieved victory. But Paul Duval had latched on to another tree. His touch petrified the tree and made if strong enough to stop his flight.

The floating van finally dropped down to earth with a shaking impact. But the small tornado remained.

Giant-man barked at the Scarlet Witch. "I know the dust devil is your brother's doing. Call him off. I'll be damned before I let him harm the one I hold dear… nor will I let him to take the girls."

Half of Wanda rose up in defense of her brother— Giant-man's tone sounded threatening and she would not tolerate that. The other half of the woman understood. Wanda felt the same protective feelings for her beloved brother.

"Stand aside, giant. I, not you, will stay his hand."

Hank turned his face from the woman knowing that rage had encamped upon his features and he could not easily wipe it away. There was no sense losing her confidence right now. She had to be willing to stop her brother's attack.

Giant-man moved to the other side of the van in time to see the older girl's foot disappear into the vehicle. The door slid shut , then Giant-man opened it.

The girl's were initially afraid, but when they saw him, they were extremely comforted.

"Where's the Unicorn," he asked anxiously.

The green-haired girl's left hand pointed over Henry's left shoulder. Her words were quick and frightened. "Over in that thing."

THAT THING! The tornado. Nothing mattered to Giant-man just then; not the shocking green hair that suddenly captured the girl's scalp, not the enemies that had gathered around him, not even his life. Yolanda's safety was sole purpose of existence.

He closed the van door and turned to the vortex.

Wanda's shouts to her brother could not be heard over the roaring winds. She wasn't going to stop him. Giant-man had to do it.

He grew to 90 feet— dizziness be damned. The left knee went to the ground and he slid his right foot into the base of the tornado.

He got the desired effect. The foot blocked the speedster's circular run and the tornado winds lifted into the sky. The large chunks of debris that were caught in the swirling wind made themselves known. Black top, sidewalk blocks, discarded tires and uprooted and wind- splintered trees fanned out in different directions

Hank caught the Unicorn as she fell. His heart swelled in relief as his hands provided her with a seat and a backrest.

One of the Unicorn's hands was over her eye slits. The other was over her face covering's mouth. The lower portion of her metal mask had tiny holes that were hard to see, but they allowed her to breath air …. Air that the vortex was robbing from her.

"Sweetie," Gant-man said with a great concern.

She removed her hands and angrily gasped, "Remind me … to install … a glass behind …. the eye openings. Breathing… holes that could .. close up entirely ….and an oxygen container for these … missions.

Giant-man smiled as his heart soared.

"Where is that jackass?" the Unicorn asked in a steadier voice.

His smile dropped away as he saw the green-attired assailant on the instep of his right foot.

"Did you think I would so easily succumb?" Quicksilver's face was full of rage.

"Pietro, enough," his sister called from his right.

"No, Wanda. I will finish this and teach these maggots what it means to stand in the way of a Homo Superior."

Wanda knew her brother as a good man, but he had a violent temper. At times like these, Pietro had frightened her. No matter—she knew what was coming and Wanda charged forward to push him off of the giant's foot herself.

Quicksilver spun like Giant-man's old enemy, The Top. If Giant-man hesitated a few seconds more, the barbaric Quicksilver would have bored a hole into his foot, His blood would have sprayed in different directions and he'd probably lose the use of that foot him for life.

The Unicorn was wildly enraged after realizing that the speedy mutant was trying to suffocate her… possibly killing her. In Hank's hand, Yolanda had turned to the sound of the detestable dropping from a pig's anus. Upon hearing his retort to his sister, and seeing the scum's intent to cripple Henry, she whispered into her helmet to maintain her left hand's repulsor ray to the intensity that sprawled out the white-haired dung before. However, her right repulsor was going to be increased to a tank-disintegrating level. Pietro was going to become a puff of ashes.

But Henry needed no one's defense. Yolanda only spoke, "Right repulsor increase—" when Giant-man kicked his foot up. The white-haired speedster was caught off guard when he was launched into the air. The huge Avenger's left hand grabbed the savage scum as he fell earthward.

Quicksilver tilted his head back and let out a terrible shout as Hank's anger overtook his determination to seek a less violent ending.

"My grip almost killed him," Hank scolded himself.

The Unicorn's boot boosters enabled her to lift off of her partner's right hand. She circled behind him and stopped at his left shoulder. She cheered, "GOOD!"

But it wasn't good for his sister, The Scarlet Witch.

"And now I see your true natures," Wanda shouted. "You speak persuasively so as to make me drop my guard. When I do, you celebrate the injury to my brother.

"No, not a celebration, but a relief that hasn't caused—"

"I'LL HEAR NO MORE OF YOUR TREACHEROUS WORDS! RELEASE MY BROTHER, NOW!"

Yolanda said accusatorially, "On the subject of two faced, you, yourself, seem preoccupied with his safety and you did nothing when he jeopardized ours."

Hank whispered for the Unicorn to leave the talking to him, but Wanda was going to leave it to neither. She extended her hands to cause a back spasm and Hank turned right so that Pietro's body was over the van. A five-finger spasm opened Giant-man's hand and Quicksilver dropped onto the van roof. Then the Scarlet Witch caused his legs to tangle with themselves and Giant-man-fell backwards. But in her angry haste, she neglected to note that the 90-foot behemoth was falling in her direction.

With the one leg still on the ground, Giant-man pushed his falling body away in an attempt to not hurt the Scarlet Witch. That leap covered a tremendous amount of ground. But since he didn't know where Wanda was actually standing, he simultaneously shrunk to twelve feet to further minimize his chance of landing on her. The crimson hero fell unhurt. But the momentum cause by falling from his previous mega-size threw him into rapid tumble along the ground.

Giant-man continued rolling away until he was stopped by two metal legs. He looked up and saw two cars hovering over him. Then the cars parted and he saw an Asiatic man on the other side of a protective dome. Wait a minute— he was inside of a mechanical man. The man behind the dome tilted his head back and released a laugh that Hank couldn't hear.

Seeing that Henry was unhurt, the Russian-born heroine turned her rage towards the hex-manipulator. The ground under Wanda shot up and the female mutant's body was hurled against the van with such force that she bounced off and hit the ground equally hard.

"You hell-spawned, COWARDLY BETRAYER! You led a good man to believe that you sided with him. At the first provocation, or probably at the first excuse you could use, you traitorously attacked an honorable man who only sought your good. He could have crushed you under his weight after your betrayal. But he valued your safety above his own.

"Get up, Scarlet BITCH! Let's see how well you fare against someone who does not share his concern. Neither will you catch meby surprise, you dog dung."

Delphina shot up from the seat behind the kitchen table. She knew that she should not have told her sister about Jan Van Dyne's disrespectful attitude.

[THIS CONVERSATION WAS HELD IN POLISH. THE FOLLOWING IS THE ENGLISH EQUIVILANT]

"Where are you going?"

"To give that witch what is coming to her," Brygitka answered.

"I suppose you don't mean you're throwing her a party?"

"A Party? The first thing I'm going to throw her is a shower of punches. The second thing I'm throwing is her out of the window. Come on, you can see me knock her out colder than an iced flounder… and without refrigeration, no doubt she'll stink twice as bad."

Brygitka tried to walk hurriedly pass her sister, but Del brought her back with a pull on her arm.

"She's younger than you. She'll kill you."

Brygitka confidently replied, "Well, that's where you come in."

"Me?"

"You hold her arms behind her back."

"What?"

"Okay maybe that's too much for an old woman like you," Brigitka relented.

"Like me, right? … I only wish I was as young as you. What is it? You are all of 4 minutes younger than I am?"

"All right," Brygitka said. "Instead, you just sneak up behind her on your hands and knees. I push her, she falls over you and we both jump on her and make her black and blue."

"Brygitka, I always thought you were crazy, but …"

"Okay, okay— I have a better idea. Dear Henry was working on a cactus in Lab C. We'll carry it and throw it at—"

"You're more than insane."

"You're right, considering how clumsy you are, you'll probably be impaled on the stupid thing before we can get it out of the door.

Brygtka continued, " I got it! … We give you the Giant-man serum and you squash—"

"You've got it, alright. And I'm glad it isn't catchy. Listen, you loose brick, I'm not going to do anything to her."

After she disrespected you?"

Del folded her hands in resolution. "Alright then," Brygitka said. "Where did Yolanda say she left that other Unicorn helmet?"

"It's not ready and even if it was, you would have to explain to the police why she disappeared the same day that you invented the dish, Barbequed Van Dyne."

"We have to do something," Brygitka insisted. " When she disrespected you, she disrespected our entire family. …. NO! NO! NO! I won't have her humiliate our family."

"I know. You hate competition."

Again, Brygitka attempted to run pass her sister to deal with Jan. Delfina snagged her wrist and the older twin braced herself so as not to move. All that Brygitka managed to do was run in a circle and end up where she started.

Brygitka shook off the grip and then snapped. " If I wanted a round-trip, I would have booked a cruise. Now out of my way."

Del held the ends of her sister's shoulders. " Listen, yooou need to calm down. Go take a walk."

"Now, where would I possibly be walking to?"

"I hear Argentina is beautiful this time of the year."

The sisters were silent for a minute. Brygitka fumed, and Delfina was preparing for her sister to make another dash towards that horrid Van Dyne woman. Surrounded in that silence, the sisters heard the elevator chime.

Now the elevator in the penthouse had two different chimes; one chime announced someone coming from the street, the other sound was made if the elevator was moving from one floor of the penthouse to another. Obviously, this chime indicated that Jan was entering the first floor… the floor where the kitchen (and the sisters) was situated.

Knowing that she couldn't move pass Del, Brygitka began to cuss loudly in English. She wanted that awful Van Dyne creature to hear what a disgraceful pig (among other things) she was.

Delfina was close to the kitchen radio and she turned up the volume on a music station. Brygitka didn't like that one bit. Instantly, Del found herself in a wrestling match to keep her agitated sister inside of the kitchen.

Jan had come to the living room looking for a magazine that she could take back to Hank's bedroom. She found McCall and Vogue. But she couldn't ignore the assault on her ears. Jan wondered why the f - - k the kitchen radio was blasting so loud as to bring down the building.

She got to the doorway of the kitchen and saw the sisters. Jan turned around and said to herself, "Polish people have the most f- -ked up dance steps in the world."

Tree as wide as a typewriter: To visualize the thickness of tree that the Grey Gargoyle held to Giant-man's neck, imagine the width of a computer key board. Then add 4 inches.

What does the powerful stranger (or Mighty Mutt, as Peter calls him) look like:

Type on your search engine "Marvel Universe Wiki: Android Man."