Avenging

Book 2: Act II

Have a Hydra New Year

Chapter 4

As always you can contact me at

tsommer

My works are stored at

, A03, and mediaminer for older stuff.

As always, I do not own the rights to the numerous characters or series within.

Writer's Notes: Last Chapter Hydra Commander eliminated several cartels and brought others, including Kingpin's, under Hydra's control. Using inside information on the Avengers, he laid a trap for them with his new Dreadnaughts, only to come up short while making the Avengers suspicious.

And away we go….

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The hands on the clock's face read 2:10 AM. To many it would be strange, almost anachronistic, to see that type of timepiece in an otherwise modern apartment. It was testament to Mentallo's preference for analog and hard copies to the digital addictions so many in the world seemed to crave. It was a curious contrast considering his mind could travel to the psychic plane in a way few could. That enigmatic thoughtscape bore some similarities to the internet, as one could use it to pluck information from seeming nothingness only to find its way to the physical. Thought becoming reality. Or perhaps that was why he disliked it. Both were disconnected from the material world, and since he spent so much time in one unreality, he had no desire to seek another version of it.

His personal preferences were meaningless. Now it was time to do his duty and travel into the psychic world, traversing the distance between himself and his assigned target. Mentallo went into a cross-legged meditative position to aid him in the transition between worlds. He could manage without it, but the less physical activity he engaged in the simpler it was to send his mind elsewhere.

Once on the plane he sought out his prey, who was in the neighboring apartment. Physical proximity had everything to do with the psychic plane, at least to one of his middling ability. He had no idea of why that was – he was no parapsychologist- but perhaps there was a connection between the mental and physical worlds that wasn't so obvious.

He found Kasumi Tendou quite easily. A surface scan indicated she was in REM sleep, which was where he could do his best work. When the subconscious was in charge, it was easier to influence than the conscious mind. There were dangers too, as the subconscious acted without the restraint of a wakeful mind and was therefore more powerful given its base nature. Awake, the human mind had natural psychic barriers to mental intrusion. True they could be hammered down, but it would tax his abilities, and more importantly, the lack of subtlety meant the manipulations he wished to do wouldn't take. This was about whispering in the ear, not screeching at the top of his lungs.

He slid into the dream, not knowing what to expect. The dreaming mind was a random collection of various thoughts that, from the outside perspective, often lent itself to little rhyme or reason. Only one's mind truly had any idea of what it was doing, and even then perhaps it was nearly all instinct. Upon entering he kept his presence camouflaged, observing and gathering information, looking for a potential vulnerability that could be exploited.

Mentallo never went through others' minds without reason. Voyeurism held no appeal for him the way it did some, and he learned early on humans had filters for a reason. Knowing how people really felt about things, including him, versus the exterior they showed to the world? The truth in the saying 'ignorance is bliss', couldn't be understated. Much of humanity might have only had a veneer of civility, but at least it cared enough to put it on. He was willing to go by what people said to his face rather than probing deeper and being disappointed.

Things like that made one cynical and inclined to give up on humanity. He wanted to give it a fighting chance, which was one of the reasons he joined Hydra. That and his ultimate goal in the prevention of women (and some men, he supposed) mercilessly crushing the hearts of young men before they had a chance to bloom, damaging them forever. Some wounds, delivered by the right person in the right place at the right time, could never heal. Only scar over.

Focusing on the matter at hand, he noted an urban landscape was the setting for Kasumi's dream. Absent were any distinctive landmarks to identify the location. Unless it was important, most simply created a generic locale that was a collage of a dozen different places they'd been. The closest streets, sidewalks, and shops were sharp and distinct, while others in the distance were simpler. Dreamscapes were a bit like camera lenses. The events closest to the dreamer's mental representation of themselves were sharpest and fully detailed. Objects further away lacked tight definition. Unimportant and out of focus since it required mental energy put to better use. Background.

A crowd of generic people surrounded the scene at what would have been an unsafe distance in the real world. Unsafe because a maskless, human-sized Wasp was in the process of simultaneously defeating A-bra-mination and Power Man; blasting the former and punching the latter. She tossed them around like the Hulk on steroids with a smile of pure delight etched on her face. Nothing they did could slow her down. She had quite the imagination given the punishment she administered to them. It was the textbook example of a power fantasy. His fondest ones mostly involved time traveling and undoing the trauma done to him by Madoka, the two of them living in happiness with one another.

Sometimes he experienced a variation of that, mostly nightmarish, with Hikaru falling for him due to a misunderstanding. In those she became a roadblock between him and Madoka, preventing them from getting together. Really, he'd just brainblast the girl if she tried pulling that crap. Once she came to and suffered headaches for eight hours from being in his presence, she'd have backed off.

Blast. Being in someone else's dream sometimes caused his mind to wander, and that would be a very bad thing since a subconscious aware of an intrusive presence could react violently. While the dreamer had no psychic powers of their own, it was their home turf which gave them something of an advantage.

The fight was over, the resoundingly beaten bodies of the two members of the Lethal Legion lying there. The crowd showered Kasumi with accolades of her fighting prowess and heroism. The genuflection was nauseating with how heavily it was poured on. Reporters appeared out of nothingness and interviewed her, although perhaps it was more properly referred to as hero worship since they referred to her as 'The Greatest Avenger,' while singing her praises. They were as bad as the crowd.

Watching the scene unfold, and the over-the-top nature of the accolades, it was clear to Mentallo she wasn't an ego-driven narcissist basking in her self-perceived greatness, but the opposite. This was overcompensation due to an inferiority complex. No surprise really. If he was on a team that had the likes of Hulk and Thor he'd feel third string as well.

And that was a tool he could work with. It was time to lay some groundwork. He altered his appearance to blend in with the reporters, which would convince her mind he was a part of the dream. Once inserted, he said, "Hey Wasp, you went pretty easy on those guys."

"I did?" she asked in confusion.

"They were highly disrespectful," Mentallo emphasized, "You should have really kicked the crap out of them for that. A great hero like you deserves to be treated better, and not overshadowed by those inferior teammates of yours."

And he felt her respond to his urging, because, as he guessed, a part of her genuinely felt that way. Now that he was bringing those thoughts to the fore, fueling it in the deeper recesses of her mind, it would flow over and color her perception in the real world.

'Those Whom the Gods Would Destroy, First They Make Mad,' indeed.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A full complement of Avengers flew to their destination, grimmer than usual thanks to the nature of the situation.

They had received a video message from a group calling itself, 'The Revengers', ("Can't they at least try to sound original?" Captain Japan had complained). In it, they showed that the super hero group known as the Knights of Pendragon had been defeated in their own base of operations and captured. The device that restrained them was tall and high tech. On each side of it one of the four captured heroes was immobilized, their heads, hands and feet held in glowing globes. With the way their arms were forced out it was almost as though they had been crucified.

The man in the video insisted they come alone, or the machine would terminate the quartet and they would meet the same fate as Alpha Prime had. The Avengers had attended the funeral of that entire team, and had no wish to do so with another. Captain Japan and Tigra had met Defensor and Shatterstar at the heroes' soiree, the Captain insistent they needed to save another hero with a shield.

The whole team had been gathered since the stakes were so high. The quinjet shot through the skies at top speed into the Japanese countryside. Eventually, it arrived at the headquarters the Knights had inherited in addition to their magical weapons: a legitimate European Medieval style castle in the middle of nowhere. Due to that their base was no more secret than Avengers mansion was.

The Avengers landed outside where a drawbridge had already descended, allowing entry into the castle. The team exited the quinjet, their usual light-hearted attitude absent. Lives were on the line and they were focused on the challenge.

They entered the courtyard, a vast area that easily allowed the entire team to move about with ease. There they discovered their foes awaited them, the device with the Knights nearby. There were eight, a number matching the Avengers.

One acted as spokesman. Dressed in a skintight blue and white outfit with a diamond pattern that covered everything save his lower face, a blue visor across his eyes, he held the airs of a leader.

"I'm Dirac. Now here's how it works. We go one-on-one with you, match ups of our choosing. We'll be nice and not try to kill you; we just want to make a name for ourselves. Although in some cases a couple of us have axes to grind with you."

"That's right!" One of them shouted, a man dressed in a loose green and blue outfit that was little more than a jumpsuit. A number of bowling pins were attached to his belt and a pack on his back.

"Shut up, Tenpin, or I'm having you fight Thor instead," the leader warned.

He went silent.

Dirac continued, "If anyone wins a duel, they are welcome to aid anyone on their side making it a two on one. Whoever wins their fight first will gain a distinct advantage for their team. If you give us your word to abide by those rules, we'll give you the release code to the restraint system in advance. We'll even let you release one of your choice before the matches start to show our sincerity. Believe me when I say you don't want to try to force them out or destroy the machine. Failsafes, don't you know?"

The Avengers nodded to one another. Captain Japan spoke, "Deal. Release Defensor."

Dirac walked over to the machine and input a code. The armored warrior fell to the ground with a grunt, but remained unconscious. He then told them the remaining codes.

This time Thor spoke. "Choose thy opponents."

Dirac did so, each pair of opponents separating gaining distance from one another so they had room to work.

Hulk was surprised to find the small leader as his adversary. He couldn't figure out what someone so slight, who had been surprisingly civil despite being a bad person, could do to him. With that question in mind, it was time to take the most logical course of action to solve the mystery, according to Hulk standards.

"What can Little Man -Hulk does not have name for Little Man because he does not know anything about Little Man- do to Hulk?"

"This."

And Hulk sunk into the ground. Rather than being buried in actual dirt (which he hated since it had happened far too often, including Bitterfrost's destruction when basically an entire mountain fell on him), he found himself floating in a white void that lacked discernable dimensions. There were black lines in the distance but they were like those drawn by a pencil on a piece of paper rather than forms. In pondering the situation, he decided while the lack of suffocation that came with being entombed was a plus, the rest of this was not his scene.

He was now lost in a strange place that was boring. At least when he was normally lost there was something there to focus on. True, it was sometimes sand from a beach that wanted to rule the planet, or a hill that wanted to do the same, but it wasn't… nothingness.

Being trapped, and it dawned in him he now was, made him angry. An angry Hulk did what came naturally and started flailing at what was the closest approximation of air he could. If he kept at it, perhaps the air would set him free. As a general rule, if you smashed something hard enough, it would stop doing whatever it was you wanted it to stop doing.

Such was the philosophy of a gamma irradiated powerhouse. Like 'The Art of War' but both less complicated and eloquent.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

In the real world, Dirac shouted, "He's in! We're on the clock people! Get to it!"

Thor found her opponent was dressed in a polyester leisure suit, the top buttons of his shirt undone low enough one could see a massive amount of chest hair billowing out. The only thing obscuring it was an absurdly large gold medallion dangling from his neck. 'Bling' she believed it was referred to. He wore no mask and his hair looked oily, even at the three-meter distance she was from him. She did not care for the lascivious leer he shot her.

While she wanted to pummel him, he looked flimsy and she didn't want to inadvertently cripple him. However the smallest man on the team had somehow neutralized Hulk, so she would not take him lightly. She moved forward to backhand him, prepared for anything he might do.

Or so she thought until the man whipped out an object from his pocket, causing her to bring up her hammer to parry a potential attack. Instead all he bore was a microphone.

"What dost thou intend to do with such a device?" she asked.

He smiled and said, "When your name's 'Duet' and you have a mic in your hand, you sing, Baby."

He brought the microphone to his mouth.

~~Come to you across the divide~~

~~Looking out, a winkle in time.~~

~~There is nothing less I would do~~

~~Then stand up, for truth.~~

Unwillingly, Thor found herself singing…

~~In the cold dark ways of this lonely place~~

~~I will warm you, hold you.~~

~~A gold shield glistens and your breath quickens~~

~~I stand by close over you.~~

Together they started singing the next lyrics together, despite the fact she had no idea what they were.

And for all the horror of being forced to do something unwillingly, and having words force fed into her mind from nothingness, the worst part was the man's singing voice was like nails across a blackboard.

Xxxxxxxx

Simultaneously, Iron Rose assessed her hand-picked opponent. Physically he didn't look like much. Average height, slightly lean. His outfit was red, black and skin-tight. He wasn't so much athletic as not out of shape. He wore an oversized helmet that was shaped almost like a fishbowl, covering everything. Neon lights in the shape of cubes were aligned to form a simple face, the type early computer systems might have looked like.

But what he really needed was padding in his crotch, or at least to use some underwear. It was so form-fitting that he was showing off more in that area than Tigra, and she used a battle bikini. Admittedly, it was clear he had a… lot to offer in a certain department, which might be why he was putting it on display. It mattered not to Kodachi Kunou. Her heart remained focused on one man and she cared little for such things.

Although if her Captain was equipped thus, serious bonus points.

She shook her head free of such inappropriate thoughts. Distractions in battle could lead to one's undoing. and this lot had subdued another super hero group of some repute. "And you are?"

"Overrider." The lights that represented the mouth went from a straight line to curving upwards at the ends. It was unquestionably a smirk.

Why did she have to encounter the gauche?

He continued, "The last chick with that name disappeared, so I appropriated it and the look, though you'll note I made a few improvements." He pointed at the helmet.

While having never crossed paths with this previous Overrider he mentioned, she didn't care for the name and what it implied. She raised her arm to blast him with a repulsor beam. Or at least that was the plan, however the arm refused to move. So did everything else.

'Seriously?!" she raged. "I spent weeks designing shielding to prevent this from happening!"

Overrider remained glib. "Don't sell yourself short. Normally my ability can turn you armored types into power armor puppets, but I'm only able to freeze up your base architecture. Looks like we're stalemated. We'll have to let the others decided who wins this battle."

Underneath her helmet Iron Rose fumed. If Tigra was the one who broke it up, she'd never hear the end of it.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

Daredevil found himself staring at his opponent. Of all the foes aligned against him, this was the last he would have chosen. An old favorite, though they only crossed paths once.

"Damn it, Tenpin! Why'd you pick me?"

"Because you're the one most susceptible to my skills."

"No one's susceptible to your skills! You're… a… juggler!"

"Au contraire, mon frere. That's French."

"No kidding." Daredevil had never managed the current level of acerbic he was spewing, but then he'd never been told by an idiot juggler he was the weak link on a team.

Tenpin took no notice. Due to arrogance or one too many pins dropped on top of the head, who could say? "While I admit the likes of Thor or Iron Rose are beyond my abilities -unless I get some power cosmic, which I am always open to, the way I am for harems—you are vulnerable to many avenues of attack from one possessing my singular talents. But I'm in a generous mood and willing to let bygones be bygones. I'll let you give up if you want."

"That's it!" Daredevil threw a pair of billy clubs at Tenpin's head. Normally, one would be more than enough, but he wanted the imbecile to have the mother of all headaches as a reminder to never cross paths with him again.

As the weapons flew toward their target, Daredevil was already planning to help Hawkeye, though if Tenpin was the quality of opponent she had to deal with it was already over by now.

Then the unexpected occurred as Tenpin caught both weapons and tossed them back just as quickly at Daredevil's head. That was… insulting. This idiot attacking him with his own weapons? He focused all his concentration to snatch them out of the air and threw them back at Tenpin. However to his shock the man had already started throwing some of his weighted bowling pins as a follow up attack. Daredevil was forced to catch them and reflexively threw them back even as his foe caught the billy clubs, returned them, then added another bowling pin to the mix.

Much to his horror, Daredevil now found his hands literally full with a super villain juggler.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

Captain Japan found himself across from a familiar face twice over: Gamecock, dressed in his chicken man outfit. To his credit he did look a little broader in the chest than the last time, and he had a sort of swagger that hadn't been there before. An inappropriate one since he was dressed like human poultry, but it was there. Clearly this was one of the 'ax to grind' members of the Revengers.

"I've been in training a long time for this rematch," Gamecock intoned, sounding just a touch menacing.

"Guess no one can accuse you of being, 'chicken' then," Captain Japan taunted, as he slung his shield onto his back. He wouldn't need it for this guy, and for this type of combat he'd be better off without having to deal with it.

Gamecock said, "You're known for your insults. Try not to pick the lowest hanging fruit."

"I'm not making any effort to come up with something inspired for some clown I clocked out tw… in one shot." That was close. He was about to brag about not just taking him out twice, but his brother as well. Except that had been Ranma Saotome who had done the deed, and even someone as dopey as this guy might eventually put two and two together and come up with, 'By jove, Ranma Saotome is Captain Japan.'

"Let's do this," Gamecock said and got down to business.

Captain Japan was surprised by how fast the guy moved. He *had* been working out. There was also more crispness to the punches he threw and his guard was sharper. The villain hadn't been kidding about going on a serious training regimen. Captain Japan could respect that, not that it would save him, but at least he was trying to improve himself. Maybe someday he would turn the corner and become a hero.

No, on second thought retirement was the best option for Chicken Little.

Dawdling was a bad idea since some of his teammates might not be faring as well and would need his help, so Captain Japan made some guarded assaults to keep Gamecock guessing, then lured him into position. Finally he opened up enough for the hero to land the shot he'd been looking for: a hard right into a glass jaw.

And when his fist connected, it felt like he'd met steel.

The pain threw him off enough Gamecock peppered him with several fists to the face, clean shots that hurt more than they should have. The hero covered up and backed away, even as his foe kept up with him.

"Cybernetically reenforced jaw. Steel reinforced gloves," Gamecock explained as he continued the assault.

Hardware upgrades along with physical training? That was a serious escalation and made him worthy of respect, the comb on the top of his outfit notwithstanding.

And thus Captain Japan found himself in a serious fight.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

One hand on her bow, the other drawn back to her quiver, Hawkeye found herself confronted by one of the most unimposing figures she'd come up against. It was just some guy in a basic black outfit with white boots and gloves. Even the mask looked like it might have come from a Halloween store, and a discount one at that.

Most people who wanted to be a super villain put effort into the costume. Even some of the awful ones with no abilities and could be easily dispatched would often look good. The 'Mad Viking', who was some elderly guy in his 60's, wore a cool Viking outfit that had cost some serious yen. He was also spindly and could barely drag his battle axe around, but the outfit looked good. If he'd started out half his age ago he might have been an imposing sight. But this guy….

Looks could be deceiving. She'd try to get him to open up about his powers so she knew the best arrow for the job. If he was lame, it was a stunner to the temple. She had plenty of those and they were easy to replace. "And you are?"

"Snap."

"That's it? Just Snap?"

"Keeping it simple."

This might be moron. It felt like it was leading up to it. This group did include a juggler and guy with a glass jaw dressed as a chicken. If so, a standard stunner arrow would do. "And you can?"

"Snap." He did so with his fingers.

And the bowstring on her weapon broke.

"Crap."

"You mean 'awwww, Snap'!" he taunted.

She already hated this guy.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tigra examined her opponent. A yellow furred cat girl. Surprise… not. What was surprising was that she was in a very loose outfit that did nothing to hide the fact she was at least a hundred pounds overweight. As an added bonus it was reflective silver that, combined with her body type, made her look like an upright baked potato.

The villain spoke first and with attitude. "I'm your opponent, Bimbo. Unlike you, I have a real name: Yoshiko Yonekura. I'm tired of you skanky asses propagating the idea that all us cat girls go around dressed like sluts and look like toothpicks. I'm going to do you the biggest favor of your life by enlightening you. First I'm going to kick your ass. Then I'm going to lock you in a cage, buy you sensible clothing instead of lingerie, and put you on a healthy diet. Cheeseburgers are going to become your favorite food."

In response, Tigra scratched her head in excessively curious fashion. "Tigra confused."

"You're stupid. That's to be expected."

"Yoplinko says she cat girl, but all Tigra see is bloated warthog. Perhaps not own mirror."

The real name villain's hand curled into a fist as she went from boastful to angry. "It occurs to me that my plans for you don't entail your spine working." She made a slashing motion with her hand in Tigra's direction as she spoke. Smiled, then charged.

Tigra chose to smile on the inside. They had chosen a terrible opponent for her. The woman wasn't just big, she was slow. Someone on their side screwed up. Just because she was a cat girl didn't mean they were evenly matched. Dragon Pink just happened to be nearly as agile and strong as her, which was why they had become arch-rivals of a sort. But it was Pink's unique abilities, not her status of having ears on top of her head, that made them rivals.

Yoshiko was nearly upon her when Tigra darted out of reach by using an acrobatic backflip. The act of agility the 'Fat Cat' couldn't match might make her more irritable than she already was and inclined to a mistake.

Yoshiko stopped pursuing and allowed Tigra to stay out of reach. The hero smiled at her, but then her foe did the unexpected and jerked her arm with a backward motion. Tigra felt something tug as if it was connected to her stomach, and she found herself flying through the air toward her opponent.

Yoshiko was waiting for it and slammed a powerful fist into Tigra's gut, knocking the wind out of her. She pressed the attack, bragging, "That's my equalizer for fighting skinny jackrabbits that go around making life difficult for the rest of us."

Tigra recovered quickly enough to blunt the offensive. Many made the mistake of thinking she relied solely on abilities rather than skill when fighting, but the Hand had forged her into a weapon long before she acquired super powers. Also it felt like Yoshiko's own strength was inferior to her own despite the superior mass.

It wasn't long before the close quarters fight, which Yoshiko probably thought she would have the advantage in, was stalemated. As the fight progressed, Tigra could tell her opponent was getting winded. Apparently a cardio program wasn't on her list of 'desirable cat girl traits' either. In thinking about it, most super villains had enough self-respect to work out, or at least not be out of shape, even if their abilities had nothing to do with physical form. Just because you were telekinetic didn't mean you shouldn't hit the treadmill at least a couple times a week. If you were going to be flamboyant, you wanted to look good while doing it.

Tigra landed a particularly nasty blow to the face that did damage. She considered unloading some claws with the next one when Yoshiko made the pulling motion again and Tigra found her stomach aimed right into an oncoming knee, winding her.

Yoshiko made a slashing motion to a leg, then a second and Tigra was whipped into the air. A downward slash had her thrown back into the ground like a whip being cracked. Now on her stomach, Tigra found Yoshiko's full mass on her prone form placed in a key spot on her back, pinning her to the ground.

Tigra gasped out, "Many men's want to get Tigra into this position."

"We'll see if they still feel that way when I'm through with you." She placed a hand on the back of Tigra's head and pressed it into the ground with all the strength she had. And slowly but surely her skull started to compress.

Xxxxxxxxxx

While the others were being confronted by their hand-picked opponents, Wasp found no one approaching her as the others had been. When she looked around, the only Revenger she saw with no foe was a 25-foot-tall woman. She wore a yellow sleeveless leotard, boots and no mask. She seemed to be looking for something. Perhaps it was Wasp. She had started out small, and she knew from her association with Giant Man that it was difficult to spot her when the size differential was that pronounced.

The large woman finally shouted out, "Where's Giant Man?"

How curiously out of date her information was. He had left the team months ago and the Avengers had publicly stated he'd resigned. After abandoning them in one of their worst crisis, no one wanted anything to do with him, especially Wasp. She'd clear the matter up and see if this large woman could point out who her intended foe was. Perhaps they were small too, which was why she hadn't spotted them. People with similar abilities made for natural opponents, like her and Hornet.

Wasp flew over and landed, growing to her normal size while remaining far enough back she could shrink and fly off should her foe move in to attack. "Giant Man hasn't been a member of this team for a long time now, Miss?

"Gargantua." She unleashed a grunt of disgust. Given her size it sounded like a cow belching. "I needed a challenge, and he was supposed to give it to me."

Clearly this wasn't Wasp's opponent, which meant it was still a mystery. "Who am I supposed to fight?"

Gargantua looked down on Wasp in every way. "You're just a bug. We didn't bother digging anyone up for you since any one of us could take you out."

"WHAT?!"

Gargantua didn't react to the outrage. "Since my foe's a no-show, I'll take you on. It might keep me from being bored, but I doubt it."

Wasp barely heard. She was more enraged than at any point in her life. Almost homicidally so. How dare these literal nobodies imply she was beneath their notice. She wasn't just going to cut this Gargantua down to size, she was going to hurt her, and more than a little.

Wasp shrank down small enough so her taller opponent wouldn't see her. Working with Giant Man had taught her how to work the size differential to her advantage. All that height and strength meant nothing when you didn't know where to direct it. She'd be swinging blindly until Wasp decided to reveal herself.

Her musings on the best avenue of attack were cut short as Gargantua lunged right for Wasp with an outstretched hand. The diminutive hero turned on the speed and barely slipped between the fingers a moment before they could contain her in a grasp. Had she been trapped in that fist, she might have been a smear decorating the hand of the giantess.

Gargantua proved it hadn't been luck as she continued trying to snare Wasp with unerring accuracy and she was forced to use all her speed and agility to evade. It was a good thing her powers had grown significantly since her early days since she would never have been quick enough to dodge the attacks. As it was she was barely able to remain free.

Finally, an opening presented itself and she unleashed a bio-energy blast of the highest order into the reaching palm of the giantess.

Gargantua barely reacted. "Stop tickling, Bug."

This wasn't going well at all.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hawkeye pulled out another arrow only to have it break in half, just like the other three she had tried for. For such a stupid power, it was proving itself highly effective. Maybe they had put some thought into this.

Since she was wasting ammo she couldn't use, she stopped, wondering what other powers Snap had up his sleeve. He might turn out to be a one-trick pony, but it was perfectly suited for stymying her.

Having the upper hand, Snap kept gloating. "You're lucky I'm not into guys, or that outfit of yours would already have bitten the dust."

Silently she swore if he had done that, she would have seen to it he choked to death on a nitro arrow.

"Ready to surrender, or do I need to snap you on half?" He held his fingers at the ready.

She wasn't one to quit. Besides, there was something in the way he was delivering the ultimatum that wasn't quite as boastful as everything else he had said earlier. Every other attack was administered with full confidence and unhesitatingly. There was almost a hint of unease in the latest threat. So what was it about this boast that was different from the others?

She went for an information probe. Cocky people with the upper hand liked to brag. "You're tough. Why didn't they send you up against Hulk? He's strong, but cutting him in half would negate that strength advantage. And you'd get to brag you defeated the Hulk."

For just a second Snap hesitated, then he answered. "Careful analysis indicated Dirac was his ideal opponent."

"Thor then. You could have split her in half and she's a lot tougher than me."

"It's none of your concern."

"Surely you could have split Iron Rose's armor off her."

"Of course I could have! Overrider said he could control her and get her on our side."

And that was when Hawkeye was sure of what his issue was. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to refuse your kind offer of surrender." She approached him. It was a bit of a gamble if she misestimated, meaning it would cost her her life, but she was a hero and she gambled with it every time she donned her outfit.

Brashness was replaced with surprise flavored with a tinge of fear. "Are you stupid? You can't survive being bisected."

His brashness was transferred into her. "Sorry, I'm committed. It looks like you're going to have to snap those fingers. I'm far enough away I don't think you'll get any blood on you."

And he snapped his fingers. For a moment Hawkeye's heart froze. Then the strap to her quiver snapped causing it to all off her back.

Right.

She continued moving forward. Another snap and the belt holding the pants of her outfit suddenly loosened. She grabbed them so they didn't fall to her ankles. "Your abilities don't work on living tissue, but I swear if you take out my clothing, instead of knocking you out the nice way, I'm going to break the bones in every one of your fingers into such tiny pieces you won't be able to use them to point accusingly at anyone, let alone snap them."

For a moment, it looked like he would snap his fingers again, but he froze. Hawkeye had never seen an actual deer in headlights, but she was pretty sure this was an apt comparison. Once she drew close enough she punched him in the jaw with sufficient force to knock him out. While arrows were her forte, she'd had to get down and dirty often enough she knew how to take down an opponent. Now she looked down on him in his completely harmless state.

There were times unconventional powers were a pain.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Wasp finally flew out of reach by going straight up in the air. It almost hadn't worked since Gargantua could jump much higher than Giant Man ever had and nearly caught her in the attempt. Whatever growth process she had undergone left her more physically able than her former partner. It was probably a good thing he had quit as there was a good chance he'd have lost to this woman.

Now Wasp was left confounded. The few attacks she'd gotten off had little effect. Evasive flying had required so much effort the muscles her wings utilized started to burn with their overuse. This Gargantua wasn't her chosen opponent, but she might as well have been.

There had to be something Wasp could do. She refused to lose to someone who demeaned her like this. She wasn't a joke! No one looked down on her! She'd make Gargantua pay!

And then an idea struck. It was nasty, but she was prepared to go that far if that was what it took to win this fight. The strategy should work, but the risky part was getting close enough to pull it off. The woman had the vision of a hawk and had tracked every one of her movements. There was a realistic chance she could grasp the flying girl before she could get to the target.

It was a chance she'd take.

Wasp flew straight down toward the giantess, forcing her to look straight up to mark her progress. She had a cruel smile that spoke of confidence the hero had just made a mistake. She timed the grab to occur at just the right moment.

And that was when Wasp nailed her between the eyes with her most powerful blast yet.

That made Gargantua flinch. In taking her eyes off the target, she failed to grab Wasp. By the time she refocused her attention the hero had changed her flight path so drastically the giantess had no idea where the Avenger was. Looking all around revealed nothing.

She snarled, "Hey, Bug. If you're just hanging on the back of my outfit out of sight it won't work. I'm just going to ram my back into things until you go squish."

And then a voice in her ear canal said, "I don't think so."

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

Diroc heard a loud crash. He turned to see the source was Gargantua, who had fallen unconscious to the ground. There was no visible reason as to why that should have happened, but it had.

And then he felt the 'Diroc Sea' he had created for Hulk collapse from his exertions. The emerald giant burst from the ground as though he had been trapped in an extradimensional void, which he had been.

"Where is Teleport Man?!" he shouted. "Hulk did not like being lost in boring place! Hulk will make Teleport Man not bored, since he will beat him up!"

He spotted the object of his desire lying motionless on the ground. Hulk walked over and picked him up to see if it was some sort of trick. He brought his face within a centimeter of Diroc and roared.

No response.

"Bah." And he tossed the villain away, though not roughly despite his anger. His unwanted vacation to Boringsville hadn't been left him hurt, just annoyed.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

The Hand's training had been so deeply ingrained in Tigra from such an early age she wasn't panicked, just concerned, as she felt her skull start to squeeze into her brain from the force her foe was applying. This was a bad situation. Yoshiko was perched perfectly to prevent Tigra from either throwing her off or slipping out from under her. Instead the increasing pressure was threatening to end her life.

It was such an ignominious way to die, but at least she'd be allowed the dignity of not being forced to wear a burka while being stuffed with excessive quantities of red meat.

Yoshiko stared down gleefully at her foe. "Is that brain fluid I see coming out of your ears?"

And then the Wasp's energy blast took her in the back of the head. It contained so much energy some of the hair smoldered. With that much force applied, unconsciousness followed.

With the release of pressure Tigra hurled her attacker from her. None too gently as her unconscious body was thrown into the ground. Looking up, it took Tigra a few moments to understand what form her salvation had taken.

"Thank yo-." She watched as Wasp flew off without a word. How unlike her. She usually adored appreciation, almost too much at times, but to just depart without looking back?

It was turning into a very odd day.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Daredevil found himself in a predicament he could never have conceived. Later he would realize it was largely of his own making because he allowed pride to overwhelm practicality. Had he simply evaded the returning billy clubs and opted to throw something with less solid dimensions, such as a chain or net, Tenpin wouldn't have been able to snatch them out of the air and throw them back. But instead he attempted the only action he should never have engaged in: hurling multiple objects back and forth with a juggler. It was the one thing Tenpin was actually good at, and he was very good.

Now Daredevil was caught in a trap as he was forced to focus all his senses and reflexes to snatch and return the very heavy objects aimed at him. The air seemed to be filled with them like a swarm of flies as they kept coming over and over. If his concentration wavered for a single second something solid would meet his skull with enough velocity to allow the rest to strike him as well. He'd lose the fight and have to deal with the ultimate disgrace.

Assuming Tenpin didn't try to make a name over his corpse, Daredevil would never be able to complain about his losers' rogues' gallery again. If you got taken down by a guy throwing bowling pins, anyone might be able to do the same with whatever stupid gimmick they had. Even the Masked Matador and his idiotic 'Charge my cape so I can move out of the way and shout 'ole' when I do it.'

The ignominy would be more than he could bear.

But contrary to his best efforts, the fight was coming to an inevitable conclusion. Tenpin had been slowly adding more of his weighted bowling pins to the mix, which was overloading Daredevil's senses. One, two at the most and something was going to connect. Worse, the hero was certain Tenpin was toying with him by adding them slowly, letting Daredevil adjust before bringing another one into the mix.

Luckily for him he was blind, so the flare arrowhead that went off between he and Tenpin didn't affect him the way it did the villain. Once blinded, two bowling pins and a billy club struck him in the head and he went down for the count.

It took Daredevil a moment to break the non-stop focus he had on objects being hurled back and forth. With the train of thought interrupted, he assessed the situation and discovered Hawkeye nearby. His girlfriend had saved him. Back in the beginning when he joined the team he'd have been defensive about needing help. But now?

"Thanks for being a life saver." He turned his senses toward Tenpin. "I can't believe I couldn't beat a juggler."

"It happens," she said in consolation. She was a good girlfriend after all, and knew when her man needed some moral support.

"But… a juggler."

"At least he didn't win."

"Having an off day there, Hornhead?"

Thanks to his enhanced senses, Daredevil didn't need any sort of visual aid to sense the pure taunting that matched the tone in Captain Japan's voice. It was more playful than cruel, and since Ranma had helped him with the reliquary, he simply shrugged.

Hawkeye leapt to his defense. "You took your time with the Human Poultry."

It was Captain Japan's turn to shrug. "He had upgrades. Not enough to win, but he made me break a sweat. And he wasn't, you know, tossing things at me."

Daredevil felt his pride give way. He was not going to be hearing the end of this any time soon. Like Hulk and his obsession with alien hills invading the Earth. It was going to be a running joke.

Friends, he thought with exasperation.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

The discontinuation of the sound of combat made Overrider turn to see how his teammates were faring. 0 for 6. And while he'd been making headway against his foe's shielding, it wasn't going to be breaking down before he had an entire team of Avengers coming down on him.

"Looks like we lose." He released his hold on Iron Rose's armor and held up his hands. "I give up."

She used a repulsor on him anyway.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Duet was nearing the end of the song when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Luckily his foe was in one of her verses so he could see who it was and ask them what they wanted.

Not so luckily, it was a full-grown Wasp, who was clearly glowering behind her mask. He never even got to ask her what her favorite duet was before she punched him in the face hard enough to nearly break his nose.

With the passing of his awareness, Thor was finally able to stop singing. Given the opportunity, she converted to roaring instead. "How dare he force the Goddess of Thunder to act the part of minstrel!"

"Especially since Silly Swede sing off key." Tigra dragged her cat girl opponent behind her, making sure to hit every obstruction she could. Her head still ached, but she had to stay in character. Besides, Thor hadn't been hurt, just embarrassed, like Mousse.

"Mine voice is like that of a Valkyrie," Thor insisted.

"You mean mine is," Hawkeye said.

Daredevil whimpered, which made Hawkeye less pleased with having bailed him out before Tenpin had managed a victory.

"I'll release the remaining hostages," Iron Rose said flatly.

A few moments later the rest of the Knights of Pendragon were freed. Defensor had been out of the capture device long enough that the sedative it had been pumping into his system while he'd been in its embrace had finally worked its way through.

It was at that moment that a half dozen people dressed in civilian outfits rushed into the headquarters. Cameras abounded and all of them had insignias which designated them members of the press.

Finding themselves surrounded by people as eager to confront them as the Revengers had been, the group was confounded, especially when it became clear the press had seen everything.

"How'd you even know to be here?" Iron Rose asked.

One of them answered. "We received an anonymous tip that a fight was going on between you and a bunch of super villains. We saw the whole thing. You guys were sensational."

"Our foes were unexpectedly a handful," Iron Rose said, since anyone seeing the fight would not think they had turned in a 'sensational' performance with this lot.

A different reporter stuck a microphone rather rudely into the Wasp's face. "So how does it feel being so irrelevant your foes couldn't even bother digging up an opponent for you to fight?"

"What?!" And with that Wasp simply snapped. She lifted the reporter off the ground as though he were nothing and charged up her hand, not to blast him, but to hit him with it. "How would you like to experience my irrelevant fist shattering your jaw?"

If Wasp had simply attacked, none of the Avengers could have intervened before she made good on her threat, but luckily she waited for the now terrified reporter to respond. Tigra was nearly a blur as she snatched the reporter out of her grip while Captain Japan grabbed her by the shoulders and confronted her.

"Stand down now," he warned. She came enough to her senses to not press the issue.

But the damage had been done as all the remaining reporters had filmed the entire episode. Iron Rose ran damage control, "Please, you must understand we were all in a life-or-death situation and adrenaline is running high. Tempers tend to flare when brusque questions catch us by surprise. Isn't that right Wasp?"

But Wasp was in no state of mind to take the hint. Instead she smiled rather ferally to the reporter. "I took out three of them single-handedly. Surely the height of irrelevance."

Before anyone could respond Wasp shrank and flew off at top speed.

The others stared at her dwindling form. "What was that about?" Hawkeye asked once out of earshot of the reporters.

"I don't know, but we are going to have to talk about this later," Iron Rose insisted as police arrived to gather up the captured villains.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

Makoto Hyuga, better known as Dirac, opened his eyes behind his visor. None of the guards in the transport van surrounding him were aware of this since one of the advantages of wearing a visor, besides assisting to conceal one's identity, was no one knew when you were awake.

He had never been unconscious to begin with. When the operation had been formulated by his employers, he had known it was only a matter of time before Hulk's raw power would force his way out of the Dirac Sea he had been plunged into. Thus Dirac had formulated the strategy of feigning unconsciousness once that happened, since he didn't want an upset hero pummeling him into a coma. Dirac was quite normal aside from his ability to tap into, and maneuver through, a hypothetical reality, and Hulks beating upon normal humans led to extended hospital stays. Luckily, there was that whole hero code going which frowned upon beating upon a knocked-out foe. And even more luckily, the emerald giant had followed it.

The team had lost, but curiously, victory had not been his employer's primary goal. They had been given permission to kill any Avenger they could, save one, but by his employer's own admission it hadn't been likely they could pull that off unless one of them got lucky. No, the main goal was to make Wasp feel inadequate and humiliated. They had been given the tech to detain The Knights of Pendragon as hostages, dialogue to speak to her, as well as the fake origin that their sole purpose was to humiliate the Avengers. Although those with grudges had been real, especially Yoshiko. Aside from Gargantua losing her fight, and it surprised Dirac that Diane failed, everything else in regards to Wasp had gone off to perfection. Even the planted reporter asking the question most likely to cause her to be humiliated.

Since the rest of the operation had turned out as expected, that meant it was time to get out of police custody. For this mission Dirac had been provided with equipment in his visor to track his allies within a distance of ten kilometers, which they were still within. Since he'd rather no one was captured, he employed his now recharged abilities to cause all of them to fall into the same Dirac Sea Hulk had been in, though with the villain present they could navigate that impossible realm and return where he wanted in the real world.

All eight simultaneously vanished into the floor of the vehicles they were in.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hydra Commander sat in what had been the Imperial Hydra's office. It was yet another instance of officially being handed over one of the increasing number of symbols that represented the power that ran Hydra. Everyone was being let in on it so they knew he was no puppet. He was going out of his way to call in the various heads of departments to meet him in this very office so they could see the validity of it firsthand.

Everything was going quite well. Not perfectly, it was nearly statistically impossible for *everything* to go correctly considering all of their machinations across the globe, but more than enough for every agenda to be advanced on one front or another.

The communications center announced an update on that pet project of his. That brought a smile to his face. He was going about the entire thing in a roundabout way, and his goal could have been fulfilled more directly, but you could only have revenge once, and he wanted the most satisfying version he could come up with. Cruelty for cruelty.

Dirac was put through and informed him of anything Hydra's agents on site might have missed. Everything had been covered, as he hoped. Given the intelligence Mentallo had provided on Kasumi's mental state, this was really going to help tip her over the breaking point. Her rather violent outburst revealed the telepath's mental suggestions were already taking root after several weeks of invading her dreams. He wondered how far over the edge she would go.

It would be delightful to witness.

Since they had performed satisfactorily, Hydra Commander said, "The rest of your payment will be transferred to the accounts."

"We might be making a go of this, Sir. I know you only assembled us for this one mission, but it worked out pretty well over all, and we're talking about becoming an official group. Though we might be leaving out Tenpin."

"Jugglers," he spat contemptuously. Stealing girlfriends with their stupid penchant for tossing balls up and down. If he was in a more ill mood, he might have had the man killed on general principle. But no, he mustn't be that petty. Tenpin had fulfilled his role of annoying the Avengers. When you got a reputation of killing the hired help for no good reason, it only planted the seeds of rebellion. But if Tenpin ever dropped by and made eyes at Madame Hydra….

Dirac sapped him out of that train of thought. "Gamecock indicated he was more inclined to become a permanent member of Hydra. He really liked the upgrades you gave him, and he assures me if you'd get his brother, Battling Bantam's, sentence commuted like his, he'd join you as well."

Hydra Commander nodded his head as if listening intently and that he would consider it, while the exact opposite was running through his mind. He didn't like the idea of having too many super villains in Hydra. He had been around the super powered enough to realize it wouldn't take much for a few really powerful ones to get it in their heads they might make better leaders for Hydra and try to depose him. Low power level ones like the Grapplers or Monster Ape, or ones with esoteric abilities like Mentallo or Fixer, were useful enough the pros outweighed the cons. Also none of them had delusions of grandeur. More powerful villains, and the potential downsides outweighed the benefits. Even when it came to the Revengers they were all independent contractors, and he intended to leave them as such.

While Gamecock was low level enough to not be a threat, Hydra Commander still balked at the idea: who wanted a twit in a chicken costume running around?

"I'll contact him with the answer later." He'd have a low-level flunky tell him no way, but politely.

He cut communication with Dirac and received a call marked 'Urgent'. Again the message was put through.

The face of a masked Hydra agent gave the ritual chant. Having to hear it constantly bleated out was trying on the patience, but it helped convey a sense of commitment so Hydra Commander put up with it. Upon completion the agent read the report.

"Our operatives in SHIELD confirm Undertow has enough radioactive gamma material to manufacture Dr. Eliot's bomb."

"Outstanding." Upon acquiring Franklin Eliot from Kingpin, Hydra Commander had put him to work immediately, which Eliot was only too glad to do after being incarcerated. The man did have that scientific urge to push past the boundaries of known science and into the yet undiscovered country. It was a good thing AIM hadn't grabbed him. His genius in gamma radiation might have caused Hydra, and the world, a number of problems in combination with the outfit's vast scientific endeavors. Now it would just be the world he gave problems, and only through Hydra at that.

Franklin had informed him of the materials necessary for the Gamma Bomb. All of them were in Hydra's inventory save the gamma irradiated material. It wasn't a field anyone in their ranks had dabbled in, so they hadn't bothered acquiring any. But when you ran a worldwide terrorist organization, obtaining some was simplicity itself.

As to the plan, when it came time to utilize the bomb for its intended purpose, he'd rather the world at large didn't associate anything 'gamma' with Hydra. They needed to stay behind the curtain for now, since they were still vulnerable to the other powers in the world, though that window shrunk by the day. Many rivals would take any opportunity to eliminate a threat to their own plans.

Hydra Commander pondered the best method to utilize. Launching a raid on Undertow's location where the gamma material was stored wasn't an issue. They were strictly small-time compared to Hydra and would be easy to steal from. Outfitting his troops in AIM gear would spread confusion if Undertow did blow the whistle on what happened, though it was unlikely. In their circles, to admit you were stolen from was a sign of weakness and would encourage others to do the same.

Once the bomb was utilized it would be heard throughout the world and a fall guy would be needed for such an incident. Since SHIELD had records of Undertow's involvement with gamma radiation, they would blame the organization and crush them. So many things taken care of at one time. The success of the bomb's fallout. Hydra's never being suspected of it. A rival destroyed. Why, even SHIELD would benefit from this as it would show why they were needed in the world. Perhaps Hydra Commander would have them push for more access to the world's intelligence divisions to facilitate the prevention of atrocities. It might take another incident or two to make the likes of the UN willing to sign off on it, but those would be easy enough to manufacture if needed.

He'd run things past Imperial Hydra, but Commander Hydra was certain she'd go along with his idea. She had told him he had a knack for operational planning, and it wasn't mere flattery: she'd never been one to mince words. If anything she was one of those borderline slave drivers that was difficult to please, but it helped hone your talents so you could be the best at whatever you attempted. Like guiding a terrorist organization into taking over the world.

His mood was the most delighted it had been for some time. Once he was done talking with Imperial Hydra, he'd see if Madame Hydra had returned with the abductees she'd been sent to grab for the human experimentation trials of the Super Soldier Serum. It was important they get right on it, and since there was some degree of difficulty in abducting an entire Canadian town and making it look like cannibalistic monsters had done the deed, he had sent the best. She always delivered the results desired. And if she had returned, they could bang their brains out in celebration of their successes.

Life was good.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

[End chapter]

Sorry this took a little while, but it I needed to get everything in order and I'm once again pleased with the results. This one was a little heavy on the action this time around, but it was needed as we see Wasp's increasingly agitated state.

Congrats if you remember Gamecock from the Animal Farm, the previous Overrider was a now deceased Phantom Cat, and an outright No Prize if you recall Tenpin had been mentioned by name in an earlier chapter.

Continuity, Baby.

For the noobs, Dirac was from Evangelion (the mention of the Dirac Sea in it was the inspiration for the character and ability). Gargantua was Diane from Seven Deadly Sins, which wasn't obvious from the story. The others have no equivalents.