The Story
Chapter 30
"Meanwhile, Across All Time"
Rick Jones was not a happy camper. Somehow (he still wasn't clear on that part), he had found himself yet again a pawn in some cosmic scheme far beyond his understanding. This particular scheme was calling itself "The Destiny War," and involved an epic battle between time-torn twins Immortus and Kang. Currently, Rick was fighting for his life alongside Kang, as well as a small band of Avengers plucked from throughout time- Wasp, Giant Man, Captain America, Hawkeye, Yellowjacket, Songbird, and Captain Marvel. The battle was taking place in the city of Chronopolis, a creation of Kang's which encompassed bits and pieces of every era of human history. On the opposite side of the battle was a seeming infinite number of warriors drawn from countless battles. Almost hopelessly, Rick and his allies held their own against G.I.s, gladiators, scalphunters, knights, ninjas, and stormtroopers.
Rick tried pushing his way back from the battle, and suddenly, he wasn't in the battle at all. In his place stood a very puzzled Charles and an awfully confused Joe. Still, these two young men weren't entirely unfamiliar with battles in general, and quickly picked up the pace in Rick's absence. As Charles absorbed laser beams into his Negative Zone hands, Joe used his Wonder Glove to bend swords and halberds into useless lumps of metal.
Block, punch, fire; Block, punch, fire. Joe repeated the mantra in his head, repelling wave after wave of powerless soldier with the weapons at his disposal. Every once in a great while, a lucky few soldiers would break through the invisible line Joe drew around himself, but a judicious arc of flame was enough to drive them back. Out of the corner of his eye, Joe saw Charles look faint, and backed his way slowly toward his friend.
Must protect Rick; Must protect Rick. That was Captain Marvel's mantra. He, at least, was aware that the entire battle was staked on saving Rick's life. That's why he panicked when he saw Rick disappear. Immortus must have gotten him! Thought Captain Marvel. Only one way to be sure to get him back.... Captain Marvel had often heard of his father's time spent sharing space with Rick Jones, but had never had a chance to try it for himself. Gritting his teeth, Captain Marvel slammed his Nega-Bands together.
With power blasts and Nega-explosions, Charles kept the soldiers away from himself, and managed to take a few out every now and then. The battle didn't seem so important, though, when he felt an eerie tug at his body, coming from the Negative Zone within his hands. Unable to concentrate with the strange, tingling sensation running through his body, Charles surrendered himself to the lure. He disappeared.
Just as Joe arrived at the spot he'd mapped in his mind as Charles', he tripped over the downed figure of Captain Marvel. In the distance, Joe saw Rick Jones pop into view, and suddenly things were much clearer. Still, he wasn't sure where Chuck had gotten off to. Turning back to the matters at hand, Joe noticed that Captain Marvel's legs were bound by a silk garment of some sort. Though he was momentarily daunted when the fabric refused to rip, Joe managed to disentangle Captain Marvel, then tucked the mysterious article into his vest. Realizing too late that he had left himself wide open, Joe was nothing but relieved when he was struck from behind by... an inflatable woman? Curioser and curioser he thought.
What? Rick asked himself. I still have the bands on! When he saw Captain Marvel fall over (and who's that helping him?), sans bands, the answer seemed to have made itself clear. Popping the clasp on each band, Rick tossed the two towards Captain Marvel. Just as he was about to make a perfect pass, however, Rick was struck from behind by a rifle butt. The throw went low, and the unfamiliar young man in the shiny green coat scrambled to snatch the bands away from a Moorish soldier.
Joe wrapped both bands around his wrists, and was suddenly filled with an immense power. Pushing his Wonder-Asgardian-Nega-Strength to its limit, Joe spread his arms wide and PUSHED a whole unit of troops backwards, dropping them in succession like dominoes. The cleared space, however, was quickly filled by a spear-wielding Aztec warrior, who brought his weapon to bear at Joe's heart. Instinctively bringing his hands up to block, Joe slapped the two Nega-Bands together and vanished.
Rick appeared in his place. His eyes bulged with the shock of suddenly being attacked by an Aztec warrior's spear. Luckily, the Wasp zipped by at just that moment, and knocked the Aztec askew with a well-placed sting. Shaking his head wearily, Rick tapped his Nega-Bands together.
Just then, Charles found himself once more in the midst of the battle. After knocking aside a few troopers from various ages, Charles noticed Kyle barely holding his own in the thick of the fray.
Kyle, too, had found his way to this battlefield, and (after the initial shock wore off) was able to send a few thugs flying with twin bolts of light energy shot from the wristbands he now wore. When he got a moment, Kyle looked frantically from side to side for any sign of Joe, Charles, or the giant black monster.
Summoning up his power once more, Charles picked himself up and above the battle, and zoomed in a strafing dive towards Kyle, grabbing his friend by the scruff of his uniform. Just as the two cleared the fringe of the battle, the scenery around them both abruptly shifted, and the two found themselves in the middle of a field. All signs of the epic battle were erased.
Suddenly, Charles and Kyle were knocked from the sky by a bolt of crimson energy. As Charles shook his head clear, he noticed a poorly-groomed young man in a red tunic wielding a derivation of the Black Knight's Sunsword. The young man was staring at the weapon, as though gawking at its power.
"Ye demons don't stand a chance against me new magic blade!" the young man boasted.
"We demons don't have time for you right now,:" Charles muttered. A blast of Negative Zone energy, tempered in equal parts by Charles' frustration, his Negative Zone hands, and the Nega-Bands he was wearing, crashed squarely into the young man's chest. The would-be rogue fell to the ground.
"Those bands sure seem to enhance your powers, Chuck," said Kyle, his eyes gleaming.
"Yeah," said Charles. "But I wish I could figure out what happens when we do this." He brought his wrists together with a CLANG!
Rick Jones let his shoulders slump. Now, he was on a grassy knoll with some redheaded kid and no Avengers in sight. At least I've got the Nega-Bands, he thought.
"I'm Rick," he said, holding out a hand to his companion.
"Kyle," the young man answered. "Do you know what's going on?"
"Avengers business," Rick replied. "Don't worry, this sort of thing happens to me all the time."
"Yeah, it happens to me, too," said Kyle. "It's the Supercools."
"The who?"
"The Supercools. You know, we're superheroes?"
"Never heard of you. I know the Hulk, and Captain America, and Captain Marvel, and the Avengers, though. I fought with them for a while." Kyle raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Well, I mean, I was like their sidekick."
"Don't feel bad," Kyle grinned, secretly delighting in his chance to condescend to someone. "I'm sure you did the best you could."
"You're damn right I did!" Rick yelled. "Up until five minutes ago, I was crippled!" Kyle shrugged.
"I used to be a foot tall," he said. "But I still managed to beat the Technet."
"Yeah, well I beat the Leader," boasted Rick. Rick and Kyle paused, and let each other's words catch up to themselves.
"The who?" they asked simultaneously.
"Yeah, well, um," Rick stammered, searching for a way to one-up Kyle, "I- I once became omnipotent!" Kyle began quietly counting on his fingers.
"One... two... Phoenix Force... Counting Loki... Plus the Cosmic Cube..."
"Nevermind," said Rick. "I've got to get back to the Avengers. Can you point me in the direction you came from?" Kyle gestured toward the west. "Thanks," said Rick. Tapping the power of the bands, Rick rose into the air and flew off into the east. A few feet from where he left Kyle, Rick slid into a grimy alley, lit by miles of garish neon tubing.
"Alchemax," Joe read from the sign. "Now I'm in 2099? What's going on?" Joe brought his wrists together. There was no satisfying CLANG! All Joe got was a bruised wrist. Huh? He thought. The bands are gone! And my hypno-jacket! He wheeled around to see a young man, about his age, grinning wickedly.
"Nice threads, man," cackled the street thug, who drew a straight-edged razor from his duster. "Too bad you had to run in to Occam's Razor...." The thug swung his blade at Joe's face.
"Oh shock!" Joe shouted.
"Hmm.." Kyle said, thinking aloud. "I guess I should go back to the Avengers, too." He glanced about for some sign of direction, then trotted off behind Rick Jones.
Captain America pushed his super-strength to its limit, knocking a crowd of warriors aside with his shield. Yellowjacket bounded over men left and right, smashing their heads together and landing with a crunch on top of still more fighters. Giant Man scooped Yanks and Rebs alike into his massive fists, and sprinkled them about the landscape. Songbird brought solid-sound anvils crashing on enemies' heads. Hawkeye swung his bow like a bat, scattering Redcoats.
"We've got to clear out of here, Avengers," cautioned the Wasp.
"Where's Rick?" asked Captain Marvel. "And where are my Nega-Bands?"
Joe didn't have time to block, and the lovely bouquet of flowers crashed right into his face. Joe and the punk called "Occam's Razor" both stared at the mangled stems.
"Huh?" they asked simultaneously. Then Joe bashed the punk's nose in with his Wonder Glove. It wasn't just the violence, or the fact that his possessions faded back into view; something about that punch felt very, very right, in some small part of his brain that Joe couldn't understand. Joe shrugged to clear away the unusual thought, then slid on his Hypno-Jacket and gathered up the Nega-Bands. He walked through the Roman empire, the firebombings of Dresden, the founding of Project: Pegasus, and the 31st century before he came back to the Avengers' battle.
"Well there's half a solution!" shouted Captain Marvel as the tall blond kid in the green jacket shimmered into view. Genis flew to Joe's side, and stuck out his hand. "Give me back my bands!" he shouted.
"Fine," Joe said, handing over the bands while turning back to the battle at hand. Captain Marvel strapped on the Nega-Bands, and CLANGed! Charles appeared in his place, and shouted, "Look out, Joe!" A French Legionnaire raised his bayonet high, and slammed the vibrator? into the back of Joe' head.
"Ow!" Joe shouted. "You hit me in the back of the head with a vibrator you dick!" The Legionnaire screamed, and ran off into the distance as Kyle walked into the battle.
"Cheese eatin' surrender monkey," Kyle quoted in his best Scottish brogue.
"I think I've got this all figured out," Charles said. Then, he looked around and remembered that he was in the middle of a war across all time. "Well, part of it, anyway." He pulled one of the Nega-Bands off his wrist and handed it to Joe. Joe and Charles slammed their Nega-Bands together, and Rick Jones materialized, wearing both bands. He saw the smug look on Kyle's face.
"Yeah, well, I-" Rick began.
"-sure?" finished Captain Marvel. He looked up at Kyle. "Guess so," he said, unclasping the Nega-Bands and handing them to Kyle. "Here," he said. "Put these on, touch them together, and get the hell out of my life." Kyle did as he was told, and suddenly, he was Rick Jones. Rick gave the bands back to Captain Marvel, and the Avengers fell back, ready to face their Destiny.
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Chapter 31
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