Mantis in…

A HERO’S TALE

By Gavin McMahon

Avengers Island
New York Harbour
Now

“Look I’m sorry,” the young woman told them as she rose to her feet, pressing her pale hand against the metallic table, “This is far too surreal.”

She gave them one last look over before she made her decision. The man was freaking Iron Man, and she’d been privy to see him without his helmet. Tony Spark wasn’t her kind of guy but he was certainly handsome enough. Beside him was Pepper Potts, or at least that was how she had introduced herself. The name seemed a little too much to believe.

“Ms. Weller,” started Tony as he tried to stop her leaving.

She froze as their gaze met and it suddenly dawned on her.

“Whoa,” she said in a whisper, “You actually believe this shit.”

Reaching for the handle she was stopped again.

“Amanda,” yelled Pepper and before she knew it she had continued, “You had a son. He died in the crash that took your memory.”

Amanda Weller’s hand dropped from the door handle as she became frozen, terrified and angry as her gaze went between the two. This wasn’t possible, a lot was but this wasn’t. Amanda was just a normal girl who’d been born and raised in Kansas, and had been unfortunate enough to get herself into a crash that cost her everything but since then she had rebuilt her life, even if she was always curious about who she had been.

“I’m not an alien,” she whispered and she looked at Tony Stark pleadingly, “I can’t be.”

But they both know they couldn’t tell her what she wanted to know.

Mooney, Kansas
Fifty Miles Outside of Wichita
One Year Ago

The road was a blur; her car was going so fast that she’d lost control. Her eyes darted to him. Sequoia. He was watching her, screaming and terrified. He was three years old. The intergalactic war that she had been running from with her own people and with his father’s had caught up with her. The child should not exist, but as any mother would, Mantis had found herself running to protect. She could survive a fight, but Sequoia could not. They’d been running from state to state for six months, and this was the closest they’d ever come to being caught.

Mantis had always been a hero, she had always been there to save and rescue. She had been an Avenger. Now, she was like a convict and there was nowhere in the galaxy to hide and no-one on the planet she could ask for help. The Avengers were saving the world, and even if they were free to help, would she ask for it? No, Mantis was too proud to let them know the great warrior had fallen.

It was easy to see that she was a changed woman; she looked like an alien since her pregnancy. Green skin and antennae were sprouted from her forehead, she hated it but she had learned to live with it. She had seen Hank McCoy, the former Avenger known as Beast, cope with such a mutation and she could do the same.

Without thinking Mantis pressed her foot onto the accelerator as the car began to hurdle forward faster than ever. It was already too late when her keen eyes caught site of the only turn in the road, and before she could even swerve she found herself hurtling of the ridge as the car toppled over itself. Debris ripping off part by part along its path.

Somewhere along the cars destructive path, everything went black.

Mooney General Hospital
Kansas
Two Days Later

Her hazel eyes opened wearily as she struggled to look around her, she reached for her face with a pale hand only to aggravate the bruises she had earned. But how? She gasped for water as she noticed there was an elderly woman sitting at her bedside. The woman hand her water and then set it back on the table.

“Amanda,” the woman said softly.

“Amanda?” enquired the young woman, her voice husky and distinctive yet fragile.

The elderly woman looked confused for a moment but as she signalled for a doctor she rose to her feet.

“That’s y’ name darlin’,” said the woman, “All y’ said was ‘Mand’ when we asked y’.”

A doctor arrived, it was a male and he looked more like a prison officer than a doctor. His face was grave and darkened by late nights. The woman, ‘Amanda’, let her eyes fall onto his small white nametag. ‘Dr. Strange’, it was a name that sounded somewhat familiar but she wasn’t sure how or why? She wasn’t sure of anything anymore.

“I’m just going to do some exams to see if you’re functioning properly Amanda,” he informed her as he shone a light in her eyes. “Do you remember anything?”

She thought for a moment and realised that her mind was like mismatched sock drawer. Things she remembered didn’t make sense and there were large black holes in her memories.

“No,” she replied and after a few moments she continued with a look to the elderly woman, “My name is Amanda.”

Twenty Minutes Later

“We can’t just leave her here Harold,” the woman demanded of her husband. “She has no memories of anything. No family.”

“And we aren’t her family,” Harold reminded his wife, his tone was strict. “She’s not some lost puppy you can name and look after Elsie. Do you remember what else we found at that crash site?”

Elise Powell paused for a moment. She did remember but she had wanted to push the site from her memories.

“For all we know she was in trouble with the law, harbouring a fugitive from another planet or something like it,” Harold replied stubbornly.

“What if she was saving its life?” Elsie attempted to make the amnesiac Amanda a hero.

“What if she’s one too?”

Harold’s words stopped Elsie’s train of thought in its path. She had been with Amanda since they’d found her bloodied and broken in the wreckage of a car just off the Mooney-Wichita motorway. All of her personal belongings were gone and there was no way of identifying her. Elsie had always wanted to help others; her husband was far less willing.

“We should just hand her over to the Avengers,” Harold continued, “It’s their crime scene now.”

Elsie considered her husband’s position and responded.

“No, Amanda is coming home with us.”

Turning to walk towards the room door, Elsie looked at her husband as he placed his brown cowboy’s hat back onto his head. An old rancher as he had always been, and then she entered the room.

The Powell Residence
Mooney, Kansas
Three Days Later

“Your flowers,” Amanda informed them, “they’re dead.”

Amanda stood in front of the strange house, her arms folded, and she looked at it with caution. She had seen herself in a mirror and she was confused to not even recognise herself, it was as if she had been almost a different person. Some things had come back to her, she knew her birthday but that was hardly useful when she couldn’t remember who had given birth to her. An age was something though; they could search for missing persons with her age in recent months. There was no hint from her accent; she didn’t seem to have one.

Her skin was pale and flawless with the exception of the bruises that now overcame her face and most of her body, her long black hair was sleek and straight and she had entrancing hazel eyes but in her own mind, the attractive twenty-three year-old that stood in front of any mirror wasn’t the Amanda she knew.

Although she wasn’t sure even she even was this ‘Amanda’.

“I know,” Elsie said as she led her towards the house. “We’re a little behind in the housekeeping.”

A young man came around the corner of the house, a hose wrapped around his shoulders as he made his way towards them.

“Hey ma,” he said as he kissed his mother’s cheek before turning to her. “Y’ must be Amanda.”

Amanda nodded.

“I’m Jason Powell,” he held out his hand to her and she just looked at it.

“It’s dirty,” she replied.

“What?” he enquired.

“Your hand,” she clarified, “It’s dirty. I’m covered in cuts, I can’t chance an infection.”

Elsie and Amanda walked into the house as Jason looked after her, confused by her behaviour.

The Meadow
Mooney, Kansas
Three Weeks Later

There had still been no luck on finding out that she really was but they had learned that her body was very reliable when healing. After two weeks she was back to normal, with things that should have taken months. It had caused Amanda and the Powell’s some worry, and reinforced Harold’s beliefs, but Dr. Strange had seen similar cases in other humans as well as mutants.

Amanda was working in Mooney as a florist, she had quite a way with flowers and plants and nobody was quite sure why. The Powell’s house had never looked so radiant nor their garden and meadow so elegant. She strolled lazily through the meadow as she reached towards a battered old tree. It was only a tree but it brought some familiarity to her life as she rubbed her fingers across it in curiosity.

“Hey,” called Jason as he approached her.

He was twenty five years old and determined to become a ranch hand like his father, and Amanda had always thought of Texas as the word ‘ranch’ but apparently she’d been wrong. Turning to face him she gave a small smile as the blond boy came closer, he had been her only comrade since the accident and she owed his parent’s more than she could understand at this point.

“Hello.”

“It’s a tree,” he laughed and she jolted her hand to her side.

“I know, I can’t remember things,” she reminded him. “I’m not brain dead.”

A sense of power rushed over her as she felt hot, and in danger, Amanda looked around the meadow and it looked as peaceful and tranquil as it always had. She turned and walked past him a little.

“Jason, let’s walk,” she said, she wasn’t sure why but she knew the meadow wasn’t the best place to be standing around now.

“You go ahead, I’ll catch up,” he replied as he lifted the axe and made his way towards the trees.

“Jason,” she pleaded for him to follow her.

“Mandy, I said I’ll be right there,” he replied as he walked on.

Mandy Celestine.

It echoed in her head as she lifted her hand to her head she wasn’t quite sure where it had come from, she looked around as she searched for a source. She looked at the stubborn ranch hand and as the anger rose inside of her she stopped herself, she turned and ran away from the spot, Unsure if something was going to happen, or if she was going crazy.

When Amanda had left, Jason watched after her as he pulled himself together. Lifting the axe he was about to get firewood when he noticed the oak had a strange symbol on it, something that looked similar to a face and when the face looked at him, Jason dropped the axe. The tree seemed to burst to life as Jason stumbled backwards and when he fell onto his back, something from inside the tree was released and it shot towards him.

Jason lay still on the ground, his thoughts were murky and unsure and as he opened his eyes the shone a brilliant red.

“Cotati,” he murmured as he pushed himself to his feet and reached for the axe.

She lay awake. Her head felt like it was splitting and she could hear everything.

Mandy. Mandy. Mandy. Mandy.

The sound of her name, of what Jason had called her, seemed to echo from the grounds. Pushing the duvet off her slender body and onto the floor, Amanda reached for the curtains, as the continuous ‘Mandy’ echoed in her head, and she looked at the tree’s that stood below her window. They seemed as they always had, unchanged, but in a way they were more intimidating.

Amongst all of the Mandy’s something hit her like a fist to the chest.

Mantis.

Amanda spun around and saw Jason lurking at her door. “What did you say?”

“I said I’m sorry,” Jason informed her as he entered.

She looked at him blankly.

“For earlier,” he reiterated.

“Yeah,” she said nervously. “What’s been going on? It’s like there’s been no-one around here all day.”

Jason’s face darkened, but then he recollected himself. This didn’t go unnoticed by Amanda but she chose to pretend it did.

“We’ve been in a bit of a situation,” he said to her, in the same dead-pan tone he had started with.

Amanda backed away towards the window, placing both of her hands on the window sill as he approached her.

“I think y’ should come with me,” he gestured to the door with a smile.

“I was just going to sleep,” she said with a smile as she indicated to the bed.

“It’s really in y’ best interest, to come with me now,” he replied.

Amanda hesitated and Jason reached out, grabbing her by the arm as he pushed her to the door and down the stairs. Missing the top step she slipped and screamed as she hurtled towards the floor. Her body ached but only cut her eyebrow open; looking up at him at the top of the stairs she knew what had to be done. Pushing herself up she ran for the door and as she tore it open she was blinded by the lights and gusts of air from a helicopter. Rushing forwards anyway she came face to face with the hero Tony Stark, Iron Man, and what appeared to be a SWAT team was rushed into the house.

Avengers Island
New York Harbour
Now

“Okay,” she said as she struggled to speak, “Who is … Mantis?”

She wiped a tear from her eyes, as she looked at them both.

“Jason called me, ‘Mantis’, and I’m pretty sure,” she stopped for a moment as she looked away, “God I’m going crazy. I’m pretty sure the trees were calling me Mandy Celestine.”

It was Pepper who spoke this time as she placed a file onto the table. It was a bound yellow leaflet-like file, and it reminded Amanda so much of those television shows and it made her wish life could be that easy. “MANTIS” was scrawled on the front of the file.

“Mantis was an alien Avenger, she went AWOL quite awhile ago,” Pepper informed her as she flicked open the front of the file. “This is everything she did whilst on active duty, and Amanda, we have reason to believe that you’re Mantis.”

“You look like a slightly more Americanized version,” Tony agreed, “and the talking trees is further proof.”

As Amanda sat down at the desk she began to read it and as she read what had happened in Mantis’ life she suddenly began to remember, and events and people came to the forefront of her memory as she caught her breath. Finally, she remembered the night of the crash and she remembered Sequoia. She looked up at them as she felt her body tingle, and the blood rushing around inside of her.

Looking at her hands, she noticed as it became a pale green, almost as though it was stained. Her hazel became colourless and iris-less. The antennae sprouted from her head and she was able to control the telepathy had caused her so much trouble. She looked at the shock etched on Pepper’s face; obviously she had never seen quite a transformation take place.

“This one is ready for the battle,” Mantis informed them as she looked towards Tony.

“How’d you…?”

“This one is a telepath,” replied the green alien. “Jason Powell is creating havoc in downtown Wichita. The Cotati is the foe of this one and therefore they are this one’s responsibility.”

Tony nodded as Pepper gathered the files and paused only to stand beside her.

“They destroyed your son,” confirmed Pepper.

“Yes,” said Mantis, her voice almost hollow, “So this one will destroy them.”

Wichita, Kansas
Now

Walking from the jet, she allowed the hatred that had been locked away in her memory to break free. The streets were full of fleeing Kansans but they weren’t her responsibility, they could be dealt with by the SHIELD teams that had been granted to her. Avengers business had called Iron Man away at the last minute which was unfortunate, but Mantis was the Celestial Madonna and unlike the Virgin Mary, she could avenge the death of her child. In the long run, it made sense that they would have followed her and watched her until they could sneak attack her. It was low-key, and they had never been big into statements but now they had needed her attention and they had it.

She wore a somewhat chunky uniform, it had been a spare from the SHIELD vault and she had needed something more than a nightdress. Her memories as Amanda Weller already seemed like a distant lifetime. This was not Jason Powell, and he would only die now that he had been the host body. She would do the job that needed to be done and she would wipe the planet of the Cotati no matter how long it took.

Marching forward she walked through the crowd, the first twenty of the SHIELD soldiers following to the ramp of the helicarrier. Her pale eyes followed the direction the crowd was running from and she made her way forward. Her mind was locked onto the Cotati that was possessing Jason. Mantis had tried to run before and that had failed her so now she had to face her battle, or die trying.

You wanted this one, she thought to all of the Cotati possessed in the crowd. This one is here.

A fatter man rushed at her, he wielded a butcher’s knife as he brought it towards her. Kicking the knife from his hand it shot into the air, and she lifted her other foot to make contact with his face as there was cracking of bones and the man fell to the ground. His body exploding into dust on impact. The Cotati absorbed all of the life force within their victims, there was no survival.

Mantis had learned her martial arts when her father had left her at the Priests of Pama back in Vietnam. They had always come in useful; Mantis didn’t need weapons because she was more than capable of killing people with just her hands.

More Cotati possessed rushed at them as Mantis jumped into a forward roll. She heard the discharge of guns, which was enough to ensure her that the SHIELD soldiers could protect themselves. Now she had her job, to find Jason Powell and destroy him. It was then that it caught her eyes. Elsie and Harold Powell were among the possessed, they had protected her and guarded her and she could only help them move on, she ushered the two soldiers who were meant to aide her towards them. She wouldn’t need their help.

“What has taken so long, your majesty?” mocked the Cotati inside Jason.

“This one had some learning to do,” she replied stoutly.

Jumping at him, she hit the ground as he dodged her attack. They stood to face one another as they continued to circle around the other.

“I suppose you know about the messiah,” he drawled, as if bored with the conversation.

“He was three years old,” she growled at him, clenching her fists.

“He was a menace to everything the Cotati stood for,” he yelled in replied angrily.

Mantis realised that Jason was no longer inside there, she had held hope and she had been proven wrong.

“Who is your leader?” she ordered.

“Well, that I can take credit for,” smirked Jason and your son’s death too.”

Mantis saw read as she shot her hands outward, thick vines burst from the ground beneath the Cotati. He jumped towards her, out of the grasp of the vines, and he forced her to the ground. She pushed him into a roll so she was now on top and delivered a punch to his face. At which point he pushed her backwards, stumbling to her feet Mantis regained her composure but she was already too late.

The Cotati pulled a sword from its sheathe, something she hadn’t noticed in her fury, and he impaled her through the chest as she screamed. Her two aides rushed to her side as the woman pulled her back and pressed hard the against the wound. The man rushed towards the Cotati and shot at him several times before he was beheaded. Falling limply to the ground, his partner screamed as she pulled her own gun, only to be stabbed repeatedly in the chest and thrown back as she landed beside Mantis.

Undeterred, Mantis pushed herself forward as her eyes flared and the Cotati found himself frozen. She held tight to her wound with one arm as she stumbled towards him, the Cotati attempted to use the sword but failed, and she smirked at him as she whispered in his ear.

“This one is the Madonna,” she whispered as she stepped back, reaching for the sword, “and you and your kind have no business on Earth.”

Her eyes darted to the battle scene around her, and the people that continued to cower. Lifting his sword above her head she pushed it into his chest as he screamed, it echoed in her ears and the blood burst towards her before the Cotati who had caused her so much pain and hurt simply burst into dust.

It was proof he had been the commander when the other Cotatis began to disintegrate without their leader to bind them to their bodies. Stumbling backwards, Mantis fell to her knee’s as she clutched her chest. Even if she were to die, she had avenged her child and yet, she felt no better because that didn’t bring him back.

Her long black hair hid her face as she looked up; two men approached her and helped her up. Only Kansas would remember this day. They were the only reason that the Cotati would ever be remembered, there was no glory in murder but Mantis had come a long way from the brothel in Vietnam.

Avengers Island
New York Harbour
Now

Mantis made her way through the glossy hallways as she prepared to leave. She was stopped only when Tony Stark arrived behind her.

“Are you sure you won’t stay with us?” he enquired as she looked at him.

“This one’s place is no longer among the Avengers,” Mantis replied as she took the sheets from his hands and she gave him a sincere smile.

“I hope you enjoy your life Amanda Powell,” he said to her in farewell. “Until we meet again.”

They shook hands, as Mantis turned and made her exit from the building. The Avengers had been so much of her life, but she wasn’t sure about anything anymore. Perhaps what she had said to that Cotati had applied to more than just him, perhaps Mantis’ place was no longer on Earth?

She didn’t have a plan, but she had faith.