AVENGERS NEVER

Part II

By Logan Polk and Dino Pollard

Rick Jones slowly opens his eyes. The last thing he remembers is being in a hospital, trying to trigger Bruce Banner’s Hulk transformation. Once the transformation began to take place, he switched places with Genis, bringing the latest Captain Marvel back to this dimension. Then, everything went black, and now he finds himself in some sort of endless void.

“Where am I?” he asks.

“You’re dreaming,” comes the reply. Genis suddenly appears in front of Rick, or at least a projection of him or something.

“What happened?” asks Rick.

“There was another shift coming,” replies Genis. “Now that you’ve broken free from whatever mind control thing Kang’s got going on here, you’re safe from any sort of time shifts. Banner… err, Hulk… isn’t. When I felt the shift coming, I had to take him back to the Microverse with me.”

“Well… that’s just great,” says Rick. He finds the world beginning to fade away. “Hey, what’s-”

“-happening?”

Rick’s eyes open, and he finds himself lying in the middle of a hospital room. Or, what remains of the hospital room, as it is now quite trashed. He shakes his head and sees people gathering around him, watching him wearily.

“Umm… hi,” he says.

He suddenly takes notice of what’s happening in the Microverse. Through his bond with Genis, he can see what Genis sees. And right now, he sees Genis and the Hulk fighting in the Microverse.

“Not good,” says Rick. “You’re just pissing him off, Genis.”

“Huh?” asks a nurse.

Rick ignores her and runs from the room, still, as far as any bystanders can tell, talking to himself.

“You have a better idea?” asks Genis.

“Yeah, I do,” replies Rick. “Let’s switch places, I can probably talk some sense into him.”

“Are you out of your mind? He’ll crush you like a bug.”

“No he won’t, trust me,” replies Rick. “The Hulk thinks of me as his friend, he wouldn’t hurt me.”

“Nuh-uh, no chance,” says Genis.

“You don’t have a choice,” says Rick. He slams the Nega-Bands together and in a flash of light, Genis-Vell finds himself in the middle of a hospital corridor, receiving some very odd stares.

“Umm…” he begins. “I’d explain, but it would probably just confuse you.”

Microverse

Rick finds himself slightly disoriented as he appears in the Microverse. He sees a giant, green fist coming towards him and he quickly jumps to the side, trying to put some distance between him and the Hulk.

“Whoa, watch it!” exclaims Rick. “Bruce, it’s me, it’s Rick!”

“Puny Banner has puny human friend,” says Hulk. “Hulk hate Banner!”

“Right… almost forgot about that part…” mutters Rick. “Look… Hulk, it’s Rick. I’m your buddy, remember? We’re good friends. Remember all those times we used to do things together? Remember the Leader? And the Gargoyle? Huh, remember those guys?”

“Puny human talk nonsense!” exclaims Hulk. Rick rolls away mere seconds before the Hulk’s fist slams the ground he was just standing on.

“Did I not say this was a mistake?” asks Genis. “Because I distinctively remember saying this was a mistake.”

“Actually, you just said I’m out of my mind…” replies Rick.

“Stop taking things so literal, you know what I meant,” says Genis. “Can’t you see? He doesn’t remember you because he’s never met you, at least not in this reality. This is the first time Banner transformed into the Hulk.”

“Right… probably should’ve remembered that…” mutters Rick. The Hulk’s hand reaches down and Rick brings his arms up in a futile attempt to defend himself. The Hulk’s massive hand wraps around Rick’s wrists. This slams the Nega-Bands together, and the Hulk and Rick are both transferred back to Earth.

Earth

The appearence on the Hulk’s face changes from one of anger to surprise. He’s confused as to where he is. A moment ago, he was in another place. Now, he’s back on Earth, in the middle of a street. The area here looks familiar to him. He releases his grip on Rick’s hands and lets the young man fall to the ground and then runs off from Rick.

“Good work, Rick,” says Genis. “You just lost a gamma-irradiated behemoth.”

“Oh shut up,” says Rick. He starts to run after the trail of destruction left by the Hulk.

“Rick, we tried it your way, and it didn’t work,” says Genis. “The Hulk doesn’t recognize you, and you’re just gonna end up getting yourself killed if you try to take him on by yourself.”

“Fine, fine,” says Rick. “You know I hate being reduced to the bench, especially when it’s my friends we’re talking about.”

“I know, but we don’t have a choice.”

Rick slams his wrists together. A flash of light is emitted by the Nega-Bands, and when the light dissipates, Genis-Vell is standing in Rick’s place. He flies with his fists in front of him and slams into the Hulk’s back at full-speed. The force of impact sends the Hulk flying through a parking garage.

“Hey, guess what, tall, green, and ugly,” says Genis. “Captain Marvel’s back for round two.”

The Hulk offers no reply. Instead, he lifts up a car and throws it at Genis. Captain Marvel braces himself in the air as he catches the car. It throws him back, but he regains his composure, and sets it down. In that time, he notices a shadow falling over him that grows larger. He looks up just in time to see the Hulk’s feet slam into him and bury him in the pavement.

The Hulk grabs Captain Marvel’s head and lifts him up by his hair. Captain Marvel appears unconscious, but the ruse only lasts a moment – which is all the time Genis needs to generate a force blast that he fires at the Hulk’s face. The blast isn’t very powerful, just strong enough to disorient the Hulk so that he releases Genis. Captain Marvel follows up the force blast with an uppercut that sends the Hulk skyward. He flies after the Hulk. Thanks to the gamma bomb that gave him life, the Hulk always emits a certain amount of gamma energy – energy which Captain Marvel is able to track. Once the trail comes to a stop, Captain Marvel vanishes in a flash of light.

The Hulk lands on the pavement several miles away. He pulls himself to his feet and shakes it off. Before he has a chance to regain his bearings or take stock of his new surroundings, there is a blinding flash of light. He lifts his hands up and looks away to protect his eyes from the brightness.

“Oh come on,” says Captain Marvel. “You didn’t really believe I’d leave you hanging like that, did you?”

Hulk growls in response and runs towards Genis. He lifts a massive fist up and brings it down. Captain Marvel grabs the Hulk’s arm and uses his own momentum against him, tossing him aside as if he were a rag doll. The Hulk goes crashing through a building. Captain Marvel flies over to him and looks at all the people around him.

“If you don’t get out now, I can’t guarantee your safety,” says Captain Marvel. The bystanders offer no objections and run from the scene of battle, and Captain Marvel looks down at the Hulk. “Looks like it’s just you and me, big guy.”

Stark Enterprises

Or, to be more exact, beneath Stark Enterprises. One of the sub-basements that exists beneath the base of operations for Tony Stark’s company. This is Stark’s personal laboratory, where he performs different experiments and tinkers with various little toys. However, that is not today. Today, Stark is concentrating his attention on a gold faceplate made of iron.

Years ago, Stark constructed this suit of armor to keep his heart beating. Now, however, his heart problem is no longer an issue. But, the desire to put the armor back on is there for some reason, and he cannot fully describe it. Is it the sense of freedom he feels in it? Although how can one feel free when locked inside a suit of iron? Or perhaps it’s the power it gives him. Power that his competitors don’t have.

He doesn’t need the armor. He’s not a superhero, he’s a businessman. No, designing the armor, continually improving on its functions and systems, upgrading it – these things are just a hobby for him. He would never actually put the armor on. The thing is most-likely a flying deathtrap, who knows what could happen if…

{{ ALERT! SECURITY BREACH! }}

Tony drops the faceplate and turns his attention to a monitor on the wall in front of him. On the screen, he sees a giant, green monster of some sort battling what appears to be a man with dark skin covered with what looks like stars and white hair. The man is dressed in an odd costume of some sort.

Tony Stark knows what needs to be done. Security won’t be able to handle a threat of this magnitude. He glances back to the faceplate and realizes that there is only one thing that can deal with the intruders. He grabs the faceplate and walks a few feet to where the armor stands with its back to him, wide open. He steps inside the shell and lowers the helmet onto his head. With a mental command, the armor closes around his body, locking him in. He affixes the faceplate to the front of the helmet and it is magnetically sealed by the armor.

Tony looks up the long wind tunnel above his head. The armor responds to his cybernetic commands, and the boot thrusters activate, pushing him up the tunnel. He rockets up towards the opening, and he sends a mental command to his armor. The armor is supposed to relay the command to the building and open the wind tunnel. Tony continues to watch, wondering for a moment if it actually will open. He almost considers breaking his ascent when the wind tunnel’s exit opens up, and he flies out of the sub-basement and finds himself above ground. He spots the two intruders and flies towards them. For some reason, they seem familiar to him. And even though this is the first time he has used this armor, it too, feels familiar. Tony extends his palm and fires off a repulsor blast that garners the attention of Captain Marvel and the Hulk.

“Well, looks like finding you guys is gonna be easier than I thought…” mutters Captain Marvel.

“Surrender or be taken by force,” says Tony, the armor amplifying his words. “These are your only options. Iron Man doesn’t mess around.”

Tony feels almost a tinge of embarassment when he says that name, but he also feels an odd sense of… it’s hard to explain. Perhaps it’s pride that he’s thinking of?

“Look, I don’t want a fight with either you or Godzilla over there,” says Captain Marvel.

“Have a strange way of showing it, pal,” says Iron Man. With his attention focused on Captain Marvel, he doesn’t notice the Hulk leaping at him until it’s too late. The Hulk grabs Iron Man and pulls him to the ground with him. The Hulk grabs Iron Man’s helmet and attempts to pull it free from the armor.

“Back off!” exclaims Captain Marvel. He generates a force bolt, far more powerful than the last one, that knocks the Hulk off of Iron Man.

“You okay?” asks Captain Marvel.

“I’m fine,” replies Iron Man. “What the hell is that? What the hell are you for that matter?”

“I’ll explain later,” says Captain Marvel. “Right now, we just have to try and take him down.”

“Right,” says Iron Man. “See if you can hold him down.”

“Oh yeah, that shouldn’t be a problem…” mutters Captain Marvel.

But he still does as he’s told. He flies at the Hulk, using the Nega-Bands to generate energy in his hands. He slams them against the Hulk, giving his punches some added strength. The Hulk finds himself staggering at the force of Captain Marvel’s blows, enough to the point where Genis can grab the Hulk.

“Do your thing,” says Captain Marvel.

Iron Man comes up to the Hulk and places his arms on the behemoth’s body. His armor begins to siphon off some of the gamma energy given off by the Hulk. The effect isn’t enough to remove the Hulk persona from Banner’s body, but it is enough to sufficiently weaken the beast. He begins to shrink in size and his skin changes from green to a beige color until the Hulk is replaced by Bruce Banner.

“What now?” asks Iron Man.

“I’ve tampered with things again, which means Kang is preparing another shift to try and undo what I’ve just done,” replies Captain Marvel. “Quick, grab hold of me.”

“What are you talking about?” asks Iron Man. “Who’s Kang? Who are you? Who’s this?”

“I’ll explain later, but right now, just grab hold of me,” replies Captain Marvel. Iron Man is understandably skeptical, but does as this strange man commands. Genis strikes his wrists together, and the three vanish in a flash of light and return to the Microverse while Rick Jones returns to Earth.

A few hours later, across town, in one of the many residential buildings that reside in New York, the elevator door opens on the penthouse floor. A man and a woman step off the elevator. The man has short, blonde hair and the woman has dark brown hair that hangs just above her shoulders. She has her arms wrapped around the man’s torso, and he has his arm draped around her. He kisses her on the head lightly as they walk down the hallway. They approach a door at the end of the corridor, and she leans on the wall next to the door as he struggles to find his keys. She causes him to divert his attention by lightly kissing his cheek. He turns his attention to her and kisses her, struggling to unlock the door.

“You know I could probably lose my job for this,” the man says to her between kisses. “Sleeping with the boss’s daughter isn’t something he likes in his employees.”

“Ask me if I care, Hank,” she replies. She takes his hand and leads him into the apartment, but stops suddenly. Hank comes in behind her and also stops once he sees what she sees.

A young man dressed in casual clothes with short, brown hair and some sort of gold bracelets on his hands sits at the table. He smiles warmly once he sees them, as if he’s known them for years.

“Hi,” he says.

“Who the hell are you?” asks Hank, standing in front of his girlfriend.

“Rick Jones,” he replies. “And you’re Hank Pym. The woman behind you is Janet Van Dyne.”

“Whatever you want, just take it and go,” says Jan. “We don’t want any trouble.”

“Neither do I, but that’s what we’ve got,” says Rick.

“I’m calling the police,” says Hank. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a cellular phone. He enters 911 on the keypad, but before he can hit ‘SEND’, Rick offers another reply.

“Not a good idea,” says Rick. “You’re gonna want to hear what I have to say.”

“Like hell I will,” says Hank.

“Pym Particles,” says Rick.

“What?” asks Hank.

“You invented them,” replies Rick.

“What’s he talking about?” asks Jan.

“It’s something your boyfriend is responsible for,” says Rick. “They make people either shrink to miniature sizes or grow to giant sizes. Isn’t that right, Hank?”

Hank turns off the cell phone and slides it back into his pocket.

“How do you know about the Pym Particles?” he asks. “I’ve never told anyone about them, not even Jan.”

“Look, this is gonna sound crazy, but just hear me out,” says Rick. “This isn’t the way the world should be. In the real world, you and Jan use the Pym Particles as Giant-Man and the Wasp. You’re both founding members of the Avengers, a team of superheroes. One of your enemies is a time traveller called Kang. He’s messed with time, made it so the founding Avengers never came together. I know this all sounds crazy, but if you think about it, you know I’m telling the truth.”

“Hank…” says Jan.

“It sounds completely ridiculous,” says Hank. “But… I dunno, I get this feeling that I know him from somewhere. My mind tells me he’s crazy, but something else tells me he’s more sane than anyone.”

“I… you’re right…” says Jan.

“Rick, there’s another shift coming,” says Genis through the use of their psionic link.

“Now?” asks Rick. “So what do I do?”

“Get them to the Microverse,” replies Genis.

Rick stands from his seat and looks at Hank and Jan.

“You guys ready for things to really get weird?”

Atlantis

Far beneath the waves of the Atlantic Ocean is the city that time forgot. Swallowed up centuries ago, Atlantis has since become a land populated only by beings who can survive the harsh depths of the sea without any need for sunlight or oxygen. It is here, that one man rules supreme.

He is called Namor.

Years ago, he once aided the surface world. He fought beside other heroes of the time against a common enemy. He met two surface dwellers whom he found to be noble – and only one of those two was an actual man of flesh and blood. Since then, that man has perished. And the man once called the Sub-Mariner has found that any decency humanity ever possessed has died with that man.

His kingdom, the seas, are continually attacked, day after day, by the denizens of Earth. And he has had enough. He stands from his throne, a trident held in his hand. He lifts it up and the murmurs of his people are silenced.

“The surface world has plagued us long enough,” says Namor. “They have assaulted our homeland by contaminating our waters with their trash. And Atlantis does not take kindly to attacks on its borders. The time has come to strike back. The war has begun.”