The Damocles Chamber

Baron Wolfgang von Strucker sat in the high-backed leather chair, his Satan claw resting on the arm as he adjusted his monocle with his human hand. This had been the first time he was actually permitted inside the interior chamber of the shadowy organization that called itself Control. The room was large but very sparingly lit with all the members seated around a large, rectangular table.

As he looked around the table, he recognized a few other individuals. One who stood out to him was Norman Osborn, who appeared nervous. Another he took notice of was a woman who seemed to be a robot with glowing, green eyes. The rest of the men were mostly unrecognizable, except for one who gave Strucker pause. Many of them were either businessmen, politicians, or high-ranking military.

“Shall we begin?”

The voice echoed in the chamber, coming from everywhere. There were those within Control who still wanted to keep their identities secret, even in this room. All those who sat around the table straightened their posture in attention. One of the men dressed in a suit opened a folder on the table and began to speak. He had silver hair and wore an American flag pin on his lapel.

“The manufactured recession is working according to plan. It’s served as a great method of populace control, especially in the wake of the Red Skull’s recent actions.”

One of the men in uniform spoke up next. “We’re doing nicely with various civil wars across the globe. Helping us to secure diamond holdings, oil reserves, what have you.”

“And the stock market?” asked the disembodied voice from the speakers.

“Still under our control, although the efforts of those who aren’t affiliated with us does make things a bit difficult,” said one of the businessmen.

“Good,” said the voice. “Now, we can move on to other matters, such as the marvels.”

A large monitor in the room turned on and revealed a split-screen. On one side of the screen was a man with short, red hair and glasses. On the other was a woman who had short, dark hair and was dressed in a SHIELD uniform.

“I’m sure you’re all aware of Henry Peter Gyrich of the Commission on Superhuman Activities and this is Special Agent Maria Hill of SHIELD. Thanks to our people in the United Nations Security Council, we have been able to arrange for Agent Hill to serve as the new SHIELD liaison to the Avengers.”

“That won’t make Fury too happy,” said one of the officers.

“Fury is never happy,” said another officer.

“Mr. Osborn, what do you have to report?”

“The wall-crawler has been uncharacteristically quiet as of late. I don’t foresee him posing any problems,” said Osborn.

“And the mutants, Eva?”

The robot-looking woman spoke next. “We have operations in place to see to it that the terrorist X-Men based in Genosha are eliminated.”

“We want a big show of this,” said the politician. “Make it known that we’re protecting American interests.”

“I’d advise against that, Senator,” said Gyrich. “Remember, the United Nations granted sovereignty of Genosha to Grey and Lehnsherr. Until we have evidence to the contrary, launching a full-scale attack and claiming responsibility is dangerous.”

“Mr. Gyrich is right,” said the voice. “And I’ll remind you that Control is not an American operation. Not anymore.”

“They are the only real threat at the moment,” said Eva. “X-Factor is run by the United States government.”

“What about this so-called X-Corps?”

“X-Corps, we believe, is funded by a private company, most-likely the X-Corporation,” said Eva. “But they are too concerned with Black Womb to cause us any difficulty for now. Unfortunately, as you may already be aware, Weapon XVIII has gone missing.”

“And Weapon XIX?”

“The attack on the Xavier Institute did fail, however we believe it was sufficient in providing us data on the American-based X-Men,” said Eva. “They aren’t a threat. The same can be determined about this Mutant Underground—their scope is too narrow for us to worry about.”

“And Zemo?” asked the voice.

Strucker leaned forward. This was his cue. “Zemo and his Thunderbolts have proven to be a thorn in my side. But thanks to the assistance of the V-Battalion and the information we uncovered about his Masters of Evil ruse, we will soon have the means to eliminate him completely.”

“The new Captain America could prove to be a problem, he doesn’t seem as easy to fool as Rogers was,” said Gyrich.

“We’ll deal with Weapon VI in time. But speaking of him, what about the Avengers and the Fantastic Four? Agent Hill?”

“The Fantastic Four are still regrouping after the Red Skull’s attack,” said Hill. “Rage is no longer with them, having returned to the New Warriors. That means the team is still short one member and we’ve no idea what happened to Grimm.”

“And the Avengers?”

“Construction on Avengers Island is about eighty-five per cent complete. As expected, Stark is taking a very active role in overseeing the construction, so it has delayed completion until he’s had a chance to personally inspect every major aspect. We’ve implemented the Guardsmen Protocols as we did with the Fantastic Four and there is a compliment of six Avengers on site. Stark comes and goes and with Rogers’ retirement, he has been appointed the new chairman. The other five include returning members Carol Danvers, alias Warbird and the synthesoid called the Vision. Josiah al hajj Saddiq, as you’re all aware, has come in to replace Rogers as the new Captain America. And two mutants have been added to the team. One is Ororo Munroe, alias Storm, serving there as a representative of the X-Corporation. And the other is Kurt Wagner, former X-Man called Nightcrawler, appointed by Guthrie with his departure. Additional members have been proposed with several names bandied about, but nothing beyond discussion at this juncture.”

“What of the other departing members?”

“Reliable intelligence suggests Guthrie may be joining his former mentor Cable in the X-Corps experiment while Namor has returned to Atlantis. As far as Genis-Vell, he has been seen with his resurrected father.”

“Assumed resurrected and we will need some confirmation on who this Mar-Vell character truly is shortly,” said the voice. “Thank you for your time Agent Hill, Mr. Gyrich.”

The monitors went dark as the images of Hill and Gyrich vanished. The voice spoke once more. “And what of Project: Zom?”

“The expendable targets have been transferred to the Vault, where they’ll be available for procurement,” said one of the businessmen. “As for the robot, it has already been fed the necessary information, which should make the process just a matter of time now.”

AND THERE CAME A DAY…

Part I

By Curtis Fernlund and Dino Pollard

Avengers Island
New York Harbor

Virginia “Pepper” Potts looked out the window of the Stark Enterprises helicopter, her eyes taking in the sight of the island below. She heard a voice whisper in her ear: “See anything you like?”

She jumped a bit and playfully smacked her boss in the chest. Tony Stark smiled and leaned back in his seat, wearing a pair of sunglasses over his eyes as the helicopter began its descent and touched down on a landing helipad. The door opened and Stark stepped out first, offering his hand to Pepper to help her out of the chopper. As they walked forward, they were met by a woman wearing sunglasses and dressed in a SHIELD uniform.

“Mr. Stark?” she asked.

“Unless you’re a vengeful ex-girlfriend, that’s me,” said Tony.

“Special Agent Maria Hill.” She offered her hand. “I’m your new SHIELD liaison.”

“A pleasure, Agent Hill,” said Tony, shaking the hand. “Although to be honest, I’m not too sure why Nick Fury won’t be working with us anymore.”

“Colonel Fury has other concerns at the moment, so I was appointed by the United Nations Security Council,” said Hill. She motioned forward. “Shall we?”

“Lead the way,” said Tony.

As they walked, Tony’s head never stopped moving, taking in all the sights possible. In the center of the island, he could see a mansion that was about ninety-eight per cent complete, similar to the one destroyed by the U.S. government. Tony had considered simply doing away with the mansion completely, but he felt a sentimental attachment to the home he was born in.

He watched as cranes lifted machinery onto the roof of the back-up power building. At the ship dock, freighters were unloading more machinery and there were more than enough SHIELD agents and construction workers moving around, as well as technicians and a few Guardsmen.

Tony looked overhead to see a Quinjet circling, awaiting landing permission for the small airfield near the hangar bay. His mind drifted momentarily before he realized someone had been calling his name.

“Stan, right?” asked Tony of the thin, balding man who offered him a clipboard almost overflowing with papers.

“Yessir, Stan Magrino of Rak Mechanical.”

Tony smiled. Rak Mechanical was a Brooklyn-based company that won the bid to install various machinery on the island. Even though the X-Corporation, Stark Enterprises and SHIELD were overseeing most of the island’s construction, Tony liked to field out work to local businesses when he could.

“Stan, what’s the delay with the power couplings in the stage two generator?”

“There’s a problem adjusting power with those damned dampening fields you insisted on,” the man said, dragging on the weathered bit of his cigar, then adding, “Mr. Stark. The batteries specified won’t cope with the specs you provided. We’re trying to bypass, but it’s a slow bit a’ work.”

Stark nodded. “Try rerouting through the solar array. The lag in power build up there should compensate the suppressors.”

The man looked at Stark, and slowly a smile formed on his chapped lips. “Yeah…” he said, lost in thought for a moment, then, “Yeah! That’ll work. Guess that’s why you make the big bucks, hunh?”

“Just one of many reasons, Stan. Get to it.”

He handed Stan back the clipboard and then waved him off. Tony looked at Hill. “So Agent Hill, have you any other tidings of comfort and joy to bring me?”

“All SHIELD activities are well-within schedule,” said Hill. “There was a bit of a delay in the security upgrade in the access tube from the submarine bay to the main complex, but your friend managed to get the system operational in record time.”

“There are few technicians better than Scott Lang.” Tony watched as the Quinjet landed on the tarmac and he moved towards that direction. “I’m still trying to get him to stay on full-time. Don’t want to risk losing him to Hank out west.”

He saw a SHIELD agent hooking the stairway in place, a curvaceous redhead decked out in dark blues and silver; one of the Fem Force by her braiding. “Would you mind supervising the fuel dump? I’m going to be a while, Agent Hill.” He motioned for his assistant as he continued walking towards the Quinjet. “Pepper?”

Tony and Pepper stepped out onto the tarmac as the Quinjet’s passengers emerged. The first had flowing, silver hair and piercing blue eyes, a stark contrast to her chocolate skin. She wore an African tiara on her head and was dressed in a light, summer dress. She smiled as she walked down the stairway and saw Tony and Pepper waiting for her.

“Good to see you again, Ororo,” said Tony, offering her a hug. The mutant called Storm smiled as she returned it. Tony looked back at the stairway but saw no one else emerging. “I thought Kurt was with you…?”

BAMF

The stench of brimstone and a burst of smoke and light signaled the arrival of Storm’s old friend and current traveling companion. He was dressed in khaki shorts and a bright Hawaiian shirt, which looked strange against his indigo skin and demonic appearance.

“Good to see you, Kurt,” said Tony, offering his hand. Kurt Wagner gripped Tony’s hand with his own three-fingered one.

“Good to be here, Tony. Thank you for allowing me to join the team.”

“This is my personal assistant, Pepper Potts,” said Tony.

Pepper stepped forward and shook Storm’s hand. “Nice to meet you both,” she said. When she offered that hand to Nightcrawler, he took it in his and offered a deep bow as he kissed the surface.

“The pleasure is all mine, fraulein,” he said with a charming grin. Tony chuckled at the expression on Pepper’s face.

“Why Pepper, I don’t think I can recall a time when you blushed like that.”

“I-I—”

“Ah Tony, how dare you embarrass such a beautiful young woman like that,” said Kurt. He offered his arm to Pepper. “Shall we, my dear?”

Pepper smiled and linked her arm with Kurt’s as the two began to walk from the airfield with Storm and Tony following behind. Storm whispered to her new leader. “I believe Kurt has your assistant quite smitten.”

“Too bad she’s kind of spoken for,” said Tony.

“By you?” asked Storm.

Tony laughed. “No, not me.”

Once they left the airfield, Kurt was able to get a nice view of the New York skyline and his yellow eyes grew wide. “Ungablich…such a view…”

“You should see the one from my penthouse,” said Tony with a smile. “We’ll handle the full tour later, but right now, I think it’s best to get you two settled in.”

Tony led the way towards the mansion in the center of the island. “We’ve got almost everything you could need here, including a full-service staff with their own quarters on the island. Most of the team has elected to live here at the mansion, with the exceptions being myself and Josiah.”

As they walked closer to the mansion, Tony pointed towards a chapel. “Multi-faith place of worship right over there.”

Kurt smiled as he saw it. “I will have to look at that later.”

When they reached the mansion, Tony saw Jarvis working inside, his face covered with soot and his clothing with obvious sweat stains. “How’s everything shaping up, Jarvis?”

“Quite well, Master Tony,” said Jarvis. “Although the cooking staff is in dire need of attention.”

“If you can’t whip them into shape, I’m not sure there’s anyone who could,” said Tony. “Kurt and Ororo, I’m sure you’ve met him on one of your visits to the old mansion before. If not, this is Edwin Jarvis. The man who really keeps the Avengers together.”

“He is too kind, I’m but a simple servant,” said Jarvis with a smile. He raised his hands to show the grime on them. “I apologize for not being able to greet you properly at the moment.”

Storm smiled. “That’s quite all right, Jarvis.”

“Let’s go on in,” said Tony. Inside the mansion, staff was mulling about, moving in furniture and getting everything set up. Tony led them up the massive staircase in the center. “Storm, your loft’s been built as to your specifications, complete with windows for your plants.”

“Thank you.”

“Kurt, I’ll show you your room,” said Tony. He opened the door to one of the rooms on the second floor. Aside from a bed and a dresser, it was completely empty. “You’re free to do whatever you like with it.”

“I believe I will take your advice, Tony,” said Kurt.

Tony smiled at Kurt. “I’ll leave you to get settled in. We’re going to have a gathering in about two hours.”

Carol Danvers entered the computer core flanked by a few SHIELD agents. She herself wore a SHIELD uniform at the moment and when she entered the room, she saw the Vision standing there, overseeing the computer set-ups.

“Good afternoon, Carol,” he said.

“How’s it going down here?” she asked.

“Quite good, I believe,” said the Vision. “Before Avengers Mansion was destroyed, Tony managed to transfer all our files to remote servers and I’ve just finished collecting them and transfered them all to our new databanks. I’ve also linked us with the Baxter Building, the Xavier Institute, SHIELD, the X-Corporation, the Avengers West Compound, and I am also speaking with Department H and the V-Battalion about adding them into our network as well.” He turned to face her. “And the security?”

“So far, so good,” said Carol. “We’ve got ID cards ready for all the new members as well as the support staff, several Guardsmen are on site at the various points of entry on the island, and we’ve got surveillance and motion detectors set up almost everywhere except for inside the mansion and the staff quarters.”

“Much more security than Avengers Mansion,” said the Vision.

“Guess it’s necessary,” said Carol. “X-Corporation, SHIELD, the U.N….they don’t want to take any chances with their new investment. We’re heads of state now.”

“You sound…disconcerted.”

“I understand why they think this is necessary, but this all makes me nervous,” said Carol.

“That makes two of us.”

Vision and Carol turned and saw a black man wearing a kufi and sunglasses walking towards them from the elevator. Carol smiled at his approach. “You must be Josiah.”

“I am,” he said. “And you’re Carol?”

She nodded. “Welcome to the Avengers.”

“Tony told me I could find you down here, said I should see you about my ID card,” said Josiah.

“Yeah, come with me, I’ll get you set up,” said Carol. “I’ll talk to you later, Vizh.”

“Goodbye Carol,” said the Vision. He shook Josiah’s hand before returning to his own tasks. “I look forward to working with you, Captain.”

“Thanks,” said Josiah.

Somewhere Between Time

The man who might be Kang sat in the midst of opulence.

Shimmering crystals surrounded him, stretching into infinity, reaching high into the vast vaulted ceiling. The floor sparkled, crimson lightning rippling and sparking as images flashed and flickered at almost blinding speed throughout the chamber, his throne room.

His eyes flitted about, watching, narrowing at times as things that might have been or will yet be pass. His gaze lingered occasionally, a crystalline shard showing an important scene, a flash of decision that fragments the crystal, creating two images, one darker than the other…

The Gamma spawned creature, ancient and deadly.

The Thunderer lording over all.

The Lord of the Undead, driving chattel before him.

The Mad Titan, a god unopposed…

He saw the Iron Man, his armor twisted and malformed, brandishing weapons as he devastated multitudes. The android corrupts, controls humanity’s technology. The others; the Witch, the Archer, the Giant, all of them ruling over a devastated people, a blasted land.

He saw Grimm and smiled…

Avengers Island

Tony Stark stood before the round table with the giant A emblazoned on it. Unlike his teammates, who were all in costume, he stood in the remains of his suit, the sleeves of his shirt rolled up and his jacket slung over the back of a chair.

“Hope you don’t mind my not dressing for the occasion, that armor can be a bit cumbersome,” he said. “So here we are, a new and different team. Vision, Warbird and myself are the holdovers from the previous incarnation. The rest of the members had their reasons for leaving, but luckily we were able to come back to almost full strength in record time, with Steve nominating Josiah for not only his spot on the team, but also the mantle of Captain America. And when Sam chose to left, he nominated Kurt to take his slot. Then we’ve also got Ororo, who’s here as our X-Corporation liaison.”

“Only six members, you sure we shouldn’t have any additions?” asked Carol.

“I’ve considered it, but most of the candidates who immediately come to mind are involved with other operations,” said Tony. He sat in his chair. “Now, as per Steve’s request, when he relinquished the post of chairman, he nominated me to take the spot. I already talked this over with Vision and Carol in the final meeting of the old team, but are there any objections from the new members?”

Storm, Josiah and Kurt remained silent. Tony smiled and continued. “Good, then let’s get down to business. As you all know, not too long ago the United Nations granted the Avengers the status of a sovereign nation. At first we operated on U.S. soil but after the debacle with the Red Skull, the old mansion was destroyed. With the help of SHIELD, the X-Corporation, Stark Enterprises as well as the cooperation of the United States and the United Nations, we were able to build this facility in almost record time. Since we’re essentially an independent nation, that means we don’t necessarily have anyone to answer to, but we have to be a lot more cautious.”

“What does this mean for your company?” asked Josiah. “Wouldn’t this represent a conflict of interest?”

“You let me worry about my company,” said Tony. “Also, the U.N. has assigned us a new SHIELD liaison. We’re not working with Fury anymore, unfortunately.”

“What?” asked Carol. “Fury has been a great help to us since the Cassandra Nova incident. Why aren’t we working with him anymore? What’s their rationale?”

“I’m no happier about it than you are, but the U.N. is well within their rights to choose their own liaison. So we’ll now be working with Agent Maria Hill. Some of you may have met her on the island already, and those of you who haven’t will soon. She’s going to be around quite a lot,” said Tony. “Now, the next order of business is—”

Before Tony could complete his sentence, an alarm went off. The new Avengers stood from their seats, recognizing the sound of an alert. Tony looked at his team. “Guess that’s our cue, Avengers.”

The Vault

Basil Sandhurst sat in his cell bereft of his armor, a broken and pathetic man. His ‘Control Discs’ have all been removed from the people he enslaved to make himself powerful. His face lined with scars from the accident that gave him his powers, streaks of red running down his skin. All of this because he chose to side himself with the Wizard and the ridiculous Frightful Force, a debacle that now left him in his current predicament.

Alarms began to screech and Sandhurst rushed to his door to peer out and see what was going on, trying to look through the narrow window to catch some sight of the commotion. He could see nothing, but could hear energy discharges and screams, shouting from guards and inmates alike, explosions.

Suddenly the inner wall of his cell blew inward, throwing him back against the far wall. It took him a moment to focus as smoke roiled through the jagged hole in the reinforced stone. Through the opening, a silvery figure stepped inside. Its eyes and mouth crackled with red energy, those robotic eyes locking onto the prisoner.

“Basil Sandhurst…I have need of you.”

ASSEMBLE!

I was beginning to wonder if this would ever happen.

As many are already aware, it’s been known for quite some time that “Fourth Reich” would be Derrick’s last arc on this title and originally, it was to be mine as well. But Derrick suggested I stay onboard and get another co-writer as it’s been working well for me so far, first with Logan and then with him.

For me, there was no one better to fill Derrick’s extremely large shoes than Curt Fernlund, a man who is one of the finest writers and just all-around nicest guys I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with in the community. It was a joy working with him on both the “Pax Doom” crossover as well as our short run on Thunderbolts. Curt knows these characters up, down and center and he comes up with big ideas and cleverly builds on past continuity without daunting new readers in a way that makes the rest of us look like hacks. So obviously, there’s no one else who should be doing Avengers at MO.

But “Fourth Reich” did take some time to finish off, and once it finally was finished, so much time had passed that Curt needed to take a bit to try and figure things out. I was worried he may not be able to commit to the book and if he chose to step down, I’m not so sure I would have remained onboard. But fortunately, Curt figured everything out and he’s now the point man for some very big rumblings coming up in the Marvel Omegaverse.

As far as the new roster goes, Curt and I bandied about a lot of names. I knew I wanted a shake-up and I had a few characters that I definitely wanted in the team. Curt was gracious enough to live with my concessions and he put in a few characters of his own, who I was only too happy to add. The final member, who seemed like kind of an odd choice, was Nightcrawler. We had originally wanted Beast and felt he would bring some really good light-heartedness to an otherwise pretty serious team. But given Beast’s heavy involvement with (at the time) Uncanny X-Men and now his very active part in the upcoming Astonishing X-Men, it didn’t seem likely that we’d be able to use him. So instead, we spoke with Brent Lambert about a trade—X-Corps would get Cannonball and Nightcrawler would come into Avengers. It was an arrangement that worked for everyone involved and it allowed Curt and I to round out our team.

Curt’s got some amazing stuff planned for this book and he’s going to be the major driving force, just as he was with Thunderbolts. I’m merely along for the ride.

-Dino