SUPERNOVA

Part VI: Prisoners of War

By Ryan Krupienski and Dino Pollard

The eyes of Natasha Romanov slowly begin to open. She finds herself laying on her back and staring up at a bare, cold ceiling. She sits up and rubs her head. Glancing around the room, she sees that the room is actually more of a cell. And she is alone in this cell. She stands from the small cot she was laying on and moves to the door. She can find no lock mechanism that she could possibly pick to free herself. And there are no ventilation shafts, at least none wide enough for her to squeeze through.

“Damn it…” she mutters.

“Natasha? You awake?”

“Steve?” asks the Black Widow, leaning up against the wall. “Is that you?”

“Yeah,” replies Captain America through the wall.

“Where are we?” asks the Widow. “Last thing I remember was Gypsy Moth strangling me and then I blacked out.”

“The Masters of Evil,” replies Cap. “This was all a set-up.”

“How are the others?” asks Natasha.

“They’re here,” replies Cap. “Judging from where our battle took place, I assume that we’re still somewhere in California.”

“Do we have a plan?” asks Natasha.

“Let’s not discuss it now,” replies Cap.

“When this is over, remind me to send the Masters a bill…” says Tony Stark as he examines the circuitry of his armor.

“Can you really fix that without any sort of tools?” asks Warbird from the next cell.

“Nope,” replies Tony. “But this new armor is equipped with the latest in nanotechnology, a lot of the repairs are self-made. I just have to wait for the nanomachines to do their work, but it seems the armor’s entire CPU was damaged during the battle.”

“Think you’ll have the armor back up to full capability?” asks Giant-Man from the cell on the other side of Tony.

“Not even close,” replies Tony. “All I can hope for is to get at least some of the systems online. And I’m trying to send out a signal to the other Avengers as well. But it seems like everything’s been damaged here.”

“I still can’t believe this…” says Warbird. “It was a trap and we walked right into it.”

“I know, I know,” says Tony. “But that’s one of the reasons Cap wanted to keep most of the Avengers behind.”

“So right now, we know nothing then,” mutters Giant-Man.

“Sounds about right,” says Tony. “Guess we just have to wait for some of the Masters to show up so we can get some answers from them.”

Elsewhere in the compound, three people hold a meeting. Graviton hovers in the air, simply observing the other two. Klaw stands at the forefront, whereas the Crimson Cowl simply leans against a wall. Together, these three criminals have taken the reins of the new Masters of Evil.

“We should kill them!” exclaims Klaw. “We’re just wasting time like this! The Avengers are resourceful, and the five we have represent less than half of their current roster. Why are we messing around like this? We’re just asking for trouble!”

“No… no, that’s unacceptable,” comes the calm reply of Graviton. “I think it would be a far better idea to go public. Let the world know that we have the Avengers and LA under our control.”

“We do neither,” says the Crimson Cowl. “What we will do, however, is wait. Once the rest of the Avengers realize that they lost contact with this team, they’ll come here. It’s best to simply lure in the rest of the Avengers… and possibly the Fantastic Four if we’re lucky… and then destroy them all at once.”

“You’re playing with fire, Cowl,” says Klaw. “You want to go up against thirteen Avengers in addition to the Fantastic Four?”

“Relax Klaw, this is how we do things around here,” replies the Cowl. “Graviton makes a point about going public, but the cameras already captured our attack on LA and our battle with these Avengers. Once the other heroes see this, they’ll come to us. And then we can take them all out.”

“I don’t like it…” says Klaw.

“You don’t have to like it,” says the Crimson Cowl. “You just have to follow my orders.”

“Who says we should follow your orders to begin with?” demands Klaw. “Why is it you should lead this team?”

“He makes an interesting point,” says Graviton. “And both he and I are far more powerful than you are, Cowl.”

“Power has nothing to do with this,” says the Cowl. “This is about control, gentlemen. And neither of you are competent enough to control an operation of this… magnitude.”

“What are you talking about?” asks Klaw.

“You’ll see,” replies the Crimson Cowl. She walks past Klaw and Graviton, then exits the room. “All good things come to those who wait, Klaw.”

Graviton and Klaw exchange glances of confusion with each other after the Crimson Cowl leaves the room.

“What do you suppose that was all about?” asks Graviton.

“I don’t know,” replies Klaw. “But there’s something I don’t like about this new Crimson Cowl.”

Avengers Mansion

Deep below the mansion on one of the sub-basement levels is a high-tech gymnasium used by the Avengers. It can be used for simple weight-lifting exercises, or for combat simulations against robotic foes provided by Hank Pym and Tony Stark. Over the years, the Avengers have come to affectionately refer to this area as the Playroom. The current occupants of the room are the Falcon, a longtime Avenger who also served as Captain America’s partner for a time. The other occupant is a relatively recent addition to the ranks of the Avengers – the Jack of Hearts.

The Falcon gracefully flies through the air, past the gun turrets mounted on the walls of the Playroom. He twists and turns in midair, avoiding the energy blasts fired from the guns. Below the Falcon, on the ground, Jack of Hearts unleashes his built-up zero energy at a robot sentry as it approaches him. The energy quickly vaporizes the sentry.

Jack leaps to the side, to avoid the blasts coming from another sentry. He fires another blast of zero energy at this one, and is about to take on the third when he begins to feel a pain in the pit of his gut. Jack begins to keel over as the pain takes over his body. The Falcon takes notice of this from the air.

“Jack, you okay?” he asks.

“G-get out…” comes Jack’s low reply. “Falcon… Sam… get out of here… I can’t hold it in…”

“Shit…” mutters Falcon. He knows what’s happening here, and he quickly flies towards the Playroom’s exit. He leaves the room and shuts the door behind him, and then he hears the sounds of Jack Hart’s cries of pain. Then, the sound of silence is the only thing that fills the room. Falcon re-enters the room and sees Jack lying on the ground. The gun turrets and the sentries have all been destroyed, however.

“Everything all right?” asks Falcon. He moves to Jack and helps his teammate to his feet.

“Of course it’s not all right!” exclaims Jack. “The deal was if I spend fourteen hours a day in the Zero Room, then I wouldn’t have to worry about these detonations. But that’s not the case anymore. Now the discharges are starting to come about more frequently.”

“Let’s get you back to the Zero Room then,” says Falcon. Jack stumbles slightly, but Falcon is there to help him support his weight. The two Avengers leave the Playroom and head towards the elevator.

“Going somewhere?”

“Christ… don’t do that…” says Falcon. He and Jack turn to face the source of the voice and see the Black Panther leaning against a wall with his arms folded.

“The Wasp has called a priority Avengers meeting,” says the Black Panther.

“News on Cap’s team?” asks Falcon.

“Exactly,” replies the Panther. “We have to get moving.”

“I’ll be there after I get Jack to the Zero Room,” says Falcon.

“No,” says the Panther.

“T’Challa, he just released a zero energy discharge in the Playroom,” says Falcon. “We have to…”

“I said no,” repeats the Panther.

“Hey, do I get some say in this?” asks Jack.

“No,” replies the Panther. “There’s a situation. We’ll need Jack’s power.”

“He’s right, Sam,” says Jack. “If the others are in trouble, I’m not sitting this one out.”

Falcon looks down at Jack, and then looks at the Panther, who has already turned and made his way to the meeting.

“Yeah, okay…” says Falcon.

The Wasp stands near a giant monitor in the meeting room. Around the large, round table with a giant A marked on it, sit the remaining Avengers – Vision, Scarlet Witch, She-Hulk, Ant-Man, and the Black Panther. The door opens, and Falcon and Jack of Hearts enter and take their seats. All eyes are on the Wasp as she begins.

“Now that everyone’s here, we can begin,” she says. “The gist of the situation is this – we’ve lost contact with Cap’s team and we haven’t been able to re-establish a link with them. News footage released since then shows a group calling themselves the Masters of Evil decimating LA.”

“Hank was right, the earthquakes weren’t natural,” says Ant-Man.

“Right, they were caused by Avalanche,” says Wasp. “For those of you who don’t know, Avalanche is a known terrorist who can control seismic waves. But he usually runs with the Brotherhood of Mutants, he’s never been in any incarnation of the Masters.”

“Obviously they’ve been recruiting,” says She-Hulk.

“Who’s part of this new Masters?” asks the Scarlet Witch.

Wasp presses a button on the control panel before the monitor. Headshots of the various members of the Masters come up on the monitor.

“From the footage we’ve seen, T’Challa and I have discovered these people are all operating with the Masters,” she says. “In addition to Avalanche, we’ve seen the Living Laser, Plantman, Constrictor, Eel, Gypsy Moth, Blizzard, Hydro-Man, Dreadknight, Armadillo, Black Mamba, Boomerang, Grey Gargoyle, Rhino, Sandman, Whirlwind, Klaw, Crimson Cowl, and Graviton.”

“Talk about a huge group,” says Ant-Man.

“Something doesn’t seem right about this,” says the Vision. “It would be best to analyze this information, to formulate a proper plan of action before we rush in.”

“Oh hell no!” exclaims She-Hulk. “No offense, Vizh, I know where you’re coming from, but that’s just not gonna work. Jan, our friends are in danger, we can’t waste any time.”

“Vision is right,” says the Panther. “Captain America’s team went in before we had time to properly discover the threat we were facing, and now they’re possibly captives of the Masters. We have to formulate a plan of action.”

“Sorry, T’Challa, but I agree with Jen,” says the Wasp. “With the other Avengers in danger, we don’t have the luxury to sit around. With Cap out of commission, that puts me in command of the Avengers. And I say we deploy.”

“I agree,” says the Scarlet Witch.

“Same here,” says Falcon.

“Ditto,” says Ant-Man.

“I’m in, too,” says Jack of Hearts.

The Vision sighs, and simply looks around the room at his fellow teammates.

“I don’t like this…” he says. “But I’ll follow whatever the Wasp suggests.”

“Then it’s settled,” says Wasp. “Prep the Quinjet and let’s…”

“Unacceptable,” says the Panther. “You’re letting your personal feelings for Pym cloud your vision. I understand the man you love is in danger, but that is no reason to run off half-cocked.”

“Don’t even start, Panther,” says Wasp. “I’m really not in the mood right now. This goes beyond Hank.”

“If you say so,” says the Panther.

“Let’s go,” says the Wasp, glaring at T’Challa.

“Shut up,” says Wasp.

Los Angeles

“Earth’s mightiest heroes,” says Klaw. “Feh, not so mighty now.”

He stands with his arms folded outside the cells of the five captive Avengers. By his side is Graviton.

“Just let us out and I’ll show you how mighty we can be…” mutters Warbird.

“Are you here to actually tell us something or just to gloat?” asks Captain America.

“Gloat, of course,” says Graviton. “It’s much more fun that way.”

“Why Los Angeles, anyway?” asks Tony. “Are you guys just suckers for Disneyland?”

“All you need to know is that this time, you lose,” says Graviton. “By the way, Stark, ever since you went public with your identity, I’ve been meaning to ask you – have any stock tips?”

“Invest in bandages,” replies Tony. “I have a feeling there will be a demand for them, soon…”

“Clever,” says Graviton. “Glad you still have your sense of humor, Tony.”

“Fuck you,” says Tony.

“No no, if what the tabloids have been saying is true, you’d enjoy that too much,” says Graviton.

“Don’t you people have better things to do with your time?” asks the Black Widow.

“I suppose,” says Klaw. “But as Graviton said, this is much more fun.”

Klaw approaches Captain America’s cell and looks through the small window to see the living legend standing firm, unflinching.

“I think this is the part where you say, ‘you’ll never get away with this, Klaw’,” he says with a chuckle.

“Klaw…” begins Cap. “You’re not even worth the effort.”

Klaw and Graviton begin to laugh in reply to Captain America’s words.

“Do you always talk like that?” asks Graviton. “Did anyone ever tell you that you sound like a cheesy comic book superhero? Klaw, are you sure we captured Captain America and not Adam West?”

“As much fun as this is, we should get going,” says Klaw. “We have to arrange for a welcoming party.”

Klaw and Graviton leave the cells, and then Giant-Man is the first to speak.

“They’re expecting the rest of the Avengers,” he says. “This was all a set-up.”

“I know,” says Cap. “The one thing I’m trying to figure out is a set-up for what.”

As the captive Avengers contemplate the reasoning behind their capture and the Masters’ attacks, the Crimson Cowl sits in another room, her eyes fixed on a television set.

“This is Nancy Tywan for CNN, reporting live from Geneva, Switzerland. Today, an unprecedented event is taking place, as Professor Cassandra Xavier, headmistress of the Xavier Institute and founder of the X-Men, is taking her campaign for mutant civil rights to the United Nations. We’re not aware of all the details, but we believe that Professor Xavier intends to try and have the X-Men’s vigilante status nullified and perhaps have them become officially sanctioned and operated by the United Nations…”

The Crimson Cowl smiles beneath her mask at this report. This is exactly what she has been waiting to hear.

“Everything is going according to plan.”

CONTINUED IN UNCANNY X-MEN #39!