A GOOD DAY

By Wesley Overhults

Earth-21

The Exiles looked at their handiwork and then across the battlefield at this world’s version of the Avengers that they had teamed up with. Ultron was once again causing trouble but the Avengers were without the proper firepower to defeat him. That was the reason the Exiles had arrived, to help the Avengers defeat the mechanical menace. With their task completed, they assumed they would just jump to the next world automatically but that didn’t seem to be the case. For the moment, they were stuck on this world. Sandman knew what that meant. In any other circumstances, it meant that they could catch a break and have a day off. Since he became a member of the Exiles, however, Sandman knew what a lull in the action really meant. It just meant the universe was hatching another scheme to screw with them and screw them over.

“You fought well,” noted Captain America as he extended his hand in friendship to Sandman and his motley crew of heroes. “It’s a shame you won’t be staying here. Courage like that is the hallmark of an Avenger.”

“I was one back where I came from,” said Sandman, shaking Captain America’s hand. “These days . . . I don’t know anymore.” Sandman turned to his team and then caught a glance at the Tallus he wore on his arm. It wasn’t saying anything so for the moment they were all safe. How long that moment lasted was anyone’s guess. “Take some time to yourselves until the Tallus tells me we’re moving out.”

The rest of the Exiles nodded and began to disperse, some of them choosing to mingle with the group of Avengers they had just helped. Sandman noted that Spider-Man kept giving him odd looks though he was used to being mistaken for a criminal by now. Similarly, Daredevil kept giving Spider-Man an odd look though for the moment, Johnny had fixed his attention on the Scarlet Witch. Sandman couldn’t say any red-blooded man with a pulse wouldn’t do the same. He hadn’t worked very much with Wanda Maximoff but the woman was a ten no matter what reality you or she called home.

“I need to run an errand,” decided Goblin, lifting off the ground.

“This time I’m coming with you,” declared Wasp. She remembered last time Harry attempted this, she was the one who had a mission to complete. This time she had no such obligation so she rose into the air after him.

“It’s not necessary,” assured Goblin. “I can handle it myself.”

“You’re going after more Goblin formula just like last time,” realized Wasp. “I’m not letting you go through this alone, Harry.”

Goblin didn’t say anything in response. He merely turned away from her and flew off. Kate took that as some sort of cue that she should follow so she did. The rest of the Exiles watched them go before trying to decide what they should do with their apparent free time. For the most part, they seemed content to spend it with the Avengers since they already trusted them. Trust, of course, was harder for some Exiles to give than it was for others.

“Ah don’t see any need ta hang ’round here,” decided Husk, walking off down the street and away from her teammates and the Avengers. She rolled her eyes as she realized that one of her teammates was following her.

“Can I come too?” asked Pixie. “Please? I promise I’ll be good.”

“Ah ain’t in tha mood ta babysit,” warned Husk. She looked at Megan and watched the demonic girl’s eyes begin to resemble that of a lost puppy. It reminded her of one of her little sisters back home and for a second Paige remembered what it was like before the Exiles and even before the Hellfire Club. “Fine, ya can come. Just don’t make trouble, okay?”

“Sure,” agreed Pixie happily, clapping her hands with glee. “Where are we going anyway?”

“Don’t know,” admitted Husk. “Ya got any place in mind?”

Pixie nodded furiously before taking Husk’s hand and then teleporting both of them away in a cloud of pixie dust. She did indeed have a destination in mind. It was the only place she had thought about going ever since she was ripped away from her own reality and became a member of the Exiles.

“Well, guess that just leaves me and our fearless leader,” noted Daredevil before turning his attention back to the Scarlet Witch. “I hate to get all personal when we’ve only just met but you’re magic right?”

“That’s what everyone says,” replied Wanda with a smile. “I’ve always been a big fan of that costume, by the way. Red is my favorite color after all.”

“I need to pick your brain about some things then,” explained Daredevil.

“Well, since your leader and my leader seem to have decided to return to the mansion, I think we can pick up our conversation there,” decided Wanda. “What exactly do you want to know?”

“We’ll talk about it in private,” said Daredevil as both of them walked back home with the rest of the Avengers.

Somewhere in New York City

“This place looks like a dump.”

Goblin smirked under his mask at Wasp’s assessment of the abandoned building in front of them. He couldn’t deny that the place was indeed a dump. The building looked like it hadn’t been in use in a number of years and it was falling apart. It wasn’t the condition of the building that brought him here though. In his world, Harry had compiled a list of all his father’s Goblin hideouts. Norman was paranoid enough to sprinkle tons of weapons caches throughout the city, all of them stocked with equipment and formula. Harry had gone about eliminating every one of those caches in his world, making sure that no one else could use his father’s old equipment against him or against anyone. He wasn’t here to destroy them this time though. He needed to make another batch of Goblin formula because he was starting to run out of it. It was easier to synthesize his version of the formula if he had an already existing sample to work from. So far, he hadn’t had the time to search for some but now with a momentary lull in the action he realized it might be the chance he needed.

“It’s not the building I care about,” he reminded Wasp. “In my world, this was one of my father’s Goblin hideouts. If we’re lucky then hopefully the same will apply in this world and I’ll be able to get a sample of his formula to synthesize more of mine.”

“You’re starting to run out then?” asked Wasp.

Harry could hear the slightly hopeful tone in Kate’s question. He knew she didn’t approve of him using the formula just like Liz never approved of it. He needed it though. The strength and the healing factor it provided were both invaluable in his career as a superhero. He couldn’t afford to lose such powerful weapons in his arsenal.

“Yes,” he responded to Kate’s question before making his way inside the building. “I take it you don’t approve of me taking it in the first place.”

“I’d rather you not,” admitted Wasp, trailing after him and helping him search through the building. “You know my history with drugs, Harry. I can’t stand watching someone I care about go through the same thing I went through.”

“I appreciate your concern,” noted Goblin. “I need that formula though, Kate. You know our line of work is a dangerous one and the properties of that formula help keep me safe and keep me on the same level with the others.”

“Is that what it’s really about?” questioned Wasp. “You’re jealous of the others because their powers are natural and yours aren’t?”

Harry didn’t have an answer for that question. He preferred to continue searching the building instead. At one time, the building was an office complex. Harry could still see remnants of office cubicles in certain rooms. What he wanted was further down in the bowels of the building though. He glided down the flights of stairs effortlessly and he could hear the small buzzing noise that let him know that Wasp was following him down.

“Maybe,” he finally answered.

“You’re not inferior to us, Harry,” promised Wasp, putting her hand on his shoulder to stop him. “If anything, you’re better than us because you know how human you are and yet it doesn’t stop you from being a hero.”

“These days, I don’t feel like much of a hero,” admitted Harry, turning and looking back at Wasp before continuing with his quest.

Xavier Institute

Pixie remembered the Xavier Institute. She remembered when her mutation kicked in, her mother made the Institute sound like a Godsend. It was a place where she would be able to interact with other kids like her without being hassled by normal kids. Megan loved that place, loved the people that were her classmates and her teachers. She thought the Institute was the best thing to ever happen to her. Then came Limbo and Magik and every happy moment she ever had was ripped away. Life didn’t seem so cheery after that. The Institute wasn’t the same for her. People that were normally her friends were now scared of her and wanted nothing to do with her. She couldn’t exactly blame them. She didn’t even want anything to do with herself.

“Why did ya bring us here?” asked Husk, looking at the plaque on the gate of the school.

“I wanted to go home,” admitted Pixie, looking forlornly at the place that was once her home. “That last mission when we saw Xavier . . . it reminded me how much I missed this place.”

“It’s not anything so great,” countered Husk. “Ah told ya that before, Megan. Xavier’s is just a place full of a bunch o’ people with dumb ideas. No self-respectin’ mutant would be caught dead in a place like . . .”

Paige let the rest of her sentence hang on her tongue as she saw something she thought she would never see ever in her life. Emma Frost was walking through the grounds of the Xavier Institute with a group of apparently new students. Emma was in the process of giving them the guided tour of the facility. Pixie didn’t see anything unusual with this considering that Emma practically ran the school where she came from. Husk, however, had been exposed to Emma in a very different light.

“She’s a really good teacher,” noted Pixie.

“Ah don’t understand,” said Husk almost to herself. “She hates Xavier. She wouldn’t be caught dead in that place. What’s she doin’ in there?”

“Her students at the Hellfire Club got killed and it changed her,” explained Pixie. “I told you that before, silly. People aren’t really what they think they are. They’re only good or bad depending on the circumstances. Things can happen that change them one way or the other.”

“So you’re saying for Miss Frost to change into that, Ah hafta die?” asked Husk skeptically.

“I’m just saying what happens,” answered Pixie. “It only takes one moment, one thing, to change someone. Maybe you’ll die like all the other Hellions, maybe you won’t. I’m just saying that something good can come out of it, you know?”

“Not exactly very uplifting,” said Husk, still unable to stop staring at Emma.

“Aw and here I thought I was such a cheery person,” cracked Pixie before turning her attention back to the Institute. “I wanna go inside some time. Do you think we can do that now?”

“Yeah, sure,” agreed Husk, realizing that the Institute meant something to Megan and she would be a gigantic bitch if she interfered with that. “Teleport us inside and we’ll talk a look around.”

Avengers Mansion

“So I wanted to talk to you about something.”

Wanda Maximoff nodded and chose to let Daredevil continue. Johnny didn’t really know what to say. He knew that Nico was out there somewhere and that she probably didn’t even have the slightest clue who he was or that he even existed. He didn’t know if magic was strong enough to counteract whatever power the Timebroker employed but he was willing to find out. If he could just get a message to Nico somehow, just even see her face and know that she was okay, then that would be enough for him.

“Go on,” prodded Scarlet Witch.

“My girlfriend used to be a member of our team,” explained Daredevil. “The Timebroker, Will told you about him, sent her home but he also erased all her memories of her time with us . . . with me. Is magic strong enough to overcome that?”

“It depends on the kind of magic,” admitted Scarlet Witch. “I don’t employ a lot of real magic, less so than what real magic-users do. My mutant power revolves around probabilities and math more than sorcery but I know magic as well. It could do what you’re suggesting if the magic is strong enough. I don’t know anything about this Timebroker though, or the power he uses.”

“There’s no way I can get the Tallus off of Will,” said Daredevil. “The thing is stuck to his arm and it stays there no matter how much he shifts his form. If you could take a look at it then could you figure out if magic is stronger than the energy it uses?”

“I could try,” suggested Wanda. “I can sense magical energy on you though. Are you carrying something that’s magic?”

Daredevil scrunched up his eyebrows and thought about Wanda’s question. He couldn’t think of anything he was carrying that could even be the slightest bit magical. He never dealt with that stuff, leaving things like that to Dr. Strange and other people. He preferred to go with more direct and physical methods of attack. The only thing he had on him that might be magical was . . .

“This thing maybe,” he told her as he pulled out the guitar pick Nico had given him, the one she wore around her neck to remind her of their first date and of him. “She gave it to me. It’s a memento of our first date together.”

Wanda nodded and took the guitar pick from him. She closed her eyes and felt the magical energy that resided within the object. It wasn’t just magical energy, it was something else too. Wanda felt Nico’s soul through the magic in the guitar pick. She could sense how much Nico loved Johnny and in return how much he loved her. It was a young love between two young people and it burned hot as all young love did. She could sense Johnny’s anguish and despair at losing Nico because it reminded him of that time so many years ago when he lost his mother and was equally powerless to stop it. There was something else though, something Wanda didn’t quite have a name for. It was powerful magic but it was also unfamiliar to her.

“There’s some magical energy locked within this thing,” she told Daredevil. “Did she happen to cast a spell on it before she gave it to you?”

“I’m not aware of it if she did,” replied Daredevil. “She usually uses keywords or phrases when she casts spells and I didn’t hear her do one before she gave it to me. Her voice changes when she casts her spells. It turns into . . . something else that doesn’t sound like her at all.”

“She did something to this but I can’t quite place what,” said Scarlet Witch, handing the guitar pick back to Johnny. “I can sense a lot of things though. She loved you with all her heart, Johnny, and I can tell that you loved her. A love like that can overcome a lot of things. Trust that when you finally make it back to her, she will remember you and remember the love that you shared with her.”

“Is there anything you can do to get her back or to get me to her?” inquired Daredevil hopefully.

“I’m afraid not,” replied Wanda sadly. “You will meet her again, Johnny. I know the chances of that are too small to calculate but I know a few things about beating the odds. Trust me when I tell you that you’ll meet her again.”

Somewhere in New York City

“So here we are at last,” said Goblin as they came to the end of their quest. He stared at the large, steel door and noted the computerized lock.

“What do you think the combination is?” asked Wasp.

“The only date he would ever bother to remember,” replied Goblin bitterly, placing his fingers on the keypad and typing in a series of numbers. “It’s the date he first took the Goblin formula. It’s the date that the Green Goblin was born.”

He nodded in satisfaction as the door unlocked itself and he had to use his super strength in order to even open the door once it was unlocked. He knew it was a smart idea by his father to make a door only he, or someone like him, had the strength to open. It fed into Norman’s massive ego and also showed just how paranoid he was when he had constructed all these hideouts around the city.

“Well, we must be in the right place,” realized Wasp while the two Exiles stepped inside and looked around at the racks full of Goblin weaponry. “Was he just in love with his face or something?”

“Basically, yes,” replied Goblin while staring at the grinning visages of the Green Goblin that littered the room. He didn’t come here to admire his own twisted reflection though. He came to get more formula.

Wasp watched Goblin search through the contents of the room. Staring at all those faces of the Green Goblin honestly gave her the creeps. It unnerved her even more that she had to stare at that face every day because it was the same face that Harry wore. She couldn’t figure that out exactly but it wasn’t as if she was one to judge. Her entire superhero career revolved around emulating her childhood hero. Janet Van Dyne never ran around throwing bombs at people or pushing girls off bridges though. Why emulate a madman even if that madman was your father?

“I can’t find any formula,” said Goblin, the irritation very evident in his tone. “We’re wasting our time here then. There are plenty of hideouts scattered throughout the city and we don’t know how much time we have left. We should move on to the next one.”

“Harry, you don’t need to rely on that formula all the time,” said Wasp. “I know you have this massive inferiority complex but nothing could be further from the truth. You are so much better than your father ever was and you don’t need his leftovers to prove it.”

“I have to have that formula if I’m ever going to be useful to the team,” countered Goblin with anger rising in his voice. “Why don’t you understand that? Without that formula then all I am is a guy in a bad Halloween costume with a bunch of bombs. Without that formula all I am is . . .”

“A cheap imitation of your father?” asked Wasp skeptically. “Harry, please listen to me on this one, okay? You are sounding exactly like how I used to sound and it scares the crap out of me.”

Goblin shook his head ferociously and turned away from Wasp. He looked at a giant case that housed a spare Green Goblin costume, focusing his attention especially on the mask that leered back at him. He hated that mask and hated the man who wore it even more. Yet now he was the one who wore it so did that mean he also hated himself? Without warning, Harry suddenly let out an inhuman roar and slammed his fist through the case. He tore the costume to shreds without any real effort and moved on to the racks of weapons. Spare gliders snapped like cardboard in his hands, his fingers curling around the wires and ripping them out. He hated everything related to his father and, by that extension, he hated himself. What was the difference between him and his father when they wore the same face? What was the difference when they still drank that disgusting formula and still used the same hideous identity? If he truly wanted to be a hero then why use his father’s face to do it? Wasn’t that just tempting fate, daring the universe to make him turn out like his father?

“I hate him!” snarled Goblin in rage, his fists pounding through the racks full of razor bats and half-finished pumpkin bombs. “I hate him!”

Wasp watched as Goblin continued his tantrum. She remembered the irritation and anger that accompanied her own addiction. When she couldn’t get her pills, Kate would become a completely different person. Without the instant gratification of another fix, she would become moody, irritable, and withdrawn. She would snap at people for no reason and then later feel extreme remorse about it. It was as if she was on a rollercoaster and the only thing that could level her out was MGH. More than anyone else, she knew what Harry was feeling in this moment but she also knew that he had the strength inside of him to fight it.

“I know you hate him,” she whispered tenderly as she hugged him. “I know you hate yourself but you have to stop doing that. You’re stronger than this, Harry. You’re stronger than anyone thinks you are.”

“I’m not,” countered Goblin, the rage dissipating for the moment. “If I’m so much better than my father then why do I wear his face?”

“Because you know that people don’t have to be afraid of it,” explained Wasp. “Because you want to teach people that there’s more to being a Goblin than terrorizing innocent people and killing them. Goblins can be more than that and every time you save someone’s life while wearing that face, you prove that.”

“Thank you,” whispered Goblin as he returned Wasp’s hug with one of his own.

“You were there for me when I needed you,” reminded Wasp. “C’mon, we’ll go do something fun with the time we have left. We don’t need to be here.”

“You’re right,” agreed Goblin. “When my supply of formula runs out, then I’ll deal with it.”

“I know you will,” said Wasp. “I’ll be here for you when it does.”

He smiled at her, the action less endearing while he was wearing his mask but Wasp was used to it by now. The Goblin mask still gave her the creeps but it helped to know that the man underneath that mask was a good man. She meant what she said earlier that Harry was stronger than anyone gave him credit for. He had the courage to step out of his father’s shadow and build his own legacy, his own future. He had the courage to choose love instead of hate and to Wasp that was the bravest choice anyone could ever make. It didn’t chase away all of his demons but it was better than nothing.

Xavier Institute

Husk couldn’t say whether or not they were going to get in trouble for this. At this point, she wasn’t too sure of anything. Seeing Emma in the camp of the enemy was very jarring to her and it threw off her sense of what was right and wrong in the world. She didn’t think they would get caught though. If things started to get weird, they could just teleport away. Husk reasoned they were safe for the moment as long as they didn’t do anything stupid.

“This was my room,” noted Pixie, crouching on the windowsill and looking into the dorm room that was once hers. “I had a roommate at first. Her name was Jessie and she wasn’t always nice but I liked her anyway. I used to like everyone back before . . .”

“What happened ta ya?” asked Husk from her position on the ground.

“Something bad,” replied Pixie, the memories of Limbo flickering behind her eyes. “I don’t really wanna talk about it.”

She squeaked in surprise and then took up a better position as someone came into the room. She watched in complete shock as this world’s version of herself skipped into the dorm room. She was so young, so innocent. To Pixie, it was hard to believe that she was the girl that was inside the dorm room. She always liked her butterfly wings. They were so pretty and colorful but they went away after too much time in Limbo. Getting her bat wings hurt like hell. Everything in Limbo hurt like hell.

“So who was in there that made you leave?” asked Husk after Pixie jumped off her perch and returned to the ground.

“Me,” replied Pixie with a shrug. “I never liked looking at myself anyway. I wonder if you’re around here somewhere. Would it be fun meeting yourself?”

“Pass,” said Husk. “Ah don’t think Ah wanna hang around here any longer than Ah hafta. You wanna stay here or leave?”

“We can’t leave yet,” decided Pixie. “We still hafta find Miss Frost and you promised you’d be nice to her.”

“Yeah, Ah promised,” agreed Husk. “Fine, let’s see what else is going on around here.”

“We can’t,” realized Pixie as she felt her teleportation power begin to activate without her consent. “I think we’re about to leave.”

“Maybe next time then,” said Husk.

Pixie nodded and looked to the window of her old dorm room, knowing that inside a past version of herself was beginning a new chapter of her life. She missed her old life, missed all her old friends and her old home. She didn’t have a home anymore but she at least had some new friends. She looked to Paige and realized that somewhere inside, the Kentuckian thought the same thing she did even if she wouldn’t admit it. Family was important to both of them but neither of them had a real family, only the one they had made with the other Exiles. Maybe that was the most important thing.

“Can we go somewhere nice next time?” asked Pixie.

Husk didn’t get the chance to respond. Both girls vanished in a puff of pixie dust and it was time to go to the next world. All of the Exiles felt the teleportation kick in and they left their current world behind. It wasn’t the day off any of them had really hoped for but it was enough to let them catch their breaths. Maybe that was all it was ever meant to do in the first place.

Next Issue: There’s a ticking time bomb in a city full of people and only the Exiles can stop it before it goes off.