MADE

Part III

By Wesley Overhults

New York City, Earth-1313

“Yeah, this doesn’t look inconspicuous at all.”

Night descended quickly onto the city and they group of heroes found themselves pressed against the outside gate of Gracie Mansion. As usual, Daredevil was the first one to open his mouth and give voice to his thoughts. This simple observation, however, wasn’t the half of what was brewing in Johnny Gallo’s mind. On the one hand, he was ecstatic to know that he was right. On the other hand, he was a tad nervous about killing Fisk. Murdock, the Murdock of his home reality, had been a harsh taskmaster with very strict rules. Heroes didn’t kill. No matter how much grime and grit he accumulated on his soul while pounding the pavement every night, Johnny had to remember that one rule. It was that rule that made him better than the scum that prowled the streets. Yet Johnny always wondered how many times Matt had broken his own rule. He wondered if, given the chance and a healthy and functional back, Matt would break that rule with the Kingpin of his home reality. Was tonight the night that Johnny gained a measure of revenge for his mentor?

“I already used up my invisibility spell,” reminded Sister Grimm.

“We stick to the plan,” explained Sandman, cutting short any banter before it started. “Me, Wasp, Daredevil, and Blood Rose are goin’ in. Osborn, I’m puttin’ you in charge of the others while I’m gone.”

“How come he gets ta be in charge?” asked Husk.

“Because apparently I’m the one in charge and I said so,” retorted Sandman before going into his sand form and turning into a blob on the sidewalk. “Kate, take care of any security cameras. We can handle the rest. We’ll give you guys a signal when we’ve got everything under control.”

Wasp nodded and shrunk herself so small that the security cameras couldn’t see her. She flitted through the air and stung each of them to disable them. Sandman oozed through the bars on the front gate while Daredevil vaulted over the wall and then slung his grappling cable back over to Blood Rose.

“Great, guess we just get ta sit on our asses,” muttered Husk.

“Will said to wait for the signal,” reminded Goblin.

“You think they’ll be okay with that guy?” asked Sister Grimm.

“Worried ’bout Johnny?” queried Husk in return, smirking in a way that made her look like Emma Frost. “Guy can handle himself and then some, Nico. Ain’t no need ta worry ’bout any o’ us.”

“I wasn’t worried,” clarified Sister Grimm. “I just needed something to talk about to pass the time.”

“Looks like we’re going to have a better way than that,” realized Goblin as he spotted someone coming over the wall. “Everybody get ready because we’re not the only one paying Fisk a visit tonight.”

“Those guys didn’t earn their paychecks tonight, that’s for sure.”

Blood Rose glared at his ally before his hand unconsciously reached for his firearm. It wasn’t that he hated Daredevil. He didn’t know the man well enough to say that yet. What the vigilante could say was that Daredevil was annoying. The kid, because that’s still what he was, couldn’t keep his mouth shut if he tried. It made stealth work very irritating, almost impossible in fact.

The two of them surveyed the main foyer of the mansion. The room was littered with the unconscious bodies of the security staff. Blood Rose and Daredevil were assigned to watch out for any surprises while Sandman and Wasp secured the guest of honor for their little party.

“They should be back by now,” realized Blood Rose.

“Haulin’ your dad’s fat ass down here takes time,” retorted his companion. “Seriously, how does he get out of bed without a crane?”

“Good one,” admitted Blood Rose, smirking behind his mask. “Unfortunately, I’ve only heard that one about a dozen times.”

“Bet you haven’t heard this one before though” offered Daredevil. “Why do you hate him? What did he do to make you so mad at him?”

“It’s none of your concern,” replied Blood Rose. “My reasons are my own and no one else needs to know them.”

A fire suddenly erupted on the front lawn. The blaze lit the night and framed the scene of a battle involving the three Exiles against Mary, Tombstone’s hired gun and personal assistant.

“You stay inside,” ordered Blood Rose, pulling out his firearms and moving back outside. “Do not harm my father. Save that pleasure for me.”

In the roar of the fight outside, Daredevil wouldn’t have heard the sound of someone slipping into the mansion. He did, however, have a danger-sense that suddenly went off as something came flying towards his throat.

“Had to stock up on some artillery,” said Bullseye, the steak knife he hurled at Daredevil barely missing the scarlet-clad Exile. “Hope you don’t mind that I let myself in.”

“The hell are you doing here?” asked Daredevil, ducking the attack and flinging one of his d-discs at Bullseye’s legs. The piece of metal clanged against the master marksman’s knee and took him to the floor before ricocheting back to its owner. “I thought you got enough of us when Sandman kicked your ass.”

“I got a better contract than you losers,” replied Bullseye while getting gingerly back to his feet and coming at Daredevil. “Doesn’t mean I can’t have some fun too though.”

Daredevil ducked a slash from one of Bullseye’s knives, falling backwards and catching himself with his hands before popping back up to kick Bullseye in the face with both feet. Bullseye spun and sent one of the knives right for Daredevil’s throat but Johnny blocked it with one of his batons.

“Who are you here for then?” inquired Daredevil, hitting Bullseye in the throat with a baton and then flipping away before his opponent could connect with his knives. He realized that was his biggest mistake as his danger-sense screamed at him about an incoming attack. One of the knives stuck in the wall as he sidestepped it.

“Plenty more where that came from, kid,” promised Bullseye but Daredevil wasn’t going to give him time to throw anything else.

Johnny closed the gap in one great bound, hitting a forward handspring and wrapping his feet around Bullseye’s head. He twisted his feet to throw Bullseye to the ground but Bullseye shot out his hand and performed a cartwheel to escape from the hold. Both men came up with their weapons in hand and the ringing sound of metal on metal echoed off the walls of the mansion.

“You never answered my question,” reminded Daredevil, getting into Bullseye’s face as they jockeyed for position in a test of strength.

“I’m here for the Kingpin,” answered Bullseye, slamming his head into Daredevil’s face. Johnny spun sideways and felt the knife scream towards his back thanks to his danger-sense. He bounced a d-disc off the floor and knew it had struck Bullseye’s hand, making him drop the weapon. Johnny flipped backwards and kicked the d-disc while it was coming down from striking the ceiling. The weapon changed course and hit Bullseye in the head before returning to its origin.

“Thought he was the one signing your checks,” said Daredevil, watching Bullseye wobble and stagger from the blow to his head. “Doesn’t matter. Nobody gets the Kingpin but us.”

Daredevil heard a crash of glass coming from what he presumed was the bedroom. He vaulted up to the railing at the top of the main stairwell, crouching on it and trying to listen to his danger-sense so he could figure out which room it was. He deduced the right room in no time and bounded towards it.

“Will stepped out for some fresh air,” explained Wasp, gesturing to the broken window once Daredevil entered through the open bedroom door. “Who the hell is making a mess out there?”

“Mary,” replied Daredevil, remembering the very short briefing Sandman gave them about his meeting with Tombstone. “She always knows how to throw a party.”

“We made sure he’s not going anywhere,” stated Wasp, gesturing to the unconscious form of Wilson Fisk lying in the bed. “I stung him enough to keep him out for the rest of the night. He’ll have a headache when he wakes up though.”

“Bullseye’s here,” informed Daredevil. “He said he’s here for the Kingpin. Looks like we may have to actually protect this big scumbag.”

“I’ll get on it,” promised Wasp. She zipped into the air and out the door to take care of Bullseye while Daredevil kept watch over Fisk.

“You’re causing everyone a hell of a lot of trouble,” mentioned Daredevil while he looked at the unconscious body of Wilson Fisk lying in the bed. “You know, for someone who’s the big, bad Kingpin of crime, it didn’t take much to bring you down. Maybe we’re just that damn good or you’re just that damn stupid.”

“Maybe looks can be deceiving,” suggested a too-familiar voice.

Daredevil felt the buzzing of his danger-sense but something was interfering with it. It was almost like his danger-sense had its wires crossed by something. He heard the click of someone cocking the gun and turned to see Deputy Mayor Matthew Murdock had him in his sights.

“Matt, what is this?” asked Daredevil in disbelief.

“It’s amazing how little people can see even when they have eyes that work,” mused Murdock. “This is the final piece of the puzzle, boy. All I have to do is knock off that fat tub of lard in the bed and then this entire city will belong to me, the uncontested Kingpin of crime.”

The air was alive with heat but Paige Guthrie couldn’t feel it thanks to her metallic skin. Not for the first time, she was grateful for being a mutant and grateful for the power she had. On more than one occasion it had saved her life and this night wouldn’t be any different.

“How many powers does she have?” asked Husk over the explosions as Goblin’s pumpkin bombs met Mary’s telekinetic shield.

“Dunno, never met her before,” replied Sister Grimm.

The pop and crack of gunfire heralded Blood Rose’s arrival, the masked vigilante sending a flurry of bullets in Mary’s direction. Mary turned her attention towards the incoming projectiles and caught them with her telekinesis before flinging them back at their owner. All five of them struck Blood Rose in the chest and took him to the ground.

“Check him,” ordered Goblin. “Somebody better start coming up with a plan here.”

Everyone heard the sound of shattering glass and the thud as something very hard and very heavy hit the ground. All eyes turned to watch Sandman take a run at Mary. Tombstone’s personal assistant saw the Exiles’ leader advance and a wall of fire erupted to block his path. That was just the opening that Husk needed to throw herself at Mary. Paige’s fist came within centimeters of connecting with Mary’s face before an invisible force grabbed it and slung Husk across the lawn of the mansion.

“You got anything in your bag of tricks for her?” inquired Goblin, noting that he and Sister Grimm were the only two members of the Exiles left standing for the moment.

“I’m working on it,” she replied before dodging a blast of fire that leapt from Mary’s hand. “FLASHING LIGHTS!”

A crackling globule of magical energy flew from Nico’s hand and exploded in Mary’s face. Her eyes began to glow but not from the fire of her pyrokinesis. It instantly became clear what the Exiles’ resident witch had done. Every time Mary blinked she saw nothing but a kaleidoscope of colors. The harder she tried to correct her vision, the brighter the colors became until she couldn’t see anything at all. Worse yet, the colors distracted her concentration. She couldn’t maintain the wall of fire she was using to keep Sandman at bay. Once it dropped, Baker’s arm shot towards her and enveloped her in its sandy grip. Sandman squeezed hard enough to force the air from Mary’s lungs and render her unconscious before dropping her to the ground.

“Wish we had communicators or something so we could see how Kate and Gallo are doing in the house,” said Sandman. “Anybody wanna give me a report on Blood Rose? I really don’t feel like losing anyone tonight.”

A rumbling noise drowned out his words. It drew closer and closer until a giant, gray creature barreled through Sandman, causing his body to explode into a million tiny granules of his namesake. Rhino didn’t stop his charge or even slow it down as he lumbered straight towards Goblin. Harry flew into the air and watched the mammoth villain narrowly miss impaling him on his horn. Rhino slowed his charge and turned around, lowering his head and readying himself again.

“Ah got ‘im,” declared Husk, taking at run and meeting Rhino as he started his charge again.

The two bruisers collided with one another and the shockwaves from the blows they delivered rattled the skulls of everyone in the immediate vicinity. Rhino delivered a vicious haymaker to Paige’s jaw that almost knocked her silly despite her metallic skin. To her credit, she held her ground before throwing one right back in Rhino’s face.

“Always knew your learning curve was flat, O’Hirn,” said Sandman after reforming himself and dropping onto Rhino’s back. “Coming from me, that’s pretty damn bad.”

“I’m not going easy on you guys tonight,” promised Rhino, trying to shake Sandman off even as he kicked Husk in the face and knocked her to the ground. “You’re gonna pay for killin’ Hammerhead and Constrictor.”

“You’re even dumber than you look if you think we killed them,” retorted Sandman, morphing his hand around Rhino’s mouth to choke him out again. “Sure, we beat the hell out of those clowns but we didn’t kill ’em.”

Rhino reached up and dug his hands into Sandman’s body before ripping Sandman in half and throwing him down. Sandman quickly reformed and sent a stream of hardened sand at Rhino. The blow barely even fazed the ogre of a man.

“Tombstone said you killed ’em,” explained Rhino. “He sent me here to finish it.”

“I’m not even gonna reason with that,” realized Sandman. “I already know you’re too hard-headed to listen.”

Husk suddenly hit Rhino with a huge right cross while the lone Enforcer was off his guard. Rhino caught Paige’s fist as she attempted a second blow and threatened to crush it despite her steel skin. He yanked Husk into the air by her arm and lowered his head to gore her at close range with his horn. Two pumpkin bombs exploded against his back and caused him to momentarily let Husk go. Rhino turned his attention to Goblin and received some sparkle blasts in his face for his trouble. None of it succeeded in doing anything but angering the man-beast.

“This guy’s always a pain in the ass to put down,” said Goblin. “Anyone got any ideas?”

He deftly avoided Rhino’s massive arm as the villain attempted to swat him out of the air. Another pumpkin bomb exploded off Rhino’s impervious hide with no harm to the brutish man incased within it.

“Osborn, you and Nico get inside and check on the others,” ordered Sandman. “Me and Paige’ll handle O’Hirn.”

“It’s getting so an honest, freelance assassin can’t make a buck in this town anymore,” joked Bullseye before hurling the final steak knife at Wasp.

Kate shrunk down to avoid the projectile and zipped towards Bullseye, zapping him in the forehead with a double sting. Bullseye swatted at Wasp but Kate moved to avoid his hand. She returned to normal size behind him and tried to sting him in the back. Bullseye jumped upwards, flipping over in mid-air and flinging a handful of throwing blades at Wasp. One of the razor-sharp daggers nicked Kate’s arm while another clipped one of her wings. She wobbled in the air before settling on the floor. She heard the whistling noise as Bullseye pulled out his sai daggers and twirled them before coming at her. She turned and launched a sting blast that clipped his legs but one of his daggers sang through the air at her and hit her in the shoulder before she could shrink to avoid it.

“My friends are going to hand you your ass for this,” hissed Wasp, gritting her teeth and the yanking the dagger from her shoulder. She choked back a scream and weakly held up the dagger to block Bullseye’s slash. The wound in her shoulder was gushing blood and the one on her arm wasn’t helping matters much.

“Not before I have your ass for desert,” retorted Bullseye, a cruel gleam in his eye as she stumbled backwards and fell onto the floor. He quickly unleashed a flurry of his throwing blades and Wasp found herself pinned like a butterfly in a child’s insect collection.

“Please don’t,” whimpered Wasp and then inwardly cursed at herself for looking like some scared little girl. “Please don’t kill me.”

“After I get through with you, you’ll wish I did,” warned Bullseye. He noticed the glint of metal out of the corner of his eye as the razor bats sang towards him. He jumped and grabbed onto the railing at the top of the foyer’s stairs.

“I heard you liked playing with sharp objects,” said Goblin as he flew towards Bullseye. “I got some you can choke on, you piece of slime!”

“Tempting but I’ll pass,” decided Bullseye, pulling himself up to the top of the stairs and then moving towards the sound of gunshots.

“Harry, I need you down here!” called up Sister Grimm.

Goblin cursed under his breath and turned his attention back to Nico and Kate. He felt the blood in his veins burn white-hot when he got a close look at what Bullseye did to Wasp. For perhaps the first time since he started taking the formula, Harry felt murderous rage well up inside him but he didn’t know why. It was a matter he could debate later in private. Right now he had more pressing concerns.

“Can you heal her?” he asked Sister Grimm.

“I already used up my healing spell,” she answered. “Should we take these things out?”

“Yes,” cut in Wasp. “You guys better do something fast.”

Goblin weighed his options as Sister Grimm pulled the throwing blades out of Wasp’s wings. Kate needed immediate medical attention but a normal hospital probably wouldn’t be able to handle her unique physiology. Nico said she had already used up her healing spell so a quick fix was out of the question. They could try taking her to Reed Richards or someone like that but the Exiles weren’t tight with any of the superheroes in this reality. He didn’t even know if they could trust them considering what happened during the last mission. That really left him with only one option if he wanted to save Kate’s life.

“This is going to suck, Kate,” warned Goblin after Nico managed to remove all the throwing blades. “You’re not going to like it but it’s the only thing we can do right now to save your life.”

The sound of gunshots punctuated his statement and both his and Nico’s attention turned to what was going on upstairs.

“Johnny’s up there,” realized Sister Grimm before immediately moving towards the fight occurring on the second floor. “You take care of Kate while I handle this.”

Harry nodded and turned his attention back to his dying teammate. He opened the padded pouch on his belt where he kept his stash of Goblin formula. He knew the regenerative qualities of the formula could save Kate’s life. What he didn’t know was how that formula would interact with her augmented DNA. When he took the formula the first time, he was plain, old Harry Osborn. Since he developed it, Goblin had never tested it on someone who was superhuman. These weren’t exactly the ideal conditions for such a test but he had to try and this was his only option.

“That the stuff you take?” inquired Wasp, her voice starting to fade. “Harry, I . . .”

“I know you’re scared,” whispered Goblin as he knelt down beside her and opened the vial of formula. “I don’t know if this’ll work but it’s the only thing I can do for you right now.”

He put the open vial to her lips and then tipped the concoction down her throat. To her credit, Kate swallowed every single drop of it. She felt like she wanted to vomit but she choked the formula down. Both of them prayed to whatever God there was that this would work.

Johnny Gallo was a man who trusted his instincts. He trusted his gut and his gut didn’t lie. He did whatever came naturally to him because operating on instinct felt good, felt right. His instincts had never once let him down until tonight. Tonight they had betrayed him completely. As the first bullet from Matt Murdock’s gun seared towards his skull, Daredevil thought about letting it connect. His instincts screamed for him to move. His danger-sense, blurred and dulled by this attack from someone who was a second father to him, still warned him that he was about to die unless he moved in the next two seconds. For only a second, he thought about not moving. Then in the next second, he gave himself to his instincts one more time and he moved.

“So you’re the big, bad Kingpin then?” asked Daredevil.

“Fisk was always the diversion but he’s outlived his usefulness,” explained Murdock. “After faking my own death to kill my public life and using Ben Urich as a body double, I knew Fisk was the only thread to tie up. I can always get another mayor, one better suited to my own needs.”

“I can’t believe you would do something like this,” admitted Daredevil, springing towards Murdock. Unfortunately, his leaping strike wasn’t fast enough to go unnoticed by Murdock’s radar-senses. Murdock managed to duck and Daredevil ended up tackling Bullseye through the doorway and out into the hallway. Murdock grinned and then turned his attention and his gun towards the still unconscious Wilson Fisk.

“Sorry, old friend,” apologized Murdock before squeezing the trigger twice and burying the shots into Fisk’s massive chest. “You’re just too big of a loose end.” He watched with unseeing eyes as the blood poured from the wounds in Fisk’s chest. Every shred of his public life was gone now. There was no Matt Murdock anymore. There was only the Kingpin.

“You’re a hard man to get an audience with, Kingpin,” said Bullseye.

Murdock turned and noted the sai dagger hurling towards him with his radar-sense. He dodged the flying projectile and then raised his gun to fire at Bullseye. Over the hired killer’s shoulder, Daredevil tossed one of his d-discs at Murdock, knocking the gun from his hand before he could fire it.

“I don’t feel like waiting in line,” decided Daredevil, bouncing over Bullseye to land a flying kick to Murdock’s jaw. “Don’t worry, I’ll get to you in a second.”

As Daredevil and Murdock dueled, Bullseye grinned cruelly and pulled out more of his throwing blades. Not content to wait for the contest to end before he picked up its scraps, Bullseye wanted to end it himself.

“I hear you’re some kind of badass,” commented Sister Grimm, turning Bullseye’s attention away from the fight. “C’mon then, boogeyman, show a girl a good time.”

“Well, if you insist,” replied Bullseye, turning his attention away from the fight going on in front of him in favor of Nico. He readied to throw the blades in his hand with lethal precision. “See, you may be good, baby, but me? I’m . . .”

“A guy in a lame-ass costume with a lame-ass power,” finished Sister Grimm. “RICOCHET!”

Bullseye hurled the blades at Sister Grimm but a glowing shield of energy suddenly sprung up in front of her. The deadly weapons hit the shield and bounced back at their owner, hitting him in the chest. Bullseye dropped to the floor and it gave Sister Grimm a full view of what was going on in the room with Daredevil and Murdock. The problem was that she didn’t like what she saw.

“Why, Matt?” It was the only question running through Daredevil’s mind. It was the only question he’d asked for the past few minutes, ever since he saw Matt Murdock point a gun at his head.

“I don’t owe you any explanation at all,” countered Murdock, pulling out a piece of metal and letting it telescope into a cane.

Murdock came at Daredevil with the cane even as the crimson-clad Exile pulled out his batons. Daredevil managed to block the initial attack from Murdock, flicking the cane away before smacking him across the jaw with his other baton. Murdock retaliated by grabbing Daredevil’s wrist and kicking him twice in the ribs. Daredevil backed off and tried to catch his breath.

“You trained yourself,” realized Daredevil. “What happened to you, Matt?”

“Stop talking like you know me,” retorted Murdock. “I don’t know who the hell you are but I know I’ve never met you once in my life.” He came at Daredevil again, cracking him in the sides with his cane.

Johnny knew his danger-sense was having a hard time registering Matt as a threat but he also knew he better get it together before he started taking some real punishment. He took the shots in the ribs and then tried to retaliate with a palm strike across Murdock’s jaw. He couldn’t believe he was doing this. It was all too insane to be true. Would he really have to kill his mentor in order to save this world and get home to his own?

“I don’t want to hurt you any more than I have to,” he declared to Murdock, tripping him and pinning him to the ground with his batons. “Give it up, Matt, and don’t make this any harder than it has to be.”

“You think I’ll do any time?” asked Murdock, contempt dripping from his voice. “I own this town. You won’t even get me inside a courtroom.”

“You’re not leaving me a choice then,” stated Daredevil, the end of his baton with the concealed grappling hook pressed against Matt Murdock’s forehead. “All it’s going to take is one click of a button for this to go through your head. Please don’t make it come to that.”

“Johnny?”

The name barely escaped Nico’s throat but it made Daredevil turn around. He couldn’t do this, not with her watching. This was what they had been reduced to though. Matt always told him the city would make him crazy because when you worked the streets the violence seeped into you no matter how hard you resisted. So here he was, the Man Without Fear and he was afraid to pull the trigger.

“You’re too soft to take me out,” retorted Murdock, shoving Daredevil off of him and getting back to his feet.

“I’m not.”

Daredevil turned and felt his danger-sense go off clear as day. He bent over backwards to avoid the bullet hurtling through the air. Bullseye had pushed Nico out of the way and had fired Murdock’s own gun. It only took a split-second for Daredevil to realize that Murdock was the intended target for Bullseye’s attack. The bullet hit the Kingpin right between the eyes and dropped him instantly.

“You’re a dead man!” hissed Daredevil.

“Maybe but I never miss,” coughed Bullseye, the wounds in his chest still leaking blood. Daredevil flung himself at Bullseye and tackled the hired killer to the floor, intent on beating him to a bloody pulp. It seemed he would never get the chance.

“The Tallus says we’re done,” informed Sister Grimm even as the Exiles started to fade out.

“Not until I kill him,” retorted Daredevil but Bullseye was already gone and the Exiles were a world away.

The Exiles would never know that Blood Rose would barely survive the wounds he suffered from the battle. They also would never know that Bullseye of all people would become one of the city’s greatest unsung heroes for taking out the mighty and powerful Kingpin.

An Unknown Earth

“Didn’t exactly expect to find you here.”

Johnny Gallo looked up from staring at the candles, their flickering light the only thing illuminating the still sanctuary of the cathedral. He turned his gaze to find Sister Grimm staring back at him. The second they had arrived in this world, he had distanced himself from the others. He was sick with grief, rage, and remorse. Matt Murdock was a father to him and trying to kill him was how Johnny repaid such a debt? It was unacceptable to him. Yet Murdock had died in that world and they had moved on to their next assignment. The wheels of the universe kept turning and he found himself caught up in their grind.

“Matt was a Catholic through and through,” explained Daredevil quietly. “Never completely went in for God but I just . . . I needed some forgiveness tonight.”

“You’re talking to a pretty hardcore Catholic here,” reminded Sister Grimm. “Even after all the shit with my parents and with Strange, I still keep the faith. I know a thing or two about forgiveness and the need for it.”

“He used to say the city would make you crazy,” muttered Daredevil to himself. “He kept telling me to get out, find a girl, do normal things. I guess he was right. I guess in that world it got to him and it killed him.”

“So now you wonder what’s getting to us,” finished Nico, her hands unconsciously moving to take off his mask. “It’s not the city that makes you crazy, Johnny. It’s the job and that’s what worries you.”

“Shouldn’t it?” he countered, taking her hands but not pulling them away from his face. “What are we turning into, Nico? What are we making ourselves into with this job?”

She didn’t answer him with words. Instead, she kissed him and let that say enough. He didn’t think of anything else in that moment. He just thought of her, of the blackberry-flavored lip gloss she used and the unusual taste it left in his mouth. This job was making them crazy. It was making them into something they didn’t know they could become but they couldn’t stop. The only thing they could do was hold on and pray. Johnny intended to hold onto Nico and the others for as long as he could. He couldn’t stand the thought of what losing her would make him become.

Next Issue: Kate Bishop’s never been particularly fond of what she sees in the mirror.