Under the first light of the morning sun in Wisconsin, Erik Josten started up the tractor. He gave it a few tries, but the engine just stuttered in response on each attempt. Despite minor frustrations like this, he felt it was a vast improvement over his previous, far more hectic lifestyle.

A former AWOL Marine, Erik was hired by Heinrich Zemo to head up the Baron’s South American mercenary force. Following Zemo’s demise, the Enchantress convinced Erik to use Zemo’s ionic ray machine on himself. It granted him superhuman strength and he took on the identity of Power Man. Later, through the help of Karl Malus, he gained the ability to alter his size. He later joined in with Baron Zemo’s Thunderbolts scheme, taking on the identity of Atlas and posing as a hero for a time.

Except he started to enjoy it.

He remained with the team until the Red Skull altered reality with the Cosmic Cube. After one final mission with his former teammate, Vantage, he returned to his family’s farm in order to collect his bearings once more. He had spent the past several months using up what money he had stashed away buying it back.

The tractor still failed to respond. Erik checked the engine, and found it had finally given out. The tractor was old, so it was bound to happen sooner or later, but he didn’t have enough cash to get a replacement. Erik swatted the tractor, his body growing in size in the process and his ionic-powered strength causing it to fly across the field.

“Ahh dammit,” muttered Erik as he shrunk back down to normal size.

“Looks like the old girl’s seen better days.”

Erik turned. Standing in the field was a tall, stoic man with a silver goatee and hair, dressed in a white and navy-blue SHIELD uniform. The man hadn’t come alone. Hovering in the lotus position behind him was a gray-skinned man in a purple cape. This strange person had what resembled red tribal marks on his face and his long, silver hair billowed in the light breeze along with his cape. He also had a strange-looking scythe resting on his lap.

“G.W. Bridge,” said Erik.

“You remember me, I’m flattered,” said Bridge.

“I remember you and your SHIELD goons shooting at me and the other T-Bolts.”

“You were a fugitive back then and you’ve since received a pardon.”

“Yeah well, I’m done with all that. And like you said, I’ve been pardoned,” said Erik. “So why are you here and who’s the cape? I may be retired, but don’t think I’ll stand down if you try to bring me in on some technicality.”

“Spare me the self-righteous speeches, Josten. We both know you were working with Zemo when he tried to mind-control the entire world.”

Erik’s face twisted in anger. “I had no idea what he was up to! And after the dust cleared, I walked away!”

“You sure a world court will see it that way?”

Erik’s size slowly increased just a little bit. “You threatening me?”

Century took note of this and his feet touched the ground. He readied his scythe, but Bridge waved him off. “Just speculating, that’s all.”

“I don’t like this kinda speculation. Cut to the chase and tell me why you’re here.”

“I’ve noticed something about you, Josten. On your own, you’re pretty bad at taking initiative. But when you’re given a leader, you excel. The Zemos, the Enchantress, the Mad Thinker, Hawkeye. All you need is a little direction to achieve your potential,” said Bridge. “I can offer you that direction, put you on a path again. You’re a born soldier, a Marine through and through. My team has an opening and I’m looking for just that kind of man.”

“What sort of team?” asked Erik.

“Have you ever heard of Force Works?”

Erik nodded. “Yeah, seen them on TV. You mean you’re in charge of them?”

“I am.”

“Seems a bit extreme, doesn’t it? The kind of things your boys have been doing—”

“This coming from a former Thunderbolt?” asked Bridge.

“Point taken.” Erik shrunk down to his normal height. “Tell you what, I’ll consider it—if you do something for me.”

“What?”

“After we left the T-Bolts, Dallas and I tried to locate my brother. He’s trapped in the Darkforce Dimension. It…didn’t go so well. Something happened and she was trapped there.”

“How’d that happen?”

“We broke into a research facility out west, they were experimenting with the Darkforce. Thought we could use it to transport ourselves, but when we turned it on, Dallas got…” Erik glanced down at his feet. “She got sucked in. And the machine, it overloaded, so I couldn’t go after her.”

“And now you want me to help find her?” asked Bridge.

Erik nodded. “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.”

ATLAS SHRUGGED

By Hunter Lambright and Dino Pollard

The building had been provided by the television network. Producer Sam Kerns felt the Great Lakes Avengers living in the house of one of their members wasn’t the kind of glamorous image they wanted to give the team with their reality TV show.

It had been renovated to incorporate some basic security features, one of which began going off in the form of a very loud alarm. Flatman slid out from the crack under the front entrance, looking around in surprise.

“I though they were going to give us a notice in adva—UGH!”

Century had taken out Flatman with one blow from the blunt end of his scythe. Atlas and Bridge stood by his side, having just emerged from his portal. “What are we doing here?” asked Atlas.

“You want to find your girl, don’t you?” asked Bridge, gun drawn. “This is how we do it.”

“Yeah, but these guys? What could they do?” asked Atlas.

“How about I show you, Atlas?”

The voice came from the Midwest’s most-famous supermodel, Ashley Crawford. She jumped from the roof, but while falling, her body changed, expanding in size and mass as she transformed her slim, lithe figure into the large, bulbous form of Big Bertha.

Atlas increased his own size to counter. He pulled his punch slightly, but the force of his massive fist was enough to send even Bertha flying into the horizon. “Maybe next time, lady. Don’t got time to waste with you.”

Atlas glanced at Bridge. “Look, is it too much to ask for you to be straight with me about why we’re here?”

“Josten, if you don’t shut up and start trusting me—”

“Hey, what the hell do you th—” Mr. Immortal came running up behind Bridge. The former SHIELD agent briefly paused his speech to Atlas, taking just a moment to put a bullet between Mr. Immortal’s eyes.

“—then you can get someone else to find Riordan.”

“Commander, I too am curious/wondering/questioning why we are here,” said Century.

Bridge’s grip tightened around his gun. He kicked open the door to the facility and saw a man dressed from head to toe in black, with large, white eyes. Bridge put the barrel against the man’s forehead.

“Hello Doorman. We could use your help,” he said.

“Umm…couldn’t you have just knocked?” asked Doorman.

“My trigger finger’s getting itchy, son.”

“Okay, okay!” said Doorman, flinching slightly. “What do you want?”

“Century here can open portals. With your connection to the Darkforce, my theory is you could get us there,” said Bridge.

“I dunno about that, I mean, my powers are mostly useful when I’m standing against a wall and—”

Bridge grabbed Doorman and slammed his face into the wall. “Like that?”

“Sure…that’ll do…” came Doorman’s slightly muffled response.

Bridge nodded to Century. The alien warrior raised the scythe called Parallax and began spinning it around. Doorman combined his powers with that as well and a crack began to appear in the wall. It expanded into a full-blown swirling black vortex.

“It’s working!” said Doorman, somewhat surprised himself.

“It’s not quite stable,” said Century. “You must be quick or you could be lost in there.”

“We’ll move fast. Josten? You ready?”

Atlas said nothing, just jumped first into the vortex. Bridge followed his lead. Inside the Darkforce dimension were floating ledges, suspended against a black void of nothingness. Behind them, the portal still remained open.

“Let’s find her and get outta here,” said Bridge.

“Don’t gotta tell me twice,” said Atlas. “DUCK!”

He forced Bridge to the ground with his own body as one of the ledges flew right over them. When the pair stood again, they saw all the ledges beginning to shift, moving around, increasing the gaps between each other.

“I take it we’re not welcome here,” said Atlas. He shivered a bit, and expressed surprise at that. “What the hell?”

“What?” asked Bridge.

“I’m cold.”

“It’s a side-effect of entering the Darkforce dimension without protection.”

“But I don’t get cold,” said Atlas.

“The Darkforce isn’t exactly the same as a Wisconsin winter,” said Bridge. He stumbled slightly as he took a step forward. Atlas reached out and caught him before he could fall from the ledge.

“You okay?”

“Lethargy…” muttered Bridge. “It’s another side-effect.”

Atlas cupped his hands around his mouth. “DALLAS!”

Bridge rolled his eyes. “Yeah, there’s an idea.”

“You got a better one?” asked Atlas. He jumped from one ledge to another, increasing his size in the air. “DALLAS! CAN YOU HEAR ME?”

“This is a crapshoot,” said Bridge. “Josten, this place is beyond any conventional means of measurement. You could spent a lifetime in here and never come close to finding her.”

“Anything that’s good about me, it’s ‘cause she believed in me,” said Atlas. “She’s the best person I know.”

“Then focus on that,” said Bridge. “Maybe you can tether yourself to her somehow.”

“DALLAS!”

The voice was weak and muffled. “…Erik…?”

“Did you hear that?” asked Atlas.

Bridge shook his head. Atlas jumped to another ledge, moving to the source of the voice. “Dallas, I’m here, baby!”

As Atlas moved from ledge to ledge, he finally saw Dallas hovering in mid-air. She was curled up in a fetal position, arms wrapped around her legs, face buried in her knees. Atlas increased his side, taking her in the palm of his hand.

“I’m here, Dallas. It’s okay.”

Dallas just shook her head. “No…you’re not real…”

“Bridge, what’s happening to her?”

From one of the nearby ledges, Bridge could only speculate. “The Darkforce feeds on light. You said she’s the best person you know? That’s why its so drawn to her.”

“NO!” shouted Atlas. He returned to his normal size, clutching Dallas close to him. “Not gonna let you go…never gonna…”

Dallas slowly felt some warmth coming back into her body. Her tension abated, and she began to embrace Atlas back. But as she did she noticed something strange about him. His body started to become more and more cool to the touch, as if something were being taken from him. Like he was now feeding the Darkforce in an effort to wean her away from it.

“We have to go, Josten!” shouted Bridge.

Atlas grew once more, taking Dallas in the palm of one hand. He took Bridge in the palm of another and moved back towards the portal. He pushed the two of them out through it first and then decreased his size as he went through it himself.

Back at the GLA headquarters, Century and Doorman struggled to shut the portal, fighting against its gravitational pull. After a few moments of intense concentration, the portal finally closed, restoring the barrier between dimensions.

The quartet regrouped back at Erik’s family farm. Century and Bridge allowed Dallas and Erik to have some time to themselves. The couple stood out in the field, watching as the sun began to set.

“This is what you want?” asked Dallas.

“It’s what needs to happen.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

Erik sighed. “No, it’s not what I want. But you deserve better than some washed-up ex-con and never-was superhero. You deserve to get your life back in order after I fucked it up.”

Erik turned away from her and walked towards Bridge and Century. “Time to go, boss.”

Washington, DC
A few weeks later

Dallas stormed out of the government building that bore the offices of the Commission on Superhuman Activities. She was told that her association with the Thunderbolts had colored her judgment and she was unable to have her old job back.

“Ms. Riordan?”

Dallas stopped, facing the source of the voice. A man with shaggy, brown hair and a green jacket stood behind her. She eyed him suspiciously. “Do I know you?”

“Not yet,” he said. “My name’s Slade. I’m here to talk to you about your boyfriend.”

“You mean ex-boyfriend, right?”

“Apparently, he’s recently joined up with a group that my superiors are very interested in,” said Slade. “You know, it really won’t do a guy like Josten any good to run around with the wrong crowd. Especially given his history.”

Dallas narrowed her eyes. “…are you threatening me?”

Slade chuckled. “Not at all. Just telling you that Josten is in over his head. And I’d like to offer you a chance to get him out of a potential powder keg of a situation.”

“I don’t know, I—”

“Don’t answer yet, just think about it…” Slade reached inside his pocket and handed her a business card. “…Vantage.”

He turned and walked back down the street. Dallas looked at the card she just received. On the front was the SHIELD logo with a number. She turned it over and on the back was a hand-written note—call us when you’re ready.