The Damocles Chamber
Then

General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross chewed on his cigar as he watched the images unfold on the screen before the long table. Steve Rogers—Captain America himself—discovered to be still alive and frozen in ice decades after the end of World War II. And he just finished announcing that he’s decided to join the Avengers.

“This is bad. Not only bad, but this is a goddamn nightmare.” General Cecil B. Slinkard offered the first comment. Among the group, there was no greater “cape-hater” than Slinkard.

“Rogers proved to be a great asset during the war, there’s no reason to believe he can’t be one again,” said General Lewis Haywerth.

“Don’t be ridiculous, we all know that if Cap survived the war, we would’ve had to find a time to take him out eventually,” said Colonel Edward Harrison.

“Everyone, shut up,” said Ross, standing before the group. “We all knew something like this could one day come about. The day when these sideshow freaks stopped being just a nuisance and started being a source of serious concern. At least with Richards and his ilk, he’s a scientist and an explorer, first and foremost.”

“We never thought the Avengers could pose any sort of a threat,” said Slinkard. “Sure, they have power, but look who’s with them. The Hulk’s presence alone would stop them from ever gaining the public trust. But now that he’s gone and Captain America is in…”

“There’s already been talk of granting them Priority A-1 clearance,” said Haywerth.

“Jesus H. Christ, what’s next? Let ‘em set up shop in the goddamn Pentagon?” asked Slinkard.

A fifth man stood in the room, his body nearly shrouded in total darkness as he stared at the screen. The screen had frozen, showing Captain America at the lead of the rest of the Avengers—sure to be an iconic image for years to come. He rubbed the black goatee while deep in thought.

“Gentleman, I think we must remember our name,” he said, adjusting his wire-frame glasses as he faced the rest of the group. “Control.”

“What’s your point, Doctor?” asked Haywerth.

The doctor clasped his hands behind his back. “What I mean to say is think back to the second World War and the marvels that emerged during that time—the Invaders, the Liberty Legion. They did not stay around very long, did they? And their successors—Jimmy Woo’s team formed by the FBI. Gone as well. Now we see a new generation of heroes emerge. What does this tell us?”

“Nothing lasts forever,” said Ross. “Not even superheroes.”

“Precisely. These Avengers will pass into history at some point.”

“And then we’ll have another problem on our hands, assuming we last that long,” said Slinkard.

“Not unless we take control of the situation,” said the doctor. “Our compatriots in the Weapon Plus Program are already working hard to create persons of mass destruction, as are our friends at the Groom Lake facility, experimenting with the remnants of the Roswell crash. Combine this with the data Trask’s Sentinel program will no doubt obtain from this, and you can see where I am going with this.”

“Control the future,” said Harrison. “The next generation of Avengers.”

CONTINGENCY

Part I

By Dino Pollard

Now

The Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine stood beside Thunderbolt Ross on the tarmac as they watched the night skies. A small quinjet lowered from the air, unmarked, and touched down on the tarmac of the abandoned military base. The rear hatch opened and two men emerged. One of them was overweight with reddish hair, a beard, and a monocle. The other wore a blue and white uniform with a grinning, horned helmet.

“My dear Contessa,” said Doctor Faustus, approaching the woman responsible for his liberation and taking her hand to place a gentle kiss on her knuckles. “I am in your debt.”

Ross eyed the new man uncomfortably. “And this?”

The man reached his hands up and removed the helmet, revealing a handsome young man with shaggy, brown hair. A man Ross knew well, and laying eyes on him caused the General to reach for the gun holstered beneath his jacket. Battle staves shot free from the man’s gauntlets and fell into his waiting palms and he swung them to the ready.

“Let’s see if you can stop a bullet with those,” said Ross. Before he fired, he heard the click of a weapon and his eyes went to the edges of his sockets. He saw the Contessa aiming her own gun at his head. “What the hell are you doing? It’s Nomad!”

“Scourge, actually,” said the young man.

“Jack Monroe is now on our side, General,” said the Contessa.

Ross eyed Scourge with a mix of contempt and confusion. “How’s that even possible?”

“Some time ago, Jack was transformed into the Scourge through the machinations of our dearly departed ally, Wolfgang. And though Jack was seemingly relieved of the mind control, the protocols Strucker used remained in place. All it took was re-activation,” said the Contessa.

“Once I woke up, I rescued Faustus and stole this quinjet from the Steranko,” said Scourge.

“We have the coordinates,” said Faustus. “All it will take is your word, Contessa.”

“That depends on General Ross,” said the Contessa. “What do you say, Thunderbolt? Shall we end Fury’s Secret Avengers once and for all?”

Ross wasn’t sure whether he could trust Monroe or not, but he decided to take the chance. He holstered his gun and the Contessa did the same with her own, sliding it into the leather sheath strapped to her hip.

“Then we can move on with the rest of the plan.” The Contessa turned to Faustus. “Are you ready to meet the new recruits?”

“New recruits?” asked Scourge, placing his helmet back on.

The Contessa smiled. “Come with me.”

She led the three men underground. Scourge kept pace with her as Faustus and Ross lagged behind. Scourge said nothing to her, but the Contessa tossed a few glances his way. She could get no reading from him with that helmet obscuring his features.

When they finally reached the bottom level, the Contessa motioned to the windows lined against the wall above a control panel. Scourge moved slowly and stared out the glass.

The room was an observation booth overlooking a larger room below. And what Scourge saw down there were young, costumed superhumans using powers against robots and other automated defenses.

He saw a young man in red, white, and blue, wielding a triangular shield that resembled the one used by Captain America in World War II. Another boy with blond hair had a Hulk-like appearance. A third had brown hair and a red cloak, hovering in the air as blue auras surrounded his hands. There was a girl dressed in a blue and red uniform with a yellow lightning bolt over the front that resembled the one once worn by Carol Danvers. And another boy dressed in a black and red version of Spider-Man’s costume, firing strands of webbing at the defense. Finally, Scourge could see a green and white blur moving back and forth, meaning that there was also a speedster present.

“What is this?” asked Scourge.

“Something in development for about fifteen years,” said Ross. “Say hello to the new Avengers.”

The Steranko

Natasha Romanoff once again played back the footage of Nomad releasing Doctor Faustus from his cell before taking him to the hangar deck where they boarded one of the Quinjets and left.

“This is unbelievable,” said Monica Rambeau. She sat at the round table, her arms folded over her black and white costume. “How could Jack betray us like this?”

“Jack’s been acting strange ever since we first discovered Bucky was the Winter Soldier,” said Natasha.

“There’s also the way he first came upon Control, by breaking into the Commission on Superhuman Activities,” said SHIELD Agent Phil Coulson. “Not to mention his long history of manipulation.”

Jim Rhodes set his elbows on the table and leaned forward, resting his chin in his hands. “There’s gotta be more to it than this. Jack’s had his problems, sure. But springing Fennhoff like that? It doesn’t add up.”

“How much can we really trust him any way?” asked Bill Foster. “We all thought he was more than a bit out of line when he kicked Jessica off the team.”

“And now we’ve lost Kasper, too. Doesn’t come at a good time,” said Eric O’Grady.

Natasha sighed. “There is something I haven’t told you. Something Jack told me in confidence.”

The eyes of the whole team fell upon her, everyone wondering what she was about to say. Natasha took a deep breath and began her tale.

“I’m sure you all know Jack’s history. The Super Soldier Serum he and William Burnside took back in the 50s was tarnished. It made them go crazy, seeing enemies of America everywhere. It drove Burnside to the point of psychopathy, transforming him into the Grand Director. Jack, on the other hand, moved past that and became a hero in his own right.

“But then not long ago, Strucker took Jack under his control, transformed him into Scourge. That manipulation made Jack paranoid, to the point that he broke into the CSA.”

“Except that last part was a good thing, Natasha. The evidence he uncovered with the help of Steve is what led to the creation of this team,” said Monica. “Stopping Control is something we can all get behind.”

“There’s more, Monica,” said Natasha. “When we first discovered Bucky was the Winter Soldier, it got Jack thinking. What happened to Barnes—the indoctrination, the suspended animation, being used as a weapon—it’s very similar to what was done to Monroe by Strucker. And so Jack started to wonder—both he and Barnes are similar in appearance. Maybe the Winter Soldier wasn’t just one man, but two.”

Silence hung over the air at that revelation. The gathered Avengers all considered Natasha’s words. Finally it was Coulson who broke free of his inner thoughts and offered his voice. “Do you really believe that?”

Natasha lowered her head. “I honestly don’t know, Phil. I would like to believe it’s all lies, but I never would have thought Bucky Barnes could be the Winter Soldier. And Jack has been manipulated in the past. Whatever Strucker did to him, there’s a chance it still exists. This could very well be proof of that.”

“It’s not possible,” said Bill. “When Fury brought me in, he had me run the full gauntlet of medical tests on everyone. Strucker used nanites to control Nomad. If those nanites were still around, they would have turned up in my tests.”

“Then maybe Jack’s theory holds some weight,” said Rhodey.

“Whatever the case, we need to contact Fury immediately,” said Coulson. “Have to figure out our next move and go from there.”

“By the book, right Coulson?” asked Eric.

Coulson glared at his former partner. “You got a problem with that, O’Grady?”

Eric gave a shrug. But before any further action could be taken, klaxons throughout the Steranko began to blare with flashing red lights. “What the hell is going on?” asked Eric.

Coulson went to the console, bringing up a screen to locate the source of the problem. He turned to the team. “We’ve got a hull breech! Hangar level!”

“I’m on it!” said Monica, her body transforming into light as she traveled through the floors to get down to the hangar level. As Photon, she possessed the ability to transmute her body into any form of energy within the electromagnetic spectrum.

But when she reached the hangar level, what she found was surprising. A tall, strong man with short, blond hair and an American flag tattooed over his face. He slid a red pill between his lips and smiled.

“Guys, get down here,” said Photon, confident the security system in the hangar would pick up her voice. “We’ve got Nuke.”

Scourge looked through the files that were on the base’s computers, detailing the history of these Young Avengers. Of the names listed on there, he was somewhat surprised to discover one name—Elijah Bradley, called Patriot, was the grandson of Isaiah Bradley. That made him the nephew of Josiah X, the current Captain America.

The rest were all unknowns, at least to Monroe. He read off the names mentally—Spider-Boy, Miles Morales; Wiccan, Billy Kaplan; Speed, Tommy Shepherd; Hulkling, Teddy Altman; and Marvel Girl, Kamala Khan.

The records were all listed in there. Using experimental drugs under the cover of vaccinations. Several test subjects died, but these were the survivors. And the data suggested there might be additional subjects not yet recruited.

Scourge downloaded the data to a jump drive and left the computer. He knew he was taking a risk by attempting this kind of infiltration, but they were running low on options and the team had no more leads on Control’s next move.

He went down another level to the barracks where the kids were kept. Scourge hit the lights and saw them in beds lined up against the wall. Numerous other empty beds were also there as well. The kids slowly started to open their eyes and looked up to see the demonic visage of Scourge’s helmet.

He pulled it off, revealing his true face beneath. “Get up. Hurry.”

“What is this?” asked Miles. “What’s going on?”

“I’m getting you outta here, kid. All of you.”

Jack heard the door open behind him. He spun around, getting his staves ready to strike. And there, standing in the doorway, was James Buchanan Barnes—the Winter Soldier himself.

“And just where do you think you’re going?”

To be continued…