Natasha Romanoff insisted on a face-to-face meeting with Nick Fury. She didn’t want to have a conversation over a video call from onboard the Steranko, fearing that Nomad might have been bugging all communications equipment. Fury conceded and she took a transport from the Steranko.

This safehouse was nestled in the Colorado Rockies, which kept it well-hidden. As Natasha’s air car approached, Fury deactivated the security system. A portion of the mountain vanished, the hologram dropped, revealing an entrance. Natasha brought the car inside and shifted it to the VTOL system, hovering for a moment before it touched down on the metal surface.

A path of emergency lights activated, illuminating the direction she was supposed to go. Natasha followed the path, and they brought her into a circular room with computer equipment, a small cache of weapons, and a meeting table. Fury himself waited on that table.

“Here we are,” he said. “And as requested, alone. The only ones who know about this safehouse are me an’ now you.”

“I appreciate it, Nicholas,” she said.

“Now what’s this all about?” asked Fury. “‘Cause in case you haven’t noticed, I’m a bit busy runnin’ an international security agency.”

“Monroe fired Jessica,” said Natasha.

Fury’s grimace shifted to surprise. “Why?”

“We were on a mission, taking out a rogue Hand operation smuggling Sentinel parts into North America,” said Natasha. “Jessica contacted the Hand in Japan, informed them one of their daimyo went off the reservation and they shut it down.”

“An’ Monroe fired her for that?” asked Fury. “Seems like a smart ploy, playin’ ‘em off each other.”

Natasha nodded. “I felt the same. But Jack thought the Hand being aware of our existence wasn’t worth the risk. He seems more and more secretive, Nick. Ever since he discovered there’s a possibility he was used as a Winter Soldier.”

Nick slid off the table and approached the computer. “What d’ya think of the others?”

“What do you mean?”

Nick focused on her with his good eye. “You know what I mean. If push came t’ shove, who’d stand with who?”

“O’Grady is ruthless, he seems to share Nomad’s perspective,” said Natasha. “Kasper is more measured, but he has a deal with Nomad and he wants a rematch with Bucky. Monica, on the other hand, is every bit an Avenger. She’s already taken issue with Jack’s methods on more than one occasion. I think Bill would also leave if need be.”

“An’ naturally Coulson would go where SHIELD goes, he’s a company man through an’ through,” said Fury. “That just leaves Rhodes.”

Natasha shook her head. “He’s the wild card. I could see him going either way.”

“Yer my eye on that boat, ‘Tasha. ‘Cause right now, we got other problems,” said Fury. “I want you t’ look at this…”

His fingers paraded across the keyboard and the monitor brought up the files he requested. Natasha watched them carefully, her green eyes widening. “Nicholas…this can’t be…”

“It is, got this from Avengers Island’s security feed,” said Fury. On the monitor were Josiah X, the new Captain America as well as Sharon Carter, Iron Man and the Falcon. They were speaking to a man clad in red, white and blue armor. His helmet was off and his features were unmistakable.

“Steve Rogers is back from the dead,” said Fury. “An’ that complicates our plans.”

DREAMLAND

Part II

By Dino Pollard

Area 51
Groom Lake, Nevada
Now

Professor Tyrone Cash sat behind his desk, reviewing the latest progress reports on his test subjects. For ten years, he’s kept a close eye on these young people, watching for any changes in their physiology that could prepare them for the next step in the plan.

The intercom on his desk began buzzing. Cash sighed as he answered the call with the push of a button. “This’d better be good.”

“Sir, I think we’ve got a little problem…”

“What kind of problem?” asked Cash.

“There’s a guy at the front gates, says he’s Goliath.”

“What would Hank Pym be doing at my facility?” asked Cash.

“No, not Pym. The other guy, used to be Black Goliath.”

Cash hesitated. Bill Foster, just waltzing up to the front gates of Area 51, in costume? There had to be more going on here. He pushed the intercom button. “Kill him. But get his autograph first.”

“…excuse me, sir, but did you just say get his autograph?”

Cash rose from his desk. “What, a mad scientist can’t have a favorite superhero?” He opened a door to an adjacent laboratory. A short man with a bowl cut and round, thick glasses was running experiments on three men in suspended animation.

“Dr. Malus,” said Cash. “We may have a problem. Are the Bannermen ready for deployment?”

“They are still in the prototype stage, Professor Cash. We have no way of knowing how stable the gamma triggers are,” said Malus. “We have yet to have a successful test subject.”

“Then this will be the test,” said Cash.

At the perimeter, the guards all kept their weapons trained on Goliath. He was in costume, but kept his hands in the air. One of the guards approached after speaking to the facility’s director over the comm-link.

“Dr. Foster, if you do not turn around right this instant, we have been authorized to use lethal force.”

Goliath smiled. “Trust me, fellas. That’s the last thing you want to do.”

“Last warning, Doctor! Turn around now!”

Goliath instead took one step forward.

“DROP HIM!”

The soldiers opened fire, emptying round after round into the Avenger. The smoke from their guns and the muzzle fire obscured their vision, they completely lost sight of him, but there was no way he could have avoided the bullets.

Empty shell casings lay scattered on the ground. Exhausted magazines were ejected from the rifles and replaced with fresh ones. And then, in a flash of blue and white, something rapidly shot skywards.

Goliath had avoided the gunfire by shrinking his body down to ant size. And now he reversed the process, shooting up to fifteen feet in height. Goliath tore through the guards easily, swatting them aside as if they were nothing more than gnats.

A silo opened nearby and a trio of men in skintight blue costumes and wielding round, blank shields emerged, carried on jetpacks. Goliath swung at them, but they easily avoided his strike. One of them dove towards him, holding the shield out in front. He slammed into Goliath and the impact was enough to topple the Avenger.

Goliath tried to maintain his balance as he crashed to the ground. “We might have a problem. I could use some of that back-up now…”

Miniature rockets rained down on the Bannermen. The three experiments used their shields to defend from the worst of it. War Machine flew onto the scene, the various weapons affixed to his armor rotating around to target the Bannermen as he flew through the airfield.

“You disappoint me, big guy. Would’ve thought you could handle these pushovers yourself,” said War Machine.

“What can I say, still a bit rusty on this whole superhero thing,” said Goliath.

One of the Bannermen engaged War Machine in flight. Rhodey tried to turn, but the Bannerman raised his shield, striking War Machine in the chest. He swung the shield again, using it as a buffer when he threw his arm in a backhand motion. The Bannermen had incredible strength, able to stand up to both War Machine’s armor and Goliath’s gigantic frame.

Lightning rocked the area, but there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. One of the bursts struck the Bannerman before he could take another swing at War Machine. The voltage coursed through his body and damaged the controls on his jetpack, causing him to plummet to the ground.

The lightning coalesced in a central spot in the air, shifting into the form of a woman dressed in a skintight white and black outfit. “Need another hand, gents?”

“You’re a welcome addition to any party, Photon,” said War Machine. “How’re the others faring?”

“Managed to override security, so combine that with our distraction and they shouldn’t have any trouble,” said Photon.

Goliath approached the crater the Bannerman created with his fall. He could hear growling and a deepening voice coming from it. As he approached, an oversized blue palm reached for the edge of the crater.

“Looks like we’ve got a problem,” said Goliath.

The Bannerman’s uniform was shredded and in place of the well-built man was now a gray-skinned Hulk. The Bannerman roared and generated a quake by slamming both fists on the ground simultaneously.

The Steranko
Then

A holographic map of a facility appeared over the table.

“The data Photon downloaded from Area 51’s servers also give us a layout of the facility,” said Agent Coulson. “But the security at the facility is another matter. We don’t know what we’ll be up against. Given that this base is a very crucial part of Control’s R&D operations, you can bet they’re not planning to make things easy on us.”

“What about the facility itself?” asked Nomad.

“I could deactivate the power, at least for a few moments, to get you inside,” said Photon.

“But once the power comes back on, the system would sound an alarm. It’s a failsafe to guard against that kind of infiltration,” said Coulson.

“And if the alarm was set off right before?” asked Goliath. “Security would probably be too busy to notice the second alarm, right?”

“Well yes, in theory,” said Coulson. “But you’d have them on full alert, how would that help—”

“A diversionary strike,” said Nomad.

Goliath smiled. “Set Rhodey and myself loose on the front door while Monica gets a stealth team in through the back and under the radar.”

“That just seems crazy enough to work,” said Rhodey. “Dealing with the two of us, they’d need to dispatch the entire base. You’d be in a perfect spot to get in, set the charges, and get out.”

“I’ll help you on that front,” said Photon.

“Won’t we need you on the inside?” asked White Tiger.

“You just need me to get you inside. Once that’s done, Bill and Rhodey would need my help more than you.”

“She’s right,” said Nomad. “You, O’Grady and I can handle the charges.”

“I just thought of something,” said Ant-Man. “What if there’s some sort of failsafe to upload this data to a cloud storage in case anything happens to the facility?”

“It’s doubtful. Facilities like this tend to be on closed circuits, a cloud storage would be too vulnerable to attack,” said Coulson.

“So we blow this place and Control is crippled,” said Ant-Man.

“Not quite. As you’re all aware, this is not the only operation Control maintains. But whatever research—or segments of research—that are conducted at Area 51 will be wiped out,” said Coulson. “Judging from what we discovered in the files, it’s not insignificant.”

“Baby steps, right? Take ‘em down, piece by piece,” said Rhodey.

Tyrone Cash watched on the surveillance monitors as Nomad, the White Tiger and Ant-Man set explosive charges around the facility. Malus stood by his side, watching with fear in his eyes.

“What do we do, Cash? If they destroy this place…”

“They will destroy it, Karl. Nothing will change that now.” Cash stepped away from the monitors and entered a command into a keypad on the wall. A containment unit opened and he drew a portable hard drive from it. Cash passed the drive over to Malus.

“This ghost drive contains everything we have on the Project,” he said. “All our data on the creation of the subjects, their current locations, everything. This data is of paramount importance, Karl. Do you understand?”

Malus nodded. “Of course.”

“Good, then get to an emergency transport.” Cash turned his back on Malus and walked towards the entrance. “Things are about to heat up.”

The alarm blared throughout the facility, but Cash ignored it. He knew most of the security forces and the Bannermen were up top fighting the other three Avengers. That meant they were a distraction so these three could destroy Dreamland once and for all.

Cash’s entire body began shifting, his mass increasing as he moved through the corridors. He kicked open the door, sending it flying across the room. The three Avengers turned in surprise.

“Did you think it would be that easy?” he asked.

“And just who are you?” asked the White Tiger.

“Professor Tyrone Cash at your service. I’m the director of this facility.”

“Not anymore,” said Ant-Man. His stingers extended from his gauntlets. “Option A is you run like a bat outta Hell. Option B is you go up in flames with the rest of this place.”

“I’ll choose Option C,” said Cash.

“There is no Option C.”

Cash smiled. “I beg to differ.”

Ant-Man shrunk down to miniature size, his suit’s jet-propulsion carrying him through the air at a size too small for Cash to see. Or so he thought. Once Ant-Man got close enough, Cash easily swatted him away.

“My senses are not as primitive as the rest of these people. You see, I’ve spent decades studying those Skrulls,” said Cash. His arm extended, wrapping around Nomad and restraining him, preventing him from using either his battle staves or his stun discs. He retracted his arm and then flung it forward, throwing Nomad right into the White Tiger. “I used myself as a test subject. With some gamma treatments added to the process, I managed to become quite an interesting specimen, if I do say so myself.”

“BANNERMAN SMASH!”

The Hulked-out Bannerman pounced and landed on Goliath’s shoulder, grabbing a portion of his gigantic neck. The Bannerman jumped again, pulling Goliath with him and slamming the Avenger against the tarmac.

One of the human Bannermen was thrown into the Hulked-out one by a powerful burst of microwave energy. The Hulked-out Bannerman looked at his unconscious teammate and growled when he witnessed the source—the hovering Photon.

“BANNERMAN KILL STUPID LIGHT LADY!”

He leaped for her, but Photon transformed her body into electricity and the Bannerman convulsed as he tried to pass through her. The Bannerman collapsed and Photon landed at Goliath’s side.

“Now we’re even,” she said. Goliath smiled.

The Bannerman jumped to his feet. He slammed his fists together and roared.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding…” muttered Photon.

The White Tiger dodged and weaved to avoid Cash’s super-strong fists. Even with the Panther herb in his body, though, it was increasingly becoming more and more difficult. Ant-Man tried to strike from behind with his stingers, but Cash simply shifted his body to avoid them.

Nomad stood off in the corner, setting the last of the charges as his teammates fought off the mad scientist. With the last charge set, he reached for one of the stun discs on his chest.

“Cash!”

Cash turned to Nomad just as the Super Soldier hurled the stun disc. Once it stuck to Cash’s chest, it did its work and Cash began screaming as the electricity shot through his entire body.

In the air, War Machine tried to fend off the Bannerman, but the Bannerman grabbed his Gatling gun and tore it free. The Bannerman reached out with his other hand and wrapped it around War Machine’s helmet. The hand grew larger, as did the Bannerman himself until he too was fully Hulked-out.

“BANNERMAN DESTROY!”

“Not today,” said War Machine, blasting forward with his thrusters. He threw both himself and the Bannerman into the side of the cliff and they both rolled down until they hit the tarmac.

“Charges are set, we’re moving out!”

“Copy that,” said War Machine. He stumbled slightly as he got to his feet and his thrusters propelled him into the air. War Machine’s armor dispensed with dozens of flares that exploded around the Bannerman to distract him.

Photon and Goliath also received Nomad’s transmission. Photon held out her hand and unleashed a powerful strobe effect that disoriented the Bannerman, causing him to flail wildly. Goliath grew as large as he could and jumped from the spot, with Photon flying behind him.

Nomad, the White Tiger and Ant-Man were safely aboard Ant-Man’s small cruiser, shrunk down to miniature size by the Pym Particles. As they flew off into the night, the military base known as Area 51 was rocked with explosions.

Elsewhere

Karl Malus sat at a table as his contact plugged the ghost drive into a laptop. The contact reviewed the files that were stored there, nodding slowly at each piece of information that came up next.

“Is this everything?” she asked.

Malus nodded. “We are ready to proceed with the next phase of the program—extraction.”

“Very well, I will provide you with the subjects. Just begin preparations. Nick Fury is forcing our hand,” she said.

“You’re sure this is the work of Fury?” asked Malus.

The woman stood. She had a streak of white in her otherwise black hair and wore a tight, red leather outfit with a gun strapped to her hip. She handed the ghost drive back to Malus.

“Of course I’m sure. No one knows Nick like me,” she said with a smile. “Now go.”

“As you wish, Contessa,” said Malus, leaving her alone in the room. The Contessa folded her arms and waited for the door to close. Once it did, her companion emerged from the shadows. He was dressed all in black and wore a domino mask over his eyes. One of his arms was cybernetic, with a red star on it.

“You know it’s not as simple as that,” he said. “Those subjects? They won’t join your cause willingly.”

“I know,” said the Contessa. “That’s why I need you to extract Faustus.”

“Faustus? That’s impossible.”

“Nothing’s impossible, James. You see, I have the access codes for the Steranko.”

“How?”

The Contessa smiled. “Let’s just say I have a friend.”

NEXT: Lethal Weapons