London

Deep beneath the streets of the city were a series of tunnels once inhabited by a group of mutants who called themselves the Morlocks. After their deaths, it became the home to another group of mutants. Former agents for the United States government called the X-Men.

A large mural was painted on one of the walls. On it was a giant bird made of flames and in the center of the bird was a young woman with red hair and bright, green eyes. The woman in the painting was Jean Grey and the man who painted it was Peter Rasputin. Also included in the mural were other young women who had lost their lives since the X-Men’s formation—Ororo Munroe, Marie Darkholme, Monet St. Croix, Kitty Pryde.

“Not bad, Ruskie.” The gruff voice belonged to the X-Men’s leader—a man known only as Logan, but who also called himself the Wolverine.

Peter rubbed the excess paint from his hands with a cloth. The other X-Men were gathered in the tunnels beside the pair, all admiring the mural. Alison Blaire, John Proudstar, Hank McCoy, and Kurt Darkholme. One was missing—Scott Summers.

“O, Rogue, Monet, Kitty and now Jean,” said John. “We’re not exactly batting a hundred.”

“Don’t forget the Professor,” said Hank.

“Right, thanks for reminding me,” was John’s grumbled response.

“Why does this keep happening?” asked Ali. “Seems like the only thing being an X-Man means is that you’ll die before you hit twenty-two.”

“Welcome to the real world, kid,” said Logan. He placed a cigar in his mouth and lit it with a wooden match. “I buried more friends in my life than I’d like to count.”

“You were a soldier, we’re just kids,” said Ali.

“So were a lot o’ people I buried,” said Logan. “It’s a dangerous world out there an’ you guys signed up for this outfit.”

“It’s not like it was much of a choice for some of us,” said John with a sneer. “I was on the run from the cops, remember?”

“I had nowhere to go myself,” said Ali. “I was just outed as a mutant,”

“Still, it was a choice,” said Logan. “You can all sit here bitchin’ about how things didn’t turn out the way you planned, but guess what? It ain’t gonna bring back Jeannie, it ain’t gonna bring back Kitty. Or ‘Ro, or M or Chuck. This ain’t the movies, nobody comes back from the dead.”

“Not unless you’re a Phoenix…” muttered Hank. The X-Men turned their eyes to him. He was fixated on the mural, particularly the flaming avatar that surrounded Jean.

“What was that?” asked Kurt.

“Hmm? Oh nothing,” said Hank. “Just thinking out loud I guess.”

CLASH OF THE TITANS

Part II: Avengers Assemble!

By Dino Pollard

The Triskelion

Located off the coast of New York, built on the ocean floor, the Triskelion is a facility designed to house some of the most powerful beings the world has ever seen. It is owned and operated by the organization called SHIELD and has now recently become the headquarters for a specialized assault team.

During World War II, there was a team of super soldiers called the Invaders. Colonel Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD, had intended to bring them back, although the President felt another name was more fitting—the Avengers.

Fury looked over the assembled group of marvels—seven in total. That was the term that had been assigned to human beings who had acquired special powers through methods other than mutation.

“What you see on the screen are the names of seven mutants who pose a threat to national security,” said Fury. “They’re rogue SHIELD agents, a team called the X-Men. This—” Fury pressed a button on a small remote in his hand and file footage of a man with claws started to play. “—is their leader. Logan, a.k.a. Wolverine. Fought in ‘Nam and was part of SHIELD for a long time. Although some of his teammates may seem more powerful, don’t let that fool you—there’s virtually nobody on the planet more dangerous than the Wolverine.”

“We’ll see about that,” said the Hulk.

“His bones and claws are laced with adamantium, Banner,” said Fury.

“Hulk,” replied the gray behemoth.

“Whatever,” said Fury. “Not even you could break his bones. Plus he’s got a healing factor that helps him regenerate from just about any wound. He’s also a vicious sonnuva bitch. The man’s got a lifetime worth of experience working in espionage. He’s well-trained in numerous forms of combat and although he may not look it, he’s a master strategist. No matter what, Wolverine must be taken out first. The rest of the team won’t be much without him.”

Fury pressed the remote and the footage changed. Now it was a young man with a visor firing optic blasts. “This is Scott Summers, called Cyclops. He can release concussive beams of energy from his eyes. Wasn’t much of a contender to begin with, but it looks like he’s stepped up. There was a time when the X-Men were running around without Wolverine and during that time, Cyclops was in charge. He might also pose a threat. Another potential threat are these two.” The footage changed to that of a man with steel skin and a slim man with pitch-black skin and glowing yellow eyes. “Peter Rasputin and Kurt Darkholme—Colossus and Nightcrawler, both former members of a terrorist organization called the Brotherhood of Mutants. If they’re anything like some of the people they used to work with, that means they’ll fight dirty.

“Another one to watch out for, although not as much is Hank McCoy, the Beast. Seems his powers have been enhanced somehow, although we don’t know how. He’s the brains here—way too intelligent for his own good.

“Finally, we’ve got the last two. John Proudstar and Alison Blaire, Thunderbird and Dazzler. Thunderbird’s got strength and speed, but his strength is about on par with Beast and he’s nowhere near as intelligent.”

This prompted some laughter from the Avengers.

“Dazzler can be formidable—she can turn sound into any form of light she chooses. That means lasers, force blasts, blah blah blah. Fortunately for us, she’s not that experienced, at least as far as we’ve seen. She’ll go down easy.”

Fury turned off the monitor and leaned forward, bracing his hands on the table. “These orders come directly from the President himself, people. I don’t care how old these kids are—they’re dangerous. Do not underestimate them, understand? Take out Logan first, then the rest should fall.”

“Got it, Fury,” said Captain America. “When do we leave?”

“We’ve got a Quinjet ready to go, courtesy of Mr. Stark over here,” said Fury.

“Part submarine, part supersonic jet,” said Iron Man. “The good Colonel here will be getting the bill soon.”

“Just put it on my tab,” said Fury. “All our intel shows us that the X-Men are still hiding out in a series of tunnels in the London sewers.”

“Perfect,” said Hawkeye. “They can’t hide out somewhere nice?”

“They used to have a mansion, but it was blown up,” said Fury. “And then they had an island paradise, but that’s gone, too.”

“Great timing, Fury,” said Hawkeye.

London

Scott Summers sat on a bench, his ruby-quartz glasses in place of his visor. His thoughts reflected on recent events and how he was the one responsible for Jean’s death. She wanted him to do it—he could hear her voice in his head begging him to stop her before she killed again.

It was not an easy thing for Cyclops to do. But he did it anyway. He went the extra mile, killed a woman who had become one of his closest friends. His optic blast broke her neck and ended the threat posed by the Phoenix.

He saved the world.

So why did he feel so horrible?

In his introspection, Cyclops barely noticed the clouds growing darker. Once he did, he cast his eyes upward and a downpour erupted. Up in the sky, he could see something—no, someone—hovering. He tried to focus in on it, get a better view.

“…Storm?”

A bolt of lighting rocketed from the sky and Scott leapt away just seconds before it struck the bench he had been sitting on. Splinters flew everywhere and Cyclops saw arrows flying towards him. He removed his glasses and unleashed his optic blast, obliterating them.

Cyclops replaced his glasses and when he opened his eyes, he felt like crapping his pants. Standing before him was a massive creature with arms the size of tree trunks and gray skin. And he looked angry.

“Umm… hi?” said Cyclops. He jumped out of the way just as the Hulk’s giant fist struck the pavement. Other figures were now on the street, all dressed in costumes. One of them wore a very familiar one, clothed in red, white and blue with a star emblazoned on his chest and a giant A on his helmet. But most startling was his circular shield, which had come to be a symbol.

“Stand down, Cyclops,” said Captain America. Behind him stood the Hulk. Hawkeye was to the right with an arrow aimed at Cyclops with Black Panther on the left, crouched and ready to spring. Iron Man and the Marvel hovered on either side of the Hulk while Thor was kept aloft above the Hulk’s head, his hammer raised and glowing brightly.

“This is not good…” muttered Cyclops.

A portal opened behind Cyclops and his own teammates emerged. Wolverine extended his claws and stepped up to the group. He pointed his claws at the team assembled before the X-Men. “If you want Cyke, y’ gotta go through us.”

“That can be arranged,” said Captain America. He charged forward, holding his shield in front of him as he shouted, “Avengers Assemble!”

Wolverine slashed at Captain America’s shield, but his claws were unable to penetrate the unique discus. Captain America just smirked at his enemy and said, “nice try, old man. The shield is a combination of vibranium and adamantium, your claws are useless against it.”

Wolverine fell to the ground as Captain America tried to strike him in the head and Wolverine took the moment to kick the soldier’s legs out from under him. He brought his claws down but Captain America rolled away a split-second before Wolverine’s claws struck the pavement where the Avenger’s head had been.

The Marvel’s photonic blasts seemed to have little effect on the light shields Dazzler had generated. He was once a man named Rick Jones bestowed with abilities by a dead warrior from the Kree race.

“I’m impressed,” he said. “Fury said you would go down easy. Obviously he’s the one who underestimated you.”

“Oh that figures,” said Dazzler. She surrounded herself with a force field made of light while her hand was glowing. She dropped the field for a moment and hurled the light burst. The first one simply blinded the Marvel but the second one was a concussive blast that knocked him from the sky.

Nightcrawler nimbly dodged the Black Panther’s strikes. The monarch’s claws were sharp and Nightcrawler had no intention of letting those claws touch his flesh.

“Surrender Nightcrawler, make it easy on yourselves,” said the Black Panther.

“We don’t give up so easy,” said Nightcrawler. “The last threat we fought could have destroyed this whole planet, you should be thanking us!”

“You have no way of proving that,” said the Panther. He leapt towards Nightcrawler, but the mutant teleported in a flash of light. He rematerialized behind the Panther and struck with a punch. T’Challa spun but Nightcrawler was gone again.

An instant later, Nightcrawler appeared again and struck, then vanishing. This time, the Panther blocked the strike, but wasn’t quick enough to grab the mutant. The Black Panther now waited and closed his eyes, relying on his other senses.

There was a slight shift in the wind and he could smell the hint of sulfur. The instant he did, the Panther reached out with his hands and grabbed Nightcrawler by the head. He flipped the young man over his body and slammed him on the ground.

Thunderbird charged through the streets, avoiding the lighting called down by Thor. This man had the name of a god and the power to back it up. His winds were battering Thunderbird and the young Apache pushed forward with all his might.

Proudstar suddenly turned on his heel and ran in the opposite direction, the wind’s momentum giving him a temporary boost. Another bolt of lightning rained down, which Thunderbird avoided as he ran up the side of a building, keeping his speed going and when he came to the end of the building he pushed off, flying towards Thor.

His fist connected with Thor’s jaw and he tangled with the god in the sky as the two plummeted towards the ground, Thor’s hammer slipping from his grip. Thunderbird kept Thor under him and the Avenger took the brunt of the impact when they struck, creating a small crater. Thunderbird stood up and smiled.

“Hah, I beat a god,” he said. “Who else can say that?”

Thor opened his eyes and the hammer rushed towards him, smacking Thunderbird in the back of the head. Thor grabbed his hammer and swung it again, connecting it with Thunderbird’s head once more.

“Next time you beat a god, make sure he’s really down,” said Thor.

The Beast leapt across the battlefield, trying to avoid Iron Man’s repulsor blasts. His efforts seemed remarkably futile, though and Iron Man gained speed on him. When the Beast found himself cornered by the billionaire industrialist.

“Oh how I’d love to take a ride inside that thing,” said the Beast.

“Maybe you should have applied for an internship at Stark Enterprises instead of enrolling at Xavier’s,” said Iron Man.

The Beast flipped back onto his hands and grabbed Iron Man’s head with his feet. He flung the Avenger into the side of a building and leapt up. When Beast moved in for another strike, a blast of energy fired from Iron Man’s chest plate.

“Thank you, uni-beam,” said Iron Man with a smile beneath his faceplate.

Every single muscle in Colossus’ body was on fire. He was really starting to wish that the X-Men had left him in the Black Air facility on Muir Isle. Because now, going toe-to-toe with the Hulk was far more difficult than he ever could have anticipated.

Each blow Colossus dealt only seemed to make the behemoth far angrier. Now, the Hulk was raging mad as he pounded his fists into Colossus’ metal frame, fists which were now about the side of Colossus’ chest.

“Don’t you get it, tin man?” asked the Hulk. “The harder you hit, the madder I get. And the madder I get, the stronger I get!’

“I… I think I’m starting to realize that…” muttered Colossus as the Hulk pummeled him into unconsciousness.

Only two X-Men were left standing, the ones Fury identified as the most dangerous in the team—Wolverine and Cyclops. Captain America staggered from his battle with Wolverine, and Cyclops was able to destroy most of Hawkeye’s arrows before the struck him.

Now, these two X-Men watched as the other Avengers started to close in on them. They were back to back now and Cyclops said, “do you anything resembling a plan?”

“Kinda,” said Wolverine.

“Feel like sharing with the rest of the class?” asked Cyclops.

“Don’t stop fightin’ ‘til yer dead,” said Wolverine.

“I don’t like that plan,” said Cyclops.

“Yeah well, I don’t hear you comin’ up with anythin’ better,” said Wolverine.

At that instant, a portal opened behind the two X-Men. Cyclops looked at Wolverine and said, “I think we should go through that.”

“Alright yeah, that sounds better,” said Wolverine. The two X-Men charged inside the portal. Hawkeye rushed towards it, jumping through it as well but before any of the Avengers could reach the portal it was closed off and in its place was the Aborigine mutant called Gateway.

“You better bring them back here right now,” said Captain America.

Gateway just smirked. “Do your worst.”