WALKABOUTS

Part I: Lives Lost Yet Not Gone

By Clayton Tooley

My name is Dennis Dunphy, also known as the hero D-Man, and today…today I lost my world. Or I found it, I don’t know, it’s all very confusing.

When I finally got back to New York and released from the SHIELD medical center, I checked in on my friends who weren’t so lucky to be out and about yet, namely Firebird and Moonhunter, but she was still unconscious from her ordeal and he wasn’t having any visitors. I checked on Harold Quinn, the former SHIELD Agent who had become my friend when we were fighting the Resistants and who agreed to join Jack’s new team of heroes here in New York. He’s a small and somewhat fearful fellow but amazingly bright with technology and he and Fabian got on well, pouring over the problems in putting Machine Man back together after the Machinesmith’s attack and both appeared happy as hogs in shit when I left.

After saying my good-byes to Jack and Julia, having missed Lemar’s stealthy exit from the compound, I made my way across town at a leisurely pace just happy to finally be back in the city after nearly a month of adventuring with my friends. I was feeling all right after nearly having a heart attack on the Helicarrier forcing that huge door open and fighting the Sleeper IV robot, the combination of which had nearly did me in, and the day was clear, cool and happy. I picked up a couple huge bags of fresh groceries to take back to my people, the Zero People, who live in an abandoned city of unknown origin and age hidden beneath New York.

I made my way down one of the normal routes used to gain access to our secret home and everything seemed fine at first. When I got to the first secret checkpoint, however, I found something weird. Not only was no one there, which was difficult to believe, it appeared no one had ever been there before. The hidden alcove that we’d outfitted with a comfortable seating and sleeping area, some simple games and other distractions, and a hard-wired pulley system to alert the city to invaders…it was all gone. The hole we’d bored into the rock for the warning system was gone, the stone appearing as if it had never been disturbed, and the working area completely barren.

Moving faster I made my way down the steep incline and chose the correct path in the series of tunnels that developed naturally in the earth, but it was difficult since there was no light whatsoever, which was impossible since Spectra had implanted self-sufficient bundles of his natural bio-phosphorous at regular intervals in all of the tunnels that should have lasted several more years of casting pale yellow light. None of that was in evidence and by that point I was all but sprinting towards my home, panic completely having overwhelmed me.

I finally reached the last turn, having not met one of my friends along the way, which was impossible, and as I slid to a halt at the lip of the cavern that should have overlooked my home I saw…

Nothing.

None of the short, sturdy buildings, no lights arrayed to give a semblance of daylight at this time of day, no roads or carts or stands of foodstuffs for all to share. The stones dislodged by my arrival skittered across the floor of the empty cavern and echoed in the vast emptiness of the chamber, the sound only overwhelmed by the sound of my grocery bags slamming into the ground at my feet and the glass bottles within shattering from the impact.

I sprinted down the incline in a panic as I attempted to determine just what the fuck had happened, crying out frantically for any of my friends. “Spectra! Karlowe! Liptral!” But no one answered and by the time I got to the center of the cavern I was sobbing, my chest hitching as terror and loss overwhelmed me and I sank to my knees and slumped forward. “Why?” I asked, pleading to God or anyone to just tell me what had happened.

I don’t know how long I lay there like that when a voice finally answered me.

“Hello, Dennis,” it said, drawing my attention upwards to see a kid standing there wearing a strange blue and red outfit with short-cropped brown hair. He smiled at me kindly as the portal he’d appeared from vanished behind him and with a sad look he said, “I’m sorry I took your friends away.”

That was all I needed to hear. I launched myself from my crouch at him with a snarl on my lips, my beard flaring as my white teeth stood in stark contrast to the red hair. I plowed into the punk and we crashed to the ground and rolled harshly, my shirt shredding as I took the brunt of the slide from my charge, instinctively protecting my foe from my own carelessness. I did, however, hit him considerably hard when we finished rolling and the force of my blow lifted him off his knees and into the stone wall behind him with a satisfying crunch and he appeared winded as I regained my feet and grasped his collar with both hands, lifting him off the floor and pinning him hard against the rocks.

“Where are my people?!” I screamed at him, furious. I hadn’t felt this out of control in years and it scared me even as I was powerless to stop myself.

“I…” the kid said, shaking his head as if to clear it. His face had begun to swell from my punch but as I watched it reduced in size and returned to normal. He opened his eyes and relaxed in my grip, fully healed and in control of his emotions. “I took them home, Dennis. They did not belong here…they were hurting and didn’t know why.”

“Hurting?!” I raged, trying to keep my ire up even as something in his words soothed me. “Hurting how?”

“By not being in harmony,” the kid said, reaching up with his hands and grasping my wrists and gently guided my relaxing arms downward until he was firmly standing on the floor again. “They weren’t from this universe, Dennis, and they had to go home. They wanted me to tell you good-bye and thank you, though. You meant a lot to them during their time here.”

Fearful of what he was going to say yet needing to hear it, I asked, “Meant?”

The kid gave me that resigned look again. “Yes. I’m afraid the act of returning them to their true universe prevents them from remembering this one. I was able to take them back to nearly the instant they were dislodged; it is as if they never truly left.”

I began weeping again because I just knew the kid was telling me the truth, as if some secret knowledge inside my soul had finally be laid bare to me, and the strength in my legs failed me and I fell back onto my ass. We were quiet for a long time until the kid knelt in front of me and held out something to me. It was a locket, the one Liptral’s daughter Kestra used to wear, and inside it I found a small picture of her and her mother on one side and a picture of me on the other. The engraving on the back of the locket read: ‘My Heroes’ in honor of us.

I really lost it after that as the loss overwhelmed me and, strangely, I didn’t feel embarrassed crying in front of the kid, who for his own part looked properly apologetic and supportive while I came to tentative grips with this new situation. When I was finally able to slip the locket over my head and wipe my eyes, I looked up at him and asked, “What’s your name, kid?”

“Axel Asher,” he said, extending his hand. “But people who just meet me call me Access.”

“What do people who don’t just meet you call you?” I asked, confused.

“Hey Kid, mostly,” Acess said, smiling. “I’m not very memorable, surprisingly. After we’re finished you won’t remember me either…probably.”

“Finished?” I asked. “With what?”

“Well, turns out the Zero People aren’t the only ones not where they started out. In your case, however, I can’t take you home. I’m afraid you’re stuck here. But that’s not the worse news.”

Trying to digest that, I did manage to ask, “Wha—what’s worse than that?”

“I’m afraid you’ve been chosen to save countless universes from destruction…and to do it, you’re going to have to kill John Walker.”

“I hit him as hard as I could. I’d crouched almost all the way to the floor and came up as fast as I could with my arm cocked until I’d come halfway up. When I unloaded, I had achieved maximum speed and all the strength in my arm was added to all the strength from my legs and my elbow locked at the perfect moment as my fist smashed into his chin at the right angle to keep me from breaking either my wrist or my knuckles but should have sent him into la-la land. It was just a beautiful, beautiful punch.”

“So, what happened next?” the detective taking the story down asked the kid lying on the ambulance gurney.

“I bounced back from the shot, my hand stinging, and I looked at the guy and he just stood there for a moment without moving. Then he lowered his head and looked at me and…and he smiled!” The kid raised his hand from the gurney and showed it to the detective. “That’s when the pain hit, man! Everyone one of my knuckles is busted and most of my fingers and he just shook it off and smiled at me! Then he kicked me over the counter and half-way through the wall!”

“Well, to be fair, you were robbing a jewelry store with your three friends and had beat the shit out of the owner. Your lucky he stopped kicking you after the first one,” the detective said, flipping his notebook closed. “You and your community college boxer buddies are going to get a lot of shit beat into you over the next few months, if you know what I mean.”

Detective Fred Bell turned and walked over to the man and woman who’d broken up this attempted robbery, who were talking to the paramedics working on the store owner. “Mr. Agent, I’m ready to take your statement now.”

USAgent looked over at the detective and nodded, stepping away from his blonde companion and crossing his arms over his massive chest. “That guy brag about his lucky punch?”

“He did, in fact,” Bell said, nodding. “Seemed proud of himself, despite the results. Guess not many nineteen-year-olds can tag an Avenger.”

USAgent scratched his chin, refusing to admit it actually stung a little from the punch, and smiled. “Gotta admit I didn’t see him down there. We came in and saw his friends dancing a jig on this guy’s head and focused on them. Heard the guy was a boxer or something, so guess he’s used to taking advantage of a distraction. Unfortunately for him, strong as he may be, he’s still not in my league.”

One Hour Ago

“Patrolling is boring,” Cathy Webster, the superheroine also known as Free Spirit, said as she crouched on the rooftop next to her current boss/mentor John ‘Jack’ Walker, also known as USAgent. “Never liked it with Cap so, surprise surprise, it sucks with you too.”

“I’d heard you were nice and respectful of your elders,” Jack said, looking through his military-issued one-eyed telescope he’d pulled from a belt pouch. “Apparently I need to get my ears checked.”

“Oh, c’mon, we’ve been running around like this for hours,” Free Spirit said, running her hand through her new multi-colored hair. “Other than a couple muggers and a maybe-rapist, we’re just wasting a Friday night. Won’t Julia be upset you spent your evening with me instead of her?”

“What, you think Julia’s going to be worried we were doing more than patrolling?” Jack asked. “I don’t think she’s the jealous type, honestly. Mainly because she’d murder us both and web our bodies to an intercontinental flight so we’d just fall off halfway, no fuss-no muss, if anything were to happen.” He smiled as Free Spirit raised her hands and did a fake scared look at him. “Besides, she’s got her own thing going on tonight with some family that I am most certainly not welcomed to attend.”

“Oh really?” Cathy said, fluttering her eyes at him. “Gossip! Do tell!”

“Yeah, that’s gonna…wait,” Jack said, dropping the good-natured banter and leaning forward. “Let’s go!”

He was off the roof and swinging down from a lower fire escape before Cathy realized he’d moved, but she quickly followed, bounding down from offsetting window ledges herself and landing lightly into a sprint just behind him. “What?”

“Jewelry store a block further down just got a visit by four guys in dark clothing and hoods up. After they entered the sign mysteriously turned to closed,” USAgent said, forming his shield on his left arm. “Follow me in then go right. If anyone has a gun I’ll deflect it and you can close while they focus on me. Identify the employee and closest one gets him to safety. Got it?”

“Sure thing,” Free Spirit said, slowing as they neared the door.

USAgent flung the door open and stepped inside and then froze as Cathy heard a meaty THWACK! sound that she realized was a punch directly in USAgent’s face. Time seemed to freeze for a second and Free Spirit felt her pulse bottom out as her mind immediately flashed back to that dungeon in Arizona where she and Jack Flag had been captured and tortured for weeks and her stomach tightened and she felt a wave of nausea overwhelm her and…

Then she took a breath and realized that the Agent was fine and he’d already responded by kicking the shithead who’d hit him across the room and launched himself toward the group of kids just now turning in his direction. Free Spirit took one hesitating step forward and then time seemed to start again and she flung herself into the room and vaulted the counter, having seen a man lying on the floor behind the glass with blood on his dark face. Landing next to the man, Free Spirit tugged him gently back around the corner of the counter and checked his pulse, finding it was strong though he wasn’t conscious.

Looking up as movement caught her eye, Free Spirit saw that one of the men who Agent had gone after had slipped past him and was trying to get around the counter and free. He had a baseball bat in his hands and he swung it at her, trying to smash her skull in to make his escape, but she was too fast and strong for him. She rose from a crouch and caught the bat in her left hand, bringing it back across her body and cracking the shaft of the bat across the guy’s face just hard enough to halt his run and shock him back, but not strong enough to kill him. While he was stunned she fired off a snap-kick that caught him in the chest with the flat of her high-heeled boot and propelled him across the room and into the hole in the wall USAgent had sent his friend into earlier, leaving both of them dazed and out of the fight.

Dropping the bat, Cathy looked over to see USAgent using zip-cuffs onto the two men he’d taken down and then pulling out two more pair and flipping them to her. As she secured the two men from the wall USAgent pulled out his Communicard to call in the police.

Now

“And here we are,” USAgent said as he saw Cathy smiling at the shop owner as he was wheeled into the ambulance, pleased to see that the guy was okay and that Cathy also appeared good too. He’d been worried about her since her recovery from the Resistants, one of the reasons he had brought her along on patrol tonight, but she’d handled herself well.

“Okay, that should do it,” Bell said, pocketing his notebook and pulling out a stick of gum. “Been seeing a lot of you and those others affiliated with you around here the last week or so, Agent. What’s up with that?”

“Just doing my civic duty for my new zip code, Detective,” Jack said, smiling. “What’s wrong, don’t like the competition?”

“You kidding? You’ve made a big impact just over the last week, and I’ve not had to work so much overtime doing paperwork because the ‘heroes’ don’t stick around to talk to us. Guys like Spider-Man or Daredevil just drop the scum on us but leave us to pick up all the pieces and sometimes we miss important ones that let the bad guys walk. So when I say I appreciate your help, I mean all of it.”

“Hey, I’m not an amateur swinging around on ropes and running at the first sign of real heroes,” USAgent said, smiling. “I’m the real deal and things are going to stay quiet as long as I’m around. Besides, real heroes wear blue or black, not red, know what I’m saying?”

“Uh…what about Battlestar and the new Cap?” Free Spirit said as she walked up.

“Well, they wear black in their own way,” Jack said, waving her off, “and Daredevil couldn’t beat the new gun-toting clown dressed as Scourge, so I don’t expect much from him anyway. Besides, the ‘new’ Cap’s days are numbered anyway.”

“What do you mean by that, Agent?” asked Bell.

“Well, nothing against him, seems like a good guy I guess, but I carried that shield for a while and it’s a heavy burden,” Jack said soberly. “Plus, long as the real deal is still out there, he’ll be back. Whatever he needs to do that led to him stepping back for a bit won’t keep that patriotic heart from beating and no one wears that costume better.”

“What if he really is done for good?” Bell asked.

“Then the kid better not mess it up…or he’ll have to answer to me.”

“Well,” I replied, taking that in surprisingly well given the day I’d had so far, “then those universes are screwed, because I won’t be killing John Walker.”

Access nodded, apparently having expected that. “I expected that.” I sighed. “Doesn’t change the fact that a John Walker is going to threaten many different realities and countless lives.”

“A John Walker?” I asked, my head really beginning to hurt. “So you don’t mean the one I know here?”

“Probably not,” Access said. “The one of this universe seems relatively stable compared to some other universes, such as one from #792, talk about a nutjob in a crazy reality. But there are some Walkers out there who are so insane that they scare me and some of the other Powers-That-Be, and I’m seeing signs that one of them is going to cause some serious problems in the near future that only you can stop.”

“Why me?” I asked.

“Because he’s coming here. Though precognition isn’t a strong power of mine, I keep seeing in my dreams death and pain but I can’t find the source and I don’t think I’m going to be able to stop it. But I keep seeing you and I just have a feeling that you can stop it, but you can’t do it alone. You need your friends in this reality and you’ll have to convince them of the evil heading your way.”

“This is nonsense,” I said, standing and beginning to walk around. “I guess you don’t know when, how or why any of this is maybe going to happen either, huh?”

“No,” Access said, looking frustrated for the first time since he had appeared.

“Then why should I believe you or anything you say?!” I screamed, my rage I thought had burned out returning hotter than ever. “You robbed my family from me! Why should I care what happens?”

“Because I need you to protect my home and my friends,” a voice behind me said, one I was very familiar with because it was mine. I turned and there I stood, Dennis Dunphy, bald-headed and dressed in my D-Man costume, staring at me from the other side of a full-length portal apparently created by Access. “Just as I’ve been protecting yours for the last two years.”

“I—I don’t understand…” I said though I thought I really did. “Wait, you said I wasn’t ‘where I started at’…”

“Yes,” Access said, stepping up beside me. “You are from a different universe, but one very similar to this one. And one day, two years ago, two very different yet similar men named Dennis Dunphy both rode an Avengers Quinjet down into an U.L.T.I.M.A.T.I.U.M. base in the Antarctic to stop them from destroying the world using an electromagnetic-pulse cannon as a doomsday weapon after being defeated by Captain America. The explosion not only saved the world…it tore a small hole in the fabric of the space/time continuum and you two…switched places.”

“I woke up a few miles from the explosion site after managing to bail off with the ULTIMATIUM Agent I’d been trying to save from the wing of the jet and Steve found me a few moments later, bringing me in to safety,” the Dennis on the other side of the portal said. “It didn’t take me too long to realize something was wrong and I wasn’t where I should have been, but by the time the Avengers and Fantastic Six got a chance to review the crash site the window had closed.”

As the other Dennis talked, memories flooded into my mind and what felt like blocks were lifted and memories of another time, another world, flooded into my mind. I stumbled back as this new life, this real me, crowded into the thoughts I now realized belonged to this other Dennis and his life and my life merged and mixed, drowning me with hopes, dreams, losses, pain, victory… I cried out in pain and felt blood trickle down from my nose as my mind struggled for a balance. I finally pulled myself together enough to get back up onto my knees and look at my other self.

“The memory lock hurts, I know, and I’m sorry,” he said, shaking his head sadly. “I went through it myself when Dr. Richards tried to explain what had happened and then Access showed up I went through it again. I hope you’ll be pleased to know all your friends have accepted me and cared for me, even if I’m not as powerful and skilled as you. I’m trying my best to carry on for you and we’ve been doing well for the last couple of years.”

In my mind I saw the memories he spoke up, relived his life for the last two years, saw him fighting alongside Steve and the Falcon and the Avengers and the other heroes of the world, and I saw friends I had forgotten and my heart soared with hope and joy. “So that’s why the SHIELD doctors say I’m more powerful than the other Power Broker subjects in this reality.” Access and the other Dennis nodded. But then I remembered losing the Zero People and I remembered Access words. “But we can’t go back to where we belong, can we?”

“No,” Access said sadly. “Whatever caused the two of you to change realities, the energies that suffused your bodies from that weapon, it’s preventing me from getting a ‘grip’ on you and fixing things. I’m afraid you guys ‘are’ home, such as it is.”

“Look, Dennis,” the other Dennis said to me, “I know this sucks, believe me, but I also know from your memories that you have been happy there and have friends who can help you with the loss of the Zero People. And I know you care for them and for that world…my world…as much as you did for yours because that’s how I feel. So I’m asking you: can you be the hero my world, my friends, need?”

I felt tears on my face as I hung my head, running my hands through my bushy red hair. “Of course, you know I will, what choice do I have anyway?” I said, pushing back to my feet and wiping my face. “I’m an Avenger, it’s what we do, right? But tell me…uh, me…is she all right?”

The Dennis on the other side looked pained, knowing what this meant to me, and after a moment’s hesitation he pulled the glove off of his left hand and held it up, letting me see the gold band he wore. “She still loves you, she knows what happened, but we fell in love too. She’s…she’s pregnant.”

After the shock wore off of realizing the love of my life had moved on, I realized the pain and betrayal I had expected had faded as the memories stirred up from the other Dennis’s life showed me their relationship from his awakening in my world to their marriage. I felt myself crying and smiling at the same time as I nodded. “That’s good, then. You take care of her, okay? Pris is special.”

“Always,” the other Dennis said, smiling and wiping at his own face. “It was good to meet you, Dennis.”

“You too,” I said, unsure what else to say.

Fortunately Access spared me the awkwardness and closed the portal before turning to me and shrugging, letting me gather my wits. Then he said, “So…uh…any questions?”

“Leave me alone,” I said, sitting down and hanging my head in my hands. “Unless you can give me some more clearer information, get the hell outta my cavern.”

“For now I can’t, but when I do I’ll try my best to get in touch with you, but it’s not always that easy you understand,” Access said, kneeling and placing a warm hand on my shoulder. “But you must keep a watchful eye on your friends, especially John Walker, for any changes in attitude or demeanor. If he’s acting different it may be because he is different.”

“I understand,” I said. “I’ll do the best I can, all right?”

“Okay,” Access said, standing and opening a portal. “I am truly sorry for the pain I’ve caused you today, Dennis. I hope the future makes the pains of today worth the cost.”

Then he was gone and I slumped over onto my side, desperate for the solace of sleep.

Peggy Carter opened the chain-link gate from the storage area in the basement of Steve Rogers’ brownstone and locked it behind her, securing the last of the several security checkpoints she’d crossed to exit the underground base to the street level. While technically linked with Steve’s brownstone home, the base used by USAgent and his team was largely separated from the now private residence of the former Captain America, including being on separate power, utilities and security grids. Not that the two were totally independent, but it wasn’t like they bumped into each other on the stairs, either.

Peggy had begun ending her usual work day by this route in the hopes of checking on Steve and seeing how he was doing since retiring and turning his shield over to that nice Josiah X boy, but she’d yet to run into him or screw up the courage to knock on his door. She knew he’d be gracious enough to invite her in and talk to her for hours, but she didn’t want to bother him.

What they’d shared, magical as it had been to her as a very young girl in World War II, was behind them by a far margin and his time was now with her niece Sharon or Bernie or even that somewhat questionable Diamondback character, but not with Peggy, who had accepted that. While she had aged and was now in her early eighties, though still spry and as sharp as ever, Steve still appeared in his early thirties and as powerful as ever and the two of them were nothing more than a fond memory.

But she still cared for him and since Sharon didn’t call her Aunt nearly as much as she should, Peggy felt out of sorts and wishing to know how he was doing. So every day after ‘work’ she walked this path and took her sweet time out front of the brownstone, straightening the potted plants and sweeping up the detritus that accumulates, and just enjoyed the evening. One of these days she knew he’d come down and sit with her and she had developed quite the patience streak in her old age.

This day, however, she received a very unusual visitor who she didn’t even realize was there until she bumped into the frail young thing, spilling them both to the concrete sidewalk. Peggy groaned as she sat up, thankful that her coat had protected her from injury, and turned to check on the girl. She was in her early-to-mid-twenties and had brown hair and pale skin, and she looked atrophied and exhausted at first. As Peggy leaned down over her and opened the blanket the girl was using to cover herself, she realized it was worse than that as evidence of abuse and possibly torture were exposed to her trained eye.

“Oh dear,” Peggy said, covering the girl up again and lifting her head up to rest it against her shoulder as she dug into her coat for her communicard. “Fabian!” she cried into it as she triggered the proper code. “This is Peggy.”

“Why, hello Peggy,” Fabian Stankowitz said lazily, surprised to hear her call. “To what do I…”

“Shush, Fabian, this is an emergency,” Peggy said, cutting him off. “I need you and Quinn to get out to the front of the brownstone and help me get a girl into the infirmary, and get Doctor Foster here on the double.”

“We’re on it!” Fabian said, closing the connection.

Peggy slid her card back into her pocket and brushed the sticky hair off of the girl’s face and something about her sparked a memory in Peggy’s mind and only a second later she realized where she’d seen that face before. “Oh no…nononono,” she said as she pulled her card out again and pulled up a recent ‘Missing’ alert she’d prepared herself and sent out…and her breath froze in her chest.

Staring back at Peggy from the screen and up at her from her arms was Katie Walker Tollifson…the missing of sister of John Walker, who had been kidnapped by the Watchdogs several months ago.

Peggy sighed as she felt herself begin to weep and activated another code into her card. “Peggy to USAgent…”

NEXT: Walkabouts continues as USAgent reconnects with his sister and learns how she got away and what she’s been going through. Also, Free Spirit, Moonhunter and Dr. Foster take a trip to Ravencroft Sanitarium to visit Dr. Ashley Kafka and determine if they are mentally fit to continue as a part of USAgent’s team…and maybe stop a breakout if they’ve got the time!

AUTHOR’S NOTES

This story takes place between issues #9 & #10 of Dino’s Captain America series, just after Josiah X took over the shield but before Steve Rogers’ death in #10. It also occurs just after Daredevil’s battle with Scourge in Amazing Fantasy #23, and the events of Bring On The Bad Guys #3. The remainder of “Walkabouts” will occur within that same time period.

The event depicted above in regards to D-Man’s battle with U.L.T.I.M.A.T.I.U.M. occurred in the original run of Captain America from marvel from issues #346-349, and subsequent issues depicting his rescue from the cold by USAgent and Falcon and reintegration into the world (various Cap and Avengers issues). I’m sure you all know who Access is and, if not, then Wiki is your friend.