Screams rang in Rina Patel’s ears, but she couldn’t react to them. Fear kept her frozen to the spot, next to a man that would have otherwise sickened if ice hadn’t already encased her guts. He wore green like Rita did, and like herself he could manipulate and travel through time, though apparently. It was why Rita called herself Timeslip, and the man was known as Timestream.

Their abilities were precisely the reason why Timeslip and Timestream were held prisoner. Without them, it would not have been possible for the others to be taken captive, for their screams to torment Timeslip. Five men and women, great heroes that Rita had admired, and because or Rita they now suffered.

Briefly, the screams faded. The man responsible turned his attention to Rita.

“Is that guilt you’re feeling?” he asked. The deep voice echoed in Rita’s skull, brought on headaches that only got worse as she vigorously shook her head. “Did I give you permission to feel guilt?”

Thick, stubby fingers took hold of Rita’s chin, held her face in place. Another hand reached for a lever next to Rita, pulled it down into a new setting. “Time enough for guilt later. Soon you will bring me others to feed on. For now, however, there will only be fear.”

Now it was Timeslip who screamed.

THE CRUCIBLE

By Steve Crosby and Eric Faynberg

Two men and two women waited outside on a pier in Seattle, Washington. The man they waited on had already beaten them to the location, but none of them were able to see him until after he’d stopped running. In the moonlight that illuminated the night, Quicksilver’s blue and silver costume gave off a pale shine.

“Eight times I’ve checked the perimeter,” Quicksilver told the men and women who, along with him, made up the West Coast Avengers. “This trap is concealed well. I couldn’t find any trace of one. Nobody is here.”

“Of course there is a trap,” remarked Darkstar in an English that was almost unintelligible due to her heavy Russian accent. “None of us are particularly skilled in communications devices, but somehow we managed to discover five signals and follow them here.”

“I don’t care how it looks,” Wonder Man declared. “One of those signals was Wanda’s.”

Quicksilver shot his teammate a harsh look. “Only one person here has the right to care about my sister, and that is me. Save your concern for Pym, one of the Avengers you originally betrayed.”

Bubbling with anger, wisps of energy seemed to emanate from Wonder Man as he took a step towards Quicksilver. “You have a lot of nerve saying that to me after all the sh-”

“Enough!” Cloak had placed himself between the two men. “If you two wish to stay out here and fight about who cares more, then fine. In the meantime, I’ll be in there trying to rescue some people.”

“And I’ll be helping,” added Dagger. After saying this she turned towards a row of businesses on the deserted pier, and gave a sharp intake of breath.

Standing outside the door to one business, an arcade, were a man and a woman who had not been there before. Neither looked familiar to the West Coast Avengers, but quickly they drew a conclusion.

“What have you done with Wanda and the others!” roared Wonder Man as he flew at the unusual pair. Before he could reach them, however, the man raised his hand and suddenly Wonder Man found himself standing where he’d been only seconds before. Again he was starting to fly, only he was moving much more slowly than before.

“Umm, I’m going to guess that,” answered Dagger. As she talked, Darkstar had also taken to the air, and Quicksilver was running fast at the mysterious pair. Surprisingly, only the team of Cloak and Dagger hadn’t made a move.

“Oh, look ‘Slip,” said the man as he raised his arm again. “If at first they don’t succeed, they’re try try again.”

In the course of an instant, the man and women had move forward several feet. As a consequence, the stream of Darkforce hurled by Darkstar collided with Quicksilver at the spot where their opponents had been. The girl identified as ‘Slip flicked her wrist up and Darkstar, and the Russian began to convulse as the Darkforce inside of her grew increasingly unstable.

On a hunch, Dagger threw a blade of light up at Darkstar. Much like the effect it has on Cloak, the soulful light of Dagger seemed to calm Darkstar’s abilities, allowing her to float safely back onto the pier. “Thanks,” Darkstar gasped out.

“You manipulate time,” stated Cloak. The Darkforce that surrounded his body expanded outward, effectively dividing the pier. “Who are you, and what have you done with the Avengers?”

The male grinned, then gestured behind him. Quicksilver was back on his feet, had run towards them again. Inexplicably he slowed down, his personal timeline moving at a crawl and with it his speed.

“My name is Timestream, so that is a given. This slip of a girl,” he tilted his head at the woman standing next to him. “Is called Timeslip. As for those five you’re looking for, all we did was…knock them off balance. Made it possible for them to get snatched.” Timestream directed his gaze on Wonder Man. “Except for you. That didn’t make him happy, you getting away.”

Sad eyes were Timeslip’s, directed at Cloak and the other three heroes behind him. “You should just walk away. I know you won’t, but you should.”

“Shut it girl,” directed Timestream. “You already know he’ll find you if you try to run. Then it will just be worse.”

“I’m not the one running.” Timeslip turned around to look at Quicksilver. He’d managed to move another foot closer. Rolling her eyes, Timeslip took a step to the side and gestured. Quicksilver was moving fast again, faster even than he’d intended. Before he could stop himself, Quicksilver had overshot past the two time manipulators and run straight into the Darkforce portal that was Cloak.

“God I love doing this,” Timestream chuckled as he turned and walked back towards the arcade.

“Hunnh.” Shuddering, Cloak attempted to expunge Quicksilver from the pocket dimension inside of his body. “Dagger…Tandy, help me. It’s…its so cold inside. How can he…live with it…?”

“I’m here Tyrone.” Dagger’s outstretched hand pressed against Cloak’s back. Light flooded into him, and Quicksilver was forced out as a result. The silver-clad, swift Avenger collapsed on the pier, knees pressed up against his chest, shivering.

“What he’s feeling isn’t nearly as bad as what your friends are going through,” Timestream told them. The door to the arcade was open. Inside, a bright glow revealed swirling energies that in now way resembled video game consoles. “Step on through. You might be able to free them.”

“No you won’t,” said Timeslip. “Please, just turn around and leave. All you’ll do is suffer.”

Wonder Man forced his way past Cloak and Dagger, and helped Quicksilver to his feet. “You okay?”

Fighting past hyperventilation, Quicksilver nodded. His angry eyes were fixed on the swirling portal.

“Wanda’s in there. What do you want to do?”

No words came from Quicksilver. All he did was take a shaky step forward.

“Yeah, my sentiments exactly.” Wonder Man turned to the others. “What about you guys?”

Darkstar had returned to her feet, was also walking forward. Cloak and Dagger looked at each other, then as one they stepped forward.

“Let’s go.”

Together, the West Coast Avengers walked past Timestream and Timeslip. Soon, they had all disappeared into the portal.

“Ready for more of the same?” Timestream asked.

Timeslip wiped her tears. “It’s not like I have a choice.”

As they walked into the fading portal, the screams had already begun.

Thick bands of an unknown metal held them all motionless against the wall, those five heroes who had been Avengers of the West Coast. At the other side of the vast antechamber, Quicksilver and Wonder Man could see Scarlet Witch, along with the other four missing West Coast Avengers, Giant-Man, She-Hulk, Silverclaw and Nova. But any concern these two men might have felt was gone, pushed way by raw, unbridled FEAR.

In the room’s center stood a man nearly ten feet tall. At least, it was shaped like a man. Metal armor of green and white colors could just as easily have been the outer casing of a robot. The eyes that gazed out from behind that orange faceplate certainly seemed alive however, as did the voice when he spoke.

“Emotion is a powerful force. Acts of great stupidity are performed under moments of fear, hate and doubt. When the people’s hatred overcame their fear of me and doubt of themselves, they forced me into this exile.” The blank yellow face gave no expression, but those eyes seemed to smile. “So what I had to do was make their fear and doubt stronger. More, I gave them a hate of something else. All of them. It was such a fun day, watching five planets tear themselves apart.”

A third wall of the room opened up into a great glass observation window. Seen at a distance were what had once been five worlds. Now they were chunks of dead mass, devoid of life or any potential for life.

“Like all powerful things, emotion requires energy. The heart beats faster, bloods flows quicker, lungs expand and contract more rapidly. To make five planets feel what I wanted them to I had to tap into their very cores. As I said, they only lasted a day.”

Slowly, the tall metal man approached his newest captives. It was Wonder Man he stopped in front of, that glorious creature of pure ionic energy. Thick metal features took the ionic man by the chin, lifted his weary head.

“Your universe has so many more planets, and I would like them to feel for much longer than a day. Fortunately, you have other reservoirs of energy for me to access. Even darkness is an energy, I’ve discovered.” Those eyes that take glee in suffering fixed themselves onto Cloak and Darkstar. “However, there is a great deal of competition, other pipes siphoning power from the same sources. So what I need is many different types of power.”

Wonder Man’s head was allowed to drop. Sadistic eyes moved to-and-fro among those Avengers who had been missing for some time. “The Nova Force, vast and connected to a whole other alien culture complete with their own fears and hates and doubts. Chaotic energies from elder beings that called themselves gods, unpredictable but without limit. The other three provide some entertainment.”

“If…if you’ve done any…anything to hurt them…” threatened Wonder Man weakly.

That blank face turned to face him. “You need to doubt you’re ability to speak a little more. No, little man possessed of immortal life, they aren’t hurt. Not physically. The only damage I do is mental, something you must know quite well. How many times have you died, only to be reborn? Again and again you return, limitless in life and in power. Power that I will be using now. And you two,” his gaze settled on Cloak and Darkstar. “Two portals into a whole dimension from me to draw from. Soon, I will have gathered enough to make your whole universe feel.”

A button was pressed. As metal bands retracted from around five Avengers, a lever was pulled into [HATE].

“Until then, the rest of you will entertain me.”

Immediately, strong emotion flooded into the minds of Quicksilver, Dagger, She-Hulk, Giant-Man and Silver Claw. Freed from captivity, they all rushed forward at each other, completely ignoring their captor.

As heroes began to fight with the intent to kill, the man behind it all addressed his two pawns. “Yes, girl, I can feel your fear returning.” The rapid beating of Timeslip’s heart seemed to fill the antechamber. “Why are you so afraid?”

“Because…because you are psychotic,” Timeslip replied in a whisper. “I have no idea what you are going to do next. Even somebody like me, who can see the future, I can’t predict a psycho’s next move.”

Again, those sadistic, psychotic eyes seemed to smile. “Hmmm, yes, perhaps there was a reason I chose to call myself Psycho-Man.”

Between pillars of flesh Quicksilver ran. Narrowly he avoided the grasp of Hank Pym, the Giant-Man. Rather than move for distance, Quicksilver took the offensive. Up Giant-Man’s finger he ran, along the whole length of the arm. He built momentum as he did so, and when Quicksilver made his way to the head the speed behind his punch translated into raw power. The giant staggered, though he did not fall. Equally staggered and devoid of momentum, Quicksilver sped down the Giant-Man’s leg and was met by a snake.

Silverclaw was her name, an orphaned girl of South America, empowered by her tribe to mimic the appearance and abilities of all animals native to her region. Her default form was a human/cat hybrid with skin the color of soft silver, a trait that was shared among all her forms. When placed in Quicksilver’s path she had the long sinewy body of a python snake, well-suited to trapping a speedster in its coils.

While Quicksilver struggled to free himself from the silver thing that also moved quickly, his teammate Dagger faced against an opponent who was nearly as powerful as the Hulk. She-Hulk was her name, Jennifer Walters, and she was caught in a rage that that would have halted even her cousin. Such strength as hers was far beyond anything Dagger could survive, and so all she could do was avoid the brutal onslaught. Distant she remained; throwing blades of pure light that did nothing to halt the rage. For the time being, Dagger’s own hate did not make her stupid.

One blade of purity did not strike the She-Hulk, however. As Dagger twisted and dodged the emerald fists, she hurled a special dagger in the direction of the still-shaken Giant-Man. Where it struck him did not matter, as Dagger’s purifying light affects the darkness in a victim’s soul. Giant-Man thrashed in agony at contact with the light.

“Janet! Janet, I’m sorry,” Pym muttered as he fell to the ground, dangerously close to She-Hulk. She simply leaped over the pitiful behemoth and continued to chase Dagger. Nearby, the tables had turned, as Silverclaw was now struggling to untangle her snake body from the loose knot Quicksilver had tied.

At either side of the massive chamber, the remaining members of the two West Coast Avengers teams were held fast in captivity. Wonder Man, Cloak, Darkstar, Scarlet Witch and Nova each drew on near-infinite reserves of various energies, power that their captor was drawing on to manipulate the emotions of their teammates.

“Yes, the power!” intoned the Psycho Man. “With all this energy at my disposal, all that remains of the Microverse will feel what I desire of them. The Microverse, and all others to follow.”

“You will be stopped, madman,” screamed Timeslip angrily. Like the five Avengers, she was bound against the wall, alongside the villain known as Timestream. “Somehow, you will be defeated, and hopefully killed!”

But Timeslip’s words of venom had an opposite effect on Psycho Man “Ah, the sounds and smells of hatred are a pleasure to behold. And it comes with such fruitless defiance. Yes, little slip of time, I will be opposed, and the effort of swatting those gnats will bring me a thrill not experienced for a long while. For this reason I have heroes fight for my amusement, to remind me of these obstacles ahead. But with the power these same heroes give me those obstacles will crumble.”

“It will be you who crumbles!” yelled a hate-filled and deranged Timeslip. “They’ll peel open that armor and snap your bones like so much – AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!”

“On the other hand,” Psycho-Man mused as he shifted Timeslip’s emotion from hate to horror. “Defiance can quickly go tiresome, while screams just never cease to be pleasing.”

Hung in captivity beside Timeslip, the villainous temporal manipulator known as Timestream suffered equally, if less vocally. Terror was set deep in his bones, freezing every joint, and almost every thought that went through Timestream’s mind was wracked with fear. Those who crave power can never be dissuaded, however, not even by fear unimaginable. Timestream waited only for the right opportunity.

What had once been a fight between members of opposing Avengers teams had rapidly degenerated into a free-for-all. Fueled by rage, She-Hulk was stronger than ever, more than a match for Henry Pym no matter what size he was.

“Grraarrhh!” Arms carved from emerald pressed against a finger that was thicker than most redwoods.

The sound that came from Henry Pym’s finger snapping was far more sickening than that of any redwood crashing down. Bone snapped, and though flesh did not splinter the unnatural angle made the wound clear to everyone who cared to notice. None cared.

Dagger had worked through her anger and was now fighting out of fear. The South American changeling known as Silverclaw wasn’t much younger than the white-clad heroine, but the two women barely out of their teens were at each other’s throats. Bolts of white purity had no affect on what was more animal than woman. The swipe of a silver monkey’s paw sent Dagger hurtling across the room.

She struck the wall near to where Scarlet Witch was bound. The red-headed mutant witch was held frozen by fear, her limitless power being drained as she was forced to watch her friends and family fighting to the death. Power was being taken from her, the Chaos Magick that had been a part of Scarlet Witch since she had been born on the slopes of Mount Wundagore, but she was a mutant as well, with the power to affect probability.

Just then, the odds of the Emolipulator connected to Timestream shifting into [HATE] became very, very good. Too late, Psycho Man turned to face his captive time manipulator.

“No!”

Green eyes went neon. Time rippled throughout the room. Metal aged to dust.

“Oh, yes.”

Timestream was free, and on either side of the room so were the captive Avengers. He stalked toward Psycho Man, and in the space between one second and the next was suddenly behind the Microverse native. A large armored hand swung, strong enough to knock a man’s head from his shoulders. But to Timestream the blow was coming at an abnormally slow pace.

“Giving time to someone like me was absolutely the worst thing you could do,” bragged Timestream. He waved an arm at Psycho Man while grinning. “And fortunately, I try to take my own advice.”

Armor began to rust. Psycho Man felt his teeth go brittle, and more to the rest of his body. “No…” he croaked out. Pieces of him were flaking off, disintegrating with age. “Noooo!!!!” An echo of that pitiful cry was soon all that remained, save for a pile of ashes.

“Oh, that felt good,” cackled Timestream in a manic glee.

A sweeping flight of the human rocket that was Nova, collided with Timestream, knocking him to the ground. He wiped the blood from his nose and snarled. Nova wasn’t the only one in motion. Scarlet Witch, Wonder Man, Cloak and Darkstar had also been freed from their bonds. And as a result of the Psycho Man’s apparently demise, the heroes Quicksilver, Silverclaw, Dagger, She-Hulk and Giant-Man were no longer emotionally manipulated.

“Oh, right. I freed all the do-gooders too.” Slowly, he raised his hands. “That don’t suppose that could lead to a sort of truce?”

“Not a chance,” declared Wonder Man. In reducing Psycho Man to dust, Timestream had proven himself to be no better.

Faced with nearly a dozen heroes, Timestream grinned. “Then don’t say I never gave you an out!”

Time and space rippled around the villain as he utilized his power. Then everything went still, frozen, save for Timestream and one other. With his power, Timestream had frozen time, and was facing a motionless and defenseless team of West Coast Avengers. Confident and momentarily forgetful that he was not the only individual who could manipulate time, Timestream advanced on the frozen heroes.

“Hmm, let me think,” he tapped a finger against his chin. “Fleeing is out of the question. I have a whole world down there I can play with.” Briefly he gestured at the large window, through which a dead husk of a planet could be seen. “After I turn the clock on what Psycho Man did, of course. But first…” A finger pointed at each West Coast Avenger in succession.

“In what order should I kill you?”

A flash of movement caught Timestream’s eye. “Wha-”

The fist of a young woman known as Timeslip collided with his jaw. “Start trying with the ones that can fight back!” yelled Timeslip as she advanced. Her hands clasped around Timestream’s wrists, and the two began to grapple. Ordinarily, Timestream would have had no problem defending himself against a slip of a girl, but his concentration had been broken. Time was moving again.

Unfortunately, nobody on the team had the confidence of leadership to give the battlecry, but the West Coast Avengers were certainly assembled when they surged forward towards the two time manipulators. Nova and Quicksilver were by far the fastest, flying and running and close to the speed of sound. But as soon as they were within a foot of the struggling pair, the two heroes immediately found themselves right back where they started.

“They’re doing it again, damn it!” Quicksilver cursed.

Waves of time rippled through all the Avengers, affecting each in different fashions. Hank Pym, who had nearly thirty feet tall, rapidly shrank down to ten feet before it abruptly stopped. She-Hulk changed back into plain Jennifer Walters. Scarlet Witch suddenly found herself in the outfit she’d worn during the days of Force Works.

The effects of temporal distortion were not limited to the West Coast Avengers. The satellite they were fighting on was also being altered, the materials it’d been made from either rapidly aging or reverting back to their core components. One of these quickly led to a breach, and air suddenly began to rush out of the area.

“The entire satellite’s decompressing!” screamed Wonder Man, but his words failed to carry in the rush of air. He and Nova would have been able to survive in the vacuum of space, but the others wouldn’t be so fortunate.

At the time none of them would be sure of the who or how, but it was Scarlet Witch that solved the predicament. Her power of probability acted unconsciously in response to the threat, and reversed the temporal distortion effect that caused the vacuum to being with. Everybody could talk again, and it was Quicksilver who did so first, to Cloak.

“We need you to get us out of here!”

Overhearing, Nova stared at the speedster incredulously. “We can’t just run while the bad guy is-”

“Youweremissingnowyou’refoundwe’redonehereletsgo!” argued Quicksilver rapidly.

Somehow Nova was able to understand. “Timeslip’s a friend of mine. There’s no way I’m just going to leave her here, you arrogant piece of sh-”

“Run!” yelled Timeslip as she continued to grapple with Timestream. For some reason, she managed to hold her own against the larger man for quite some time.

Scarlet Witch observed the pair struggling with each other, her lip pursed. “We can’t do anything to help, but I can’t shake the feeling my being here is the only reason she’s lasted this long.” Neither Darkstar’s blasts of Darkforce nor Dagger’s blades of light had managed to get close to Timestream. Only probability seemed unaffected by time. She turned her head. “Cloak, can you get us out of here?”

Beneath the black hood, only Cloak’s eyes were visible. The voluptuous cloak enveloped his entire body, and his voice spoke from the blackness. “I teleport by traveling through the Darkforce Dimension, but recently my connection to it has been…tenuous at best.”

“Mine as well,” added Darkstar, who could teleport by the same means. She walked on unsteady feet, as the entire satellite seemed to be shaking. “Still, it may be worth risking, with this time distortions.”

“I have a better idea!” Giant-Man had raised his closed fist and swung it wide. It opened, and a powder sprinkled over the West Coast Avengers. “Pym Particles. Grow, everybody! Grow!”

Giant-Man was growing as he said this, and rapidly. With an understanding of what Doctor Pym was getting at, Wonder Man followed suit. “Guys, we’re in the Microverse!”

Soon the other eight heroes were growing as well. They grew so big and so fast that there was no collision with ceiling or walls. The last thing Nova saw was Timeslip being hurled to the ground violently by Timestream.

A normal-sized world became a tiny world became a blur of two worlds became a gigantic world that zoomed into normal size. On a dock where six super-heroes and one super-villain and disappeared, ten super-heroes reappeared. Dawn was just beginning to break, the sun’s first rays of light stretching out over the water.

“We have to go back,” Nova insisted. “How the hell do I reverse…” He raised his arm, narrowed his eyes in focus. Nothing was happening. “Why aren’t I changing size!”

Giant-Man answered, “Pym Particles are my particles. The type I gave you work only to reach normal size.”

“We’ll go back when we know more about fighting Timestream,” stated Quicksilver. “And when we’ve rested.” His eyes for focused on Scarlet Witch, his sister. “How long?”

“At least a week, I think.” She looked questioningly at the other four men and women who’d been missing with her. They nodded. “Let’s…let’s just get back to the compound.”

There was no time for sleep. The alarm had been blaring when they entered the compound, and the cause was playing on the massive screen in the central monitoring room. The ten Avengers, based on the West Coast, stood watching the screen, all sense of weariness forgotten.

The station didn’t matter. It was the same on every channel, though occasionally it was a different reporter. Always the same setting though, outside the United Nations. Most of the words were different, but still it was the same meaning. New member, a nation known as Demonica.

The face of that new member’s leader was on every channel, or rather the mask that covered his face. It was known to each of the West Coast Avengers. A red and white skull head with spiked white horns was the visage Douglas Bierly wore when he was calling himself-

“Doctor Demonicus,” spat Darkstar. “Only idiots would deal with such a man.”

“Russia is in the United Nations too, you know,” remarked Wonder Man. “He must have threatened something for membership. Some new doomsday device.”

“Sorry Rina,” muttered Nova under his breath. “Gotta stop a world dominating wannabe’s ass first. What do we do first?” he asked in a louder tone.

“Get some rest,” answered Scarlet Witch. “Then find out what happened when we were away.”

NEXT: Just what did happen while the Avengers were trapped in the Microverse? See how Doctor Demonicus set up his latest evil scheme, and who he’s gotten to his side!