ASSEMBLED THEY STAND

By Steve Crosby

They moved like snails to his eyes. Slowly they were assembling into position, blockading the roads and taking up positions on the rooftops. He could feel the crosshairs fix onto him, sense the itchy fingers ready against the triggers. A wrong move and he’d be dead, or maybe several. Quicksilver moved fast enough that he could afford a few mistakes.

Only a pane of glass separated Quicksilver from the hordes of armed law enforcement. He stood with his back to the window, dismissing the men that would crave his death, and faced the man he’d come to see. This man sat behind his desk, in his opulent office, visibly scared but composed as the United Nations Secretary would be.

“If those men outside are making you feel safe,” Quicksilver addressed the Secretary, “it’s a false impression. In the time it takes them to open fire I could break every bone in your body. All you need to do is tell me what I want to know.”

“I’m not one to negotiate with terror-urk!” the U.N. Secretary had begun. Suddenly he found his face pressed against the desk, held there by the super-fast mutant.

“Yet that is exactly what you’ve done!” accused the Avenger and former terrorist. Or was it now the other way around? “The United Nations have granted member status to Doctor Demonicus and his island nation of Demonica.” Even given the situation, just saying those names made Quicksilver chuckle. “While he doesn’t exactly inspire terror, the man is certainly a crazed would-be world conqueror. Why was he afforded consideration?”

“You know exactly why!” shouted the U.N. Secretary, his voice muffled against the desk. “A square mile was blacked out by Demonicus, total darkness that nothing could penetrate. Eight people died in that hour. He promised the next time would be in a major city unless we gave in!”

“So what?” Quicksilver responded. “The usual response would be to invade, destroy his equipment and lock him in a dark hole with no trial.”

“Using who? The Avengers have been declared enemies of the United States and the Fantastic Four are busy searching for them.”

Quicksilver bristled at the exclusion of the West Coast Avengers branch in that statement. Aside from an ambush at the Avengers Compound in Los Angeles, the United States military have afforded them little priority. “Well, congratulations on giving a madman the opportunity to continue his attacks without fear of reprisal.”

Papers went flying in the wake of Quicksilver’s departure.

Nine of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes sat around a large table at Appleby’s. None of the other patrons knew, of course, as the Avengers were all out of uniform. Their eyes were all rooted to a television hanging nearby, but when Nova reached a hand toward Wonder Man’s nachos it was slapped away.

“Ow.”

“Richard, be quiet and watch,” cautioned She-Hulk in her human form as Jennifer Walters.

“But I don’t need to.” Nova tapped a finger to his head. “As part of the Xandarian Nova Corps, I’m connected to the Worldmind, a sentient super-computer the size of a planet. It can pick up news feeds and put them directly into my head.”

“Does it really do that?” inquired Silverclaw.

“No, right now I’m getting Flavor Of Love. But the possibility is what’s important.”

“That’s fascinating,” broke in Giant Man. “When we get the chance I’d like to set up an interface, see what prevents this artificial intelligence from-”

“Should we be throwing out all these super-hero words like Xandar and Worldmind?” Dagger wondered. It was Scarlet Witch that set her mind at ease.

“Don’t worry. I’ve thrown a hex that makes us hardly noticeable. People just won’t be paying attention.”

“In other words they continue to act completely normal,” added Wonder Man.

“Hold it, they’re mentioning a new development.” Cloak indicated the television, and everybody turned their attention back to the emergency news being broadcast.

“It would seem that the tense standoff between authorities and known mutant terrorist Quicksilver has ended. Officials refuse to comment, but sources state that Quicksilver used his power of super-speed to escape just moments ago.”

“Turn that tripe off,” growled the newly-arrived Quicksilver as he settled down next to his sister Scarlet Witch.

“No problem.” Nova blinked, and the channel changed. Nobody said anything about it, and Nova knew that if he’d still been with the New Warriors one of them would have said, “That is so cool.” Probably his best pal Speedball.

“What have you learned?” Giant Man asked his colleague.

“Doctor Demonicus used blackmail, and because the world is so dependent on super-heroes to handle real threats they folded when nobody stepped in.”

“The Darkforce Generator,” said Darkstar, referring to a device recently acquired by Doctor Demonicus that tapped into the Darkforce Dimension. “We should have dealt with that sooner.”

“We agreed that rescuing our colleagues was a higher priority,” replied Wonder Man.

“Really appreciate that by the way,” Nova stated. “And speaking of which, when are we going back for Timeslip?”

“After we’ve dealt with Demonicus,” answered Scarlet Witch. She looked to Giant-Man, Wonder Man and Quicksilver, who all nodded their heads in agreement.

“That’s easier said than done,” She-Hulk told them. “Now that it’s a recognized nation, Demonica can’t just be invaded. Doctor Demonicus is granting asylum to any super-villain that will accept. Any assault would get ugly and public really fast. Other nations will cry out against interference and meddling in a government’s affairs.”

“People would actually defend this criminal?” asked Silverclaw.

“To embarrass a government they don’t like, you bet. The fact is it’d giver politicians pause from doing the right thing. Nobody is going to move against Doctor Demonicus. At least not officially.”

“Hh.” Quicksilver bit into a nacho he’d successfully snatched from Wonder Man’s plate. “How fortunate that we’ve been declared outlaws then.”

At first it was a small blip on the monitor, but as the minutes past it grew in size, and the security personnel took notice. It was a boat moving towards the island, and the guards in Demonica’s employ looked at each other. “We should probably tell the boss about this,” one said.

The boss in question, Doctor Demonicus, strode through the grand chamber of his mountain fortress. The large cape fluttered behind him and the demonic mask that covered his face seemed to be cackling with glee. At his gesture a massive screen lowered from the ceiling and showed the boat’s approach. By this time the boat’s occupants were clearly visible as the Avengers: Quicksilver, Wonder Man, Darkstar, Cloak and Dagger.

“Oh, forget the United Nations,” Doctor Demonicus exclaimed. “This is the moment of my greatest triumph! My greatest foes, coming to me on their hands and knees, pleading for sanctuary! You’ve heard, haven’t you Axum, that their East Coast counterparts approached Doctor Doom?”

Axum, the large and physically fit black man at Doctor Demonicus’ side, nodded unenthusiastically. “Yes, sir. You’re the Doctor Doom of the Pacific.”

“Of course I am! An armored despot who inspires terror throughout the world from his island nation. But whereas Doom often chooses to work alone, I am not above taking fellow super-villains into my employ. Loyal henchmen such as yourself.”

If it hadn’t been for the underground super-fight club of which Axum had been champion getting shut down, Daniel Axum never would have given Doctor Demonicus the time of day. But the police had raided the illegal super-human brawls, losing Axum the means by which he supported his estranged family. Demonicus offered employment and asylum from the law, so with no other options Axum had accepted, much like many others.

“What do you want us to do with them?”

“Accept them onto the island for now,” instructed Doctor Demonicus. “Keep them under guard until I’ve heard their pleas and determined their sincerity. If I’m not convinced, then their heads will adorn the battlements and all the world will know to fear Doctor Demonicus!”

“Whatever you say,” muttered Axum under his breath. His scarred eye was twitching again, an outward sign of all the stress and annoyances the man had dealt with recently. Outside the chamber, he met with a few of those annoyances, his fellow super-villainous refugees.

Apparition had once been a stunt-man until he died and became a ghost. An encounter with Ghost Rider had apparently killed him again, but the ghost had simply laid low until something interesting came along. Rattler was a scientist that had developed anti-venom with the unusual side-effects of frictionless skin and venom-secreting glands. No longer taking the anti-venom would remove the man’s deformities, but unfortunately it would also killer Rattler. Finally there was Afterburner, a super-speedster who’d once abandoned a powerful employer and now had a price on her head.

“You lose, Apparition,” Axum told the spirit. “I told you he wasn’t going to kill them right away.”

“Drat.” Apparition tried to reach into his pockets, but his hand just went through his immaterial body. “I’d pay you, but nobody bothered to stick a coin under my tongue.”

“That’s okay. I won’t have much use for cash in jail, which is where we’ll all end up with the decisions this idiot’s making.”

“He’s managed to deliver so far,” Afterburner said in their boss’ defense. “I mean, we’ve got diplomatic immunity now. I could race across the water to Rodeo Drive and clean out every store there, and they wouldn’t be able to touch me.”

“How long will that last now that the Avengers are here?” inquired Rattler. “They’re obviously here to disable what Demonicus used to blackmail the world. Once that’s gone, everything he’s gained for us will be taken away.”

“That’s why we’re going to kill them,” Axum told his compatriots. “Before they even get off the boat. We’ll tell Demonicus they attacked right away.”

“Umm, can Wonder Man even be killed?” It was Apparition that asked the question.

“So we’ll throw him into Cloak, and once he’s dead Wonder Man will be trapped in the Darkforce Dimension,” Rattler suggested.

“Way to think, Rattler,” remarked Axum. “I’m not going back to jail, and I’ll do my best to keep the rest of you out of their too.”

Nearby, other ears overheard the conversation between the super-villains. Doctor Henry Pym had decided to forego the Giant-Man identity and shrank himself down as Ant-Man. Hidden beneath the molding, he watched the criminals leave and touched a hand to his helmet.

“Nova, we have a problem. Doctor Demonicus seemed willing to accept the ruse, but his lackeys aren’t so stupid. No, we can’t afford to deviate. Quicksilver’s team can handle themselves. Just be ready to move.”

“Already en route,” Nova reported to Ant-Man through the communicator. The Human Rocket was soaring high towards Demonica, the Worldmind blocking his presence from radar. “Complete with my package. How are you holding up, She-Hulk?”

Nova’s question wasn’t entirely accurate, as it wasn’t She-Hulk in his arms but actually the frail and much lighter Jennifer Walters. “Fine just so long as you watch your hands. How soon until we’re over?”

“Already there,” Nova replied. Indeed, the water beneath them had given way to rocky earth. “I’ll just circle around a couple times, find the best place for this. Then you can change, and I’ll have dropped a genuine Gamma B-whoa!”

A shape had just rapidly flown past Nova, what had fleetingly looked to him like a flying tiger. Sharp claws had grazed Nova’s helmet, surprising him more than anything. But so startled was Nova that his grip on Jennifer broke and she fell towards the rapidly approaching ground.

“AAAAAaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

The scream of his teammate drowned Nova’s hearing, and he wanted nothing more than to swoop down and rescue her. But his assailant, who was indeed the Flying Tiger, had come around for another pass and slammed into Nova’s mid-section. The wind knocked out of him, Nova briefly spun through the air out-of-control. Just as he managed to right himself, Nova was struck by the villain again, this time from behind.

“Oh, that does it!” Rocketing upwards, Nova gained altitude on his opponent and unleashed a gravimetric burst down toward where he’d been. “Try a taste of Nova power! Huh?”

The air Nova had just fired into was empty. There was no sign of the Flying Tiger. Suddenly Nova felt the grip on his ankle, and a painful sensation in his groin as the Flying Tiger had flipped up to kick him there. “Here’s a lesson in flying, kid,” growled the villain.

Flying Tiger continued his upward momentum, flying feet up to grab Nova by the head with his clawed hands. Arcing over the headlocked Nova and behind him, Flying Tiger kicked the hero hard in the back while pulling up on his head. The result was Nova flipping end-over-end down through the air on a collision course for the mountain.

Speaking of collision, Jennifer was plummeting fast towards the ground, her eyes closed and rapidly saying the same thing over and over again. “Pleasechangepleasechangepleasechangepleasechange nownownowwouldbegoodpleasechangepleasechangecomeoncomeonchangechangenownow.” Her pleas were being answered, as Jennifer began to undergo the change into She-Hulk.

A semi-green and till rather small shape hit the ground with a tremendous smash. Seconds longer than it should have, a fully transformed She-Hulk emerged from the crater, but shaky and with a small trickle of blood at the side of her mouth.

“Oh, whew, that was almost too close for comf-” A powerful roundhouse to the side of her head cut She-Hulk off. She fell again to the ground, her legs actually lifted into the air by the blow’s impact. Stunned, She-Hulk lay flat on her back and got a full-on view of her attacker.

The massive creature resembled the Abomination in a sense, except for the scraggly bits of hair on its head. And it was also wearing a pink two-piece that covered a set of breasts. Except for the hair, it greatly resembled another female gamma-induced threat that She-Hulk had encountered.

“Ab-abominatrix?” muttered She-Hulk in confusion. “Oh God, if that blonde hair was a wig put it back on.”

“I’m Gamma Burn, you bitch!” roared the falsely named female behemoth. One of her tree-trunk legs was lifted off the ground, a two-toed foot prepared to stomp down on She-Hulk. “And I’m going to pound your pretty little face into the dirt.”

Before the boat had even arrived, the battle was joined.

Wonder Man was leaning over the boat’s stem, his eyes on the approaching shore and was therefore the first to see the three shapes standing near a boathouse. “It looks like our welcoming party has arrived. Doesn’t look like Demonicus is among them.”

“I really did think he was that stupid,” Quicksilver muttered. Then louder he said, “All right, it looks like only three so we should be able to take them out quick. I can carry-”

“We’ll do no such thing,” Darkstar interrupted. “Pietro, we are to play along until the distraction is made.”

In the near distance, loud crashes from different parts of the island could be heard. Somehow, Quicksilver gave an expression of both annoyance and triumph. “Early but sufficient. Come along,” he extended a hand to Darkstar.

Before the Russian Avenger could take Quicksilver’s hand so that he could carry her over the water, however, the spectral figure of Apparition rose up from the hull of the boat. With his pale blue skin and half his costume the same color, Apparition seemed almost part of the water. His hands glowed with dark eldritch power as he cackled.

“Die, heroes! Die!” screamed the villain. Blasts of power shot from his hands, ripping through the boat. One blast struck Wonder Man, who was hurled over the side. While no one else was directly struck, the exploding wood at their feet ejected Quicksilver and Darkstar from the boat as well.

“No!” screamed Quicksilver. The mutant’s body was vibrating rapidly, moving too fast over the water to completely submerge. With visible and grueling effort, Quicksilver found his footing on the choppy ocean, and was immediately elbowed in the ribs by an equally fast Afterburner.

“Ha! This is going to be fun!” taunted Afterburner as she jabbed a fist at Quicksilver’s head. However, she wasn’t quite his equal, and Quicksilver managed to move his head aside to avoid the blow just in time.

“Yes, I plan to enjoy myself,” remarked Quicksilver coldly as his hand closed over Afterburner’s wrist.

Back on the sinking vessel, Cloak had extended his shadowy garment far out beyond his body, prepared to envelope Dagger. “Come, Tandy. I must get you out of here!”

“In just a second Tyrone,” Dagger replied to her partner. In one of her hands there shimmered a dagger of purest light. “I’d just like to get a shot in.” The dagger of light was hurled, and as it passed through Apparition he screamed in agony. “Okay, now we can go.”

Cloak enveloped Dagger into his body of darkness. He then shrunk in on himself, fully entering the Darkforce Dimension. The two heroes had completely disappeared by the time the boat fully sank beneath the waves. But they quickly reappeared, on the island’s shore close to Axum and Rattler. Dagger emerged from the darkness hurling daggers of light.

“Get down!” Axum yelled, pushing Rattler as he leapt away from the light blades.

Also running closer to the villains was Quicksilver. He’d slapped Afterburner multiple times at super-speed and hurled her out at the ocean, where she skipped semi-conscious over the water. Quicksilver was now running behind Rattler, just about to smash a fist into the back of his head even as Dagger had thrown a shard of light at him.

Among Rattler’s mutated abilities was frictionless skin. When Axum pushed him, Rattler slipped on the sandy floor, falling to the ground and putting Quicksilver directly into the light’s path. It pierced his body, paining the darkness in Quicksilver’s soul. Though many would prefer to hope otherwise, the former mutant terrorist was still tainted by the evil teachings of his father.

“Uhhn,” knocked almost unconscious by the painful strike, Quicksilver stumbled over Rattler. Axum moved forward, and grabbed Quicksilver by the side with both hands.

“Here, you’re the criminals and we’re the national heroes,” Axum told the groggy Quicksilver and the horrified Cloak and Dagger. “That means we can kill you all, and nobody will care.” Then Axum hurled Quicksilver, with all his strength, at the concrete wall of the boathouse.

“No!” Wonder Man had emerged from the water at last, and in his arms Darkstar had her arms extended out towards the boathouse. But strangely no darkforce energy emerged.

Instead, cracks appeared on the wall of the boathouse before Quicksilver crashed through it. When he collided, the wall broke against Quicksilver very easily. The concrete gave way like plywood, and Quicksilver fell through into the shallow water inside. Remarkably, none of his bones had broken.

“How the hell was that…?” But Axum’s confused frustration trailed away when he got a good look at the approaching Darkstar. Her blond hair was slightly eschew, revealed to be a wig with red hair underneath. It had been Scarlet Witch all along.

Gracefully, Scarlet Witch fell out of Wonder Man’s arms and rolled safely onto the ground. His hands now free, Wonder Man balled them into fists and flew at Axum. In his way was Rattler, who had just returned to his feet only to be swatted aside by a backhand from Wonder Man. Cloak gladly spread his body out and Rattler fell into the darkness, screaming.

Alone, Axum raised his own fists to meet the oncoming Wonder Man. “All right, movie star. Let’s dance.”

Imbedded partly into the mountain, Nova struggled to free himself while Flying Tiger battered at him with a series of passes.

“Ow! This is – ow! – really getting – ow! – old!”

“Learn to fly then,” taunted Flying Tiger. “Give me a real challenge.”

Suddenly though, Flying Tiger couldn’t see. Darkness had completely enshrouded him, courtesy of the real Darkstar. Darkforce poured from her hands to coalesce in the area around Flying Tiger.

“Nova! Strike him now!”

“Oh, you don’t have to tell me twice!” Nova rocketed out of the mountain and into the darkness. Flying Tiger rocketed out of the other side, rendered unconscious from the high-velocity impact and soaring off towards the ocean. Luckily for the villain, Darkstar summoned another piece of darkforce and caught Flying Tiger in a solid catcher’s mitt of darkness. Nova stopped his flight and hovered next to her. “Thanks. That guy…wow. I’ve definitely got to take flying lessons.”

“We had best help She-Hulk,” Darkstar stating, pointing down below. “She is heavily outnumbered.”

Down on the island, She-Hulk had grabbed Gamma Burn by the leg and was spinning her through the air. At seeing the approach of more villains, She-Hulk threw Gamma Burn in their direction. But the half-man, half-machine Manticore easily leapt over the gamma powered female monstrosity with his robotic legs. His long metal tail lashed out, slashing across She-Hulk’s chest. While unharmed, the front of She-Hulk uniform was torn in a quite revealing fashion.

“Damn it!” She-Hulk yelled. “Why does this always happen to me!” Her fists slammed against the earth, generating shockwaves directed at her opponents. Manticore was already clear of the attack, and with his similarly robotic eight legs Teraknid remained steady on the shaking ground. But the young man who called himself Zapper fell backwards in response to the shockwave, and a blast from his helmet intended for She-Hulk instead blasted upwards.

The burst of deadly fire barely missed Nova. “Yow! Okay, normally I’d write that as an accident and maybe let it slide. But I’m through underestimating any of you guys!” Rocketing towards the ground, Nova arced upwards at the last second and dealt Zapper a glancing blow. The young man’s helmet was destroyed, and Zapper himself fell to the ground unconscious.

Shaping the Darkforce into a large guillotine, Darkstar cleaved Teraknid’s legs out from under him. “You depend too much on machines,” she told the man as she flew feet-first into his face. “She-Hulk, I can deal with the other one if you prefer.”

“Thanks, but I’ve got this.” Manticore was in the process of lashing his tale at She-Hulk again. Ready this time, the Jade Giantess grabbed the tail and yanked hard. The paraplegic cyborg was pulled in She-Hulk’s direction, where her fist was eagerly awaiting his face. POW!

The battlefield cleared of villains, Nova and Darkstar landed to join She-Hulk on the ground. “Not a bad job of things, I’d say,” remarked Nova. “I wonder if the others fared so well without us to back them up.”

As though in answer to Nova’s comment, a figure was lifted high into the air from a distant point on the island. By remarkable chance it crashed near to the three Avengers, so close that Darkstar jumped back and threw up a shield of darkforce. When the dust settled, they could see that the object was a man, now unconscious. He was black, with a scarred face, but Axum was unknown to any of them.

“They’re doing as okay as we have,” She-Hulk told Nova. “But it doesn’t matter how many of these flunkies we beat up. That’s right. Beat up. Nobody here is getting apprehended, except maybe for us if outside nations decide to help Doctor Demonicus. What matters is that the Darkforce Generator is destroyed.”

At that very moment, having observed the defeat of his forces on the viewing screen, Doctor Demonicus was feverishly pressing the button to activate his Darkforce Generator. “The enemy is at the gate! More than I expected, it is almost flattering they have not underestimated me! Or have they?” Faster and harder Doctor Demonicus pressed at the button. “This time a whole city shall be blacked out! Thousands will die for this! Millions!”

An armored fist smashed into the non-responsive control console. “Why won’t this infernal machine work!”

A panel on the large device popped off, and a small fuzzy object leapt out through. It was a silver-colored rat with wires in its teeth and a tiny person on its back. Ant-Man hopped off the rat when it touched the floor, grew to normal size and then a little larger. Giant-Man loomed over the astonished Doctor Demonicus.

“Hello, Doctor Birely,” said Doctor Pym, using the real name of Demonicus. “I don’t think you’ve met Silverclaw before.”

With a loud hiss, the rat changed form. For a brief second a young woman of silver-skin was standing next to Giant-Man. Then her form changed again, into a ten foot long Komodo Dragon that rushed at Doctor Demonicus. A heavily scaled head crashed into the villain’s armored body, knocking him to the ground. Massive claws closed over the arms of Doctor Demonicus, and Silverclaw ran a long forked tongue over the villain’s mask, giving him a good look at her sixty one-inch long teeth.

A breeze passed Giant-Man, and Quicksilver was suddenly standing alongside him. “It is done?”

In response, Giant-Man handed him a number of chewed wires. “Short term solution. It can easily be fixed.”

Quicksilver’s form blurred. When Giant-Man could see him clearly again he saw that Quicksilver held a number of parts. “Now it won’t be quite so easy.” Nearby, the Darkforce Generator was completely dismantled.

“Considering he stole the technology in the first place,” Giant-Man remarked. “I’d say impossible. Come on, Silverclaw. We’ve made our message.”

“I can taste his fear,” Silverclaw hissed in a lizard’s voice. Her teeth found one of the horns atop Demonicus’ helmet, and it broke easily.

“Could you do that as easily with his head?” inquired Quicksilver.

“Oh yesss!”

“No,” Giant-Man strongly instructed Silverclaw. He turned to Quicksilver. “We’ve done what we can. What we’re willing. This trouble with the government won’t last. It’s better if we don’t become what they’re claiming we are.”

“Right.” To Doctor Demonicus, Quicksilver said, “Enjoy your diplomatic immunity, fool. Once it’s revoked, we’ll return.”

Reluctantly, slowly, Silverclaw shifted her massive bulk off of Doctor Demonicus. Her massive tail was lifted up and slammed down on the villain’s midsection before melting away, back into Silverclaw as she shifted back into human form. She sauntered over to where Quicksilver and Giant-Man were standing.

Together, the three Avengers left the beaten ruler of Demonica.

“Woohoo! I’d almost forgotten how much fun that was!” Nova exclaimed as he was flying through the air, away from Demonica Island. Locked in his grip hand-to-wrist was She-Hulk, and silenly she shared the same sentiment. After months in captivity, that had indeed felt good.

The coast of California had just come into view for the ten West Coast based Avengers. They were all moving under their own power, the flyers aiding those who couldn’t. Wonder Man was carrying Scarlet Witch, while a disapproving Quicksilver looked on from a darkforce platform. On the platform with him were Cloak and Dagger, with Darkforce dragging it behind her. Finally there was Silverclaw in form of a condor, Ant-Man trapped safely in her talons.

“Something is wrong,” Scarlet Witch cried out. Her sudden shift in Wonder Man’s arms almost caused him to drop her.

“Have a care with my sister!” Quicksilver yelled. “If it’s beyond your talents to not drop a person, then I’ll-”

“Quicksilver,” Darkstar interrupted. “Something is wrong! Look!”

The Avengers West Coast all looked east, towards the United States that was their destination. At first it looked as though the sky had turned a shade of ugly red. But there were textures to the color, outlines and shape that formed an image. An image that was rapidly expanding towards them.

While it’s uncertain who recognized the image first, it was Ant-Man’s tiny voice that spoke up before anybody else.

“My God. That’s a red skull.”

And then the redness washed over them, and the world they knew was gone.

NEXT: Check out the Fourth Reich event over in that ‘main’ Avengers title, then return here as the West Coast Avengers try to find some stability in their line-up and in their lives!